The Indian Cricket Board on Thursday lodged an official complaint with International Cricket Council (ICC) against Australian captain Steve Smith and Peter Handscomb for seeking dressing room help on a DRS call.

It was an interesting move by the BCCI after ICC issued a statement making it clear that no further action will be taken against either India skipper Virat Kohli or Smith.

It has been learnt that BCCI has emailed the documents along with video footage of the incident to the ICC, pressing Level 2 charges under the global body's Code of Conduct.

"Yes, the BCCI today officially lodged a complaint with the ICC against Smith and Handscomb. They have submitted the video footage of the incident where Handscomb is insisting Smith to go up for a review and umpire Nigel Llong is seen intervening," a top source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

"BCCI is well within their rights to lay official charge as a Level 2 charge needs to be pressed within 48 hours of the completion of the match," the source added.

It was learnt that the BCCI has pressed charges for "violating spirit of cricket and bringing the game to disrepute".

When a BCCI source was asked whether ICC will look into the matter, he said: "The rule states that CEO of member board needs to lay the charges within 48 hours in case of Level 2.

That's exactly what has been done. Also one should know that Peter Handscomb, on his official twitter handle, has admitted to his guilt. Also why didn't the ICC wait for 48 hours to end?"

It was learnt that BCCI has been irked by Cricket Australia's strong statement defending Smith.

A feeling within the BCCI is that while it is perfectly okay to defend their captain, the tenor of the statement seemed to demean Kohli, which has not gone down well with the home team.

The Indian team management had expected that the match referee Chris Broad would summon Smith at the end of the game and was left perplexed following inaction on part of Broad.

Broad's statement to an Australian media publication was also something that didn't go unnoticed with the BCCI as match referees are not supposed to air their views in the media.

The ICC will now be in a tricky situation as the on-field umpires for the second Test till yesterday had not submitted any official complaint.

A civilian and three terrorists were killed in separate incidents in South and North Kashmir on Thursday. 

One terrorist was killed in a brief encounter this evening with security forces at Bandipora in North Kashmir, while two others were killed during an encounter with security forces in the Padgampora village in the Pulwama district of South Kashmir.

A spokesman of the Northern Command of the army said that a soldier was wounded during the encounter near the Bandipora police station. Security forces have cordoned the area and launched search operation.

The army spokesman said, one soldier has been martyred in a ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army in the Poonch Sector on Thursday.

 Pakistani troops fired at the Indian post and the Indian troops retaliated the fire.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is knocking on the door of houses across the national capital with a simple message – there is something "rotten" in the state of the municipal bodies.

As part of an exercise launched last week, the party's candidates for the municipal polls are accompanying teams of volunteers carrying an open letter by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal starts off the letter by imploring people whether they are aware as to which agency is responsible for maintaining cleanliness in Delhi.

"Contrary to perceptions, it is not the job of the Delhi government. The situation is such that one feels ashamed to call Delhi the nation's capital," Kejriwal's letter said.

A senior party functionary said the plan was to reach each and every household, numbering "around 46 lakh", in the next few weeks with the message and profiles of the candidates.

"We intend to complete one round by the end of this month. Door to door campaign not only introduces the candidate to the voters but also ensures direct delivery of Arvind Kejriwal's message about the rotten state of affairs in the BJP-ruled civic bodies," the AAP leader said.

In the letter, Kejriwal accuses BJP and Congress of "looting" the civic bodies over the last 20 years and goes on to enunciate the measures taken by his government in the areas of education, health and slashing of power and water tariff.

"They say I fight a lot, but I do that for you people.

Few people say Sheila Dikshit never got into fights. But there was no need for her to fight as she was hand in glove with the entities like the power discoms.

"They don't pay the sanitation staff. They have turned Delhi into a dustbin. You give us majority in the MCDs and I promise you a sparkling Delhi in a year," he said.

The AAP chief signed off urging people to take it upon themselves to ensure that at least 100 others vote for AAP in the elections, to be held tentatively in April.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Thursday hailed the passage of Maternity Bill, which allows paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, in Parliament, calling it a "historic" decision.

The Lok Sabha passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 today. The Bill had already been passed by the Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session. It entitles the women working in the organised sector to paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, up from 12 weeks.

"I am very, very happy that we have made history today.

This will help thousands of women and produce much healthier children. We have been working on it for a long time," said Maneka.

She also wrote a message on Change.org addressing the women who had petitioned her on the issue.

"This is a historic decision taken by our government. I had requested Honourable Minister for Labour to make these changes in relevant laws and I am grateful to him for taking up my request.

"While congratulating all working women who are planning to have a child, I assure you that we will continue to work for women in the country," the Minister said.

Maneka also acknowledged that ensuring organisations implement the Bill by providing mothers the mandatory 26 week leave and making provisions for a creche will be an uphill task.

The Minister refrained from commenting on the issue of paternity leave.

She had earlier courted controversy when she remarked that paternity leave will just be a holiday for men.

The Bill also provides for maternity leave of 12 weeks to mothers adopting a child below the age of three months as well as to commissioning mothers.

It also makes it mandatory for every establishment with more than 50 employees to provide creche facilities within a prescribed distance.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has expressed deep anguish and grief over the killing of a 15-year-old Aamir Nazir during an encounter in Padgampora village of Pulwama district on Thursday.

Extending her sympathies to the bereaved, the Chief Minister said it was highly unfortunate that youth are caught in the vicious cycle of violence in the state which has consumed so many precious lives and left behind a trail of death and destruction.

It is worth mentioning that the boy got killed when the police opened fire to disperse a mob that was pelting stones at security forces that were engaged an encounter with terrorists.

Women working in the organised sector will now be entitled to paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, up from 12 weeks, as Parliament on Thursday passed a bill in this regard that will benefit about 1.8 million women.

The new law will apply to all establishments employing 10 or more people and the entitlement will be for only up to first two children. For third child, the entitlement will be for only 12 weeks.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday, months after the Rajya Sabha approved the measure that takes India to the third position in terms of the number of weeks for maternity leave after Canada and Norway where it is 50 weeks and 44 weeks, respectively.

Piloting amendments to the old law, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said while framing the rules, he would try to ensure that maximum benefits reach the pregnent women.

"This is my humble gift to women, a day after the world celebrated the International Women's Day," he said after about 4-hour debate during which some members demanded paternity benefits too, arguing that these days most of the children are born in nuclear families where both the father and the mother have to take care of the child.

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, protects the employment of women during the time of her maternity and entitles her full paid absence from work, to take care for her child. .

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday claimed that there was no scope for dissent against the Marxists in Kerala and accused the CPI(M)-led LDF government in that state of becoming "totally partisan".

His comments came in the aftermath of alleged attacks on BJP and RSS workers in Kerala.

"There is no scope for dissent against the Marxists in Kerala. BJP and RSS workers have been attacked there. So many incidents have happened. But, the state government is doing nothing.

"In fact, people are alleging that the government is supporting them (the attackers). The state machinery has become totally partisan. A delegation from Kerala recently gave a representation before us," the BJP leader said.

Kerala has been witnessing clashes between the cadres of the BJP-RSS and the CPI(M), especially in the northern district of Kannur, for a long time.

Both sides have blamed each other for the cycle of violence, which has claimed several lives.

Recently, three RSS activists were injured in an attack allegedly by CPI(M) workers at a village near Koyilandy in Kozhikode district.

Two activists of the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI(M), were also injured in a recent attack on them allegedly by BJP activists at Elappulli in Palakkad district.

The election discussion between two persons turned hot and hostile in Bageshwar town in Uttarakhand, with one getting out of control to attack the other with a sharp edge weapon. Police arrested Jagdesh Kalakoti on charges of attempt to murder on Thursday. 

The shocking incident took place in Bageshwar on Wednesday night. According to local Police Jagdesh Kalakoti and Puran Singh knew each other since a long time. They met at a point and were discussing about the outcome of the Bageshwar assembly seat. After a friendly session, things turned ugly.  

