The Indian Panorama

Month: September 2016

  • DONALD TRUMP LEADS IN LATEST POLLS

    DONALD TRUMP LEADS IN LATEST POLLS

    NEW YORK (TIP): In 60 days we will vote for our next President. And, the new CNN/ORC poll suggests an extremely close contest contrary to what political pundits had speculated a year ago.

    trump-clintonSince this is a CNN poll, it cannot be easily dismissed by Clinton campaign as a right-wing media outlet-finds that Clinton’s lead over GOP nominee Donald Trump has evaporated.

    Trump tops Clinton 45% to 43% in the new survey, with Libertarian Gary Johnson standing at 7% among likely voters in this poll and the Green Party’s Jill Stein at just 2%.

    Just a couple weeks ago, Clinton’s convention propelled her to an 8-point lead among registered voters in an early-August CNN/ORC Poll. And now, Clinton’s lead has largely evaporated despite a challenging month for Trump, which saw an overhaul of his campaign staff, announcements of support for Clinton from several high-profile Republicans and criticism of his campaign strategy.

    But most voters say they still expect to see Clinton prevail in November, and 59% think she will be the one to get to 270 electoral votes vs. 34% who think Trump has the better shot at winning.

    Wit is worth noting here that Clinton and her allies have outspent Trump and his allies by an eye-popping 4.5-to-1 margin in August as reported by the Observer.

    The Analysis

    Women break for Clinton (53% to 38%) while men shift Trump’s way (54% to 32%). Among women, those who are unmarried make up the core of her support, 73% of unmarried women back Clinton compared with just 36% of married women. Among men, no such marriage gap emerges, as both unmarried and married men favor Trump.

    Younger voters are in Clinton’s corner (54% to 29%among those under age 45) while the older ones are more apt to back Trump (54% to 39% among those age 45 or older).

    Whites mostly support Trump (55% to 34%), while non-whites favor Clinton by a nearly 4-to-1 margin (71% to 18%).

    Most college grads back Clinton while those without degrees mostly support Trump, and that divide deepens among white voters.

    Whites who do not hold college degrees support Trump by an almost 3-to-1 margin (68% to 24%) while whites who do have college degrees split 49% for Clinton to 36% for Trump and 11% for Johnson.

    “I really pay no attention to polls. When they are good for me — and there have been a lot of them that have been good for me recently — I don’t pay attention,” Clinton said. “When they are not so good, I don’t pay attention. We are on a course that we are sticking with.”

    Among the broader pool of registered voters, Clinton edges Trump by 3 points. The shift among these voters since the convention is largely due to a rebound in Trump’s numbers rather than a slide in Clinton’s. He’s gone from 37% support then to 41% among registered voters now.

    Trump holds an edge over Clinton as more trusted to handle two of voters’ top four issues — the economy (56%trust Trump vs. 41% Clinton) and terrorism (51% Trump to 45% Clinton). Clinton holds a solid edge on foreign policy (56% trust her to Trump’s 40%), and the public is divided over the fourth issue in the bunch, immigration. On that, 49% favor Clinton’s approach, 47% Trump’s. At Trump’s recent campaign appearances, he has argued that he would do more to improve life for racial and ethnic minorities, but voters seem to disagree, 58% say Clinton is better on that score vs. 36% who choose Trump, and among non-whites, 86% choose Clinton to just 12% who think Trump would better improve their lives.

    Trump has his largest edge of the campaign as the more honest and trustworthy of the two major candidates (50%say he is more honest and trustworthy vs. just 35%choosing Clinton) and as the stronger leader, 50% to 42%. Clinton continues to be seen as holding the better temperament to serve effectively as president (56% to 36%) and better able to handle the responsibilities of commander in chief (50% to 45%).

    Read the complete poll results @

    http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3098806-Post-Labor-Day.html

  • Aleppo Confounds Libertarian Presidential Candidate Johnson: ‘What’s Aleppo?’

    Aleppo Confounds Libertarian Presidential Candidate Johnson: ‘What’s Aleppo?’

    NEW YORK (TIP): If it was greater attention Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson wanted, he got it but probably not the kind he wanted.

    As part of a media blitz in New York to try to raise his polling numbers enough to qualify for the upcoming presidential debate, Johnson fielded a range of questions Thursday, September 8 with the aim of demonstrating he can take on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But one very pressing question stumped him.

    “What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo?”  Johnson was asked by Barnicle on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday, September 8 referring to Syria’s largest city, which has been engulfed by the country’s ongoing civil war.

    Johnson said: “About…?”

    “Aleppo,” Barnicle repeated.

    “And,” Johnson asked, “what is Aleppo?” Barnicle, in seeming disbelief, said: “You’re kidding.”

    “No,” Johnson said.

    “Aleppo is in Syria,” Barnicle explained. “It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis.”

    “OK, got it, got it,” Johnson interrupted.

    “Well, with regard to Syria, I do think that it’s a mess and that the only way that we deal with Syria is to join hands with Russia to diplomatically bring that at an end.”

    Later, Johnson was asked by Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin how he felt about the interview.

    “I’m incredibly frustrated with myself,” he said.

    When pressed whether Johnson felt it should be considered a “big flap,” the former New Mexico governor replied: “Well sure, it should. Absolutely.”

    Following the interview, Johnson attempted some damage control, releasing a statement that said he “blanked” when asked about Aleppo.

    “This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I’m human. Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict — I talk about them every day. But hit with ‘What about Aleppo?’, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict,” Johnson wrote. “I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign.”

    “Can I name every city in Syria? No,” he continued. “Should I have identified Aleppo?Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.”

    Johnson went on to say that while he served as New Mexico’s governor, “there were many things I didn’t know off the top of my head.”

    But, he said, “I succeeded by surrounding myself with the right people, getting to the bottom of important issues, and making principled decisions. It worked. That is what a President must do.”

    Syria’s 2011 pro-democracy uprising, which gradually devolved into civil war, has sparked a refugee crisis across the Middle East and Europe as millions fled their homes for safety. When reminded by MSNBC on Thursday, Mr. Johnson said he’d work with Russia to find a diplomatic solution to the civil war and that the conflict was an example of the dangers of meddling in the region.

