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Allowing mosquitoes to breed leading to spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue is equivalent to penal offences like culpable homicide and rash driving, the Delhi High Court today told the three municipal corporations here and said "heads must roll" for this. "Should it not be tested on the lines of culpable homicide not amounting to murder or rash and negligent driving?" the court asked the civic bodies referring to their officials not doing enough to check mosquito breeding. Ordering that a disciplinary action be taken against the municipal officials who did not discharge their duty of ensuring cleanliness in their respective areas, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the MCDs have "pathetically failed". "Instructions have not been followed, so some heads must roll. Come back with the action taken against the officials and not the poor safai karamchaaris," the bench said and directed that the com...

US President Donald Trump appears to have given up on his expectations that China will rein in its fully dependent ally North Korea, after an American student released by Pyongyang recently died possibly of injuries sustained in captivity there. Otto Warmbier, a college student who had gone to North Korea as part of a tour, returned home last week with severe head injuries and died on Monday. Trump had first condemned the "brutality" of the North Korean regime, and followed it up with a more policy-oriented response in a tweet: "While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!" But, Trump had also said in his earlier interview that he was prepared for the US to act alone if Beijing came up short. It has now, according to him. He did not say what his plans are for North Korea, but options include military action, travel restrictions, secondary sanctions and talks. Sta...

A magistrate court in Kurla has issued summons to employees of a top suburban hotel for allegedly aiding an “adulterous” couple and withholding information from the woman’s husband. The complainant, a 31-year-old first officer in the merchant navy, has claimed that he first suspected his wife (28) of infidelity last year, when he found receipts of flights she had taken to Delhi, Agra and Indore with a senior colleague at the private bank she works for. As the sailor spent several months of the year away from home, he began to follow his wife whenever he returned to the city, he has claimed. According to advocate Kanish Jayant, who is representing the man, he discovered that his wife and her lover would frequent certain hotels in Kurla and Vile Parle. According to his complaint, on December 31, 2016, the man, with by his parents and aunt, followed the couple to Hotel Kohinoor Elite at LBS Road, Kurla West. Jayant said that after spotting the banker’s car parked outside the hotel, t...

Seven people were killed and nearly 60 injured on Thursday in an explosion at a kindergarten in eastern China, state media said, but did not say if any children were among the dead. Blasts and other accidents are common in China, because of patchy enforcement of safety rules, although the government has pledged to improve checks to stamp out such incidents. Many parents were picking up their children when the blast took place around 5 p.m. near the entrance of the kindergarten in Xuzhou, in the coastal province of Jiangsu, the official Xinhua news agency said on China's Twitter-like Weibo. Two people died on the spot and five more died of their injuries, while 59 people were injured, nine among them being treated for severe injuries, Xinhua reported. Pictures circulating on Chinese social media showed about a dozen women and children lying on the ground in what appeared to be the immediate aftermath of the blast. One video showed an injured woman with scorched clothing stagger...

The Islamic State group said its fighters have captured Osama bin Laden's infamous Tora Bora mountain hideout in eastern Afghanistan but the Taliban on Thursday dismissed the claim, saying they were still in control of the cave complex that once housed the former al-Qaida leader. Earlier, IS released an audio recording, saying its signature black flag was flying over the hulking mountain range. The message was broadcast on the militants' Radio Khilafat station in the Pashto language late on Wednesday. It also said IS has taken over several districts and urged villagers who fled the fighting to return to their homes and stay indoors. A Taliban spokesman denied IS was in control, claiming instead that the Taliban had pushed IS back from some territory the rival militants had taken in the area. The Tora Bora mountains hide a warren of caves in which al-Qaeda militants led by bin Laden hid from U.S. coalition forces in 2001, after the Taliban fled Kabul and before he fled ...

The US on Thursday declared Karnataka-born Islamic State operative Mohammad Shafi Armar and two others as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and imposed financial sanctions against them. The state department’s action against Armar, Oussama Ahmad Atar and Mohammed Isa Yousif Saqar Al Binali imposed sanctions on them as they posed a “significant risk of committing” acts of terrorism that threaten US national security. The state department’s move coincided with the US treasury department putting the three IS operatives on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s list of “Specially Designated Nationals”, whereby their assets were blocked and American nationals prohibited from dealing with them. The state department described Armar as a “leader and head recruiter in India for the Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group, ISIS”. “He has cultivated a group of dozens of ISIS sympathisers who are involved in terrorist activities across India...

An Indian woman who was raped by an Uber driver sued the ride-hailing company on Thursday, alleging that Uber executives had “violated her a second time” when they obtained her medical records and used them to cast doubt on her credibility The woman, a resident of Texas who is bringing the case as a Jane Doe, filed suit against the company, CEO Travis Kalanick, and former executives Eric Alexander and Emil Michael for violating her privacy and defaming her character. The case stems from a 2014 rape that caused widespread outrage against Uber in India and led to the service being temporarily banned in Delhi. The victim was an Uber passenger who was assaulted by her driver. The driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison. Uber faced harsh criticism for failing to perform effective background checks when it was revealed that the driver was facing charges in four other criminal cases at the time of the attack. The nearly $70bn startup expressed supp...

