Junior Digest

And the pace of melting is expected to lead to disastrous sea level rise in the years to come, according to lead author Eric Rignot, chair of Earth system science at the University of California, Irvine.

“As the Antarctic ice sheet continues to melt away, we expect multi-meter sea level rise from Antarctica in the coming centuries,” Rignot said.

A rise of 1.8 meters (six feet) by 2100, as some scientists forecast in worst-case scenarios, would flood many coastal cities that are home to millions of people around the world, previous research has shown.

For the current study, researchers embarked on the longest-ever assessment of ice mass in the Antarctic, across 18 geographic regions.

Data came from high-resolution aerial photographs taken by NASA planes, along with satellite radar from multiple space agencies.

Researchers discovered that from 1979 to 1990, Antarctica shed an average of 40 billion tons of ice mass annually.

By the years 2009 to 2017, the ice loss had increased more than sixfold, to 252 billion tons per year.

Even more worrying, researchers found that areas that were once considered “stable and immune to change” in East Antarctica, are shedding quite a lot of ice, too, said the study.

“The Wilkes Land sector of East Antarctica has, overall, always been an important participant in the mass loss, even as far back as the 1980s, as our research has shown,” Rignot said.

“This region is probably more sensitive to climate than has traditionally been assumed, and that’s important to know, because it holds even more ice than West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula together.”

– Ice loss –

The total amount of ice in the Antarctic, if it all melted, would be enough to raise sea level 187 feet (57 meters).

By far, the most ice in Antarctica is concentrated in the east, where there is enough sea ice to drove 170 feet of sea level rise, compared to about 17 feet in the entire West Antarctic ice sheet.

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is the world’s largest, containing roughly half of Earth’s freshwater.

Until now, most research has shown that the majority of melting is happening in the West.

A landmark study published in Nature in June last year found that Antarctic ice melt had tripled since 1992, but did not show significant melting in the east.

However, a subsequent study published in Nature in September 2018 analyzed layers of sediment from the ocean floor deposited the last time the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, part of the Eastern Antarctic due south of Australia, melted around 125,000 years ago.

That study found the massive basin would start melting again, with a sustained temperature rise of just two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), the cap called for in the landmark Paris climate deal to avert runaway global warming.

The latest research shows that East Antarctic melting deserves “closer attention,” according to the PNAS report.

Warming ocean water will only speed up ice loss in the future, and experts say sea levels will continue to mount for centuries, no matter what human do now to rein in climate change.

Recent research has shown that oceans are heating up faster than previously thought, setting new heat records in the last few years.

Mayabunder (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) , Jan 17: An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck the Nicobar Islands region on Thursday morning.
“Earthquake of Magnitude:6.0, Occurred on:17-01-2019, 08:23:07 IST, Lat:7.6 N & Long: 94.5 E, Depth: 84 Km, Region:Nicobar Islands Region,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) tweeted.

No tsunami warning has been issued, and no casualties or injuries have been reported as of yet. There have been no reports of aftershocks either.

Jakarta : Indonesia has found the cockpit voice recorder from a Lion Air plane more than two months after the Boeing Co 737 MAX jet crashed into the sea near Jakarta, killing all 189 on board, an official said on Monday.

“It’s been found, but we have not received information of the location yet,” Haryo Satmiko, deputy chief of Indonesia’s transport safety committee (KNKT), said by text message.

The cockpit voice recorder is one of the two so-called black boxes crucial for the investigation of a plane crash.

New Delhi, Jan 18: The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned suspended Hardik Pandya and K L Rahul case till next week.

