Daily Archives: May 4, 2020

International Astronomy Day 2020: All You Need to Know – News18

Posted: May 4, 2020 at 10:50 pm

Representative Image. (Photo: AFP)

International Astronomy Day is celebrated twice a year -- one in autumn and another in spring. The Astronomy Day 2020 is celebrated on May 2. The world will celebrate the next Astronomy Day on September 26.

On this day, museums, societies, astronomical institutions and planetariums organise seminars, workshops and other fun-filled activities to spread awareness about the world of astronomy.

According to starwalk.space, in 1973, Doug Berger, president of the Astronomical Association of Northern California, had organised the celebration of first Astronomy Day. The idea behind observing the day is to create awareness and educate people about the beautiful universe.

On International Astronomy Day, lets have a look at some of the quotes by famous astronauts.

1. Neil Amstrong about the moon: Its a brilliant surface in that sunlight. The horizon seems quite close to you because the curvature is so much more pronounced than here on earth. Its an interesting place to be. I recommend it.

2. Kalpana Chawla on achieving goals: Do something because you really want to do it. If youre doing it just for the goal and dont enjoy the path, then I think youre cheating yourself.

3. Sunita Williams on teamwork: You don't look at the big problem altogether, because I think it's a little intimidating. So you just take it one day at a time, meet the people who are going to meet with you, for you, and who you're going to work for, and really try to do the best job that you can. That's all teamwork, and that's what space travel is about.

4. Rakesh Sharma about his space experience: As anyone can imagine, going up into space was a very rich and memorable experience and yes, it was unforgettable too.

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Our Sun is magnetically quiet compared to other stars. But why? – SYFY WIRE

Posted: at 10:50 pm

Astronomers have determined that, on average, the Sun is quieter than other stars magnetically, and it's not clear why. The long-term meaning of this finding isn't clear either, but it implies the Sun could get even more active than it is now.

Our Sun is magnetically active, meaning it has a magnetic field that sometimes strengthens enough to spit out huge and powerful storms, as well as create dark regions on the surface called sunspots. This activity directly affects us on Earth, endangering satellites in orbit, humans in space, and even our power grid on the ground. This magnetic activity is cyclical, waxing and waning every 11 years.

The motivation behind the new work is that, while we understand a lot about the Sun's magnetic field, it's important to have an idea of how it behaves compared to other stars. For example, is it more or less active compared to other stars?

That's a good question, because we don't know much about the long-term behavior of the Sun. Astronomers started counting sunspots around the first time a telescope was used to look skyward, but it wasn't until 1878 that images were good enough to start looking at their total area and position on the Suns face, giving us an idea of how they changed the Sun's brightness. We can do better, though; ice cores on Earth show the presence of elemental isotopes that are affected by subatomic particles zipping through space, and these particles are affected by the Sun's magnetic field. So we can use them as a proxy for solar magnetic activity going back about 9,000 years.

But that's a paltry amount compared to the billions of years a star lives. And that's why new research looked to other stars to see how they behave, to compare them to the Sun. The idea is that by looking at their brightness over long periods of time they can see the stars dimming and brightening as sunspots (well, starspots) rotate into and out of view. More magnetically active stars will change more because they have more sunspots, while quiet stars will have a more stable brightness. And the more stars they can observe the better.

For this, the scientists who did the new research turned to the Kepler observatory, which for three years stared at a single spot in space to look for exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars. It did this by taking frequent brightness measurements of 150,000 stars, looking for dips in brightness when planets passed in front of them, making mini-eclipses. And that means Kepler got a lot of brightness measurements of the stars, which is perfect for this study.

Now, stars come in many different flavors: high mass, low mass, young, old, hot, cool so the astronomers had to cull the list to leave only stars as much like the Sun as possible, to make the comparison fair. To do this they picked stars close to the Sun's surface temperature of 5780K, chemical composition (heavy elements affect the way a star behaves), surface gravity (some stars are giants and have much lower gravity; these are inactive magnetically), and most importantlyrotation.