With a rooftop swimming pool, indoor gardens and its very own Hello Kitty café, it's safe to say Singapore’s Changi International makes most other airports look pretty bland in comparison. The airport, which serves almost 59 million passengers a year, has been named the best in the world by travel site Air Help . The worldwide rankings factored in the number of delayed and cancelled flights, quality and service ratings as well as social media sentiment - and Singapore Changi was found to excel in all three areas, particularly when it came to on-time performance Despite the high volume of daily traffic, the airport ranked 8.8 on a scale of 10 for punctuality and last year, less that 1% of all flights departing from the airport were cancelled or delayed for more than three hours. It was awarded 10 out of 10 for quality of service and after an analysis of passenger’s opinions on Twitter, the overall satisfaction level was 6 out of 10, higher than most other airports listed ...

Spain’s prosecutor’s office in Madrid filed a tax fraud lawsuit against Portugal and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday. The 32-year-old is being accused of defrauding Spanish authorities of 14.7 million euros between 2011 and 2014. In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said Ronaldo hid his income in Spain from his image rights by knowingly using a “business structure” created in 2010, reported Reuters . The lawsuit is based on a report sent to the prosecutor’s office from Spain’s tax agency AEAT. Ronaldo’s representatives have so far been unavailable for comment. With earnings over 73 million pounds, Forbes had named Ronaldo the highest paid sporting celebrity in the world this year. Ronaldo is also number five on the list of world’s highest paid celebrities. He also enjoys a number of lucrative sponsorship deals. Ronaldo is sponsored by a number of companies, including Nike, Armani, and Tag Heuer, among others. He also owns his own brand, CR7, to sell underwear and ...

Finnish smartphone manufacturer HMD Global made a comeback for brand Nokia in the Indian market with its Android-based models Nokia 3, 5 and 6 on Tuesday. The products were unveiled at the Mobile World Conference in February. The company had confirmed “Nokia brand’s return to smartphones” in a presentation at its Capital Markets Day event on November 15, 2016, in Barcelona, Spain. The handsets will be manufactured by HMD Global – a new entity formed in May 2016 solely to revive the Nokia name in the smartphone industry. The company has launched the Nokia 3, 5 and 6 at Rs 9,499, Rs 12,899 and Rs 14,999 respectively, Mint reported. While Nokia 3 and 5 will be only available through offline stores while the high-end Nokia 6 will be exclusively sold on Amazon India. Registrations for the Nokia 6 will open on July 14. Brand recall is a factor the company is banking on to give it an edge over its competitors, Mint reported. On May 18, the company had relaunched its a revamped version o...

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticised the economic and political isolation of Qatar by several Gulf countries, calling it “inhuman and un-Islamic” reported AFP . “Taking action to isolate a country in all areas is inhumane and un-Islamic,” Erdogan said in televised comments to his party in Ankara. He said that Qatar is a country “on which a death sentence in some way has been pronounced”. Erdogan strongly rejected accusations by the Gulf countries that Qatar supports terrorism. He said Qatar, like Turkey, had been a staunch opponent of Islamic State terrorists, adding, “Let’s stop fooling ourselves”. The Turkish leader called on Saudi King Salman to “show leadership” by solving the crisis. “I think that as the elder statesman of the Gulf, the king of Saudi Arabia should solve this affair and show leadership.” But he stopped short of a direct attack on King Salman. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Erdogan would hold talks on the c...

Taking off from United States President Donald Trump’s controversial typo episode on Twitter, Democratic legislator Mike Quigley has proposed the Covfefe Act to hold the commander-in-chief accountable for his statements on Twitter, Reuters reported on Monday. The Illinois representative has suggested that the Presidential Records Act be amended to get the National Archives to document presidential tweets and other social media interactions. Quigley introduced the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically For Engagement bill on Monday. On May 31, the Trump had tweeted what appears to be a typo that read, “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.” The tweet was later deleted without any clarification. “In order to maintain public trust in government, elected officials must answer for what they do and say; this includes 140-character tweets,” a statement by Quigley’s office said. “President Trump’s frequent, unfiltered use of his personal Twitter account as a means of off...

The new update for WhatsApp on iOS will allow users to use photo filters, organise images with automatic and a new reply shortcut. The instant messaging application for smartphones and tablets added these features in its new update version 2.17.30 for iPhones and iPads. Right swipe your chats With the new easy reply option for WhatsApp, iPhone users can now reply to their chats by swiping right on the texts they want to answer. This feature will come in handy in group chats when one user wants to answer to a specific group member. Colour Filters Now iOS users can add five different filters to the media they sent in their chats. Users can select from Pop, B&W, Cool, Film and Chrome which can be applied to images, video or GIFs in both individual as well as group chats. To access them, users will have to select or capture the media they intend to send and swipe up. This will reveal the selection of the five filters. WhatsApp is expected to add more filters to its repertoire. Aut...

