Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on phone today with The Rt. Hon. Elizabeth Truss, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
PM Modi congratulated PM Truss on assuming the office of the Prime Minister of UK. He also appreciated her contributions to the India-UK bilateral relationship in her previous roles as Trade Secretary and Foreign Secretary. Both leaders committed to further strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and UK.
The two leaders discussed various issues of bilateral interest including the progress in the implementation of the Roadmap 2030, ongoing FTA negotiations, defence & security cooperation, and the people-to-people ties between both countries.
On behalf of the people of India, Prime Minister Modi conveyed deep condolences to the Royal family and the people of UK on the sad demise of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid his condolences after the demise of renowned archeologist Shri Braj Basi Lal.
The Prime Minister tweeted;
“Shri BB Lal was an outstanding personality. His contributions to culture and archaeology are unparalleled. He will be remembered as a great intellectual who deepened our connect with our rich past. Pained by his demise. My thoughts are with his family and friends. Om Shanti.”
Narendra Modi has paid his condolences over the demise of Braj Basi Lal
Amid ongoing economic crisis with skyrocketing inflation and dollar crunch, Sri Lanka will get Indian loan assistance to print text books for school children for the year 2023.
Education Minister Susil Premejanatha said that steps have been taken to import raw materials including papers and ink required for textbook printing under Indian credit line for 2023 education year starting from next March.
With no dollars to import printing material, education was one of the main victims of current economic crisis the country has been going through and in March last year, the island nation cancelled examinations for millions of students with no papers to print exam papers.
Sri Lanka provides text books and school uniforms for students free of cost at a cost of around $44 million.
India has extended 8 Lines of Credit (LOCs) to Sri Lanka amounting to US$1,850.64 million in the past 10 years, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar informed the Lok Sabha last month.
“Government of India has extended 08 Lines of Credit (LOCs) to Sri Lanka amounting to USD 1,850.64 million in sectors including railways, infrastructure, defence, renewable energy, petroleum and fertilizers in the past 10 years,” Jaishankar said in a written reply.
— SEC SL – Capital Market Development & Awareness (@SEC_SriLanka) September 6, 2022
In January 2022, India extended a $400 million currency swap and a Line of Credit of US$ 500 million for importing fuel from India. India has extended a credit facility of US$ 1 billion for the procurement of food, medicines and other essential items from India.
In addition, humanitarian assistance was provided to Sri Lanka by gifting essential medicines worth about INR 6 crores, 15,000 litres of kerosene oil and US$55 million LoC for procurement of Urea fertilizer.
India has provided the biggest financial support so far extending $4 billion for the year 2022 alone. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to provide $2.9 billion over four years with conditions to help salvage the country from its economic crisis.
NASA is awarding more than $4 million to institutions across the U.S. to help bring the excitement of authentic NASA experiences to groups of middle and high school students who are traditionally underserved and underrepresented in STEM.
The new Space Grant K-12 Inclusiveness and Diversity in STEM (SG KIDS) opportunity will boost these students’ sense of belonging in STEM subjects, a critical first step toward STEM degrees and careers.
SG KIDS is a pilot program made possible through NASA’s National Space Grant and Fellowship Project, which comprises Space Grant Consortia led by an institution in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This opportunity represents a new approach by asking the awarded consortia to reach beyond state boundaries to create regional projects tailored to students in those areas. Through partnerships, the awardees will be able to share these exciting STEM opportunities with students residing in other states.
sg_kids_award/Photo: NASA
“Through Space Grant KIDS, we’ve asked the nation’s Space Grant consortia to deploy educational activities across state lines to share the excitement of NASA and STEM with students who otherwise might not have that opportunity,” said Mike Kincaid, NASA’s associate administrator for the Office of STEM Engagement, which administers NASA Space Grant. “We’re looking forward to seeing how these regional partnerships will make a lasting difference for the Artemis Generation.”
SG KIDS addresses the White House Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, as well as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s focus on providing authentic STEM opportunities to K-12 students.
The projects funded under SG KIDS will provide students with hands-on experiences and lessons that bring NASA’s missions to life, provide training and resources to the educators teaching those students, and boost the STEM ecosystem in these regions.