Why rotation? The spin of a star is what powers the magnetic field. It creates what's called a dynamo inside the star, a self-powered magnetic generator. A star that spins rapidly is likely to have a much stronger magnetic field, and therefore a more aggressive sunspot cycle, so the astronomers did what they could to limit their sample to stars with rotation periods close to the Sun's of about 24.5 days.

In the end they wound up with long-term Kepler data for 365 solar-type stars. They also had a group of over 3,500 stars that were very much like the Sun but for which no rotation period was known. Then they compared the changes in those stars' brightness with the Sun's.

What they found is surprising: The Sun is much quieter than other stars like it! While the Sun's median brightness variation is 0.07%, the other stars had a median of 0.36%, five times higher! That's even twice as much as the Sun's maximum variation of 0.2%.

Why? It's not clear. There's an idea that the Sun is reaching an age where it's going through a transition to a quieter magnetic cycle as its rotation slows over the eons. The other stars like the Sun may not be quite that old yet, so are still active.

Interestingly, when they looked at the group of stars for which no rotation had been measured, they tended to be quieter, too, like the Sun. Again, it's not clear why. Remember, these are all stars very much like the Sun, but we just don't know how rapidly they spin. If the Sun were a star a few dozen light years away, we'd have a hard time measuring its rotation rate, and it would be in this sample of stars. In that case these stars may represent the kind of activity the Sun is still capable of.

That's intriguing. It's entirely possible the Sun is very active on timescales longer than 9,000 years, which is far back as we can reliably measure. Perhaps over tens or hundreds of thousands of years the Sun's activity increases quite a bit, but we have no records of it.

That's concerning. While the timescale is long, and is probably not anything we need worry about for quite some time, it's still not comforting to think the Sun can be more active. The magnetic cycle is responsible not just for sunspots, but also for solar storms, cataclysmic eruptions of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These have a big effect on satellites, humans in space, and even our power grid on the ground. It's very much in our interest to understand these cycles better!

This work is a great first step in understanding the Sun's long-term behavior. In the future, other space-based observatories are planned to look at stars like Kepler did, so the research can be extended, too. It's interesting to me that the observations Kepler made can be used for other kinds of science than what was originally intended, too. So much of astronomy just depends on looking up, and doing so in as many ways possible. That means there's a lot of overlap there. What else will learn as we plumb the depths of the data we collect?

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The Night Sky This May: Here are the Top Astronomy Events You Can See This Month – Tech Times

Posted: at 10:50 pm

The nights are now milder as the days reach May, meaning more people could venture out at night in their backyards or roof for some stargazing, especially since many cities and countries are still in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

(Photo : Neale LaSalle from Pexels)The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will peak this May.

With the milder nights comes fantastic night-time displays, care of a super moon, and meteor showers--although this month is not as active as April was.

Still, there are a few things worth seeing.

For those who are interested, here are the astronomy and space-related events happening this month of May:

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will produce a staggering 20 to 30 meteors per hour, which makes up for the lack of super-bright fireballs, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Bill Cooke from the agency's Meteoroid Environment Office.

Those on the Southern Hemisphere will even see more meteor showers with around 40 fireballs streaking through the night sky per hour, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).

However,Thrillistnoted that the moon might be too bright during the meteor shower's peak, so it could interfere with everyone's viewing, especially since the shower is often fast and faint.

But, it's still possible to watch the Eta Aquariid meteor shower a few hours before dawn when the moon has set for the night, and the sky is darker.

In addition, stargazers are advised to avoid looking at their phones as it could ruin their night vision.

It's good to catch this meteor shower as this is the last major one for now, and the next one won't happen until late July.

We've already experienced four supermoons in 2020 alone, but for those who aren't tired of our closest neighbor's spectacular show off, the last one for this year will happen on the evening of May 6 to the early morning of May 7.

For those who aren't aware, a supermoon is when the moon appears bigger and brighter than it usually is.

It's also worth seeing since, according toAccuWeather, the next one won't happen until April 2021.

In addition, May's full moon is also known as the Flower Moon since it's the start of Spring and the flowers and plants are starting to bloom once again after some harsh, winter months. Other names of May's full moon include the Milk Moon, Corn Planting Moon, and the Frog Moon.

