LEIPZIG, Germany — A study conducted in Hungarian schools showed that seating students next to each other boosted their tendency to become friends — both for pairs of similar students and teams of students who differed in their educational achievement, gender, or ethnicity. The findings of the study “Proximity can induce diverse friendships: A large randomized classroom experiment” is published in the open-access journal “PLOS ONE.” The proximity between people can promote friendships, according to earlier research. However, people also tend to become friends with similar characteristics, such as gender, age, and ethnicity. It is unclear how these two phenomena interact,…
Author: zenger.news
MINNEAPOLIS — A new study has shown that people who walk at least three to four hours per week or bike at least two to three hours per week, or the equivalent after having a stroke, may have a 54 percent lower risk of death from any cause. The study’s findings, “Association Between Physical Activity and Mortality Among Community-Dwelling Stroke Survivors,” were published in the online issue of the medical journal “Neurology.” The study found the most benefit for younger stroke survivors. When people under the age of 75 exercised at least that amount, their risk of death was reduced by…
British artist Jason deCaires Taylor is a man with a singular focus: creating underwater installations worldwide. Oceans and seas fuel his creative impulses. For his latest project, he designed 93 sculptures for the first underwater museum in the Mediterranean. The Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (MUSAN) opened Aug. 2 off the coast of Ayia Napa, Cyprus. The artwork at the newest site is planted at 26-33 feet deep, so the sculptures of trees, statues and children at play are accessible mainly to scuba divers, freedivers and snorkelers. Some sculptures rise all the way to the surface of the water.…
NEW DELHI — Bollywood actor Sara Ali Khan, who turned 26 on Aug. 12, 2021, announced her partnership with a non-government organization, which aims at providing help and assistance to children who have been orphaned due to the devastating waves of Covid-19. In the past couple of years, several underage children have lost their loved ones to Covid-19, and many have been left orphaned. To make their lives a little better and hopeful, Khan has joined hands with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation, which has been working towards this cause. Taking to her Instagram handle, she shared a video announcing the partnership. View this…
WASHINGTON — Hollywood actor Hilary Swank has settled her lawsuit against SAG-AFTRA Health Plan after being denied health coverage for treatment of ovarian cysts. Both parties submitted a joint settlement agreement to resolve the matter earlier this month. The settlement details have not been disclosed, as per court documents obtained by a media organization. In September 2020, the two-time Oscar winner had filed a lawsuit against the board of trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan. Her claim stated that she had been wrongly denied coverage for ongoing treatment. Swank said that she experienced pelvic pain, acid reflux, cramping, fatigue, etc., due to ovarian cysts that…
NEW DELHI — India’s leading opposition party Indian National Congress on Aug. 12, said it would remain active on other social media platforms after the microblogging site Twitter suspended accounts of several party members. Twitter has suspended the accounts of prominent party members, including K.C. Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Manickam Tagore, among others. “Twitter India has locked the official handle of the main opposition party — an unprecedented attack on the rising voice of the people,” Indian National Congress said in a statement. “Twitter is closed, but other social media platforms of Indian National Congress are fully active and disseminating all necessary information and…
NEW DELHI – A new report by the national apex body representing all primary vehicle and vehicular engines in India, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), said that passenger vehicles sales had seen a rise in July in India. The report states that passenger vehicle sales totaled 264,000 units in July as compared to 182,000 units in the same month of 2020 and 190,000 in the year before. “However, three-wheeler sales were 17,888 units in July this year as compared to 12,728 in July last year, and 55,719 in July 2019,” the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers report states.…
GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the next step in search of the origins of Covid-19 will be the creation of a new advisory group that would develop a global framework to study pathogens with pandemic potential. “The International Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens, or SAGO, is a new advisory group for WHO, which will be responsible for advising WHO on the development of a global framework to systematically study the emergence of future emerging pathogens with pandemic potential,” the WHO said in a statement. “For SARS-CoV-2, it will support the rapid undertaking of recommended…
WASHINGTON — Former US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, on Aug. 12, slammed the Joseph R. Biden administration over Afghanistan withdrawal and said that time has come to take a tough stand on Pakistan. “We stopped actively targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan during the — what I would call, again — the capitulation negotiations,” said McMaster, who worked as then-President Donald Trump’s second White House national security adviser. “And then, once that capitulation agreement was signed, we were hands-off with the Taliban. Meanwhile, the Taliban were marshaling for this offensive.” He was speaking at Wilson Center, a DC-based think tank event.…
NEW DELHI — Indian telecom firm Bharti Airtel on Aug. 13 announced the closure of an agreement to transfer the ‘right to use’ its 800-megahertz spectrum in three circles to Reliance Jio Infocomm. Bharti Airtel has received INR 1,004.8 crores ($135.3 million) [net of tax] from Reliance Jio Infocomm for the proposed transfer, as per a statement. In addition, Reliance Jio Infocomm will assume future liabilities of INR 469.3 crore ($63.1 million) relating to the spectrum. Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global telecommunications company operating in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators…