Tokyo (TIP)- SoftBank Group Corp. surged in Tokyo trading after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced a six-way split of its businesses, fueling optimism for a recovery at one of the Japanese company’s most important holdings. The Tokyo-based company’s stock rose as much as 6.2% in early trading, the biggest intraday move since October.
“There had been anxiety over the global banking system, but that has started to subside. And now we have this Alibaba news, which is clearly a positive for SoftBank,” said Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management. “The expectation is for the spinoff units to have their businesses properly valued, which will boost Alibaba’s overall corporate value.”
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has relied on his Alibaba stake in recent years to generate cash for other startup investments and to compensate for losses in his portfolio. Alibaba’s market capitalization slid with the Chinese government’s crackdown on tech giants though, falling from a peak of more than $850 billion in 2020 to about $220 billion before the breakup announcement. Alibaba shares rose 14% in New York trading after the split announcement, pushing its market value to about $255 billion. Still, SoftBank is working through other challenges among its portfolio companies, which may moderate any stock gains.
“It’s going to be a slow recovery from here,” said Fujiwara. “The upside for the stock price will be capped until we see an overall turn around in sentiment for Nasdaq and technology firms.” Source: Bloomberg
Year: 2023
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SoftBank shares surge after Alibaba unveils six-way split of its businesses
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First Citizens acquires Silicon Valley Bank
Washington (TIP)- U.S. regulators said they would backstop a deal for regional lender First Citizens BancShares to acquire failed Silicon Valley Bank, triggering an estimated $20 billion hit to a government-run insurance fund. The deal comes after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took over Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 after depositors rushed to pull out their money in a bank run that also brought down Signature Bank and wiped out more than half the market value of several other U.S. regional lenders.
The deal was “momentous” for First Citizens, CEO Frank Holding told investors on a conference call Monday. “We believe this transaction is a great outcome for depositors.”
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based lender has completed 21 such government-assisted deals, including 14 since 2009 when CEO Holding was made chairman, according to a Piper Sandler note on Monday. The FDIC fund does not take U.S. taxpayer money and is instead replenished by a levy on member banks.
“The FDIC’s sale of SVB helps show business can go on as usual for the banking industry,” a team of Wells Fargo analysts led by Mike Mayo said in a note on Monday.
First Citizens will not pay cash upfront for the deal. Instead, it said it granted equity appreciation rights in its stock to the FDIC that could be worth up to $500 million — a fraction of what Silicon Valley Bank was worth before it failed.
The FDIC will be able to exercise these rights between March 27 and April 14. How much cash it receives will depend on the value of First Citizens’ stock.
First Citizens shares jumped 50%.
First Citizens will assume Silicon Valley Bank’s assets of $110 billion, deposits of $56 billion and loans of $72 billion as part of the deal.
The FDIC said the $72-billion purchase of SVB’s assets came at a discount of $16.5 billion.
SVB Private, which the FDIC was trying last week to sell separately and that Citizens Financial Corp had expressed interest in, was acquired by First Citizens as well.
First Citizens said SVB’s Private wealth business “is a natural fit for our high-touch and sophisticated level of high-net-worth customer service and approach.”
LINE OF CREDIT
First Citizens will also receive a line of credit from the FDIC for contingent liquidity purposes and will have an agreement with the regulator to share some losses on commercial loans to protect it against potential credit losses.
“First Citizens Bank’s acquisition of the SVB loan book and deposits does not add much to solve the number one issue that the U.S. banking system is now facing: deposits leaving smaller banks for larger banks or money market funds,” said Redmond Wong, greater China market strategist at Saxo Markets.
Based in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th biggest lender in the U.S. at the end of last year, with about $209 billion in assets.
SVB’s collapse triggered the worst banking crisis since 2008, pummelling banking stocks globally. Shares in European lenders fell sharply, led by Germany’s Deutsche Bank , raising concern among authorities about a potential credit crunch. Source: Reuters -
Contagion risks loom over Adani Transmission and Adani Ports, says Fitch
Ratings agency Fitch has said that two Adani Group subsidiaries are exposed to heightened contagion risks as a result of governance weakness at the conglomerate’s sponsor level. Adani Transmission Limited and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone are prone to risks which could affect financial flexibility, said Fitch. The report further added that this could affect financial flexibility, if not addressed properly.
At 9:47 am, Adani Transmission was quoting at Rs 965 on the BSE, lower by 5 percent. Meanwhile, Adani Ports was trading higher by nearly 2 percent at Rs 609.
The Adani Group is back in fire-fighting mode after media reports called into question the Indian conglomerate’s ability to repay debt, reviving a selloff in its stock.
Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. fell 5.7% to close at 593.40 rupees on Tuesday — lower than the price investor GQG Partners paid to buy a stake earlier this month. It plummeted more than 9% at one point in the session. The sharp selloff in all Adani stocks erased about $6.2 billion from their combined market value, the biggest decline since early February. -
Economic slow-down in China likely to drag global growth down: World Bank
An anticipated economic slow-down in China is likely to drag global growth down to its lowest level this century, the World Bank said Monday, proposing measures to prevent a “lost decade” of growth.
The world’s potential growth — its maximum long-term growth rate without sparking inflation — will slow to an average annual rate of just 2.2 percent this decade, the World Bank said in a statement. A confluence of factors, including the lingering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing risks to the financial sector in Europe and the United States, are all acting to slow the global economy, which the bank expects to expand by just 1.7 percent this year. The Washington-based multilateral lender predicts that China’s economy will help keep the global economy from entering a recession due to an annual growth rate of five percent this year.Source: AFP
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Six civilians killed in Afghanistan suicide bomb attack, second blast in 3 months
KABUL (TIP): A suicide attack on March 27 near Afghanistan’s foreign ministry killed six civilians and wounded several others, the interior ministry said. Security has dramatically improved since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021, ousting the US-backed government and ending their two-decade insurgency, but the Islamic State group has proved an increasing threat.
The attacker was identified by Afghan forces who shot at him in front of a business centre near the foreign ministry, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor tweeted. “With his killing, the explosives carried by the attacker also exploded which killed six civilians and wounded a number of others,” he said.
Italian NGO Emergency, which operates a hospital in the capital, confirmed it had received two dead and 12 wounded, including a child. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Monday’s blast was the second attack near the foreign ministry in Kabul in less than three months, and the first since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on Thursday in Afghanistan.
On January 11, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the foreign ministry, killing 10 and wounding 53 people, according to the United Nations.
The Taliban authorities, who have often tried to play down attacks challenging their rule, had said that five people were killed in that attack, claimed by IS. The group has increasingly become a major challenge, killing and wounding hundreds of people in several attacks, some targeting foreigners or foreign interests in a bid to undermine the Taliban government.
At least five Chinese nationals were wounded in December when gunmen stormed a hotel popular with businesspeople in Kabul.
That raid was claimed by IS, as was an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul also in December that Islamabad denounced as an “assassination attempt” against its ambassador.
Two Russian embassy staff members were killed in a suicide bombing outside their mission in September in another attack claimed by IS.
The Taliban and IS share an austere Sunni Islamist ideology, but the latter are fighting to establish a global “caliphate” instead of the Taliban’s more inward-looking aim of ruling an independent Afghanistan. (AFP) -
No talks with Imran Khan unless he apologises: Pakistan PM Shehbaz
ISLAMABAD (TIP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ruled out any talks between the government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan unless the former premier admits his wrongdoings and issues a public apology. While addressing the National Assembly on March 28, prime minister Sharif criticised Khan by calling him a “fraud” and said it is impossible to talk to someone who “looted the country, attacked the judiciary and did not believe in the Constitution and justice”, Geo News reported. The joint session of parliament was summoned last week to discuss the key issues confronting Pakistan and provide guidelines to deal with those issues. “I believe no discussions can be held with a person who consistently and condescendingly rejects invitations for talks on everything – be it COVID-19, the state of terrorism in the country, the apex committee meeting, or the Kashmir conference,” Sharif was quoted as saying.
Referring to the recent fiasco witnessed during the court proceeding of the PTI chief, Sharif said that a certain “favourite” does not appear before any court, no matter how many notices have been issued to him, it said.
“He gets an extension in different courts in the dark of the night and makes a mockery of the judiciary,” Sharif said, criticising Khan for his remarks against a sitting woman judge and the fact that no action has been taken in this case so far. “Khan made false cases against the opposition when he was in government and signed an agreement with the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and violated it,” the premier said while listing the wrongdoings of the former PTI government.
Calling out Khan for pushing the country towards bankruptcy, the prime minister reiterated that the current coalition headed by the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) government “saved the country.”
“Today, the IMF is taking guarantees from us at every step. We have fulfilled all the conditions of the IMF. Congratulations to the finance minister who finalised the terms of the deal with the Fund,” Sharif said.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is awaiting a much-needed USD 1.1 billion tranche of funding from the Washington-based global money lender, which was originally due to be disbursed in November last year. (PTI) -
China threatens retaliation if Taiwanese President Tsai, US House speaker McCarthy meet
BEIJING (TIP): China has threatened “resolute countermeasures” over a planned meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during an upcoming visit to Los Angeles by the head of the self-governing island democracy. Diplomatic pressure against Taiwan has ramped up recently, with Beijing poaching its dwindling number of diplomatic allies while also sending military fighter jets flying toward the island on a near daily basis. Earlier this month, Honduras established diplomatic relations with China, leaving Taiwan with only 13 countries that recognize it as a sovereign state. Tsai is scheduled to transit through New York on March 30 before heading to Guatemala and Belize. On April 5, she’s expected to stop in Los Angeles on her way back to Taiwan, at which time the meeting with McCarthy is tentatively scheduled.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office Zhu Fenglian at a news conference Wednesday denounced Tsai’s stopover on her way to diplomatic allies in Central America and demanded that no U.S. officials meet with her. “We firmly oppose this and will take resolute countermeasures,” Zhu said. The U.S. should “refrain from arranging Tsai Ing-wen’s transit visits and even contact with American officials, and take concrete actions to fulfill its solemn commitment not to support Taiwan independence,” she said.
