Subhaditya News Channel Presents Science,Movie, Political,Sports And Book News This Week (121)

Science News This Week:

1) Comet landing live coverage: New images from the comet:

The Philae spacecraft is now on the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, a historic event. However, we are not sure about its state. It may even be upside down after bouncing not once but twice. Telemetry seems to indicate that it has landed three times.  The comet lander Philae is definitely on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The probe actually landed three times with two bounces in between, mission scientists reported early on November 13. The first image from the probe came out a little bit later, and while incredible, immediately raised questions about Philae’s landing site and the probe’s ability to study the new world around it. Concerns about the lander’s solar panels and just how much sunlight they will get, and consequently how much power they can provide the lander, are also being discussed.

Philae is now sitting on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The minifridge-sized lander set itself onto the comet on November 12 and is now preparing to beam back panoramic pictures of its environs and explore the chemistry of the dust beneath its toes.

“We are on the comet,” Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Center in Cologne announced amid cheers and applause as soon as the signal came through at the European Space Agency’s operation center. The successful landing marks the first time scientists have set a spacecraft on the surface of a comet.

Philae is on the surface and doing a marvellous job, working very well and we can say we have a very happy lander," says Paolo Ferri, ESA's Head of Mission Operations at ESOC today (Nov. 13).During the second lander-orbiter communication slot, which ran from 06:01 UTC / 07:01 CET until 09:58 UTC / 10:58 CET this morning, "We had a perfect pass; the radio link was extremely stable and we could download everything according to the nominal plan," adds Rosetta Flight Director Andrea Accomazzo.

Here are details:

First analysis of the touchdown data suggests that the lander bounced twice before settling on the surface of Comet 67P/C-G. The lander remains unanchored to the surface, but the instruments are running and are delivering images and data.

After touchdown at 15:34 UTC (confirmed at 17:02 CET), a clear strong signal was received, with some breaks. Lander telemetry stabilised at about 17:32 UTC and communication with the surface was maintained until the link to the orbiter was lost at 17:59 UTC due to Rosetta's orbit; this was about an hour earlier than predicted for the target landing site (most likely due to local horizon interference).Later on 12 November, after analysing lander telemetry, the Lander Control Centre (in Cologne) and Philae Science, Operations and Navigation Centre (SONC, Toulouse) reported;

There were three touchdowns at 15:34, 17:25 and 17:32 UTC; in other words, the lander bounced.

1) The firing of the harpoons did not occur.

2) The primary battery is working properly.

3) The mass memory is working fine (all data acquired until lander loss of signal at 17:59 UTC were transmitted to the orbiter).

4) Systems on board the lander recorded a rotation of the lander after the first touchdown. This is confirmed by ROMAP

    instrument data, which recorded a rotation around the Z-axis (vertical).

    

The lander did receive some power from the solar panels on Wall No. 2, but it appears that parts of the lander were in        shadow during the time that last night's surface telemetry were being transmitted.

Teams are still working to confirm the location and the overall power and thermal situation on board. Nonetheless, the lander appears to be performing well.

2) Genes tell tale of cat domestication:

Five DNA variations distinguish tame felines from wild cousins

A peek into cats’ genetic makeup may help reveal how hissing wild felines became purring tabbies.

Five genes involved with embryo development differ between wild and domesticated cats, researchers report November 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The new genetic data support a recent hypothesis about why domesticated animals often have a juvenile appearance. ts and humans have shared the same households for at least 9,000 years, but we still know very little about how our feline friends became domesticated. An analysis of the cat genome led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveals some surprising clues.

The research appears Nov. 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

Cats have a relatively recent history of domestication compared with dogs; canines arose from wolves over 30,000 years ago.

"Cats, unlike dogs, are really only semidomesticated," said senior author Wes Warren, PhD, associate professor of genetics at The Genome Institute at Washington University​. "They only recently split off from wild cats, and some even still breed with their wild relatives. So we were surprised to find DNA evidence of their domestication."

One way scientists can understand the genetics of domestication is to look at what parts of the genome are altered in response to living together with humans, Warren added.The researchers compared the genomes of domestic cats and wild cats, finding specific regions of the domestic cat genome that differed significantly.

The scientists found changes in the domestic cat's genes that other studies have shown are involved in behaviors such as memory, fear and reward-seeking. These types of behaviors -- particularly those when an animal seeks a reward -- generally are thought to be important in the domestication process."Humans most likely welcomed cats because they controlled rodents that consumed their grain harvests," said Warren. "We hypothesized that humans would offer cats food as a reward to stick around."This meant that certain cats that would normally prefer to lead solitary lives in the wild had an additional incentive to stay with humans. Over time, humans preferred to keep cats that were more docile.

3) Genetic tweak gave yellow fever mosquitoes a nose for human odor:

One of the world's deadliest mosquitoes sustains its taste for human blood thanks in part to a genetic tweak that makes it more sensitive to human odor, according to new research.

Researchers report in the journal Nature that the yellow fever mosquito contains a version of an odor-detecting gene in its antennae that is highly attuned to sulcatone, a compound prevalent in human odor. The researchers found that the gene, AaegOr4, is more abundant and more sensitive in the human-preferring "domestic" form of the yellow fever mosquito than in its ancestral "forest" form that prefers the blood of non-human animals.The research provides a rare glimpse at the genetic changes that cause behaviors to evolve, explained first author Carolyn "Lindy" McBride, an assistant professor in Princeton University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute who conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Rockefeller University. Uncovering the genetic basis of changes in behavior can help us understand the neural pathways that carry out that behavior, McBride said.

