DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ China is drilling a hole over 33,000-feet-deep to explore the Earth's crust
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

China has begun drilling a hole over 10,000 meters (32,808 feet) deep into the Earth's crust. Chinese President Xi Jinping named deep Earth sciences one of four strategic frontiers to explore. The drilling project, led by the country's largest oil producer China National Petroleum Corp., would be among the deepest ever drilled. In a 2021 speech addressing the nation's top scientists, Chinese President Xi Jinping named deep Earth sciences one of four strategic frontiers to explore. The deepest hole is still the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which reached 12,262 meters (40,230 feet) in 1989 after 20 years of drilling.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Wang Chunsheng Organizations: Service, Privacy, Scientists, China National Petroleum Corp, Xinhua, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Bloomberg Locations: China, Xinjiang, Xinhua, Russia

☆ Overcrowded India? This State Is Desperate for More Babies.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Sameer Yasir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Sikkim, nestled in the Himalayas and surrounded on three sides by Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, stands out in the teeming diversity of India’s states. It also has India’s smallest population, not even three-quarters of a million people, and its lowest birthrate. That last distinction has state leaders worried about the survival of the unique culture produced by Sikkim’s blend of ethnic groups, religions and geography. The effort points to a demographic reality in India that is often overshadowed by its sheer scale. A couple of states in the underdeveloped north account for much of it.

☆ Britain’s record holding climber says Everest is 'dry, more rocky'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The 49-year-old Cool, who climbed the 8,849-metre (29,032 foot) peak for the first time in 2004, said the giant mountain appears to be drying now. "A general trend of the mountain is to be more rocky and less snow ... Cool said he had never seen the types of rock falls he saw on the Lhotse Face, along the route to the Everest summit, before. Also this week, a 53-year-old Nepali guide, Kami Rita Sherpa, improved his own record of most summits after scaling Everest for the 27th time. Cool said his 17th ascent might not be the last and he would return to the mountain next year.

☆ Captive breeding helps endangered Iberian lynx population hit record
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Known for its pointy ears, long legs and leopard-like spotted fur, the Iberian lynx is a species distinct from the more common Eurasian lynx found from France to the Himalayas. The ministry's report partly attributed the demographic boom to the success of a captive breeding and reintroduction programme launched in 2011. Since then, 338 lynx born in captivity have been released into the wild. "This positive demographic evolution allows us to be optimistic about the reduction of the risk of extinction," the ministry said. However, it added that it was necessary to continue ongoing conservation efforts, given that the species remains classified as endangered.

They were in the Vietnamese Exclusive Economic Zone when the Chinese boats moved towards them, the Indian sources said. Ray Powell, who leads Project Myoushu on the South China Sea at Stanford University, said the boats belong to the Qiong Sansha Yu militia fleet in the area. Such militias consist of commercial fishing boats, which work in coordination with the Chinese authorities for political objectives in the South China Sea. Several of China’s littoral neighbours have accused it of using its official and militia vessels to harass and intimidate their fishing and military boats in the South China Sea. China has for years claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, and has been sensitive to the presence of other militaries in the region.

☆ A Hydropower Renaissance, but Where Are the Giant Dams?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Mira Rojanasakul | Max Bearak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Pumped Storage Hydropower, 1900-2040 Global map showing a concentration of planned pumped storage projects in China. Pumped Storage Existing Planned China’s momentum has allowed it to surpass Europe’s capacity for pumped storage. “Our data show that pumped storage is set to grow much faster than conventional dams,” said Joe Bernardi, who runs Global Energy Monitor’s hydropower tracker. UPPER RESERVOIR GENERATORS + TURBINES LOWER RESERVOIR When electricity demand exceeds supply, water is released to race downhill, spinning giant turbines. UPPER RESERVOIR GENERATORS + TURBINES LOWER RESERVOIR When electricity demand exceeds supply, water is released to race downhill, spinning giant turbines.

