Indian-American PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has joined Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum that aims to assist the president-elect in implementing his economic agenda, the presidential transition team said today.

Chennai-born Nooyi, 61, is the only Indian-origin executive in the 19-member President's Strategic and Policy Forum, which was first announced early this week. Three new members were also announced in addition to the current 16.

The other corporate bigwigs to join the forum are Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and SpaceX and Tesla chairman Elon Musk.

The forum, composed of some of America's most highly respected and successful business leaders, will meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as the president implements his economic agenda, a media release said adding the forum will be chaired by Stephen A Schwarzman, chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone.

"America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this forum today are at the top of their fields," Trump said.

"My administration is going to work together with the private sector to improve the business climate and make it attractive for firms to create new jobs across the United States from Silicon Valley to the heartland," he said.

According to the presidential transition team, members of the forum will be charged with providing their individual views to the president informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.

"The forum is designed to provide direct input to the president from many of the best and brightest in the business world in a frank, non-bureaucratic and non-partisan manner," the media release said.

As chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, Nooyi heads a company that has more than USD 63 billion in annual net revenue, and more than USD 35 billion in the US alone.

PepsiCo is the largest US food and beverage company with about 110,000 employees and 100 plants across the country.

During the general election, Nooyi was a known supporter of Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

After Trump's victory she said that Clinton's defeat in the election has left her daughters, gay workers, employees and non-whites devastated as there was "serious concern" among them about their safety in the US with Trump as president.

"I had to answer a lot of questions from my daughters, from our employees. They were all in mourning. Our employees were all crying. The question that they are asking, especially those who are not white - 'Are we safe', women are asking 'Are we safe', LGBT people are asking 'Are we safe'," she said at a New York conference on November 10.

At the same time she congratulated Trump on his victory.

"The process of democracy happened, we just have to let life go on. We have to come together and life has to go on," she said.

One son is keeping it real.

Koran Hackman, a 21-year-old civil affairs specialist in the U.S. Army, was on Facebook when he noticed a post by his mom that made him arch a brow. He felt what she wrote was a straight up lie and decided to call her out online — and what he said is hilarious.

The post in question features two adorable photos of Hackman's 3-year-old nephew, Chance.

In the caption for the photos, Hackman's mom, Sonya, claims that the wise-beyond-his-years, Chance, just happened to say: "Through [God], all things are possible."

Hackman took one look at the quote and immediately called B.S. He posted his response on Twitter:

"My nephew speaks in Power Ranger quotes, he ain't say none of this," he wrote.

"I used to watch 'Power Rangers' growing up, so I watch it with Chance often and it's all he talks about," Hackman told The Huffington Post. "He wouldn't take a break from his busy day of being a toddler to say something like that."

Hackman also notes that Sonya, who he describes as "hardworking" and "super funny," is a very proud grandma.

"He's her first grandchild, so you know how that goes," he said.

After Hackman posted what he considered at the time to be a "throwaway tweet," he went to bed. When he woke up the next morning, he was stunned to discover it had gone viral.

In fact, since it was posted on Dec. 10, it has gotten over 279,000 likes and 133,000 retweets.

"I think we all have family members who do things like this," he told HuffPost. "It's relatable for so many people."

And Twitter agreed with that sentiment:

But most just really loved the joke:

The response was so strong that Hackman wished someone would post it to Facebook, so his mom could see:

And someone was up for the task:

Eventually the joke got back to Sonya:

And she deleted the post:

Hackman gave his mom a call not long after she found out. He told HuffPost Sonya deleted her original post because of the overwhelming response she was getting from people she didn't know. But, all in all, Sonya found the entire thing hilarious.

"I'm always joking with our family, roasting the people I love and she knows that," said Hackman.

After all was said and done, Hackman went back on Twitter to declare his love for his mom and her excellent sense of humor:

"I have the best, funniest mother of all time," he wrote online. "Wouldn't trade her for the world."

Chance is a lucky kid.

India's surprise move to abolish high-value rupee notes has undermined the central bank's reputation for competence and independence, even as it remains a credible institution, Standard & Poor's director Kyran Curry said on Wednesday.

The comments come as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government face criticism for their implementation of the demonetisation initative in November, abolishing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes ($7.41-$14.82), which accounted for 86 percent of the currency in circulation.

The slow replacement of the abolished bills has sparked a shortage of cash that has hit large parts of the economy, and the RBI and government have had to subsequently announce a series of ad hoc measures to ease the impact of the measure.

At the same time some policy makers, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, now part of the opposition, has also questioned the RBI's independence for agreeing to implement the action without much preparation.

