435 items in this section. Displaying page 14 of 44
Gunning for Clouds
Where: Beijing, China July 19: The photograph in the newspaper shows a soldier handling an anti-aircraft gun. At once, an image flashes across your mind: the gun moving left to right and firing away with a deafening, staccato noise, with an aircraft bursting into flames and somersaulting to the ground. Good powers of imagination, fed on Hollywood films, but, unfortunately, completely off the mark. The anti-aircraft gun shown in the Hindustan Times is used for the purpose of cloud seeding, or making rain....
World's Largest Blanket
Val Stone, a Devon, UK,-based pensioner has made the world’s largest crocheted blanket and plans to sell it to raise money for a cancer fund. Stone, a leukaemia patient, has spent 11 years making the blanket, which is larger than a tennis court. The blanket measures about 24 metres by 8 metres when stretched out and weighs about 90 kilograms. World’s Largest Blanket [Illustration by Shinod AP] She hopes to raise £3,000 (Rs....
A safety net for cheetahs, vultures, dolphins
Where: Rome, Italy December 9, 2008 :The fastest moving mammal on earth is now moving – fast – towards extinction. The Guardian reports that cheetah is on a list of 21 names newly added to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals List 1 of endangered species. The Egyptian vulture is on this list too, because it is affected by the excessive use of toxic pesticides. A safety net for cheetahs, vultures, dolphins [] A species of Asian duck, which is eaten as a delicacy in its native region, three kinds of dolphins, some marine mammals and bird varieties are also on the list....
The Concorde
The sleekest and the fastest jet aircraft in the world. The Concorde. Sounds like an ad? Wait till you hear how much it costs to travel in it. A trip on this aircraft could cost you $9,000 – at least 25 per cent more than the regular first class travel fare. For a long time, the Concorde was considered the safest aircraft – the only jet aircraft in the history of aviation which has never had a serious accident....
Indian chess queens make their move
Check Mate, says Koneru Humpy In 1997, a smiling, curly-haired, nine-year-old Indian girl announced her arrival in the chess world. Koneru Humpy, from Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, won the World under-10 Championship at Cannes, in France. Not only that, she made a habit of winning world titles — And made a habit of winning world titles – World under-12 (1998), World under-14 (2001) and World Junior title (2002). She is also the only Indian girl to have won the under-14 boys title in the National Children Chess Championship, and the only Indian girl ever to have won a world title....
Swan falls in love with a pedal boat
Where: The city of Munster, Germany April 10, 2007: Some call it Petra. Others call it Black Peter. But everyone in Germany agrees on one thing — Petra or Black Peter, is one rare black swan. The story begins when Petra or Black Peter fell in love with a pedal boat shaped like a swan. This happened at Aesee Lake in Munster city, in north-western Germany. The black swan had been brought to the lake some time last year to attract picnicking crowds....
Patel 20th most popular surname in England
Where: London, UK April 15, 2007: In the UK alone, more than 1.05 million Indians contribute to making the country culturally colourful. Now, there’s more proof that Indians are the largest minority ethnic group in England. According to a study published in The Observer on Sunday, the Indian surname “Patel” is one of the top 500 British surnames. “Patel” is 20th in the list. No wonder too! There were as many as 80,000 Patels in Harrow alone as early as in 1998....
Indian Shooters Combat Racism
The Indian squad that just won the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in the UK, has brought back more than just 13 gold, six silver and eight bronze medals. They’re also carrying some bad memories. According to the Indian shooters, who included Jaspal Rana and Mansher Singh, the behaviour of their British hosts bordered on racism. In a report in The Hindustan Times, the Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India, Baljit Sethi recalled the day when India won all four gold medals....
Man who was a mountain
Where: state of Bihar, India August 19, 2007: It’s the kind of superhuman deed that seems so hard to believe because it is true. One man hacked away at a rocky hill for 22 years to create a three-km-long road linking his village to the outside world, armed with nothing more than a hammer and a chisel. What drove the frail man on was a resolve much higher than the hill facing him. His name: Dasrath Manjhi....
India launches the Agni-III missile
Where: Balasore, Orissa, India April 12, 2007: The newspapers have splashed the news across the front page. TV channels have gone ballistic. India today test fired a missile that can reach as far as the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing and most of the region of West Asia. A missile is basically an object or weapon that is fired, thrown, dropped, or otherwise projected at a target. It could be as simple as a rock shot off with a catapult (where the rock is the missile) or a toy car zooming out of a launcher (where the toy car is the missile)....