Briefly World

North Korean leader Kim Jong Ils son and designated successor Jong Un has been elected to the countrys Parliament,media reports said....

Kim Jong Ils successor elected to Assembly

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Ils son and designated successor Jong Un has been elected to the countrys Parliament,media reports said. Jong Un was elected from district 216 to the Supreme Peoples Assembly in the elections held in March last year,the reports said,quoting a source. Following the election,a song titled Footsteps praising him began to be sung in elementary schools.

IIT alumnus to be Harvard Business dean

BOSTON: IIT Mumbai alumnus Nitin Nohria is all set to assume his role as Dean of the prestigious Harvard Business School here starting today. Nohria,is the first Indian-origin dean in the Schools 102-year-old history. The School had announced in May that Nohria will succeed Jay Light as the 10th Dean and will take up his new role on July 1. Nohria received his bachelor of technology degree in chemical engineering in 1984 from IIT Mumbai and later did his PhD in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Death sentence nulled for NYPD officers killer

NEW YORK: A panel of federal judges has overturned the death sentence given to a Staten Island man convicted of killing two New York City police detectives in 2003. In 2007,a jury sentenced the man,Ronell Wilson,to die by lethal injection. It was the first successful federal capital punishment prosecution in New York in over 50 years. But,a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the sentences saying prosecutors violated Wilsons constitutional rights.

President vote is test for Germanys Merkel

BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to secure a swift victory for her candidate to be Germanys President in an election Wednesday,but appeared likely to get a lackluster win. Merkels government had a majority in the special parliamentary assembly that chooses the President but her candidate,Christian Wulff,fell short of the absolute majority in the first two rounds of voting.

Bangladesh: Politicians held for contempt

DHAKA: The police have arrested Matiur Rahman Nizami,head of Jamaat-e-Islami,and two other officials after they failed to appear in court to answer allegations of blaspheming Islam. At least 30 people supporting the party were injured in clashes with police.

Now,a cheap blood test for Downs syndrome

LONDON: Scientists have developed a new blood test to check unborn children for Downs syndrome,a genetic abnormality,and other disorders,which they claim would be available in the market in four years. A team in the Netherlands has come up with the cheap test which works by extracting the DNA of the foetus from the mothers blood and screening it for Downs syndrome and other abnormalities,The Daily Telegraph reported. The test will provide a better alternative to invasive tests.