With the nation still in shock from the killing of an Indian engineer in the US last week, another Indian-origin businessman has been shot dead outside his home in South Carolina, media reports said.

On Thursday night, Harnish Patel had closed his shop at 11.24 pm and barely 10 minutes later he was shot dead outside his house in Lancaster, a media report said.

Patel's death comes two days after President Donald Trump had condemned as "hate and evil" the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, the previous Wednesday in a Kansas bar.

Local officials in Lancaster, however, did not believe that Patel's killing was a bias crime as investigations are on, The Herald reported

"I don't have any reason to believe that this was racially motivated," County Sheriff Barry Faile said on Friday.

In the February 22 Kansas killing, Kuchibhotla was shot dead by a man screaming, "Get out of my country".

Another Indian Alok Madasani, who was with the victim at a bar, and an American, Ian Grillot, who tried to stop the shooting, were also shot and injured.

Adam Purinton, a white and a former Navy SEAL was arrested and charged with murder. He had reportedly said that he had shot two Iranians after shooting the Indians.

The hate crime was condemned by leaders in both the US and India.

In his State of the Union address to the joint session of the Congress on February 28, Trump said: "Last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a Nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms."

Local WSOCTV said that in Lancaster there was a lot of anger over the killing of Patel, who was considered an important member of the community and a kind person who treated his customers as friends and helped law enforcement.

His store was close to the Sheriff's office and deputies often frequented the store.

Faile said on TV that Patel was a "great family man" and a friend.

The station said that Patel was survived by his wife and child in elementary school, who were at home when he was killed.

People had created an impromptu shrine outside Patel's Speed Mart store by leaving balloons and flowers in his memory, the station said. A sign on door read, "Store closed for few days because of family emergency. Sorry for the inconvenience."

A tearful customer, Nicole Jones, told the station that when someone didn't have money, Patel gave them food. "I would have no idea who would do this to him as good as he is to everybody," she said.

A store employee, Keira Baskin, said that he only wanted the best for his employees and his family.

On Thursday night a woman called the police and said that she heard screaming and gunshots and when sheriff's deputies arrived there they found Patel dead from apparent gunshot wounds a few feet from his house, WBTV reported.

Police found two shell casings at the crime scene. A police dog could not pick up any scent to follow from there, WSOCTV reported.
 

With the nation still in shock from the killing of an Indian engineer in the US last week, another Indian-origin businessman has been shot dead outside his home in South Carolina, media reports said.

On Thursday night, Harnish Patel had closed his shop at 11.24 pm and barely 10 minutes later he was shot dead outside his house in Lancaster, a media report said.

Patel's death comes two days after President Donald Trump had condemned as "hate and evil" the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, the previous Wednesday in a Kansas bar.

Local officials in Lancaster, however, did not believe that Patel's killing was a bias crime as investigations are on, The Herald reported

"I don't have any reason to believe that this was racially motivated," County Sheriff Barry Faile said on Friday.

In the February 22 Kansas killing, Kuchibhotla was shot dead by a man screaming, "Get out of my country".

Another Indian Alok Madasani, who was with the victim at a bar, and an American, Ian Grillot, who tried to stop the shooting, were also shot and injured.

Adam Purinton, a white and a former Navy SEAL was arrested and charged with murder. He had reportedly said that he had shot two Iranians after shooting the Indians.

The hate crime was condemned by leaders in both the US and India.

In his State of the Union address to the joint session of the Congress on February 28, Trump said: "Last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a Nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms."

Local WSOCTV said that in Lancaster there was a lot of anger over the killing of Patel, who was considered an important member of the community and a kind person who treated his customers as friends and helped law enforcement.

His store was close to the Sheriff's office and deputies often frequented the store.

Faile said on TV that Patel was a "great family man" and a friend.

The station said that Patel was survived by his wife and child in elementary school, who were at home when he was killed.

People had created an impromptu shrine outside Patel's Speed Mart store by leaving balloons and flowers in his memory, the station said. A sign on door read, "Store closed for few days because of family emergency. Sorry for the inconvenience."

A tearful customer, Nicole Jones, told the station that when someone didn't have money, Patel gave them food. "I would have no idea who would do this to him as good as he is to everybody," she said.

A store employee, Keira Baskin, said that he only wanted the best for his employees and his family.

On Thursday night a woman called the police and said that she heard screaming and gunshots and when sheriff's deputies arrived there they found Patel dead from apparent gunshot wounds a few feet from his house, WBTV reported.

Police found two shell casings at the crime scene. A police dog could not pick up any scent to follow from there, WSOCTV reported.
 

 A court on Saturday granted bail to two more accused in the case relating to the Rs 3,600 crore ($528 million) AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed the bail pleas of Delhi-based Media Exim Pvt. Ltd's Director R.K. Nanda and former Director J.B. Subramaniyam on furnishing personal bonds of Rs 1 lakh and sureties of the like amount each.

After considering a supplementary charge sheet in the case, the court had earlier said there were sufficient evidence against Nanda and Subramaniyam under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June last year filed a fresh charge sheet against British national Christian Michel James, Media Exim, Nanda and Subramaniyam in its ongoing money laundering probe into the helicopter deal.

According to the ED, Media Exim is a shell company of James and allegedly incorporated for facilitating transactions of kickbacks paid to James by Finmeccanica, a group firm of AgustaWestland.

James allegedly received around Rs 225 crore as kickbacks from AgustaWestland for the deal inked for the purchase of 12 helicopters in the guise of transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country.

The agency is said to have found that of the kickbacks received by James, Rs 6.33 crore was routed to India through his shell company Media Exim from his Dubai-based Global Services FZE.

"Nanda and Subramaniyam were appointed Directors of Media Exim Pvt. Ltd., who willingly and knowingly connived with James and helped him in acquiring immovable and movable properties or assets in Delhi, which have already been attached," the ED had said.

ED and CBI had also notified an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against James after a city court issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

Investigators said James is currently staying in Dubai.

Earlier the court had granted bail to other accused in the case, including former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer and businessman Gautam Khaitan.

The first charge sheet was filed in the case in November 2014 against Gautam Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix and Gerosa and Haschke.

 A court on Saturday granted bail to two more accused in the case relating to the Rs 3,600 crore ($528 million) AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed the bail pleas of Delhi-based Media Exim Pvt. Ltd's Director R.K. Nanda and former Director J.B. Subramaniyam on furnishing personal bonds of Rs 1 lakh and sureties of the like amount each.

After considering a supplementary charge sheet in the case, the court had earlier said there were sufficient evidence against Nanda and Subramaniyam under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June last year filed a fresh charge sheet against British national Christian Michel James, Media Exim, Nanda and Subramaniyam in its ongoing money laundering probe into the helicopter deal.

According to the ED, Media Exim is a shell company of James and allegedly incorporated for facilitating transactions of kickbacks paid to James by Finmeccanica, a group firm of AgustaWestland.

James allegedly received around Rs 225 crore as kickbacks from AgustaWestland for the deal inked for the purchase of 12 helicopters in the guise of transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country.

The agency is said to have found that of the kickbacks received by James, Rs 6.33 crore was routed to India through his shell company Media Exim from his Dubai-based Global Services FZE.

"Nanda and Subramaniyam were appointed Directors of Media Exim Pvt. Ltd., who willingly and knowingly connived with James and helped him in acquiring immovable and movable properties or assets in Delhi, which have already been attached," the ED had said.

ED and CBI had also notified an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against James after a city court issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

Investigators said James is currently staying in Dubai.

Earlier the court had granted bail to other accused in the case, including former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer and businessman Gautam Khaitan.

The first charge sheet was filed in the case in November 2014 against Gautam Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix and Gerosa and Haschke.

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon ripped apart the Indian batting with career-best figures of 8/50 to bundle out the hosts for a paltry 189 in their first innings of the second cricket Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Opener Lokesh Rahul (90) was the lone batsman to offer some kind of resistance as the Indians succumbed to the Aussie spinners for the third consecutive time in the series.

Resuming the tea session at 168/5, India lost the remaining five wickets in a span of just 21 runs on a wicket that had good bounce for the batsmen.

Former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and parliamenterian Syed Shahabuddin, who was suffering from a prolonged illness, died at a hospital in this suburb of the national capital on Saturday morning, a close aide said.

"Shahabuddin, former President of All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat left for heavenly abode this morning at 6.22 am., " close associate Navaid Hamid, who is currently President of the All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat said.

He was admitted at the Jaypee Hospital, Noida.

Justin Bieber dominates this year's nominations at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards, followed closely by Meghan Trainor and Selena Gomez.

The Sorry singer is nominated for six awards, including best male artist, fiercest fans, best crush song, best dance track, best breakup song and favorite tour, reported Billboard.

Trainor and Gomez each nabbed five nominations, while DNCE and Kelsea Ballerini, who both have four nominations.

Ballerini is also one of five hosts for this year's awards show, alongside Hamilton star Jordan Fisher, Descendants actress Sofia Carson, Radio Disney host and singer Alex Aiono, and Stuck in the Middle star Jenna Ortega.

The RDMAs will take place on April 29, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Brazil lost 40,864 formal jobs in January, the 22nd consecutive month in which the country saw more firings than hirings, the country's Labour Ministry said.

The last time the country registered a positive balance of job generation was March 2015, when the economy registered the net generation of 19,000 jobs, the ministry said on Friday.

Despite the negative figures, the January results remain better than the numbers registered in January 2016, when 99,694 jobs were lost, Xinhua news agency reported.

