54 The selloff picked pace after the World Health Organization (WHO), late Wednesday night, termed the the new coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, and expressed deep concern over the "alarming levels of inaction".Besides selloff in global equities, massive plunge in international oil prices and depreciating rupee added to investor concerns, they added.The new coronavirus that first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year has claimed over 4,200 lives and infected more than 117,330 people across 107 countries and territories.75 points, or 4.In the previous session, the 30-share BSE barometer settled 62.On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,515.All Sen*** components were trading in the red.86 in morning session.38 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 2,835.29 per cent and Tokyo cracked up to 5.50 against US dollar in morning session.The rupee too plunged 82 paise to 74..Incessant foreign fund outflow also spooked market participants, traders said.63 per cent, lower at 34,044.95 points or 0.Similarly, the NSE Nifty cracked 486.46 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

The 30-share index was trading 1,652.Brent crude oil futures plunged over 5 per cent to USD 34 per barrel, after the travel ban. Tata Steel was the top loser, tanking up to 9 per cent, followed by ONGC, SBI, Titan, Axis Bank, M&M, UltraTech Cement, L&T and Reliance Industries.Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai dropped over 1.66 per cent, Seoul 4.40.65 per cent, to 9,971.45 points or 0.18 per cent higher at 35,697.65.Continuing its downward spiral, domestic BSE Sen*** sank 1,821.32 per cent.Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sen*** plummeted over 1,800 points and the broader Nifty gave up the 10,000 level in opening session loose-leaf notebook for sale on Thursday as worsening rout in world markets, after WHO declared coronavirus a pandemic, flared up fears of a global economic recession.07 per cent up at 10,458.34 per cent, Hong Kong 3.Following the announcement, US President Donald Trump suspended all travel from Europe, excluding the UK, to the US for the next 30 days to stop the spread of the virus.27 points at open.40, and the Nifty closed 6.In overnight trade, US equity benckmarks also plunged nearly 5 per cent, intensifying the global rout. China remains the hardest-hit with over 80,000 infections and 3,000 deaths.According to traders, volatility peaked in global markets after WHO's announcement describing the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.

Now, we can literally see the Milky Way with new eyes," she added.". The Sun lies only 500 light-years from the Wave at its closest point."Studying stellar births is complicated by imperfect data.The wave consists of stellar nurseries that have been previously thought to form a part of the &China sticker notepad suppliers39;Gould's Belt', which is a band of star-forming regions and is believed to have an orientation around the Sun in a circular or ring-like fashion. But determining how much mass the clouds have, how large they are -- has been difficult, because these properties depend on how far away the cloud is.Using the new data researchers recently augmented these techniques, which dramatically improves the ability of astronomers for measuring the distances to star-forming regions.The study was enabled through a relatively new analysis of data from the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft which was launched in 2013 along with the mission of precisely measuring the distance, position, and motion of the stars."Gould and Herschel both observed bright stars forming in an arc projected on the sky, so for a long time, people have been trying to figure out if these molecular clouds actually form a ring in 3D," said another researcher, Joao Alves. The work which was led by the researcher Zucker has been published in the Astrophysical Journal."We don't know what causes this shape but it could be like a ripple in a pond as if something extraordinarily massive landed in our galaxy," said Alves. So, to create an accurate map of our solar neighborhood, we combined observations from space telescopes like Gaia with astrostatistics, data visualization, and numerical simulations," said Zucker.

Agreeing to the claims by Zucker and Finkbeiner, Goodman said, "All of the stars in the universe, including our Sun, are formed in dynamic, collapsing, clouds of gas and dust."No astronomer expected that we live next to a giant, wave-like collection of gas -- or that it forms the Local Arm of the Milky Way," said the researcher, Alyssa Goodman. It passed by a festival of supernovae as it crossed Orion 13 million years ago, and in another 13 million years it will cross the structure again, sort of like we are 'surfing the wave," Alves added.The researchers combined the data from Gaia which was super-accurate, with other measurements for constructing a detailed, 3D map of interstellar matter in the Milky Way, and noticed an unexpected pattern in the # spiral arm which is closest to the Earth.According to the research which has been published in the journal - Nature - the wave structure is the largest ever seen in the galaxy and is made up of interconnected stellar nurseries.This discovery by the university transforms the 150-year-old vision of the nearby stellar nurseries as an expanding ring in one featuring a star-forming filament that reached trillions of miles below and above the galactic disk. The Wave's very existence is forcing us to rethink our understanding of the Milky Way's 3D structure," Goodman added.The researchers further discovered a thin, long structure, about 9,000 light-years long and 400 light-years wide, having a shape that of a wave, cresting 500 light-years above and below the mid-plane of our galaxy's disk.A long-standing challenge for astronomy and astronomers is disentangling structures that are present in the 'dusty' galactic neighbourhood."We suspected there might be larger structures that we just couldn't put in context."What we do know is that our Sun interacts with this structure."We pulled this team together so we could go beyond processing and tabulating the data to actively visualizing it -- not just for ourselves but for everyone.Astronomers from Harvard University have found the presence of a wave-shaped gaseous structure named 'Radcliffe Wave' in the Milky Way Galaxy."We were completely shocked when we first realized how long and straight the Radcliffe Wave is, looking down on it from above in 3D -- but how sinusoidal it is when viewed from Earth."Instead, what we've observed is the largest coherent gas structure we know of in the galaxy, organized not in a ring but in a massive, undulating filament.

