north east online - north east india news: Feb 18, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Lockheed Martin may sell fifth generation F-35 to India

NEW DELHI - US defence major Lockheed Martin Tuesday said it may consider selling the fifth generation fighter aircraft F-35 if approached by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

“We will consider this if the IAF approaches us,” Orville Prins, vice president for Lockheed Martin India’s operation, told reporters at the sixth edition of Defexpo India.

The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and Britain’s Royal Navy.

Beside the US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and Turkey have joined hands to develop the F-35.Lockheed Martin is the lead developer.

The stealthy, supersonic multi-role fighter was designated the F-35 Lightning II in July 2006. The JSF is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force; a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy.

India is jointly developing its fifth generation fighter aircraft with Russia and it is likely to be developed by 2017.

Lockheed Martin is one of the six contenders pitching for 126 fourth generation medium multi-role combat aircraft sought by the IAF. The order is valued at approximately $10 billion. The other contenders are from France, Russia, Sweden, Europe and the US.

“We have completed trials for our F-16 IN. We expect other countries will also finish it soon,” Prins added.

Prins said there was a possibility that they would deliver six C 130 J (transport aircrafts) before the delivery schedule.

“There is a possibility that we can deliver in December 2010 against the schedule delivery date of February 2011,” he said.

Samsung S5560 Marvel Review

Samsung is the key player in today’s touchscreen mobile phone market and they have at least one product in every price segment of mobile phones starting from the entry level phones like Samsung Corby to high end smartphones like Samsung Omnia. In their mid range lineup they have the popular and one their bestseller Samsung Star. The upgraded version of the Samsung Star is the Samsung Star 3G which comes with a few more features and a slight increase in price tag. The Samsung Jet is has more features including a good quality 5MP Camera. The Samsung Marvel has the similar 5MP Camera but has features of similar to the Samsung Star Wifi Edition and thereby filling up even the narrowest gap in their product lineup. The Samsung S5560 Marvel is built for those who are looking for a touchscreen phone with good quality camera in affordable price tag. Have a closer look at the mobile phone in our review.
1. Design

The design of the phone is nothing new. Almost every touchscreen phone from the Samsung factory now bears the same look and this is not an exception to that rule. The Samsung Marvel looks very much like the Samsung Star and one can easily mistake it for a Samsung Star. The face is similar 106 X 53.5 mm in dimension and it has the same 11.9 mm thickness. The weight is also a minimal 96g and it is only a few grams heavier than the star and one wouldn’t notice the weight difference in practical life. However, the device is much lighter than many full featured smartphones like iPhone, Nokia N97 or any BlackBerry.
2. Touchscreen Display

The phone has a 3.0 inch resistive touchscreen display similar to the Samsung Star models. The touchscreen has a fairly good response and the display is bright and has good color quality of 256K colors though not as vivid as those with 16M colors like Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. We also had some problems reading the display of the device as under sunlight the display screen of the device works like a proper mirror showing lots of glare. The display has a nice resolution of 240 X 400 pixels but again, this is the minimum resolution for a 3.0 inch screen. The display of Nokia 5800 Xpress Music or even the watered down version of the 5800 Xpress Music like Nokia 5230 Xpress Music has a good 320 X 640 pixels resolution. However, the resolution of the device is good enough for some mobile video viewing or occasional web surfing and reading of PDF files.
3. Camera

Camera is perhaps the most interesting feature of this phone. It has a good 5MP Camera and can take pictures at a maximum resolution of 2592 X 1944 pixels. It has autofocus and LED flash capabilities. But more interestingly, it also has the smile and blink detection technology along with a image stabilization system which are only found in some high end camera phones. Overall, the camera pictures are quite brilliant and you won’t regret very much if you forgot your digital camera for an important occasion. The camera of Marvel will do more than enough for you. It also has video capability but the resolution is limited to 15 fps QVGA which is nothing extraordinary.
4. Interface

The Samsung S5560 Marvel bears the same Touch Wiz interface of the Samsung Star which is pretty simple and effective. There are other common features such as accelerometer for screen auto rotate. The smart unlock feature is one of the best things about the S5560 interface. It allows users to not only unlock the phone but they can also dial a contact or open a menu item using this. All they have to do to get this done is to draw a letter on the unlock screen. Any letter from A to Z can be set as the trigger for such an action. You can use it to start the music player, messaging or a Java App. There is also an interesting feature which mutes the phone when turned upside down. This may sometimes become very useful to many of us. The new photo contact feature uses a fake 3D style and you can scrollup or down to select one the numbers and dial it. However, I doubt very much whether it has any practical ability.
5. Connectivity

The phone has good connectivity options like quad band GSM connectivity and common GPRS and EDGE. It is also capable of Stereo Bluetooth with its v2.1 A2DP capabilities and you can also connect your favorite in it through its 3.5mm headphone jack. There is also the option of WiFi and the only thing we miss in the connectivity department is the 3G connectivity option.
6. Music and Multimedia

Music and Multimedia is now one of the most sought after features in a mobile device. It does not miss out on that by any chance. Apart from the 78MB internal memory, it has a microSD card slot that can take up to 16GB memory card which should be enough to store all your favorite music and videos. The output sound is very good in the headphones and there is also the Stereo FM Radio with RDS capability in case you don’t want to listen to the stored music on your cellphone. The phone also has the option to record the FM Radio broadcasts with three different quality settings in MP3 format.
7. Battery

The phone has a standard Li Ion battery of 960 mAh capacity. Though the spec sheet rates the battery to be able to deliver standby time up to 620 h and talktime up to 9 h 30 min, we would be astonished if the battery even delivers half of that rated time in practical situations. If you are a heavy user of mobile phone taking pictures with the camera and listening to music for hours, you may need to charge the device every day.
Conclusion

At the end of the day, the Samsung S5560 Marvel is a nice touchscreen phone with many decent features and a nearly superb camera for its price range. The phone can definitely double as a poor man’s digital camera and you won’t regret much on the other features either. Overall, the Samsung S5230 Marvel is recommended by us.

AMU professor suspended as gay sex tape emerges

Lucknow, Feb 18: The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has suspended a gay professor after a video showing him having consensual sex with another man surfaced.

Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, reader and chairman of Modern Indian Languages at AMU, who has been suspended, does not plan on challenging his suspension and has decided to voluntarily leave, reports Times of India.

"Siras was captured on camera having sex with a rickshaw-puller. It's a scandal that no institution of repute can overlook. Therefore he was placed under suspension on Feb 9 by the order of the VC, Prof P K Abdul Azis," AMU public relations officer Rahat Abrar told TOI.

"Dr Siras lived in a house allotted to him in the medical colony on the AMU campus. On February 8, he was home in the company of a young rickshaw-puller from Jamalpur area of the town. Since the door was open, two reporters from a local TV channel barged into the house and filmed him and his companion. The video clippings were then sent to AMU authorities who were constrained to proceed against Siras,'' Abrar added.

The professor's decision to not challenge the university's move has left the university with a sigh of relief.

However, it should be noted that having consensual sex with same-sex partner is not a crime. The report published on Thursday, Feb 18 also revealed that the professor had no past record of wrongdoings or criminal acts.

Responding to the memo of suspension issued on Feb 8, the professor is quietly packing his bags.

When the newspaper asked him for a comment, he reportedly said, "Let them say what they want to. I am not going to offer any clarification. You don't have to abuse back if someone abuses you. I am already on the verge of retirement and, therefore, would rather be gone than to stretch the issue."

The incident, which both the parties are trying to brush under the carpet and forget, is actually in violation of the professor's rights and gay rights activists are expected to pounce on this as soon as it hits their attention.

CCS approves opening of Army’s second officers training academy in Gaya

New Delhi, Feb.17 (ANI): The Cabinet Committee on Security has approved the opening of a second officers training academy (OTA) in Gaya, Bihar. There is one already existing in Chennai.

This is a long-term step to obviate the problem of reducing the shortage of officers in the Indian Army.

Through this academy, the army hopes to augment its capacity to commission more Short Service Commission officers to fill vacancies, especially in the junior and middle ranks.

The Gaya academy will commence training with 250 officers annually. It will be upgraded to its full design capacity to train 750 officer cadets in due course.

The academy will also train officer cadre from friendly foreign countries.

The OTA at Gaya would have state of art infrastructure and training facilities.

The project would cost approximately Rs 360 crores and will offer better employment and economic opportunities in the area. (ANI)

Hooda's Big Fat Haryana wedding

The pre-wedding lunch thrown by Haryana Chief Minister Bhoopinder Singh Hooda for his son Rohtak MP Dipender may or may not pass the Congress austerity muster. But, in these parts the family tells NDTV, that a wedding meal means that everyone turns up - invited or not.

The number of guests was so huge, that it was feared they may not even fit the venue.

''Everybody has been invited,'' said one of the guests.

''We all have been personally invited by the CM,'' said another.

Yet they came in droves, to greet the CM and sit down for what was actually an austere meal by the standard of politicians.

For this large a gathering, for the state police the security preparation was a nightmare.

More than 2,000 policemen from across the state were put on duty to ensure that everything goes off smoothly in this pre-wedding function, where not only the constituency but people from the entire state were invited.

''This is the ritual where the entire clan is invited,'' said Bhoopinder Singh Hooda, Haryana Chief Minister.

This mammoth affair was just a ceremony. The actual wedding take places in Jaipur this weekend.

''My grandson is bringing a daughter-in-law. That's my greatest gift,'' said Hardoi, Bhoopinder Singh Hooda's mother.

IAF MiG-27 fighter jet crashes in Bengal, pilot killed

An IAF MiG-27 fighter jet on Tuesday crashed near Hashimara in West Bengal killing its pilot in the first such mishap this year.

"The MiG-27 crashed today and a pilot was killed in the mishap," an IAF officer said.

The aircraft had taken off from Hashimara air base where a fighter squadron is based and was doing a sortie to Bagdogra when the mishap happened.

Wing commander Oswald who was flying the aircraft was killed in the aircrash, the officer said.

The Eastern Air Command headquarters in Shillong has ordered a probe into the incident.

Last year, there were 11 air crashes including a couple of MiG 27s, denting the IAF's air safety record.

Pleas 'ignored' in clearance to Arunachal dam

Assam legislators and local populace is questioning the union government's environmental clearance to the 1759 MW Demwe Lower hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh.

Clearance was given to the project without carrying out a downstream impact assessment as sought by the Assam Assembly last year.

Estimated to take five years to construct and cost over Rs 13,144 crore, this project entailing a 163.12m high dam was granted to Athena Demwe Private Limited.

The proposed site is perilously close to a major pilgrimage - Parasuram Kund, where millions of Hindus gather every January for the ritualistic Makar Sankranti bath. Local Mishmi tribal people also revere the spot and organise two festivals there.

The clearance for the mega dam on Lohit - one of three rivers that join to form the Brahmaputra downstream - on February 12 came sans a downstream impact assessment sought by the Assam Assembly in December last year.

It also followed a "farcical public consultation and appraisal" and a "backdoor NOC" from the Parasuram Kund Improvement Society (PKIC). This Society controls the pilgrimage where sage Parasuram, Vishnu's sixth avatar, is said to have dipped to wash his hands off the axe with which he had killed his mother.

"The site selected for this mega hydroelectric project is 800m upstream of Parasuram Kund while the powerhouse would be 600m closer. The NOC from PKIC was obtained, but without consent from its governing body," said former PKIC chairman Khapriso Krong from Tezu, headquarters of Lohit district. "The additional divisional commissioner of the area issued the NOC unilaterally."

For the greens, maintaining the flow of water on the Lohit after the project comes up is more of a concern.

"Lohit has a uniform flow of 400 cumecs throughout the day in January-February. But the post-project flow will fluctuate from a low of 34 cumecs for 18-19 hours daily in January to a high of 1729 cumecs for 5-6 hours (peaking power generation). This will drastically affect the natural flow regimes and the ecology of the area," said Pune-based anti-dam activist Neeraj Vagholikar.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) claims to have addressed this issue through "green conditions" for Demwe Lower.

"The project will release normal lean season flow for a period of seven days during mela (Sankranti) period at Parsuram Kund in January as per the condition stipulated by PKIC…The financial allocation for the protection of Parasuram Kund should be enhanced from Rs 2 crore to about Rs 10 crore…for creating appropriate amenities, infrastructure, structures and safeguards, etc., as decided by PKIC," said MoEF Additional Director S Bhowmik's letter to Athena Managing Director K Seethayya vis-à-vis the environmental clearance for Demwe Lower.

Greens also pointed out that the government of Assam - it would bear the brunt of Dewme Lower's impact - was not consulted during the environmental appraisal of the project.

The Assam Assembly had in December last year constituted a House Committee to study the downstream impact of various dams including Demwe. The Union Power Ministry was also intimated for scrutiny of various notifications leading to the setting up of hydropower projects.

"We will seek an explanation on how Demwe got environmental clearance without the House Committee submitting its report," said a government spokesperson declining to be quoted.

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