April 1, 2018: The X-ray signatures of 12 black hole binaries, Madhuca longifolia tropical tree, salty water new magnetic pull on Earth, Phumdis of Loktak Lake Manipur, Haat Bihu celebrated in Assam and North-Eastern states of India,fairy cave.

trusciencetrutechnology@blogspot.com 

Volume 2018, Issue No.4,  Dated: 1 April 2018,  Time:09:36:25 AM

April 1, 2018: The X-ray signatures of 12 black hole binaries, Madhuca longifolia tropical tree, salty water new magnetic pull on Earth, Phumdis of Loktak Lake Manipur, Haat Bihu celebrated in Assam and North-Eastern states of India, fairy cave.

               Professor Dr.  Kotcherlakota Lakshmi Narayana,

M.Sc. (Math. Phys.), M.Sc. (Nucl. Phys.), Ph. D. (AU), Int. Edu & Res. (Sweden 1964-65) 

      While returning from Sweden, spent few days in England, Paris, Egypt and etc. countries.

Visited USA about 12 Universities, several National Laboratories and Institutes 

during four months Sept.to December 1988. and in 1989 visited Japan

for about 10 days, and South Korea Conf. in Physics for a week in 1989.

 [Retd. Prof of Physics; Shivaji University, Kolhapur - 416004]

Residential Address: 17- 11-10, Narasimha Ashram, Official Colony,

      Maharanipeta. P. O., Visakhapatnam-530002, A.P. Mobile: 09491902867.

       kotcherlakota_l_n@hotmail.com; DOB:23-07-1940.

lakshminarayana.kotcherlakota@gmail.com

                                                               ABSTRACT

Apr 01, 2018 15:10 IST: Magnitude 5.3 earthquake hits western Iran05:00, UK, Monday 02 April 2018:Yellow warnings for snow are in place from 3am on Monday through midnight, bringing a risk of road closures and power failures. Thumangala and Kudumusari areas around 11AM on April 1, for nearly an hour the hail storm occurred. Even at Visakhapatnam in the night around 2AM the heavy breeze collapsed several trees in the KGH and damaged its boundary wall facing the sea. These hard-to-spot objects would have to play a more dominant role than scientists have observed to make up the missing mass, while other elements suggest that dark matter is more exotic. 3 April 2018: Gale lashes Visakhapatnam on Monday with thunder storm and gusty winds in Coastal Andhra. Parts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram received mild showers and heavy gales in small hours of Monday. About 4cm, 3cm and 2cm in Vepada, Peapally  and Ongole respectively rainfall recorded. Krishna and Anantapur  respectfully recieved  1-2 cm rainfall on Monday early hours. 3 April 2018: 20h29m: about 2 hours ago: Bolivia Rattled By Strong Earthquake. Washington: A strong but deep earthquake measuring 6.8 struck in Bolivia. The quake struck in the southeast of the country at a depth of 562-km, about 200-km from Tarija, and near the border with Paraguay. April 05, 2018  00:01 IST:  Paris:  Astrophysicists have detected a dozen black holes at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, and  there could be as many as 10,000. We get around 10,000 isolated black holes around Sagittarius A. The X-ray signatures of 12 black hole binaries within three light years of Sagittarius A. April 05, 2018: Vik Dhillon, Professor of Astrophysics: HiPERCAM can take one picture every millisecond. April 07, 2018 04:10 IST: Storm Causes Technical Snag In Delhi Metro Pink Line, Services Affected For 2 Hours. The powerful dust storm hit the national capital in several parts of the city, throwing life out of gear. Apr 7, 2018, 6:52 pm IST: 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Papua New Guinea. Mangal Pandey was detained and hanged by the British on April 8, 1857. In a bid to honour his contribution towards India’s freedom struggle, the Indian government issued a postage stamp to commemorate him in 1984. April 9, 2018:  As officials warned stronger tremors could come in the days ahead. The shallow tremor was gauged as 6.1 by Japan’s meteorological agency on the Richter scale. It rocked the west of the main island of Honshu, 96 kilometres (60 miles) north of Hiroshima, at 1:32am (1632 GMT Sunday). Apr 10, 2018 00:07 IST: Rain, hailstorm flatten crop, drench harvest in Punjab, Haryana and UP.  11 April, 2018: Prime Minister Modi had earlier passed off Lord Ganesh's elephant head as a pioneering example of plastic surgery. April 11, 2018: Jordi Diaz: We put a seismometer inside a building in Barcelona, he explained at a geosciences conference in Vienna, where he presented his findings. This allowed us to identify signature vibrations produced by different activities.  Sherpa guide 11 April 2019: My goal is to reach the summit of Everest at least 25 times. His father was among the first professional guides after Nepal opened to foreign trekkers and mountaineers in 1950. 11 April 2018: 8 hours ago: SANTIAGO, Chile – Magnitude 6.2 quake strikes Chile. The quake struck about 34 miles (54 km) southwest of Ovalle, Chile at 7:19 a.m. local time. April 11th, 2018 at 3:07 pm: The ebb and flow of salty water, caused by our Moon’s gravitational pull, can induce their own magnetic field. Apr 11, 2018:THIRUVIDANTHAI, TAMIL NADU (BNS): The world’s most potent weapon system BRAHMOS is being showcased at Defexpo India 2018. April 12, 2018: WARSAW, Poland's government plans to spend up to $8.8 billion by 2028 on cleaner heating as part of its efforts to fight smog, the Polish prime minister said Thursday. 12 April 2018: Rain lashed Agra and other cities of Uttar Pradesh including Kanpur, Mathura, Kannauj, Farukkhabad, Etawah and Mainpuri on Wednesday for nearly 30 minutes, claiming three lives in Mathura district when the tin roof of a one-room house collapsed. A large area of crop has been laid waste by the rain. The potato harvest, which is already hit by poor marketing and bad pricing, is set to take a beating by the rain. Heavy rain brings Taj Mahal pillar tumbling down. A heavy storm and rainfall damaged the stone minarets on the south and royal gates of the Taj Mahal on Wednesday night. April 12, 2018: Making Mahua, wine from a flower sacred to Chhattisgarh tribes. Mahua, or Madhuca longifolia, is considered sacred in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand because of its medicinal values and as a source of sustenance for many. The tropical tree, which grows in abundance is also preferred for its flowers, which have a unique fragrance and are used to produce a clear spirit of the same name, a major component of any celebration in the communities, and made in small home breweries in abundance. Apr 12, 2018 19:52 IST: Boeing joins race to manufacture Super Hornet fighter craft in India. US aerospace major says future production with Indian partners will involve maximising indigenous content and producing the fighter craft in India for its armed forces.  We have adopted a new technology called friction stir welding, which will improve the productivity and enhance the payload capability of the vehicle. 12 April 2018: World's Only Floating National ParK: From above, the roughly 240-sq-km lake appears riddled with islands. However, they’re not islands at all, but rather phumdis, floating masses of vegetation, soil and decomposing organic matter. April 12, 2018: WARSAW, Poland's government plans to spend up to $8.8 billion by 2028 on cleaner heating as part of its efforts to fight smog. Apr 13, 2018, 07.47 PM IST: Trade, investment, technology high on India- Britain bilateral summit. In terms of investments, while Britain is the largest investor in India among the G20 countries, India is the fourth largest investor in Britain. Apr 13, 2018 03:36 pm: Bohag Bihu, also known as Rongali Bihu or Haat Bihu, is the chief festival celebrated in Assam and North-Eastern states of India, that marks the Assamese New Year. Bihu refers to a set of three festivals and each coincides with a distinctive phase in the farming calendar – Magh Bihu/Bhogali observed in January, Bohag Bihu/Rongali Bihu observed in April and Kaati Bihu/Kongali observed in October. The Rongali Bihu is the most celebrated among the three, as it marks the Assamese New Year and the beginning of the agricultural season. 14 April 2018: Bangalore: Lightning and thunderstorms are among the most dreaded phenomena in the state, killing several hundred people and precious many livestock every year. In the last six years alone, 625 people have lost their lives to lightning strikes. Saturday, April 14, 04:31: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.4 struck the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido early on Saturday morning. 14 April, 208: Continental drift drifted near equator, as the land mass moved further north and away from equator, drier vegetation replaced these forests. Anushri of Norway Oslo University who studied ancient vegetation changes in India, she wrote an email to The Hindu. 14 April 2018: India on Saturday offered to export soybean and other agriculture products to China, which has imposed tariffs on imports of soybeans from the United States 15 April 2018: 5 hours ago: The hidden secrets of India's world record-breaking 'fairy cave'. 