Singh "categorically conveyed that development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders", it said. India accuses China of frequently intruding into its side of the disputed border in violation of agreements signed since the 1990s. China pushed for engagement and cooperation between the two militaries but was told by India that could happen only if there is tranquillity on the border, two Indian sources told Reuters. The two ministers met ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) defence ministers' gathering in New Delhi. It is also the first visit by a Chinese defence minister to India since the violence in the Himalayas began in May 2020.

☆ One Climber Dies and Another Is Missing on Himalayan Mountain
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Bhadra Sharma | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An experienced alpinist from Northern Ireland was found dead and another climber from India went missing on the same mountain in central Nepal on Tuesday. The Northern Irish climber, Noel Hanna, who had scaled Mount Everest 10 times, was found dead inside his tent at Camp 4 of Annapurna after scaling the 26,545-foot-tall mountain without supplemental oxygen on Monday, officials said. Yubaraj Khatiwada, a tourism official in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, said the cause of Mr. Hanna’s death was unclear. The climber had just descended from Annapurna, the world’s 10th-highest peak, according to his expedition agency, Seven Summit Treks. Mr. Khatiwada also said that two Indian mountaineers went missing on Monday after losing radio contact with the base.

☆ India launches villages programme in Arunachal, ignores angry China
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Yp Rajesh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] India's Home Minister Amit Shah greets the media upon his arrival at the home ministry in New Delhi, India, June 1, 2019. In December last year, troops from the two sides engaged in scuffles in the state's Tawang sector, and last week India rejected the renaming by China of 11 places, including five mountains, in Arunachal Pradesh. A map released last week showed the 11 places renamed by China as being within "Zangnan", or southern Tibet in Chinese, with Arunachal Pradesh included in southern Tibet. "Today we proudly say, gone are the days when anyone could encroach on our territory," Shah said, speaking in Hindi and without naming China. "Zangnan is China's territory," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said earlier on Monday in response to a question on Shah's visit.

☆ Indian rescuers scour site of deadly avalanche for any more victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Rescue team members search for survivors after an avalanche in the northeastern state of Sikkim, India, April 4, 2023. Indian Ministry of Defence/Handout via REUTERSApril 5 (Reuters) - Rescue teams made final checks on Wednesday for anyone still trapped in an avalanche that swept down on a road in the Indian Himalayan state of Sikkim the day before, killing seven people. We will scour the area properly before we call them off," Tenzing Loden Lepcha, a police official in the northeastern state, told Reuters by telephone. Avalanches have killed at least 120 people in the Indian Himalayas over the past two years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2018 that climate change had increased avalanche risks in the Himalayas.

☆ How Modi can grab India’s geopolitical “moment”
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

India is in a geopolitical sweet spot because of growing tension between the United States and China. The hard-nosed realpolitik view is that this doesn’t matter as India and the United States have a common threat. This matters for India’s economic future, as geopolitical considerations are increasingly driving global commerce. The United States is encouraging this process through what it calls “friendshoring”. Modi can do a lot to make the most of India’s geopolitical opportunity.

☆ Starlink rival OneWeb aims for global satellite internet coverage after passing a key milestone
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

OneWeb, a rival to Elon Musk's Starlink internet satellite venture, is aiming to roll out coverage globally after successfully launching the final batch of satellites needed for its broadband service over the weekend. While OneWeb has a few more satellites to deploy in May and June, it now has enough to deliver internet connectivity to any spot in the globe, according to company executives. OneWeb plans to launch 648 satellites in total, of which 588 satellites are required for global coverage. The rest will serve as spares that can step in, in case some other satellites on the network go rogue. Starlink, the space internet unit of Musk's SpaceX, has launched thousands of satellites to bring network connectivity to places with patchy internet.

