Top stories on 17th November in a capsule

Guj Polls: BJP releases first list, All Congress rebels get tickets

BJP on Friday released its first list of 70 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections for the poll bound state of Gujarat. The 182 seater assembly polls will take place in two phases, on December 9 and 14. Most of the MLAs have been retained in the first list. Chief Minster Vijay Rupani is all set to contest from Rajkot West, which also happens to be the first ever seat from where PM Modi contested the state polls. Congress rebels who had switched sides at the last moment too have made it to the first list. Deputy CM Nitin Patel too will be contesting from the Mehsana seat. Considering the Patidar protests in the state, 15 leaders of the community have featured in the list out of which four are women candidates.

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Kashmiri footballer who joined terrorists surrenders to J&K police

A 20-year-old Kashmiri youth, who had joined Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) surrendered before the security forces on Friday. Majid Khan, who was a student and a football player had joined the terror outfit last week after which the Kashmir police had alleged Pakistan of using social media to lure young men from the Valley into militant activities. According to media reports, Major General BS Raju said ‘no charges will be pressed on Khan, and he will retreat to normal life soon.’ Since the time of his joining, Majid has uploaded posts and pictures of him joining the LeT on social media.

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Moody's raises India's rating for 1st time in 14 years

Credit rating agency Moody's on Friday upgraded India's investment grade from lowest level of Baa3 to Baa2 and changed the outlook from stable to positive for the first time in 14 years.“The decision to upgrade the ratings is underpinned by Moody’s expectation that continued progress on economic and institutional reforms will, over time, enhance India’s high growth potential,” Moody's said in a statement. Hours after the report, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the ratings reflect the reform progress of the country and asked people who had doubts to introspect regarding their own views.

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Sasikala’s husband Natarajan held in tax evasion case

The Madras High court on Friday sentenced former AIADMK secretary VK Sasikala’s husband Natarajan to a 2-year imprisonment, upholding the CBI court’s decision. The CBI had found Natarajan guilty of forging documents while importing a luxury car from the UK, in 1994. Natarajan, along with three others had changed the original copies of a Toyota Lexus purchase and changed the manufacturing date of the car to July 1993. More trouble ensued for the jailed leaders as the same bench headed by Justice G Jayachandran also sentenced them to jail term in alleged disproportionate assets case.

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Arrow symbol row: EC rules in favour of Nitish Kumar 

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday decided to extend the rights regarding the arrow symbol to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led faction of the JDU. The EC cited the “overwhelming majority in the legislature and the national council of party”, led to the party getting the symbol. This has been a major setback for the opposing Sharad Yadav led group of the party, who had continuously maintained that they were the ‘real JDU’. The EC in the released statement, was quoted saying, “the group led by Nitish Kumar is hereby recognized as the Janata Dal (United).

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Nirmala defends Rafale deal, calls allegations disservice to Armed forces 

Union Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday defended the Rafale deal signed between India and France that will allow the entry of 36 jets into the Indian Air Force. Sitharaman said that the deal was signed in September 2016 after five rounds of lengthy discussions and this latest bickering by the Opposition was a disserveice to the armed forces. Castigating the Congress for sitting on the deal for almost 10 years, Sitharaman said that the urgent requirement of the IAF was the main reason why the deal was sealed.

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Padmavati row: Karni Sena blocks Chittorgarh fort, Police resort to firing

Rajasthan’s famous tourist spot, Chittorgah fort witnessed fresh violence on Friday, after the Rajput Karni Sena staged protests against the film Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next film Padmavati. The Sena members blocked entry points to the fort and stopped tourists from enterting the area. They also burned effigies of Bhansali and lead actress Deepika Padukone. The police fired shots in the air to disperse the protesters. Karni Sena has been demanding a complete ban on the movie that is slated to release on December 1. Similar protests were staged in Madhya Pradesh and Patna as well, criticising Bhansali for distorting history and showing Rani Padmavati in poor light.

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Pujara's stands strong on day 2 as rain saves India

It was another rain affected day at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata as India faltered at 74/5 at day 2 in the 1st innings. India started off the proceedings at 17/3 with Cheteshwar Pujara putting up a lone fight after wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Dasun Shanaka got both Rahane and Ashwin, thanks to some poor decision making and shot selections. Pujara showed great composure and patience which helped add to his knock of 47* as Day 2 was called off around lunch due to constant showers.
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We`ll be back next week on Google Play Store: UC Web

Alibaba-owned UC Web said that its browser app will make its return to the Google Playstore next week. UC Web dismissed reports that Google removed its app from its Play Store over data security concerns. The app was removed because it reportedly did not meet Google’s policy. "The exact reason for UC Browser`s unavailability on Google Play is because of a certain setting of UC Browser that was not in line with Google`s policy. The reason for the removal has nothing to do with alleged data security breach or malicious promotion," a UCWeb spokesperson said.

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Tesla's new Roadster can travel 1000km on single charge 

Tesla’s new sports car ‘The Roadster’ is touted to be the fastest production car ever. The Roadster can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (100 km per hour) in 1.9 seconds with a maximum speed of over 250 mph.  It can seat four and travel 620 miles (1,000 km) on a single charge, a new record for an electric vehicle. "You’ll be able to travel from LA to San Francisco (614km), and back, at highway speed without recharging”, Tesla chief Musk said. \

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New app plays 'bhajans' if you watch porn

A Banaras Hindu University professor joined hands with an app developer from Bengaluru to stop children from indulging in porn with a new app titled ‘Har Har Mahadev’. The app will not only block porn sites but will also play bhajans. The application is designed to block pornograhy, violent and ‘vulgar’ content circulating on the internet and can block up to 3,800 identified websites. Currently the app features only Hindu devotional songs but plans to add songs from other religions are well, Professor Mishra said.