VALENCIA, Spain– A Spanish aquarium has released footage of the birth and first minutes of life for a baby dolphin named Kai. Though Kai was born on May 31, the aquarium didn’t release the footage until earlier this week. The baby’s mom is Virkin, and this was her first pregnancy. As a result, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was closely monitored throughout her 12-month gestation period to make sure that everything went smoothly, Adrian Gonzalez, her keeper at the Oceanografic aquarium in Valencia, told Zenger News. Moment of the birth of the dolphin. (Oceanografic Valencia/Real Press) That included taking urine…
Author: zenger.news
Europe—A nearly 12-foot-tall puppet doll is scheduled to embark on a 5,000-mile journey from the Syria-Turkey border to the U.K. to highlight the problems facing young refugees. Little Amal, created by the Handspring Puppet Company in Cape Town, South Africa, symbolizes a Syrian child refugee. Her genesis began in 2015 in the play “The Jungle,” which was performed in the Calais, France, refugee camp for children by the London-based Good Chance Theatre. Puppet designer Adrian Kohler said Little Amal is different from other large models and puppets they have constructed. (GroundUp-Ashraf Hendricks, Newsflash)She begins her travels next year to highlight…
Auckland City, New Zealand — Police in New Zealand have returned a bicycle stolen from an autistic girl, thanks to a Good Samaritan who spotted it in a nearby area. Officers from the Auckland City District Police Department recovered and returned the bike to a family in the Otahuhu suburb on Nov. 11 after discovering it in the suburb of Mangere. The department posted a video of the return on Facebook the next day. In it, the girl’s mother describes realizing that someone had broken into her shed and stolen her children’s bikes. The loss was especially difficult for her…
Kolkata — Tensions are simmering in India’s microfinance sector as borrowers stage protests, claiming they are being harassed over loan payments. Microfinance institutions provide small, collateral-free loans to women in low-income groups who have difficulty accessing formal financial services. Microfinance lending is often a sensitive political issue in India. In the past, political leaders have used debt waivers as a way of wooing voters. In September, nearly 100 women borrowers staged a sit-in at Patiala in the northern state of Punjab, alleging coercive recovery methods for loan payments. Then, in October, hundreds of women in the eastern state of Assam staged a…
Kolkata — Renowned Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, best known for his collaboration with Oscar-winning Indian film director Satyajit Ray, died in Kolkata on Nov 15. He was 85. Chatterjee, who was still working in cinema and TV, was admitted to a private nursing home on Oct 6 after testing positive for Covid-19. A cancer survivor, Chatterjee’s condition deteriorated over the past few days after he developed post-Covid complications. He appeared in some 60 films, and also was the author of numerous books and poetry collections. He was the recipient of numerous acting awards, as well as the Legion of Honour, France’s highest…
Mumbai — India’s capital New Delhi gasped for fresh air as air pollution worsened from the combined effect of stubble burning and fireworks during the Hindu festival of Diwali on Nov 14. That evening, the air quality was designated “severe” as pollutants hung in the calm air. Stubble burning in neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana contributed nearly 32 percent of the capital’s particulate matter (PM) 2.5 pollution, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). On Nov 15, slight rainfall brought some respite. Yet even by the morning of Nov 16, Delhi’s overall air…
WEST NORFOLK, England—An English mom is battling her daughter’s high school over its alleged insistence that the mentally challenged girl wear a mask. However, school officials strongly dispute the mother’s version of events, saying the girl was never denied access to the school for not having a face covering. Video of a heated confrontation on Nov. 5 between school officials and the irate parent has gone viral, with more than 2.7 million views. The dispute, which is taking place at Marshland High School in West Walton in Norfolk, shows the 15-year-old trying to return to school after leaving earlier in…
MAJORCA, Spain—Rescue workers jumped into action after a mountain climber tumbled down a 66-foot slope in Spain and sustained multiple injuries. The Spanish Civil Guard’s Air Service and Mountain Intervention Rescue Group teamed up with the Majorca Fire Department on Nov. 8 to respond to a report about a man who had fallen while climbing the Puig de sa Rateta mountain on Majorca, one of the Spanish Balearic Islands. Footage of the rescue shows the first responders tending to the victim on the mountainside as a helicopter waits to airlift him to a local hospital. Rescue workers jumped into action…
Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages in the world, might not be in common use in most of India, but it is slowly regaining its currency in some parts of the country. Mattur is one such village in the southern state of Karnataka, where it is taken very seriously and is practiced with great passion. While, Sanskrit remains a language of Hindu priests in the rest of India, here, it is the lingua franca of the masses. In Mattur, villagers also speak Kannada, the official language of Karnataka, but Sanskrit plays a central role in their lives. Even casual conversations…
Panadura is a coastal city situated 17 miles (27.36 km) south of the capital city of Colombo. The city is surrounded by the Bolgoda lake and river which makes the spot favorable for recreational activities like water sports amongst the locals and tourists. This city made national headlines when close to 130 Pilot whales beached on the shores of the Panadura beach in the afternoon of November 2. The people on the beaches saw something that looked straight out of a nightmare with whale after whale washing up on Panadura’s coastline as far as the eye could see. “The locals…