With a few hours after the reported incident involving the motorcade of Ukraine President Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s limousine was attacked in an alleged “assassination attempt” amid Moscow’s raging war against Ukraine, raising speculation over the security in Moscow, a report said.
According to the report by General SVR, a Russian Telegram channel, Putin’s limousine was allegedly hit by a “a loud bang from the left front wheel followed by heavy smoke”, but the Russian President was unharmed, Mirror.co.uk reported.
The channel said that the President was returning to his official residence in a decoy or “backup” motorcade consisting of five armoured cars, with Putin in the third. However, the date of the incident was not revealed.
The anti-Kremlin news channel said, “On the way to the residence, a few kilometres away, the first escort car was blocked by an ambulance, the second escort car drove around without stopping [despite] sudden obstacle, and during the detour of the obstacle”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
“The head of the President’s bodyguard (service) and several other people have been suspended and are in custody… A narrow circle of people knew about the movement of the president in this cortege, and all of them were from the presidential security service. After the incident, three of them disappeared. These were exactly the people who were in the first car of the motorcade. Their fate is currently unknown. The car on which they were traveling was found empty a few kilometres from the incident,” General SVR channel said.
Without providing details, General SVR said more information on the supposed attack was “classified”, reports Mirror.co.uk. Ironic, but a similar report is making round from Ukraine that an attempt was made on President Zelensky‘s motorcade with out details on the date or venue about it.
Sep 15 (IANS) Cloud major Oracle on Thursday said its India business saw a tremendous growth in the first quarter of FY23, with the Oracle Cloud Unit (OCI) clocking over 100 per cent growth (year-on-year) for the third year in a row.
In India, the OCI is growing at 25 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) and the company has clocked double-digit growth across all lines of businesses, in some even triple digit, Kapil Makhija, Vice President – Technology Cloud Business, Oracle India, told IANS.
“This is specifically true for the India region where in the IaaS/PaaS market, we are growing at 25 per cent QoQ continuing on the growth trend we have been witnessing for the last three years,” said Makhija.
He said that in the last eight months, the company catered to more cloud projects than it had in the last three years — across the private and public sectors.
“This momentum indicates the value that OCI has brought to customers as a result of speed of execution, performance, scalability and cost savings,” Makhija added.
In the first quarter of FY23, Oracle was a huge growth across all lines of businesses.
“Oracle India stands apart in the cloud space in the IaaS and PaaS market. Cloud technology has done significantly well and Oracle’s India business has been a strong growth engine for the company,” the Oracle executive noted.
Oracle’s quarterly revenues were up 18 per cent year-over-year to $11.4 billion globally.
Makhija said the company aims to be the preferred cloud provider for all Indian organisations, both in the private and public sectors.
“Our MeitY empanelled cloud regions, in Mumbai and Hyderabad, are running at full capacity and as a result, we have doubled our cloud customer base in the past few years,” he told IANS.
New customers are HDFC Life, Federal Bank, NSE, Cognizant, Manappuram Comptech and Consultants Limited, SBI, Polycab, Forbes Marshall Pvt Ltd and Tensor etc, according to the company.
“We have also defined more avenues of working with our partners and expanding business opportunities for them and us,” said Makhija.
Oracle serves more than 15,000 customers in India across large and SMB enterprises, across the private and public sectors.
The Cloud major has 38 Cloud regions in 20 countries and 6 more are planned by end of 2022.
Instead of sitting in a tattoo chair for hours enduring painful punctures, imagine getting tattooed by a skin patch containing microscopic needles. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed low-cost, painless, and bloodless tattoos that can be self-administered and have many applications, from medical alerts to tracking neutered animals to cosmetics.
“We’ve miniaturized the needle so that it’s painless, but still effectively deposits tattoo ink in the skin,” said Mark Prausnitz, principal investigator on the paper. “This could be a way not only to make medical tattoos more accessible, but also to create new opportunities for cosmetic tattoos because of the ease of administration.”
