Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has admitted defeat in Mosul, the terror group's biggest stronghold in Iraq, and has ordered militants to either flee or kill themselves in suicide attacks, the media reported.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a "farewell speech" to his combatants in battlefields, ordering them to "flee and hide in mountainous areas" in Iraq and Syria, Iraqi News reported on Wednesday.

The text of the speech was disseminated among other speakers to read out to fighters at various areas in western Mosul.

The directives tell fighters to blow themselves up once encircled by Iraqi troops, adding that senior commanders close to Baghdadi were moving on the borderline between Syria and Iraq.

Iraqi forces have made remarkable gains since launching a renewed offensive on February 19 to retake western Mosul from IS militants.

The government said in January it had retaken the eastern side of the city following three months of fighting, Iraqi News added.

Earlier this month, unconfirmed news claimed that Baghdadi, whose exact whereabouts remain unknown, had been seriously wounded when airstrikes targeted a senior leadership meeting he chaired near the borders with Syria.

In 2014, IS declared Mosul its caliphate.

India on Thursday strongly condemned the twin terror attack in Kabul killing more than a dozen people, and voiced its resolve to work with Afghanistan to bring the perpetrators of terrorist violence to justice.

"India has been a victim of terrorist violence and understands the pain and suffering of the people of Afghanistan.

"We reiterate our resolve to work with Afghanistan to bring the perpetrators of terrorist violence to the justice they deserve wherever they may be," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement here.

It also conveyed condolences to the people and the Government of Afghanistan for the loss of lives and property in yesterday's blast. "It is our sincere hope that the injured will make early recovery," it added.

The near-simultaneous attacks struck the Afghan capital around noon on Wednesday. First, a suicide car bomber targeted a police station in western Kabul. The explosion was followed by a gun battle between the police and several attackers.

In the second attack, a bomber detonated explosives outside offices of the intelligence service in eastern Kabul.

Actress Shruti Haasan is happy for her sister Akshara, who has teamed up with Tamil superstar Ajith in upcoming Tamil action thriller Vivegam Shruti, who considers Ajith to be a "gentleman", had worked with him in 2015 Tamil blockbuster Vedalam.

"I'm happy for Akshara. Ajith is such a gentleman, and to be working with him will be special and memorable for any actor. I'm glad Akshara is getting to work with him," Shruti told.

In Vivegam, it is rumoured that Ajith, who plays an Interpol agent, comes to Akshara's rescue.

Asked if Akshara takes her elder sister's advice on scripts, Shruti said: "We don't discuss scripts. She's very independent and I think it's good this way."

Having made her acting debut with Dhanush and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Shamitabh, Akshara will be next seen in romantic comedy Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana.

Vivegam is being directed by Siva, and it also stars Kajal Aggarwal.

Expressing distress at gaining so much political attention, DU student Gurmehar Kaur, the 20-year-old Kargil martyr’s daughter, clarified on Thursday that she had no intention of joining politics.

“The issue on which I spoke went out of hand. I would like to clarify that I do not want to enter politics,” Gurmehar told a daily newspaper from home in Jalandhar.

Gurmehar's social media campaign against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) following the violence that erupted at Ramjas College of the Delhi University went viral.

“I just gave my opinion, and I never expected the whole thing to take such a turn. I had a really bad time. I am not in a state to talk about it, and I cannot take it anymore,” she added.

A day after filing complaint to the DCW after receiving online ‘rape threats’ and people calling her ‘anti-national’, Gurmehar on Tuesday announced her withdrawal from the campaign, saying, “This is all a 20-year-old could take”.

“I am withdrawing from the campaign. Congratulations everyone. I request to be left alone. I said what I had to say,” Gurmehar tweeted.

"I have been through a lot and this is all my 20 year self could take," she said.

Further clarifying on the campaign, Gurmegar said that the campaign is about students and not about me.

"The campaign is about students and not about me. Please go to the march in huge numbers. Best of luck," she added.