DETAILS

Apr 01, 2018 15:10 IST: Magnitude 5.3 earthquake hits western Iran, no casualties reported: State TV: A magnitude 5.3 earthquake hit western Iran on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, state television reported.

2 April, 2018: Light rain likely in Gurgaon, but no respite from heat. On Sunday, the maximum temperature in Gurgaon touched 35 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature was recorded as 20 degrees.
05:00, UK, Monday 02 April 2018:Yellow warnings for snow are in place from 3am on Monday through midnight, bringing a risk of road closures and power failures. Areas of north Pennines and Scottish borders over around 200m (650ft) look most at risk. Rural communities are at risk of being cut off, mainly across the northern Pennines and Scottish Borders. More than 100 flood alerts and seven flood warnings were in place across England on Easter Sunday.

2 April 2018: 

                            

Fig.1 Heavy hail stones on Sunday

night in Visakhapatnam reminding Kashmir.

Thumangala and Kudumusari areas around 11AM on April 1, for nearly an hour the hail storm occurred. Perragurava-Rushiputtu villages experienced heavy winds coupled with hail storm on early morning on Sunday, destroying Banana crop, Mokkajonna, Jeedi and Mango trees. Saluru, Gajapathinagaram and Bobilli areas Mokkajonna and Mango trees were heavily affected. 

Even at Visakhapatnam in the night around 2AM the heavy breeze collapsed several trees in the KGH and damaged its boundary wall facing the sea.