NASA/Photo: Nasa.gov
“Space Grant KIDS is designed to establish networks that deliver enriching NASA STEM experiences to underserved student populations,” said Dr. Erica Alston, NASA’s deputy Space Grant manager. “We can leverage these networks to reach traditionally overlooked groups in future DEIA efforts.”
Each of the four grantees, Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Georgia Space Grant Consortium, Ohio Space Grant Consortium and Texas Space Grant Consortium, will receive approximately $1,050,000 in cooperative agreements to put their proposals into action during the next three years.
Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the importance of climate, human spaceflight, and STEM education during the Biden-Harris Administration’s second National Space Council meeting Friday, held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“For generations, with our allies and partners around the globe, America has led our world in the exploration and use of space,” said Harris. “Our leadership has been guided by a set of fundamental principles – cooperation, security, ambition, and public trust – which is the recognition, of course, that space can and must be protected for the benefit of all people.
There is so much we still don’t know and so much we still haven’t done – space remains a place of undiscovered and unrealized opportunity. Our test and our responsibility is to work together to guide humanity forward into this new frontier and to make real the incredible potential of space for all people.”
National Space Council Meeting led by Chairwoman, Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo Date: September 9, 2022. Location: Building 9NW, SVMF. Photographer: Robert Markowitz.
For more than 50 years, NASA satellites have provided open-source and publicly available data on Earth’s land, water, temperature, weather, and climate. Improving access to key climate information is a priority for the agency. Building on his previous announcement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released the first concept, and shared a new video for the Earth Information Center. The center will allow the public to see how the Earth is changing and guide decision makers to mitigate, adapt, and respond to climate change.
“Just like we use mission control to monitor operations during spaceflight, we’re embarking on this effort to monitor conditions here on our home planet, and it will be available to everyone in an easy-to-access format,” Nelson said.
Planning for the Earth Information Center is underway with the initial phase providing an interactive visual display of imagery and data from NASA and other government agencies. NASA Headquarters plans to house this initial interactive display with goals to expand in person and virtual access over the next five years.
The Vice President also underscored the important research conducted on the International Space Station that will enable long duration stays on the Moon and future human missions to Mars, in addition to benefits to life here on Earth.
NASA/Photo: Nasa.gov
“NASA uses the International Space Station to conduct critical research on the risks associated with future Mars missions – space radiation, isolation, and distance from Earth, just to name a few. It’s also a testbed to develop the technologies we’ll need for long duration stays on the Moon, where we will build an Artemis Base Camp on the surface and Gateway outpost in lunar orbit,” Nelson said. “Research on the space station demonstrates that the benefits of microgravity are not just for discovery. We also develop new technologies that improve life on Earth, like treatments for cancer.”
In conjunction with the meeting, NASA announced a new Space Grant K-12 Inclusiveness and Diversity in STEM (SG KIDS) opportunity that will award more than $4 million to institutions across the U.S. to help bring the excitement of NASA and STEM to traditionally underserved and underrepresented groups of middle and high school students. The announcement is a part of a broader set of commitments made by public, private, and philanthropic partners announced by the Vice President to help in the recruitment and development of the next generation of the space workforce.
SG KIDS also addresses the White House Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, as well as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s focus on providing authentic STEM opportunities to K-12 students.
While at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Vice President Harris toured the agency’s mission control with Nelson and Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche. The Vice President also spoke with NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins, living and working aboard the International Space Station about how their research benefits life on Earth, supports long duration space flight, and protects our planet.
The Vice President also received a tour of the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), where space flight crews and their support personnel receive world class training on high-fidelity hardware for real-time mission support. The SVMF consists of space station, Orion, Commercial vehicle mockups, part-task trainers and rack interfaces, a Precision Air Bearing Floor, and a Partial Gravity Simulator.
A recording of the full National Space Council meeting is available online at:
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the first National Conference on Sustainable Coastal Management in India in Bhubaneswar today.
This conference is being organized by the Green Climate Fund supported project – Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities.
