Science
News of This Week:
1)
Selfish' DNA in Animal Mitochondria Offers Possible Tool to Study Aging:
Roundworm with selfish DNA This roundworm has been found to have selfish mitochondrial DNA a biological oddity never before discovered in an animal |
Researchers
at Oregon State University have discovered, for the first time in any animal
species, a type of "selfish" mitochondrial DNA that is actually
hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive -- and bears a strong
similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age.
The
findings, just published in the journal PLoS One, are a biological oddity
previously unknown in animals. But they may also provide an important new tool
to study human aging, scientists said.
Such
selfish mitochondrial DNA has been found before in plants, but not animals. In
this case, the discovery was made almost by accident during some genetic research
being done on a nematode, Caenorhabditis briggsae -- a type of small roundworm.
"We
weren't even looking for this when we found it, at first we thought it must be
a laboratory error," said Dee Denver, an OSU associate professor of
zoology. "Selfish DNA is not supposed to be found in animals. But it could
turn out to be fairly important as a new genetic model to study the type of
mitochondrial decay that is associated with human aging."
DNA is
the material that holds the basic genetic code for living organisms, and
through complex biological processes guides beneficial cellular functions. Some
of it is also found in the mitochondria, or energy-producing
"powerhouse" of cells, which at one point in evolution was separate
from the other DNA.
The
mitochondria generally act for the benefit of the cell, even though it is
somewhat separate. But the "selfish" DNA found in some plant
mitochondria -- and now in animals -- has major differences. It tends to copy
itself faster than other DNA, has no function useful to the cell, and in some
cases actually harms the cell. In plants, for instance, it can affect flowering
and sometimes cause sterility.
"We
had seen this DNA before in this nematode and knew it was harmful, but didn't
realize it was selfish," said Katie Clark, an OSU postdoctoral fellow.
"Worms with it had less offspring than those without, they had less muscle
activity. It might suggest that natural selection doesn't work very well in
this species."
2)
Scientist Discovers Plate Tectonics On Mars:
View of central segment of Mars' Valles Marineris, in which an older circular basin created by an impact is offset for about 93 miles (150 kilometers) by a faul |
For
years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our
solar system but on Earth. Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the
geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates
beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars.
"Mars
is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the
early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics
began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences
and the sole author of the new research.
Yin made
the discovery during his analysis of satellite images from a NASA spacecraft
known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during
Substorms) and from the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment)
camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He analyzed about 100 satellite
images -- approximately a dozen were revealing of plate tectonics.
Yin has
conducted geologic research in the Himalayas and Tibet, where two of Earth's
seven major plates divide.
"When
I studied the satellite images from Mars, many of the features looked very much
like fault systems I have seen in the Himalayas and Tibet, and in California as
well, including the geomorphology," said Yin, a planetary geologist.
For
example, he saw a very smooth, flat side of a canyon wall, which can be
generated only by a fault, and a steep cliff, comparable to cliffs in
California's Death Valley, which also are generated by a fault. Mars has a
linear volcanic zone, which Yin said is a typical product of plate tectonics.
"You
don't see these features anywhere else on other planets in our solar system,
other than Earth and Mars," said Yin, whose research is featured as the
cover story in the August issue of the journal Lithosphere.
The
surface of Mars contains the longest and deepest system of canyons in our solar
system, known as Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys and named for the
Mariner 9 Mars orbiter of 1971-72, which discovered it). It is nearly 2,500
miles long -- about nine times longer than Earth's Grand Canyon. Scientists
have wondered for four decades how it formed. Was it a big crack in Mars' shell
that opened up?
"In
the beginning, I did not expect plate tectonics, but the more I studied it, the
more I realized Mars is so different from what other scientists
anticipated," Yin said. "I saw that the idea that it is just a big
crack that opened up is incorrect. It is really a plate boundary, with
horizontal motion. That is kind of shocking, but the evidence is quite clear.
"The
shell is broken and is moving horizontally over a long distance. It is very
similar to the Earth's Dead Sea fault system, which has also opened up and is
moving horizontally."
