The Trinamool Congress on Saturday said it would raise in Parliament the issue of ongoing economic blockade in Manipur and already urged the Election Commission to take action to lift the blockade.

"We would raise the issue of economic blockade in Parliament. We are against any kind of blockade or shutdown."

"Recently I had met Election Commission and told them that they were required to act in order to lift the blockade as the model code of conduct is in force in the state," Roy told.

Roy, who is presently in Imphal to campaign for TMC candidates contesting in Manipur elections, said that TMC would play a decisive role after the polls as "no party will be able to get majority on its own."

"We are in a position to win at least seven to eight seats. We won seven seats in 2012 Manipur Elections. And in the post poll scenario we'll play a decisive factor as no party will be able to get majority on its own," Roy said.

TMC this time is fighting for 24 seats. Last time with seven seats TMC was the main opposition party in the state.

Later, however, all the seven MLAs switched their loyalty to eiher Congress or BJP.

TMC leader in Manipur Samrat Tapadar accused both the BJP and the Congress of playing politics on the issue of blockade and said "both the parties are only interested in votes by exploiting the sufferings of the common people."

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has gone back to platinum blonde as she debuted her new locks on Snapchat.

In addition to turning its color lighter, she seemingly chopped off her long dark locks as it looked shorter in the snap, reported Ace Showbiz.

Kim debuted the new do in honor of former BFF Paris Hilton's birthday.

"Happy Birthday Paris Hilton," the wife of Kanye West wrote along with the mirror selfie, giving a shout out to the birthday girl, who turned 36.

The reality TV star also took to Twitter to share the same picture that showed her wearing a low-cut black crop top.

"Today's vibes channeling Paris! Happy Birthday @ParisHilton. Can't wait to celebrate with you soon!" 

It's not the first time Kim bleached her brunette locks.

The socialite first went platinum blonde back in March 2015 ahead of the Balmain show at Paris Fashion Week, during when she shocked fans after revealing her drastic makeover in the City of Lights.

The dying words of Kim Jong Nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, were "very painful, very painful, I was sprayed liquid", the media reported.

Poisoned and left to die, the playboy half-brother of North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un staggered through the fourth floor of a Malaysian airport, looking for anyone to help him, the New York Post reported on Friday.

He desperately ambled about 50 feet and found a receptionist at the airport service counter.

Clinging to life, Kim Jong Nam managed just a few words that would turn out to be his last: "Very painful, very painful, I was sprayed liquid," according to reports citing the China Press, a Chinese-language paper in Malaysia.

The staffer flagged down an auxiliary policeman, who helped take the portly Jong Nam to a clinic on the airport's third floor.

But he quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

A doctor there knew things were dire, and rushed the 45-year-old to Putrajaya Hospital near Kuala Lumpur Airport, but it was too late. It was craps for the casino-loving jet-setter – he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His mysterious murder – occurring Monday morning in the crowded departure terminal of the airport – has triggered a massive police manhunt that has led to the arrests of the two women who authorities say doused Jong Nam's face with a toxic spray.

Family and friends of one female suspect, Siti Aisyah, 25, were stunned by news of her arrest, collectively describing her as a "nice girl." The other woman, Doan Thi Hoang, 28, has been dubbed the "LOL assassin" because she was caught on video surveillance wearing a white shirt emblazoned with the acronym for "laughing out loud."

Her father-in-law, Tjia Liong Kiong, said Aisyah was a "very kind, polite and respectful person."

"I was shocked to hear that she was arrested for murdering someone," he said. "I don't believe that she will do such a crime or what the media says, an intelligence agent, although I don't know what she had in her mind."

Police have also detained Aisyah's boyfriend, but he was only assisting investigators in their probe.

Four other men were being sought in connection with the slaying, suggesting that it was an organised plot to kill the playboy gambler.

South Korean officials have theorized that Jong Nam's dictator half-brother was responsible for the attack.

Jong Un had been at war with Jong Nam ever since Jong Nam dissed his leadership of North Korea in the press.