The objective of the conference is to bring officials from all 13 coastal states of India under one roof to focus on the three interrelated themes :
Coastal and marine biodiversity,
Climate mitigation and adaptation and
Coastal pollution.
This endeavour is aimed at creating a vibrant network of stakeholders who will continue to engage with each other on the topics but also on cross-cutting themes such as coastal governance, technologies and innovation as well as domestic and international finance.
“The Indian coastline is of immense strategic, economic and social importance to the country.
Indian coastline spans 7,500 kilometres, seventh longest in the world,
home to 20 percent of the country’s population,
Three of our four metropolitan cities lie on the coast,
supports more than 17,000 species of plants and animals.
There is a great diversity of ecosystems within our coastal regions that support more than 17,000 species of plants and animals. With the changing climate, we need to build the resilience of communities living in coastal areas.” said Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Sustainable Coastal Management in India
“This conference comes at an important time as India has submitted its revised NDCs and seeks to create multi-sectoral partnerships to meet these targets” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, said: “Such conferences are important to bring the conversations of resilience and sustainability to our country’s coastal areas. This was also envisioned in the Honourable Prime Minister’s LiFE movement.”
Sustainable Coastal Management in India
Sustainable coastal management is recognised as need of the hour. Data-driven policies and management frameworks, participatory conservation models, and convergence between stakeholders are the key pillars for effective coastal management.
A programme on Enhancing Climate Resilience of Coastal Communities is being implemented in partnership with UNDP in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the initiative is integrating ecosystem and community-based approaches to adaptation into coastal management and planning.
As Bangalore is struggling to withstand torrential rains, the appalling picture of inadequate infrastructure is getting zoomed in international headlines with pictures of techies, CEOs travelling by boats and tractors to reach workplaces or shifting from their inundated residences.
Meanwhile, social media is abuzz with a debate on India’s Silicon City’s infrastructure, while the locals retaliated with the Twitter campaign for “Leave Bengaluru” is trending, as some users are asking migrants to leave the city and go back to their native places..
The tech communities and the Outer Ring Road Companies Association have asked the government that if they are not ensured proper infrastructure, they would find new destinations.
It ensued twitter campaigns titled “#LeaveBengalurua, “#GetLostMigrants’ and a#Bengaluru_nammadu’ (It’s our Bengaluru) are trending.
One Virat Rocky slammed trolls as “migrant mindset” and said it’s “double standard” mindset. He said, “If you don’t love me in my crisis, then you don’t deserve me in my good times.” He has used photos of water flooding on arterial roads and pictures of the beautiful spring season in the city.
Another post stated: “Bengaluru is our city, not yours. Please go back to your native places.” “Listen migrants, you are in Bengaluru to earn your bread and butter, just complete your work and get lost, says yet another post.
On the other hand, “This is the result of paying taxes to the government. Forget about good infrastructure, they are not able to provide basic facilities as well,” stated a post while referring to the Global Technology Park on Outer Ring Road being inundated.
Meanwhile a minister too joined the debate.
“Those who say they can’t live in silicon city Bengaluru, should not come here. No one invited them to come and reside here,” stated Minister for Horticulture V. Munirathna, targetting the trolls.
Those who talk in demeaning manner about Bengaluru belong to low culture. It is not fair for them to bad mouth Bengaluru, the city which has given them food, shelter and livelihood, he said.
Bengaluru city is spoiled only because of people like this, ones whose history of the city will never talk about it. Those who come here first have to know the history. People from north India have settled in Bengaluru in large numbers. Those who tweet as per their whims and fancies must be taught a lesson legally, Minister Munirathna opined.
Ovarian cancer is most often found in people of middle-age or older as the Wilmot study showed that the mean age of participants was 56.
Of the 183 participants, 42 were found to have ovarian cancer, which is 23 percent. The technology also discovered that 20 other participants had non-ovarian cancers.
Ovarian cancer symptoms can be vague, such as gas and bloating, but there are some that should not be ignored, Moore said: pelvic pain or pressure, feeling full quickly after eating, vaginal discharge or abnormal bleeding, urgency to urinate frequently, fatigue, upset stomach, pain during sex, constipation, or menstrual changes.
