A bone, identified instantly as a human middle finger by an archaeologist in Saudi Arabia turned out to be 88,000 years old sending the scientists into ecstasy. The excavation was led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
The bone is the oldest fossil of Homo Sapiens species to ever be found outside of Africa and the Levant or the present Middle-East.
Prior to this discovery, it was thought that early migration into Eurasia remained restricted to the Mediterranean forests of the Levant, on the doorstep of Africa.
The middle finger bone fossil found at the Al Wusta site shows that there were both multiple dispersals out of Africa, and these spread further than previously known.
General view of the excavations at the Al Wusta site, Saudi Arabia. The ancient lake bed (in white) is surrounded by sand dunes of the Nefud Desert.(Michael Petraglia)
Found in the Nefud desert in 2016 by Iyad Zalmout, a scientist with the Saudi Geological Survey, as a part of the excavations at the Al Wusta site, the finger joint just lying in the sand, it did not match the Neanderthals and was sent to the University of Cambridge, where specialists made 3D scan to confirm it as Homo Sapiens.
The 3.2cm-long middle finger, along with other samples found at the Al Wusta site, was sent to the Australian National University in Canberra where researchers conducted uranium series dating to confirm that it was 88,000 years old.
Project Lead Michael Petraglia said, “The Arabian Peninsula has long been considered to be far from the main stage of human evolution. This discovery firmly puts Arabia on the map as a key region for understanding our origins and expansion to the rest of the world. As fieldwork carries on, we continue to make remarkable discoveries in Saudi Arabia.” The results of this study were published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The ancient fossils ever found was 120,000 years old, found in China but their human origin was not dated precisely so far.
It’s more than a month since Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan, 51, who shot to fame with his role in Jurassic World, announced that he was suffering from a rare cancer and that he is going to the US for treatment.
Before leaving, he said:"I hope to be back with more stories to tell."
Diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours, which may occur anywhere in the body, could non-cancerous or even malignant becoming fatal. The actor did not reveal at what stage of the condition his disease is. Instead, he chose to quote, Margaret Mitchell, saying, "Life is under no obligation to give us what we expect."
Film journalist Umair Sandhu has reportedly tweeted saying that his health is deteriorating. Citing family sources, Sandhu, wrote that Irrfan’s cancer was in its final stage and that the doctors were of opinion that he may not last for more than a month. But soon the tweet was retracted.
TimesNowNews has published the tweet that read, "BREAKING NEWS !! As per Family Sources of @irrfank ! His Cancer is at last Stage & Doctors are of the opinion that he may not last more than a month !!" — Umair Sandhu (@sandhumerry) April 8, 2018. However, it was reportedly removed later.
Irrfan Khan acted with ease in some memorable films of both Hollywood and Bollywood like "Paan Singh Tomar", "Talvar", "Maqbool", "7 Khoon Maaf", "Piku", "Hindi Medium" and "Blackmail" in Hindi.
In the West, he has starred in films like "The Namesake", "Life of Pi", "A Mighty Heart", "Slumdog Millionaire", "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Inferno". His film ‘Hindi Medium’ has made more than Rs.100 in the Chinese market.
Telugu actor and former Tourism minister Chiranjeevi has denied rumours spreading on the social media that ‘Baahubali’ fame Prabhas is going to marry his niece Niharika. The veteran Telugu actor has refuted all the rumours as baseless.
Niharika Konidela, daughter of Chiranjeevi’s brother Nagendra Babu, is not new to Telugu film industry . She made her debut with the film "Oka Manasu" in 2016 and her banner Pink Elephant Pictures is known for its web series under the name "Muddapappu Avakai", which is quite popular among the Telugu audience.
Niharika had hosted dance reality show Dhee Juniors, aired on ETV Telugu before entering the film indsutry. Currently, she is busy with the shooting of "Happy Wedding", to be released later this year.
Prabhas, who deferred his marriage plans for about four years during the shooting of Bahubali 1 and 2, was rumoured to have become closer to Anushka Shetty but both of them have denied it, disappointing many fans who wanted the Bahubali 2 pair to be realtime couple as well.
Later, there were rumours that a Vizag industrialist daughter would be the bride for Bahubali hero but it proved futile soon. Prabhas, who is a nephew of a veteran Telugu actor former BJP minister at the centre, Krishnam Raju, was not new to marriage rumours ever since he revealed to media after Bahubali that his mother would select a bride for him.
Currently, Prabhas is busy with Sujeeth Reddy’s film ‘Saaho’, a futuristic action film with breathtaking action sequences, death-defying stunts and jaw-dropping visual effects.
