POLITICS | US President Donald Trump to Talk to PM Modi Over the Phone Today

Newly inaugurated President of the United States will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone today, according to reports from the White House.

The telephonic meet is scheduled at 1 p.m. Washington DC time, which according to IST is 11:30 p.m.

With this, Mr. Modi will be the fifth foreign leader the U.S President would have spoken with over the phone after being sworn in to presidency on January 20.

Also, Mr. Modi was among the first few world leaders to have congratulated Mr. Trump on his victory in the presidential polls.

During his election campaign, Mr. Trump, in an address to Indian- Americans in Edison, New jersey, had said, "Under a Trump administration, we are going to become even better friends. In fact, I would take the term better out, and we would be best friends."

"We are going to have a phenomenal future together," he had added.

SCIENCE | A Hundred- and- three Satellites At Once: ISRO's Next Launch Mission

In 2014, Russia's Dnepr rocket- a transformed inter-continental ballistic missile- successfully launched 37 satellites into orbit in one go- a feat that to this date holds the record of launching the most satellites at once. Hopefully, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is taking long, confident strides to dethrone Russia and claim the record by launching 100 foreign and 3 native satellites in a single launch this February.

With ISRO’s trusted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) serving as the platform for the launch, the Indian space agency looks all set to give a cutting edge to its image over its competitors, and to come out  as a reliable satellite launch service.

As for how the satellites will be launched into space,  Dr. K. Sivan, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, had a convincing explanation to give:

The satellites will be separated from the launch vehicle in different directions. The separation angle and the time of separation will be such that no satellite will collide with the other.

Supposing that a satellite dispatched from the launch vehicle has a relative velocity of 1 metre  per second, it can be calculated that after 1,000 seconds the distance between the satellite and the rocket will be 1,000 metres. The satellite that gets launched first will move at a relatively faster velocity than the satellite that is to be launched next. This difference in relative velocities of the satellites will consequently lead to a continuous increment in the distance between the satellites, while the orbit remains unchanged.

Also, it becomes important that the team wait for the disturbances to subdue once the vehicle has reached orbital condition and before the preparation for separation begins.

As for the time, it would take 90 minutes for the vehicle to complete one orbit at an orbital altitude of about 500 kilometres. That gives the team sufficient time to launch all the 103 satellites.

Moreover, the difference of even 1 degree in the separation angle coupled with relative velocity will nullify the chances of collision between any two satellites. The satellites will be injected into orbit at different locations, at different angles, different times and with different orientations.

The launch, scheduled for February, will be a significant event for space scientists, mainly for those in the Indian space industry. If all goes well, which we truly hope it does, ISRO will ultimately garner the attention it requires for its expansion.

WOMEN'S MARCH | Photo Gallery

Saturday's Women's March saw groundbreaking participation as people from all walks of life thronged the streets across the globe (mainly across America) to promote women's rights, immigration reforms, and health care reforms, besides representing their stand against Islamophobia, rape culture, and LGBT abuse as well as addressing racial inequities, workers' issues and environmental issues.

The rallies were largely seen as protests against Donald Trump, the recently- inaugurated President of the United States, and his various statements which have been deemed as anti- women and racial.

Here are some photos from some of the rallies that constituted the Women's March, featuring some well known faces who took time to actively participate in the marches.

Bollywood actress Radhika Apte was also a participant in Saturday's Women's March.
She shared some photos of the rally on her Instagram profile.

Emily Sears dons a T- shirt reading, "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

A little girl holds upright a placard reading, "GRRRLS will change the world"

Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo participated in the rally in Manhattan,
highlighting some powerful opinions like these

Two women hug each other during Saturday's Women's March while holding a poster
that says, "WE THE PEOPLE ARE GREATER THAN FEAR"

The text on the board reads, "The end of patriarchy is nigh"

Cardboards and placards bearing strong words against patriarchy were a common sight
in Saturday's Women's March

Actor Mark Ruffalo displays a borrowed poster which reads, "99 PROBLEMS AND THIS BITCH IS ONE"
probably referring to the recently inaugurated president, we suppose.

Posters reading "WE THE RESILIENT HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE"
were widely circulated in the marches besides other similar ones

Reports have suggested that over a million people participated in the Women's March from all over the world. This, undoubtedly deserves much appreciation.

That being said, following the successful implementation of the march, and keeping in mind that the issues that the event addressed are ideas that can't be brought about in a transforming manner overnight, the question that arises is this: What next?

Well, we say, it's something that has to be determined by people who so energetically came out in support of this peaceful procession to support the ideas of righteousness and equality.

