Megastar Chiranjeevi is getting back to acting after almost eight years with the Telugu remake of Tamil superhit Kaththi. What is also significant is the fact that this is his 150th film. On Friday, the actor will give his mahurat shot for a film bankrolled by his son, actor Ram Charan.

 Superstar Rajinikanth who, over the last few months shot for two of his projects simultaneously, has successfully completed dubbing for his portions from upcoming Tamil gangster drama Kabali.

“The entire last week he was busy dubbing for Kabali on Sunday, he successfully completed dubbing for the film,” a source from the film’s unit told IANS.

Kings XI’s misery continues, suffers its fifth loss in six games.

Mumbai Indians produced an all-round performance to extend Kings XI Punjab’s misery in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League.

After Parthiv Patel and Ambati Rayudu helped Mumbai set a target of 190, the medium-pacers — Jasprit Bumrah, Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan — struck crucial blows to ensure a much-needed emphatic victory for Mumbai, the margin being 25 runs.

 The benchmark BSE Sensex rose some 53 points in early session today after sentiment was boosted by Reliance Industries’ encouraging fourth quarter earnings numbers, which were announced last week.

 The Centre on Friday moved the Supreme Court against the Uttarakhand High Court decision to quash the declaration of President’s rule in the State.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and S.K. Singh heard Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi mention the matter seeking an urgent hearing and stay of the High Court verdict.

This Bench was presiding over the First Court and filling in for Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, who is absent from court as he is attending the three-day Chief Justices' Conference which began on Friday.

Justice Misra referred the Centre's plea to the Registrar-General of the Supreme Court to be informed to Chief Justice Thakur, who is likely to list the case for hearing later on Friday before an appropriate Bench of the apex court.

In the short mentioning, Mr. Rohatgi said the judgment was dictated in the courtroom by the High Court Bench but a copy is not yet out.

“The special leave petition has been filed in the Supreme Court on Friday morning. We are worried about what will happen between today and Monday... you can’t have a judgment delivered without a copy,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted.

Meanwhile, the nine disqualified MLAs have also sought permission to be heard in the Supreme Court.

The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday quashed the imposition of President’s rule in the State on March 27.

The High Court Bench led by Chief Justice K.M. Joseph ordered that a floor test be held in the Uttarakhand Assembly on April 29, 2016, where former Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s claim of having majority support shall be put to test.

The judgment came amidst apprehensions raised by former Chief Minister Harish Rawat in an application filed on April 7, 2016 in the High Court that the Centre may revoke the President's rule before the court's verdict and install a BJP government.

The Bench expressed its anguish at the Centre having behaved like a private party in a federal structure of governance enshrined in the Constitution.

“We are pained that the Central government can behave like this. How can you think of playing with the Court?” Justice Joseph said.

The court had said that it would be nothing shirt of a travesty of justice if the Centre revokes the President's rule and form a government.

source: thehindu.com/

Leading Indian e-commerce player Flipkart's founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal found place in the annual list of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

"This acknowledgment validates that the path we have chosen of creating a world-class Indian internet company that delivers quality products and reliable service at an affordable price to millions of families across India," a Flipkart statement cited both the Bansals as saying.

The iconic magazine's profile of the Flipkart founders in 2016 Time 100 said: "Binny and Sachin do have modest lifestyles, by billionaire standards, but they're also nimble tacticians and hardheaded realists, and they dream big."

The Bansals were included in the list under the 'Titan' section with company from Yuri Milner, Pope Francis, Stephen Curry, Pricilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Dwayne Johnson and others, the statement added.

source: businesstoday.in/

Move over Skype, Facebook Messenger is beefing up its calling features in a big way.

The social network is starting to roll out group calling features to Messenger's iOS and Android apps, Facebook announced Wednesday.

The feature is rolling out to Messenger's iOS and Android app over the next 24 hours, Facebook's head of Messenger said Wednesday. A phone icon will appear in the top right corner of group conversations once the feature is live.

When you're in a call, you can see who in the group is participating in the call and who is not. Calls are currently limited to 50 participants per call, so the feature should be able to accommodate the vast majority of your Messenger threads.

The update also makes Facebook Messenger more competitive with the likes of Google Hangouts, Microsoft's Skype and Slack — all of which also support free group calling.

Facebook has allowed voice calls through Messenger for years but hasn't supported group calling until now. (Video calls are still limited to two people, at least for now, though group video calling would seem to be the next logical step.)

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

source: mashable.com/2016/04/20/facebook-messenger-group-calling/#wyJL2d9SGkqY

 Debutants Gujarat Lions are on a roll this season. With consecutive match-winning half-centuries from Aaron Finch, this Suresh Raina-led side is a good bet to go through to the top four. Gujarat Lions will be facing Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajkot.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

David Warner is quite dejected with the continued failure of Shikhar Dhawan at the top. With top players such as Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson and Ashish Nehra out due to injuries Warner faces a dilemma. The side has consistently underperformed, with the exception of Warner who has had two superb knocks, one a match-winner against defending champions Mumbai Indians, and Eoin Morgan.

If fit, Kane Williamson at the top of the order might do some good. He can be brought in place of Moises Henriques. Naman Ojha has decent scores against his name.

