Pakistan is a "haven" for several Islamist terror groups and successive Pakistani governments are widely believed to have supported some outfits as proxies in the country's historical conflicts with its neighbours, according to a US Congressional research report.

A fire that swept through a privately run home for the elderly in central China killed 38 people and left much of it a charred ruin, raising concerns over the safety of facilities housing the country's rapidly aging population.

Terming as "unconstitutional" the Centre's notification giving absolute powers to the Delhi Lt Governor on transfer and posting of senior bureaucrats, ruling AAP MLAs today demanded that it be quashed even as BJP legislators said that the Union Home Ministry had just clarified on the existing rules.

The government announced today that all children traveling in Nepal will need to be accompanied by their parents or a legal guardian to prevent the trafficking of young people who lost their homes in the country's powerful earthquakes.

The Syrian air force killed at least 140 members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during an air raid on a military base held by the group in the north of the country, state news agency SANA said on Tuesday.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Kerala talks about the suit-boot ki sarkar, ad nauseum. "Farmers mind that the PM wears a Rs 10 lakh suit. It's MNREGA vs the suit. The Modi govt is insensitive to the poor. Good the PM is being called a fashion icon," Rahul said. 


His speech writers need to coin a new catchphrase. Quickly.

Jeffrey Spector, who took his own life at the notorious Swiss clinic despite not being terminally ill, admitted: "I am jumping the gun". Read

The Congress report card 'failing' the Modi government. Take a look.

PM Modi is now meeting party workers at the BJP headquarters.  He met officials from the PMO this morning. After some light-hearted moments where the PM shared anecdotes from his early days in the BJP, party workers line up behind the PM to take pictures.


In the morning, Modi interacted with all the officers of the Prime Minister's Office at South Block. The Prime Minister praised the officers at "Team PMO" and lauded them for the hard work and dedication with which they have performed their duties. Prime Minister Modi was also given an overview of the various reforms and changes that have been initiated in the PMO over the last one year. The Prime Minister was earlier greeted on his arrival at South Block by Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra and Additional Principal Secretary P K Mishra.

Undeterred by the controversy over his earlier "terrorists have to be neutralised only through terrorists" remark, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has asserted that he will go to "any extent" to protect India and those who attack will be "paid back in the same coin".


Parrikar noted that his remarks evoked a sharp reaction only from one country and, without naming Pakistan, said the question was about his reaction on the terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir supported by Pakistan. "So the response was based on that," he told PTI in an interview.


He further added that the word "neutralise" does not mean only killing but also making terrorists switch the sides and surrendering. Underlining that his remark was generic and not against anyone in particular, Parrikar maintained that only a certain part of his remarks was picked up and highlighted.


"Basically, if I have to defend my country, I will go to any extent...Whatever is required to be done will be done. That is the basic motto which one should have. "If someone harms my country, I have to take pro-active action....The army's basic purpose is that if anyone attacks the country, attack him back. Pay him back in the same coin," Parrikar asserted, underlining that one does not keep 13 lakh strong Army to "preach peace".


However, he clarified that "I have not said I am going to do covert operation. I did not talk about it. The person who asked me talked about covert operation. Not me." During a media event last week, Parrikar, in reply to a question, had said, "We have to neutralise terrorists through terrorists only. Why can't we do it? We should do it".

Just in: BJP MLA OP Sharma (pictured) escorted out of the Delhi Assembly by marshals. The BJP MLAs -- all three of them -- in the 70 member assembly were protesting against the Speaker's criticism of LG Najeeb Jung.


"If Kejriwal thinks that the MHA notification is not right they should reach the court. AAP MLAs were using unparliamentary language against the LG and PM Narendra Modi," OP Sharma said outside the House.


He added, "We have all the right to protest. This is democracy. The Speaker is not being impartial. How does it matter what our strength in assembly is, the ratio is that of Kauravas and Pandavas."


AAP won a whopping 67 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly.  A special session of the assembly was convened today to deliberate on the Central government's notification giving absolute powers to the LG in appointment of bureaucrats and issues of police and public order.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is off again, this time to Bangladesh. The PM will undertake a two-day state visit from June 6 to further bolster bilateral ties, the foreign ministry said today.


Modi would make his maiden visit to Bangladesh after being invited by his counterpart Sheikh Hasina following his election last year, the foreign ministry said in a statement.


