Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has hit back at US President Donald Trump's remarks about the French capital's loss of appeal due to terror attacks, a media report said on Sunday.

On Saturday, Hidalgo tweeted a picture of herself with Mickey and Minnie Mouse celebrating the city's "dynamism and spirit of openness" and stressed on the inclusivity and energy of Paris, the BBC reported.

Trump made the remarks during a speech delivered on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbour, Maryland.

The US President claimed that a friend told him that "Paris is no longer Paris", seemingly because of the recent terror attacks that took place in the city.

Hidalgo's response came as France celebrated the 25th anniversary of Disneyland Paris.

The Paris mayor also challenged the suggestion that tourist numbers from the US were in decline, saying reservations were up 30 per cent in 2017.

According to figures published by the Paris Office of Tourism, 7,356,945 foreign tourists arrived at hotels in Paris between January and November 2016, 11.9 per cent fewer than in the same period the previous year.

Among American tourists, the decline was only slightly smaller – there were 1,387,191 hotel arrivals, down 9.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande also slammed Trump for his comments asking him not to disparage Paris, Efe news said.

"It is never good to show the slightest mistrust towards a friendly country," Hollande said.

"That is not what I do toward a friendly country and I ask the American President not to do it to France," he added.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday inaugurated the century old Town Hall and Asiatic Society Library here.

The society is one of the iconic locations in the city and houses a wide collection of some three lakh books in English, Spanish, Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Latin and Chinese languages among others.

"There was a threat to the heritage structure and it was in bad shape. The town hall has been well restored and library came out as a wonderful outcome," Fadnavis said after the inauguration.

The state government is serious about conserving our heritage as it is like protecting and promoting our culture for the youth and future generations, the CM said.

The Asiatic Society of Mumbai is a learned society in the field of Asian studies. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on November 26, 1804, and was founded by Sir James Mackintosh.

It was formed with an intention of "promoting useful knowledge, particularly such as is now immediately connected with India".

After the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established in London in 1823, the Literary Society of Bombay affiliated with it and was known as the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (BBRAS) since 1830.

The Bombay Geographical Society merged with it in 1873, followed by the Anthropological Society of Bombay in 1896. In 1954, it was separated from the Royal Asiatic Society and renamed as the Asiatic Society of Bombay.

E-cigarettes – touted as an alternative for smokers trying to kick the butt – may pose a higher risk of stroke than tobacco smoking, a new study has warned.

Researchers from Texas Tech University in the US exposed mice to e-cigarette vapour for 10 days and 30 days.

It was found that it had worse stroke outcome and neurological deficits, than those exposed to tobacco smoke.

E-cigarette exposure decreased glucose uptake in the brain. Glucose is responsible for fueling brain activity, according to researchers.

Both e-ciggarettes and tobacco smoke exposure for 30 days decreased Thrombomodulin (anti-coagulant) levels.

"From a brain health perspective, electronic-cigarette vaping is not safer than tobacco smoking and may pose a similar, if not higher risk for stroke severity," researchers said.

Use of e-cigarettes is a growing health concern in both smoking and nonsmoking populations.

Researchers said rigorous studies are needed to find the effects of the nicotine exposure via e-cigarettes on brain and stroke outcome.

Brazilian international Fabinho scored from the penalty spot as French Ligue 1 leaders Monaco edged out Guingamp 2-1 in an away fixture, extending their lead to three points.

Monaco returned to winning ways after a thrilling 5-3 loss to Manchester City in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 tie last week, reports Xinhua news agency.

Guingamp, who have shocked some of the big clubs in the French top division this season including Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon at their home ground, had Moustapha Diallo's header ruled offside in the 21st minute on Saturday evening.

Three minutes later, the visitors broke the deadlock as Thomas Lemar's free-kick was carelessly dealt with by Guingamp captain Jimmy Briand and Kamil Glik poked the ball in.

Monaco doubled their lead with four minutes remaining in the first half when Kylian Mbappe earned a penalty. The 18-year-old forward was fouled inside the box by hosts' goalkeeper Karl Johnsson and Fabinho stepped up to convert the resultant penalty.