If Yuvraj is fit, he can be brought in place of Ashish Reddy or Bipul Sharma.

It remains to be seen whether Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson and Ashish Nehra recovers before the third week of the tournament. The Hyderabad team has already lost two of its three matches, and time is running out.

With Mustafizur Rahman bowling beautifully, the bowling department is settled. If Nehra returns then Barinder Sran or Ashish Reddy can be rested. Again here, the injuries to the main players disturb the strategies of Warner.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Henriques and Bipul Sharma have done reasonably well. Barinder Sran (3 for 28) bowled brilliantly against Mumbai Indians.

Playing XI for Sunrisers Hyderabad will be

David Warner (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, Bipul Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Barinder Saran.

Gujarat Lions

This side has had a dream run so far in this IPL. Gujarat Lions has a very balanced side with match-winning performers.

The destructive Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum at the top should send shivers down the spines of opposition bowlers. If they get going, Gujarat Lions are in for a very big score. Three consecutive match-winning half-centuries from Aaron Finch and good starts from Brendon McCullum have made them a deadly combination.

With Suresh Raina himself at No.3, Gujarat Lions will have no problem with their batting performance. With Dinesh Karthik, Dwayne Bravo and James Faulkner at the middle the team has little to worry. Raina will be happy that Ravindra Jadeja will be returning to the side.

The bowling is led by Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Pravin Tambe and the ever-reliable Dwayne Bravo.

Gujarat Lions is now second on the points table with three wins from three matches. The table is led by Kolkata Knight Riders.

To me, with the kind of form Sunrisers Hyderabad are in, the match will be a cake walk for Gujarat Lions.

Playing XI for Gujarat Lions

Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina (captain), Dwaye Bravo, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Tambe and Shakab Jakati.

source: thehindu.com/sport/

The European Union (EU) charged Google on Wednesday with abusing the dominant position of its Android mobile operating system, opening a second front against the U.S. technology giant that could lead to large fines.

European Union anti-trust regulators said that by requiring mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and the Google Chrome browser, the U.S. company was denying consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and stifling innovation.

Google is already facing EU charges over the promotion of its shopping service in Internet searches at the expense of rival services, in a case that has dragged on since late 2010 despite three attempts to resolve the issues.

The stakes are higher for Google in the Android case as it made about $11 billion last year from advertising sales on Android phones through its apps such as Maps, Search and Gmail, according to estimates by financial analyst Richard Windsor.

“A competitive mobile Internet sector is increasingly important for consumers and businesses in Europe,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

“We believe that Google’s behaviour denies consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and services and stands in the way of innovation by other players,” she said.

Internet Explorer-browser maker Microsoft Corp declined to comment.

Suppliers of browsers including Mozilla, which is behind Firefox, as well as Apple, with its Safari browser, and Norway’s Opera Software were not immediately available to comment.

The European Commission said about 80 per cent of smart mobile devices in Europe and the world run on Android, the operating system developed by Google.

Google, which has 12 weeks to respond to the charges, said in a statement that Android was a remarkable system based on open-source software and open innovation.

“We look forward to working with the European Commission to demonstrate that Android is good for competition and good for consumers,” Google's general counsel Kent Walker said.

FairSearch, the lead complainant, said Google had launched Android as an open source project, but was now hindering the development of versions that might lead to new operating systems able to compete with Android.

The Commission alleges Google has breached EU anti-trust rules by making phone manufacturers pre-install its search function and Chrome browser.

source:http://www.thehindu.com/business/google-faces-eu-charges-over-android/article8500452.ece

Bharti Airtel, the largest telecom services provider, is mulling the sale of a 5 per cent stake in its tower unit, Infratel, to raise close to Rs. 4,000 crore, according to sources.

Bharti presently owns 71.7 per cent in Infratel. The tower unit had a network of over 80,000 telecom towers as of December. The proceeds from the transaction, which will be an open market deal, are likely to be used to cut the company’s debt which stood at Rs.78,816 crore as at end December.

The company’s spokesperson declined to comment.

source:thehindu.com

Market benchmark Sensex recaptured the crucial 26,000-mark by climbing over 219 points in early trade today as investors engaged in widening their bets amid firm global cues.

The 30-share barometer advanced by 219.02 points or 0.85 per cent to 26,063.20. The gauge gained 1,170.34 points in the previous five sessions.

Also, the NSE Nifty shot up by 53.15 points or 0.67 per cent to 7,967.90.

Prominent gainers were ICICI Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, GAIL, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, ONGC, HDFC Ltd, Adani Ports, BHEL, Coal India, NTPC and RIl, surging by up to 5.40 per cent.

However, share of Wipro plunged 6.22 per cent to Rs 563.95 after company said its consolidated net profit dipped 1.6 per cent to Rs 2,235 crore for the quarter ended March 31.

Brokers said investors have been widening bets due to positive macroeconomic data and above—normal monsoon forecast.

Moreover, a firm trend in other Asian markets following a strong performance on Wall Street and rebound in oil prices, influenced sentiment here.

In regional markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.69 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.95 per cent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite was trading 0.17 per cent higher.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.24 per cent higher in yesterday’s trade.

source:thehindu.com/business/markets/sensex-regains-26klevel/article8503111.ece