Date:11/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/11/stories/2007121155901100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

Corrections and clarifications

In an AP report, “Document of Freedom – Copy of Magna Carta up for sale” (“International” page, December 9, 2007), the ninth paragraph was: “The 1279 Magna Carta was forced on Edward I by barons unhappy over taxes imposed to pay for his military campaigns in France, Wales and against Scottish rebel William Wallace. Written in medieval Latin on sheepskin that after 710 years remains intact and legible, the 1297 Magna Carta was owned for five centuries by a British family that put it up for sale in the early 1980s.” In the first instance, it should have been the “1297 Magna Carta”.

The sixth paragraph in a report (a combination of AP/DPA reports) “Hillary makes campaign a family business” (Some editions, “International” page, December 9, 2007) was: “Mr. Obama was grabbing the lion’s share of the attention, opening a campaign swing on Friday with talk-show maven Oprah Winphrey, making two stops in Iowa and then stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina.” It should have been “Oprah Winfrey”.

In a report “‘Pakistan was becoming a destination for kidney tourism’” (December 9, 2007), the name of the founding chairperson of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Culture of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) in Karachi, Farhat Moazam, was misspelt as Sarhat Moazam in the accompanying photo caption.

In “The challenges of fiscal discipline” (Editorial, December 6, 2007), the second sentence was: “Mandated to suggest a reordered Centre-State financial regime for the five-year period, 2010-16, it will be looking at issues related, inter alia, to the distribution of taxes between the Centre and the States and the principles that should govern grants-in-aid to the States against the backdrop of some significant developments in recent years.” It should have been “2010-15” (April 1, 2010 – March 31, 2015).

In a report “Lalu Prasad rules out privatisation of Railways” (December 9, 2007), the second paragraph was “He [Union Railway Minister] Lalu Prasad was addressing a meeting after launching the 104-km railway electrification work between Tirupati and Katpadi and flagging off the first passenger train on the newly electrified section on Saturday”. What was inaugurated was the electrified traction section. Immediately after this, the first train operating on this section was flagged off.

The fourth paragraph in a report “Pressure on developing nations to adopt emission limits” (“International” page, December 8, 2007) was: “As reported in The Hindu on Wednesday, 167 nations, including the 36 countries in the European Union, are unlikely to meet their mandated targets — a point that has come in for severe criticism by a number of agencies ….” Aman Sethi clarifies that the sentence should have been “As reported in The Hindu on Wednesday, 16 of the 36 countries in the European Union, are unlikely to meet their mandated targets — a point that has come in for severe criticism by a number of agencies ….” (It was a reporting/typographical error (“167 of the 36 countries”), edited to read as “167 nations, including the 36 countries”.)

An AFP report “West Indies clinches series” (“Sport”, December 8, 2007), said that West Indies won the third one-day international beating Zimbabwe by five wickets at Bulawayo on Friday. It should have been the fourth ODI. West Indies clinched the five-match one-day series after winning the fourth one-dayer by five wickets.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.

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