• NATIONAL

Andhra High Court strikes down state Act providing for Muslim quota

The Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down the "Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favour of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act 2007, providing for 4 per cent of government jobs and seats in educational institutions for 14 groups of backward classes of Muslims in the state, as unconstitutional.

Child Rights Group recommend ban for kids on reality TV

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has requested the Apex Court to order a complete ban on making toddlers as part of reality shows as they cause irreparable adverse impact on the behaviour and demeanour of the young persons by taking them away from their parents.

Ramalinga Raju declared 'pauper' by US court

The former chairman of Satyam Computers, Ramalinga Raju, who confessed to have inflated his company's assets by over $ 1 billion, was declared a pauper by a US court thereby exempting him from paying court costs.

Indian publishers move to court against Google

Indian publishers' group called Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers and several Indian publishers and authors moved to a US court against the Google Book Settlement's (GBS 2.0) alleging copyright violation for scanning several books in Indian languages without notifying the authors. The publishers, who have moved court against the Google Book Settlement include Star Publications Pvt. Ltd., Abhinav Publications, Daya Publication House and Pustak Mahal

Amendment to Copyright Act, 1957

The government plans to amend the Copyright Act, 1957 to allow the conversion of copyrighted books into the Braille format without any royalty and licence fees. The amendment has been approved by the Cabinet and is slated to be tabled in Parliament in the budget session.

Tower firms may have to shell out licence fee

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering a proposal to include telecom infrastructure providers such as phone tower firms under a new uniform licence fee regime wherein the government gets 9% of the revenue of such firms under a revenue share agreement. Tower firms, which hold what is called an IP-2, or infrastructure provider-second tier, licence, currently do not pay any licence fee.

• INTERNATIONAL

Swiss Court halts transfer of swiss bank client data to US

A Swiss court issued a ruling halting the transfer of UBS AG Bank client data to the United States, putting in doubt the landmark agreement reached between the US and Swiss governments. The Swiss Federal Administrative Court said failure to fill out a tax form for the US authorities was not "tax fraud" and therefore under Swiss laws the client's information should not be disclosed.

India asks Kenya to change law making generics drugs exported from India illegal

India has asked Kenya to make changes in its anti-counterfeit law that label generic drugs exported by Indian pharmaceutical companies to Kenya as illegal, arguing that such laws could be counter-productive as it would affect supply of cheap but high quality medicines to the African people.