Because ovarian cancer is most often diagnosed in later stages.
A new type of technology can capture stray ovarian cancer cells from a simple blood test and successfully predict cancer in people who have a lesion or cyst in the pelvic region, according to a new study by a Wilmot Cancer Institute physician/scientist.
Nearly 200 local people participated in the study.
One of those local participants, Toni Masci, 51, of Fairport, took part in Moore’s study by providing blood samples for analysis. She had an ovarian cyst that burst — only to find out that a large tumor was also in her abdomen. She was treated with surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy in 2017 for stage 1 ovarian cancer, and just celebrated the milestone of five years in remission.
“I feel lucky to be part of this,” Masci said. “As most people know, ovarian cancer usually doesn’t get detected early. If Dr. Moore hadn’t been doing this research, we might not have had this advance and I might not be here.”
Currently, there is no routine ovarian cancer screening method available for people who do not have symptoms or a known lesion. And yet, the new technology, called a “liquid biopsy,” developed by United Kingdom-based ANGLE PLC, and the URMC team at Wilmot, advances the field in a couple of important ways, according to the study:
It confirmed for physicians quickly and accurately that cancer was present in patients who were scheduled for surgery or other procedures. The detection enabled physicians to classify which patients needed immediate care from a specially trained gynecological oncologist to improve survival.
The study analyzed gene expression from captured cells in blood and evaluated 72 different gene transcripts and seven blood biomarkers related to ovarian cancer (including CA125). From this collection, the study identified nine gene transcripts and four biomarkers that were useful for detecting cancers. They were used to develop an algorithm known as MAGIC (Malignancy Assessment using Gene Identification in Captured Cells). The algorithm achieved a sensitivity of 95 percent and an accuracy of 83 percent for detecting ovarian cancer.
In the clinical trial, MAGIC also was able to detect ovarian cancer in early and late stages. Early-stage detection is critical for survival and difficult to achieve. And, the test picked up other types of cancer that had spread to the pelvic region or originated there.
“This is an important step forward for the detection of ovarian cancer in patients with a pelvic mass,” Moore said. “The fact that we can capture circulating tumor cells and analyze them from a simple blood draw is extremely exciting.”
Being able to find circulating tumor cells is the key, Moore said. These are rare, living cells that break off from the original tumor. They have an estimated ratio in the blood of one in 100 million to one in one billion. The technology captures the rare cells and allows for genetic analysis in a single tool within a couple of hours.
Currently, if a person has a suspicious lesion, surgery is necessary to diagnose ovarian cancer, and annually, more than 200,000 people in the U.S. are in this situation. A non-invasive test that predicts malignancy beforehand would enable people with the highest risk to have surgery done by an oncology specialist with greater experience and surgical volume for these types of cases, Moore said.
Masci, a U.S. Navy veteran and esthetician at a local salon, was 46 years old in January 2017 when her cancer was diagnosed.
“I was in such shock,” she said. “Looking back, I did have some symptoms: bloating, my back hurt, weight loss, and when I would sit down to eat I would feel full right away.”
She enrolled in the study a month later, and Moore performed her ovarian cancer surgery.
“I had wonderful care from everyone at Wilmot,” Masci added, “but I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Moore. He needs to clone himself a million times.”
ANGLE Europe Limited funded the study. Moore has worked extensively with the company to test its detection system. Earlier this summer, the FDA gave approval for the same tool to be used to track breast cancer cells that have spread. Moore’s lab was the sole location nationally to test the reproducibility of the breast cancer tests, and local residents were also involved in that clinical trial.
Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on the President of India, Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (September 9, 2022).
Welcoming Ms Georgieva to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President said that the world is passing through the third year of the Covid pandemic. She noted that significant assistance has been provided to many low-income countries by multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. She said that IMF has to play an important role in maintaining the stability of the International Monetary System.
The President said that today, India is one of the fastest growing major economies of the world. India’s start-up ecosystem ranks high in the world. The success of start-ups in our country, especially the growing number of Unicorns, is a shining example of our industrial progress. What is even more gratifying is that the development of our country is becoming more inclusive and regional disparities are also reducing. The basic mantra of today’s India is compassion – compassion for the downtrodden, compassion – for the needy and compassion – for the marginalized.