The research also could help in developing better ways to stem the yellow fever mosquito's appetite for humans, McBride said. The yellow fever mosquito is found in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide and is the principal carrier of yellow fever, the measles-like dengue fever, and the painful infection known as chikungunya. Yellow fever annually kills tens of thousands of people worldwide, primarily in Africa, while dengue fever infects hundreds of millions. The research also suggests a possible genetic root for human preference in other mosquitoes, such as malaria mosquitoes, although that species is genetically very different from the yellow fever mosquito."The more we know about the genes and compounds that help mosquitoes target us, the better chance we have of manipulating their response to our odor" McBride said, adding that scent is not the only driver of mosquito behavior, but it is a predominant factor.

The researchers first conducted a three-part series of experiments to establish the domestic yellow fever mosquito's preference for human scent. Forest and domestic mosquitoes were put into a large cage and allowed to bite either a guinea pig or a researcher's arm. Then the mosquitoes were allowed to choose between streams of air that had passed over a guinea pig or human arm. Finally, to rule out general mosquito attractants such as exhaled carbon dioxide, mosquitoes were allowed to choose between the scent of nylon sleeves that had been in contact with a human or a guinea pig.

In all three cases, the domestic form of the yellow fever mosquito showed a strong preference for human scent, while the forest form primarily chose the guinea pig. Although domestic mosquitoes would sometimes go for the guinea pig, it happened very rarely, McBride said.McBride and colleagues then decided to look for differences in the mosquitoes' antennae, which are equivalent to a human's nose. They interbred domestic and forest mosquitoes, then interbred their offspring to create a second hybrid generation. The genomes of these second-generation hybrids were so completely reshuffled that when the researchers compared the antennae of the human- and guinea pig-preferring individuals they expected to see only genetic differences linked directly to behavior, McBride said.

The researchers found 14 genes that differed between human- and guinea pig-preferring hybrids -- two of them were the odorant receptors Or4 and Or103. Choosing to follow up on Or4, the researchers implanted the gene into fruit-fly neurons. They found that the neurons exhibited a burst of activity when exposed to sulcatone, but no change when exposed to guinea pig odors. McBride plans to further study Or103 and other genes that could be linked to host preference at Princeton.

This work provides insight into how the domestic form of the yellow fever mosquito evolved from its animal-loving ancestor into a human-biting specialist, McBride said. "At least one of the things that happened is a retuning of the ways odors are detected by the antennae," she said. "We don't yet know whether there are also differences in how odor information is interpreted by the brain."

4) A piece of the quantum puzzle:

While the Martinis Lab at UC Santa Barbara has been focusing on quantum computation, former postdoctoral fellow Pedram Roushan and several colleagues have been exploring qubits (quantum bits) for quantum simulation on a smaller scale. Their research appears in the current edition of the journal Nature.

"While we're waiting on quantum computers, there are specific problems from various fields ranging from chemistry to condensed matter that we can address systematically with superconducting qubits," said Roushan, who is now a quantum electronics engineer at Google. "These quantum simulation problems usually demand more control over the qubit system." Earlier this year, John M. Martinis and several members of his UCSB lab joined Google, which established a satellite office at UCSB.In conjunction with developing a general-purpose quantum computer, Martinis' team worked on a new qubit architecture, which is an essential ingredient for quantum simulation, and allowed them to master the seven parameters necessary for complete control of a two-qubit system. Unlike a classical computer bit with only two possible states -- 0 and 1 -- a qubit can be in either state or a superposition of both at the same time, creating many possibilities of interaction.

One of the crucial specifications -- Roushan refers to them as control knobs or switches -- is the connectivity, which determines whether or not, and how, the two qubits interact. Think of the two qubits as people involved in a conversation. The researchers have been able to control every aspect -- location, content, volume, tone, accent, etc. -- of the communication. In quantum simulation, full control of the system is a holy grail and becomes more difficult to achieve as the size of the system grows.

"There are lots of technological challenges, and hence learnings involved in this project," Roushan said. "The icing on the cake is a demonstration that we chose from topology." Topology, the mathematical study of shapes and spaces, served as a good demonstration of the power of full control of a two-qubit system.

In this work, the team demonstrates a quantum version of Gauss's law. First came the 19th-century Gauss-Bonnet theorem, which relates the total local curvature of the surface of a geometrical object, such as a sphere or a doughnut, to the number of holes in the object (zero for the sphere and one for the doughnut). "Gauss's law in electromagnetism essentially provides the same relation: Measuring curvature on the surface -- in this case, an electric field -- tells you something about what is inside the surface: the charge," Roushan explained.The novelty of the experiment is how the curvature was measured. Project collaborators at Boston University suggested an ingenious method: sensing the curvature through movement. How local curvature affects the motion can be understood from another analogy with electromagnetism: the Lorentz force law, which says that a charged particle in a magnetic field, which curves the space, is deflected from the straight pass. In their quantum system, the researchers measured the amount of deflection along one meridian of a sphere's curve and deduced the local curvature from that."When you think about it, it is pretty amazing," Roushan said. "You do not need to go inside to see what is in there. Moving on the surface tells you all you need to know about what is inside a surface."This kind of simulation -- arbitrary control over all parameters in a closed system -- contributes to a body of knowledge that is growing, and the paper describing that demonstration is a key step in that direction. "The technology for quantum computing is in its infancy in a sense that it's not fully clear what platform and what architecture we need to develop," Roushan said. "It's like a computer 50 years ago. We need to figure out what material to use for RAM and for the CPU. It's not obvious so we try different architectures and layouts. One could argue that what we've shown is very crucial for coupling qubits when you're asking for a full-fledged quantum computer."

