Kylie Jenner working on secret project, denies Second Pregnancy

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January 22, 2019

Kylie Jenner on Monday announced that she is about to come up with a secret project that is still in the pipeline and concurrently also dismissed rumours about her pregnancy.

Announcing her upcoming project, without giving any specific details away, the reality star tweeted, “I have something really exciting I get to share soon with you guys! I’ve been cooking this up for a while I can’t wait to share my new project alreadyyy.”

Commenting on the tweet, a user, out of curiosity asked her if she is “pregnant again.” The ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ star washed away all the speculation about her pregnancy by replying with a simple “Noooo lol.”

While fans and followers kept scratching their heads wondering what the big news is, Kylie clarified that the new project has nothing to do with Kylie Cosmetics.

However, her upcoming secret project is not the only thing that has managed to hog the headlines and her fans’ attention lately.

Just last week, the reality TV star was all over the internet and news after a photo of an egg surpassed a photo of Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott’s baby girl as the most liked Instagram post of all time as of Sunday.

Vin Diesel ‘crowdsources’ casting call for ‘xXx 4’

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January 22, 2019

Vin Diesel has invited casting suggestions for the next “xXx” movie from his fans on social media.

The actor, who headlines the action film franchise, teased his Instagram followers about the plans for “xXx 4” by asking them to help him choose the cast.

On January 20, Diesel shared a photograph of himself alongside Deepika Padukone, who played Serena Unger in “xXx: Return of Xander Cage”.

“Heading into a xXx meeting this weekend… Who would you like to see added to the xXx League?” he captioned the post.

Names such as Jason Momoa and Tom Hardy ruled the list of suggestions.

Some fans rooted for Diesel’s co-stars from the “Fast and Furious” franchise – Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Idris Elba. The troika will feature in the spin-off movie “Hobbs & Shaw” later this year.

Chris Hemsworth, Dave Bautista, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon also received a mention or two.

Padukone, who made her Hollywood foray with the third installment of the series in 2017, will return for the fourth part, director DJ Caruso had confirmed last year.

Taiwanese actor-pop star Jay Chou and Chinese actors Zoe Zhang and Roy Wang are also part of the new project.

TMC has done nothing; BJP will grant all Bengali refugees citizenship: Amit Shah

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January 22, 2019

While kick-starting the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal on Tuesday, party chief Amit Shah said that all the Bengali refugees will be granted citizenship with the passage of the Citizenship Bill. Speaking at a rally in Malda, Shah took on the ruling Trinamool Congress and said that the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be for restoring democracy in the state.

I want to assure that all the Bengali refugees will be given citizenship under the Citizenship Bill. The TMC government has done nothing for the refugees but we will give them citizenship. However, taking a jibe at the rally of opposition parties in Kolkata, he said that the anti-BJP parties did not utter ‘Bharat Mata ki jai or ‘Vande Mataram’ even once during the public meeting, but kept chanting ‘Modi Modi’.

He also alleged that the ‘mahagathbandhan’ of opposition parties was meant for gaining power and serving personal interests. Mahagathbandhan is all about greed and lust. They want to remove Modi, while we want to remove poverty and corruption. Describing the Trinamool Congress dispensation as a government that facilitates murders, he further said that the party will be ousted in the general elections.

RBI proposes to relax norms for new players’ entry in retail payment

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January 22, 2019

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed to relax norms for entry of new players in the retail payment systems with a view to give a boost to innovation and competition. The RBI has been issuing guidelines for various payment systems and grants authorisation to non-banks for setting up and operating payment systems.

Licensed banks also need to obtain specific permission from Reserve Bank for setting up and operating a payment system. At the end of 2018, there were 89 authorised non-bank Payment System Operators (PSOs).

The RBI’s policy paper on ‘Authorisation of New Retail Payment Systems’ proposes a multi-pronged policy action for a more appropriate level of retail payment systems and operators.

With regard to entry point norms for entities, the paper said a judicious approach needs to be adopted with regard to networth criteria.

“For all payment systems it would be desirable that they have (a) physical presence in the country, (b) impeccable track record, and (c) are likely to conform to the best overall standards, including those pertaining to customer service and efficiency,” the paper said.

It also makes a case for alignment of regulatory framework to encourage enhanced participation of both bank and non-bank entities.

Earlier in June last year, the RBI had announced that it would encourage more players to participate in and promote pan-India payment platforms and would bring out a policy paper.

The objective, it said was to minimise the concentration risk in the retail payments market from a financial stability perspective and to give a fillip to innovation and competition.

