NORMANDY, France –A photo-taking drone has provided a striking aerial view of a Union Jack-shaped World War II memorial being built in Normandy, France, in commemoration of the landing of British soldiers there on D-Day. The memorial, in the commune of Ver-sur-Mer, in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of northwest France, is due to open to the public on Easter of next year. It’s been under construction since mid-2019. Zenger News spoke to aerial photographer Francois Monier, who took the photographs of the structure, who said he was delighted with the memorial, which he said looks absolutely stunning,…
Author: zenger.news
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A group of killer whales gave a father and daughter in New Zealand a free performance. Andy Burt and his young child were driving along the coast of Wellington, the nation’s capital, when he spotted the killer whales and stopped the car to start filming. He later posted footage of the impressive sight on social media on Nov. 11. The video shows Burt and his daughter perched by the seaside and observing the rare view a few yards away from them. The curly-headed youngster excitedly points at the animals, which took a few spins in front…
Kolkata — As India’s eastern state of West Bengal goes to the polls next year, a community of refugees, neglected for decades, is being wooed by opposing political parties. “The Matuas have been facing discrimination in society for hundreds of years. Today they are being used by politicians to garner votes,” said Mukut Mani Adhikari, a doctor from the community. Numbering around 30 million, the Matuas fled communal violence during the partition of Bengal in 1947 and then during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Today they mainly reside in Thakurnagar, a hamlet in West Bengal near the Bangladesh…
Kolkata — Despite objections by a majority of the panel members, a committee of the Reserve Bank of India has recommended that large corporate entities be allowed to set up banks. The recommendations drew immediate criticism, with the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its former deputy head calling the key proposal “a bombshell.” “While the proposal is tempered with many caveats, it raises an important question: Why now? Have we learnt something that allows us to override all the prior cautions on allowing industrial houses into banking? We would argue no. Indeed, to the contrary,…
PUNTA DE LOBOS, Chile — The Chilean Navy has seized more than a half-ton of cocaine and arrested six people in its biggest drug haul to date. The country’s top Naval brass stated the 1,172 pounds of cocaine hydrochloride, valued at $14 million, were seized Nov. 23. The drugs were being shipped from Peru to central Chile. The six-month investigation revealed that a large cocaine shipment was being trafficked at sea. The plan was to use a small fishing boat to escape detection by custom patrols and the police. Still, the boat was stopped by authorities near Punta de Lobos, in…
The Parsis are a religious minority in India that follows the Zoroastrian faith. The community that came to India from Iran in the 8th and 9th centuries to escape religious persecution, follows many unique religious traditions. However, it is their funeral rites that are the most intriguing. According to their religious practice, the deceased are not burnt or buried but kept at a high-rise “Tower of Silence” to be consumed by scavengers, especially vultures. “Once the soul leaves the body it is no longer useful and is considered to be impure,” said Dr. Shernaz Cama, director of UNESCO Parzor (a project…
The Hindu goddess of learning, Saraswati, is depicted playing her veena in the outdoors, amidst the bright hues of her mount, the peacock, and a landscape of flowers. A woman gazes at a swan in rapt attention, the folds of her pink sari meticulously captured on canvas. The creator of these artworks — among a multitude of others —is one of India’s most prolific artists, Raja Ravi Varma. Born on April 29, 1848, in Kilimanoor, a village in the Indian state of Kerala, Ravi Varma’s works are highly prized among collectors, and his 1890 work “Radha in the Moonlight,” sold…
In October 2016, during a field survey, 33-year-old Jambey Tsering found a yellow flower by the road that leads to the Sessa Orchid Sanctuary — India’s first protected area dedicated to these floral species in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Bhalukpong Forest Division. The road leads to the Indo-China border via Tawang, home to many monasteries. In 1959, the Dalai Lama had escaped from Tibet and entered India via Tawang. An orchidologist by training, Tsering works as a scientist at the Orchid Research Centre in Arunachal Pradesh. On finding the yellow flower, his initial thought was it was…
SICHUAN, China — A Chinese museum says it has a set of the world’s smallest dragonflies. Found in mountainous regions, the 10 scarlet dwarves have limited flying abilities and travel just a few meters at a time. The specimens held by the Insect Museum of West China were collected in August from an alpine gorge region in Sichuan, believed to be the insects’ northernmost habitat in China. The museum has collected more than 700,000 insect specimens from 40 countries on six continents. The species, Nannophya pygmaea, is also known as the scarlet dwarf, northern pygmyfly or tiny dragonfly. “The species,…
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil — “Potterheads” looking to play a real-life game of Quidditch may soon be able to do so on motorized broomsticks. Vinicius Sanctus, the chief operating officer at Nuvem Vassouras, has been involved with the company since the creation of the first prototype of the unorthodox vehicles, which are the brainchild of Alessandro Russo. Russo, who is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, developed the idea alongside his childhood friend and business partner Henrique Suarez, both being Potter fans. Footage showing Sanctus and Russo riding the broomsticks, inspired by author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, and weaving in and out…