5) Archaeologists discover remains of Ice Age infants in Alaska:

The remains of two Ice Age infants, buried more than 11,000 years ago at a site in Alaska, represent the youngest human remains ever found in northern North America, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The site and its artifacts provide new insights into funeral practices and other rarely preserved aspects of life among people who inhabited the area thousands of years ago, according to Ben Potter, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the paper's lead author.Potter led the archaeological team that made the discovery in fall of 2013 at an excavation of the Upward Sun River site, near the Tanana River in central Alaska. The researchers worked closely with local and regional Native tribal organizations as they conducted their research. The National Science Foundation funded the work.

Potter and his colleagues note that the human remains and associated burial offerings, as well as inferences about the time of year the children died and were buried, could lead to new thinking about how early societies were structured, the stresses they faced as they tried to survive, how they treated the youngest members of their society, and how they viewed death and the importance of rituals associated with it.Potter made the new find on the site of a 2010 excavation, where the cremated remains of another 3-year-old child were found. The bones of the two infants were found in a pit directly below a residential hearth where the 2010 remains were found."Taken collectively, these burials and cremation reflect complex behaviors related to death among the early inhabitants of North America," Potter said.

In the paper, Potter and his colleagues describe unearthing the remains of the two children in a burial pit under a residential structure about 15 inches below the level of the 2010 find. The radiocarbon dates of the newly discovered remains are identical to those of the previous find--about 11,500 years ago--indicating a short period of time between the burial and cremation, perhaps a single season.Also found within the burials were unprecedented grave offerings. They included shaped stone points and associated antler foreshafts decorated with abstract incised lines, representing some of the oldest examples of hafted compound weapons in North America."The presence of hafted points may reflect the importance of hunting implements in the burial ceremony and with the population as whole," the paper notes.The researchers also examined dental and skeletal remains to determine the probable age and sex of the infants at the time of the death: One survived birth by a few weeks, while the other died in utero. The presence of three deaths within a single highly mobile foraging group may indicate resource stress, such as food shortages, among these early Americans.

Such finds are valuable to science because, except in special circumstances like those described in the paper, there is little direct evidence about social organization and mortuary practices of such early human cultures, which had no written languages.

The artifacts--including the projectile points, plant and animal remains--may also help to build a more complete picture of early human societies and how they were structured and survived climate changes at the end of the last great Ice Age. The presence of two burial events--the buried infants and cremated child--within the same dwelling could also indicate relatively longer-term residential occupation of the site than previously expected.

The remains of salmon-like fish and ground squirrels in the burial pit indicate that the site was likely occupied by hunter-gatherers between June and August."The deaths occurred during the summer, a time period when regional resource abundance and diversity was high and nutritional stress should be low, suggesting higher levels of mortality than may be expected give our current understanding" of survival strategies of the period, the authors write.

Movie Release This Week:

1) Dumb and Dumber To :

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprise their signature roles as Lloyd and Harry in the sequel to the smash hit that took the physical comedy and kicked it in the nuts: Dumb and Dumber To. The original film’s directors, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, take Lloyd and Harry on a road trip to find a child Harry never knew he had and the responsibility neither should ever, ever be given.

The Farrelly brothers produce Dumb and Dumber To alongside Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland of Red Granite Pictures. They are joined by fellow producers Charles Wessler and Bradley Thomas. Universal Pictures will distribute the film in the United States, Canada and select international territories.

2) Foxcatcher :

Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is struggling in .obscurity and poverty in Wisconsin when he is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to his lavish estate to form a team and to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Schultz seizes the opportunity, eager to step out of the shadow of his revered older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), a prominent wrestling coach and Gold Medal winner himself.

With his vast financial resources and state-of-the-art training facility at Foxcatcher Farm, du Pont appoints himself head coach of the team, eager to win the respect of his peers and the approval of his condemning mother (Vanessa Redgrave).

The dynamic between Schultz and du Pont deepens as Mark embraces his benefactor as a father figure. But du Pont's mercurial personality and psychological gameplay begins to weigh heavily on Mark's shaky self-esteem, undermining his abilities on the mat. When du Pont's favoritism shifts to brother Dave — who possesses the authority and confidence both he and Mark lack —the trio is propelled towards a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

3) Wolves:

Popular high school student Cayden Richards wakes from a horrific nightmare, only to realize that he’s living it… He is changing into something vicious, unpredictable and wild. Forced to hit the road after the brutal murder of his parents, Cayden tries to hunt down the truth of what he is. In the remote, mountain town of Lupine Ridge, he discovers others like him — Including the beautiful Angelina, a young woman caught between two ancient clans of “wolves”. And when he finally discovers the shocking truth behind his ancestry, Cayden realizes there is only one way to save the woman he loves… a grisly fight to the death against forces more savage than he could have ever imagined.

4) The Homesman:

When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter) head east, where a waiting minister and his wife (Meryl Streep) have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.

5) Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas:

This Christmas, have your family join with Kirk Cameron’s family and dive headfirst into all the dancing, celebration, feasting, imagination, and traditions that glorify the true “reason for the season.” The movie is an engaging story that will leave the audience with an understanding of a biblical basis for our celebrations, and the inspiration to stand strongly against a culture that wants to trivialize and eliminate the faith elements of this holy season. So take in the splendor; take in the majesty; take in the story. Take it all in … and let’s put Christ back in Christmas!

Political News This Week:

1) Burdwan blast: NIA team to visit Dhaka on Nov 17:

A team of the National Investigation Agency will be visiting Bangladesh on November 17 to brief the authorities in Dhaka and also seek cooperation of that country to unravel all plans of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terror outfit.

After getting necessary sanction, a team of the NIA, headed by an officer of the rank of Inspector General, will be visiting Dhaka to discuss the activities of JMB cadres in Bangladesh and India, official sources said.The visit comes after the made major headway in the case by arresting JMB's Chief commander for Burdwan module, Sajid, a Bangladeshi national, Amjad Sheikh and Zia-ul-Haque who allegedly procured explosives and motivated youth for terror groups.The NIA team may also seek details about JMB's network in Bangladesh and also about the interrogation of Sajid's brother as also two other cadres of the terror group -- Asif Adnan and Fazle Elahi Tanjil who were arrested from Segunbagicha area of Dhaka city in September this year.

India will also share with Bangladesh government details of its probe for preventive steps and necessary action needed to be taken by Dhaka to counter the threat posed by the JMB.National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had visited Burdwan for having a first-hand knowledge of the conspiracy being hatched by JMB to target Bangaldesh government from Indian soil.The Narendra Modi government has made it clear that it will have friendly relations with all neighbouring countries and following that policy, the NIA has been asked to complete the investigation into the October 2 blast as soon as possible so that all contours of the international terror conspiracy are exposed, the sources said.

2) Delhi polls: Bharti among 22 candidates named in AAP's 1st list:

The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday released its first list of 22 candidates fielding former ministers Somnath Bharti, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Satyendra Jain and Girish Soni in the Delhi Assembly elections, the dates of which are yet to be announced.

The party, however, has not included the name of its chief Arvind Kejriwal in the first list. It said that it is now screening all the applicants and some names, which have not made it to the first list, will be accommodated.Soni, Bharti, Bhardwaj and Jain have been fielded from the same constituencies they had won in the last assembly elections. Eight sitting members of Legislative Assembly also figure in the list.AAP has not included any new face in the first list while fielding 11 other candidates who fought last assembly elections but were defeated by a close margin. "The AAP has formed a probe committee led by party's senior leader Anand Kumar and it will look if allegation emerge against any candidate during elections. If allegation is proved, party can even cancel their ticket in the last moment," AAP's PAC member Sanjay Singh told media persons.

Asked why party then fielded Bharti, who is facing serious charges in Malviya Nagar midnight raid, Singh maintained that the former Law Minister was innocent and that he had gone there on request of local people and tried to help them in busting a ‘prostitution and drug racket’.

Among the sitting MLAs, who have again been given tickets, are Bharti from Malviya Nagar, Bhardwaj from Greater Kailash, Satyendra Jain from Shakur Basti, Girish Soni from Madipur, Manoj Kumar from Kondli, Jagdeep from Harinagar, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar, Vishesh Ravi from Karol Bagh, Sanjeev Jha from Burari, Bandana Kumari from Shalimar Bagh, Som Dutt from Sadar Bazar and Commando Surender from Delhi Cantt.The 11 candidates, who had unsuccessfully contested the elections in 2013 but given ticket again are Sandeep (Sultanpuri Majra), Anil Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar), Atul Gupta (Vishwas Nagar), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Gulab Singh (Matiala), Vijendra Garg (Rajendra Nagar), Kapil Mishra (Karawal Nagar), Jitendra Tomar (Tri Nagar), ND Sharma (Badarpur) and Bhavna Gaur (Palam).The AAP said the candidates have been selected based on their performances in their constituencies. "Party may also release its second list of candidates in the next seven days," another AAP leader Ashutosh Srivastava said.He also said that the party would fight the forthcoming assembly elections on the issues of water, electricity, development, health and education.

In the last elections, AAP had selected candidates, who had attached signatures of 100 voters in their constituencies along with their applications, but it didn't adopt such a process this time."In these assembly elections, party has dropped the process of directing applicants to get signatures of 100 voters attached along with their applications," Srivastava said.In the assembly polls held in December last year, the AAP had won 28 seats in its debut performance, but the Bharatiya Janata Party was the largest party with 32 seats including a lone Shiromani Akali Dal nominee.

3) India's my second home, Aung San Suu Kyi tells PM Modi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a meeting with Nobel laureate and Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in his first interaction with the pro-democracy icon. The meeting at the presidential suite at Park Royal Hotel here where the prime minister is put up, came on a day when he had a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders and participated in the 12th India-ASEAN summit.

Myanmar is in the midst of a national debate on whether to allow Suu Kyi, chairperson and general secretary of the National League for Democracy, to contest the 2015 parliamentary elections, which she is barred from at present due to a provision in the Constitution.

Suu Kyi had visited India in November 2012. She spent several years in India during her early days when her mother Daw Khin Yi was Ambassador to India. She studied at LadyShriramCollege in Delhi and also spent some time as a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla in 1987.After Modi’s meeting with Suu Kyi, spokesman of the ministry of external affairs Syed Akbaruddin tweeted that the Myanmarese leader told the prime minister that India was her “second home”.