Curry, in a teleconference with media, said demonetisation had undermined confidence in the predictability and effectiveness of policymaking in India, including of the RBI.

"Demonetisation has cast a shadow over the RBI's competence and independence," Curry said.

However, he also noted that "we still think this institution is a very credible one, and in terms of the conduct of monetary policy, it's a very mature institution."

The RBI under Governor Urjit Patel has also been criticised recently after surprising investors by keeping interest rates on hold last week, the second time in a row it has wrong-footed investors with its monetary policy decision.

(Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

A massive wave in the North Atlantic near Scotland has set a new world record for the tallest ever measured by a buoy, the World Meteorological Organization said.

The giant, picked up back in February of 2013 by an automated buoy between Iceland and the United Kingdom, measured 62.3 feet ― significantly larger than the previous record of 59.96 feet measured in December 2007, also in the North Atlantic.

WMO Assistant Secretary-General Wenjian Zhang described the new record, announced publicly in a press release Tuesday, as "remarkable."

"This is the first time we have ever measured a wave of 19 meters," Zhang said in a statement. "It highlights the importance of meteorological and ocean observations and forecasts to ensure the safety of the global maritime industry and to protect the lives of crew and passengers on busy shipping lanes."

The wave occurred following a "very strong cold front" that generated 50 mph winds, WMO said. The highest waves are typically found during winter in the North Atlantic.

A WMO committee classified it as "the highest significant wave height as measured by a buoy."

Wave height is the distance from the crest of one wave to the trough of the next, according to the organization. Significant wave height is "the average of the highest one-third of waves measured by an instrument."

Although huge, the record falls far short of the largest wave ever surfed ― a 78-foot behemoth conquered by Garrett McNamara at Nazaré, Portugal, in 2011.

Nicole, 32, doesn't have one-night stands. She has half-night stands. After sex, she heads back home and wakes up in her own bed.

Her hookup buddy doesn't mind, because he, too, prefers half-night stands.

"We enjoy our time together but when it's over, it's over," Nicole, who works as a writer and project manager in Dallas, Texas, told The Huffington Post. "We both have demanding careers and insanely early mornings. Starting the day in my own bed ― where I can race to my computer at 6 a.m., if necessary ― is just easier for everyone involved."

Half-night stands are becoming more and more common. They're essentially an abbreviated version of the one-night stand ― instead of staying the night, one person makes their exit after sex.

"If you don't want anything more than sex, what's the point of staying overnight with a stranger?" Bay Area sex therapist Celeste Hirschman told HuffPost. "It's just easier to go home so you can sleep in your own comfortable bed, wake up, and start your day fresh."

According to Tammy Nelson, a psychologist and author of The New Monogamy, the half-night stand trend suggests women are simply asserting more sexual agency.

"Women call the shots now," she told HuffPost. "They choose to go to bed with a man or choose to leave after the sex and go home to their own place. And if they choose to stay, they make that choice. It really is a new time of sexual freedom for women."

We live in a 'swipe' culture where its easy to hook up quick and move onto the next encounter." Max DuBowy, a millennial in Portland, Oregon

Of course, no-strings-attached sex is nothing new. But this is no-strings attached sex without the awkward morning after. And naturally, it's not only women who are hooking up and forgoing small talk the next morning.

Max DuBowy, a 26-year-old gay writer and life coach in Portland, Oregon, leaves early, too, by and large without regrets.

"I think there are two reasons millennials like myself are choosing to cut and run after hooking up," DuBowy explained to HuffPost. "First, we live in a 'swipe' culture where its easy to hook up quick and move onto the next encounter. Sex is sort of like ice cream, in that it comes in all kinds of flavors; Some evenings vanilla ice cream tastes good, but other nights, you're really craving rocky road."

Plus, DuBowy also believes millennials are smart enough to compartmentalize sex and love.

"Sex is simply an activity. Love is intimate and deeper," he said. "It's easier to move on after getting it on since love usually isn't part of the experience until you're in a committed relationship."

But half-night stands are often to the detriment of meaningful human connection.

"When I only wanted to get my jollies off, I felt satisfied and content after a half-night stand," DuBowy said. "But if I wanted to use sex to get my mind off feeling lonely, I felt lonelier after the hookup."

Be sure to tell the person you're going home with that you can't spend the night before you actually get to their home." Seth Meyers, a psychologist in Los Angeles

And of course, sometimes there are weird, conflicted feelings after a half-night stand. To text or not to text the next day? Was this one night of passion and nothing more?

As 27-year-old writer Brenda Mejia has discovered firsthand, half-night stands become a lot more complicated when feelings are involved.