    Mr. Johnson’s blunder has sparked widespread mockery, with #WhatisAleppo becoming a trending hashtag on Twitter, and Hillary Clinton chuckling at a press conference when asked about Johnson’s flub. “You can find Aleppo on a map,” she said.

  • Export of terror a threat to region: PM at ASEAN meet

    Export of terror a threat to region: PM at ASEAN meet

    VIENTIANE, LAOS (TIP): India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a veiled attack on Pakistan, raised the issue of terrorism at the East Asia Summit in Laos, September 8.

    Stating that most countries in the South Asian region were pursuing a peaceful path to economic prosperity, he said: “But, there is one country in India’s neighborhood whose competitive advantage rests solely in producing and exporting terrorism.” He added that it was crucial for countries to adopt an “isolate and sanction” attitude against Islamabad.

    “We need to target not only the terrorists, but also their entire supporting ecosystem,” Modi said, adding, “And, our strongest action should be reserved for those state actors who employ terrorism as an instrument of state policy.”

    “Rising export of terror, growing radicalization through ideology of hatred and spread of extreme violence define the landscape of common security threats to our societies. The threat is local, regional and transitional at the same time,” he said.

    India, of late, has been raising the issue of terrorism at international forums like the G20 and the East Asia Summit. The idea is to counter Pakistan which has been on the offensive as it is trying hard to internationalize the Kashmir issue globally and raise it at the level of the United Nations. At the G20 Summit, Modi had stated bluntly that there was one country in South Asia that was spreading terror. The clear reference to Pakistan was obvious.

    Modi Meets Obama, discusses climate change

    Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the summit, Modi met United States President Barack Obama today. This was the eighth meeting between the two leaders and is probably the last one before Obama demits office. It is learnt that both leaders discussed climate change, energy co-operation and also reviewed progress on the Indo-US collaboration in nuclear energy, solar energy and innovation.

    President Obama is committed to the cause of climate change and it is one legacy that he wants to leave behind. Reports suggest that Modi informed Obama that India would adopt the Paris Agreement on climate change by year-end. However, there was no confirmation of it by India.

    (Read comment – Taking the Paris Process Forward)

  • A New Political Outfit in Punjab

    A New Political Outfit in Punjab

    CHANDIGARH (TIP): Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu formally announced his new political front ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ in Chandigarh on Thursday, September 8.

    “At this stage ‘Awaaz e Punjab’ is not a party, it’s a forum. The redemption, resurrection and revival of this state is the aim of our Awaaz-e-Punjab,” Sidhu said at a media briefing in Chandigarh. Sidhu had resigned from the Rajya Sabha on July 18, fueling speculation that he may join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). On Thursday, he attacked both AAP chief Arvind Kejrwal and the BJP.

    “Kejriwalji told him don’t fight (the upcoming Punjab) elections. Ask your wife to contest, (i/we) will make her a minister. I said ‘Sat Shri Akal’,” Sidhu said. The AAP chief, Sidhu added, only wants “yes men.” The former cricketer said his resignation from the Rajya Sabha “had nothing to do with Kejriwalji”.

    In a veiled attack on the BJP, Sidhu said that good leaders in India have been reduced to mute spectators. “There is a tradition in India that good people are kept as decoration pieces and used only for campaigning,” Sidhu said.

    The former Rajya Sabha member had on September 2 floated the ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ front. It is expected to contest the Punjab assembly elections that are slated for early next year.

    Other members of the new front include former Indian hockey team captain Pargat Singh, a legislator of Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, and two independent legislators, Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjeet Singh Bains. Pargat Singh was last month suspended from the Akali Dal for “anti-party” activities. The Bains brothers, who had fallen out with the Akali Dal top leadership three years ago, have significant influence in Ludhiana district.

    Highlighting the blueprint of his front for the upcoming Punjab elections, Sidhu said that their aim is to make the state prosperous again by fighting people who have ‘ruined Punjab’. In his media briefing, he also talked about Punjab’s drug menace. “Where is the Punjab that used to produce so many sportsmen? Today, the streets are filled with drug addicts,” Sidhu said.

    Elections to 117 assembly seats are likely to be held in January or early February next year.

  • Japan confirmed Netaji’s death to US within weeks: UK website

    Japan confirmed Netaji’s death to US within weeks: UK website

    LONDON (TIP): Japan had confirmed to the US within weeks about the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in a plane crash in Taiwan in 1945, a UK website set up to document evidence on the circumstances of the freedom fighter’s demise claimed on Sept 8.

    Bosefiles.info says Japan’s communication to the US in 1945 was an interim report and a prelude to the final report handed over to the Indian government in 1956.

    The information had been sought by Lord Louis Mountbatten as commander of Allied Forces in India (then under British rule) and South East Asia.

    The Commander of the Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific, US General Douglas MacArthur, through the Yokohama Division of the Japanese Army sought information from Japan on ‘Reported Death of Chandra Bose” on behalf of Mountbatten on August 30, 1945 – 12 days after Netaji is believed to have been killed on August 18.

    The latest disclosure is attributed to 91-year-old US-based Govind Talwalkar, the former chief editor of ‘Maharashtra Times’ who had received the documents from the National Diet (Parliament) Library of Japan on December 23, 2015.

    In the “ad interim” report now published on the website, the Japanese government said Bose died “in an airplane accident” in Taihoku (Japanese name for Taipei).

    The report says the 97-2 Model Japanese bomber carrying Bose reached the Taihoku Airfield (from Tourane, now known as Da Nang) at 13:00 o’clock.

    It states: “After refuelling it took off at 14:00 o’clock. When it rose about 10 metres above the ground the propeller of the left side engine fell apart. The plane, shaking violently right and left, listed to the left and crashed against the mound at the end of the airfield. Fire broke out instantly at both the front and the rear of the plane.

    “Bose, drenched in gasoline and covered with flame, emerged from a hole on the left side and toward the front of the fuselage.

    “His aide H R (Habib-ur-Rahman) also crawled out of the machine, and endeavoured to extinguish the fire on Bose, who however had been severely burned, beside being injured at several places, including two or three cuts in the neck. Ten minutes after the accident, he was taken to the Army Hospital in Taihoku, and received treatment at 15:00 o’clock. His death came at 21:00 o’clock.”

