48-ஆவது சென்னை புத்தகக் காட்சி சென்னை நந்தனம் வை.எம்.சி.ஏ. மைதானத்தில் 27/12/2024 வெள்ளிக்கிழமை மாலை 4 மணி அளவில்
தொடங்கி, 12/01/2025 வரை நடைபெற உள்ளது.
புத்தகக்காட்சி விடுமுறை நாட்களில் காலை 11 மணி முதல் இரவு 8.30 மணி வரை நடைபெறும்.
வேலை நாட்களில் பிற்பகல் 2 மணி முதல் இரவு 8.30 மணி வரை நடைபெறும்.
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| Puthiya Jannayakam Publishers. Stall NoS 245-246 |
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| Puthiya Jannayakam Publishers. Stall NoS 245-246 |
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| An artist's concept showing Parker Solar Probe. Credits: NASA/APL |
Operations teams have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.
Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved. A beacon tone received late on Dec. 26 confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.This pass, the first of more to come at this distance, allows the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled scientific measurements with the potential to change our understanding of the Sun.
"Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” said Nicky Fox, who leads the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By studying the Sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our solar system, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”
NASA's Parker Solar Probe survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024. Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, the spacecraft hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved.Credits: NASA
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14741.
Parker Solar Probe has spent the last six years setting up for this moment. Launched in 2018, the spacecraft used seven flybys of Venus to gravitationally direct it ever closer to the Sun. With its last Venus flyby on Nov. 6, 2024, the spacecraft reached its optimal orbit. This oval-shaped orbit brings the spacecraft an ideal distance from the Sun every three months — close enough to study our Sun’s mysterious processes but not too close to become overwhelmed by the Sun’s heat and damaging radiation. The spacecraft will remain in this orbit for the remainder of its primary mission.“Parker Solar Probe is braving one of the most extreme environments in space and exceeding all expectations,” said Nour Rawafi, the project scientist for Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), which designed, built, and operates the spacecraft from its campus in Laurel, Maryland. “This mission is ushering a new golden era of space exploration, bringing us closer than ever to unlocking the Sun’s deepest and most enduring mysteries.”Close to the Sun, the spacecraft relies on a carbon foam shield to protect it from the extreme heat in the upper solar atmosphere called the corona, which can exceed 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. The shield was designed to reach temperatures of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough to melt steel — while keeping the instruments behind it shaded at a comfortable room temperature.In the hot but low-density corona, the spacecraft’s shield is expected to warm to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
The spacecraft’s record close distance of 3.8 million miles may sound far, but on cosmic scales it’s incredibly close. If the solar system was scaled down with the distance between the Sun and Earth the length of a football field, Parker Solar Probe would be just four yards from the end zone — close enough to pass within the tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun known as the corona.NASA/APL
“It’s monumental to be able to get a spacecraft this close to the Sun,” said John Wirzburger, the Parker Solar Probe mission systems engineer at APL. “This is a challenge the space science community has wanted to tackle since 1958 and had spent decades advancing the technology to make it possible.”By flying through the solar corona, Parker Solar Probe can take measurements that help scientists better understand how the region gets so hot, trace the origin of the solar wind (a constant flow of material escaping the Sun), and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to half the speed of light.“The data is so important for the science community because it gives us another vantage point,” said Kelly Korreck, a program scientist at NASA Headquarters and heliophysicist who worked on one of the mission’s instruments.
“By getting first hand accounts of what’s happening in the solar atmosphere, Parker Solar Probe has revolutionized our understanding of the Sun.”
Previous passes have already aided scientists’ understanding of the Sun. When the spacecraft first passed into the solar atmosphere in 2021, it found the outer boundary of the corona is wrinkled with spikes and valleys, contrary to what was expected. Parker Solar Probe also pinpointed the origin of important zig-zag-shaped structures in the solar wind, called switchbacks, at the visible surface of the Sun — the photosphere.Since that initial pass into the Sun, the spacecraft has been spending more time in the corona, where most of the critical physical processes occur.
This conceptual image shows Parker Solar Probe about to enter the solar corona. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ben Smith
“We now understand the solar wind and its acceleration away from the Sun,” said Adam Szabo, the Parker Solar Probe mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This close approach will give us more data to understand how it’s accelerated closer in.”Parker Solar Probe has also made discoveries across the inner solar system. Observations showed how giant solar explosions called coronal mass ejections vacuum up dust as they sweep across the solar system, and other observations revealed unexpected findings about solar energetic particles. Flybys of Venus have documented the planet’s natural radio emissions from its atmosphere, as well as the first complete image of its orbital dust ring.So far, the spacecraft has only transmitted that it’s safe, but soon it will be in a location that will allow it to downlink the data it collected on this latest solar pass.
