ACCOLADE// India’s Manushi Chhillar has won the Miss World beauty pageant for the year 2017. The win comes 17 years after Priyanka Chopra brought home the coveted title in the year 2000. Andrea Meza, who is Miss Mexico was the first runner up and Stephanie Hill from England was second runner up. Around 108 women from across the world participated in the beauty pageant.
Ms Chhillar, a 20-year-old from Haryana, studied in St. Thomas School in New Delhi and Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women in Sonepat.
According to Ms Chhillar’s profile on the Miss World website, Ms Chhillar aims to be a cardiac surgeon and has plans of opening non-profit hospitals in rural areas.
Ms Chhillar’s profile also says she is a trained classical dancer and has a passion for outdoor sports like scuba diving, snorkelling and bungee jumping.
After reaching the top five, Ms Chhillar was asked during the Question and Answer round, which profession she thought deserved the highest salary and why
Replying to the question, Ms Chhillar said it was not a question about a person's salary and that a mother was worthy of the highest respect.
“I think a mother is of highest respect. I don’t think its just about cash but love and respect she gives to someone. She is the biggest inspiration in my life. Mother should get highest respect.”
POLLUTION// Due to the extremely high levels of pollution experienced by Delhi last month, the Indian government has decided to introduce cleaner fuel for vehicles operating in the capital. Cars and other vehicles operating on the cleaner fuel will release less pollution into the air.
Starting April 2018, BS-Grade VI petrol and diesel will be sold in the capital. This is being introduced two years earlier than planned to fight the pollution levels in Delhi. BS Grade VI fuel contains 10 parts per million of sulphur compared to 50 parts per million in Grade IV fuel, which is being used now. BS-VI fuel will bring down the sulphur content in waste gas given off by vehicles by five times from BS-IV levels, an 80 per cent reduction that makes the fuel clean.
Cars and other vehicles in Delhi will need better engines before they can get the full benefit of Grade VI fuel. While pollution released by an old car using the new fuel may drop slightly, the real improvement will come when new cars fitted with engines that can run Grade VI fuel efficiently hit the roads. That may take a few years and experts believe that it will be 5-10 years before Delhi feels the good effects of Grade VI fuel. But, it’s important to take these steps now so that the pollution story gets better in the future. “Taking into account the serious pollution levels in Delhi and adjoining areas, the petroleum ministry in consultation with public sector oil marketing companies has decided on introducing BS-VI grade fuel in Delhi from April 1, 2018, instead of April 1, 2020,” an official statement said.
LAW// The Indian Government is coming up with a new law to ban ‘Triple Talaq’, making its use punishable. ‘Triple Talaq’ is a Muslim custom where a man is allowed to divorce his wife by simply uttering the word ‘talaq’ thrice. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ordered an end to the practice but despite the court’s order, the practice of ‘Triple Talaq’ continues. Without a law that sets out punishments for those using ‘Triple Talaq’, the court’s order does not seem to have much effect. A group of ministers are working on the new law which may be brought before Parliament for approval. This may happen in the very next session of Parliament. The practice of ‘Triple Talaq’ is unjust to women as it allows men to abandon their wives by simply uttering the words thrice. Women have no such rights. The problem has become worse in recent years with men divorcing or leaving their wives by sending the words in a text message via mobile phone.
GOVERNMENT// The nation of Zimbabwe in southern Africa is in a state of upheaval. Its military leaders announced recently that they were removing the country’s unpopular president, Robert Mugabe, from office and planned to replace his government with a more efficient one. Mugabe too resigned finally on Tuesday to make way for change in Zimbabwe. The 93 year old Mugabe was the oldest head of state in the world. Over the years, his government had come to be seen as one that was poorly run and corrupt, with officials involved in many kinds of wrong-doing. But Mugabe has stubbornly held onto power, and as a result, Zimbabwe is no longer the prosperous country it once was. Although it has among the richest farmland in all Africa, many of its people go hungry. Following the military’s announcement, the people of Harare filled the city’s streets, celebrating the ending of Mugabe’s term as their president. With Mugabe finally gone, the changes they want so much may come quickly.