    In reference to the “disposition of the remains of Bose”, the report said, they were “placed in a coffin” on “August 20”, the “cremation” took place on “22 August” and the “funeral at the Nishi Honganji Temple, Taihoku” on “August 23”.

    “The records provided by the Japanese National Diet corroborate the mass of evidence published Bosefiles.info to establish beyond all doubt Bose’s tragic death at Taipei on 18 August 1945,” the website said in a statement.

    (PTI)

  • Three suspected female militants seized in France, policeman stabbed

    Three suspected female militants seized in France, policeman stabbed

    PARIS (TIP): Three women arrested on Sept 8 in connection with a car laden with gas cylinders found abandoned near Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral were likely planning an imminent attack, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

    The minister said one of the women had stabbed a police officer during the arrest before being shot and wounded. A source close to the investigation said the attacker was the missing 19-year-old daughter of the car’s owner.

    The discovery on Saturday night of the Peugeot 607 loaded with seven gas cylinders, six of them full, prompted a counter-terrorism investigation in a country where militants have killed more than 230 people in attacks since January, 2015. Police sources said no detonator had been found, though the vehicle also contained three jerry cans of diesel fuel, adding to concerns that there had been a plan to explode the car.

    “These three women aged 39, 23 and 19 had been radicalised, were fanatics and were in all likelihood preparing an imminent, violent act,” Cazeneuve said in a televised statement.

    Seven people have now been detained since Tuesday in connection with the investigation.

    Missing Daughter : The arrests took place in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, some 30 km south-east of Paris.

    A Reuters photographer later saw a hand-cuffed person being carried into a building in that town, in the area cordoned off by police, where house searches were being carried out. Police investigators and bomb-disposal experts were on the ground.

    The town’s mayor told BFM TV there had been no specific threat of an attack in the local area.

    The Peugeot was found in the early hours of Sunday morning on a Seine riverside road metres from Notre Dame cathedral. Documents with writing in Arabic were also found in the car, which had no registration plates and was left with its hazard lights flashing.

    The car owner was taken into custody earlier this week but later released. He had gone to police on Sunday to report that his daughter had disappeared with his car, officials said.

    His daughter, officials say, is known to police for wanting to leave for Syria, where scores of religiously radicalised people of French and other nationalities have joined the ranks of the Islamic State militant group.

    France, which is taking part in bombing the militant group’s bases in Iraq and Syria, remains on maximum alert after calls for attacks on the country. Thousands of extra police and soldiers have been deployed to patrol sensitive sites since 130 people were killed by Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers in attacks on Paris last November.

    (AP)

  • Britain to build 13-foot high wall to stop migrants

    Britain to build 13-foot high wall to stop migrants

    LONDON (TIP): Britain is to start building a wall in the northern French port of Calais to stop migrants jumping on trucks, under a deal agreed earlier this year, the interior ministry said on sept 7.

    The four-metre (13-foot) high, one-kilometre long barrier will be built on a port approach road starting this month and should be completed by the end of this year, officials said.

    The wall, which will be funded by the British government under an agreement struck at a summit in March, will complement a security fence already put up around the port and entrance to the Channel Tunnel.

    “We are going to start building this big new wall very soon. We’ve done the fence, now we are doing a wall,” junior minister Robert Goodwill told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

    The wall, which is expected to cost 2.7 million euros ($3.0 million), will be the latest barrier to go up around Europe as the continent struggles with its biggest migrant influx in decades.

    Hungary has built a reinforced fence on its frontier with Serbia and Austria has announced plans for a massive new fence along its border with Hungary in a bid to shut down the Balkan migrant route.

    Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump has said he plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico funded by the Mexican government if he is elected.

    The wall in Calais was agreed following tens of thousands of attempted Channel crossings last year through trucks boarding ferries and the Eurotunnel. Angry French truckers and farmers blocked the main routes in and out of Calais on Monday to call for the closure of the sprawling “Jungle” migrant camp.

    The Jungle, a squalid camp of tents and makeshift shelters, is home to some 7,000 migrants but charities say the number might be as high as 10,000 after an influx this summer.

    Migrants from the camp sometimes use tree branches to create roadblocks to slow trucks heading for Britain, their destination of choice.

    When the trucks slow down, migrants try to clamber into the trailers to stow away aboard. Drivers say migrants and people trafficking gangs have attacked their vehicles with metal bars.

    The drivers say despite the deployment of 2,100 officers around the port, the police are overstretched and unable to secure the roads.

    French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve promised during a visit to the Jungle last week to close the camp down “as quickly as possible” but said it would be done in stages.

    (PTI)

  • Licence to split: China’s ‘mistress hunters’ on mission to save marriages

    Licence to split: China’s ‘mistress hunters’ on mission to save marriages

    BEIJING (TIP): Don’t get mad, get your opponent to surrender voluntarily: when Mrs Wang discovered her husband had been cheating on her for several years, she called in an elite team of Chinese “mistress hunters”.

    Rather than seek a divorce — which could have hit her social and financial standing — she hired a specialist to earn the other woman’s trust, and then persuaded her to end the extra-marital relationship.

    It was a longstanding affair, but once the mistress hunters were called in, it was over within two months.

    Wang said she paid between 400,000 and 500,000 yuan ($60,000-$75,000) for the service.

    “I think it was worth it, I’m satisfied,” she added. So much so, she is now thinking of becoming a hunter herself.

    “That way I can help women protect their families and their rights,” she explained. The company Wang used, Weiqing — or “protector of feelings” — has 59 offices across the country, and offers free legal advice and lectures.

    Its founder Shu Xin said he has 300 agents at his command.

    “My goal is to prevent divorces,” he told AFP at his upmarket Beijing headquarters. “Every year we save some 5,000 couples.”

    The mistress hunters are mostly women and are all psychology, sociology or law graduates.

    They spend three years learning the ropes before being sent out into the field, where they pose as neighbours, cleaners or even babysitters.