"To anyone questioning my courage and bravery. I've shown more than enough," she added.

Gurmehar on Sunday alleged to have received “rape threats” after her post on Facebook went viral. “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP,” she posted.

Ramjas College on February 22 witnessed violent clashes between members of the ABVP and the All India Students Association (AISA). The ABVP carried out the protest against an event invite to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid, accused in sedition case last year for an event in the college.

Professors and students of the college were injured during the clashes.

As many as 43 winners in the just concluded Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are facing criminal cases, says a report. This implies that nearly 19 per cent of the newly elected corporators have criminal charges against them, including for offences like attempt to murder and rape, as per an analysis of the affidavits of 225 winners out of the total 227 in BMC polls recently done by NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch.

Maharashtra Election Watch's state-cordinator Sharad Kumar said, "As long as people don't go out to vote in large numbers, political parties will pick winning candidates who have money and muscle power."

According to the report compiled by the two NGOs, Shiv Sena's Umesh Subhash Mane, who won from ward no. 115, has in his affidavit declared a case related to attempt to murder (Indian Penal Code section 307) against him.

Besides, three of the winners have cases of rape (IPC section 376) and assault or criminal force to woman with an intent to outrage her modesty (IPC section 354) against them, the report said.

Out of the 225 winners whose affidavits were analysed, 22 from Shiv Sena, 11 from BJP, 3 from MNS, 2 from Congress, one each from NCP, SP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and 2 independents are facing criminal cases, it said.

The remaining two affidavits out of the total 227 winners were not analysed as they were not available at the time of making the report, the NGOs said in a statement.

"This time the vote percentage has increased for the first time since the last 25 years. Similarly, the number of candidates with criminal background has also gone down," Kumar said.

"Ever since affidavits have been made compulsory for candidates, voters have become aware of their background. The number of candidates with criminal cases against them is also coming down," he claimed, without elaborating on the figures.

The report also mentioned that among the winners, 144 are crorepatis, while five winners have declared assets below Rs.4 lakh. Besides, seven winners have declared their total annual income to be over Rs.50 lakh.

As per the affidavits, five winners have declared their ages to be between 21 and 24 years, 154 of the new corporators are aged between 25 and 50, while 66 are in the 51 to 80 years age bracket.

In the recently concluded polls to the 227-member BMC, Shiv Sena won 84 seats, BJP-82, Congress-31, NCP-9, MNS-7, SP-6, MIM-3, Akhil Bharatiya Sena-1 and Independents-4.

The Jat agitation for quota in jobs and education reached Delhi on Thursday with thousands of community members from the northern states descending at Jantar Mantar here to extend support to the movement in Haryana.

Roads leading to the protest hub were packed with Jat agitators from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab, giving a tough time to motorists and commuters.

Police and traffic personnel were deployed at major roundabouts and roads for managing the protesters reaching the venue.

"Jat Nyay Dharna is being held at Jantar Mantar to seek justice for the community members in Haryana and highlight our quota demand," said Yashpal Malik, president of Akhil Bhartiya Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti spearheading the movement.

The community members will submit a memorandum on the quota issue to the President and the prime minister and take out a march to Parliament, he said.

Besides seeking quota in education and government jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, Jats are demanding the release of those jailed during last year's stir, withdrawal of cases slapped during the protest and government jobs for the kin of those killed and injured while taking part in the agitation.

As many as 30 people were killed and property worth crores was damaged at many places in Haryana during 2016 violent Jat stir.

Sunayana Dumala, the wife of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the 32-year-old engineer who was killed after an American man opened fire in a Kansas city bar, said on Wednesday she will return to the United States to “fulfill” her husband’s dream.

"This is my Srinu's dream, and it is the least I could do for my Srinivas – fulfill his dreams through my eyes – and it is for this I have to come back to the USA," said Sunayana.

Sunayana, who reached Hyderabad to perform the last rites of her husband said it in a Facebook post which went viral on Wednesday.