Transit visits through the United States during broader international travel by the Taiwanese president have been routine over the years, senior U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing have underscored to their Chinese counterparts.
In such unofficial visits in recent years, Tsai has met with members of Congress and the Taiwanese diaspora and has been welcomed by the chairperson of the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S. government-run nonprofit that carries out unofficial relations with Taiwan.
Tsai transited through the United States six times between 2016 and 2019 before slowing international travel with the coronavirus pandemic. In reaction to those visits, China lashed out rhetorically against the U.S. and Taiwan.
However, the planned meeting with McCarthy has triggered fears of a heavy-handed Chinese reaction amid heightened frictions between Beijing and Washington over U.S. support for Taiwan, trade and human rights issues. Following a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022, Beijing launched missiles over the area, deployed warships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and carried out military exercises in a simulated blockade of the island. Beijing also suspended climate talks with the U.S. and restricted military-to-military communication with the Pentagon.
McCarthy, R-Calif., has said he would meet with Tsai when she is in the U.S. and has not ruled out the possibility of traveling to Taiwan in a show of support. (AP) -
Prince Harry accuses UK royals of hiding phone hacking from him
London (TIP) : Britain’s Prince Harry has accused his family of withholding information about phone hacking from him to avoid sitting in the witness box and opening “a can of worms”, a witness statement released on March 28 said. The Duke of Sussex made the claim in submissions for a privacy claim he and other celebrities have filed against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers (ANL).
Lawyers for the group, which also includes pop superstar Elton John, claim ANL commissioned the breaking and entry into private property, illegally intercepted voicemail messages and obtained medical records. The alleged wrong doing dates from 1993-2011, but some went on as late as 2018, according to their lawyer David Sherborne. In his partially redacted statement, Harry stated he “became aware that I had a claim that I could bring” only in 2018, in part due to the royal family — which he refers to as “the Institution”. “The Institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about… phone hacking,” he added.
“That has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation.” The prince went on to state: “The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking and it was made clear to me that the Royal Family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms.”
The prince, who lives in California, made a surprise appearance at London’s High Court on the first two of four days of hearings this week, on Monday alongside John and other figures involved.
‘The bubble burst’
ANL has described the allegations as “preposterous smears” and an attempt “to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal”.
It is trying to end the legal claims by arguing they are “stale” and “based on no credible evidence”, so should not go to trial.
A spokesperson for ANL said that Harry “has become a serial litigant against Mail newspapers with whom he seems obsessed”.
Britain’s phone-hacking scandal, which first blew up in 2006, saw journalists at the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World hack into the voicemails of royals, celebrities and murder victims.
It triggered the closure of the mass-selling Sunday tabloid, a mammoth police investigation, a judge-led inquiry and criminal charges that gripped Britain for years.
Harry, the younger son of Britain’s King Charles III, has long had a difficult relationship with the media.
In his statement, he said leaving the UK had proved pivotal in bringing the lawsuit.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble burst in terms of what I knew in 2020 when I moved out of the United Kingdom,” the prince stated.
He concluded by arguing he was bringing the claim “because I love my country and I remain deeply concerned by the unchecked power, influence and criminality” of the publisher.
“The British public deserves to know the full extent of this cover up and I feel it is my duty to expose it,” he added.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment. (AFP) -
Sri Lanka, India to begin passenger ferry service by April end
COLOMBO (TIP): The much-delayed passenger ferry service between Sri Lanka and India is set to start by the end of April, Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said on March 26.
“On April 29, the ferry service between Karaikal and Kankesanthurai in port in Jaffna district would begin. Each passenger would be allowed a 100 kg baggage allowance at a very concessionary rate,” the minister said.
De Silva said the opportunity would be open to any passenger ferry operator of both countries to run the service.
A passenger terminal is being built by the Sri Lanka Navy at Kankesanthurai.
The service would be a four-hour-long voyage, the Aviation Ministry here said. (PTI) -
Air India and Nepal Airlines aircraft near-collision mid-air; 2 air traffic controllers suspended
KATHMANDU (TIP): A major tragedy was averted on March 25 when an Air India and a Nepal Airlines aircraft came close to collision mid-air but the warning systems alerted the pilots whose timely action prevented the disaster, authorities said here on Sunday.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has suspended two employees of the air traffic controller department for “carelessness”, according to CAAN spokesperson Jagannath Niroula. On March 25 morning, a Nepal Airlines plane coming to Kathmandu from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and an Air India plane coming to Kathmandu from New Delhi almost collided. The Air India aircraft was descending from 19,000 ft while the Nepal Airlines aircraft was flying at an altitude of 15,000 ft at the same location, Niroula said. After it was shown on the radar that the two aircraft were in proximity, the Nepal Airlines aircraft descended to 7,000 ft, the spokesperson said. The Civil Aviation Authority has formed a three-member probe committee to investigate the matter. The CAAN has suspended the two officers, who were in charge of the control room at the time of the incident.