However, Monaco failed to keep a clean-sheet as Guingamp's Etienne Didot fired into the top left corner of the goal.

Meanwhile Giovanni Sio scored in the 19th minute as Rennes edged past Lorient to climb to the eigth position. Lorient still remain at the bottom spot with 22 points from 27 games.

In other matches on Saturday evening, Angers thrashed Bastia 3-0, Bordeaux beat Lille 3-2, and Nancy registered a goalless draw with Toulouse.

Robert Lewandowski led the way with a hattrick as FC Bayern Munich hammered Hamburger SV 8-0 in a rather one-sided clash in the Bundesliga football championship here.

In the other match in the German top division on Saturday evening, Leipzig won their second game on the trot after beating Cologne 3-1, reports Xinhua news agency.

Table toppers Bayern showed no mercy with Hamburg as the German giants whitewashed the visitors, scoring thrice in the first half half and five times after halftime.

Hamburg worked out the first chance of the game as Douglas Santos pulled just wide following a corner in the 13th minute.

But the hosts broke the deadlock 17 minutes into the game after Arturo Vidal poked home Thomas Mueller's square pass.

Bayern needed another seven minutes to double the lead as Lewandowski smashed a penalty into the bottom right corner. 

The Poland striker remained in the thick of things scoring Bayern's third goal three minutes before the break.

Lewandowski wrapped his hattrick after the restart, clinching his 19th goal of the season from inside the box in the 54th minute.

Carlo Ancelotti's men kept on the relentless pressure as David Alaba tapped in Mueller's assist to make it 5-0 before substitute Kingsley Coman provided two goals in four minutes.

Bayern rounded off the dominant performance with a goal from star winger Arjen Robben, who finished off a solo run from inside the box with three minutes remaining.

With this result, Bayern Munich remain atop the standings with a five-point advantage whereas Hamburg slumped into the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, second placed Leipzig remain close on Bayern's heels after overcoming Cologne 3-1 on home soil.

They secured a perfect start in front of their home crowd as Emil Forsberg opened the scoring after Timo Werner headed a clearance into the path of the Swedish midfielder five minutes into the game.

Things went from bad to worse for Cologne after Dominik Maroh cleared a low cross from Naby Keita into the wrong goal to double the lead for the hosts in the 34th minute.

After the break, Cologne piled on the pressure and pulled one back through Yuya Osako, who slotted home at the near post in the 53rd minute.

Timo Werner restored Leipzig's two-goal lead against the run of play following a counter attack.

Ralph Hasenhuettl's men remained in control of the proceedings and reaped their second consecutive win.

Leipzig stay on the second place, five points adrift of front-runners Bayern, while Cologne continue to hold on to the seventh position on the standings.

Elsewhere, third placed Borussia Dortmund defeated Freiburg 3-0 thanks to a second-half brace from Bundesliga top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Leverkusen lost 2-0 to Mainz as the goals from Stefan Bell and Levin Oeztunali separated the two sides.

Augsburg came from behind to edge bottom dwelling Darmstadt 2-1 as Paul Verhaegh and Raul Bobadilla turned the tides. Berlin sealed a 2-0 victory over 10-men Frankfurt.

Benjamin Netanyahu has described his visit to Australia, a first for a serving Israeli Prime Minister, as "wonderful." 

Netanyahu and his wife Sara concluded their five-day trip to Sydney on Sunday by meeting with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

"This has been a wonderful visit here. You people are amazing," Netanyahu told Bishop before talks behind closed doors.

Netanyahu joked with Bishop, who had recently arrived home from a trip to the United States and Britain, that the pair had "shared more or less the same route." 

Netanyahu and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week agreed to deepen business and travel links between the two countries.

About 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters at Sydney's Town Hall on Thursday night complained that Netanyahu was being treated like a celebrity in Australia when he should be tried for war crimes.