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) had mentioned before the court the comments made by duo on the chat show were in bad taste and sought directions on the appointment of an ombudsman to investigate into the issue.
The two players, in a phone conversation with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, expressed regret over their comments and Johri submitted the players’ explanations to the CoA on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, CoA, Chairman Vinod Rai said, “both players have expressed deep regret over their comments on the show and have apologised in the matter. They have said that they did it in their naivete. And they didn’t realise at the time what they had did.”
Rai, speaking before the court hearing, said that the next step would be determined by directions from the apex court.
The CoA has asked the court for directions on appointing an ombudsman, who is the BCCI’s final adjudicating authority under its constitution.
However, the BCCI never appointed a replacement once Justice AP Shah finished his term as the first ombudsman of the board in 2016.

The way humanity produces and eats food must radically change to avoid millions of deaths and “catastrophic” damage to the planet, according to a landmark study published Thursday.

The key to both goals is a dramatic shift in the global diet — roughly half as much sugar and red meat, and twice as many vegetables, fruits and nuts, a consortium of three dozen researchers concluded in The Lancet, a medical journal.

“We are in a catastrophic situation,” co-author Tim Lang, a professor at the University of London and policy lead for the EAT-Lancet Commission that compiled the 50-page study, told AFP.

Currently, nearly a billion people are hungry and another two billion are eating too much of the wrong foods, causing epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Unhealthy diets account for up to 11 million avoidable premature deaths every year, according to the most recent Global Disease Burden report.

At the same time the global food system is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the biggest driver of biodiversity loss, and the main cause of deadly algae blooms along coasts and inland waterways.

Agriculture — which has transformed nearly half the planet’s land surface — also uses up about 70 percent of the global fresh water supply.

“To have any chance of feeding 10 billion people in 2050 within planetary boundaries” — the limits on Earth’s capacity to absorb human activity — “we must adopt a healthy diet, slash food waste, and invest in technologies that reduce environmental impacts,” said co-author Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Impact Research.

“It is doable but it will take nothing less than global agricultural revolution,” he told AFP.

The cornerstone of “the great food transformation” called for in the study is a template human diet of about 2500 calories per day.

“We are not saying everyone has to eat in the same way,” Lang said by phone. “But broadly — especially in the rich world — it means a reduction of meat and dairy, and a major increase in plant consumption.”

The diet allows for about seven grammes (a quarter of an ounce) of red meat per day, and up to 14. A typical hamburger patty, by comparison, is 125 to 150 grammes.

For most rich nations, and many emerging ones such as China and Brazil, this would represent a drastic five-to-ten-fold reduction.

Beef is the main culprit.

Not only do cattle pass massive quantities of planet-warming methane, huge swathes of carbon-absorbing forests –- mostly in Brazil -– are cut down every year to make room for them.

“For climate, we know that coal is the low-hanging fruit, the dirtiest of fossil fuels,” said Rockstrom. “On the food side, the equivalent is grain-fed beef.”

It takes at least five kilos of grain to produce a kilo of meat.

And once that steak or lamb chop hits the plate, about 30 percent will wind up in the garbage bin.

Dairy is also limited to about one cup (250 grammes) of whole milk — or its equivalent in cheese or yoghurt — per day, and only one or two eggs per week.

At the same time, the diet calls for a more than 100 percent increase in legumes such as peas and lentils, along with vegetables, fruits and nuts.

Grains are considered to be less healthy sources of nutrients.

“We can no longer feed our population a healthy diet while balancing planetary resources,” said The Lancet editor-in-chief Richard Horton.

“For the first time in 200,000 years of human history, we are severely out of sync with the planet and Nature.”

The report drew heavy fire from the livestock and dairy industry, and some experts.

“It goes to the extreme to create maximum attention, but we must be more responsible when making serious dietary recommendation,” said Alexander Anton, secretary general of the European Dairy Association, noting that dairy products are “packed” with nutrients and vitamins.

Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London said the report “reveals the full agenda of nanny-state campaigners.”

“We expected these attacks,” said Lang. “But the same food companies pushing back against these findings realise that they may not have a future if they don’t adapt”, he said.

“The question is: does this come by crisis, or do we start planning for it now?”

Some multinationals responded positively, if cautiously, to the study.

“We need governments to help accelerate the change by aligning national dietary guidelines with healthy and sustainable requirements, and repurposing agricultural subsidies,” the World Business Council for Sustainable Development said in a statement.

Caraballeda, Venezuela : Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Sunday said that President Nicolas Maduro’s adversaries were “not afraid” even though he was briefly detained by intelligence agents, days after announcing he would be willing to replace the increasingly isolated president.

Guaido’s comments on Friday spurred some opposition sympathizers to conclude that he had declared himself interim president, and led several government officials to say he should be arrested for treason.

Intelligence agents on Sunday pulled him from his car on the way from the capital, Caracas, to the coastal town of Caraballeda, his wife and opposition legislators said.

He was released shortly thereafter, they said.

“I want to send a message to Miraflores – the game has changed,” said Guaido, 35, the head of the opposition-run congress, referring to the presidential palace, from a stage surrounded by cheering opposition sympathizers.

“Here we are! We are not afraid!”

The government said in a statement that it had identified four officers of the Sebin intelligence service who had acted in an “an irregular and unilateral manner” against Guaido as part of an “attempted media show.”

“The officials involved are being rigorously investigated, have been suspended from their posts and will be subjected to the most severe legal and disciplinary sanctions,” according to the statement read out on state television.

Guaido said the response was a sign that the government had lost control of its own security forces.

Asked whether he should be considered interim president, Guaido responded: “That has been clarified several times.”

Venezuela’s perennially fractured opposition has made numerous failed attempts over the past 20 years to remove the ruling socialists. Opposition leaders have called for a transition to a new government, but have not drawn up a clear plan for how to do so.

With a deal that took nearly two years to craft in tatters and her government’s future hanging in the balance, EU leaders sounded a note of exasperation, urging Britain to come out and say what it actually wants.

The government of Ireland — the only EU member state with a land border with Britain — said it would now intensify preparations to cope with a “disorderly Brexit”.

And German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, representing the EU’s most dominant economy and leading political voice, called the vote “a bitter day for Europe”.

– ‘Catastrophic’ defeat –

Most lawmakers have always opposed Brexit, as have some leading members of the government, creating a contradiction that has been tearing apart Britain ever since a June 2016 referendum began its divorce from the other 27 EU states.

Moments after Tuesday’s outcome, which was met with huge cheers by hundreds of anti-Brexit campaigners who watched the vote on big screens, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn submitted a motion of no-confidence in May’s government, calling her defeat “catastrophic”.

The vote is expected on Wednesday at 1900 GMT.

Lucknow, Jan 13 : Not averse to a post poll alliance with the SP-BSP led Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh to keep BJP out of the government, Congress on Sunday announced to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
“We would be thankful to any secular party in the country who will defeat BJP, but Congress is the only party, which can lead the campaign against BJP in the national prospect,” said Congress General Secretary and In-charge of Uttar Pradesh Gulam Nahi Azad here, after holding a meeting with the state senior leaders.

Though admitting that at first they wanted to be part of the Mahagathbandhan in UP, but when SP and BSP announced their own alliance, then ‘we are ready to contest the polls alone’.

 

 

Celebrations erupted outside the court and Gbagbo’s daughter said he planned an emotional homecoming to the Ivory Coast, after seven years in detention.

But prosecutors filed a last-ditch challenge late Wednesday to keep the pair behind bars while the ICC looks at an overall appeal against Tuesday’s decision to acquit them.

“Pending the decision of the appeals chamber on this prosecutor’s request… Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ble Goude shall remain in ICC custody,” an ICC spokesman said.

The Ivorian pair can themselves appeal by a deadline of 1100 GMT on Thursday.

Prosecutors say there is a risk that if released now, Gbagbo and Ble Goude will refuse to return to face justice if the court later decides to overturn their acquittal.

The court’s decision to clear the two men had come as a major blow to ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, as it was the latest in a series of failed cases against former African leaders.

Gbagbo and Ble Goude have been on trial since January 2016 over the bloodshed that gripped the former French colony after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to his bitter rival, and now president, Alassane Ouattara in a presidential vote.