Apart from Prabhas, other cast include mostly Bollywood names such as Shraddha Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Jackie Shroff, Chunky Panday and Mandira Bedi. Scheduled for release in early 2019, the film will be followed by another film by Prabhas with Mohenjo Daro fame Pooja Hegde.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured some strange formations on the surface of the Red Planet with its Context Camera giving clues about the measurements of one impact crater with a central peak and another collapse depression with concentric troughs.
Gullies on Martian sand dunes found on Matara Crater, have been very active, with many flows seen in the last ten years. These flows typically occur when seasonal frost is present on the Red Planet. There are no fresh flows so far this year, but HiRISE will keep watching, said NASA in a statement.
The imgages shared by the US space agency reveal a trough in a close-up, along with some channels receding into the depression. Some grooved material on the floor of the trough resemble similar formations visible in middle latitude region with glacial flow. Origin of these trough, visible in other regions of Mars are still elusive.
NASA’s image CTX 033783_1509 was captured by MRO’s Context Camera that has a larger viewing angle than HiRISE, though its resolution is limited compared to the latter. The original image scale is 51.3 centimeters (20.2 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects at 154 centimeters (60.6 inches) across are resolved but the current image is at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. North is up.
Lobo Vallis rippples
In another image, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has shown bright ripples,lining the topography in this region, formed within a past climate. Dark dunes and sand streaks of basaltic sand have moved and filled lower areas, pushed by more recent winds from the top towards the bottom of this image. Lobo Vallis is named for a river on the Ivory Coast.
(NASA)
The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 57.7 centimeters (22.6 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 173 centimeters (68.1 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft that is conducting reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit since March 2006, to join five other Mars missions — Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, 2001 Mars Odyssey, and the two Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) — sent earlier to survey the surface of the Mars.
MRO’s telecommunications system has transferred more data back to Earth than all previous interplanetary missions combined, and it serves as a highly capable relay satellite for future missions, with a lifespan to last for two more decades.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Al Worden, Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper have one thing in common, they are among the ardent defenders of UFO theory and claimed to have seen or chased many during their space travels. Now, all the four have cleared a lie-detector test, which reiterates their claim.
The lie detector test was carried out using the latest technology and experts said they were “completely convinced” with the results that they are telling the world truth about signs of alien life.
Buzz Aldrin, now 88, was the second human alogn with Neil Armstrong to set foot on the moon in their historic Apoll 11 mission in 1969. He claimed later that he saw a UFO. “There was something out there that was close enough to be observed, sort of L-shaped,” he said repeatedly.
The Institute of BioAcoustic Biology in Albany, Ohio, which has conducted the test, preferred to keep its technology top secret though. They have claimed that they used complex computer analyses of the astronauts’ voice patterns and more reliable than current lie detector tests.
Edgar Mitchell, another who took the test was the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon, who had earlier claimed that “aliens have contacted humans several times”.
Al Worden, 86, who had piloted the Apollo 15 mission revealed similar views to Good Morning Britain viewers with his claims earlier to have seen extra-terrestrials. In addition, the voice recordings of Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper, both now dead, were also analysed by the Ohio-based institute.
Mitchell was part of the Apollo 14 mission and Cooper was also a space pilot who claimed to have chased UFOs during his flights.
Aldrin has been in the news recently for advocating an affordable plan to get humans to Mars.
Since Earth does a lap of the Sun once every 365.256 days and Mars too does a lap of the Sun once every 686.93 Earth days, he said we can overlay these two orbits with a third orbit, that of a spacecraft, which takes 2 and 1/7th years to complete. This spacecraft can meet up with the two planets, he said.
Instead of using fuel to change direction, the spacecraft could use gravitational slingshot manoeuvres to reduce the cost of each trip, he explained.
The heatwave generated by the “Me Too” movement in Hollywood is now sweeping the Telugu film industry when TV journalist-turned-actress Sri Reddy removed her clothes in protest against sexual harassment by brokers and middlemen.
She was arrested immediately for creating nuisance in public space but she was able to dent the image of the worsening Telugu film industry with allegations of “casting couch” or sexual harassment being as common as putting on make up before the clap of a scene.
Sri Reddy Leaks preceded Saturday street show (Sri Reddy/Facebook)
Sri Reddy has her own demands, some personal and many for the industry’s new entrants. She has been denied membership in the Movie Artistes Association (MAA) but her overture has left many Telugu film directors and producers in a shock. Her candid interview on a TV channel recently left viewers wondering how many women artistes end up washing sperms off their bodies every morning.
The actress has long been making allegations that the Telugu film industry is denying local Telugus the genuine roles and encouraging imported heroines from the north or Bollywood, while Mumbai ill-treats Telugu artistes or relegates them to minor roles. Despite sending nude photos, rarely they get any role befitting the promise made to them, she says.