The newly developed three-dimensional map shows Earth's galactic neighborhood in a new light, which gives researchers a revised view of the Milky Way and is also opening the door to some of the major discoveries. It's been right in front of our eyes all the time, but we couldn't see it until now," Alves added. We risk getting the details wrong because if you're confused about distance, you're confused about size," another researcher Finkbeiner said. In previous studies, a group of researchers mapped the three-dimensional distribution of dust using a vast survey of stars.

Yet, justice remained elusive for many families.V. Some of them were never to return.The police registered 2,267 riot cases, of which, 1,371 were closed as true but undetected. Naina Bane, who survived, became the “face” of the second phase of the riots. By the time I reached office, I heard on the radio that many people were killed.34 am, trouble was reported in South Mumbai. Naina’s brother Sudarshan said the party didn&calendar notepad for sale39;t even provide Naina with a house and all of them had to fend for themselves.. In 2007, 16 cases were expedited through special courts, while 93 dormant ones were revived.As Muslims poured out of the Mosque, the army officer in-charge asked us to leave quickly. Justice B. In 2010, 202 cases were sent to fast track courts, where some are still dragging on. Mere bete Shahnawaz Wagle ka abhi tak kuch faisla nahi hua pls.The legacy of the 1992-93 violence weighs heavily on Mumbai and a temple is not going to assuage its wounds.40 pm, local Shiv Sena leaders took out a cycle rally in Dharavi passing through several “sensitive” areas, culminating in a public meeting.

There are no memorials to the over 900 lives lost (officially) in the two # months of riots.The timber godowns burnt for days at Reay Road and every day brought renewed clashes. Ap Modi sarkar ya phir CM sahib se milkar Shahnawaz Wagle ka case open karne ke liye kuch raste nikale or pls koi faisla nikale (sic) (Happy Diwali, There is no justice in the case of my son ShahnawazWagle. After all, this was Bombay. That was when we realised that nearly 500 had been killed in December 1992 - the police figure were much lower as it depended on the number of post-mortems they did in a day.There was little indication that the violence would spiral out of control and spread over two months, with the army conducting flag marches. By 11. In long corridors or courtyard, yellowing bodies of young men were piling up, their religion no longer relevant.Wading through police logbook entries of wireless communications, he found trouble brewing in the city at various points.Back in 1992, it was a Sunday and I watched the Kar Sevaks climbing the Masjid on TV. I still recall the faces of the young boys, pale with fear. My Muslim neighbours watched with me.  Only 112 cases were reinvestigated. We left only after being acغير مجاز مي باشدted by groups of people who were in no mood to answer any questions.N.  Opposite The Times of India office, Victoria Terminus (now CSMT) was bursting with people fleeing in trains packed beyond capacity. The demolition of Babri Masjid became a pivot for unprecedented violence in the city, revealing the communal character of the police and the influence of parties like the Shiv Sena. But the Shiv Sena, which exhorted Hindus to take revenge, hardly supported the Bane family later.    The scale of violence that swept the city was massive: People were killed inside homes and shops; many were burnt to death in taxis or in public places; shops were looted and establishments belonging to Muslims were targeted. Two members of the Bane family and four of their neighbours, including a handicapped girl, were burnt to death at night. In 539 cases, the accused were acquitted or discharged. We had to get curfew passes to travel through desolate streets, and the city that never slept, was funereal. It was only in August 2007, when citizens groups demanded justice, that Taher was called to record his statement.  On the 25th anniversary of the riots in 2017, I got a mesغير مجاز مي باشدe from Taher Wagle. The first instances of stone throwing and firing was reported at Minara Masjid in Pydhonie, at night.”Shahnawaz was allegedly shot dead by policemen, according to his sister Yasmin. In only eight cases, fresh chargesheets were filed. At night, we would travel home in office cars for safety, passing tense neighbourhoods where evidence of the day's arson was still smouldering. At around 4. I remember hiding while hearing the short bursts of gunfire in a Vikhroli slum. “Happy Diwali. 