“The data that will come down from the spacecraft will be fresh information about a place that we, as humanity, have never been,” said Joe Westlake, the director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “It’s an amazing accomplishment.”The spacecraft’s next planned close solar passes come on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025.
Christ-less West vs. Christ-filled Palestinian resilience
While glittering Christmas decorations adorn malls and mansions across the Western world, a stark contrast emerges in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. As babies are being massacred and frozen to death in nearby Gaza by those who have no regard for Christ’s message, the festive spirit commemorating the birth of the Prince of Peace feels sombre and desolate.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So said Christ—Matthew 5:10—advocating justice and righteousness and giving hope to the marginalised and the oppressed that the suffering would be rewarded with a high place in the Kingdom of God. If only Jesus were to return today, on whose side would he be? Will he side with those who kill Palestinian babies by bombing them to smithereens and starving and freezing them to death by denying them access to food and warm clothes? Or will he go to the Gaza Strip and stop the carnage?
While Christ-filled Christianity will have no difficulty in answering this question and saying Jesus is against all forms of oppression, the Christ-less, Zionist-controlled Western Church may still justify Israel’s genocide even if its stance meant blasphemy or was against Christ’s teachings.
With Gaza’s historic churches being reduced to rubble, Christianity and its symbols are being wiped out from the holy land in preparation for Israel to take over the whole of Palestine. Israel’s strategy, it appears, is to de-Christianise the Holy Land before de-Islamising it. This strategy is being implemented with the full support of the Christ-less West, which is preoccupied with an Islamophobic civilisational clash fuelled by the Benjamin Netanyahu-led Zionist leadership.
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| His Eminence Pierbattista Pizzaballa |
Palestine’s Christian population, which was ten percent when Israel was set up in 1947 through an anything-but-just United Nations resolution, is less than two percent today and shrinking. Yet, the Christ-less Western Church is little concerned about the vanishing flock.
Christ was and is a Palestinian. Period. Despite the conflicts of the Crusades between European kingdoms and Muslim caliphates from the 11th to 14th centuries, historical accounts suggest periods of relative coexistence among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Palestine, Syria, and other parts of the Middle East. However, the peace was lost with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 by European Jews with doubtful Semitic origins and having a vision for an expansionist state in collusion with Western imperialism.
Regaining the lost peace of the Holy Land now appears to be entwined in the Christ-less church’s warped interpretation of the Second Coming of Jesus and in its moves to expedite the most awaited prophecy.
While the Zionist-friendly, Christ-less church let the Middle Eastern region bleed instead of making peace in keeping with Christ’s teaching and working for global justice, Jesus came alive in Bethlehem in the sermon delivered by Lutheran Priest, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac. A son of Palestine, he sees Jesus in Palestinians’ struggle for freedom and justice.
His message in his Christmas sermon was as powerful as it was in his last Christmas message. Yes, Jesus is under the rubble this year too, he proclaimed, but the Christ-less West feigned deaf and blind to his message filled with the spirit of Jesus’ teachings. The Zionist-controlled Western media ignored or downplayed his message, whereas it should have topped the news bulletin if the Western media were true to their claim that their journalism was fact-based, agenda-free, and value-driven.
Delivering his Christmas message on December 21 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at a time when the Gaza war had seen nearly 45,000 Palestinian deaths, including those of some 17,000-20,000 children, Rev. Isaac’s criticism of the Western church was biting, if not despondent.
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| With a nearby billboard proclaiming “stop the genocide in Gaza”, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, delivers a speech in Bethlehem town in the Israel-occupied West Bank on December 24. AFP |
Here is an excerpt from his spellbinding sermon:
“Last year I said silence is complicity. We are past that. Numbness is a betrayal of humanity. Yours and those in Gaza.”
“Equally, we must insist that all who committed war crimes must be held accountable. We cannot normalise impunity. What kind of a world and future are we leaving our children—if we accept a reality where war criminals go unpunished, even emboldened—where they openly boast of their crimes, and rather than met with justice, they are met with applause in the halls of Congress and defended by European parliaments? And they still dare to lecture us on human rights and international law.”
“Never again is only a slogan. Empty words. Never again should mean never again to all peoples. Never again has become yet again! Yet again to supremacy. Yet again to racism. Yet again for genocide.”
“And sadly, never again has become yet again for the weaponization of the Bible and the silence and complicity of the Western church—yet again for the church siding with power, with the Empire.”