Her “Sri Leaks” on Facebook has been raging over the last 10 days and the actress is openly challenging directors, brokers and middlemen for not honouring their word to get roles for local Telugu artistes but paving the red carpet for imported non-Telugu actresses.
One director Sekhar Kammula, whose name she revealed openly, has warned her of a defamation case. In his Facebook post, the director said: “APOLOGIZE and take back every word that was posted against me or be ready to face legal action, which will include criminal/ civil proceedings (sic).” He was known for his Telugu hits such as ‘Fidaa’ last year and ‘Happy Days’ earlier.
Undaunted, Sri Reddy is adamant as ever. She said she is ready to fight legally as she has every proof to back all her allegations. That’s where the ill-reputed industry is caught clueless.
Following the Saturday street nude show by Sri Reddy, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce rushed to a closed-door meeting in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad where Rakul Preet, Manchu Lakshmi and director Nandini Reddy among others, discussed the impact and action to be taken against her.
But Hollywood #MeToo movement has reached Hyderabad much earlier than expected.
Nine months after the failure its last navigation satellite IRNSS-1H in August 2017, India’s space agency ISRO is all set to launch another navigation satellite to complete the indigenous GPS system, as a part of the series of IRNSS navigation satellites from its spaceport in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on April 12.
IRNSS is similar to US’ Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Glonass and Europe’s Galileo. China and Japan also have similar systems, ‘Beidou’ and ‘Quasi Zenith’.
The new PSLV-C41/IRNSS-1I Mission will lift off on Thursday morning, April 12, 2018 at 04:04 Hrs (IST). The last one in the series, IRNSS-1H launched last year on August 31 aboard the PSLV-C39, was unsuccessful. IRNSS-1I will replace IRNSS-1A, the first of the 7 navigation satellites in the series, which was rendered ineffective after its three rubidium atomic clocks failed.
“The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will launch IRNSS-1I satellite from the first launch pad in Sriharikota on April 12 at 4.04 a.m.,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement.
India’s PSLC in its 43rd flight (PSLV-C41) in XL configuration will launch IRNSS-1I Satellite from First Launch Pad (FLP) of SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The ‘XL’ configuration of PSLV is used for the 20th time and the IRNSS-1I is the 8th satellite to join the NavIC navigation satellite constellation.
IRNSS-1I is the eighth navigation satellite to join the IRNSS space segment consisting of previous satellites — IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G — launched by PSLV-C22, PSLV-C24, PSLV-C26, PSLV-C27, PSLV-C31, PSLV-C32 and PSLV-C33 in July 2013, April 2014, October 2014, March 2015, January 2016, March 2016 and April 2016 respectively.
Barring IRNSS-iH which was a failure, like all other IRNSS satellites, IRNSS-1I also has a lift-off mass of 1425 kg and its configuration is similar to IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G.
IRNSS-1I will carry two types of payloads – navigation payload and ranging payload. The navigation payload of IRNSS-1I transmits signals for the determination of position, velocity and time. It will operate in L5-band and S-band, besides rubidium atomic clocks.
The ranging payload of IRNSS-1I consists of a C-band transponder, which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite and it carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for LASER Ranging.
IRNSS navigation satellites
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an indegenous GPS system to meet the user requirements of the positioning, navigation and timing services over India and its neighbourhood, to provide fairly good accuracy to the user. The IRNSS will provide Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS).
The navigation satellite series consist of seven satellites, three in GEO stationary orbit (GEO) and four in Geo Synchronous Orbit (GSO) with inclination of 29° to the equatorial plane. This constellation of seven satellites was named “NavIC” (Navigation with Indian Constellation) and dedicated to the nation on the occasion of successful launch of IRNSS-1G, the seventh and last satellite of NavIC.
All the satellites will be visible at all times in the Indian region. All the seven Satellites of NavIC are functioning from their designated orbital positions, said ISRO. IRNSS-1H launched in August 2017 was the only unsuccessful mission in the series.
The Ground segment comprises of TTC & Uplinking Stations, Spacecraft Control Centre, IRNSS Timing Centre, CDMA Ranging Stations, Navigation Control Centre and Data Communication Links.
Applications or uses of NavIC:
Applications of IRNSS navigation (NavIC) satellites include several uses for fishermen going to sea, weather forecast, warning on crossing international waters inadvertantly. Merchant ships will benefit while navigating to their destination in the ocean routes, in disastrous situations using its current location.
In road transport, NavIC, with its position service, helps the travellers to go from one location to the other and enables transport operators to track their vehicles and goods.
For Indian Railways, NavIC helps in alerting the road users at Unmanned Level Crossings to avoid accidents by closely monitoring the approaching trains. Geo-tagging and Geo-fencing techniques of NavIC help in developing virtual maps.
