The world's top two players, Britain's Andy Murray and Serbia's Novak Djokovic, have advanced to the semifinals of the Qatar Open tennis tournament.

Murray, the world No. 1, beat Spain's Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 while Djokovic, the defending champion in Doha, took out Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3 in tough weather conditions on Thursday, reports Efe news agency.

"It was obviously very windy and it was blowing across the court a lot. That makes timing pretty difficult," Murray said. "It was hard for everyone today."

The 29-year-old Scotsman, who won the title here in 2008 and 2009, will play third seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the semi-final as he tries to advance to his first championship match of 2017.

Berdych beat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the fifth seed and 2012 Qatar Open champion, 7-5, 6-3.

Djokovic, who fell out of the top spot in the rankings in November, sounded pleased with his play after the match.

"I thought in terms of my performance, under the circumstances, I put the level up again, which is great. So everything is going in the right direction," the 29-year-old Djokovic said.

The Serbian star, who has won 12 Grand Slam titles, will play Spain's Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals.

Verdasco beat big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic, the sixth seed, 6-2, 7-5.

"He's a very complete player," Djokovic said, referring to Verdasco. "He's got weapons from the forehand side, big serve (and he's) very strong."

The season's first Swine Flu case has been reported here in Uttar Pradesh, an official said on Friday.

A 60-year-old woman undergoing treatment for cough, cold and high fever at a private hospital was tested positive for H1N1 virus on Thursday, the official said.

Her blood samples were tested positive at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science.

Doctors at the pulmonary department said the woman would be shifted to an isolated ward.

 Nawazuddin Siddiqui is saddened by the demise of veteran actor Om Puri. The actor says he was supposed to work with him in "Manto".

Nawazuddin will be bringing the life of Pakistan's short story writer Sadat Hassan Manto alive on the silver screen through actress and filmmaker Nandita Das's project titled "Manto". 

Calling him an inspiration and the best actor in the world, Nawazuddin condoled his death on Twitter. 

Nawazuddin posted: "The best actor in world, An inspiration to me and many, he was suppose to work with me in 'Manto'. Deeply saddened by the news." 

A Padma Shri awardee and National Award-winning talent, Om Puri died on Friday of heart attack here. He was 66.

His work extended from theatre, television, Indian films to those in Britain and the US too. 

A National School of Drama alumnus, Om Puri also featured in movies like "Mirch Masala" and explored his ability to dabble in the comedy genre with "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro", "Chachi 420", "Hera Pheri", "Malamaal Weekly" and more.

Om Puri also nurtured an international career, which started with a cameo in Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi". 

The hills near Manali in Himachal Pradesh on Friday recieved snow, a weather official said.

Manali, which saw a low of 0.6 degree, also got mild rains.

Temperature remained below freezing point in many places in the state after overnight snow and rain, a meteorological department official said.

The picturesque resort Kothi, some 15 km uphill from Manali, recorded 7.5 cm of snow.

Keylong, headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district, was the coldest in the state with minus 5.9 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature recorded in Shimla was 4.9 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa, around 250 km from here, saw a low of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius.

The Rohtang Pass, located at 13,051 feet above sea level and 52 km from Manali, saw moderate snow since Thursday.

"The higher reaches have been experiencing moderate to heavy snowfall since Thursday," said the official.

The rain and snow were likely to continue till Saturday, he added.

Militants opened fire at the residence of an opposition National Conference lawmaker in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Friday, police said.

The house of MLC Showkat Ahmad Ganai at Chitrigam in Zainapora area of Shopian was attacked at 5:30 am, a police official said.

"Ahmad is in Jammu for the ongoing Budget session of the State Legislature. No one has been hurt in the incident," the official said.

He said the ultras fled from the spot after the security personnel deployed at the residence of the MLC returned fire.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered Maxis owner Anantha Krishnan, who bought the majority shares of Aircel, and its Director Ralph Marshal to appear in court on Jan 27 or the company’s 2G license will be cancelled.

A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar observed: “If T Ananthakrishnan and Ralps Marshall of Maxis fail to appear in court on Jan 27, the 2G license granted to Aircel in 2006 shall be seized,” the apex court said.

The SC also asked the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to devise ways to avoid adverse impact on Aircel subscribers by provisionally transferring 2G licence to others.

With inputs from agencies

The strategic Jammu-Srinagar highway was closed on Friday due to heavy snowfall.

The closure followed snowfall on both sides of the Jawahar tunnel, officials said. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday condoled the death of veteran actor Om Puri.

"Saddened at sudden passing (away) of Om Puriji. His acting skills were appreciated around the world. Condolences to family, friends, fraternity," Banerjee tweeted.

Om Puri, 66, passed away on Friday following a heart attack in Mumbai.

The revised final voter list of Tripura with 2017 as cut-off year has been published, an official said on Friday.