Yet he remains at the centre of India's opposition politics and the main target of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu- nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Gandhi entered politics and was first elected to parliament in 2004 from his family borough of Amethi in the northern heartland state of Uttar Pradesh. He repeated that victory in 2009 and 2014 but suffered a shock setback in 2019 when he lost the seat. However, he had also contested a seat in the Kerala state and won there to return to parliament. Outside parliament, he has often reminded his supporters of his family's commitment and sacrifices, talking about the assassinations of his grandmother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and his former prime minister father, Rajiv Gandhi.

☆ The war in Ukraine has shown the value of tanks, but militaries are now looking to stock up on slimmed-down versions of them
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Even before the war, some militaries were developing "light tanks" to complement heavier main battle tanks. Light tanks are seen as filling a capability gap between main battle tanks and other armored vehicles. Though not as powerful or as heavily armored as main battle tanks, light tanks are increasingly seen as filling a capability gap between full-fledged tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Light tanksA US Army M24 Chaffee light tank on a street near Bologna, Italy in April 1945. NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty ImagesThat capability gap stirred interest in light tanks, and over the past decade, three major militaries have adopted new designs.

☆ Alibaba sells remaining stake at India's Paytm as it continues to exit market
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In January, Alibaba sold about 3% of Paytm for $125 million, cutting its holdings from 6.26%, based on NSE data. ‘India’s Alipay’Founded in 2010, Paytm is India’s largest payment platform, with more than 300 million registered customers and over 20 million merchants. Paytm and Ant Group had been working on “synergies” since Ant made the initial investment, the company said. In early 2021, Alibaba sold a major stake in BigBasket, an online grocery retailer, to Indian conglomerate Tata Group. In May 2022, Alibaba and Ant Group offloaded their entire stake in Paytm Mall, the e-commerce platform of Paytm.

☆ Maps: The devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Terrain map showing the 7.8- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes near the eastern border of Turkey and Syria. A woman stands near rubble and damage in Gaziantep, Turkey, Feb. 7, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi A section of the earthquake damaged D420 road in Demirkopru, Turkey, Feb. 8, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas A man walks past a partially-collapsed building in Pazarcik, Turkey, Feb. 9, 2023. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem People inspect the damage as rescuers search for survivors in Hatay, Turkey, Feb. 8, 2023.

☆ Glacial lake floods threaten communities in Asia, South America
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The risk comes when a lake overfills, bursting through its natural barrier and sending a torrent of water rushing down mountain valleys. In the high mountains of Asia, some 9 million people live near more than 2,000 glacial lakes. "The impacts are already visible as the glacier is thinning and retreating," said Farooq Azam, a glaciologist at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore who monitors Chhota Shigri. During the same time period, Himalayan glacial lakes increased by about 9% in number, and 14% in area. More than 200 lakes now pose a very high hazard to Himalayan communities, according to 2022 research.

☆ India raises defence budget to $72.6 bln amid tensions with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

She said 2.77 trillion rupees would be devoted to military salaries and benefits in 2023-24, 1.38 trillion on pensions for retired soldiers, and further amounts for miscellaneous items. Sitharaman also revised the defence budget for the current financial year ending in March to 5.85 trillion rupees from earlier estimates of 5.25 trillion. Laxman Behera, a defence expert at government-funded Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said the hike in the defence budget was "reasonable but not sufficient", considering requirements for military modernisation. India plans to spend near 242 billion rupees ($3 billion) for naval fleet construction and 571.4 billion rupees ($7 billion) for air force procurements including more aircraft, the latest budget document showed. Although the defence budget allocations fell short of military expectations, they are likely to grow as the economy recovers from two years of pandemic curbs, according to Behera.

☆ India expects more clashes with Chinese troops in Himalayas - document
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Krishn Kaushik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A security assessment by Indian police in the Himalayan region of Ladakh says there could be more clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along their contested frontier there as Beijing ramps up military infrastructure in the region. At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the Asian giants clashed in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, in 2020 but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks. A fresh clash erupted between the two sides in the eastern Himalayas in December but there were no deaths. The report said the assessment was based on intelligence gathered by local police in the border areas and the pattern of India-China military tensions over the years. India and China share a 3,500 km (2,100 miles) border that has been disputed since the 1950s.

