Blog - Mayank Vikash

The Belgian city of Antwerp may be known as the world’s diamond trading hub, while most rough stones are mined in Russia or Africa. But some 150 miles north of Mumbai, India, lies a lesser-known gem capital: Surat, where around 90% of all the planet’s diamonds are cut. Now, the city in Gujarat state has a record-breaking building to house its mammoth industry. The newly-opened Surat Diamond Bourse is billed as a “one-stop destination” for over 65,000 diamond professionals, including cutters, polishers and traders. Featuring a succession of nine rectangular structures spilling out from — and interconnected via — a central “spine,” the sprawling 15-story complex has been built across more than 35 acres of land. The trading center’s architects say it comprises over 7.1 million square feet of floor space, which would mean it has surpassed the Pentagon as the world’s largest office building. The project is set to welcome its first occupants in November after four years of construction work,

Age may be "just" a number for the world, but in China, for those over 35, it can become the basis for "discrimination" and rejection from jobs and even hostels. Recently, taking to Xiaohongshu, a social media platform that has been described as "China's answer to Instagram" a consumer complained about hostels rejecting bookings from those in their late 30s. This has sparked a debate on China's "35-year-old crisis", with some labelling this discrimination towards a particular age demographic. However, others are of the opinion that this is justified. Here's all you need to know. A dearth of hostels In a now-viral post, a user complained that many youth hostels in the Chinese capital Beijing are refusing accommodation to customers over 35 years of age. The user alleged that he faced quite a struggle looking for hostels without such restrictions. Apparently, he was informed of the age restriction over the phone and hostel owners defende

In an extremely rare astronomical event, a French woman was hit by a meteorite while having coffee on the terrace with her friend,Newsweek reported. The incident happened on July 6 when the woman, whose identity has not been revealed, was seated on an outdoor terrace engaged in conversation with her friend. Suddenly, a mysterious pebble struck her in the ribs.  "I heard a big 'Poom' coming from the roof next to us. In the second that followed, I felt a shock in the ribs. I thought it was an animal, a bat! We thought it was a piece of cement, the one we apply to the ridge tiles. But it didn't have the colour, '' the woman told French newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace. To understand what happened, she got the rock checked by a local roofer. The roofer told her that it was not made from cement but that it looked like a meteorite. She also showed the mysterious object to geologist Thierry Rebmann who confirmed its extra-terrestrial origins. The geologi

An Indian Spider-Man is making waves this summer as he swings onto screens in a dhoti (sarong-like garment), gold cuffs and an enviable mop of jet black hair, spouting cultural lessons for his guests from across the multiverse. He appears in Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - which has spent recent weeks breaking box office records in India. It grossed $2.8m (£2.17m) in its opening weekend alone - the highest debut for an animated film in the country. That might not come as a surprise, given the popularity in India of Spider-Man - one of the few characters from the West's comic book universe to make an impact in a country where pop culture is largely dominated by the Hindi film industry. The superhero's films have been among the top-grossing Hollywood films in India since 2007, spawning numerous local knock-offs. This includes a love song, whose funny lyrics - "Spider-Man, tune churaya mere dil ka chain" (Spider-Man, Spider-Man, you stole my hear

Punjab province in cash-strapped Pakistan has decided to hoist the country's national flag on a 500-foot-tall flag mast on August 14. This exercise would cost around PKR 40 crore. The government in Pakistan's Punjab province has declared to hoist its national flag on a 500-foot-tall flag mast, costing around PKR (Pakistani rupee) 40 crore on August 14 to mark its 76th Independence Day. This comes after Pakistan secured a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to contain its crumbling economy. Punjab province in cash-strapped Pakistan, which reportedly needs at least Rs 2,000 crore in the next two years to pay back foreign loans (with interest), will hoist the flag at Liberty Chowk in Lahore. Six years ago, in 2017, Pakistan unfurled a 400-foot tall flag, the highest in South Asia, at the Attari-Wagah border. The 120x80 feet flag was the largest in the seven-decades-old history of Pakistan. The decision by the Pakistani authorities came days after the IMF app

