Mohamned Adil Khan, an Indian architect working in Dubai, has been named the first winner of a new mega prize in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and will receive more than Rs. 5.5 lakh every month for the next 25 years. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Khan was named the mega prize winner of the FAST 5 draw at a press conference held on July 27. Working as an interior design consultant for a real estate company in Dubai, he stands to get Dh25,000 (Rs. 5,59,822) a month for 25 years after winning the lottery. While Khan was grateful for winning the money, Paul Chader, Head of Marketing, Tycher
A sudden marine heat wave off the coast of Florida has sent water temperatures soaring to unprecedented highs, threatening one of the most severe coral bleaching events the US state has ever seen. The bleaching is already happening in the Florida Keys, which is home to 6,000 individual reefs. Eleven observations of partial bleaching were confirmed by the Mote Marine Laboratory in June. Experts said they expected that number to grow exponentially in the weeks to come. Sea surface temperatures have reached the highest levels on record since satellites began collecting ocean data, alarming
A UNESCO report has warned of a ‘negative link’ between excessive use of digital technology and student performance, calling for a ban on smartphones in schools. The move will help tackle classroom disruption, improve learning, and help protect children from cyberbullying, recommended the report. The UN’s education, science and culture agency, UNESCO, has said that there was evidence that excessive mobile phone use was linked to reduced educational performance and high levels of screen time had a negative effect on children’s emotional stability. The UN experts said the call for
A Norwegian woman and her sherpa guide climbed Mount K2 in Pakistan on July 27 - their 14th highest mountain in just over three months - becoming the world’s fastest climbers to climb all peaks above 8,000 metre (26,246 feet) in the shortest time. Kristin Harila, 37, and Nepal’s Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa, 35, scaled K2, which is the world’s second highest peak at 8,611 metres (28,251 feet) with eight other guides, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, said an official of their Nepali organising company, Seven Summit Treks (SST) in Kathmandu. They had scaled Shishapangma in Tibet region of China on April 26
The pioneering conservation initiative Project Tiger has helped India secure 70 percent of the world's tigers, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 28. In a video message to the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Ministerial Meeting in Chennai, the Prime Minister said that Project Lion and Project Dolphin are in the pipeline. Under PM Modi’s leadership, India launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) at Mysore University in Karnataka, on the 'Commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger' in April this year. The IBCA aims to conserve seven big cats on our planet. T
In a blunt warning to the world, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that the era of global warming has ended and we have now entered an “era of global boiling.” The alarming statement came as scientists confirmed that July 2023 is on track to become the hottest month ever recorded in human history. The past three weeks have been the hottest since records began, with global temperatures shattering previous records. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme attribute this unprecedented heat to the burning of
The recently-built Surat Diamond Bourse is believed to surpass the Pentagon in the US, as the world’s largest office building, according to a report in the CNN. The impressive 15-story complex spans over 35 acres and features a unique design of nine interconnected rectangular structures originating from a central ‘spine.’ The bourse has been completed after four years of construction work. It is set to welcome its first occupants in November. The “one-stop destination” for more than 65,000 diamond professionals, including cutters, polishers, and traders, it has over 7.1 millio
Seven-year-old Indian-origin schoolgirl, Moksha Roy has received the British Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award for being the World’s Youngest Sustainability Advocate. UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden bestowed the award to Roy. Roy started volunteering for a United Nations' sustainability initiative against microplastic pollution when she was just three. She has been recognised for volunteering for several sustainability campaigns, including raising funds to help children in need. Championing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she has gone to significant length
Tens of millions battled dangerously high temperatures in the United States on July 16 as weather agencies forecast record heat over Europe and Japan. Firefighters tried to control blazes in parts of Greece and the Canary Islands mid-July. In Arizona, one of the hardest-hit US states, residents faced high temperatures. Its capital Phoenix recorded 16 straight days above 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), with temperatures hitting 111 degrees Fahrenheit on July 15. California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, also registered new peaks on July 17, with the me
Honduras plans to build the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere and send its most-feared criminals there. President Xiomara Castro plans to build an isolated prison for 2,000 gang leaders on the Islas del Cisne archipelago 155 miles off the coast in a larger crackdown after the gang-related massacre of 46 women in one prison. Once common across Latin America, island prisons were located in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Peru. The last island prison closed in Mexico in 2019. On June 20, 46 women were killed in a fight between gang members in one p