By Linking position information from NavIC with Geo-Informatics Systems where several layers of information are linked on maps and satellite imagery, a host of location based services are offered to the general public. Using such features, one could easily locate a restaurant, shop, college, bus-stop, office, hospital, fuel pump, picnic spot, etc.
Survey of land utilization, port operations, precision agriculture, road and rail alignments, etc. are possible with NavIC. When integrated with mobile phones, can bring a major transformation in the delivery of customized applications to the consumer segment.
Delhi Police have zeroed in on three culprits — a teacher of a private school, a clerk and a support staff — from Himachal Pradesh for leaking the CBSE Class 12 Economics paper. All the three have been arrested by a Special Investigation Team of Delhi on Saturday.
The Economics paper was leaked in handwritten format two days prior to the exam held on March 26, forcing the CBSE to cancel the exam and re-hold it on April 25, causing much uproar in the country by students and parents.
Special Commissioner of Delhi Police R.P. Upadhyaya told media that the SIT has interrogated more than 70 people, including ‘WhatsApp’ admins, school teachers, ground staff, students and others in the case and finally reached its origin from a private school in Himachal Pradesh.
“It traced the transmission of the leak, ncluding its point of origin and who all were the beneficiaries and finally, on the basis of crucial clues and leads, the arrests were made from Himachal Pradesh,” said Upadhyaya.
The investigators had collected all the deleted chats and contexts shared by the group members and the Whatsapp admins with the help of the ‘Whatsapp’ Headquarters in California in US. All the deleted conversation was revived to help crack the case, he said.
The CBSE academic unit at Rouse Avenue was alerted about the leak on March 26 when it received a blank envelope containing some sheets of handwritten answers of Economics paper, just few hours before the exam commenced. For paucity of time to authenticate the leak, the exam was allowed to continue but once it was found that the paper was leaked, the Board has cancelled it and ordered a re-test.
In 2014 too, the physics paper of Class 12 was leaked and was published by a news website in the North East but CBSE found its reach not wide enough to order a re-test.
After a delay of two days, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was granted the bail in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case by the Jodhpur sessions court on Saturday. The actor will return to finish his films on priority while pending appeal to a higher court.
Jodhpur District and Sessions Court Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi, who heard the bail plea on Friday postponed it to Saturday and was transferred the same day so new judge heard it today. The actor’s lawyer Mahesh Bora’s arguments listing 54 reasons for the bail in a 51-page bail application, raising a benefit of doubt as only Salman had been convicted out of six accused.
Apart from Salman Khan, other Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam were part of the hunting team on October 1-2 night in 1998 outside a reserve forest near Kankani village in Jodhpur. They were all shooting for “Hum Saath Saath Hain” film.
Salman was found guilty and convicted Salman under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act as local Bishnoi community pressed for severe punishment to the actor for killing the blackbuck whcy they worship.
Salman had spent two days in the Jodhpur Central Jail as “Qaidi No. 106”.
In a country of 1.2 billion people, only 35 convicts have been jailed for wildlife crimes under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, usually most of them for poaching tigers and smuggling body parts, seahorse, snakes and other animals in India.
Blackbuck, known as Krishna mrig or Krishna saar and has been revered by local Bishnoi community and has been depicted in Maha Bhagavatam as pulling the chariot of Lord Krishna.
A new-look Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) without Gautam Gambhir will take on a strong Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) led by Virat Kohli at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday in the inaugural match of 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Dinesh Karthik has replaced Gambhir, who led KKR for four years and won the IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. “I’m aware of the expectations. Whether there would be pressure, ‘yes’. As a captain, you’re expected to at least go to the playoffs, that’s the least anybody can expect,” Karthik had told reporters earlier.
This match will be a litmus test for Karthik to play against Kohli’s team, for whom the IPL title had remained elusive thrice in 2009, 2011 and 2016 despite coming closer to wrenching it.
The RCB has remained strong as ever though this time too, though their bowling team is still weak with Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Washington Sundar and Tim Southee. But their batting team is strong with Kohli and proven IPL stars like AB De Villiers, Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson and Quinton De Kock.
“We are optimistic about the season. It’s very very balanced side. In the 10 years that I’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve ever had such a balance. We had initially but everyone firing together is also a massive factor,” Kohli had been quoted as saying earlier about his team.
On KKR front, missing in action will be Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Starc who has been injured though Mitchell Johnson and England all-rounder Tom Curran fill the gap. Batsman Chris Lynn may revive his delieries.
Squads:
KKR: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik (captain), Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.
RCB: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Woakes, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Brendon McCullum, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Quinton De Kock, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Colin De Grandhomme, M. Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Pavan Deshpande, Anirudha Ashok Joshi.
