Monthly Archives: July 2017

Ahmadabad Joins 36 UNESCO’s World Heritage Properties in India

Posted on by
Reply

 

The “Historic City of Ahmadabad” has figured on UNESCO’s World Heritage list on 8th July, 2017 during the 41st Session of World Heritage Committee, which makes the walled city of Ahmedabad the first city in India and the third in Asia to be inscribed to the World Heritage List.

In the past 3 years alone, India has managed to put five built heritage sites on the world heritage list of UNESCO. India now has overall 36 World Heritage Inscriptions with 28 Cultural, 07 Natural and 01 Mixed site. While India stands second largest in number after China in terms of number of world heritage properties in ASPAC (Asia and Pacific) region, it is overall seventh in the world.

Founded in 15th century, the walled city of Ahmadabad, on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati river, has a rich architectural heritage with 28 ASI Centrally Protected Monuments. The urban structures of the historic city of Ahmedabad are distinctive due to their puras (neighbourhoods), pols (residential streets), and khadki (inner entrances to pols) largely made of timber.

The historic architecture reflects symbols and myths connected with its inhabitants. The urban fabric is made up of densely-packed traditional houses (pols) in gated traditional streets (puras) with characteristic features such as bird feeders, public wells and religious institutions. It is a unique example of multi-religious and multicultural coexistence.

The inscription has been done under Criteria (ii) and (v) as defined in the UNESCO’s Operational Guidelines, 2016. Criterion (ii) refers to the important interchange of human values, over a span of time on development of architecture, monumental arts, town planning and landscape while Criterion (v) refers to being an outstanding example of human settlement and land use.

The international recognition to the city is expected to boost the local economy, giving it a tremendous fillip to domestic and international tourism leading to increased employment generation, creation of world-class infrastructure and augmentation of sale of local handicrafts, handlooms and heritage memorabilia.

No Life Possible Due to UV Radiation on Mars, Finds New Study

Posted on by
Reply

When NASA scientists declared that finding alien organism on Mars surface is a possibility soon, they were not sure about the perchlorate effect.

Now that new research has found that the bacteria exposed to UV-activated perchlorate were killed within minutes, may change their perception about the possibility of life in the form of any organism, forget about the bacteria.

Perchlorate found in the Martian soil in 2008 can lower the freezing point of water substantially keeping it stable for several hours each summer day.

But the latest research by Jennifer Wadsworth and Charles Cockell from the University of Edinburgh, found that perchlorate gets activated by ultraviolet (UV) light, similar to the conditions which exist on the Martian surface, thus killing any form of living organism immediately.

When the researchers killed Bacillus subtilis, a form of bacteria with perchlorate at same concentration found on the Martian surface, within 30 seconds. Those which are exposed to non-UV radiation but only perchlorate were found to remain viable for at least an hour. Since bacteria died instantly when exposed to perchlorate and UV radiation, the support system for any life organism on Mars is ruled out, they argue.

“The mere presence of liquid water seeps, thought to be good locations to search for life, does not imply environments fit for life,” said researchers. The study was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Unless we find conditions which are not exposed to perchlorate and UV radiation, we cannot find alien life on Mars, concluded researchers dashing off any hope of NASA or other astro-physicists who had hoped to find one soon.

It remains to be seen whether SpaceX founder Elon Musk will change the schedule to send the first batch of enthusiasts to Mars next decade.

Indian Railways Pondering ‘Subsidy’ Give Up Scheme on Tickets

Posted on by
1

Indian Railways wants to emulate the example of “Give it Up” campaign that was behind 1 crore people giving up their subsidized gas connections before it was made mandatory for all those above the income level of Rs.10 lakhs per annum.

A senior railway official said the ministry is pondering the possibility of similar appeal that can dissuade those who can afford to forfeit claim for subsidy in travel tickets.

“Passengers will have the option to forgo either 100 per cent of the subsidy or 50 per cent or to avail of the subsidy. It will be a voluntary decision,” said the official.

The idea surfaced when a passenger Krishen Kher returned Rs.950 subsidy for his trip sending a cheque to online reservation entity IRCTC. It hit upon them that many people may come forward to renounce any subsidy and save the differential amount of the actual fare, which comes to 57 per cent of each ticket and 40% on suburban rail tickets.

