Indian-born 100 year Old Fauja Singh entered Guinness Book by setting Marathon Record Indian-born Fauja Singh,

100, was officially recognised as the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon after crossing the finish line at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds. Singh made his way up the last few hundred metres of the race and finished in 3850th place ahead of five other runners. He attributed his success to ginger curry, cups of tea and being happy. The 100-year-old runner of Indian-origin, set a Guinness record of being the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon. Singh began running regularly 11 years ago after the deaths of his wife and son. According to his translator he runs 16km every day. Born in India on 1 April 1911, Singh a farmer in the Punjab took the sport seriously only when he moved to Britain. He carried the torch during the relay for the 2004 Athens Games. Singh, who completed the first of his eight marathons as an 89-year-old, has a personal best of five hours, 40 minutes, set back in 2003. The 2003 record made him the world record holder at the distance for a man aged 90 or over. Singh also holds eight sprint bests in his age category. Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected Denmarks First Woman Premier Danish opposition leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt emerged victorious in the elections held on 15 September 2011 and will take over as the country's first female Prime Minister. She belongs to the Social Democrats party. The result ended the center-right government's 10 years in office. Thorning-Schmidt succeeded Lars Lokke Rasmussen who submitted his resignation to Queen Margrethe on 16 September 2011. Helle Thorning-Schmidt became a social democrat during her studies in Belgium and joined the Danish Social Democrats in 1993. From 1994 to 1997 she led the secretariat of the Danish delegation of social democrats in the European Parliament. After her time in Brussels she worked as an international consultant with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions until being elected MEP in 1999. She was a Member of the European Parliament in the 19992004 period. During the

five year term, she was a member of the Employment and Social Committee and the Constitutional Committee of the European Parliament. She also co-founded the Campaign for Parliament Reform (CPR). In the 2005 Danish parliamentary election Thorning-Schmidt was elected to the Folketing (national parliament of Denmark). Since 2005 she has represented a constituency in a part of the Danish capital Copenhagen called Osterbrokredsen. She led the Social Democrats through the 2007 Danish parliamentary election where her party suffered modest losses and was forced into a third term in opposition. The party was also unable to regain its position as the largest party in the Folketing. In the 2011 parliamentary election, she was relected to parliament. Although the ruling Liberal Party became the largest party and gained a seat and the Social Democrats lost a seat, the opposition parties combined obtained more seats than the government coalition. Calcutta High Court Judge Justice Soumitra Sen impeached by the Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha on 18 August 2011 passed a resounding vote to impeach Calcutta High Court judge Justice Soumitra Sen and ruled out his resignation. Sen had himself presented his case against the impeachement motion in the Rajya Sabha on 17 August 2011. The impeachment motions will be taken up by the Lok Sabha towards the end of August as the Rajya Sabha has given its nod for Sen's removal. Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court is set to become the first-ever judge to be removed after the Rajya Sabha adopted an impeachment motion with over twothirds majority, the only instance of its kind. The motion in Rajya Sabha was carried by 189 votes in support and 17 against thereby meeting the requirement that the vote should be supported by two-thirds of members present with the turnout in the House not less than half the total strength. Sen's defence like that the charge of misconduct was dated to the period when he was not a judge, that he had done no misappropriation as alleged, that he was not heard and that he was the victim of a conspiracy hatched by former Chief Justice of India K J Balakrishnan were all rebutted.

Justice Sen, who was found guilty of misappropriating Rs 33.23 lakh, which were under his custody as a court-appointed receiver in the capacity as a lawyer and misrepresenting facts before a Calcutta court. The Inquiry Committee had found him guilty of misappropriation of funds as a court-appointed receiver in a case where certain money belonging to SAIL was stuck in a dispute in 1983. The motion had sought removal of Justice Sen. Indian-American Mitul Desai appointed as Senior Adviser in the U.S. State Department Indian-American Mitul Desai, an expert in international finance law was in July 2011 appointed as Senior Adviser in the U.S. State Department's South and Central Asia Bureau to cement ties with the Diaspora groups. Mitul will be responsible for figuring out ways to enable the US government to put together a coalition and an alliance of groups to make it easier for Indians in the Diaspora as well as other Diaspora communities to make contributions to development. He received his B.A. in Chemistry and Philosophy at Rutgers University and his Juris Doctor (JD) from the Boston University School of Law. Diaspora definition: A diaspora relates the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland. It can also be described as people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location or people settled far from their ancestral homelands. Ashok Parija elected Chairman of Bar Council of India (BCI) Members of the Bar Council of India (BCI) unanimously elected Ashok Parija as the new Chairman and Zafar Ahmed Khan as the new Vice-Chairman in a meeting held in New Delhi on 24 July 2011. Ashok Parija succeeded Gopal Subramaniam who laid down office upon his resignation as Solicitor General of the country. The newly elected Chairman and Vice Chairman shall continue in office along with the other office bearers till April 2012.

