NEW DELHI — Vivek Nayak, a bird-watcher in Mangalore, a coastal city in southern India, was surprised when he saw a critically-endangered bird — the yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola) — at a rice field in Jokatte in early Dec. 2020. The bird that looks like a sparrow with a stout beak and yellow breast is popularly known as a “rice bird” in China. “It was unbelievable that this exotic bird had reached this region,” said Nayak. He took photos of the birds and uploaded them on the open-source website Ebird. Ebird is a biodiversity project that documents bird distribution, abundance, habitat, and…
Author: zenger.news
KOLKATA, India – A few years ago, Thomas Chen introduced his son to a very important ritual in his community during Chinese New Year festivities. “It was a moment of great pride for me to teach my three-year-old how we offer prayers to our ancestors,” said Chen, an Indian of Chinese origin who lives in Kolkata’s Bowbazar. “It’s important to tell our children all about our cultural and religious heritage.” Chen, who is the joint secretary of the Indian Chinese Association for Culture Welfare and Development in Kolkata, organizes spectacular cultural shows during the Chinese New Year celebrations in the…
Mexican gastronomy offers an immense variety of dishes as people in each of the country’s 32 states strive to create a unique cuisine. The city of Colima, the homologous state’s capital, is among the most populated in Mexico. Roughly 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean and close to a mountain range, Colima has a unique environment that provides a wide range of ingredients. Its geography benefits its cuisine, and Colima has managed to woo locals and tourists through their palates. Colima, México. (Urvashi Makwana)“One of the great pleasures of Colima is its food, just like all over Mexico. We have…
Since colonial times, Latin America has attracted foreign investors searching for minerals, a process that involves large sums of money and a significant burden for the local communities. Mineral exploitation in Latin America and the Caribbean has been an essential income source for the subcontinent since the 16th century. Now, the region is the leading exporter of gold, silver, lead and copper. Brazil exports iron as well. The most sought-after minerals are lithium and niobium, fundamental to the tech industry. Unfortunately, mining has had an adverse impact on Latin America’s natural resources local communities. “The mining problem is serious in…
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of millions of people living in Mexico City. The subway became one of Mexico City’s hotspots in terms of health and safety due to the influx of passengers that use it every day. The Secretariat of Mobility announced that several health policies would be implemented to reduce the coronavirus’s spread. It is now mandatory to wear a face mask at all times on the subway, maintain a distance between passengers of at least five feet (one and a half meters), and board only at specific hours to avoid saturating the 195 subway stations…
As an immigrant from Ethiopia, Washington, D.C., businessman Yimaj “Steve” Kalifa is living the American Dream, having built a personal wealth estimated at $100 million. Now at a time when COVID-19 has struck nearly 38,000 residents of the District and killed more than 900, Kalifa is paying back to the community that helped him build his fortune. At the urging of a friend with connections to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office, one of Kalifa’s companies, Capital Medical Supply Inc., donated 30,000 pieces of personal protection equipment to a Howard University virus testing center. The friend was Armstrong Williams, political commentator and…
Mexico’s population will receive the COVID-19 vaccine in stages, with healthcare workers first, followed by people over 80, and then proceeding by age from oldest to youngest. The Mexican government launched its portal for people over 60 to register for the vaccine on the morning of Feb. 2 through its official Facebook account. It also released a video explaining the steps that people need to follow for the registration. However, the system crashed within minutes of its announcement. Criticisms quickly escalated in social media. Netizens’ main concern was lack of accessibility. The website was overwhelmed and crashed rapidly. Also, not…
At a virtual celebration honoring her 90th birthday that also served as a benefit for the Beit Tzipora Centers that serve Ethiopian children in Israel, Marion Wiesel collected felicitations from a lineup that included Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu, Colin Powell, Mayim Bialik, and Natan Sharansky. In 1986, after Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for being “a messenger to mankind,” French President Francois Mitterrand asked his friend and Wiesel’s wife Marion what they planned to do with the prize money. “My husband said, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it,’ ……
PUNE, India — There was no standing ovation from the entertainment industry when India unveiled its 2021-22 budget on Feb. 1. The industry, which has been hit hard during the pandemic, did not get a mention in the Union Budget. India is the largest film producing country in the world. Of 1,500-2,000 films a year, 200-300 are produced by Bollywood — the Hindi film industry — bringing in more than 40 percent of the sector’s revenue in India. “I am not upset about the budget because I knew they weren’t going to announce anything for us,” said Bollywood producer Mukesh…
The Delhi High Court has sought a response from Facebook-owned WhatsApp and the Indian government on a plea challenging the new privacy policy of the instant messaging platform. The petition was against the new policy announced by WhatsApp, which mandates sharing of personal data with Facebook. The notice was issued by a bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on Feb. 3. The high court has sought to know the government’s stand on the issue by Mar. 19. The new privacy policy was announced by WhatsApp on Jan 4. Following a huge public outcry, on Jan. 16, WhatsApp clarified its stance on Twitter.…