Read Also:NASA ALlows Spacecraft of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos to Land NASA Astronauts on Moon

Although Jupiter is millions of miles away fromour moonin reality, they will look closer in our perspectives on May 12 to May 13, from midnight to pre-dawn hours in the south-southeastern sky.

It's best to see them with the naked eye or with a pair of binoculars, as they won't be too close together to view with a telescope.

Just like with Jupiter, the red planet will be easier to spot in the night sky just before dawn, close to the moon in our perspectives.

There's a new comet in town--comet SWAN--which will be at its closest to the sun this mid-May and might be bright enough to be seen in our night sky.

Last month, comet ATLAS was the center of attention by astronomy lovers as it grew brighter, showing potential to shine brighter and become visible to the naked eye, untilit broke apartunexpectedly.

This month, comet SWAN might finally fulfill our thirst for a good comet show, with the comet making itsclosest approachto Earth on May 13.

Read Also:[VIDEO] NASA Captures Dancing Black Holes Creating Mega Flare Brighter Than Trillion Stars

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These early retirees saw their investments plunge more than $200,000 but still manage to stay calm – MarketWatch

Posted: at 10:50 pm

The coronavirus hasnt upended Steve and Courtney Adcocks life when it comes to social distancing measures they live in the middle of the Arizona desert. But the market SPX, +0.42% volatility associated with the spread of the infectious disease has shaken their ground.

The Adcocks are part of the FIRE movement short for financial independence, retire early. The couple, who retired in their 30s after working technology jobs, had saved more than $1.2 million, but now has around $1 million because of market volatility linked to the coronavirus, as well as fears of a shuttering global economy and oil price wars.

They know what not to do check their portfolios incessantly.

We dont need that constant feedback and we dont want it, Steve said. We are not glued to our net worth. We dont care too much about how our numbers are going down in the short-term because we know this is a blip. Normally, they check their accounts once or twice a month.

See:Is quarantine like early retirement? These people think so

And they know what they need to do use their emergency savings, of which they have three years worth of living expenses socked away, and dial down discretionary spending.

This doesnt mean checking in on investments is a bad thing. Some people rely on those regular check-ins to feel better about where they stand financially. It is a risk to never look at it, he said. For us, we tend to look every couple of weeks just to get a feel for where its going.

For them, and others on the path to FIRE, the key is to focus on the long haul. When you invest in any investment stock market, real estate or business they tend to be long-term investments, Steve said, noting this is especially important for retirement savers, as theyre saving for decades of their life.

Some argue this pandemic may extinguish the FIRE movement. People who pursue this lifestyle are often investing much of their assets into equities, which are riskier and can severely lower an account balance during volatility. But Adcock said he thinks this will rejuvenate the movement. This environment has shown a lot of people there is more to life than making money and having a good job, he said. Im sure this time last year, people losing jobs and getting sick was the last thing on their minds, but as we have seen, things can change on a dime.

Also see: The coronavirus stimulus package raised 401(k) distribution and loan limits. But which if any should you take?

The coronavirus crisis has caused mass chaos and distress for millions of Americans. Many workers were already underprepared for retirement, but the pandemic has led to record high levels of unemployment, lost or lowered wages and a nightmare health scare. Some wonder if the market downturn and the wavering economy will derail their retirement goals.

People will have to make changes about how they spend, save and invest but they will do so with the long-term picture in mind, Adcock said. For them, quarantining is relatively easy given they live so far apart from their neighbors, but theyre tweaking their lifestyle in other ways. Aside from passive income, they have side jobs in blogging and freelance writing, including as a contributor for MarketWatch. Theyve also pared back their discretionary spending. We have a good baseline understanding of what will make us happy and we will spend handsomely on those things, he said.

FIRE is not for everyone, Steve said, so he doesnt try to push the concept of early retirement on others. But he does encourage everyone try to accomplish the financial independence part, which can help during dark or uncertain times. If you no longer like your job next year and if you are financially independent or close to it, you can choose to do something else with your time, he said. You have no idea whats going to happen in the future and if you are financially independent, that gives you a lot of choices.

