India: Meet the 13-year-old girl from Lucknow who is pursuing MSc in microbiology
Sushma Verma, prodigious 13-year-old daughter of a daily wage labourer, is pursuing a post-graduate degree in microbiology at Lucknow University. Speaking with PratigyanDas, Verma discussed the grind even geniuses undergo, taking class 10 exams when she was just seven years old — and why people should be judged by talent, not age. …
The Times of India
Sweden: Sweden’s Ice Hotel told to get fire alarms
Sweden’s Ice Hotel has been ordered by the National Housing Board to install fire alarms, despite being made completely out of frozen water.
The Ice Hotel, which is rebuilt every year in northern Sweden out of enormous chunks of ice from the Torne River in Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna, will this year come equipped with fire alarms – and the irony isn’t lost on the staff.
“We were a little surprised when we found out,” hotel spokeswoman Beatrice Karlsson told The Local. …
The Local
Australia: ‘Oldest bird tracks in world’ found in B.C.
Paleontologists hunting for dinosaur tracks in B.C.’s Peace Region have unexpectedly discovered tiny footprints that they believe could be among the oldest bird tracks in the world.
The amazing find was discovered when a huge rock slab was sent from the nearby canyons to the Peace Region Paleontology Research Centre for analysis of tracks possibly made by the meat-eating theropod Allosaurus. …
CBC
Germany: Dual citizenship is a touchy subject in Germany
Germany’s a land of immigrants – on that politicians agree. But allowing dual citizenship is a different story. At age 23, migrant children today must choose between countries. Social Democrats want to change that.
Martin Jungnickel does not feel comfortable in his own skin. The burly man with the white beard and balding head works for the government in the German city of Darmstadt, near Frankfurt in central Germany. Jungnickel and his staff help migrants who are hoping to get a German passport. …
DW
United Kingdom: National parks visitors spend £1bn according to report
Wales’ three national parks attract more than 12 million visitors, who spend £1bn a year, a report claims.
A review into Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast and Brecon Beacons was commissioned by National Parks Wales, the WLGA and Natural Resources Wales.
The report – entitled Valuing Wales’ National Parks – said it meant £557m was added to the Welsh economy as a direct result of the parks.
Visitors spend more time in Welsh parks than those in England and Scotland. …
BBC
Malaysia: Graffiti fans driving council up the wall
The “Lego man” graffiti row has taken a life of its own, with much of civil society backing Lithuanian-born artist Ernest Zacharevic’s work in defiance of the local authorities.
His painting in Taman Molek, which depicted a knife-wielding man waiting for a victim around a corner, irked the authorities because the area is known as the state’s financial area with the highest concentration of Malaysian and foreign banks.
Someone then painted a policeman beside the knife-wielding man, in a bid to “sanitise” the artwork.
The Johor Baru City Council (MBJB), however, was not pacified. …
The Star
France: French school timetable reform is ‘harming pupils’
Thousands of French teachers walked out of primary schools across the country on Thursday in protest over recent changes to the timetable, which they say has left children, parents and staff unable to cope.
Primary school teachers in France protested on Thursday against changes to the weekly timetable that has seen the school week increase from four to four and a half days.
The education ministry said that 23 percent of teachers were on strike across the country including 41 percent in the Paris region. The day of action saw marches across the country from Marseille and Lyon to Bordeaux and the capital Paris. It comes after parents called for a boycott of schools on Wednesday and a strike by support staff on Tuesday. …
The Local
