HEADLINES

• Jayalalithaa asks the PM for CISF cover for the Mullaiperiyar dam to avert man-made catastrophic consequences; NHRC also to review petition about the dam from Kerala MPs
• Dev Anand, the legendary film star and director passes away
• Australia's ruling party votes in favour of uranium sale to India thereby overruling the age old ban arising out of the fact that India did not sign the NPT

NATIONAL NEWS

• Council set up to address falling child sex ratio
  • The The Ministry of Women and Child Development has decided to set up a 25 member Sectorial Innovation Council to suggest strategies to address the decline in the Child sex ratio. The council will be headed by Anita Agnihotri, member secretary of the National Commission for Women;
  • The census 2011 has shown a sharp decline in the child sex ratio (age group of 0-6) compared with the previous census. It has declined from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011.
• Supreme Court says women can't be prosecuted for adultery
  • Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code deals with adultery and is under criticism for showing a gender bias as only a man can be prosecuted against and punished for adultery. The section expressly provides tha the wife cannot be punished even as an abettor;
  • The court passed this decision when overruling an AP High Court decision which had held a woman liable for adultery.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• US starts troops pull-out from Shamsi airbase in Pakistan as directed by the Pakistani Govt after the attack by the NATO forces
• Islamists lead with 65% votes in the first round of Egypt polls

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this editorial on the required conservation for the endangered Hornbill

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Periodical Table to get new entries
  • The periodical table, the biblical graph of chemical elements is to get bigger with 2 new boxes. Livermorium and Flerovium could soon occupy the 114 and 116 spots on the table, according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Read about these in detail in this article;
  • Three new elements were recently added to the table at 110 - darmstadtium (Ds), 111 - roentgenium (Rg) and 112 - copernicium (Cn). Read about these in detail in this article.

EMINENT PERSONS IN THE NEWS

• Former Brazil football captain, Socrates passed away. Read this article about him
• Read this article about Dev Anand who also passed away