The annual subsidy comes to around Rs.30,000 crore for the Railways. “We expect people who are well off to forgo the subsidy, as details of this are already printed on tickets,” said the official.

The ministry has recently roped in the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy on undertaking efforts to reduce its subsidy burden, following the 2015 Bibek Debroy committee report to go corporate way. In 2016-17 Indian Railways had posted its worst ever operating ratio in 16 years at 96.9 per cent.

Another international consultancy has been asked to design a performance index to measure the country’s largest transportation entity and public sector undertaking (PSU) instead of operating ratio.

If performance comes into reckoning, then railways should increase their frequency of trains on profitable routes and limit them on unprofitable routes. Secondly, the government officials and representatives will have to forfeit their subsidized ticket fares for higher class travel.

Many committees had commissions have recommended Indian Railways to go the corporate way but the Indian government is unable to implement them in view of backlash and huge ticket-less travel reported in states such as Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

NEET Counselling Dates Revised After SC Nod

Posted on by
Reply

The counselling date of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET 2017 have been revised after the Supreme Court’s nod to the Medical Counsel of India.

The first round of NEET 2017 Counselling for All India quota will have to be completed by July 12, while the court has given time till August 28 for the entire admission to MBBS, while for BDS seats by September 10.

The revised schedule will be available on mcc.nic.in. The registration for 15% All India Quota and AFMC started from 12 Noon of 03/07/2017 and new registration facility for Deemed Universities/Central Universities and ESIC from 12 Noon of 05/07/2017, said the website.

After a prolonged delay over the court cases, the results of NEET 2017 was declared on June 23 and the sounselling process was being delayed in turn. For the second round of counselling, fresh set of seats are added to the system depending upon the latest approvals of MCI/DCI (increase in admission capacity of existing Medical/Dental College/ starting of new
Medical/Dental college).

“Further, the conversion of seats is also carried out during the round-2 of seat allotment and accordingly, the candidates are required to be shown all choices (seats available and likely to be available) which
are against vacant, newly added seats, virtual vacancies which are likely to get vacated during up-gradation and also during the conversion of seats,” said MCI in its post on the official website for counselling.

“If candidate allotted seat fails to join the allotted college/seat within stipulated time, before last date of joining (as per counseling schedule), the allotted seat will be cancelled and candidate shall not be eligible to take part in further Rounds of the online Counseling,” said the notification by MCI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Move Over Pellets or Tear Gas, Here is ‘Stink Bomb’ to Disperse Protesters

Posted on by
Reply

Indian security forces are contemplating using stink bomb instead of usual pellet guns or other deterrents to mob stone pelting practise and tests are underway on some prototypes.

The Guinness Book of Records has listed two stink bombs – US Government Standard Bathroom Malodor with a mixture of eight chemicals resembling human feces smell while the other titled “Who me?”, is a mixture of five sulfur-related chemicals and smells like rotting food and dead bodies. Usually, harmless stink bombs use ammonium sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs.

The Kannauj-based Indian Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) has proposed a “stink bomb” that can burst to emit smoke with a “stinking” odour that can put off the stone pelters and keep them leave the place in disgust.

Currently, the other effects of such stink bomb are under evaluation and the FFDC is testing the impact on health when people breathe the bad odour from the burst of a stink bomb.

A report by ANI said the minister of state for Micro Medium and Small Industries (MSME) Giriraj Singh had asked the Defence Ministry to review the stink bomb and provide necessary guidelines and approval.

The Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is likely to conduct tests and certify on its use or improvements before using it on people. Israel and the United States are also developing stink bombs as riot control and area denial weapons.

 

JEE Counselling for IITs Stopped Over PIL

Posted on by
Reply

The IIT-JEE (Advance) 2017 counselling process for IIT admissions has been restrained by the Supreme Court following a PIL alleging that the bonus marks were wrongly awarded to candidates.

The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A M Khanwilkar passed orders restraining counselling for admissions to the IITs which was supposed to begin on Friday. The plea by some students had pointed out that there were was an error in the Hindi version of the question papers of chemistry and mathematics.