Ashok Parija is a member from the State Bar Council of Orissa while Zafar Ahmed Khan is BCI member from the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh. Election was held only for these two offices in which all 19 members of the BCI were unanimous in expressing their choice for posts of Chairman and Vice Chairman.

Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy elected Chairperson of Public Health Foundation of India Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy was unanimously elected chairperson of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) on 11 July 2011. PHFI seeks to open many public health schools all over the country and impart training in various aspects of public health. Murthy will replace former McKinsey chief Rajat Gupta, who is fighting a legal battle in the US to clear his name from insider trading charges. Former managing director of McKinsey & Co, Rajat Gupta stepped down as chairperson after the US Securities and Exchange Commission named him a co-conspirator in an insider trading scam along with billionaire Raj Rajaratnam of the Galleon Group of USA. After Gupta resigned, Y V Reddy took over as the interim chair. Murthy will lead a governing council comprising Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Amartya Sen, Shiv Nadar, T K Nair, Y V Reddy, AK Shiva Kumar and Mirai Chatterjee among its members. PHFI council also renewed the appointment of K Srinath Reddy as the PFHI president for the next five years. PHFI is meant to redress the limited institutional capacity in India for the purpose of strengthening, training, research and policy development in the area of public health. PHFIs charter includes stablishing five-seven new institutes of public health over the next six years, establishing a strong national research network of public health and allied institutions that would undertake policy and programme relevant research that will advance public health goals in prioritized areas. Human Rights Activist Binayak Sen appointed Member of 40 member Steering Committee on Health

Human rights activist Binayak Sen was appointed member of the Planning Commission's 40 member Steering Committee on Health, which will advise the panel on the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). He will represent the Bilaspurbased healthcare organisation, Jan Swasthya Sahyog. His experience of having worked as a paediatrician in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt will enable him to provide his input on the health of tribal children. Binayak Sen was released on bail from the Raipur jail in April 2011 by the Supreme Court. He was earlier arrested on charges of sedition. The 40-member Committee on Health is chaired by Syeda Hameed and is expected to submit its draft report by 30 September 2011 and the final report by 31 October 2011. It will be expected to suggest effective initiatives for the monitoring and evaluation of health programmes and recommend measurable indicators for the 12th Plan. The steering committee will review the National Health Policy, 2002, as well as explore the possibility of adopting the Right to Health as an approach with special focus on women, children, life-cycle care and preventive and curative healthcare. Jaipur Ruler Bhawani Singh's Grandson, Teenager Padmanabh Singh Crowned Maharaja of Jaipur Teenager Padmanabh Singh, grandson of the erstwhile Jaipur ruler, late Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh ascended the titular throne of Jaipur. The whole ceremony of assigning heir to the Kachwaha Rajput dynasty took place at the City Palace, Jaipur on April 27, 2011. Brig. Bhawani Singh died on April 17, 2011 at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness. Brig. Singh was born in 1931. He was the natural successor of Man Singh II. Padmanabh is the son of Brig. Singhs daughter, Diya Kumari. Brig. Singh had adopted Padmanabh as the heir to the Kachwaha Rajput dynasty at a grand ceremony in November 2002. Padmanabh is of 13 years of age who lit the funeral pyre of Brig. Singh at the royal family's crematorium at Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan in Jiapur. Padmanabh's coronation in the royal grandeur was followed by the presentation of a guard of honour by an imperial contingent and salute by firing of cannon 12 times. The newly designated titular Maharaja took the salute with poise while holding a sword.

The adoption ceremony for Padmanabh was the second at the City Palace after a gap of 81 years. Brig. Singh's father, Sawai Man Singh II was also adopted at the same venue by the then ruler Sawai Madho Singh II in 1921.