The argument turned hot and Jagdesh lost his temper and charged Puran with a sharp edge weapon. Puran suffered deep injuries and after receiving primary medical treatment at Bageshwar was referred to a higher centre for advanced medical care. 

Bageshwar Police has assigned Sub Inspector Mahendra the responsibility to investigate the matter. The cops filed a police complain on Kamla Devi, wife of injured Puran Singh. 

With the 'Exit Poll' results predicting a close fight between the main Opposition Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab Assembly polls, the stage appears set for a change of government in Punjab as all surveys predicted a wipe out for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bhartiya Janta Party (SAD-BJP).

With some surveys predicted a Congress victory, others also predicted the poll result in favour of AAP which indicated the close fight between the two parties are having in the state ruled by the SAD-BJP for the past decade.

While AAP's fate depends largely on politically significent Malwa region, the Congress appears to have done better in the remaining two regions — Doaba and Majha.

 Around 1.4 Crore people in Punjab voted for the state's 117 Assembly seats on 4 February. There were some 1,100 candidates in the triangular contest between the ruling combine,  the Congress and AAP, which contested the Assembly elections in the state for the first time.

Expressing confidence of his party forming the next government in the state with a clear majority, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh said that his party would attain a clear majority with 62-65 seats in its kitty.

"The exit polls were merely indicative of the positive trend in favour of the Congress, but the actual results would be completely in favour of the party," he added.

The SAD-BJP was obviously headed for a total washout in these polls, with the huge pent-up resentment against their misrule having perceptibly translated into negative votes, said Captain Amarinder.

 He added that the people were evidently having also been wary of experimenting with the AAP which had failed to prove its credentials as a serious player in the political arena.

It's miserable performance in the Delhi government and the erosion of its reputation in Punjab as a result of widespread allegations of corruption and other misdemeanours had led to AAP losing the advantage it had seized in Punjab during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, said the Congress leader.

 The Congress chief ministerial candidate had earlier, on the occasion of the launch of his authorised biography, said that his own gut feeling, based on his political experience, suggested that the party would secure between 62 and 65 seats.

India and Belgium on Thursday signed an agreement amending the bilateral tax treaty to curb evasion and also enable mutual assistance in tax collection.

India and Belgium have signed a protocol amending the existing agreement and protocol between the two countries for avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, a finance ministry statement said.

"The protocol will broaden the scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information. This in turn will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance between the two countries and will also enable mutual assistance in collection of taxes," it said.

The protocol was signed by CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra and Belgium Ambassador to India Jan Luykx.

Fighting the menace of black money stashed in offshore accounts has been a key priority area for the government and to this effect India has either signed or amended tax treaties with various jurisdictions.

During the financial year 2016-17, tax treaties have been amended for the exchange of information with Switzerland, Mauritius, Cyprus, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Austria.

The government has garnered more than Rs 1.15 crore towards the fund for regional air connectivity scheme, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said today.

The ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable. It has also set up the RCS fund which would be utilised for providing viability gap funding to airlines participating in the scheme.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Raju said that "till date, an amount of Rs 1,15,42,000 has been received" under the RCS fund.

An amount of up to Rs 8,500 is being levied from scheduled airlines operating in major routes to raise money towards the RCS fund.

The Civil Aviation Ministry started collecting the levy from December 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has already challenged the collection of levy from carriers for the RCS fund in the court.

FIA has filed a court case on this issue and the matter is subjudice, the Minister said.

Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir are members of the FIA.

Airlines participating in the regional connectivity scheme, also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik), would receive viability gap funding. The funding would be shared by the Centre and the respective state governments that provide the airport for flights under the scheme.

China is developing a manned submersible capable of reaching the deepest known points in the world's oceans in search of precious metals.

The 11,000-metre deep-sea submersible is planned to conduct its first ocean test in 2021, said Yan Kai, director of the state key laboratory of deep-sea manned submersible under the China Ship Scientific Research Centre.

