India

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Author Irwin Allan Sealy will come out with an imagined memoir of Ashoka The Great, the emperor who went from masterminding one of the biggest and deadliest wars to becoming one of the most profound advocates of non-violence.

"ASOCA: A Sutra" will be released under Penguin Random House's Viking imprint in July.

In the book, Sealy aims to transport readers to a time and place that is remarkable with his prose.

"With Asoca, I'm delighted to be back with old friends at Penguin," says Sealy.

Patna, Feb 15 (PTI) Many eyebrows were raised in Bihar on Monday as news broke of a meeting between CPI's rising star Kanhaiya Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, a minister and key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

A fiery former JNU student leader, who has of late is being seen as veering towards Nitish Kumar despite their parties rarely getting on the same page on most issues, Kanhaiya met Choudhary on Sunday.

Kolkata, Feb 15 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday condemned the arrest of 22-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi and said the BJP government should first take action against its own IT cell which, she alleged, is spreading fake news.

She also came down heavily on the BJP government at the Centre for the rise in the prices of LPG and fuel.

Etah (UP), Feb 15 (PTI) A 19-year-old woman was allegedly killed for dowry in Shastri Nagar locality under Jaithra police station area here, police said on Monday.

Jaya got married to Rajesh two years ago and was being tortured for not getting a motorcycle and Rs 2 lakh cash and gold in dowry, the victim's mother, Manju Devi, told police.

On Sunday, Rajesh called her mother-in-law and claimed that Jaya had committed suicide by hanging herself, police said quoting the complainant, who is a resident of the national capital.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday handed over a chadar to Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi that will be offered on his behalf at the shrine of renowned Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

The shrine at Ajmer is one of the holiest Sufi shrines, frequented in large number by the faithful.

"Handed over a Chadar that would be offered at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah on the 809th Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti," Modi tweeted.

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 15 (PTI) Marking a new chapter in Kerala's transport and tourism sector, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday launched the first phase of a 520-km-long national waterway.

Vijayan inaugurated the 310 km first phase of the inland waterway, by travelling a 11 KM stretch from Veli to Kadinamkulam onboard a 24-seater solar-powered boat.

The rejuvenated waterway is from Veli here to Chavakkad in Thrissur district through Kollam and Kottapuram.

Mumbai, Feb 15 (PTI) A junction in south Mumbai has been named after late Israeli leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shimon Peres, a civic official said on Monday.

The junction, close to a synagogue near Kala Ghoda, has been named after Peres with an aim to improve bilateral relations with that country, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official on condition of anonymity.

Jaipur, Feb 15 (PTI) An Alwar court will hold the final hearing on March 6 in the case of alleged lynching of a youth on the suspicion of cow smuggling in the state over two years ago.

Rakbar, a resident of Haryana, was mercilessly beaten up in Rajasthan's Alwar on July 20, 2018, after which he died at a hospital.

His mother Habiban had sought the transfer of the case to a different court last week, which was rejected by the court, petitioner's counsel Qasim Khan said.

Mathura, Feb 15 (PTI) The judicial custody of a Popular Front of India's student wing leader, accused of funding PFI activists for creating unrest after the death of a gangrape victim of a Hathras village, was on Monday extended till March 2.

NEW DELHI (AP) — When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in India, there were fears it would sink the fragile health system of the world’s second-most populous country. Infections climbed dramatically for months and at one point India looked like it might overtake the United States as the country with the highest case toll.

But infections began to plummet in September, and now the country is reporting about 11,000 new cases a day, compared to a peak of nearly 100,000, leaving experts perplexed.