Sonia returns home after check-up
New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who had gone abroad for a routine medical check-up, returned home Wednesday morning. Sources said she reached Delhi early morning. Accompanied by daughter Priyanka, Gandhi had on September 2 left for the US for medical check-up. 66-year-old Gandhi, who had undergone a surgery in the US for an undisclosed ailment on August 5, 2011, had flown there for a check-up in February and again on September 2 last year. She was admitted to AIIMS in August after she complained of chest pain and exhaustion in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on Food Security Bill when it was in the last stages of adoption. She was discharged from the hospital after she spent five hours undergoing various tests. Gandhi, who had cough and headache, had felt uneasy in Parliament after taking medicines. (PTI)
Man, parents sentenced to 10 years imprisonment
Salem (TN): A local court has sentenced a 30-year-old man and his parents to 10-years of imprisonment in a case relating to the suicide of his wife three years ago. The couple got married in 2007 but as they did not have a child, the man and his parents allegedly used to beat the woman. Once they reportedly thrashed her in full public view following which she allegedly committed suicide by hanging on September 28, 2010. Salem Mahila Court Sessions judge Krishnan sentenced the man and his parents last night to ten years imprisonment on charges of abetment to suicide and also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 of each of the accused. The court also sentenced them to three years imprisonment plus Rs 1000 fine on charges of torture. The sentences are to run concurrently. (PTI)
Two IPS officers transfered by UP government
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has transferred two IPS officers, a spokesman said here. Vinay Kumar Yadav, who was attached with the DGP headquarters, has been posted as SP Kasganj. SP Kasganj Rajendra Prasad Pandey has been attached with the DGP headquarters, he said. Meanwhile, transfer of Inspector General of Police Anti-Terror Squad Rajiv Sabbarwal as IG (Varanasi Zone) has been cancelled, he said. These are routine transfers, officials said. (PTI)
Tokyo university offers to sponsor two students of Super 30
Patna: Impressed with remarkable performance of Super 30, Japan’s Tokyo university on Wednesday offered scholarship to two students of the group run by mathematician Anand Kumar to study there. The offer was made by a team of Tokyo university that visited Super 30 here to have face-to-face interaction with students and the maths wizard. Super 30 is an innovative idea of Anand Kumar in which 30 selected students from underprivileged section of the society are provided free boarding and education to prepare them for entrance in IITs of whom 28 qualified this year. Jonathan Woodward, Project Associate Professor, Takako Hayashi, Project Officer The Undergraduate Admission office and Hiroshi Yoshino, Director, the University of Tokyo India operation were part of the visiting team. Woodward told reporters that attracted by “remarkable” performance of Super 30 they have come here to have a tie up with the group. Takaka Hayashi, Project Officer of the Tokyo university, said that the offer to free education to two students of Super 30, including one girl, is part of efforts to boost presence of overseas students from India in the University in particular and Japan in general. Besides, offer of scholarship for two students of Super 30, CGC group of companies of Japan, a chain of 220 companies and more than 3000 stores, has already announced to finance two students from Super 30 in Tokyo university and elsewhere. Hayashi said currently Japan has only 1.4 lakh overseas students out of which India contributes only 500. Similarly, University of Tokyo has only 42 students from India. “We want to increase number of students from India to University of Tokyo to 100 next year and target to attract 3 lakh overseas students to Japan,” he said. (PTI)
After 86 days, prayers resume at Kedarnath Temple
Kedarnath: The deathly silence brooding over Kedarnath since the June calamity hit Uttarakhand broke early Wednesday morning by the chanting of Vedic hymns as prayers resumed at the Himalayan shrine, 86 days after ravaging floods left over 400 people dead in the Kedar valley. Shortly after the dawn, as the clock stuck seven, the chief priest of the 8th century shrine, Rawal Bhima Shankar Ling Shivacharya, unlocked the portals of the temple and stepped into the sanctum-sanctorum to perform the puja. The prayers commenced today on Sarwartha Siddi Yog, considered to be auspicious. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who was also scheduled to attend the prayers along with some of his ministerial colleagues, could not take off from Dehradun due to inclement weather. The Kedar Valley is enveloped in a thick veil of fog and various media teams, which had to come here to cover the ceremony, are stuck in Guptkashi, some 22 kilometres from here, due to bad weather.