The two
plates divided by Mars' Valles Marineris have moved approximately 93 miles
horizontally relative to each other, Yin said. California's San Andreas Fault,
which is over the intersection of two plates, has moved about twice as much --
but Earth is about twice the size of Mars, so Yin said they are comparable.
Yin,
whose research is partly funded by the National Science Foundation, calls the
two plates on Mars the Valles Marineris North and the Valles Marineris South.
"Earth
has a very broken 'egg shell,' so its surface has many plates; Mars' is
slightly broken and may be on the way to becoming very broken, except its pace
is very slow due to its small size and, thus, less thermal energy to drive
it," Yin said. "This may be the reason Mars has fewer plates than on
Earth."
Mars has
landslides, and Yin said a fault is shifting the landslides, moving them from
their source.
Does Yin
think there are Mars-quakes?
"I
think so," he said. "I think the fault is probably still active, but
not every day. It wakes up every once in a while, over a very long duration --
perhaps every million years or more."
Yin is
very confident in his findings, but mysteries remain, he said, including how
far beneath the surface the plates are located.
"I
don't quite understand why the plates are moving with such a large magnitude or
what the rate of movement is; maybe Mars has a different form of plate
tectonics," Yin said. "The rate is much slower than on Earth."
Earth has
a broken shell with seven major plates; pieces of the shell move, and one plate
may move over another. Yin is doubtful that Mars has more than two plates.
"We
have been able to identify only the two plates," he said. "For the
other areas on Mars, I think the chances are very, very small. I don't see any
other major crack."
Did the
movement of Valles Marineris North and Valles Marineris South create the enormous
canyons on Mars? What led to the creation of plate tectonics on Earth?
Yin, who
will continue to study plate tectonics on Mars, will answer those questions in
a follow-up paper that he also plans to publish in the journal Lithosphere.
3)
Evidence Further Suggests Extra-Terrestrial Origin of Quasicrystals:
Results
from an expedition to far eastern Russia that set out to find the origin of
naturally occurring quasicrystals have provided convincing evidence that they
arrived on Earth from outer space.
Writing
in IOP Publishing's journal Reports on Progress in Physics, Paul J Steinhardt
and Luca Bindi reveal that new, naturally occurring quasicrystal samples have
been found in an environment that does not have the extreme terrestrial
conditions needed to produce them, therefore strengthening the case that they
were brought to Earth by a meteorite. Furthermore, their findings reveal that
the samples of quasicrystals were brought to the area during the last glacial
period, suggesting the meteorite was most likely to have hit Earth around 15
000 years ago.
"The
fact that the expedition found more material in the same location that we had
spent years to track down is a tremendous confirmation of the whole story,
which is significant since the meteorite is of great interest because of its
extraordinary age and contents," said Steinhardt.
In their
report, Steinhardt and Bindi describe the expedition in which ten scientists,
two drivers and a cook travelled 230 km into the Koryak Mountains of far
eastern Russia to pan one and a half tons of sediment by hand, and survey local
streams and mountains.
The group
of researchers were on the look-out for naturally occurring quasicrystals -- a
unique class of solids that were first synthesized in the laboratory by Israeli
scientist Dan Shechtman in 1982. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
in 2011 for this discovery.
The
concept of quasicrystals was first introduced by Steinhardt and his student Dov
Levine. Until their work, it had been believed that all solids, synthetic or
natural, form ordinary crystals -- materials whose entire structure is made of
a single-type cluster of atoms that repeat at regular intervals, joining
together in much the same way as identical tiles in bathroom tiling.
It was
also thought that crystals could only have two-, three-, four- and six-fold
symmetries; however, Steinhardt and Levine found a new theoretical possibility,
which they dubbed quasicrystals. A quasicrystal has two or more types of
clusters that repeat at different intervals with an irrational ratio, which
allows all the symmetries that were thought to be forbidden, such as five-fold
symmetry, to be possible.
Since
their discovery in the laboratory, researchers have created over one hundred
artificial quasicrystals that have been used in a variety of applications, from
non-stick frying pans and cutlery to ball bearings and razor blades.
