China uses drones and rockets for cloud seeding to get rainfall

Temperatures have gone beyond 104F in some parts of China for the past week and longer. This has led to a record-breaking heatwave and severe drought ever since China began to maintain records in 1961. Therefore, the authorities decided to go in for cloud seeding to bring rainfall. It involves sowing silver iodide into the clouds. The structure of the chemical is similar to ice and the process is known as cloud seeding. Chance of rainfall increases when droplets of water cluster around these particles. It modifies the structure of the clouds and chance of rainfall increases. An official of the weather modification office of Guizhou in southwest China informed that plans have been drawn up for eight flights to cover the entire province. He explained that Typhoon Ma-on has brought to Guizhou precipitation conditions. Therefore, the aircraft will conduct frequent operations to increase the amount of rainfall. Drones and rockets bring rainfall to China during record-breaking heatwave and severe drought. China dispatched drones over the Sichuan province in the southwest. The aim is to bring rainfall to more than 232 sq/miles of land.

In the Chongqing municipality of southwest China, local authorities made use of rockets to bring rainfall to 20 counties. Similarly, in the Tongan District, 15 rockets were fired six times to bring the long-anticipated rain. The local meteorological bureau confirmed about availability of an adequate number of rockets. Henan in central China is one of the country's granary provinces. It used a drone to bring artificial precipitation to the area. Obviously, drones and rockets are not just weapons of warfare but they have their uses in times of peace also.

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Soft underbelly of US Airport security exposed – 95% fake weapons go undetected

Following the 9/11 terror strikes on the Twin Towers and the death of thousands of innocents and in order to prevent another similar incident, the United States had geared up and augmented its security measures at airports. However, checkpoint screeners did not detect mock explosives and weapons in 95% of tests carried out by under agents who had passed though the security barriers posing as passengers. It seems the agents managed to smuggle through banned weapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens of airports.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 2 June 2015.

As a result, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the US government agency in charge of airport security, has been reassigned based on the revelation of glaring lapses that were exposed by undercover tests.
In an instance, the TSA screeners could not find a fake bomb that had been taped to the back of an undercover agent when they patted him down after he had activated an alarm at a checkpoint.
This has come as a major embarrassment to the TSA and efforts are on to rectify the gaps to ensure that the checking at airports are foolproof.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub


Bogus tour operator charged out-of-towners $200 each way for a trip that is free

WHO says cigarette smuggling into India has increased fourfold

Marvels of technology – robotic cheetah created by MIT, it can jump over obstacles

Noise pollution leads to obesity – those living near airports or busy streets are affected

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French anti-terror measures – target the ghettos

#ghettos #charliehebdo #banlieux #france The French authorities have decided to target ghettos as an anti0terror measure in a bid to check terrorist activities as reported in news.sky.com dated 3 February 2015. Already, counter-terrorism operations have been launched across the country following the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
A total of 64 suburbs in many major cities have been identified as ghettos and the admission of Prime Minister Manuel Valls that geographic, social and ethnic apartheid exists in France is a signal that there would be a change in the country's approach to immigration. It also, simultaneously, brings to light the magnitude of the problem.
The condition in the ghettos is bad – there is unemployment of 23% in the banlieux (or suburb of a large city) and, the figure soars to 45% among the young people. The average annual income is around £8,300 and, between a third and half of all families are single-parent while about half are immigrants or their children.
A majority of its population is being left behind economically, thereby they get marginalized into ethnic enclaves, do not have any leader and, hence, are vulnerable to Islamist radicalization. France has to accept the fact that it has different communities within it.
As a part of its anti-terrorism measures, the French interior ministry has designated around 15 Priority Security Zones across the country. These are perceived to be hotbeds of crime and potential hot houses of jihadism. These zones have been reinforced by extra intelligence and uniformed officers, apart from quick-reaction units. They set up road blocks and random checks to look for drugs and weapons.

Terrorists set their sights on Europe – raids conducted in Belgium

#CharlieHebdo #antiterrorraids #Belgium Following the terror attacks in Paris in the offices of Charlie Hebdo, Europe has gone on high alert and have conducted anti-terror raids and arrests of suspected Islamist militants. Reports indicate arrests of more than 20 people in Belgium, France and Germany. As a result, Belgium has now joined France in deploying troops alongside police and security has been tightened in several countries. Last week’s attack in Paris had left 17 people dead.
Obviously, the concerns if security authorities have increased many fold since many young Europeans who had gone to join the jihadists in Syria, are returning back home. They had gone to fight with Middle East militants and would have acquired various types of experience and knowledge connected to terror activities.
It seems in Belgium, five people were charged with "participating in the activities of a terrorist group" – raids had been conducted and two suspects have died. Moreover, guns, munitions and explosives, apart from police uniforms and a large amount of money have been seized by the police during the operation.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the people had the intention to kill several policemen in the street and at police stations. A total of thirteen people were arrested but only five would be prosecuted. Belgium would seek the extradition of two suspects held in France.
Various measures announced by the Belgian government to counter the terrorist threats include making travelling abroad for terrorist activities a crime.
In Paris, twelve suspects are being held by police in connection to the attacks in which 17 persons died. The arrested persons are being interrogated about their possible logistical support they might have given to the three gunmen – support like weapons or vehicles.

Americans are hoarding supplies and weapons in preparation of the Apocalypse

#apocalypse It has been revealed that a section of Americans who have branded themselves as preppers, are hoarding sullies and weapons as they continue to lead otherwise perfectly normal lives. The reason is their fear of Apocalypse.
Observers feels that this panic situation is a national phenomenon and is supporting a doom boom industry worth many millions.
The apocalypse could stem from a terrorist attack, a monetary collapse, cataclysmic failure in power generation, or a natural disaster and the fear of preppers is not the apocalypse itself but what follows because they apparently do not have faith in their government or in human nature.
As a resident of Salt Lake City feels the nice suburban neighborhood where he lives in could soon be swept away by some kind of modern day apocalypse and his worries are about the aftermath when there are would be no police, or military to protect the people and they have to arrange to protect themselves.
This individual has stocked enough dried and canned food to last six months and also enough guns and ammunition to turn their family into a small army.

57 persons killed in Wagah Border suicide blast

It has been reported by Pakistani police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar that the latest death toll in the suicide blast at the Wagah order is 57 - the bomber had detonated explosives in a car park 500 metres (yards) from the border gates and parade ground even as hundreds of spectators were returning from the ceremony. Apparently, a suicide vest had been discovered in a nearby field fueling speculation that there could have been a second bomber.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP-JA), a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility of the deadly suicide attack in which at least 57 people were killed and over 110 were injured. The TTP-Ja has directly threatened Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a twitter the TTP-JA has threatened through an open message to both governments across the border indicating that if there can be an attack on one side, there can be another on the other side.
Initially, there were conflicting versions of the tragic incident. The Pakistani and Indian agents are arch-rivals and do not share intelligence. From their accounts, it is not clear as to what the true intention of the bomber were. One line of thinking appears to be that the intention was to lead to more number of casualties on the Indian side of the border and, thereby, stir up tensions between the nuclear-armed nations.
It seems both the Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies had drawn up plans for an imminent strike on their Wagah land border before the suicide blast and increased level of security prevented what could possibly have been a more devastating attack.
Pakistani police are reported to have revealed that they had recovered a "huge" cache of weapons and explosives near the border, where thousands of people from both the sides gather at dusk every day to watch a flamboyant ritual parade by their security forces.