Category: Life & Style

One of Russia’s most active volcanoes in Kamchatka, Shiveluch erupted on April 11, spewing clouds of ash 20 kilometers into the sky and covering broad areas with ash. The ash cloud extended over 500 kilometres (more than 300 miles) northwest and engulfed several villages in grey volcanic dust.

The Kamchatka Peninsula, which extends into the Pacific Ocean, is one of the world’s most concentrated areas of geothermal activity, with about 30 active volcanoes. According to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geophysical Survey, the Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight and reached a crescendo about six hours later, churning out an ash cloud over an area of 108,000 square kilometres (41,700 square miles).

Mudflow warnings were issued along a nearby highway as the lava flow tumbled from the volcano, thus melting snow. Villages were carpeted in drifts of grey ash as deep as 8.5 centimetres (3.5 inches), the deepest in 60 years.

About 300,000 people live on Russia’s vast Kamchatka peninsula. The volcano is one of the largest and most active on the peninsula. There were no immediate reports of casualties, though scientists said the volcano was still erupting 15 hours after the start of the eruption.

A titan of the field of statistics, Indian-American mathematician and statistician Calyampudi Radhakrishnan Rao will be awarded the 2023 International Prize in Statistics, for his historical work in statistical theory, which revolutionised statistical thinking.

The 102-year-old will receive the award – the industry equivalent of the Nobel Prize – in July during the International Statistical Institute’s biennial World Statistics Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The recognition comes with a reward of $80,000.

Born to a Telegu family in Hadagali, Karnataka, India, CR Rao completed his school education in Andhra Pradesh before earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Mathematics from Andhra University in 1940-1941. He then obtained a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Cambridge in 1943.

Throughout his career, Rao has held visiting positions at numerous universities around the world, from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata and Central Statistical Institute in Delhi to Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. He has also published over 400 research papers and several books on statistics and mathematics.

Rao is distinguished for his 1945 paper, published in the Bulletin of the Calcutta Mathematical Society, with three fundamental results that created waves for modern statistics and laid the foundation for statistical tools with many applications in the sciences. The most prominent tools were the Cramer-Rao lower bound and the Rao-Blackwell Theorem. His far-reaching work found its way to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, and is used for radar and antenna research, contributions to AI and image segregation.

The UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity, Nationality, Customs and Port Security (UAE ICP) has announced a new comprehensive service to obtain a Golden Residency Visa.

The ‘One Touch Golden Visa service’ is designed to make the process of obtaining a Golden Visa easier. It will help the aspirants with their visa applications, issuance of other visas, regularisation of status, and the issuance of residency and identity – along with the possibility of renewing all of these in just one step. If a resident meets the specified requirements for the Golden Visa, one can complete the application with just the push of a button on the ICP website.

The Golden Visa enables foreign talents to live, work or study in the UAE, while enjoying exclusive benefits that include the privilege of not needing a sponsor, the ability to stay outside the UAE for more than six months to keep their residence visa valid, and the ability to sponsor their family members, including spouses and children, regardless of their ages.

The minimum monthly salary requirement for getting hold of the visa also recently decreased from Dh50,000 to Dh30,000, with many more skilled professionals eligible to get the long-term residency. Suitable disciplines include medicine, sciences and engineering, information technology, business and administration, education, law, culture and social sciences.

Singapore has resumed the Free Singapore Tour for layover travellers, offering four daily guided tours of less than three hours each.

For the first time, visits to local community spaces and residences will be among the itinerary options for transit and transfer visitors who are here for 5.5 hours to 24 hours. The latest addition is a 2.5-hour-long Changi Precinct Tour, which includes stops at Tampines New Town to see local housing, and at Tampines Central Park to catch uniquely designed playgrounds. Singapore’s first integrated community and lifestyle hub, Our Tampines Hub; Changi Chapel and Museum; Changi Village; and Changi Beach Park are other locations included in this tour.

Three returning tours – City Sights Tour, Heritage Tour and Jewel Tour – will have new points of interest. The City Sights Tour will now include a stop in the Civic District to take in the National Gallery Singapore, Anderson Bridge and the Padang. The bus route will also take visitors through the Marina Bay Financial District en route to Gardens by the Bay. The Heritage Tour, which will be available from June, will stop at multicultural destinations such as Chinatown, Arab Street and Haji Lane. On the Jewel Tour, tourists will visit popular Changi Airport attractions such as the Shiseido Forest Valley and the HSBC Rain Vortex, as well as sample snacks and learn about Singapore’s food heritage through local brands such as Bee Cheng Hiang and Tong Garden.

The free tours, which will be run by home-grown company Monster Day Tours, can be booked on the Changi Airport website.

The United Nations General Assembly on 29 March adopted a resolution by the tiny Pacific nation of Vanuatu to ask the world’s top court for an opinion on the legal obligations of countries to protect current and future generations from climate change. The resolution should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failing to tackle the climate emergency.

In a vote which was hailed as a historic victory for climate justice, the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus the resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific island nation vulnerable to extreme climate effects, and youth activists to secure a legal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify states’ obligations to tackle the climate crisis – and specify any consequences countries should face for inaction.

“Today, we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions,” said Ishmael Kalsakau, Prime Minister of Vanuatu. “Today’s historic resolution is the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate cooperation, one that is more fully focused on upholding the rule of international law and an era that places human rights and intergenerational equity at the forefront of climate decision-making.”

The resolution, backed by a slew of states including Singapore and adopted by consensus – that is, without a vote – asks the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify the obligations of big polluters in terms of the human rights of those affected by the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. It applies particularly to vulnerable, poorer nations, including low-lying island states which, although they are among the least responsible for the climate crisis, are the most threatened by more intense storms and rising sea levels.