Judges stopped the trial midway on Tuesday due to an “exceptionally weak” prosecution case, and earlier on Wednesday they rejected an initial bid by prosecutors to keep Gbagbo behind bars.

Gbagbo’s daughter Marie Laurence had said her father planned to return home after his release.

“We are so overwhelmed with joy, we are proud of Dad. He went through it with dignity,” she told reporters outside the ICC following the earlier decision.

“We think that it was for a cause and that the message was clear — an innocent standing for Africa. Justice prevailed, the truth came out,” she added.

“We assume that the plan is to go back to Ivory Coast. We don’t know how long it will take for all the paperwork.”

In Ivory Coast, however, Gbagbo still faces a 20-year jail term for “economic crimes” imposed by a local court last year.

“Any decision lies with him. We have no comment to make otherwise,” said government spokesman Sidi Tiemoko Toure when asked about a Gbagbo homecoming.

He added that the government “urges calm, forgiveness and reconciliation” and that Ouattara “and the government are thinking of the victims” of the crisis.

Gbagbo’s wife Simone, dubbed the Iron Lady, was granted an amnesty by Ouattara last August from a similar 20-year jail term.

Ivory Coast faces fresh elections in 2020 to elect a successor to Ouattara, who has said he will not stand for re-election after serving two five-year terms.

Gbagbo has been behind bars since 2011, when he was captured by Ouattara’s troops, aided by UN and French forces, and sent to The Hague.

Violence after the November 2010 election turned Abidjan into a war zone and destabilised the African economic powerhouse, the world’s largest cocoa-producing nation.

United Nations, Jan 17 : At least 890 villagers were reportedly killed in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo last month, following brutal inter-communal clashes, United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said.
Human rights reports suggest that the apparent massacre took place between 16 and 18 December in four villages in the Yumbi territory, Mai-Ndombe province, in what appear to have been clashes between the Banunu and Batende communities.
Most of the area’s population has reportedly been displaced, and voting in the December 30 presidential poll for the Yumbi area, was postponed due to violence and insecurity.
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, condemned the “shocking violence” and highlighted the importance of “investigating and bringing the perpetrators to justice”.
Bachelet added that it was essential to “ensure justice for the victims of these horrific attacks, but also to prevent new episodes of intercommunal strife, and to address the anger and feelings of gross injustice that may otherwise lead to repeated cycles of violence between communities.”
At least 82 people were also injured in the attacks, according to the “credible” reports received by OHCHR and some 465 houses and buildings were burned down or pillaged, including two primary schools, a health centre, a health facility, a market, and the local office of the independent electoral commission, known by its French acronym, CENI.
Both the OHCHR and national judicial authorities, have launched investigations into the reported attacks.
At the beginning of January the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR reported that 16,000 people from DRC had arrived in neighbouring Republic of the Congo – also known as Congo-Brazzaville – after fleeing deadly intercommunal clashes.
According to UNHCR, this represents the largest influx of refugees in over a decade, since 130,000 people were forced to seek shelter amid ethnic clashes in DRC’s former Equator Province, in 2009.

New Delhi , Jan 17 : The government on Thursday “curtailed” with immediate effect the tenure of Special Director of CBI Rakesh Asthana and three other officers of the investigative agency.
The action by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) came a day after Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, moved an application in the Delhi High Court seeking some corrections in the recent judgement.
The Delhi High Court had January 11 dismissed a plea filed by Asthana, seeking quashing of an FIR against him in a bribery case.
The single judge bench of the High Court refused to grant interim protection to him but Justice Najmi Waziri asked the CBI to maintain the status quo for two weeks.
The High Court had directed the CBI to conclude investigation against Asthana within 10 weeks.
According to a government order, the ACC also “curtailed” the tenure of CBI Joint Director Arun Kumar Sharma, a 1987-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, CBI DIG Manish Kumar Sinha, a 2000-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, and SP Jayant J Naiknavare, a 2004-batch IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre.

