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13-May-2019 SRI LANKA GOVT BLOCKS SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER ANTI-MUSLIM UNREST RISES Read More The Sri Lankan government 13th May blocked social media following rising tensions between the minority Muslims and majority Sinhalese in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings which killed nearly 260 people. The blockade comes a day after Sri Lankan police imposed curfew in the country's western coastal town of Chilaw where a mob attacked a mosque and some shops owned by Muslims in a dispute that started on a Facebook post by a Muslim shop owner. The blockade of Facebook and WhatsApp has been imposed form mid night following violent incidents between the minority Muslim and majority Sinhalese communities, officials said. Late in the evening on Sunday, the unrest spread to Kuliyapitiya where a mosque and a few Muslim owned shops came under attack, prompting the authorities to impose curfew in the northwest town. "The curfew imposed in Kuliyapitya and Chilaw has been lifted," police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. The majority nationalist groups have been active on Facebook, reviving calls for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses and spreading hate.The voilence is a direct fallout from the Easter Sunday's suicide bombings. Nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 258 people and injuring over 500 others on April 21. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group, the National Thawheed Jama'ath (NTJ), for the bombings
13-May-2019 FOXCONN'S LIU YOUNG TIPPED TO REPLACE TERRY GOU AS NEXT CHAIRMAN: REPORT Read More The world's largest contract manufacturer Foxconn is poised to nominate the head of its chip business as chairman to succeed Terry Gou, who plans to run in Taiwan's presidential election, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Liu Young is also a board member of Foxconn's Japanese electronics unit Sharp Corp. The nomination would come after Gou told Reuters in April he planned to step down as chairman of the Apple Inc supplier so younger talent could move up the Taiwanese firm's ranks. Gou is set to retain a seat on the proposed board at Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd. However, he told reporters last week he would resign as chairman of the board to demonstrate his determination to run for election. A company filing last week showed proposed candidates for Foxconn's new board included Gou and Liu, as well as Sharp Chairman Tai Jeng-wu and Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd Chairman Lu Sung-Ching. The proposed board is subject to shareholder approval at a meeting in June before a chairman can be elected. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The two people with knowledge of the matter declined to be identified, saying the matter was still private.
11-May-2019 CYRIL RAMAPHOSA'S PARTY WINS SOUTH AFRICA ELECTIONS WITH MAJORITY Read More South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's ruling ANC won re-election on 10th May with an absolute majority in Parliament, as results showed, but with diminished support, complicating economic revival and anti-corruption efforts. The results, published by the electoral commission, are the party's worst national showing since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the first multi-racial polls after apartheid ended in 1994. The African National Congress held a comfortable lead with 57.73 percent after 95 percent of voting districts were officially tallied following 8th May vote. Seats in parliament are allocated based on vote share and the party with the most representatives selects the president, who will be sworn in on May 25. President Ramaphosa, took over last year when the ANC forced then-president Jacob Zuma to resign after 9 years dominated by corruption allegations and economic decline.
11-May-2019 TRUMP ORDERS TARIFF HIKE ON REMAINING CHINESE IMPORTS Read More US President Donald Trump ordered a tariff hike on almost all remaining imports from China on 10th May. This comes less than 24 hours after Washington raised tariffs on approximately 200 billion US dollars of Chinese goods. he US President ordered the process of raising tariffs on essentially all remaining imports from China, valued at approximately 300 billion dollars, to begin. President Trump had said on 10th May that US and Chinese negotiators held two days of "candid and constructive" trade talks and discussions will continue. Meanwhile, China's top trade negotiator Liu He said in Washington that trade talks with the US will continue in Beijing.He, however, warned that there will be no concessions on important principles.
07-May-2019 PORSCHE TO PAY 535 MILLLION EURO FINE OVER DIESEL CHEATING AFFAIR Read More German prosecutors have imposed a fine of 535 million euros ($598.99 million) on German luxury carmaker Porsche AG for neglecting supervisory obligations linked to diesel emissions cheating, they said in a statement on Tuesday. Prosecutors in the southern city of Stuttgart said that the company’s development department had neglected its legal obligations, which ultimately led to the sale of diesel cars in Europe as well as other regions that did not comply with emissions rules. Porsche, a subsidiary of Germany’s biggest carmaker Volkswagen, has not appealed, they added. Porsche confirmed the fine and said that prosecutors’ proceedings against the company had now come to an end.
