Celebrity culture could haunt Real Madrid yet again

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his birthday just hours after losing to Atletico Madrid. 

Should he have postponed?

Madrid - The timing could not have been worse. Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 30th birthday with an extravagant party along with coaches, staff and players on Saturday just hours after Real Madrid's humiliating derby defeat at Atletico Madrid.

The event was pre-planned, with friends of the three-time Ballon d'Or winner traveling from overseas to join him in the Spanish capital. But after a woeful performance both collectively and individually against Atleti in the 4-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderon, the party proved a PR disaster for both Madrid and Ronaldo.

Images were leaked to the press and on social media of Cristiano and Colombian singer Kevin Roldan, who also published pictures on Twitter, and the party was reminiscent of the 2003 celebration of Brazilian striker Ronaldo which also caused controversy for Real.

Back then, Claude Makelele and coach Vicente del Bosque had just left the club and celebrity culture was spinning out of control in the first Florentino Perez project. Ronaldo's 27th birthday bash at his home in La Moraleja was attended by most of Madrid's squad at the time including David Beckham, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo and even Zinedine Zidane, along with a string of models, while the picture of a tearful Vania Millan (a former Miss Spain and now wife of Sergio Ramos' brother Rene) found its way into the media just like the images of Cristiano singing on Saturday.

The departure of Makelele and Del Bosque meant indiscipline had set in. And although Real started the season strongly, it was the beginning of the end for the first Galactico project as Madrid ended up without a trophy that year and Perez ultimately left the club following a barren spell which ran until 2006.

"It wasn't only due to Makelele leaving," Zidane told Goal. "There were several, one per line: [Fernando] Hierro, Makelele, [Fernando] Morientes and Del Bosque as well. Four at the same time."

"Makelele leaving was one of the reasons, but it wasn't only him. And when you change a winning team, it's never good. You have to leave a winning team alone, let it confirm itself. What happened at the time is that four or five players and the coach left. It went wrong after that."

Discipline was lost, the balance was upset, the party was over. And just over a decade later, another Ronaldo fiesta threatens to destabilize a successful side once again.

Madrid ended 2014 with a record 22 straight victories in all competitions and Cristiano celebrated his third Ballon d'Or win in January, but double defeat to Atletico in Copa and Liga and a loss at Valencia straight after the winter break have seen Real ruffled in 2015. Fans were left frustrated but, while they reflected on a painful derby day, the Portuguese partied on Saturday night.

A banner reading "your laughter, our shame" was unfurled by two supporters outside the club's training ground earlier this week, while another fan shouted "more balls and less parties" to the former Manchester United man as he drove out of Wednesday's session.

Ronaldo's Birthday party

Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes and former Madrid winger Figo both defended the forward this week. Meanwhile, coach Carlo Ancelotti stressed in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's game against Deportivo that he had no problem with Ronaldo's party.

"The party is not an issue for me. I have never judged the private lives of players and will not begin now," he told the media.

"I have no doubts about the professionalism of the players. They can do what they want out of work as long as it doesn't affect their professional work."

However, the party set a tone that is far removed from the image of discipline and professionalism needed at one of the world's greatest clubs and Ancelotti will now need to manage the situation behind closed doors or face a Galactico meltdown similar to the one which rocked the team in 2003.

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Samuel L. Jackson Says Marvel Has Figured Out Something DC Hasn't With Movies

Kingsman: The Secret Service is in theaters now. Jackson's next Marvel movie will be 

Avengers: Age of Ultron in May.

Samuel L. Jackson, looking to get some ink for his appearance in the new comic book adaptation Kingsman: The Secret Service, has taken a fairly safe route: Pitting Marvel and DC against one another and then sitting back to listen to the collective shrieking of fans online.

During an interview with MTV, he said, "The Marvel Universe is huge. There's I don't know how many thousands of characters there are in the Marvel Universe, that they have access to use," he said. "I think Marvel has figured out a way to make those movies accessible to the public that DC hasn't. I don't know what that is. I don't know why you can't get Batman and Superman, people as juiced up to be a part of that."

You can check out the full interview below.