Apr 02, 2018 , 03:33 AM IST: The Dark Matter: THE HANS INDIA;      The familiar material of the universe, known as baryonic matter, is composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Dark matter may be made of baryonic or non-baryonic matter. To hold the elements of the universe together, dark matter must make up approximately 80 percent of its matter. The missing matter could simply be more challenging to detect, made up of regular, baryonic matter. Potential candidates include dim brown dwarfs, white dwarfs and neutrino stars. Super-massive black holes could also be part of the difference. But these hard-to-spot objects would have to play a more dominant role than scientists have observed to make up the missing mass, while other elements suggest that dark matter is more exotic.

                                             Fig.2 Africa likely to get disturbed

3 April 2018: Gale lashes Visakhapatnam on Monday with thunder storm and gusty winds in Coastal Andhra. Parts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram received mild showers and heavy gales in small hours of Monday. About 4cm, 3cm and 2cm in Vepada, Peapally  and Ongole respectively rainfall recorded. Krishna and Anantapur  respectfully recieved  1-2 cm rainfall on Monday early hours.

3 April 2018: 20h29m: about 2 hours ago: Bolivia Rattled By Strong Earthquake. Washington: A strong but deep earthquake measuring 6.8 struck in Bolivia. The quake struck in the southeast of the country at a depth of 562-km, about 200-km from Tarija, and near the border with Paraguay. Bolivia's private San Calixto Observatory gave the quake's strength at 6.6 magnitude and said it was felt in various regions of the country including La Paz, Cochabamba and Chuquisaca as well as Tarija. Further north, the Central American country of El Salvador was hit later yesterday by a quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale. That quake was recorded at 5:23 pm (local time) in the San Vicente district but was felt in the capital San Salvador where it caused alarm.

April 05, 2018  00:01 IST:  Paris:  Astrophysicists have detected a dozen black holes at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, and  there could be as many as 10,000. We get around 10,000 isolated black holes around Sagittarius A. The X-ray signatures of 12 black hole binaries within three light years of Sagittarius A. The biggest black holes have masses ranging from millions to billions of times that of the Sun.
April 05, 2018: Vik Dhillon, Professor of Astrophysics: HiPERCAM can take one picture every millisecond. The high speed essentially provides a slow-motion view of rapidly varying celestial objects. The high-speed images are also captured in five different colours simultaneously, which means we can instantly tell the difference between hot stars which are burning at tens of thousands of degrees Celsius and are blue in colour - and cooler stars, which appear red and are burning at only a few thousand degrees. Data captured by the camera, taken in five different colours simultaneously, will let scientists study the remnants of dead stars such as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

April 07, 2018 04:10 IST: Storm Causes Technical Snag In Delhi Metro Pink Line, Services Affected For 2 Hours. The powerful dust storm hit the national capital in several parts of the city, throwing life out of gear. Train services on the recently-opened Pink Line of the Delhi Metro were affected today for nearly two hours after a section of the overhead electrification (OHE) tripped on the down line due to the dust storm in the evening. The powerful dust storm hit the national capital in several parts of the city, throwing life out of gear.

April 7, 2018 evening 19:38: Breeze and thunders occurred on the eve of Saturday, with slight drizzle. Lightning and heavy thunder around 19:42PM. Its started raining. It rained heavily from 19:42PM to 20:09PM, the first heavy shower in Visakhapatnam would resolve the drinking water problem.

Apr 7, 2018, 6:52 pm IST: 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Papua New Guinea. Sydney: A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the highlands of Papua New Guinea on Saturday. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The quake was 82 km southwest of Porgera in Enga province and 47 km deep. Earlier European quake monitor EMSC reported it at 6.5 magnitude and only two km (1.2 miles) deep, but later scaled it down.

Apr 07, 2018 09:35 IST: Walmiki and Malhar, 2 languages unknown to linguists, discovered by Hyderabad University. One of them is called Walmiki and is spoken in the district of Koraput of Odisha and on the bordering districts of Andhra Pradesh. The second language “Malhar” is spoken in a remote and isolated hamlet about 165 km away from Bhubaneswar.The professor collected some data and did a preliminary analysis and published a paper in the proceedings of the XX Annual Conference of the Foundation for Endangered Languages, UK.

 Apr 08, 2018 08:40 IST: Archaeologists find artefacts in UP village that point to Mahabharata link. The artifacts found bear strong cultural resemblance to those found at sites such as Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Kurukshetra and Mathura, places that find mention in Mahabharata. Archaeologists excavating a site in an Uttar Pradesh village that has purported connections to a place mentioned in the epic Mahabharata have found artifacts that bear strong cultural resemblance to those found at sites such as Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Kurukshetra and Mathura, places that find mention in the legend. According to the Mahabharata, Lakshagriha was a labyrinth-like chamber built of highly flammable lacquer by the Kauravas to burn alive the Pandavas, who foiled the plot and escaped through a tunnel. After three months of digging at one of the biggest mounds in the village, ASI archaeologists found artifacts such as plates, bowls, large cooking pots and pitchers, but no trace of lacquer — not known to survive for long. The epic battle in Kurukshetra could have taken place around 800 BC. Based on the relics recovered, the period was termed Painted Grey Ware (PGW) culture. According to the Mahabharata, a huge flood forced the people of Hastinapur to move to Kaushambi. Interestingly, the remains of a flood have been found at the Lakshagriha site, too.

