Iran has struck the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for committing a “historic mistake” by releasing a controversial report, which has already sown divisions among the six global powers that are dealing with Tehran's nuclear programme.

 Ali Asgar Soltaniyeh, described the report released on Tuesday as “skewed, unprofessional and political”.

He stressed that the findings of IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano had impaired the agency's credibility.

Soltaniyeh accused Amano of unprofessional conduct and behaving in a politically motivated manner, citing the Director-General's refusal to hold as requested, negotiations with Iran to clear the air.

Mr. Amano's report that was distributed among the 35 members of the IAEA Board on Tuesday evening contains a 15-page annexure, which focuses on Iran's alleged studies that appears to suggest that Tehran has been engaged in developing atomic weapons.

The report refers to satellite pictures taken at Iran's Parchin military facility, of a steel container that can be used for testing explosives, triggering pressure waves that can detonate fissile material. It has also claimed that Tehran is building computer models of a missile cone that can carry a nuclear payload.

Besides, Iran has apparently benefited from foreign expertise in carrying out experiments with nuclear material.

MICHAEL JACKSON'S DOCTOR FOUND GUILTY OF HIS DEATH

Michael Jackson's doctor was convicted Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the pop star's death for supplying an insomnia-plagued Jackson with a powerful operating-room anesthetic to help him sleep as he rehearsed for his big comeback.

Dr. Conrad Murray sat stone-faced, his chin held high, as he heard the verdict that could send him to prison for up to four years and cost him his license to practice medicine. He was handcuffed and immediately led off to jail without bail to await sentencing Nov. 29.
The verdict marked the latest chapter in one of pop culture's most shocking tragedies — the 2009 drug-overdose death of the King of Pop at age 50 as he was about to mount a series of heavily promoted concerts in London that he hoped would turn his career around after a slide prompted by child-molestation allegations and years of bizarre behavior.
A shriek broke the silence in the packed courtroom when the jury's decision was read, and the crowd outside the courthouse erupted in cheers. Jubilant Jackson fans sang "Beat It" and held signs that read "Guilty" and "Killer." Drivers honked their horns.

Frazier dies after fight with cancer

 

AP In this March 8, 1971, file photo, boxer Joe Frazier, (left) punches Muhammad Ali during the 15th round of their heavyweight title fight at New York's Madison Square Garden.

 

  Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight champion who handed Muhammad Ali his first defeat yet had to live forever in his rival’s shadow, has died after a brief final fight with liver cancer.
   Joe Frazier beat Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century, battled him nearly to the death in the Thrilla in Manila, then spent the rest of his life trying to fight his way out of Ali’s shadow.
   He was 67.

Arts groups tell BT to block access to The Pirate Bay

UK arts lobby groups have demanded BT block access to the BitTorrent file sharing website, The Pirate Bay.The BPI, said it would take legal action if the telecoms firm refused to co-operate.The movie industry has already forced BT to block Newzbin 2, a members-only site that aggregates illegally copied material.The telecoms operator said that a court order would be needed before any blocking could begin.A source told the BBC the firm was unlikely to fight a lengthy legal battle as it had in the Newzbin case."We would not tolerate Counterfeits 'R' Us on the High Street - if we want economic growth, we cannot accept illegal rip-off sites on the internet either," said the BPI's chief executive, Geoff Taylor.The Motion Picture Association also voiced their support.The Pirate Bay was launched in 2003 by a group of friends from Sweden and rapidly became one of the most famous file-sharing sites on the web.Although it hosts no files itself, it does allow users to search for and access copyrighted content including movies, games and TV shows. In April 2009, the Swedish courts found the four founders of the site guilty of helping people circumvent copyright controls.The ruling was upheld after an appeal in 2010, but the site continues to function.

Thailand floods: Toll rises past 500

The nationwide death toll from flooding in Thailand climbed past 500 on Sunday, as the polluted black water continued its march through northern Bangkok, pouring across major intersections and a road underneath the capital’s elevated train line.

