France bans fracking: French senators voted to outlaw hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, making France the first country to pass a law banning the technique for extracting natural gas and oil. Energy companies that plan to use fracking to produce oil and gas in France will have their permits revoked and its use could lead to fines and prison, according to the law. Fracking, widely used in North America, uses a mixture of water, sand and chemicals injected under high pressure to break dense rock to release trapped oil and gas. Green groups and politicians led protests across France, saying the method could cause environmental damage. Government ministers and industry representatives say it is the only method currently available to extract hydrocarbons from the rock.
Thaksin's sister steers party to Landslide win: Thailand’s opposition won a landslide election victory, led by the sister of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a triumph for red-shirt protesters who clashed with the army last year.
UN: 320 less poor in India, China by 2015: As many as 320 million people in India and China may come out of extreme poverty in the next four years, while India's poverty rate is projected to drop to 22%, says a UN report. In South Asia, however, only India, where the poverty rate is projected to fall from 51% in 1990 to about 22% in 2015,is on track to cut poverty in half by the 2015 target date, the report said. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals report, however, suggested that even though progress has been made in reducing poverty, South Asia continues to lag behind in terms of nutrition, sanitation and gender equality.
Rice diplomacy with Bangladesh: India had promised to supply rice at price lower than international prices. An Empowered Group of Ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukerjee decided to export three lakh tonnes of non basmati rice to Bangladesh at a price of Rs 20,000 for a tonne. The EGoM decided to allocate eight lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice for diplomatic purposes. It means the rice will be exported to countries at less than international price as a goodwill gesture, said a senior government official. This also means lifting of a ban of export of rice, which was imposed in April 2008 when domestic prices of food started to increase because of high inflation.
Constitutional amendments in Bangladesh: The Bangladesh Parliament has passed a crucial amendment to the Constitution, scrapping the caretaker government system for holding polls and restoring secularism but retaining Islam as the state religion. Under the caretaker system, introduced in 1996, general elections are overseen by non-partisan caretaker governments. The Constitution (15th Amendment) Bill, 2011 also brings in some other fundamental changes in the context of the liberation war against Pakistan, bringing back some principles which were deleted during military-rule. The Constitution now also acknowledges the country's Independence War hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Father of The Nation.