    Ming Li, 47, has been doing the job for three years. “I’m older than these mistresses, in general, so they listen to me,” she said.

    “If the mistress goes to a park, to the supermarket or to work, I’ll happen to meet her. And even if she is a stay-at-home sort of person, I can claim I’ve got a leak in my apartment and ask for her help,” she told AFP. “We always find a way to initiate contact. “One time, I pretended to be a fortune teller, and the mistress asked me to tell hers. Obviously, I already knew all about her from the wife, so it was easy to leave her dumbfounded and exhort her to leave the husband. It was one of our most quickly resolved cases.”

    Chinese divorce rates have surged from 1.59 per 1,000 people in 2007 to 2.67 in 2014, according to the most recently available civil affairs ministry figures — far higher than in Europe, with France at 1.9 and Italy at just 0.9.

    In Beijing, official statistics show 73,000 couples divorced in 2015 — almost three times the number nine years previously.

    “The reasons? The liberalisation of morals, tensions related to differences between the husband’s and the wife’s income, incompatible personalities,” said Zhu Ruilei, a divorce attorney at Beijing-based law firm Yingke. “But also the desire to pursue personal dreams is stronger than it used it be.”

    According to a study by dating site Baihe.com, at least one party has been unfaithful in half of Chinese first marriages. (AFP)

  • South Australia Hindu Temple plans $600,000 expansion

    South Australia Hindu Temple plans $600,000 expansion

    ADELAIDE (TIP): Shri Ganesha Temple (SGT) in Adelaide’s southern suburb Oaklands Park in South Australia is reportedly planning a $600,000 expansion to host bigger events, weddings, classes, etc.

    This Temple, built at the site of a former Lutheran Church, has approached City of Marion regarding this project and City’s Development Assessment Panel, whose task is to assess proposed development, will consider its proposals, reports suggest.

    Expansion plans at SGT, a State Heritage Place, reportedly include building an outdoor cooking area, dining room extension, etc.

    Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, commended efforts of Temple leaders and area community towards running this Hindu temple complex.

    Rajan Zed further said that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this Temple would help in this direction. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism; we should focus on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism.

    SGT, reportedly conceived by the Hindu Society of South Australia in 1985 and formally opened in 2001, serves over 20,000 Hindus; including immigrants from India, Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji, Trinidad, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Surinam, Malaysia, etc.; besides students. Ganesha is the presiding deity at the Temple, where other deities include Laxmi Narayan; Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati; Muruga Valli and Deivanai; Hanuman; Bhairava; Navagraha; and Shiva Linga.

    This Temple, which opens daily; besides offering worship services and being a social gathering place; also holds various festivals, satsangs, pujas; runs a children library; undertakes various community assistance programs; organizes blood donation campaigns; helps new migrants; and offers food donations and educational scholarships. It organized over 80 festivals in 2015. Milk Abhishekam here costs $50, reports indicate.

  • Zika virus can live in tears: Study

    Zika virus can live in tears: Study

    A team of researchers, including one of Indian orgin, has found that Zika virus can live in the eyes and have identified genetic material from the virus in tears of mice.

    Zika virus, which is spread through mosquito bite, leads to brain damage and death in foetuses.

    Nearly a third of all babies infected in utero with Zika also showed eye disease such as inflammation of the optic nerve, retinal damage or blindness after birth.

    In most adults, Zika causes mild disease including conjunctivitis — redness and itchiness of the eyes. However, in rare cases, it develops uveitis — a condition that can lead to permanent vision loss, the study said.

    To determine the effects of Zika on the eye, the team infected adult mice with mosquitoes under the skin — similar to the way humans are infected by mosquitoes.

    The researchers found live virus in the eyes of the mice, even after seven days of being infected with mosquitoes.

    “Our study suggests that the eye could be a reservoir for Zika virus,” said Michael S. Diamond, Professor at the Washington University.

    The findings confirm that Zika is able to travel to the eye.

    However, it is not yet known whether the virus typically makes that trip by crossing the blood-retina barrier that separates the eye from the bloodstream, travelling along the optic nerve that connects the brain and the eye, or some other route, the researchers stated.

    Further, the infection in the eyes also raises the possibility that people could acquire Zika infection through contact with tears from infected people.

    The tears of the infected mice showed Zika’s RNA — the genetic material from the virus. But, it did not show any traces of the infectious virus, when tested 28 days after infection, the authors said.

    “Even though we didn’t find live virus in mouse tears, that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be infectious in humans,” added Jonathan J. Miner, doctoral student at the Washington University.

    “There could be a window of time when tears are highly infectious and people are coming in contact with it and able to spread it,” Miner noted.

    The eye is an immune privileged site, meaning the immune system is less active there, to avoid accidentally damaging sensitive tissues responsible for vision in the process of fighting infection. Consequently, infections sometimes persist in the eye after they have been cleared from the rest of the body, the study said.

    The researchers now are planning complementary studies in human patients infected with the virus.

    “We are planning studies in people to find out whether infectious virus persists in the cornea or other compartments of the eye, because that would have implications for corneal transplantation,” explained Rajendra S. Apte, Professor at the Washington University.

  • Chinese military equips all ground forces with new attack helicopters

    Chinese military equips all ground forces with new attack helicopters

    BEIJING (TIP): China’s military has equipped all of its ground forces with advanced WZ-10 combat helicopters which will be used to target battle tanks and air-to-air combat missions, a strategic move which could have implications for India .

    Several WZ-10s have been delivered to an aviation brigade of the PLA’s 13th Group Army under the Western Theatre Command, the People’s Liberation Army’s TV news channel reported.

    This means that all of the Army’s aviation units now have this advanced attack helicopter, state-run China Daily reported.

    Senior Colonel Xu Guolin, deputy chief of the PLA Army’s Aviation Equipment Bureau, told the news channel that all of the group armies will have at least one aviation brigade or regiment.

    The helicopter was designed primarily for anti-tank missions, but now has a secondary air-to-air combat capability.

    Wu Peixin, an aviation analyst in Beijing, said the PLA Army now has a strong force of dedicated combat helicopters thanks to the service of the WZ-10 and WZ-19, another attack helicopter that is less powerful than the WZ-10. “The Army now needs more medium-lift, multipurpose helicopters such as the US Army’s Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk,” he said.