India Meteorological Department has issued severe weather warning for the five days beginning April 7, 2018 to April 11, 2018.
The northeastern belt over the Gangetic plain and Bihar, Assam & Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura are likely to witness thunderstorm accompanied with squall, said the Met agency in its latest bulletin. Southern states are likely to witness severe rains today and tomorrow. Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai may have to be prepared for a rainy weekend, going by the weather report.
Here is the details alert:
07 April (Day 1):
♦ Heavy rain very likely at isolated places over Meghalaya.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail very likely at isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall very likely at isolated places over Bihar, Assam & Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds & lightning very likely at isolated places over Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds very likely at isolated places over East Uttar Pradesh, interior Tamilnadu, Interior Karnataka, north Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and SubHimalayan West Bengal & Sikkim
08 April (Day 2):
♦ Heavy rain very likely at isolated places over SubHimalayan West Bengal & Sikkim.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail very likely at isolated places over Uttrakhand and Odisha.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall very likely at isolated places over SubHimalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Bihar, north Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds & lightning very likely at isolated places over Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada and south Konkan & Goa.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds very likely at isolated places over interior Tamilnadu, Kerala, Interior & Coastal Karnataka,Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal and East Madhya Pradesh.
09 April (Day 3)
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail likely at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall likely at isolated places over Punjab.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds likely at isolated places over Kerala and Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi.
10 April (Day 4):
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail likely at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with squall likely at isolated places over Punjab and north Uttar Pradesh.
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds likely at isolated places over Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi.
11 April (Day 5):
♦ Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds likely at isolated places over SubHimalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Assam & Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) has issued new Income Tax Return Forms (ITR Forms) for the Assessment Year 2018-19, making it one page simplified ITR Form-1(Sahaj), that may benefit around 3 crore taxpayers. However, criticism mounted on personal questions it seeks from the taxpers.
This new ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) can be filed by an individual who is resident other than not ordinarily resident, having income upto Rs.50 lakh and who is receiving income from salary, one house property / other income (interest etc.).
Further, the parts relating to salary and house property have been rationalised and furnishing of basic details of salary (as available in Form 16) and income from house property have been mandated.
ITR Form-2 has also been rationalised by providing that Individuals and HUFs having income under any head other than business or profession shall be eligible to file ITR Form-2. The Individuals and HUFs having income under the head business or profession shall file either ITR Form-3 or ITR Form-4 (in presumptive income cases).
In case of NRIs, the requirement of furnishing details of any one foreign Bank Account has been provided for the purpose of credit of refund. Further, the requirement of furnishing details of cash deposit made during a specified period as provided in ITR Form for the Assessment Year 2017-18 has been done away with from Assessment Year 2018-19.
There is no change in the manner of filing of ITR Forms as compared to last year. All these ITR Forms are to be filed electronically. However, where return is furnished in ITR Form-1 (Sahaj) or ITR-4 (Sugam), the following persons have an option to file return in paper form:
(i) an Individual of the age of 80 years or more at any time during the previous year; or
(ii) an Individual or HUF whose income does not exceed five lakh rupees and who has not claimed any refund in the Return of Income.
The notified ITR Forms are available on the official website of the Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in.
Jodhpur District and Sessions Court Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi’s was transferred to Sirohi, just hours after he reserved the bail plea to Saturday, indicating possible delay in the case.
After Joshi’s order for more documents, such as files of previous cases heard by Rural and High Courts, the High Court website on Friday night transferred him and listed Sirohi District and Sessions Court Judge Chandra Shekhar Sharma will be joining the bail plea hearing.
The defence and prosecution will present their arguments at 10.30 a.m. today, April 7, in the sensational case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case. His lawyer Mahesh Bora will present his arguments listing 54 reasons for the bail in a 51-page bail application, raising a benefit of doubt as only Salman had been convicted out of six accused.
Apart from Salman Khan, other Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam were part of the hunting team on October 1-2 night in 1998 outside a reserve forest near Kankani village in Jodhpur. They were all shooting for “Hum Saath Saath Hain” film.
Salman was found guilty and convicted Salman under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act as local Bishnoi community pressed for severe punishment to the actor for killing the blackbuck whcy they worship. Salman had spent two days in the Jodhpur Central Jail as “Qaidi No. 106”.
So far, only 35 convicts have been jailed for various wildlife crimes under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, mostly for poaching tigers and smuggling body parts, seahorse, snakes and other animals in India.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s health has become a cause of national concern as the second-in-command in Modi’s government is all set to undergo a kidney transplant surgery at the AIIMS on Saturday, April 7.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which has apologized for its mistaken dialysis on a patient last week, said it has formed a special team under doctor V.K. Bansal to carry out the surgery on Jaitley and Sandeep Guleria, a specialist from Apollo Hospitals has also been roped in.
