Senior officials from about 12 of the world’s major intelligence agencies held a secret meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore on 2–4 June, said media reports. Organised by the Singapore government, these meetings have been discreetly held at a separate venue alongside the security summit for several years, they said. The meetings were not previously reported. Director of National Intelligence, US, Avril Haines represented her country’s intelligence community. China was among the other countries present. Samant Goel, the head of India's o
Indian nationals top the tally of skilled worker and student visas issued by the United Kingdom over the past year, according to the data shared by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in London in May. The ONS data collated by the UK Home Office shows that Indian nationals were the top nationality for cross-sector skilled work, including specifically targeted healthcare visas aimed at filling staff shortages in the National Health Service (NHS). The nationality also made up the largest group of students granted visas under the new Graduate post-study work route with 41 percent of gran
Scientists have identified the oldest known Homo sapiens footprints in South Africa. The newly discovered tracks have been dated to over 150,000 years ago. A wealth of fossil evidence suggests that Homo sapiens first diverged from earlier species about 300,000 years ago. The international team of scientists has identified the oldest known set of fossil footprints from a member of our species. The team calculated the dates of seven “ichnosites” (locations containing ancient human traces) along South Africa’s Cape south coast. It was found that they ranged between 71,000 and 153,000 ye
In a first, France has decided to ban short domestic flights for journeys possible in less than two-and-a-half hours by train, with the objective to reduce carbon emissions from aircraft. Accordingly, flights will not operate between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux. The government has also specified that the train services on these routes would be frequent and well-connected. With the move, city hopping within the European nation is grounded. Travellers looking to fly within France will no longer be able to take a short domestic flight when there is alternative hi
Luxury car maker Bugatti has revealed the designs for its 42-storey skyscraper in Dubai. The building – the company’s first foray into residential real estate – will have two garage-to-penthouse car lifts. Bugatti is one of the luxury car brands that have moved into residential property. Bentley is building a 61-storey skyscraper in Miami Beach, while Aston Martin has designed an angular black home in New York as part of its Automotive Galleries and Lairs service. Bugatti’s new construction will be built in the Business Bay area of Dubai. The skyscraper will have a sinuous form
Georgi Gospodinov’s Time Shelter, translated by Angela Rodel, has become the first Bulgarian novel to win the International Booker Prize. The novel is about “a ‘clinic for the past’ [that] offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time. But soon the past begins to invade the present,” said the International Booker Prize website. Full of irony and melancholy, the novel deals with a contemporary question: what happens to us when our memories disappear? “Georgi Gospodinov succeeds mar
Brazil’s environmental authority declined to issue a licence for a contentious offshore oil drilling project at the mouth of the Amazon River on May 17. The decision to reject the state-run oil company Petrobras’ request to drill the FZA-M-59 block was taken “as a function of a group of technical inconsistencies,” said the agency’s head, underlining environmental concerns. Eighty civil society and environmental bodies, including WWF Brasil and Greenpeace, had called for the license to be rejected. The biodiverse area is home to little-studied patches of mangroves and a c
Environmental activists poured black liquid into Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain to protest against Italy's “inaction” on climate change. Members of the climate activist group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) poured diluted charcoal into the fountain to symbolise the “dark future” they believe the planet faces due to climate change. The protestors demanded that the government remove subsidies for the fossil fuels sector. They held up banners that read “We won't pay for fossil fuels” and “Our country is dying.” Police detained the activists about 20 minutes after their de
A study has found that New York City is sinking due to the weight of its high-rise buildings. According to the report, the sea level around the US city is gradually rising. The study, published in the journal Earth’s Future, claimed that the sea level around New York City has been rising more than twice as fast as the global rate. The study projected that the sea level would rise between 8 inches and 30 inches by 2050. In addition, scientists expect more frequent and extreme rainfalls and hurricanes in the region due to the human-induced climate crisis. There are more than 10 lakh bui
Space Perspective, a US space travel company, plans to offer the first-ever space weddings. Its revolutionary Neptune spacecraft offers couples a rare chance to embark on a truly unique journey to the edge of space, providing them with an unforgettable experience complete with unparalleled views of our planet, for ₹1 crore per person. The space expedition has already found takers, who are eager to exchange their sacred vows under the stars. The spacecraft is designed to lift off the ground at a gentle pace of 12 mph making the experience accessible to anyone who is medically fit to fly w