Ahead of monetary policy review on Tuesday, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on Sunday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is likely to have discussed the macro-economic situation and issues related to price rise.

The RBI’s bi-monthly policy review on 3 June will be the first after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office on 26 May. Last week, Rajan also met the newly appointed finance minister Arun Jaitley and had said fighting price increase is a priority, stressing that the central bank has always maintained a balance between the need to check inflation and prop up growth.

“Governor of the RBI Raghuram Rajan called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at 7, Race Course Road today (Sunday). It was a courtesy call,” an official statement said.

India’s economic growth stayed below 5% for the second year in a row at 4.7% in 2013-14. Growth remained subdued at 4.6% in the fourth quarter. The RBI may leave key interest rates unchanged in its 3 June monetary policy review as Rajan is likely to prefer containing stubborn inflation before conceding to demands for a rate cut to boost growth.

“RBI is likely to maintain status quo as inflation is still high and the threat of monsoon being weak this time is looming large,” Indian Overseas Bank chairman and managing director M. Narendra told PTI.

Rajan had kept the policy rate unchanged at 8% in its 1 April review as inflation, especially of food items, hovered at over 8%. Food inflation in April stood at 9.66% and retail inflation was at 8.59%.

Police have arrested a man in Marseille, France, who is suspected of killing three people last week in the Jewish Museum in Brussels, Belgium, Belgian federal magistrate Wenke Roggen said Sunday.

The suspect is identified as 29-year-old Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche, who recently spent a year in Syria and is a radicalized Islamist, the chief prosecutor of Paris said at a news conference Sunday.

Francois Molins said Nemmouche, who has a criminal history that included a five-year prison stint, was detained with a bag that contained several weapons.

Nemmouche has been silent during his detention, Molins said. The prosecutor said that authorities suspect Nemmouche was influenced by Islamist teachings while in prison and left for Syria three months after being released in September 2012.
Belgium's Jewish community security fears

French officials lost contact with Nemmouche when he left the country, Molins said.

The suspect's bag also contained clothes similar to the ones worn during the attack and a GoPro video camera. There was also a Nikon digital camera that contained a hidden folder with a 40-second recording related to the shooting.

Nemmouche was arrested at a train station just after he returned to France, the prosecutor said.

Two of the people who died in the attack were Israelis, a couple in their 50's from Tel Aviv,, Israel's Foreign Ministry has said. The third victim was a French woman.

A fourth person, a Belgian national who works at the museum, was shot and injured.

Images from the museum in Brussels showed the gunman behind last week's deadly attack approaching the building, opening fire, and walking away.

He used an AK-47 assault rifle to carry out the shooting, police have said.

Photographs and video released by Belgian police showed the man wearing a cap and blue shirt, carrying two bags over his shoulder. The images do not show his face clearly.

The shooter left on foot after the attack and headed toward a different part of downtown Brussels before he disappeared, according to police.

Wriddhiman Saha and Manan Vohra got Kings XI Punjab back on track after they lost early wickets, and got the team to 111/2 in 14 overs against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 7 final at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Sunday.

Virender Sehwag (7) was the first to fall when he tried to pull an Umesh Yadav delivery that was not short enough. He got a thick edge which was easily take by Gautam Gambhir at mid-off.

One over later, George Bailey (1) departed when Gambhir brought on Sunil Naraine. Naraine struck with his first ball, when Bailey (1) missed a straight ball and got bowled behind his leg.

Since then, Manan Vohra (50*) and Wriddhiman Saha (52*) have been at the crease. They have scored 81 runs off 53 balls so far and have been looking good. They have hit big shots and followed them up with cheeky singles.

Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir said it was a good pitch and would be good to chase on. His opposite number George Bailey said it was a good toss to lose as he was in two minds.

Kolkata named an unchanged side while Lakshmipathy Balaji came in for Sandeep Sharma for Punjab.

 Rajasthan Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, who had blamed party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his advisors for 2014 poll debacle has been suspended.

“Rajasthan Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma suspended from party for attack on Rahul Gandhi,” PCC spokesperson Archana Sharma said on Sunday.

Terming Rahul as 'MD of a team of jokers' Sharma had critisised him saying that he has neither direction nor any policy.