    “This helicopter is capable of performing both combat operations and transport tasks.”

    Gao Zhuo, a military observer in Shanghai, said the PLA Army needs at least 3,000 helicopters, especially heavy-lift transport types and multipurpose models.

    Meanwhile, the Chinese military has discounted media reports that China’s stealth fighter J-20, currently undergoing trials, will be deployed in Tibet along the India-China border.

    Reacting to reports that J-20 spotted at the Daocheng Yading Airport in Tibet, an article in the PLA website said that J-20 will be put into service soon but the ‘China-India border is apparently not the ideal place for its deployment’.

    “In addition, the world’s highest airport there does not have a complete set of supporting facilities and such shortage will impede the function of J-20,” it said.

    “J-20 will not be deployed in Daocheng Yading airport as the airport is too close to the border, and it is vulnerable to India’s first wave hit. If India is to deploy BrahMos missile on the China-India border, then the Daocheng Yading airport will likely to become its target,” it said.

  • British MP hits out at ‘racist’ Air China London tips

    British MP hits out at ‘racist’ Air China London tips

    LONDON (TIP): A British MP on sept 7 slammed Air China for alleged “racist” travel advice offered to clients visiting London.

    The airline’s “Wings of China” magazine reportedly provides safety advice to travellers based on the race and nationality of local residents.

    “London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people,” the magazine says, according to a photograph published by CNBC.

    “We advise tourists not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when travelling,” the magazine adds.

    The description prompted London MP Virendra Sharma, who emigrated from India to the UK in the 1960s, to complain to the Chinese government.

    “I am shocked and appalled that even today some people would see it as acceptable to write such blatantly untrue and racist statements,” he said in an online statement.

    “I have raised this issue with the Chinese ambassador, and requested that he ensures an apology is swiftly forthcoming from Air China, and the magazine is removed from circulation immediately,” Sharma said.

    Air China’s director of publicity Xu Yuanchun told AFP they were making inquiries, saying: “Air China has dozens of magazines; it’s difficult to know all of them.”

    But on Chinese social media, most commenters expressed bafflement at the backlash.

    In a common refrain, one user of China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform asked: “This is just stating the truth- what is there to apologise about?”

     

     

  • North Korea’s latest nuclear test: Q&A

    North Korea’s latest nuclear test: Q&A

    SEOUL (TIP): North Korea conducted a fifth nuclear test on sept 8, an underground blast that Seoul quickly labelled its “most powerful to date”.

    Here are some key questions around the blast and the isolated state’s nuclear programme.

    Seismologists detected a powerful artificial earthquake at 0030 GMT Friday, which they said was centred around Punggye-ri, North Korea’s nuclear test site.

    South Korea says it believes the quake was caused by the testing of a nuclear device, with a yield of 10 kilotons. That would make it the most powerful of Pyongyang’s five nuclear tests to date. The North Korean leadership says a credible nuclear deterrent is critical to the nation’s survival, claiming it is under constant threat from an aggressive United States.

    (AFP)

  • Chinese scientists successfully convert sand into soil

    Chinese scientists successfully convert sand into soil

    BEIJING (TIP): Chinese scientists have claimed to have converted sand into fertile soil using a new method which they hope will be useful to fight desertification.

    A team of researchers from Chongqing Jiaotong University has developed a paste made of plant cellulose that, when added to sand, helps it retain water, nutrients and air.

    A 1.6-hectare sandy plot in Ulan Buh Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China, has been transformed into fertile land, yielding rice, corn, tomatoes, watermelon and sunflowers, after being treated with the new method.

    An issue of the English-language journal “Engineering,” published by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), will publish the research by the Chongqing scientists Yi Zhijian and co-author Zhao Chaohua.

    “The new method will hopefully help turn desert areas into an ideal habitat for plants,” state run Xinhua quoted Yi as saying.

    The plants in the sandy test plot needed about the same amount of water as those grown in regular soil, but required less fertilizer and bore higher yields, according to estimates by experts.

    Since 2013, scientists have been experimenting with outdoor cultivation at two sites with areas of approximately 550 and 420 square metres in Chongqing, where scientists simulated desert landform conditions.

    According to the scientists, the plants have survived the heavy rain and high temperatures, the typical climate conditions in Chongqing. The crops, including rice, corn and potatoes, flourished in the newly converted soil.

    To verify the method, a large-scale planting experiment in Ulan Buh Desert began in April this year. There is very little rainfall in the area.

    The converted sand has proved to be an ideal habitat for plant species with a strong resistance to wind erosion, according to the research findings.

    Source: PTI

  • TWITTER OFFERS VIDEO CREATORS SHARE OF AD MONEY

    TWITTER OFFERS VIDEO CREATORS SHARE OF AD MONEY

    Twitter on September 5 began offering video creators a cut of ad revenue in a move that could help it better compete with YouTube and Facebook for content viewers seek.

    A Twitter Amplify Publisher Program that was launched with select media and publishers such as Buzzfeed and Time is now open to individual video makers in the US, product manager Guy Snir said in a blog post.

    “We’re announcing product upgrades that will make publishing and monetizing on Twitter as effortless as sending a Tweet,” Snir said.

    “Creators can now upload, manage and publish media more efficiently and effectively than ever before.”

    Video creators approved to join the program will be able to have ads shown by simply “checking a box” prior to tweeting, and get a share of revenue generated from audiences they attract.

    Twitter did not reveal how the ad-money was divided, but US media reports said creators could get a 70 percent cut along the same lines as media partners.

    Twitter has been seeking to expand its reach with live video and an array of partnerships in sports and the political field, but the moves appear to have had little impact.

    Twitter streamed video from the Republican and Democratic conventions, and has added live video content around NBA basketball games.

    Earlier this year, Twitter struck a deal with the National Football League to stream Thursday night American football games, and also streamed content from the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

    Twitter has never posted a profit since its keenly anticipated stock market debut in 2013, but has been ramping up its advertising efforts to bring in revenue.

    Last month, the company reported that its losses narrowed to $107 million in the second quarter from $136 million a year earlier.