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Missing ‘Sister Wives’? Here Are Other Polygamy Shows & Movies – TV Shows Ace

Posted: at 10:49 pm

Many fans are missing Sister Wives and yearning for other polygamy-based shows and movies to watch.

While there is no denying some tune in to watch TLCs Sister Wives because they have fallen in love with the Brown family That is not what originally drew people to the show. The original allure of the show for most people is polygamy. A lot of people are obsessed with wanting to understand plural marriage better.

And, who could blame them? Polygamy relationships work quite different than a typical monogamous relationship. Moreover, there tends to be a thick layer of drama associated with polygamy. After all, it is HARD to share the one you love with so many other people.

Unfortunately, the 2020 Season of Sister Wives is over. Moreover, some fans of the Brown family were not thrilled with how the season played out. There are some who even question if the series should be renewed for another season. A combination of uncertainty about the shows future and a lack of new episodes to watch has many fans yearning Yearning another polygamy-based show or movie to sink their teeth into.

Fortunately, weve done a little digging. And, weve compiled a list of shows and movies you might enjoy!

My Five Wives is another polygamy-based TV show from TLC. The show aired from 2013 to 2014. It was based out of Utah. It told the story of Brady Williams and his five wives Paulie, Robyn, Rosemary, Nonie, and Rhonda. The Williams family is somewhat unique in the fact that they exited the fundamentalist Mormon religion. They, however, remained strong as a family unit.

Seeking Sister Wife is another polygamy-based series from TLC. The show also featured two seasons from 2018 to 2019. According to Cheat Sheet, the show was never officially cancelled. The series followed the story of families looking to add an additional sister wife to their family.

Stepping away from TLC, Polygamy, USA aired on the National Geographic Channel back in 2013. The series focused on fundamentalist Mormon polygamists living in Centennial Park, Arizona. This series, however, isnt really a drama or a reality TV show. It took a more educational and serious approach to diving into the polygamy world.

Unfortunately, not every polygamy-based series and movie shows the lifestyle in a positive life. Escaping Polygamy is a series that initially premiered on the A&E network. It later moved to Lifetime. It is currently three seasons in. The series tells the story of three adult sisters who exited a polygamist sect called The Order.

Now, one common theme among polygamy-based TV shows and movies is a husband with several times. Polyandry, however, is a thing. TLC once aired a special about a woman named Amanda Liston. Brother Husbands is the name of the special. It featured Amanda and her husbands at the time Chad Liston and Jeremy Johnston. The show aired back in 2017. The trio were raising five children. They lived together in a single home.

TLC fans had hoped Brother Husbands would turn into a series. Unfortunately, that didnt end up happening. Still, there is a one-hour special Sister Wives fans can enjoy.

Notably, Amanda Liston has made appearances on a few other shows including King of the Nerds on TBS and Engaged and Underage on MTV.

Three Wives, One Husband is a four-episode Netflix series. It premiered back in 2017. The series told the story of Enoch Foster. Foster is the father of 16 children. The series also featured his two (and almost three) wives. The family live together in a secluded polygamist community located in Utah.

If you are looking for something not in the realm of reality TV HBO premiered a series called Big Love back in 2006. The series gave a fictional look into the polygamy world. The show was surprisingly well-received by HBO viewers. It ran from 2006 to 2011 before being cancelled.

Hulu Original The Handmaids Talehas a bit of a polygamy theme. The show tells the story of a dystopian future. In this future, husbands have a wife and a handmaid. The handmaid serves to be with the husband for the sole purpose of bearing a child for he and his wife. The handmaid is only part of the family until she gives birth to a child. They remove the handmaid from the family after. This prevents attachment to the baby.

The Other Lamb is a drama and horror movie released in 2019. The movie tells the story of a woman born into an all-female cult. The cult is led by a man. The woman slowly begins to question both his teachings and her own reality.

As hard as it is to believe, this list is far from complete. There are a wealth of polygamy-based shows and movies forSister Wivesfans to enjoy. Hopefully, this list can give you a little taste of the polygamy TV thatSister Wivesfans miss.

