A S Kashyap

Incoming England coach Trevor Bayliss played a straight bat to the controversy surrounding Kevin Pietersen’s Ashes selection omission on Thursday.

The Australian did his best not to wade too deeply into the issue when asked about the maverick batsman’s selection for the upcoming series beginning on July 8 at Cardiff.

Describing Pietersen as a ‘good batter’, Bayliss said that the exiled batsman is currently unavailable for selection, the Guardian reported.

Paramount Pictures is in talks with Rebecca Thomas to take the helm of John Green’s novel adaptation ‘Looking For Alaska.’

The project has been penned by ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ scribes Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for Temple Hill’s Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, who are producing with Mark Waters and Jessica Tuchinsky, reported Deadline.com.

The film centers on character named Miles “Pudge” Halter, who under the influence of his new funny, sexy and self destructive friend Alaska Young heads off to the Culver Creek Boarding School and finds adventure.

A team of researchers has developed a technique for creating the world’s first full-color, flexible thin-film reflective display.

University of Central Florida’s Debashis Chanda’s research was inspired by nature. Traditional displays like those on a mobile phone require a light source, filters and a glass plates, but animals like chameleons, octopuses and squids are born with thin, flexible, color-changing displays that don’t need a light source-their skin.

Queen Elizabeth II may have to house hunt as Buckingham Palace needs to be renovated urgently, for which she would have to move out.

As per the royal officials, the residence, which hasn’t been largely redecorated ever since she was crowned in 1952, requires an estimated 150 million pounds worth of renovation and upgrades, including replacing old plumbing and wiring and removing asbestos.

The queen, who turned 89 this year, does have several homes, but lives in the London palace for about one third of her time.

An e-tailer has recently unveiled a clinging thigh-skimming design that has been priced less than a dollar.

Manchester-based OMG Fashion has described the “eye-catching” basic cap sleeved jersey style garment, which would be available in coral, black, wine and grey, as a “sizzling summer dress,” the Daily Mail has reported.

It comes in a range of sizes from 8 up to 22, which meant that it also caters for plus sized girls.

Company owner Hayley Mellor said that they wanted to give people a treat to get into the summer spirit with this thrifty design. (ANI)

Veteran Pakistan batsman Younis Khan has expressed that he wants to see his team climb up the ladder to grab the numero position in ICC Test rankings before he draws curtains on his international career.

Younis became the fifth Pakistan cricketer to earn 100th Test cap in the ongoing second Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at Colombo.

The right-hander, who has a batting average of 53, said that as an individual he understand the feeling of staying at the top very well when he bagged the top spot in batting after smashing a triple-century against Sri Lanka in 2009.

A new study has suggested that a form of “virtual-reality” therapy may help alcohol addicts reduce their craving for booze.

Chung-Ang University researchers said they are optimistic about the potential for virtual reality as a therapy for alcohol use disorders.

Senior researcher Doug Hyun Han said that this technology is already popular in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, adding that it has been used to treat phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men have retained their second spot in the One-Day International team rankings despite losing the three-match series 2-1 against Bangladesh in Mirpur.

India avoided a whitewash against Bangladesh as they registered a 77-run win over the hosts in the third and final ODI.

The defeat put India on 115 points, 14 points behind world champions and world number one Australia.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh climbed up a place to seventh ahead of West Indies to bolster their place for the Champions Trophy 2017. (ANI)

Google has added a feature that lets user virtually climb a real mountain in Google Maps with its first ever vertical Street View feature.

According to the Techcrunch.com, Google Maps with its vertical Street View feature will let users experience a first-person climb on both the The Nose and a portion of the Dawn Wall routes for scaling El Capitan, which is vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, California, USA.

Google partnered with legendary climbers Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold, and Tommy Caldwell to add Yosemite Valley’s El Capitan to its Street View. (ANI)

Indian origin scientist Dr. Debashis Chanda has achieved breakthrough by creating world’s first full-color, flexible thin-film reflective display.

Professor at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Chanda used an iconic National Geographic photographic of an Afghan girl to demonstrate the color-changing abilities of the nanostructured reflective display developed by his team.

Claiming to be inspired by animals like chameleons, octopuses and squids, he said that he was motivated to create a skin-like display, unlike bulky and rigid displays like LCD, LED, CRT.

Victoria’s Secret is facing backlash on Twitter after the lingerie giant revealed their new design, which apparently looks like rip off of Australian cult swimwear brand Triangl.

Users noticed similarities between the designs and wasted no time in pointing it out with the topic being there on the social media site for over the past few months, the Independent reported.

A Twitter use Lucci sarcastically wrote, “Probably not copying even though this triangl line came out last year where’d u get ur new design Victoria’s Secret??,” another user said brand badly wanted to be triangl.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has reportedly re-entered the Syrian town of Kobani, just months after being pushed out from the city after a long battle with Kurdish troops.

Several people have been killed in fierce clashes in the town, reported the BBC.

The strategic town located on the Syrian-Turkish border would give the ISIS a complete control over a stretch of more than 100 kilometers between Raqqa, Syria and Turkey.