Adding that the party was in its worst days because of Rahul, Sharma had suggested that party president Sonia Gandhi should focus on strengthening the grand old party instead of having affection for her son.
"Rahul Gandhi is directionless and has no policy. He and his advisors are responsible for the party's embarrassment and defeat in elections as there is no huge mass support for him," Sharma has said to the reporters.

Further hinting towards a leadership change in Congress after a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, Sharma had said that the time has come for the party to think beyond Rahul and Priyanka Vadra.

Hitting out at Rahul in strongest words, Sharma had said that Rahul was enjoying authority as he belonged to the Gandhi family and he did not enter the party through a democratic process.

 BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday stepped up her attack on the SP government in Uttar Pradesh alleging it was perpetrating “jungle raj” and there was attempt to put the Badaun gangrape case on the back burner.

Ms. Mayawati’s remarks were made at Katra Shahadatganj, the village where two dalit girls were brutally gangraped and murdered.

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the victims’ family, local SP MP Dharmendra Yadav also reached Katra Shahadatganj where he faced the anger of the inconsolable parents who have alleged that the police did not take prompt action in the case because of their caste.

Ms. Mayawati, who met the family of the cousins whose bodies were found hanging on a tree on May 28, 2014, announced Rs. 5 lakh each to the victims’ kin from her party fund, claiming that though they have refused the government compensation, they would accept her assistance.

“The family members told me that the local MP came this morning and offered compensation and all help, but they refused. They told that whatever I will give them, they will accept gladly,” she said after meeting the family.

“They (family) said police had all plans to save the accused which I strongly condemn,” she said .

“There was an attempt to put the case on the back burner and when I came to know this, I immediately decided to come to Badaun,” she said.

“After I got to know that the state government was delaying action, I sent my party’s national general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui to the village and held a press conference.”

“The outcome of my decision was that the state government decided for a CBI inquiry into the matter,” she added.

Ms. Mayawati alleged that there was complete “jungle raj” in the State and Badaun was the most affected.

She threatened that if “atrocities” were committed on the people here in the future, she would stage a sit-in in protest.

Ms. Mayawati stayed at the victims’ house for around 20 minutes and said the financial assistance would reach them by Tuesday.

 A 19-year-old girl was allegedly set on fire in Uttar Pradesh's Kaptanganj district on Saturday following a brawl between her father and some men over a  land dispute.

Police said the teenager was set afire when she attempted to rescue her father from the fight.

The teenager was finally rescued by her mother and admitted to a district hospital with 45 per cent burn injuries. Doctors said she is out of danger.

A First Information Report or FIR was filed against eight people under Section 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint by the girl's father.

Police officials said that out of the eight, three accused - Umesh Chandra Shukla, Suresh and Virendra - have been arrested. Deputy Superintendent of Police Kalwari Singh assured that the remaining men would be arrested within 24 hours.

The incident comes just days after two girls, 15 and 14 year old cousins, were gang-raped and found hanging from a tree in the Badaun district. In the last 10 days, three cases of rape have been reported from Uttar Pradesh.

The '57 Chevy was still a year away when the launch of the interstate highway system kicked U.S. car culture into high gear. But six decades later, changing habits and attitudes suggest America's romance with the road may be fading.

After rising almost continuously since World War II, driving by U.S. households has declined nearly 10 percent since 2004, with a start before the Great Recession suggesting economics is not the only cause. "There's something more fundamental going on," says Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

The average American household now owns fewer than two cars, returning to the levels of the early 1990s.

More teens and 20-somethings are waiting to get a license. Less than 70 percent of 19-year-olds now have one, down from 87 percent two decades ago.

"I wonder if they've decided that there's another, better way to be free and to be mobile," says Cotten Seiler, author of "Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America."

Those changes — whether its car trips replaced by shopping online or traffic jams that have turned drives into a chore — pose complicated questions and choices.

TRYING ALTERNATIVES: Each day, about 3,500 people bike the Midtown Greenway, a freight rail bed converted to cycle highway in Minneapolis, where two-wheel commuting has doubled since 2000. It's still a small percentage, but more residents are testing the idea of leaving cars behind.

