Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday thanked Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani for the release of eight Indian nationals, who were sentenced to death after being arrested in Doha in August 2022.

As the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation of farmers entered the third day on Thursday, two key border points between Delhi and Haryana remained closed for traffic, while security personnel in anti-riot gear conducted drills and mock exercises to ensure their fool-proof preparation.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 in Chandigarh.

Haryana Police lobbed tear gas shells at farmers from Punjab at Shambhu border between the two states as thousands of protesters stayed put there on Wednesday, the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.

Gopakumar said all of them were hopeful that they would step out of the prison "if Modiji intervened" but had no idea how long it would take.

The commuters moving between Delhi and Haryana were either stuck up for hours on the closed borders or walked on foot to reach their respective destinations.

With protesting farmers seeking to march to the national capital, security remained tight on Wednesday with personnel deployed in huge numbers and barricades regulating movement in central Delhi and at border points with Haryana, which can cause hardships to commuters.

"It happens. It's part of our lives," retired Indian Navy commander B K Verma who has returned from Qatar says with stoicism while talking about his daughter's wedding that he could not attend.

Authorities in New Delhi intensified security arrangements on Tuesday to stop the farmers' march from entering Delhi as the Singhu and Tikri borders were shut while the Red Fort complex was closed temporarily after peasants on their way to the national capital clashed with the police at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.

Qatar has released eight jailed former Indian Navy personnel and seven of them returned home early Monday, 46 days after their death sentences handed last October were commuted to jail terms of varying duration.

The Delhi high court on Monday granted bail to four convicts serving life imprisonment in the murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.

A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.

Setting foot to their homeland after several agonising months of captivity in Qatar, seven of the eight Indian navy veterans who were sentenced to death on 'espionage' charges, heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they wouldn't have been freed had it for the sustained diplomatic efforts at his behest to secure their release.

The plea said if imprisonment for life is construed till natural life, then it violates the fundamental right of a convicted person.

Thousands of farmers from around 100 villages of Noida and Greater Noida on Thursday took to the streets seeking hiked compensation, bringing traffic to a standstill in several parts of Delhi-NCR as they made an unsuccessful bid to march towards Parliament.

Pickets and barricadings were installed on the border areas connecting Delhi-Haryana and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, he added.

As many as 720 roads, including four national highways, in Himachal Pradesh are blocked following snow while 2,243 transformers are disrupted.

The three women, because of their names and position, would get the eyeballs anyway, but if they do not rise above the superficial, it would be a wasted opportunity to reach out to and inspire women in particular, observes Deepa Gahlot.

rediffGURU Abhishek Shah advise you on how to deal with challenges at the workplace.

India on Thursday said it remains committed to take forward its development agenda with the Maldives, including implementation of various welfare projects in the island nation.

'The decrease in the popularity of white cars and the rise in preference for darker colours like black, grey, and blue over the past three years reflect changing consumer attitudes.'

Satellite imagery showed a layer of dense fog extending from Punjab and north Rajasthan to the northeast. Patches of fog were also visible along the east coast.

The maximum temperature on Saturday settled at 18.1 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average, and the minimum was recorded at 3.6 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season's average, the IMD said.

'You need to have enough funds to maintain the primacy of public transport and it should not suffer because of lack of funds.'

The 6-lane bridge spanning approximately 22 km can accommodate 70,000 commuters daily at a speed of 100 kmph.

The eight jailed former Indian Navy personnel in Qatar have been given 60 days' time to appeal against the varying prison terms handed by a Qatari court last week that came following commutation of their death sentences, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

The incident took place near Magdalla Port on Dumas road when a large number of truck drivers blocked the road demanding withdrawal of the new law on hit-and-run cases, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-6) Rajesh Parmar said.

About 2,000 petrol pumps, mostly in western and northern India, have run out of fuel stocks as the strike by some truckers' associations entered the second day on Tuesday.

Drivers of commercial vehicles, including trucks and tankers, stopped work in several states on Monday and blocked roads at some places to protest against the provision in the new penal law regarding hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.

In a huge relief, an appellate court in Qatar has commuted the death sentence of eight former Indian Navy personnel, arrested in an alleged case of espionage in August 2022.

There's a hint of new competition riding into a sector that has attracted attention for being in a duopoly-like situation. Rapido, a commute app known for its budget-friendly bike-taxi services, on Tuesday announced its entry into the cab market, which is currently dominated by marquee brands Uber and Ola. Rapido's cab foray will be enabled by a software as a service (SaaS)-based platform.

'If we have to restrict and fight terrorism, first and foremost, we have to ensure communal harmony in the country.'

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Dr Ravikant said the workers were thoroughly examined and their blood test, X-ray, and ECG reports were normal.

'What's happening in Gaza is another ethnic cleansing, a repeat of what happened in 1948.' 'That is why people do not want to evacuate. Either you evacuate or you die.'

The court also ordered that of the total fine amount imposed on the convicts, Rs 12 lakh will be paid to the victim's family.

'India is the sixth-largest market for the Kia Corporation, and contributes 8 to 9 per cent to our global sales.' 'We are eyeing 10 per cent market share over the next few years depending on customer demand and new product innovations.'

'Pollution acts as an endocrine disruptor.' 'When it acts as an endocrine disruptor it has an effect on the endocrine system of the human body and the effect on the pancreas is an important one.' 'The way you get type two diabetes is due to two defects.' 'One is the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin.' 'The other physiological defect is insulin resistance.'

Firecracker bursting till late Sunday night led to a spike in pollution levels amid low temperatures.

Amid a spike in pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to ensure crop residue burning was stopped "forthwith", saying it cannot let "people die" due to pollution.