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In 1898, a banyan tree located in Landi Kotal army cantonment area in present-day Pakistan was 'arrested' on the orders of a British Army officer. Hundred and eighteen years later, the tree's punishment continues. According to reports it is still tied with a chain with a board hanging on it which reads: "I am under arrest." People often visit the area just to look at the incarcerated tree.
The impending box office clash between Ajay Devgn's Shivaay and Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil — both of which are set for a Diwali release — took a dramatic turn late Thursday night. Ajay Devgn released a taped conversation between Shivaay's producer Kumar Mangat and the infamous self-proclaimed film 'critic' Kamaal R Khan (KRK). In the recording, Mangat is heard confronting KRK about the negative tweets regarding Shivaay. Mangat is also heard telling KRK that he shouldn't be saying such things and that there was no need to praise Johar. To this, KRK responded by saying that he 'needed' to praise Johar and his film because the director-producer had paid him ₹25 lakh. Mangat responded by saying that even he's willing to cough up the same amount to stop the negative tweets. Now, Devgan has demanded a proper inquiry in the matter.
Rahul Gandhi has informed the Supreme Court that he will face trial for allegedly saying that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh killed Mahatma Gandhi, but the Congress Party Vice President won't back down from his remarks which linked the Hindu nationalist group to the assassination on 30 January 1948.
As the spectre of price war is back in the telecom space, industry experts are predicting that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular will slash their rates to respond to the enticing tariffs that Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering.
India is set to participate in a major Indian Ocean-wide tsunami mock drill on 7-8 September. During the drill, thousands of people will reportedly be evacuated from coastal areas in over half a dozen states and warning and detection systems will be put to test. The massive exercise will see participation from 23 other Indian Ocean nations and would involve evacuation of around 35,000 people from the coastal communities including Odisha, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Gujarat and Goa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, is reportedly expected to raise New Delhi's concerns on the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Modi's meeting with Xi is expected to be one of his first engagements after he lands in Hangzhou for the G-20 summit on 4-5 September.
Noted Malayalam actor Sreejith Ravi, was taken into custody by Ottappalam police on Thursday for allegedly flashing school girls. The incident, which reportedly took place on 27 August, Ravi allegedly showed off his private parts from his car and took photographs of the school girls.
A woman was severely injured in a clash that started after her dog allegedly urinated in a flower pot outside her neighbour's house in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri area. The incident occurred on Tuesday when Ramani Chaudhary's son Devesh was walking their dog around 9 PM and it urinated on a flower pot kept outside the house of Brij Lal, whose son Manish hit the canine and that triggered a fight between the two families.
After the news reports that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices exploded while being charged, the company is now allegedly set to issue a recall of the product. Samsung is expected to announce the result of its investigation into the cause of the reported explosions, as well as comprehensive countermeasures either this weekend or early next week at the latest.
The dynamics of gender neutral leave policy, unlike that of exclusive maternity leave, would not discourage employers from hiring and promoting women, writes Aparajita Dasgupta in The Indian Express. "It would in fact encourage female workforce participation as they will not lose valuable experience which will enhance their productivity... As labour market opportunities improve for women, the average fertility level declines in the society. An improvement in opportunities for women, including safe maternity benefits, could actually improve our population dynamics," she says.
If India wants to become a superpower, it has to stop trying to become the next China, writes Samir Saran in Quartz India. "To prosper in a world that is suffering from the absence of growth and the disruption of old models, India must strive to become the principal stakeholder of the digital revolution—and ensure that its teeming millions partake in it gainfully, even if informally," he writes.
Zika, the dreaded new virus that deforms the heads and brains of foetuses in women's wombs is at India's doorstep, warns Samar Halarnkar in Mint. "Alongside, there are a host of unknown, evolving mosquito-borne ailments with some of these symptoms, confounding Indian physicians and hospitals. I spent almost two years with joint pains caused by one these mysterious ailments, and across cities like Bengaluru and New Delhi, stories of people struck down with similarly debilitating manifestations are common," he says.
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