WORLD CUP// For the first time in 60 years, Italy has failed to qualify for the finals of the football World Cup. The next World Cup will take place in 2018 in Russia.
Italy, which has won the World Cup four times in the past, drew with Sweden (score read 0-0). For Sweden, the draw meant that they would qualify for the World Cup as they had done better than Italy in previous matches. Sweden has now qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 2006.
Italy has failed to qualify for the World Cup finals just once before, reaching 14 straight finals since 1958, the last time they didn’t qualify. Next year’s World Cup finals will miss several notable teams including Italy, Holland, Ghana and the United Stated, all of whom failed to qualify. Holland incidentally was also beaten by Sweden.
For the Italians, who are passionate about football, not qualifying for the World Cup finals is nothing less than a disaster. Following the defeat, Italian goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffo announced his retirement. Much of the country was in a state of shock after the match
VERDICT// It has been a bitter war over something really sweet-that soft, delicious little Indian sweet called the ‘Rasgulla’. For some time now, both West Bengal and Orissa have claimed the sweet as their own, saying that the rasgulla originated in their state. But now the Geographical Indications tag, which confirms the geographical origin of products, has been given to Bengal for the rasgulla.
A few years ago, Orissa began claiming that the sweet was invented in the state and was connected to rituals performed at the Jagannath temple at Puri in Orissa. Until then, the sweet was only associated with Bengal. The Bengalis decided to fight back and took the matter to court to prove that the rasgulla was invented by the famous Bengali sweet maker Nabin Chandra Das in 1868.
Now a government agency has looked into the claims of both states and decided to give Bengal the GI tag for the rasgulla. The GI tag connects a product to a particular place- for example, in India, products like Darjeeling tea, Madhubani paintings, Kashmir Pashmina and Nagpur oranges have GI tags.
TENNIS// Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov won the year-ending ATP finals tournament, one of the biggest tennis prizes of the year. He beat David Goffin of Belgium to win. The pair played the longest ATP final ever played and Dimitrov won in 2 hours, 30 minutes, 15 seconds, adding 11 minutes to the record set by Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011. It was a surprise end to a year when old stars Federer and Rafael Nadal between them won all four Grand Slams.
CALAMITY// In 2015, some of the worst floods in its history affected the southern city of Chennai, which is the capital of Tamil Nadu state. Two years later, as heavy rains hit the city last month, it was the same story once again for a city that refuses to learn its lesson.
Last month, over just five days, Chennai received 70% of its total rainfall from the north-east monsoon. Unlike other parts of India where it rains from June to September, Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh and a few other places receive most of their rainfall during the south-west monsoon from October to December.
After the 2015 floods, studies revealed that flooding had been caused as many of the city’s natural water bodies had been allowed to dry up. New colonies and buildings had come up on what was once marshland. As the city expanded, lakes dried up and that land was also sold to builders. Much of these areas are low lying-this means that, when it rains, water collects in them naturally.
Two years later, the 2015 story is repeating itself-people in low-lying areas are suffering as roads are flooded and in some cases boats are being used to move around. Experts have been saying that Chennai needs to revive old water bodies such as lakes, which allow rain water to collect naturally and prevent floods. Plus, this water is then available during the dry months when the city faces water shortages. But will the city learn from its mistakes?
HOCKEY// The Indian women’s hockey team has lifted the Asia Cup, defeating China in a tense game that was won by India 5-4 during the shoot-out. The win means that India has qualified for the 2018 hockey World Cup.
The Indian women’s team last won the Asia Cup in 2004 when they beat Japan. This time, they won a hardfought match against China that saw neither team score a goal during the match. With both teams at 0-0, the match was extended by a shoot-out. Team captain Rani Rampal scored India’s fifth goal, but it was goalkeeper Savita Punia who blocked the last shot from the Chinese who were trying to level the score (make it 5-5), thus helping India win 5-4. Savita was adjudged ‘Goalkeeper-of-theTournament’
Commenting on the win, the team’s coach Harendra Singh said, “The Asia Cup is just the foundation, we have to achieve much more. The year 2018 is very crucial for Indian women's hockey. We have three important tournaments – Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the World Cup and I expect minimum two medals out of these three tournaments."