    Significantly for investors, the number of monthly active users edged up to 313 million, up three percent from a year ago and only slightly more than the 310 million in the past quarter.

  • Lost comet lander Philae found lying in a ditch

    Lost comet lander Philae found lying in a ditch

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The washing machine sized comet lander Philae has been located lying upside down in a ditch on comet 67/P 682 million kilometres (424 million miles) from Earth. It was caught by a camera on board Rosetta, the European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft orbiting the comet as it hurtles away from the sun. “THE SEARCH IS OVER! I’ve found @Philae2014!!” ESA tweeted on behalf of Rosetta.

    The images were taken on 2 September by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera as the orbiter came within 2.7 km of the surface and clearly show the main body of the lander, along with two of its three legs. This was the first sighting of Philae since its rough landing in November 2014.

    The images also provide proof of Philae’s orientation, making it clear why establishing communications was so difficult following its landing on 12 November 2014.

    The 100-kilogramme probe touched down on comet 67P in November 2014, after a 10-year, 6.5 billion kilometre journey piggybacking on Rosetta.

    Rosetta’s mission is slated to end in less than a month with a planned crash landing on the comet’s surface. On 30 September, the orbiter will be sent on a final one-way mission to investigate the comet from close up, including the open pits in the Ma’at region, where it is hoped that critical observations will help to reveal secrets of the body’s interior structure.

    “With only a month left of the Rosetta mission, we are so happy to have finally imaged Philae, and to see it in such amazing detail,” says Cecilia Tubiana of the OSIRIS camera team, the first person to see the images when they were downlinked from Rosetta yesterday.

    Philae was last seen when it first touched down at Agilkia, bounced and then flew for another two hours before ending up at a location later named Abydos, on the comet’s smaller lobe.

    After three days, Philae’s primary battery was exhausted and the lander went into hibernation, only to wake up again and communicate briefly with Rosetta in June and July 2015 as the comet came closer to the Sun and more power was available.

    However, until today, the precise location was not known. Radio ranging data tied its location down to an area spanning a few tens of metres, but a number of potential candidate objects identified in relatively low-resolution images taken from larger distances could not be analysed in detail until recently.

  • CSIR DEVELOPS OMEGA-3 AND VITAMIN-E ENRICHED FROZEN NUTRITIONAL DESSERT

    CSIR DEVELOPS OMEGA-3 AND VITAMIN-E ENRICHED FROZEN NUTRITIONAL DESSERT

    NEW DELHI: India’s premier scientific research body, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Mysuru-based constituent laboratory, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR-CFTRI), has developed an Omega-3 and Vitamin-E enriched frozen nutritional dessert – called Nutrice – from vegetarian sources.

    “This product will provide the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of omega-3 for children in one serving”, said the ministry of science and technology while announcing the properties of Nutrice cream, developed by the CSIR-CFTRI in association with the Oleome Biosolutions, Bengaluru and the Dairy Classic Ice Creams Pvt Ltd.

    It said, “Using the knowledge of traditional Indian food habits, the CSIR-CFTRI has developed a diverse array of food products such as nutri-chikki incorporated with spirulina, rice mix, high protein rusk, energy food, nutri sprinkle, sesame paste and fortified mango bar so as to address the varying nutritional requirements of people.

    “The products are analyzed for their nutritional composition and other parameters such as sensory, shelf-life, packaging and microbial safety”.

    Dietary supplementation of Omega-3 fats, which are the poly unsaturated fatty acids, are beneficial for brain development in children and good health in elderly population.

  • NASA images unveil origins of solar wind

    NASA images unveil origins of solar wind

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Nasa scientists have for the first time imaged the edge of the Sun, enabling them to describe the mysterious origins of solar wind.

    Ever since the 1950s discovery of the solar wind —the constant flow of charged particles from the Sun —there has been a disconnect between this outpouring and the Sun itself.

    As it approaches Earth, the solar wind is gusty and turbulent. But near the Sun where it originates, this wind is structured in distinct rays, much like a child’s simple drawing of the Sun.

    The details of the transition from defined rays in the corona, the Sun’s upper atmosphere, to the solar wind have been, until now, a mystery.

    Now, using Nasa’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, scientists have for the first time imaged the edge of the Sun and described that transition, where the solar wind starts.

    Defining the details of this boundary helps us learn more about our solar neighbourhood, which is bathed throughout by solar material — a space environment that we must understand to safely explore beyond our planet, researchers said.

    “Now we have a global picture of solar wind evolution,” said Nicholeen Viall, scientist at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in the US.

    “This is really going to change our understanding of how the space environment develops,” said Viall.

    Both near Earth and far past Pluto, our space environment is dominated by activity on the Sun.

    The Sun and its atmosphere are made of plasma – a mix of positively and negatively charged particles which have separated at extremely high temperatures, that both carries and travels along magnetic field lines.

    Material from the corona streams out into space, filling the solar system with the solar wind.

  • SpaceX rocket explosion burns Facebook’s plans of internet-for-all

    SpaceX rocket explosion burns Facebook’s plans of internet-for-all

    Facebook’s ambitious plans of bringing internet access across world partly went up in flames with the Space X rocket that exploded on Thursday, September 8.

    The social networking giant had contracted the aeropsace manufacturer to deliver the first satellite that would make its pet project Internet.org effective in sub-Saharan Africa.

    However, the explosion not only destroyed the Falcon 9 rocket but also its payload which included the Israeli communications satellite.

    Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, currently in Africa, almost immediately took to his social media account to share the bad news.

    “As I’m here in Africa, I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent,” he said.

    Despite the setback, he said they would “keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided”.

    “Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well. We remain committed to our mission.”

    Facebook spent about $95 million to rent capacity on the satellite over the next five years along with French satellite operator, Eutelsat. The satellite, Amos-6, was built by Israeli satellite firm Spacecom.

    The cause for the rocket explosion on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral in Florida is yet unclear. Preliminary reports indicated it had to do with the upper stage oxygen tanks.

    The explosion though is not only a setback for Facebook, but for the California-based SpaceX itself. Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of slashing launch costs to make travel to Mars affordable.