"It's definitely something that can cut both ways," said Mejia, who blogs about travel and sports at Traveleira.com. "People want their own privacy but you're still intimating passion and still feel a sense of attachment during that time."

That's why people who prefer half-night stands should be transparent with their sexual partners, said Seth Meyers, a psychologist and author of Dr. Seth's Love Prescription: Overcome Relationship Repetition Syndrome and Find the Love You Deserve.

"Be sure to tell the person you're going home with that you can't spend the night before you actually get to their home," he said. "Or that you have an early morning so you'd prefer they not stay over."

If they have a heads up "and it feels like the two of you made the decision together, there shouldn't be awkwardness when it comes time to leave," Meyers said.

The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Essential HuffPost

Rio Olympics and sportswomen PV Sindhu, Dipa Karmakar and Sakshi Malik were among the most searched terms on Google in India in 2016, according to Google's annual list of the most-searched terms. Social media meme Sonam Gupta ranked high as well, being the third most-search 'person' on Google in India in 2016.

Working women in India in non-agricultural jobs have fewer children than non-working women, but are more likely to have girls, new data from the 2011 Census shows. In India, typically, not working among women is associated with being better-off, demographer Dr P Arokiasamy, Professor and Head of Department at the International Institute for Population Sciences, says; in other words, you don't work only if you can afford not to.

The share of Indians taking loans for productive purposes is declining, and short-term loans at crushing rates of interest dominate rural India. New data on 'Household Indebtedness' from the National Sample Survey Office's 70th round, released late last week, shows that nearly one in three rural households and over one in five urban households is in debt.

Main News

Indian-American PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi joined Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum that aims to assist the president-elect in implementing his economic agenda, the presidential transition team said on Wednesday. The other corporate bigwigs to join the forum are Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and SpaceX and Tesla chairman Elon Musk.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked among the top 10 most powerful people in the world by Forbes. The list has been topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fourth straight year and had US President-elect Donald Trump in the second place. Modi ranks 9th on the Forbes list of 74 of the World's Most Powerful People.

Concerned over the disappearance of a JNU student for nearly two months, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the police to "scan" the entire campus, including hostels, classrooms and rooftops, of the varsity by using sniffer dogs. The directions came on the habeus corpus plea by Najeeb Ahmed's mother who has moved court to trace out her son who has been missing since the intervening night of October 14-15.

Off The Front Page

In a satellite rights deal that is supposed to be the most expensive one in the world, Zee has acquired the television rights for Aamir Khan's yet-to-be-released film Dangal for a whopping ₹75 crore.

According to a new study by the Pew Research Centre it was found that Hindus were the most-educated people in the United States. But ironically Hindus are the least-educated group of people worldwide, tied for the position with Muslims, both of whom only received only 5.6 years of formal education on an average.

Over 65 teenagers were made to sit through counselling sessions in Hyderabad, as they were found to be secretly watching porn and disturbing content such as videos of ISIS beheadings. The parents of the children were called to the meeting by the police who asked them to take better care of the children, who were as young as 11 years old, and used to frequent local cyber cafes on the pretext of 'researching' for homework. Cases have been registered against the cyber cafe owners for not installing CCTV cameras and letting minors watch porn.

Opinion

Tropical storms are an annual affair, with the more vulnerable eastern coast taking a pummelling from 92 severe cyclones out of a total of 262 between 1891 and 1990, and several more in the years since. Such weather events are a part of the climate system, and their impact in the form of economic losses could well be greater going forward, as development creates more assets in coastal cities. It is vital, therefore, that the learnings from each event are shared nationally, and the capacity of officials and communities to manage disasters built continuously, says an editorial in The Hindu, regarding cyclone Vardah that has hit Tamil Nadu hard.

The demonetisation decision falls in the category of absolutist government decisions as it makes demands of all sections of society in the name of a higher purpose, writes Rohit Prasad in Mint. "Any strong leader can win the support of people by taking on the mighty on their behalf. But only a demigod can make the entire population take on personal suffering gladly for a dream sold to them by him," he says.

There is no reason to impose a Uniform Civil Code on Muslims, but a legal basis exists to abolish triple talaq, writes AG Noorani in The Indian Express. "The lust for uniformity may obliterate Muslim identity and alienates people. A small UK has two systems of criminal law. Scottish law recognises the plea of "not proven", English law does not. There is no national bar; England has barristers, Scotland has advocates," he writes.

Also On HuffPost:

In a report commissioned by the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2011, Ajit K Doval and S. Gurumurthy had argued that black money is used in the Indian economy and is to that extent productive, The Economic Times reported today.