There was no immediate comment from Air India. (PTI) -
38 dead in Mexico detention centre fire after guards didn’t let migrants out
CIUDAD JUAREZ (TIP): When smoke began billowing out of a migrant detention center in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, Venezuelan migrant Viangly Infante Padrón was terrified because she knew her husband was still inside. The father of her three children had been picked up by immigration agents earlier in the day, part of a recent crackdown that netted 67 other migrants, many of whom were asking for handouts or washing car windows at stoplights in this city across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. In moments of shock and horror, Infante Padrón recounted how she saw immigration agents rush out of the building after fire started late Monday. Later came the migrants’ bodies carried out on stretchers, wrapped in foil blankets. The toll: 38 dead in all and 28 seriously injured, victims of a blaze apparently set in protest by the detainees themselves. “I was desperate because I saw a dead body, a body, a body, and I didn’t see him anywhere,” Infante Padrón said of her husband, Eduard Caraballo López, who in the end survived with only light injuries, perhaps because he was scheduled for release and was near a door.
But what she saw in those first minutes has become the center of a question much of Mexico is asking itself: Why didn’t authorities attempt to release the men — almost all from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and El Salvador — before smoke filled the room and killed so many? (AP) -
Russian man whose teen daughter drew anti-war picture flees house arrest
MOSCOW (TIP): A single father, who was separated from his daughter and sentenced on March 28 to two years in prison over “discrediting” the Russian army, has fled house arrest, officials said. Alexei Moskalyov, 54, first came to the authorities’ attention last year after his daughter Maria drew a picture at school showing missiles next to a Russian flag heading towards a woman and child standing by a Ukrainian flag.
A criminal case was later opened against him for allegedly criticising Russia’s assault on Ukraine and on Tuesday he was handed a two-year jail sentence over comments on social media.
But in a dramatic turn of events, court officials said Moskalyov had fled house arrest.
Moskalyov has been separated from his 13-year-old daughter as punishment for his criticism of Kremlin policies, a first in Russia, experts say.
“The verdict was read out in the absence of the defendant, because he disappeared and did not appear at the hearing,” Elena Mikhailovskaya, a spokeswoman for the Yefremov district court south of Moscow, told AFP.
Moskalyov’s lawyer Vladimir Biliyenko said he was in a “state of shock”.
“His disappearance is a total surprise for me. This has happened for the first time in my career,” he told AFP.
He said that Moskalyov’s daughter Maria could be sent to an orphanage “within a month”.
School drawing : Russia’s top human rights organisation Memorial, which has been shuttered by Russian authorities, said on Facebook it considered Moskalyov a “political prisoner”.
It added that separation from his daughter was a “repressive act and an attempt to intimidate all opponents of the war not only with prison terms but also the destruction of their families and pressure on children”.
The Moskalyovs’ case has garnered national attention and led to an online petition calling for the girl to be re-united with her father.
The pair hail from Yefremov, a small town of around 37,000 people some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Moscow. The case against Moskalyov was opened after Maria’s headmistress contacted the police about her picture with the flags and the missiles. Police said an online search uncovered comments criticising Moscow’s action in Ukraine on the social media profiles of the girl’s father.
In early March, authorities placed Maria in a “rehabilitation centre” for minors, while Moskalyov was put under house arrest.
On Monday, prosecutors demanded a two-year prison term for the father.
Since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine over a year ago public criticism of Moscow’s offensive in the pro-Western country has been outlawed.
During the height of Stalin-era purges in the late 1930s thousands of children were taken away from their parents.
In modern Russia, the first recorded attempts to strip activists of parental rights were in Moscow in 2019. Prosecutors’ attempts to punish two families for taking their children to political protests were not successful at the time, however.
Even Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner paramilitary force spearheading Russia’s assault in eastern Ukraine, has voiced support for Maria and criticised the local authorities. (AFP) -
Scientists find ‘reservoir’ containing substantial quantities of water on moon
Researchers have discovered water trapped in tiny beads spread across the surface only the Moon, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience. It is based on samples of the lunar surface brought back by China’s Chang’e 5 mission. The beads embedded in the surface contained “substantial quantities” of water, the scientists said.
The samples were collected in December 2020 and researchers saw microscopic droplets trapped in minerals in them. They said the discovery may help in better understanding of the Earth’s neighbour and space missions that could use it as a habitat.
According to scientists, the beads are crucial to the lunar surface’s water cycle.
For years, it was believed that Moon is dry but space missions in the last few decades found water trapped inside the surface. However, it is still unclear exactly how water will behave once it reaches the Moon. Some research has shown that the water in vapourised form fluctuates throughout the day and disappears into space, which implies that the soil should contain some kind of storage.
According to experts, the beads are made when an asteroid strikes the moon’s surface and produces molten droplets. These droplets then freeze and mix with the soil and dust. As per their calculations, the impact beads that are dispersed around the surface of the moon may be storing up to 270 billion tonnes of water, which they call a huge “reservoir”.
The paper said, “The impact glass beads preserve hydration signatures and display water abundance profiles consistent with the inward diffusion of solar wind-derived water.” Source: NDTV -
A supermassive blackhole is directly facing Earth: Scientists
A team of scientists at the Royal Astronomical Society has reclassified a galaxy after they discovered that a supermassive blackhole has changed its direction and is directly facing toward the Earth.
