40kg of plastic found in dead whale’s stomach in Philippines

Daniel Victor

Times of India 19.03.2019

A beached whale found in the Philippines on Saturday died with 40 kg of plastic trash inside its body, an unusually large amount even by the grim standards of what is a common threat to marine wildlife. The 499kg whale, measuring 15 feet long, was found in the town of Mabini with more than 18kg of plastic bags inside its stomach, along with a variety of other disposable plastic products. Darrell Blatchley, owner of the D’Bone Collector Museum in Davao City, was attended a necropsy on the whale and called it the worst collection of plastic inside an animal he had ever seen.

“The plastic in some areas was so compact it was almost becoming calcified, almost like a solid brick,” said Blatchley, who has seen other marine mammal post-mortems. “It had been there for so long it had started to compact.” Ingesting plastic gives whales a false sensation of fullness without providing any of the nutrients they need. It leads to reduced weight, energy and swimming speed, making them more vulnerable to predators. They have no way of digesting or expelling the plastic.

The whale’s grisly death brought renewed focus to the worldwide problem of plastics ending up in oceans; a 2015 study estimated that five million to 13 million metric tonnes of plastic waste pollute oceans each year. Philippines is world’s third-biggest contributor of plastic to oceans behind China and Indonesia. NYT NEWS SERVICE

Flyer from Malaysia held in embryo-smuggling racket

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai  19.03.2019

: A man from Malaysia carrying a human embryo in a specialized nitrogen-packed canister was arrested on Friday, blowing the lid off a racket involving smuggling of frozen embryos into the country by an infertility clinic.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials, who made the arrest, said the embryo was to be delivered to the Indo Nippon IVF clinic on Turner Road, Bandra (West). They suspect the embryos were meant to be transplanted into the womb of Indian surrogates, as the process could be much cheaper in India. Rules on assisted reproduction are nebulous, but import of embryo is banned except for research and, that too, only after obtaining a noobjection from the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The arrested man, Partiban Durai, worked for a commission and, officials said, he has admitted to making 10 such trips to the Bandra clinic in the last 18 months. He would arrive in the morning with the package and leave by an evening flight.

Goral Gandhi, co-founder and scientific director of Indo Nippon, moved the Bombay high court on Monday after receiving summons from the DRI. Lawyer Sujay Kantawala, appearing for her, told the court that she is a “renowned embryologist. She has her own IVF clinic”. He denied allegations that the frozen embryos were for her clinic. DRI counsel Rebecca Gonsalves countered that they found text messages on Durai’s mobile phone indicating the clinic as the place of delivery. The HC bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre posted the matter to April 3 and in an interim relief, restrained the agencies from arresting her. Gandhi has been directed to be present at the DRI office at 10am on Friday.

India has been a favoured destination for foreigners seeking infertility treatment because of cheap treatment as well as inadequate regulation. The decade-old guidelines for the Assisted Reproductive Technology haven’t yet been made into a law. Piecemeal legislation exists, such as the ban on import of embryo except for research purposes.

DRI is in the process of finding out whether the clinic had already identified a surrogate for the new embryo or planned to sell it to some other clinics or doctors.

NOT A VIOLATION OF MODEL CODE

Poll panel gives clean chit to Stella Maris for Rahul event

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:19.03.2019

Chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Monday said the Election Commission has given a clean chit to Stella Maris College in Chennai for inviting Congress president Rahul Gandhi on March 12 for an interaction with students even when the model code of conduct was in force.

“The district election officer has given a report to the chief electoral office stating that the college had received proper permission before inviting Rahul Gandhi to the college. The report clearly mentions the college has not violated any model code,” said Sahoo.

Three days after Rahul’s visit to the college, the CEO had sought a report from the Chennai district election officer based on a complaint by the legal wing of the state BJP. The state directorate of collegiate education too had sought a report on the conduct of a ‘political event’ at Stella Maris college when the model code of conduct was in place.

Soon after Rahul addressed college students and replied to their questions on various issues, videos of the interaction went viral. Several state BJP leaders have been criticising Rahul’s interactive session with students. The director of collegiate education R Sarumathi directed the Chennai regional director to conduct an inquiry.

BJP youth wing president Vinoj P Selvam filed a complaint with the CEO against the Congress leader for using the premises of an educational institution. He accused Rahul of using the platform to level accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

No seat, AIADMK ex-minister offers support to DMK

D Govardan & Shanmughasundaram J TNN

Chennai: 19.03.2019

: In a first sign of revolt in AIADMK, miffed over seat denial in the party, Raja Kannappan on Monday extended support to the DMK alliance in the state. Even though, he did not resign from the party nor joined the DMK, Kannappan called on DMK president M K Stalin on Monday evening and offered to work for the victory of DMK alliance in the state.

“The present AIADMK leadership has totally surrendered the party to the BJP, which is dictating terms. How can a ruling party give away 10 out of 12 Lok Sabha seats to allies, including four to BJP alone, in the southern region, while retaining most of seats in western belt,” Kannappan asked.

A former AIADMK minister for PWD, power and highways in J Jayalalithaa’s cabinet (1991-96), Kannappan, floated an Yadava-dominant Makkal Tamil Desam party in 2000. He returned to AIADMK in 2009 and Jayalalithaa pitted him against P Chidambaram in Sivaganga constituency, the same year. While Chidambaram emerged the winner, the result remained shrouded under a cloud.