The new state-of-art Cardio-Neuro Tower in the AIIMS will be the place for today’s operation and it may be recalled that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too underwent her kidney transplant here in December 2016.
Jaitley had tweeted on Thursday: “I am being treated for kidney related problems and certain infections that I have contracted. I am therefore currently working from controlled environment at home. The future course of my treatment would be determined by the doctors treating me.”
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in his tweet wished the leader early recovery. “I’m truly sorry to hear this @arunjaitley ji. I pray for your speedy recovery,” he tweeted. Jaitley, 65, had earlier been operated upon for a gastric bypass in 2015 to loose weight after Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari underwent similar surgery.
Jaitley, who visited Singapore recently, had to cancel his other international trips, including his next week’s visit to London for the annual economic dialogue. Currently, he has cancelled all major appearances in the public and is working from home.
Since the recovery will take at least three months, the finance ministry will essentially be run by finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia with the PMO overseeing its function. Adhia, a Gujarat cadre IAS official and a long-time confidante of PM Narendra Modi, will report to him for the next three months. His retirement by end of this year, is likely to be given an extension, said The Wired quoting sources familiar with the developments.
Jaitley’s absence when Karnataka elections are being held next month may keep Modi tied to Delhi but PM is not likely to allot the ministry to other BJP leaders in view of its key role in implementing the welfare programs ahead of the 2019 elections.
India’s first private sector space agency Team Indus is gearing up for the XPRIZE lunar launch giving final touches to its stalled latest mini rover meant for lunar landing.
Since Team Indus failed to raise funds for ISRO-backed PSLV launch, it could not meet the deadline set by Google as of March 31, 2018. Eventually, Google withdrew the prize money of $30 million and called it off.
Now that XPRIZE, which had successfully launched similar scientific missions in the past has renewed its mission to undertake the Lunar XPRIZE and Bangalore-based Team Indus emerges with renewed vigour.
Team Indus founder and CEO Rahul Narayan was upbeat. “The Google Lunar XPRIZE served as an excellent early catalyst to get new people, partners and money involved. With the renewed interest in beyond Earth-orbit exploration by multiple large government space agencies, a new Lunar XPRIZE will be a perfectly timed platform with the chances of multiple successful launches being much higher than before,” he said.
Under the terms of Google XPRIZE competition, the space company or its competitors have to make a soft-landing of their lunar rover, which should traverse at least 500 metres and send high-quality images back to the ground control on the earth. However, the new parameters will be re-defined now, said XPRIZE in a statement.
While Team Indus was seen as a sure-shot winner with its progress in designing the lunar rover and displaying it at several space events in India and abroad, the company failed to raise the required funds to pay for ISRO’s PSLV launcher.
Since 2007, Google Lunar XPRIZE teams have raised over $300 million through corporate sponsorships, government contracts and venture capital. As of 2017 January, Team Indus from India, Japan’s HAKUTO, Israel-based SpaceIL, American firms Moon Express and Synergy Moon were selected out of the 33 teams from 17 countries for the $1 million initial prize. However, the failure of any of them to raise next round of funds forced Google to withdraw the $30 million grand prize.
Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer, Senior Director of XPRIZE, said: “These space entrepreneurs are developing long-term business models around lunar transportation and we cannot give up on them now.”
All the Lunar XPRIZE startups are equally enthusiastic to participate in the Lunar XPRIZE competition without a monetary prize but the organisers are hopeful to find a new sponsor to replace elusive Google. Peter H. Diamandis, XPRIZE founder and executive chairman said, “XPRIZE is now looking for our next visionary Title Sponsor who wants to put their logo on these teams and on the lunar surface.”
Bob Richards, founder & CEO of Moon Express welcomed XPRIZE decision to renew the competition. “While we plan to win this Moon race and are committed to carrying the Lunar XPRIZE logo, the real opportunity is in opening the lunar frontier and the multibillion dollar industry that follows.”
Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Japan’s space firm iSpace, which has designed HAKUTO, echoed similar views when he said, “We believe a new competition would again elevate our industry to an even higher level, so we eagerly welcome a new Lunar XPRIZE.”
While all eyes are on a new Title Sponsor, whoever pitches in would have the benefit of having their name and branding incorporated into the competition, and in success, on the surface of the Moon, said XPRIZE.
