00:00Good day, welcome to the Gulf News update for Tuesday, February 18. Here are the top
00:09stories at this hour.
00:11India's Supreme Court commuted the death sentence for three killers of former Prime Minister
00:15Rajiv Gandhi. The court cited delays in the case 23 years after Gandhi was assassinated
00:20by Tamil separatists and said successive Indian presidents had taken 11 years in deciding
00:25on the mercy pleas.
00:27Iran and six world powers hold a first round of talks today, tasked with transforming their
00:31landmark interim nuclear deal struck in November into a permanent accord. But Iran's Supreme
00:36Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday he expected the talks to lead nowhere.
00:41Meanwhile, Iran has warned it will send forces into Pakistan if Islamabad fails to free five
00:47Iranian border guards seized by militants 10 days ago.
00:50Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet his GCC counterparts in Kuwait today
00:55in what officials have said is part of regular bilateral meetings. The talks are expected
00:59to focus on Syria.
01:01Thai riot police clashed with opposition protesters during an operation to seize back besieged
01:06government buildings in Bangkok today. At least 25 people were injured while dozens
01:11were arrested.
01:12India's finance minister has presented an interim budget with a pledge to cut the country's
01:17fiscal deficits. Pichai Damaram also vowed to reduce taxes for goods from cars to mobile
01:22phones. India's budget deficit is projected to narrow to 4.1 per cent of gross domestic
01:27product by March 31, 2015, from an estimated 4.6 per cent in the current fiscal.
01:34Sport and Brendan McCullum became New Zealand's first triple centurion in 84 years of Test
01:38cricket this morning. The Kiwi captain batted for nearly 13 hours, helping his side secure
01:44a 1-0 win in the two Test series with India.
01:47Manchester City's manager has ramped up the hype ahead of this side's mouth-watering match
01:51with Barcelona in the Champions League tonight. Manuel Pellegrini declared that his side
01:56are now bigger than rivals Manchester United.
01:59Bollywood stars Vidya Balan and Farhan Akhtar are bound for Dubai this weekend to promote
02:03the romantic comedy Shadi Ke Side Effects. The film is scheduled to release in the UAE
02:08next week.
02:09And here's something for fans of The Simpsons. The Fox network has teamed up with Lego to
02:14create an entire episode of the hit animation series out of plastic building blocks. The
02:19episode will see family patriarch Homer Simpson wake up in a spring field where everyone is
02:24made out of Legos.
02:25And finally, the weather. Today's high across the UAE will be 25 degrees Celsius, dropping
02:29to 17 degrees at night.
02:31That's all for now. Thanks for watching. And as always, you can get the latest news on
02:34Golfers.com
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