With the revolt of Kannappan, whose Yadava community’s presence is spread across a few districts in south, the ruling AIADMK could take a hit. Already, another prominent leader of the community, T Devanathan Yadav was expected to be accommodated in the AIADMK – BJP alliance, but could not make it.

There are a few more in the party, who are upset. V Maitreyan, AIADMK Rajya Sabha member, whose term ends in July, had submitted application with the party for either contesting from south Chennai Lok Sabha seat or Thiruporur assembly bypoll. It was overlooked by the party.

AIADMK party functionaries in Tiruvannamalai district too expressed their strong protest over the party nominating Agri S S Krishnamoorthy and sitting MP V Elumalai for Tiruvannamalai and Arni constituencies. “Amma (Jayalalithaa) removed him from the party and the present leadership brought him back to the party, which did not go well with party cadres,” an AIADMK functionary said.

“The present AIADMK leadership has totally surrendered the party to the BJP, which is dictating terms

RAJA KANNAPPAN

FORMER MINISTER

Salon owner Kumaravel resigns from Kamal’s MNM

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:19.03.2019

C K Kumaravel, promoter of Naturals’ beauty salon chain, on Monday resigned from actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), alleging lack of transparency in its functioning.

However, in a statement, MNM said Kumaravel had to leave the party for violating party principles.

Kumaravel, who was a member of the party’s executive committee, was expected to be fielded by the MNM in the Cuddalore Lok Sabha constituency in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. But even before the party formally announced the decision, he wrote in social media posts that he was contesting from Cuddalore, the party said. The process of interviewing candidates is still on. He did not attend the interview and when queried, his response for not attending was not convincing, the party said in a statement.

“The quantum of internal politics and management committee’s attitude to inner party democracy has led me to this decision,” Kumaravel wrote in his letter to party president Kamal Haasan, on is decision to resign from the membership of the party as well as from its executive committee. “Based on the assurance that I will be fielded from Cuddalore, I had started the ground work” he later explained in his social media posts.

Pollachi sexual assault case: Accused lodged in prison

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore:19.03.2019

Accused in the Pollachi sexual harassment case P Thirunavukkarasu, 26, was produced by the CB-CID police before the chief judicial magistrate S Nagarajan at his residence at 8pm on Monday, following which he was lodged in the Coimbatore central prison. The plan to produce him at the magistrate’s house was kept under wraps fearing an attack on him by the public. Police had to defer their plans twice in the past to produce him in court as people had started gathering on the court premises to gherao him.

Last week, the CJM court had granted four-day custody of Thirunavukkarasu to the investigation agency. He was kept at the office of the CB-CID where he was questioned by superintendent of police Nisha Parthiban and other officials.

“We cannot reveal the police custody details. He has given some information during the interrogation and everything was handed over to the court. It’s a sensitive issue and we cannot talk about the developments to the media,” said a CBCID officer.

A police officer said there was so much anger all round and they were worried the accused persons would be attacked if they were produced before the court. “If we get custody of Sabari Rajan, Vasanthakumar and Sathish (other accused), they too will be produced before the court through video conferencing,” said the officer.

In the meantime, CB-CID police are discussing with legal authorities custody of the trio. If the lower court denies police custody of the three, the investigation agency plans to approach the Madras high court. Otherwise, police will have to get a new complaint from another victim to register a fresh FIR. Only then, the investigation agency will get police custody.

“Only if we get custody of the trio, we can dig out more evidence,” said a CB-CID source.

Coimbatore city based advocate R Kalairasu told TOI that the first FIR was registered by the Pollachi East police and it was transferred to the CB-CID. But the CB-CID registered a new FIR. If the case goes to the CBI, the investigation agency too will register a new FIR. The case is one, but the FIRs will be three. So, it would affect the case and it will favour the accused.

Nakkheeran editor seeks advance bail

Chennai:

Tamil fortnightly magazine Nakkheeran’s editor R Gopal has moved the Madras high court seeking anticipatory bail fearing arrest by the cybercrime police in connection with the videos released on Pollachi sexual abuse case. According to Gopal, based on a complaint made by TN deputy speaker Pollachi Jayaraman, the cybercrime police has registered an FIR against him for offences under sections 153, 153(A), 505 and 469 of the Indian Penal Code, and section 66 of the Information Technology Act. Alleging that foisting such a case against him was nothing but blatant misuse of power by the complainant, Gopal said, “The mala fide intention of the complainant is to scare media from publishing any evidence in connection with the case.” TNN

9,000 apply online for PG med seats in state

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:19.03.2019

At least 9,000 applications have been filed online by PG medical aspirants in the state over the last week. The filled-in form was submitted online along with online fee payment. However, the selection committee has asked candidates to also send the application by post with copies of service certificates and other documents for verification.

“We wanted to take the process entirely online. But we will not be able to verify all certificates online,” said selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan. On March 11, the state uploaded the prospectus for counselling of post-graduate medical and dental admissions 2019. “The decision on online counselling will be taken after at least one round of mock counselling. It can happen only after the rank list is released,” Selvarajan said. The state selection committee will hold the first round of counselling soon after the Directorate General of Health Services completes its first round for the all-India quota. Forms can be accessed on www.tnhealth.org and www. tnmedicalselection.org. The deadline for online submission is 5pm on March

20. The department will receive postal copies till March

22. The tentative date for declaring the rank list is April 3. Counselling dates have not been announced but courses will commence by May 1 and admissions will be closed by May 31, officials said.