London, May 19 (IANS) The Speaker of Britain’s lower house of parliament Tuesday announced he will resign next month over his handling of a scandal on MPs’ expenses, becoming the first British Speaker to be forced out of office in over 300 years.

“Since I came to the house 30 years ago I have always felt that the House is at its best when it is united. In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of Speaker on Sunday, the 21st of June,” Michael Martin told the House of Commons.

Ahmedabad, May 19 (ANI): A local court on Tuesday granted bail to former Gujarat Minister Maya Kodnani.

Geneva, May 19 (DPA) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that cooperation was needed from the private sector to tackle the influenza A(H1N1) virus, also called swine flu.

Ban was addressing delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, just after a meeting he held with the representatives of some 30 pharmaceutical companies.

Ghaziabad, May 19 (IANS) Police Tuesday shot dead one of the two men who had snatched a farmer’s motorcycle in Hapur town of Ghaziabad district, after they opened fire at the police,

According to superintendent of police (rural) K.K. Asthana, two criminals had snatched the motorcycle from a farmer, Satvir who had come to buy medicines from Hapur town of the district. Satvir informed the police, who traced the two to Asoda area of the town.

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said the priority of the new Congress-led government was the revival of economic growth and creating new employment opportunities that had been slowed down by the global recession.

Addressing the newly-elected party MPs after being named the prime minister by the Congress Parliamentary Party, Manmohan Singh said: “There is some slowing down of investment and employment generation. We have to reverse this.”

Chennai, May 19 (IANS) The sit-in strike by around 3,000 workers at tyre maker MRF Ltd’s Arakonam and Puducherry plants entered the 11th day Tuesday, with the agitating employees’ union and the management standing firm on their respective stands.

“Our demands are simple. Our union was formed in 2002. Since then we have been asking the management to hold elections to establish the union that has majority membership and negotiate with that body,” P.V. Paramasivam, president of MRF United Workers Union (UWU) told IANS from Arakonam.

Washington, May 19 (DPA) The US space agency NASA said astronauts Tuesday sent the Hubble Space Telescope back into orbit, where it is to help probe the origins and nature of the universe for at least five more years.

Astronauts spent the past seven days repairing the telescope, completing their tasks Monday on a space walk lasting over seven hours, as a stand-by shuttle stood ready on the launch pad in Florida for a rescue mission.

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, has inked a pact with one of India’s largest online travel companies, Yatra.com, to provide 100,000 travel agents access to 900 one to three-star hotels on its global distribution system (GDS).

“We offer customers a choice of booking channels, including online and traditional retail methods. This milestone agreement will help our hotel partners to sell their rooms globally through another channel - the GDS - with its unparalleled reach,” Yatra.com co-founder and CEO Dhruv Shringi said.