07-May-2019 INDIA, US AGREE TO SAVE AFGHAN GAINS IN 18 YEARS Read More The US on 7th May agreed with India that the gains made in Afghanistan over the past 18 years must be preserved in any possible deal in talks with the Taliban a key concern for the government in New Delhi. The matter figured in meetings between the US special representative for Afghan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, and his Indian interlocutors, including external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and India’s envoy to Kabul, Vinay Kumar. Khalilzad, who held talks with the Taliban at Doha in Qatar before travelling to New Delhi, held “consultations with Indian government officials and other stakeholders on the Afghan peace process”, according to a statement from the US embassy here. Besides preserving the gains made since the Taliban regime was removed after the 9/11 terror attacks in the US in 2001, measures to prevent the use of Afghanistan by terror groups as a “platform for attacks” also figured in the talks. Khalilzad and his counterparts “agreed that Afghan gains of the last 18 years must be preserved and built upon”, the statement said. “Afghanistan’s political future is for Afghans to decide through an inclusive and legitimate process,” it added. The two sides discussed the “many important benefits that peace would bring, including: preventing international terrorist use of Afghanistan as a platform for attacks; improved prospects for regional peace and security; and increased regional connectivity and trade”.
07-May-2019 INDIA ‘ABSOLUTELY NEEDED’ AS PERMANENT MEMBER OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL, SAYS FRANCE Read More India and nations like Germany, Brazil and Japan are “absolutely needed” as permanent members of a reformed and enlarged UN Security Council to better reflect contemporary realities and the addition of these key members to the UN high-table is among France’s “strategic” priorities, the French envoy to the UN has said. India is at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for the long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member. “In terms of policy, France and Germany have strong policy which is to work together to enlarge the Security Council and to succeed in terms of the negotiations that should lead to the enlargement of the Security Council that we consider absolutely needed to better reflect the world as it is. There is no question about it,” France’s Permanent Representative to the UN François Delattre told reporters here last week. Noting that when France and Germany launched their alliance for multi-materialism, he said it signifies that the two nations strongly believe in the UN as the core of today’s global governance and that they strongly believe in “multi-lateralism and means that we are actively working to reform and in some respects to refound, reinvent multi-lateralism so that it is really efficient for the decades to come.”
02-May-2019 UN DESIGNATES JEM CHIEF MASOOD AZHAR AS GLOBAL TERRORIST Read More Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was listed as a designated terrorist by the UN Security Council 1267 Committee on 1st May. Significantly, the reasons for listing did not mention the Pulwama attack of February 14, for which the JeM had claimed responsibility, and which found mention in the latest (February 27) listing request for Azhar. Nevertheless, the listing is a victory for India in a decade-old diplomatic battle waged primarily by it and supported by its friends at the UNSC, as it would mean a travel ban, arms embargo and asset freeze on Azhar. The P-3 or group of three permanent UNSC members, the U.S., the U.K. and France, had co-sponsored a listing request at the Committee on February 27, weeks after the Pulwama attack that killed over 40 security personnel. That request, which The Hindu has access to, reads, “…JeM claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Pulwama”. However, China placed a hold on the request which normally lasts for three months on March 13. This was the fourth such attempt to designate Azhar, over a decade, that had gone awry. At the end of March, the U.S. circulated a draft resolution (to sanction Azhar) among the UNSC members, i.e., outside the 1267 Committee, presumably to pressure China into either supporting the listing or having to take a stand in open proceedings and risk being seen as supporting terror.