April 8, While the British termed him as a traitor and mutineer, Pandey is regarded as a hero in modern India. However, Mangal Pandey was detained and hanged by the British on April 8, 1857. In a bid to honour his contribution towards India’s freedom struggle, the Indian government issued a postage stamp to commemorate him in 1984.

April 9, 2018:  As officials warned stronger tremors could come in the days ahead. The shallow tremor was gauged as 6.1 by Japan’s meteorological agency on the Richter scale. It rocked the west of the main island of Honshu, 96 kilometres (60 miles) north of Hiroshima, at 1:32am (1632 GMT Sunday) injuring five people and damaging buildings and roads. Residents asked to be vigilant.  We want the areas that experienced strong tremors to be on guard in the coming week or so against quakes that could be as powerful as the upper five. A Japanese seismic scale with a maximum intensity of seven. An upper five on Japan’s Shindo scale refers to tremors that make it difficult to walk without holding onto something. Strong aftershocks could continue for two to three days  and several strong tremors have already been felt in the region hit by the initial quake.
Apr 09, 2018 12:05 IST: Delhi wakes up to a thunderstorm, early morning rain. Delhi woke up to pleasant weather on Monday morning, with light downpour and a thunderstorm in several parts of the national capital region. The effect of Sunday's rainfall in Srinagar was visible in the national capital as temperatures dipped to 24C. 

Fig.3 Visakhapatnam Beach in Gold hue 

at the time of sun rise on 9 April 2018.

9 April, 2018: On Monday night around 9.30PM to 11.30PM it rained with thunders and lightning, vigorously in Sagarnagar, Joddugulapalem and in Madelapallem and near Collector's office areas and Visakhapatnam city experienced cool gales.  
Apr 10, 2018 07:54 IS: In Himachal school bus accident, a miraculous escape amid heartbreaking loss. Twenty three children and four adults were killed after a school bus fell into a gorge near Nurpur in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh on Monday.  Ranveer and a girl sitting next to him were thrown clear through a window after the bus had rolled down around 25-feet. “I heard a loud bang and bus starting rolling down the hill. Just then the window near my seat broke and I and a girl sitting by my side fell out,” said Singh, who has been admitted to a hospital in Nurpur, some 300 km from the state capital Shimla.
Apr 10, 2018 00:07 IST: Rain, hailstorm flatten crop, drench harvest in Punjab, Haryana and UP. The rain damaged this year’s wheat and mustard produce stacked in bags at wholesale markets.Rain accompanied by high wind and isolated hailstorm walloped the food bowl states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on Monday, drenching harvested produce in grain markets and damaging ripe wheat and other winter crops in farms.Also, it damaged this year’s wheat and mustard produce stacked in bags at wholesale markets. The rain damaged our crop lying in the open as there are not enough sheds to store the entire produce at the Karnal grain market, The highest rainfall of about 30mm was recorded at Nilokheri in Karnal. Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Hisar and Sirsa were the worst-hit.
RAMAYANA:

Fig.4 Valmik Ashram

Why the rest of India should read Wayanad adivasis’ retelling of the Ramayana. Their version of the Ramayana is less black-and-white, more feminist, and they reflect difficult histories. For the adivasis of Wayanad, Kerala’s northeastern border district, the Ramayana is not a scholarly import from the Hindi belt, as is popularly imagined. It is a story they own, which is set in their villages, where  Rama and Sita live a tribal life and suffer the same injustice and abuse they do as a marginalised community. Wayanad’s adivasis make up about 38% of Kerala’s tribal population and their histories and identities are as varied as their telling of the Ramayana. Azeez Tharuvana, a Malayalam scholar and teacher who has written extensively on Wayanad’s Ramayana.
10 April 2018  at 14:10, UK, Tuesday: The world's oldest man has been named as 112-year-old Masazo Nonaka, whose secret to longevity is said to be eating sweets and taking hot baths. Born on 25 July 1905, months before Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity, Mr Nonaka lives with his family who run a hot springs inn on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

11 April, 2018: Prime Minister Modi had earlier passed off Lord Ganesh's elephant head as a pioneering example of plastic surgery.

April 11, 2018: Jordi Diaz, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera in Barcelona. He's got the hard proof. "We put a seismometer inside a building in Barcelona," he explained at a geosciences conference in Vienna, where he presented his findings."This allowed us to identify signature vibrations produced by different activities, including traffic or subway trains."Marathon races, wind bursts, ocean waves -- each has its own seismic signature, he said. Sometimes we have beautiful seismic recordings from rock concerts, particularly Bruce Springsteen or U2," he said. "You see what we call 'harmonic structures', energy localised in a precise amplitudes."