Grace marks were given to all candidates irrespective of whether the student attempted the question or not. They pleaded that this was unfair and affected their prospects. The bench has also restrained high courts from entertaining any petition related to the issue.

Out of 36,000 seats in 97 institutes, 29,425 candidates have accepted the allotted seats so far. The joint admission board of the IITs told the court that a committee of experts had decided to give bonus marks and any delay at this after evaluating all options.

The board was also apprehensive that a judicial intervention at this stage would create hurdles to the entire admission process.

Heavy Rains to Lash Out Assam, Meghalaya This Weekend: Indian Met Agency

Posted on by
Reply

Indian Meteorlogical Department has issued heavy to very heavy rains in nothern and north-eastern and eastern states of Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Sub­ Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

Here is the weather forecast issued by IMD for the week starting from July 7, 2017 to July 11, 2017:

07JULY(Day1):♦ Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places over Assam & Meghalaya; heavy at isolated places over Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Sub­ Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura.

08JULY(Day2):♦Heavy  to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places with extremely heavy at isolated places over Assam Meghalaya; heavy at isolated places over Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Sub Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram &Tripura.

09JULY(Day3):♦Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places with extremely heavy at isolated places over Assam & Meghalaya; heavy to very heavy at isolated places over Sub­ Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim; heavy at   isolated places over Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram &Tripura.

10July(Day4):♦Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places over Uttarakhand, Sub Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Assam & Meghalaya; heavy at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura and Kerala.

11July(Day5):♦Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh; heavy at isolated places over Uttarakhand, West Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sub­ Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram &Tripura, Konkan & Goa and Coastal Karnataka.

 

Team Indus Pitches for $40 Mln Funding to Emerge as India’s Equivalent of SpaceX

Posted on by
Reply

Team Indus, the only Indian team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, wants to go beyond the challenge and emerge as India’s equivalent of SpaceX, US private space company, with an eye on additional fund-raising to the tune of $40 million in the next round.

With its lunar rover mission launch set for December aboard ISRO’s PSLV rocket, Team Indus wants to expand its operational capabilities in launching and managing communication satellites.

The $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge is a global competition to inspire engineers and entrepreneurs to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration by a privately funded team. The team must successfully place a robot on the Moon that explores at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth.

Team Indus has already raised $20 million in its first round from the country’s top investors such as Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani, Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, Subrata Mitra and Shekhar Kirani. The next round of funding will be utilized for expansion of its North Bangalore facility to undertake more space launches, said Team Indus founder Rahul Narayan.

The upcoming mission will carry its rover and 11 other payloads from Japan, France and UAE in the moon-laning mission. The spacecraft is under development at National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and the final assembly will be done at the Team Indus facility in North Bengaluru.

Elaborating on their moon landing mission, Narayan told TOI: “ISRO’s Chandrayaan 1 was an orbital mission, while our spacecraft has to land on the Moon.” The flight testing of the spacecraft and payloads will be done at ISRO’s facility, before the final launch, he said.

Since ISRO is planning to employ a private launch vehicle by 2020, Team Indus sees imense potential and emerge as the country’s top private spacecraft manufacturer. “We see ourselves augmenting ISRO’s capacities, not capabilities,” Narayan said.

Team Indus is among the five teams to have been awarded a combined $5.25 million in recognition of “key technological advancements toward their quest to land a private spacecraft on the surface of the moon,” said the Xprize Foundation. The successful landing will get the team the final prize amount of $15 million.

Peter Diamandis, Lunar XPRIZE founder, while announcing the prize, said:”It has been many decades since we explored the Moon from the lunar surface, and it could be another 6–8 years before any government returns. Even then, it will be at a large expense, and probably with little public involvement.”

While the ideas initially mooted by Peter Diamandis, NASA was facing budget constraints, he approached Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, at an X Prize Foundation fundraiser and they agreed to sponsor it, and raise the amount of the prize money to $30 million, including a second prize, besides some bonus prizes. However, it was brought down to $15 million later.

 

 

 

Challenging Summer for Green Card Holders?

Posted on by
Reply

This is going to be one of the most difficult summers ever for US Green Card and visa holders in all categories as few foreigners are aware of impact from the Presidential Order 13768, said Steven Riznyk, lead immigration attorney.