Vishwanath Pratap Singh, known to his constituents and colleagues as Raja Saheb, became the nation’s Prime Minister in 1989 with enormous goodwill, but his tenure was short lived.

Had he been alive today, he would have been 84.

As Principal Information Officer, I first came into contact with him when he was the Finance Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government. Rajiv Gandhi, when he became the Prime Minister, was known as ‘Mr. Clean’. V.P. Singh wanted to be known as ‘Super Clean’.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday recalled as to how the party under former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s leadership was rejected by the people post the Emergency and said that the other political parties should take lessons from this episode and not try to ruin the country’s democratic system.

“Indira Gandhi herself had sought apology for the imposition of Emergency. The party was even punished for that. We want others to learn a lesson from such an episode and no one should try to ruin the democratic system of a country,” Singh told the media here.

Veteran singer Asha Bhosle has been named as the greatest Bollywood playback singer of all time by the U.K. based Eastern Eye newspaper.

The 81-year-old songstress, who started her career in 1943, beat off her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar to grab the top position.

According to the list, late singer Mohd. Rafi and Kishore Kumar secured the third and fourth spot respectively.

Bollywood singer Shreya Ghoshal was placed at 7th spot, whereas, Sonu Nigam was ranked 14th on the list. (ANI)

A complaint has been filed here against Director Chandra Prakash Dwivedi and actor Sunny Deol of the upcoming movie Mohalla Assi, with a local organisation claiming that “expletives” allegedly used in the film hurt the “religious sentiments” of some sections.

Sarvajan Jagruti Manch, a local organisation, on Monday lodged a complaint at Bhelupur police station, alleging that a leaked trailer of the movie was laced with cuss words, which maligned the image of Varanasi and its traditions and “hurts the religious sentiments”.

Patients are trying out pacemaker outside the skin before committing to invasive procedure and having a permanent implant.

Professor Michael Giudici, director of arrhythmia services in the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Hospitals said that patients have numerous concerns, such as body image issues, so this allows them to see the before and after, which helps them make a much more informed decision.

Diego Maradona will stand for the presidency of scandal-tainted FIFA presidency, a Uruguayan journalist who presents a television show with the Argentine football legend, said today.

“‘I am candidate’ are the words that Diego Maradona used when I asked him about the candidacy for the FIFA presidency,” journalist Victor Hugo Morales said on Twitter.

Morales said he had telephoned Maradona to ask how his father was. The two present the De Zurda television show together.

WWE announced that two premier athletes from India, including former World Kabbadi League Champion Lovepreet Sangha and two-time Kushti National Heavyweight Champion Satender Ved Pal, have joined WWE NXT, the professional wrestling developmental branch for WWE.

“The addition of two elite athletes from India to the NXT family underscores WWE’s global reach and popularity,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President.

.@WWENXT attracts talent from all around the world. I’d like to welcome Lovepreet Sangha and Satender from India. pic.twitter.com/MrSUURtNoz

Greece’s international creditors poured cold water on the chances of a breakthrough at an emergency summit on Monday aimed at finding a deal to save Athens from default and a possible exit from the euro.

European paymaster Germany warned that eleventh-hour reform proposals submitted by leftist Greek premier Alexis Tsipras were not “substantial”, with France seeing a breakthrough only in coming days.

In fresh troubles for Sahara, a US court has issued show-cause notice to the group in connection with a US $350 million lawsuit seeking attachment of its two prized hotel assets here — Plaza and Dream Downtown.

The lawsuit has been filed by Hong Kong-based JTS Trading Ltd, which had proposed to partner UAE-based Trinity White City Ventures and arrange loans from Swiss banking giant UBS to acquire the crisis-ridden Indian group’s three overseas hotels — Grosvenor House in London and the two in New York.

In order to stop the production and sale of illicit liquor, Maharashtra government is considering a proposal to amend the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act (MPDA).

Excise Minister Eknath Khadse told reporters that the government is considering a proposal to amend the act in which stringent action will be proposed against production and sale of illicit liquor. “At present, police take action against spurious liquor production, but stringent action is required,” he said.

Chanchal Bhattacharya, the childhood coach of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Monday said the Ranchi lad maybe is unable to deliver results expected of him as skipper because of the prevailing atmosphere in the dressing room.

Bhattacharya told ANI that Dhoni has a lot of pressure on him as a captain and added that may be he is unable to adjust with the dressing room’s environment.

“I don’t know the inside story but we have seen Dhoni play and fight till the last over. If one’s mind is not at peace then it is impossible to play,” Bhattacharya added.

The top officials from Soft Bank Corporation, Bharti Enterprises and Japan Bank for International Cooperation on Monday expressed keenness to invest in the renewable energy sector in India as part of the “Make in India” initiative.

The chairman and CEO of Soft Bank Corporation Masayoshi Son, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Senior MD of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation Tadashi Maeda called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (ANI)

The Congress party on Monday accused the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of influencing the Enforcement Directorate over the Lalit Modi case, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask for the resignation of top ministers involved in the case for an unbiased investigation.