Tattoos are used in medicine to cover up scars, guide repeated cancer radiation treatments, or restore nipples after breast surgery. Tattoos also can be used instead of bracelets as medical alerts to communicate serious medical conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, or allergies.
Various cosmetic products using microneedles are already on the market — mostly for anti-aging — but developing microneedle technology for tattoos is new. Prausnitz, a veteran in this area, has studied microneedle patches for years to painlessly administer drugs and vaccines to the skin without the need for hypodermic needles.
tattoo/en.wikipedia.org
“We saw this as an opportunity to leverage our work on microneedle technology to make tattoos more accessible,” Prausnitz said. “While some people are willing to accept the pain and time required for a tattoo, we thought others might prefer a tattoo that is simply pressed onto the skin and does not hurt.”
Transforming Tattooing
Tattoos typically use large needles to puncture repeatedly into the skin to get a good image, a time-consuming and painful process. The Georgia Tech team has developed microneedles that are smaller than a grain of sand and are made of tattoo ink encased in a dissolvable matrix.
“Because the microneedles are made of tattoo ink, they deposit the ink in the skin very efficiently,” said Li, the lead author of the study.
In this way, the microneedles can be pressed into the skin just once and then dissolve, leaving the ink in the skin after a few minutes without bleeding.
Tattooing Technique
Although most microneedle patches for pharmaceuticals or cosmetics have dozens or hundreds of microneedles arranged in a square or circle, microneedle patch tattoos imprint a design that can include letters, numbers, symbols, and images. By arranging the microneedles in a specific pattern, each microneedle acts like a pixel to create a tattoo image in any shape or pattern.
The researchers start with a mold containing microneedles in a pattern that forms an image. They fill the microneedles in the mold with tattoo ink and add a patch backing for convenient handling. The resulting patch is then applied to the skin for a few minutes, during which time the microneedles dissolve and release the tattoo ink. Tattoo inks of various colors can be incorporated into the microneedles, including black-light ink that can only be seen when illuminated with ultraviolet light.
Prausnitz’s lab has been researching microneedles for vaccine delivery for years and realized they could be equally applicable to tattoos. With support from the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs, Prausnitz’s team started working on tattoos to identify spayed and neutered pets, but then realized the technology could be effective for people, too.
The tattoos were also designed with privacy in mind. The researchers even created patches sensitive to environmental factors such as light or temperature changes, where the tattoo will only appear with ultraviolet light or higher temperatures. This provides patients with privacy, revealing the tattoo only when desired.
A magnified view of a microneedle patch with green tattoo ink/photo:Georgia Tech
The study showed that the tattoos could last for at least a year and are likely to be permanent, which also makes them viable cosmetic options for people who want an aesthetic tattoo without risk of infection or the pain associated with traditional tattoos. Microneedle tattoos could alternatively be loaded with temporary tattoo ink to address short-term needs in medicine and cosmetics.
Microneedle patch tattoos can also be used to encode information in the skin of animals. Rather than clipping the ear or applying an ear tag to animals to indicate sterilization status, a painless and discreet tattoo can be applied instead.
“The goal isn’t to replace all tattoos, which are often works of beauty created by tattoo artists,” Prausnitz said. “Our goal is to create new opportunities for patients, pets, and people who want a painless tattoo that can be easily administered.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Madhya Pradesh on 17th September. At around 10:45 AM, Prime Minister will release Cheetahs in Kuno National Park. After that, at around 12 Noon, he will participate in SHG Sammelan with women SHG members/community resource persons at Karahal, Sheopur.
PM to release wild Cheetahs – which had become extinct from India – in Kuno National Park.
Cheetahs – brought from Namibia – are being introduced in India under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.
Bringing Cheetahs back to India will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems and also lead to enhanced livelihood opportunities for the local community.
In line with the Prime Minister’s commitment towards environment protection and wildlife conservation.
Prime Minister to participate in SHG Sammelan at Karahal, Sheopur.
Thousands of women SHG members/community resource persons to attend the Sammelan.
PM to also inaugurate four Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups skilling centres under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana.