President Droupadi Murmu (PIB)
Speaking about the upcoming G-20 Summit in India in 2023, the President said that multilateral cooperation in the G-20 should be based on the principles of inclusion and flexibility, keeping in mind diversity. She expressed confidence that during India’s presidency, the G-20 Forum will move forward with an aspiration to make efforts to further strengthen multilateralism and global governance, in the direction of building a peaceful, sustainable and prosperous world for all.
Nature likes spirals – from the whirlpool of a hurricane, to pinwheel-shaped protoplanetary disks around newborn stars, to the vast realms of spiral galaxies across our universe.
Now astronomers are bemused to find young stars that are spiraling into the center of a massive cluster of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
The outer arm of the spiral in this huge, oddly shaped stellar nursery called NGC 346 may be feeding star formation in a river-like motion of gas and stars. This is an efficient way to fuel star birth, researchers say.
The Small Magellanic Cloud has a simpler chemical composition than the Milky Way, making it similar to the galaxies found in the younger universe, when heavier elements were more scarce. Because of this, the stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud burn hotter and so run out of their fuel faster than in our Milky Way.
Though a proxy for the early universe, at 200,000 light-years away the Small Magellanic Cloud is also one of our closest galactic neighbors.
The massive star cluster NGC 346, located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, has long intrigued astronomers with its unusual shape. This shape is partly due to stars and gas spiraling into the center of this cluster in a river-like motion. ILLUSTRATION: NASA, ESA, Andi James (STScI)
Learning how stars form in the Small Magellanic Cloud offers a new twist on how a firestorm of star birth may have occurred early in the universe’s history, when it was undergoing a “baby boom” about 2 to 3 billion years after the big bang (the universe is now 13.8 billion years old).
The new results find that the process of star formation there is similar to that in our own Milky Way.
Only 150 light-years in diameter, NGC 346 boasts the mass of 50,000 Suns. Its intriguing shape and rapid star formation rate has puzzled astronomers. It took the combined power of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to unravel the behavior of this mysterious-looking stellar nesting ground.
“Stars are the machines that sculpt the universe. We would not have life without stars, and yet we don’t fully understand how they form,” explained study leader Elena Sabbi of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “We have several models that make predictions, and some of these predictions are contradictory. We want to determine what is regulating the process of star formation, because these are the laws that we need to also understand what we see in the early universe.”
Researchers determined the motion of the stars in NGC 346 in two different ways. Using Hubble, Sabbi and her team measured the changes of the stars’ positions over 11 years. The stars in this region are moving at an average velocity of 2,000 miles per hour, which means that in 11 years they move 200 million miles. This is about 2 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth.
Tarantula Nebula star-forming region in a new light, including tens of thousands of never-before-seen young stars that were previously shrouded in cosmic dust./Photo:NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team
But this cluster is relatively far away, inside a neighboring galaxy. This means the amount of observed motion is very small and therefore difficult to measure. These extraordinarily precise observations were possible only because of Hubble’s exquisite resolution and high sensitivity. Also, Hubble’s three-decade-long history of observations provides a baseline for astronomers to follow minute celestial motions over time.
The second team, led by Peter Zeidler of AURA/STScI for the European Space Agency, used the ground-based VLT’s Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument to measure radial velocity, which determines whether an object is approaching or receding from an observer.
“What was really amazing is that we used two completely different methods with different facilities and basically came to the same conclusion, independent of each other,” said Zeidler. “With Hubble, you can see the stars, but with MUSE we can also see the gas motion in the third dimension, and it confirms the theory that everything is spiraling inwards.”
But why a spiral?
“A spiral is really the good, natural way to feed star formation from the outside toward the center of the cluster,” explained Zeidler. “It’s the most efficient way that stars and gas fueling more star formation can move towards the center.”
Half of the Hubble data for this study of NGC 346 is archival. The first observations were taken 11 years ago. They were recently repeated to trace the motion of the stars over time. Given the telescope’s longevity, the Hubble data archive now contains more than 32 years of astronomical data powering unprecedented, long-term studies.