The central bank has invited comments on the policy paper by February 20.

Industry 4.0 presents huge opportunities for India: DIPP

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January 22, 2019

India has a huge opportunity in the form of Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution but the country needs to adopt new technologies and provide a facilitative policy framework on a fast-track basis, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Speaking here at a session on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said efforts are being made at the central and state government level to provide necessary policy enablers.

He said that the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have the biggest opportunity to leapfrog to the next technology and benefits can be huge for them.

Abhishek was speaking at a breakfast session on ‘Shaping India’s future with Industry 4.0’, jointly organised by global consultancy giant Deloitte and industry body CII.

At the same session, Deloitte global CEO Punit Renjen said India has a great potential and its businesses are all geared for the the Industry 4.0.

He also said that Deloitte is committed to work towards contributing to society and India would be a major part of this initiative with an estimated one crore people expected to benefit. Renjen said he would be travelling to India next month.

Commerce Min seeks stakeholders’ views on report to revive SEZs

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January 22, 2019

The Commerce Ministry on Tuesday said that it has sought stakeholders’ views on a report submitted by a panel to revive special economic zones (SEZs).

A committee headed by Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani on promoting SEZs submitted its recommendations in November 2018.

The panel, which was appointed by the commerce ministry, has suggested continuation of tax incentives and an array of other measures to revamp SEZs.

SEZs, which once contributed significantly in the country’s exports, started losing sheen after the government decided to roll back tax incentives and imposed minimum alternate tax and dividend distribution tax.

“The suggestions (of stakeholders) on the report are required to be sent latest by January 30,” the ministry said in a statement.

Other suggestions of the panel include renaming of SEZs to employment and economic enclaves (EECs), extension of sunset clause, incentives linked with investments, employment, technology and value addition, simplification of processes and tax benefits to services sector.

Swift resolution of disputes through arbitration, flexibility in the dual-usage norms for non-processing areas in SEZs and extension of MSME schemes to these zones are some other recommendations of the panel.

The SEZ Act, 2005, supported by SEZ rules, came into effect on February 10, 2006.

Exports from SEZs grew about 15 per cent to Rs 5.52 lakh crore in 2017-18 as compared to the previous fiscal.

PM to invest Rs 3,100 crore in Tamil Nadu

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January 22, 2019

The Coimbatore chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for setting up the defence industrial corridor envisaging a total investment of Rs 3,100 crore in Tamil Nadu.

The Prime Minister’s vision will pave the way for Tamil Nadu’s development and facilitate further investment in the defence corridor and create enormous scope for scaling up production of defence equipment through MSMEs, Chamber president V Lakshminarayanasamy said.

The initiative of the Centre will also boost indigenous production of defence equipment and ensure connectivity among various defence industrial units, he said in a statement here.

The chamber also thanked the government for sanctioning the country’s first Defence Innovation Hub to CODISSIA (Coimbatore District Small Industries Association) here and appealed for sourcing of components from Coimbatore MSMEs, since they have huge spare capacity.

He also thanked the Tamil Nadu government for the support in bringing this project to the state and requested to form defence clusters in nodal cities for attracting investments in the corridor

PM attacks at Congress, says BJP has stopped loot and leakage

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January 22, 2019

Taking on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the party that ruled for so long made no effort to plug corruption despite a former prime minister identifying the malady, while the BJP ended “85 per cent of the loot” in four-and-a-half years. Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, he alluded to the former prime minister’s remark that only 15 paise of Re 1 reaches the masses and the Congress governments over the years did nothing to stop the leakage.

Modi said his government gave about Rs 5,80,000 crore to the people directly through various schemes. Addressing NRIs and Indian-origin people at the inauguration of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, Modi described NRIs as India’s brand ambassadors and said that they were the symbols of the country’s capabilities.

The government has changed the mindset that India cannot change, he said in the presence of chief guest Mauritian Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, UP Governor Ram Naik, and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, among others.

Modi said that India’s contribution was being recognized at the international level, especially its role with regard to environment. Taking a swipe at the Congress, Modi said it got to know about the disease, acknowledged the disease, but neither thought about it, nor did anything in the direction of curing the ailment. The party that ruled the country for so many years had given the system to the country, a truth that was accepted by the then prime minister. But what is regrettable is that later in its rule of 10-15 years, there was no effort made to end this loot and leakage. The country’s middle class kept giving tax honestly and this loot of 85 per cent also continued. I also want to tell you today’s truth as well. We used technology to end this loot of 85 per cent completely.