Get More: Movie Trailers, Celebrity News

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Rio carnival downsizing and another cancelled as Brazil feels the pinch

There will be no parade in Brazil's capital city this year

Brazil is tightening its purse strings ahead of the 2016 Olympics and carnivals across the country are downsizing or have been cancelled.

It seems that not even Rio’s sacred tradition of carnival can escape the clutches of the financial crisis this year. The city’s flagship annual event is a dazzling spectacle that suspends reality for two days from sundown to sunrise in a blur of thundering music and sublime choreography. This year, however, with recession looming in Brazil, austerity and financial scandal look like being something of a running theme.

The country’s most powerful broadcaster, TV Globo, had already pulled out of its regular transmission of the final Parade of Champions when it announced further cuts to its normal carnival schedule. Without the usually clamorous media partners on board, broadcasting the full two days of parading and the grand finale has been deemed financially unviable. As a result, Globo won’t be showing the first schools’ parades on the 15 and 16 February, one of whom is the 2003 and 2007 winner São Clemente.

With the state governor juggling Olympic preparations with the unedifying combination of a looming recession, severe water shortages and the knock-on effects of state oil company Petrobras’ corruption scandal, carnival has been forced down the list of priorities. While Petrobras has assured the top twelve samba schools that they will receive the same R$1 million (£250,000) funding as last year, the state has yet to confirm whether their own grants will indeed be paid out.

Elsewhere in Brazil, it isn’t simply a question of finances that looks like dampening the party. In the states of São Paulo and neighbouring Minas Gerais, the drought that has caused severe water shortages and power outages across forced local councils to cancel official carnival events in twenty cities. Several rounds of council meetings have resisted plans to cancel São Paulo’s official parade, one of the biggest in the country, but Brasilia didn’t escape the cutbacks - there will be no parade in Brazil’s capital city this year.

Financial woes are even casting a shadow over the famously democratic free-for-all that is Rio’s street carnival. In the last decade, the weeks of events either side of the main parade have become just as big a part of the celebrations. This year, however, several of the long-running blocos, the musical collectives the biggest of which can attract more than 100,000 people at a time, have been forced to cancel their events. Citing a lack of support from sponsors unwilling to do more than provide the basic infrastructure, the popular, 50,000-strong Bloco Cru is among those taking a year out, while others have been forced to downsize.

The cost of putting on such a bloco is estimated at around £5,000, and Lu Baratz, one of the organisers of Bloco Cru, can no longer support the show with her own money. “We didn’t achieve sufficient sponsorship to guarantee the party’s infrastructure,” she told the O Globo newspaper. “It is important that the sponsors and council do more than pay for chemical toilets, they need to support the local spirit of carnival.”

Cometh the hour, however, it is precisely these battles and stories that make the party tick and provide carnival with its annual narrative. In the wake of the Petrobras scandal, shops have been selling out of masks featuring the ex-chief executive Maria das Graças Foster, while one of her former directors, Nestor Cerveró, has threatened legal action against any company making cardboard likenesses of his face destined for the partying hoards.

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Apple bans 'bonded servitude' for factory workers

Apple has banned the practice of bonded labour - where new recruits are charged a fee - from its factories.

In its latest audit of factory conditions, the iPhone maker said that any such fee must be paid by its supplier and not the employee.

Apple began the audits following criticism of the working conditions in some of its factories.

It comes as a report from labour rights group China Labor Watch questioned the low wages earned by some Apple workers.

Working conditions at factories such as Foxconn are now closely monitored by Apple

Its 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress report said it had told its suppliers in October that it was outlawing bonded servitude from the beginning of this year.

"That fee needs to be paid by the supplier, and Apple ultimately bears that fee when we pay the supplier, and we're OK doing that," said Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice-president of operations.

Bonded servitude or labour sees new workers charged a fee - sometimes equivalent to a month's salary or more - for being introduced to a factory, typically by third-party recruiters.

It means many employees will begin work in debt. Some have their passports confiscated.

A BBC Panorama programme investigation last year highlighted the poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories.

Undercover filming at one of Apple's factories - Pegatron - showed new recruits handing over ID cards, in breach of Apple's standards.

Apple, which declined to be interviewed for the programme, denied the allegations of poor working conditions and long hours and said it was deeply offended by the allegations.