It has been a good year for Indian hockey. The men’s team also won the Asia Cup earlier this year.
CRICKET// Indian pace bowler has Ashish Nehra has announced his retirement from cricket. His final game was the first T20 against New Zealand played at New Delhi on November 1 that India won. His farewell match was also special to Nehra as Delhi is Nehra’s hometown
In some ways, the farewell match at Ferozeshah Kotla stadium saw Nehra’s career come full circle. At the beginning of his career, he had bowled his first over from the same end at the same ground, in a Ranji Trophy match against Haryana. Nehra has played for India since 1999. He has had an injury filled career, often having to take long breaks to cope with the fitness issues. However, each time, he managed to make a come-back to the Indian cricket team. Nehra was part of the World Cup winning team in 2011. He was a key played in the semi-final against Pakistan that India won. He has also played for a number of IPL teams-Chennai Super Kings, Delhi, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
STUDY// Gravity signals that race through the ground at the speed of light could help seismologists get a better handle on the size of large, devastating quakes soon after they hit, a study suggests. The tiny changes in Earth's gravitational field, created when the ground shifts, arrive at seismic-monitoring stations well before seismic waves.
“The good thing we can do with these signals is have quick information on the magnitude of the quake,” says Martin Vallée, a seismologist at the Paris Institute of Earth Physics.
Seismometers in China and South Korea picked up gravity signals immediately after the magnitude-9.1 Tohoku earthquake that devastated parts of Japan in 2011. The signals appear as tiny accelerations on seismicrecording equipment, more than a minute before the seismic waves show up.
Had seismologists been monitoring for gravity changes, they might have realized sooner just how big the Tohoku earthquake was. It took the US Geological Survey (USGS) 40 minutes to update its initial estimate of magnitude 7.9 to 8.8, much closer to the quake’s true size, and 3 hours for the Japan Meteorological Agency to do the same. A small increase in an earthquake’s magnitude means a large change in the energy released by the quake — and the devastation expected. That information is crucial for emergency responders as they decide what resources to deploy.
The latest work arose when a group of European and US researchers began exploring how vibrations from small earthquakes affect gravitational-wave detectors such as the European Virgo and the US Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Many of the scientists also worked on earthquake early-warning systems, and they began to think about whether earthquakes created gravitational perturbations and how those might be detected. A few extra minutes of warning can save lives, particularly in coastal areas where people can evacuate ahead of an incoming tsunami.
One of the most popular and well-known tools for learning a language online is Duolingo. This free language learning app offers 11 completed language courses for English speakers and two beta languages. Duolingo also includes language courses for speakers of languages other than English. These include French for Portuguese speakers, English for Czech speakers, and more.
Duolingo is a great example of a straightforward language app. It’s really simple to use. One can set up a profile, choose your target language, set your weekly goals and start your language learning adventure!
Each course in Duolingo is made up of modules which are grouped to form skills. The app dictates the order in which you need to complete the different modules, with new modules becoming active only once you’ve completed the previous one. It allows you to ‘test out of’ individual modules as well as groups of modules. There are also listening exercises where you need to type what you hear, and speaking exercises where you say what you hear. Once you’ve finished all of the lessons in a module an additional screen appears. It shows your ‘weakest words’ that the app identified while you worked through the module. You can strengthen your weakest words there and then, or go back at a later point. Duolingo recognizes that language learners need to be motivated to make sure they come back to the app and engage in some more language fun. Duolingo uses several different methods to keep you hooked. The first is its goalsetting tool. The goals you can choose from vary from ‘casual’ to ‘insane’, depending on how serious you are about learning and how quickly you want to progress. The second method that Duolingo uses to motivate its learners are bonus skills and the ability to earn ‘lingots’. A lot of the learning that goes on in Duolingo is visual. There are pictures for learning vocabulary, colours that indicate whether you’re right or wrong, and highlighted tapable text for new words or grammar points.