"The visit is expected to further strengthen the excellent relationship between the two countries," it said. The statement said the two premiers would hold talks to review the "entire gamut of bilateral relations" while Modi will also make a courtesy call on President Abdul Hamid.


The statement came hours after Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran joined a meeting with Bangladesh officials at the foreign ministry to finalise the protocols and other issues related to the visit.


Officials familiar with the meeting said besides the talks with Hasina and Hamid, Modi would join a function at premier Dhaka University, deliver a public lecture at Bangabandhu International Conference Hall in the capital and visit the National Memorial at suburban Savar to pay tributes to martyrs of 1971 Liberation War.


Read: Why Modi will get a hero's welcome in Bangladesh

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party government released a list of all its achievements through the year, the Congress too came up with its own report card assessing the NDA govt.'s tenure, labelling it "One year, country in tatters."


Stamping a "fail" on the Modi Sarkar 2014-2015, the Congress' report card pithily summed up the NDA's performance as "broken promises, boastful claims, shattered dreams, a nation betrayed".


In its 46-page booklet, the Congress has assessed the government on 11 broad parameters, including agricultural distress, black money "jumla", human resource destruction, regressive leadership and sought to play down the efficacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy.

At the special session of the Delhi Assemby AAP MLA Adarsh Shastri has moved a resolution seeking to amend section 155 of the constitution so that the state government can impeach the Lieutenant Governor.  Shastri said that he's hoping the Assembly will pass the resolution and it will force Parliament to consider the issue.


It must've been a rather awkward meeting between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today. The two met ahead of the special Assembly session. Present at the meeting were Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Chief Secretary KK Sharma.


The AAP government convened a two-day emergency session of the Legislative Assembly beginning Tuesday amid a bitter fight between Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.

PM Modi launches Doordarshan's farmer-centric Kisan channel.


The government has made it a "must carry" channel making it mandatory for cable and Direct to Home (DTH) operators to provide it to their subscribers.


"Since there are farmers in every state, so under the Cable Act, the Kisan channel has been made a must-carry channel. Must carry means that it is compulsory for every cable network or DTH network to carry it," Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley today said.


Officials said that earlier there were 24 TV channels which were must carry channels and after the notification issued with regard to DD Kisan, there are 25 such channels now.


Several Doordarshan channels are included in the category of 'must carry' channels, they said.

"I stood last week at the entrance to 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, the coolest address in the universe, remembering the time I had gone inside and managed to annoy Steve Jobs.


"For me that man was Willy Wonka and every time I went to Cupertino I was Charlie visiting the Chocolate Factory. I don't mind saying that there was no one alive in the world I admired more and no one I wanted to rile less. I will come to my story, but first the background. I am sure you know most of it."


Stephen Fry meets Jony Ive, and his boss, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, to talk spaceships, design and Steve Jobs.

This, my friend, is a must read.

Industrialist Yash Birla, as also two Mumbai-based individuals behind City Limousines scam, are among five Indian nationals with Swiss bank accounts whose names have been made public in Switzerland's official gazette with regard to ongoing tax probes against them in India.


The other two are Gurjit Singh Kochar, son-in-law of late realty baron Ponty Chadha, and a Delhi-based businesswoman Ritika Sharma. The names of these five "Indian nationals" have been made public in Switzerland's Federal Gazette with regard to details sought about them by the Indian authorities. Among these, some details have already been shared by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) with India including about Birla and Sharma of Blessings Apparel.


These are in addition to the two other Indians -- Sneh Lata Sawhney and Sangita Sawhney -- whose names have also been made public in similar manner for being probed by the Indian tax authorities. In case of Sayed Mohamed Masood, being probed for a major ponzi scheme run from Mumbai through City Limousines, some details were shared by the Swiss authorities in the past.


His accounts were also frozen a few years ago following a request from the Enforcement Directorate. Fresh details about him and about Chaud Kauser Mohamed Masood have been sought by the Indian authorities, as per the notifications published in Switzerland's official gazette.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today described the quality of Swedish Bofors guns as "good" but refused to comment on remarks attributed to President Pranab Mukherjee that the controversy surrounding its acquisition was a "media trial".


"I can only certify that Bofors guns are good. I do not make any statement on President's statement. If you ask me about quality of Bofors guns, then they are good," Parrikar said.


Mukherjee was quoted, wrongly, by a Swedish daily as saying, "First of all - it is yet to be to be established that there was a scandal. No Indian court has established it. I was the defence minister of the country long after Bofors, and all my generals certified that this is one of the best guns we are having. Till today, Indian army is using it.


"The so-called scandal which you talk of, yes, in the media, it was there. There was a media trial. But I'm afraid, let us not be too much carried (away) by publicity."


However, the video of the interview shows no such comments being made by the President, who is scheduled to visit Sweden next month.


The scandal of procurement of 155mm howitzer field Bofors guns plagued the Rajiv Gandhi government in the late 1980s and became a big election issue in 1989 in which the former Prime Minister had to face defeat.


Also read: Bofors scandal was just a media trial: President Pranab

Yet another book has come out damming the previous UPA government with former TRAI Chairman Pradip Baijal alleging that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had warned him of harm if he did not cooperate on 2G telecom licenses.


An accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, he also claimed that the CBI wanted him to "implicate" Arun Shourie and Ratan Tata in the case.


In his self-published book, "The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power and Private Enterprise - A Practitioner's Diary', Baijal, who was appointed head of the telecom watchdog by the NDA government in 2003, said the 2G scam trail began under UPA's Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran regime.


"They (CBI) had warned me in each case that I would be harmed if I didn't cooperate. Incidentally, this was exactly what the eminent economist Prime Minister had told me would happen if I did not cooperate in their scheme of things in the 2G case," Baijal writes in an apparent reference to 2G case and disinvestment issues.


There were no immediate comments available from the former Prime Minister, while Baijal told PTI "I have said everything. It is 100 per cent correct and I have evidence to prove everything." This is the third book in last more than a year that has come to haunt Singh and his government about state of affairs during his regime.


The first book was written by his aide and media advisor Sanjaya Baru and later by former coal secretary P C Parekh who is also an accused in the case relating to coal blocks allocation.

Foe-turned-friend Shah Rukh Khan tweets this picture of Salman Khan.
"I believe Being a brother is bigger than being a Hero. 'Bhaijaan' coming Eid 2015. How do u like the first look?"

No, we've got it right. That is SRK promoting a Salman film.


Ahead of the Salman's hit-and-run verdict, a series of friends and family visited Mumbai's Galaxy Apartments, the Khan residence. Chief among these was Salman's Karan Arjun co-star Shah Rukh Khan who was spotted at Salman's home on Tuesday evening.


Salman and Shah Rukh had a fallout for almost six years after a very public feud at actress Katrina Kaif's birthday party in 2008 and recently mended their friendship at Salman's sister Arpita's wedding last year,

Three persons, who were allegedly involved in the firing incident that took place in Film City last week in Mumbai, which left owner of a security agency critically injured, have been arrested, police said today.


"We have arrested three persons yesterday and they will be produced in court today. We are going to request the court to get their remand so that we can nab the absconding accused," Vilas Chavan, senior police inspector of Arey Colony police station said.


The accused -- the plotters of the incident -- have been identified as Sumit Talekar (22), Jugal Dodiya (26), and Yogesh Kokane (31), he said. Police said three others - the shooters -- Suresh Gaikwad, Sandip Khairnar, and Ramesh Kamble are at large and efforts are on to nab them.


According to a statement issued by Mumbai police, the accused orchestrated the attack to take revenge over a fight with Raju Shinde (who was shot at) last month, when they went to him in connection with a job. 

The PM called on Vice President Hamid Ansari

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called on President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of the first anniversary of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.


Both leaders exchanged pleasantries at the meeting which took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.


"PM @narendramodi called on #PresidentMukherjee today at Rashtrapati Bhavan on first anniversary of NDA Govt," said the message posted on President of India's official twitter handle.

Terming the NDA government's first year in power as excellent, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that no one can accuse the Narendra Modi-led government of corruption.


"No one can accuse us of corruption, I can safely say that," Singh said while talking to the media in Kolkata.


He also stressed that the NDA government has given a thrust to economy. Claiming that his government has been able to control price rise, Singh said there is a visible change in the economy and inflation is also under control.


The world has taken note of Modi government, Singh said, adding that it has ended the policy paralysis prevalent in the earlier rule.


"Our agenda is agenda of all round development," Singh said during the press conference which was a part of BJP's planned media blitz to celebrate NDA government's first year in power.

Delhi: Special Assembly session begins.