Before Monday, Jong Nam had reportedly dodged several attempts on his life – and Jong Un was believed to be behind the botched hits.

Hours before Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami seeks a vote of confidence in the Tamil Nadu assembly on Saturday, Arun Kumar, a legislator from Coimbatore North has also jumped shift.

Speaking over the phone from Coimbatore, Arun Kumar said: "I left the beach resort… I was not held back."

He said party cadres and the people were not happy at the acs of the current leadership.

Queried as to why he decided to boycott the trust vote instead of voting against it, Arun Kumar said he was interested in party unity and the views of the people and the cadres.

He said his decision was against one family taking control of the party.

With this desertion, the AIADMK led by General Secretary V.K. Sasikala commands the support of 123 legislators, including the Speaker, while the breakaway group led by former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam has 11 legislators.

The opposition includes the DMK with 89 members, Congress (8) and Indian Union Muslim League (1), while one seat is vacant.

The DMK, Congress and IUMl have said they will vote against the Palaniswami government.

DMK President M. Karunanidhi is unwell. The opposition thus has 97 seats.

The Panneerselvam camp has the support of 11, taking the tally against Palaniswami to 108.

If there is some cross-voting of 8-10 legislators from Sasikala's camp then it could be curtains for Palaniswami.

The assembly has a total strength of 234, with one seat vacant.

Beauty and the Beast star Emma Watson has said former US First Lady Michelle Obama would be her dream house guest because she could give her a "pep talk." 

The 26-year-old actress thinks the former US First Lady, 53, could give her some great advice.

Asked during a Q&A with young fans for Entertainment Weekly who would be her dream house guest, Watson said, "Michelle Obama. Just for a quick chat, you know. Just for a quick pep talk. That would be great." 

The British beauty, who is one of the ambassadors for the United Nation's HeForShe outreach movement, also opened up about why she believes Hermione Granger is a strong feminist character in the Harry Potter films.

"Hermione was that perfect example of turning on its head this initial prejudice that she gets. Hermione finds a way to wield her intelligence and becomes really the leader in this group of two other boys and that's kind of the role that she assumes.

"Harry is much more intuitive. Ron is just along for the ride. Hermione is the one with the plan. She's in control. I think somehow that gave other women permission to feel that they were allowed to take up space.

"What is so fundamentally beautiful about Hermione is her loyalty to that group of friends. She's really the glue that keeps that trio together. It's fundamental, and the boys knew it, and they really treat her as if they know that."

Karolina Pliskova and Caroline Wozniacki will meet each other in the Qatar Open final after both won two matches on a long, soggy and gruelling Friday in Doha.

On another day punctuated by heavy showers and thunderstorms, meaning long delays for the players, Czech Pliskova beat Zhang Shuai of China 6-2 6-0, then Dominika Cibulkova in an exciting semi-final 6-4 4-6 6-3.

Her playing day began at 12.30 local time (0930 GMT) ending just before 11pm.

Similarly Dane Wozniacki first beat American qualifier Lauren Davies 7-5 6-1, then Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig 6-1, 6-2, finishing past midnight.

Puig was also playing her second match of the day having earlier completed her victory against Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

"It's been really tough conditions with all the waiting and everything," said Wozniacki.

Pliskova, speaking before she knew who her final opponent would be, said "every final is tough".

The pair have met three times before, with Wozniacki winning on every occasion. However they have not met since 2014. Pliskova, 24, is ranked number three in the world, Wozniacki, who is two years older, is number 18.

Incredibly, it also means the rain-ravaged tournament may even finish on time, despite the schedule being battered because of the terrible weather conditions throughout the week.

Friday was one of the worst days yet, with delays up to around five because of thunderstorms. It took some 12 hours to complete just five singles matches.

If the final does go ahead on Saturday it will come as a great relief to organisers. Indeed, just hours before Pliskova and Wozniacki won through to Saturday's shootout, organisers were talking about the tournament finishing without a winner because of the huge number of rain delays during the week as Qatar experiences some of its wettest weather in years.

