A new study of fossil bones in Spain shows that cannibalism was habitual among Western Europe’s earliest human species, Homo Antecessor, around 800,000 years ago. The bones, collected since 1994, reveal that ‘gastronomic cannibalism’ was commonplace—both to meet nutritional needs and to get rid of local competition—according to the study, published in Current Anthropology. Among the bones of bison, deer, wild sheep and other animals, scientists discovered the butchered remains of at least 11 human children and adolescents. The bones displayed signs of having been smashed to get to the nutritious marrow inside, and there was evidence that their brains may also have been eaten. Cuts and strikes on the temporal bone at the base of the skulls indicate decapitation, according to Bermúdez de Castro of the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain. “Probably then they cut the skull for extracting the brain,” he told the National Geographic Society.

Research has found that in Britain, office workers daydream the most on Tuesdays, and fantasise about taking days off most on that day. The study, by Hotel.com, a travel booking website, said that holiday searches on the internet peak on Tuesday at around 9 pm. Those who can’t wait to reach home log on to these sites from office itself. “On Tuesdays, we haven’t quite reached the middle of the working week, so our need to escape reality is heightened,” states Alison Couper of Hotels.com. Even the minor pleasures of browsing holiday destinations online seem to be enough to get through Tuesday blues.

Ornithologists have always flocked to the broad-leaved moist forests of Nagaland to behold a dramatic sight—the orange-breasted and exquisitely speckled Blyth’s Tragopan. Though it is also found in Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, north Myanmar and China, it is Nagaland that’s adopted this dazzler as its state bird. “Over the years, forest destruction and hunting caused a population decline,” says Rahul Kaul, Senior Director, Wildlife Trust of India. But an accidental fire early this year has accelerated this bird’s progress towards the brink of extinction. Campers mistakenly caused a blaze in the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary Trust. While there’s been no official survey yet, experts fear for this charismatic pheasant species.

It is not election time in Maharashtra, yet there is hectic political activity. Political parties of all sizes are in a heated debate on the site for Bombay’s second airport. While the Congress, NCP and BJP are pushing for the airport to be situated in New Bombay, the site already earmarked for the purpose, the Shiv Sena has vowed to stop any such activity.

Interestingly, when the Shiv Sena was in power in the state, it wanted the airport to come up at the very site it is objecting to now. For many of the big names in Maharashtra’s politics, the airport is linked to personal profits. Since they knew about the proposed airport, many of them—across party lines—bought real estate around the site. In the last five years, real estate in this area has boomed and politicians have pocketed enormous profits. If the airport does not come up in this area now, then along with real estate the politicians’ profits would also fall. Hence the frenzied activity to get the project started.

The Environment Ministry headed by Jairam Ramesh has cited serious environment concerns and withheld the requisite permissions. 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has met Ramesh and sought speedy clearance for the project. The state government has acquired land for the project, but work cannot begin till environment clearance comes in. The project will result in diversion of two rivers and loss of mangroves spread across 400 acres.

Praful Patel is blaming the Environment Ministry for delaying the project. He says that while there are some environment-related issues, the delay is causing a lot of damage to Bombay’s future. The overcrowded airport currently handles 26 million passengers annually and the traffic flow is expected to be  45 million by 2014-15 and 119 million by 2031-32.

Stonewalled by the Environment Ministry, the Chief Minister met Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh recently. Chavan says, “The Prime Minister told us that nothing will come in the way of Mumbai’s development.”

When the Prime Minister of India says to assembled editors that “China would like to have a foothold in South Asia and we have to reflect on this reality”, it is time to take note of a storm that has been gathering pace, especially over the last 24 months. China is a problem that could easily turn into a crisis, the PM added: “There is a new assertiveness among the Chinese. It is difficult to tell which way it will go. So it’s important to be prepared.” The last line is critical. Strategy for India is about intention—for the Chinese it has always been about capability.

Three recent developments have caught India napping. First, the Chinese determination to connect its restive Muslim-dominated landlocked Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea. It is developing a deep water port in Gwadar as an alternative to Karachi. The port is linked through the refurbished Karakoram Highway to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

Then, the hardening of its position on Kashmir. The Chinese denied a report by investigative journalist Selig Harrison that 11,000 troops were aiding the redevelopment of the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit. The denial, however, just does not wash. From denying a visa to the Northern Command Chief, Lieutenant General BS Jaswal, to its insistence on stapling visas for visitors from ‘India-controlled Kashmir’, China has sent a strong signal—it does not care about diplomatic niceties about Kashmir. The third worry is a build-up of military hardware in Tibet. This is beginning to translate into an almost unassailable tactical superiority vis-à-vis India in the higher Himalayas. 

So why this new assertiveness? China is now the world’s second largest economy. For China, India is not only an also ran but on-the-run. This would have been fine had Chinese contempt for India spawned complacency in Beijing. 

Will the Prime Minister’s unusual articulation of the threat from the north lead to India shaking off its tactical complacency and strategic myopia? For that, the old line of strategy being about capability, not intention, will have to come to the forefront. Neglecting capability now could be a disastrous mistake in the not so distant future.