Under the Order, anyone who has any kind of a criminal record, or has even been charged but not convicted is a priority for removal or previously called deportation. Many people leaving for vacation have no idea they will not be returning home to their careers and families, he noted.

Steven Riznyk cautions that people with careers, jobs, homes, cars, and children who leave the United States will most likely not be able to re-enter for approximately 8 months’ time citing the draconian Presidential Order 13768.

“It is a very dangerous provision. A simple shoplifting charge can keep someone out of the United States,” said Riznyk. Unless a visa or Green Card holder applies for a waiver to ask the government to overlook a charge or conviction and has it approved, he or she will most likely not be able to re-enter after their vacation is over.

Mr Riznyk said he has received a number of calls from people all over the world who have been denied re-entry into the United States, feeling it was an error. With few immigration lawyers qualified to create waivers, he said not all immigration offences qualify for waivers.

Some waivers are only for visa holders, and not available for Green Card holders. It takes, on average, 8 months to be able to re-enter after filing a waiver, which itself takes 3-4 weeks to prepare, he said.

Once a foreigner is outside the country, he or she will not be able to enter, even while waiting for the results of the waiver. For people in the United States on a student visa or with a serious career and family obligations, this situation can be extremely destructive, he said.

Japan Behind Amelia Earmart Disappearance in 1937? Not Convincing!

Posted on by
Reply

First woman pilot Amelia Earhart who disappeared in her 1937 flight around the world still remains a mystery. Eighty years after, on July 4, 2017, when the United States was celebrating its Independence Day, news channels are abuzz with new evidence blaming Japan for her disappearance.

A newly surfaced photo from the National Archives shows Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan with a lable “Jaluit Atoll,” an area in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, with the Japanese ship Koshu in the background.

“We have no evidence anywhere that she crashed into the ocean, even though that’s been the common narrative for so many years,” Shawn Henry, former FBI officer, told Today Show. “I think we have a lot of evidence that she lived and survived in the Marshall Islands.”

The photo was discovered while working on a project for History Channel special “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” and the project producer Gary Tarpinian alleged in the TV show that the Japanese took Pilot Amelia Earhart to Saipan in the Mariana Islands and imprisoned her until death.

Earhart was last seen on July 2, 1937, taking off from New Guinea to travel to Howland Island as part of her Around the World Flight. The theory put forward by the makers of the documentary for History Channel is that the aircraft crashed and both Earhart and Noonan were captured alive by the Japanese and held them caprive for spying.

However, the evidence of a photo unearthed from the American Archives is not convincing. Had it been from the Japanese archives, then there is a story to be excited about. Contrary to the Marshal Islands story, a representative from the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, told The New York Times that they believe Earhart landed on the island of Nikumaroro after sending distress signals and was ultimately stranded.

The History Channel crew, however, suggest that Japan hand behind Earhart’s disappearance may have been covered up by government officials though it holds no strong connection. Why should government officials hold back the truth? Earhart was neither a spy nor a political leader worth ransom for the Japanese to confine her.

Secondly, neither US nor Japan had any inclination to capture citizens, let alone imprison them on spying charges as no signs of World War Two were prevalent as of July 1937.

Thirdly, Japan had no strong reason to imprison Earhart secretly for so long as it could have established her identity easily in a month or two and returned her. Moreover, Japan was totally pre-occupied with its adventures in Manchuria to bother about the American presence in Marshall Island.

But for a July 4th show, it’s worth watching.

Job Loss Bigger Blow Than Divorce: Study

Posted on by
Reply

In a new research for Bloomberg, the University of East Anglia and the What Works Center for Wellbeing, an independent body set up by the U.K. government, have revealed that it is worse to loose a job than loosing a spouse in a divorce.

The shock from the fact of getting fired in a job is more painful and impacts on mental health, self-esteem and satisfaction with life, said the data. Unemployment hovers around for years to come and people continue to become increasingly unhappy over the next few years, it said.

“After someone loses a partner, take a big dip and then, on average, it’ll get back to previous levels. But with unemployment, we just don’t see that happening,” said Tricia Curmi of the What Works Center for Wellbeing.

While it took two years to get over loss of spouse, job loss could torment them for more than four years, and men are more vulnerable to mental depression than women from this shock, pointed out the study.