Srinivas was to turn 33 on March 9 and they had plans to visit New Jersey for celebrating their cousin’s engagement.

"He was excited and eagerly waiting for the event, and we had plans to shop this past weekend for the trip. Things turned out differently, I was on my way to India with him in a coffin," she said.

Srinivas’s mother said she will not let her younger son Sai Kishore to return to US. However, Sunayana is determined to return back to US and continue her life that once she and her husband once dreamt of building a house in the foreign country.

Recalling their first time meet in 2006, their lovely relationship of friendship and marriage in 2012 gave credit to Srinivas for giving her courage to pursue her dream in US of studying and attaining a job.

"I started working only recently, May 2016. He'd played a major role in me attaining a job," said Sunayna.

Sunayana now works at Intouch Solutions in Kansas.

Sunayana was on H4 dependent visa while Srinivas was on H1B visa.

Srinivas, the Hyderabad engineer employed with the Garmin headquarters in Olathe was out with his friend and colleague Alok Madasani on February 22 when the attacker believed to be an ex-navy serviceman fired shots at them mistaking them for “Middle Easterners” after shouting “get out of my country”

The 51-year-old shooter, Adam Purinton was charged with murder and attempted murder on February 23.

NASA on Thursday released its 2017-2018 software catalog, which offers an extensive portfolio of software products for a wide variety of technical applications, all free of charge to the public, without any royalty or copyright fees.

"The software catalog is our way of supporting the innovation economy by granting access to tools used by today's top aerospace professionals to entrepreneurs, small businesses, academia and industry," said Steve Jurczyk, Associate Administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington. 

Available in both hard copy and online, this edition of the publication has contributions from all the agency's centres on data processing/storage, business systems, operations, propulsion and aeronautics. 

It includes many of the tools NASA uses to explore space and broaden our understanding of the universe. 

One of the programmes included in the new NASA software catalog is LEWICE, developed to help study the effects of ice on an aircraft in flight.

A number of software packages are being presented for release for the first time. Each catalog entry is accompanied with a plain language description of what it does.

NASA published the first edition of its software catalog in April 2014. Since then, NASA has shared thousands of its software programs with students, industry, individuals and other government agencies.

"Software has been a critical component of each of NASA's mission successes and scientific discoveries. In fact, more than 30 per cent of all reported NASA innovations are software," said Dan Lockney, NASA's Technology Transfer programme executive. 

"We're pleased to transfer these tools to other sectors and excited at the prospect of seeing them implemented in new and creative ways," Lockney said.

Kuala Lumpur has cancelled a visa-free travel deal with Pyongyang as a diplomatic spat deepens over the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea's leader, national news agency Bernama reported on Thursday.

The cancellation will take effect on March 6, after which North Koreans entering Malaysia will be required to obtain a visa, Malaysian news agency quoted the country's deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying.

Before the murder of Kim Jong-Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, the two countries enjoyed relatively warm ties, with some bilateral trade and citizens from both countries entitled to travel to the other under a unique reciprocal visa-free deal.

Casey Affleck, who won the best actor Oscar this year, has spoken about the sexual harassment allegations against him, saying "everyone deserves to be treated with respect in the workplace and anywhere else." 

The actor was accused of sexual harassment by two female co-workers while making the 2010 mockumentary I'm Still Here, which he directed.

Speaking to the Boston Globe, the actor acknowledged the controversy that has dogged his awards-season run.

"I believe that any kind of mistreatment of anyone for any reason is unacceptable and abhorrent, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect in the workplace and anywhere else." 

He then responded to the criticism over his Academy Award win.

"There's really nothing I can do about it, other than live my life the way I know I live it and to speak to what my own values are and how I try to live by them all the time," he said while addressing the people who condemned his win.

Promoting cashless transactions in the country, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have started charging higher amount for cash deposits and withdrawals.