02-May-2019 JULIAN ASSANGE SENTENCED TO 50 WEEKS IN UK PRISON FOR SKIPPING BAIL Read More Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to nearly a year in jail for skipping bail as he prepares to fight extradition to the US. Assange was last month found guilty of bail violations following his dramatic arrest in London. The 47-year-old had been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 as he sought to escape questioning in a Swedish sexual-assault case Judge Deborah Taylor at a London court hearing Wednesday sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail, saying he deliberately evaded justice. Assange said in a letter that he regretted the course that his actions took. While the British sentence takes precedence, Assange’s imprisonment is unlikely to delay the US request. American authorities are pursuing extradition so he can face trial on charges that he conspired with ex-US Army analyst Chelsea Manning to disclose classified government material. A trim-looking Julian Assange raised his fist to a gallery of supporters, who shouted "shame on you" as the judge left the court. The UK hearing took place hours before US Attorney General William Barr, who has ultimate oversight of the Assange indictment, is set to testify before Senate and House panels on Robert Mueller’s Russia report. Lawmakers will press him to reconcile his findings with those of the special counsel.
25-Apr-2019 KIM JONG UN AND PUTIN HOLD FIRST SUMMIT IN RUSSIA Read More North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vadmir Putin hold their first ever meeting in Vladivostoc; Putin expresses his support to positive efforts to ease tension in Korean peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to denuclearize but needs "security guarantees" to do so. Speaking after a high-profile summit with Kim, Putin said Russia favoured denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and Kim agreed, but said bilateral security guarantees were not enough. Putin said he didn't know if it was time to resume six-way talks with North Korea to end a standoff over its nuclear weapons program. The "six-party talks" had taken place between North and South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia and China in the early 2000s, but collapsed in 2009 when North Korea pulled out, saying it would resume its nuclear enrichment program in order to boost its nuclear deterrent.
25-Apr-2019 AGREEMENT ON MOST DEMANDS BY PROTEST LEADERS: SUDAN ARMY RULERS Read More In Sudan, Army rulers have said, they had reached an agreement on most demands made by protest leaders after the two sides held a meeting in Khartoum. Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, spokesman of the ruling military council, told this to reporters after a meeting between the Council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change. The spokesman did not elaborate on the demands. The alliance has been demanding that the Council hand over power to a civilian administration.
25-Apr-2019 WORLD’S FIRST MALARIA VACCINE LAUNCHED IN AFRICA Read More The world’s first malaria vaccine has been rolled out in Malawi to protect 360,000 children under two in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana in Sub-Saharan Africa from the mosquito-borne disease that causes 435,000 people global deaths each year. The RTS,S/AS01 (trade name Mosquirix) is an injectible recombinant protein-based vaccine acts against P. falciparum, the most prevalent malaria strain in Africa. The vaccine prevents four in 10 cases of malaria in children who received four doses over a four-year period, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO welcomed the pilot programme by the government of Malawi. Children under five years are at the greatest risk of death, with at least 250,000 children dying of the disease in Africa each year. With India reducing malaria cases by 24% in 2017 over the previous year using conventional methods, such as to “test-treat-track” all cases and distributing free insecticide-treated bed nets in endemic areas, the vaccine is unlikely to be made part of India’s public health programme, say experts. In the sharpest global reduction in malaria in a year, cases India fell from 1,087,285 cases in 2016 to 844,558 in 2017, according to the World Malaria Report 2018.
24-Apr-2019 ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER ANCIENT TOMB WITH MUMMIES IN EGYPT Read More Egypt says archaeologists have uncovered an ancient tomb with mummies believed to date back about 2,000 years in the southern city of Aswan. The Antiquities Ministry said in a statement on 23rd April that the tomb is from the Greco-Roman period, which began with Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. It is located near one of Aswan’s landmarks, the Mausoleum of Aga Khan, who lobbied for Muslim rights in India and who was buried there after his death in 1957. The statement said archaeologists found artifacts, including decorated masks, statuettes, vases, coffin fragments and cartonnages chunks of linen or papyrus glued together. Egypt often announces new discoveries, hoping to spur the country’s tourism sector, which has suffered major setbacks during the turmoil following the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
22-Apr-2019 COMEDIAN ZELENSKIY WINS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BY A LANDSLIDE Read More Ukrainian actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy has won the second round of a presidential election against incumbent Petro Poroshenko by a landslide. According to a national exit poll showed on Sunday, the political newcomer, who dominated the first round of voting three weeks ago, got more than 70% support. Polls gave Poroshenko, who has been in power since 2014, 25% of the vote. If polls are correct, he will be elected for a five-year term. Official results are expected to come later today. Zelensky challenged incumbent president Petro Poroshenko who has admitted defeat.