  • ANIL AMBANI NEARS TWO MEGA TELECOM DEALS

    ANIL AMBANI NEARS TWO MEGA TELECOM DEALS

    MUMBAI (TIP): Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani is close to signing two, separate deals to deleverage the telecommunications business.

    The billionaire industrialist is combining Reliance Communications’ (RCom) wireless business with Aircel, which will make the merged entity a strong player in India, the world’s second largest market after China in terms of mobile phone subscriptions. Ambani is also close to selling RCom’s tower unit to Brookfield Asset Management as he tries to rejig the debt laden telecom business. The two transactions (wireless and tower) will help RCom to reduce its debt from Rs 42,364 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.

    The RCom board will meet on September 14 to consider the Brookfield offer, though formal announcement will follow pending documentation work, sources said.

    Ambani is keen to clinch the deal with Aircel before the 15-day ‘Shradh’ period, considered inauspicious to start new projects, which begins on September 16. The deal also needs to be wrapped up well before the upcoming spectrum auctions, as mergers and acquisitions are prohibited from the date of invitation for application till the end of the auction.

    Brookfield is set to acquire controlling interest in the tower unit Reliance Infratel valued at around $2.5 billion, or Rs 16,000 crore. RCom will retain a minority economic interest going forward. When contacted, RCom declined to comment. Repeated text messages and calls to Brookfield officials went unanswered.

    RCom will separate the wireless business and combine it with Aircel with promoters from both sides owning equal stake in the combined entity. Aircel’s shareholders are Malaysia’s Maxis Communications (holds 74%) and Prathap Reddy family’s (of Apollo Hospitals) investment arm Sindya Securities (owns 26%). Some months ago, RCom acquired Russian conglomerate Sistema’s local wireless business, operating under the MTS brand, and as part of the deal, Sistema owns 10% of RCom.

    The sale of the tower unit to Brookfield will be inked after the signing of the Aircel deal as there will be more clarity to the acquirer with regards to RCom’s mobile phone masts portfolio, said a source familiar with the matter.

    The tower portfolio will slightly change after the Aircel deal as some duplication and redundancies will kick in. The overlaps, which will be identified by Ericsson, is estimated to be 1,500 towers, said the source. Currently, RCOM has 43,500 towers. Aircel, on the other hand, operates on rented infrastructure. Brookfield, added the person, has already completed the due-diligence. The Canadian investor stepped into the picture after the Tillman-TPG consortium walked away from the RCOM tower deal.If Brookfield acquires the tower business, it will be its first purchase in the telecom sector. The PE giant is also in the race to buy Ambani’s road projects portfolio housed under Reliance Infrastructure. The source further said that the optic fibre business is excluded from the deal with Brookfield.

  • ZUCKERBERG FOUNDATION TO INVEST IN INDIA’S BYJU’S

    ZUCKERBERG FOUNDATION TO INVEST IN INDIA’S BYJU’S

    BENGALURU (TIP): The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), founded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, is making its first investment in Asia in Bengaluru-based Byju’s, a learning app. CZI will co-invest in the $50-million round in Byju’s along with Sequoia Capital, Sofina+ , Lightspeed Ventures and Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times Group. Byju’s had raised $75 million from Sequoia and Sofina in March this year.

    The latest round of funding is said to have valued the company at around $500 million. The company declined to confirm the valuation. Byju’s will use the $125-million funding corpus of the last two rounds for international acquisitions and expansion in other English-speaking countries, its founder Byju Raveendran said. He said the company has generated Rs 120-crore revenue in the first five months of the current fiscal year and the India operations are making profits.

    “The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative supports innovative models of learning wherever they are around the world,” said Vivian Wu of CZI, who will join Byju’s board.

    “Education can give young people and their families a path to a better future, and families in India work hard to give their children that chance. Byju’s represents an opportunity to help even more students develop a love for learning and unlock their potential.”

    Satyan Gajwani, vice-chairman of Times Internet, said: “Byju and team are democratizing access to high quality education. Times have always believed in the power of digital education and its potential social impact for India. We are excited to join him in his journey, along with Mark and others.”

    Byju’s was founded in 2011 as a test preparation business, helping CAT aspirants crack the exam. It expanded into other competitive exams and for many years operated through physical classrooms. It also moved on to video classes a few years ago. But the big explosion in reach happened with the launch of a mobile app last year. The learning app saw over 5.5 million downloads and 250,000 paid annual subscribers within a year of its launch. The app helps in effective learning programmes for students from classes 4 to 12 and competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT.

  • Saudi Arabia, Russia sign oil pact, may limit output in future

    Saudi Arabia, Russia sign oil pact, may limit output in future

    BEIJING (TIP): Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate in world oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in the future, sending prices higher on hopes the two top oil producers would work together to tackle a global glut.

    The joint statement was signed by the country’s energy ministers in China on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit and followed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the two countries were moving toward a strategic energy partnership and that a high level of trust would allow them to address global challenges. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the agreement would also encourage other producers to cooperate.

    Oil prices soared almost 5 percent ahead of a news conference by the two ministers, but pared gains to trade up 2 percent by 1130 GMT as the agreement yielded no immediate action.

    “There is no need now to freeze production … We have time to take this kind of decision,” Falih said.

    “Freezing production is one of the preferred possibilities, but it does not have to happen specifically today.”

    Even if the Monday statement was short on action, it marks a significant development in the Russia-Saudi relationship. The two countries have been effectively fighting a proxy war in Syria and Moscow also sees itself as a big ally of Iran – Riyadh’s arch-rival in the Middle East.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold informal talks in Algeria later this month, and is next scheduled to meet officially in Vienna in November.

    Several OPEC producers have called for an output freeze to rein in the glut, which arose as supplies from high-cost producers such as the United States soared. Source: Reuters

  • M&M TO PROVIDE 40K CARS TO OLA, EYES $400M BIZ

    M&M TO PROVIDE 40K CARS TO OLA, EYES $400M BIZ

    MUMBAI (TIP): Following in the footsteps of global automakers, Mahindra & Mahindra is partnering with Ola for providing as many as 40,000 cars to the ride-hailing startup over the next two years. Drivers on the Ola platform will be able to avail low-cost financing for their vehicles, get insurance benefits and post-sales maintenance services as part of what the two companies call the Mahindra-Ola package.