In November, the Modi government scrapped the ₹500 and ₹1000 notes in a massive exercise to curb corruption and root out black money, but some analysts believe that demonetisation is a step in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's grand plan to move the country into becoming a cashless society.

In the report titled "Indian Black Money Abroad - In Secret Banks And Tax Havens" Doval, the National Security Advisor to the prime minister, and Gurumurthy, a chartered account, who frequently comments on economic policies, further argued that it was the black money stashed abroad which was the real problem.

Doval and Gurumurthy wrote, "Domestic black money is a vote of no confidence on the government only while illegal Indian wealth abroad is a vote of no confidence on India as a country and hence treason."

"Domestic black or unaccounted money is definitely important. At least domestic black money is used in our economy and to that extent it is productive. But the money kept in Swiss banks is neither useful to India nor does it benefit Indians," they told the BJP.

Gurumurthy, an RSS ideologue, who has staunchly backed the ongoing demonetisation drive, told ET that the 2011 report was written in the context of the 2008 global financial crisis and the stand by Germany, France on tax havens."

"Being viewed as a corrupt and dishonest nation, and being seen as a nation of buccaneers who bolt away with hundreds and thousands of billions of Dollars when a vast section of the ordinary people of this country are in penury, will hardly give us the moral and ethical authority to be of example to the world," the report said.

Also on HuffPost India:

Yahoo Inc warned on Wednesday that it had uncovered yet another massive cyber attack, saying data from more than 1 billion user accounts was compromised in August 2013, making it the largest breach in history.

The number of affected accounts was double the number implicated in a 2014 breach that the internet company disclosed in September and blamed on hackers working on behalf of a government. News of that attack, which affected at least 500 million accounts, prompted Verizon Communication Inc to say in October that it might withdraw from an agreement to buy Yahoo's core internet business for $4.83 billion.

Following the latest disclosure, Verizon said, "we will review the impact of this new development before reaching any final conclusions."

A Yahoo spokesman told Reuters that the company has been in communication with Verizon during its investigation into the breach and that it is confident the incident will not affect the pending acquisition.

Yahoo required all of its customers to reset their passwords - a stronger measure than it took after the previous breach was discovered, when it only recommended a password reset.

Yahoo also said Wednesday that it believes hackers responsible for the previous breach had also accessed the company's proprietary code to learn how to forge "cookies" that would allow hackers to access an account without a password.

"Yahoo badly screwed up," said Bruce Schneier, a cryptologist and one of the world's most respected security experts. "They weren't taking security seriously and that's now very clear. I would have trouble trusting Yahoo going forward."

Yahoo was tentative in its description of new problems, saying the incident was "likely" distinct from the one it reported in September and that stolen information "may have included" names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.

It said it had not yet identified the intrusion that led to the massive data theft and noted that payment-card data and bank account information were not stored in the system the company believes was affected.

Yahoo said it discovered the breach while reviewing data provided to the company by law enforcement. FireEye Inc's Mandiant unit and Aon Plc's Stroz Friedberg are assisting in the investigation, the Yahoo spokesman told Reuters.

The breach is the latest setback for Yahoo, an internet pioneer that has fallen on hard times in recent years after being eclipsed by younger, fast-growing rivals including Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc.

Hours before it announced the breach on Wednesday, executives with Google, Facebook and other large U.S. technology companies met with President-elect Donald Trump in New York. Reflecting its diminished stature, Yahoo was not invited to the summit, according to people familiar with the meeting.

The Yahoo spokesman said Chief Executive Marissa Mayer was at the company's Sunnyvale, California headquarters to assist in addressing the new breach.

Yahoo shares were down 2.4 percent to $39.91 in extended trading. Verizon shares were little changed from their close at $51.63.

Amazon launched its much-awaited video streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, in India today. At an event in Mumbai, the Amazon team announced that the streaming service is now be available in 242 countries worldwide. Here are all the details you want to know about the service.

How Can I Get Amazon Prime Video? What Is The Cost?

If you are an existing Amazon Prime member you need not pay anything as Amazon Prime video will be included in your package. If you are not a member you can start a one month trial for free. After that, there is an annual fee of ₹499 as an introductory price.

What do I get after subscribing to Amazon Prime?

All Amazon Prime subscribers will be able to stream the Amazon Prime Video library from any device anywhere without any ads. Additionally, there is a benefit of free 2-day or 1-day guaranteed delivery on Amazon on any item covered by Prime.

How can I access Amazon Prime Video?

You can stream the content on desktop from the website Primevideo.com. And there are apps that have been released for iOS and Android too. The Amazon team told HuffPost India that select LG and Samsung smart TVs also support the Amazon Prime app.