11 April 2018: Just in: 10:24: KATHMANDU, Nepal                                                          

                              

                                      Fig.5. 1523419831392 Sherpa guide

                                                 with his wife 11 April 2019

Sherpa guide tries to reach top of the world for 22nd time. Three men have climbed to the top of the world 21 times, all of them mountain guides who grew up in the shadow of Mount Everest. Two of these famed Sherpa guides have retired. But 48-year-old Kami Rita says he'll be summiting Everest for years to come. "My goal is to reach the summit of Everest at least 25 times," he told The Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, shortly before heading back to the mountain for what he hopes will mark a record-breaking climb. "I want to set a new record not just for myself but for my family, the Sherpa people and for my country, Nepal. "For Rita, climbing is a family tradition. His father was among the first professional guides after Nepal opened to foreign trekkers and mountaineers in 1950. His brother has scaled Everest 17 times. Most of his male relatives have reached the top least once. He decided to become a guide when he was a child. "Growing up in the village I envied the good clothes and things that people in in the village brought back after expeditions," he said. He first scaled the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Everest at 24, and has made the trip almost every year since then. He has also climbed many of the region's other high peaks, including K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse. In the autumn, he guides clients to smaller peaks in Nepal. As a veteran guide, he earns about $10,000 for each Everest climb, an enormous income in a country where most people earn just $700 or so per year. His wife, Lakpa Jangmu, dreads when he leaves for expeditions. "I keep telling him we could look for other jobs, start a small business," she said. "But he does not listen to me at all." The family profession, though, is ending. Their two children are in a private school in Kathmandu, getting an education their parents could not have imagined back in their home villages. Rita and Jangmu both insist their children will not be mountain guides.

11 April 2018:6 hours ago: BUCHAREST, Romania; Romania destroys contaminated potatoes from Egypt. Romanian public health officials have destroyed 1,100 kg (2,425 pounds) of Egyptian potatoes after tests showed they had brown rot disease.
11 April 2018: 8 hours ago: SANTIAGO, Chile – Magnitude 6.2 quake strikes Chile, no damage reported. A strong 6.2 earthquake struck Chile's central region on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake struck about 34 miles (54 km) southwest of Ovalle, Chile at 7:19 a.m. local time.

April 11th, 2018 at 3:07 pm: The ebb and flow of salty water, caused by our Moon’s gravitational pull, can induce their own magnetic field — one which a trio of European Space Agency’s (ESA) satellites has mapped in exquisite detail. Known as “Swarm”, the trio of satellites was blasted off into orbit back in 2013 to help us better understand the planet’s magnetic field. Most of that field is produced by the churnings of molten iron in the Earth’s core, functioning like a massive underground dynamo. There are other secondary effects, however, such as those produced by human activity — and those are the effects Swarm was intended to peer into. Imagine the surprise among ESA’s researchers when the satellites stumbled into a whole new magnetic phenomenon. It’s a really tiny magnetic field. It’s about 2-2.5 nanotesla at satellite altitude, which is about 20,000 times weaker than the Earth’s global magnetic field. The professor was speaking at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU) in Vienna, Austria, where a clutch of new Swarm results have been released.
April 11, 2018, From March 20-23, 2018, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured three sequences of our sun in three different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. The resulting images illustrate how different features that appear in one sequence are difficult, if not impossible, to see in the others. In the red sequence (304 Angstroms), we can see very small spicules—jets of solar material—and some small prominences at the sun's edge, which are not easy to see in the other two sequences. In the second sequence (193 Angstroms), we can readily observe the large and dark coronal hole, though it is difficult to make out in the others. In the third (171 wavelengths), we can see strands of plasma waving above the surface, especially above the one small, but bright, active region near the right edge. These are just three of the ten extreme ultraviolet wavelengths in which SDO images the sun every 12 seconds, every day.

Apr 11, 2018:THIRUVIDANTHAI, TAMIL NADU (BNS): The world’s most potent weapon system BRAHMOS is being showcased at Defexpo India 2018, the biennial Land, Naval and Internal Homeland Security Systems Exhibition, which began at Thiruvidanthai, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.The BRAHMOS is the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile. It is a precision strike weapon for Army, Navy as well as Air Force and can be fitted in Ships, Mobile Launchers, Submarines and Aircraft against land and sea targets.

12 April 2018: World's Only Floating National ParK: From above, the roughly 240-sq-km lake appears riddled with islands. However, they’re not islands at all, but rather phumdis, floating masses of vegetation, soil and decomposing organic matter. Verdant green on top, most of the phumdis’ mass sits below the lake’s surface as though they were icebergs, allowing the living roots to reach the lakebed during the dry season. They absorb nutrients from the bed, and rise again during the subsequent monsoon season. Manipur’s phumdis form naturally when vegetation floating in the shallow water mats together over the course of several years. They can reach a thickness of up to 2m.Phumdis are crucial to life on Loktak Lake. Fishermen manipulate the masses to form circular enclosures to farm carp and perch. As many as 4,000 of these fishermen and their families live in huts on the phumdis fashioned out of metal plates and rods, bamboo, wood, and rocks. Spartanly fitted and swelteringly hot inside for most of the year, the huts have space for a straw bed, basic cooking equipment, a box of spare lightbulbs and little else. Families send their children to India's only floating elementary school; inaugurated in early 2017, the school not only serves local children, but also provides adult education. The phumdis of Loktak Lake are also the main habitat for the sangai dancing deer, whose hooves have evolved especially for the spongy terrain. The lake’s largest phumdi, measuring 40 sq km, was designated Keibul Lamjao National Park in 1977 to protect the sangai, which are endangered. Today, it is the world’s only floating national park.The Meitei, Manipur state’s majority ethnic group, has called Manipur home for hundreds of years. Just as India’s Hindu community views the River Ganges as a living mother goddess, the Meitei see Loktak Lake as their ‘mother’ – a provider of life for all. At a temple in Thanga, a village on a peninsula that reaches out into the south-east corner of the lake, women re-enact scenes from the Meitei's universe creation story. Spell binding hand movements tell the story of how water came to be and summon water deities from the lake. Recently, those living on and around the lake have taken steps to save the phumdis. “The phumdis are crucial to the people of Loktak and Manipur for breeding fish and supporting huts for fishermen,” said 58-year-old Oinam Maipakchao, a social worker and president of the Loktak Ecotourism Development Organisation. Born and raised in Thanga, Maipakchao believes the problems caused by the dam can be solved. First, he proposes opening the dam seasonally to allow some of the phumdi vegetation and muddy water to escape during rainy seasons. Second, he recommends employing locals to clean and cut the floating phumdis by hand, the way it has been done for centuries.In recent decades, Manipur has garnered a negative reputation due to violent clashes between the Indian army and various rebel groups. Because of this, Loktak Lake receives few outside visitors despite its beauty. However, the environment and culture of the world's only floating national park are as intoxicating as one of its sunsets, lingering on the mind long after disappearing from sight.

