$30,000 reward offered for information on missing Indian baby Saanvi Venna

October 25, 2012

King of Prussia, October 25: The local police and the Telugu community have announced a $30,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of 10-month-old baby Saanvi Venna, who has been missing from her parents' apartment in the US state of Pennsylvania since Monday. Her paternal grandmother, who was baby-sitting her, was found murdered in the apartment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined the massive search for the baby.

Investigators believe Saanvi was abducted between 8 am and 1 pm local time on Monday from the family's apartment in King of Prussia, a Philadelphia suburb. The baby's grandmother, 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna, had arrived from Andhra Pradesh in India in July and was scheduled to return home in January. Investigators would not immediately say how the grandmother was killed or whether there were any suspects. "All of our resources are focused on finding Saanvi and reuniting her with her parents," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said in an interview. "The search for the child is intricately connected to the homicide investigation", he added.

The FBI is assisting in the investigation, said Frank Burton, a spokesman for the agency's Philadelphia office. The police, who issued an "Amber alert" or child abduction energency alert for the missing baby, have been searching the apartment complex and surrounding areas, apart from announcing the $30,000 reward.

Baby Saanvi's parents, father Venkata Konda Siva Venna, and mother Chenchu Latha Punuru, emigrated to the US from India in February 2007. The couple lived in San Antonio, Cleveland and Troy, Michigan, before moving to the Philadelphia-area apartment complex in June this year.They have made frantic appeals for any information on the baby's whereabouts.

Venkata Konda Siva Venna issued a tearful plea for his baby's return. "If someone finds my baby, could you please bring my baby back?" he was quoted as saying by the Philly Inquirer.

Ram Venna, the child's uncle, who has flown in from his home in San Jose, California, said, "Pleading everyone's help in finding my 10-month-old niece. Please call the police if you have any information that can help in locating Saanvi. All the family is grieving my mother's tragic death and praying for the safe return of my niece Saanvi. I hope we can successfully locate Saanvi."

Madhukar Sanikommu of Warren, New Jersey, a cousin of Saanvi's father, said the family was trying to hold on to hope that the girl would be found. "We're all devastated right now," Sanikommu said.

The Telugu Association of North America (TANA) organised a candle light vigil on Tuesday night in memory of Satyavathi Venna.

Earlier post: Indian woman killed, grand-daughter abducted in US

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Powerful solar storm hits earth; will it disrupt communication, power grids?

News Network

May 11,2024

Washington, May 11: The most powerful solar storm in more than two decades struck Earth on Friday, triggering spectacular celestial light shows from Tasmania to Britain -- and threatening possible disruptions to satellites and power grids as it persists into the weekend.

The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) -- expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun -- came just after 1600 GMT, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center.

It was later upgraded to an "extreme" geomagnetic storm -- the first since the "Halloween Storms" of October 2003 caused blackouts in Sweden and damaged power infrastructure in South Africa. More CMEs are expected to pummel the planet in the coming days.

Social media lit up with people posting pictures of auroras from northern Europe and Australasia.

"We've just woken the kids to go watch the Northern Lights in the back garden! Clearly visible with the naked eye," Iain Mansfield in Hertford, England, told AFP.

That sense of wonder was shared in Australia's island state of Tasmania.

"Absolutely biblical skies in Tasmania at 4 am this morning. I'm leaving today and knew I could not pass up this opportunity," photographer Sean O' Riordan posted on social media platform X alongside a photo.

Authorities notified satellite operators, airlines, and the power grid to take precautionary steps for potential disruptions caused by changes to Earth's magnetic field.

Elon Musk, whose Starlink satellite internet operator has some 5,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, described the solar storm as the "biggest in a long time."

"Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far," Musk posted on his X platform.

Unlike solar flares, which travel at the speed of light and reach Earth in around eight minutes, CMEs travel at a more sedate pace, with officials putting the current average at 800 kilometers (500 miles) per second.

The CMEs emanated from a massive sunspot cluster that is 17 times wider than our planet. The Sun is approaching the peak of an 11-year cycle that brings heightened activity.

'Go outside tonight and look'

Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading, told AFP that how far the effects would be felt over the planet's northern and southern latitudes would depend on the storm's final strength.

"Go outside tonight and look would be my advice because if you see the aurora, it's quite a spectacular thing," he said. People with eclipse glasses can also look for the sunspot cluster during the day.

In the United States, this could include places such as Northern California and Alabama, officials said.

NOAA's Brent Gordon encouraged the public to try to capture the night sky with phone cameras even if they couldn't see auroras with their naked eyes.

"Just go out your back door and take a picture with the newer cell phones and you'd be amazed at what you see in that picture versus what you see with your eyes."

Spacecraft and pigeons

Fluctuating magnetic fields associated with geomagnetic storms induce currents in long wires, including power lines, which can potentially lead to blackouts. Long pipelines can also become electrified, leading to engineering problems.

Spacecraft are also at risk from high doses of radiation, although the atmosphere prevents this from reaching Earth.

NASA has a dedicated team looking into astronaut safety and can ask astronauts on the International Space Station to move to places within the outpost that are better shielded.

Following one particularly strong flare peak, the US Space Weather Prediction Center said users of high-frequency radio signals "may experience temporary degradation or complete loss of signal on much of the sunlit side of Earth."

Even pigeons and other species that have internal biological compasses could also be affected. Pigeon handlers have noted a reduction in birds coming home during geomagnetic storms, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Officials said people should have the normal backup plans in place for power outages, such as having flashlights, batteries, and radios at hand.

The most powerful geomagnetic storm in recorded history, known as the Carrington Event after British astronomer Richard Carrington, occurred in September 1859.

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