What is the name of the prime accused in the additional district collector Yashwant Sonawane murder case who succumbed to burn injuries at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital on January 31, 2011?

Following a raid at the university building in Pleasanton, California, federal authorities swooped down on its students, 95% of them Indians, mostly from Andhra Pradesh for questioning and interrogation. India’s external affairs ministry has strongly objected to some affected students being forced to wear radio collars around their ankles to enable the US authorities keep track of their movements.

Laxman won the Padma Shri award this year, along with other sports personalities like weightlifter Kunjarani Devi, wrestler Sushil Kumar, ace shooter Gagan Narang and discus thrower Krishna Poonia. The Padma Vibhushan is the country’s second highest civilian award. Planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Brajesh Mishra, national security advisor in the NDA regime, found their names on the list of 128 winners of this year’s Padma awards.

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 in Delhi. The country observes two-minutes of silence in memory of Gandhi at 11am.

The Kala Ghoda festival is held in the Kala Ghoda area of South Mumbai every year. The festival is scheduled to take place between February 5-13 this year. It is organised by the Kala Ghoda Association.

On the morning of January 31, 2011, eight fire tankers were sent to douse the fire on board the ship, at naval dockyard. The number went up to 16, including six ‘Jumbo’ tankers. There was a dent in the warship due to the impact of the collision through which water had gushed into the vessel causing it to tilt to one side. Defence spokesperson Manohar Nambiar said the ship was resting on the sea bed and it cannot sink as there was not enough water.

PJ Thomas, a former telecom secretary, was appointed at the helm of the central vigilance commission. He has been embroiled in controversy regarding his involvement in the Palmolein oil scam in Kerala. An NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the appointment. CPIL has said Thomas can’t hold the post on two counts — conflict of interest as he was telecom secretary when the 2G scam took place and second, he was illegally appointed.

Egyptians have taken to the streets of capital Cairo, in spite of curfews, martial law and the army. Mubarak, a close US ally and a stalwart in Western policy towards the Middle East, has responded by offering economic reform to address public anger over hardships. As many as 3,600 Indians were stranded in the North African country and the government of India sent an Air India plane for evacuation operations.

On January 25, 11 people, including Shinde, set Sonawane ablaze at Panewad in Nashik. The additional collector was returning after attending a farmer protest at Chandwad and reportedly saw the accused pilfering oil from a tanker behind a dhaba. On confronting the culprits, Sonwane was set on fire. Sonawane died on the spot and and Shinde sustained severe burn injuries.

In 1989, Qantas had demonstrated several non-stop flights from London to Sydney in a 20 hour time period with 747-400s. The trip required special "high specific gravity" fuel and there were no passengers. Qantas is now venturing into using the model’s ultra-long range with a full load of passengers to fly 13,804km non-stop from Sydney to Dallas, Texas. This is the longest 747 route in the world.

Dorjee is the 17th head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and the third highest ranked monk after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. He denied knowledge about the cash recovered from his monastery on being quizzed by the Himachal police. Reports have said that senior officials believe that the Karmapa has received huge funds from China and has been using the funds to help Beijing control the Buddhist monasteries that are spread across the Ladakh region in Jammu & Kashmir and the Tawang region in Arunachal Pradesh.