WATCH | Ellen DeGeneres' Emotional Video Tribute to Barack and Michelle Oabama

Ellen DeGeneres paid a heartwarming tribute to now former President of the United States, Barack Obama in a 5- minute long video she published on YouTube on Obama's last day of holding office.

In the video, Ellen can be seen thanking Mr. Obama for standing up for the LGBT rights when in power, saying, "“I am a happily married woman because of him. And so is my wife!”

During his time in office, Mr. Obama had visited The Ellen Show twice, besides appearing in several live link- ups with the show. 

The video also shows Ellen engaged in various hilarious moments with Michelle Obama including the time when Mrs. Obama went shopping with the talk show host and the latter took a megaphone to ask an entire store if they had a cream for the First Lady's rash.

Earlier, Mr. Obama had called Ellen a "role model" for coming out openly as a lesbian in the late '90's. During the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony, the former president also said that Ellen "reminds us that we have more in common than we realise”.

He then continued to say, “It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago. Just how important it was, not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us to see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor, or our colleague, or our sister, challenge our own assumptions. Remind us that we have more in common than we realize. Push our country in the direction of justice. 

“What an incredible burden that was to bear, to risk your career like that.”

Barack Obama ended his term as President of the United States on 20th January, 2017 at 12 PM, Washington D.C time.

TECHNOLOGY | Samsung to Announce Cause of Galaxy Note 7 Fire on January 23

Samsung Electronics said today that it will announce the reason for the overheating and fire issues in its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on Monday, January 23.

The announcement will be live- streamed in Chinese, English and Korean on its websites. Koh Dong-jin, Samsung’s mobile president, will give details of the probe.

The Galaxy Note 7 proved to be a fiasco for the world’s largest smartphone maker. Eventually, Samsung had to recall and discontinue it's distribution after reports of the smartphone overheating and bursting into flames flooded their customer service forums.

Initially, Samsung has revealed that a small error in the manufacturing process for some of the batteries in the phones had been detected.

Earlier, Samsung had even replaced the phones with a new battery but even those phones faced overheating and caught fire. This prompted Samsung to pull the phones away from the market, an action that cost Samsung at least USD 5 billion.

The announcement comes after a South Korean court dismissed yesterday a request by prosecutors to arrest Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

Lee, the conglomerate’s heir and de facto head, is under investigation for alleged bribery in connection with an influence-peddling scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

Report: The Hindu

PHOTOBLOG | A Glimpse Through the Lenses of a Budding Photographer

Howdy!

It's been a while since we last posted a photography blog featuring shutterbugs who are still under the learning process.

Today, we come back with yet another series of stunning landscapes, and beautiful portraits from a learner whose photographs have been featured by us earlier too.

READ: PHOTOBLOG: Some Vividly Captured Photographs Through the Lens of a Lesser Known Photographer

So, without further ado, allow us to give you a glimpse of beauty through the lenses of Anubhav Jamuar!

1. My shadow and i have always been on a journey; wherever I go, it follows. (Kainchi Dham, Uttarakhand)

2. Holding the wisps of a dream.





3. Buy me merry companions, and I shall be a happy man.

4. Through the glass will always shine, a smile returned from a friend of mine! (Rishikesh)



























5. Strips of concrete amidst a sea of green. (Enroute to Shimla)





6. I dwell upon my own reflections. (Kainchi Dham)

7. Meandering through the mountains cloaked in green. (Shimla)





8. Looking back to adventures past. (Kalka)





9. Life is beautiful from up top (Bheemtal)





10. ...Especially when the mountains light up (Shimla)






11. ...and the birds gather for their evening songs. (Shimla)

The photographer is a Mass Communication student in Delhi, hailing from the town of Wasseypur. He carries his passion for photography as a small- scale business and through a regularly updated Facebook page.

All images are subjected to copyright under 

Jamuar Photography curated and managed by 

Anubhav Jamuar.

NEWS | Militant Killed, Policeman Injured In Bandipora

A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant was killed and a policeman injured during an anti-militancy operation in north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Thursday.

Preliminary reports suggest that militants opened fire when a village was cordoned off in Bandipora's Hajin area, around 30 km away from Srinagar, in the wee hours.

A police official said one LeT militant, identified as Musaib, was killed in the exchange of fire. "Another militant is believed to have escaped the site," police sources said.

One personnel of the police's Special Operation Group was also injured. The injured policeman has been hospitalised.

Of late, security agencies are witnessing a heightened militant activity in Sumbal Sonamarg in north Kashmir.


Report: The Hindu