4) And
Then There Was Light! Discovery of the World's First Eyeless Huntsman Spider:
A
scientist from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt has discovered
the first eyeless huntsman spider in the world. The accompanying study has been
published by the scientific journal Zootaxa.
With a
leg span of only six centimetres and a body size of around twelve millimetres,
the spider Sinopoda scurion is certainly not one of the largest representatives
of the huntsman spiders, which include more than 1100 species. However, it is
the first of its kind in the world without any eyes.
"I
found the spider in a cave in Laos, around 100 kilometres away from the famous
Xe Bang Fai cave," reports Peter Jäger, head of the arachnology section at
the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt. "We already knew of
spiders of this genus from other caves, but they always had eyes and complete
pigmentation. Sinopoda scurion is the first huntsman spider without eyes."
The
regression of the eyes is attributable to living permanently without daylight.
This adaptation was also observed in other cave-dwelling spider species by the
Frankfurt arachnologist. "The Sinopoda species described demonstrate all
kinds of transitions to cave adaptation -- from eight functioning eyes to forms
with six, four and two lenses, right up to blind spiders," explains Jäger.
The spiders
are in good company: fish, scorpions and crabs that have adapted to caves have
already been found in the caves of Laos.
In total,
the Frankfurt spider researchers have described nine new species of the genus
Sinopoda. The fact that all of the species have been found in caves confirms
the animals' preference for underground habitats. Because of the small-scale
area in which the spider species can be found it is possible to study their
adjustment to the cave as a dwelling -- the number of eyes present and the
visual faculty may possibly shed light on the time of settlement.
"Furthermore, the spiders can be used as indicators for the threat to
their habitats. These are often endangered by tourism or the exploitation of
the limestone rocks to make cement," says Jäger.
The
eyeless huntsman spider was named after the Swiss company "Scurion"
that makes headlamps for caves. "Sinopoda scurion is the first species
that I have named after a company in the context of the Patrons for
Biodiversity programme," explains Jäger. "The headlamps by Scurion
help me to illuminate the darkest corners on my cave trips, and thus recognise
hazards such as poisonous snakes and scorpions, but also discover very small
organisms."
5) NASA
Curiosity Mars Rover Installing Smarts for Driving:
NASA's
Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to
software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong
robotic arm.
The
rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps
Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the
rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was
uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's
flight from Earth.
"We
designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as
needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben Cichy of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., chief software engineer for the Mars
Science Laboratory mission. "The flight software version Curiosity
currently is using was really focused on landing the vehicle. It includes many
capabilities we just don't need any more. It gives us basic capabilities for
operating the rover on the surface, but we have planned all along to switch
over after landing to a version of flight software that is really optimized for
surface operations."
A key
capability in the new version is image processing to check for obstacles. This
allows for longer drives by giving the rover more autonomy to identify and
avoid potential hazards and drive along a safe path the rover identifies for
itself. Other new capabilities facilitate use of the tools at the end of the
rover's robotic arm.
While
Curiosity is completing the software transition, the mission's science team is
continuing to analyze images that the rover has taken of its surroundings
inside Gale Crater. Researchers are discussing which features in the scene to
investigate after a few weeks of initial checkouts and observations to assess
equipment on the rover and characteristics of the landing site.
The Mars
Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its target area on Mars at
10:31:45 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (1:31:45 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6), which includes the
13.8 minutes needed for confirmation of the touchdown to be radioed to Earth at
the speed of light.
Curiosity
carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the
science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the
tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental
composition from a distance, are the first of their kind on Mars. Curiosity
will use a drill and scoop, which are located at the end of its robotic arm, to
gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out
these samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments.
To handle
this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as
Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site at 4.59 degrees south,
137.44 degrees east, places the rover within driving distance of layers of the
crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and
sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.
Sport News
This week:
1) London
Olympics 2012 boxing: Mary Kom settles for bronze:
India's
Mary Kom went down to Nicol Adams 6 - 11 in the semi-final bout to settle for
bronze in the women's fly category at the London Olympics 2012.: Mother Mary of
Boxing.The mother of two from Manipur was completely out-boxed by the
second-seeded Briton in all the four rounds (1-3, 1-2, 2-3, 2-3) to deny the
Indian to enter the final of the event.