The galaxy, 657 million light-years away from the Earth has been named as PBC J2333.9-2343.
The research published on March 21 has revealed that the galaxy has now been classified as a giant radio galaxy that is four million light years across, nearly 40 times the size of the Milky Way. The galaxy happens to have a blazar, an active galactic nucleus, with a relativistic jet (also called as supermassive blackhole) in its core.
Blazars are very high-energy objects and are considered to be one of the most powerful phenomena in the Universe. The research also revealed that the galaxy has changed its direction by 90 degrees, pointing directly towards the blue planet.
Dr Lorena Hernandez-Garcia, spokesperson of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), said, “We started to study this galaxy as it showed peculiar properties. Our hypothesis was that the relativistic jet of its supermassive black hole had changed its direction, and to confirm that idea we had to carry out a lot of observations”.
“The fact that we see the nucleus is not feeding the lobes anymore means that they are very old. They are the relics of past activity, whereas the structures located closer to the nucleus represent younger and active jets”, she added.
Scientists do not yet know what caused the drastic change in direction of the galaxy, though they speculate that PBC J2333.9-2343 might have collided with another galaxy. It is also not clear how the direction of the black hole will affect our galaxy.
Waves from a once-in-10,000-Year explosion hit Earth
When a star reaches its end of life, it goes through a supernova, which is one of the biggest explosions in the universe, and turns into a black hole. In October 2022 waves from one of those explosions swept through our Solar System, hitting Earth and triggering sensors across the world. Scientists have now analyzed it and revealed that it was the brightest Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) to occur since human civilization began. The burst triggered detectors on numerous spacecraft, and observatories around the globe followed up on the event on October 22, 2022.
Nasa said that the burst was so bright it effectively blinded most gamma-ray instruments in space, which means they could not directly record the real intensity of the emission.
Source: HT and India Today -
iPhone 15 Pro Max to have world’s thinnest display?
If the reports are to be believed, then the upcoming Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max might be having the world’s thinnest display. According to Mashable, the front display of the iPhone 15 Pro Max may have bezels that are only 1.55mm thick (or 0.06 inches), making it the smartphone with the tiniest bezels ever created. Mashable quoted Ice Universe, a tipster, which recently tweeted that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would shatter Xiaomi 13’s record for the narrowest black bezel (1.81 mm), as measured by its cover plate. S23 and iS22 – 1.95mmiCE Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 2.17mm.
The front glass films of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max smartphones leaked online this week, showing their ultra-thin bezels surrounding the displays. The future iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max smartphone models are also anticipated to be the only ones to offer Apple’s display features, Always-On and ProMotion. According to rumours, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max would have upgraded RAM, a titanium frame, solid-state buttons with haptic feedback, and other new features, reported Mashable. Source: ANI -
Studying continental movement over ‘hotspot’ reveals internal workings of volcanoes
Scientists have learned about the internal workings of volcanoes by studying the northward movement of the Australian continent over a ‘hotspot’ inside the Earth during the last 35 million years, which left behind volcanic relics across its landscape.
The researchers from University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, said these relics revealed that the inner structure of the Australian volcanoes became increasingly complex as the hotspot’s magma output decreased. Their research is published in Nature Geoscience. The hotspot was incredibly strong in its early stages, generating some of eastern Australia’s most beloved natural attractions, according to one of the researchers, Al-Tamini Tapu.
“These large volcanoes were active for up to seven million years,” Tapu said.
“The volcanoes formed as the continent moved over a stationary hotspot inside the planet, melting the land above it so magma could ooze upward.
“This left a treasure trove of volcanic landmarks in its wake, forming the longest chain of continental ‘hotspot’ volcanoes on Earth — along Australia’s eastern side,” said Tapu.
Enormous, long-lived lava outpourings in Tweed volcano, one of the ‘shield volcanoes’ and a popular tourist spot, may have weakened the hotspot, and caused the younger volcanoes to the south to become smaller and shorter-lived, the researchers said.
Associate Professor Teresa Ubide said that as the magma production waned, the volcanoes became internally more complicated, erupting lavas full of complex crystals.
“As these cooled down and became more viscous, it became more difficult to generate eruptions, which may have been more explosive.
“We found that the arrival of new, hotter, and gas-rich magma acts like a shaken bottle of fizzy drink, causing a build-up of pressure in the magma, and, eventually, an eruption,” said Ubide. Source: PTI -
Obesity risk may be passed on from moms to daughters
According to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism of the Endocrine Society, mothers with obesity may share the disease’s risk with their daughters but not with their sons. Obesity is a common, serious and costly disease affecting nearly half of the adults and 20 percent of children in the United States. It costs an estimated $173 billion in medical care costs. People with obesity are at higher risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart issues, and many other conditions.
