Daily News Notes:

· The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has announced that the 22nd December, the 125th birthday of Mathematical Genius Srinivas Ramanujan, will be celebrated as the National Mathematics Day every year and year 2012 as the National Mathematical Year. Along with Sir C. V. Raman and Subramanyam Chandrashekhar, he is among the three great men of science and mathematics that Tamil Nadu and India have given to the world in modern times and his genius was ranked by the English mathematician G. H. Hardy in the same class as giants like Euler, Gauss, Archimedes and Isaac Newton. Recalling that Aryabhata in the fifth century, followed by Brahmagupta in the next were reckoned to be among the all-time great mathematicians. In many ways, mathematics can be regarded as the mother science. The work of many of the Nobel Laureates in Economics is highly mathematical.
· 3 suspected United Liberation Front of Assam militants have been gunned down by security forces during an encounter along Assam-Arunachal border. In another incident, police arrested 2 Garo National Liberation Army, GNLA militants from Boko area of Assam.
· The blockade of National Highway 52 in Assam by the anti-dam activists has hit the supply of fuel and essential commodities. The organizations are demanding an immediate stop to construction of the 2000 megawatt Lower Subansiri mega dam power project executed by National Hydro-Power Corporation, NHPC at Gerukamuch on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
· The Centre has asked the Jharkhand government to set up a separate development authority to carry forward its initiatives for the upliftment of 7000 tribal families in the Saranda forest, while Jharkhand has demanded special status for Jharkhand from the Center. Mr. Ramesh has called for a realistic timeframe for providing basic facilities including houses, bicycles, solar lamps, employment-oriented kits and show urgency in tackling Left-Wing-Extremism in the region.
· In Andaman and Nicobar island and Puducherry, programmes are being held to mark the 7th anniversary of the Tsunami.
· South Korea will buy two French spy planes (Falcon 2000 reconnaissance by defence firm Dassault) by 2017, which will be capable of intercepting radio messages from North Korea and detecting its missile launches
· Declining number of butterflies has become a cause of concern for wildlife lovers in the world, especially in Mexico due to global warming. Butterflies generally fly to central Mexican forests from the jungles of Canada and USA in four months in the winter season.