PM at Kuno National Park
The release of wild Cheetahs by the Prime Minister in Kuno National Park is part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify India’s wildlife and its habitat. Cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952. The Cheetahs that would be released are from Namibia and have been brought under an MoU signed earlier this year. The introduction of Cheetah in India is being done under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.
Cheetah
Cheetahs will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems in India. This will help conserve biodiversity and enhance the ecosystem services like water security, carbon sequestration and soil moisture conservation, benefiting the society at large. This effort, in line with the Prime Minister’s commitment towards environment protection and wildlife conservation, will also lead to enhanced livelihood opportunities for the local community through eco-development and ecotourism activities.
Kuno national park
PM at SHG Sammelan
Prime Minister will participate in the SHG Sammelan being organised at Karahal, Sheopur. The Sammelan will witness the attendance of thousands of women Self Help Group (SHG) members/community resource persons that are being promoted under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
During the programme, Prime Minister will also be inaugurating four Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) skilling centres under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana.
DAY-NRLM aims at mobilising rural poor households into SHGs in a phased manner and provide them long-term support to diversify their livelihoods, improve their incomes and quality of life. The Mission is also working towards empowering the women SHG members through awareness generation and behaviour change communication on issues like domestic violence, women’s education and other gender related concerns, nutrition, sanitation, health etc.
Kiev, Sep 15 (IANS) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was involved in a car accident, his spokesman said on Thursday, adding that he was not seriously injured.
In a brief social media post, the President’s spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said that a passenger car collided with Zelensky’s vehicle and his escort in capital Kiev.
Nykyforov said that the driver of the car that collided with the motorcade was provided with “emergency aid and transferred him to an ambulance”
“The President was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found,” the spokesman said, adding that law enforcement officials will “find out all the circumstances of the accident”.
Nykyforov, however, did not provide any other details of the accident, including the day.
The development comes after Zelensky visit the recaptured city of Izyum, a key logistics hub in north-eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday, the BBC reported.
During his visit, he thanked troops who took part in a swift counter-attack against Russian occupiers, and oversaw a flag-raising ceremony.
Harare, Sep 15 (IANS) Amid an ongoing drought, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) said it has relocated 100 elephants since July and a significant number of other wild animals from the arid southern parts of the country to the north where there is better vegetation and water.
ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo told Xinhua news agency on Wednesday that the Authority issued permits for the transfer of 2,650 animals from the Save Valley Conservancy to three national parks in the north namely Tsapi, Chizarira and Matusadonha.
The animals targeted for relocation include 400 elephants, 2,000 impalas, 70 giraffes, 50 zebras, 50 buffaloes, 50 elands, 10 lions and 10 wild dogs.
The relocation exercise began in July and so far, 100 elephants and a “significant number of other wild animals” had been relocated, he said.
He said the main reason for relocation was to depopulate overcrowded areas and create a balance in the ecosystem.
Climate change induced-drought resulting in loss of habitat, food, and water was posing a risk to the animals and the only way to protect the habitat was to make sure that we create a balance by relieving pressure on overcrowded areas, Farawo said.
Zimbabwe has become prone to frequent droughts in recent years due to climate change, posing the risk of hunger not only to humans but also to wild animals.
The country has an overpopulation of elephants numbering over 100,000 against an ecological carrying capacity of 45,000.
The jumbos are located in four main ecological zones, and two of the zones are overpopulated.
An elephant herd is spotted near nyamandhlovu pan, a popular water-hole in the Hwange National Park, Matabeleland North Province, Zimbabwe
The four zones are North West Matabeleland where the country’s biggest game park Hwange is located; South East Lowveld, home to the second biggest park Gonarezhou; as well as the Sebungwe region and mid Zambezi in the northern part of the country.
This is not the first time that ZimParks has moved the animals.
Lions
In 2018, it moved 100 elephants from the South East Lowveld to mid Zambezi while plans to relocate 600 elephants in 2020 were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The relocation program is an expensive exercise and ZimParks has in the past lamented inadequate funds to successfully carry out the program.
