A view of a damaged village (Deveneri) near Mamallapuram after Cyclone Mandous creates havoc in many parts near the coastline near Chennai.
| Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
Five killed, many trees uprooted as Cyclone Mandous made landfall with fierce winds and downpour
Cyclone Mandous that crossed the north Tamil Nadu coast near Mamallapuram during early hours of Saturday with fierce winds and heavy downpour, claimed five lives, uprooted about 500 trees and caused power disruptions till Saturday afternoon in many areas in the city. Of the five persons who died, four were electrocuted in different locations.
Rocket-propelled grenade fired at police station in Punjab’s Tarn Taran
A police station building in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district was attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) wielded by unidentified assailants, yet again putting a question mark on the deteriorating law and order situation which the opposition has been using to corner the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
Uttarakhand plans genetic enhancement of its indigenous Badri cow
To increase the productivity of its indigenous petite Badri cow, that grazes on the medicinal herbs of the Himalayas, Uttarakhand is now planning for its genetic enhancement. At the recent chintan shivir (brainstorming session) of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami with Uttarakhand’s bureaucrats, the officials of the animal husbandry department of the hill State proposed to use sex-sorted semen technology to improve production of Badri cattle. They also proposed to opt for the embryo transfer method in order to produce more cattle of high genetic stock.
Supreme Court to hear on December 13 Bilkis Bano’s petition challenging remission to convicts
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on December 13 a petition filed by Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the case by the State government.
Revised ECI data indicates voting surge in second phase of Gujarat elections
After voting for the final phase of the Gujarat Assembly election ended at 5 p.m. on December 5, the Election Commission put the turnout in the 93 constituencies at 58.8%. However, the next day, the EC revised the figure to 65.3%. The 6.5% jump reflects a last-minute surge in the turnout, as more than 16 lakh voters would have cast their ballot after the 5 p.m. deadline, indicating that so many people were already in the queues at the polling booths at 5 p.m. and they all exercised their franchise.
No Modi-Putin summit scheduled as of now
As of now, there is no summit scheduled between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in December, sources have confirmed to The Hindu. In the meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday hinted at an Indian role in settling “problems”, adding that he supported India and Brazil’s presence in the UN Security Council.
Parliament must examine age of consent issue, says Chief Justice of India
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on December 10, 2022 appealed to the government to relook the issue of age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 as it posed difficulties for judges examining cases of consensual sex involving adolescents.
Experts call for global collaboration on bringing equality to publisher-platform relationship
Leading experts from Canada and the United States have called upon countries around the world, including India, to join hands across borders and replicate Canada’s upcoming news media bargaining code. During the virtual 2nd Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) Dialogue on Friday, the experts exchanged ideas on how to restore fairness to the relationship between news publishers and Big Tech platforms.
About 23 years back, Bobi started dancing and singing on the streets of Sultanpuri in northwest Delhi with a group of ‘ kinnar’ people at weddings for money. She faced discrimination and endured much name-calling. Fast forward to Wednesday, when the results of the Delhi civic body election was announced, Bobi, 38, took out a rally on the same streets, standing on a jeep with garlands around her neck and dozens of supporters raising slogans for her. For she had just won the elections on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket and become the first transgender councillor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Nobel Peace Prize winners blast Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
The winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine shared their visions of a fairer world and denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine during Saturday’s award ceremony. Oleksandra Matviichuk of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties dismissed calls for a political compromise that would allow Russia to retain some of the illegally annexed Ukrainian territories, saying that “fighting for peace does not mean yielding to pressure of the aggressor, it means protecting people from its cruelty.”
FIFA World Cup 2022 | Morocco first African team ever to enter World Cup semifinals
Morocco wrote World Cup history on December 10, 2022 night as the first African and Arab country to reach the tournament’s semifinals, continuing their surprise run in Qatar with a shock 1-0 victory over the highly fancied Portugal. Youssef En-Nesyri leapt high in the air to head home the game’s only goal just before half-time at the Al-Thumama Stadium to strike a significant blow against football’s established order and book a semifinal on Wednesday against either England or France, who meet later on Saturday.
FIFA World Cup 2022 | Giroud, Tchouameni send France past England into semifinals
Goals by Oliver Giroud and Aurelien Tchouameni gave France a 2-1 win over England that took the holders into a World Cup semi-final with Morocco after Harry Kane equalised from the spot but then blazed a second late penalty over the bar on Dec. 10.