“I am
sorry, couldn’t win gold or silver. I know my fans prayed and wished for me. I
tried my hardest. Happy got a bronze,” she told reporters after the match.
Losing
semi-finalists in Olympic boxing are awarded the bronze medal. This is India's
fourth medal at the London Games, making it the highest ever medal haul for the
nation.She became the first Indian women boxer to claim an Olympic medal by
entering the semifinal of women`s 51 kg category defeating Maroua Rahali of
Tunisia.The diminutive boxer from Manipur increased her weight category from
48kg to 51kg in order for her to be eligible for participation in the
prestigious quadrennial event. The mother of two has been a five-time world
champion in the 48kg category.
2) Usain
Bolt wins Olympic gold in 200 meters, 1st man to win back-to-back sprint
doubles:
Usain
Bolt backed up his billing as a "living legend" by winning the
Olympic 200 meters and becoming the first athlete to repeat as double Olympic
sprint champion.
"It's
what I came here to do. I'm now a legend," Bolt said. "I'm also the
greatest athlete to live. I've got nothing left to prove."
Undaunted
by the first world record of the Olympic track meet run by 800-meter winner
David Rudisha less than an hour before the 200 final, Bolt was not about to be
upstaged by anyone.
He
dominated his favorite event almost from the starting gun and had enough of a
lead to slow down at the line, bring his left index finger to his mouth and
signal a "ssssshhh" that was broadcast around the globe.
It should
certainly silence the critics who doubted his form ahead of the Olympics. But
he didn't stand a chance of hushing the 80,000-capacity crowd at the Olympic
Stadium, which went wild as Bolt delivered on his promise of winning when it
counts most.
His
19.32-second winning time was just .02 seconds outside his winning mark at the
Beijing Olympics.
Just like
Sunday's victory in the 100, his junior training partner Yohan Blake stayed
closest, and Warren Weir made it a full Jamaican medal sweep before Wallace
Spearmon of the United States crossed in fourth place."The guy is just on
another planet right now," Spearmon said of Bolt.
3) India
end tour on a high with big win:
Virat
Kohli and Irfan Pathan starred in India’s 39-run win over Sri Lanka in the lone
Twenty20 International at Pallekele on Tuesday, capping a successful tour that
also saw the visitors winning the ODI series 4-1 this past week.
The win
took India to the No.4 spot in the ICC’s Twenty20 rankings.
India was
sent in by Sri Lanka and posted 155-3, chiefly through Kohli’s maiden T20
half-century, and pegged Sri Lanka back in the chase through Irfan Pathan’s
three early strikes.
The hosts
stuttered Pathan removed the top three batsmen with just 35 on the board.
Pathan
picked up a wicket in each of his first three overs. Dilshan was bowled by a
late inswinger in the first over and Upul Tharanga followed a horribly wide
delivery with an equally horrible shot
Mahela
Jayawardene (26), who had appeared to be the lone batsman with a head for the
chase, was handed a marginal leg before verdict in the fifth over when he had
raced to 26.
Jayawardene
had spanked four fours in Umesh Yadav’s fourth over of the chase, but after his
dismissal Sri Lanka slowed down.
They
attempted to course correct through Thirimanne (20) and Angelo Mathews (31),
but R. Ashwin came on in the tenth over and bowled the former as he went for
the reverse sweep.
After
Mathews was caught behind off Ashok Dinda, Sri Lanka needed 60 in 7 overs. But
Perera and Mendis failed to move along, and the run rate soon crept beyond the
point of attainment. Dinda mopped up the tail to finish with four for 19, the
game ending when he had Lasith Malinga caught behind on the last ball of the
18th over, with the score on 116.
4) Yuvraj,
Harbhajan Singh back in India colours:
The
national selectors came up with many surprises in their last meeting here on
Friday as they sat down to pick up the Indian teams for the two-Test series at
home against New Zealand and the Twenty20 international meets.
