ICC Test rankings rise for Ojha and Pujara

 

Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who starred with a nine-wicket haul in the first Test against England, rose nine places to get to the top-five of the latest ICC rankings issued in Dubai on Tuesday 20/11/2012.

The 26 year old helped India win by nine wickets in Ahmadabad to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

The other Indian in the top-20 are Zaheer Khan (up one place to 14th) R Ashwin (steady at 18th).

Cheteshwar Pujara, who struck a doubled hundred in the Ahmadabad Test, has jumped 35 places to the 24th position.England captain Alastair Cook, who scored a 176 in his side’s second innings, has returned to the top 10 by rising four places to seventh.Matt Prior, on the other hand, has become the fifth England batsman inside the top 20 after achieving a career-best ranking of 18th.

Indian opener Virender Sehwag is now in 22nd position after gaining one place following his 23rd Test century.

Israel threatens to send Gaza back to Middle Ages

Israel struck Gaza enclave with a barrage of missiles from land and sea for a fifth day on Sunday, killing at least three children, targeting media houses.At least eight Palestinian journalists were injured when air raids hit buildings housing local media offices. One of the injured Palestinian journalists had to have a leg amputated. Medics said three children were killed, one of them as young as 18 months old, when a refugee camp in central Gaza became the target of Israeli attacks. The attacks also wounded 12 people. Even as media reports said efforts for a ceasefire were on, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel was ready to "significantly expand" its operation in Gaza. Israel's Interior Minister went a step ahead when he said "the goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages".It said that its navy had also shelled Gaza. Egypt, meanwhile, stepped up efforts to achieve a truce as it hosted Palestinian and Israeli officials for ceasefire talks. French diplomat Fabius meanwhile termed it "an emergency situation" and pleaded that "war must be avoided". While US President Barack Obama declared that he respects Israel's right to defend itself, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Israel that a ground assault by it may cost it international support. Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi also warned that an Israeli ground invasion would have "serious repercussions". He said Egypt would never accept it "and neither will the free world".  

Tycho Brahe not poisoned by mercury

 

Two years after Tycho Brahe was removed from his grave in Prague, chemical analyses of his corpse show that mercury poisoning did not kill the prolific 16th-century astronomer. The results should put to bed rumors that Brahe was murdered when he most likely died of a burst bladder. He is known for making the accurate measurements of stars and planets without the aid of a telescope, proving that comets are objects in space and not in Earth's atmosphere. Analyses of Brahe's teeth are not yet complete, tests on his bones and beard hairs show that mercury concentrations in his body were not high enough to have killed him, the team of Danish and Czech researchers said. Brahe's mercury levels even dropped to the low end of normal in the weeks leading up to his death, tests on Brahe's beard revealed.
"In fact, chemical analyses of the bones indicate that Tycho Brahe was not exposed to an abnormally high mercury load in the last five to 10 years of his life," said researcher Kaare Lund Rasmussen, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Southern Denmark.

RISAT-1 satellite launched

The PSLV-C19, the newest in the series of polar satellite launch vehicles of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), burst off the launch-pads of Sriharikota in the wee hours of Thursday on its space mission of placing indigenously developed Radar Imaging Satellite the RISAT-1 in a polar circular orbit.

After a customarily tense countdown at the ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, at precisely 5.47 a.m., the launch vehicle’s core stage igniters and set of six strap-on motors ignited within seconds of each to signal the successful lift-off of the PSLV-C19 with the RISAT -1

The RISAT-1 with a payload of 1858 kg, the heaviest satellite being launched yet by the PSLV, is a state-of-the-art Active Microwave Remote Sensing Satellite carrying a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload that will operate in the C-band. In simpler terms, the RISAT-1 can beam back imaging of the earth surface features during day and night and under all imagined weather conditions. The SAR which gives the RISAT-1 its magic lens also makes it superior to the generation of optical remote sensing satellites in terms of clearer imaging at all times and under any condition.

Once the PSLV-C19 successfully completed each of the four stages of its flight in a span of 18 minutes and reported normal parameters, congratulatory scenes broke out at the Mission Directorate at Sriharikota.

Addressing the team of scientists and engineers, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said he was happy to announce that the PSLV-C19 was a “grand success” and had injected into polar orbit India's first Radar Imaging Satellite.   
                                                                                                                            source:The Hindu, ISRO

Chelsea beats Barcelona

 

Chelsea are through to the Champions League final after a draw against Barcelona in their semi-final second-leg encounter was enough to hand them a 3-2 aggregate victory over the holders.
Roberto Di Matteo's team defended brilliantly throughout, and will now travel to Munich on May 19 despite playing the majority of the match with 10 men.The Catalans appeared to be home and dry after goals by Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta either side of a John Terry red card appeared to put the Blues out of the competition before half-time.However, Ramires put the tie back into Chelsea's hands with a fantastic effort just before the interval.Lionel Messi missed a penalty early in the second-half, and the Blues combined superb defending with a bit of luck, before Fernando Torres put the icing on the cake by finishing off a counterattack at the death.


The game plan from Di Matteo was simple as Chelsea, much as they had done in the first leg, looked to defend deep in numbers and relieve pressure on the counter whenever they could.