April 12, 2018: WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's government plans to spend up to $8.8 billion by 2028 on cleaner heating as part of its efforts to fight smog, the Polish prime minister said Thursday. Mateusz Morawiecki spoke at a government committee tasked with fighting air pollution under a new "Stop Smog" program. The World Health Organization says that 33 out of Europe's 50 most polluted cities are in Poland, including Krakow and cities in the southern Silesia coal mining region. Air pollution is highest in winter when individual households use cheap coal and fuels or even trash for heating. Authorities release air quality reports for most cities, and some Poles wear masks when the level is high.

12 April 2018: Rain lashed Agra and other cities of Uttar Pradesh including Kanpur, Mathura, Kannauj, Farukkhabad, Etawah and Mainpuri on Wednesday for nearly 30 minutes, claiming three lives in Mathura district when the tin roof of a one-room house collapsed. A large area of crop has been laid waste by the rain.  The potato harvest, which is already hit by poor marketing and bad pricing, is set to take a beating by the rain. Heavy rain brings Taj Mahal pillar tumbling down. A heavy storm and rainfall damaged the stone minarets on the south and royal gates of the Taj Mahal on Wednesday night. The 12-foot metal pillar at the entry gate known as Darwaza-e-Rauza came tumbling down as winds with velocity of over 130 km per hour swept the city. Reports are conflicting on the exact time of the incident, but it likely happened between 7:30 pm and 12:30 am, when the minaret and its dome fell and broke into several pieces. Some experts are of the opinion that repeated use of mud packs to clean the white marble may be weakening the structure. Storm, rain kill 42 in UP and Rajasthan affected Taj, Agra Fort, and Fatehpur Sikri with velocities of 130km per hour that swept on Wednesday 11 April night. The pinnacle of a canopy of Shahi Masjid, and a portion of the wall of Rewati ka Bada were also damaged in the storm. Minarets of Delhi gate, and Musamman Burj were uprooted and got twisted in high velocity winds, with 100 trees in Taj and Agra Fort were also uprooted. A portion of plaster work at Janana Rauza behind Sheikh Salini Chishri's dargh was also damaged.  Red sandstone flower at the tomb of Sirhindi Begum was damaged.  Pontoon bridge 200 meter, connecting MP and UP damaged and scores of people left stranded at Chambal river bank that connects Pinhat with Amba in MP broke on Wednesday's thunderstorm. River infested with Crocodiles and Gharials. The ropes snapped and bridge dismantled the link, between UP and MP. Most casualties reported due to house collapses with heavy rain with strong winds lasted about four hours. 14 people died. About 200 people were injured during the dust storm and rain fall in five districts with 500 electric poles and many high tension wires were snapped. Even on Thursday 12 April,  evening power was not restored. Dial 100 room fell off injuring one cop and damaging communication lines. Agra and Mathura trains were affected. Dozens of cattle were killed. Over fifty cattle in Firozabad were killed in the thunderstorm.

Apr 12, 2018 19:52 IST: Boeing joins race to manufacture Super Hornet fighter craft in India. US aerospace major says future production with Indian partners will involve maximising indigenous content and producing the fighter craft in India for its armed forces. Getting new aircraft is crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the South Asian nation faces increased risks from neighbouring Pakistan and China at a time when the Russian MiG fighters -- India’s mainstay -- are being phased out. Local production is at the heart of Modi’s ’Make in India’ policy, which aims to promote domestic manufacturing. Boeing’s announcement comes after Lockheed partnered with salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group to bid for the order with its F-16 jets, and Saab teamed with billionaire Gautam Adani to offer its Gripen jets. The country’s air force and navy require as many as 400 single- and double-engine combat aircraft. 

12 April 2018 16:02 IST: 

                               Fig.6 Woman with flowers sacred to Chhattisgarh

Making Mahua -- wine from a flower sacred to Chhattisgarh tribes. Mahua, or Madhuca longifolia, is considered sacred in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand because of its medicinal values and as a source of sustenance for many. The tropical tree, which grows in abundance is also preferred for its flowers, which have a unique fragrance and are used to produce a clear spirit of the same name, a major component of any celebration in the communities, and made in small home breweries in abundance.