On the same day that Apple published its audit, labour rights group China Labor Watch (CLW) released a report saying the company was unable to effectively monitor standards in some of its supply chain, allowing companies such as Pegatron to keep base wages below local living expenses.

CLW based its findings on 96 pay stubs submitted by an unknown number of employees. It suggested that low pay compelled workers to put in more hours.

Conditions in Chinese factories were first highlighted in 2010 after 14 workers killed themselves at a factory run by Apple's biggest supplier, Foxconn.

Long hours, harsh working conditions and low wages were said to be partly to blame.

In February 2012 the hardware giant announced that its factories would be inspected by the Fair Labour Association (FLA).

This is its ninth annual audit, and Apple was keen to show off the progress it has made in improving conditions.

It said that it had tracked more than 1.1 million workers on average per week in 2014 and that suppliers had achieved 92% compliance with its 60-hour maximum working week.

"We consistently report suppliers' violations of our standards," Mr Williams wrote in Apple's report. "People sometimes point to the discovery of problems as evidence that our process isn't working. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Apple has previously cracked down on excessive recruitment fees that foreign contract workers pay to labour brokers. It ruled that anything more than one month's wages had to be repaid.

Last year suppliers repaid $3.96m (£2.57m) in excess fees to more than 4,500 foreign contractors, according to the audit.

It also said that it continued to take steps to stop the use of minerals from mines in conflict regions such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company said it had more than doubled the number of verified conflict-free smelts to 135 last year. Another 64 were in the process of being verified.

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Wimbledon: LTA changes wildcard policy for British players

A world ranking inside the top 250 will no longer be enough to earn British players a wildcard at Wimbledon.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) previously advised the All England Club of the wildcard entries, with a policy to select top-250 players.

But an LTA spokesperson says it now plans to nominate those who "have the best chance of performing well".

Of the eight players given wildcards in the 2014 singles main draw, only Naomi Broady won her first-round match.

LTA chief executive Michael Downey and director of player development Bob Brett, both of whom joined the governing body in the past two years, were known not to be fans of the previous criteria.

"This revised approach will enable the LTA to give consideration to attributes in addition to rankings," an LTA spokesperson added.

"These additional attributes will include attitude, professionalism, game development and recent form."

Improved prize money at the Grand Slams has made wildcards increasingly valuable, with last year's first-round losers taking home £27,000.

The new policy is likely to favour younger players, while those who have received a number of wildcards in the past will have to do a lot to prove they deserve one.

British singles wildcard entries at Wimbledon 2014 and current world rankings

Men	Women
James Ward - 106	Naomi Broady - 177
Kyle Edmund - 144	Tara Moore - 358
Daniel Cox - 245	Samantha Murray - 446
Daniel Smethurst - 296
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Lafazanis: “The Greek government fully supports the TAP pipeline”

Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister Mr. Panagiotis Lafazanis during his visit to Azerbaijan participated in the first meeting of the advisory council for the Southern Gas Corridor.

Mr. Lafazanis stressed the full support of the Greek Government on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and its readiness to work for its earliest possible construction.

The Greek Minister was welcomed at the Presidential Palace by the President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, with whom he discussed the broader context of cooperation between the two countries, expressed the mutual belief of good relations between them and the need for further development which will be of particular importance not only for both countries but for the wider region as well.

Mr. Lafazanis also met with European Commission’s Vice President Maros Sefcovic, in charge of Energy Union, with whom he discussed southeast European energy matters, including the TAP project.

Greece seeking compensatory measures - meetings arranged with senior officials in Azerbaijan

The Minister of Productive Reconstruction met with Bulgarian Energy Minister Mrs.Temenuzhka Petkova, reaffirming the support of the two countries for a fast completion of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline and stressed the need to further examine the project’s progress in the near future.

Mr. Lafazanis also held a meeting with Energy Minister of Azerbaijan Mr. Natiq Aliyev, stressing the need for compensatory measures accruing from the construction of the TAP pipeline for Greece, which would be fair for the country and beneficial for the pipeline and all the involved sides. This issue was also raised during the Minister’s meeting with the TAP CEO Mr. Ian Bradshaw. The request of the Greek side was carefully considered by both its interlocutors.