Hong Kong police searched the family home of exiled pro-democracy activist Nathan Law on Tuesday morning, taking relatives away for questioning, the city’s public broadcaster RTHK reported, citing sources. It came just a week after police placed HK$1 million bounties on information leading to the arrest of Law and seven other prominent activists in self-imposed exile wanted for national security offenses, in a move strongly condemned by rights groups and Western governments. National security police visited the Tung Chung housing estate where Law’s family live, and took away his parents and elder brother for questioning to find out whether they provided financial assistance to Law, RTHK reported, citing police sources. They were later released, according to RTHK. In a statement provided to CNN, Hong Kong police said its national security department took away two men and a woman for investigation Tuesday morning, without identifying them. “They are suspected of assisting persons wanted

Sgt Kim Jae-kyung stands, unflinching, outside the Colombian embassy in Seoul, dressed in full military gear. The day before, he was in front of the Dutch embassy. The day before that, it was the Greek. This one-man demonstration by the former special forces soldier is his way of showing gratitude to all 22 countries who sent troops or medics to support South Korea after it was invaded by its neighbour North Korea in 1950. Now he wants his country to help Ukraine, following its invasion by Russia in February 2022. "We are lucky enough to now be the 10th most prosperous country in the world, because of the foreign soldiers who shed their blood and sweat for our country," the 33-year-old says. It is this rationale which led him to the battlefield in Ukraine, where he served on the front line for four months alongside the Ukrainian army, as an anti-drone gunner and combat medic for the 3rd Battalion of the International Legion. Kim is one of just a handful of Koreans known to ha

 The Dutch government has collapsed because of a disagreement between coalition parties over asylum policies, Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said. The four parties were split in crisis talks chaired by Mr Rutte on Friday. Mr Rutte then met King Willem-Alexander in The Hague on Saturday and agreed to lead a caretaker government until fresh elections, expected in mid-November. Coalition partners had objected to his proposal to restrict the scope for immigrant families to reunite. The government was set up a year and a half ago but the parties have been opposed on migration for some time. Mr Rutte gave no details of his talks with the king, which lasted about an hour and a half. "It was a good discussion, but I'm not saying anything else because these discussions are confidential," he told reporters. His conservative VVD party had been trying to limit the flow of asylum seekers, following a row last year about overcrowded migration centres. His plans were opposed by his junio

 US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called on China to work with Washington to fight the "existential threat" of climate change. Speaking on Saturday, she said the two countries - the largest greenhouse gas emitters - had a joint responsibility to lead the way on climate action. She called on China to support the US-led Green Climate Fund. Ms Yellen is on a four-day trip to Beijing in an attempt to boost relations between the two countries. Can 'good cop' Yellen help fix US-China relations? Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who was among those to meet with Ms Yellen, said he regretted "unexpected incidents", such as the row over a spy balloon, had hurt ties with the United States. There's been no formal co-operation between China and the US on climate change since the administration of former President Donald Trump. And China briefly suspended climate talks entirely with the US last year after senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, which is self-

  Volodymyr Zelensky has marked the 500th day of the Ukraine war by posting a video from an island that became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. At the start of the war, Ukrainian soldiers defending Snake Island famously defied an order from a Russian warship to surrender. The Black Sea island was seized by Russia, but later reclaimed by Ukraine. In a video, the Ukrainian president called it a "place of victory" that would never be reconquered. In the undated clip, posted on Telegram, Mr Zelensky described it as proof that Ukraine would return every inch of its territory taken by Russia since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022. "I want to thank from here, from this place of victory, each of our soldiers for these 500 days," Mr Zelensky said in the video, in which he was shown arriving on the island by boat and leaving flowers at a memorial. The Ukrainian president later announced he had returned from a visit to Turkey with five commanders captured by