The violence is clear as daylight for some while others have moved on. A Special Task Force was formed to act on the Srikrishna report and the cases were re-examined by a committee headed by the director general of police. Some 894 chargesheets were filed in courts. Srikrishna, who headed the commission of inquiry into the riots, has in his reports outlined the beginning of tensions on December 6 and 7, 1992. As reporters, we visited and counted the dead in Cooper and JJ Hospital. Hospitals were packed with those injured from bullet and knife wounds. The riots changed the غير مجاز مي باشدmopolitan character of Bombay, sharpening the divide between Hindus and Muslims.The country’s oldest land dispute has been resolved today and a temple will be built at Ayodhya, but few will know about a case that continues in a Mumbai sessions court, related to the communal riots in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. A city, which had provided refuge to many, became a hell on earth. Can you meet PM Modi or the chief minister and ask him to find a way to open the case and do something).The barbaric violence had barely subsided in December when the infamous Gandhi chawl incident revived it in January 1993. Narasimha Rao’s whistle-stop tour. Even police jeeps had the “Jai Shree Ram” stickers on their windshields. I was a reporter at The Times of India. I remember the anger on Mohammed Ali Road after Prime Minister P.In the Suleman Usman bakery firing case, witnesses are still being examined.

Until now, the understanding of the galaxy’s shape had been based upon indirect measurements of celestial landmarks within the Milky Way and inferences from structures observed in other galaxies populating the universe.8 billion years ago.”The astronomers tracked the Cepheids using the Warsaw Telescope located in the Chilean Andes.“Cepheids are ideal to study the Milky Way for several reasons,” added University of Warsaw astronomer and study co-author Dorota Skowron. “Cepheid variables are bright supergiant stars and they are 100 to 10,000 times more luminous than the sun, so we can detect them on the outs******ts of our galaxy.. The new map was formulated using precise measurements of the distance from the sun to 2,400 stars called “Cepheid wall calendar for sale variables” scattered throughout the galaxy.“For the first time, our whole galaxy - from edge to edge of the disk - was mapped using real, precise distances,” said University of Warsaw astronomer Andrzej Udalski, co-author of the study published in the journal Science. The sun, located roughly 26,000 light years from the supermassive black hole residing at the center of the galaxy, formed about 4.The researchers on Thursday unveiled a three-dimensional map of the Milky Way - home to more than 100 billion stars including our sun - providing a comprehensive chart of its structure: a stellar disk comprised of four major spiral arms and a bar-shaped core region.The Milky Way began to form relatively soon after the Big Bang explosion that marked the beginning of the universe some 13. Each light year is about 6 trillion miles (9 trillion km).

These stars pulsate at regular intervals and can be seen through the galaxy’s immense clouds of interstellar dust that can make dimmer stellar bodies hard to spot. They are relatively young - younger than 400 million years - so we can find them near their birthplaces. The disk boasts a diameter of about 140,00 light years.5 billion years ago.The map showed that the galaxy’s disk, far from flat, is significantly warped and varies in thickness from place to place, with increasing thickness measured further from the galactic center.Astronomers have created the most precise map to date of the Milky Way by tracking thousands of big pulsating stars spread throughout the galaxy, demonstrating that its disk of myriad stars is not flat but dramatically warped and twisted in shape.

If Dhoni gets to play more balls during the middle overs against De Silva and score some runs, it will only boost his confidence.But that could be a bit unfair on Dinesh Karthik, who didn&Sewing Notebook for sale39;t get to face too many balls against Bangladesh in their last game..So they might have a lot to play for as a pole position and a possible semi-final against a New Zealand team on a downward spiral will be more welcoming than facing a dangerous England which is on an upswing. But with the top position on the points charts in line, Kohli may just be tempted to go with at least one of them if not both.Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Jeevan Mendis, Dhananjaya De Silva, Kasun Rajitha, Isuru Udana, Suranga Lakmal, Milinda Siriwardana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Thisara Perera, Avishka Fernando.In this backdrop, there cannot be a better opposition than Sri Lanka for Dhoni to check his bat swing at the death overs when Lasith Malinga will be firing in at the block-hole or bowl his variation of slower deliveries.Sri Lankan off-spinner Dhananjaya # de Silva has been pretty economical, going at sub-5 rate in the matches that he has played.Squads:India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav.

In all the matches so far, Dhoni has managed only 47 runs in 81 balls against the spinners, his widely accepted weakness against the slower bowlers during middle overs coming to the fore.Rohit has scored two ODI double hundreds against this attack and it will be intimidating for the likes of Isuru Udana. They will bank on Malinga's intelligence gathered from the Mumbai Indians dressing room to break the 'hitman code'.Vice-captain Rohit Sharma, with 544 runs that include record-equalling four tons, has been the stand-out player and skipper Virat Kohli, with five half-centuries and 400 plus aggregate, has also had a good World Cup but perhaps not exceptional by his standards.Vijay Shankar's replacement Mayank is already here but his best friend KL Rahul, with a couple of fifties, has ensured his place at the top of the order alongside Rohit, who would be gunning for a fifth World Cup hundred.The middle-order puzzle has remained unsolved and it has increasingly looked that Indian team management has been heavily dependent on Plan A, which is a success from their top-order.India's fast bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah (14) and well supported by Mohammed Shami (14 wickets), would have ideally liked some rest before semi-finals.No one more than captain Kohli will like his "guiding light" to succeed as his role will be immense should India remain in the competition for the final next Sunday. And it could turn out to be an interesting ploy if the former captain bats at number four, while the power hitters like Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya play their natural game down the order.Already assured of the second spot and a last-four spot, a win against Sri Lanka can take Virat Kohli's men to the top of the points table provided Australia lose their final game against the already ousted South Africa.Leeds: A wobbly middle order has been a cause of concern despite the winning run and India would be desperate for the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni to find some form ahead of the semifinal when they take on Sri Lanka in their last preliminary World Cup clash here Saturday.But the Sri Lanka game is also one such encounter where Indians can breathe a bit easy and check out some other combinations, including giving the fiery Ravindra Jadeja, some game time ahead of the last four clash.However, this could prompt Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri to bring back Kedar Jadhav in the middle-order for his off-breaks.Dimuth Karunaratne may fancy using his left-arm spinner Milinda Siriwardana knowing Dhoni's problems against slow left-arm orthodox bowlers.Kohli till now hasn't shown any inclination of pushing Dhoni up the order beyond number five.Jadeja is the only player, apart from the just joined Mayank Agarwal, who hasn't yet got a game but it is unlikely to happen considering there are too many left-handers in the Lankan line-up.