Floodwaters were also approaching a main road near the city’s Mo Chit bus terminal, a major gateway to northern Thailand. But the bus station remained open.Thailand’s worst flooding in half a century, swamping much of the country since July and left 506 people dead, according to the government. Floodwaters have begun receding in some provinces north of Bangkok, but they have built up around the city, which stands in the way of the water’s natural flow south toward the Gulf of Thailand.

So far, authorities have ordered evacuations in eight of Bangkok’s 50 districts, while seven others are either heavily or partially flooded.

Since late Saturday, water had also inundated a two-lane road underneath the Mo Chit Skytrain station, an elevated train platform that is part of one of the city’s mass transit systems. The road was still passable. Subway service has not yet been affected.

Kudankulam plant is 100% safe: Kalam

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who is on a mission to reduce fears about the safety of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, on Sunday said that it was ‘completely safe’ as it is located in a low frequency seismic zone.Mr. Kalam held discussions with scientists and engineers of the Indo-Russian Joint Venture, including Nuclear Power Corporation Chairman S.K. Jain and said that “The plant is safe in all aspects.” “There is no need to worry about the safety aspect of the plant, as it is in a low frequent seismic zone. There is also no threat of a Tsunami as the plant is 1,300 km away from the seismic centre point. Besides, the plant is 13.5 metres above sea level,” Mr. Kalam, a votary of nuclear energy, said. Mr. Kalam’s visit comes amid the continuing standoff on the Rs 13,600 crore Indo-Russian project, whose first unit was scheduled to be commissioned in December.Officials said the agitation by locals against the project has upset the scheduled commissioning. Mr. Kalam said all safety aspects, including automatic cooling of the plant in the event of generator failure after power goes off, ‘double wall’ protection for KNPP workers inside and outside, structural safety and container to store the 25 per cent residual fuel from the plant have been provided.He said that there would be no damage to the surrounding environment with the setting up of the plant. Mr. Kalam said ‘Bath Tub’ facility has been provided to flush core melt waste. “There is a solution in the tub which will take care of all radiation problems. There will be no radiation at all. The workers inside and outside the plant are 100 per cent safe.”

Messi had ‘no problems’ at Barcelona

Argentine star Lionel Messi had “no problems” with former Barcelona teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic when the two played at Barcelona .

According to Ibrahimovic’s upcoming autobiography, the Swedish striker was frustrated at Barcelona and with coach Josep “Pep” Guardiola when Messi was given a more central role.

Messi added that he “always got on” with Ibrahimovic and the Swede also had a good rapport with other players.

“He had problems with the coach and it is (a matter) between them,” Messi said.

Ibrahimovic left Barca in 2010 after just one year, returning to Italy at AC Milan.

When Sweden failed to qualify to the 2010 World Cup finals, Ibrahimovic felt he would not play for Sweden again.

'Mars mission' ends

Six volunteers on Friday stepped into the outside world after spending the last one-and-a-half-years locked away in an isolation module in Moscow to simulate the effects of a return trip to Mars.The multi-national crew showed no ill effects after emerging from the capsule.After the pressure in the capsule was equalised with the outside, a researcher broke the seal and then opened the door of the module. All six crew members, dressed in blue overalls, walked out one-by-one in good health.They are next due to appear in public for a news conference on Tuesday.

Bhupen Hazarika passed away

Legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika died in a hospital in Mumbai on Saturday due to multi-organ failure. He was 86.His end came around 4.30 pm at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital. He had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since June 29.Hazarika’s health deteriorated , after he developed pneumonia on October 23. Doctors had to place a food pipe into his system.

CHINA BECOMS THE THIRD COUNTRY TO PERFORM DOCKING IN SPACE

    

     On Thursday China's space programme hailed its first ever docking exercise in outer space, conducted by an unmanned spacecraft, launched this week, with a space laboratory module .It is a step seen as a crucial landmark along China's road to launch its own space station in the next decade.

     China is now the third country to accomplish a docking exercise in space, after the United States and Russia. Both those countries carried out similar exercises more than three decades ago.

     While China still continues to lag the two countries in its space technology, Beijing hopes to close the gap by becoming the third country to put into orbit its own space station, by 2020 .

     Thursday's docking exercise between Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-8, which will fly together for 12 days and conduct another docking exercise, was hailed by Chinese leaders as a vital step towards taking forward the space programme.