Yan, a deputy to the National People's Congress, told state-run Xinhua news agency on the sidelines of the annual legislative session that the submersible is part of the Jiaolong family, whose manned device set China's record of reaching 7,062 metres deep in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench in 2012.

Earlier this month, one of the submersibles, Jiaolong, operating in the northwestern Indian Ocean, to search for deposits of precious metals descended to a new depth of 3,117 metres below sea level and collected a variety of samples.

Yan said the record-setting dive boosted the confidence of Chinese scientists in conducting deep-sea research exploration on their own and laid a solid foundation of developing even more sophisticated devices.

The known deepest part of the ocean is the Challenger Deep at a depth of around 11,000 metres in the Mariana Trench.

Submersibles capable of reaching that depth will offer new hopes of setting up deep-sea labs, where scientists can conduct biological, medical and genetic research and explore mineral, oil and gas resources.

But Yan said 11,000-metre submersible research still faces challenges in areas including pressure-resistant materials, design, energy and telecommunications.

Meanwhile, Yan's lab is in the final stages of developing a 4,500-meter submersible to be delivered to the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the second half of this year.

The submersible, which was completely designed and made in China, is equipped with five observation windows and can stay underwater for 12 hours, creating favourable conditions for researchers to expand the scope of their observation, Yan said.

A series of submersibles to dive at a range of 1,000 to 2,000 metres are also being planned.

"Humans' understanding of the deep sea is shallower than that of the moon surface," he said.

"Conducting scientific research in the deep sea will boost our knowledge about the oceans and Earth", Yan said.

Thailand's anti-graft watchdog on Thursday said it will investigate senior government officials and employees of the country's flagship airline over bribes paid more than a decade ago by Rolls-Royce.

In January Britain's Serious Fraud Office announced that Rolls Royce had paid out huge sums over three decades to win contracts in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia.

Rolls Royce admitted to wrongdoing and agreed to pay a USD 808 million fine to authorities in Britain to settle the case.

But the UK probe has sparked follow up investigations in some of the countries where the bribes were received.

Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on today said an initial fact-finding committee had uncovered "reasonable suspicion" of wrongdoing.

"There are enough facts and witnesses to investigate the allegations," Sansern Poljiak, secretary general of the NACC said.

The statement said the probe would centre on the "transport minister, their deputy, the THAI Airways board and Thai Airways' long-term investment subcommitee" between 2004 and 2005 over a deal to buy six passenger jets with Rolls-Royce engines.

The statement did not name any suspects.

At that time the government was headed by Thaksin Shinawatra, a democratically elected prime minister who was toppled in a military coup in 2006. Two transport ministers served during that period.

The Thai Airways board at that time contained major business figures as well as five senior Air Force officers and a police general.

The UK fraud probe, the country's largest ever, found some USD 36 million in bribes and incentives were paid between 1991 and 2005 to intermediaries — including "agents of the State of Thailand and employees of Thai Airways" — to help the company win lucrative jet engine deals.

Thai law places a statute of limitations on most crimes and some of the alleged offences that took place before Thaksin took office can no longer be prosecuted.

Civil compensation claims can still be made though it is not clear if authorities plan to do so.

Thai Airways launched its own investigation after the UK probe became public.

Graft is endemic in Thailand, which currently ranks 76th out of 168 countries in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

The current military junta that seized power in 2014 has vowed to root out corruption.

But critics say junta probes have selectively targeted political opponents while top brass have also found themselves accused of graft.

Others say the military's push has had some effect, especially on cutting out the expected "tea money" needed to secure large government contracts.

The AIADMK Parliamentary Board was on Thursday reconstituted with party General Secretary VK Sasikala, replacing her predecessor late J Jayalalithaa as its head.

The Board chooses AIADMK's candidates for elections and the shuffle comes on a day when the Election Commission announced byelection to the RK Nagar assembly constituency on April 12.

The poll was necessitated by the demise of Jayalalithaa in December last year.