New Delhi, Jan 14 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a plea challenging the notification authorising 10 central agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any computer system and sought a response within six weeks.

The PIL challenging the government’s December 20 notification came up before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

According to the notification, 10 central probe and snoop agencies are empowered under the Information Technology (IT) Act for computer interception and analysis, Home Ministry officials said.

The 10 agencies notified under the new order are the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (for Income Tax Department), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in service areas of J-K, North East and Assam) and Delhi Police commissioner.

The plea, filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, termed the notification “illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires to the law”.

He also sought to prohibit the agencies from initiating any criminal proceedings, enquiry or investigation against anybody under the provisions of the IT Act based on the notification.

The petition alleged that the notification gives the state the right to access every communication, computer and mobile and “to use it to protect political interest and object of the present executive political party”.

The government’s move set off a political storm with the opposition accusing the Centre of trying to create a “surveillance state”.

However, the Central government said the rules for intercepting and monitoring computer data were framed in 2009 when the Congress-led UPA was in power and its new order only notified the designated authority which can carry out such action.

London: British Prime Minister Theresa May and senior cabinet ministers are engaged in intensive discussions with MPs from all sides of the Brexit debate, as May fights to find a deal that could command support in parliament.

But opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his front bench have continued to snub the talks, which Corbyn dismissed as a “stunt”.

In a speech in the marginal Conservative constituency of Hastings, Corbyn called on May to ditch her negotiation red lines and take the prospect of a no-deal Brexit off the table.

“She seems to be prepared to send the country hurtling towards a cliff edge,” he said on Thursday.

“To get a deal that can command a majority in parliament, Theresa May has to ditch the red lines and get serious about proposals for the future.”

But Liberal Democrats accused the Labour leader of “playing political games” and said he could no longer rely on their support in future no-confidence votes, after he failed to throw his party behind calls for a second EU referendum.

A new opinion poll showed a 12-point lead for staying in the EU if a fresh referendum was held.

The YouGov survey for the People’s Vote campaign, conducted after May’s Brexit plan went down to a humiliating defeat in the House of Commons on Tuesday, put Remain on 56 per cent against 44 per cent for Leave.

After seeing off a vote of no-confidence in her government on Wednesday, May invited the other party leaders for individual talks to find a way forward on Brexit.

But she told the House of Commons she was holding to the “principles” behind the withdrawal agreement that was roundly rejected by MPs on Tuesday, including control of borders, laws and money and an independent trade policy.

The British parliament will debate and vote on May’s “plan B” on January 29.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier indicated that Brussels was ready to respond to any revision of May’s “red line” demands, telling MPs in Portugal, “if they change, we’ll change”.

Barnier said getting an agreement was “in everybody’s interest” and that “something has to change” to secure a divorce deal.

Labour’s former prime minister Tony Blair said Corbyn was wrong to snub the talks.

“If, in a moment of national crisis, the prime minister asks the leader of the opposition to come and talk, of course he should,” Blair told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

And Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis accused Labour of “trying to frustrate and avoid Brexit” by keeping open the option of a referendum.

May has said that “the door remains open” to Labour for talks ahead of the deadline for her to present her plan B to MPs on Monday.