“Effective from March 1, cash transaction charges for savings and salary accounts are being revised,” HDFC Bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

“First four transactions would be free every month. 5th transaction onwards Rs.150 per transaction (plus taxes & cess) would be levied,” the statement added.

The bank also put a cap at Rs.25,000 per day on third-party cash transactions.

Meanwhile, on home branch transactions, the bank will allow deposits or withdrawals of up to Rs.2 lakh free of cost per day. Beyond Rs.2 lakh, customers will have to pay Rs.5 per Rs.1,000, or Rs.150 would be charged, whichever is higher.

For non-home branch customers, transaction beyond Rs.25,000 a day will be charged of Rs.5 per Rs.1,000, or Rs.150.

The ICICI Bank also follows almost the same rules. There is no charge for the first four transactions in a month in home branch while Rs.5 per Rs.1,000 are being charged thereafter.

In the case of Axis Bank, five non-home branch transactions are free, subject to a maximum per-day deposit of Rs.50,000.

For deposits higher than Rs.50,000 or the sixth transaction, Axis charges Rs.2.50 per Rs.1,000, or Rs.95 per transaction.

The charges of ICICI and Axis came into effect early in January this year.

However, India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI) has not announced any cash-transaction charges so far.

Besides,Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Union Budget 2017 has proposed penalty for cash transactions above Rs.3 lakh.

Scientists at University of Manchester have developed a 'magical computer' that can grow as they compute.

By using DNA rather than traditional computer chips, the scientists from the University of Manchester, on Wednesday said that a single desktop computer could potentially utilise more processors than all the electronic computers in the world combined, Xinhua news agency reported.

The university is famous for its connection with wartime code-breaker Alan Turing, regarded as the founder of computer science.

Professor Ross King and his team have demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of engineering a nondeterministic universal Turing machine (NUTM).

Their research is to be published in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Society, Interface.

A spokesman at the university said: "The theoretical properties of such a computing machine, including its exponential boost in speed over electronic and quantum computers, have been well understood for many years. 

But the Manchester breakthrough demonstrates that it is actually possible to physically create a NUTM using DNA molecules.

"Imagine a computer is searching a maze and comes to a choice point, one path leading left, the other right. Electronic computers need to choose which path to follow first," explained King.

"But our new computer doesn't need to choose, for it can replicate itself and follow both paths at the same time, thus finding the answer faster," he added.

This 'magical' property is possible because the computer's processors are made of DNA rather than silicon chips. All electronic computers have a fixed number of chips.

The researchers further explained: "As DNA molecules are very small a desktop computer could potentially utilize more processors than all the electronic computers in the world combined — and therefore outperform the world's current fastest supercomputer, while consuming a tiny fraction of its energy."

Alan Turing's greatest achievement was inventing the concept of a universal Turing machine (UTM) — a computer that can be programmed to compute anything any other computer can compute. 

Electronic computers are a form of UTM, but no quantum UTM has yet been built.

Prime Minister Theresa May has faced her first parliamentary defeat over Brexit after Britain's upper house voted to amend and thereby delay a bill empowering her to begin talks for the UK's exit from the EU.

The House of Lords voted on Wednesday 358 to 256 for an amendment requiring ministers to protect the rights of EU nationals based in the UK following Brexit.

However, the government's defeat in the Lords could prove a symbolic one as MPs can remove the amendment when it comes back to the House of Commons.

The Department for Exiting the EU said: "We are disappointed the Lords have chosen to amend a bill that the Commons passed without amendment.

"The bill has a straightforward purpose – to enact the referendum result and allow the government to get on with the negotiations."

May has said that any guarantee of the rights of EU nationals must be part of a deal protecting UK expats overseas.

The amendment backed by the Lords requires the government to introduce proposals within three months of Article 50 to ensure EU citizens in the UK have the same residence rights after Brexit.

May has set an end of the month deadline to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will trigger the two-year deadline for Brexit negotiations.

MPs have already backed the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill without amendments and can remove the Lords' amendment when they vote on it again later this month.