JUST IN: RPI leader Ramdas Athavale misses his flight after he is not allowed to board for being late. Party workers protest outside the Jet Airways office in Mumbai.


Last year, angry passengers on board an Islamabad-bound Pakistan International Airways (PIA) flight from Karachi forced two prominent Pakistani politicians off the plane accusing them of holding it for more than two hours. 


Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former interior minister Rehman Malik and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) member of National Assembly Dr Ramesh Kumar Wakwani allegedly arrived two hours after the scheduled boarding time and were not allowed to travel by the angry passengers who shooed them off the plane.

Their love story began under the bright arc lights, where they performed dangerous stunts for a living. And culminated in a beautiful wedding under the Big Top. Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com was there to chronicle the event. Read more

So, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal meets Lt Governor Najeeb Jung ahead of the special Assembly session. Present at the meeting were Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Chief Secretary KK Sharma.


The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has convened a two-day emergency session of the Legislative Assembly beginning Tuesday amid a bitter fight between Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.


The main aim of the 'emergency' Assembly session is to deliberate on the Central government's notification giving absolute powers to the LG in appointment of bureaucrats and issues of police and public order.


The Assembly was originally scheduled to meet in June for the passage of Budget.

JUST IN: Fire inside Delhi secretariat due to a short circuit inside Health Minister Satyendra Jain's office.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal meets LG Najeeb Jung.

The Bombay High Court has allowed actor Salman Khan permission to travel to Dubai for a show later this month.

The actor, who is out on bail after being convicted in a 2002 hit-and-run case, needs to seek the court's permission every time he wants to leave the country.

On May 6, Salman was convicted by a Mumbai sessions court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced to five years in jail.

On May 8, the High Court granted him bail and suspended his sentence pending the hearing and disposal of his appeal against the conviction.

Salman's application, filed last Wednesday, says that he wants to travel to Dubai for a show on May 29.

A man was killed and four others were injured when Khan's Toyota Land Cruiser ran over them while they were asleep on a pavement outside a bakery in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002.

Frequent cancellation of trains on Delhi-Mumbai route due to ongoing agitation by Gujjars in Rajasthan is causing Western Railway a revenue loss to the tune of Rs 15 crore per day.


"The revenue collection per day has dipped by Rs 12-15 crore as around 15-20 trains, including freight trains, are getting cancelled," an official from commercial department of WR said today.


Gujjars have been blocking the rail track in Bharatpur district amid a stand-off with the government over their demand for five per cent reservation.


"It would have been a bit less hard hitting had only passenger services been affected. But unfortunately, freight services have also been cancelled which has added to our concerns," the official said on condition of anonymity.


Among trains cancelled so far were August Kranti Rajdhani Express, Golden Temple Mail, Mumbai Central-New Delhi Duronto Express, Mumbai Central-Firozpur Janta Express while dozens of trains are running behind schedule or are being operated through diverted routes.


Reviving their demand for five per cent reservation in jobs, Gujjars in Rajasthan launched an agitation on May 21, blocking railway tracks, even as the state government expressed readiness to have talks with them.

For 10 years Amethi farmers wanted a fertiliser rack, we got it in 10 days, says Smriti Irani, who is in her constituency today. "Rahul-ji should know when one wants to do something it doesn't take much," she says.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes a much discussed and analysed first year in office and while it's tempting to spread the net wide and comment on the entire spectrum of this period, I'll resist the urge and confine myself to his stewardship and what it's meant for Jammu and Kashmir."

Read former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah's critique of the Modi govt.

@BJPRajnathSingh Reached Kolkata to participate in 'Jan Kalyan Parv'.

PM Modi (a smile would have helped) interacts with officers of the PMO on the occasion of the first anniversary of his government. On Saturday, finance minister Arun Jaitley said Narendra Modi had restored the credibility, dignity and stature of the Prime Ministers Office, attacking the Congress for the alleged dual-power centre Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi during the United Progressive Alliance rule.

The Reserve Bank of India thinks conventionally of itself as a central bank and refuses to stray beyond its role; so most of its publications are deadly boring. Its internal proceedings must be even more so. How does an intelligent man like Raghuram Rajan endure the boredom?