“The Hubble archive is really a gold mine,” said Sabbi. “There are so many interesting star-forming regions that Hubble has observed over the years. Given that Hubble is performing so well, we can actually repeat these observations. This can really advance our understanding of star formation.”
Observations with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope should be able to resolve lower-mass stars in the cluster, giving a more holistic view of the region. Over Webb’s lifespan, astronomers will be able to repeat this experiment and measure the motion of the low-mass stars. They could then compare the high-mass stars and the low-mass stars to finally learn the full extent of the dynamics of this nursery.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp celebrating NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most powerful, and most complex science telescope ever put in space. The stamp, which features an illustration of the observatory, will be dedicated in a ceremony Thursday, Sept. 8, at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum in Washington.
“When anyone who uses these stamps looks at this telescope, I want them to see what I see: its incredible potential to reveal new and unexpected discoveries that help us understand the origins of the universe, and our place in it,” said NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana. “This telescope is the largest international space science program in U.S. history, and I can’t wait to see the scientific breakthroughs it will enable in astronomy.”
Webb, a mission led by NASA in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), launched Dec. 25, 2021, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Over the following months, Webb traveled to its destination nearly one million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away from Earth, underwent weeks of complex deployments to unfold into its final configuration, and prepared its mirrors and science instruments to capture never-before-seen views of the universe.
The U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp highlighting NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Sept. 8, 2022. U.S. Postal Service Art Director Derry Noyes designed the stamp using existing art by James Vaughan and an image provided by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Credits: U.S. Postal Service
NASA released Webb’s first full-color images and spectra July 12 – providing a first look at the observatory’s powerful capabilities. The U.S. Postal Service stamp honors these achievements as Webb continues its mission to explore the unknown in our universe and study every phase in cosmic history.
“I am excited to add this beautiful stamp to our collection, as we watch from the ground as humanity’s newest and most capable telescope unlocks the greatest secrets of our cosmos that have been waiting to be revealed since the beginning of time,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “The Webb Telescope represents the start to a new era of what we can accomplish for the benefit of all.”
The stamp features an artist’s digital illustration of Webb against a background of stars. The selvage around each set of stamps showcases a sharp image of a star, captured while setting up the telescope in space to confirm precise alignment of Webb’s 18 hexagonal mirror segments.
The U.S. Postal Service’s first day of issue event is free and open to the public on Thursday, Sept. 8, at 11 a.m. EDT at the National Postal Museum. NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana; Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; and Erin Smith, Webb deputy observatory project scientist at NASA Goddard will be among the speakers providing remarks.
NASA/Photo: Nasa.gov
To follow along with NASA’s Webb Telescope as it begins its mission to unfold the infrared universe, visit:
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier infrared space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, died on Sept. 8, 2022 at age 96. Her reign spanned all of spaceflight, predating both Sputnik and Explorer 1.
As NASA joins the planet in marking her passing, we are moved by the curiosity The Queen showed our explorers over the years.
Queen Elizabeth II passed away, Charles III becomes UK’s new King
In this photo, Queen Elizabeth II greets employees on her walk from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center mission control to a reception in the center’s main auditorium, Tuesday, May 8, 2007, in Greenbelt, Md. Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as one of the last stops on their six-day United States visit.
A hallmark of a truly luxurious meal is a sprinkling of truffle shavings — the fungal kind, not the chocolate. Nicknamed “diamonds” of the culinary world, these fanciful fungi are prized for their unique flavor and scent. But newer truffle species are fighting to achieve that same gourmet status. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Omega have performed the first full aroma characterization of the Appalachian truffle, unlocking the potential for a new North American “black diamond.”
The gourmet delicacies known as truffles are subterranean fungi of the Tuber species that require several years and very particular conditions to grow. Figuring out how to cultivate the fungi efficiently has been very difficult, so most people forage for them in the wild using trained animals, such as pigs or dogs, that can uncover these hidden gems. Because truffles are so rare and challenging to obtain, they are very expensive.