He was also accused by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of frustrating negotiations with the U.S. to create a two-state solution to Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu met political, business and Jewish community leaders during his stay. He was accompanied by a large security contingent as he traveled around Sydney.

Netanyahu had been to Australia twice before but never as prime minister.

"I'd stay longer if I could," he told Bishop. 

'Benevolent bots' or software robots designed to improve articles on Wikipedia sometimes have online 'fights' over content that can continue for years, say scientists who warn that artificial intelligence systems may behave more like humans than expected.

Editing bots on Wikipedia undo vandalism, enforce bans, check spelling, create links and import content automatically, whereas other bots (which are non-editing) can mine data, identify data or identify copyright infringements.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Alan Turing Institute in the UK analysed how much they disrupted Wikipedia, observing how they interacted on 13 different language editions over ten years (from 2001 to 2010).

They found that bots interacted with one another, whether or not this was by design, and it led to unpredictable consequences.

Researchers said that bots are more like humans than you might expect. Bots appear to behave differently in culturally distinct online environments.

The findings are a warning to those using artificial intelligence for building autonomous vehicles, cyber security systems or for managing social media.

We may have to devote more attention to bots' diverse social life and their different cultures, researchers said.

The research found that although the online world has become an ecosystem of bots, our knowledge of how they interact with each other is still rather poor.

Although bots are automatons that do not have the capacity for emotions, bot to bot interactions are unpredictable and act in distinctive ways.

Researchers found that German editions of Wikipedia had fewest conflicts between bots, with each undoing another's edits 24 times, on average, over ten years.

This shows relative efficiency, when compared with bots on the Portuguese Wikipedia edition, which undid another bot's edits 185 times, on average, over ten years, researchers said.

Bots on English Wikipedia undid another bot's work 105 times, on average, over ten years, three times the rate of human reverts, they said.

The findings show that even simple autonomous algorithms can produce complex interactions that result in unintended consequences – 'sterile fights' that may continue for years, or reach deadlock in some cases.

While bots constitute a tiny proportion (0.1 per cent) of Wikipedia editors, they stand behind a significant proportion of all edits.

Although such conflicts represent a small proportion of bots' overall editorial activity, the findings are significant in highlighting their unpredictability and complexity.

"We find that bots behave differently in different cultural environments and their conflicts are also very different to the ones between human editors," said Milena Tsvetkova, from the Oxford Internet Institute.

"This has implications not only for how we design artificial agents but also for how we study them. We need more research into the sociology of bots," said Tsvetkova.

Driving around Delhi roads may not be easy but road safety drives in the city may soon turn out to be fun.

Delhi Traffic Police (DTP) has decided to dole out lessons on road safety through games that will be developed by tech-savvy students.

In order to make road safety lessons more engaging and interesting, DTP is planning to conduct a competition involving tech graduates who will develop games on road safety and road rules.

Billing it as an interesting project, the officer said they have come across many cases where criminals have been inspired by games to commit thefts or other crimes but here, games will be used to educate people against breaking traffic rules.

"We are planning to conduct a competition where students will develop games on road safety that will be used in traffic training parks and will also be available on our Facebook page," said a senior police officer.

The games will be of short duration- like two minutes or with four-five levels.

The officer said they will be conducting a competition likely in April or May between students of different universities where the best games will be chosen and rewarded.

"We are planning to approach IIT-Delhi, Delhi University, Delhi School of Engineering and other institutes for this initiative.

"A competition will be held where the best of the games will be chosen and students who have developed those games will also be given cash rewards," said the officer.

The chosen games can be funded through CSR activities and be used by Delhi Traffic Police, added the officer.

For students, it will be a good opportunity to showcase their skills.

"The fact that they won a competition organised by DTP will add to their CVs. They can get a copyright of the games developed by them," he added.

Driving around Delhi roads may not be easy but road safety drives in the city may soon turn out to be fun.

Delhi Traffic Police (DTP) has decided to dole out lessons on road safety through games that will be developed by tech-savvy students.

In order to make road safety lessons more engaging and interesting, DTP is planning to conduct a competition involving tech graduates who will develop games on road safety and road rules.