Can I download the videos?

Yes.

What are the limitations?

You can only stream on three devices simultaneously from one account. The downloads will stay on the device for only 48 hours. You will be able to download 15-20 videos depending on your device's memory capacity. Also, there is no support for Apple TV or Google's Chromecast streaming.

What are the app's features?

You can set the streaming quality as Best, Better, Good or Data Saver. The data usage will increase, going from Data Saver (0.09 GB per hour) to Best (0.46 GB per hour). The app also has parental control, so if you are giving your child access to your Prime account you can decide what he or she watches. There is also an X-ray feature, which can identify a song playing in the background in a movie.

What are the shows on offer?

Amazon has tied up with big studios in India namely Dharma productions, Yash Raj Studios, T-series, Excel and others for Bollywood movies. Then, there are international tie-ups with studios such as Warner, Paramount, CBS, Everest, and others. There is content in local Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Bengali.

From the US, Amazon is bringing TV shows such as Mr. Robot, The Grand Tour, The BI, The Man in the High Castle and more. The e-commerce giant has also partnered with Indian content creators to bring original content to India.

What are the new original shows announced by Amazon for India?

Among the original shows announced are:

· Bodhidharma: Master of Shaolin, to be produced by Ram Madhvani, Prasoon Joshi and Sunil Doshi

· Breathe, to be produced by Vikram Malhotra, and starring R Madhvan and Amit Sadh;

· The Ministry, to be made by AIB and OML

· Powerplay, to be produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, and starring Vivek Oberoi and Richa Chadda

· Mirzapur, to be produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar

· Stardust, to be produced by Vikramaditya Motwane, Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl

· The Family Man, to be produced by DK Krishna and Raj Nidimoru

· Vishpuri, to be produced by Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap and Madhu Mantena

· Made in Heaven, to be produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti.

Amazon announced at the event that more partnerships are in the offing though the show titles and formats have not yet been decided.

Speaking of the competition in India, Tim Leslie, VP of Amazon Digital Video, sounded confident.

"We have the best and the widest content library to offer," he told HuffPost India. "We are catering to many languages and many types of shows. We are pretty sure that Indian consumers will enjoy the experience."

"Amazon is using top-notch technology to provide the best customer experience. We have the Amazon Web Service (AWS) servers in India which would aid our services and would help in cache-ing the shows here as well," Leslie added.

While there was enthusiasm all around, the Amazon team avoided questions about meeting specific targets or its current customer base. It also diplomatically avoided answering when asked about the lack of Chromecast support.

"We are constantly evolving and evaluating the situation," said Nitesh Kripalani, Director and Country Head, Amazon Video India. "The low price is a great incentive for the Indian consumers. India is a country crazy about entertainment content. We are bringing the best content in global and the local sense."

There have been reports about Amazon bidding for live streaming India's biggest cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL) online. But Kripalani avoided saying anything specific on the topic.

"Sports is certainly big in India," he said. "But we have just started and we will evaluate the response of the customers. If we see that sports is a great fit, we'd be gladly bringing it to the platform."

The Amazon Prime Video launch puts the company in a different category, compared to Indian e-commerce portals such as Flipkart or Snapdeal. While both the Indian firms offer premium membership programs, only delivery is the part of the service. Amazon is hoping that its dual package of delivery benefits and video streaming would bring a lot of consumers on board.

Amazon has begun its grocery delivery service Amazon Now in four cities, namely Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad. While Flipkart has shut its grocery delivery app, Nearby, it is still keen to get back into the sector.

The Amazon Prime Video service is also taking on the top streaming services such as Netflix and Hotstar in India.

A civil defamation suit seeking thousands of crores in damages has been filed by Jet Airways and its founder-chairman Naresh Goyal against Josy Joseph, a senior investigative journalist. Joseph, in his book A Feast Of Vultures, wrote about the alleged links between the airline company and gangster Dawood Ibrahim. According to a report, a lawyer representing Joseph has confirmed that they have received notices of defamation for the details published in the book.

Advocate Uttam Datt, who is representing the journalist on the case, has stated that they are definitely challenging the suit in court. "We stand by the story, we have documented proof for every claim made in the book. We have evidence to defend ourselves," he told Scroll.in.

In an interview in August 2016, Joseph had stated that he was aware of the consequences and was ready for any kind of litigation. The book, that was published earlier this year, claims that in December 2001, Intelligence Bureau chief KP Singh and Joint Director Anjan Ghosh had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs saying that they had confirmed information of 'intermittent contact' between the underworld gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel and Naresh Goyal, to settle financial issues.

Also on HuffPost India.