So, does learning of so many polygamy-based TV shows and movies surprise you? Have you watched any of these shows before? Will you be checking them out now? Tell us about it in the comments down below!

Trisha Faulkner has been a freelance writer for a decade with a focus on news/reporting for the last three years. She enjoys writing about the Showtime series Shameless, CBSs Survivor, Netflix, TOWIE, and some entertainment/celebrity news. In her spare time, she enjoys raising awareness about autism and spending time with her two children.

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How Not to Be a Tiger King – The New York Times

Posted: at 10:49 pm

NASHVILLE Once in the bluest of blue moons, the zeitgeist produces a cultural phenomenon so bizarre and so universally discussed as to be nearly inescapable. This spring, in the spirit of pet rocks, mood rings and streaking, Netflix launched Tiger King, a documentary series that landed online at the very moment a pandemic moved our lives online, too.

A show about a murderous feud between the owner of a roadside zoo and a media-savvy animal rights advocate sounded promising to me. There are more tigers in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild, and a huge percentage of those captive tigers are kept in hideous conditions. Tiger King seemed like the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of the plight of captive tigers and possibly inspire Congress to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which would go a long way toward protecting these magnificent apex predators.

Tiger King did nothing of the sort. The documentary is less about tigers than about polygamy, misogyny, suicide, murder for hire, drug addiction and a narcissistic animal abuser named Joseph Maldonado-Passage a.k.a. Joe Exotic who enjoys cult hero status in some circles, despite being sentenced to 22 years in prison for wildlife crimes.

One reason for all the captive tigers is, of course, capitalism. People will pay a shocking amount of money to have their picture taken with a cute tiger cub or a cute cheetah or lion cub but the nonlethal stage of a big cats life is only a few weeks. Once its too big to generate money in a cub-petting scheme, its destined for a roadside zoo, a tiny backyard cage, a canned hunt or a surreptitious, point-blank execution.

Mr. Maldonado-Passages 15 minutes of fame have expired, but social media sites are still crammed with videos of people playing with wild animals, both those bred for the pet trade and those taken from the wild and reared as pets. The desire to bond with animals seems to be baked into human nature, but the internet has turned this urge into a performance art, and those expensive photos with tiger cubs are just the tip of the iceberg. Every squirrel that sits on a human shoulder, like every chipmunk that comes to a human whistle, is now the sidekick in a show. Post a selfie with a baby cottontail cuddled to your cheek, and watch the likes pile up. On Instagram, everyone is Joe Exotic.

Spring is baby season in the natural world, and all around the country right now, good-hearted people are rescuing lost baby animals and turning them into pets. The impulse is easy to understand. A fledgling songbird looks far too fragile to be tossed into the world. Baby bunnies in a nest seem too vulnerable to be left on their own, right out in the open like that. A fawn sleeping alone in the shadows looks like its been served up to a coyote. Its only compassionate to bring the little lost ones inside and feed them whatever the internet says they eat, right?

The trouble with these good intentions is that most orphaned animals arent orphans at all. Natures way of keeping vulnerable youngsters safe is often to hide them in a place where the parents activity wont draw the attention of predators. A mother cottontail deliberately leaves her babies alone all day, feeding them once in the early morning and once in the evening. A doe hides her newborn fawn while she forages for food. A hollering baby bird that looks pitifully abandoned almost certainly has frantic parents nearby, desperately hoping the giant biped predators will go away.

The only thing wild animals need from us, in most cases, is to keep our true pets indoors while their youngsters are learning how the big world works.

The big world is very hard on baby animals, and some of these babies will be injured and some of their parents will be killed. But in those cases, the frightened baby doesnt need a warm box in your kitchen, eating leftovers and serving as a prop in social media posts.

What it needs is to be taken to a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist who knows how to care for it properly and, later, how to reintroduce it safely into the wild, far from human habitation. A wild animal habituated to human presence is an animal that someone else is bound to kill for fear it might be rabid.