Billing it as an interesting project, the officer said they have come across many cases where criminals have been inspired by games to commit thefts or other crimes but here, games will be used to educate people against breaking traffic rules.

"We are planning to conduct a competition where students will develop games on road safety that will be used in traffic training parks and will also be available on our Facebook page," said a senior police officer.

The games will be of short duration- like two minutes or with four-five levels.

The officer said they will be conducting a competition likely in April or May between students of different universities where the best games will be chosen and rewarded.

"We are planning to approach IIT-Delhi, Delhi University, Delhi School of Engineering and other institutes for this initiative.

"A competition will be held where the best of the games will be chosen and students who have developed those games will also be given cash rewards," said the officer.

The chosen games can be funded through CSR activities and be used by Delhi Traffic Police, added the officer.

For students, it will be a good opportunity to showcase their skills.

"The fact that they won a competition organised by DTP will add to their CVs. They can get a copyright of the games developed by them," he added.

It was a trip down memory lane for Delhiites as over a 100 vintage beauties from the bygone era participated in the most awaited rally – The Statesman Vintage & Classic Car Rally – on Sunday in the heart of the national capital.

Belonging to different eras, some of the oldest and the most exclusive vintage and classic cars from all over the country left many car lovers overwhelmed as they drove down the roads of the city in the 51st Edition of the event.

The rally was flagged off by NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar from the Statesman House, Barakhamba Road, in the heart of Delhi and culminated at the National Stadium. The prizes were distributed by Amulya Kumar Patnaik, Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

Pre-judging of the participating cars had taken place on February 24-25 at Modern School, Barakhamba Road.

One of the most sought after events in Delhi, the annual rally has gone from strength to strength over the years.

In the 50th edition last year, 60 odd cars participated in the rally that dated back to 1939 or older while around 40 cars were from the 1940s. 

This time, over a hundred cars participated in the event that also saw the launch of a coffee-table book marking 50 years of the rally.

The rally first began in Delhi in the year 1964. Following its huge success, it was brought to Kolkata in 1968.

It was a trip down memory lane for Delhiites as over a 100 vintage beauties from the bygone era participated in the most awaited rally – The Statesman Vintage & Classic Car Rally – on Sunday in the heart of the national capital.

Belonging to different eras, some of the oldest and the most exclusive vintage and classic cars from all over the country left many car lovers overwhelmed as they drove down the roads of the city in the 51st Edition of the event.

The rally was flagged off by NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar from the Statesman House, Barakhamba Road, in the heart of Delhi and culminated at the National Stadium. The prizes were distributed by Amulya Kumar Patnaik, Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

Pre-judging of the participating cars had taken place on February 24-25 at Modern School, Barakhamba Road.

One of the most sought after events in Delhi, the annual rally has gone from strength to strength over the years.

In the 50th edition last year, 60 odd cars participated in the rally that dated back to 1939 or older while around 40 cars were from the 1940s. 

This time, over a hundred cars participated in the event that also saw the launch of a coffee-table book marking 50 years of the rally.

The rally first began in Delhi in the year 1964. Following its huge success, it was brought to Kolkata in 1968.

As the road gains elevation, temperature starts to fall. Concrete jungle turns into green. You sure know you have entered Himachal when you see happy faces greeting you with a pleasant and warm smile as you go deeper into this magical world of mountains where the culture and traditions are as diverse as its terrain.

If you are looking for an enriching experience of traditions and rituals of Himachal, then one must-see place would be Mandi. Also called Chhota Kashi, it is the oldest city in India to see human settlement after Benaras. Himachal’s sub-montane dwellers practice settled cultivation and thus, most of their festivals are agricultural and religious celebrations.

Folk songs sung in Himachali language is similar to Punjabi when it comes to accent and vocabulary. Women and girls form circles and dance around, swirling and clapping while tapping to the beats of folk songs to perform dance form Mandyali luddi. It is more of like storytelling; this dance form is entertaining and energetic at the same time.

