When did the Eiffel Tower open to the public? March 31, 1889

A symbol of love, an architectural achievement, and one of the world's wonders- Eiffel Tower- built in 1889 has come to serve as an identity for Paris, the very place where the maginificent steel tower rests. 

Creation of Gustave Eiffel, the iconic structure is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. It served as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. The 324-metre-high (1,062-foot) Eiffel tower sees some 7 million visitors each year and up to 30,000 a day in the peak summer season. 

On March 31, 1889 the Eiffel Tower first opened to the public in Paris and today, Google is celebrating its 126th anniversary with a doodle that shows workers giving final touches to the French marvel.

The iconic structure is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that served as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

This Powerful Video Starring Deepika Padukone Will Change The Way You Look At Women

Sometime back Deepika Padukone spoke about her depression. This time around she speaks about the choices that every woman is entitled to. In this brilliantly made film by Homi Adajania, featuring 99 women from across different professions, she talks about how a woman’s life, and every little choice in it, is hers to choose.

This video is not just for those with regressive sexist ideologies who think rape is a woman’s fault, this is also for the modern educated man who believes in being fair to women. Is he really fair to them down to every tiny detail? Is his idea of gender equality restricted to whatever is convenient to him or whatever civil society permits? Will he never judge a woman who sleeps around by choice or for money?

This video is for everybody who has ever judged a woman, based on her gender.

A Farmer Saw A Hole In A Rock, But The Inside Has Amazed The Whole World

It has room for a skyscraper with 40 floors and it contains both jungle and a river. The Son Doong cave in Vietnam are the largest one in the world and a tour inside this place is something out of the ordinary.

Tag along in this underground world and be astound by how beautiful nature can be.

The enormous cave is situated in the Vietnamese national park Phon Nha-Ke Bang, 280 miles south from the countries capital city Hanoi.

Son Goong means ”mountain-river-cave” and crafts from two too five million years ago. But for a long time it was undiscovered. It was first find 1991 by a local farmer, but the first people who explored the cave was brittish experts in 2009.

The cave as a whole is considered to be 87 miles long.

It contains its own animal life, a rainforest, lakes, beaches and a river.

A lot of caves has relics from a prehistoric age, like statues or paintings in the mountain walls. But nothing like that has been found in this cave.

2013 did the first tourists visit the cave.

There are guided tours to get here. The tour can take seven days and the cost is around $2300 (1500 brittish pound). For that price you will also spend five nights camping inside the cave.

The cave is also rich in rare pearls that has been shaped for centuries by water drops that’s been dried and shaped a layer of lime on the sand.

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World Cup 2015: We will have to bat better against India, says Clarke

Australia saw through one of the fierce fast bowling spells by Wahab Riaz to set up a cricket World Cup semifinal clash against India but the home team skipper Michael Clarke said his players will have to bat much better against the defending champions.

India and Australia will fight it out for a place in the title clash on March 26 in Sydney.

"They are in good form. MS Dhoni is leading them well. We look forward to another really tough contest. We'll have to bat a lot better, specially the top-4," Clarke said when asked about his thoughts on the semifinal, following their six wicket win over Pakistan here.

While answering how will they mentally prepare for the semifinal, Clarke said, "It's no different to another game playing for Australia. I have spoken about not putting the World Cup on a pedestal, so preparation as always. Every time you play for Australia, you want do your best."

The Australian captain said it was "a really close game in the end".

"The bowlers did a fantastic job, our fielding was excellent, but Wahab came out and really put us under pressure, one of the fastest spells I've seen in a long time," he said.

Clarke praised Shane Watson (64 not out) and Steven Smith (65) for successfully seeing off a crisis situation when they looked in a spot of bother, having lost three wickets with not many runs on the board.

"Watson toughed it out, Steven Smith looked fantastic. If they catch Watto at fine leg it could have been a lot tighter, credit to sticking in there. Wahab pushed us really hard," he said.

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq lamented that things could have been different had they put more runs on the board.

"It's obviously disappointing, credit to Australia, they really deserved it, they bowled really well. At one stage 270-80 was on but we kept losing wickets and some of the batting shot selection really cost us," he said.

Like Clarke, Misbah was also in awe of Riaz's fiery bowling.

"He bowled his heart out, he's been a totally different bowler throughout this tournament, I've never seen spells like that," Misbah, who has called time on his ODI career, said.

Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood was adjudged Man of the Match for returning fantastic figures of 4 for 35.

"It's a great day for us. I've been bowling well all week so good to put in a performance. Happy to get a game today and happy with the result. Keeping them to 213 was perfect for us and the boys did a good job with the bat. We're firing on all aspects, it's been a good tournament and we're going well," the lanky pacer said.