    China's commercial satellite industry has widened its reach overseas, launching satellites for more than 20 countries. The official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary on Thursday China “always express willingness to open its space vessels and facilities to the international science community”.

    If completed in around 2020 as planned, the China-made space station might replace the ISS to harbour internationally collaborative space science experiments.

Major fire at Mumbai’s naval dockyard

       A major fire broke out in an administrative building in Mumbai’s Naval Dockyard on Thursday. The fire brigade said its personnel were working towards controlling the blaze.

“We have rushed around 13 tankers and fire engines to the spot and our officers are trying to control it,” a fire official said.

Said to be a heritage building, the structure is located near the Lion Gate in Colaba in south Mumbai.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

FIRST SOYUZ LAUNCH FROM EUROPE'S SPACEPORT

     A Soyuz rocket lifted off on Friday on its maiden flight from Europe's space base here, carrying the first two satellites in the Galileo geo-positioning system.

    The launch marked an unprecedented step in space cooperation, being the first by the veteran rocket beyond Russia's historic bases at Plesetsk and Baikonur.

     As mission controllers counted off the final seconds, Soyuz's main engines ignited, a cluster of umbilical masts flipped back and at 1030 GMT the rocket clawed its way skywards through a pounding tropical rain.

After a nine-minute flight through Earth's atmosphere, its final stage, the Fregat, fired up to drive the satellites toward their orbital slots, a last leg that should take more than three hours.

“The first part of this mission has gone well,” said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive of Arianespace, which markets launches at Kourou.

     Friday's launch came after a 24-hour postponement caused by a faulty valve in a ground system designed to disconnect fuel lines to the rocket's third stage just before flight.

     Soyuz is a space legend, for it traces its lineage to 1957 with Sputnik, the first satellite, and to the first manned flight, by Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Friday's launch was the 1,777th in the Soyuz saga. It has a success rate of 94.4 per cent. A symbol of national pride in Russia, the rocket was deployed at a specially-built pad at Kourou under a 2003 deal intended to complete Arianespace's marketing range.

    Arianespace says it has orders for 14 Soyuz launches from Kourou, including the third and fourth satellites in the Galileo constellation next year. Galileo is intended to give Europe independence in satellite navigation, a vital component of the 21st-century economy, from the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). When completed in 2020, it will comprise 27 satellites and provide accuracy to within a metre, compared to three to eight metres for the GPS.

CHINA'S SUPERCOMPUTER SURPRISES US EXPERTS

                   In late October, China reveiled a supercomputer at a technical meeting held at Jinan,China which is composed of 8,700 shenWei1600 microprocessors callad the Sunway BlueLight MPP .designed at Chinese computer institute and manufactured in Shanghai .It is among the 20 fastest computer in the world.Currently the Chinese are three generations back in the making of computer chips.According to several supercomputerexperts in US,Shanghai microprocessors are based on the same principles that are favoured by Intels most advanced microprosserors.  

                    The supes computes draws only 1 megawatt of power which is a very small amount compared to Chinas Tianhe super computer(fastest in the world)which consumes 4 megawatt and the Jaguar which consumes 7 megawatt. It also has an elobrate water cooling system ,which is very important.

                    

WORLD POPULATION EXCEEDED SEVEN BILLION

Danica May Camacho

Baby Nargis

     The world population is the total number of living humans on our planet, as of today, it is estimated to be 6.972 billion by the United States Census Bureau.But according the United Nations, it now exceeds 7 billion.The seventh billionth person was Baby Nargis ,born in Uttar Pradesh in India,and Danica May Camacho.
     At the present rates india is thought to overtake China in population and become the nation with the largest population, which puts an enormous pressure on the developing superpower's precious national resources.    

PLUTO MIGHT COME BACK

There is a chance that Pluto might get back the status of a planet ,or atleast the status of ninth largest body that orbits the Sun. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union downgraded pluto to a dwarf planet due to the discovery of a larger dwarfplanet in 5th January 2005,later named Eris. But now when it passed over a star ,a telescope in Chile got a very clear picture of it which prooved that ,it is a bit smaller than Pluto.