Apr 12, 2018, 17:29 PM IST: China to send flowers, potato to Moon for biological experiment.  The "lunar mini biosphere" experiment designed by 28 Chinese universities is looking to see if life can be sustained under specially-created circumstances on Moon.

13 April 208: Since April 10 marked the 385th anniversary of the day in 1633 when bananas were displayed for the first time to Londoners, it’s worth pondering the complex history behind the everyday banana. Bananas originated in South-East Asia and were brought to the New World by European settlers. England got its first glimpse of the banana when herbalist, botanist and merchant Thomas Johnson displayed a bunch in his shop in Holborn, in the City of London, on April 10, 1633.

13 April 208: It is a culmination of 17 years of rigorous work by Indian space scientists. India took a firm decision on IRNSS in 1999 after the US government refused to share GPS data that would provide vital information on Pakistani troops position during Kargil war. Our Semiconductor Laboratory in Chandigarh has developed the digital chips and for manufacturing prototypes of RF Front End hardware, we gave the order to Tower Jazz, which is a US-based firm specialising in silicon germanium technology suited for increasing bandwidth. We are planning to set up a fabrication facility with silicon germanium processing technology in the SC. ISRO officials said the crucial miniaturisation of chipsets that go into the wireless devices such as cell phones and wi-fi receivers has been achieved. Initially, the ISRO had invited industry to design and develop the chipsets. We have adopted a new technology called friction stir welding, which will improve the productivity and enhance the payload capability of the vehicle.

Apr 13, 2018 04:29 PM IST: Not taking your garbage! Chinese customs returns 469 tonnes of solid waste sent from US. The customs officials have asked the companies who imported the waste to return as soon as possible.

Apr 13, 2018, 07.47 PM IST: Trade, investment, technology high on India-Britain bilateral summit. In terms of investments, while Britain is the largest investor in India among the G20 countries, India is the fourth largest investor in Britain.
Apr 13, 2018 08:48 pm: Maharashtra: Angry farmers dump vegetables at gate of Mantralaya.  Officials said that the farmers threw onions, brinjals, potatoes, green chillies and lemons at the gates of Mantralaya and indulged in sloganeering against the state government. A farmer, who was part of the protest, alleged that civic officials were demanding bribes from them after they brought their produce for sale at the weekly farmers’ market in Borivali, a northern suburb here. 

13th April 2018 08:34 PM: Wildfires burn homes, force evacuations in Oklahoma. WOODWARD: A wildfire in northwestern Oklahoma has burned more than 120,000 acres (485 sq. km) and forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes.
Apr 13, 2018 03:36 pm:

Fig.7 Haat Bihu dance marks Assamese New Year.

Bohag Bihu, also known as Rongali Bihu or Haat Bihu, is the chief festival celebrated in Assam and North-Eastern states of India, that marks the Assamese New Year. Bihu refers to a set of three festivals and each coincides with a distinctive phase in the farming calendar – Magh Bihu/Bhogali observed in January, Bohag Bihu/Rongali Bihu observed in April and Kaati Bihu/Kongali observed in October. The Rongali Bihu is the most celebrated among the three, as it marks the Assamese New Year and the beginning of the agricultural season.

13 April 2018: Astrological significance: The festival is celebrated on April 13 every year and on 14 once in 36 years. On this day, the sun enters Mesh (Aries) sun sign and hence it is also called as ‘Mesha Sankranti’. The day is celebrated across India with different names and rituals such as Pahela Baishakh (Bengali New Year), Bihu (Assamese New Year), Kerala (Vishu) and Puthandu (Tamil New Year). Baisakhi marks the harvest time of the winter (rabi) crops and so the farmers after months of hard work are loaded with cash and are in a mood for enjoyment. The day is observed as a thanksgiving for the abundant harvest and to seek blessings for future prosperity and progress. There is also a tradition where people gather in a farm and diligently harvest the crop on the beat of drums. Besides, they also perform the traditional bhangra or gidda, sing traditional songs and dohas.

Apr 13 2018, 22:36 IST: Mysuru. The electrolysis kit is developed with steel plates, fastened between two fibre plates, separated by insulating sheets. These plates are connected to the terminals of the battery. An inlet pipe is connected from the water tank for the flow of water into the electrolysis unit, where the water gets split into hydrogen and oxygen. The separated hydrogen returns to the water tank from the outlet pipe of the electrolysis unit and accumulates at the top of the water tank due to density differences. The accumulated hydrogen is supplied to the inlet manifold of the combustion chamber through the outlet pipe, connected on the top of the water tank, he explained. He says the test drive of the vehicle fitted with the innovative kit has shown an increase in the mileage of the vehicle up to 35% in normal conditions with an average speed of 50 km per hour. Sajid said, he has invested approximately Rs 8,000 for the unit.

14 April 2018 01:50 AM:BHUBANESWAR: 75 youth innovators get free incubation offers from State Government. The Start-up Yatra launched on January 30 impacted nearly 10,000 youth across 50 academic institutions in 16 districts. While around 3,600 ideas were received during the period, 125 ideas were shortlisted for three-day accelerator programme.

