It happens to be Guwahati’s Rewati Chetri, one of the finalists of the fbb Femina Miss India 2015 pageant, who was crowned WeChat Miss Popular during the sub-contest crowning.

Not only was she Sunny Leone’s choice, but also that of millions of WeChat users.Sunny , the lead actress of the upcoming film Ek Paheli -Leela, voted for Rewati and waited with bated breath when the result of the sub-contest was announced during a gala evening in the city. To ensure that fans stay updated on all the action around the contestants, the pageant had launched the official account on WeChat and that’s where Rewati emerged the winner.

Rewati a girl of Gorkhali origin who hails from Assam deserved to be on the three finalist of Miss Feminia Miss India. It is the view of millions who watched and followed Miss India all along. Many people are the opinion that India does not seem to still recognize people from the North East as equal citizens in spite of them excelling themselves in their respective fields. Sunny Leone the most sought out actress of Bollywood today had Rewati as her choice itself speaks of Rewati’s beauty, brains and smartness.

Feminia Miss India this year was already in criticism for not having proper representation of all states in India

BEIJING – China is considering building a railway to Nepal with a possible tunnel through Mount Everest, state media said Thursday, as Beijing courts a country India regards as firmly within its sphere of influence.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway already links the rest of China with the Tibetan capital Lhasa and beyond, and an extension running as far as Nepal’s border is already underway, the China Daily newspaper said.

t quoted a Tibet official as saying construction as far as the border will be complete by 2020. It also quoted an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering as saying the extension was made “at Nepal’s request.”

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited Kathmandu in December and, according to Nepalese reports, said the line could eventually be extended to the Nepalese capital and further, potentially providing a crucial link between China and the huge markets of India.

Such a plan could see a tunnel being built under Mount Everest, the China Daily said.

“The line will probably have to go through Qomolangma so that workers may have to dig some very long tunnels,” expert Wang Mengshu told the newspaper, referring to Everest by its Tibetan name.

He said that, due to the challenging Himalayan terrain with its “remarkable” changes in elevation, trains on any line to Kathmandu would probably have a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

The proposal underscores China’s influence in the impoverished Himalayan nation, where Beijing has for years been building roads and investing billions of dollars in hydropower and telecommunications.

Chinese tourism to Nepal, which is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres, is also climbing.

Beijing’s increasing role has raised alarms in New Delhi that China, already closely allied to Pakistan, is forging closer economic ties with Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal in a deliberate strategy to encircle India.

In an apparent counter-move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged late last year that South Asia’s largest economy would fund a series of regional investments and free up its markets to its neighbours’ exporters.

But India has struggled to compete with China’s financial muscle.

Chinese plans to expand the rail network in Tibet have also come under criticism from rights groups including the International Campaign for Tibet, which has warned of the project’s “dangerous implications for regional security and the fragile ecosystem of the world’s highest and largest plateau.”

“The Chinese government’s claim that rail expansion on the plateau simply benefits tourism and lifts Tibetans out of poverty does not hold up to scrutiny and cannot be taken at face value,” ICT president Matteo Mecacci said in a statement last year.

London Heathrow Airport (LHR) has today confirmed it will partner with city regions across the UK to offer £3 million worth of advertising space across all terminals at the UK’s only hub airport.

With over 22 million annual business travellers connecting to more than 180 destinations, the campaign seeks to increase foreign direct investment in Britain’s regions and is a unique opportunity for the participating areas to showcase why they are open for business and great places to invest, work and live.

The six participating city regions will each receive six weeks of advertising across digital platforms throughout all of Heathrow’s terminals, prime poster locations and exhibition space in arrivals halls. The North East will be the first to feature when the campaign launches on the 18th May, followed by Northern Ireland, Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
“As the UK’s only hub airport, Heathrow is our front door for global investors. I hope that by encouraging them to visit and invest in our great cities, we can help to grow and rebalance the British economy.”

New Delhi: Tapping on the country’s renowned supply chain, online marketplace Flipkart on April 9 said it has tied-up with the ‘Dabbawalas’ of Mumbai to ensure last mile delivery to consumers. It is also experimenting with a crowd-sourced delivery model that will connect local sellers and buyers with the help of voluntary delivery personnel, reducing delivery time.

The move comes amidst growing competition among e-commerce firms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, who are ramping up their logistics and delivery network to build a sound last mile delivery channel to beat rivals in gaining a dedicated customer base. “Dabbawalas have been in the profession of transporting lunch boxes with absolute precision for more than 120 years.

They are a huge inspiration on how to conduct business without any paper or administrative back-up to keep the costs down,” the Bangalore-based firm said in a statement. The firm has partnered with one union of the dabbawalas.

As a partner to eKart, the unique community of Dabbawalas will initially collect Flipkart marketplace shipments from the delivery hubs and deliver it to customers, while picking their dabbas, it added. At present, the person who will be part of this pilot will be involved in the last mile delivery and will not communicate with seller or merchant.

