The 35 Russian diplomats declared "persona non grata" by the US government arrived in Moscow early Monday morning, media reports said.

The plane of the Russian government's Rossiya Special Flight Detachment, carrying the diplomats and their families landed in Moscow after departing from Washington's Dulles International Airport on Sunday afternoon, Tass news agency reported.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama accused the Russian diplomats of participating in an alleged Kremlin-orchestrated cyber attack to influence the US presidential election and took the decision.

The 35 diplomats left the US with their families on Sunday, a senior State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Efe news reported.

Obama had given the Russian diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, and also ordered the closure of the Russian government's two compounds in New York and Maryland.

The US also announced economic sanctions involving the asset freezing of Russia's two top intelligence agencies: Main Intelligence Directorate and the Federal Security Service.

These were Obama's heaviest sanctions in the last eight years of his government in response to the cyber attacks allegedly perpetrated by foreign state actors.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who repeatedly denied the involvement, announced that he would not expel any US diplomat in retaliation for the sanctions, although he reserved "the right to take measures in response" in the future.

Putin also said that "further steps to rebuild Russian-American relations" would depend on the policies that President-elect Donal Trump pursued after January 20.

The year 2016 is over and the English Premier League is off to a rollicking start to the new year. With it, things are bound to heat up in the January chill.

For millions of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, it’s a constant scramble to ensure their team remains ahead in their respective min-leagues and often an ill-advised decision ruins an entire week.

Away with that sinking feeling. Look forward to a new beginning with renewed spirit.  The Statesman will help to make the right moves on the FPL with a comprehensive article on who to buy for the upcoming gameweek.

The indicators are:

Teams in BOLD are top 4 contenders.

Prices marked with a (+) indicate an increase in Base Price.

Prices marked with a (-) indicate a decrease in Base Price.

Goalkeepers

Wayne Hennessey

Team: Crystal Palace

Fixtures: Swansea (H), West Ham (A), Everton (H), Bournemouth (A) and Sunderland (H)

Price: 4.3 (-)

Score: 24

Ownership: 2.3%

Why yes: With Big Sam in the dugout, Crystal Palace are set for their first shutout of the season against bottom-placed Swansea City. With a favourable run of fixtures ahead, the Eagles should pick up some long-awaited clean-sheets. An excellent back-up keeper at worst, considering his bargain price.

Why no: Palace are on a truly dreadful run at the moment and with star midfielder Wilfried Zaha leaving for the African Cup of Nations after the Swansea game, they may find it difficult to get a winning streak going.

Defenders

Chris Brunt

Team: West Brom

Fixtures: Hull (H), Spurs (A), Sunderland (H), Middlesbrough (A) and Stoke (H) 

Price: 5.0

Score: 41

Ownership: 2.1%

Why yes: Brunt has been classified as a defender in FPL, which is a big blessing for all managers, considering the fact that he often plays in midfield and even on the wing at times. Against a hapless Hull, expect Brunt to keep a clean sheet and perhaps even pick up an assist or a goal. Apart from the Spurs game, the Baggies' upcoming fixtures make for easy reading.

Why no: Matt Philips, his teammate in midfield, is kicking up quite a storm and is definitely worth a look at. All the other West Brom defenders are cheaper than Brunt.

Aleksandar Kolarov

Team: Manchester City

Fixtures: Burnley (H), Everton (A), Spurs (H), West Ham (A) and Swansea (H)

Price: 5.8 (-)

Score: 52

Ownership: 3.8%

Why yes: After a humbling loss to Liverpool, expect City to unleash their pent-up anger on Burnley. Kolarov is among the finest full-backs in the Premier League, at least from an offensive standpoint. Set-pieces, crosses, the Serbian wreaks havoc with his left foot.

Why no: City do have the worst defence in the top six, and unsurprisingly, find it difficult to keep clean sheets. At such an expensive price point, there are ‘safer’ alternatives available.

Midfielders

Juan Mata

Team: Manchester United

Fixtures: West Ham (A), Liverpool (H), Stoke (A), Hull (H) and Leicester (A)

Price: 7.2 (-)

Score: 56

Ownership: 2.3%

Why yes: After coming off the bench to inspire United a last-gasp win against Middlesrbough, Mata is in line to start at West Ham. The Spaniard does have an excellent goal and assists to-games ratio, so expect him to shine against the Hammers. Considerably cheaper than his fellow United midfielders.

Why no: Mata is struggling to hold down a spot in Mourinho’s starting XI and upcoming fixtures could get tricky for the Red Devils. Also, if you have Zlatan Ibrahimovic up top, picking Mata as well would be a big risk.

Yohan Cabaye

Team: Crystal Palace 

Fixtures: Swansea (H), West Ham (A), Everton (H), Bournemouth (A) and Sunderland (H)

Price: 5.6 (-)

Score: 34

Ownership: 1.2%

Why yes: Swansea are set to get swamped, as Crystal Palace look to break their winless run in spectacular fashion. Cabaye is the resident set-piece specialist for the Eagles and one can expect a goal and/or an assist against the Swans. The fixtures do make for easy reading, which is definitely a bonus.

Why no: Cabaye doesn't score much from open-play and his attack-minded teammates are more likely to score points. Also, if you have Christian Benteke as a striker, buying Cabaye would be an unwise decision.

Forwards

Sergio Aguero

Team: Manchester City

Fixtures: Burnley (H), Everton (A), Spurs (H), West Ham (A) and Swansea (H)

Price: 12.8 (-)

Score: 76

Ownership: 20.3%

Why yes: No fairytale return from injury against will rankle the explosive forward and Burnley look set to bear Aguero’s brunt. Dont bet against him going scoreless for a second game in a row, especially at a time when everyone else is tiring but 'Kun' is fresh after an enforced four-game break.

Why no: Is monstrously expensive, and look quite rusty against Liverpool. If you already have Kevin De Bruyne and/or Raheem Sterling, buying Aguero would mean an awful lot of your budget being dependent on City’s forward line.

Salomon Rondon

Team: West Bromwich Albion

Fixtures: Hull (H), Spurs (A), Sunderland (H), Middlesbrough (A) and Stoke (H)

Price: 6.7 (+)

Score: 77

Ownership: 9.1%
Why yes: Rondon scores in brief patches and after going through a mini-scoring drought, should explode againstrelegation-threatened Hull. A very good third-choice option at the least.

Why no: He is too inconsistent at times and his Baggies teammate Matt Philps is doing a bang-up job in midfield, making him an appealing pick.

PS: The Gameweek  deadline is 11.30 am GMT/5 pm IST, so make sure all transfers are completed before that!

Stocks came under pressure on the first trading day of 2017 as investors partially exited housing finance and banking shares after lenders drastically cut borrowing costs for housing loans on the back of surplus funds. On the flip side, Real Estate companies rose modestly on hopes lower interest rates will spur demand for houses. 

Here are the major trends on Monday, the first session of the new calendar year:

* The Nifty drops 38 points to 8,147 points, snaps 4-day winning streak.

* Bank of Baroda, State Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank plunged 2.2-3.6 per cent on news of as much as 90 basis points cut in lending rates for homes. Existing loans will also see their tenures coming down.

* Banks led 20 stocks lower on the Nifty. Other losers included Bajaj Auto, on weak bike sales for December, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank and Kotak Bank. In fact nine out of top 10 losers were banks.

* Eicher Motors, on the back of stunning sales in December, was the top gainer, up 3.7 per cent; UltraTech Cement, Ambuja Cement and Lupin rose 1.4-2.2 per cent, and were among 31 shares rising on the Nifty.

* Broader markets slipped 0.2-0.4 per cent as traders digested gains for the past 4 sessions.