14 April 2018: Gujarat: Fossil reveals ancient tree which is new to Science, nearly 55 million years ago, numerous such fossils from old Vastan lignite mine in excavation in Surat District.  Fine wood slivers under a microscope revealed several minuscule wood cells and rays ,pale streaks on a tree trunk that run parallel to the circular rings. Resemble the wood of plants in mahogany family, Meliaceae. Continental drift drifted near equator, as the land mass moved further north and away from equator, drier vegetation replaced these forests. Anushri of Norway Oslo University who studied ancient vegetation changes in India, she wrote an email to The Hindu. 

Saturday, April 14, 04:31: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.4 struck the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido early on Saturday morning. The Meteorological Agency says the quake hit at around 4 AM. It says the focus was at a depth of 53 kilometers and was located off the Nemuro Peninsula.In the town of Nakashibetsu, the jolt registered 5 minus on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 0 to 7. Tremors with an intensity of 4 were detected in Nemuro City and in some other areas.

April 14, 2018 23:50 IST: India Eyes Soybean Diplomacy With Beijing Amid China-US Trade War. US-China trade war: Beijing announced additional tariffs on 106 US products including soybeans, the top US agricultural export to China. India on Saturday offered to export soybean and other agriculture products to China, which has imposed tariffs on imports of soybeans from the United States

14, April 2018, 04:00 IST:

Fig.8 The lightning and thunder showers

killing people and live stock in Bangalore.

Bangalore: Lightning and thunderstorms are among the most dreaded phenomena in the state, killing several hundred people and precious many livestock every year. In the last six years alone, 625 people have lost their lives to lightning strikes.

14 April 2018: 

                                                              

Fig.9 Magnetic field inside a star 

April 15, 2018 09:20 IST: A key reason for Russia's decline was evident at DefExpo: India’s frustration at the low serviceability of Russian equipment and the shortage of spares. A report last month from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute states that in the five-year period 2013 to 2017, India sourced 62 per cent of its defence imports from Russia.  That was down from 79 per cent in the previous five-year period.

15 April, 2018: HUBBALLI: 4 hurt as families clash over water.  Four people were wounded after a clash between two families over collection of water released by the HDMC turned violent at Gollara Oni under Bendigeri police station limits on Friday 13 April, night.

15 April 2018: 5 hours ago: The hidden secrets of India's world record-breaking 'fairy cave'. Mr Kharpran, a remarkably agile 71-year-old banker, knows a thing or two about caves. He has been discovering them for more than a quarter of a century in this hilly, rain-drenched state. When he began exploring in 1992, there were a dozen known caves in Meghalaya.  Twenty six years and 28 expeditions later, he and a 30-strong international team of cavers, geologists, hydrologists, biologists and archaeologists have discovered more than 1,650 caves in the state. Meghalaya is now known to be home to some of the world's most complex cave systems; and has more caves than any other place in India. Krem Puri is an incredibly complex maze of hundreds of short passages and long stretches of corridors that are interconnected in a big network. The pattern of the maze is quite unique, and makes the cave a real labyrinth. It has some fine stalactites and stalagmites. There's also abundant fauna - frogs, fish, giant Huntsman spiders, bats. What makes this cave unusual though, is that it has been formed in sandstone. Caves are usually formed by the dissolution of limestone. Rainwater picks up carbon dioxide from the air, turns into feeble acid and dissolves the rock. Caves in sandstone are not common because the rock has low solubility. Therefore, they need high amounts of water to dissolve and erode to create underground voids. Meghalaya experiences some of the highest amounts of rainfall in the world, so experts say it is not entirely surprising that caves in sandstone can develop in such an impressive way in the state.

April 15, 2018 08:43 IST: 'Snow Emergency' As Powerful Spring Storm Pounds Parts Of United States. As the storm pushed south into Saturday evening, authorities warned that severe thunderstorms could bring gusting winds, flooding and hail. Severe weather warnings extended from Texas to central Alabama, which was under a tornado watch. On Friday, the system produced 17 reports of tornadoes in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas, the weather service said. Four people were injured and 160 buildings damaged in a possible tornado in northwest Arkansas, local media reported. An overnight storm killed a 1-year-old girl when a tree fell on a recreational vehicle where she was sleeping, the sheriff's office in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, said. State Governor John Bel Edwards said in a statement that emergency responders had been activated in anticipation of severe weather. Some 750 flights in and out of airports in Minnesota and Toronto were cancelled, the website flightaware.com reported. The airport in Rochester, Minnesota, had cancelled all flights until Sunday morning "due to the extreme weather conditions." Rapidly falling snow also prompted Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to suspend flight operations into Saturday evening. About 29,000 customers in Texas and Louisiana were without power on Saturday afternoon, along with an additional 50,000 in Michigan and Wisconsin, the website Poweroutage.us reported.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

                 The author is indebted to Late Prof. K. R. Rao D.Sc.(Madras) D.Sc.(London) for his guidance and inspiration to present these articles on my website. He is grateful to his mother Late Mrs. Peramma Rangadhama Rao for her sustained interest in my ventures.    

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