XPRIZE had conducted the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $15M Global Learning XPRIZE, the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE, the $7M Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, the $7M Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE, the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, the $1.75M Water Abundance XPRIZE and the $1M Anu and Naveen Jain Women’s Safety XPRIZE in the past.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan need to spend another night in Jodhpur jail as as Qaidi No. 106 as the Jodhpur sessions court will pass its order on his bail plea tomorrow morning. The actor had been jailed here three times in the past in 1998, 2006 and 2007, and had spent 18 days in total.
Salman Khan and his friends were booked for killing a black buck on the night of October 1-2 in 1998 at a reserve forest near Kankani village in Jodhpur while shooting for "Hum Saath Saath Hain". His other Bollywood buddies Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam were acquitted in the case on Thursday.
Appealing for Salman Khan’s plea, his lawyer Hastimal Saraswat has reportedly raised 54 grounds seeking the actor’s bail but the remarks made by Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri on Thursday — describing Salman Khan a "habitual offender" under the wildlife protection laws of the country — may stand in the way.
The members of Bishnoi community, who worship the deer believing that it is a reincarnation of a 600-year-old guru, were fighting the case against the actor and his friends since they chased them and handed then over to the forest officials on the fateful night of Oct. 1, 1998.
Though Salman Khan was able to come out of his other legal battle in which he was booked under the allegations of killing a homeless man on Mumbai footpath in a drunken driving case, the Bishnoi community was steadfast nailing him down with their witness version in the court.
But the Bollywood is aghast as they have put Rs.600 crore on him, completely aware of the legal battle he was facing in the last 20 years. Unlike Sunil Dutt, who underwent similar prison term for over three years, the stakes were not so high as is the case now with Salman Khan, who is currently acting in "Race 3", "Dabangg 3", "Partner 2", "Kick 2′, "Bharat", "No Entry Mein Entry", "Sher Khan" and "Loveratri". Above all, the upcoming new edition of reality show "Bigg Boss" may have to do with some other host this year.
Though the actor has evolved from a trigger-happy hunter to a ‘Being Human’ philanthropist, the rule of law should remain the same for every one.
After almost four years, a major earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted Los Angeles and the areas in Southern California coast on Thursday at 12:29 p.m. and the US Geological Survey reported its epicentre at about 41 miles southwest of Ventura and 85 miles west of LA with 10 miles depth.
"The offshore faults that produced today’s M5.3 quake are part of the system that moves Southern California around a bend of the San Andreas fault," USGS seismologist Lucy Jones tweeted.
The temblor was felt by many residents as far away as Los Angeles, and shaking of buildings was reported by residents in areas such as Tarzana, San Dimas, Long Beach, Pomona and Torrance. However, there was not threat of tsunami, said the Tsunami Warning Center.
LA is equipped to deal with any earnthquake, said the Los Angeles Fire Department, which went into "earthquake mode" and the city has marked neighbourhood assembly zones during an earthquake.
Last time, California region was hit by a massive earthquake in August 2014 measuring 6 magnitude on Richter scale at 3:30 am on a Sunday morning, injuring about 100 residents, igniting fires and damaging many buildings. Estimates show that the loss would be around $1 billion.
Between 1980 and 2013, the financial loss from earthquakes and natural disasters in the US exceeded, after inflation adjustment, the one-billion dollar threshold.
New Billion-Dollar (CPI-Adjusted) Events:
1. Southern Severe Storms and Flooding (April 1980)
2. Midwest/Southeast/Northeast Winter Storm/Coldwave (January 1982)
3. Midwest/Plains/Southeast Tornadoes (April 1982)
4. Severe Storms and Hail (June 1984)
5. Western Severe Storms and Flooding (February 1986)
6. Hurricane Lili (October 2002)
7. Midwest/Plains Severe Weather (July 2003)
8. Midwest/Northeast Severe Storms and Flooding (July 2010)
Spring is the time of the year when birds sing but when you go far to the Northern Hemisphere, beneath the ice, another lesser-known concert is just coming to an end and it was by bowhead whales.
A University of Washington study has recorded sounds from bowhead whales, to discover that these marine mammals have a surprisingly diverse, constantly shifting vocal repertoire. The researchers analyzed audio recordings gathered year-round east of Greenland.
The bowhead whales had been frequently hunted almost to extinction in the 1600s and was recently estimated at about 200 animals. Audio recordings gathered from 2010 to 2014 show that there is a healthy population of them as they have recorded about 184 different songs.
"If humpback whale song is like classical music, bowheads are jazz," said lead author Kate Stafford, an oceanographer. "The sound is more freeform. And when we looked through four winters of acoustic data, not only were there never any song types repeated between years, but each season had a new set of songs."
Stafford has recorded whales’ sounds throughout the world’s oceans and she first detected bowhead whales singing off the other side of Greenland in 2007. Another study by Stafford of the Spitsbergen whales off west Greenland reported in 2012 that the whales were singing continuously during the winter breeding season, which means there may be a healthy population of them in that area.
