Press Trust of India

Press Trust of India (PTI) is India’s premier news agency, having a reach as vast as the Indian Railways. It employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.

Man kills wife, two relatives, self

by

A 35-year-old man shot himself dead after killing his wife, brother-in-law and father-in-law here Wednesday, police said.

The shooting spree took place around 1.15 p.m. at Alipur in west Delhi. The man, identified as Sonu of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, used a pistol to commit the killings — and suicide.

“Initial inquiry has revealed that Sonu took the extreme step over some family issue,” said a police official.

A 35-year-old man shot himself dead after killing his wife, brother-in-law and father-in-law here Wednesday over a family row, police said.

Soon, an anti-depressant without side effects

by

In a ray of hope for people suffering from depression, researchers have identified a compound that may treat depression just as effectively as the psychoactive drug ketamine without the unwanted side effects associated with it.

The compound hydroxynorketamine (HNK) produces the same beneficial effects attributed to ketamine without its unwanted side effects, a new research showed.

Afghan election commission accused of fraud

by

Leading Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah Wednesday accused the Election Commission of involvement in fraud and demanded its suspension.

“In many polling stations, the ballot boxes had been filled in the absence of our observers, in some places our observers had not been allowed to monitor and many more cases of irregularities have been detected and documented,” Abdullah said at a press conference here.

Bhutan parliament raises tobacco import limits

by

To curb the proliferation of tobacco in the black market, the Bhutanese parliament has endorsed a three-fold rise to the permissible import of tobacco products.

A person can now bring in 80 packets or 800 sticks of cigarettes, 1,200 sticks of bidi, 150 pieces of cigars, and 750 gm of other tobacco or tobacco products a month to the Himalayan nation, according to the country’s official newspaper Kuensel.

Maoist leader dies

by

Sushil Roy, a politburo member of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist, died here Wednesday following prolonged illness, a party front said.

Roy, 78, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) said in a statement. In line with his final wish, his body was donated to the AIIMS for medical research.

According to RDF president Varavara Rao, Roy joined the then undivided Communist Party of India in 1963 before switching over to the CPI-M and, later, the Maoist ranks.

More arrested as Israel searches for missing teens

by

A massive military operation to find three Jewish teens allegedly abducted by militants in the West Bank last week continued Wednesday with the arrests of dozens of Palestinians.

Israeli forces arrested 65 Palestinians in overnight raids across the West Bank and 51 of them are Hamas members who were previously incarcerated in Israeli jails and released in exchange for an Israeli soldier in 2011, Xinhua reported citing the Israeli army.

New lizard species named after Mumbai scientist

by

A Mumbai scientist has earned a rare distinction of getting a new species of gecko – discovered last year from the Western Ghats in Maharashtra – named after him.

First found near the famous Kaas plateau – or the Valley of Flowers – by a team of young scientists, an international journal Zootaxa Tuesday published a research paper confirming the new species discovery.

Sensex loses 326 points; bank stocks fall

by

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Wednesday’s trade down 326 points or 1.28 percent as bank and oil and gas stocks declined.

The markets were cautious amidst weak global cues as a result of the worsening security situation in Iraq with crude oil prices scaling up to a nine-month high.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,565.19 points, closed trade at 25,194.99 points (provisional), down 326.20 points or 1.28 percent from the previous day’s close at 25,521.19 point.

Knotty affair for 65 underprivileged Bengal couples

by

As many as 65 underprivileged couples from various districts of West Bengal tied the knot in a mass marriage ceremony here Wednesday.

These couples from various villages of Nadia, Murshidabad and Midnapore districts, the Sunderbans and from Kolkata city itself were accompanied by their family members and representatives of the state government.

Organised by a charity organisation Vishwa Jagriti Mission Trust (Kolkata) at a school auditorium in south Kolkata, the mass marriage also saw the newly-weds being presented with items necessary to begin their new journey.

I’d love to play a joker like my ‘nana’: Armaan Jain

by

The new kid on the block Armaan Jain “loves” his grandfather’s body of work and says that one day he would love to play a joker on the big screen the way legendary Raj Kapoor did in “Mera Naam Joker”.

“I love my nana’s (Raj Kapoor) work. My nana was outstanding. I was a child when I saw ‘Mera Naam Joker’, and I thought my nana is really a joker. Then I realised it was just a film. I would also love to become a Joker like my nana someday,” said Armaan, who is Raj Kapoor’s daughter Rima’s son.

British Guiana stamp sold for record $9.5 million

by

Setting a new world record, a British Guiana one-cent black on magenta stamp, one of the world’s first postage stamps, has fetched $9.5 million at Sotheby’s auction here, the organisers said Wednesday.

The previous auction record for a single stamp was set in 1996 by “Treskilling Yellow” – a Swedish stamp that is a misprint of an 1855 shilling stamp in the wrong colour. It was sold for $2.2 million.

“This is a truly great moment for the world of stamp collecting,” David Redden, Sotheby’s vice chairman, said in a statement.

Twitter new market for e-cigarettes?

by

While advertising for conventional cigarettes has long been prohibited in the US, e-cigarettes are being routinely advertised in traditional and social media including twitter, claims a new study.

E-cigarettes are commonly advertised on Twitter and the tweets often link to commercial websites promoting e-cigarette use, researchers from the University of Illinois said.

Though distracted, minds can see blurred lines

by

As city streets become increasingly crowded with distractions, our ability to process visual information remains unchanged. Can modern eyes keep up?

