A TO Z OF NEWS“If you can't understand it without an explanation,you can't understand it with an explanation.”

-HARUKI MURAKAMI 05

News...To The

Today, in order to comment, debate or even opinionate, one needs to dig deep and know the A TO Z of news. Startingwith letter A, TIMES NIE takes you on a news-ical journey,explaining every name, place and context associated with it

Hurricane Dorianstrikes Bahamas In the news for

Hurricane Dorian’s un-relenting assault onthe Grand Bahamas

and Abaco Islands last weekcaused “extreme destruc-tion” as storm surges rose 12to 18 feet above normal tidelevels and at least 30 peoplewere confirmed dead.➤ Dorian is the fourthnamed storm of the 2019hurricane season, which

runs from June 1 to Nov 30.➤ The low-pressure systemthat became Dorian formedon Aug 23, strengthened toa tropical storm on Aug 25,and became a hurricane onAug 28.➤ In an average season,there are 12 named storms,including six hurricanes,with about half of them be-ing major hurricanes withwinds of 111 mph or greater.➤ Dorian could cost theBahamas alone at least$7 billion in insuredand uninsured losses.

DORIAN

How they are formed

■ Tropical cyclonesare like giant en-gines that usewarm, moist airas fuel. Thatis why theyform onlyover warmocean wa-ters near theequator. Thewarm, moistair over theocean risesupward fromnear the sur-face. Becausethis air movesup and awayfrom the sur-face, there isless air leftnear the sur-

face. Another way to saythe same thing is that thewarm air rises, causingan area of lower air pres-sure below.

■ Air from sur-rounding areas withhigher air pressure

pushes in to the lowpressure area. Thenthat “new” air be-

comes warm andmoist and rises,

too. As the warmair continues torise, the sur-

rounding airswirls in to

take itsplace. As

the warmed,moist air rises

and cools off, the wa-ter in the air formsclouds. The whole

system of clouds and windspins and grows, fed by theocean's heat and water evap-orating from the surface.■ Storms that form northof the equator spin coun-terclockwise. Storms southof the equator spin clock-wise. This difference is be-cause of Earth's rotation onits axis. As the storm sys-tem rotates faster andfaster, an eye forms in thecentre. It is very calm andclear in the eye, with verylow air pressure. Higherpressure air from aboveflows down into the eye.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ATROPICAL STORM AND A HURRICANE?

Documentary onMaradona on Oct 1In the news for:

Adocumentary on Ar-gentine soccer starDiego Maradona will

be ready for US launch by Sep-tember end. The film releasedin the United Kingdom; it hasbeen directed by AcademyAward-winner Asif Kapadiaand will have a limited releasein US theaters. It features 500hours of never-before-seenfootage of Maradona's timewith Italian football club –Napoli, from 1984-1992.

Why he is a heroIn Argentina, however, Maradonawas always more than just a sportshero — he has been a divine figure.It was the Houston Chronicle that

described Maradonaperfectly: he was thecombination of MichaelJordan's athleticism,

Babe Ruth's powerand Mike Tyson's

human fallibility. Ina country that sur-

vived many social frus-trations and several mili-tary dictatorships, El

Diego became a symbol of hope andan idol to millions. The nickname,‘El Pibe de Oro’, have an Argen-tine tradition associated with it.

EARLY SIGNS OF GREATNESS➤ Diego Maradona was born 30October, 1960, and grew up underdifficult conditions near BuenosAires as the fourthchild of Tota andChitori Maradona.➤ Three years old,Diego received aball as a birthdaypresent and itbecome his dearcompanion.➤ His exceptional talent wasobvious from a very young age.

Birth: 1960

Country: Argentina

Position: Midfielder

Clubs:

Argentinos Juniors(1976-1981)

Boca Juniors(1976-1981)

Argentinos Juniors(1981-1982)

Barcelona (1982-1984)

Napoli (1984-1991)

Sevilla (1992-1993)

Newell's Old Boys(1993-1994)

Boca Juniors (1995-1997)

Stats:

Club football: 491matches, 259 goals

National team: 91matches, 34 goals

Kargil Conflict MORE ABOUT THE MAN

IAF chief flies farewell sortiewith Balakot hero Abhinanda In the news for:

Indian Air Force (IAF) chief and veter-an MiG-21 pilot, Air Chief Marshal B SDhanoa, who will retire this month, flew

his farewell sortie recently in a MiG-21 Bison fighter, with Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman as his co-pilot.

