Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making a desperate bid to resurrect his stature but the absence of credibility is haunting him, chief co-ordinator of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Ashok Gehlot said.

"Indira Gandhi's aura was different, while the aura of Modi is diminishing. Gandhi was ousted in a poll primarily due to the anger of voters but she was again accepted by them," he told after refusing to draw any comparison between Modi and the late prime minister.

"Modi had got a chance but he lost it. Senior party leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi and L K Advani have been marginalised. BJP workers are feeling suffocated," the former Rajasthan chief minister said here.

Gehlot said a sense of frustration has penetrated deep in his mind and added that "Modi is making a desperate bid to resurrect his stature but the absence of credibility is haunting him".

Sharpening his attack, he said, "Congress never bothered for power. But I think BJP is going to meet the same fate in Uttar Pradesh as in the Assembly elections of Delhi and Bihar." 

He said BIMARU states was only a new jumla (rhetoric) coined by Modi.

"BIMARU is simply a jumla and nothing else. What is the definition of BIMARU, can you tell me? In fact, Modi is an expert in telling lies," Gehlot said, adding that Modi is busy creating a rift between the rich and the poor.

Claiming that "dictatorship" has raised its ugly head in the BJP, Gehlot said Modi's current image resembles that of US President Donald Trump.

"After 30 years, a particular party got a clear mandate.

When Modi came to power, the writing on the wall was that this government would last for 10 years and this view emanated across different political parties," Gehlot said, adding that in two-and-half years, Modi's image has taken a beating.

Anti-Lock Braking System, usually referred to as ABS, won't be an unusual feature in Indian cars any more. In a price-conscious market like India, important safety features like ABS and airbags are often overlooked. However, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has issued an official statement, making it mandatory for all new cars to be equipped with ABS from April 2019 while all new models that’ll be launched after April 2018 are also required to offer ABS as a standard feature.

Due to poor driving skills of vehicle users and damaged roads and vehicles, road accidents are not as uncommon in India as they ought to be. More than 146,133 people were killed in road accidents in 2015. According to various studies, ABS can reduce the risk of an accident by 20 per cent. Upon sudden application of brakes, ABS prevents the wheels from locking and helps the driver keep the vehicle in control. We have news that airbags are also likely to be made mandatory soon. According to a report in ET Auto, while all new models launching after October 2017 will be equipped with airbags, all existing models will offer airbags as standard from October 2019.

Although safety concerns are making automakers offer ABS and airbags as standard in many affordable hatchbacks like the Maruti Suzuki Baleno and the Ignis, the entry-level hatchback segment still misses these features. Cars like the Maruti Suzuki Alto800, Renault Kwid and Hyundai Eon don't offer ABS at all. More than 50 per cent of the top ten most selling cars in the Indian market are not equipped with ABS.

Source: CarDekho

Actress Kangana Ranaut says that her much-publicised battle with Hrithik Roshan over their alleged love affair, is a thing of the past now and that the chapter is "done and dusted" for her.

The two stars' tussle started when Kangana hinted at Hrithik being her "silly ex" during an interview last year.

Their feud turned nasty after they slapped legal notices on each other. Hrithik even asked her to tender a public apology and refuted her claim of the two having had a relationship.

During this war of the words between the duo, there were people from the film industry who suggested the national award-winning actress desist from making anything public.

"I was called at big people's houses. I was told if I open my mouth, I will be finished (referring to her career).

But it doesn't make any sense because that chapter is over for me. It is so done and dusted and it doesn't hold any relevance in today's time," Kangana told when asked if she was told to sort out the issue behind closed doors.

"I had that (low) phase also but it did not frighten or threaten me because I knew I was not doing anything wrong," she said.

The two reportedly started dating on sets of Krrish 3.

Iraqi forces advanced on Tuesday into the southern outskirts of Mosul on the second day of a push to drive Islamic State militants from the city's western half, as the visiting US defence secretary met with officials to discuss the fight against the extremists.

With aerial support from the US-led coalition, Iraqi police and army troops launched the offensive Sunday, part of a 100-day-old campaign that has already driven the militants from the eastern half of the city.