In 2016, the country lost a total of 1.3 million jobs, but Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has said recently that the country's economy has started to resume its growth in the beginning of the year.

Brazil has been slogging through two years of recession and the government has pushed forward a series of reforms regarding labour, social security and secondary education.

However, the opposition said the reforms will only deepen the crisis in Brazil's economy.

Carrying out his campaign trail in his Lok Sabha constituency ahead of the last phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on March 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Varanasi’s Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Saturday.

Huge crowd of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters greeted him in front of the university as he drove inside the campus and continued his roadshow to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. 

PM Modi offered prayers at the Kashi temple amidst the protests outside the Kashi temple as BJP workers demanded removal of SP posters. He also offered prayers at the Kaal Bhairav Temple before addressing an election rally in Jaunpur at 3pm.

Besides Modi’s visit, the city is also buzzing for the series of rallies and roadshows to be held later during the day jointly by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati in Rohaniya.

Security forces have been beefed up in the city for the high-profile rallies.

Hours before PM's visit, a minor scuffle between BJP and SP workers broke outside the Singh Dwar in BHU campus.

Also some SP workers arranged a stage in the middle of the route road blocking the way for the PM's visit and the police had to forcefully remove it. Seven SP workers.were detained in the incident.

The sixth phase of the state assembly elections is underway on Saturday for the 49 assembly seats.

The election results of the state will be announced on March 11.

US tech giant Google will release a new Pixel smartphone later this year. The device, with the built-in personal Google Assistant, will directly competes with the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

"The device will remain 'premium' in its next iteration and the company is not interested in offering a low-cost version, preferring instead to let that segment be addressed by its external hardware partners," techcrunch.com quoted Rick Osterloh, Google SVP of Hardware as saying. 

Launched last year, Pixel is the first smartphone that works as an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator. 

The 5-inch smartphone is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset, 4GB of RAM and runs on Android Nougat 7.0 operating system. 

The device also has Pixel Imprint — a fingerprint scanner on the back of the smartphone for quick access to all apps, texts and e-mails.

Brisk 25 per cent polling was reported amid tight security from most of the 38 assembly constituencies in Manipur that voted on Saturday, an official said at 9.30 am.

Irom Sharmila, the human rights campaigner, was among those who cast votes early in the morning.

Special provisions were made for senior citizens and the physically challenged to escape long queues.

For the first time, police and state forces were not allowed inside the polling stations.

Longjam Tomba, associated with a candidate said that this was for the first time that he and his colleagues were not allowed to enter the campus. 

He said: "We are on guard duty of a candidate. We had to stay outside while the candidate went inside to cast his vote."

Rocky Laishram, a police constable, said: "I had gone inside to cast my vote. I was stopped at the main gate and frisked for my service gun."

Central paramilitary forces personnel were manning all polling stations. No other persons, other than voters, were allowed inside.

A polling officer said: "Usually people come out in large numbers after lunch. We are expecting high polling by 3 pm. So far there has been no complaint of impersonation or proxy voting."

Thirty-eight of the 60 Manipur constituencies that were polling for the 11th state legislative assembly on Saturday were spread across Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Phezerol districts.

There are 168 candidates in the fray in the first phase, which includes six women.

There are 5,44,050 male and 5,75,220 female voters for the first phase polling. Besides 5169 male and 1915 female service voters are expected to cast votes.

There are 1,643 polling stations.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded candidates to all the 38 constituencies while the ruling Congress has fielded one less.

The election is seen as a major test for the Okram Ibobi Singh-led Congress government in the state which has been in power for the last 15 years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed to the people of Manipur and Uttar Pradesh to vote in the ongoing state assembly polls.

"Today (Saturday) is the first phase of the Manipur assembly polls. I appeal to voters in the seats polling today to turnout in record numbers and vote," Modi tweeted.

"I appeal to all in Uttar Pradesh to join this festival of democracy and vote in large numbers," the Prime Minister said.

Polling began for the first phase in 38 Manipur constituencies for the 11th state legislative assembly while for 49 seats in the sixth and penultimate phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections on Saturday morning.

The Hubble space telescope has captured an image to showcase an incredible massive galaxy, UGC 12591, that lies just under 400 million light-years away from the Earth.

The galaxy and its halo together contain several hundred billion times the mass of the Sun — four times the mass of the Milky Way, NASA said in a statement on Friday.

It also whirls round extremely quickly, rotating at speeds of up to 1.8 million kilometers per hour, it added.

UGC 12591 sits somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral. 

It lies in the westernmost region of the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster, a long chain of galaxy clusters that stretches out for hundreds of light-years ? one of the largest known structures in the cosmos.

