“It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next 100 years, let alone next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet.”
AUSSIES GO DOWN UNDER; CAUGHT CHEATING
CRICKET// The disgraced Australian duo of Steve Smith and David Warner was banned from cricket for 12 months over a balltampering scandal that rocked the sport and dragged their side’s reputation through the mud. While Warner, who was the vicecaptain of the Australian team, will not be considered ever for the leadership role of the national team, Smith and Cameron Bancroft would not be picked for captaincy until a minimum of 12 months after the end of their suspensions, Cricket Australia said in a statement. All three players will also be required to undertake 100 hours of voluntary service in community cricket.
Smith and Warner have also been ejected from this year’s Indian Premier League, losing contracts worth up to $2 million each. Cricket Australia suspended Smith and Warner from “all international and domestic cricket” while opening batsman Bancroft was slapped with a nine-month ban.
However, the CA statement said all three players involved in the ball-tampering incident during the third Test in South Africa will be ‘permitted’ and ‘encouraged’ to play club cricket. Smith was charged with knowledge of a potential plan ‘to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball’ but Warner was charged with developing the plan. Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the board had imposed ‘significant’ sanctions over the incident, in which Bancroft used a strip of yellow sticky tape to pick up dirt and illegally roughen one side of the ball to generate more swing for Australia's bowlers. ‘I am satisfied that the sanctions in this case properly reflect a balance between the need to protect the integrity and reputation of the game and the need to maintain the possibility of redemption for the individuals involved, all of whom have learned difficult lessons through these events,’ Sutherland said. Smith, Warner and Bancroft have been sent home from South Africa but coach Darren Lehmann remains in charge because Cricket Australia says he was unaware of the plot to alter the ball's condition.
DEADLINE FOR LINKING AADHAAR WITH WELFARE SCHEMES EXTENDED TO JUNE 30
LAW// The deadline for linking bank accounts and mobile phone numbers with 12-digit biometric identifier Aadhaar has already been extended indefinitely, till the five-judge constitution bench delivers its judgment on petitions challenging the validity of the biometric scheme and the enabling law.
The 31 March deadline for citizens to link their Aadhaar number to nearly 150 welfare schemes and services including pensions, rations and mid-day meals has been extended by three months, the government ordered last month. The extension comes just days after the central government, already under fire from privacy campaigners, gave people time till 30 June to link their 12-digit Aadhaar number with their Permanent Account Number. The fresh order comes just days after the Supreme Court declined to extend the deadline for welfare schemes, a decision that was widely criticised by rights campaigners because the court had given a reprieve to people for linking a range of services including bank accounts. The court has to decide but till it decides on whether the government's demand for Aadhaar to be linked to private and public services is a violation of the right to privacy, the 12-digit unique number given to each citizen does not have to be linked to other services.
The Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI, that runs the Aadhaar programme, had directed departments to give people time to get themselves an Aadhaar number and link it to various welfare schemes. Government sources said these directives were primarily aimed at field level offices and departments that have been known to go on an overdrive and deny benefits to people.
SAFFRON SWEEP IN NORTHEAST
ELECTIONS// The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party has, along with its partners, won elections in the three northeastern states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura that held state elections recently. With these wins, the BJP and its partners run governments in 21 out of 29 Indian states in addition to running the central government from Delhi.
This is something that has not happened for the last 40 years. The BJP was, until a few years ago, not in power in any of the eight North Eastern states. Since 2016, though, when it won elections in the state of Assam, the BJP has focused on increasing its presence in the North East.
Tripura: A new team after 25 years Tiny Tripura has had the Communist party in power for 25 years – for 20 of those years, between 1998 and 2018, the government was led by Manik Sarkar. The BJP toppled him in this election. The reason for Sarkar’s fall was that the people of Tripura wanted a government that could create jobs for people. Many young people were dissatisfied with the Communist government as they felt there were no opportunities in the state.
Meghalaya: A new local team A local political party in the state called the National People’s Party fought the elections alone, and against the ruling Congress. It came second, but because the Congress didn’t get a majority on its own (at least half the seats), the NPP was able to partner with other local parties and the BJP to form a government.