Modi also said that in the last four-and-a-half years about Rs 5,80,000 crore, about USD 80 billion, our government, through various schemes, has directly given to the people, transferring it in their bank accounts. The money has been given out for various purposes such as for a home to someone, for education, for scholarship, for gas cylinder and to other such ends this amount has been given. Now just consider that if the country was being run through the old system, then even today from this 5,80,000 crore, about 4,50000 crore would have disappeared or leaked. If we would not have brought a change in the system then this amount would have been looted like the former prime minister had accepted that it was looted. This corrective measure could have been taken earlier also, but there was no intention or will. He further added that his government also identified about 7 crore fake people who existed only on paper, taking advantage of government schemes. Just think about it, more than the population of many countries such as Britain, France, Italy, we had people who just existed on paper to take advantage of government schemes.

Mauritian Premier Jugnauth, who is the chief guest for the three-day event, also spoke on the occasion. He hailed the prime minister for India’s transformation through initiatives such as the Skill India and the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao schemes also praised Modi’s global stewardship in promoting clean energy and for setting up the International Solar Alliance. Jugnauth announced that his country will hold a Bhagwad Gita Mahotsav next month and a Bhojpuri Festival next year.

For the first time, the three-day convention is being organised from January 21 to 23 instead of January 9 to allow participants to visit the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad and attend the Republic Day parade in the national capital. The theme of this year’s convention is ‘Role of Indian diaspora in building new India’.

Be on facebook or not, your privacy may be at risk

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January 22, 2019

Your privacy on Facebook and Twitter may be at risk even if you have never been on social media or have deleted your account, a study suggests.

Individual choice has long been considered a bedrock principle of online privacy, said scientists from the University of Vermont in the US and the University of Adelaide in Australia. However, the study shows that if a person leaves a social media platform or never joined the online posts and words of their friends still provide about 95 per cent of the “potential predictive accuracy,” even without any of that person’s data.

Published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, the study gathered more than thirty million public posts on Twitter from 13,905 users. With this data, the researchers showed that the information within the Twitter messages from eight or nine of a person’s contacts make it possible to predict that person’s later tweets as accurately as if they were looking directly at that person’s own Twitter feed.

The study shows that, at least in theory, a company, government or other actor can accurately profile a person, think political party, favourite products, religious commitments from their friends, even if they have never been on social media or have deleted their account. There’s no place to hide in a social network, said Lewis Mitchell, formerly a researcher at the University of Vermont and now senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

How information moves on social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, has become a powerful factor in protest movements, national elections, and the rise and fall of commercial brands. People on these platforms reveal massive amounts of information about themselves and their friends, researchers said. However, scientists have not known if there is a fundamental limit to how much predictability is contained within this tidal wave of data. The scientists used their analysis of Twitter writings to show that there is a mathematical upper limit on how much predictive information a social network can hold.

However, they further added that it makes little difference that if the person being profiled, or whose behaviour is being predicted, is on or off that network when their friends are on the network.

Looked at from the other direction, when you sign up for Facebook or another social media platform, you think you’re giving up your information, but you’re giving up your friends’ information too, said James Bagrow from the University of Vermont.

The research raises profound questions about the fundamental nature of privacy and how, in a highly networked society, a person’s choices and identity are embedded in that network.

Maha Cabinet gives 100 crore for Thackeray Memorial

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January 22, 2019

The Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 100 crore for the construction of a memorial for late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

After the Cabinet meeting, state Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told reporters here that the relations between the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena “were and will remain sweet”. There are “high chances” of a tie-up between both the parties (for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections) because the BJP has always been in favour of an alliance.

Late Balasaheb Thackeray was not just leader of the Sena but a leader of this alliance. Balasaheb will remain a person of high importance for all political parties. Therefore, in today’s Cabinet, Rs 100 crore has been approved for his memorial, which will inspire the youth, the senior BJP leader said. He further added that the funds for the memorial will be provided by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the BJP-led state government will ensure its availability.

Mungantiwar also expressed confidence that both the parties will be able to forge an alliance ahead of the polls. The BJP has observed that there is an exceptionally good response from Sena ministers in the Cabinet meetings adding that they congratulate the chief minister on various issues and firmly back the BJP on issues of farmers. However, the Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has been often critical of the two governments. Last year, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had announced to go solo in future elections.

The memorial is set to come up at a location in Shivaji Park area where earlier Mumbai mayor’s bungalow was located. The prime sea-facing property, measuring around 11,500 sqm, was handed over to the ‘Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas’ (trust) last year, clearing the decks for the memorial.