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A 1,700-piece private collection of Chinese ceramics with an estimated value of £1 billion ($1.27 billion) has been donated to the British Museum -- a record for any UK institution. The central London museum announced late on Wednesday that the Trustees of The Sir Percival David Foundation had gifted the collection permanently to go on public display. David, who died in 1964, was a British businessman and Sinophile who collected ceramics from Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and China. His collection had been on loan to the museum since 2009. Museum chair George Osborne said he was "thrilled by this blockbuster decision" to make the loan permanent, calling it "the largest bequest to the British Museum in our long history". Colin Sheaf, chair of The Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, said the donation coincided with the centenary of the businessman's first trip to China, which inspired his love of its art and culture. He said he hoped it would continue t

The Iranian state is planning to open a treatment clinic for women who flout the mandatory hijab laws that require them to cover their heads in public. Announcing the opening of a "hijab removal treatment clinic", Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the establishment will offer "scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal". "The establishment of this center will be for the scientific and psychological treatment of removing the hijab, specifically for the teenage generation, young adults, and women seeking social and Islamic identity and visiting this center is optional," a report by Iran International quoted Talebi as saying. Notably, the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice falls under the direct authority of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The body i

South Korean police have arrested 215 people on suspicion of stealing 320 billion won ($228.4 million) in the biggest cryptocurrency investment scam in the country. Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said on Wednesday the arrests included the alleged mastermind of the organised crime group accused of selling 28 types of virtual tokens to about 15,000 people by promising high returns. Police said the group had issued six of the 28 tokens on overseas crypto exchanges and were managing a team of market makers to push up prices. Police described the tokens as "worthless". The group had set up investment consulting companies and sales teams to sell the virtual assets to people who had subscribed to a YouTube channel, the police statement said. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/LuARgqo

The planet Uranus and its five largest moons may not be the cold, lifeless worlds scientists once believed. Instead, they could have hidden oceans and even the potential to support life, according to new research. Most of our knowledge of Uranus comes from NASA's Voyager 2 mission, which visited nearly 40 years ago. However, a recent analysis reveals that Voyager's encounter occurred during an intense solar storm, potentially skewing our perception of the Uranian system, the BBC reported. Uranus, an icy, ringed planet at the solar system's edge, is one of the coldest and most unusual planets due to its extreme tilt, making it appear as if it had been tipped over. The latest findings reveal that Voyager 2's visit coincided with severe solar activity, which may have temporarily disrupted the planet's magnetic field and swept away atmospheric material. For decades, this led scientists to a possibly inaccurate view of Uranus and its moons, explained Dr William Dunn

The UK will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 81 percent on 1990 levels by 2035, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday, as his government ramps up its ambitions on climate change. The previous government in London committed in 2021 to curb such emissions by 78 percent over the same period compared to 1990. Starmer unveiled the new target as he attended the beginning of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he is one of the only G20 leaders to show up. The summit's start has been overshadowed by the re-election in the US of longtime climate change sceptic Donald Trump, as well as new warnings that 2024 is on track to break temperature records. UK Labour party leader Starmer, who took power in July, told a press conference that Britain was "building on our reputation as a climate leader". "I've had a series of meetings here at COP this week because this government recognises that the world stands at a critical juncture in the

The year 2024 is on course to become the hottest year ever recorded, with global temperatures reaching unprecedented levels, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warned. According to a report released on the opening day of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) here, the January-September global mean surface temperature was 1.54 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This alarming surge, driven by an intense El Nino event and rising greenhouse gas concentrations, marks a critical threshold for climate change impacts worldwide. The report titled "State of the Climate 2024" highlights the accelerating risks posed by global warming, particularly for vulnerable communities. "Climate catastrophe is hammering health, widening inequalities, harming sustainable development, and rocking the foundations of peace," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Guterres emphasised the urgent need for climate action to protect those most affected by these change

US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, the Washington Post reported Sunday. Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, just days after his stunning election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, the report said. The president-elect's representatives did not immediately respond when asked by AFP for comment. The Post, citing several people familiar with the call who spoke on the basis of anonymity, reported that Trump had reminded Putin of America's sizable military presence in Europe. They said he also expressed an interest in further conversations to discuss "the resolution of Ukraine's war soon." Trump's election is seen as carrying the potential to upend the almost three-year Ukraine conflict, as he insists on a quick end to the fighting and casts doubt on Washington's multi-billion dollar support for Kyiv. Ukrainian Preside