Tag: Delhi

  • Lahore tops the worst air quality list, again

    Lahore tops the worst air quality list, again

    Lahore on Wednesday topped the list of the most polluted cities in the world with the worst air quality levels.

    India’s Delhi is second on the list, Poland’s Krakow and Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek are placed in third and fourth spot respectively while Bangladesh’s Dhaka is on number five according to the air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index (AQI).

    Screengrab of air quality and pollution city ranking

    Lahore recorded a particulate matter (PM) rating of 364 that classifies the city under the “hazardous” category of air quality.

    The United States Environmental Protection Agency regards air quality as satisfactory if the AQI is under 50.

  • Diwali fireworks: Delhi residents pay the price

    Diwali fireworks: Delhi residents pay the price

    India’s capital New Delhi has the worst air quality in the world as the city is at the top of the Air Quality Index (AQI) with 332.

    The morning after the Diwali celebrations, a thick smog turned daylight into dusk around the capital as AQI surged to 463 on a scale of 500, which is the maximum recorded in 2021, indicating “severe” conditions that affect even healthy people let alone those with existing respiratory diseases, reports Reuters.

    In India, toxic air kills reportedly more than a million people annually.

    “No country delights more in passing laws and then bypassing them than ours. Today Delhi particularly is facing the consequences of this feature of our lives,” Jairam Ramesh, a lawmaker and a leader of the main opposition Congress Party tweeted on Friday.

    Gopal Rai, Delhi environment chief said authorities planned to install 20 anti-smog guns to spray water into the air to help dilute the smog.

    Currently, there have been calls for more strict measures such as a temporary ban on construction activities and shutdowns of high-polluting factories.

    Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi told the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that India would achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, but some experts reckoned that the target was at least two decades too late.

    As per today’s date (Saturday), Lahore was at 3rd place. While India’s other two cities currently stand at 4th and 5th.

  • Lahore number one, while Karachi fifth for poor air quality in the world

    Lahore number one, while Karachi fifth for poor air quality in the world

    Lahore ranked number one while Karachi ranked fifth among the top five cities with bad air quality in the world.

    The second on the list is Croatia’s Zagreb while India’s Delhi is on third, Mumbai fourth, and Pakistan’s Karachi is the fifth city, according to air pollution data released by the United States (US) Air Quality Index.

    Screen-grab of the latest IQAir website world air quality ranking

    Lahore suffers from high levels of air pollution, with the city regularly ranking at the top of IQAir AirVisual’s live pollution rankings of the major global cities.

    According to environmental experts and an earlier report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the cause of smog remains years-long pollution caused mostly by the transport sector and industries, and not just crop burning.

  • Explore Anupam, the man who brought life to Pakistani migrant Ali in ‘Squid Game’

    Explore Anupam, the man who brought life to Pakistani migrant Ali in ‘Squid Game’

    Netflix’s Squid Game is the talk of the town these days and there is one more thing about it which has grabbed the attention of people, especially Pakistanis and that is the Pakistani migrant Ali Abdul, originally played by Anupam Tripathi, based in South Korea is from Delhi, India.

    Tripathi was born in New Delhi on November 2, 1988, where he played a slave in a stage production of Spartacus. From 2006 to 2010, Anupam engaged himself doing theatre in New Delhi itself. He started his training in singing and acting in the year 2006.

    He actually wanted to join the National School of Drama in New Delhi. However, he then moved to South Korea in 2010 to be part of the Korea National University of Arts after he received the Arts Major Asian scholarship.

    Although initially, he had to face a few difficulties adjusting to the cultural and language differences of South Korea, over time he learned Korean and even became fluent in the language in a span of 2 years.

    The 32-year-old actor made his acting debut with the South Korean film Ode To My Father in 2014. And the movie happened to be the fourth highest-grossing film in the South Korean cinema ever.

    He was also seen in numerous Korean TV shows and films such as Descendants of the Sun, Hospital Playlist and the last one before Squid Game was the 2021 film Space Sweepers.

    The turning point in the career of Anupam Tripathi is certainly his appearance on Netflix’s biggest debut series.

    Anupam, who was overwhelmed with the name and fame he has been receiving after playing Ali in the Korean series, took to his Instagram handle recently and shared his gratitude.

    He wrote, “It feels like a dream “, No words to express my gratitude to the people all over the world, who all are loving and blessing Ali and Squidgame. Thank you to all. Keep watching and keep blessing.”

    His mother and brothers are proud of his success but but Tripathi could not share his success with his father, who passed away in 2017.

    Meanwhile, Tripathi will be completing his post graduation degree in acting at the Korea National University of Arts by 2021.

    Squid Game which was released on September 17 on Netflix and has become the biggest original debut series on Netflix. It has recently achieved the feat of topping the list of Netflix’s Top 10 shows in 94 countries worldwide.

  • Video: Airplane gets stuck under bridge in India

    Video: Airplane gets stuck under bridge in India

    An Air India plane got stuck underneath a foot overbridge on the Delhi-Gurugram highway outside the Delhi Airport, leaving people shocked.

    The viral video showed that the nose of the aircraft and half of its body had made it through, however, the plane got stuck near the wings area under the bridge, The Indian Express reported.

    Vehicles can be seen passing through one side of the highway while the other side appears to be largely blocked due to the aircraft.

