Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Strongest solar storm in seven years bombarding earth

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The sun is bombarding earth with radiations from the biggest solar storm since 2005, which are heading towards our planet at 93 million miles per hour, experts say.

The solar flare took place at around 11pm Eastern Time on Sunday and will hit earth with three different effects at three different times.

The main issue is radiation, which is mostly a concern for satellite disruptions and astronauts in space. It can cause communication problems for polar-travelling aeroplanes, experts asserted.

Radiation from Sunday's flare arrived at Earth an hour later and will most likely continue through until Wednesday, experts said.

Space weather centre physicist Doug Biesecker insisted that levels are considered strong but other storms have been harsher.

NASA's flight surgeons and solar experts examined the solar flare's expected effects, the Daily Mail reported.

According to Antti Pulkkinen, a physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Catholic University, a solar eruption is followed by a one-two-three punch.

First comes electromagnetic radiation, followed by radiation in the form of protons. Then, ultimately the coronal mass ejection - that is the plasma from the sun itself - hits.

Biesecker said that normally it travels at about 1 or 2 million miles per hour, but this storm is particularly speedy and is shooting out at 4 million miles per hour.

US defends TV host's 'satirical' comments on Golden Temple

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The US has come to the defence of US television host Jay Leno and said the visual of Golden Temple in Amritsar during "The Tonight Show" was a "satirical" reference to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vacation home.

While the US had "absolute respect" for the people of India, including Sikhs, "The Tonight Show" host's comments "are constitutionally protected in the United States under free speech", State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday.

The US, she said, had so far "had not had any communications from the Indian government" on the controversial comments that have angered the Sikh community in the US which has launched an online petition against Leno.

Asked about the US government's stand on the issue, Nuland said: "Well, I think that Mr. Leno would be appreciative - I hope he'll be appreciative - if we make the point that his comments are constitutionally protected in the United States under free speech, and frankly, they appear to be satirical in nature."

"But from a US official government perspective, we have absolute respect for all the people of India, including Sikhs here, there," she said.

Noting that President Barack Obama was the first president ever to host a celebration in honour of the first Sikh guru Guru Nanak, Nuland said "our view is, obviously, that Sikh Americans have contributed greatly to the United States".

Visiting Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi had Sunday asked the Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao to take up with the State Department the issue, featured on Leno's show Thursday.

"It is quite unfortunate and quite objectionable that such a comment has been made after showing the Golden Temple," Ravi told Indian reporters here.

"The Golden Temple is Sikh community's most sacred place. Even our prime minister went there for praying in the New Year. I believe that the person who has shown it is not that ignorant. The American government should also look at this kind of thing," Ravi had said.

World's first ever cannabis-based prescription drug to hit US stores

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A British company is conducting landmark trials which could see medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself making their way to American pharmacy shelves.

GW Pharma is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents -- a mouth spray it hopes to market in the US as a treatment for cancer pain.



The firm hopes to receive US government approval by the end of next year.

The trials come a quarter of a century after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Sativex contains marijuana's two best known components -- delta 9-THC and cannabidiol -- and has already been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

FDA approval would represent an important milestone in the United States' often uneasy relationship with marijuana.


Kate Middleton's vacation puts island on lockdown

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It has long been an idyllic retreat for the rich and famous -- so you wouldn't think the presence of Royalty would cause a stir.


Family fun: Other than Pippa, Kate is joined by her mother Carole,
father Michael and brother James. File pic

But the arrival of Kate and her family on the privately owned island of Mustique has upset fellow holidaymakers.
Heightened security measures to ensure Kate's privacy mean the Mustique Company, which owns the Caribbean island, is restricting the movements of other guests. Tourists have been told that if they wish to dine at one of the island's two hotels they must travel in a vehicle provided by the venue.

They are banned from using the rented mules -- the island's fleet of souped-up golf carts -- in case they try to take pictures at the Middleton family's Aurora villa, featuring its own plunge pool and a stunning ocean view.

There have also been reports of guests being quizzed by security men while walking on the beach.

One local millionaire said: "This isn't exactly the way one expects to be treated when you pay very good money to visit the most exclusive island in the Caribbean."

Kate's party includes her parents Michael and Carole, sister Pippa and younger brother James. Prince William is expected to join them shortly.


