Researchers have discovered the world’s first hybrid sharks in Australian waters, indicating that animals are adapting to climate change for survival.

Leading researchers in marine biology have come across 57 animals along a 2,000-km stretch from Queensland to New South Wales which they believe are the result of cross-breeding between the common blacktip shark and Australian blacktip shark, two related but genetically distinct species.

The inter-breeding between the two species shows that the animals are adapting to climate change and the hybridisation can make the fishes stronger, the scientists said.

“Hybridisation can enable sharks to adapt to ecological change as the smaller Australian blacktip currently favours tropical waters in the north while the larger common blacktip is more abundant in sub-tropical and temperate waters along the south-eastern Australian coastline,” Jennifer Ovenden of Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

“Wild hybrids are usually hard to find, so detecting them and their offspring is extraordinary. To find 57 hybrids along 2000-km of coastline is unprecedented,” she said.

Another researcher at the University of Queensland researcher, Jess Morgan, said it was unusual for sharks to breed in such a way.

She said as sharks physically mate, it makes sure they do not hybridise with the wrong species.

The find was made during cataloguing work off Australia’s east coast when genetic testing showed certain sharks to be one species when physically they looked to be another.

Colin Simpfendorfer of James Cook University’s Fishing and Fisheries Research Centre, said the results of this research show that we still have a lot to learn about these important ocean predators.

India and Japan agreed to enhance their cooperation in the infrastructure sector. The decision was taken at a meeting between Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi and his Japnese counterpart Takeshi Maeda in New Delhi on 12 January 2012.

The two countries are in the concluding phase of finalising a Memorandum of Cooperation to exchange technical knowledge and expertise in the Road Transportation and Highways sector including capacity building and advanced technology for road transport management system as well as intelligent transport system.

The Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDF) scheme has been launched to reach out to talented young professionals willing to be part of a larger change. After selection, these professionals will work in districts where the Central government is implementing Integrated Action Plan to deal with left wing extremists. They will support the district administration in providing socio-economic situation analysis, identifying critical gaps in development programmes.

Why This Kolaveri Di (Tamil: வொய் திஸ் கொலவெறி டி, Voy Tis Kolaveṟi Ṭi ^?; English: Why This Murderous Rage, Girl?  is an Indian song from the soundtrack of the upcoming Tamil film 3, which is due to be released in 2012. Written and sung by actor Dhanush, the song was composed by music director Anirudh Ravichander.

A downtempo dance gaana-ballad song, “Why This Kolaveri Di” has been described as “genre bending” by critics, built around an ancient South Indian folk rhythm. Its instrumentation consists of nadaswaram, shehnai, saxophone, urumee and thavil drums, acoustic guitar and keyboards mixed with electronic synths and scratches. The vocals utilize the singing style of Tamil folk culture. Lyrically, the song revolves around the film’s main protagonist being dumped by his girlfriend; the song is sung by the character in a drunken state, with many of the lines nonsensical.

The song was officially released on 16 November 2011, and it instantly became viral on social networking sites for its quirky “Tanglish” (portmanteau word of Tamil and English) lyrics. Soon, the song became the most searched YouTube video in India and an internet phenomenon across Asia.Within a few weeks, YouTube honored the video with a Recently Most Popular Gold Medal Award for receiving a large number of hits in a short time

Jaxtr Inc., founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Yogesh Patel, has announced the launch of JaxtrSMS, a cross-platform, open-texting application to send SMSs to anyone in the world for free.

Reserve Bank of India deregulated non-resident external (NRE) deposits on 16 December 2011 allowing banks  to offer higher interest rates to dollar-denominated accounts. Reserve Bank freed the rates on non-resident external accounts, offering interest as high as 9.6% per annum.

Following RBI’s deregulation five Indian banks, including HDFC Bank and Yes Bank on 23 December 2011 raised their interest rates on such deposits in order to lure foreign money.
The Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges have agreed to merge in 2013 to create the world’s third-biggest bourse with listed stocks worth around $3.6 trillion. The combined value of stocks listed on exchanges would trail only NYSE Euronext at $12 trillion and NASDAQ OMX Group Inc at nearly $4 trillion.

Prashant Ruia, presently the vice chairman, will take over as interim chairman while Ravi Ruia will continue as a director of Essar Energy.