A myriad of musical instruments like Ranasingha, Karna, Turhi, Flute, Ektara, Kindari, Jhanih, Maniara, Chimta, Ghariyal and Ghunghru are played to provide music for the songs and the dances.

Shiv Badar Nati is a dance form specially performed in the upper hills of Mandi to reverberate with the sound of traditional music when men and women celebrate Maha shivratri. The dancers look in sync with each other and dance gracefully to the tunes.

One of the major festivals where villagers march the idols of Lord Shiva along the river Beas to local temples, some conclude the march at Baijnath (major temple of Lord Shiva since 13th century, 100 km away from Mandi). The magnificence of this festival has reached an international level. There is a seven-day long international Shivratri fair where the whole town shines bright with lights and festive decorations. The fair includes star nights where singers and dancers from all across the world perform with local bands to celebrate Maha shivratri around February or March every year.

Another festival worth witnessing is Prashar fair; a three-day festival starts a day before Sankranti day during Ashada (June month). Also known as Prashar Mela is a noteworthy religious event that draws pilgrims from all over the country. The fair is hosted on the lush meadows of Prashar. During festival time devotees carry Shuka Dev deity from Thatta village to Prashar Lake. Various villagers also carry deities and Ratha Yatra from their individual villages. Prashar Mela’s cultural extravaganza highlights the cultural legacy of the beautiful state of Himachal Pradesh.

Food stalls, souvenirs shops, trinkets and toys and rides like the Ferris wheel are setup by the locals during this Mela. Apart from the fair, the stunning scenery of Mandi valley and its nearby attractions captivates tourists.

Festive mode of this place continues throughout the year as there are a large number of old temples with innumerable religious and agrarian festivals to be celebrated. With high spirits and strong faith in deities, the locals believe in celebrating every festival with the same enthusiasm.

Nabahi devi, Kamaksha, Kamrunag, Kutah and Magru Mahadev fair are other major festivals in and around Mandi, which are worth celebrating with the natives and fall in love with this lush green valley even more.

Lullabies may have evolved as a way to signal to children that their needs for attention are being met, while freeing the parents to perform other tasks, such as foraging for food or caring for another offspring, Harvard scientists suggest.

Infant-directed song might later have evolved into the more complex forms of music we hear in our modern world, researchers said.

Music is a tricky topic for evolutionary science: it turns up in many cultures around the world in many different contexts, but no one knows why humans are the only musical species.

"There has been a lot of attention paid to the question of where music came from, but none of the theories have been very successful in predicting the features of music or musical behaviour," said Max Krasnow, from Harvard.

"What we are trying to do with this paper is develop a theory of music that is grounded in evolutionary biology, human life history and the basic features of mammalian ecology," said Krasnow.

At the core of their theory, Krasnow said, is the notion that parents and infants are engaged in an "arms race" over an invaluable resource – attention.

"Particularly in an ancestral world, where there are predators and other people that pose a risk, and infants don't know which foods are poisonous and what activities are hazardous, an infant can be kept safe by an attentive parent," he said.

While there is some cooperation in the battle for that resource – parents want to satisfy infants appetite for attention because their cries might attract predators, while children need to ensure parents have time for other activities like foraging for food – that mutual interest only goes so far.

Researchers predict that children should 'want' a greater share of their parents' attention than their parents 'want' to give them.

But how does the child know it is has her parent's attention? The solution is that parents were forced to develop some method of signalling to their offspring that their desire for attention was being met, said Krasnow.

"I could simply look at my children, and they might have some assurance that I'm attending to them," Krasnow said.

"But I could be looking at them and thinking of something else, or looking at them and focusing on my cell phone, and not really attending to them at all. They should want a better signal than that," he said.

Signals in form of a song is more honest due to the cost associated with them – meaning that by sending a signal to an infant, a parent cannot be sending it to someone else, sending it but lying about it, researchers said.

Mehr notes that infant-directed song provides lots of opportunities for parents to signal their attention to infants.

The research was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.