    The initiative is expected to bring in additional$400 million worth of business — through purchase of cars and financing — for the Anand Mahindra-led group, reports Times of India.

    Ola and the Mumbai-based diversified group will look to extend its non-exclusive partnership into building products going forward, Mahindra told TOI in an interview. Uber recently announced a similar ‘strategic’ partnership with Tata Motors for its driver community. Uber, the world’s most valuable startup, counts Tata Opportunity Fund as an investor.

    Having cautioned against the growing adoption of ride-hailing services about a year ago, Mahindra said the idea was to build an ecosystem together with players like Ola.

    “So, for now, we are putting Verito in but all auto companies will have to design cars in future to address the needs of the shared mobility universe,” he said. Mahindra’s acceptance of the growing adoption of new-age transportation startups comes at a time when traditional automobile firms are increasingly collaborating with app-based ventures to tap the ever-increasing set of commuters opting for aggregators in lieu of buying cars.

    “To me, a lot of noise has been made around car companies investing in ride hailing startups, I don’t think that brings any strategic benefit right away as it’s a financial investment. What we are addressing are the pain points of the shared fleet industry, which are cars and drivers for their entire lifecycle,” Mahindra told TOI.

    For cab aggregators, constraint on the car-supply side has been a critical issue as they’ve grown aggressively, which is what partnerships like these help in solving. Last year, Ola announced it will invest Rs 5,000 crore to buy and then lease cars to its driver-partners over the coming years. But owning a fleet goes against the basic tenet of these tech-backed startups and a partnership with car makers is a more suitable option, for now.

  • Turkey, US ‘ready to work’ on ousting IS from Raqa

    Turkey, US ‘ready to work’ on ousting IS from Raqa

    ISTANBUL (TIP): Washington and Ankara are ready to work together to push Islamic State jihadists out of their de facto capital of Raqa in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published on sept 7.

    Erdogan said he had agreed with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in China to do “what is necessary” to drive IS out of Raqa.

    “Raqa is the most important centre of Daesh,” Erdogan told Turkish journalists onboard his plane as he returned from China, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

    “Obama wants to do something together especially on the issue of Raqa,” he said. “I said there would be no problem from our perspective.”

    “I said ‘our soldiers should come together and discuss, then what is necessary will be done’,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet daily.

    Without giving further details, he said: “What can be done will become clear after the discussions.”

    Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime were pushed out of Raqa, which lies on the Euphrates River, in 2013, making it the first provincial capital in Syria to fall out of government control. IS rapidly infiltrated the city, which is strategically located near the Turkish border, and declared a caliphate in 2014. Ousting IS from the city would be a turning point in the conflict and mark a huge blow to the jihadists.

    Erdogan’s comments came two weeks after Turkey launched an ambitious operation inside Syria, sending tanks and special forces to back up Syrian opposition fighters and remove IS jihadists and Kurdish militia from its frontier. Ankara-backed rebels seized the town of Jarabulus from IS militants within hours on the first day of the operation and Turkey says jihadists have now been removed from the entire border area.

    Loaded with luggage and possessions, hundreds of civilians began returning to Jarabulus on Wednesday, forming long queues at the border gate outside the Turkish town of Karkamis, an AFP photographer said.

    But Turkey on Tuesday sustained its biggest loss of life in the operation to date, with three soldiers killed in an IS rocket attack on their tanks.

    With the offensive still pressing on, the Turkish army said six more villages south of the town of Al-Rai had been retaken from IS jihadists on Tuesday, in a statement carried by state-run news agency Anadolu.

    Yet it remains unclear if the Syrian rebels backed by Turkey will proceed further south to take Al-Bab from IS jihadists and then Raqa itself, or to what extent the operation has US support. Long criticized for failure to stem the flow of foreign fighters joining ranks with IS, Turkey hopes the ouster of the jihadists from its frontier will drastically improve security.

    “Obviously, with ISIS (IS) removed from the border, we expect this development to have a positive impact on foreign fighters,” a senior Turkish official said, on condition of anonymity.

  • Serena Williams crashes out of US Open, loses No. 1 ranking

    Serena Williams crashes out of US Open, loses No. 1 ranking

    NEW YORK (TIP): Serena Williams crashed out of the US Open, her semi-final defeat to Karolina Pliskova costing her a shot at a 23rd Grand Slam title and a record 187th straight week at number one. Pliskova, the 10th-seeded Czech playing in her first Grand Slam semi-final, triumphed 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) and will face Angelique Kerber, who will supplant the American atop the summit when the new world rankings are released on Sept 5. “I don’t believe it,” said Pliskova, who had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in 17 prior attempts.

    “I knew I had the chance to beat anyone if I played my game. I am excited to be in the final and to beat Serena as she is such a great champion.

    “Even when she was down a set and break she was still fighting. I had to fight hard to win.”

    Williams said she had been hampered by a sore left knee since earlier in the tournament. Although it was a distraction, she said Pliskova earned her victory.

    “Karolina played great today. I think if she had played any less then maybe I would have had a chance,” said Williams, who with one more Grand Slam title will move out of a tie with Steffi Graf for most in the Open Era.

    “So I think I wasn’t at 100 percent, but I also think she played well. She deserved to win today.”

    Pliskova, who survived a match point en route to a fourth-round victory over Venus Williams, was nearly betrayed by her nerves as up 3-0 in the tiebreaker she produced three errors, including a double fault. Williams led 4-3 and 5-4 in the decider but couldn’t hang on, Pliskova taking it when Williams delivered her sixth double-fault of the match. While Williams’s serve has long been reckoned the most powerful weapon in women’s tennis, 11th-ranked Pliskova came into the contest boasting a tour-leading 439 aces. In a duel of power-hitters where protecting serve was crucial, Pliskova gained the upper hand with a break for 2-1 in the first set and Williams gave her a chance to serve it out with a shocking seventh game that started with a double-fault and continued with three errors to grant Pliskova a 5-2 lead.