Tariq Darwish Zainal, secretary general of the Qatar Tennis Federation, said play would not continue after Sunday even if the final matches could not be played.

Rain has delayed play on every single day, virtually wiping out all matches on two separate days.

"The WTA gives us one (extra) day, if we don't finish all the matches the tournament finishes without a winner," said Zainal. The forecast for Saturday is indifferent and Wozniacki added that she was "just hoping for good weather" for the final.

The Qatar Open is scheduled to finish on Saturday, but has the option of extending to Sunday. Zainal added that Doha is looking at building a new 12,000-seater stadium, which will include a roof. This could be ready by 2021, he said. 

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he will never go back to Barcelona as their coach amid growing uncertainty about present incumbent Luis Enrique's future.

Enrique is out of contract at the Nou Camp at the end of the season, and the chances of him leaving have increased significantly after a calamitous 4-0 defeat away to Paris St-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday.

That result, in the first leg of their last 16 tie, left Barcelona on the brink of elimination from the competition, and they also lag behind bitter rivals Real Madrid in the race to win La Liga.

Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde is reportedly a contender for the job if Enrique leaves, along with Eusebio Sacristan of Real Sociedad and Everton's Ronald Koeman, who as a player scored the goal that secured them their first European Cup in 1992.

Guardiola, who won 14 trophies in four years as Barcelona's head coach, says he has no intention of returning to the job he left in 2012.

"No, I will never go back to Barcelona to be coach there.

My period there is gone."

Despite their stumbles, Barcelona remain the standard bearers of world football, according to Guardiola.

"Barcelona are still the best team in the world," said the 46-year-old Spaniard.

"It's always a surprise because they are so, so good, but in football anything can happen. There's a lot of competition, the opposition are so strong. You can win heavily or you can lose heavily, that can happen, it's happened to me, but there are 90 minutes to go and anything can happen.

"If there's a team who can do it, then it's Barca, with their mentality. When you have dominated world football, it's normal that the people expect you to keep up that level, but my advice to you, knowing Luis and the players a little, is not to talk too much, because they will be back and prove you wrong.

"They've done it over the years, dominating football for 10 years, and they continue to be the best team in the world." 

Guardiola, meanwhile, has suggested the quality of English football would be improved if FA Cup replays were scrapped.

Quarter-final replays were ditched last summer by the Football Association, which had abolished them at the semi-final stage in 1999.

Guardiola would prefer to see further action taken, calling for a system similar either to that used in Spain's Copa del Rey, where all ties bar the final are played over two legs, or Germany's Cup competition, where drawn matches are decided with extra-time and penalties, without the need for a replay.

"In Spain, we play two games. I prefer that situation," he said.

"Maybe for the amount of games played, extra-time and penalties would be good. But OK, I'm not here to decide the rules of how we play the competition, I'm here to play the competition in the way that the chairmen and the important people decide.

"I prefer the quality over the quantity. Not only here in England, all around the world. It's a big mistake, so many games. You have to allow people to go to the theatres, the cinemas, the good restaurants and not play every game in front of the TV. We're going to kill the players.

"We could have the same quality, same intensity but a few less games. That is just my point of view."

Relations between Mexico and the US are at a critical stage, said Geronimo Gutierrez, nominee for Mexican ambassador to the US.

Gutierrez, former deputy minister of foreign affairs for North America and a prominent defender of NAFTA, said that any deepening of the current crisis could lean to a "major derailment."

Speaking to lawmakers of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), Gutierrez said that dialogue had to be maintained as there is "the possibility of building a far better relationship', Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

On Thursday, Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto submitted the candidacy of Gutierrez as Mexican ambassador to the US to the Senate, adding that he had the approval of the US government.

Speaking to the senators, Gutierrez admitted that he would not accept the responsibility of representing Mexico without believing he could seek a closer relationship with the US

"I am fully aware that there may be no changes… that go against the national interest," he added.

However, while Gutierrez said the relationship was currently "atypical," he said that "the level of evolution seen in bilateral ties in recent years cannot be understated." 

