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.

Two bus drivers’ burnt bodies found in Delhi

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Half-naked and burnt bodies of two bus drivers were found on a plot here Friday morning, police said.

The drivers – Dineshpal and Samarpal – worked with the Uttar Pradesh transport department. They were in their early 40s.

Their bodies were spotted by passersby on a vacant plot in north Delhi’s Burari area, police said.

Police added their bodies were half-naked, with some parts burnt.

“They had come from Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat area to meet a relative, Somveer, in Delhi Thursday night,” police said.

PM interacts with members after house is adjourned

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proactiveness as leader of his party in the Lok Sabha was visible Friday when he spent nearly 15 minutes talking to fellow MPs and ministers even after the house was adjourned.

As soon as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the house after completion of the day’s business at 1 p.m. and MPs started filtering out of the house, Modi called Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal and was seen discussing something animatedly with her.

Motivational speaker Khera addresses bureaucrats

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Motivational speaker Shiv Khera addressed environment and information and broadcasting ministry officials Friday at a leadership and motivation conclave held in the capital.

Khera, author of the book “You Can Win”, spoke to the officials for about two hours, and “touched upon many motivational concepts”, said a statement issued by the environment ministry.

Speaking at the conclave, Prakash Javadekar, who holds charge of both ministries, said “there is need to change the perception of the people about the bureaucracy”.

AAP’s Bengal unit merges with BJP, says Rahul Sinha

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said the West Bengal unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has ceased to exist with all its members joining the saffron party.

“The AAP today (Friday) ceased to exist and all its members have decided to formally join our party. The AAP Bengal has merged with our party,” state BJP president Rahul Sinha told reporters here.

AAP leader Mehboob Jaffery, who along with several other members joined the BJP, blamed AAP’s central leadership for the party becoming defunct in Bengal.

Justin Bieber needs to manage own life now: Usher

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American singer Usher believes that pop star Justin Bieber needs to take control of his own life following his recent run-ins with the law and bad publicity.

The rapper has mentored Bieber, 20, since his career took off at the age of just 13, but he hasn’t tried to stage an intervention following Justin’s recent problems as he insists that the youngster needs to learn from his own mistakes, reports contactmusic.com.

Pregnancy took a toll on model Lara Stone’s job

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Dutch model Lara Stone says she was fired by bosses at a major fashion brand after they came to know that she was expecting her first child with comedian husband David Walliams.

Stone tells Porter magazine she only had just found out she was pregnant and couldn’t hide her joy, but the good news turned into bad news for her, reports contactmusic.com.

“I was really upset at the time. I hadn’t yet had my three-month scan and I felt really vulnerable about everything. I no longer had a job. That was it – I had to just stop everything that I knew; the way my life was,” she said.

Robert Downey Jr. designed ‘Chef’ posters

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Robert Downey Jr. is not just a wonderful actor and filmmaker, but also a creative person, who loves to experiment and put together interesting pieces on the computer. He did the same for the posters of his forthcoming film “Chef”.

A graphic designer at heart, he extended a proposal to “Chef” director Jon Favreau to let him be involved with the movie in more than just a role. So, he offered to help create posters of the movie.

Be humble, visit constituencies: Modi to BJP MPs

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday advised BJP MPs to remain humble and visit their constituencies regularly, a party leader said here.

“The PM has asked the BJP MPs to be humble, and he has also instructed them to visit their constituencies more often and be regular in (attending) parliament,” M. Venkaiah Naidu, union parliamentary affairs minister and senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, told media persons.

Modi met BJP MPs Friday.
(IANS)

Temperatures soar across Himachal

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The hills of Himachal Pradesh continued to sizzle Friday with Shimla recording a maximum temperature of 30.7 degrees Celsius, a whopping six notches above the season’s average.

“Temperatures across the state rose abnormally, remaining above average by two to seven degrees Celsius,” an official of the Met Office here told IANS.

According to him, Una town was the hottest place in the hill state with the maximum temperature touching 44.4 degrees Celsius.

Sleep apnea patients at greater risk of developing diabetes: Study

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What has sleep apnea got to do with diabetes? A lot, says a new study, demonstrating a link between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the development of diabetes.

The largest study to date of the relationship between sleep apnea and diabetes involving 8,678 Canadian patients has confirmed earlier evidence of such a relationship from smaller studies with shorter follow-up periods.

Indian cities fare badly in urban governance standard

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Major Indian cities fared badly in urban governance standard, and scored in a range of 2.5 to 4.0 on 10, much below the score of London and New York – 9.6 and 9.3, a survey revealed Friday.

A total of 21 cities, including the national capital and several state capitals, were surveyed by the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship & Democracy Jan-May 2014. London and New York were the only two cities surveyed outside India to set a benchmark.

Interestingly, Kolkata – perceived to be haphazard – ranks no.1 in urban planning with a score of 4, thanks to its “institutionalized mayoral system”.

Police officer killed in Assam gun battle

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A superintendent of police and his personnel security officer were killed in a gun battle with militants in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, police said Friday.

The incident took place Thursday night when Superintendent of Police of Hamren Police district Nityananda Goswami led an anti-insurgency operation in Rimthiyam village under the Hamren sub-division, about 150 km from the district headquarters Diphu.

