Typhoon Fengshen forecast to move into eastern South China Sea

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Haikou, Oct 19 (IANS) Typhoon Fengshen, the 24th typhoon of the year, is expected to move into the eastern waters of the South China Sea around Sunday evening, with its intensity gradually strengthening, local authorities said.

The typhoon is forecast to reach peak intensity at the level of a severe tropical storm or typhoon, with wind speeds ranging from 30 to 35 metres per second, according to the meteorological bureau of south China’s Hainan Province, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Starting from Tuesday, influenced by a southward-moving cold front, the typhoon is expected to turn southwest over the northern waters of the South China Sea, moving toward the sea area southeast of Hainan Island while gradually weakening.

The meteorological bureau issued a Level IV maritime typhoon warning at 10.30 a.m. Sunday, while the Hainan provincial committee for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief has activated a Level IV maritime typhoon emergency response.

China has a four-tier emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe response.

On October 10, the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority said that heavy rains and floods triggered by Typhoon Matmo have left 15 people dead and eight others injured across northern and north-central Vietnam.

More than 225,000 houses were submerged and over 1,500 others severely damaged, while about 24,000 hectares of rice and other crops were inundated, it said. Nearly 587,000 livestock and poultry were killed or swept away.

The typhoon also caused serious disruptions to transportation, with 27 road sections blocked due to flooding and landslides, it added.

Power outages affected about 181,000 households, while telecommunications networks in several provinces remained partially disrupted, according to the agency.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Thursday directed ministries and agencies to actively support local authorities in overcoming the aftermath of Typhoon Matmo, Vietnam News Agency reported Friday.

–IANS

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‘Over 7,200 space mission tests have been completed’, says ISRO chief V. Narayanan

Kolkata, May 23 (IANS) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief V. Narayanan has said that 7,200 space mission tests have been completed as of now and 3,000 others are still pending by the Indian space agency, highlighting the importance of year 2025, which has been declared the “Gaganyaan” year.

V. Narayanan was speaking at an event in Kolkata on Thursday.

“This year is a very important year for us. We have declared it Gaganyaan year. Before sending the humans, we have planned three uncrewed missions and the first uncrewed mission is planned this year… Till date, more than 7,200 tests have been completed and about 3,000 tests are pending, work is going on 24 hours,” he said.

“…As you are aware, this year we had major achievements and accomplishments. On January 6, we rolled out one year’s worth of scientific data collected by the Aditya L1 spacecraft. You are all aware that Aditya L1 is one of its kind, and India is one of the four countries to have placed a satellite for studying the Sun. A vast wealth of scientific data was released to the scientific community on January 6. And on January 16, we had another very important and major accomplishment…,” the ISRO Chief told IANS.

The Gaganyaan Programme, approved in December 2018, envisages human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and establishing technologies required for a long-term Indian human space exploration endeavour.

V. Narayanan expressed his happiness over the completion of SpaDeX mission.

He asserted that ISRO “accounted for ten kilos of fuel to do this mission”.

He also told that a number of missions are planned in 2025 which includes a NASAISRO synthetic aperture radar satellite, which will be launched by India’s own launch vehicle.

“Today, we are happy to report that the SpaDeX mission has been successfully completed. We accounted ten kilos of fuel to do this mission, but we did it with only half the fuel and the rest of the fuel is available, and in the coming months, you will hear that a lot of experiments are planned… This year, a number of important missions are planned and there is going to be a NASA-ISRO synthetic aperture radar satellite and it will be launched by our own launch vehicle and we are going to have a commercial mission and a communication satellite for commercial aspects, which we are going to launch”, he added.

According to ISRO’s official website, the SpaDex mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission that uses two small spacecraft launched by PSLV to demonstrate in-space docking.

The ISRO chief said that by December 2025, the first uncrewed mission to be called as “Vyommitra”, followed by two uncrewed missions, will be launched by ISRO.

In contrast, the organisation targets the first human space flight by the first quarter of 2027.

“By December this year, there will be the first uncrewed mission, followed by two uncrewed missions, and we are targeting the first human space flight by the first quarter of 2027. In fact, almost every month this year, a launch is scheduled. The first uncrewed mission with a robot called ‘Vyommitra’ will be launched by the end of this year,” V. Narayanan told reporters.

–IANS

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Ramzan month deliberately chosen to hurt Muslims: Bengal CM

Kolkata, March 12 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday, made a highly sensitive statement on the floor of the Assembly when she claimed that the Ramzan month is being chosen deliberately by some people to hurt the Muslims.