Barely
months after his remarkable recovery from a rare germ cell cancer, Yuvraj Singh
has been included in the team for the World T20 to be held in Sri Lanka from
September 18. The same team will do business in the two T20Is against New
Zealand prior to the biennial event.
Another
interesting pick is the selection of senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who
was dropped from the national side for want of performances and has been out
for a year. Hardworking seamer from Tamil Nadu, Lakshmipathy Balaji, makes a
comeback to the national side after three years. His remarkable performance
with the ball for the triumphant Kolkata Knight Riders in this year’s IPL must
have paved the way for his selection. He is yet to play T20Is, though.
5) Olympic
2012 Men's Football Results: Brazil Thrashes South Korea, 3-0, to Advance to
Gold Medal Match Against Mexico:
South
Korea's eye-opening run at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London has come up short
of the gold medal match, as one of the world's foremost football nations took
one step closer towards complete domination of the field.
Leandro
Damiao scored a pair of goals to become the leading scorer at the Olympics,
powering Brazil to a 3-0 win over South Korea on Tuesday at Old Trafford in
Manchester. The win in the second semifinal of the 2012 Olympic men's football
tournament put the Brazilians into the gold medal match against Mexico, a 3-1
winner over Japan earlier in the day at Wembley Stadium in London. The
Brazilians started the scoring in the 38th minute with a goal by Romulo. After
a great run by Oscar, the newly-minted Chelsea midfielder sent a pass off to
Romulo on his right, and Romulo fired a shot toward the near post that slipped
under the outstretched leg of South Korean goalkeeper Bum Young Lee.
Brazil
struck again in the 57th minute, as Damiao scored his team-best fifth goal of
the Olympics. Damiao was the beneficiary of a great cross from Neymar on the left
side, who found the International star near the top of the box for the second
goal of the match.
With the
win, Brazil advances to Saturday's final against Mexico, scheduled for a 3 p.m.
local start (10 a.m. in the U.S.) at Wembley Stadium. South Korea will face
Japan for the bronze on Friday evening, a match scheduled for a 7:45 p.m. start
local time (2:45 p.m. in the U.S.).
6) London: Yogeshwar Dutt won India's fith medal and fourth bronze at London Olympics in Men's 60kg freestyle category wrestling.
Yogeshwar Dutt won India's fith medal and fourth bronze at London Olympics in Men's 60kg freestyle category wrestling. |
Dutt defeated Jong Myong Ri of DPR Korea 3-1 taking the thrid period 6-0. This is India's 3rd Olympic bonze medal in wrestling.Yogeshwar Dutt wrestled three bouts in a span of 45 minutes to clinch bronze.
After losing his second round match to Besik Kudukhov of Russia Dutt won two repechage rounds and then the bronze medal match. Yogeshwar Dutt defeated Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran 3-1 in the second repechage round to book a place in the bronze medal bout.
Earlier, Yogeshwar Dutt won his first repechage round against Franklin Gomez Matos of Puerto Rico 3-0.A determined Yogeshwar, who had lost in the quarterfinals in Beijing, churned out one of his best performances against North Korean Jong Myong Ri to win the bronze medal play-off match 3-1 at the ExCel Arena, which was packed with Indian supporters.
Yogeshwar, who was in his third Olympics, also became the third Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav and Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic medal. Jadhav and Kumar had won bronze medals in 1952 Helsinki and 2008 Beijing Games.
After losing his second round match to Besik Kudukhov of Russia Dutt won two repechage rounds and then the bronze medal match. Yogeshwar Dutt defeated Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran 3-1 in the second repechage round to book a place in the bronze medal bout.
Earlier, Yogeshwar Dutt won his first repechage round against Franklin Gomez Matos of Puerto Rico 3-0.A determined Yogeshwar, who had lost in the quarterfinals in Beijing, churned out one of his best performances against North Korean Jong Myong Ri to win the bronze medal play-off match 3-1 at the ExCel Arena, which was packed with Indian supporters.