It's thought the measure of a passport's power is the number of countries it allows its holder to travel to without applying for a visa. Based on this, German passports - held by millions - have the most clout, allowing their citizens to go to a total of 176 countries out of 218, visa-free. While millions don't hold a passport for the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, it is precisely their rarity which makes them so special. Only three are issued at any one time. These go to the three highest officers in the Catholic order: the grand master, deputy grand master, and chancellor. So what is the medieval order? Its full name reads the 'Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.' It originated as the Crusader Knights Hospitaller in 1099, reports Business Insider . Every other officer of the order have to use the passports issued by their home countries. Interestingly, the military sovereign doesn't have any of its o...

The Reserve Bank of India or RBI is issuing a new batch of Rs. 500 banknotes with the inset letter 'A', the central bank said today. In a notification, the RBI said: "In continuation of issuing of Rs. 500 denomination banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi (new) series from time to time which are currently legal tender, a new batch of banknotes with inset letter 'A' in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel Governor, Reserve Bank of India; with the year of printing '2017' on the reverse, are being issued." Here are 5 things to know: The Reserve Bank of India said the design of the new Rs. 500 notes is similar in all respects to those belonging to the current Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series. In the existing series of Rs. 500 banknotes, first notified on November 8 when the government in a surprise move announced demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, the inset letter "E" can be seen in the two number panels at the upp...

Anyone who's ever been cheated on knows it can change you. It can affect your self-esteem, your ability to trust your partner, your ability to trust your future partners, and even your overall beliefs about relationships. To learn more about how cheating affects people, University of Nevada, Reno researchers surveyed 232 college students whose partners or exes had cheated on them over the last three months. Their study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, not only confirms that infidelity has a huge impact on your behavior but also suggests that this impact depends on how you think of the cheating. One of the findings was intuitive: People who experienced more psychological distress after their partners cheated were more likely to develop disordered eating, over-exercise, and use alcohol or drugs. "Being cheated on seems to not only have mental health consequences, but also increases risky behaviors," study author M. Rosie Shrout told PsyPo...

Barack Obama has gotten away with a feat no woman could've - he has worn the same tuxedo for the past eight years. And yes, no-one noticed. Michelle revealed this quirky detail about her husband at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on Tuesday, where she was giving a talk. "Now, people take pictures of the shoes I wear, the bracelets, the necklace - they didn't comment that for eight years he wore that same tux, same shoes," Michelle explained. "This is the unfair thing." Michelle even went on to say that Barack was pretty smug with this secretive achievement, and would rub it in. "He was proud of it too. He's like, 'Mmm, I'm ready. I'm ready in 10 minutes. How long did it take you?' I'm like, 'Get out of here.'" What might be laughed off as a fashion faux pas is really a symbol of inequality, as Karl Stefanovic explained after he wore the same suit, on air, every day for a whole year without anyone...

The police said they had registered a case against her colleague on the basis of a complaint by her father. Amanpreet Kaur was posted at the Nidhan police station in the Ludhiana Rural police district. Her body was found hanging to a ceiling fan in one of the rooms in the police station last night, the police said. The victim’s father, in a complaint alleged that one of her colleagues, identified as Nirbhay Singh, used to harass her. Surjit Singh, the SSP of Ludhiana (rural), said “a case has been registered against Nirbhay, who was posted as the police station ‘munshi’, under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC on the complaint of her father.” The body has been sent for post-mortem, the SSP said. Source: HT

In a recent interview with MyDomaine, Mario Batali shared exactly how long we should be cooking pasta, and you better believe it's precise to the second. He explained: "I just read the pasta package, and then I take it out exactly one minute short of what they tell you to cook it on the package, and I cook it for 40 seconds in the sauce. Never put the sauce on top of the pasta in the bowl. Put the pasta in the sauce into the pan, cook it 40 seconds, and then put it down. I prefer it about 15 to 20 seconds less than they think Americans want it at - which is a little on the crunchy side, but not crunchy hard - just nicely al dente. Perfectly cooked pasta tastes really good even with Campbell's cream of mushrooms!" While I'm not sure if perfectly cooked pasta truly tastes good with anything, I can confirm that you don't need much to dress up good pasta. Italians will go as simple as a hefty drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of oregano, and red p...

A lot of the times, people don't stop to think why the person is cheating. Instead, people blame themselves. Sure, the disintegration of any marriage or relationship contributes to affairs. Sure, you as a person may have done things as a partner to turn your wife, fiancée, or girlfriend away from you and into someone else's arms, but the bottom line is the cheater decides to cheat. And news flash? Women who cheat (as well as men) are often cheating because of issues within themselves. Here are seven honest reasons women cheat. 1. Low Self-Esteem Yep, you're not the reason - although, perhaps, you're not being a loving and supportive partner, but that's another story. She might cheat because her self-esteem is so low, she needs more than one person to boost her. This affair of hers might have made her feel like she is s*** or wanted, because inside, she doesn't feel either s*** or wanted. 2. Boredom I don't mean to say this flippantly, but she just may b...