“Ramzan month is being deliberately chosen by some to hurt the Muslims. But people from minority communities should be rest assured. The unity of all religions will prevail,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the House on the third day of the second round of Budget session of the Assembly here on Wednesday noon.

Tension prevailed on the floor of the House since Chief Minister Banerjee made an entry there, with Trinamool Congress legislators protesting against some “reportedly offensive” comments made by the Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, about the minority MLAs of the ruling Trinamool Congress while speaking to the mediapersons at the Assembly gate on Tuesday.

Even when the Chief Minister started speaking, her speech was disrupted by a heated and loud exchange of statements between the Trinamool Congress and BJP legislators.

At a time, Chief Minister Banerjee was heard accusing the BJP legislators of playing communal cards in politics.

“Humanity is the biggest lesson of religion. But you people always play the communal card in politics. Please do not exploit religion for narrow political gains. I am myself a Hindu. I do not need a certificate from you for that,” she said.

She also accused the BJP of insulting the tradition of Bengal.

“Please do not insult Bengal. Please do not try to divide Bengal in the name of religion. Why don’t you have Muslim candidates in elections? Almost 79 per cent of my party’s candidates in any election are Hindus. We also have an adequate number of women candidates. The crow is trying to pose as a peacock now,” the Chief Minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also launched a scathing attack against the Leader of Opposition but without directly naming the latter.

“It is better to ignore him (LoP Suvendu Adhikari). He joined Trinamool Congress realising that he had no future in Congress. After that he joined the BJP after creating confusion within Trinamool Congress. Very soon he will get joining request from any other party,” CM Banerjee said.

During his turn to speak, the Chief Whip of BJP’s Legislative Party in the Assembly, Shankar Ghosh, said that the Chief Minister chose to remain silent when many of her heavyweight Muslim Cabinet members attacked the Hindus regularly.

“No action is taken against such Ministers,” Ghosh said.

Later, the BJP legislators staged a walkout and sat in a sit-in protest at the gate of the Assembly led by the Leader of Opposition.

–IANS

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SC rejects music mastero Ilaiyaraaja’s plea to shift copyright suit from Bombay to Madras HC

New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by renowned music composer Ilaiyaraaja’s company seeking to transfer a copyright dispute involving over 500 of his musical works from the Bombay High Court to the Madras High Court.

The plea was filed by Ilaiyaraaja Music N Management Pvt Ltd (IMMPL), which is facing a civil suit initiated by Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt Ltd in the Bombay High Court in 2022.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justices Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria heard the matter and declined to grant the transfer, allowing the case to continue in Mumbai.

At the core of the dispute is the copyright ownership of 536 musical works composed by Ilaiyaraaja, one of India’s most celebrated music directors, whose body of work spans more than 7,500 songs across 1,500 films.

Sony Music has claimed rights over these compositions through a chain of assignments — first from Echo Recording Company, then to Oriental Records, and eventually to Sony. Ilaiyaraaja’s company, IMMPL, had approached the Supreme Court arguing that 310 out of the 536 works are already the subject of proceedings before the Madras High Court, stemming from a suit filed in 2014 by Ilaiyaraaja against Echo Recording.

In that suit, Ilaiyaraaja had challenged Echo’s copyright claims and asserted his own moral and economic rights under the Copyright Act.

The Madras High Court had granted interim relief in 2015 and, in a 2019 judgment, ruled that while Echo retained rights over the sound recordings, Ilaiyaraaja continued to hold special and moral rights over the musical compositions.

It also noted that a 2007 assignment made by Ilaiyaraaja’s late wife to Agi Music had expired in 2012.

Following the 2019 ruling, Echo transferred its catalogue to Oriental Records, which subsequently entered into a rights agreement with Sony Music. Based on this acquisition, Sony filed the suit in Bombay in January 2022, seeking to restrain IMMPL from using the 536 works.

IMMPL argued that the Bombay proceedings were largely duplicative of the pending case in Madras and warned of the potential for conflicting judgments. It also pointed out that the Madras proceedings were at an advanced stage, while the Bombay case was still in its early phase.

Further, IMMPL stated that it operates solely out of Chennai and has no business presence in Mumbai. Despite these submissions, the Supreme Court declined to interfere and dismissed the transfer petition, paving the way for the Bombay High Court to proceed with the case.

–IANS

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