Yogeshwar, who was in his third Olympics, also became the third Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav and Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic medal. Jadhav and Kumar had won bronze medals in 1952 Helsinki and 2008 Beijing Games.
3D Picture of Subhaditya Political News This Wee |
Political
and Other news of this week:
Two woman hug as community members pay respects to the six victims in the mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, at the Oak Creek High School August, 10, 2012 Oak Creek Wisconsin. |
1) Sikh
Temple Shooting: Wisconsin Community Reacts to Shocking Attack:
At least
seven people were killed Sunday when a gunman opened fire at a Sikh temple near
Milwaukee, authorities said. The suspected shooter was later killed in exchange
of gunfire with police and is counted among the dead. Earlier unconfirmed
reports suggested there were multiple shooters. Police were called to the Sikh
Temple of Wisconsin in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek on Sunday morning,
when witnesses said several dozen people had gathered for prayers.
Chief Minsiter Tarun Gogoi said no fresh incidents have been reported from any place since the past 24 hours |
2) Gogoi
orders judicial inquiry into Assam violence :
A judicial
inquiry will be held to probe the Bodo-minority violence in lower Assam even as
CBI has taken up seven cases related to the clashes that have claimed 77 lives
so far.
"We
have decided on a judicial inquiry. This will be done at a much larger scale and
cover the entire gamut of issues, including lapses by administration and
recommendations for preventing such incidents in future," Assam Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati on Saturday.
His
announcement came a few hours after the state police said CBI will investigate
seven cases related to the violence, which started on July 19-20 and have
displaced over four lakh people. However, the details of the judicial inquiry
was not divulged. Gogoi said no fresh incidents have been reported from any
place since the past 24 hours.
"We
have formed peace committees in the violence hit areas to ensure that
confidence return to the people," he said adding and an all party meeting
would be organised soon to coordinate relief and rehabilitation work.
The chief
minister said 1.6 lakh people displaced in the conflict have returned to their
homes from refugee camps.
"We
have already closed down 101 camps. Our effort is to send back the rest of the
camp inmates back to their respective homes."
Gogoi denied
allegations by some parties that formation of the Bodoland Territorial
Council(BTC) had led to mistrust and enmity among Bodos and non-Bodos in the
Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD).
"There
were more violent clashes and more deaths before BTAD was formed," he
said.
Gogoi
charged opposition AGP and BJP with playing politics and said his government
had done its best to prevent illegal immigration from Bangladesh. Border
patrolling had been intensified, strengthening riverine policing strengthened
and floodlights erected on Indo-Bangla border. Refuting the opposition charge
that illegal immigrants were behind the clashes, he shot back saying "If
there are any foreigners they (AGP and BJP) should prove it. The statement made
by them are false."
There are
no illegal infiltrators in the camps for displaced persons of the ethnic
violence, he said.
3)
Advani’s bombshell: ‘Non-Cong, non-BJP PM feasible in 2014’:
Senior
BJP leader LK Advani hurled a political bombshell on Sunday by writing in his
blog that a non-Congress, non-BJP Prime Minister heading a government supported
by one of these two principal parties can’t be ruled out in 2014 elections.
"A
non-Congress, non-BJP Prime Minister heading a government supported by one of
these two principal parties is, however, feasible. This has happened in the
past also", Advani wrote in his latest blog post.
He,
however, cautioned that this may not be a very stable dispensation.
The BJP
leader cited the examples of Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, Deve Gowda and I K
Gujral (all supported by Congress) as well as V P Singh (supported by BJP) to
bring home his point.
Advani
said there has been stability at the Centre only when the government has had
either a Congress or a BJP Prime Minister.
Ruling
out the possibility of a third front government in 2014, Advani said, “The
shape which national polity has acquired in the past two and a half decades
makes it practically impossible for any government to be formed in New Delhi
which does not have the support either of the Congress or of the BJP.”
Advani
quoted his recent interaction with two Union Ministers who expressed the
apprehension that neither the Congress nor the BJP-led coalitions may get a
clear majority in the next Lok Sabha elections The BJP veteran, however, termed
the Congress-led UPA as “badly mismanaged”.