Today, I am a profoundly different being, unable to return to the ignorance of teenhood, and feel a deep connection with Afghans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and anyone else who has a commitment to speaking truth to power.Much has been made of the uncanny similarities between Pakistan’s ongoing Cricket World Cup campaign and the ultimately successful side captained by the current prime minister in 1992. Pakistan is of course home to arguably the biggest Afghan refugee population in the world, the status of which continues to engender substantial controversy in the Pakistani polity. Cue Imran Khan’s famous cornered tiger’s mantra. I was discovering my anti-establishment self, but I had as yet not been exposed to revisionist narratives of Pakistan’s political economy and history.But scaling up, the imperative of truth and reconciliation cannot be denied — our history books still require rewriting and there must be a serious reckoning with the exclusionary nature of official nationalism and Pakistan’s political economy more generally (both causes of the eastern wing’s secession).

A few wins later Pakistan were world champions. Yet for as long as this policy has remained intact, it has caused incredible pain and suffering to Afghans, and to generations of Pakhtuns on our own side of the Durand Line. Those who call for truth and reconciliation are right to reject a never-ending spiral of hate and suspicion.When Pakistan plays Afghanistan in the World Cup, perhaps such propaganda will subside for a few hours, and we can be reminded that healing is the only way for societies to move on from the realpolitiking of states. For me personally — and I daresay at least some others in this land of the pure — the fact that the World Soft Cover Notebook for sale Cup schedule has thrown up must-win matches with Afghanistan and Bangladesh engenders a gamut of emotions that transcend just a desire for victory.This too is a story full of pain and suffering, and successive generations of Bangladeshis have certainly imbibed their fair share of pain given that their country’s official historiography emphasises bloody national liberation. Large parts of the country remain in the throes of violence, after over four decades of virtually uninterrupted war.By arrangement with Dawn.In the days after the World Cup is over, we Pakistanis will not recall the games with Afghanistan and Bangladesh more than any other.That Afghanistan is playing a Cricket World Cup is itself a remarkable feat. We will celebrate a win, and lament a loss. The fact that social and corporate media alike are awash with conspiracy theories about foreign intelligence agencies — Afghan and otherwise — confirms that much has yet to change.Sadly, recent events suggest that young people who seek to move on from the history of endless war and indoctrination are still considered a threat to Pakistan’s “security”. One hopes that whatever happens, these two games kick-start a long process of healing that all players desperately need. It is remarkable that almost 50 years after the fact, the majority of Pakistanis — who were of course born long after the secession of the eastern wing — are virtually clueless about the shared histories of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and particularly what drove Bengali-majority East Pakistan to move on from the project of Pakistani nationhood. During the 1992 World Cup campaign, I was a teenager growing up as part of the Pakistani diaspora. We will know in a few days whether the current vintage will repeat the dose, but it is indicative of how far professional sport, cricket included, has evolved in the ensuing three decades that the teams Pakistan must beat to have a chance of winning the tournament are Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Most significantly, the establishment has long coveted so-called “strategic depth” in Afghanistan. The two countries weren’t even on the roster in 1992. It is another matter whether the moral force being exerted by brave and principled voices of peace in both Afghanistan and Pakistan will compel those who wield power to truly move on from the past.

Then too the team had a pretty dismal start and Pakistani fans had given up on it halfway through the tournament.And then there is Bangladesh. Many believe that our strategic planners have now abandoned the hare-brained desire to simulate a sovereign country as a fifth province.For most Pakistanis, it scarcely matters who we have to get past to keep the victory march alive. Yet ordinary Bangladeshis and Pakistan can find much common cause.