Singapore is the smartest Asian city and the seventh smartest in the world, says the 2023 Smart City Index. The smartest cities in the world in 2023 are Zurich in the No. 1 spot, followed by Oslo and Canberra.

The index, published by Swiss business school Institute for Management Development (IMD) on April 4, ranked 141 cities by how they use technology to address the challenges they face to achieve a higher quality of life. It takes into account input from the cities’ residents of how technology has improved their lives. About 20,000 people were surveyed on 15 aspects of living in their cities, such as affordable housing, road congestion, green spaces and employment. They were also asked about various structures and technologies, and how comfortable they felt with technologies such as facial recognition and the sharing of personal data.

As the top Asian city, Singapore fared well in areas such as the provision of medical services, green spaces and access to quality education. It was also among six cities cited by the index to have been “continuously improving their performance since 2019”. Zurich, Oslo, Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong were the other five cities. The 2023 index also had Asian and European cities dominating the top 20 spots out of the 141 cities surveyed.

Indian philanthropist and art collector Kiran Nadar was recently conferred Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain in recognition of her outstanding contribution in the field of art.

Nadar, Chairperson, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) – a philanthropic initiative in art – and a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation has been recognised for her commitment to providing greater access to culture both nationally and internationally, and playing a vital role in advancing Indo-French cultural ties, and artistic cooperation.

“It is an absolute privilege for me to be conferred ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur’ and I am deeply grateful to the French Government for this great honour,” Kiran Nadar said in a statement. “KNMA has a longstanding relationship with France in the cultural space. Our partnership with France has been instrumental in bringing together diverse perspectives and promoting cultural exchange,” the statement added.

In 2022, KNMA joined hands with Alkazi Foundation and the French Institute in India to create “Converges”, the largest exhibition of original pictures from French photographers ever shown in India. This exhibition was brought to India as part of Bonjour India 2022, a six-month cultural festival organised by France across India as a present for India’s 75th Independence anniversary.

US’ Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that it will return 15 sculptures that were illegally taken away from India. All of the works were sold by Subhash Kapoor, a convicted Indian-American antiquities smuggler who is currently imprisoned in India. The sculptures include an 11^th-century sandstone celestial dancer (Apsara) from Madhya Pradesh and 1st century BCE Yakshi Terracotta from West Bengal, copper and stone, a ceramic pot from Chandraketugarh, a stone bust of Kamadeva from the second half of the 8th century C.E, and a Svetambara enthroned Jina.

The museum added that it will stick to responsible purchase of antiquities, and has set in place strict standards for new acquisitions and its existing collection. It is presently vetting the details of works acquired from suspicious dealers. Respecting its long association with the Indian government, the Met is pleased to take action in the incident. The museum has also now removed three Turkish pieces from its Greek and Roman galleries.

In October 2022, the US restored 307 archaeological items, worth nearly 4 million dollars stolen by multiple trafficking rings, to India. The items were handed over during a repatriation ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York attended by India’s Consul General Randhir Jaiswal.

The family of industrialist JP Taparia has bought a sea-view luxury triplex apartment worth around Rs 369 crore in south Mumbai in likely the most expensive residential property deal in the country. The sale deed was registered on March 29, 2023, and signed from listed real-estate developer Macrotech Developers.

The triplex is in the super-luxury residential tower Lodha Malabar, located on Walkeshwar Road, Malabar Hill. The total area of the residential units, located on the 26th, 27th and 28th floors, is 27,160.6 sq ft. The consideration amount was Rs 369.55 crore, and a stamp duty of Rs 19.07 crore was paid. The units come with 20 car parkings. The value of the triplex makes the per-sq ft cost almost Rs 1.36 lakh per sq ft, and is perhaps the most expensive residential property deal.

JP Taparia is the founder of the contraceptive products firm Famy Care. Until 1990, the senior businessman was engaged in his family business of hand tools and engineering. He later started his own business with Famy Care, which is a leading manufacturer of female oral contraceptives and Copper-Ts.

Earlier, on March 13, Bajaj Auto Chairman Niraj Bajaj purchased a sea-facing luxury triplex penthouse of over 18,008 sq ft on the top three floors of the Lodha Malabar Hill project for Rs 252.50 crore, setting the record for the costliest penthouse in the city. The transaction was at a rate of Rs 1,40,277 per sq ft on the total area.

About 14 storeys beneath the bustling city of Tokyo, or 42 m underground, lies a cavern of tunnels and vaults that temporarily stores swelling rainwater to prevent flooding above ground. Under a 6.6 trillion yen (S$66 billion) plan, the capital of Japan is planning to strengthen its resilience against flooding, alongside plans to raise coastal sea walls and river embankments.

The city started out building conventional in-ground reservoirs after land scarcity and sky-high land prices drove urban planners to dig deep. The current system of 28 so-called “regulating reservoirs”, with a capacity enough for 1,056 Olympic-size pools, comprises 16 in-ground reservoirs, nine underground vaults, and three underground tunnels.

Plans are now under way to further grow this operational reservoir capacity to 3.6 million cubic metres – from the current 2.64 million cubic metres – by the end of this decade, with the construction of more underground facilities. An additional 1.5 million cubic metres of reservoir storage is expected to be under construction in 2030, with the city aiming for a total planned capacity of 5.1 million cubic metres, which is enough for 2,040 Olympic-size pools.

Tokyo is sharing its expertise of using underground space to manage flooding risks with regional capitals such as Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. Singapore’s national water agency PUB is also exploring the use of underground space to combat inland and coastal flooding.

The buttressing of anti-flooding measures is one of five pillars under the Tokyo Resilience Project announced by the city’s Governor Yuriko Koike in December 2022.