4) Ahead of trust vote, Fadnavis claims support of 140 MLAs:

The Bharatiya Janata Party is in no hurry to engineer a split or woo legislators from other parties at this juncture, though it is short of numbers in the Maharashtra assembly.This is despite several legislators from the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party approaching BJP’s top leaders on the eve of election of the assembly speaker and the vote of confidence.Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, claimed his government had been able to mobilise support of 140 legislators, four short of the half-way mark in the 288-member House.The BJP has 121 legislators and its ally Rashtriya Samaj Party has one MLA. Besides, seven independents and three legislators of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi have also extended their support.This apart, Peasants and Workers Party leader Jayant Patil has assured that three legislators belonging to his party and five other members of smaller parties are ready to support the government. The government faces the challenge to prove a majority on the floor of the House during confidence motion and election of Speaker, slated for November 12, the concluding day of the three-day session.

Fadnavis said: “I have already told my party colleagues not to entertain any suggestion by the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena members to join the BJP by resigning from their respective parties. I have also asked party members not to organise any meetings (of MLAs of other parties who wish to join the party) with me.”Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had recently said about 27 legislators from the Congress and NCP have shown their desire to desert their respective parties to join the BJP.  “However, the party has asked those legislators not to show any haste in quitting their own parties,” a BJP leader, who did not want to be named, said.Another BJP minister, who did not want to be named, said it had been the party’s view not to attract any criticism from other parties that it was bent on engineering a split to achieve a majority in the House. “The BJP is quite confident that it would sail through the confidence motion, slated for Wednesday. As NCP chief Sharad Pawar observed no legislator wants fresh elections. The BJP will be able to muster support to run the government,” he said.

5) Jayalalithaa disqualified for 10 years: TN issues notification:

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa is disqualified from contesting elections for ten years, the Tamil Nadu government has said in a gazette notification.

"Consequent upon the conviction of Selvi J Jayalalithaa, Member of the Legislative Assembly, she stands disqualified for being a Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the date of conviction, i.e., the 27th day of September, 2014, for the period of her sentence (four years)," the gazette notification dated November 8 read. It was issued by Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly P Dhanapal.It also said that she "shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since her release in terms of the existing Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951."

The notification also said that Srirangam Assembly Constituency, represented by Jayalalithaa "shall be deemed to have become vacant from the date of her conviction," September 27.Although media was given to understand on November 9 that a notification declaring Srirangam seat as vacant was issued, only on Wednesday it has been officially released by the state government.

Also, the details pertaining to disqualification has become known.Jayalalithaa was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in jail besides a fine of Rs 100 crore in an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case by a special court in Bangalore.She was released from jail in Bangalore on October 17 as per the Supreme Court order granting her bail in the case.

6) Must balance music with ministry: Babul Supriyo:

Babul Supriyo says he will strive to strike a balance between music and his new job. Quoting Swami Vivekananda, the playback singer said the PM has asked him to continue singing as it was his first love. “Music is a noble cause and I have to see it does not make me compromise on my ministerial work. A balance will have to be struck,” he said after taking charge as Minister of State for Urban Development.

On his priorities, he said he would bring imams and Hindu priests together and convince them to relocate temples and mosques built on encroached public spaces. West Bengal’s sole representative in the cabinet expansion, he was talking in the context of his home state. “I am a secular person but if a temple or mosque is built in the middle of the road, it should be relocated and roads can be widened for public use.”

He attacked the Bengal government: “ With the present Trinamool government, it is important there is a bridge between the Centre and the state government, so that it does not come up with the excuse that there is no coordination with the Centre.”

Supriyo said he is consulting his predecessors Saugata Roy (TMC) and Deepa Das Munsi (Congress).

Saradha scam: Suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh attempts suicide in jail, hospitalized:




Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh, former CEO of Saradha Media Group, attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills in his prison cell.

Kunal Ghosh, in his suicide note, claimed consuming 58 pills. He was rushed to SSKM hospital where doctors washed his stomach to clear it of the sedatives. It might be mentioned that Kunal Ghosh had threatened in the court on Monday that he would commit suicide within three days if he was not granted bail and those powerful people involved in the Saradha scam were not arrested.

Kunal Ghosh is the only leading politician arrested in the case and has been suspended by Trinamool Congress. Kunal Ghosh has named top Trinamool leaders for their involvement in the Saradha scam, but CBI is yet to interrogate or arrest them.

Jail officials said that they had given only a strip of sedatives to Ghosh, as he had sleep disorder.

Sports News This WeeK:

1) Indian Super League: FC Goa hand Delhi Dynamos 4-1 thrashing:

FC Goa got their act together after a couple of winless outings as they handed Delhi Dynamos an embarrassing 4-1 defeat, riding on Youness Bengelloun’s twin strikes in an Indian Super League encounter on Thursday.The victory couldn’t have come at a better time as it kept them in the reckoning for a semi-final berth in the cash-rich league.Bengelloun scored in the 18th and 48th minute while captain Robert Pires and Australian striker Tolgay Ozbey scored one apiece, in the 53rd and 60 minute respectively.

Gustavo Santos pulled one back for the hosts, when he converted from the spot in the 73rd minute, but that was just a consolation goal as was evident from the faces of the disappointed Delhi fans and players.