"According to the final voter list published on Friday, the total number of voters in the state are 25,05,906 of which 12,75,694 are male and 12,30,212 female," Additional Chief Electoral Officer D Modak said.

He said the total polling centers in the state were 3,170 and cent percent Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) coverage was ensured.

Elections to the 60-member Assembly in Tripura is scheduled to be held in February, 2018.

Veteran actor Om Puri, who wooed the audience with his stellar performances in movies across different genres for decades, breathed his last on Friday morning after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 66.

Confirming the news, a family source said, “He passed away this morning due to a massive heart attack at his residence in suburban Andheri. It’s shocking.”

Actor Shabana Azmi shared more details on Twitter. She posted, “Om Puri undergoing postmortem at Cooper Hospital. Will be taken to Trishul around 3 pm funeral at Oshiwara electric crematorium around 6 pm.”

Saddened by his death, Bollywood actors and filmmakers took to Twitter to express grief.
Anupam Kher wrote: "Seeing him lying on his bed looking so calm can't believe that one of our greatest actors Om Puri is no more. Deeply saddened and shocked."

Priyanka Chopra tweeted: "The end of an era …. The legacy lives on.. RIP Om Puri".

Akshay Kumar wrote: "Sad to hear about the passing away of the very talented Om Puri, my co-actor in many films… Heartfelt condolences to the family."

Riteish Deshmukh tweeted: "Will miss you sir. Condolences to the family. Had the privilege of working with Om ji in two films 'Malamaal Weekly' and 'Tere Naal Love Hogayaa'. I still can't believe he is no more."

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said a part of him was gone."Goodbye Om! A part of me goes with you today. How can I ever forget those passionate nights we spent together talking about cinema and life," wrote Bhatt. 

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai said Om Puri's life is "an inspirational journey of ordinary man to the extraordinary international actor for next generation."

The versatile actor worked not only in mainstream Bollywood, but also contributed in Pakistani, British and Hollywood films. Om Puri’s unparalleled acting skills earned him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in the year 1990.

However, the actor had his fair share of controversies as well. In the wake of Uri attacks which happened in 2016, he drew heavy criticism for making a controversial remark against the martyrs, arguing that nobody asked the dead soldiers to join the army and pick up weapons. After a severe backlash that included his own industry colleagues criticising him, the actor apologised publicly to put an end to the episode.

Puri was an alumnus of FTII, Pune as well as National School of Drama, Delhi. His several years in the acting institutes had been greatly instrumental in shaping the artiste in him. Some of his critically acclaimed films are Bhavni Bhavai (1980), Sadgati (1981), Ardh Satya (1982), Mirch Masala (1986) and Dharavi (1992).

The veteran actor would always be remembered as one of the finest actors in the history of Indian cinema. May his soul rest in peace.

Astronomers, using data from India's Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), have discovered two of the most powerful phenomena in the universe – a supermassive black hole and the collision of giant galaxy clusters about two billion light years from Earth.

The two phenomenon have combined to create a stupendous cosmic particle accelerator, researchers said.

By combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune and other telescopes, researchers found what happens when matter ejected by a giant black hole is swept up in the merger of two enormous galaxy clusters.

"We have seen each of these spectacular phenomena separately in many places," said Reinout van Weeren of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) in the US, who led the study.

"This is the first time, however, that we see them clearly linked together in the same system," said van Weeren.

This cosmic double whammy is found in a pair of colliding galaxy clusters called Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 located about two billion light years from Earth.

The two clusters are both very massive, each weighing about a quadrillion – or a million billion – times the mass of the Sun.

The comet-shaped appearance of the X-rays detected by Chandra is produced by hot gas from one cluster plowing through the hot gas of the other cluster.

Optical data from the Keck Observatory and Japan's Subaru telescope, both on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, detected the galaxies in each cluster.

First, at least one spinning, supermassive black hole in one of the galaxy clusters produced a rotating, tightly-wound magnetic funnel.

The powerful electromagnetic fields associated with this structure have accelerated some of the inflowing gas away from the vicinity of the black hole in the form of an energetic, high-speed jet.

These accelerated particles in the jet were accelerated again when they encountered colossal shock waves – cosmic versions of sonic booms generated by supersonic aircraft – produced by the collision of the massive gas clouds associated with the galaxy clusters.

"It's almost like launching a rocket into low-Earth orbit and then getting shot out of the Solar System by a second rocket blast," said Felipe Andrade-Santos, also of the CfA.

"These particles are among the most energetic particles observed in the universe, thanks to the double injection of energy," said Andrade-Santos.

This discovery solves a long-standing mystery in galaxy cluster research about the origin of beautiful swirls of radio emission stretching for millions of light years, detected in Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 with the GMRT.

The team determined that as the shock waves travel across the cluster for hundreds of millions of years, the doubly accelerated particles produce giant swirls of radio emission.