“To have meaning in your life in this society means to be working, contributing, and to have that status,” Curmi said. It is not merely the salary but also the social mixing at the workplace and support from co-workers which keeps men going at the workplace than at home or leading a solo lifestyle.

Extroverts may bounce back quickly but incase of introverts, the suffering will last longer even for years, said another report. Many people who seek divine inspiration get to overcome such problems, Curmi said. “People who regularly attended church had a buffering effect from the impact of unemployment,” she noted.

West Bengal Governor Threatened Me, Alleges Mamata Banerjee

Posted on by
Reply

The communal riots in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday night over a Facebook post have resonated in Raj Bhavan.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in a meeting in Raj Bhavan had “threatened” her over the communal clashes and described his behaviour like “a BJP block president” and not as governor. Tripathi, a former BJP veteran, served as Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Assembly and was appointed West Bengal governor in 2014.

The Raj Bhawan in its explanation said, “the Hon’ble Governor cannot remain a mute spectator of the affairs in the state.” It added further saying, “The talks between the Hon’ble chief minister and the Hon’ble governor were confidential in nature and none is expected to disclose it.”

Baduria in Basirhat sub-division of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district witnessed a mob fury over the arrest of a person. Shops in Keosha market, Banshtala, Ramchandrapur and Tentulia markets were shut down over the clashes, the police said.

However, after her meeting with the governor, Mamata said she felt offended that “I once even thought of leaving (quitting as chief minister)”. She told media: “Someone had posted something objectionable on Facebook. He was arrested. Where is the fault of my government.”

“I told police to stop it. They should have blocked the Facebook account. But, how many Facebook accounts can be blocked? If the police had opened fire, 200 people would have been killed.”

Lady Gaga Comes to Ed Sheeran’s Rescue over Twitter Saga

Posted on by
1

The singer and song writer Ed Sheeran had a harrowing time for his remarks published in a na interview in “The Sun” magazine on Monday. The singer had said he would cease to be active on Twitter, the social media platform in a huff until Lady Gaga herself came to his rescue.

In her typical rescue mission, Lady Gaga shared her support for Ed Sheeran. “What an incredible talented artist I LOVE ED @edsheeran deserves all our love and respect like all humans do,” she said in her Instagram post.

“I wish all people on the internet would be positive and loving and apart of creating an online community that is kind and empowering, not hateful and mean. No reason to tear down an artist simply because they are on top. Work harder to be kinder everybody. That should be your first duty to humanity,” she said, showing the singer what humility means despite stardom.

Sheeran, the “Shape of You” singer, was not new to making accusatory remarks to media. In January, he told Beats Radio 1 that he would like not to be like other artists, indirectly hinting at the top Lady Gaga and others. “You’ve seen them become the biggest artists in the world, and then suddenly they will say, ‘I know everything!’ And just after, they are no longer at the top,” Sheeran said in the interview.

Soon the fans of Lady Gaga had set off a trolling tirade against the singer on Twitter and other social media, forcing him to get out of the Twitter blaming that the Twitter base was only assuming things and targeting him.

Sheeran, who is currently on tour in North America, said he would ask his team to communicate in general and on Twitter or his father would do the direct talk now. “I have people like my dad who will have a conversation with me,” he said. “I don’t have to have someone calling me a whatever.”

Sheeran, 26, rose to fame with in 2011 with his debut album and has since been certified seven-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single “The A Team”, which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. He also won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act in 2012.

In the US, he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift’s fourth studio album, Red and his “The A Team” was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.

His second studio album, x (read as “multiply”) in 2014 went on to become a big hit in the UK and the US. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year. His single from x, “Thinking Out Loud”, earned him two Grammy Awards in 2016 in categories of Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Sheeran’s third album, ÷ (read as “divide”), released in March 2017, became a hit as number one in the UK, the US and other major markets. The first two singles from the album, “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill”, were released in January 2017 and broke records in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia and Germany.

India Cites Salahuddin’s Claim as Proof of State-Sponsored Terrorism

Posted on by
Reply

In a response to the interview by global terrorist Syed Salauddin, the Pakistan-based self-styled head of the United Jihad Council and Chief of internationally designated terrorist organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, telecast by a Pakistan TV Channel on 2 July 2017, India said it was a clear example of terrorists being given shelter in Pakistan.

