12 December 2013

Ø  In a major setback to gay rights activists, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held that homosexuality or unnatural sex between two consenting adults under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is illegal and will continue to be an offence. This provision did not suffer from any constitutional infirmity.  the competent legislature shall be free to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 from the statute book or amend it as per the suggestion made by Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati.

Ø  Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s scheduled address to Parliament on Friday has been cancelled. Mr. Karzai was scheduled to deliver the prestigious Hiren Mukherjee memorial lecture in the Central Hall of Parliament on “Afghanistan’s experience in constitutionalism and democracy: Lesson we take from India.” he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to discuss Afghanistan’s security and economic requirements in the face of drawdown by western security forces. He will leave for Pune on Saturday and interact with businessmen. On Sunday, he will address an international relations meet at Symbiosis International University.

Ø  Though consumption of marijuana is allowed in some countries, Uruguay has become the first country in the world to allow its citizens to grow and sell it. The law would also allow Uruguayan citizens to grow up to six plants of marijuana in their homes a year and set up smoking clubs of 15 to 45 members that could grow up to 99 plants every year.

Ø  Pope Francis has been named Person of the Year 2013 by TIME magazine for changing the perception of the Catholic Church within just nine months in office.

Ø  Reinstating its earlier decision, a court in Pune on Wednesday awarded the death penalty to dismissed State transport driver Santosh Mane for killing nine people and injuring 37 others, as he sped through the city’s streets last year in a hijacked bus.

Ø  Justice (retired) D.P. Buch took oath on Wednesday here as the Lokayukta of Gujarat after the post remained vacant as much as a decade.

Ø  Lal Thanhawla was unanimously re-elected leader of the Mizoram Congress Legislature Party by the newly elected MLAs of the ruling party on Wednesday. He will be sworn in as Chief Minister, for a record fifth term

Ø  the Bill on Telangana has been sent to the Home Ministry without specifying any time frame within which he expects the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to return it to him. Sources say the Union government desires that the Assembly communicate its views to the President within a period of six weeks. There are speculations suggesting that the Assembly would have to get back within 40 days though no one in the President’s office or the Centre could confirm it.