22-Apr-2019 SRI LANKA BLASTS: 24 LOCAL SUSPECTS ARRESTED; DEATH TOLL RISES TO 290 WITH OVER 500 INJURED Read More Sri Lankan police has arrested 24 local suspects for involvement in serial blasts across the country on Sunday. Death toll rises to 290 with around 500 injured. At least 32 foreign nationals including five Indians are among the victims. Over 500 people are injured and hospitalized following the attacks targeting three five-star hotels in capital Colombo and three churches across the country. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka’s government was aware of information regarding a possible attack adding they will look into why adequate precautions were not taken. Sri Lankan PM Wickremesinghe said the names that have come up are local, but investigators will look into whether the attackers had any overseas links. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has announced appointment of a special committee led by retired Supreme Court judge to investigate the attacks and submit its report within two weeks. Sri Lankan police has confirmed involvement of suicide bombers at four locations in the country. Meanwhile, police curfew imposed across the country on 21st April has been lifted. The government has imposed ban on social media platforms like Whatsapp and facebook to avoid rumours.
22-Apr-2019 SRI LANKA DECLARES EMERGENCY IN WAKE OF TERROR ATTACK; POLICE ARREST 24 SUSPECTS Read More Sri Lanka declares a state of emergency from 22nd April midnight following the deadly Easter Sunday attacks; Police arrest 24 suspects; Death toll rises to 290, 8 Indians among those killed. Sri Lanka will enforce a state of emergency from midnight on 22nd April in the wake of the deadly Easter blasts that killed 290 people and wounded more than 500 others, enhancing the counter terrorism powers of the security forces. The decision was made during a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena. The NSC has announced plans to impose a conditional state of emergency from midnight. A statement from the president's office said the measures would target terrorism and would not limit freedom of expression. Meanwhile, as many as 87 bomb detonators were found on Monday at a bus station in Colombo. The bomb detonators were found at the Central Colombo bus station in Pettah area.The police initially found 12 bomb detonators scattered on the ground. A further search revealed 75 more.
22-Apr-2019 US TO END WAIVER TO INDIA, OTHERS FOR IRAN OIL IMPORT Read More The US announced on 22nd April it is ending the waiver given to India to buy Iranian oil and has threatened sanctions if it did not comply with the embargo. Announcing the end of the waivers, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “Trump has decided not to reissue Significant Reduction Exceptions (SREs) when they expire in early May. This decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue.” When the US imposed sanctions on Iran in November, India and seven other countries were given exemptions that will expire May 2. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later told reporters that countries that do not abide by the embargo will face sanctions. They will encounter sanctions that will affect their international financial transactions, he said. The US was increasing oil production and was working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure that there will be no disruptions in oil supplies as a result of the ending of the waivers, according to Pompeo. In May 2018, Trump withdrew from the 2105 international agreement with Iran on de-nuclearisation that had ended sanctions on that country. In November, Trump re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran but gave India, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece six-month temporary waivers to continue buying oil. India was reportedly importing about 1.25 million tonnes of oil per month from Iran.
22-Apr-2019 IMRAN KHAN, HASSAN ROUHANI ANNOUNCE BORDER 'REACTION FORCE' AFTER ATTACKS Read More Iran and Pakistan will set up a joint border "reaction force" following deadly attacks on their frontier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced 22 April after talks with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. "We agreed to create a joint rapid reaction force at the borders for combatting terrorism," Rouhani told a joint news conference, following months of increased tensions over attacks on both sides of the frontier. The border skirts the volatile southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan which has been the scene of frequent attacks on Iran's security forces. Khan's visit to Iran, the first since he took office last year, comes after gunmen who Islamabad says were based in Iran killed 14 members of Pakistan's security forces last week in its own Balochistan province. "The security chief will sit down with his counterpart here and discuss (security) cooperation," Khan said, although no details were given on the joint force. "We trust that both countries will not have terrorist activities from their soil We will not allow any damage to your country from our soil," said the Pakistani premier who started a two-day visit on 21st April. In March, Rouhani demanded Pakistan act "decisively against anti-Iranian terrorists", following a February 13 attack that killed 27 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards in Sistan-Baluchistan.