Following the demise of Queen Elizabeth II, a 56-year-old man by name Simon Dorante-Day has made it to headlines in the British press again renewing his claim to be the secret love-child of Prince Charles III and Camilla, and seeking the new King to join a paternity test.
Since he is elder to natural heir-apparent Prince Williams to the British throne after Charles III, the case may become significant and upset the established norms of the ascent to the Crown.
Citing decades of research, Dorante-Day revealed details of his DNA paternity case, when he appeared in TV channel 7NEWS to share updates about his next move to knock at the doors of a court demanding the King’s participation in paternity test.
Simon Dorante-Day
“There has been a discussion in there between a judge and myself and his barrister about the legal standing of Charles, and whether the monarch is protected by the law or is above the law,” Dorante-Day told YNews. “And the answer to that was no – they told me that we don’t see any reason why he is. And secondly, Camilla and her family are certainly not above the law. So that argument’s already been had and settled,” he noted.
Irrespective of Charles III being the new King of the United Kingdom, he insists that his case remains valid. “It makes no difference to me whether that mountain in front of me is male or female. It makes no difference to me how high that mountain is,” said Dorante-Day.
He claimed that his letter earlier this year to Queen Elizabeth II did not get any response.
Right-handed batter Robin Uthappa on Wednesday announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket.
The 2007 T20 World Cup-winning batter, who last played for India in 2015, took to Twitter to announce his decision.
“It’s been 20 years since I started playing professional cricket, and it has been the greatest honour to represent my country and state, Karnataka- wonderful journey of ups and downs; one that has been fulfilling, rewarding, enjoyable and has allowed me to grow as a human being. However, all good things must come to an end and with a grateful heart I have decided to retire from all forms of Indian cricket. While I will spend a significant time with my young family, I look forward to charting a new phase in life,” he wrote in his farewell note.
Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa
He also thanked all the IPL teams he has played so far. In the Indian Premier League, he played for Chennai Super Kings last season. He also appeared for Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors India, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders in the 14 years of IPL.
In domestic cricket, he represented Karnataka, Saurashtra and Kerala, respectively.
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Former Indian tennis player and Davis Cup captain Naresh Kumar, who was a mentor to Olympic medallist Leander Paes, passed away in Kolkata on Wednesday.
He was 93. He is survived by his wife Sunita, son Arjun, and two daughters — Gita and Preah.
All India Tennis Association (AITA) condoled the demise of Indian tennis legend, calling it an irreparable loss
“We have come to know about the sad demise of Indian Tennis Legend and former Davis Cup Captain Naresh Kumar. It’s an irreparable loss to Indian Tennis. We pray for his eternal peace and our deepest condolences to his family, friends and fans around the world,” said AITA in a tweet.
Indian tennis great Naresh Kumar passes away. He was 93.
Kumar rose to prominence in 1949, making the latter stages of the Indian International championships and Northern Championships. He made his debut for India in the Davis Cup in 1952 and was a mainstay of the team.
Playing in the days before the Open Era, where only amateurs were allowed, Naresh’s best performance at Wimbledon came in 1955 when he made the fourth round in the men’s singles. In the men’s doubles, Naresh Kumar thrice made the quarter-finals – in 1953 with Narendra Nath and in 1955 and 1958 with Ramanathan Krishnan.
Kumar retired in 1969 with five titles to his name and later turned his attention to coaching and non-playing roles in tennis, such as writing and commentary. He was the non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup team in 1990, when Leander Paes made his debut in the tournament.
The legendary player was conferred with the Dronacharya Lifetime Achievement award by the Indian government in 2020, becoming the first tennis coach to receive the honour.
FBI Art Crime Team agents recently returned several pieces of historical artwork back to their rightful owners—the Italian government, with few more returnable items to follow next.
Special Agent Allen Grove of the FBI Art Crime Team undertook the task of returning priceless artifacts—ones that may have been lost for as long as 100 years—back to their rightful home in Rome.
“I thought I’d be investigating art crime and repatriating antiquities. But so much of the work behind the scenes is communications, contracts, and getting the right items to the right people,” Grove said.
In late 2020, an art attorney reached out to FBI Art Crime Team Special Agent Elizabeth Rivas about an anonymous client who had a mosaic of the mythological figure Medusa. The enormous work had been cut into 16 pieces and stored in individual pallets in a Los Angeles storage facility since the 1980s. Each pallet weighed between 75 and 200 pounds.
Some of the pallets were termite-infested, but the pieces of the mosaic were largely intact thanks to the climate-controlled facility they’d been kept in. The client had no documentation—known in the art world as provenance—so they could not sell the pieces as it’s illegal.
Mosaic Piece in Shipping Pallett
A piece of an ancient Roman mosaic, in storage for decades, was found, carefully packed in shipping containers and shipped via diplomatic channels.
When a local art expert said the mosaic was likely of North African or Italian heritage. So Rivas started with the FBI’s liaison in Italy.
A few months later, the FBI’s Italian counterpart, the Carabinieri, whose art squad frequently works with the FBI’s art crime investigators, confirmed the mosaic was Italian. It had been entered into cultural property records in 1909.
The mosaic is believed to be about 2,000 years old and is a key part of Rome’s history. The only modern record of the mosaic’s existence was a 1959 newspaper ad that appeared to show it for sale in the Los Angeles area.
Ad for sale in 1959
“We worked with the owner and made sure we documented the condition and had everything we needed to ship it back to Italy,” Grove said. “We then worked with the Italian consulate here in Los Angeles. This is something of great interest to Italy; they came and inspected the mosaic and helped us facilitate the logistics of actually getting it back to Italy.”
The art arrived safely in April, and experts are now working to clean and restore it so the art can be enjoyed by generations to come.
“The mosaic was handcrafted from an age where people put an amazing amount of care and effort into it. It really speaks to the ingenuity and creativity of the time,” Grove said. “It’s not meant to be in Los Angeles. The mosaic belongs to the people of Rome. It allows us to understand a bit about the history of humans 2,000 years ago.”
Earlier returned two paintings
Prior to this, the FBI New York Art Crime Team returned two stolen paintings, dating back to the 1820’s, to the Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, NY after the works were stolen five decades ago.
The team reached out to members of the Art Crime Team in 2021 when they discovered the painting had been listed for sale at an auction. Investigators tracked down the buyer, who did not know the paintings had been stolen, and they assisted the FBI in returning the art to HHS.
Ammi Phillips, a famed 19th century portrait painter, created these art works / FBI
In December 1971, a woman named Marie Wiersum donated the works to what was then known as Huguenot Historical Society. The paintings depict Derrick Wynkoop and his wife Ann Eltinge, a wealthy married couple who were decedents of the first Dutch settlers in the area.
Both were oil on canvas created by Ammi Phillips, a famed 19th century portrait painter. In February 1972, the paintings were stolen from HHS, along with several other items. Members of the Society were able to track down many of the pieces by March 1972, but never recovered the paintings.
Through the course of their investigation, FBI agents discovered police made an arrest in the theft. However, no public documentation of the paintings showed up until the auction house listed them for sale in 2005. Agents attended the paintings on June 2, 2022.
New Delhi, (IANS): The Padma awards, namely Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, are among the highest civilian awards of the country.
Instituted in 1954, these awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
The award is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements or service in all fields or disciplines such as Art, Literature and Education, Sports, Medicine, Social Work, Science and Engineering, Public Affairs, Civil Service, Trade and Industry etc.
All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. Government servants, including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for the Padma awards.
Padma awards
Online nominations/recommendations for the Padma Awards 2023 to be announced on the occasion of Republic Day, 2023 have opened on 1st May, 2022. The last date for nominations for Padma Awards is 15th September, 2022. The nominations/recommendations for Padma Awards will be received online only on the Rashtriya Puruskar Portal (https://awards.gov.in).
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has met the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in New Delhi today.
Both the dignitaries have discussed the various ideas to further strengthen the close and unique India-Bhutan friendship. Shri Modi has also conveyed his appreciation for the guiding vision provided by successive Druk Gyalpos in shaping relations between India and Bhutan.”
“Had a warm meeting with His Majesty the King of Bhutan. Discussed various ideas to further strengthen the close and unique India-Bhutan friendship. Conveyed my appreciation for the guiding vision provided by successive Druk Gyalpos in shaping our relations.”
PM meets King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Signing of Guarantees for hosting Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Under 17 Women’s World Cup 2022 in India.
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 is scheduled to be held in India between 11th and 30th October 2022. The seventh edition of the biennial youth tournament will be the first-ever FIFA women’s competition to be hosted by India. Carrying on the positive legacy from the FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup 2017, the nation is preparing for a seminal moment for women’s football when the best young female footballers from across the world will be showcasing their skills to lift the coveted trophy.
Financial outlay:
Financial outlay of Rs. 10 crore assistance to All India Football Federation (AIFF) for Field of play Maintenance, Stadium power, Energy & Cabling, Stadia & Training Site Branding etc. will be met from the budgetary allocation for the Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs).
Bhubaneswar: U-17 Women’s football team pose with the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup trophy at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, September 10, 2022
Objectives of the Scheme:
The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 has potential to strengthen women’s football in the country.
Carrying on the positive legacy from the FIFA Under 17 Men’s World Cup 2017, the nation is preparing for a seminal moment for women’s football when the best young female footballers from across the world will be showcasing their skills to lift the coveted trophy. Following objectives have been contemplated in order to leave behind a positive legacy:
increase representation of women in football leadership and decision-making bodies
inspire more girls to play football in India
advocate for gender-inclusive participation by normalising the concept of equal game from a young age
opportunity to improve football standards for women in India
improve the commercial value of the women’s game.
Football
Justification:
The FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup is a prestigious event and would be held for the first time in India. It would encourage more youngsters to participate in sports and help develop the sport of football in India. The event will not only promote football as sport of choice among Indian girls, but is also poised to leave a lasting legacy that will facilitate girls and women in the country to embrace football and sports in general.
Background:
The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is the world championship for female players under or upto the age of 17, organized by FIFA. The event started in 2008 and is traditionally held in even-numbered years. The 6th edition of the event was held in Uruguay from 13th November to 1st December, 2018. Spain is the current champion of FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup. FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 will be the 7th edition of the tournament in which 16 teams, including India, will participate. The AIFF has proposed holding of the competition matches in 3 venues namely; (a) Bhubaneshwar; (b) Navi Mumbai and (c) Goa. India successfully hosted the FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup India-2017 at 6 different venues namely New Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Goa, Kochi and Kolkata in the country from 6th to 28th October, 2017.
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) An Air India Express flight B737 IX-442 MCT-COK (Muscat-Cochin) VT-AXZ witnessed smoke and fire in its engine number two at Muscat airport on Wednesday.
The plane was carrying 145 passengers, including four infants, the officials said, adding that all of them were safe and no injuries have been reported.
“A DGCA official said that during taxiing for takeoff, the engine number two experienced smoke and fire. Appropriate Checklist was completed after the incident. Slides were deployed and all passengers and Crew were evacuated on taxiway and all of them were safe and no injuries reported,” said the official, adding that passengers have been transported to the terminal building.
Air India express flight
As per local reports, there was scare among the passengers after the smoke was detected in the engine of the plane.
The official said that another relief flight will be organised for the passengers. The aircraft was currently parked on the taxiway and further probe was on.
Hyderabad, Sep 14 (IANS) A CBI court here on Wednesday sentenced former Member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, Kothapalli Geetha, her husband P. Ramakoteshwara Rao and two bank officials to five years imprisonment in a bank fraud case.
Geetha, a former member of Lok Sabha from Araku, and others were arrested and shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.
Sentencing them for cheating the Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 42.9 crore, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on Geetha and her husband.
The former MP was charged with cheating the bank by submitting false documents to obtain loan for Visweswara Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (VIPL).
Arrested
Ramakoteshwara Rao is Managing Director of the company. The company also diverted the loan for purposes other than it was sanctioned for.
The CBI had filed the charge sheet against them in 2015.