Barca continued to control the game, and opened Chelsea up once more with a delightful passing move, with only the legs of Petr Cech preventing Messi from opening the scoring.
Cesc Fabregas and Didier Drogba each found the side netting before Javier Mascherano sent an unlikely 25-yard piledriver just over the bar as the home side continued to search for a way through.
The hosts were forced to bring on Dani Alves after 26 minutes for Gerard Pique, who failed to recover sufficiently from an earlier clash of heads with Victor Valdes.
The Brazilian played a part in the opener 10 minutes after his arrival, releasing Isaac Cuenca down the left, whose cutback evaded multiple bodies before Busquets tapped in.
It went from bad to worse for Chelsea, as they found themselves reduced to 10 men within two minutes. Terry appeared to knee Sanchez in the back off the ball, and was shown a straight red card by the referee.
Barca took advantage of their superior numbers, and struck again two minutes before half-time. Messi caused panic with a run at the defence before slipping in Iniesta, who slotted into the corner.
But rather than implode, as so many teams have done against the Catalans, Chelsea responded, out of nowhere, in some style.A punt from defence by Frank Lampard was latched onto by Ramires, who guided a delightful lob over Valdes to send the Londoners into the break with the advantage on away goals.
Barca were handed a chance to regain the aggregate lead three minutes after the restart, with an apparent trip on Fabregas by Drogba in the box was spotted by the officials, leading to a penalty.
However, Chelsea’s advantage was left intact as Messi smacked the spot-kick off the crossbar.
Sanchez headed an Alves cross just wide and Cuenca was blocked at the last by Cech, as Barca set up camp in the opposition half for the remainder of the match.
But it was proving to be the same story as the first leg, as Chelsea’s doggedness at the back was just enough to keep Guardiola’s men at bay.
They were almost caught out 10 minutes before the end though, but Messi could only strike the post after being put clear with only the keeper to beat.
But the Catalans were out of ideas in attack, and were finished for good by substitute Torres in the final minute of injury time. With almost every Barca player committed in the opposition half, the Spaniard latched onto a pass from defence by Ashley Cole, rounded Valdes and fired home.
Chelsea continue their incredible renaissance under Di Matteo, and will await either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the final at the Allianz Arena on May 19.

India tops in spam email

 

India is now the top spam-spewing nation on the planet overtaking America, according to a report of the security firm Sophos which ranks nations by the amount of junk mail routed through computers in each country.

The report said that some ten per cent of all junk mail sent across the web came from or passed through computers in India with America in the second place at 8.3 per cent and South Korea third at 5.7 per cent.

It attributed India’s dramatic rise up the ``spam chart’’ partly to the inexperience of many of first-time internet users. The report reckoned that about 80 per cent of all junk email was routed through PCs hijacked by hi-tech criminals who used computer viruses to seize control of the machines. Once a computer was under their control they used them to send out mail on their behalf, typically relaying it from another nation.

New species of crab discovered in the Philippines

 

Four new species of crab have been discovered in the Philippine island of Palawan. And one of them has an unusually bright purple shell.National Geographic reports that the crab may use its uniquely colored shell to help identify its own kind."It is known that crabs can discriminate colours. Therefore, it seems likely that the colouration has a signal function for the social behaviour, e.g. mating," Hendrik Freitag of the Senckenberg Museum of Zoology in Dresden, Germany told AFP."The particular violet coloration might just have evolved by chance, and must not necessarily have a very specific function or reason aside from being a general visual signal for recognition,"said  Freitag. Freitag's report on the new species of crabs was published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.The crabs are quite small in stature, each from about an inch to two inches wide.

While many species of crab are known by their red rust hues, some differently colored crab species are quite popular around the world, perhaps most notably the Chesapeake blue crab.

Freitag said the purple crabs likely have several natural predators, including some humans in remote areas. But he said the greatest threat to the species is ongoing forest clearing for farming, mining and home building.

Cautious Response From China Concerning Agni V

China on Thursday said the two countries are not rivals and enjoy “sound” relations though the sources in the Chinese establishment feel that the launch can give rise to another round of arms race in the region.

“China has taken note of reports on India’s missile launch. The two countries have sound relationship.

“During the (recently held) BRICS meeting (in Delhi) the leadership had consensus to take the relationship further and to push forward bilateral strategic cooperative partnership,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a media briefing in Beijing when asked about the launch.

In Delhi, the diplomatic sources in the Chinese embassy said the “Agni-V launch can give rise to another round of arms race in this part of the world.”

Asked whether China was concerned as most of the country would come under the Agni’s range, Mr. Liu said in Beijing that “both the countries are emerging powers. We are not rivals. We are cooperative partners. We should cherish the hard earned momentum of cooperation.”

To another question whether it would affect the regional stability, he said “we hope Asian countries can contribute to peace and stability.”

However, China’s state-run Global Times came out with a strong editorial criticising the launch, claiming that the Chinese nuclear power is more “stronger and reliable” and New Delhi has “no chance” to catch up.

Agni-5 Launched

                                    
India successfully demonstrated its Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capability by launching its most powerful and longest range missile, Agni-V, from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha(Orissa) coast.

The 17-metre-long surface-to-surface ballistic missile lifted off majestically from a rail mobile launcher at 8.04 a.m. After a flight time of 20 minutes, the missile re-entry vehicle impacted the per-designated target point more than 5,000 km away in the Indian Ocean with a high degree of accuracy.

V. K. Sarawat who is Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister told that with that missile launch, India has emerged as a major missile power. It has joined a select group of countries possessing technology to design, develop, build and manufacture long range missiles of this class and technological complexity.”

It was a flawless flight and the three stages jettisoned on time. The third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at perfect angle at an altitude of 100 kms. The pay load withstood the searing temperatures of around 3000 degree Celsius.

This is the first time India has test fired a three-stage, all solid-fuelled missile. Many new technologies including the state of art navigation system and carbon composite rocket motor casings were tested in the missile. All the radar telemetry and electro optical stations along the coast besides three ships tracked the flight trajectory of the missile and final terminal event at the impact point.

The fireball that erupted when the dummy payload hit the waters of the Indian Ocean was recorded by the cameras on board the ships stationed around the impact point. The missile weighed 50 tonnes and is capable of carrying a nuclear war head weighing 1.1 tonne.