HEADLINES

• Broad concensus in the UPA on including the PM under the Lokpal with some conditions. Cabinet also clears the Citizen's Charter Bill, The Judicial Accountability Bill and the Whistleblowers bill (Public Interest Disclosure and protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill). Decision of Food security bill has been deferred
• Supreme Court tells Kerala and TamilNadu not to arouse people's feelings and that it would not pass any interim order as the empowered committee was looking into the matter
• Amar Singh bail conditions modified so that he can go abroad for treatment
• Sukhoi-30 crashes in Pune; Pilots eject safely

NATIONAL NEWS

• Opposition stalls Copyright Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha
  • The opposition stalled the Amendment bill saying that it had a conflict of interest as it was being introduced by Kapil Sibal and his son had represented a company in a case relating to the same issue being addressed in the amendment bill;
  • The bill seeks to amend the Copyright Act, 1957 to fine tune it with relevant international treaties and to introduce a system of statutory licensing to protect the owners of literary or musical works.
• Pentavalent vaccine to be introduced today
  • Dismissing reports of the death of children after the administration of pentavalent vaccine in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Pakistan as unrelated, the Govt has introduced the vaccine as part of the routine immunisation programme in Kerala;
  • The vaccine will protect children from Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae Hib diseas. It is administered to children at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age and will replace the existing DPT and Hepatitis B vaccines which are administered as the same time. At present, 170 of the 193 WHO member states use the pentavalent vaccine.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Blaming China and US, Canada says it is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol
  • Canada has said it will pull out of the Kyoto protocol as the two largest emitters, US and China, are not covered under it. US had not ratified the Kyoto Protocol and China was a Annex II country which is not mandated under the protocol like the developed Annex I countries. Canada has said that Kyoto is not the way forward and that the Durban program is more acceptable.
• US Congress freezes USD700 million US Aid to Pakistan
• Sultan Abdul Halim My'adzam Shah installed as the 14^th king of Malayasia

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this editorial on reform process in Myanmar and the collaboration between the ruling Govt and Suu kyi's NLD
• Read this editorial on gene therapy as a to preventing HIV infection
• Read this editorial about the fears of civil war in congo

EMINENT PERSONS IN THE NEWS

• Read this article about Roald Amundsen who was the first person to reach the south pole

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• Move to increase FDI cap in insurance from 26% to 49% rejected by a parliamentary standing commitee of Finance
• Parliamentary standing committee of Finance also rejects Govts proposal to permit voting rights to investors in private sector banks to the extent of their shareholding. At present voting rights are capped at 10%. The standing committee recommends it be increased to 26% to maintain a balance between economic control and promotion of corporate democracy.