Humsafar Weekly Express for passengers to Rajasthan from Tambaram

Southern Railway is to launch Humsafar Weekly Express from Tambaram to Bagat Ki Kothi in Rajasthan next week.

Published: 12th May 2018 04:34 AM  |   

Indian Railways (Photo | PTI)

By Express News Service

 

CHENNAI: Southern Railway is to launch Humsafar Weekly Express from Tambaram to Bagat Ki Kothi in Rajasthan next week. The three-tier AC express was announced in railway time table on April 1, along with a few other trains.

According to official sources, the inaugural run of Humsafar Express will begin at Bagat Ki Kothi on Monday (May 14). “The train, which reaches Tambaram on Wednesday, is likely to commence its first service from here on May 18,” said a senior railway officer.

The train will run via Chennai Egmore, Gudur, Vijayawada, Nagpur, Itarsi, Bhopal, Gota, Jaipur and Jodhpur.

Despite the huge demand, the Chennai-Jaipur-Jodhpur route has only five weekly trains, including Chennai-Jaipur Superfast Express, Chennai Egmore-Jodhpur SF Weekly Express and Mannargudi-Bhagat Ki Kothi Weekly Express. The section witnesses a demand throughout the year.

The introduction of Humsafar Express is expected to provide a huge relief for Jaipur and Jodhpur-bound passengers.

“The AC weekly express from Tambaram to Bhagat Ki Kothi will be operated on Fridays, while the train on its return journey will run on Wednesdays,” official sources said.

College students wielding weapons attack fellow students at Anna Square bus stop

In yet another shocking incident in full view of the public, a trio attacked two students of Presidency College who were waiting for bus near Anna Square on Friday afternoon.

Published: 12th May 2018 04:34 AM | 
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: In yet another shocking incident in full view of the public, a trio attacked two students of Presidency College who were waiting for the bus near Anna Square on Friday afternoon. According to police, three youngsters riding a bike on Kamarajar Salai without helmets used knives and sickles to attack the students around 3.15 pm.

The injured were identified as K Suresh Kumar (21) of Tondiarpet, studying second-year political science and P Manikandan (19) of Manali, who was a second year B Com student.

“The victims were sitting at the bus bay outside Ezhilagam when the trio arrived on a bike and attacked the duo with sickles and knives. In this attack, the two students sustained injuries on their neck and hands,” said a police officer.

The trio escaped before onlookers could respond or catch them. The victims were rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where doctors said their condition was stable, a police officer said.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the attackers, also in their teens, were some college students, according to the officer. Police suspect that the attack was associated with a “love affair” or personal vengeance against the victims.

Anna Square police have registered a case of attempt to murder against the suspects and launched a hunt for them. Police said that they will collect CCTV camera footage from nearby traffic signals to trace the suspects.

In similar incidents, a group of college students got off a suburban train carrying sharp knives at Pattaravakkam railway station on January 30 much to the shock of passengers. The Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested a Pachaiyappa’s College student and launched a hunt for a few more for carrying knives in the train, chasing students from Presidency College and causing panic at the station.

On October 10 last year, four college students were arrested on a charge of brandishing lethal weapons in a train creating panic among people.

On October 10, social media carried a video, shot a few days earlier, of some youth brandishing knives and billhooks in a train.

A 22-year-old man who was attacked by a five-member gang near his house at Vyasarpadi on January 5 2016, died at Stanley Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. He was a second-year B Sc student of Presidency College.

Personal vengeance
Preliminary inquiries revealed that the attackers, also in their teens, were some college students. Police officers suspect that the attack was associated with a “love affair” or some personal vengeance

Reconstruction surgery successful for lady born without uterus, vagina in Kerala
Now, the lady can lead a healthy sexual life, and she can also conceive through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

Published: 12th May 2018 03:11 AM |
Image for representational purpose only

By Express News Service

KOCHI: A 22-Year-old lady who was born without uterus and vagina successfully underwent rare reconstruction laparoscopy surgery at the Little Flower Hospital in Angamaly. After she failed to get periods, she was examined by medical experts at the age of 13. Then it emerged she did not have uterus or vagina though she had a normal female chromosome pattern and ovaries.

She was advised to wait till marriage before the surgery. She underwent laparoscopic neovaginoplasty three months ago under a team of surgeons headed by Urmila Soman. Besides, the team had Jesna K A, T V Joy and Surya. Now, she has a patent vagina and can lead a healthy sexual life. She can also conceive through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), if she chooses to, according to Dr Urmila.

NPA PROVISIONS UP THREE-FOLD

Canara Bank’s Q4 loss at ₹4.8k crore on bad loans

New Delhi: 12.05.2018

State-owned Canara Bank on Friday reported a net loss of ₹4,859.7 crore for the last quarter of 2017-18 due to increased provisioning for bad loans. The bank had clocked a net profit of ₹214.2 crore in the corresponding January-March quarter of preceding fiscal 2016-17.

The bank raised its provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs) to ₹8,762 crore during the January-March quarter, up by nearly 200% from ₹2,924 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, as bad assets ballooned, according to a regulatory filing by the bank. For whole 2017-18, the bank suffered a net loss of ₹4,222 crore .

Total income of the bank during the quarter ended March 2018 fell to ₹11,555.1crore

from ₹12,889.2 crore.

In full year 2017-18, total income stood at ₹48,194.9 crore against ₹48,942 crore in preceding year, the bank said. Assetwise, there was fall in quality as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 11.8% of gross advances by the end of March 2018 from 9.6% by end-March 2017.