The government is said to be confident of defeating the changes to the bill in the Commons.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Opposition Labour leader who ordered his MPs to support the bill unamended when it went through the Commons, described the result of the Lords vote as "great news", raising the possibility that he might tell his MPs to back the amendment in the Lower House.

"The Government must now do the decent thing and guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK," he said.

The Lords will vote next week on a further amendment which would give MPs a "meaningful vote" on the outcome of May's negotiations with the 28-member bloc. If that vote also goes against her, she could come under pressure from her own MPs to agree to that amendment passing into law.

The amended bill will return to the House of Commons on March 13 and 14, when MPs will debate whether to keep the changes.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has always rooted for gender equality, says after his assets will be shared equally between his son Abhishek and daughter Shweta.

Amitabh on Thursday shared a photograph of himself holding a card, which read: "When I die, my assets will be equally shared between my daughter and my son… Gender equality… We are equal."

The 74-year-old thespian captioned the image: "We are equal… And gender equality… The picture says it all."

Amitabh, a United Nations Ambassador for Girl Child, shared the same image on his official blog and wrote: "The office of the public servants that promote various campaigns are keen for this… And so I do it… Though talking about it and exhibiting its plea is hesitating for me".

On the film front, the actor is gearing up for the release of the third instalment of the Sarkar franchise, where he will reprise the role of Subhash Nagre. The film, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, also stars Jackie Shroff, Yami Gautam, Amit Sadh and Manoj Bajpayee.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the violent incident at Mathura's Jawaharbagh Park in which 28 persons were killed in a gun battle in June, 2016.

While disposing off nine petitions on the incident, the High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct the probe.

The hearing had been completed on February 20 and the court had reserved its judgement.

Members of the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Viacharik Satyagrah Sanstha led by Ram Briksha Yadav, a self-styled godman, owing allegiance to the Jai Gurudev sect, had encroached upon the park illegally for nearly two years.

On June 2, when police tried to evict them after a court order, Ram Yadav's supporters opened fire on the police, killing an inspector and a superintendent of police (SP), among others.

Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt on Thursday morning said he had received an extortion call from an unidentified caller, who threatened to harm his family. The matter was put an end to by the Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh police.

The filmmaker tweeted: "A bolt from the blue in the form of an extortion call and threat to my family was nipped in the bud by the Maharashtra and UP police in tandem. Gratitude."

Mahesh, on Wednesday, reportedly received calls by an unidentified caller, who demanded a sum of Rs 50 lakh and threatened to kill his daughter-actress Alia and wife Soni Razdan, if he didn't pay the demanded amount.

Two Civil Society groups in Meghalaya have sought the intervention of President Pranab Mukherjee to stop the attacks on RSS and BJP workers in Kerala allegedly by CPM workers.

The groups — Meghalaya Citizens Forum for Human Rights (MCFHR) and Meghalaya Conscious Citizen Forum (MCCF) — on Wednesday also staged a sit-in protest in Shillong, condemning these attacks.

"In the last 72 years almost 250 workers were killed and just recently from May 2016 till December 2016 eight RSS base BJP workers were killed in different district in Kerala," said MCFHR Convener, S P Sharma.

In a memorandum submitted to President Mukherjee through Meghalaya Governor Banwarilal Purohit, the groups said that they had also requested the Kerala government to this effect and to take necessary steps to announce rehabilitation package and compensation to the family members of the victims and also to the injured.

"As of now, 10 RSS and BJP workers have been killed and many injured. The situation has worsened due to the highly partisan approach by the concerned police officers," they said.

They also alleged that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the Home portfolio, did not respond to the RSS and BJP leaderships' request to visit Kannur district and initiate a move to convene a Peace Committee Meeting to stop the attacks.

"It is the duty of the state to provide safety and security to the people of the state without discrimination by the law enforcing authorities and the police act impartially while maintaining law and order," the memorandum stated.