Leaving nature to its own devices is very hard if youre paying any attention at all. I, too, have been guilty of intervening where I did not belong shooing off the crow intent on eating the cardinal nestlings, bringing the monarch caterpillars indoors to raise safely away from cardinals. But a crow has babies to feed, too, and captive-raised monarchs, it turns out, are weaker than their wild siblings. Once back in the garden, such butterflies may be passing inferior genes on to the next generation.

Interacting in a healthy way with wild animals may come down to making peace with a truth thats very hard for a compassionate person to accept: Every living thing we see, as well as every living thing we dont, is either predator or prey. Or both. If we truly care about the wild animals that burrow under our toolsheds and clamber across our grass and shelter in our trees, we must find a way to accept the casual brutality of the natural world. We must teach ourselves to let the wild things be wild.

Margaret Renkl is a contributing opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South. She is the author of the book Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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90 Day Fianc: Usman Thinks Polygamy Is the Only Answer to Having Children with Lisa – Screen Rant

Posted: at 10:49 pm

Star of90 Day Fianc: Before the 90 Days,Usman thinks polygamy is the only answer to having children. The couple has a lot to work through before another wife can be added to the mix.

The couple, who are decades apart in age, have quickly become themost talked-about duoon the show. Baby Girl Lisa from day one has shown her controlling side, yet Usman seems to take it. In the last episode, fans watched as the couple successfully gained his mothers blessing to marry. After the show aired,90 Day Fiancestar revealed that he felt like he got "trapped" in his complicated relationship with Baby Girl Lisa.

Related: 90 Day Fianc: Usman Wants Baby Girl Lisa to Be One of Four Wives

Unbeknownst to Lisa, Usman has always known that he would most likely have more than one wife. The rappers revelations came about when he was doing a live interview with on the Lip Service podcast. The three women were poking fun at Lisas age and Usman revealed that he must have children, one way or the other. SojaBoy revealed that he is worried about Baby Girl Lisas age becoming an negating factor in the ability to have children. He then revealed that he would look into finding another wife to have his children, as it is normal in their cultureto practice polygamy. Fans had an inkling that children would become an issue for the couple as they watched the same situation with Angela Deem and Michael Ilesanmi. Michael let slip that if Angela could not deliver him a child, he would go find a Nigerian to sleep with.

Breaking with her traditional behavior of jealousy, Baby Girl Lisa seems into the idea of four wives as long as he can pay for them. For once, Lisa has no control over the situation if she does decide to marry Usman as the Nigerian law is on his side. The law states that the man must be able to fully support each wife with all the essentials. Usman made it clear in the last episode of 90 Day Fianc Before the 90 Days that he was the alpha man and was to be respected by his wife, not bossed around. He even went as far as to say he would take his wifes opinion but in the end, all decisions were his. The Pennsylvania native was not thrilled with the proclamation and stormed off while giving Usman the finger.

There have already been rumors that the couple were married but divorced shortly after. It seems apparent that the aspiring rapper just wants to come to America to further his music career and Lisa really would just like someone to control, even if it is fake love.

Next: 90 Day Fiance: Ash Expresses Misogynistic Views During Dating Seminar

90 Day Fianc: Before the 90 Days airs on Sundays at 8pm EST on TLC.

Source: Lip Service

KUWTK's Kylie Jenner Confirms She & Travis Scott are Quarantining Together

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Slam the Brakes on Rampant Islamophobia – NewsClick

Posted: at 10:49 pm

Representational Image.

The word Islamophobia came into vogue in 2001, after the 9/11 attack on the twin towers and other sites in the United States. In the aftermath of these attacks, the American media popularised the word Islamic terrorism and for the first time in global history a religion was associated with the political act of terrorism.

In India, hate against minorities was already prevalent when 9/11 took place, but the arguments until then had been different. This hate was a by-product of communal politics, which smouldered during the freedom movement, as a reaction to Indian nationalism. Hindu communal politics propagated Islam as a religion associated with violence. It was proclaimed that Islam spreads through force, that its adherents indulge in violence, and that Muslim kings destroyed Hindu temples, and encourage polygamy, have larger families, are more aggressive, eat beef to hurt Hindu sentiments, and so on. All this was already a part of social common sense here.