Sikhs furious at Jay Leno's temple gag

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India objects to US TV host's joke saying Golden Temple is summer home for US presidential candidate Mitt Romney

US chat show host Jay Leno is facing a furious backlash from the Sikh community after using an image of the Golden Temple for a political joke.

The Leno gag showed the temple as the summer home of US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Romney has faced taxation questions over his huge wealth and many Sikhs are angry the temple has been depicted as a place for the rich.


Divine comedy: Indian Sikhs have filed a petition after taking strong
objection to his gag where he compares the holy shrine to Mitt Romney's
summer home. File pic/afp

The Sikh community has launched an online petition and an Indian minister called the comments 'objectionable'.
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said, "It is quite unfortunate and quite objectionable that such a comment has been made after showing the Golden Temple."

Ravi said the Indian embassy would take up the matter with the US state department.

He said, "The Golden Temple is the Sikh community's most sacred place... The American government should also look at this kind of thing . Freedom does not mean hurting the sentiments of others... This is not acceptable to us and we take a very strong objection for such a display."

The skit appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC television on 19 January.

The online petition organised by members of the US Sikh community says Leno has been guilty of derogatory comments on Sikhs before. It adds that "Jay Leno's racist comments need to be stopped right here".

Petition signatory Simran Kaur said, "Jay Leno must apologise and promise not to make any direct or oblique references to Sikhs or their places of worship."

Leno has not yet commented on the matter.

Romney has been criticised by rival presidential candidates over his reluctance to release taxation records, which will reveal his earnings and the taxes he pays.

On Sunday he agreed to release his income tax records for 2010 and estimates for 2011.


Rushdie cites threats to life, calls off Jaipur visit

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Will he, won't he? The guessing game is over with Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses", saying he had called off his visit to the Jaipur Literary Festival after intelligence sources told him that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld were out to kill him.


Salman Rushdie. Pic/AFP

"For the last several days I have made no public comment about my proposed trip to Jaipur at the request of the authorities in Rajasthan, hoping that they would put in place such precautions as might be necessary to allow me to come and address the Festival audience in circumstances that were comfortable and safe for all," Rushdie said in a statement read out by the organisers of the festival here.

"I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to 'eliminate' me," he said.

Sounding unhappy with the scare perception that has grown after his visit became an issue for Muslim fundamentalists in the country of his birth, Rushdie said: "While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the Festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience, and to my fellow writers.

"I will therefore not travel to Jaipur as planned."

Rushdie's announcement robbed the festival of some of its hype. A protest planned by Islamic groups outside the venue in the morning protesting Rushdie's visit was called off at the last moment.

Rushdie's proposed visit to Jaipur had also acquired political overtones in view of elections in five states in India.

With elections in Uttar Pradesh, where around 20 million Muslims comprise nearly 18 percent of the population, the issue gained centrestage with the government appearing to give into pressure from fundamentalists for fear of antagonising the Muslim voters.

Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" has been excoriated by many Muslims across the world and in India on grounds that it contains derogatory references to Prophet Muhammad.

The organisers of the festival pitched for freedom of expression but had to reconcile itself to the absence of Rushdie, easily the mega attraction of the show.

Around 208 top line authors, 150 performers and nearly 2,000 people, jostled for space on the manicured lawns of the Diggi Palace in the pink city where the festival opened Friday morning.

Queen mother of Bhutan, Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuk, chief guest at the inauguration ceremony, joined the co-directors of the festival Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple and producers Sanjoy Roy and Seuli Sethi to set the stage for four days of literature.

"The right to expression sets us apart. Everyone stands up for this right," Roy said.

Dalrymple said the festival this year had drawn all genres of literary personas from leading playwrights, military historians to short story writers..."

The festival this year features celebrity Oprah Winfrey, leading playwright Tom Stoppard and novelists like Michael Ondaatje and Ben Okri and is hosting sessions on core literature, politics, subcontinent and frontline accounts from the Arab Spring and around Asia.

Besides, a bulk of the festival is devoted to Bhakti and Sufi poetry and Bhasa literature.

The queues at the venue were serpentine since morning and every visitor had to register their presence and pass through a three-tier security cordon to enter the venue.
Posted by Harshad at 7:32 AM

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