Nagaland: A new party with an old face In Nagaland, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party formed the government along with the BJP. The party is a new one and was formed only last year, but it is an offshoot of the Naga People’s Front which ruled the state between 2013 and 2018. The win will bring back Neiphiu Rio as the Chief Minister of Nagaland for the fourth time.
Wrestler Navjot Kaur wins gold
Wrestler Navjot Kaur became the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold at the Asian Championship when she beat Japan’s Miya Imai in the 65 kilogram wrestling final. Kaur was in command of the bout (that is what a game of wrestling is called) all along and won 9-1 against Imai. It was an incredible comeback for Kaur who had a serious back injury a few years ago.
NASA PLANS HAMMER SPACECRAFT TO PROTECT EARTH
ASTRONOMY// An asteroid hit on Earth is one of the dangers faced by our planet as it orbits around the Sun. If large enough, an asteroid could damage or even end life on Earth. To protect Earth from such danger, United States space agency NASA has drawn up plans for the ‘HAMMER’ spacecraft that could re-direct or blow up a dangerous asteroid.
A large number of asteroids are seen in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Though plenty of asteroids have struck Earth, most have been too small to do damage. But a large one potentially can-it was one such that may have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The asteroid that has scientists worried is called ‘Bennu’ and it is circling the Sun at over 100,000 kilometres per hour. It is now at a safe distance of 54 million miles away from Earth. Although there is little risk it could hit Earth, it is still considered a Near Earth Object or NEO that could hit Earth with three times more energy than all nuclear weapons detonated throughout history, say scientists.
To ensure Earth’s safety from Bennu and other asteroids in the future, NASA has drawn up plans to build the HAMMER (stands for Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response) spacecraft. This will be an eight tonne spaceship that will be capable of re-directing a giant space rock. It will also have the capability to blow up the asteroid if needed. Since it will take over seven years to get HAMMER ready to face-off against the asteroid, we will need to be prepared ahead of time to take one on.
INDIA LIFT NIDAHAS TROPHY
CRICKET// India snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to beat Bangladesh in the finals of the Nidahas Trophy played last Sunday in Sri Lanka. It was a tri-nation T20 tournament featuring India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Facing off against Bangladesh in the final, India were set a target of 166 runs to score in their 20 overs. In the second last over with India placed at 133 for 5, and needing 34 runs from 12 balls, it looked like Bangladesh would pull off a much sought after victory over India. But that was before wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik changed the game. In the first three balls he faced, Karthik scored two sixes and a four. In the final over, India needed five runs from the last ball and Karthik closed the game with a six that won the tournament for India.
Not surprisingly, he was named ‘Man of the Match’ while young Indian spin bowler Washington Sundar was named ‘Man of the Series’.
Like playing at home
When India took the field against Bangladesh, it must have felt like a home game rather than an ‘away’ one with the kind of crowd support that it got from the Sri Lankan crowd. The reason behind this was a fight that broke out between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh teams during an earlier match. As they say ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ and the Sri Lankans turned up in strength to cheer for the men in blue.
CHINA’S PRESIDENT TO STAY ON FOREVER?
CHINA// China’s parliament is all set to pass laws that will make Xi Jinping China’s President for a long time to come. Else, he would have had to retire in 2023.
Under Chinese law, a President and Vice-President can serve two five year terms. Now, the Communist Party of China has proposed to make a change in the law that limits people to two five year terms. Xi Jinping, who has been President of China since 2013, has just started his second term.
China follows a single party system-the country has one major political party called the Communist Party and they have been in power since 1949. The country is run as a dictatorship with the President calling all the shots.
Xi Jinping, who is the son of one of the founders of the Communist Party, has become one of the most powerful figures in Chinese history. Not since Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, has the country seen such a powerful leader.
Jinping has been fighting against corruption in China and has also been trying to make it easier for Chinese companies to grow quickly. However, since he took over, freedom of speech has become an even rarer commodity in China, and he is also accused of severely punishing those who speak against him or the government.
