
Chinese pet owners await Year of the Dog
Circus trainer Chen Hongyi has long taught poodles to bound through flaming hoops, but in this upcoming Year of the Dog, teaching the commands "sit," "beg," and "shake" will pay the bills.
Chen's Circus World Training School is among many pet-related businesses booming as pet ownership grows in popularity among increasingly prosperous urban Chinese.
Puppies are big business anytime, but likely to be even more so in the Year of the Dog, which begins Sunday with the start of the Lunar New Year.
Despite campaigns against traditional beliefs, for most of China's 1.3 billion people, the Year of the Dog is considered an especially lucky lunar year.
So this year, man's best friend will be considered an even more auspicious buddy than usual, especially in cities like Shanghai, where about 106,000 dogs are officially registered, but unlicensed animals may swell that figure by several times.
That's a big change from the early decades of communist rule when pet ownership was frowned on and dogs were clubbed to death in periodic campaigns against pests, and "capitalist running dog" became the ultimate insult.
Chen says increasing exposure to foreign ideas is a key reason for the rise in dog ownership.
The coming year might not be so lucky for the dogs themselves, though. Even people who don't really like pets may get a dog for the start of the Lunar New Year, hoping some luck will rub off on them.
Animal welfare advocates warn many pets could get dumped in coming weeks by owners grown disappointed, bored or unwilling to handle the responsibility.

Top court proposes cadre of magistrates to fill gaps in police investigation
- The bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat apart from Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde were of the view that magistrates should play a more “intrusive” role in investigation.

College student in Andhra Pradesh killed for rejecting marriage proposal
- Police said the accused and the victim were in a relationship for a year, but of late she had been avoiding him.

Higher fares for short distance trains to discourage needless travel: Railways
- The national carrier at present is operating only special passenger trains since the curbs on lockdown were eased. Regular passenger trains have been suspended since March 25, 2020.

New strains not more infectious, need to aggressively monitor situation: Guleria

2 security personnel killed in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur in Maoist attacks
- Both the casualties took place due to IED blasts.

Govt clarifies on controversy over Motera stadium being named after PM

India plans new social media controls after Twitter face-off

Differences in Meghalaya BJP intensifies, coalition govt comes under strain
- The BJP unit has also been at loggerheads with the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) dispensation with its chief Earnest Mawrie accusing it of anomalies in governance.

UP cops hunt for clues into case of college girl found with burn injuries
- Shahjahanpur’s superintendent of police S Anand, SP, denied reports that the girl was burnt after a failed rape attempt

Expert team widens mouth of lake formed upstream Rishiganga for faster drainage
- An expert team is trying to drain out the lake to prevent another tragedy like the Chamoli flash flood.

Amid Covid-19 fears, thousands throng Telangana’s Sammakka-Saralamma festival
- The tribal fair draws devotees not only from Telangana, but also from other states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

West Bengal makes RT-PCR tests mandatory for arrivals from Maha, 3 other states
- The notice released by the state government stated “All passengers coming to West Bengal from the aforementioned 4 states shall mandatorily carry a covid negative RT-PCR report for such test conducted within 72 hours of flight departure.”

2 terrorists killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’ Anantnag
- The police said they were ascertaining the identities and affiliation of the two terrorists.

Lives lost to wildlife-human conflict inadequately compensated in India: Study
- The research says the average compensation paid for human death in the country is ₹1,91,437, and the average compensation paid for injury is ₹6,185.