A similar message resonated in Pope Francis’s statement on Saturday. Widely hailed for his reform-centred and social justice crusade, the Pope, in his forthright message, criticised Israel and described Israel’s killing of Palestinian children in Gaza as ‘cruelty’.
And when the Zionist state, which is no respecter of Christ’s message, reacted angrily, saying that the Pope’s remarks were disconnected from the truth, the Pope on Sunday doubled down on his remarks. “With pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer. Yet, while the Christ-filled churches cry for justice for Palestine and the return of peace in the Holy Land, the Christ-less West has become the war party and complicit in the genocide. Blind to the truth and the message of Christ, they fail to see that the suffering the Palestinians are going through is not defeat; it is victory; it is resilience, as Rev. Isaac highlighted in his sermon last week.
He said, “It has been 440 days of Palestinian resilience—sumud. Indeed, 76 years of sumud. But we have not and will not lose hope. Yes, it is 76 years of the ongoing Nakba, but it is also 76 years of Palestinian steadfastness, sumud, clinging to our rights and the justice of our cause: 76 years of praying and singing for peace. We are a stubborn people. We will continue echoing the words of the Angels: Glory to God in the Highest, Peace on Earth!”
“And today we say: Our faith in the God of truth and justice is our hope. Today we continue to cry out to Him because we believe that He hears us and because we believe in His justice and goodness. And because we believe in His solidarity with the oppressed!” “I know that the Lord maintains justice for the poor and righteousness for the needy.” (Psalm 140:12) ⍐
Navy arrests 17 Indian fishers, seizes two boats in Mannar
The Sri Lanka Navy and Coast Guard seized two Indian fishing boats and arrested 17 Indian fishermen while they were poaching in Sri Lankan waters, during an operation conducted in the sea area North of Mannar in the dark hours of Monday (23).
The Navy continues to conduct regular patrols and operations in Sri Lankan waters to curb illegal fishing practices of foreign fishing boats, taking into account the impact of those practices on the livelihood of local fishermen.
The North Central Naval Command spotted a cluster of Indian fishing boats engaging in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters. In response, the Northern Naval Command and Coast Guard deployed its Fast Attack Craft and North Central Naval Command its Inshore Patrol Craft to drive away those Indian fishing boats poaching in the sea area North of Mannar. The operation resulted in the seizure of two Indian boats and arrest of 17 Indian fishermen who continued to remain in Sri Lankan waters.
The two seized boats together with 17 Indian fishermen were brought to the Talaimannar Pier and they will be handed over to the Mannar Fisheries Inspector for onward legal proceedings.
Including this operation, the Navy has held 72 Indian fishing boats and 554 Indian fishermen in island waters thus far in 2024, and handed them over to authorities for legal action.
Daily News lk December 25, 2024
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| 17 Indian fishermen arrested for poaching in Sri Lankan waters |
17 Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka repatriated
COLOMBO: Seventeen Indian fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly poaching in the island nation's waters have been repatriated, according to the Indian mission here.
Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters.
"Homecoming! 17 Indian fishermen have been successfully repatriated and are on their way to Tamil Nadu, India," the High Commission of India here said in a post on X on Friday.
Press Trust Of India -PTI 25-12-2024
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CM Stalin urges centre to uphold the rights of our (Tamil Nadu) fishing communities
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has sought urgent intervention from the centre after the arrest of 17 fishermen from Rameswaram and the seizure of their boats by the Sri Lankan navy. Stalin also highlighted attacks on fishermen from Nagapattinam, urging diplomatic action to ensure their safety and secure the release of detained individuals and boats.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday called for swift action from the central government regarding the arrest of 17 fishermen from Rameswaram by the Sri Lankan Navy. The fishermen and their two mechanised boats were detained on December 24.
Stalin conveyed his concerns in a letter to External affairs minister S Jaishankar, urging immediate diplomatic efforts for their release.
The chief minister also drew attention to two incidents from 20 December, where fishermen from Kodiyakkarai in Nagapattinam district faced attacks at sea. Six unidentified Sri Lankan nationals allegedly injured three fishermen and looted their fishing gear, including GPS devices, VHF equipment, mobile phones, and their catch.
Stalin expressed alarm over the growing dangers faced by Tamil Nadu’s fishing communities. "In 2024 alone, 530 fishermen were arrested and 71 boats have been confiscated till date. The recent apprehensions and attacks have created a sense of fear among the fishing folks who are solely dependent on fishing for their livelihood," he added.
Stalin appealed to the centre to take immediate diplomatic steps to secure the release of the detained fishermen and their boats. He also stressed the need for measures to prevent future attacks and ensure the safety of fishermen.