“These findings highlight that girls born to mothers who have obesity or have high amounts of body fat may be at higher risk of gaining excess body fat themselves,” said Rebecca J. Moon, B.M., Ph.D., M.R.C.P.C.H., of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton in Southampton, U.K. “Further studies are needed to understand why this is happening, but our findings suggest that approaches to addressing body weight and composition should start very early in life, particularly in girls born to mothers with obesity and overweight.” The researchers measured body fat and muscle in 240 children (9 years old or younger) and their parents in early childhood. They used this data to determine whether the body mass index (BMI)–a screening tool for overweight and obesity–and the amount of body fat and muscle in the child was related to that of their parents.
They found the girls had similar BMI and fat mass to their mothers, suggesting that girls born to mothers who have obesity or have high fat mass are at high risk of also developing obesity or overweight. The researchers did not find the same association between boys and their mothers or either girls or boys and their fathers.Source: ANI
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birth control pills linked with small breast cancer risk: Study
Use of all hormonal contraceptives is associated with a small increase in the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, found a relative increase of 20 to 30 per cent in breast cancer risk associated with both combined and progestogen-only contraceptives, whatever the mode of delivery. The resaerchers at the University of Oxford, UK, and colleagues found that a 15-year absolute excess incidence is at most 265 cases per 100,000 users.
Use of combined oral contraceptives, containing both estrogen and progestogen hormones, has previously been associated with a small increase in breast cancer risk but there is limited data about the effect of progestogen-only contraceptives, the resaerchers said.
However, the use of progestogen-only contraceptives has increased substantially in recent years, with almost as many prescriptions in England for oral progestogen-only contraceptives as for combined oral contraceptives in 2020, they said. The researchers analysed data from a UK primary care database, the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), on 9,498 women under the age of 50 with invasive breast cancer diagnosed in 1996–2017, as well as data on 18,171 closely matched controls.
On average, 44 per cent of women with breast cancer and 39 per cent of matched controls had a hormonal contraceptive prescription, with about half the prescriptions being for progestogen-only preparations.
With five years use of either oral combined or progestogen-only contraceptives, the associated 15-year absolute excess incidence of breast cancer was estimated at 8 cases per 100,000 hormonal contraceptive users at age 16–20 years and 265 cases per 100,000 users at age 35–39 years. The odds of breast cancer were similarly and significantly raised, regardless of whether the contraceptive used was a combined (estrogen and progestogen) oral preparation, a progestogen-only oral preparation, an injected progestogen, or a progestogen releasing intra-uterine device. These results were combined with those from previous studies from high income countries, which included women from a wider age range.
“These findings suggest that current or recent use of all types of progestogen-only contraceptives is associated with a slight increase in breast cancer risk, similar to that associated with use of combined oral contraceptives,” said Kirstin Pirie of University of Oxford.
“Given that the underlying risk of breast cancer increases with advancing age, the absolute excess risk associated with use of either type of oral contraceptive will be smaller in women who use it at younger rather than at older ages,” Pirie said.
However, the resaerchers said these excess risks must be viewed in the context of the well-established benefits of contraceptive use in women’s reproductive years.
Source: PTI -
Take care of your feet
Constant exposure to dirt, grime and sun can wreak your feet. Wearing open sandals in this weather can not only make your feet to crack but also cause tanning. Here are a few ways you can take care of them –
Wash your feet when you get back home and apply a moisturising lotion
Right after you get into your house, make sure that you wash your feet and apply a thick layer of moisturising cream to protect it from getting cracked. Further, the cream will also take care of the cracks that you have already developed on your feet.
Apply a layer of nourishing gel on your feet before you go off to bed.
For those who have cracked heels, it is recommended to use a nourishing gel before you go off to bed every night. Once you apply the gel on your feet, you should ideally wear socks to protect it from bacteria present in the air.
A pedicure in two weeks is a must. If you thought that pedicure is a treatment that should be done only once in a month, then you’re wrong. If you already suffer from cracked feet, it is recommended that you get a hydrating pedicure done at least once in every two weeks. A moisturising pedicure with aloe vera or chocolate is great for your feet.
Get hold of a feet balm. There are plenty of products available in the market that ensure that your feet is free from bacteria and dead skin cells. One of them is a nourishing feet balm which protects your heels from getting cracked. -
Sniffing other people’s body odor may help treat mental health issues: Study
Exposure to human odours, collected from other people’s sweat, may be used to boost treatment for some mental health issues, a new study has shown. According to the study by European Psychiatric Association (EPA), the researchers demonstrated that social anxiety was reduced when patients were exposed to human ‘chemo-signals’, or what they typically refer to as body smell, derived from volunteers’ underarm sweat.
“The results of our preliminary study show that combining these chemo-signals with mindfulness therapy seems to produce better results in treating social anxiety than can be achieved by mindfulness therapy alone,” said lead researcher Elisa Vigna of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The study involves collecting sweat samples from volunteers and then exposing patients to chemo-signals extracted from these sweat samples while they were receiving social anxiety treatment.
The researchers recruited 48 women (aged between 15 and 35), all of whom suffered from social anxiety, and divided them into three groups each of 16 people.