In a disturbing incident, a video of a Delhi High Court lawyer thrashing and abusing his wife and daughter has been submitted to the Delhi Police for investigation.

The one-minute video, filmed by the lawyer's other daughter, shows him continually hitting his daughter even after she falls to the ground.

According to NDTV, the lawyer's wife said that he beat her regularly in their 15 years of marriage and did not even spare his daughters. He allegedly assaulted and abused his wife because she didn't give birth to a son.

The police have registered a case of domestic violence, based on the video.

Also on HuffPost India.

If you are calling your Internet provider to complain about slow Internet speed or a service outage, you might want to hold on. It's not their fault (nor is it yours). The cyclone Vardah, which hit the shores of Tamil Nadu on Monday, is the culprit.

A Times of India report suggests that the cyclone has affected some of the undersea cables that transmit Internet data. The service providers affected include big names such as Bharti Airtel.

"Due to the severe cyclone at Chennai coast, one of our international undersea cables has been damaged and Internet traffic has been partially impacted," an Airtel spokesperson told TOI. "As a result, customers in some locations may be experiencing slow Internet/data speeds."

Vodafone's services were also affected by Vardah and a statement by the company said, "Almost all services in these locations are almost back to normal, the voice and data services in and around some areas are being progressively restored and we should soon be in back to normalcy. We at Vodafone apologize for the inconveniences being caused to customers due to this force majeure. We are rapidly getting the network back in place."

The affected companies have dispatched expert teams to investigate the cause, the extent of the damage, and to rectify the problem. Many users had complained that Google services were not reachable online as well.

"We are experiencing network issues affecting some Google services in India and are working to resolve this for the affected users," a Google spokesperson told HuffPost India over email.

While the situation is being analysed, the service providers are trying to route the traffic to other servers so that customers do not face any problems.

MUMBAI -- A building collapsed on Thursday in Maharashtra's Mankhurd area.

Two fire fighting vehicles and two ambulances were rushed to the spot.

Three persons named Sanjay Wankhede, his wife Rekha Sanjay Wankhede and mother Kasturi Bai are reported to be dead.

Speaking to ANI here, an advocate said, "I received a call around 6 a.m. about the incident. So, we rushed towards here and saw that the collapsed building. We don't know the reason behind it. Three to four persons buried under it were rushed to the hospital. There are around 12 people."

#SpotVisuals Mumbai: 3 dead and 12 rescued after a house collapsed in Maharashtra Nagar (Mankhurd). pic.twitter.com/l6YR22lDxa

— ANI (@ANI_news) December 15, 2016

He further said that two families naming Wankhede and Gadwe used to stay on rent in the building.

" G+1 buliding in Mankhurd area has collapsed and with that other nearby house also came in the grip. Total 15 people have been injured in this incident and three have died," a police official said.

Also on HuffPost India.

The Supreme Court has banned the sale of alcohol along national and state highways, ordering the cancellation of liquor licences issued to shops by April 1, 2017.

According to the apex court, no liquor stores should be even seen from highways and shouldn't be located within a distance of 500 metres of the highways.

The order is aimed at tackling the rising menace of drunk driving as well as improving road safety conditions in India.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur has ordered both Centre and state governments to strictly comply with the order and "cease and desist" issuing liquor licences, Indian Express reported.

"Relocate existing stores and remove all advertisement of such stores," the Supreme Court bench headed by CJI Thakur, justices D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao, reportedly said.

Amidst the hue and cry over demonetisation and the cash crunch in India, another problem seems to have hit a village in Bihar. According to reports, a farmer has claimed that the State Bank of India (SBI) ATM in Simra village in Bihar's Sitamarhi district was dispensing fake ₹2,000 notes.

The matter came to light when Pankaj Kumar, who works as a farmer, tried to hand a ₹2,000 note to a shopkeeper in Dumra town in Sitamarhi after purchasing goods from him. The shopkeeper refused to take the note pointing out that it was fake, reported the Hindustan Times. He told Kumar that the note was a "scanned copy of the original note".

Kumar has registered a complaint with the Dumra police station and with SBI as well. According to the Times of India, he hasn't submitted the allegedly fake currency note yet to the bank or the police.

Dumra police has since sealed the ATM, pending investigations.

The SBI bank manager in Sitamarhi has ruled out the possibility of the ATM dispensing fake notes.

TOI reported that currency worth ₹14 lakh in the form of new ₹2,000 notes was filled in the ATM by a private agency on 6 December.

Also On HuffPost:

Days before its release, Karan Johar's Ae Dil hai Mushkil found itself embroiled in a massive controversy over the casting of Pakistani star Fawad Khan.

The Mumbai-based political outfit, Maharashtra Navnirmal Sena (MNS) threatened to vandalize theaters if the film was to release in what was their way of showing solidarity towards soldiers martyred in the Uri attacks.

It was only after Karan Johar released a video showing his support for the country and promising to "not engage with talent from across the border" did the self-righteous MNS allow the release. They also demanded that Karan donate a sum of Rs. 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund, which the Army refused to take.

While Karan has firmly maintained that he made absolutely no changes to his film, reports suggested that the film's characters were originally from Karachi, Pakistan, which was later shown as Lucknow.

Now, in a video that has emerged online, one can see that Fawad had one more additional scene.

The video also shows scenes between Ranbir-Anushka and Ranbir-Aishwarya that were chopped at the editing table.

Also see on HuffPost:

Come to think of it, being an artist is an art form in itself. Artists live for their art. They slave over their art, they take risks, solitude is their BFF. They chase their passion, not money. They can be moody, irritable, annoying, utterly incomprehensible and irrational, but it is not their fault -- it is all in the service of their muse.

But what if everyone approached their life and their vocation as an art form? In other words, what if everyone became an artist?

In his new sketch, stand-up comic, writer and YouTuber famous for his observational comedy, the intrepid Biswa Kalyan Rath takes us to a world where everyone is an artist.

Written by Biswa, Sourav Ghosh, and Vaibhav Sethia, the sketch features the familiar faces of Utsav Chakraborty, Kaneez Surka, Rahul Subramanian and Biswa himself.

Yep.

Inspiration badi cheez hai.

Taal se Taal mila...

Here's the sketch:

Also On HuffPost India:

After much speculation over the role of Sasikala after former AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa's death, it has been officially announced that she will head the party.

NDTV quoted AIADMK spokesperson Ponnaiyan as saying, "It is the desire of the entire party... Sasikala has functioned as the conscience of Amma."

But Sasikala is said to be keeping a "total silence on the issue", Ponnaiyan added.

Sasikala, who has been Jayalalithaa's long-time friend and political aide, is referred to as Chinamma while Jayalalithaa was fondly called Amma. After Jayalalithaa's death, it was predicted by many that Sasikala would take her place.

The news comes a day after party functionaries stepped up pressure on her.

Party functionaries from districts including Tiruchirappalli, Sivaganga, Ariyalur, Kanyakumari, Tiruvarur called on her at the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa and urged her to guide the party at this "critical juncture after Amma's passing away," the party said here.

Functionaries from several party wings like the youth wings for young men and women (Ilaignar Pasarai and Ilam Pengal Pasarai) and Information Technology Wing made the same demand.

Leaders of alliance parties including CK Tamilarasan-led Republican Party of India, and legislator S Karunas-led Mukkalathor Puli Padai met and requested Sasikala to take on the top job of the AIADMK.

In a courtesy call, senior CPI leader Tha Pandian too visited her.

After the demise of Jayalalithaa on December 5, top party leaders including party presidium chairman E Madusudanan, party treasurer and Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai had urged her take on the top post and lead the party.

Meanwhile, the four-member legislature wing of the opposition AIADMK in Puducherry also urged Sasikala to take over the leadership of the party.

"She is most competent and possesses all the merits and qualities of being the General Secretary of the AIADMK and this would also be in keeping with the plea of the party cadres," A Anbalagan, who chaired the legislature party meeting, told reporters at Puducherry.

The meeting through a resolution made an appeal to Sasikala to take over the reins of the party leadership, he said.

Anbalagan said they had earlier met 'Chinnamma' at Chennai and personally urged her to take over the reins of the party.

(with PTI inputs)

The Indian authorities call the shotgun shells filled with hundreds of small metal pellets a "non-lethal" weapon for crowd control. However, that doesn't change the fact that this apparent "non-lethal" weapon have inflicted a permanent toll on hundreds of Kashmiris.

Since mid-July, when the current wave of protests against the Indian Army started after Burhan Wani, a militant commander was killed, there have been several cases of patients reporting to hospitals with eyes ruptured by lead pellets. The New York Times, in this article in August, had put the number at 570 then.

Whether the stone-throwing crowd has any leader or not, there's one slogan on everyone's lips: "What do we want? Freedom!"

However, when there's a protest, not all of them are protesting. There are journalists, and there are photographers too.

In one of the situation, a photojournalist Xuhaib Maqbool, 30, was capturing the images of the protests.

He ended up losing vision in his left eye as he shot images of protesters chanting anti-India slogans.

In this chilling audio by Associated Press, Maqbool can be heard, shrieking in pain after he was shot with pellets.