Lullabies may have evolved as a way to signal to children that their needs for attention are being met, while freeing the parents to perform other tasks, such as foraging for food or caring for another offspring, Harvard scientists suggest.

Infant-directed song might later have evolved into the more complex forms of music we hear in our modern world, researchers said.

Music is a tricky topic for evolutionary science: it turns up in many cultures around the world in many different contexts, but no one knows why humans are the only musical species.

"There has been a lot of attention paid to the question of where music came from, but none of the theories have been very successful in predicting the features of music or musical behaviour," said Max Krasnow, from Harvard.

"What we are trying to do with this paper is develop a theory of music that is grounded in evolutionary biology, human life history and the basic features of mammalian ecology," said Krasnow.

At the core of their theory, Krasnow said, is the notion that parents and infants are engaged in an "arms race" over an invaluable resource – attention.

"Particularly in an ancestral world, where there are predators and other people that pose a risk, and infants don't know which foods are poisonous and what activities are hazardous, an infant can be kept safe by an attentive parent," he said.

While there is some cooperation in the battle for that resource – parents want to satisfy infants appetite for attention because their cries might attract predators, while children need to ensure parents have time for other activities like foraging for food – that mutual interest only goes so far.

Researchers predict that children should 'want' a greater share of their parents' attention than their parents 'want' to give them.

But how does the child know it is has her parent's attention? The solution is that parents were forced to develop some method of signalling to their offspring that their desire for attention was being met, said Krasnow.

"I could simply look at my children, and they might have some assurance that I'm attending to them," Krasnow said.

"But I could be looking at them and thinking of something else, or looking at them and focusing on my cell phone, and not really attending to them at all. They should want a better signal than that," he said.

Signals in form of a song is more honest due to the cost associated with them – meaning that by sending a signal to an infant, a parent cannot be sending it to someone else, sending it but lying about it, researchers said.

Mehr notes that infant-directed song provides lots of opportunities for parents to signal their attention to infants.

The research was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.

The examination papers of Army Recruitment Board were allegedly leaked following which the Thane Police's Crime Branch conducted raids and arrested 18 persons from Maharashtra and Goa.

Nearly 250 students have also been taken into custody in connection with the paper leak. The recruitment exam was slated to be held on Sunday across the country.

Following a tip-off about the offence, the Thane city police, with the help of their local counterparts, conducted raids at various places and arrested 18 persons since last night from Nashik, Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra, and Goa.

They also took into custody nearly 350 students, from various parts of Maharashtra and Goa, who allegedly benefited out of the exam paper leak, Senior Police Inspector of Thane Crime Branch Unit-I, Niteen Thackeray, said today.

The students were allegedly given the exam papers by those who run various coaching classes and some army employees to write the answers in lodges and other places, he said.

The students allegedly were to pay Rs 2 lakh each to the accused for the leaked exam papers, police said.

The raids were carried out following a tip-off and police found some students writing the papers at different places in Thane, they said.

Police are trying to find out the source of the leaked papers.
 

The examination papers of Army Recruitment Board were allegedly leaked following which the Thane Police's Crime Branch conducted raids and arrested 18 persons from Maharashtra and Goa.

Nearly 250 students have also been taken into custody in connection with the paper leak. The recruitment exam was slated to be held on Sunday across the country.

Following a tip-off about the offence, the Thane city police, with the help of their local counterparts, conducted raids at various places and arrested 18 persons since last night from Nashik, Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra, and Goa.

They also took into custody nearly 350 students, from various parts of Maharashtra and Goa, who allegedly benefited out of the exam paper leak, Senior Police Inspector of Thane Crime Branch Unit-I, Niteen Thackeray, said today.

The students were allegedly given the exam papers by those who run various coaching classes and some army employees to write the answers in lodges and other places, he said.

The students allegedly were to pay Rs 2 lakh each to the accused for the leaked exam papers, police said.

The raids were carried out following a tip-off and police found some students writing the papers at different places in Thane, they said.

Police are trying to find out the source of the leaked papers.