Each group was exposed to a different odour, obtained from the sweat samples of people who had seen different types of video clips, plus a control group, which was exposed to clean air. “We found that the women in the group exposed to sweat from people who had been watching funny or fearful movies responded better to mindfulness therapy than those who hadn’t been exposed. We were a little surprised to find that the emotional state of the person producing the sweat didn’t differ in treatment outcomes — sweat produced while someone was happy had the same effect as someone who had been scared by a movie clip,” Vigna said.
She added: “We found that individuals who undertook one treatment session of mindfulness therapy together with being exposed to human body odours showed about 39 per cent reduction in anxiety scores. For comparison, in the group receiving only mindfulness (i.e., the control group) we saw a 17 per cent reduction in anxiety scores after one treatment session.” Source: IANS -
Beat bedroom boredom: Ways to spice things up
While it might be a bit scary to realize you’re feeling bored in the bedroom, if you’re in a long-term relationship, it’s totally normal. Never fear, though; there are some easy ways to keep things interesting. Read on for our tips on keeping things interesting with your long-term love.
Share your fantasies
People’s preferences are always changing, so what might have once worked for you or your partner in the beginning of your relationship might be completely different now. Talking about what turns you both on now will make sex more pleasurable and more exciting for both of you.
Change the scenery
If you only have sex in the bedroom, try changing up the location of your nooky to spice things up. Explore a new room in the house, or, if finances allow, book a room at a nearby hotel. The change in venue will add novelty and freshness to the experience, making it more enjoyable for both of you.
Share your feelings
When you first fall in love, you probably told your partner that you loved him or her all the time. But as relationships continue, people often forget to show their partners love and appreciation in the same ways they did early on in the relationship, which can lead to feelings of under-appreciation and dissatisfaction that translate into a lack-luster bedroom experience. Make a point of telling your partner how much you want and appreciate them and detail the reasons why you love them. This will deepen your emotional connection and steam things up in the bedroom.
Have some distance
The saying goes that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it also helps to heat things up in the bedroom. Studies have shown that people feel most attracted to their partners when they aren’t there. This doesn’t mean you need to move to the far corners of the earth to create some space. Even spending time apart socially helps to increase the anticipation and the erotic imagination, making your reunion all the more sexy.
Try a different kind of sexual intimacy
If you find yourself getting bored with even the most exciting positions in traditional penis-in-vagina sex, trying taking a break and focusing on pleasuring each other through touch and taste. Doing so allows you both to slow down and focus on each other’s pleasure, increasing intimacy and giving you a chance to rediscover the magic of being aroused by each other.
Source: Popculture -
Chicken Achari
Ingredients
– Chicken (with bone or without) – 400 to 500 gms, skinned, chopped, Onion – 1, small, finely chopped, Ginger Garlic Paste – 3 to 4 tsp, Plain Yogurt – 1/4 cup, lightly beaten, Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp, Red Chilli Powder – 3/4 to 1 tsp, Tomato Puree – 3/4 to 1 tsp, Dry Red Chillies – 2, Black Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp, Fenugreek Seeds – 1/2 tsp, Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp, Fennel Seeds – 1/2 tsp, Kalonji (Nigella Seeds) – 1/2 tsp, Lemon Juice – 1/2 tsp, Oil – 4 to 5 tsp, Salt as per taste, Coriander Leaves – handful, chopped
Method
– Heat oil in a pan over medium flame.
– Add the dry red chillies, black mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and kalonji. Fry for 10 to 20 seconds.
– Add the onions and saute until light brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well. Now add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder and stir for 10-20 seconds.
– Add a splash of water if it starts sticking to the bottom. Add the tomato puree and cook for a minute or two.
– Add the chicken pieces, stir well and cook for 5 minutes. Ensure the chicken pieces are well coated in the masala. Pour 1/4 cup of water and cover the pan with a lid.
– Simmer on low flame for 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add the yogurt, stir well and cook for 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the flame. Add the lemon juice and salt.
– Stir again to mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with naan or roti. -
France sees new pension protests, police brace for violence
PARIS (TIP): Protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms kicked off again on March 28 across France, with police security ramped up amid government warnings that radical demonstrators intended “to destroy, to injure and to kill.” Concerns that violence could mar the demonstrations prompted what Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described as an unprecedented deployment of 13,000 officers, nearly half of them concentrated in the French capital. After months of upheaval, an exit from the firestorm of protest triggered by President Emmanuel Macron’s changes to France’s retirement system looked as far away as ever.
Despite fresh union pleas that the government pause its hotly contested push to raise France’s legal retirement age from 62 to 64, Macron seemingly remained wedded to it. The French leader previously used a special constitutional power to ram the reform past legislators without allowing them a vote. His move this month further galvanized the protest movement.
Violence has since flared and thousands of tons of stinking garbage have piled up on Paris’ streets as sanitation workers strike. “Everybody is getting madder,” said Clément Saild, a train passenger at Paris’ Gare de Lyon railway station, where tracks were temporarily invaded and blocked Tuesday by protesting workers. He said he supports the strikes despite their impact on transportation and other services. (AP) -
Paul O’Grady MBE aka ‘Lily Savage’, UK star who made drag mainstream, dies at 67
LONDON (TIP): The British royal family and lawmakers led tributes Wednesday to comedian and entertainer Paul O’Grady, who made drag culture mainstream with his alter ego Lily Savage.