The official Spokesperson said:”The brazen admission by Syed Salauddin of perpetrating terrorist attacks on India and having the capacity to carry out such attacks at any place and time in India is a further proof of Pakistan’s continuing policy of cross border terrorism.”

He said the confession affirms the complicity of Pakistan’s state mechanism in using terrorist proxies as a matter of policy against the neighbours. The interview clearly “highlights the unabashed manner in which terrorist organisations and leaders enjoy freedom of operations in Pakistan, including access to terror financing and procurement and supply of weapons for terrorism,” he said.

Indian spokesperson also said that it is a matter of deep regret that senior Pakistan functionaries continue to justify and defend the activities of such internationally designated terrorist entities and leaders. These terrorists are responsible for killing thousands of innocent civilians over the past three decades, he added.

“Pakistan must give up its policy of cross-border terrorism, fulfill its obligations under international resolutions and stop all activities of terrorists from the territory under Pakistan’s control,” sid the spokesperson in a ministry briefing.

India, Pakistan Exchange List of Prisoners as Per 2008 Agreement

Posted on by
Reply

As part of the 2008 agreement, India and Pakistan have recently exchanged, through diplomatic channels, at New Delhi and Islamabad, the lists of nationals, including civil prisoners and fishermen of each country lodged in the jails of the other country.

The exchange of information is part of the provisions of the Agreement on Consular Access between India and Pakistan, which was signed on 21 May 2008. The agreement provides that a comprehensive list of nationals of each country lodged in other country’s jails has to be exchanged twice each year, on January 1 and July 1.

India’s External Affairs Ministry said in a statement, “India remains committed to addressing on priority all humanitarian matters with Pakistan, including those pertaining to prisoners and fishermen. In this context, we await from Pakistan confirmation of nationality of those in India’s custody who are otherwise eligible for release and repatriation.”

India has reiterated that Pakistan should grant full and early consular access to the Indian nationals lodged in the custody of Pakistan, including Hamid Nehal Ansari and Kulbhushan Jadav.
“India once again requests Pakistan for the early release and repatriation of Indian Prisoners, missing Indian defence personnel and fishermen along with their boats whose nationality has been confirmed by India,” said the statement.

Cyberattacks Traced to Ukrainian Servers, Seized Now

Posted on by
Reply

The massive cyberattacks around the globe last week have been traced to an Ukrainian servers used by an accounting software firm and seized by police suspecting them of spreading a malware virus that crippled computer systems.

Ukraine’s Cyber Police head Serhiy Demedyuk told Reuters that the servers of M.E.Doc, an accounting software firm had been seized as the initial infections were spread via a malicious update issued by M.E.Doc. However, the company denied the allegations.

Premium Service, an official dealer of M.E.Doc’s software, posted on its Facebook that the searchers were still scrutinising the software firm’s servers and services. Police said the attack had been planned months in advance by highly-skilled hackers, which forced Ukraine to extedn tax filing deadline in view of cyber attacks.

Slovakian security software firm ESET said theere was a “backdoor” behind the mishap. “We identified a very stealthy and cunning backdoor that was injected by attackers into one of M.E.Doc’s legitimate modules,” ESET senior malware researcher Anton Cherepanov said in a technical note, reported Reuters. “This was a thoroughly well-planned and well-executed operation,” he said.

Oleg Derevianko, board chairman at Ukrainian cyber security firm ISSP, told Reuters that an update by M.E.Doc in April delivered a virus to the clients which instructed computers to download 350 megabytes of data from an unknown source on the internet.

Later, the virus exported 35 megabytes of company data to the hackers, he said explaining that the 35 megabytes data could exfiltrate anything beginning with emails from all of the banks to deciphering user accounts, their passwords and all other information.

M.E.Doc software is used by around 80 percent of companies in Ukraine. Earlier, the Ukrainian officials suspected that a Russian hand was behind the cyber attacks, which wass deneied by Kremlin spokesman as “unfounded blanket accusations”.