☆ India expects more clashes with Chinese troops in Himalayas
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Krishn Kaushik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A security assessment by Indian police in the Himalayan region of Ladakh says there could be more clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along their contested frontier there as Beijing ramps up military infrastructure in the region. A fresh clash erupted between the two sides in the eastern Himalayas in December but there were no deaths. The report said the assessment was based on intelligence gathered by local police in the border areas and the pattern of India-China military tensions over the years. China's foreign ministry spokesperson's office on Saturday said China was maintaining close communication and dialogue through diplomatic and military channels with India. India and China share a 3,500 km (2,100 miles) border that has been disputed since the 1950s.

☆ Video shows passenger plane that crashed in Nepal flying low over a populated area before spinning sharply. At least 44 reported killed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

At least 44 people have died after a plane crashed near an airport in central Nepal. 72 people were on board the Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu. The plane is between two hills near the Pokhara airport, making it difficult for rescue workers to work. The Yeti Airlines flight from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu crashed on landing, with videos on social media showing the aircraft spinning sharply just before it hit the ground. At least 309 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in the mountainous nation of the Himalayas, Reuters report.

☆ Nearly 200 people in Himalayan town evacuated after homes develop cracks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Saurabh Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LUCKNOW, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Indian authorities have moved nearly 200 people from their homes in the Himalayan town of Joshimath, an official said on Saturday, after hundreds of buildings in the area popular with pilgrims and tourists developed cracks due to shifting soil. For years, experts have warned that large-scale construction work, including hydro power projects, in and around Joshimath could lead to land subsidence - the sinking or settling of the ground surface. Atul Sati, the convener of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti that has been protesting government inaction to stop land subsidence, said local residents had been flagging the issue for months. "The concerned authorities are working on it and the only way to contain the problem is to channelise the water stream," Rautela told Reuters. Reporting by Saurabh Sharma, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Explainer: What the world's nature-rich nations want out of a global conservation deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File PhotoMONTREAL, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Tangled expanses of Amazon rainforest, high mountains of the Himalayas, and cloud-shrouded forests are just some of the unique landscapes contained within the world's most nature-rich nations. Governments are trying to work out a new global agreement to guide conservation and wildlife protection through 2030 at a U.N. summit in Montreal this week. Of the nearly 200 countries assembled, five are considered to be among the world's most biodiverse nations — measured in the number of unique species. That's more than a third of all the world’s flowering plants, and more than half of all bird and mammal species on Earth. Here's what some of the world's most nature-rich nations want to happen at the talks.

☆ An unexpected force may be speeding up glacier melt across the globe: colorful algae blooms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Now he sees bright pink and red algae blooms every year. Dr. Matt DaveyScientists like Maréchal think these algae blooms are getting larger and more frequent as rising global temperatures melt glaciers worldwide. Glacier algae seems to be booming, but scientists have a lot to learnResearcher Matt Davey samples snow algae at Lagoon Island, Antarctica. Ice algae and snow algae are different types of microorganisms, and different fields of study, but they both affect glaciers. A strip of "blood snow" filled with red algae cuts across a dark bloom of purple algae in Greenland.

☆ This mountaineer spent $10,000 to launch a company that guides people up Mount Everest—now it brings in $3 million a year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Adrian Ballinger has summited Mount Everest eight times. Alpenglow's prices can range from $275 for an introductory mountaineering course to up to $98,000 per person for a guided expedition up Mount Everest. Mountain climbing and entrepreneurship are both risky endeavors that require mental and physical resilience to succeed, Ballinger says. Source: Alpenglow ExpeditionsBy 2004, Ballinger wanted to branch out on his own. "That first year, I only guided two expeditions that I think had a total of, maybe, eight clients," Ballinger says.

Search resuls for: "Himalayas"

25 mentions found