The victory, a very important one for FC Goa, finally put an end to the visiting side’s search for three points, their second in the tournament, while extending Dynamos’ winless run.The Dynamos have now slipped to the bottom following four draws, three losses and a solitary win, while Goa improved a rung to move upto seventh spot with four defeats, two draws and as many wins in the eight-team franchise-based tournament.The Goa outfit went ahead when Frenchman Bengelloun found the net almost halfway into the first half.The second goal came as Andre Santos delivered a cross for Bengelloun, which the former Paris Saint Germain ‘B’ team defended gleefully headed home.The visitors slammed the door on chances of a Dynamos comeback when Pires converted from the spot after Tolgay Ozbey, who was through with ball, was felled by Delhi’s giant shotstopper Kristof Van Hout.

Tolgay completed the rout in the 60th minute, dribbling past a series of Dynamos defenders before successfully finding the back of the net at the JLN Stadium, which witnessed a paltry turnout.The about 6000-odd turnout was the worst in the tournament, which is otherwise creating new scales in in-stadia audience, when compared to other to leagues in Asia.Bengelloun first scored off a rebound after Gregory Arnolin’s header was kept out by the tall Dynamos goalkeeper Kristof Van Hout. The initial move began with a Andre Santos corner that landed on the feet of Robert Pires, who gave it to Bikramjeet Singh to make the final cross from the right.The Dynamos had an outside chance to equalise a few minutes later but Robert Lalthlamuana’s volley off a cross from the right narrowly misses the right side of the post.Lalthlamuana’s approach before taking the shot though seemed a bit casual.Besides, there was also a cross from the right by Steven Dias but Morten Skoubo could not reach the ball in time.The Dynamos were certainly not lacking as far as build-up was concerned but, as has been their wont in the inaugural edition of the franchise-based league so far, could not make it count upfront.

2) Rohit 264, Sri Lanka 251:

India 404 for 5 (Rohit 264, Kohli 66) beat Sri Lanka 251 (Mathews 75, Thirimanne 59, Kulkarni 4-34) by 153 runs. 

Rohit Sharma's first ODI in 10-weeks began with a touch of nerves. He was even kept scoreless in one Angelo Mathews maiden. By the end of the innings, his batting had become cartoonish. There was no shot he had not played. No part of the ground he had not exploited. No bowler who escaped his brutality. Rohit amassed 45 more runs than any ODI batsman had ever managed in an innings, finishing on 264 from 173 balls when he was finally caught off the last ball of the innings. India, almost incidentally, had moved to 404 for 5, despite having travelled at a run rate of less than six for the first 32 overs.

Rohit's innings was so ludicrous that the first 100 runs, which were hit at a run-a-ball, seems achingly humdrum in comparison to the 164 that followed. The surge had actually begun before he reached his century, when he plundered 14 runs in four balls, in Nuwan Kulasekara's 30th over. Soon after that, the ball would be leaping off the middle of his bat with almost every stroke he offered.

There were many incredible shots, from among his 33 fours and nine sixes, but the most gobsmacking was the six off Kulasekara at the end of the 48th over, when he walked across to off stump, took a half volley from about a foot and half away from him and flicked it high over the midwicket boundary. It was the kind of shot, and innings, that seemed in open defiance of physics.

Sri Lanka had played a tour match against Mumbai to warm-up for the series, but little did they know Rohit was warming-up against them. He hit 145 from 111 in that match - his first competitive game since fracturing a finger in August - and he has now re-embedded himself at the top of the India batting order in the most resounding fashion imaginable.

The most dispiriting aspect of the flogging for Sri Lanka was their complicity in it. Shaminda Eranga had extracted a thick outside edge from Rohit in the fifth over, and though the ball carried comfortably to Thisara Perera at third man, he shelled the chance. Having been dropped on 4, Rohit would become the third India centurion this series to have been reprieved early in his innings. It makes sense, then, that since he hit a double-century, he should be dropped twice. Seekkuge Prasanna obliged him, when he shelled another straightforward chance off Rohit in the 46th over, with the batsman on 201 this time.

Kulasekara had strayed too straight to Rahane, in particular, who picked him off for a spate of leg-side fours to kick the India innings into gear, in a 14-run first over. Angelo Mathews and Eranga delivered more disciplined new-ball spells, claiming a wicket each inside the first 15 overs, but that is as good as the visitors' bowling effort got. Sri Lanka's lines and lengths worsened gradually from the 20th over onwards, until they had become almost farcical by the 35th over.

Another beautifully orchestrated batting Powerplay from India - between the 30th and 34th overs - brought them 67 runs, and was enough to hammer the Sri Lanka bowlers off their rhythm for the rest of the innings. Short, wide deliveries, thigh-high full tosses and rank long hops were presented with alarming regularity, and the fielding was almost as woeful. Sri Lanka had not expected to begin the series strongly, given their lack of preparation, but in these two disciplines, they have actually worsened significantly through the tour.