AIADMK Deputy General Secretary, TTV Dinakaran, made the announcement in a party release, which was issued with the "approval" of Sasikala.

"The Parliamentary Board has been reconstitued," with Sasikala as it Chairperson, he said even as he also was appointed as one of the members.

The others in the reconstituted Board include AIADMK Presidium Chairman and School Education Minister KA Sengotayan and former Minister P Valarmathi.

The previous Parliamentary Board headed by Jayalalithaa included expelled party leader and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his aide E Madusudanan.

Expressing disagreement over the Central Industrial Security Force's insistence on stamping hand baggage for security, Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday quipped that  the best way to check hijack is to bar everyone from entering the airport.

Stressing on the need to move with the times on security measures and keep them "non-obtrusive and meaningful", he said the best security would be not allowing anyone to come to airports as that would ensure "there will never be a hijack but there won't be any civil aviation activity either".

Raju said the "CISF is a police force" and it is the BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) that sets aviation security standards that everybody ultimately has to follow. He said "an impractical security thing" can be another problem.

He, however, added that the CISF, which is responsible for security at major airports, would also voice their experiences and it is "better to be safe than to be sorry".

The BCAS, which comes under the Civil Aviation Ministry, had issued a circular on 23 February to immediately do away with the practice of putting security stamp on the hand baggage tags at seven major airports in the country.

However, the decision had to be deferred following security concerns raised by the CISF. In the first official comments from the Ministry on this issue, Raju said everybody has to follow BCAS when it comes to aviation security standards.

He said, "Safety and security cannot be compromised but security should be non-obtrusive and meaningful. Otherwise commercial activity will not happen. This is what it is."

The decision to stay the BCAS order related to stamping of hand baggage was taken on 2 March during a high-level meeting between Civil Aviation and Home Ministries. 

Noting that civil aviation works on a very different footing, Raju said what was relevant for security at one point of time might become irrelevant on another occasion.

US President Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American Ajit Pai to serve another term at the powerful Federal Communications Commission.

Pai is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He was designated Chairman by President Trump in January 2017. He had previously served as Commissioner at the FCC, appointed by then-President Barack Obama and confirmed unanimously by the Senate in May 2012.

"These dedicated men and women will help me and the rest of the Administration as we continue our work to make America great again. I am grateful for their willingness to serve and honoured that they will be joining my team," Trump said as he announced several other key administration posts along with that of Pai.

Commenting on Pai's nomination to a new term, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said, "I congratulate Chairman Pai on being nominated by the President to serve a second term on the Commission.

"For the past five years, I have had the honour of working with Ajit on issues that make an everlasting difference in the lives of the American people. I look forward to continuing in these efforts, as we work to achieve a shared goal of closing the digital and opportunities divide," Clyburn said.

Before joining FCC, Pai was a Partner at Jenner & Block, LLP from 2011 until 2012, and Deputy General Counsel, Associate General Counsel, and Special Advisor to the General Counsel at the FCC from 2007 until 2011.

The son of immigrants from India, Pai grew up in Parsons, Kansas.

Appearing before a Congressional committee yesterday, Pai said in his new role as Chairman of Federal Communications Commission, he look forward to bring digital opportunity to all Americans.

"High-speed Internet access, or broadband, is critical to economic opportunity. But there are still too many parts of this country where broadband is unavailable or unaffordable," he said.

"There is a real and growing digital divide in America. In wealthier, metropolitan areas, 4G LTE is ubiquitous, and gigabit fixed service is expanding. But many rural areas are being left behind," Pai said in his testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The FCC is an independent agency created by Congressional statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and US territories.

The US dollar ended steady against the rupee at 66.71/72 per dollar, and the pound sterling dropped to Rs.81.10/12 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market here on Thursday.

Following are the interbank forex and RBI rates:

(In Rs Per Unit) Unit Interbank RBI Reference $Dollar 66.71/72 US Dollar Rs.66.7707 Pound Sterling 81.10/12 Euro Rs.70.3229 Euro 70.43/45 Japanese Yen (100) 58.