“Unfortunately,
the two Governments since 2004, UPA-I and UPA- II have both been so badly
mismanaged that the current state of anxiety in the ruling establishment is
quite understandable”, he wrote.The BJP patriarch said that the principal
beneficiary of the Congress Party’s “fast eroding reputation” continues to be
the BJP.
Predicting
a huge loss for the Congress in the next general elections he said, its score
will sink to “double digits”.
Delay in monsoon hampers rice sowing |
4) Delay
in monsoon hampers rice sowing:
WITH the
delay in monsoon rains, rice sowing is in trouble in Punjab. By the end of
July, the province had cultivated only 64 per cent of its 4.2 million acres
target — putting 36 per cent in the late sowing category.
A part of
it might never be sown at all if the situation does not improve in the next few
days.
What is
more distressing for farmers is that meteorological forecasts for August are
not encouraging either. The meteorological officials have warned of even August
being a less rainy month.
The
nursery is already mature but cannot be taken to the fields because of lack of
rains and water. A traveler in the central Punjab, the main hub of rice
production, could see the nurseries going yellowish in the June-July heat and
absence of enough rain.
The
governments (federal and provincial) need to improve the meteorological
forecast system. Two months ago, the forecasts warned of up to 15 per cent more
rains during this monsoon, spinning federal and provincial flood control
paraphernalia into action. Till three weeks ago, Punjab was assembling and
training manpower for flood controlling and mitigating measures. Within a
fortnight, it is getting ready to deal with draught after meteorological
officials’ assessment that rains might be actually 30 per cent less.
The
fluctuation of 45 per cent within a span of few weeks is a recipe for disaster
in agricultural terms. No farmer can plan crops under such uncertain
circumstances. Thus, the government needs to figure out what went wrong, where
and why?
Rain
forecast is more crucial for rice for two reasons; canal supplies are minimum
in the area and rains, along with water, bring weather conditions necessary for
the plant growth. Canals in the rice growing area are designed to cater for
minimum needs of the crop.
For the
last two weeks, the canals are being run up, in some cases, over and above
their capacity. All five crucial canals (upper and lower Chenab, upper and
lower Jhelum, MR Link) having a capacity of 26,200 cusecs are being run on
27,000 cusecs since June 21. But farmers have still not been able to sow rice
because the second part (rains) of sowing process is missing.
Apart
from water and natural nutrition, rains also bring cloud cover hampering
evaporation in the field and help maintaining water levels. That is why they
are crucial — turning forecast about them into a decisive factor for rice
sowing and early growth. Without rain, there would be no rice.
Based on
the earlier meteorological rains forecast, Punjab water planners diverted early
water to South Punjab for cotton sowing and watering. They were confident that
they would have abundance of water by end of July, supplemented by additional
rains. Everything stands topsy turvy now, as they term the situation “critical
for rice crop.”
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at Mishkenot Sha'ananim in front of the Old City of Jerusalem, |
5) Burman:
Middle East needs daring leadership from Western politicians:
Having
not been back to this wondrous city for nearly a decade, I had forgotten its
magic. From afar, its politics can smother. But walking its ancient streets —
so holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians for so long — can be uplifting.
Thousands of years of history and so much still survives.
But we
can take nothing for granted in this part of the world, and present-day
politics always intrudes. Thus, the question: will Jerusalem survive the
bizarre partnership of Mitt Romney, casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and
Benjamin Netanyahu?
Having
apparently drawn the short straw, I was in Jerusalem when Romney and his gang
of well-heeled American Republicans came to town. My visit was part of a
three-week personal trip to Israel, Lebanon and Jordan. Overall, it was
striking how nervous the region is this summer. Not only are there widespread
fears that war with Iran is only weeks away, there is also worry about a third
“intifada” among angry Palestinians and the possibility of renewed warfare
between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel.
This is
not happening merely by chance. There are reasons and one in particular, I
believe, rarely gets mentioned. There has been an abysmal failure of leadership
regarding the Middle East — not only failure by Israeli and Arab leaders, but
also by American and other Western leaders, including Canada’s. If one looks
back at the seemingly intractable challenges of recent decades, such as the
Cold War and apartheid in South Africa, they were solved largely because
particular leaders chose to do daring things, often at considerable political
risk, to break the impasse.