These Appalachian truffles might one day be just as prized as those from Europe/ Photo:David Fortier
For example, a large 3.3-pound behemoth from Italy cost $330,000 at auction several years ago. Commercial truffles most often originate from Europe, Australia and the western U.S., but different species exist all over the world. Unlike the fancy white or black truffles grown in Italy or France, however, many unearthed in North America have not been well studied. So, Normand Voyer and colleagues wanted to thoroughly analyze the aromatic profile of one of these North American varieties, known as Tuber canaliculatum, or Appalachian truffle.
To accomplish this, the researchers investigated three T. canaliculatum samples using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). With these techniques, the team identified the species’ “volatilome,” or the chemical fingerprint responsible for its aroma.
A total of 30 different compounds, including six that had never been reported in other truffle species, were identified. Some, such as 2,4-dithiapentane, are found in many truffle species and give truffle oil its unique smell. The most prevalent compounds were described as having strong odors of garlic, fungus and even a cabbage-like, rotten smell that was found in higher concentrations in older samples. The researchers say that this work could spur future studies of T. canaliculatum, which might one day place it at the same high status as its European cousins.
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting yesterday to discuss the various issues related to “Illegal Loan Apps” outside the regular banking channels.
The meeting was attended by the Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Secretary, Economic Affairs; Secretary, Revenue, & Corporate Affairs (Addl. Charge); Secretary, Financial Services; Secretary, Electronics & Information technology; Deputy Governor, RBI; and Executive Director, RBI.
The Finance Minister expressed concern on increasing instances of Illegal Loan Apps offering loans/micro credits, especially to vulnerable & low-income group people at exorbitantly high interest rates and processing/hidden charges, and predatory recovery practices involving blackmailing, criminal intimidation etc. Smt. Sitharaman also noted the possibility of money laundering, tax evasions, breach/privacy of data, and misuse of unregulated payment aggregators, shell companies, defunct NBFCs etc. for perpetrating such actions.
After detailed deliberations on legal, procedural & technical aspects of the issue, it was decided in the meeting that:
RBI will prepare a “Whitelist” of all the legal Apps and MeitY will ensure that only these “Whitelist” Apps are hosted on App Stores.
RBI will monitor the ‘mule/rented’ accounts that may be used for money laundering and to review/cancel dormant NBFCs to avoid their misuse.
RBI will ensure that registration of payment aggregators be completed within a timeframe and no un-registered payment aggregator be allowed to function after that.
MCA will identify shell companies and de-register them to prevent their misuse.
Steps should be taken to increase cyber awareness for customers, bank employees, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
All Ministries/Agencies to take all possible actions to prevent operations of such Illegal Loan Apps.
The Ministry of Finance will monitor the actionable points for compliance on a regular basis.
The Income Tax Department carried out a search & seizure action on 25.08.2022 on two groups engaged in the business of sand mining, sugar manufacturing, road construction, healthcare, running of medical college etc. The search action covered more than 20 premises spread over Solapur, Osmanabad, Nashik & Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra.
During the course of the search operation, a large number of incriminating evidences, in the form of hard copy documents and digital data have been found and seized. These evidences reveal various modus-operandi of tax evasion adopted by the group including booking of bogus expenses, undisclosed cash sales, unexplained loans/ credit entries, etc.
In case of the group engaged in sand mining and sugar manufacturing, documentary evidences of unaccounted cash sales of sugar exceeding Rs. 15 crore have been found & seized. The search action has revealed that the group has introduced its unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans in its books of accounts. Several lenders to the group, as well as promoters of the group have admitted that unaccounted cash generated by the group exceeding Rs. 10 crore was routed in its books of account in this manner.
Evidences of capital gains of about Rs. 43 crore on sale of assets by a non-filer corporate entity have also been seized.
In the other group engaged in the business of healthcare and running of medical college, as also road construction, evidences of undisclosed cash receipts representing capitation fee and refund of salary and stipend paid to the doctors/PG students have been found. Moreover, evidences regarding booking of bogus expenses and contractual payments etc. have been found & seized. Preliminary estimates of such undisclosed income of the group is to the tune of Rs. 35 crore.