Whatever India will do, we will respond three times to that," the Pakistani minister said.On the morning of Feb 28, Trump told reporters in Hanoi that he expected the crisis to end soon.Islamabad denied any terrorist camp exists in the area and said the Indian bombs exploded on an empty hillside.China&Spiral Notebook Factory39;s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.The two armies are trading fire along the line of control that separates them in Jammu and Kashmir, but the tensions appear contained for now."They have been going at it and we have been involved in trying to have them stop."No going back"That evening, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke over a secure line to the head of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Asim Munir, to tell him India was not going to back off its new campaign of "counter-terrorism" even after the pilot's capture, an Indian government source and a Western diplomat with knowledge of the conversations told Reuters in New Delhi.Pompeo spoke to Doval, the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, respectively, Palladino said.

They did not specify who delivered the threat or who received it, but the minister said Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies "were communicating with each other during the fight, and even now they are communicating with each other"."Secretary Pompeo led diplomatic engagement directly, and that played an essential role in de-escalating the tensions between the two sides," State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a briefing in Washington on March 5."The two countries have gone to war three times since both gained independence in 1947, the last time in 1971.The government of the UAE said Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan held talks with both PM Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.A State Department official declined comment when asked if they knew of the threats to use missiles."I know last night there was a threat there could a missile attack on Pakistan, which got defused," Khan said"I know, our army stood prepared for retaliation of that attack.A Pakistani government minister and a Western diplomat in Islamabad separately confirmed a specific Indian threat to use six missiles on targets inside Pakistan.US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Phil Davidson told reporters in Singapore last week that he had separately been in touch with the Indian navy chief, Sunil Lanba, throughout the crisis.The way in which tensions suddenly worsened and threatened to trigger a war between the two nations. The exchanges did not get beyond threats, and there was no suggestion that the missiles involved were anything more than conventional weapons, but they created consternation in official circles in Washington, Beijing and London.Doval told Munir that India's fight was with the terrorist groups that freely operated from Pakistani soil and it was prepared to escalate, said the government source."Later that afternoon, Khan announced in Pakistan's parliament that Wing Commander Varthaman would be released, and he was sent back the next day. Doval's office did not respond to a request for comment."We said if you will fire one missile, we will fire three.In their first such clash since the last war between the two nations in 1971, Pakistan downed an Indian plane and captured its pilot after he ejected in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.India has not given details, but has said it was in touch with major powers during the conflict. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi facing a general election in April-May, the government was under pressure to respond.Pakistan's military declined to comment and Munir could not be reached for comment.Pakistan's foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.Reuters has pieced together the events that led to the most serious military crisis in South Asia since 2008, as well as the concerted diplomatic efforts to get both sides to back down.. Pakistan said it would counter any Indian missile attacks with many more launches of its own, the minister told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.Later, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was also in Hanoi, also called both sides to seek a way out of the crisis.US efforts were focused on securing the quick release of the Indian pilot by Pakistan and winning an assurance from India it would pull back from the threat to fire rockets, the Western diplomat in New Delhi and officials in Washington said.The simmering dispute erupted into conflict late last month when Indian and Pakistani warplanes engaged in a dogfight over Jammu and Kashmir on Feb 27, a day after a raid by Indian jet fighters on a terrorist camp in Pakistan."We made a lot of effort to get the international community involved in encouraging the two sides to de-escalate the situation because we fully realised how dangerous it was," said a senior Trump administration official.The Pakistani minister said China and the United Arab Emirates also intervened.India was not aware of any missile threat issued to Pakistan, a government official said in reply to a Reuters request for comment. Hopefully that is going to be coming to an end.Trump-Kim talksThe crisis unfolded as US President Donald Trump was trying to hammer out an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi over its nuclear programme.At one stage, India threatened to fire at least six missiles at Pakistan, and Islamabad said it would respond with its own missile strikes "three times over", according to Western diplomats and government sources in New Delhi, Islamabad and Washington.US security advisor Bolton was on the phone with Doval on the night of Feb 27 itself, and into the early hours of Feb 28, the second day of the Trump-Kim talks, in an attempt to defuse the situation, the Western diplomat in New Delhi and the Indian official said.

The sparring between India and Pakistan last month threatened to spiral out of control and only interventions by US officials, including National Security Advisor John Bolton, headed off a bigger conflict, five sources familiar with the events said, according to news agency Reuters.There was no immediate response from Admiral Lanba's office to a question on the nature of the conversations.Hours later, videos of the bloodied Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, handcuffed and blindfolded, # appeared on social media, identifying himself to Pakistani interrogators, deepening anger in New Delhi. The Indian Air Force said it too had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet.

Photographer Bharat Tiwari says, “We are just adding on to the old cities.. From 850 AD to 1550 AD India has seen empires of the Rashtrakutas, Chandelas, Cholas, Kadambas, Chalukyas, the Khiljis and Portuguese. And slowly fading away into the realm of forgotten times are the little home-grown joys of pickles drying in a sunny courtyard, story sessions under the stars on the terrace, growing plump tomatoes in the backyard, sprawling armchairs on verandahs, fans whirring on high beamed ceilings, and that little hidden crevice for storing childhood treasures in the gnarled jackfruit tree…. “Thus we find a Portuguese wish for Lisbon in Goa or an English yearning for London in Kolkata. In pretty little hilly towns, old houses and colonial bungalows we had read about in Ruskin Bond’s stories are being brought down to give way to multi-storeyed buildings. Tall, ornate columns, stained-glass windows, spiral stairways with wrought iron vines.