Kolkata, Jan 17 : The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO)
has written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging expulsion of the two nursing
students and three others of the state-run Nil Ratan Sircar Medical college, accused of
ruthlessly killing 16 puppies.
The dead puppies were found in the trash bin at the medical college campus last
Sunday. Post mortem report revealed that the puppies died due to severe liver and
nervous system injuries inflicted on them by iron rods.
Later, video footage of the horrific incident showed two 1st year nursing students,
identified as Moutusi Mondol and Soma Burman, bludgeoning the puppies, while
keeping their mother leashed at the spot. The two along with three other of the college
had continued with their cruelty even as onlookers pleaded for mercy.
“We appeal to you to disbar these students from the college and the medical profession
as they have shattered the sanctity of a noble profession which is known for ‘Saving Lives’
and the way they have planned and killed these innocent pups, they are not even an inch
close to get associated with this profession,” FIAPO stated in its letter.
In the letter, FIAPO expressed concern that the guilty may be able to leverage the weak
laws in place and escape conviction as the laws protecting animals are weak.
“Frequently, we come across incidents where the plight of these innocent victims go
unnoticed,” the letter said, pointing out the “non-credible” laws that allowed blatant
victimisation of animals.
On Monday, just a day after the 16 dead pups were found, another video of brutal
killing, in the same location, of another puppy surfaced, proving the inhuman act had
continued unabated.
The animal activist organisations requested the chief minister to organise workshops
“in order to sensitise the police department of the state regarding the laws protecting
the animals, including but not limiting to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960
as well as the Indian Penal Code”, as in most cases the police overlooked such criminal
activities and the culprits faced consequences only after public outcry.

His top diplomat Mike Pompeo is on a whirlwind regional tour aimed at reassuring allies amid rising tensions between the US and Turkey over the fate of Washington’s Syrian Kurdish allies in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Pompeo also sought to reassure Washington’s Kurdish allies in the fight against IS, who fear the departure of American troops would allow Turkey to attack them.

Turkey had reacted angrily to suggestions that Trump’s plan to withdraw troops was conditional on the safety of the US-backed Kurdish fighters, seen by the Turkish government as terrorists.

 

Trump did not detail who would create, enforce or pay for the safe zone, or where it would be located.

US-led operations against IS in Syria have been spearheaded on the ground by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Ankara sees the backbone of that alliance, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

On Saturday, more than 600 people were evacuated from the remaining IS holdout in eastern Syria, a monitor said, as US-backed fighters prepare for a final assault on the area.

 

New Delhi: India opposition politicians and media called for a colonial-era sedition law to be scrapped on Wednesday, accusing authorities of trying to suppress dissent after it was invoked against students marking the execution of a Kashmiri militant.

Police used the 1870 law against 10 people for the 2016 rally at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University where police say anti-India posters were raised.

The students denied the allegations and critics said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was trying to curb free speech and pander to his Hindu nationalist base ahead of his re-election bid in a few months.

“There is no need for a sedition law in today’s times, it is a colonial law,” said Kapil Sibal, a senior leader of the main opposition Congress party.

“Many who merely speak or tweet against the government have sedition charges imposed against them; it is being misused by the centre just to keep citizens in check.”

Kanhaiya Kumar, the student leader, attended the rally questioning the execution of the Kashmiri separatist convicted of an attack on parliament in 2001, but his lawyers said he rejected the use of violence and made no incendiary comments.

Instead, his supporters said he criticised a right-wing student fraternity and a Hindu-nationalist umbrella group to which Modi’s ruling party belongs.

“The fact that the charges are being made three years after the alleged use of “anti-national slogans” by JNU students in February 2016, and on the eve of the general elections, suggests that their motive is political,” Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation, wrote in Mail Today.

“Now MPs have made clear what they don’t want, we must all work constructively together to set out what parliament does want,” May said in a televised evening address to the nation.

On Tuesday, MPs dealt the prime minister the heaviest drubbing in modern British political history by rejecting the divorce agreement by a stunning 432 votes to 202.

But May emerged victorious on Wednesday night in a confidence vote triggered by the opposition Labour party, the first for 26 years, winning 325 votes to 306.

She set out a schedule of cross-party talks that began immediately with meetings with the Scottish nationalist, Welsh nationalist and the pro-EU Liberal Democrat leaders.

“We must find solutions that are negotiable and command sufficient support in this House,” she had told earlier told parliament.

However, opposition leaders set out a list of demands for cooperating, including discussing delaying Brexit beyond March 29, and ruling out the possibility that Britain crashes out without any deal at all.