Everyone saw what happened: Mashrafe on Rohit 'no-ball'

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza on Thursday expressed his displeasure at a few decisions going against his side in their 109-thrashing by India in the ICC World Cup 2015 quarterfinal match here though he did not say in so many words.

Mashrafe Mortaza refused to comment anything specifically on the umpires saying everybody present saw what was happening. 

enturion Rohit Sharma got a reprieve on individual score of 90 and team total on 196 in the 40th over bowled by Rubel Hossai when a marginal 'no-ball' call went in favour of the Indian opener. Rohit went onto add another 47 runs in quick time to help India go past 300-run mark.

Ian Gould was the umpire who adjudged Rubel's full-toss as waist high 'no-ball' with Rohit being holed out at deep mid-wicket boundary. However, the TV replays showed that it was a real touch-and-go situation which could have gone either way.

"I don't want to say anything about the umpiring decisions. Everybody present saw what happened. So it's not fair on my part to comment on this," a peeved Mashrafe said when asked about the umpire's decision.

When probed further as to whether the incident hampered the momentum of his team, Mashrafe said, "Look, a wicket during crucial juncture is always important. At that point of time, we were putting in a lot of pressure on their batsmen. And everyone saw what happened after that."

There was also a slight faux pas on the part of local organizers while playing songs of both the countries. While most of Indian songs were latest Bollywood chartbusters, the Bangladeshi songs were more nationalistic in nature and associated with their 'War of Independence'.

In fact, a lot of those patriotic songs were blaring out of the sound system immediately after a Bangladesh wicket fell. Though Mashrafe did not look happy about it but refused to comment as it would have meant taking on the parent body ICC.

Woman killed in Sydney park while on phone to husband in India

(File photo: Prabha with her husband Arun Kumar)

Prabha Arun Kumar, who was planning to move back to India from Australia within weeks, died after being stabbed in the neck in Parramatta Park

 

 

A woman was fatally stabbed in a Sydney park as she was on the phone to her distraught husband in India, police said on Monday.

Prabha Arun Kumar, a 41-year-old IT professional, was taking a shortcut through Parramatta park in the west of the city’s at around 9.30pm (10.30 GMT) on Saturday when she was killed.

Family members told Indian media that the woman was speaking with her husband, G Arun Kumar, at the time and he heard her scream for help. “She was walking while talking to Arun on the phone when she said that a suspicious-looking man was following her,” brother-in-law Thrijesh Jayachandra told Indian newspaper the Hindu.

“The next moment he heard her scream for help and then plead with the man not to harm [her] and take all her belongings if he wanted. Seconds later, he heard her scream and say she was stabbed.”

The husband flew into Australia on Monday and was helping police with their investigation. “He’s understandably extremely distressed,” homicide squad commander Michael Willing said.

“Here we have an Indian national who has been in the country for some time, going about her business and ends up being killed in a very vicious way.” Police appealed for help from the public, releasing footage of Kumar walking from Parramatta railway station.

“It’s a horrific crime. It’s a very, very disturbing crime,” Willing added. “We think that she sustained a number of injuries to the neck area with what we believe is a sharp-edged weapon.”

Police said there was nothing to suggest the murder of Kumar, who planned to move back to India in April to be with her husband and nine-year-old daughter, was racially motivated.

“Could this be a random attack? Well, yes it could. It could be a whole range of scenarios … and we are considering all of them,” Willing said.

The dead woman’s flatmate said Kumar had probably not wanted to bother anyone to ask for a lift home after finishing work late and arriving at Parramatta train station at 9pm.

“Because she was working late regularly, she felt bad to ask for help,” her flatmate, who asked to be identified as Sarada, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Instead she decided to walk, and was attacked near a quiet, tree-lined path, where bouquets of flowers were left on Monday in her honour.

Kumar was found by a passerby shortly after the attack and was rushed to hospital, but she had lost too much blood and doctors were unable to save her. She was just 300 metres (1,000 feet) from home.
“I don’t know how I am going to face her husband,” Sarada said. “She is very close to her husband and her daughter … She talks to them every day, as soon as she finishes work she calls her husband and keeps talking. She has a good family.”

No arrests have been made so far.

Archaeologists find two lost cities deep in Honduras jungle

Archaeological team say they have set foot in a place untouched by humans for at least 600 years in a site that may be the ‘lost city of the monkey god’
Archaeologists in Honduras have found dozens of artifacts at a site where they believe twin cities stood. 

Archaeologists have discovered two lost cities in the deep jungle of Honduras, emerging from the forest with evidence of a pyramid, plazas and artifacts that include the effigy of a half-human, half-jaguar spirit.

The team of specialists in archaeology and other fields, escorted by three British bushwhacking guides and a detail of Honduran special forces, explored on foot a remote valley of La Mosquitia where an aerial survey had found signs of ruins in 2012.

Chris Fisher, the lead US archaeologist on the team, told the Guardian that the expedition – co-coordinated by the film-makers Bill Benenson and Steve Elkins, Honduras and National Geographic (which first reported the story on its site) – had by all appearances set foot in a place that had gone untouched by humans for at least 600 years.

“Even the animals acted as if they’ve never seen people,” Fisher said. “Spider monkeys are all over place, and they’d follow us around and throw food at us and hoot and holler and do their thing.”

“To be treated not as a predator but as another primate in their space was for me the most amazing thing about this whole trip,” he said.

Fisher and the team arrived by helicopter to “groundtruth” the data revealed by surveying technology called Lidar, which projects a grid of infrared beams powerful enough to break through the dense forest canopy. 

That data showed a human-created landscape, Fisher said of sister cities not only with houses, plazas and structures, but also features “much like an English garden, with orchards and house gardens, fields of crops, and roads and paths.”

The dense jungle of Honduras.

In the rainforest valley, they said they found stone structural foundations of two cities that mirrored people’s thinking of the Maya region, though these were not Mayan people. The area dates between 1000AD and 1400AD, and while very little is known without excavation of the site and surrounding region, Fisher said it was likely that European diseases had at least in part contributed to the culture’s disappearance.

The expedition also found and documented 52 artifacts that Virgilio Paredes, head of Honduras’s national anthropology and history institute, said indicated a civilisation distinct from the Mayans. Those artifacts included a bowl with an intricate carvings and semi-buried stone sculptures, including several that merged human and animal characteristics. 

The cache of artifacts – “very beautiful, very fantastic,” in Fisher’s words – may have been a burial offering, he said, noting the effigies of spirit animals such as vultures and serpents.

Fisher said that while an archaeologist would likely not call these cities evidence of a lost civilisation, he would call it evidence of a culture or society. “Is it lost? Well, we don’t know anything about it,” he said.

 

The exploratory team did not have a permit to excavate and hopes to do so on a future expedition. “That’s the problem with archaeology is it takes a long time to get things done, another decade if we work intensively there, but then we’ll know a little more,” Fisher said.

“This wasn’t like some crazy colonial expedition of the last century,” he added. 

Despite the abundance of monkeys, far too little is known of the site still to tie it to the “lost city of the monkey god” that one such expedition claimed to have discovered. In about 1940, the eccentric journalist Theodore Morde set off into the Honduran jungle in search of the legendary “white city” that Spanish conquistadors had heard tales of in the centuries before. 

He broke out of the brush months later with hundreds of artifacts and extravagant stories of how ancient people worshipped their simian deity. According to Douglas Preston, the writer National Geographic sent along with its own expedition: “He refused to divulge the location out of fear, he said, that the site would be looted. He later committed suicide and his site – if it existed at all – was never identified.”

Fisher emphasised that archaeologists know extraordinarily little about the region’s ancient societies relative to the Maya civilisation, and that it would take more research and excavation. He said that although some academics might find it distasteful, expeditions financed through private means – in this case the film-makers Benenson and Elkins – would become increasingly commonplace as funding from universities and grants lessened.

Fisher also suggested that the Lidar infrared technology used to find the site would soon be as commonplace as radiocarbon dating: “People just have to get through this ‘gee-whiz’ phase and start thinking about what we can do with it.”

Paredes and Fisher also said that the pristine, densely-wooded site was dangerously close to land being deforested for beef farms that sell to fast-food chains. Global demand has driven Honduras’s beef industry, Fisher said, something that he found worrying.

“I keep thinking of those monkeys looking at me not having seen people before. To lose all this over a burger, it’s a really hard pill to swallow.”

8 Incredible Archaeological Finds Your History Books Probably Didn’t Mention

Sure, we’ve all ready about the Pyramids and the Pharaoh’s tombs in egypt, but some of the most interesting archeological finds in history are seldom mentioned in history books.

It’s doubtful that all archeology is as interesting as Indiana Jones or Robert Brown makes it seem. In fact, I’d venture a guess that most of it is really boring. Than again, every now and again, there are discoveries that are made that are absolutely mind blowing. For instance:

1. L’Anse aux Meadows

This ancient settlement was believed to have been built by Vikings. The fact that it could support up to 160 people isn’t what makes it interesting. The fact that it was built 500 years before Columbus “discovered” North America is what makes this find incredible.

2. Saksaywaman

This fortress sits outside of Cusco, Peru – the former capital of the Incan empire. The giant rocks of this extremely complex compound are fitted so tightly together, that hundreds of years later you can’t even slip a piece of paper between them.

3. Mohenjo-daro

Built in 2600 BCE, this town which lies in modern-day Pakistan is one of the first examples of modern city planning. The town contains roads, and even a drainage system that worked like a sewer.

4. Göbekli Tepe

This find was so significant that it made archeologist rethink what we know about the origins of human society. When it was found near a mountain top in Turkey, the structure was found to pre-date agriculture (9,000-10,000 BCE), confirming that church or worship were the beginnings of civilization – not commerce.

5. The Longyou Grottoes
Not only is the scale of these tunnels found in Zhejiang, China that date as far back as 212 BCE simply amazing, but they are covered floor to ceiling in precise, evenly spaced 60 degree angled markings. 

 

6. Stone Spheres of Costa Rica

Not a lot is known about these giant stone spheres other than the fact that they were probably made by the Diquis people that lived from 700 to 1530 AD. Legend has it that the spheres are relics from the lost city of Atlantis.

7. Yonaguni Monument

Archeologists debate wether or not the underwater monument off of the coast of Japan in natural or man made. The monument features twin obelisks that appear to have been put in place, as well as the formation above – known as “the turtle”.

8. The Unfinished Obelisk

Recently found in Aswan, Egypt, the obelisk was ordered by Hatshepsut in the mid 1500s BC. For some reason the obolisk was never finished, even though it would have been the largest Egyptian obelisk ever erected.

Chennai makes it to BBC's list of top 5 cities to live

Another proud moment for Chennaites.  After being featured in Lonely Planet’s ‘list of 10 best places to visit in 2015’ and top best food cities in National Geographic’s top 10 food cities, now our Chennai city featured in BBC's travel section.

Recently, the city had made it to another list.  Chennai makes it to BBC's list of top 5 cities not only worth visiting, but also worth living in for long term!

BBC scoured these lists to find a few cities that are making big strides but still under many travellers’ radar. With the opening of the new, air-conditioned Chennai Metro Rail, this east coast city that was once a mere jumping off point for the rest of India is becoming a destination in its own right. As one of India’s safest big cities, Chennai, which has 4.3 million residents, also feels less congested and hectic than other cities of its size because it is spread out. Easy access to beaches and historic temples, as well as the city’s Tamil culture, also make it appealing for expats.

For complete article - http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150116-living-in-2015s-hottest-cities

Woodpecker shown flying with weasel on its back in amateur photographer's amazing image

The stunning image was captured in Hornchurch, Essex earlier today. Photo: Martin Le-May

A remarkable photo has captured a weasel on a woodpecker's back as the bird flies through the air.

The photographer, Martin Le-May from Essex, said he "feared the worst" for the green bird after hearing "distressed squawking" during its struggle with the mammal at Hornchurch Country Park.

After Le-May managed to capture the incredible image - which has become a hit on Twitter since it was taken earlier today - the creature managed to escape with its life.

A close up of the image shows the woodpecker in clear distress. Credit: Martin Le-May
 

Slightly blurred images also captured the rest of the battle.
The weasel clings to the bird's back. Credit: Martin Le-May

The bird then takes flight in an attempt to escape attack. Credit: Martin Le-May

Describing the events to ITV News, Le-May said he was taking a walk with his wife when the battle took place.

It was a sunny afternoon, with the occasional cloud making the Hornchurch Country Park seem that grey brown dull winter colour even though it was the 2nd March.
 

My wife, Ann, and I had gone for a walk. I had hoped that she might see a green woodpecker as she has not really seen one before.

As we walked we heard a distressed squawking and I saw that flash of green. So hurriedly I pointed out to Ann the bird and it settled into the grass behind a couple of small silver birch trees. Both of us trained our binoculars and it occurred that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface. Lots of wing flapping showing that gloriously yellow/white colour interspersed with the flash of red head feathers. Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life.

The woodpecker landed in front of us and I feared the worst. I guess though our presence, maybe 25 metres away, momentarily distracted the weasel. The woodpecker seized the opportunity and flew up and away into some bushes away to our left. Quickly the bird gathered its self respect and flew up into the trees and away from our sight.

The woodpecker left with its life, the weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry.
– Martin Le-May, photographer

Le-May said he hoped his picture would inspire others to venture out of their local green area and get snapping.