A second light rail line opens in June. Street corners sprout racks of blue-and-green shared bikes. About 45 percent of those who work downtown commute by means other than a car, mostly by express bus. That syncs with figures showing Americans took a record 10.7 billion trips on mass transit last year, up 37 percent since 1995.

It's been nearly 28 years since the Marvel Comics-inspired "Howard the Duck" hit theaters, and since then the much-maligned film has developed a bit of a cult following that even includes big Hollywood stars. But parts of the production still haunt Lea Thompson, who played Howard's companion Beverly Switzler in the film.

During a conversation about Thompson's new film "Ping Pong Summer," HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri asked about the first thing that comes to her mind when she thinks back on "Howard the Duck." Thompson's answer? "Pain."

See Thompson share her memories from the production in the clip above, and click here to watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with the cast of "Ping Pong Summer."

Sizzling beauty Mallika Sherawat has once again sparked a controversy by sporting a tricolour in the first poster of her upcoming film `Dirty Politics`. The first look of the movie was released recently in Mumbai.

In the poster Mallika Sherawat, who plays the lead role in the film, is seen sitting on an old ambassador car draped in a long tricolour cloth. Not only this, but the poster also shows the Rajasthan Assembly building in the background.

According to reports, the director of the film KC Bokadia is surrounded by political pressure from all quarters to change the poster to a more acceptable form, especially since the using the tricolor has offended many.

The film which is slated to release later this year is reportedly based on the infamous Bhanwri Devi case. Big names like- Om Puri, Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff and Rampal Yadav will also be seen in the movie.

This is not the first time Sherawat has been seen sporting a flag in a raunchy pose. The poster of Mallika Sherawat`s 2011 film `Politics of Love` which saw the actress lying on a bed with Brian White, draped in an American flag had also sparked a controversy.

The background of the poster features the State Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan. Mallika Sherawat is shown flaunting her toned legs with a CD in her hand.
 
However, as expected the poster has given rise to a huge outcry from people all over the country especially from the state of Rajasthan.

Directed by K.C. Bokadia, ‘Dirty Politics’ also stars Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher, Om Puri and Atul Kulkarni.

Last year, the actress promoted ‘Dirty Politics’ at the Cannes Film Festival.

Talking about the film, in her heavy American accent, the actress had said, “It’s about a woman who gets involved with a politician, who was a nurse (sic),” she said as she kept shuffling between ‘hurr’ American and Indian accent, “And how she gets murrderred in the end… here was this woman who actually had the ‘currrage’ to stand up to this politician who kind of raped her, molested her, abused her and record his misgivings and everything (sic), and release it to the press.”

At a time when new players in the Indian smartphone market are opting for and finding success in the e-commerce route, Obi Mobile, which will launch its first devices in the country this June, has decided to take a multi-channel approach.

Ajay Sharma, CEO of the company which came into limelight for being promoted by former Apple CEO John Sculley’s Inflexionpoint, told indianexpress.com that they would go across channels to sell the new range of phones.

“We are talking about pop and mom stores, mobile stores, regional stores and online. We plan to have a larger width of channel and touch all the distribution points available,” he said. The strategy is in complete contrast to new players like Motorola and Alcatel which are selling only through e-tailers like Flipkart. “We can’t afford to pick just one channel. Some specific models could be launched through individual channels later, but not now.”

“We were first planning to bring in just three devices, but as our launch has got delayed we should be coming in with about 5-6 devices in the R5,000 to R15,000 price bracket. Most of the devices will be priced under R10,000, that is the sweet spot,” he said.

Sharma said they are looking at a 360-degree campaign on TV, online and print to make people aware of the brand. “We also plan to give the customer an experience at the store level to convert the enquiries into sales,” he said, adding that Obi Mobile will, however, have a pan India strategy covering 50 cities initially. The company already has a headstart with distribution as Iris Computers, also owned by Inflexionpoint, has warehouses and offices in 23 Indian cities.

“We will not compete on price. What we will offer the customer is a unique looking device with differentiation and we are working with many design houses on the same,” he said, adding that user experience will also different.

The company plans to offer stock Android at the entry level, some user interface differentiation at the middle range and a completely different UI at the high end. “We are working with companies to offer content on our phones to add value to the user... We really need to help customers access content,” added Sharma, who has worked with companies like HTC and Micromax before.