New Delhi, Jan 17 : The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Thursday slammed German auto major Volkswagen for not depositing Rs 100 crore in accordance with its November 16, 2018 order and directed it to submit the amount within 24 hours.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel took strong exception to the non-compliance of its order by the automobile giant and asked it to give an undertaking that it will submit the amount by 5 PM Friday.

“Why have you not complied with our order when there is no stay. We will not give you any further time,” the bench, also comprising Justice S P Wangdi, said while asking Volkswagen to submit an affidavit of compliance after deposit.

The tribunal deferred the matter for hearing after it was informed that the Supreme Court is also seized of the issue.

On November 16 last year, the tribunal had said that the use of ‘cheat device’ by Volkswagen in diesel cars in India leads to inference of environmental damage and had asked the German auto major to deposit an interim amount of Rs 100 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Almost a year after conservationists sent out a plea to help save a species of Bolivian aquatic frog by finding a mate for the last remaining member, Romeo, his very own Juliet has been tracked down deep inside a cloud forest.

Not only did the wildlife conservation team return with a potential mate for Romeo, who had been 10 years a bachelor, but also another four members of the Sehuencas water frog species, boosting hopes to save the tiny amphibians from extinction.

After previous failed expeditions to the same area over the last decade, a joint expedition between Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) and the Alcide d’Orbigny Natural History museum finally scored a success in the Bolivian wilderness.

And the good news came about after securing funding following a Valentine’s Day appeal last year to help find Romeo his Juliet.

“It is an incredible feeling to know that thanks to everyone who believes in true love and donated for Valentine’s Day last year, we have already found a mate for Romeo and can establish a conservation breeding program with more than a single pair,” said Teresa Camacho, the museum’s chief of herpetology and the expedition leader.

Romeo had been found in that same cloud forest a decade ago and it was feared that he was the last survivor in his species.

With a lifespan of 15 years, time was running out to find Romeo a mate to ensure the survival of the species, although the frog himself never gave up hope, continuing to call out for a mate during his 10 years in captivity.

“With this knowledge we can develop strategies to mitigate the threats to the species’ habitat, while working on a long-term plan to return Romeo’s future babies to their wild home, preventing the extinction of the Sehuencas water frog.”

The group of frogs has been placed in quarantine at the museum’s K’ayra Center for Research and Conservation of Threatened Amphibians of Bolivia to help them acclimate to an environment that replicates the conditions they would face in the wild.

“They will also be treated for the deadly infectious disease chytridiomycosis, which is partly responsible for the steep decline of this species and other amphibians in streams where they were once found,” said GWC.

Only then will Romeo meet his Juliet.

The priority now is to ensure that Juliet, who measures 55 millimeters (2.2 inches), makes a good impression on her beau, who is brown with dark spots and slightly larger at 62 millimeters.

Reproduction is the primary goal, but Camacho says the team is in no hurry.

“We hope it will be love at first sight, but if that doesn’t happen, we’ll eat ice cream, watch ‘The Notebook,’ and try again!”

– ‘There is always a risk’ –

Either way, the conservationists couldn’t simply sit back and do nothing, said GWC’s Central America and Tropical Andes coordinator Chris Jordan.

“There is always risk in bringing animals in from the wild to build an insurance population, and it isn’t a step that should be taken lightly,” he said.

“But at this point, it seems there are too few water frogs in the wild for them to retain a viable population over the long-term, so there’s a greater risk if we don’t do anything.”

Given the success of last year’s Valentine’s Day appeal, when $25,000 was raised to help fund expeditions into the forests, conservationists have decided to make February 14 the day of Romeo’s blind date with Juliet.

The money allowed the researchers to organize eight expeditions of between one week and 10 days to the area where Juliet was found. Four of those have now been completed, while the remaining expeditions will branch out into other areas.

GWC says the Sehuencas frog, which is completely aquatic, was once found in abundance at the bottom of small streams and rivers or in ponds deep inside mountain forests.

