Daily Bulletin: Lunar eclipse in Northern Hemisphere; meeting of Karnataka Congress MLAs; Theresa May's Plan B on Brexit; day's top stories

Karnataka Congress to meet today Former Karnataka chief minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah has called for a meeting at 11 am on Monday in Bengaluru. All MLAs have been directed to attend, a day after Congress legislator Anand Singh was injured in a brawl with a another party MLA JN Ganesh at a resort amid the ongoing power game in Karnataka. The Congress state unit issued notices to four of its MLAs on Sunday, asking why action should not be taken against them under the anti-defection law for not attending the Friday’s CLP meeting, that was a show of strength against BJP’s alleged bid to dislodge the ruling coalition. 2019’s only total lunar eclipse to begin at 10.11 am IST The skies above the northern hemisphere will witness an rare celestial treat, a phenomenon called a ‘super blood wolf moon.’ A total lunar eclipse will give an apparent reddish colour to the lunar surface, a feature commonly known as a blood moon. At the same time, the moon will be slightly closer to Earth than normal and appear larger and brighter than usual, a phenomenon called a ‘supermoon’. [caption id=“attachment_5931681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A full moon rises between clouds before the start of a total lunar eclipse that is being called a ‘super blood wolf moon’, in San Diego, California, US. Reuters[/caption] This is the only total lunar eclipse of the year, but India isn’t in the right half of the world to witness the action live. The eclipse is expected to begin around 10.11 am (IST) on Monday and will last approximately 62 minutes. Theresa May to present Plan B on Brexit May is due to present UK Parliament with a revised Brexit plan on Monday, after the divorce deal she had struck the EU was rejected by lawmakers last week. With just over two months until Britain is due to leave the bloc, some members of Parliament are pushing for the UK to delay its departure until the country’s divided politicians can agree on a way forward. Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said “it’s inevitable” Britain will have to ask the EU to extend the two-year countdown to exit that ends on 29 March. Sabarimala temple closes after annual pilgrimage season After witnessing unprecedented protests over the entry of women of menstruating age, the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala was closed on Sunday marking the culmination of the over two-month-long stormy annual pilgrimage season. As the temple closed, the BJP ended its 49-day-long relay hunger strike in front of the state Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, demanding lifting of ban orders and restrictions at Sabarimala, which the LDF government rejected. While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at the Sangh Parivar and said its Sabarimala stir was a “complete failure”, BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai claimed it was aimed at protecting the traditional faith of devotees and it had “won in garnering mass support.” Fuel prices up Fuel prices rose sharply for the fourth straight day on Sunday as crude oil rates continued to climb after implementation of output cuts by global oil producers from 1 January. After Sunday’s price revision, petrol prices were up by 23 paise and diesel prices around 31 paise across the country. On Sunday, petrol was retailed per litre at Rs 70.95 in the national capital, Rs 76.58 in Mumbai, Rs 73.05 in Kolkata and Rs 73.65 in Chennai Rs 73.65. Diesel prices have gone up in Delhi to Rs 65.45, Mumbai Rs 68.53, Kolkata Rs 67.23 and Chennai to Rs 69.14 per litre. OPEC, along with other producers including Russia agreed last year to output cuts effective 1 January 2019 to avert a glut. OPEC’s monthly report showed that it has made a strong start in December even before the pact went into effect, implementing the biggest month-on-month production drop in almost two years. OPEC expects 2019 global oil demand growth to slow to 1.29 million barrels per day from 1.5 million in 2018, though it was more upbeat about the economic backdrop than December 2018 and cited better sentiment in the oil market, where crude is back above $60. KCR to launch five-day Chandi Yagam Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is going to organise a five-day long Chandi Yagam (Ritual) starting from Monday till 25 January. A large number of priests are expected to visit this ritual, which will be conducted at Erravalli village. Ayutha Chandi Yagam was held by KCR in December 2015, which was also thronged by a large number of people and priests from various states. This year’s ritual is expected to be at a much larger scale than that of 2018. Israel says carrying out strikes on Iranian targets in Syria Israel’s military said it was carrying out strikes on Iranian targets in Syria early on Monday after it intercepted a rocket fired from Syrian territory hours earlier. It said in a statement it was “currently striking” the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force in Syria and warned Syria’s military against “attempting to harm Israeli territory or forces”. It provided no further details on the raids. Israel’s military said on Sunday its air defence systems intercepted a rocket fired from Syria, after Damascus accused Israel of carrying out air raids in the country’s south.