The others convicted and sentenced are B.K. Jayaprakasam, then branch manager of Mid Corporate Branch of PNB, and K.K. Aravindakshan, then general manager, PNB head office.
Geetha was elected to Lok Sabha from Araku in 2014 on the ticket of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). In 2018, she floated political party Jana Jagruti.
She later joined the BJP and merged her party with it.
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) President Droupadi Murmu will represent India at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on September 19.
Murmu will be visiting London from September 17 to 19 to offer condolences on behalf of the Government of India.
Queen Elizabeth, the former head of state of the UK and Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, passed away on September 8.
Queen Elizabeth II passed away, Charles III becomes UK’s new King
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences at the demise of Queen Elizabeth II.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited the British High Commission in New Delhi on September 12 to convey India’s condolences. India also observed a day of national mourning on Sunday (September 11).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted, “Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be remembered as a stalwart of our times. She provided inspiring leadership to her nation and people. She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise. My thoughts are with her family and people of UK in this sad hour.”
“In the 70 years of reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, India-UK ties have evolved, flourished and strengthened immensely. She played an important role in the welfare of millions of people around the world as Head of the Commonwealth,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Ahmedabad, Sep 14 (IANS) At least six labourers were killed and one seriously injured after the lift of an under-construction building collapsed here on Wednesday.
The lift crashed from the seventh floor. The under-construction highrise building, named Aspire-II was located near the Gujarat University campus.
“At the time of the accident seven labourers were inside the lift, which was used to carry various materials. The lift crashed from the seventh floor on Wednesday morning. The labourers were working in the lift chamber,” said Mahendra, an eyewitness and labourer at the site.
Building collapsed
He told the media that all the labourers hailed from the Panchmahal district.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said the incident will be probed and action against responsible builders will be taken.
Lift crashed
Hitesh Barot, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Standing Committee Chairman told the media that all aspects of safety measures will be investigated, and if the builder was found responsible, suitable action will be taken against him or the company. The police were also carrying out the investigation parallely.
For decades, scientists have been trying to solve a vexing problem about the weather in outer space: At unpredictable times, high-energy particles bombard the earth and objects outside the earth’s atmosphere with radiation that can endanger the lives of astronauts and destroy satellites’ electronic equipment. These flare-ups can even trigger showers of radiation strong enough to reach passengers in airplanes flying over the North Pole. Despite scientists’ best efforts, a clear pattern of how and when flare-ups will occur has remained enduringly difficult to identify.
This week, in a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, authors Luca Comisso and Lorenzo Sironi of Columbia’s Department of Astronomy and the Astrophysics Laboratory, have for the first time used supercomputers to simulate when and how high-energy particles are born in turbulent environments like that on the atmosphere of the sun. This new research paves the way for more accurate predictions of when dangerous bursts of these particles will occur.
“This exciting new research will allow us to better predict the origin of solar energetic particles and improve forecasting models of space weather events, a key goal of NASA and other space agencies and governments around the globe,” Comisso said. Within the next couple of years, he added, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the closest spacecraft to the sun, may be able to validate the paper’s findings by directly observing the predicted distribution of high-energy particles that are generated in the sun’s outer atmosphere.
NASA/Photo: Nasa.gov
In their paper, “Ion and Electron Acceleration in Fully Kinetic Plasma Turbulence,” Comisso and Sironi demonstrate that magnetic fields in the outer atmosphere of the sun can accelerate ions and electrons up to velocities close to the speed of light. The sun and other stars’ outer atmosphere consist of particles in a plasma state, a highly turbulent state distinct from liquid, gas, and solid states. Scientists have long believed that the sun’s plasma generates high-energy particles. But particles in plasma move so erratically and unpredictably that they have until now not been able to fully demonstrate how and when this occurs.
Using supercomputers at Columbia, NASA, and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Comisso and Sironi created computer simulations that show the exact movements of electrons and ions in the sun’s plasma. These simulations mimic the atmospheric conditions on the sun, and provide the most extensive data gathered to-date on how and when high-energy particles will form.
