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DailyBiteDec 17, 2014 | 21:30

Making sense of breaking stories

Pakistan needs a comprehensive fight against terror

Pakistan woke up to a day of mourning on Wednesday after Taliban militants killed 132 students at a school in the city of Peshawar in a grisly attack which shocked the nation and put pressure on the government to do more to tackle the insurgency. Pakistanis may be used to almost daily militant attacks against the security forces but such an outright assault on children is unprecedented. Pakistan must prepare for a tough military response against the Tehreek-e-Taliban. It cannot afford to continue with the understanding that there are good as well as bad Taliban.

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Does PM Narendra Modi need a ghar vapasi?

The Opposition parties on Wednesday continued their offensive against the Narendra Modi government in Parliament over the conversion row with MPs in Rajya Sabha demanding the prime minister's presence for a discussion on the issue. CPM's Sitaram Yechury asked, "Will the prime minister be available for a discussion or not?" "PM Modi also needs a 'ghar vapasi' (the term used by right-wing groups for conversion to Hinduism). We have hardly seen him in Parliament," Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said outside Parliament. With just four days of Parliament's Winter session remaining, the impasse over converison and Trinamool Congress's sustained protest against the government threatens to derail the government's agenda of clearing major economic reforms.

Murali Vijay gives India a confident beginning at Brisbane

The quick Gabba track doesn't seem to have ruffled the Indian batsman one bit as India got off to an aggressive start in the first day of the Brisbane test against Australia. Murali Vijay took the attack to the Australian camp with a confident 144 in 213 balls, slamming 22 boundaries in his innings. Even though Vijay was caught behind in the 72nd over, Ajinkya Rahane has taken on the mantle as he completed his half century in style. India appear poised for a handsome total in the first innings.  

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NASA detects organic molecules on Mars

The NASA Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules - the building blocks of all known forms of terrestrial life - on Mars. The organic molecules, found by the team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on Curiosity, were in a drilled sample of the Sheepbed mudstone in Gale crater - the rover's landing site. Organic molecules consist of a wide variety of molecules made primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. The surface of Mars is currently inhospitable to life as we know it, but the discovery shows that the ancient environment offered a supply of reduced organic molecules for use as an energy source for life.

Last updated: December 17, 2014 | 21:30
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