A combination of climate change, habitat destruction, contamination, chytridiomycosis and the introduction of invasive trout provoked the abrupt demise of many aquatic frog species in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

New Delhi, Jan 15: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assured a delegation of Assam for protecting the cultural, linguistic identity and heritage of all North East states including Assam, an official release of the Home Ministry said here on Monday.
The delegation led by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, senior Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other leaders of the state called on Mr Singh on Saturday to discuss the issues related to safeguards for preserving the cultural and linguistic identity and heritage of Assam and implementation of Clause-6 of the Assam Accord and issues related to grant of tribal status to six communities.
“A meeting of all Chief Ministers of North Eastern States will be convened soon to discuss about the safeguards that need to be provided for protecting the interests of these States and protecting their cultural and linguistic identity”, the Home Minister assured the delegation.
He also said that while introducing the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on January 8, he had made it abundantly clear that the Bill is not meant for the individuals belonging to six minorities who have come from one particular country. It is also not meant for individuals who are living in one particular State.
“It is a fact that Assam has borne the disproportionate burden of migration due to religious persecution in our neighbouring countries and therefore, Assam should not bear this burden alone. It is the responsibility of the entire country and the burden should also be shared by the entire country”,Mr Singh said.
Explaining the Government’s stand on Citizenship Act he said “We are committed to helping the persons belonging to six minority communities, who have been compelled to come to India because of religious persecution in the three neighbouring countries.Those who qualify for citizenship under the amended Citizenship Act would be free to reside and settle in any State”.
The Union Home Minister said the Government will also expect the recommendations of the High Powered Committee which has been set up to suggest measures for implementation of the Clause-6 of the Assam Accord. .
The action taken by the Government to set up this High Level Committee is a landmark step in the direction of preserving the cultural, linguistic identity of Assam, Mr Singh said
Many representatives of the Bodo groups including the Bodoland Territorial Council chief Hagrama Muhilary, Minister in State government Chandan Brahma, and MP Biswajit Daimary also met the Home Minister over the weekend and discussed the various outstanding demands of Bodo community.
He assured the Bodo leaders that this decision will be implemented only after ensuring that the political and employment related privileges and rights of the existing tribes in Assam are fully protected. Necessary modalities for this will be worked out by the State Governments in consultation with all the stakeholders, he added.

New Delhi/ Kolkata, Jan 16 : Indian mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta on Wednesday created a new world record by becoming the youngest in the world to complete both seven summits and seven volcanic summits.
He achieved the feat when he scaled Mt Sidley in Antarctica. Not only the youngest, Satyarup, a Bengali, also the first Indian to complete seven summits along with seven volcanic summits.
‘ Fluttered the India flag at Sidley what a proud moment,’ Satyarup tweeted.
Siddhanta has surpassed Australian mountaineer Daniel Bull who earlier made a record at the age of 36 years, 157 days.
Being a person with an asthmatic ailment, it was never easy for Siddhanta to scale the mountains or outperform in sports.
Though he made his will power very strong but the biggest challenge that he faced was arranging the fund for such expensive expeditions.
Despite facing so many difficulties, he kept going. He even resorted to crowdfunding, took personal loans and auctioned his summit mementos to make his dream come true.
During the process of scaling the last Mt Sidley mountain, he faced many biggest challenges such as unpredictable wind which is infamous for hurricanic effect and even minus 40-degree Celsius.
The summits scaled by Satyarup are Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt Elbrus (Europe), Mt Aconcagua (South America) , Mt Denali (North America), Mt Mont Blanc (Western Europe), Mt Kosciuszko (Australia), Mt Everest (Asia), Mt Carstenz (Oceania) and Mt Vinson Massif (Antarctica).

The seven volcanic summits which he has scaled are Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt. Elbrus (Europe), Mt. Ojos Del Salado (South America), Mt. Damavand (Asia), Mt. Giluwe (Oceania), Mount Pico de Orizaba (North America) and Mount Sidley (Antarctica).