A new study suggests that even as we process a million things at once, we still remain sensitive to certain changes in our visual environment – even while performing a difficult task.

Researchers from Concordia University, Kansas State University, the University of Findlay, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Illinois prove that we can automatically detect changes in blur across our field of view.

Decade since ‘Lakshya’ released, Farhan Akhtar nostalgic

by

Remembering “Lakshya”, which released a decade ago on this day, filmmaker Farhan Akhtar Wednesday thanked his crew for keeping the film’s “memory and message” alive.

“10 years since Lakshya… an experience that will always remain close to my heart & a big shout out to all collaborators who worked as hard as any film crew possibly can,” Farhan tweeted.

“We all scaled our own personal peak 5179’s that year. And to all of you out there for keeping it’s memory and message alive and relevant,” he added.

‘Smart’ glasses to help people with poor vision

by

Google glass may allow you to click pictures and do video recording on the go, but Oxford University researchers are now developing a “smart” glass that enables people with poor vision to spot obstacles and “see” movement and facial expressions.

Using computer vision and electronic components usually found in mobile phones, the researchers have developed a prototype that can prevent people with severe sight loss from walking into obstacles.

Rajnath Singh reviews citizen’s database scheme

by

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday asked officials to speedily create a National Population Register (NPR).

At a review meeting, the minister said effective steps should be taken to push the project to its logical conclusion, an official release said here.

The NPR scheme is the biggest security and e-governance initiative in the world.

Stylish summer dresses that cover legs

by

If you are conscious about your legs and avoid wearing short dresses, try out some stylish summer dresses that will help cover them and won’t leave you looking like a frump either.

It’s time to try maxi dresses, staple for any summer wardrobe, and despite the fact that they go down to the floor, they do keep you cool when it’s warm, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Afghanistan’s population hits 28.1 million

by

The Central Statistic Organisation of Afghanistan has put the country’s population at 28.1 million, media reported Wednesday.

“The Central Statistic Organisation (CSO) Monday put Afghanistan’s population at 28.1 million,” Xinhua cited the Daily Outlook, an English daily, as reporting in its Wednesday edition.

Based on the report, the paper added that Afghanistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth was registered at 6.4 percent and inflation rate at 5.6 percent in the year 2013.

Won’t accept script similar to ‘Grand Masti’: Riteish Deshmukh

by

When it comes to genre, actor-producer Riteish Deshmukh feels that he has nothing more to offer to sex comedies post the grand success of “Grand Masti”, and therefore he won’t accept an offer with a similar script.

“I enjoyed doing ‘Grand Masti’ and before its release I said that I don’t think I can offer anything more as an actor in this genre. It was a bold film and I am glad the film worked and crossed Rs.100 crore mark,” said Riteish in a group interview.

Fish are not dumb, need protection

by

Contrary to popular belief that fish are dumb and cannot feel pain, a new research says the primary senses of fish are just as good and, in many cases, better than those of humans.

“Fish have very good memories, live in complex social communities where they keep track of individuals and can learn from one another,” wrote Culum Brown from Macquarie University in Australia in a review article.

Fish even recognise themselves and others.

They also cooperate with one another and show signs of Machiavellian intelligence such as cooperation and reconciliation.

Reliance Industries to invest $30 bn in 3 years

by

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) plans to invest Rs.180,000 crore ($30 billion) across its businesses including oil and gas, retail and telecom, chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said Wednesday.

Addressing shareholders at the 40th Annual General Meeting, Ambani said the company has outlined its expansion strategy across the businesses and aims to become a Fortune 50 firm in the next 2-3 years. This was 37th AGM since Reliance became a listed company.

Saina wins, Sindhu ousted from Indonesia Open

by

All Indian shuttlers, apart from Saina Nehwal, had to bite the dust in first round action at the $750,000 Indonesia Open Super Series Premier here Wednesday.

Though Olympic bronze medallist Saina came out on top, P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap went out of competition at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

A three-time winner here, Saina needed only 33 minutes to ease past Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-15, 21-10 to take an amazing 7-1 lead in career meetings over the World No.9.

UP governor’s resignation accepted

by

President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of Uttar Pradesh governor B.L. Joshi, an official said Wednesday. Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has been given additional charge of Uttar Pradesh.

Joshi, a retired Indian Police Service officer, had assumed charge as the Uttar Pradesh governor in 2009. He put in his papers Tuesday after the union home ministry sounded him on the subject.

Many veterans of the Bharatiya Janata Party are said to be in line to become governors.

Parents of boy with rare disease to meet Harsh Vardhan

by

The parents of 12-year-old Arian Chowdhury, who suffers from a rare genetic disease, plan to meet union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to demand treatment in India at a subsidised rate.

It has been eight years since Arian was first diagnosed with the disease – Hunter Syndrome – that affects one person in 150,000 worldwide and has no cure.

Arian’s family will also submit a petition with over one lakh signatures from supporters across the world to get enzyme treatment to India.

Tax soft drinks to curb obesity: Study

by

An effective way to discourage consumption of sweetened soft drinks, which many believe is the single largest driver of the obesity epidemic, could be tax, says a study.

“Taxes on unhealthy foods are attractive because they not only generate tax revenue that can be used for public health care, but also promise health benefits for individuals,” said Anurag Sharma from Monash University of Australia.

Tax could be an effective weapon in the war against obesity, as individuals reduce their consumption, the findings showed.