ISRO launches Israeli Satellite

On Monday evening the Indian Space Agency ISRO Successfully launched the Israeli satellite Polaris from its launch center in southern Andra Pradesh, India. It was launched at 0915 hours using the respective launch vehicle called Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) as per informaed over phone from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 80 km north of the Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.

“It was a perfect launch in fine weather,” the official added.

The satellite has a payload of 340 kg.

The PSLV has a “core alone” configuration, only the second time such a configuration has been tried by the ISRO. The first time was with the Italian Agile satellite in April 2007, with PSLV C-8.

 

The core-alone PSLV weighs 230 tonnes, and can put satellites up to 600 kg into orbit.

 

The Polaris is considered a spy satellite by many countries in the Gulf and Pakistan, which were opposed to India carrying out the launch. It was scheduled to go up in September 2007 but had been put off to October. It was then rescheduled again for January 2008.

Britain to Install Metal Detectors at ‘School Gates.’

The Government of Britain plans to install Airport Style Metal Detectors in school, so as to contol curb crime and stabbings. The Detectors will be installed at hundreds of school gates hoping to detect sharp objects like knife and other objects. They will be installed at schools considered most at risk especially in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.  The teachers and the local police were not left behind in going ahead with the project.

At the same time the minister admitted that she did not feel safe walking at the roads of london. She also said that she did not like to walk around the more deprived areas of the capital at night also. The youth crime is high on the governments agenda, as bloody, sometimes even deadly fights take place between the youth. Just last week there girl aged 13 years who was stabbed at a London School.While the number of young people affected was 17,600 in 2003, it rose to 24,100 in 2006.

Jammu - Srinagar Road still closed

The 300 Km stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar is still closed, and no traffic is visible on the road. A place 140 Km from here named panthal was reported unsafe due to incliment weather.

No vehicles- either from Jammu or Srinagar- were allowed on the arterial road on Saturday.

Srinagar and adjoining areas continue to shiver in intense cold following snow coupled with rains for the past three days.

The night temperature in Srinagar dipped to -2.4 degrees Celsius, while Pahalgam dipped to -5.2 degree Celsius, met office said.

Kupwara registered minimum temperature -4.7 and Kokernag recorded -3.4 degrees Celsius, a spokesman of the weather office said.

Qazigund on the highway recorded minimum temperature of -1.2 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, two members of a family were injured when their house collapsed in Kokernag area of Anantnag district last night, a police spokesman said on Saturday.

Bird Flu Spreads outpaces culling in Bengal

The bird flu strain H5N1 has started spreading further in West Bengal. The latest addition to the list of the districts infected with this virus was the southern district of Bankura. The Saltora block of the Bankura has been confirmed by the HSADL (High Security Animal Disease Laboratory), Bhopal. Nanoor in worst-hit Birbhum district and three more blocks — Suti I, Sagardighi and Beldanga I — are added to the list.

“We are increasing the number of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) to 400 from the existing 200 to keep pace with the spread of bird flu,” Rahman said.

“The culling was affected on Sunday because of Muharram, but we hope to cope up with the challenge,” he said.

While the minister could not spell out the exact number of poultry birds culled, he said around 130,000 chicken and ducks were culled since Wednesday when the operation began.

Farmers were being handed over tokens at culling sites and asked to contact their panchayat or village block offices for the money. The payment is Rs.40 for a country chicken, Rs.30 for a broiler and Rs.10 for a chick.

While the minister claimed that culling operations had been stepped up, reports from the districts said the process was slow, often due to villagers’ resistance.

But in areas where a large number of poultry birds had died of the infection, the villagers were eager to offer their chickens and ducks for culling.

The H5N1 virus causes a type of influenza in birds that is highly contagious and can be deadly. It does not usually infect people unless they come in close contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces.

Serial Blasts Rock Bhutan.

Bhutan was rocked today, i.e., 20th January 2007. It was not rocked by any rock band but by four serials blasts on the day when the polling was goin on. As per the infomation of a Royal Bhutan police goes the bomb blasts took place between 11am and 2pm.

The first blast took place near a vegetable market at Samste district but no one was injured.

In the second blast here, window panes and walls of some buildings were damaged.

A woman received splinter injuries in her leg in the third blast that occurred in Gedu in Chukha district.

The fourth blast took place in Dagana but there was no report of any casualty. Police said a second explosive device, which did not go off, was found in the same area.

This was one of the major attacks in the Himalayan Kingdoms, in the recent times. It has also be announced that the polls to the lower house of the parliament will be held on march 24.

Indian Airports on high Alert

Indian Airport has been put on high alert after warnings given to the Indian government by the intelligence report of ULFA trying to hijack aircraft. It is also come to the picture that they are planning to do so just to free their colleague from jail.

“As the Ulfa has not acted so far, they could well do it even now. They haven’t given up. They may be looking for a suitable moment to strike,” said a senior BCAS official.

Official sources confirmed that a red alert has been sounded in airports across the country. Paramilitary forces have been deployed at all airports, especially in the north east, and army units near the airports asked to stand by.

Reviews by airline authorities and intelligence agencies have revealed major security lapses at airports, which are generally guarded by state police. About 25 airports are manned by the Central Industrial Security Force personnel.

External Memory Disks

The hard disk fitted in our computer usually fall short for our storage, or even if we are less on storage we might need an external device to transfer data from one PC to another. In such cases the ‘External Hard Disk’(EHDD) and the ‘Pen Drives’ comes into taking place. The cost of the Pen drives have gone really low with the amount and the number of Pen Drives that are being used daily. Pen Drives are now avail able for as low as Rs.500/- for a 2Gb of Memory at Nehru Place, New Delhi. In case of EHDD it is also the same as the prices have come down drastically and are easily available in the market.

MArket on Friday in the early morning…

Markets are not looking o strong in the early hours today i.e, friday, with a benchmark index at 19,434 level making a loss of around 1.35% or 265 points.

In the wider Market, Nifty is trading in red by 1.41%. The 50 share index is trading at 5,830

level. Selling is evident is real estate, banking, oil and gas. 

India Leading this test…

Hey people at last we have the Indian team who are leading the way in the match. After loosing the other test matches to Australia, the have some options left in this test, with the lead that they have gained so far. But the only bad side of this lead is that we still have 2 days to go, which is nothing for the Aussies to score themselves to victory.

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