Iraqi helicopters fired rockets at the village of Abu Saif early on Monday, targeting a hill that overlooks the city's airport. By noon, the forces entered the village and gained control over much of the strategic hill as fighting was still raging.

Separately, militarised police in armored vehicles were moving toward the sprawling Ghazlani military base on the southwestern outskirts of the city.

A US-led coalition has been providing close air support throughout the campaign to retake Iraq's second-largest city.

US special operations forces are embedded with some Iraqi units and thousands of US troops are in Iraq providing logistical and other support.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was holding discussions with US and Iraqi officials, a week before he is expected to present a new strategy to President Donald Trump for defeating the Islamic State group.

"We're going to make certain that we've got good situational awareness of what we face as we work together and fight alongside each other," Mattis told reporters traveling with him.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate the extremist group but has provided few details about how his approach might differ from that of the Obama administration, which had partnered with Syrian and Iraqi forces to drive IS out of several towns and cities.

The battle for western Mosul, the extremist group's last major urban bastion in Iraq, is expected to be the most daunting yet.

The streets are older and narrower in that sector of the city, which stretches west from the Tigris River, forcing Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armored vehicles. The presence of up to 750,000 civilians also poses a challenge.

Two suicide car bombers struck army and paramilitary forces west of Mosul yesterday, killing and wounding a number of troops, two army officers said, without specifying the number of casualties. A third suicide car bomber was blown up before reaching the troops, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

IS claimed responsibility for two attacks in an online statement, saying the attackers were British and Iraqi.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann is in favour of doing away with the toss, and feels that flip of the coin won't have any bearing on the result of the upcoming Test series in India.

Lehmann has already expressed his reservations about the toss and feels that a visiting side should be given the option of choosing whether to bat or bowl.

"We won four tosses last time we were here and lost 4-0," Lehmann said of the defeats that kickstarted a nine-Test losing streak in the sub-continent.

"You've still got to play well if you win a toss," he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

"My views on the toss is that it should just go anyway, that's the way I've always been. Whether you're here or Australia, it doesn't matter."

The Australian coach said he is expecting friendly pitches to be prepared in the four-Test series, starting Thursday in Pune.

"They produce good wickets, so looking forward to good five-day Test (pitches) that deteriorate over five days," Lehmann said.

Pakistan has said Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been listed under an anti-terrorism law, can pose a "serious threat" to the nation, and was thus placed under house arrest in the country's "larger interest".

The acknowledgement of the danger the Mumbai attacks mastermind poses came from Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif during an international security conference in Munich, Germany.

"Saeed can pose a serious threat to the society," Asif told the audience at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, The Nation reported.

Saeed was "arrested in the larger interest of the country", he added, according to the report.

Saeed was placed under house arrest under the fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) on January 30 in Lahore, provoking an uproar from his party and allies. Saeed's inclusion in the list shows he is linked with militancy in some way. Saeed was earlier this month put on the Exit Control List, barring him from leaving the country.

During a panel discussion on countering extremism and terrorism, Asif said: "Terrorism is not synonymous to any religion. Terrorists aren't Christians or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. They are terrorists, they are criminals." 

The action against Saeed was taken after Pakistan was hit by at least eight terror attacks this month in which more than 100 people died, the latest being a suicide bombing on a famed Sufi shrine in Sindh province that claimed 88 lives.

Saeed was also put under house arrest after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 in which 166 people died, but he was freed by a court in 2009. He carries a reward of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities.

In a statement critical of the American policies, Asif said Pakistan is determined to fight terrorism: "Let me assure the world community that Pakistan is a frontline state in this war and it will continue to fulfil its obligations to its own people and the international community but if the West's policies are going to be isolationist it won't help the fight against terrorism, only fuel it."

 Ivanka Trump, US President Donald Trump's oldest daughter and a Jewish convert, has issued a statement on Twitter calling for "religious tolerance" after a wave of threats against the community, a media report said.

Her tweet on Monday was by far the most vocal foray into a public discussion and was made over an issue her allies said she feels personally, New York Times reported.