How Did Romans Make Such Solid Concrete 2000 Years Ago? Secret Unveiled

Posted on by
Reply

A 2,000-year-old concrete harbor structure, made from volcanic ash, lime and seawater by Romans that has remained a puzzle for long has been cracked by minerologists using X-ray and Advanced Light Source (ALS).

A team of researchers working at the Berkeley Lab used X-rays to study samples of Roman concrete at microscopic level to learn about the mineral cements. The Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), an X-ray research center known as a synchrotron, found that crystals of aluminous tobermorite, a layered mineral, was the key in strengthening the concrete as they grew in relict lime particles.

The finding will provide a wider adoption of concrete manufacturing techniques with less environmental impact than modern Portland cement manufacturing processes, which require high-temperature kilns. The new technique can also reduce industrial carbon dioxide emissions, they said.

“At the ALS we map the mineral cement microstructures,” said Marie Jackson, a geology and geophysics research professor at the University of Utah who led the study. “We can identify the various minerals and the intriguingly complex sequences of crystallization at the micron scale.”

Advanced Light Source scientists Nobumichi Tamura, left, and Camelia Stan, right, work with Marie Jackson, center, a University of Utah professor, to study Roman concrete samples at the microscale using X-ray Beamline 12.3.2.CREDIT: Berkeley Lab

Jackson said that lime exposed to seawater in the Roman concrete mixture reacted with volcanic ash early in the history of the massive harbor structures and the aluminous tobermorite crystallized in the lime remnants during a period of elevated temperature.

The ancient observation by the Roman scientist Pliny the Elder, who explained it saying, “as soon as it comes into contact with the waves of the sea and is submerged, becomes a single stone mass, impregnable to the waves and every day stronger.”

In fact, the Romans relied on the reaction of a volcanic rock mixture with seawater to produce the new mineral cements, including underwater volcanoes, such as the Surtsey Volcano in Iceland, that produced the same minerals found in Roman concrete.

“Contrary to the principles of modern cement-based concrete, the Romans created a rock-like concrete that thrives in open chemical exchange with seawater,” said Jackson, who is working with a geological engineer to rediscover the Romans’ complex recipe for concrete.

She is mixing seawater from the San Francisco Bay and volcanic rock from the Western United States to find the right formula, and also studying the production of tobermorite and other related minerals at the Surtsey volcano in Iceland.

The concrete industry is about $50 billion industry in 2015. The new study was published in American Mineralogist.

Wiped out Dinosaurs Gave New Life to Frogs: Study

Posted on by
Reply

The dinosaurs wiped out from Earth gave rise to most of the frogs alive today.

A new study by Chinese and American biologists shows that if the calamity had not wiped the planet clean of most terrestrial life 66 million years ago, 88 percent of today’s frog species wouldn’t be here. Nearly nine out of 10 species of frog today have descended from just three lineages that survived the mass extinction.

The findings to be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that frog evolution pinpointed the blossoming of the main frog lineages to about 35 million years earlier, in the middle of the Mesozoic era.

The new analysis of 95 genes from frogs within 44 of 55 living families shows that these three lineages started to take off precisely at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods — the K-Pg boundary, formerly called the KT boundary — when the last mass extinction occurred, and not 100 million years ago.

According to herpetologist and co-author David Wake, a University of California, Berkeley professor of the graduate school and a curator of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, new frog species likely radiated rapidly throughout the world because so many environmental niches were available after the animals occupying them disappeared.

“We think the world was quite impoverished as a result of the KT event, and when the vegetation came back, angiosperms dominated. That’s when trees evolved to their full flowering,” Wake said. “Frogs started becoming arboreal. It was the arboreality that led to the great radiation in South America in particular.”

Trees are an ideal habitat for frogs not only because they allow them to escape from terrestrial predators, but also because their fallen leaves provide protection while the frogs are on the ground, breeding habitat and plenty of food, such as insects. Trees and other flowering plants took off in the late Cretaceous, and were ready for exploitation by frogs after they recovered from the extinction.

Another adaptation that became popular was direct development, that is, producing young without a tadpole stage, which is standard for about half of all frog species today.

“The majority of the frogs that thrive now are thriving because of direct development of eggs in terrestrial situations,” he said. “It is a combination of direct development and use of arboreal habitat that accounts for a great deal of the radiation.”

