Kolkata: People from all walks of life and age groups Sunday thronged colourful pandals (marquees) to soak in the festivities and celebrate Mahasaptami – the second day of Durga Puja in West Bengal. The day started with the ‘pran pratistha’ ritual, where the deity is symbolically endowed with life. The ‘kola bou’, a tender banana…
Austrian skydiver breaks record with 39-km jump
Austrian Felix Baumgartner has broken the record for the highest ever skydive by jumping out of a balloon 128,000 feet (39 km) above New Mexico, the BBC reported Monday. The 43-year-old was hoping also to break the sound barrier during his descent – although that mark awaits confirmation. Video cameras relayed the moment Baumgartner stepped…
Apple pays tribute to late co-founder Steve Jobs
Washington: Apple on Friday paid tribute to its late co-founder Steve Jobs with a heartfelt video and a note from Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. The company dedicated its landing page of Apple.com website with a minute-long video, showing black and white photos of Jobs along with some of his most notable quotes, Xinhua reported.…
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef loses half of coral cover
Washington: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, has lost half of its coral cover in the past 27 years, a study revealed Monday. Three factors were particularly responsible for the loss. Intense tropical cyclones, coral-consuming crown-of-thorns starfish and coral bleaching events, Xinhua reported. The storms caused massive damage to the central…
Footballs made in India recalled in Australia
Sydney: Around half a million children’s footballs will be recalled in Australia after two balls, believed to have been stitched by child labour in India, were found with needles in them. The Australian Associated Press (AAP) said the footballs were used as part of a nationwide programme for children. Around 450,000 balls will be recalled.…
Prince William vows to protect wife from paparazzi
London: Prince William has vowed that his wife, Duchess Catherine, will not suffer the same press intrusion as his late mother Princess Diana did. William believes that paparazzi contributed to his mother’s death in a car crash in Paris in 1997, reports femalefirst.co.uk. The Duke of Cambridge was left furious after pictures of his spouse…
Don’t miss the blue moon!
There’s something everyone does every once in a blue moon. If you take that idiom literally, Friday, August 31, 2012, is the day to do that thing you do occasionally. Space aficionados will be able to watch the blue moon Friday. The next time this rare sight will be visible will be July 2015. A…
What travellers do to shun other commuters
London: Commuters on a train employ all kinds of tactics to avoid interaction with other travellers. These include the “hate stare” or one that says “don’t bother me”, says a new study. The study by Yale University says commuters use many other tactics, including putting their bag on the next seat, checking the phone, putting…
Thai sextuplets named after car brands
Bangkok: A Thai woman who delivered six children this May has named them after her favourite car brands — Audi, Fortune (Toyota Fortuner), Porsche, Mini, Volkswagen and Fiat, the Bangkok Post reported. The sextuplets — three girls and three boys — are the first born in Thailand. Duangchanok Wangwitthayaskul, 29, had pregnancy related problems and…
God Particle’s discovery ‘biggest leap in physics’
New Delhi: Scientists have finally locked onto Higgs Boson, the ‘God Particle’, a discovery that crowns the global scientific community’s most challenging and comprehensive quest for the subatomic particle rightly regarded as “the key to the cosmic riddle”. Scientists at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), Geneva, announced the discovery on Wednesday, in the presence…