    Later, the airline confirmed there was no mishap involved. The airplane has been sold by Air India and was being transported when it got stuck.

    “This is an old, scrapped aircraft which has already been sold off by us,” said an Air India spokesperson.

    According to the Times of India, a Delhi airport official, when contacted, said no flight or active aircraft had been involved in an incident.

  • Anti-Muslim slogans call for murder at event organised by BJP

    Anti-Muslim slogans call for murder at event organised by BJP

    Inflammatory, anti-Muslim slogans calling for murder were raised in New Delhi, India, on Sunday during a march “against Colonial-era laws” in the country — an event organised by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Upadhyay, reported The Wire.

    The event, organised under the ‘Bharat Jodo Movement’, demanded the end of “colonial-era laws” by implementing a Uniform Civil Code. The event was reportedly held without police permission.

    In photos and videos of the event doing the rounds on social media, violent and inflammatory anti-Muslim slogans were raised at the event, including slogans directly calling for the murder of Muslims. The Delhi Police have registered an FIR against unknown persons.

    https://twitter.com/asfreeasjafri/status/1424366863711043587?s=21

    People are questioning why an FIR has been registered against unknown people when their faces are clearly visible.

    Senior Journalist Barkha Dutt tweeted: “Revolting anti-Muslim slogans in heart of the capital is a clear example of hate speech and incitement to violence.”

    “I do not agree with the sedition law or with the phrase anti-national but if ever there was an apt definition of it, it is these men, caught on tape,” tweeted the journalist.

    Indian journalist Smita Sharma tweeted, “Video clips doing the rounds of vitriolic dangerous sloganeering against Muslims in the heart of the capital.”

    Sharma further said, “These are not fringe elements or just stupid crowds. They have been emboldened. Will @DelhiPolice act against these toxic anti-nationals?@CPDelhi.”

    Journalist Maya Mirchandani tweeted, “A group gets permission to hold a sit in at Jantar Mantar supposedly for unity in the country, then raises genocidal slogans against Indian Muslims in the heart of Delhi, a stone’s throw from parliament. Under govt’s nose, under @CPDelhi nose. How? #rightwingextremism #hatespeech”

  • Man snatches woman’s earrings to fund birthday party

    Police arrested a 31-year-old junior engineer for allegedly snatching the gold earrings of a woman in the Mansarovar Park area of India’s Delhi and selling them to bear the expenses for his birthday celebrations.

    As per reports, a case was reported on Friday at Mansarovar Park police station regarding the snatching of gold earrings of a woman by a man riding a bike.

    Police checked over 30 CCTV footages during the investigation and found out the escape route of the suspect.

    Read More: Bride refuses to go with groom due to his three missing fingers

    CCTV footage showed the suspect wearing a mask a senior police officer said, adding that there was no registration number on both the number plates of the bike.

    On Sunday, police spotted a motorcycle of the same features with blank number plates and detained the suspect, Mohit Gautam, the officer said.

    During interrogation, Gautam told that he snatched the gold earrings of the woman to celebrate his birthday on Sunday as he was running out of money, they said.

    Gautam said he had sold the earrings to a goldsmith, who police say is on the run.

  • VIDEO: Flight returns after bat seen flying in business class cabin

    VIDEO: Flight returns after bat seen flying in business class cabin

    An Air India flight from New Delhi to New York City had to return back to New Delhi shortly after takeoff as a bat started flying around the cabin in business class of the plane.

    Once the plane was back at the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, the staff contacted the wildlife department.

     “On arrival, it was learnt that crew members saw a bat inside the cabin,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials told news agency ANI.

     “Wildlife staff were called to catch and take away the bat. The aircraft landed safely at around 3:55 am and later it was declared Aircraft on Grounded (AoG).”

    Read More: Man ‘books entire flight’ to avoid COVID-19

    The plane reportedly underwent a complete fumigation, after which the bat’s body was found from the business class cabin.

    “The probable reason/cause may be loading vehicles like those for catering,” an Air India official told Business Today. “All the time rats/bats come from their vehicle.”

  • Mia Khalifa questions Mrs Jonas’ silence on farmers protest

    Lebanese-American media personality Mia Khalifa has left no stone unturned when it comes to extending her support to the Indian farmers as they continue to protest in Delhi. Despite immense backlash and death threats, Mia is standing strong for the farmers and is even urging people to join her and support them.

    While international stars and celebrities including Rihanna and John Cusack have been rallying for the farmers, Bollywood celebrities have chosen to either remain silent on the matter or act as a government mouthpiece. Mia recently questioned Priyanka Chopra’s silence on the matter, saying that it reminded her of “Shakira during the Beirut devastation.”

    Taking to Twitter, Khalifa wrote: “Is Mrs Jonas going to chime in at any point? I’m just curious. This is very much giving me Shakira during the Beirut devastation vibes. Silence.”

    Khalifa even shared a plate full of food on her Twitter timeline to highlight the importance of farmers, asserting that there will be no food without farmers.

    https://twitter.com/miakhalifa/status/1358248121856184322?s=19

    It is pertinent to add here that Chopra, in December 2020, had tweeted that farmers are “India’s food soldiers”.

    “Their fears need to be allayed. Their hopes need to be met,” the actor had said.