Adidas, the German sportswear and equipment maker, is set to launch a shoe costing one dollar a pair in India. The shoe will be sold in villages through a distribution network.

British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC chairman James Murdoch was re-elected on 29 November 2011 in the company’s annual general meeting. He was re-elected to the position of chairman though he faced a powerful protest vote from the satellite-TV company’s independent shareholders. News Corp., run by James’s father, Rupert Murdoch, owns 39.1% of BSkyB.

British Sky Broadcasting Group comprises film and television production as well as newspaper publishing and other activities.
California-based mobile video service provider, Vuclip, has launched India’s first independent mobile movie portal — Starlight Cinema. This would offer users the options of watching shortened feature films, movie clips, songs, reviews and trailers.

Cyrus Mistry, the younger son of construction tycoon Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, has been chosen to succeed Rattan Tata as the Chairman of the Tata group. He will take over in December 2012. He will be the sixth and youngest chairman of the Tata group, and only the second non-Tata after Sir Nowroji Saklatvala to head the group.

Queensland’s Gold Coast in Australia has been named as 2018 Commonwealth Games host.

Prasar Bharati  Amendment Bill 2011 passed 20 Dec 2011

Lok Sabha today passed the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Bill 2011, pertaining to the service conditions of employees in All India Radio and Doordarshan in Prasar Bharati.With the passage of the Bill, it now stands enacted.

India beat Turkey in World Women Team Chess Championship

In the World Women Team Chess Championship going on in Mardin Turkey, the Indian women’s team led by Koneru Humpy defeated Turkey by 3.5-0.5.With this India jumped to fourth spot after the end of the second round.

The 2011 Report—Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All—released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on November 2, 2011, notes that Norway, Australia and the Netherlands lead the world in the 2011 Human Development Index (HDI), while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Burundi are at the bottom of the Human Development Report’s annual rankings of national achievement in health, education and income.

The United States, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Germany and Sweden round out the top 10 countries in the 2011 HDI, but when the Index is adjusted for internal inequalities in health, education and income, some of the wealthiest nations drop out of the HDI’s top 20: the United States falls from #4 to #23, the Republic of Korea from #15 to #32, and Israel from #17 to #25.

India is ranked 134, the same as in 2010. Gender Inequality Index ranks India at 129 and Inequality Adjusted HDI rank is 93.

About Aakash and Ubislate 7

The much awaited India’s ultra low cost Aakash tablet is finally here and is creating ripples all around. Datawind launched Ubislate7 in India, and the student version is named as the Aakash tablet. It offers a web delivery platform that enables quality and interactive knowledge over the internet.

The CEO of DataWind, Mr. Suneet Singh Tuli says ‘This is a made-in-India product. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this.’ He adds, ‘The final goal is to either provide the same features at a lower cost or provide better functionality and features at the same cost.’

The team of engineers at Datawind has come up with the upgraded version of the Aakash tablet. This upgraded version of Aakash is called Ubislate 7.

Ubislate 7 will be commercially available everywhere and to everyone. This next generation of Aakash is loaded with better features and specifications, and any person can buy it.

The Telecom and Education Minister, Kapil Sibbal, said at the launch of Aakash, “The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide.”

There is definitely no other touch pad tablet or computing device anywhere near the price of Aakash tablet or Ubislate 7. It is a new generation device which comes with attractive features. This is the world’s cheapest tablet pc. This tab is made for the requirement of the users and especially for student needs.

Aakash Tablet’s Features

• Aakash tablet comes loaded with a lot of features and supports up to 150,000 apps.
• Aakash tablet comes at an unbeatable price of Rs. 2,999 only.
• Aakash tablet is perfect for anytime anywhere web access.
• The internet can be accessed at a monthly charge of Rs. 98 only. Fast web access is possible though Datawind’s patented acceleration technology.
• One can also connect to social networking sites like Facebook, twitter etc. through Aakash Tablet. It offers a lot of multimedia options with high definition quality videos.
• Watching movies and listening to songs also becomes easy through Aaksh Tablet. Not only can it be used to play games, Aakash Tablet can also be used to make notes and presentations.
• It has a full-sized USB port and Micro-SD slot which can be used to expand the memory up to 32 GB.

The official website of Aakash Tablet  is http://www.aakashtablet.com/