"We were hoping when we put the hydrophone out that we might hear a few sounds," Stafford said about their earlier study. "When we heard, it was astonishing: Bowhead whales were singing loudly, 24 hours a day, from November until April. And they were singing many, many different songs."
The hydrophones, which are underwater microphones, picked up slightly more singing in the later years of the study and more surprisingly, there was a relentless variety in the animals’ songs.
The only other whale that sings elaborate songs are humpback whales found off Hawaii and Mexico waters. The humpback’s each population debuts a new tune in the spring."Now this data confirms that bowhead whale songs are completely different from the humpbacks’."
"Why are they changing their songs so much? In terms of behavioral ecology, it’s this great mystery," explains Stafford.
The study was published in Biology Letters, a journal of the United Kingdom’s Royal Society.
A bowhead whale surfaces in Fram Strait, to the northwest of Norway (CREDIT: Kit Kovacs/Norwegian Polar Institute)
Salman Khan, who was freed in Mumbai drunken drive case, was convicted in another case of blackbuck poaching in Jodhpur, on Thursday, April 5.
Two local Bishnoi people regard the animal as their deity and the man who chased poachers on motorcycle, identified and fought the case relentless for 20 years since 1998 against Bollywood celebrities. Under section 9/51 of Wildlife Act, Salman Khan faces up to 6 years jail term now.
Other actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam, and a local resident Dushyant Singh were tried for abatement but are aquitted. Salman Khan appeared before the court on Thursday in the two-decade-old blackbuck (chinkara) poaching case, and was told by the court that he was convicted. The sentence will be pronounced tomorrow, Friday, April 6, 2018.
Salman Khan is currently busy with the shooting for his upcoming film Race 3 in Dubai and he took a day off to attend the court hearing. Salman’s sisters Arpita and Alvira arrived at the Jodhpur court and soon Saif, Bendre and Tabu joined them.
Before the verdict, Remo D’Souza, the director of Race 3, told New18, "Salman never talks about the case while shooting for his films. Same was the case during Abu Dhabi schedule of Race 3 after which the actor left for the verdict. The unit and everyone associated with his big Eid release is hoping for a closure to this long stretched case with a favorable verdict."
Facebook, which had admitted to sharing 50 million users’ data with political research tool Cambridge Analytica in 2015, is facing another challenge from the health experts, that too from the universities.
Researchers from the University of Queensland have taken a look at cutting out on Facebook for five days and measuring the
level of stress harmone cortisol, which has actually come down. But to their surprise, most of the participants were feeling low at the end of it and unhappy with their ‘life without Facebook’.
A University of Queensland research team led by Dr Eric Vanman of the School of Psychology, investigated the effects of a short break from Facebook on a person’s stress levels and encountered psychological impact as well. “Taking a Facebook break for just five days reduced a person’s level of the stress hormone cortisol,” Dr Vanman said.
“However, while participants in our study showed an improvement in physiological stress by giving up Facebook, they also reported lower feelings of well-being. People said they felt more unsatisfied with their life, and were looking forward to resuming their Facebook activity.”
Dr Vanman said that could be because physically the carisol harmone levels reduced but psychologically peple did not feel that way due to the social disconnect they had to suffer during the period. "People’s own ratings of their stress did not change — perhaps because they weren’t aware their stress had gone down,” he said.
Essentially, people felt less content with their lives, when they were cut off from Facebook for five days at a stretch, probably from the resulting social disconnection of being cut-off from their Facebook friends. However, Vanman was quick to add that this feeling is not necessarily confined to facebook but probably anytime they take a break from their favourite social media platforms.
In their study, two groups of active users of Facebook, with one group instructed to stay off Facebook for five days and the other group using Facebook as normal were employed. All 138 participants in the study provided saliva samples at the beginning and end of the study to measure changes in their cortisol levels.
Dr Vanman, who had recently quit Facebook hit upon the idea and his friends joined him soon. “When I told colleagues about my ‘Facebook vacations’, I found I wasn’t alone,” he said. “Others admitted that they took similar breaks from Facebook when they found it too stressful or overwhelming – quitting Facebook for several days or weeks but then reconnecting.
He recollected the incident when a female student kept herself off Facebook and asked her friend to change the password so she wouldn’t be tempted to come back. After two months, she broke down and got the password from her friend, he said.
“Facebook has become an essential social tool for millions of users and it obviously provides many benefits. Yet, because it conveys so much social information about a large network of people, it can also be taxing. It seems that people take a break because they’re too stressed, but return to Facebook whenever they feel unhappy because they have been cut off from their friends.
The study has been published in the Journal of Social Psychology.