Having been joined at 59 for 2, Kohli and Rohit put on 202 brisk runs together, before miscommunication between the wickets saw Kohli run out for 66. That wasn't even the most astounding partnership of the India innings. When Rohit and Robin Uthappa came together in the 41st over, the score was 276 for 4. They would put on 128 runs in 58 balls together. Out of that, Uthappa's contribution was a run-a-ball 16.By the time Rohit hit Kulasekara down Mahela Jayawardene's throat at long-off, the record for most fours struck in an innings had also tumbled, and Rohit was in possession of half the ODI scores over 200. One record he missed out on by one delivery, was Sunil Gavaskar's record for most balls faced. Gavaskar had made 36 not out.Kusal Perera attempted to pull a short ball from way outside off stump and ended up scooping a catch to midwicket to collect his second duck of the series. Tillakaratne Dilshan was still visibly out of sorts, but he still outlived his next two partners. Dinesh Chandimal drove Roger Binny uppishly to cover and Mahela Jayawardene was trapped in front by Umesh Yadav. When Dilshan himself fell, giving a catch to short cover off his leading edge, even the slim hopes Sri Lanka had of running down the total were effectively extinguished.Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne forged a 118-run stand for the fifth wicket, with Mathews hitting 75 off 68, and Thirimanne making 59 upon his return to the side. But even as the batsmen progressed briskly by usual standards, the run-rate kept on climbing, until it was above 11, when the pair were separated in the 29th over. Thisara came in to bludgeon 29, scoring 23 of those off a Karn Sharma over. But the Powerplay came, and both he and Thirimanne fell to Kulkarni, within four balls, to usher in the tail. Kulkarni removed two more from the lower order to finish with 4 for 34, and India completed yet another crushing victory.

3) Neymar shines as Brazil crush Turkey:

Neymar scored twice as Brazil continued their winning run under new head coach Dunga with a 4-0 victory against Turkey in a friendly in Istanbul on Wednesday.The 22-year-old Barcelona forward also provided an assist to add to his brace and was aided by a brilliant performance by Chelsea winger Willian.

Neymar held off the attentions of the last defender to finish past Volkan Demirel after finding himself one on one with the Turkish goalkeeper in the 20th minute.Semih Kaya's own goal and Willian's strike just before the break gave the visitors a 3-0 halftime lead before Neymar completed the rout in the 60th minute with his 42nd international goal."We could have chosen an easier team for a friendly game to get our statistics right, but Brazil is one of the best teams in the world," Turkey coach Fatih Terim said.

"We played against a fantastic team and gave our fans (the chance) to watch them, but unfortunately we sometimes watched them on the pitch too."Brazil face Austria in a friendly on Tuesday while Turkey, who are bottom of their Euro 2016 qualifying pool, host Kazakhstan in Group A on Sunday.

4) Pakistan trounce New Zealand, win first Test by 248 runs :

Misbah-ul-Haq became Pakistan’s most successful Test captain with a thumping 248-run victory in the first Test against New Zealand which ended on Thursday.The victory lifted Misbah one ahead of former skippers Imran Khan and Javed Miandad’s joint Pakistan record of 14 Test victories.New Zealand’s No.10 Ish Sodhi delayed the inevitable for over an hour on the fifth and final day and top-scored with a gritty career-best 63 with seven  fours and a six before he was the last man to go.Sodhi frustrated Pakistan bid and shared a 54-run last-wicket stand with Trent Boult before he was out leg before wicket to fast bowler Imran Khan’s (2-37) inswinger.

Chasing a 480-run target, New Zealand was left lurching at 174-8 on the fourth day as they failed to cope with either the spinning duo of Yasir Shah (3-74) and Zulfiqar Babar (2-48) or the reverse swing of Imran and Rahat Ali (2-48).Legspinner Shah had overnight batsman Mark Craig (28) clean bowled in his first over of the day before Sodhi and Boult prolonged the innings with some defiant batting.Sodhi swept Shah for a four and a six to reach his second Test fifty and got a lucky escape when he gloved a sweep off Babar but wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed misjudged the attempted catch.Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series, with the top-order batsmen extending the form that had given the side a 2-0 series victory over Australia in the preceding series.The lost only five wickets across two innings to New Zealand’s limited attack, which was playing its first Test on the United Arab Emirates’ slow, turning wickets.Misbah scored his third successive century, Younis Khan smashed his fourth in five innings and opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad notched a career-best 176 in the first innings before fracturing his skull and was ruled out of the series.Mohammad Hafeez, who was under pressure after only 48 runs in the three innings against Australia, responded with knocks of 96 and 101 not out; his first Test century in two years.

5) Magnus Carlsen still favourite to beat Vishwanathan Anand, claim experts :

Playing in the new role of a challenger, five times world champion Viswanathan Anand is sitting pretty ahead of the fifth game of the World Chess Championship against Magnus Carlsen.With one victory, one loss and two draws, the match is currently tied 2-2, but a big trend seem to be favouring Anand compared to the last match at Chennai, which the Indian had lost badly last year.

At Chennai, too, the scores were tied after four games but the big difference was that Carlsen had started to trouble

Anand and the discomfiture for the Indian was evident as he lost game five and six, which effectively sealed the match in Carlsen favour.

This time around, it’s almost the opposite. It was a tentative start for Anand in the first game, in which he got the complexities on the board but misplayed and suffered a bit before drawing the game.In the second game things turned for the worst for Anand, as yet again Carlsen established a position to his liking and outplayed him in all departments of the game to go one up in the match.

As per the match schedule there is a rest day after every two games and that break changed things completely for Anand.

Contrary to popular belief, the Indian bounced back in style, showcasing deep preparation and caught Carlsen in a long analysed variation after which there was no reprieve for the Norwegian.The scores were then levelled and in the fourth game Carlsen, despite getting that nagging advantage he is famous for, could do very little, even as Anand matched him move for move to force a draw.

Now in the fifth game scheduled for tomorrow, Anand will again play with white pieces and is likely to push for victory yet again.

Carlsen, meanwhile, looked a bit demoralised at the fourth game press conference, even though he put up a brave front.

With just eight games to go, the pundits are not ruling out a tied result and a subsequent tiebreaker, which will happen if the scores are level after 12 games in this million Euros match.