Gutierrez has been a public official in the last four Mexican governments, holding positions in the ministries of commerce, finance, foreign affairs, and national security.

His last role was as managing director of the North American Development Bank in San Antonio, Texas, which was created within the NAFTA deal.

Warner Bros negotiations with Matt Reeves to helm The Batman has failed as the director has backed out of the project.

After Ben Affleck stepped down from the role, Reeves was reportedly in talks for the job. Now, however, the Cloverfield helmer has also exited the discussions, The Hollywood Reporter said.

It's unclear what caused the breakdown in the negotiations.

Warner Bros is also still intent on making the movie despite the so many challenges it has faced and is ready to move on to another director should it fail to reach a deal with Reeves.

Reeves is currently in post-production on War for the Planet of the Apes, which is due out July 14 in the United States.

It was previously reported that all parties, including Affleck, seemed to share a similar creative vision with Reeves early on.

Affleck himself stepped down as director for The Batman as he decided that tackling double duty for such massive project was too much.

 The February updates in Microsoft Office will now enable owners of the Macbook Pro with Touch Bar to work with the LCD strip Apple introduced with its latest laptop.

A post written by Kirk Koenigsbauer, Corporate Vice President for the Office team on Thursday, noted that the updates to Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Mac include a new object rotation slider on the Touch Bar, which provides a more intuitive and precise rotation experience. 

"Now from the Touch Bar you can enter Word Focus Mode, a brand-new experience that hides all of the on-screen ribbons and commands so you can simply focus on your work," Koenigsbauer wrote about the update in Word.

A one tap quickly applies a new style to a heading or paragraph and a user can also insert comments, photos or hyperlinks directly from Touch Bar.

The Touch Bar commands in PowerPoint will now allow a user to easily manipulate graphic elements. 
"The Reorder Objects button produces a graphical map of all the layers on a slide, making it easy to find the right object and move it where you want it. And by sliding your finger across the Touch Bar you can easily rotate an object to get just the right angle," Koenigsbauer added.

Also, typing an equals sign into a cell in Excel immediately pulls up the most recently used functions in the Touch Bar. 

The Touch Bar in Outlook now provides quick access to the most commonly used commands as one works on email and manage calendar. 

"When composing a new mail, the Touch Bar displays a list of recent documents. One tap and you can add a file-either as an attachment or a link. And from the Today view on the Touch Bar you can not only see your calendar events for the day, but even join a Skype for Business meeting," Koenigsbauer noted.

This is the latest app to get Touch Bar support and joins other apps like Adobe's Photoshop and Apple's Final Cut Pro.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has suggested foreign managers are devaluing England's FA Cup by fielding under-strength teams that expose them to the risk of upsets.

Liverpool, Bournemouth, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City, Watford and Hull City have lost to lower-league teams this season and there are two non-league sides in round five for the first time ever.

United visit second-tier Blackburn Rovers on Sunday and having been stung by an FA Cup defeat at Newcastle United during his first season at Chelsea, Mourinho is determined not to take unnecessary risks.

"Maybe we don't have as many English managers with that culture as we should," he told reporters following United's 3-0 Europa League win over Saint-Etienne on Thursday.

"Maybe we foreign managers, not everybody studies and understands the culture of this country. In my case, I had immediately that situation with the match at Newcastle, so for me it was a lesson.

"And I lost with Chelsea against a League One team (Bradford City, in January 2015). But I never threw it away.

We lost because we lost. So I try always to go serious. I like Wembley, I like the FA Cup, so I have to try to get the second one."

Of the managers to have fallen to lower-league opposition in the FA Cup this season, only Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, Watford's Walter Mazzarri and Hull's Marco Silva are not British.

United's trip to Blackburn falls before the second leg of their Europa League last 32 tie against Saint-Etienne on Wednesday and next Sunday's League Cup final against Southampton at Wembley.

Mourinho's FA Cup tie against Newcastle with Chelsea in 2005 arrived in similar circumstances, prior to a Champions League trip to Barcelona and a League Cup final meeting with Liverpool.

Mourinho saw a weakened team lose 1-0 at St James' Park and although Chelsea overcame Barcelona and beat Liverpool in the League Cup final to give him his first English trophy, he still regrets the defeat.

"I threw it away. I thought in the same week was Champions League against Barcelona and the League Cup final against Liverpool and in the middle of it, we had the FA Cup against Newcastle. And I threw it away. I gambled too much.

"I focused too much on Barcelona and Liverpool. It was good because we beat Barcelona and we won the final against Liverpool. But the feeling I threw it away was not good.

"So I don't throw it away. If I lose, I lose because the opponent was better or because we didn't play well. But I'm not going to throw it away. I go to Blackburn with that respect. We played already Reading and Wigan from the Championship, so it's not new for us, the level and the difficulty of the Championship."

"Plus the fact that one thing is Old Trafford and another thing is to go away. So I go serious. Am I going to repeat this team? No, I'm going to change a few players, obviously.

"But I'm going with a good team because I respect the competition a lot and Man United demands that you go serious to every game."

Mourinho said he did not know whether captain Wayne Rooney, midfielder Michael Carrick or playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan would make the trip to Ewood Park.

Rooney and Carrick missed the win over Saint-Etienne due to what Mourinho termed "minor" muscular problems, while Mkhitaryan was absent through illness.

Google has announced that it was "years closer" to deliver internet to remote parts of the world using high-flying balloons.

Researchers at Google's Project Loon — part of the company's X research lab — said it was now able to use machine learning to predict weather systems, meaning the firm has a greater control over where its balloons go, making it possible to focus on a specific region, rather than circumnavigating the globe, BBC reported on Friday.

"We can now run an experiment and try to give service in a particular place in the world with ten, twenty or thirty balloons," Astro Teller, head of Alphabet's X unit (formerly Google X), was quoted as saying.

"Real users" will be able to use the system in the "coming months", he added — but he did not specify where the initial roll out would take place.

Under the project, the firm will suspend a network of huge, tennis-court sized balloons that will beam down connectivity.

The balloons float in the stratosphere around 11 miles high. By raising or lowering altitude, the balloons can be caught in different weather streams, changing direction, the report said.

"By using machine-learning algorithms, Google might have cracked a way to predict weather with enough accuracy to make it possible to hover balloons over a relatively small area for a long period of time," the report noted.

Teller said that Project Loon was one of the more "mature" moonshot ideas at the company and Google was in "no rush" to make Project Loon a stand-alone business.

Last year, Teller said the connection had advanced to deliver about 15mbps internet access.

Rio's Olympic organisers promised there'd be no white elephants after the crowds and athletes went home. Unfortunately, six months later there's a herd charging through Brazil's run-down second city.

From the dead grass at the world famous Maracana stadium to the unsold apartments in the 31 towers of the athletes' Village that were meant to become a new luxury neighbourhood, you don't have to look far to see the unfulfilled promises of South America's first Olympic Games.

Even a year before the Games started, a top official in the mayor's office, Pedro Paulo, promised: "We will leave no white elephants." Right before the August 21 closing ceremony, then mayor Eduardo Paes repeated the assurance.

City and sports officials point to a new metro line and bus network as lasting achievements. The transport system in often chaotic Rio was badly in need of help and these costly infrastructure projects are widely seen as a success.

But the Olympic Park, partly built on land formerly occupied by a deeply rooted local community, is in a state of eerie abandonment.

Open to the public only on weekends, the vast area where swimming, gymnastics, basketball and other popular competitions took place sees few visitors.

Construction equipment is scattered about, former rows of seats are piled up, and sewage holes are left half-uncovered.

As for the Olympic swimming warm-up pool, where just half a year ago Michael Phelps prepared to raise his medal tally to an Olympic record of 28, it's now a dank, mosquito-filled hole.

One of the most popular sporting legacies promised was to turn the Deodoro canoe slalom course into a giant swimming pool. This was sure to be popular with the poor residents of northern Rio during the city's scorching summers.

But instead the park is closed. And although the mayor's office says "everything is being done to reopen it as soon as possible," few are holding their breath.

At the base of Rio's problems is uncertainty over who will even run the installations. The Olympic Park was expected to go into the hands of a private management company, but no one was interested. So the Brazilian sports ministry had to take over.

The Arena of the Future was meant to be broken up and transformed into four schools — another bright idea in the optimistic legacy plans. However, this has not happened and the new mayor, elected after the Olympics, says more time is needed to check the budget.

"As a citizen, I'm very worried. I've learned not to trust politicians. If these schools don't get built it will be a true fiasco," Gustavo Martins, the project's original architect, said.

Other installations are meant to be turned over for use as high level sporting centers, but that also has yet to take place.

"We're going to have a meeting with the sports ministry next week and we hope to be able to use these installations in the second quarter," said Agberto Guimaraes, executive director at the Brazilian Olympic Committee.

Arguably the biggest legacy promise was dramatically reducing pollution in Guanabara Bay, the sewage-infested bay where sailing events took place. Brazilian officials initially promised to cut out 80 percent of the untreated sewage pouring into the waterway.

That didn't come close to happening and now that the media attention has largely ended, there are doubts about the future of even tentative efforts to reduce the sewage and garbage. After the Games ended, officials predicted that 25 years would be needed to do the job properly and even then only if there were huge private investment.

The brightest spot is in transport, with a metro line extension connecting the western neighborhoods of Barra da Tijuca to the tourist-friendly south of Rio.

A once dirty and abandoned harbor zone was given a huge makeover, where the Museum of Tomorrow and the AquaRio aquarium have proved hits. However, Brazil's recession has put a stop to plans for further development.

"Rio's legacy plan is good," said Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee's executive director. "But it has to be carried out."

More than 100 seeds dating back to 2,000 years have been unearthed from an ancient tomb in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

According to the regional institute of archaeology, the discovery was made during the excavation of a civilian tomb, dating between the middle and late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD) and early Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD-220 AD), in Dengkou County, western Inner Mongolia.

The half-moon-shaped seeds have a diameter of eight centimeters, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

They look like modern pomegranate seeds, but archaeologists have not concluded what they are.

A rusted bronze seal was also found in the same tomb.

Further 18 single-chamber brick tombs were also unearthed.

More than 100 seeds dating back to 2,000 years have been unearthed from an ancient tomb in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

According to the regional institute of archaeology, the discovery was made during the excavation of a civilian tomb, dating between the middle and late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD) and early Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD-220 AD), in Dengkou County, western Inner Mongolia.

The half-moon-shaped seeds have a diameter of eight centimeters, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

They look like modern pomegranate seeds, but archaeologists have not concluded what they are.

A rusted bronze seal was also found in the same tomb.

Further 18 single-chamber brick tombs were also unearthed.

India's only active volcano, the Barren Islands volcano, located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, erupted for about four hours in January this year, say scientists attached to the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).

According to a statement issued by the Press Information Bureau on Friday, quoting an account of the NIO research team which was in the vicinity of the volcano on January 23, the volcano emitted red lava fountains and samples of volcanic ash have been collected for testing and research.

"The team moved about one mile from the volcano, which is located on an uninhibited island, and began closely observing it. The volcano was erupting in small episodes lasting about five to 10 minutes. During the daytime only ash clouds were observed," the statement said.

It added that after sundown, however, the team observed red lava fountains spewing from the crater into the atmosphere and hot lava flows streaming down the slopes of the volcano. 

The NIO research team sailing on the vessel RV Sindhu Sankalp was led by Abhay Mudholkar.

"They have sampled the sediments and water in the vicinity of the volcano and recovered coal-like black pyroclastic material representing proximal volcanic ejecta," the statement read.

It said, "Clouds were seen at the crater mouth where the smoke was bellowing out in an otherwise clear sky. These samples will help in deciphering the nature of the present and past volcanic activity in the region." 

The statement added that the team did not land on the island because it was deemed to be "too dangerous".

The Barren Islands are located around 140 km northeast of the Andamans capital city Port Blair.