THE WORLD’S LAST MALE WHITE RHINO DIES
DEATH// Sudan, the last remaining male Northern White Rhino died a few days ago in Kenya. He died of poor health. Sudan, who was 45, lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. He was put to sleep on Monday after age-related complications made his health take a turn for the worse. His death leaves only two females- his daughter and granddaughter-of the subspecies alive in the world. The Northern White Rhino is a sub-species of the White Rhino which itself is one of the five types of rhinos left in the wild. The White Rhinoceros consists of two sub-species: the Southern White Rhino and the much rarer and critically endangered Northern White Rhino.
The population of the Northern White Rhinos in the African countries of Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad was largely wiped out by poachers during the 1970s and 1980s. Poaching was driven by demand for rhino horn for use in traditional Chinese medicine, and for dagger handles in Yemen.
STEPHEN HAWKING (1942-2018)
DEATH// World renowned physicist Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of March 14, 2018. He was 76 years old at the time of his death.
The British scientist was famed for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including A Brief History of Time.
Born in England, Stephen Hawking was just 21 years old when he found out that he had a rare form of motor neurone disease that made his muscles extremely weak. Told that he had just two years left to live, Hawking beat the odds and continued to live and work in the field of science for more than 50 years. The disease left Hawking paralyzed and using a wheelchair for mobility. He was able to move only a few fingers on one hand and was completely dependent on others or on technology for virtually everything —bathing, dressing, eating, even speech. Hawking used a speech synthesizer that allowed him to speak in a computerized voice with an American accent.
“I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many,” he wrote on his website. “I have been lucky that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.”
Stephen Hawking showed how long, long ago, everything that now makes up our universe was packed into a singularity than finally exploded. That explosion was the Big Bang, the event that led to the creation of our universe, galaxies, stars, planets and eventually living creatures. Hawking went on to show that it was this expansion or inflation that created the universe as we know it-this was a massive change from previously held ideas of an eternal, unchanging universe.
One of Hawking’s most recent ideas was about the future of planet Earth. Hawking firmly believed that, in order for the human race to survive, we needed to colonize Mars or some other planet. The reason? Hawking thought that climate change would make life impossible on our planet. He said last year, “We have given our planet the disastrous gift of climate change... When we have reached similar crises there has usually been somewhere else to colonize... But there is no new world, no utopia around the corner,” he said. “We are running out of space, and the only places to go to are other worlds.”
Some of Hawking’s most important work revolves around the idea of ‘singularity’. To understand this, let’s first take a look at black holes. A black hole is what remains after a star, has burnt itself out. Once the star runs out of energy, it starts to collapse inwards due to the force of gravity. Gravity is the force that pulls us towards an object. For example, it is the gravity of the Earth that keeps us on the planet’s surface.
The gravitational pull of the dying star is so strong that it sucks everything into itmuch like a whirlpool. Stephen Hawking was one of the first to explain that, at the centre of a black hole, gravity is so strong that the normal ideas of space and time (the arrangement of the universe and the way time flows from second to second), stop operating. Such an occurrence is called a singularity. The gravitational pull of the black hole is so strong that no even light can escape from it, and is also sucked in. Therefore in a singularity, so much matter is crushed into such a small space and gravity becomes so unimaginably great, that the laws of physics stop working there.
Hawking was married twice. He and his first wife, Jane Wilde, wed when he was still a graduate student and remained together for 30 years before divorcing in 1995. Hawking was later married for 11 years to Elaine Mason, one of his former nurses.
He had at least 12 honorary degrees and was awarded the CBE in 1982. A CBE, or Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, is considered a major honor for a British citizen and is one rank below knighthood. Despite being a British citizen he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US's highest civilian honor, in 2009 by President Barack Obama.
In September 2016, Hawking joined 375 ‘concerned’ scientists in penning an open letter criticizing then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, citing the threat of climate change and blasting his push for the US to leave the Paris accord.
Fellow scientists hailed Hawking for his work and influence in the field.
“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today,” Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement. “He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humor inspired people across the world.”
“He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.”