2,500 dead seals found on Russia's Caspian coast
Moscow, Dec 4: About 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia, officials said Sunday.
Authorities in the Russian province of Dagestan said it was unclear why the mass die-off happened but that it was likely due to natural causes.
Regional officials initially reported Saturday that 700 dead seals were found on the coast, but the Dagestan division of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment later raised the figure to about 2,500.
Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, said in a statement that the seals likely died a couple of weeks ago. He added that there was no sign that they were killed or caught in fishing nets.
Experts of the Federal Fisheries Agency and prosecutors inspected the coastline and collected data for laboratory research, which didn't immediately spot any pollutants.
Several previous incidents of mass seal deaths were attributed to natural causes. Kazakhstan, which has a long Caspian coastline, reported at least three such incidents this year.
Data about the number of seals in the Caspian vary widely. The fisheries agency has said the overall number of Caspian seals is 270,000-300,000, while the Caspian Environmental Protection Center put the number at 70,000.
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AIADMK-BJP alliance doomed to fail, says TN CM Stalin
Chennai, Apr 12 (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said "hunger for power" is the reason for the alliance between the AIADMK and BJP and the tie-up is against ideals such as protection of state rights and it is doomed to fail.
Stalin, reacting to the announcement of an alliance between the state's main opposition party and the national party that helms the Centre, said that the AIADMK claims to oppose NEET, the imposition of Hindi, the three-language policy and the Waqf Act and also say that Tamil Nadu’s representation should not be reduced during delimitation.
"Are all these part of the Common Minimum Programme?", he asked. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, however, did not speak about any of these. Nor did he allow the AIADMK leadership to speak. Instead, Stalin said Shah used the press conference only to criticize his party, the DMK, the DMK government and him.
The chief minister said: "The AIADMK-BJP alliance is doomed to fail. It was the people of Tamil Nadu who handed repeated defeats to this coalition. Now, Shah has reconstituted the same failed alliance."
Stalin said Shah failed to state on what ideological foundation the alliance was formed. Instead, he merely assured that a Common Minimum Programme would be worked out.
Further, he said: "The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a movement that stands to protect state rights, linguistic rights, and Tamil culture. In contrast, the BJP-AIADMK alliance has been formed with a hunger for power and stands against all these ideals. People have not forgotten that Edappadi Palaniswami, in his thirst for power, mortgaged Tamil Nadu’s dignity and rights with Delhi and brought ruin to the state."
The Dravidian party chief said when Shah spoke about corruption while confirming an alliance with AIADMK, the people of Tamil Nadu "would certainly have laughed."
Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had to step down twice due to corruption charges and she was sentenced to four years imprisonment in the disproportionate assets case by a special court in Bengaluru after years of legal proceedings. If the BJP forms an alliance with her party, can it still speak credibly about corruption,? Stalin demanded to know. It should not be forgotten that the AIADMK functionaries and their relatives were subjected to "two raids" by central investigating agencies.
"To escape the consequences, they ran towards the BJP leadership. The alliance was confirmed based on this compromise. The people of Tamil Nadu are not naive — they know that corruption is the very basis of the AIADMK-BJP alliance. Those who pledged AIADMK out of fear of two raids are now eager to mortgage the entire Tamil Nadu," the DMK president alleged. The alliance between the AIADMK and BJP is a failure alliance and the tie-up is a "corruption", by itself.
Stalin alleged that the BJP leadership has a calculated plan to eradicate Tamil through Hindi imposition, to block Tamil people’s progress through various conspiracies, and to undermine Tamil Nadu’s rights through constituency delimitation.
The AIADMK, "an old bonded slave camp," which has long surrendered itself, is being coerced by threats by the BJP to implement these conspiracies.
Stalin said: "Whether the BJP comes alone or with partners, the people of Tamil Nadu are ready to deliver a fitting lesson. To the traitorous alliance that kneels in Delhi without self-respect and tries to pawn Tamil Nadu, the people will give the right response."
When repeatedly questioned by journalists about NEET, the Union Home Minister was unable to provide a proper response, the chief minister claimed adding if Shah believed NEET was right, he should have defended that position clearly. Instead, Shah tried to "deflect" by claiming that opposing NEET was a diversionary tactic.
Stalin condemned Shah for "irresponsibly claiming that law and order has deteriorated in Tamil Nadu."
The chief minister said: "This is not Manipur — this is Tamil Nadu. The BJP ruled over a state where more than 250 people were killed in the past 18 months. The Union Home Minister who failed to restore peace there now seeks to disturb peace in a peaceful state like Tamil Nadu.
"It is precisely because of the law and order maintained here that the state continues to progress in all aspects — a fact confirmed even by union government statistics. Yet, the Union Home Minister irresponsibly tried to incite fear by claiming a breakdown of law and order."