“The first batch of Dabbawalas have undergone training at Flipkart’s delivery centres. At this stage, they will be using a paper-based tracking system with the idea being to gradually train them on the usage of apps and other wearable tech,” it added.

Flipkart’s crowd-sourcing model has delivery personnel on a specialised delivery programme, post extensive background verifications, and they are free to take up deliveries as per their convenience, the firm said. It will reduce the d

The United States will not stand by while Iran provides support to Shia rebels who have seized much of Yemen, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday.
“There have been – there are, obviously – flights coming from Iran. Every single week there are flights from Iran and we’ve traced it and know this,” Kerry told PBS television in an interview.

“Iran needs to recognise that the United States is not going to stand by while the region is destabilised or while people engage in overt warfare across lines, international boundaries in other countries.”
A US-backed coalition of largely Sunni Muslim countries led by Saudi Arabia has been waging an air campaign against the Huthi rebels in a bid to restore the authority of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee the country.

The Huthis have seized control of large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and joined forces with security forces who have remained loyal to longtime strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, forced from power in 2012 after a year-long, Arab Spring-inspired uprising.

Riyadh accuses Tehran, the major Shiite power, of backing the Huthis. But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif insisted his government wanted a swift end to the fighting, which has cost more than 640 lives since March 19, according to the World Health Organization.
Kerry said Washington was not looking for confrontation with Tehran.
“But we’re not going to step away from our alliances and our friendships and the need to stand with those who feel threatened as a consequence of the choices that Iran might be making.”

It was Kerry’s first television interview since his return to Washington after negotiating a framework agreement with Iran last week reining in its controversial nuclear program.

In a bid to bring North-eastern India closer to the rest of the country, a day-long Northeast festival, featuring food, costumes, music and dance among other features is being organised at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on April 11 here.

Hosted by the Meghalaya government and sponsored by the North East Council, the festival titled “Songs and Dances of the North-East” is scheduled to be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee, organisers said here today.

Mukul Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya along with members of North East Council and other dignitaries will also be present at the occasion .

“The purpose of the festival is to connect the unique way of life of North eastern people with the rest of the country,” M War Nongbri, Director Art and Culture, Meghalaya government said.

Failing to encompass the vast North-East culture in a day’s time, Nongbri said, they settled to focus on the music and dances of the region in this first edition of the festival.

“North East is known for its diverse music, richness of cultures, colours of traditions and the sweet melodies of folklores,” Nongbri said.

Both budding and eminent bands and artistes from across the eight states will showcase their rich, vibrant, cultural ethnicity and diversity through an array of music and dance performances.

Among the popular names are bands like Shillong Chamber Choir (Meghalaya), Imphal talkies (Aizawl), Tetseo Sisters (Nagaland) and the acclaimed “Indian Idol” winner Amit Paul.

Extending a warm welcome to the rest of India to visit Nort-East, Nongri said they hope that the festival will also act as a catalyst to take up important issues associated with the region.

A baby elephant, kept in Jhargram Mini Zoo for the past one-and-a-half-months, was today taken to the Jaldapara National Park by forest department.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rabindranath Sahu said, the three-and-a-half-year-old pachyderm had been brought to the Jhargram Mini Zoo on February 21 and named ‘Durga’.

The little jumbo, of 4-5 feet height, was separated from its herd and rescued by wildlife personnel from Sankrail forest in West Midnapore district, Sahu said.

The baby elephant, which became popular among the people here, was doing fine after the journey.

MUMBAI: In a climb down from its earlier stand, the Maharashtra government has decided to allow theatre and multiplex owners to screen Marathi movies between noon and 9 pm, instead of its earlier order for 6 pm to 11.30 pm.

The decision came after Minister of School Education and Culture Vinod Tawde held a meeting with representatives of theatre and multiplex owners and Marathi producers. During the meeting, representatives of multiplex operators InoxBSE -0.49 % and PVR said they would be willing to show Marathi movies from noon to 9 pm.

Actor-producer Mahesh Kothari and Vijay Patkar, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal, who were present at the meeting, didn’t oppose the proposal.

Speaking later to ET, Patkar said, “We are very happy with this new formula as now Marathi films will not be shown in the morning. This arrangement will suit us perfectly.”

Professional social network operator LinkedIn Corp said it would buy privately held online education company lynda.com in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion.

LinkedIn said it would pay about 52 percent in cash and about 48 percent in stock.

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said his government would ‘very soon’ announce a relief package for the Delhi farmers whose crops were damaged due to untimely rain and hailstorm in March.

Meeting a delegation of AAP MLAs from rural Delhi, Kejriwal directed them to assure the farmers that the government was with them and would compensate their crop losses, said an AAP statement.