The events in India of the last few months, beginning with the abolition of Article 370, bringing in the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, and the spectacular democratic protests at Shaheen Bagh and other sites inspired by it across India, created a situation where mechanisms to spread hate against them became more aggressive. To cap it all came the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, after the Tablighi Jamaat incident, the blame of spreading Covid-19 was falsely put on Muslims as a whole. This finger-pointing became a part of the popular thinking, making the life of the Muslim communities in India generally quite difficult, even unbearable. Even the lynching of sadhus near Palghar by some villagers was initially presented as the act of the hated community, against all logic and substantive evidence.

Normally the international community articulates an occasional protest and criticism against such gross inhumanity and violation of human rights of minorities. This time the levels of demonisation of Muslims was so intense that many international platforms and voices that matter expressed their unhappiness over the painting of Muslims as the villains in India. The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) set up by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has called for steps to protect Muslims in India.

In addition, a drama unfolded in the UAE, where lakhs of Indians, many of them Hindu, live. Some of these Hindus have become communal to the core and they also proudly display their photographs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom they seem to consider a leader only representing the interests of the Hindus. A few of them tweeted on the Tablighi Jamaat, using virulent slurs with gay abandon. Others claimed that it is the Indians who have contributed to the growth of Gulf countries.

Some prominent members of the royal family in the UAE took up the cudgel to counter these hate speeches. A princess, Hend Al Qassimi, tweeted, upholding Gandhi, that the ruling family is friends with India, but your rudeness is not welcome. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed. She then quoted UAE laws prohibiting hate speech by citizens and non-citizens alike. This royal intervention has opened the floodgates to comments from others.

She further made an important point Dont these successful so-called powerful millionaires know that hate speech is the prelude to genocide? Nazism wasnt born in a day. It was allowed to grow like a weed that went wild because people chose to look the other side and it thrived on that specific weakness called silence. Hate is being preached openly in India against Muslims, in a nation of 182 million Muslims.

Modi, who has typically responding belatedly to such incidents in the past, woke up with these goings-on. Not only are large numbers of Indians gainfully employed in these countries, they are also repatriating millions of rupees back home. India is the third major country with trade with West Asian nations. Modi tweeted, COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together. Of course, the Prime Minister knows who are spreading this hate, in the media, social media or through word-of-mouth channels, but there is no reprimand against them in his tweet.

On similar lines, the sarsanghchalak (top leader) of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat, also said that a whole community should not be targeted for the actions of few. Both these top Hindu nationalist leaders fortunately woke up after the reprimands Indians were getting internationallyparticularly the reaction from UAEGulf countries have already started terminating the jobs of some Indians for spreading hate.

Interestingly, at the same time, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi described India being a jannat (heaven) for Muslims.

Many commentators are hoping that the statements of Modi and Bhagwat can put the brakes on the ongoing hate speeches and acts against the hapless minority. But things are not so simple. Todays atmosphere has been built up over close to a century of work, done by communal forces. The molecular permeation of these hateful interpretations of history, and the representation of Islam and Muslims by American-influenced media after 9/11 are the twin pillars of his edifice of hate, which has dug fairly deep into the social thinking in India.

Covid-19 has demonstrated how deep the roots of communal thought process are. This was possible only because of the decades-long divisive propaganda against the concept of fraternity, which is the foundation of Indian nationalism. The protests from the UAE, which incidentally gave the highest civilian honour to Modi in 2019, may bring a short hiatus to the process here, but the real struggle is inside the country, where the social perceptions of Indian nationalismarticulated by Gandhi and Nehru in particularare to be made to reach all Indians through innovative and rational mechanisms.

The author is a social activist and commentator. The views are personal.

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Slam the Brakes on Rampant Islamophobia - NewsClick

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How Nordic NGOs turn a blind eye to what is happening in the Tindouf camps – The North Africa Post

Posted: at 10:49 pm

Nordic human rights NGOs are focusing their attention on Moroccan Sahrawis living peacefully in Morocco, while they turn a blind eye to the situation of an entire population victim of polisario abuses in the Tindouf camps.