Two of the three surviving lineages came out of Africa, which remained intact as the continents shifted around over the ensuing eons, with the breakup of Pangea and then Gondwana to form the continents.

Today’s frogs, comprising more than 6,700 known species are, however, under severe stress around the world because of habitat destruction, human population explosion and climate change, possibly heralding a new period of mass extinction, says the new study.

38 Natural World Heritage Sites Facing Threat, Warns IUCN

Posted on by
Reply

Two-thirds of the 57 natural World Heritage sites are affected this year by illegal fishing, logging and poaching, said the monitoring body International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), sending alarm bells over the risk faced by some of the world’s most precious and unique ecosystems and species.

On the eve of its 41st session of the World Heritage Committee meeting starting this Sunday in Kraków, Poland, IUCN recommends listing Mexico’s Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California on the List of World Heritage in Danger to avoid illegal gillnet fishing, which threatens the vaquita with imminent extinction.

IUCN also raises concerns over continued impacts of illegal activities, including logging and poaching, on the unique biodiversity of Madagascar’s Rainforests of the Atsinanana and on Bia?owie?a Forest – one of Europe’s last remaining primeval forests located in Poland and Belarus.

“It is alarming that even our planet’s greatest natural treasures are under pressure from illegal activities,” says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “World Heritage sites are recognised as the planet’s most unique and valuable places, for nature and for people. If destroyed, they are lost forever.

Illegal wildlife trade is threatening the vaquita – the world’s smallest porpoise – with extinction. The Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California became a World Heritage site in 2005 for its unique marine biodiversity. It hosts a third of the world’s cetacean species. The vaquita’s swim bladder fetches high prices in Asian markets.

Despite Mexico’s extensive efforts to combat the illegal gillnet fishing, the vaquita’s survival remains at severe risk, with only about 30 individuals left to survive in the wild. IUCN recommends placing the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger to mobilise urgent action to protect the site, besides calling for a permanent ban on gillnets.

Madagascar’s Rainforests of the Atsinanana, a key habitat for endangered lemurs, acquired ‘in danger’ status in 2010 – only three years after being listed as a World Heritage site – due to illegal logging of ebony and rosewood. IUCN recommends stronger efforts to address the threats, including increased cooperation between countries along trading routes.

If Poland continues to undertake wood extraction and logging in Białowieża, one of the first World Heritage sites shared between Poland and Belarus covering a total area of 141,885 hectares. It remains primeval forest and home to the iconic European Bison and hosts more than 250 bird and over 12,000 invertebrate species.

IUCN is the official advisory body on nature to the World Heritage Committee, recommending new sites to be included on the World Heritage list.

These are rainforests of the Atsinanana, Madagascar – Lemur Sifaka. CREDIT: IUCN Geoffroy Mauvais

 

 

Islands and protected areas of the Gulf of California, Mexico fishing port. CREDIT: IUCN Elena Osipova

SBI Probationary Officers Exam 2017 Main Results Declared

Posted on by
Reply

The State Bank of India (SBI) has declared the SBI probationary officers (PO) mains examination result for the test conducted on 4th June, 2017.

The SBI PO result 2017 results are available at the online portal of SBI at sbi.co.in and the candidates can check them providing their name, roll number and date of birth in specified space.

Thos who have qualified will get a call to attend for group discussion and personal interview by the HR team. SBI is the largest Indian bank and its probationary officers will pave the way for candidates one of the best avenues to carft their future banking career.

The bank had 2,313 vacancies when it invited applications in February 2017. The exam is at least once in a year by the SBI at the national level to hire probation officers.

To check results at sbi.co.in, open the website at https://www.sbi.co.in/careers/ and click on ‘Recruitment Results & Archive’ link, which will take the user to the page https://www.sbi.co.in/careers/recruitment-result.html with drop down menu.

Select ‘Probationary Officers’ from the drop down and click on ‘Recruitment of Probationary Officers in State Bank of India’ and select ‘Main Exam Marks’. Once page opens, enter your Roll Number and Date of Birth or Registration Number and Date of Birth. Do not forget to enter the string shown in the image before pressing the ‘Submit’ button.