“This situation demands urgent attention to uphold the rights and livelihoods of our fishing communities,” Stalin emphasised in his letter to Jaishankar.
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《 By Nils Adler and Urooba Jamal 25 Dec 2024 Al Jazeera 》 |
Reunification is inevitable: TAO
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| Chinese Communist Party officials gather in Beijing for the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee in a photograph released on July 18. Photo: AP |
The reunification of China and Taiwan is “non-negotiable,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said today in response to an article by a Chinese academic suggesting that China would not set a timetable for the annexation of Taiwan in the next four years.
《By Chen Yu-fu and Hollie Younger / Staff reporter, with staff writer Taiwan News Wed, Dec 25, 2024》
Israeli occupation forces expand aggression in SW Syria, seize local weapons
《 Press TV Wednesday, 25 December 2024 》
The Israeli military has expanded its invasion of the province of Quneitra in southwestern Syria, forcing the locals there to hand over their weapons to the regime’s occupation forces.
Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network said Israeli forces had fanned out across the provincial capital’s countryside.
The troops then ordered the locals and notable figures in the areas to surrender their arms.
Local sources recently were quoted as saying that the Israeli military had transferred more military hardware from Syria’s Tel Aviv-occupied Golan Heights to the province that is situated inside the occupied region.
According to locals, Israeli troops had invaded the town of Jubata al-Khashab in the province.
Meanwhile, Israeli helicopter gunships and spy drones are reportedly flying across the province’s airspace as well as the Hawz Yarmouk District in the western part of the neighboring province of Dara’a.
Recently, it was reported (i24NEWS + Russia) that the Israeli military had occupied as much as 95 percent of Quneitra.
The developments take place amid markedly intensified Israeli aggression against Syria’s civilian and military infrastructures in the aftermath of the Arab country’s takeover by Western and Israeli-backed militants.
The regime had also ramped up its attacks against Syria in the run-up to the takeover in an apparent attempt at paving the way for the fall of the country’s government and the country’s invasion by the militants.
This is while numerous regional and international states and organizations have emphasized preserving the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.⍐
* Zelensky promises to seek peace in 2025
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| Family members mourn near the grave of a Ukrainian soldier on the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at a cemetery in Kharkiv, on December 6, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP) 《 by Katie Livingstone | December 25, 2024 Kiv Post |
Nearly three years into the Russian invasion, celebrations across Ukraine are shrouded in grief. “Not all of us are home, unfortunately. Sadly, not everyone has a home. And tragically, not everyone is still with us,” Zelensky said in his Christmas address.
Lyubov is not the only one planning to spend the holiday in the Lychakiv cemetery in southeastern Lviv, one of the oldest graveyards in Europe where several families have been decorating their loved ones’ graves.
Since Russia invaded, rows of new graves have appeared, creating a sea of blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags and red-and-black nationalist banners. “We will bring Christmas porridge here on Christmas Eve. We will pray that it will be easy for him in heaven without us,” said Mariya Lun, who lost her son Yuri in 2022.
Zelensky said recently that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war – though independent estimates put the toll much higher. The UN also says its confirmed number of 11,743 killed civilians is a vast underestimate. “There is war, a cruel war, and our children are dying... we mourn our sons,” Lun said.
Ukraine’s army is on the backfoot in most parts of the front, including in the eastern Donbas region. Russian troops are closing in on Pokrovsk, the birthplace of Mykola Leontovych, who composed the Ukrainian New Year’s song “Shchedryk”, then adapted in the famous Carol of the Bells.
“A Ukrainian gifted the world the musical spirit of Christmas. May everyone in the world remember Ukraine when they hear it,” the president said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tells religious leaders that peace is on the agenda for 2025, as Ukrainians across the country celebrate Christmas for the second year on Dec. 25 after policymakers voted to change the official date last year in a snub to Russia. Cemeteries were full over the holiday as families sought to visit loved ones lost in the war, and the cultural diplomacy of Ukraine’s famed ‘Shchedryk’ and ‘Carol of the Bells’ remains strong.
Zelensky promises to seek peace in 2025 in call with Patriarch
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a call with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Christmas Eve to assure the religious leader that Ukraine is working toward making 2025 a peaceful year for Ukraine and the world as a whole.
“On the eve of Christmas, I spoke with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,” Zelensky wrote on Tuesday on the social media platform X. “I expressed my gratitude for His spiritual support of Ukraine and prayers for the Ukrainian people.”⍐
US plans $8 billion arms sale to Israel, US official says By Mike Stone and Kanishka Singh January 4, 2025 Jan 3 (Reuters) - The administ...