Observations with Hubble are helping astronomers to understand the mass of UGC 12591, and to determine whether the galaxy simply formed and grew slowly over time, or whether it might have grown unusually massive by colliding and merging with another large galaxy at some point in its past, NASA said.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a collaboration between NASA and European Space Agency.

About 13 per cent polling was witnessed in the first three hours of the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh elections in 49 Assembly seats that started amidst tight security arrangements this morning.

"The polling was about 13 per cent till 10 am. It's going on peacefully," office of UP Chief Electoral Officer said here.

The Assembly segments of Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency, represented by firebrand BJP leader Yogi Adityanath, and Mau, where jailed gangster-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari is in fray, also figure in this penultimate phase of polling.

This phase will also cover some districts bordering Nepal.

Around 1.72 crore voters, including 94.60 lakh men and 77.84 lakh women, are eligible to cast their votes in this round to decide the fate of 635 candidates, including 63 women.

The districts where polling is going on in the sixth phase are Mau, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh and Ballia.

Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency has 10 Assembly seats of which the SP had won nine in 2012 but this time party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has not addressed a single meeting in his parliamentary constituency.

The prestige of Adityanath and Union minister Kalraj Mishra, who represents Deoria in the Lok Sabha, is also at stake.

The BJP is contesting 45 seats and its ally, the Apna Dal, one. Another BJP partner, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, is contesting three seats. While the BSP has fielded candidates on all the 49 seats, the SP is contesting 40 seats and the Congress nine under an alliance.

Prominent candidates in this phase include BSP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya from Padrauna (Kushinagar), former BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva (Deoria), Shyam Bahadur Yadav (SP), son of former Governor Ram Naresh Yadav from Fulpur Pawai (Azamgarh) and SP turncoats Ambika Chowhdury and Narad Rai who are contesting on BSP ticket from Fefna (Ballia) and Ballia Sadar.

Mukhtar is contesting from Mau and his son Abbas is in fray from adjoining Ghosi seat in Mau district. In the 2012 Assembly polls, of the 49 seats, 27 were won by the SP, 9 by the BSP, 7 by the BJP, 4 by the Congress and 2 by others.

There will be 17,926 polling booths and 10,820 polling centres in this phase.

The highest number of 23 candidates are contesting from Gorakhpur and the least candidates, numbering seven are pitted for Mohammadabad Gohna seat in Mau district.

Central Para Military Forces have already reached the constituencies and carried out flag march in sensitive areas.

Indo-Nepal border with Maharajganj and Gorakhpur, and border with Bihar have been sealed.

The polling percentage on these 49 seats in sixth phase was 55.04 in the 2012 Assembly polls.

Singer-actress Miley Cyrus and actor Liam Hemsworth are reportedly fighting over their prenuptial ahead of their wedding.

Accodring to a source, the couple has been "bickering over a prenuptial agreement, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The 24-year-old has told Hemsworth that "she wants him to sign a prenup before they get married" so that she could protect her estimated $200 million net worth, according to Life & Style magazine.

But the Independence Day: Resurgence actor is "shocked and annoyed with Miley and accused her of not trusting him". 

The insider says the "business-minded" singer "worked hard to achieve her fame and fortune, and she won't let anyone, not even Liam take it away from her. 

BJP leader Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane was questioned by Goa Police in connection with the murder of a villager in Sattari taluka after his name cropped up in the 2006 case following the interrogation of his ex-driver and witness Pandurang Adarkar.

Vishwajit Krishnarao Rane was summoned by us last evening. He was questioned for over two hours by a team of policemen as we wanted answers to some questions which arose after the interrogation of the witness," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Bicholim) Ramesh Gaonkar said.

Rane was questioned at Valpoi police station by a team comprising the DSP and local Police Inspector Dipak Pednekar, who is investigating the case.

The DSP said that Rane was allowed to leave after questioning and may be summoned again if his statement is needed during the course of investigation.

Adarkar recently claimed that he was witness to the murder of one Shanu Gaonkar in 2006. According to him, Rane killed Gaonkar to avenge the killing of his brother Prithviraj who was lynched by a mob in 2005.

Also, the witness confessed to police that Rane shot dead Gaonkar and disposed off his body at Anmod Ghat, a hilly area on the Goa-Karnataka border.

Police have since then launched a massive search in the Ghats and are scouting the region for more than 10 days to search for evidence, but it has not yielded any results.

Meanwhile, Rane said he is ready to co-operate with the police in the investigation so that all allegations against him are cleared.

"I am available for police investigation whenever they want. I have nothing to hide," said the 43-year-old leader, who contested the February 4 Goa Legislative Assembly elections from Poriem constituency on a BJP ticket against Congress' Leader of Opposition Pratapsinh Rane.

The murder came to light last week when a video of Adarkar, in which he purportedly claimed he was witness to Rane shooting Gaonkar dead in Sattari tehsil, went viral on social media.