In the news for:

Ateam of students at IIT Madras has devel-oped a drone technology that can help inrescue and relief operations, especially

after natural disasters. This team has also won ̀ 10lakh in funding from the Indian Innovation GrowthProgramme University Challenge, a programmeheld by the Department of Science and Technol-ogy with Martin Corporation and Tata Trusts.

DRONETECHNOLOGY

D R O N E T E C H N O L O G Y I N I N D I A

Photo: Getty images

Photo: Getty images

■ A tropical storm has wind speed between39 mph and 73 mph. A hurricane's wind speedis between 74 mph and 110 mph.■ The different categories of hurricanes arealso based on wind speed. Categories 1 and 2have wind speed of 74 to 95 mph and 96 to110 mph respectively. Categories 3 and aboveproduce even higher wind speed and cata-strophic damage. These are major hurricanes.

SCIENTIFIC TERMS

The scientific term for all these storms istropical cyclone. Only tropical cyclones thatform over the Atlantic Ocean or easternPacific Ocean are called "hurricanes."

DHANOA What’s common betweenDhanoa and Varthaman➤Dhanoa and Varthaman are amongstthe few IAF pilots who have flown com-bat missions against Pakistan - Dhanoaduring the 1999 Kargil conflict andVarthaman on February 27, the day after the IAF strike on Balakot in Pak-istan. ➤ Both pilots have experi-enced ejection byparachute fromtheir MiG-21s.

■ Dhanoa is the 25th Chief of the AirStaff of the Indian Air Force. He as-sumed the post on 31 December 2016.■ During his tenure as IAFchief, Dhanoa — who isregarded as a ‘flyer’sflyer’ — has flown sev-eral sorties in theMiG-21, to bolsterconfidence in theIAF’s oldest fighter.While it is not un-known for senior AirMarshals to fly cere-monial sorties as co-pilotsin the rear seat of fighters,with the aircraft actually being flownby a younger front line pilot, Dhanoa

often captains the sortie himself.■ Birender Singh Dhanoa wasborn in Deoghar, Jharkhand.

■ He has completed a partof his schooling from

St Xavier's School,Ranchi. He is analumnus of St.George's Col-lege, Mus-soorie, wherehe studied from

1968 to 1969. Hethere on joined

Rashtriya Indian MilitaryCollege, Dehradun, and later

graduated from National DefenceAcademy, Pune.

Dhanoa was CommandingOfficer of a front lineground attack fightersquadron during theKargil Conflict, 1995.Under his leadership, the squadron devisedinnovative methods ofnight bombing at highaltitudes that had neverbeen attempted before.His squadron wasadjudged best fighter ofHQ WAC (Western AirCommand).

■ According to a study conducted byUnearthInsight, it is predicted that themarket for commercial end-use of dronesin India might hit the $1 billion mark by2020.

■ In India, drones-based solutions arebeing explored across industries – forcommercial applications, as well as by thegovernment to be leveraged in thedefence space.

■ In a first, a drone successfully trans-ported a single unit of blood from aremote primary health center inUttarakhand's Tehri district to a hospital'sblood bank 32 km away. The drone madethe journey in 18 minutes compared to50-60 minutes via road.

■ India's Defense Research andDevelopment Organisation (DRDO) hasalso developed its own domestic UAV

(unmanned aerialvehicle) program.The project aimsto develop adomestic arsenal

to replace theexisting fleet of vehicles. For example,DRDO Lakshya is a target drone used fordiscreet aerial reconnaissance and tar-get acquisition.

DIEGOMARADONA

DARBAR MOVEDarbar move tradition tocontinue this yearIn the news for:

All the top administrative offices,including the Governor's houseand the Secre-

tariat, would movedown to Jammu thisyear also to keep up thetradition of the ‘Dar-bar Move’. An official

said, the J&K admin-istration has startedpreparations for thefirst ‘Darbar Move’from Srinagar to

Jammu in the newUnion Territory ofJ&K, floating over 50bids this week for vari-ous face-lift works inJammu for the same.

WHAT’S THE TRADITION?

■ The 107-year-old traditionof half-yearly shuttling of theseat of governance betweenthe summer and winter capi-

tals in Jammu and Kashmir iscalled Darbar move. ■ All the top administrativeoffices, including the Governor'shouse and the Secretariat, willmove down to Jammu. ■ The tradition of 'DarbarMove' follows a practice set upby the erstwhile Dogra mahara-jas of the state.

Photo: GETTY IMAGES