Which country has overtaken the United States to become the world's largest energy user?

Jayant Jaibhave, a practising lawyer from Nashik, has been elected chairman of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. Jaibhave has been practising law since 1987. He is also a member of the Maharashtra State Law Commission. He was elected unanimously at a meeting of the bar council on July 18.

The Dornier and two Chetak helicopters for maritime security, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, will be handed over to Seychelles after an agreement was reached during defence minister AK Antony's two-day visit to the tiny country. On a request from Seychelles, India will also help it to carry out surveillance operations in its maritime and exclusive economic zones and to build up the capacity of its armed forces.

Raote was speaking in the Maharashtra legislative council in a debate on the Marathi division established by the state government recently. He also asked the government to write the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank's board in Marathi, since it is a state-owned bank. The Sena leader also wanted forms issued by MHADA, the state housing authority, to be made available in Marathi.

China’s rise to the top rank was faster than expected, in part because the US has outpaced it in improving energy efficiency measures over the past decade. In 2000, the US, the world's largest economy, consumed twice as much energy as China. Now, China, which is the world's third largest economy, consumes more energy than the US. China last year consumed 2.252 billion tonnes of oil equivalent of energy from various sources, including coal, oil, natural gas, hydro and nuclear power, about 4% more than the US.

Stephen Bertone, chief engineer for the Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd, recited a litany of technical problems with the rig, which exploded on April 20 and sank two days later, killing 11 crewmen and causing the worst oil spill in US history. At a hearing before a joint US panel convened by the US Coast Guard and the interior department's bureau of ocean energy management, regulation, and enforcement, Bertone said the rig had an "excessive" number of maintenance tasks that his staff was unable to complete.

Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun is the director general of the World Health Organisation. The WHO’s emergency committee, which is headed by her, intends to convene to review data and declare an end to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic.

After meeting Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on July 21, Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said that while the state's anti-corruption vigilance wing is probing the irregularities, the Centre would welcome any move by the state government to recommend investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In a 45-minute meeting at South Block, Admiral Mullen is said to have apprised the Indian defence minister of the American assessment of the security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Indian side conveyed its serious concern about the possibility of the aid to Pakistan being misused against it and asked the US to establish a ‘monitoring mechanism’ to stop such misuse.

PK Iyengar, who played a key role in India's first nuclear test in 1974, has favoured a significant enhancement of the cap on compensation to victims of nuclear accidents from the Rs500 crore suggested in the bill. He made the suggestion during his deposition before the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, environment and forests which is examining the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010.

Nepal's caretaker prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal met Nepali Congress leaders and former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa along with president of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Pashupati Shumsher Thapa and expressed concern that the political parties had failed to form a new government even after he tendered his resignation. A run-off poll for the prime minister's post ended in a fiasco on July 23, with both Maoist supremo Prachanda and his 65-year-old Nepali Congress rival Poudyal failing to get majority support in the 601-member parliament.