How does he resist the temptation of jumping out of his window on the 18th floor? One of the things he does to stay sane is do economics - read it, think it, and even utter it sometimes. He was a good macroeconomist before he stumbled into babudom; he stretches and exercises his intellectual muscles once in a while. Read more

Here's what Ms Irani has to say in Amethi/Rae Bareli: "Humney jeevan mey socha na tha kii Amethi, Rae Bareli kii janta ek rail line kay liye tarsenge. Narendra Modi ki uplabdhiyon ka danka pooray vishwa may baj raha hai. Anganwadi wali behnein milna chahti hain mujhse, kyun rok rahe hain thaanedaar ji; koi na sun raha UP mein, mujhe to sun ne dijiye.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani addressing a public meeting in Salon, Rae Bareli in UP. Irani contested and lost the Lok Sabha elections from the neighbouring constituency of Amethi. She lost to Rahul Gandhi by a very slender margin.

Irani's second visit to Amethi/Rae Bareli in less than two weeks is not just the launch of an offensive on Rahul's turf. Her earlier visit on May 12 had bested Rahul's visit which came a week later, but today's visit is part of the BJP's initiative to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modis one year in office.

The party began a week-long campaign called Jan Kalyan Parv or Peoples Welfare Festival aimed at countering a flood of charges that its policies are pro-corporate and anti-poor.

The party will hold 200 rallies across the country with Modi flagging of the campaign with the first meeting at Nagla Chandrabhan village in Mathura, the birthplace of Deendayal Upadhyaya, yesterday. As part of the festival, all Union Ministers, BJP MPs, party Chief Ministers and MLAs, besides Central and State office-bearers will travel across the country to highlight the governments achievements.

UST IN: Kejriwal withdraws case from Delhi HC against trial court decision sending him to jail in a defamation complaint filed by Nitin Gadkari.

Amit Shah on why there is no movement in the relationship with Pakistan: Woh Pakistan par nirbhar rehta hai, humara blow-hot/blow cold rehna. Whether we blow-hot or blow cold depends on Pakistan.


On the PDP govt in J&K: The people gave a indecisive mandate due to which two parties with different ideologies had to come together, we are working together as per Common Minimum Programme.  

Amit Shah on being asked about opposition's accusation of being suit boot ki sarkar: Arrey yaar, bahut purana ho chuka.


On the Bihar polls: Mere liye har chunav test hai, sirf yeh kyun? Mera bharosa hai poorn bahumat kay saath BJP kii sarkar banegi. Why just Bihar? every election is a test for us, I'm confident BJP will form Govt with full majority in Bihar.

The BJP which has always scored over every other party on the social media front throws a zinger your way with the PM's direct message to all his followers on Twitter. Take a look.

Amit Shah on a question that the Modi govt has good days only in comparison to the previous regime, he says, "When we say no corruption, we only use past as a comparison to the past."

On the conflict with AAP: Jise aap so-called 'takraav' keh reh hain woh takraav nahin. Constitution ke interpretation ka maamla hai.

Talking about achche din, Shah says inflation is contained, foreign exchange reserves are at a 15-year high.

About the anti-poor tag, he says the govt is pro-farmer. The PM has devoted every minute to serve the people.

BJP chief Amit Shah further talks about his government's achievements, "Modiji has put forth a new idea of Team India where the Centre and the states are part of the same team."

"The government has done a lot of work to address the problems of the poor in the country."

On one of Modi's pet initiatives, Shah says, "With Make in India and skill development, we helped better employment in India. When there is a Congress government the growth rate falls and when there is a BJP government it increases."

On economic policies, he adds, "The fiscal deficit is under control, trade has grown, foreign investments are at their highest in 10 years. Bank accounts were opened because of Jan Dhan scheme, schemes were implemented to solve the problem of unemployment."

"By just transparent auction of 20 coal mines, more than Rs 2 lakh crore has been added to the treasury," he says. 

Emphasising on Modi government's achievements on its first year in office, BJP chief Amit Shah says, "Despite the BJP not having power in several states in eastern India, we worked for the development of the region."

"There is a limit in trying to fool the people. I dare the Congress to bring up the 'zero loss' theory again," he adds.  "I'm glad to inform you that even opposition could not impose any allegation of corruption on this government in the past year."

On black money, he says, "What has the Congress done in its 60 years in power for recovering black money? We have enacted a law on black money and we are determined to get the 'black money' back."

When the Vajpayee government began, the growth rate was around 4 per cent.  After one year of Modi govt, growth rate is now 5.7 per cent," he says.   

Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah addresses rally on first anniversary of the Modi government in New Delhi.

"After independence, a non-Congress alliance got full majority for the first time in the Lok Sabha polls: Amit It is a matter of pride that the people chose BJP," he says. "The Lok Sabha polls last year established records in the democratic history of India."

"The prime minister's credibility has been restored and that is the public's biggest achievement."  

"Under Modiji's leadership, we had promised that we will root out corruption. We have been able to do that. The Modi government is highly visible, proactive," says Shah. 

The Mumbai police have arrested two persons from an event organising company over the case of objects flying near the Mumbai airport runway, which were identified as promotional balloons.

Five parachutes were spotted near the Mumbai airstrip causing a security concern and leading to a multi-agency probe.

According to the police, Dharmanand diamond export company had organised a cricket tournament in Kalina on Saturday close to the Mumbai airport. The organisers had suspended five air balloons in the air for advertising its brand, The Indian Express reports.  

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Mathura yesterday, BJP president Amit Shah will launch in Haryana's Karnal the party's plan to hold 200-odd big rallies to mark the first anniversary of its government at the Centre today.

Shah will address the media at the BJP headquarters in Delhi before heading to Karnal in Haryana to address a rally where he will highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi government in the last one year.

The series of rallies, besides 5,000 public meetings across the country, are being organised as part of the Jan Kalyan Parv celebrations planned by the BJP to mark the Modi government's one year in office.

Days ahead of his state visit to Sweden, President Pranab Mukherjee said the Bofors scandal was a media trial but it had not been proven to be a scandal in a court of law.

In an interview to Swedish national daily Dagens Nyhetter, Mukherjee was asked if he thought Bofors had been a media trial.

The president said, "First of all -- it is yet to be to be established that there was a scandal. No Indian court has established it. I was the defence minister of the country long after Bofors, and all my generals certified that this is one of the best guns we are having. Till today, Indian army is using it. The so-called scandal which you talk of, yes, in the media, it was there. There was a media trial. But I'm afraid, let us not be too much carried by publicity."

The Bofors scandal was a $285 million contract between the Indian government and Swedish arms company Bofors, signed for supply of 155mm howitzer field guns in 1986.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi writes a letter to citizens as he completes one year in office where he lists the achievements of his sarkar. 

Here is how he begins:

My dear fellow citizens!

Service, in our Indian Ethos is the Ultimate duty -- Seva Parmo Dharma. One year ago, you has entrusted me with the responsibility and honour of serving you as your Pradhan Sevak. I have devoted every moment of every day, and every element of my body and spirit, in fulfilling the same with fullest sincerity and honesty.

We assumed office at a time when confidence in the India story was waning. Unabated corruption and indecisiveness has paralyzed the government. People had been left helpless against ever-climbing inflation and economic insecurity. Urgent and decisive action was needed.

We systematically went about addressing these challenges. Runaway prices were immediately brought under control. The languishing economy was rejuvenated, building on stable and policy-driven proactive governance.

Discretionary allotment of our precious natural resources to a few chosen few was replaced with transparent auctions. Firm steps were taken against black money, from setting up a SIT and passing a stringent black money law, To generating international consensus against the same. Uncompromising adherence to the principle of purity, in action as well as in intent, ensured a corruption-free government.

Significant changes have been brought about in work culture, nurturing a combination of empathy as well as professionalism, systems as well as breaking of silos. State governments have been made equal partners in the quest for development, building the spirit of Team India. Most importantly, we have been able to restore trust in the government.

Read the PM's full letter here
 

It was a hug kept on hold for more than 41 years. The hug of a mother and son whose lives were abruptly separated four decades ago.

Boko Haram militants hacked 10 people to death in a Friday raid on a village in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, a local government administrator said Monday.

One month after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal, the United Nations has said the world needs to provide more food aid and shelter for those left homeless.

Bangladesh today banned an Islamist militant outfit that is believed to be behind the gruesome hacking deaths of three secular bloggers in recent months that have evoked outrage in the country and across the globe.

Syrian government aircraft carried out intense strikes against the IS in and around the ancient city of Palmyra after its fall to the extremists, a military source said.

The Delhi government today said it has sanctioned a plan for the opening of 20 new fast-track courts which will deal with heinous crimes in the national capital, including those against women.

Black money probe: Swiss begin making public names of Indians