The research provides answers to questions that scientists have been investigating for at least 70 years: In 1949, the physicist Enrico Fermi began to investigate magnetic fields in outer space as a potential source of the high-energy particles (which he called cosmic rays) that were observed entering the earth’s atmosphere. Since then, scientists have suspected that the sun’s plasma is a major source of these particles, but definitively proving it has been difficult.
Aldrin walks on the surface of the Moon during Apollo 11(NASA)
Comisso and Sironi’s research, which was conducted with support from NASA and the National Science Foundation, has implications far beyond our own solar system. The vast majority of the observable matter in the universe is in a plasma state. Understanding how some of the particles that constitute plasma can be accelerated to high-energy levels is an important new research area since energetic particles are routinely observed not just around the sun but also in other environments across the universe, including the surroundings of black holes and neutron stars.
While Comisso and Sironi’s new paper focuses on the sun, further simulations could be run in other contexts to understand how and when distant stars, black holes, and other entities in the universe will generate their own bursts of energy.
“Our results center on the sun but can also be seen as a starting point to better understanding how high-energy particles are produced in more distant stars and around black holes,” Comisso said. “We’ve only scratched the surface of what supercomputer simulations can tell us about how these particles are born across the universe.”
New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy to hand over the possession of his government bungalow to the estate officer within six weeks.
Citing security reasons, Swamy, who was the former Union Minister, was allotted the government accomodation in the Lutyens zone by the cabinet committee on January 15, 2016 for a period of five years.
He was knocking the doors of the high court seeking re-allotment of the accommodation citing ‘continuing security threats’. His Rajya Sabha term came to an end in April 2022.
The Centre opposed his plea arguing that the accommodation was required to be given to other ministers and MPs.
parliament
Hearing Swamy’s plea, Justice Yashwant Varma observed that the original allotment was made for a period of five years and there was no material to show that the applicant required the allotment of the government bungalow as per his claims.
“The Court further directs the petitioner to ensure that the possession in question is handed over to the estate officer concerned within a period of six weeks from today,” the court said, while disposing of the plea.
As the issue of moonlighting or working elsewhere to make extra money in India is plaguing many tech giants after the Work From Home concession that entailed tech employees work remotely, several Indian tech giants are facing the challenge to keep their workforce committed and focused.
The ethical issue has been raised by tech services giant Infosys first, followed by cloud Major IBM on Wednesday. Infosys has already made it clear that the practice is not ethical and the company may fire those who are moonlighting.
However, no company has so far issued any framework to monitor its employees who are moonlighting as legally it is still daunting to gather evidence and withstand legal suits in courts. Secondly, the problem is not new in smaller and minor companies which have been struggling to pay higher wages to employees to retain them. Often, they blink to let the workforce work elsewhere in non-working hours.
Moreover, the issue is legally overwhelming for the companies as strict guidelines or framework of supervising or monitoring employees is often termed as violation of privacy rules in many courts and they may stand loose the legal battle even after firing such employees.
But the issue has already bogged down even major companies. Besides infosys, IBM Managing Director Sandip Patel said that the company’s position is exactly that of the overall industry in the country. “All of our workers when they are employed, they sign an agreement which says that they are going to be working full-time for IBM. So moonlighting is not ethically right for them to get into,” he said.
However, some startups are encouraging employees to opt for moonlighting or work outside their primary working hours. Swiggy has encouraged the practice but the traditional companies are calling it cheating and unethical and issued warning to employees from practising Moonlighting even in extra hours.
In one case, a techie who was interviewed by a Hyderabad-based company found that he hired another techie to work on his behalf, while he is engaged in working on other projects. He has been summarily fired now but the issue has brought to light the glaring anomaly in misuse of a pact with the company.
Infosys has already warned employees on Monday against moonlighting, saying that involvement in such practice can result in “disciplinary action including termination of employment”. “No two-timing, no moonlighting”, the company said in an internal memo, adding that it “strictly discourages dual employment”.
Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji recently said that the concept of a second job amounts clearly to “plain and simple” cheating. “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating — plain and simple,” he emphasised.
