Asian News International

Targeting the festive season sales, consumer electronic major Philips on Thursday introduced a new range of televisions that come bundled with Apple TV features.

Priced at Rs. 29,990 onwards, the new range would be a unison of the features, innovations of the two brands – Philips and Apple, PE Electronics said in a statement.

The new range would have access to Apple’s iTunes, which is world’s largest entertainment library containing music, movies, TV shows. It would also have Airplay and Screen Mirroring, which would render iPhone, iPad screen on Philips LED TV.

The government is expected take up with social networking giant Facebook social sector issues like education and empowerment of the girl child, female foeticide and ‘Clean Ganga’ campaign and seek its help in promoting them.

The government, in its interaction with Facebook co- founder Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, is also likely to ask him to promote Hindi on its social networking site.

Sources said the Facebook CEO, on his first visit to India, will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday and hold discussions with them.

Amidst the demand for her release in Tamil Nadu, an AIADMK functionary has written to jailed party chief Jayalalithaa, convicted in a graft case, asking her to quit the powerful General Secretary’s post, taking moral responsibility.

Such a course of action would only add to her popularity and set a precedence in public life, said a party member from Coimbatore, K Ramasubramanian, in a letter to Jayalalithaa.

He told Jayalalithaa that she was a leader who does not stand the follies committed by her party colleagues and never shied away from showing such erring functionaries their place.

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella triggered uproar on Thursday after suggesting working women should trust “karma” when it comes to securing pay raises.

Nadella was speaking during an on-stage discussion at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference in Arizona, when he made the remarks.
Asked about advice for women interested in advancing careers but uncomfortable asking for pay increases, Nadella was quoted as responding they should just trust “that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along.”

A team of AIIMS doctors has submitted a fresh report to police on the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, maintaining that she died of poisoning.

The new report by the three-member panel of doctors, who had conducted the autopsy on her, was prepared on the basis of the findings of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) which had examined Sunanda’s viscera, sources said.

Muslim Muttahida Council (MMC), a consortium of Muslim organizations has collected Rs. 7.36 lakh and donated to the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir.

Informing this at a press conference here on Saturday, MMC president, Sayed Tanveerpeeran Hashmi said that after the natural calamity that struck the people of the valley, the council began collecting funds for helping the victims.

In a meeting headed by State Tourism Minister, Mr. R V Deshpande, declared a list of 22 districts, selected 46 tourist places in Karnataka for adoption by the corporate sector for development under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Gulbarga and Yadgir districts have been erased from the list of tourist destinations for adoption by CSR. It is shocking news for historians, guides and social activists here.

Reliance Group will invest Rs. 60,000 crore in the power, coal, cement and telecom businesses in Madhya Pradesh by 2020, its Chairman Anil Ambani said today.

Speaking at the State Government’s mega investor conference here, he said Reliance Group has, over the past five years, invested in the four key areas of coal, power, cement and telecom.

“The Group’s total investment exceeds Rs. 30,000 crore in these four key areas in the State, making the Reliance Group by far the largest investor in the State,” he said.

Seeing exponential growth potential for Facebook in India, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg today said he will discuss with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ways to connect villages with the digital world.

The CEO of the California-headquartered firm, who is on his first visit to India, said he is excited to help the government in its ambitious Digital India programme.

There seems to be no end to the celebrity naked photo scandal. It’s latest victim is actress-model Kelly Brook.

According to the reports in The Sun, Brook is very upset with her photo leak, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

One of the pictures that surfaced online show the model naked on a bed.

“She is naturally very upset. She may have profited from images of her body in the past, but these were private images pumped out to the world. She’s horrified,” said a source.

Private iCloud accounts of 101 celebrities were hacked and nude photos of them were published online in August.

Actress Priyanka Chopra, who packed a punch at the box office with her performance in “Mary Kom” recently, is set to begin work on her new film “Bajirao Mastani”. She is full of excitement, but admits she’s nervous too.

“Sometimes starting something is so scary n I haven’t felt a new beginning for a while. Super excited and totally nervous! Bajirao starts Tom,” the National Award winning actress posted on her Twitter page Tuesday.

A period drama, “Bajirao Mastani”, which is filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s dream project, also stars Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone.

—IANS

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed three crisis managers for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone where the Ebola epidemic is spreading.

His spokesperson said Wednesday Ban appointed Marcel Rudasingwa of Rwanda as Ebola crisis manager for Guinea, Peter Jan Graaff of the Netherlands for Liberia and Amadu Kamara of the US for Sierra Leone, Xinhua reported.

The US Supreme Court has temporarily halted same-sex marriages in Idaho, a day after a federal appellate court revoked the prohibition in the states, thus declaring gay marriages legal.

In a brief statement, Justice Anthony Kennedy said Wednesday he had responded to a request by Idaho’s Republican governor, Butch Otter.

Kennedy issued his ruling just 90 minutes before Idaho would have been able to begin allowing gay marriages.

The order is an administrative one and will apply only until the high court takes further action on the matter.

Pakistan’s former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son has been booked in a murder case after his security guard allegedly shot dead a young biker for not clearing the way for “VIP movement” here.

Tanvir Javed told police that his 23-year-old son Tahir Malik was going to Defence area on a motorbike yesterday evening when he had a heated exchange with Abdul Qadir, Gilani’s eldest son, and his security guards.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today exercised his franchise in Maharashtra assembly polls through the postal ballot.

“Since it would have taken a lot of time and money to go to Maharashtra to fulfil my duty as a voter, I had requested the returning officer for the postal ballot for myself and my wife for the Goregaon assembly constituency,” he said.

“The postal ballot was received yesterday and have been sent today for the polling slated for October 15,” he said.

Veteran journalist and former chairman of Prasar Bharati M.V. Kamath, who was one of the earliest biographers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, died Thursday morning in his native place Manipal in Karnataka, said a relative. He was 94.

Kamath was the Washington correspondent of The Times of India for a decade.

He had been hospitalised for the past few days and breathed his last around 6.30 a.m., said his nephew Jairam Kamath.

The family of the Iranian woman, who has been awarded death sentence for allegedly stabbing her attempted rapist to death, is in the dark despite reports she could be spared.

According to FOX News, Rayhaneh Jabbari’s mother, Shole Pakravan, says that her daughter is being pressured by authorities to sign another confession.

Pakravan said that Jabbari had no knowledge about when the execution was to take place and was being pressured to sign a document that denies there was any attempt at rape and that there was no third party present at the time of the alleged murder.

Jennifer Lawrence has been featured topless in the cover shoot of fashion magazine Vanity Fair post naked photo scandal.

The photo shoot that has been clicked by fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, features the ‘Hunger Games’ star pictured boldly wearing nothing except a statement Chopard silver necklace and a red lip look, the Independent reported.

The 24-year-old actress can also be seen posing for Demarchelier in tropical surroundings wearing a silver and patterned bodice dress by Dior.

Lawrence has donned several Resort 2015 collections for the photoshoot.

A new study has revealed that girls deal battle with higher amounts of stress than boys, making them more likely to ruminate, and contributing to their risk of depression.

Psychology researcher and lead author on the study, Jessica Hamilton of Temple University said that the findings draw their focus to the important role of stress as a potential causal factor in the development of vulnerabilities to depression, particularly among girls, and could change the way that we target risk for adolescent depression.

The CBI today moved the Delhi High Court seeking cancellation of interim bail granted to former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala in the JBT teachers recruitment scam case, saying he violated bail conditions.

The counsel for the probe agency mentioned the application before a bench of Justices B D Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul and sought an urgent hearing, submitting that the INLD leader, who had been granted bail on medical grounds, has been campaigning for Haryana assembly election in violation of bail conditions.

SIndia and Pakistan traded heavy mortar and gun fire along the international border with Pakistani troops targeting 60 outposts and 90 villagers overnight in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, leaving eight persons, including three BSF jawans, injured.

Pakistan Rangers shelled almost the entire 192-km border during the night. Nearly 30,000 people have been displaced following one of the worst violations of the 2003 ceasefire by Pakistan which has left eight people dead and 80 others, including nine security men, injured since October 1.

Thousands have taken refuge in relief camps in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday after intense shelling from across the border killed at least eight civilians and injured scores

Some 18,000 Indian civilians have fled their homes in the lowlands around Jammu to escape the fighting, taking refuge in schools and relief camps.

On Wednesday, District Magistrate Mubarak Singh of Samba region, where several villagers have been evacuated near the international border, said that those living within three kilometers of the border were brought to relief camps.

A new survey by an investment bank and asset management firm, Piper Jaffray, revealed that 9 out of 10 American teenagers use social media and consider Instagram as the most popular site.

In the survey, analysts examined how kids’ social media preferences have changed over the last six months. They found that Instagram has become even more popular, with 76 percent of teens currently saying they use it-up 7 percent since last spring, CBS News reported.

New Delhi: Cyclone ‘Hudhud’ has moved closer to the cost of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and will turn into a severe cyclonic storm in next 12 hours, the MeT department today said.

At 8.30 AM today, the cyclone was positioned 780 km south-southeast of Gopalpur and 770 km southeast of Visakhapatnam, said an IMD bulletin.

Yesterday, the cyclone was positioned about 1100 km, southeast of Gopalpur and 1150 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam at 11.30 AM.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg willon Thursday attend the two-day long Internet.org summit that aims to make internet access affordable for people who do not have it globally.

Zuckerberg is also likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to sources.

His visit comes three months after the visit of Sheryl Sandberg (July 2014) , chief operating officer of the social networking giant, to the country, which is the second biggest market for Facebook.