* The Bank Nifty Index and benchmarks tracking the private and PSU banking space were the top losers, down 1.4-2.3 per cent; FMCG shares lost a bit as well.

* Modest gains were seen on Metals, Media, Pharma, Realty and software sectors.

* Oil marketing companies Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL rose 0.4-0.9 per cent after they raised rates for petrol and diesel.

* The bulls retained command of the wider market with 984 shares rising versus 547 that fell.

Filmmaker Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee with Karan witnessed its most memorable episode on Sunday night when heartthrob Shahid Kapoor graced the couch with his wife Mira Rajput Kapoor.

Regardless of how the season 5 of Koffee with Karan deviated from its concept, everyone was waiting with a baited breath for this particular episode. It was the first time Mira appeared on national television with her husband Shahid Kapoor. We heard her voice for the first time and we figured out the enigma that was Mira Rajput Kapoor. Karan played the perfect part by putting the questions that we have always wanted to ask Shahid.

Since their marriage is just one and a half-year-old, they were still in their honeymoon period. Their sexy, funny and childlike banter that is the trademark of newly-weds was invariably unavoidable. When Karan took Shahid to a small trip to his past, reminding him of his ex-girlfriends, including Kareena Kapoor Khan and Priyanka Chopra, who accompanied him on this show, the unfazed Mira confidently replied that they know everything about each other. She also added that because he has had many relationships in life, he is a lot more calm and mature. 

Talking about their meeting, Shahid confirmed that the scene was more like his film ‘Vivah’. Mira wasn’t aware that she was going to get married to Shahid. When his parents visited them for a dinner she thought they had come for their younger son Ruhaan. “Shahid was eliminated because of his age,” said Mira. They also revealed how they chatted for seven hours straight when they met for the first time.

It was during Mira’s pregnancy that they discovered the love for each other. "Right after she got pregnant, we got very close. We also got to spend a lot of time together." Shahid said, to which Mira also added, "In an arranged marriage, pregnancy just brings you both close in a very special way because you made something that's yours together."

During the rapid fire round when Mira was asked which actress compliments Shahid on-screen, she placed Alia on first and Kareena on second, which showed that Mira is a high-spirited and fun-loving person. Although, she made it very clear that in a relationship cheating is the only deal-breaker. 

It was very clear that both Mira and Shahid share an inexplicable understanding, one wishes to find in every partner. Despite the myth that surrounds an arranged marriage, both Mira and Shahid have set some serious arranged marriage goals and debunked the falsified notion completely. 

At least 53 trains were running late while three trains were cancelled on Monday due to heavy fog in many parts of north India, a railway official said.

According to the Northern Railway official, 26 trains were rescheduled and 53 trains were arriving late in Delhi while Vikramshila Express, Avadh-Assam Express and Udyan Abha Toofan Express were cancelled for Monday.

The Amritsar-Howrah Mail, Poorva Express and Bhubaneswar Rajdhani were cancelled for Tuesday, the official added.

The Supreme Court in a landmark judgment on Monday said that political parties cannot seek votes on basis of caste, community, religion or language.

“SC in majority verdict holds that any appeal for votes on ground of religion amounts to corrupt practices under electoral laws,” the apex court said.

“Relation between an individual and God is an independent choice,” it added.

“A constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice TS Thakur by a 4:3 majority passed the order on the basis of Section 123(3) of the Representation of People's Act,” according to media reports.

The SC verdict could have a huge impact in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

In a sensational announcement, the Supreme Court on Monday removed Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke from their positions of President and Secretary of the BCCI respectively.

After being at loggerheads with the Lodha Panel that was set up in 2015 to investigate discrepancies in the IPL season, the verdict comes as a massive blow to the BCCI.

The apex court asked why the duo should not be tried for perjury and contempt. "Why shouldn't prosecution be initiated against him (Thakur)"?

The court said the duo hadn't complied with its July 18, 2016 order and were thus removed.

Speaking to reporters in the capital, retired Chief Justice RM Lodha, who heads the Lodha Panel, expressed his satisfaction at the result, and declared it was not surprising the Supreme Court had made such a strong decision.

The famous Hollywood sign was vandalised early new year morning to read "Hollyweed." 

In an apparent New Year's prank, a person climbed up the Mount Lee, in the Hollywood Hills area of the Santa Monica Mountains and used tarps to change the O's in the iconic sign to E's, according to Hollywood Reporter.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said that the incident was caught on surveillance cameras and they are investigating the act under misdemeanour trespassing crime.

Built in 1923, the Hollywood sign was first changed to "Hollyweed" on January 1, 1976, when a California State University, Northridge student similarly hung curtains over some of the letters to alter the sign.

Hit hard by the demonetisation move, manufacturing sector contracted in December as new work orders and output took a knock for the first time in 2016, a monthly survey showed on Monday.

The Nikkei Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) — an indicator of manufacturing activity — fell to 49.6, down from 52.3 in November.

The index came in below the crucial 50 threshold — which separates contraction from expansion — for the first time in 2016 in December.

"Having held its ground in November following the unexpected withdrawal of Rs 500 and 1,000 bank notes from circulation, India's manufacturing industry slid into contraction at the end of 2016," said Pollyanna De Lima, Economist at IHS Markit and author of the report.

Lima added that "cash flow issues among firms also led to reductions in purchasing activity and employment".

Survey participants widely blamed the withdrawal of high-value rupee notes for the downturn as cash shortage in the economy reportedly resulted in fewer levels of new orders.

Businesses also highlighted challenging conditions in external markets, with a fall in new businesses from abroad ending a six-month long growth.

Though December saw a mild decline in manufacturing output, the average reading for October-December remained in the "growth terrain", suggesting a positive contribution from the sector to overall GDP in the third quarter of 2016-17, the survey said.

"With the window for exchanging notes having closed at the end of December, January data will be key in showing whether the sector will see a quick rebound," Lima added.

The report said the higher prices paid for a range of raw materials made average cost burden increase for the 15th straight month in December, with the rate of inflation picking up since November.

 A gene mutation linked to Alzheimer's disease and other age-related cognitive declines in our relatively safe and sterile post-industrial setting might have actually helped protect us from cognitive decline in ancient times, a new research suggests.

The findings suggest that a genetic mutation (or allele) that puts populations at risk for illnesses in one environmental setting could manifest itself in positive ways in a different setting.

"It seems that some of the very genetic mutations that help us succeed in more hazardous time periods and environments may actually become mismatched in our relatively safe and sterile post-industrial lifestyles," said lead author Ben Trumble, Assistant Professor at the Arizona State University in the US.

In a paper published in The FASEB Journal, the researchers examined how the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene might function differently in an infectious environment than in the urban industrialised settings where ApoE has mostly been examined.

All ApoE proteins help mediate cholesterol metabolism, and assist in the crucial activity of transporting fatty acids to the brain.

But in industrialised societies, ApoE4 variant carriers also face up to a four-fold higher risk for Alzheimer's disease and other age-related cognitive declines, as well as a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

The goal of this study was to reexamine the potentially detrimental effects of the globally-present ApoE4 allele in environmental conditions more typical of those experienced throughout our species' existence — in this case, a community of Amazonian forager-horticulturalists called the Tsimane.

"For 99 per cent of human evolution, we lived as hunter gatherers in small bands and the last 5,000-10,000 years — with plant and animal domestication and sedentary urban industrial life — is completely novel," Trumble said.

Due to the tropical environment and a lack of sanitation, running water, or electricity, remote populations like the Tsimane face high exposure to parasites and pathogens, which cause their own damage to cognitive abilities when untreated.

As a result, one might expect Tsimane ApoE4 carriers who also have a high parasite burden to experience faster and more severe mental decline in the presence of both these genetic and environmental risk factors.

But researchers discovered the exact opposite when they tested these individuals using a seven-part cognitive assessment and a medical exam.

In fact, Tsimane who both carried ApoE4 and had a high parasitic burden displayed steadier or even improved cognitive function in the assessment versus non-carriers with a similar level of parasitic exposure.

This indicated that the allele potentially played a role in maintaining cognitive function even when exposed to environmental-based health threats.

French President Francois Hollande arrived in Baghdad on Monday to meet the French forces helping Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State group and to hold talks with top officials.

Hollande, who was travelling with French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, had already visited in 2014 and remains the most prominent head of state to come to Iraq since the launch two and half years ago of a US-led coalition against the jihadists.

A "fire to fight fire" treatment billed as a potential breakthrough in the fight against disease, including cancer, could back-fire and make the disease more damaging in some circumstances, a new research has found.

It showed that introducing 'friendlier' less-potent strains into a bunch of disease-causing microbes can lead to increased disease severity.

"Our study shows that a promising disease management strategy may not always be effective and indeed may have damaging unforeseen consequences," said lead researcher Ivana Gudelj, Professor at Exeter University in Britain.

The research showed that far from being a "silver bullet" to weaken disease, the practice of introducing pacifist microbes into a host could make the aggressive pathogen stronger, which could hamper disease management.

Until now, introducing friendlier cousins, which do not cause severe disease, into a population of pathogens has been shown to reduce disease severity and damage to the infected host.

It has been suggested that this approach could be an effective way of treating cancer, and research so far has proved effective and promising.

For example, scientists have already produced encouraging results in the fight against Clostridium difficile infections that are so common in our hospitals.

In this study, the scientists tested this strategy using a plant pathogen, and found the therapy could go dramatically wrong, with devastating consequences for the host plant.

The team investigated the devastating rice blast disease.

They introduced a mixed population of the fungus that causes this disease into rice, where the mixture included an aggressive strain and a pacifist mutant.

They expected that the overall disease severity would decrease because of the presence of the pacifist strain.

However, they found the opposite. The rice plants succumbed to much more severe disease.

The research, published in the journal eLife, showed that the therapy can in some circumstances have the opposite effect, and that the way the pathogen would behave can be unpredictable, leading to more severe disease.

The research highlights the need for these new strategies to be carefully tested before they are used therapeutically.

The scientists used cooperation theory and mathematical modelling to identify the reason for their surprising result.

They found that in some circumstances pacifists "helped" aggressive microbes to be more efficient in utilising resources obtained from the host.

"We find that the mechanisms driving our unexpected findings when treating rice blast infection are pertinent for many diseases involving bacterial and fungal pathogens," Gudelj noted.

The Rupee depreciated by five paise in early trade on Monday to quote at 67.97 against the US Dollar on the first trading day of 2017 due to fresh buying of the American currency by importers at the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

Dealers said, increased demand for the American unit from importers and a lower opening in the domestic market weighed on the rupee. Besides, Dollar's gain against major world currencies and a weak trend at the domestic equity market also left its mark on the Rupee.

The Rupee had closed 18 paise higher at 67.92 against the greenback in the previous session on December 30, 2016.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 132.37 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 26,494.09 in early trade.

Amidst the ongoing feud in Uttar Pradesh's ruling party, the convention called by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav here on January 5 was on Monday postponed.

In a series of tweets, SP leader Shivpal Yadav said that on the orders of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the convention called on January 5 has been postponed for now.

While Shivpal gave no reasons for the abrupt cancellation of the meeting, insiders said perhaps the Mulayam camp was apprehensive of a poor turnout compared to the massive gathering at the "convention" held by Ram Gopal Yadav on Sunday.

The convention was declared illegal and unconstitutional by Mulayam.

Shivpal in another tweet asked party workers to concentrate on their respective constituencies and work hard to win the elections.

Meanwhile, senior SP leaders from both sides (Akhilesh and Mulayam camps) are likely to visit the Election Commission in New Delhi on Monday to put forth their case.

Party sources said Mulayam may not visit Delhi as he is indisposed.

The Samajwadi Party on Sunday split down the middle with the faction headed by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav removing Mulayam as party chief and appointing him in his place at a convention in which the group claimed support of the majority of legislators and district units.

The two sides had engaged in mutual recriminatory expulsions with the convention called by Ram Gopal Yadav removing Akhilesh's warring uncle Shivpal Yadav as state party chief, and showing the door to "outsider" Amar Singh, who has been blamed for the feud in the Yadav clan.

Mulayam had retorted by again expelling his cousin Ram Gopal for six years along with national vice president Kiranmoy Nanda, who chaired the convention, and general secretary Naresh Agarwal for taking part in it.

Forecasts for the region this year are not optimistic with challenges expected not only on the economic front, but in the geopolitical sphere.

There's a general consensus that 2016 was bad. But apparently, 2017 may even be worse, according to some forecasts in the region.

The Star's Martin Khor notes that this year will be like no other and that we should expect bumpy times ahead akin to a roller-coaster ride. He predicts thunderous clash of policies, economies and politics worldwide and that at the very least, "2017 will be very interesting".

Khor suggests that one of the things to watch out for is US President-elect Donald Trump's policies that will affect his country's relations with the rest of the world, particularly, China.

He adds that Europe will also be pre­occupied with its own regional problems as the "Brexit shock of 2016 will continue to reverberate and other countries facing elections will be less open to the world and become more inward-looking".

"As protectionism, xenophobia and narrow nationalism grow in Western societies, Asian countries should devise development strategies based more on domestic and regional demand and investments," he notes.

On the other hand, he predicts that exporters will earn more in local currency terms and tourism will increase. But he is quick to warn that 2017 will not be kind to the economy, business and the pockets of the common man and woman, and might even spark a new financial crisis.

The Straits Times' Han Fook Kwang is equally wary about what's ahead this year, particularly for Singapore whose economy is seen to grow sluggishly by only 1-3 per cent.

Han notes that Singapore has never experienced more than two years of sluggish growth and adds that what's even more worrying is that no one can say when the turnaround might happen.

"Singapore's economic challenges are not just cyclical and a result of the slowing global economy but have to do with more strategic questions about how it positions itself during the transition to a more developed economy.

"Ultimately, it is about what Singapore wants to be and what role it sees itself playing in the global economy. It requires a clearer vision of its identity and where it wants to go," Han writes.

Han also notes mounting challenges facing a small country like Singapore including uncertainties in US-China relations  and the demise of the Trans- Pacific Partnership.

Just like many Asean countries, Han says Singapore will find the changed geopolitical landscape a testing time for its political and diplomatic skills.

Meanwhile, this year will also be the 50th anniversary of the founding of Asean. The Nation's Kavi Chongkittavorn says "Thailand, as one of the founding countries, has a responsibility to ensure that the group is running well and moving towards full implementation of the Asean Community".

In business, Malaysia may see budget airfares dominating its airlines sector with AirAsia group, Malaysia Airlines Bhd and Malindo Air expected to add 40 new aircraft to their current fleet, a move that will see an estimated 7,000 new seats to the system that is already facing over-capacity.

“It is going to be a pretty good year especially with the weak ringgit (though) higher fuel prices," The Star quotes AirAsia group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes as saying. AirAsia has hedged a substantial amount of its fuel requirement for 2017 at lower prices, hence the optimism.

Malaysia Airlines will focus on China, where they will add 11 new destinations while Malindo Air plans to look into international expansion.

With the bitter battle for a share of the travel market ahead, Fernandes expects “competition to be bleeding”.

However, The Star notes that travel trade will remain vogue amid all the challenges, with falling ticket prices and surging capacity suggests that “2017 could be a banner year for travellers taking to the skies, with more options to fly to more destinations for lower prices."