21-Apr-2019 BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY AMONG WORLD'S MAJOR INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS OF 20TH CENTURY: UN Read More The 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people is among the world's "major industrial accidents" of the 20th century, a UN report has said, warning that 2.78 million workers die from occupational accidents and work-related diseases each year. The report released by the the UN labour agency International Labour Organization (ILO) said that in 1984, at least 30 tons of methyl isocyanate gas, which was released from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, affected over 600,000 workers and nearby inhabitants The report titled 'The Safety and Health at the Heart of the Future of Work - Building on 100 years of experience' said the Bhopal disaster was among the world's "major industrial accidents after 1919".
17-Apr-2019 50 INDIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN S. SUDAN HONOURED FOR DEDICATED SERVICE Read More A total of 150 Indian peacekeepers serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have received medals of honour for their dedicated service and sacrifice. "A glimpse beyond the dedicated Service and Sacrifice of the @UN blue beret Indian peacekeepers receive medals of honour in Malakal -@India Be Proud," the UN mission tweeted 15th April, along with pictures of the Indian peacekeepers participating in a parade and receiving the medals for their exemplary service. The medals were given to the 150 Indian peacekeepers serving in UNMISS in Malakal during a ceremony filled with parades and performances by a piped band. Colonel Amit Gupta, deployed with UNMISS in Malakal, was among the recipients of the medal of honour. A UNMISS news article said Gupta commands a battalion of 850 soldiers in the Upper Nile region of South Sudan. Under his command, his men have conducted highly sought-after veterinary camps and run a veterinary hospital in Malakal, with a second expected to be completed in Kodok - a major town along the west bank of the Nile - in a few weeks' time. Indian peacekeepers serving with the mission have undertaken numerous training sessions of community animal health workers, providing value addition training for farmers to help them make the most of their produce. Gupta has previously served the United Nations in Northern Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Private Ankush Cheema, another recipient of the medal of honour, had joined the unit in 2017 when he found out that they were scheduled for a peacekeeping mission.
17-Apr-2019 AMENDS PASSED BY EGYPT LAWMAKERS HEADED TO REFERENDUM Read More Egypt's parliament on 16th April passed amendments to the constitution that could see President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi remain in power until 2030. The vote, which sends the amendments to a national referendum, was seen by critics as another step back to authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. The 596-member assembly, packed with el-Sissi's supporters, overwhelmingly gave its initial approval in February, sending it to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee to finalize the wording before 16th April final vote. Of the 554 lawmakers who attended the session, 531 voted "yes," 22 voted "no" and one abstained. "Today we are concluding what we started in February," speaker Ali Abdel-Al said at the beginning of the session. "In this great day, we offer to the Egyptian people a draft bill of the constitutional amendments." The national referendum will likely take place before early May when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts. Since early April, the Egyptian capital has been awash with large posters and banners encouraging people to vote in favor of the changes. In Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where mass protests became the symbol of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising and of hopes for democratic change in Egypt, the posters urge people to vote in the referendum.
17-Apr-2019 INDIA, UK SIGN ‘STEP CHANGE’ DEFENCE MOU Read More India and the United Kingdom this week signed a memorandum of understanding on defence and security equipment described as a ‘step change’ in the long-standing defence relationship between the two countries. The agreement follows a visit by India’s chief of naval staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba, to HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth in March, and HMS Dragon’s visit to Goa in December last year, where the ship took part in the naval exercise, the Konkan Series. The defence equipment MoU was signed by Air Marshal Richard Knighton on behalf of the UK’s ministry of defence and Barun Mitra, additional secretary (defence production) in India’s ministry of defence. “As major world economies, Britain and India both have a proud global maritime history, with impressive futures ahead,” defence minister Stuart Andrew said. “The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding underpins the collaboration between our two nations, building on our defence ties, and ensuring our nations are able to combat emerging threats for generations to come,” Andrew said. By collaborating and exploiting procurement opportunities together, both nations will be able to benefit from technological and manufacturing capabilities and support long-term cooperation between their defence and security industries, an official statement said. Besides the bilateral defence talks, representatives of the UK and Indian industry met to discuss how they would forge deeper and broader partnerships to contribute to these efforts.
