01.05.2009

Politics & the Nation
  • Should we say happy Labour Day?
    • This is a gentle reminder about today i.e., May Day.  May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world.  This is the 127th commemoration of the day.
  • Supreme Court refuses to shift post-Godhra riot cases out of Gujarat
    • The Supreme Court has rejected the plea for shifting the hearing of Gujarat riots case outside the state and has also ordered setting up of fast track courts for holding day-to-day trial.
    • Further it has ordered for setting up designated courts in Ahmedabad, Anand, Sabarkanta, Mehsana and Gulbarga districts.
    • You might already be knowing that a SIT (Special Investigation Team) headed by former CBI Director R K Raghavan is doing the investigation work relating to the cases.
  • Government's preparedness for facing swine flu
    • The ministry of health and family welfare will stockpile 10 million doses of anti-viral tablet ‘oseltamavir’ in the next seven days as a precautionary measure against a possible outbreak of swine flu, which has been officially reported in 11 countries so far. 
    • The medicine will be stocked in different locations across the country to ensure a quick response to any emergency situation.
Geography
  • Barmer district of Rajasthan, bordering Pakistan, is bigger than Kerala.
International
  • A curious way to express protest at things going awry
    • Kenya has a troubled present.
    • Relations between Kenya's coalition partners, led by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have become increasingly acrimonious.   
    • Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga agreed to share power last year to end post-election violence, which had left some 1,500 people dead and forced 300,000 from their homes.
    • But the deal has soured with the premier's party claiming he has been sidelined and protesting over everything from electoral reform to the lack of a toilet for Mr Odinga during one recent official visit.
    • It looks as though that many in Kenya are fed up with their squabbles.  So Kenyan women have come up with a unique way of forcing their squabbling coalition leaders to patch up in the interest of Kenya.  The tool they use is -- sex ban.  It is believed that Kenyan men cannot abstain from sex even for two days.
    • Therefore, Women's activist groups in Kenya have slapped their partners with a week-long sex ban in protest over the infighting plaguing the national unity government.  The campaigners are asking the wives of the Kenyan president and the prime minister to join in the embargo.
  • Chrysler files for bankruptcy protection
Language lessons
  • clamber: verb
    • Climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

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