Eight-time MP Sumitra Mahajan is Lok Sabha speaker

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BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, an eight-time parliamentarian who has not lost a Lok Sabha election since 1989, was Friday unanimously elected speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha.

The name of Mahajan, MP from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and seconded by BJP patriarch L.K. Advani.

Mahajan, 71, is the second woman speaker of the Lok Sabha after Meira Kumar, who as speaker presided over the 15th Lok Sabha.

Heavyweight Bharti flirts with muscular Tiger

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Newcomer Tiger Shroff was left blushing when comedienne Bharti kept flirting with him on the set of “DID L’iL Masters”.

Jokingly, the comedienne teased Tiger saying that his dad and actor Jackie Shroff is her future father-in-law and that she would like to marry the “Heropanti” star and have lots of kids with him.

Bharti even asked Tiger to take off his shirt, and almost fainted at the sight of his perfect abs.

On the set of the Zee TV show, Tiger was accompanied by his “Heropanti” co-star Kriti Sanon, and they had an experience to remember.

Sensex, Nifty set new records; oil and gas stocks zoom

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A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday touched a new record high of 25,419.14 points, before ending marginally lower at 25,396.46 points — a new closing high.

The Sensex maintained its early morning gains of over 200 points and extended it to 376.95 points at the end of the day’s trade.

The Sensex broke its May 16 record high of 25,375.63 points reached after the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party scored a landslide victory in the general election.

Air India starts maiden service to Italy

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National passenger carrier Air India Friday started its maiden operations to Italy with direct flights on its fleet of newly-acquired Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

According to the airline, its operations will include flights from Delhi to Rome and Milan on a triangular route with Dreamliner aircraft.

The Delhi-Rome-Milan-Delhi flight will operate four days a week, while the Delhi-Milan-Rome-Delhi flight will operate thrice a week.

No decision yet on leader of opposition: Sumitra Mahajan

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The decision on appointment of leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha would be taken after taking into consideration precedents in the case, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said Friday.

The Congress, the main opposition party, has been truncated to just 44 seats in the house of 545 this time.

Whether the Congress is eligible for getting leader of opposition status is not clear yet.

To be recognised as the main opposition party in the Lok Sabha, a party needs to have won 10 percent of the total 543 elected seats, which means a party with 54 seats will get the recognition.

Court acquits former DDA official in corruption case

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A court here Thursday acquitted Delhi Development Authority’s former land disposal commissioner Anand Mohan Sharan in case of owning disproportionate assets.

Central Bureau of Investigation Special Judge Manoj Jain acquitted Sharan and his father Krishan Mohan Sharan, a retired Indian Railway official, of the charges of criminal conspiracy and various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Four Bahrainis get life sentence over blast death

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Four Bahrainis were awarded life sentence Thursday over the death of an Asian man in a 2012 blast attack, a media report here said.

Another Asian was killed and one injured in the series of bombing attacks, which hit the capital Manama districts of Qudaibiya and Adliya Nov 5, 2012. At that time, Manama Police District said that all the explosions were carried out through the use of crude homemade bombs, Xinhua reported.

Urban development ministry hands over Rs.330 crore to finance

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Urban development ministry hands over Rs.330 crore to finance
(23:14)
New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) The urban development ministry Thursday handed over Rs.330.61 crore – the surplus amount generated from housing projects in the national capital -to the finance ministry.

“The Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu presented a cheque of Rs.330.61 crore to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,” said a ministry official.A

Congress seeks abetment to suicide case against Punjab minister

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With a senior education department officer in Punjab allegedly committing suicide, the opposition Congress Thursday demanded that a case of abetment to suicide be registered against the state education minister.

The officer, Vinod Kumar, who was indicted in a books purchase scam, allegedly committed suicide by jumping into Chandigarh’s famous Sukhna Lake Tuesday.

Seeking immediate dismissal of Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka and registration of a case against him, Congress Punjab unit chief Pratap Singh Bajwa said that the minister had “moral culpability” in the incident.

Hockey: India draw with Spain, earn 1st point

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India earned their first point of the hockey World Cup when they drew their third Group A match against World No.10 Spain 1-1 at the GreenFields Stadium here Thursday.

After losing their opening two matches in the last couple of minutes against Belgium and England, World No.8 India could only manage a draw in their third game.

India broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when Rupinder Pal Singh scored off a penalty stroke to put the 1975 champions on the board.

80 killed, about 90 injured in Iraq attacks

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As many as 80 people were killed and 88 wounded in a string of attacks witnessed in different parts of Iraq Thursday, security and medical sources said.

Also, Iraqi security forces re-established their control of Samarra city in Salahudin province which was seized by Sunni insurgents in the morning, the sources added.

MP minister bats for UP government on Badaun, draws Congress’ ire

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Babulal Gaur, home minister in the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, Thursday came to the defence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who are under fire in the Badaun rape case.

The Congress however termed his remarks “shameful”

Calling the Samajwadi Party supremo and his son Akhilesh as “bechare (helpless)”, Gaur said: “What can Mulayam and Akhilesh do (to prevent rapes)?”

Talking to reporters, Gaur said that “rapes happen when a man loses his mental balance.”