And this
gets me back to Romney’s odd visit to Israel the other week. In a brief 48-hour
period, Romney perfectly embodied the ill-informed, pandering politician whose
actions can only serve to make a delicate situation in the Middle East worse.
His sidekick, at a breakfast “fundraiser” with about 50 top U.S. Republican
donors, was Nevada casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson
is strongly pro-Israeli, a generous financial backer to Prime Minister
Netanyahu and owner of Israel’s most popular newspaper, Israel Hayom (Israel
Today). Although an American, Adelson was once quoted as saying that “the uniform
that I wore in the military, unfortunately, was not an Israeli uniform. It was
an American uniform.” He also was Newt Gingrich’s biggest backer when he was
running for president and encouraged Gingrich to describe Palestinians as an
“invented people.”
As
Adelson’s power and influence within the conservative movement grows, this is
the strange circle in which Romney — and Netanyahu — now find themselves.
From the
trip, it may be Romney’s attitude regarding Iran that will be most enduring. In
his meeting with Netanyahu, Romney indicated he felt the United States should
do nothing to interfere with Israel’s “right” to defend itself against a
possible nuclear threat from Iran. In Israel, this was widely interpreted as a
“green light” from Romney for Israel to strike Iran.
In recent
days, the debate over Iran has dominated Israeli media. Although much of
Israel’s military establishment opposes a strike, it is widely believed that
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak favour it and want to strike before the
Nov. 6 U.S. presidential elections. Efraim Halevy, former Mossad intelligence
chief, recently gave an interview in which he said: “If I were an Iranian, I
would be very scared of the next 12 weeks.” His comments prompted two other
former Israeli military leaders to suggest they felt an attack was “imminent.”
3D Picture of Subhaditya Movie News This Week |
Movies
Release of This Week:
Director:Tony
Gilroy
Writers:Tony
Gilroy (screenplay), Dan Gilroy (screenplay),
Stars:Jeremy
Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton
An
expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum's novels, centered on a new hero
whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films. The
Bourne Legacy is an upcoming 2012 American action thriller film and the fourth
installment in the Bourne film series, which is based on Robert Ludlum's Jason
Bourne novels.
Poster of RedHook Summer |
Director:Spike
Lee
Writer:Spike
Lee (screenplay)
Stars:Jules
Brown, Thomas Jefferson Byrd and Toni Lysaith
A
middle-class boy from Atlanta finds his worldview changed as he spends the
summer with his deeply religious grandfather in the housing projects of Red
Hook, Brooklyn.
Poster of 2 days in New York |
Director:Julie
Delpy
Writers:Julie
Delpy (screenplay), Alexia Landeau (screenplay),
Stars:Julie
Delpy, Chris Rock and Albert Delpy
2 Days in
New York is a 2012 romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Julie Delpy.
It is a sequel to Delpy's 2007 film 2 Days in Paris. Manhattan couple Marion
and Mingus, who each have children from prior relationships, find their
comfortable family dynamic jostled by a visit from Marion's relatives.
Poster Of Hope Springs |
Director:David
Frankel
Writer:Vanessa
Taylor
Stars:Meryl
Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell
After
thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense, week-long
counseling session to work on their relationship.
Poster of Freelancer |
Starring:
Robert De Niro Robert De Niro
Forest Whitaker Forest Whitaker
Dana Delany Dana Delany
Beau Garrett Beau Garrett
Director:Jessy
Terrero
Writer:L.
Philippe Casseus
Studio:Lionsgate
Genre:Action
The son
of a slain NYPD officer joins the force, where he falls in with his father's
former partner and a team of rogue "Gotham cops." His new boss,
Sarcone (De Niro), will see if he has what it takes to be rogue through many
trials and tribulations of loyalty, trust and respect. However, when the truth
about his father's death is revealed, revenge takes over and he won't stop
until justice has been truly served.
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