Lastly, the minister met with BP regional president for Turkey-Azerbaijan-Georgia, Mr. Gordon Birrell. Mr. Lafazanis presented Mr. Birrell with the request of the Greek side for compensatory measures from the TAP pipeline. Mr. Birrell, said he is willing to discuss these issues offsets and specific Greek proposals toward this direction.

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Colombia: FARC bans recruitment of child soldiers

Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, vowed on Thursday to immediately and indefinitely ban the recruitment of child soldiers.

Until now, the FARC have formally only allowed the incorporation of recruits who are 15 and older. However, international humanitarian law dictates that no minor can take part in military activity.

To comply with international humanitarian law, the FARC announced to “no longer incorporate, from today on, minors of 17 [and younger] in the guerrilla ranks.”

The presumably ongoing recruitment of minors was a thorn in the flesh of human rights organizations and critics of the peace talks, who have been demanding the FARC to expand an earlier imposed unilateral ceasefire with abandoning the use of child soldiers and land mines.

In its announcement, the guerrillas called on the armed forces to also stop the use of children for intelligence work, and to end the illegal forced recruitment of young men in street raids.

The FARC has been engaged in peace talks with the government since November 2012 and are currently negotiating the last two of five points. If successful, a peace deal would end 50 years of violence between the FARC, the state and state-aligned paramilitary groups that formally disbanded between 2003 and 2006.

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Will Smith: 'After Earth' Was the "Most Painful Failure in My Career"

Over the span of Will Smith's 25-year career, there's one film in particular that has taught the actor a "valuable lesson."

In a recent interview with Esquire, Smith revealed that when 2013's sci-fi film After Earth, in which he starred alongside son Jaden Smith, bombed at the box office (grossing a total of $60.5 million domestically), he realized he had been seeking success in all of the wrong places.

"That was the most painful failure in my career. Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earthbecause my son was involved in After Earth and I led him into it. That was excruciating," Smith admitted. "What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of After Earth. I stopped working for a year and a half. I had to dive into why it was so important for me to have number-one movies. And I never would have looked at myself in that way."

But upon hearing the news that the father-son project he'd worked so hard for had unexpectedly tanked, Smith only had about half an hour to let it all sink in.

"I get the box-office numbers on Monday and I was devastated for about twenty-four minutes, and then my phone rang and I found out my father had cancer. That put it in perspective —viciously," he recalled.

As a young teen, it was a failed relationship that sparked the actor's desire to be the best, which later translated to box-office domination. "I was a guy who, when I was fifteen my girlfriend cheated on me, and I decided that if I was number one, no woman would ever cheat on me," he said. "All I have to do is make sure that no one’s ever better than me and I’ll have the love that my heart yearns for."

Smith added, "That Monday [following the opening weekend of After Earth] started the new phase of my life, a new concept: Only love is going to fill that hole. You can’t win enough, you can’t have enough money, you can’t succeed enough. There is not enough. The only thing that will ever satiate that existential thirst is love. And I just remember that day I made the shift from wanting to be a winner to wanting to have the most powerful, deep, and beautiful relationships I could possibly have."

Smith will appear next opposite Margot Robbie in Focus, Warner Bros.' comedy-crime film set for a Feb. 27 release.

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FIRST LOOK! Daniel Craig Returns As 007 in 'Spectre' Behind The Scenes Footage!

 Daniel Craig Returns As 007

The next instalment of the James Bond film may not be hitting cinemas until November 2015, but fans are able to get a taste of what they can expect as Daniel Craig reprises his role as 007 in new behind the scenes footage straight from the set.

The ruggedly handsome actor is joined by co-stars Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista and director Sam Mendes in the short clip, as they film action sequences in the snowy Austrian mountains.

Speaking on their breathtaking location, Associate Producer Gregg Wilson explains: "We have to deliver an amazing sequence and this is going to be one of the major action sequences of the movie. It’s going to be spectacular and Austria seemed to offer everything that we needed to pull it off.”

If fans of the flicks are worried as to whether the film will live up to it's past titles they need not fear!

“The thing Sam and I talked about was how we are going to top SKYFALL”, says Production Designer Dennis Gassner. “We are going to continue the history of the Bond films, making things that are exciting for the audience to look at and what could be more exciting than to be on top of the world.”

