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Washington D.C. [USA], Oct. 17 : Ben Affleck starrer ' The Accountant', which was recently released, was placed No. 1 at the North American box office over the weekend.

Also starring Anna Kendrick and Jon Bernthal, the movie took in a sturdy almost 25 million dollars, according to comScore, which compiles ticketing data, reports the New York Times.

The movie reportedly cost Warner Bros. roughly 40 million dollars to produce and tens of millions more to market.

Gavin O'Connor directed the R-rated thriller, starring Affleck as an autistic mathematician. The film did not play especially well with critics, but audiences, who were 58 percent male and 68 percent over the age of 35, gave it a promising 'A' CinemaScore.

Chittagong [Bangladesh], Oct.17 : Bangladesh have brought in four uncapped players in the 14-man squad for the opening Test of the two-match series against England, starting on Thursday here in Chittagong.

Middle-order batsman Sabbir Rahman and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan have received national call-up for the first time along with former Under-19 captain Mehedi Hasan and pace bowler Kamrul Islam.

Rahman, who appeared in 29 ODIs and 26 T20Is for Bangladesh, has been named in the national Test squad following his impressive performances in the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against the Jos Buttler-led side.

Seamer Shafiul Islam and off-spinner Shuvagata Hom have also been included in the Test squad.

Moscow [Russia], Oct. 17 : Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed hope that Russia-US relations may recover after the presidential elections in the United States.

"I hope that when these elections, debates, this difficult period in the internal political situation in the United States ends, there will be chances to restore Russia-U.S. relations," Putin said at a press conference on Sunday in India, where he was visiting to attend the BRICS Summit.

"Confrontation is not our choice," he added.

Guwahati [India], Oct. 17 : In a goodwill gesture, Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal and his Nagaland counterpart TR Zeliang will today hold a meeting at Kaziranga.

Dharamsala [India], Oct. 17 : Asserting that Indian cricket is very different from that of other foreign teams, limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has asserted that instead of following the West, emphasis should be put on what is good for the team and how it could be turned into a successful one.

"About the split captaincy, I think we look at the West a lot. I remember about a few years back, we were talking about split captaincy and now we are talking about why we are having split captaincy. So, I think a lot of times we look at the foreign teams as to what they are doing and what we should be doing that way," Dhoni said at the press meet at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala.

New Delhi [India], Oct. 17 : Top officials, including Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt General Ranbir Singh will tomorrow brief a panel of MPs on the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian army across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 28.

A notice issued by Lok Sabha secretariat said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, is scheduled to meet tomorrow when it would be briefed on India-Pakistan relations with specific reference to recent surgical strikes.

The meeting assumes significance as the government had earlier expressed reservations over briefing on the same topic to the Parliamentary Committee on Defence.