Income-Tax
So far, the search action has led to detection of unaccounted income of more than Rs. 100 crore. Further, undisclosed assets of more than Rs. 5 crore have also been seized.
As British Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8th September 2022, India has declared one day State Mourning on September 11 as a mark of respect to her.
Queen Elizabeth II passed away, Charles III becomes UK’s new King
On the day of Mourning, the National Flag will be flown at half mast throughout India on all buildings where the National Flag is flown regularly and there will be no official entertainment on the day.
Britain’s longest-serving Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral aged 96, ending an era of 70 years of rule. Her family was at her bed side at the Scottish estate since earlier on Thursday.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
The Queen came to the throne in 1952. Following her demise, the Operation London Bridge, codename to post-Queen formalities, will come into effect.
Her eldest son Charles will lead the country in mourning as the new King with the title, King Charles III, and take over as head of state for 14 Commonwealth realms from Canada to Australia.
In a statement, the new King said, “The death of my beloved mother Her Majesty the Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”
Queen Elizabeth II is dead, Charles III becomes UK’s new King
All the Queen’s children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, after the news of her deteriorating health started pouring in. Her grandson, Prince William, is already there and his brother, Prince Harry, is on his way.
Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was appointed by the Queen on Tuesday, said the monarch “provided us with the stability and strength that we needed”.
15 PMs appointed by her
Her reign spanned 15 prime ministers starting with Winston Churchill, born in 1874, and including Ms Truss, born 101 years later in 1975, reported BBC.
At Buckingham Palace in London, the Union flag was lowered to half-mast at 18:30 BST.
Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, in Mayfair, London, on 21 April 1926, she married her third cousin, Philip, Prince of Greece, who was serving in the Royal Navy in 1947 and he remained her strength through 74 years of marriage, until his death in 2021, aged 99.
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest serving monarch, is under medical supervision at the Balmoral Castle in Scotland with rumours of her deteriorating health condition going viral.
According to the Buckingham Palace, “Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision.”
The palace’s statement on Thursday further escalated concerns about the Queen’s health and people started gathering outside the palace. As many as 100 people, braving torrential rain, are seen at the gates of the Buckingham Palace amid concerns over the health of Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth II
“The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral,” a palace spokesperson said. Reports said that all the children of the Queen — Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Edward are at her side in the palace while her grandson Prince William reached the Balmoral Castle.
Prince Harry, who was travelling with his wife Sussex Meghan, is planning to travel to Balmore alone. Prime Minister Prime Liz Truss is unlikely to travel to Scotland, her spokesperson told news agency Reuters on Thursday evening.
The 96-year-old monarch has been facing several health issues since October 2021 and often struggles to to walk and stand. Recently, she was seen using walking stick while meeting the newly elected PM Truss.
On hearing the condition of the Queen’s health, the traditional ceremony of the Changing of the Guard to take place outside the Buckingham Palace on Friday morning, has been called off.
In an interview with NDTV, former US President Donald Trump hinted at running again in 2024, in what may be his first revelation on the subject.
When asked, Trump said, “Everyone wants me to run,” and claimed that he is ahead in popularity polls whether in his Republican party or among the Democrats.
“I’m leading in the polls, and every poll – Republican polls and Democrat polls. I’ll make a decision in the very near future, I suspect. And I think that a lot of people are going to be very happy,” he said.
Video grab of PM Narendra Modi with former US President Donald Trump (White House)
Recalling his 2019 joint address with Indian PM Narendra Modi at “Howdy, Modi” rally in Houston, Texas, he said, “I’ve had a great relationship with India and with PM Modi. We were, we’ve been friends. I think he’s a great guy and doing a terrific job,” Trump said.
On his daughter Ivanka Trump, he praised her as the most capable person but refuted rumors that she would be his Vice Presidential candidate. ” I’ve never even heard but that’s an interesting idea. I wouldn’t (consider it).”
Indian Railways conducted Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) of Level 6 of CEN 01/2019 Non Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) for 7124 posts for recruitment of Station Masters and Commercial Apprentices on 30th July 2022.
The results of Level 6 posts of all 21 Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB) have been declared. The break-up of selected candidates for each RRB is as follows:
