kargil war:iaf recreates tiger hill attack in gwalior As part of the commemorative event ‘Operation Vijay’

As part of the commemorative event ‘Operation Vijay’ at Gwalior, several activities have been planned. There will be symbolic recreation of the Tiger Hill attack that took place during the Kargil War in 1999. And, there would be a static display of Mirage-2000 and other aerial assets used during the war," a senior IAF official had said on Sunday.The event was attended by several gallantry award winners, both serving and retired, who had participated in ‘Operation Vijay’.The chief guest for the event is Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa. The IAF has planned several activities at the air base to commemorate the 20 years of the war and the symbolic recreation of the Tiger Hill attack was one of them. Five Mirage 2000, two MiG 21s and one Sukoi 30 MKI were on static display at the base.

One of the Mirage 2000 aircraft showcased the Spice bomb carrier. The bomb was used in the Balakot airstrike in February. The aircraft is undergoing upgrade which will extend its life by another 20 years, said Air Marshal Rajesh Kumar, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command (CAC) of the IAF. Three squadrons of Mirage are based at the Gwalior Air Force Station. "The Kargil conflict offers an exemplary experience in the use of air power in warfare in high mountains conditions and is key to full understanding of India's emerging posture," a senior IAF official said.

Low trust in vaccines global crisis

The biggest global study into attitudes on immunisation suggests confidence is low in some regions. Experts warn Public mistrust of vaccines means the world is taking a step backwards in the fight against deadly yet preventable infectious diseases.The World Health Organization (WHO) lists vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health. Medical Scientists said it's a numbers game... if some people are not vaccinated, it can cause a big problem for us all. The first Welcome Global Monitor survey, which canvassed attitudes among 1,40,000 people worldwide, shows clear links between people’s trust in doctors, nurses and scientists and their confidence in vaccines. It also shows that mistrust in government institutions goes hand in hand with doubts about vaccines’ safety. Only 59% of people in western Europe agree that vaccines are safe, while 95% of people in south Asia agree compared with 79% worldwide.Larson said social media had become an amplifier of doubt. “Social media is highly volatile. It has totally changed the landscape.” She said it was hard for scientists to combat the spread of misinformation because often it was not public. Much of it had shifted into private Facebook groups and other similarly inaccessible forums.Bangladesh and Rwanda have the highest confidence in vaccines in the world, the Global Monitor shows. Rwanda also has the highest trust in its healthcare, at 97%, against a global average of 76%.“In developing countries, where deadly diseases like diphtheria, measles or whooping cough are more common, I’ve seen mothers queue for hours to make sure their child is vaccinated,” said Seth Berkley, the chief executive of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.The Global Monitor found mixed feelings about science around the world. Half the world’s population said they knew little about science and 20% said they felt excluded from its benefits. Fifty-five per cent of people in France said they believed science and technology would lead to job losses in their area, as did 37% of people in the UK.

Argentina, Uruguay restore power after massive blackout

A massive power outage plunged tens of millions of people in Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Paraguay into the dark on Sunday, in what government officials called an "extraordinary" and unprecedented blackout, the cause of which is not yet known.The blackout struck at 7:07am local time (10:07 GMT), triggered by what Argentine government officials called a failure in a coastal grid that serves a number of countries, and a "total disconnection".Authorities were working frantically to restore power, but by mid-afternoon nearly half of Argentina’s 44 million people were still in the dark.Voters cast ballots by the light of cell phones in gubernatorial elections in Argentina. Public transportation halted, shops closed and patients dependent on home medical equipment were urged to go to hospitals with generators.“I was just on my way to eat with a friend, but we had to cancel everything. There’s no subway, nothing is working,” said Lucas Acosta, a 24-year-old Buenos Aires resident. “What’s worse, today is Father’s Day. I’ve just talked to a neighbor and he told me his sons won’t be able to meet him.”By mid-afternoon, power had been restored to most of Uruguay’s 3 million people. But in Argentina, only 56% of the nation’s grid was back up and running as of 3:30 p.m. local time, Energy Minister Gustavo Lopetegui told a news conference.The government is not ruling anything out, including a cyberattack, although Lopetegui said it is not among the primary potential causes being considered.Carlos Garcia Pereira, head of Transener, Argentina's largest power-transmission operator, said the failure in the system could be caused by something as simple as humidity during a day of heavy rainfall.Lopetegui stressed that Argentina's power system is "very robust" and is generating more than it requires.An investigation is under way to determine who is responsible, and if sanctions are necessary.

5G technology jeopardises forecasting

5G signal could jam satellites that help with weather forecasting i.e. is the stark warning of meteorologists around the world, who say the next-generation wireless system now being rolled out across the globe is likely to disrupt the delicate satellite instruments they use to monitor changes in the atmosphere.The result will be impaired forecasts, poorer warnings about major storms, and loss of life, they say.“The way 5G is being introduced could seriously compromise our ability to forecast major storms,” said Tony McNally of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading. “In the end it could make the difference between life and death. We are very concerned about this.”The crisis facing the world’s meteorologists stems from the fact that the radio frequencies the new 5G networks will use could contaminate critical Earth observations made by weather satellites. One example is the 23.8 gigahertz (GHz) frequency. Water vapour emits a faint signal at this specific natural wavelength, and this data is monitored and measured by weather satellites. Forecasters then use this information to work out how a storm or weather system is likely to develop.Instruments on board the satellites peer down into the atmosphere and study variables such as water vapour, rain, snow, cloud cover and ice content – all crucial factors that influence our weather.The urgency of the problem is underlined by the fact that US Federal Communications Commission and similar agencies in other countries have already started to auction off frequencies close to the 23.8 GHz frequency to future 5G network providers. In addition, other bands that are used to probe our weather include the 36-37 GHz band, which is used to study rain and snow; the 50 GHz band, which is used to measure atmospheric temperature; and the 86-92 Ghz band, which helps to analyse cloud and ice.They accuse phone operators of ransacking the radio spectrum for wavelengths to exploit, and regulators of failing to protect the natural frequencies vital for Earth observation from space.