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Samsung investigates why its TVs put ads in others' apps

Samsung is the world's bestselling brand of smart TVs

Samsung says it is investigating why some of its smart TVs are adding adverts to television programmes and films played via third-party apps.

Owners have complained of a silent ad for Pepsi interrupting playback several times an hour.

A spokeswoman for Samsung said it was only aware of the glitch affecting customers in Australia at this time.

The fault comes days after the company faced controversy over the way its TVs made use of voice recordings.

"We are aware of a situation that has caused some smart TV users in Australia to experience programme interruption in the form of an advertisement," the spokeswoman said.

"This seems to be caused by an error, and we are currently conducting a full and thorough investigation into the cause as our top priority.

"This situation has so far been reported only in Australia. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience experienced by our customers."

Australian subscribers to Foxtel's app are among those affected

Users of at least two smart TV apps have complained about the issue:

1.Plex - media centre software that allows owners to stream video files stored on a hard disk to other equipment. In most cases, the user would not expect to see any ads at all when using this

2.Foxtel Play - an app installed by default on Samsung's Australian TVs, which provides access to the pay TV network's channels, which have ads of their own

News site Ars Technica noted that Samsung and Yahoo had been working together on a way to show pop-up ads on Samsung's smart TVs and suggested that the software involved might be the cause of the fault.

It said some users had been able to stop the ads appearing by rejecting a "Yahoo privacy policy" in the affected TV set's settings.

Samsung TV owners wrote about the problem on the Reddit news site

Voice recognition

Samsung's PR team is also dealing with a backlash prompted by fears that its smart TV sets might be "spying" on their watchers' conversations.

Concern was raised by a privacy policy that stated: "Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of voice recognition."

Several commentators compared the policy to the surveillance state depicted in George Orwell's novel 1984.

Samsung says its remote controls send voice data to Nuance

Samsung has since clarified the situation, saying there are two microphones involved:

1.One built into the TV set, which responds to pre-set commands, such as, "Turn the volume up," but does not store or transmit the user's words while doing so

2.Another embedded in its remote control, which does send speech to a third-party service - currently the voice recognition specialist Nuance - to let the TV respond to complex commands, including requests for movie recommendations. In addition, it said, the commands could be collected and studied by Samsung itself

The South Korean company said it had now altered its privacy document to read: "Samsung will collect your interactive voice commands only when you make a specific search request to the Smart TV by clicking the activation button either on the remote control or on your screen and speaking into the microphone on the remote control.

"If you do not enable Voice Recognition, you will not be able to use interactive voice recognition features, although you may be able to control your TV using certain predefined voice commands."

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Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne not expecting 'miracles'

Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne does not "expect miracles" from the Formula 1 team at the first race in Australia, despite good form in testing.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were quickest on three of the four days of the first test in Jerez last week.

It followed a tough 2014 season when the Italian team failed to win a race.

"I am encouraged by the performance of the new car, though it is one thing to do a quick lap, another to do an entire race," said team president Marchionne.

"I have so much confidence in the work of the boys. I am proud of their work.

"Now we'll see when the World Championship starts in Australia. I do not expect miracles, but it is important to see progress.

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne replaced Luca Di Montezemolo in October

"At the Barcelona test (which starts on 19 February), I expect the ultimate proof of what we have done so far."

The new season, which will feature 20 races, starts on 15 March in Melbourne.

Ferrari came fourth in the constructors' championship in 2014,behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams.

Marchionne took over from long-time president Luca di Montezemolo late last year and began making changes to the team's personnel.

Team principal Marco Mattiaci was sacked in November, with Maurizio Arrivabene coming in.

The team recruited four-time world champion Vettel from Red Bull to drive alongside Raikkonen, with Fernando Alonso departing to McLaren.

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US troops fighting Ebola to leave Liberia by end of April

Unsafe burial practices are one of the challenges that still need to be overcome

US President Barack Obama says all but 100 of the US troops stationed in Liberia to fight the spread of Ebola will pull out by the end of April.

There were 2,800 US troops in West Africa at the height of the epidemic.

Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson has told the BBC she is "very optimistic that Ebola can be beaten".