O’Grady, who died on Tuesday at the age of 67, went on to become a fixture on hit television shows as well as a campaigner for LGBTQ rights.
Born in the northwestern English town of Birkenhead in 1955, O’Grady began his Lily Savage act in the 1970s while holding down a day job for a London council.
He took the acerbic, wig-wearing Savage on the nightclub circuit and the act later took off with TV and radio appearances in character. “It’s impossible to overestimate what a trailblazer he was,” said ITV breakfast show television presenter Richard Arnold.
“You idolised him as a gay man actually… and then of course he broke into the mainstream broadcasting landscape,” he said on Good Morning Britain.
A devoted animal lover, O’Grady also presented the long-running reality television series “For the Love of Dogs” set in London’s Battersea Dogs & Cats Home for stray and unwanted animals.
Queen Consort Camilla appeared in a special episode of the programme in December.
“Deeply saddened to hear of the death of Paul O’Grady, who worked closely with Her Majesty in support of Battersea, providing lots of laughter and many waggy-tailed memories,” the British Royal Family twitter account tweeted along with a picture of Camilla and the star.
‘National treasure’
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said O’Grady “wasn’t just a brilliant comedian and broadcast personality but a much-admired campaigner for LGBT+ equality and animal rights”.
Tatchell added O’Grady had been due to lead a forthcoming campaign for his foundation seeking an apology from UK police for “their historic persecution of the LGBT+ community”.
He also recalled the police raiding a London LGBTQ venue in the 1980s at the height of fearmongering about the AIDS virus. The officers were wearing rubber gloves, Tatchell said, due to misconceptions at the time that you could catch HIV by touching someone.
Their appearance prompted O’Grady, who was on stage as Savage, to quip: “Oh good, have you come to do the washing up?”
O’Grady died “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Tuesday evening, his partner Andre Portasio said. (AFP) -
Wait time for US visitor’s visa interview in India cut by 60 pc this year, says official
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The wait time for a US visitor’s visa interview in India has been reduced by 60 per cent this year, a senior official has said, attributing it to several steps the United States has taken, including increasing the number of officials and opening other diplomatic missions to process these applications.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services Julie Stufft told PTI in an interview that the goal of the State Department is to get to 1 million visas issued this year, which would be above the pre-pandemic number.
“We have increased the number of officers going to India. We have set up arrangements, which is unprecedented, with other embassies in the world like Bangkok to take Indians who are seeking visas. We are opening a new consulate in Hyderabad… and we’re just focused on making sure that we can bring the wait time down in India,” she said. Stufft noted that Frankfurt, London and Abu Dhabi have taken a lot of Indian citizens who are seeking visas. “We have asked these missions to take Indians as if they were from their own host country. Especially in places like Bangkok where there is no visa required for Indians and it is a relatively short flight.
“Obviously this is not ideal. We want Indians to be able to apply in India, and that’s where we’ll get to,” she said.
More than 100 US diplomatic missions have been issuing visas to Indians. “As a result of all of these efforts, the visitor visa interview wait time has decreased by 60 per cent just in the last couple of months. This is a result of all the work that we’ve put into making sure that Indians who wish to travel to the US can do so.”
Stufft said that currently, “visa production in India is 40 per cent higher than it was before the pandemic” and asserted that the State Department was working hard to bring down the wait time.
In February, the US had the highest on-record production of visas in India. “Our team there is working very hard and they’re well on their way to accomplishing the 1 million visa goal,” Stufft said.
In addition to the visitor’s visa, the State Department official said they are working on other types of visas including student visas. “Because we have been able to expand interview waivers, meaning fewer Indians need to come to the embassy or consulate for an interview, we can process that without seeing the applicant. That has helped us tremendously because we have had consular officers in dozens of countries who are actually remotely processing these Indian visas,” Stufft said.
This has made it possible for people who don’t need an interview, those who have travelled to the US before, to get their visa in a record time of less than two weeks, she said.
“It really is a global effort. Because we have such strong ties with India and the relationship between our two countries means that the categories of visas are the highest in India.. students, tech workers, and crew members. It’s a high cultural, educational and work relationship between our countries,” Stufft said. She said anyone who has to travel to the US urgently for any sort of humanitarian matter, those cases will be expedited.
“But make your appointment, find the place that you can go in India or outside of India where it’s possible. And bear with us as we bring these wait times down. We’re very excited to be hitting records every month with the number of visas that we’re issuing in India,” she said.
Stufft also said that the State Department is very excited about launching a pilot project on domestic renewal of visas soon. Under this, holders of certain work visa categories who are living in the United States can apply for visa renewal without leaving the United States.
“What this means in particular for a large number of tech workers from India is that people would not have to go back to India or another post in the world to apply for their visa,” Stufft said.
“That’s very exciting for all of us. It will take time. We’re building up that operation from zero. That’s something that we have not done for several decades at this point. This will have big benefits for Indians who are living and working in America,” she added.
(Source: PTI)