"America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship and religious centres. #JCC," the tweet said that was posted after she wrote, and then deleted, an earlier one moments beforehand.

Ivanka Trump converted to Judaism before marrying her husband Jared Kushner, an Orthodox Jew, putting her in a position to be a prominent voice at a moment when several anti-Semitic episodes have taken place around the country.

Her previous substantive effort in the White House involved convening a women's business council, an event she helped create, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada visited the President.

On Monday, 11 separate bomb scares were called into Jewish community centres around the country. They were the latest in a string of such threats since the beginning of the year.

A spokesman for Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment about whether the President would condemn them as well.

Trump, a prolific user of Twitter, had not weighed in by late Monday.

But he was criticised in the past as slow to condemn anti-Semitic comments, and his candidacy was hailed by White nationalists and White supremacists throughout 2016.

On Thursday, at his first lengthy news conference alone as President, Trump was asked by a reporter for a Jewish magazine how the government plans to respond to the increase in such anti-Semitic incidents.

The President responded angrily, saying the question was "insulting" and that he was the "least anti-Semitic person in the world".

The BSF has foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir and gunned down a militant.

Officials said the incident occurred around midnight when the Border Security Force (BSF) troops deployed along the LoC fence in Keri sector of Rajouri detected some suspicious movement.

A heavy exchange of fire ensued for about 30 minutes and the guns then went silent from the other side, they said.

A search was conducted early morning during which the BSF party recovered the body of the militant along with an AK-47 rifle, six loaded magazines and a monocular night vision device from the Pakistan side.

A black bag containing another loaded AK magazine, dry fruits and juice was also recovered, they said.

"It is understood that the remaining terrorists took advantage of the undulating hilly ground and jungle and retreated to their side. An infiltration bid was foiled by alert troops," they added.

NASA has hinted at discovery of something exciting related to planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets.

The US space agency said it will hold a news conference to present the findings at the agency's headquarters in Washington on Wednesday.

Prominent NASA scientists, astronomers and a professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology will participate at the briefing. 

NASA has also invited media and the public to ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

Following the briefing, a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about exoplanets will be held with scientists available to answer questions in English and Spanish, NASA said.

Details of these findings will also be published in the journal Nature on the same day NASA hosts the briefing.

India and Rwanda have signed three agreements during the visit of Vice President Hamid Ansari to boost bilateral relations that include establishment of an entrepreneurship developement centre in Kigali.

According to the Memorandum of Understandings signed between Rwanda and India, Rwanda Air will soon begin services to India, and the two countries will mutually exempt visa requirements for diplomatic and official passport holders.

Rwandan Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi said the MoUs will boost economic and business ties with India.

"We have 54 years of fruitful bilateral relationship.

Rwanda and India share important ties and we are committed to make this relationship grow stronger," Murekezi said.

Ansari, who is on a five-day tour to Rwanda and Uganda, earlier yesterday launched an innovation growth programme and addressed business leaders and experts from the two countries.

He said Rwanda offers a "wonderful platform" to Indian partners to enhance their presence in other parts of Africa and emphasised India was "ready to work" with partners in Rwanda and the larger African continent in "transferring our experience" in building an innovation-driven economy.

"India-Rwanda Innovation Growth Program is being launched to expand ties in science, Technology and Innovation. After this pilot project, the programme is proposed to be implemented in the East African community in seven countries and will then be scaled up to seven other economic zones across Africa," he said.

Under the programme, 20 Indian technologies and innovations are to be adopted over a period of two years.

"The programme aims at creating an ecosystem wherein Indian innovations and technology enterprises will thrive and encourage business ventures from both sides," Ansari said.

The vice president said it was an "exciting prospect" to see the captains of trade and industry from Rwanda stand alongside the Indian business community and innovators.

"This portends well for the future of Rwanda-India commercial and economic relations," he said.

Prime Minister Murekezi attended the event organised by Rwanda Development Board, the Private Sector Federation of Rwanda and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

Over 200 distinguished writers, scholars, poets, translators and critics from all over India are all set to participate in Sahitya Akademis annual "Festival of Letters," starting here on Tuesday.

During the Festival, the Akademi will present its annual awards for creative writing and hold its Annual Exhibition, the Samvatsar Lecture and a National Seminar on a topic of literary importance, among other events.

The theme for this year's Festival is Folklore and Oral Literature of India, Akademi said in a statement.

The Akademi exhibition (showcasing glimpses of Akademi's activities in 2016) will be inaugurated by eminent Sanskrit scholar Prof. Satyavrat Shastri on Tuesday morning.

Sahitya Akademi Awards will be conferred on 24 writers on Wednesday at Kamani Auditorium here.

Eminent scholar and Historian Ramachandra Guha will be delivering "Samvatsar Lecture" on Thursday. The topic of his lecture will be "The Craft of Historical Biography".

"This year, the festival is starting on February 21, 2017, which is the international Mother Tongue Day and the Akademi is also organising a two-day National Seminar on "Protecting Mother Tongues," where a number of literary stalwarts will participate," Sahitya Akademi Secretary K Sreenivasarao said.

A number of cultural events have also been scheduled for the evenings. These include Lai Haraoba, a Mao and Kabuli Dance by Jawaharlal Manipur Dance Academy, Baul songs by Raja Hasan, Bharatnatyam by Sandhya Purecha and Kutch Music by Kala Varso Trust, among others.

The Festival of Letters will culminate on February 26.

 It was a clear Tuesday morning here with the minimum temperature recorded at 16.4 degrees Celsius, five notches above the season's average.

"The sky was clear in the morning and expected to remain the same during the day. No rains were recorded anywhere," said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 29 degrees Celsius.

Humidity at 8.30 am was 88 per cent.

Monday's maximum temperature was 32.4 degrees Celsius, six notches above the season's average, and the minimum temperature was 16.4 degrees Celsius, six notches above the season's average.

Polling for the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and 9 other civic bodies across Maharashtra got underway this morning with estranged allies BJP and Shiv Sena at the forefront of this battle of might.

A total of 3.77 crore voters will determine the fate of 17,331 candidates for 3210 seats up for grabs in 10 municipal corporations, 11 zilla parishads and 118 panchayat samitis in the second phase of polls being seen as "mini general elections." 

The stakes are high for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who have led their respective parties from the front and were involved in a high decibel and no holds barred campaign relegating the Opposition Congress and NCP to the background.

Polling began at 7.30 AM at 43,160 polling stations spread across the state.

The districts going to polls in the second phase are Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Amravati and Gadchiroli. Elections are being held in 118 panchayat samitis in these districts.

The ten municipal corporations include Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.

As many as 43,160 polling booths have been set up.

There will be 2.76 lakh election staff and equal number of police personnel on the duty.

More than 1.80 crore electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise in the zilla parishads and panchayat samitis while 1.95 crore urban voters will in the ten Municipal corporations.

In Mumbai, the country's financial capital, there are 2275 candidates and 92 lakh voters. The election result for Asia's largest civic body which has been run by the Shiv Sena supported by the BJP for the last two decades will decide the fate of the Devendra Fadnavis government.

In municipal corporations excluding Mumbai, there are multi member wards where a voter will have to cast his vote for each of the category in the panel. Each panel has more than two wards.

The big poll focus is on 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), retaining control of which is vital for Shiv Sena as the city has remained its prime political space ever since the party's formation in 1966. Shiv Sena has been in power in BMC for over two decades.

BJP, which had been a junior partner of Sena before it gained the upper hand through the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, declined to accept the number of seats offered by the Sena.

It has set its eyes on gaining power in BMC, one of the world's largest city bodies, boasting of an annual budget of over Rs 37,000 crore.

For 1268 seats of the ten municipal corporations, there are 9208 candidates; for 11 zilla parishads there are 2956 candidates for 654 seats, and 5167 candidates for 1288 seats in 118 panchayat samitis.

The first phase for 15 zilla parishad and 165 panchayat samitis polling was held on February 16 where 69 percent voters exercised their franchise.

Counting of votes will be taken up on February 23.

Polling for the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and 9 other civic bodies across Maharashtra got underway this morning with estranged allies BJP and Shiv Sena at the forefront of this battle of might.

A total of 3.77 crore voters will determine the fate of 17,331 candidates for 3210 seats up for grabs in 10 municipal corporations, 11 zilla parishads and 118 panchayat samitis in the second phase of polls being seen as "mini general elections." 

The stakes are high for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who have led their respective parties from the front and were involved in a high decibel and no holds barred campaign relegating the Opposition Congress and NCP to the background.

Polling began at 7.30 AM at 43,160 polling stations spread across the state.

The districts going to polls in the second phase are Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Amravati and Gadchiroli. Elections are being held in 118 panchayat samitis in these districts.

The ten municipal corporations include Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.

As many as 43,160 polling booths have been set up.

There will be 2.76 lakh election staff and equal number of police personnel on the duty.

More than 1.80 crore electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise in the zilla parishads and panchayat samitis while 1.95 crore urban voters will in the ten Municipal corporations.

In Mumbai, the country's financial capital, there are 2275 candidates and 92 lakh voters. The election result for Asia's largest civic body which has been run by the Shiv Sena supported by the BJP for the last two decades will decide the fate of the Devendra Fadnavis government.

In municipal corporations excluding Mumbai, there are multi member wards where a voter will have to cast his vote for each of the category in the panel. Each panel has more than two wards.

The big poll focus is on 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), retaining control of which is vital for Shiv Sena as the city has remained its prime political space ever since the party's formation in 1966. Shiv Sena has been in power in BMC for over two decades.

BJP, which had been a junior partner of Sena before it gained the upper hand through the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, declined to accept the number of seats offered by the Sena.

It has set its eyes on gaining power in BMC, one of the world's largest city bodies, boasting of an annual budget of over Rs 37,000 crore.

For 1268 seats of the ten municipal corporations, there are 9208 candidates; for 11 zilla parishads there are 2956 candidates for 654 seats, and 5167 candidates for 1288 seats in 118 panchayat samitis.

The first phase for 15 zilla parishad and 165 panchayat samitis polling was held on February 16 where 69 percent voters exercised their franchise.

Counting of votes will be taken up on February 23.

The agitating tribal groups in Nagaland on Tuesday withdrew their indefinite shutdown on government offices and plying of government vehicles on the road, following the resignation of Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang on Sunday.

Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) lead a series of agitation since January 31 against the government's decision to conduct the civic elections with 33 per cent reservation for women.

Three people died during the clashes between police and protesters.

"We have lifted our agitation programmes after Zeliang complied to demand to step down as Chief Minister," NTAC Convener K. T. Vilie told IANS.

Chief Minister-designate Shurhozeilie Leizietsu will on Wednesday take oath as 17th Chief Minister of the mountainous state.

The 81-year-old Naga People's Front (NPF) leader was elected head of the NPF legislature party after Zeliang resigned on Sunday night, bowing to the demands of protesting tribal groups opposed to his move.

Governor P. B. Acharya accepted Zeliang's resignation but asked him to continue in office till an alternative arrangement was made.

Meanwhile, the government has also restored mobile internet data and SMS services which were snapped since January 30.

The agitating tribal groups in Nagaland on Tuesday withdrew their indefinite shutdown on government offices and plying of government vehicles on the road, following the resignation of Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang on Sunday.

Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) lead a series of agitation since January 31 against the government's decision to conduct the civic elections with 33 per cent reservation for women.

Three people died during the clashes between police and protesters.

"We have lifted our agitation programmes after Zeliang complied to demand to step down as Chief Minister," NTAC Convener K. T. Vilie told IANS.

Chief Minister-designate Shurhozeilie Leizietsu will on Wednesday take oath as 17th Chief Minister of the mountainous state.

The 81-year-old Naga People's Front (NPF) leader was elected head of the NPF legislature party after Zeliang resigned on Sunday night, bowing to the demands of protesting tribal groups opposed to his move.

Governor P. B. Acharya accepted Zeliang's resignation but asked him to continue in office till an alternative arrangement was made.

Meanwhile, the government has also restored mobile internet data and SMS services which were snapped since January 30.