Wednesday, Jan 25th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Protest pulls the plug on Rushdie's video show
• Hafiz Saeed threatens India
• Man held for 13/7 is a Delhi police/ CBI informer confirms Home secretary

NATIONAL NEWS

• India takes up TV host Leno's remarks on the golden temple with the US and wrote a strong letter to the NBC which aired the show

• Solar storm radiation hits the earth with the biggest solar storm in more than six years with more to come from the fast moving eruption.
• Oliver Ridley's nesting site under threat
  • Shifting of the river mouth and erosion have changed the terrain of the nesting beach of Oliver Ridley turtles near the Rushikulya rookery in Odisha.
  • The endangered Oliver Ridley Turtles don't lay eggs even after mating if the environment is not conducive for nesting
  • While some experts say that the turtles can keep the egg inside the body for 2-3 years others say that they can keep the sperm inside the body and opt for fertilization off eggs whenever they want
    
    
• Census records rise in Vulture count in panna
  • Panna Tiger Reserve(PTR) home to some seven vulture species( long-billed, white-backed, Egyptian, red-headed, Eurasian griffon, Himalayan griffon and cinereous) have registered a 39% growth over last year.
  • The use of the banned diclofenac for cattle around the village and cutting of the Arjun tree, which serve as a good nesting place for the white-backed vulture are two areas of concerns.
    
    
• Jallikattu : Irish group calls for tourism boycott
  • Animal rights actin network(ARAN) has asked for a europe wide ban on tourism in the wake of Jallikattu and has named that “Incredible Cruelty”.
    
    
• Eunuchs have equal rights to protect their dignity : Court
  
  
• India – EU join hands for Anti piracy millitary operations
  • India and EU has launched a concrete colloboration to fight against piracy in the Indian ocean. EU has deputed 4 war ships and supporting millitary ships in that region.
    
    
• Law commission's new draft wants Khap panchayats on Marriages declared illegal
  • The Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly (Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial Alliances) Bill, 2011 proposes no person or any group of persons shall gather with an “intention to deliberate on, or condemn any marriage, not prohibited by law, on the basis that such marriage has dishonoured the caste or community tradition or brought disrepute to all or any of the persons forming part of the assembly or the family or the people of the locality concerned.”
  • The Collector or the District Magistrate has been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the persons targeted in case any illegal decision is taken by the khap panchayat and he/she shall take necessary steps to prohibit the convening of such illegal gatherings.
  • All offences under the proposed Act will be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. The cases will be tried in Special Courts presided over by a sessions judge or additional sessions judge.

• Award winning writer, intellectual and the most influential gandhian Sukumar Azhikod dead.
  • His most noted work was Tatvamasi, which won the Sakitya academy award

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• Opinion on the current situation in the Iraqi borders
• Bangladeshi lessons from the coup
• India's newly designed Sub marine and the future of them
• Another must read on Submarine Chakra
• Editorial on the Nigerian Problem
• Editorial on the RBI's balancing act

BUSINESS/ECONOMICS

• Cabinet has given the final approval to the aquistion of the majority stake by the London based mining group vedanta resources in Cairn India for $8.48 billion.