A gloriously beautiful Indianness in architecture once gave our cities and towns a distinct visual identity — from the smallest of homes to the grandest of buildings. Everything just changed for the worse with time. Architect Sonali Rastogi says, “Some of our strongest visuals of the Art Deco Movement comes from the skyscrapers of New York.Windows from Rajasthan (Credit: Pixabay)As the change gains momentum, some individuals and groups are fighting to preserve these heritage buildings, and photographing and documenting them to preserve the memories of those lovely lost homes. The percentage of historic sites when compared to new habitats is reducing at an alarming rate today given the phenomenal growth and development of new cities and habitats. Each of these dynasties laid the foundations to their own architectural languages, adapting, recreating and innovating with care. That did not happen and we kept on putting pressure on existing cities. Manish Golder feels, “How we imagine and adapt to space has completely changed. Ours is a new country, just a few hundred years old, so having this tangible, vast sense of history, all the time, in so many architectural forms, was overwhelming for me. I miss the charm and nostalgia of Lutyens Delhi, the colonial style architecture and the old world bungalows with open courtyards and huge stairways,” she says.”Compact livingTall buildings and compact living are a response to the rapid increase in urban density. Interior designer, art director, photographer and poet, Bharat Tiwari recalls, “In Delhi, when Connaught Place was built, it was extremely beautiful. The debate lies in defining the balance between low and high rise. Courtyards with swings. Design juries are absent in the current system or have no power at all to override the bureaucracy. Chrysler building is one of the first buildings that comes to mind when one thinks of skyscrapers. Even small towns and villages are losing their visual identity. There’s also the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (Intach), a non-profit charitable organisation, whose mission is to conserve heritage, and it has done tremendous work in identifying, listing, documentation and conservation while spreading awareness through publications. From time immemorial, all cultures have aspired to build high and create iconic structures. With our monuments, we are running against time. In our fast-paced lives, we have forgotten to pause and appreciate art and aesthetics.”After India gained independence, apart from Chandigarh, no new city came into existence in India. (Pic Credit: PIXABAY)Most of our grandparents&Soft Cover Notebook Factory39; homes are forever entrenched in our memories, agrees architect Sangeeta Kapoor, wistfully ruing that the huge big peepal tree in the courtyard, gardens with arched walkways and half-open courtyards are now a thing of the past. On the other hand, in high rise developments, the design needs to engage the community and the reclaimed land.Expansion and growthArchitectural monuments are a window to the past and are a living testimony to our historical legacy. There are several other organisations too looking at conserving heritage in India. Qutub Minar is one such example. The tall windows, red floors, steep steps, elegant paraphernalia still haunt me. They only go by mathematics and norms. The government should have strict laws regarding town planning and heritage. Red oxide floors, chequered verandahs.