She warned, however, that "there is a danger of the disease coming back", and said Liberia needs "a health system that can work".

President Obama's announcement of a near-total withdrawal of US troops from Liberia follows the news that the number of new Ebola cases has risen for the second consecutive week, ending a period of encouraging declines.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Sierra Leone has registered 76 of the 144 new cases, while Guinea has registered 65 and Liberia three.

President Johnson told that although there had been a "delay" in other countries offering help to fight the virus, when assistance did arrive, "it came so fully and so effectively".

"We can say that success is also owed to the international community," she added.

President Obama (left) said the pullout of the vast majority of US troops fighting Ebola in Liberia marked "the next phase of the fight"

"At one point I was saddened that the response was so slow and at that point ineffective, but I can't be angry, we have to take responsibility."

She said the poor state of Liberia's healthcare system had exacerbated the problem of trying to contain the spread of the virus initially, and called on the world to "work with us" in improving the system.

"Our resources are scarce, we did not have enough trained medical personnel, we did not have enough facilities in the hospitals and clinics, but under the circumstances we did what we could," she said.

The president said co-operation with Liberia's neighbours was required to contain the virus, due to the country's "porous borders that are very long [and] unprotected".

Last week, the country had just a handful of confirmed Ebola cases, down from about 300 a week in August and September 2014.

Announcing the pullout of US troops, in the presence of six of the eight US survivors of the deadly virus, Mr Obama said the move represented the transition into "the next phase of the fight".

Ebola deaths

Figures up to 8 February 2015

9,177

Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected

(Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

Liberia - 3,826 

Sierra Leone - 3,341 

Guinea - 1,995 

Nigeria - 8 

Mr Obama said that as the military contingent in Liberia was reduced, his government was "expanding our civilian response".

The president said around 10,000 "civilian responders" would stay in West Africa to fight the virus.

"Every case is an ember that if not contained can light a new fire. So we're shifting our focus from fighting the epidemic to now extinguishing it," he said.

Around 1,500 US soldiers have already returned from the region, with all troops leaving West Africa forced to undergo a 21-day quarantine period in order to minimise the risk of contagion.

Almost 23,000 people have been infected with Ebola since its outbreak in Guinea in December 2013, and more than 9,000 people have died.

The WHO has said that the increase in new cases highlights the "considerable challenges" that must still be overcome to end the outbreak.

"Despite improvements in case finding and management, burial practices, and community engagement, the decline in case incidence has stalled," the UN health agency said in a statement.

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Temple to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped

An idol of Narendra Modi had already been installed at the temple

Fans of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have scrapped plans to open a temple dedicated to him after he said he was "appalled" by the idea.

Mr Modi tweeted that it was "shocking and against India's great traditions" and urged those who had built the temple "not to do it".

The Hindu temple, with an idol of Mr Modi, was to open in Kotharia village in his home state of Gujarat on Sunday.

Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP took office in May.

He had his first major political setback earlier this week when the party was trounced in elections for the Delhi state assembly.

In India, deifying politicians, film stars and cricketers is relatively common.

Temples have been built in the memory of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and popular film star-turned-politician NT Rama Rao.

Last January, a temple with an idol of Sonia Gandhi, the head of India's main opposition Congress party, was opened by a supporter in southern India.

This is the second temple to Mr Modi - a priest in Kaushambi district in northern India had placed a statue of Mr Modi alongside a statue of Hindu god Shiva to pray for his victory in last year's general election.

Reports say the temple is still in operation.

Some 350 Modi supporters reportedly collected donations for the construction of a dome-roofed temple, some 210km (130 miles) from Gujarat's main city of Ahmedabad.

Mr Modi served as the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 until becoming prime minister.

The latest temple was funded by Mr Modi's followers in his home state

But they later covered up their idol, and cancelled plans to honour the prime minister

However, an earlier idol of Mr Modi in Uttar Pradesh is still in use

The supporters initially put a framed photograph of the prime minister in the temple, but later bought an idol for 170,000 rupees ($2,724; £1,789).

"We believe he is an incarnation of God as after he became chief minister of Gujarat things changed for the better," one supporter, Ramesh Undhad, told AFP news agency.

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