While Anand will definitely try to catch Carlsen in another preparation, the Norwegian will definitely try to avoid it.

The success for Anand will mostly depend on a successful opening by him.At the moment, the trend might be in favour of the Indian but Carlsen still stays the favourite to retain the crown, according to many regarded players.

6) IPL Scam: Supreme Court Reveals More Names, No Relief for N. Srinivasan




The Supreme Court has once again adjourned the hearing of the IPL scam report to November 24 (Monday). The special Bench, after reading the 35-page report submitted by Justice Mukul Mudgal and his team, has revealed the names of BCCI president-in-exile N. Srinivasan, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, who was team principal of Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra and former IPL COO Sundar Raman among those probed by the panel for allegations of corruption.

The top developments (in ascending order) of the IPL betting and spot-fixing case:

1. The case dates back to June 2013. Aditya Verma, secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), filed a PIL in Bombay High Court raising charges of a conflict of interest in the Board's two-member inquiry panel probing corruption in IPL. The Bombay High Court declared the probe "illegal".

2. The BCCI and the CAB went to the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order. Verma's lawyers said the Bombay court could have suggested a fresh mechanism to investigate the charges of corruption.

3. In October 2013, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member committee, headed by former High Court judge Mukul Mudgal. The panel included additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta. The Supreme Court wanted the panel to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of corruption against Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, India Cements, and Rajasthan Royals team owner Raj Kundra. The team was also asked to probe allegations of betting and spot-fixing in IPL and the involvement of players.

4. On February 10, 2014, the Mudgal Committee� submitted two reports to the Supreme court. One submitted jointly by Mudgal and Rao and one by Dutta. They also filed a sealed envelope containing 13 names against whom there were "unsubstantiated" charges of corruption. One of the names was Srinivasan.

5. On March 28, Supreme Court suspends Srinivasan as BCCI president. In its interim order, the court says Srinivasan will be replaced by former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Shivlal Yadav. Gavaskar was given charge of IPL affairs while former Test spinner Yadav was entrusted with non-IPL issues.

6. On April 15, Srinivasan files an affidavit saying the Supreme Court should reinstate him as BCCI president. Srinivasan says he is innocent and allegations of conflict of interest were baseless. He also says that he never tried to hide the real identity of Meiyappan, indicted by Mudgal committee for betting and sharing team (Chennai Super Kings) information.

7. In May this year, following the panel's initial report, the Supreme Court gave the Mudgal committee greater powers to investigate the contents of the sealed envelope. Assisted by former senior IPS officer BB Mishra and Mumbai and Chennai police among others, the panel got greater investigative powers for search and seizure of relevant documents. It did not have the power to arrest. The panel was asked to submit a report by August-end.
8. On September 1, the Mudgal panel seeks a two-month extension to complete its probe. The Supreme Court allows the extension.

9. BCCI lawyers wants Srinivasan to be reinstated since the Board AGM was due. The Bench refused saying BCCI AGM was "not its concern." The court also referred to an earlier order by Justice AK Patnaik saying Srinivasan "could not come back as BCCI president as long as the probe is on." BCCI puts off AGM to November 20, clearly indicating that it will wait for Supreme Court's ruling on 'suspended' Srinivasan.

10. Mudgal panel submits its final report to the special Supreme Court Bench in a sealed cover on November 3. Court hears case on November 10 but adjourns till November 14. The Bench reveals the names of Srinivasan, Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and Sundar Raman among those probed. Notices will be served on them for what the court called "misdemeanour."

Book Of This Week:

The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian

The uneasy calm in Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2) is shattered when a series of murders rock the façade of the compliant and conforming bank that GB2 has built up over the years. Who is to blame? Who is driving these intriguing and bone chilling murders? What is the motive behind these gruesome killings? No one has a clue.

And when Karan Panjabi, a press reporter and an ex-banker digs deeper, he realizes that he has stumbled on a global conspiracy with far reaching ramifications - a secret that could destroy not only the bank but cast a shadow on the entire nation. With only thirty-six hours at his disposal, he is running out of time and must trust no one if he wants to stay alive and uncover the truth.

In the racy build up to unraveling the mystery, stranger than fiction characters emerge, faith get shattered and ivory towers come crashing down. Bankers build their careers on trust, or so everyone thought - till the day the truth within GB2 gets revealed. Is the banker at GB2 fast turning into a Bankster? Or was he always one?

Spinning an intricate web of lies, deceit and treachery, bestselling author Ravi Subramanian is back. A master storyteller of financial crime, this is his most chilling thriller yet.

 Ravi Subramanian:

Described as the ‘John Grisham of banking’, by the Wall Street Journal, Ravi Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, is the author of five bestselling commercial novels—If God was a Banker (2007), Devil in Pinstripes (2009), The Incredible Banker (2011), The Bankster (2012) and Bankerupt (2013)—based on financial crime. His latest book God is a Gamer, releases on September 12th.

Having been a banker himself, he has a unique insight into the industry he writes about and a flair for spinning intricate plots that keep readers on the edge of their seats His debut novel, If God was a Banker, won the 2008 Golden Quill Readers’ Choice Award and, more recently, The Incredible Banker won the 2011 Economist-Crossword Book Award in the ‘Popular’ category. He won the Crossword book award for The BANKSTER in 2012.Ravi lives in Mumbai with his Biotechnologist turned banker wife, Dharini and his fourteen year old daughter Anusha.