In absolute value, the gross NPAs were at ₹47,468 crore from ₹34,202crore.

Net NPA ratio stood at 7.5% (₹28,542.40 crore) from 6.33% (₹21,648.9 crore). The NPA provisioning for the full year rose to ₹14,882 crore from ₹7,437 crore in 2016-17. In view of fraud reported during the year in certain banks in respect of one gems and jewellery borrower group accounts , the bank has classified these accounts as non-performing asset and provided fully, Canara Bank said. AGENCIES

Hangover pill works on drunk mice 

Injecting Natural Enzymes Into Rodents Helps Blood Alcohol Level Drop By 45% 

Times of India 12.05.2018

According to George Bernard Shaw, alcohol is “the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.” But as we all know, too much of it results in a cracking hangover the next day. Between 8 to 10% of emergency room visits in the US are due to acute alcohol poisoning. Alcohol abuse leads to serious health problems, including cardiovascular and liver cancer.

However, a team of scientists in the US may have taken a step forward in developing a “hangover pill” that could cure the indulgences of the night before. That’s the gist of an essay from ‘The Conversation’, by Yunfeng Lu who is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles in the US.

In it, Lu recounts how he and some colleagues used natural enzymes found in liver cells to help the body process alcohol faster. “Inspired by the body’s approach for breaking down alcohol, we chose three natural enzymes that convert alcohol into harmless molecules that are then excreted,” the professor explained.

“That might sound simple, because these enzymes were not new, but the tricky part was to figure out a safe, effective way to deliver them to the liver.” The team then wrapped the enzymes in a shell that had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in pills and injected them into the veins of drunk mice. The capsules were tiny — they are described as ‘nanocapsules’ so it wasn’t hard to put them into the mice, but apparently the results turned out to be positive.

“We showed that in inebriated mice (which fall asleep much faster than drunk humans), the treatment decreased the blood alcohol level by 45% in just four hours compared to mice that didn’t receive any,” Lu wrote.

The professor also added that the blood concentration of acetaldehyde — a highly toxic compound that is carcinogenic, causes headaches and vomiting and is produced during the normal alcohol metabolism — remained extremely low. The mice that were given the drug woke from their alcohol-induced slumber faster than their untreated counterparts. Currently, the team is conducting further tests to make sure that the pills don’t trigger any strange side effects.

Potentially, it could begin testing on humans in 12 months’ time. AGENCIES

NEW HOPE

IndiGo, Air Deccan planes avert mid-air collision over Bangladesh

Subhro.Niyogi@timesgroup.com

Kolkata: 12.05.2018

Two planes, one that took off from Kolkata and another that was heading to the city, came “dangerously close” to each other near the India-Bangladesh border on May 2. The Aircraft Investigation Bureau under the civil aviation ministry is probing the incident of “airprox”.

Agartala-bound IndiGo flight 6E 892, which took off from Kolkata, was beginning its descent after flying for 40 minutes when the traffic collision avoidance system (that warns pilots when another aircraft is too close to it) in the cockpit went off. The plane at the other end was a non-scheduled flight operated by Air Deccan. The plane, an 18-seater Beechcraft 1900 D that is much smaller than Indi-Go’s 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, had just taken off from Agartala and was still ascending when the warning was signalled.

Officials said the flights were barely 15-35 seconds away from each other, which triggered a resolution advisory (an in-built feature in the TCAS through which an automated voice instructs each pilot of conflicting aircraft to climb or descend to ensure that they increase the vertical separation between them). The minimum vertical distance between two flights operating in Indian airspace is 1,000 feet. The two flights had come within 700 feet of each other, breaching the minimum separation clause.

“IndiGo flight 6E-892 operated by VT-IDQ aircraft was involved in an RA (resolution advisory) incident with a non-scheduled operator on May 2 while descending for landing at Agartala. The IndiGo aircraft was at the prescribed air level. The IndiGo pilot followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and reported the matter to Agartala ATC and the company. The matter has been reported to the regulator and is being investigated,” an airline spokesperson said.

An Air Deccan safety official also acknowledged the incident and said it was being investigated. 



DANGEROUSLY CLOSE: The minimum vertical distance between two flights operating in Indian airspace is 1,000 feet

‘RULE LEGAL, VALID’

HC says CBSE’s upper age limit for NEET will remain

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 12.05.2018
The Delhi high court on Friday upheld a CBSE notification fixing an upper age cap of 25 and 30 years for general and reserved categories respectively to apply for National Eligibilitycum-Entrance Test (NEET)- UG, a pre-qualification for MBBS course.

HC dismissed petitions challenging the CBSE notification that laid down the upper age limit even as it struck down a clause that prohibited students from open schools or those who studied privately from appearing in the exam.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar noted that the clause in CBSE’s January 22 notification prescribing upper age limit for general and reserved category candidates was “legal and valid”.

But it found as “unconstitutional” the CBSE’s insistence to disqualify candidates who have studied from recognised open school boards.

“Candidates, who have done class 12 from NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) or recognised open school state boards, would not be treated as per se disqualified for selection and appearance in NEET examination.

Their NEET results, when otherwise eligible, would be declared with other candidates,” the bench said. This also means that CBSE will now have to take a call if it would declare results of those candidates who took the exam due to an interim order but now stand disqualified as they are above the prescribed age.

On February 28, another bench of the high court had stayed the CBSE’s January 22 notification, which barred students of open school or those who studied privately, those who had biology or biotechnology as an additional subject and those who had taken more than two years to complete their Class XI or XII or students from applying for the exam.