The study appears in the journal Nature Astronomy.

SpiceJet flight SG 136 faced a technical hiccup on Friday morning but landed safely in Delhi.

"SpiceJet flight SG 136, Bengaluru to Delhi, experienced, during cruise, partial hydraulic failure," SpiceJet said in a statement, adding, “All passenger and crew are safe”.

"The crew carried out the emergency procedure and landed safely in Delhi. The ATC (Air Traffic Control) was kept in the loop. It was an uneventful landing. All passengers and crew are safe", according to the statement.

The flight landed on the Runway 10 at 8.45 am with 176 passengers.

(With inputs from agencies)

 Actress Kriti Sanon has not been finalised as the leading actress for "Thugs of Hindostan".

Starring Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan in the lead, "Thugs of Hindostan" is being produced by Aditya Chopra and will be directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya.

Kriti's name has been doing the rounds for sometime.

"We don't know where this is coming from. We haven't zeroed down on anybody. We have not locked anybody. We are still thinking who will fit the role best," a source close to the movie said.

There will be one leading lady in the film romancing Aamir.

Earlier, Vaani Kapoor's name had also cropped up for the action adventure film which gave rise to speculation that the makers are looking for a young actress.

"We want to cast the right actress, we are not concerned about young or old. We want to cast the right girl for the role." 

The film's shooting will begin from March.

"We are yet to zero in on the locations. We are still scouting, but most of it (shoot) will be in Mumbai," the source added.

Academy-Award winning composer A R Rahman has recreated his iconic track "Urvashi Urvashi" with crowd-sourced lyrics.

The composer recently took to Twitter to crowd source the lyrics and what emerged was a new song with references to demonetisation and US President-elect Donald Trump.

"The most beautiful thing about art is that it belongs to everyone and crowd sourcing is a great way to get newer audiences to connect," Rahman said in a statement.

"It was a fabulous experience and what we've got is some interesting stuff filled with references to current events which is just as vibrant as the original one," he said.

"Urvashi Urvashi" is a song from the 1994 Tamil film "Kadhalan".

The composer, who celebrates his birthday today, is all set to perform the song entirely in Tamil – on Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged season six, on January 14.

Australian government has advised its citizens travelling to India to ensure their trip is planned in such a way so as not to depend on the availability of cash, claiming that some visitors are facing difficulties in exchanging 100 dollar notes in India after demonetisation.

In the latest advisory issued yesterday, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said, "Indian authorities have replaced withdrawn 500 and 1,000 notes with new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes slowly entering circulation."

"Withdrawals from ATMs are subject to a daily limit of 4,500 rupees (around 90 Australian dollars), which applies to international bank cards. Expect queues and cash shortages at ATMs and note that many ATMs will not accept cards issued by foreign banks.

Foreigners are permitted to exchange foreign currency up to 5,000 rupees (around 100 Australian dollars) per week at banks and foreign exchange bureaus."

It advised travellers to use electronic payments such as bank and credit cards wherever possible.

"Due to the ongoing uncertainty of obtaining cash, ensure your trip is planned in such a way so as not to depend on the availability of cash," it said.

"Be aware that some travellers have reported difficulties in exchanging 100 dollar notes for local currency in India," it also said.

However, the overall advisory of exercising high degree of caution while travelling to India was kept unchanged for the travellers.

Joining the lending rate cut spree, foreign lender Citi India on Friday reduced its home loan rate by 0.7 per cent.

It will reduce the interest rate to 8.80 per cent from 9.50 per cent, effective January 9, Citi India said in a statement.

The reduction in the home loan rate is reflection of our commitment to consumers who may be interested in purchasing under-construction or ready-to-move-in property, Rohit Ranjan, Head of Secured Lending, Citi India said 

The final pricing will be based on the loan amount, product or facility type offered, and internal Citi loan risk assessment parameters, it added.

All schools up to eighth standard have been closed in the Uttar Pradesh capital till January 10, owing to extreme cold wave condition, an official said on Friday.

The decision was communicated to the management of all schools, he added. At many schools the winter vacations was extended.

Meanwhile, the MET office has warned of harsher weather till Sunday. 

According to the regional MET office Director J.P. Gupta, the western disturbance in Jammu and Kashmir would play out in UP as well, and lead to considerable drop in the mercury.

There was thick fog here and many other parts of the state on Friday leading to disruption of normal life and vehicular movement, the official added. Visibility at many places dropped to 10-20 metres.

Drizzle to moderate rains were predicted for Lucknow and neighbouring areas. The maximum temperature on Thursday remained at 22 degrees Celsius while the minimum was recorded at 8.2 degrees Celsius.

The humidity recorded was 100 per cent leading to the increase in winter chill, the MET office said. 

While over the past few days afternoons were sunny and warm, the MET office predicted cloudy weather till Sunday.