Forced marriages of underage girls are among the most blatant violations of human rights perpetrated by the Polisario in the Tindouf camps. Underage girls are forced to abide by these archaic practices to quell the nauseating instincts of the separatist movement leaders.

women in the Tindouf camps are subjected to other violations, particularly polygamy or the practice of interchanging women between militiamen.Ten years after she was raped by the current head of the Polisario, Brahim Ghali, who was then positioned in Algiers as the separatists representative, the young woman Khadijatou Mahmoud is still fighting for justice in Spain against her rapist.

Khadijatou Mahmoud, ex-translator in the Tindouf camps, also denounced in her plea the sexual assaults suffered by other Sahrawi women in the Tindouf camps in Algerian territory.

However, NGOs in Norway and Sweden ignore the fate of these victims of abuses as they turn a blind eye to the embezzlement of the aid they send to the needy inhabitants of the Tindouf camps. This aid is actually sold by the polisario leaders on the markets of neighboring countries.

An identified theft involving Brahim Ghali and his accomplices at a time when the camps populations need everything to cope with the hardships of their everyday life, a life made more difficult with the Coronavirus pandemic in the camps that have no running water or sanitation, nor any adequate health facilities to treat the sick.

North Africa Post's news desk is composed of journalists and editors, who are constantly working to provide new and accurate stories to NAP readers.

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How Nordic NGOs turn a blind eye to what is happening in the Tindouf camps - The North Africa Post

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’90 Day Fiance’ Lisa Hamme Says She’s Open to Allowing Usman Umar to Practice Polygamy! – All About The Tea

Posted: at 10:49 pm

Posted on May 1, 2020 at 1:20 pm

90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days personality, Usman Umar, dished about his messy romance with Lisa Babygirl Hamme, on a recent episode of Angela Yees podcast, Lip Service.

The unlikely couple supposedly wed in February, but fans are suspicious that the Nigerian rapper, aka SojaBoy, is in it for a green card and TLC fame.

Cheating rumors have been following Lisa HammeBabylove, and Usman didnt squelch speculation during the recent chat fest.

Usman Umar implied that he was sticking with Lisa Hammebecause she tricked him into believing that she might hurt herself and that was only the beginning.

An interviewer asked Usman Umar if he was in love with his American bride and Usmans dry response raised listener eyebrows.

Yeah, I have to be, he said flatly. Because somebody who has been with you almost every day, you get used to that person. And if you dont talk to that person, sometimes you miss them. So by the time you start missing somebody, definitely I think you love them or you care for them.

Usman Umar confirmed that his music career has always been number one, and admitted that he did sometimes doubt his relationship with Lisa. When the podcasters hinted that he was trapped by Lisa, 52, Usman didnt hold back.

Honestly, I can say yes. I can say yes, Usman confessed. The point here is that I am doing this to make Lisa happy.

Usman Umar, 31, dropped a polygamy bombshellrevealing that he is open to marrying multiple women. He explained that in Nigeria, Muslim men can legally marry up to four wives, as long as they can financially support them equally. Usman also noted that Lisa cannot give him a child.

Lisa cannot give me [a] child, and I need a child. You know? Usman explained. But if I do this to make her happy, maybe the time is coming that I will have [a] child. Because in my religion, and in my culture, Im allowed to get married with four wives.

Last week, Lisas rep responded to Usmans comments, and confirmed that the couple was still together. Rocco Straz spoke to In Touch Weekly, repeating Nigerian law, and emphasizing the financial burden of such an arrangement.

As far as fourwivesin the Islamicreligion, it is acceptable for him to take fourwives, BUT and I mean BUT, he must be able to provide for all fourwives, Straz said.

[This includes] financially, housing, utilities, vehicles, car insurance and medical insurance, the rep added. At that point, if he is able to do all of that, he may take another wife. Thewivesdo not have to contribute their personal finances with him.

Watch 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days, Sunday nights, at 8 pm, ET, on TLC.

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'90 Day Fiance' Lisa Hamme Says She's Open to Allowing Usman Umar to Practice Polygamy! - All About The Tea

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