16-Apr-2019 NY TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL WIN PULITZERS FOR TRUMP PROBES Read More The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were awarded Pulitzer Prizes on 16th April for their separate investigations of President Donald Trump and his family. The Times won the prestigious journalism award for a probe of the Trump family's finances that "debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges," the Pulitzer Prize Board announced during a ceremony at New York's Columbia University. The Journal won for its coverage of Trump's secret hush money payments to two women during his 2016 presidential campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel won a Pulitzer for its coverage of failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was honoured for its coverage of the October 2018 shooting at a synagogue in the city that left 11 people dead. The Associated Press won a Pulitzer for international reporting for its coverage of the war in Yemen. Reuters was honoured for international reporting for its coverage of atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. In other categories, "The Overstory" by Richard Powers won the Pulitzer for fiction and "Fairview" by Jackie Sibblies Drury won the prize for drama. Special citations were awarded to soul legend Aretha Franklin for her contributions to music and to the staff of the Capital Gazette newspaper of Annapolis, Maryland, which lost five employees in a June 2018 shooting.
16-Apr-2019 NASA’S PLANET-HUNTING PROBE SPOTS EARTH-SIZED PLANET Read More NASA’s latest planet-hunting probe has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a star 53 light-years away. The Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) also discovered a warm sub-Neptune-sized world in the same system, according to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. “It’s so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, is already a game-changer in the planet-hunting business,” said Johanna Teske, Carnegie Institution for Science in the US. “The spacecraft surveys the sky and we collaborate with the TESS follow-up community to flag potentially interesting targets for additional observations using ground-based telescopes and instruments,” Teske said in a statement. One such tool, the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope in Chile, was a crucial component of this effort. It helped confirm the planetary nature of the TESS signal, and to measure the mass of the newly discovered sub-Neptune. The PFS works using a technique called the radial velocity method, which is currently the only way for astronomers to measure the masses of individual planets. Without known masses, it is very challenging to determine a planet’s density or its general chemical composition. This method takes advantage of that fact that not only does a star’s gravity influence the planet orbiting it, but the planet’s gravity also affects the star in turn. The PFS enables astronomers to detect these tiny wobbles that the planet’s gravity induces in the star’s orbit.
14-Apr-2019 UNIQUE OIL-EATING BACTERIA FOUND IN WORLD’S DEEPEST OCEAN TRENCH Read More Scientists have discovered a unique oil eating bacteria in the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth’s oceans, a finding that may pave way for sustainable ways to clean up oils spills. The Mariana Trench is located in the Western Pacific Ocean and reaches a depth of approximately 11,000 metres. By comparison, Mount Everest is 8,848 metres high. “We know more about Mars than the deepest part of the ocean,” said Xiao-Hua Zhang of the Ocean University in China, who led the study. To date, only a few expeditions have investigated the organisms inhabiting this ecosystem. One of these expeditions was organised and led by noted marine explorer and Academy Award-winning film director James Cameron, who built a specialised submersible to collect samples in the trench. “Our research team went down to collect samples of the microbial population at the deepest part of the Mariana Trench some 11,000 metres down. We studied the samples that were brought back and identified a new group of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria,” said Jonathan Todd, from the University of East Anglia in the UK. “Hydrocarbons are organic compounds that are made of only hydrogen and carbon atoms, and they are found in many places, including crude oil and natural gas,” Todd said in a statement. “So these types of microorganisms essentially eat compounds similar to those in oil and then use it for fuel. Similar microorganisms play a role in degrading oil spills in natural disasters such as BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “We also found that this bacteria is really abundant at the bottom of the Mariana Trench,” he added. In fact, the team found that the proportion of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the Trench is the highest on Earth.