Campus Bird Count: MU stands 1st in state, 2nd in Country
Konaje: The Mangalore University has secured second position in the country In the Campus Bird Count (CBC), Mangalore University is among the top five bird-rich campuses and secured second position in the country, followed by Kerala Agricultural University.
Birders from Mangalore University were able to record 110 species of birds during the Campus Bird Counting (CBC), an initiative taken up under Great Backyard Bird Count of Bird Count India, during the three-day bird-counting exercise between February 16 and 19 at the university’s Mangalagangothri campus in Konaje near here.
The University topped the campuses in Karnataka in both species numbers and total checklists. This time, the event had over 50 participants.
This year, the CBC concluded with a record-breaking 110 bird species on Mangalore University campus. Some of the highlights are the Tickell's Leaf Warbler (probably the 2nd record for Coastal Karnataka), and winter migratory birds like Indian Pitta, Brown Shrike, Booted Eagle, Ashy Drongo, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Eurasian Blackbird, Gray wagtail and Blyth's Pipit and Srilankan Frogmouth.
The team was led by Vineeth Kumar K (research scholar), with Jagdish Paithankar (research scholar), Bhagya U J (MSc student) and Donald Preetam Henry (MSc student) of Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University.
The enthusiasts students and research scholars from various PG Departments “ Applied Zoology, Applied Botany, Biosciences, Chemistry, Commerce, Geoinformatics, Material science, Physics and Yogic Science – along with some staff of P A College of Engineering, Ambika Vidyalaya and Govinda Dasa College, students and research scholars from other institutions and some independent birdwatchers from Mangaluru had taken part.
The success of the event is mainly due to involvement of enthusiastic participants and also covering of more unexplored areas of the campus in this year's survey.
The CBC is a sub-event of the larger 'Great Backyard Bird Count' (GBBC), organised by the annual Bird Count India. This is a collaborative effort to document the bird-life in campuses across India, with information about the diversity, distribution and frequency of bird species outside the protected areas.
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US renews sanctions waiver for purchase of Russian oil
Washington (PTI): The United States has extended by a month a waiver from sanctions to allow countries to buy petroleum products from Russia, days after it ruled out renewal of the special measure.
The US Department of Treasury issued an order late Friday extending the waiver from sanctions on Russian oil that is already at sea on or before April 17 through May 16.
Earlier, the US had granted an exemption from sanctions to India for buying Russian oil for a month beginning March 5. A few days later, a similar waiver was extended to several other countries, which ended on April 11.
The general licence issued by the US on Friday does not authorise any transaction involving a person, entity or joint venture located in Iran, North Korea, Cuba, or parts of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would not be renewing the waiver for Russian oil and another for Iranian oil.
The previous waiver of sanctions had made available 140 million barrels of Russian oil already loaded on ships to global markets as prices soared against the backdrop of the US war with Iran.
"Effective April 17, 2026, General License No. 134A, which was dated March 19, 2026 and expired on April 11, 2026, is replaced and superseded in its entirety by this General License No. 134B," said the order issued by the Department of Treasury.
