1 Ford eyes electric car deal with China partner
(BBC) Ford has said it is in discussions with a Chinese company to create a new
line of electric vehicles for the world's biggest market. Ford said it was
exploring a joint venture with electric car maker Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. The
firm is a major manufacturer of small, zero-emissions electric cars.
The move comes as carmakers in China face new rules
designed to boost electric car sales, part of the government's effort to fight
pollution. China already has more electric cars on the road than any other
country and Ford said it expects sales of all-electric cars in China to reach
four million by 2025.
Officials are also working on new rules that would
require 8% of car sales to be electric next year and 12% by 2020. A Ford
spokesman said the company hoped to reach an agreement with Zotye by the end of
the year.
2 India court rules triple talaq unlawful (San
Francisco Chronicle) India's Supreme Court has struck down the Muslim practice
that allows men to instantly divorce their wives as unconstitutional.
The bench, comprising five senior judges of
different faiths, deliberated for three months before issuing its order in
response to petitions from seven Muslim women who had been divorced through the
practice known as triple talaq.
Indian law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that
since the court deemed the practice unconstitutional there is no need for any
further legislative action by the government. The decision was widely lauded by
women's rights activists as a step toward granting Muslim women greater
equality and justice.
More than 20 Muslim countries, including neighboring
Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned the practice. But in India, triple talaq
has continued with the protection of laws that allow Muslim, Christian and
Hindu communities to follow religious law in matters like marriage, divorce,
inheritance and adoption.
While most Hindu personal laws have been overhauled
and codified over the years, Muslim laws have been left to religious
authorities and left largely untouched. Most of the 170 million Muslims in
India are Sunnis governed by Muslim Personal Law for family matters and
disputes.
India's Muslim Law Board had told the court that
while they considered the practice wrong, they opposed any court intervention
and asked that the matter be left to the community to tackle. But several
progressive Muslim activists decried the law board's position.
3 Pollution and Mumbai’s blue dogs (The Guardian)
Authorities in Mumbai have shut down a manufacturing company after it was
accused of dumping untreated industrial waste and dyes into a local river that
resulted in 11 dogs turning blue.
The group of strangely coloured canines was first
spotted on 11 August, according to the Hindustan Times, prompting locals to
complain to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board about dyes being dumped in
the Kasadi river, where the animals often swim. Footage shows the animals
roaming the streets with bright blue fur.
“It was shocking to see how the dog’s white fur had
turned completely blue,” said Arati Chauhan, head of the Navi Mumbai Animal
Protection Cell, said. “We have spotted almost five such dogs here and have
asked the pollution control board to act against such industries.” The board
investigated, shutting down the company on Wednesday after confirming that
canines were turning blue due to air and water pollution linked to the plant.
According to data obtained by NGO Watchdog
Foundation through right to information, there are 977 chemical,
pharmaceutical, engineering and food processing factories in the Taloja
industrial area, located outside Mumbai.
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