Category: Life & Style

A rare green comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has appeared in the night sky for the first time in 50,000 years and was spotted from the Abu Dhabi desert at dawn on Saturday, said the International Astronomy Centre (IAC) based in the UAE capital.

The comet, first identified in March 2022, has not visited Earth or the inner solar system since the last Ice Age. The last time it passed Earth was during the Upper Paleolithic period, when Neanderthals walked the Earth, according to Space.com.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) reached its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) on January 12, and will be visible for nearly a month, says NASA. The comet from the distant outer solar system will appear brightest on February 2 when it comes closest to Earth and visible in the constellation Camelopardalis. Stargazers can see the comet through binoculars in the morning sky in the Northern Hemisphere in January and in the Southern Hemisphere early February.

From January 12, the comet can be seen near the northern sky constellation Corona Borealis as it moves westward. By the third week of January, observers will be able to spot it near the bright star Polaris or North Star earlier in the evening. Its visibility will depend on the weather, including interference from the Moon or clouds. People can watch its movement on YouTube or the live stream provided by the Virtual Telescope Project.

The total number of Indian passport holders will cross the 10 crore mark soon, said Regional Passport Officer Ashish Middha said at an interactive session with the Bharat Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

The waiting time for passport interviews has been reduced to “next working day” for Tatkaal and “three working days” for normal ones, informed the official. “Now, 9.6 crore people have valid passports in India and the figure would cross the 10 crore mark very soon,” he added.

By 2023, issuance of e-passports is expected to be fully operational and currently e-passports are on a trial run, the industry chamber said in a statement quoting Middha. The official said that currently there are 144 permanent Indian Missions, including 41 concurrent Missions, across the globe. To further expand its diplomatic footprint, India is set to open more Missions, including 10 in Africa.

Seventy-five years after Independence, 7.2% of Indians own passports. According to the Ministry of External Affairs data, over 2.2 crore or nearly a quarter (23%) of the passports were issued in Kerala and Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka are among the other big states with high numbers. As of December 12, over 1.1 crore passports were issued in 2022, including 10.5% issued by Indian missions abroad. This is 36% more than the number of passports issued in 2021, and 81.5% more than in 2020, the two pandemic years.

Swedish government-owned mining corporation LKAB has discovered the largest deposit of rare earth elements in Europe. The deposits were found in the company’s existing iron ore mines.

The deposits, Per Geijer, are located in Sweden’s northern Lappland province near the Arctic Circle. Per Geijer is estimated to contain more than 1 million tonne of rare earth oxides.

The useful rare earth elements such as cerium, yttrium, lanthanum and neodymium are used in everything, from smartphones to semiconductor chips to other high-tech products. These elements are vital for manufacturing items like electric vehicles, wind turbines, portable electronics, microphones and speakers. They are also needed for a transition to green energy. The elements can be commonly found in many ores and deposits, but their extraction is more difficult than other minerals.

China is the biggest producer of these rare elements. In 2021, it had over 50% market share in production and an 80% market share in processing. The recent discovery of these elements in Sweden presents Europe a chance to be self-sufficient in rare earth element production, eventually giving it a strategic and economic advantage.

However, LKAB would be several years before it would be able to assess what the deposits contained. It would take at least 10 to 15 years before the raw materials can be delivered to the market, as approval for new mining permits is a long process in Sweden and the EU.

Indian men, Dr. Ali Irani and Sujoy Kumar Mitra, have set the world record for travelling around seven continents in just three days. The travelers have broken the previous Guinness World Record for the quickest time to visit all seven continents in just 73 hours.

The Indian duo completed their journey in 3 days, 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 4 seconds. Dr Khawla Al Romaithi of the UAE formerly held the record, which she set in February 2020, and was 3 days, 14 hours, 46 minutes, and 48 seconds.

Beginning on December 4, the Indian men covered Antarctica, South America, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania in the shortest and fastest time possible. Their journey came to an end in Melbourne, Australia on December 7.

On his Instagram page, Dr. Ali also posted the Guinness World Records certificate. The post’s caption read, “In Guinness Book Of World Records.”

Dr Ali Irani has served as a physiotherapist for the Indian cricket team. He has, so far, travelled to 90 countries. Sujoy Mitra quit the corporate world to travel. He has travelled to 173 countries. Dr. Irani called his recent achievement to be a great pleasure and privilege. Creating a world record by doing something they were both greatly passionate about was a humbling experience, he added.

The ‘Naatu Naatu’ song of Indian blockbuster RRR has won Best Original Song in the 80th Golden Globe Awards hosted in Los Angeles, US, on Wednesday. Hyderabad-based music composer M M Keeravani accepted the award for the SS Rajamouli-directed Telugu film. With this win, ‘Naatu Naatu’ becomes the first Asian song to win the coveted award.

The song, composed by MM Keeravani, features the film’s two protagonists, Jr NTR and Ram Charan, grooving to the happy song with some swift moves. The blockbuster was nominated in two categories. It missed out in the Best Non-English Language Film which was won by Argentina, 1985 from Argentina.

RRR was represented at the Golden Globe Awards by its director and stars, SS Rajamouli, Jr NTR and Ram Charan. Jr NTR and Ram Charan play freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Seetharamaraju in the period drama, set in the British-occupied India of the 1920s. The cast also includes Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn, and British actors Ray Stevenson, Alison Doody and Olivia Morris.

RRR, which made over ₹1,200 crore globally, has already won a slew of international honours, including Best Director for SS Rajamouli at the New York Film Critics Circle awards.

A United Nations-supported scientific panel has said that actions taken under the Montreal Protocol have successfully strengthened the Earth’s ozone layer, helping avoid global warming from 0.5 to 1 degree Celsius by mid-century.

The Montreal Protocol is a 1989 international treaty aimed at regulating the production and use of chemicals that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer.

In its assessment report, the scientific panel has said that a phase out of nearly 99% banned ozone-depleting substances (ODS) like tropospheric chlorine and bromine contributed significantly to the recovery of the ozone layer, decreasing human exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. Ozone layer faces significant threat from the ODS. In addition, three greenhouse gases — methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide — also cause changes to the dynamics of the stratosphere, in turn affecting the ozone layer.

The panel noted that, with continued implementation of this protocol, the Antarctic ozone layer is expected to recover to its 1980 values by 2066. The ozone layer over the Arctic will recover by 2045 and globally by 2040. However, it also noted that the ozone layer in the upper stratosphere is recovering, while very little signs of improvement have been seen in the lower stratosphere.

The panel had experts from the World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other bodies. The panel presented its findings at the American Meteorological Society’s 103rd annual meeting on Monday.

The annual Hajj pilgrimage will return to pre-pandemic levels this year after restrictions due to COVID-19 curtailed the annual religious commemoration, say Saudi Arabia authorities. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also removed some of the restrictions for the pilgrims, including the limit on the number of foreign pilgrims allowed into the country and the age of pilgrims.

The Hajj, necessary for all fit and healthy Muslims once in their life, is one of the world’s largest gatherings of people. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pilgrimage drew millions each year to the holy city of Mecca, abode of the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray towards five times a day.

In 2019, over 2.4 million people took part in the pilgrimage. However, in 2020, amid the lockdowns triggered by the pandemic, Saudi Arabia drastically cut the Hajj with as few as 1,000 Saudi residents permitted to participate. In 2021, about some 60,000 residents of Saudi Arabia attended the pilgrimage. In 2022, 1 million devotees took part in the pilgrimage.

The people applying for pilgrimage must have national or resident identity valid until the middle of July, and must possess proof of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza vaccination.

Bengaluru is projected to be the fastest growing city in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in 2023, said economic firm Oxford Economics.

As per Oxford Economics’ analysis, Bengaluru is expected to grow by over 6% this year. Another South Indian city, Hyderabad is expected to see a similar kind of growth in 2023. The two cities in recent times have attracted remarkable investments in the manufacturing, information and communication sectors.

Suggested to be bright spots in a difficult year for cities in the APAC region, Oxford Economics expects cities that are less exposed to weak global trade and those with strength in fast-growing sectors to show some resilience. In addition, it expects Chinese cities to probably benefit from relaxed COVID-19 restrictions in 2023.

The other APAC cities expected to show growth in 2023 include Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Bangkok in Thailand, due to global supply chain diversification and return of tourists, respectively. In China, Shanghai and Beijing will probably benefit from a 2023 less marked by COVID-19-related curbs. Among advanced APAC cities, Taipei is expected to do better than Seoul, which in turn will outperform Tokyo in terms of GDP growth in 2023. In Australia, Oxford Economics counts on Brisbane to be performing relatively well due to healthy demographic growth.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new Alzheimer’s drug that may fairly slow the pace of cognitive decline early in the disease, but also carries risks of swelling and bleeding in the brain.

The approval of the drug, lecanemab, which is to be marketed as Leqembi, is expected to generate considerable interest from patients and physicians. The drug is an intravenous infusion administered every two weeks. Studies of the drug suggest that it is more promising than the limited number of other treatments available.

Several Alzheimer’s experts, however, said it was unclear from the medical evidence whether Leqembi could slow cognitive decline enough to be noticeable to patients. A recent report of findings from a large 18-month clinical trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and co-written by scientists from the lead company making the drug, concluded that “longer trials are warranted to determine the efficacy and safety of lecanemab in early Alzheimer’s disease.”

Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, led the development and testing of the drug. It is partnering with the American company Biogen, maker of the controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, for its commercialisation and marketing, and the companies will split the profits equally.

The US embassy and consulates in India have said they have issued record-breaking visas to Indian students in 2022.

The US State Department Spokesperson, Ned Price said that the US issued more student visas in fiscal year 2022 than in any year since 2016. He added that the US embassy and consulates in India, in particular, broke their all-time record for the number of student visas issued in a single fiscal year.

“We issued nearly 1,25,000 student visas. We recognise that some applicants may still face extended visa wait times, and we are making every effort to further reduce visa interview appointment wait times as quickly as possible in India and around the world, including for first time tourist visa applicants,” he said.

According to the US official, they have doubled the hiring of US foreign and service personnel and added that visa processing is recovering faster than projected over the coming years. The country is making every effort to reduce the waiting time for visa interview appointments in India as soon as possible.Price said the demand for visa services has increased as pandemic restrictions have eased in countries across the world, and people are looking for opportunities to travel to the United States.

Earlier, a senior US Embassy in November 2022 had said that India is expected to surpass China in getting the number of visas by 2023, and will be ranked two in the issuance of visas after Mexico.