"It's a different kind of protest today, very dangerous one and from all sides," a man is first heard telling Maqbool. The photojournalist spots an army personnel walking towards him. "Oh sh**, they are here," he says. Immediately after, shots are fired.

Seconds later, Maqbool cries with pain, "My eyeball has burst..."

Maqbool told Associated Press that he clearly raised his camera to show the soldier who shot at him that he was not a protester. "I want to ask him why," he said, raising the question that has probably been on many Kashmiris' minds.

Listen to the audio here:

Chilling audio of Kashmir photographer hit by police with 'non-lethal' pellets. https://t.co/cIoSpLR3A3 pic.twitter.com/nLUEshiEPF

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 14, 2016

(With inputs from Associated Press)

Also see on HuffPost:

If we had to introduce a brand new day, New Year Resolution Day would be most welcomed! December conversations at bars, weddings, malls, coffee shops aren't complete without making a list of New Year resolutions. Making resolutions feels like we have proved our reason to exist for the next year!

My attempt as a New Year resolution is to "define" health so that it is not a part of any New Year resolution discussions going forward!

Most lists of resolutions usually have "health" right at the top—we don't even need data to prove this! I must have had this goal for almost eight years I think. Year after year, this was a constant quest of my life. Phew!

This is how my "health goal" would pan out in the "new year":

• January: Crazy diet fad begins.
• February to March: Still trying but losing a little interest.
• April, May and maybe June: Taking notes from those who have lost weight and trying some new crazy stuff.
• July and August: Goal is moved to just fitting into that bathing suit.
• September to November: Cravings, hunger pangs and therefore eating everything that I deprived myself of.
• December: Time for the resolution again!

When I finally had three different sizes of denims in my closet, a destroyed immune system and defeated confidence, I decided to educate myself on how to make a health goal that could actually work and sustain.

What I learned is this—"health" cannot be a goal! Let me save you all the trouble of getting to this point and learning this because it is true. What "health" really needs is a redefinition. To be understood as a way of life, a way of being that is holistic, real and very personal.

So my attempt as a New Year resolution is to "define" health so that it is not a part of any New Year resolution discussions going forward!

1. Health is 'you'

Health is your emotional, mental and physical self. We are so wired to take care of our physical health but mental and emotional health are not only seen separately but also considered taboo topics! The only person getting adversely impacted with this thought process is you. The starting point of defining health is to know it is holistic.

2. Health is rooted in science

"You are what you eat" is not just a slogan— it's the truth that drives behaviour patterns, moods, thoughts, sustainability so on and so forth. What you consume has a biological and chemical effect in your system that drives the output beyond weight management. So next time you think of abusing your body with crash diets, remember how self-destructive it can be!

3. Health is bio-individual

The next time you pick up diet tips from others over lunch or in a gym, do understand that one size doesn't fit all. Your genes, blood group, childhood food and upbringing, vitamin and mineral levels and many other aspects unique to you play a role on what's your optimal 'healthy being'. Understand yourself better to know what works for you.

4. Health is energy

Everything that you consume has energy of its own that plays a role in your energy—therefore it's not just the calories in food but the quality and the kind of food that can make you feel a certain way. Food energetics is true and can be used beautifully to drive your energy goals. For example if you want to feel grounded and strong, root vegetables can do that for you and if you want to feel uplifted and spontaneous, then broad leafy greens are a good bet.

5. Health is not just about food

It comprises relationships, careers, states of mind and exercise. Yes I know workouts are usually very well taken care of but what about the rest? What is your contentment level on the other aspects? You can eat all the organic food of the world but if you are not happy on those things that drive your daily life, then you are not healthy. Period.

6. Health is self-love and self-care

Accept and love yourself as you are—even as you are every day growing to be the best version of yourself. Treat yourself how you would like others to treat you—that is with utmost care. Take care of yourself daily with the right routine, peaceful meditation, embracing things that feel good, relaxation and massage. Know what it is to feel special every single day

7. Health is listening to your body

Stop using the calculator or mental math to count calories or the weighing scale to determine what your next meal is. Listen to your body. It gives you every signal—when it's full, when it's feeling good, when it's feeling stuffed, when its feeling uneasy or even when it's just taking time off to heal. Have a deeper and more beautiful relationship with your body—it won't lead you astray

Health is your most beautiful self—inside and outside. When "health"' and "you" are merged into one, you will rarely allow anything in your inner circle that is destructive, unkind and does any form of disservice to your being. You will see yourself only going for the most beautiful things in the world because they feel good. This is health and therefore it can never be a goal – it is you.