The parking space used to be gardens. As a result, there’s lack of sensitivity in terms of heritage and rationale in terms of urban growth,” believes architect Dhruv Kalra, adding, “Solutions seem weak, either serving the capitalistic ideology or just filling spaces in an irresponsible way. We are more trapped in cubicles and clustered housing now. The iconic Kenilworth Hotel in Kolkata was razed this March. It should have been the responsibility of the government to build new cities across the country.As we hurtle straight into a future towards a unified global civilisation, new communities, townships and cities are mushrooming at an unprecedented rate. Delhi is almost reaching Panipat now.”In present times, people are connecting over social platforms and meeting up in coffee shops. “Lots of our emotions of our growing up years are attached to open courtyards and verandahs. They brought an immense sense of well being and comfort. Most rules and regulations are out-dated, unnecessary and seem to be full of loopholes for exploitation. They adapt and respond to a common global market and adopt and use global design philosophies and construction techniques making them all similar in nature.A home in Pondicherry (Credit: Instagram: pondicherry_a_heritage_home)RK Studios in Mumbai will soon be demolished.”Urban planningNot all cities have a historical or cultural heritage, modern cities are a result of expansion of domain, eventually moving so far away that the direct relationship with heritage ceases to exist. It is either vote bank politics or personal/biased agendas which drive policy making in most case scenarios. Lack of vision and holistic approach at town planning level has led us here. The entire perception of home and hearth has changed.“However, coming up with a conservation plan for the entire country, region by region, allocating and # arranging funds for the restoration works and carrying them out is a mammoth task that requires an unified driving political will, state by state and as a nation on a whole. Artist and curator Priyanka Banerjee reminisces, “Development activities have taken a toll on the scenic beauty of our villages — the jharokhas in havelis are being replaced with plain, utilitarian windows, artistically adorned walls are being replaced with modern tiles.”Conservation plansIndia has the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), that has 3,650 listed monuments under its care, protected by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958. They can be found in living sites like the old Portuguese homes in Goa, the French quarter in Pondicherry, the grand mansions of Kolkata or the living fort of Jaisalmer. The urban landscape is largely concrete and clinical.A perspective from someone who didn’t grow up among this heritage, certainly makes one think of what we are losing.History around every cornerThe beauty of our historical heritage is present in every nook and corner of the country — from a serai in a seaside town, to a shikar ghar in a city, a dak bungalow in a hill station, or a zamindar’s mansion in a village… It’s something that’s been part of our everyday lives, and thereby, often not cherished enough.A fading beautyOne such team trying to capture the fading charm of houses in Kolkata runs a page on Instagram called ‘Calcutta Houses’.The change is sweeping across the country. History is not only embedded in the grand and regal structures of India, but also in the homes our elders once lived in. So where is the development? The argument that Indian architectural heritage is being lost because there is no space left in the cities is an invalid argument.  Adreesh says, “Architectural history does not only stop at major historical monuments.Art and aesthetics of modern spaces have changed not only our way of living, but also our sense of home. Sheikh Abdullah's old home in Srinagar, Delhi's Hall of Nations have been brought down. Today, suburban gated communities are preferred due to the ease of availability of communal facilities, gathering spaces and playing fields.”Even during the era of colonisation, the small countries that came to hold significant parts of the world would build to recreate their homeland.”A home that wasThe charm of long verandahs, sprawling gardens filled with blooms and squirrels, attics filled with cobwebs and creaky trunks, ivy covered walls… that’s the stuff of memories and stories now. “It was thrilling to be surrounded by layers and layers of history, that’s not something Americans experience on the same scale.”It is not just heritage buildings in cities that are a faded version of what they once were. But has the government ever bothered to beautify, restore and revive it? It could have generated such huge revenue from tourism. Height has other reasons for existing, other than just urban density.Shingled roofs, green slatted windows. What is fascinating to see is that the architectural characteristics of the region would unwittingly find their way in to create an altogether new language for each region,” he says. Growing up in North America, Vicoria Lautman, author of The Vanishing Step-wells of India, was spellbound on her first visit to India.. Architect Adreesh Chakraborty, founder of The Earth Home and author of The Adventures of Inchy Slim says, “If you woke up in a hotel room, out of your jet-lag driven slumber, not knowing where you suddenly are, chances are that the sight from the window might bewilder you even more. My memories and imagination are full of the nostalgic charm of these old houses,” says Manish Golder, who is part of the Calcutta Houses team. These transitions have commercialised and modernised our living styles, we are all in a big rush of instant living. The debate of whether high is artistic or not, to me has deeper psychological and political ramifications. “I have many memories of growing up in an old house. You may take that for granted, but I can tell you, it’s miraculous for someone like me,” she says.Architectural wonders of Rajasthan. I feel pained to see the loss of interest in our rich cultural heritage.“Unfortunately in India administrative officers who deal with urban planning and are the ones in charge of approval are the usual government office-goers with no knowledge or skill to focus on aesthetics. A place like Hampi where you can literally wander a few yards and you’ve gone back in time several centuries. It’s a shame.But the demands of time have been swiftly and sweepingly changing the face of our urbanscape — and old homes, heritage buildings, iconic landmarks and nostalgic hubs are being razed to make way for builder flats and monolithic high-rises. Without these monuments, we will be devoid of any tangible proof of our history, only to depend on the ones who wrote it. Everyday we lose precious parts of our history to neglect, encroachment, new developments and the dire requirement for new habitats in our times of an unprecedented population explosion,” shares Adreesh. Each building in Old Delhi has heritage embedded in it.Architectural languagesDuring the period of 1950 to 1987, as the Republic of India, we built mass housing, new cities and expanded into the hinterland on a large scale to cater to the population boom, without any significant additions to our architectural heritage. While low-height, high-density developments have various forms of human engagement that are conducive to communal living, quite often, there is almost no ground available.

“China has had many opportunities to fully address our concerns,” Trump said in a statement. American companies say regulators are already starting to disrupt their operations.China’s Finance Ministry said its tariff increases are aimed at curbing “trade friction” and the “unilateralism and protectionism of the United States.By expanding the list to USD 200 billion of Chinese products, Trump may spread the pain to ordinary households. The tariffs focused on industrial products, not on things Americans buy at the mall or via Amazon. He demanded Canada and Mexico renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement to make it more favourable to the United States.The increases are in response to the US announcing it will impose tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese-made goods starting next week.The American Chamber of Commerce in China warned Tuesday that Washington is underestimating Beijing’s determination to fight back.”The two countries have already imposed import taxes on USD 50 billion worth of each other’s goods.

Those plans include “Made in China 2025,” which calls for creating powerful Chinese entities to compete in robotics and other fields.Beijing: The US-China trade war escalated further Tuesday, with China announcing retaliatory tax increases on USD 60 billion worth of US imports, including coffee, honey and industrial chemicals. “The downward spiral that we have previously warned about now seems certain to materialize,” said William Zarit, the chamber’s chairman., the administration removed smart watches and some other consumer electronics products.”The trade gap means China will run out of US imports to tax while the US still has plenty of Chinese imports to target.At the root of the trade war are US complaints about China’s plans to try to overtake US technological supremacy. And in a victory for Apple Inc.American companies and trading partners including the European Union and Japan have longstanding complaints about Chinese market barriers and industrial policy. But Beijing has other ways to retaliate. 1. President Donald Trump threatened to add an additional USD 267 billion in Chinese imports to the target list if China retaliated for the latest US taxes. The administration is targeting a bewildering variety of goods — from sockeye salmon to baseball gloves to bamboo mats — forcing US companies to scramble for suppliers outside China, absorb the import taxes or pass along the غير مجاز مي باشدt to their customers..”There was no word on whether China would back out of trade talks it said it was invited to by the US, but a Chinese Commerce Ministry statement said the US increase “brings new uncertainty to the consultations. “No one will emerge victorious from this counter-productive cycle.The US taxes are targeting Chinese goods that Washington says have benefited from improper industrial policies.Trump has also complained about America’s gaping trade deficit — USD 336 billion last year — with China, its biggest trading partner. “I urge China’s leaders to take swift action to end their country’s unfair trade practices. The tariffs will start at 10 per cent, then rise to 25 per cent on Jan.The US government did withdraw some items from its preliminary list of imports to be taxed, including child-safety products such as bicycle helmets.Last week, the American Chambers of Commerce in China and in Shanghai reported 52 per cent of more than 430 companies that responded to a survey said they have faced slower customs clearance and increased inspections and bureaucratic procedures.Trump has strained relations with potential allies including the European Union, Canada and Mexico by raising tariffs notepad Factory on imported steel and aluminium. The US says the plans are based on stolen technology, violate China’s market-opening commitments and might erode American industrial leadership. That would raise the total affected by US penalties to USD 517 billion, covering nearly everything China sells to the United States. Beijing’s tariffs have hit soybeans and other farm goods from states that voted for Trump in 2016.”

In the first two rounds of tariffs, the Trump administration took care to try to spare American consumers from the direct impact of the import taxes. But they object to Trump’s tactics and warn the dispute could chill global economic growth and undermine international trade regulation.“Contrary to views in Washington, China can — and will — dig its heels in and we are not optimistic about the prospect for a resolution in the short term,” said Zarit of the American Chamber of Commerce.

By refusing to get drawn into it and being a party to its escalation, we can avert needless confrontations. If you do not remain detached from it, all your judgment is bound to get clouded.If the relationship matters to you, then you can try broaching the subject when tempers have cooled. It is probably the other person’s karma that this started.At such times we need to realise that the key to peace is in our hands and recognise drama when it is unfolding. If the other person has quietened down sufficiently, good for you but if he/she chooses to remain angry and wants to fight, there is no point in attempting a dialogue in that surcharged state. Believe me this works and things happen before your eyes.Pray for the other person and ask God’s help in order that better sense may prevail and the relationship is harmonised.The writer is a Reiki channel, yoga practitioner and a spiritual seeker. Telling people to calm down never works — it only leads to a new argument. That is how we should look at  our confrontations and diغير مجاز مي باشدreements as well.If in spite of one’s best efforts things spiral out of control, maybe the confrontation or showdown was bound to happen for some good to emerge. Look for the lessons.

A few days back I was Hard Cover Notebook Factory in the Great Rann of Kutch, an unbelievably huge expanse of white desert.Parallely, try to wade through the maze before you and figure where it is all coming from — baggage from the past which the other person is holding on to or some recent development or disappointment (even children struggle to deal with this) or just plain DNA. How you respond is in your control. About two hundred people may have been there in this desert at that point and each one looked like an insignificant speck. Nothing ever happens, no one ever crosses your path at a given moment without divine sanction (sounds unbelievable but sometimes the planets portend such run-ins).. Harness the power of meditation, energy techniques, yoga, tai chi, sport. It could be a child in the middle of a tantrum, a spouse being unreasonable, or the person at the other end of the so called helpline complicating matters and worse still being rude when your laptop is on the blink, or the nitwit on the road who raises your hackles with his daredevilry.Also gain some perspective. Your energies would have been conserved and wisdom will emerge naturally. whatever works for you.. One needs experience even in getting better at handling these situations.

Once the  glorious sun dipped into the horizon and dissolved so to speak,  people lost no time in hurrying to go back before darkness enveloped the place. Life too is like that.No matter how anchored or balanced we think we are, there are circumstances and people that can periodically throw us completely off kilter ruining all manner of peace. Pull down the curtains and move on. Walking away or responding without agitation or without wasting words takes the wind out of the sails. As the curtains come down on one day we move on to the next.By heightening our peace aura with a variety of tools we can lower our anger threshold and equip ourselves for such meltdowns. We were all waiting to catch that spectacular sight of the sun setting.