WHO clears air: Delhi no longer most polluted, that’s Zabol in Iran

DELHI IS no longer the world’s most polluted city, says WHO. The national Capital is now the 11th most polluted city in the world, based on average annual PM 2.5 readings of 3,000 cities in 100 countries, according to the WHO’s latest urban air quality database for 2016.

Released on Thursday, the database shows that the annual PM 2.5 levels for Delhi were down from 153 micrograms per cubic metre in the WHO’s 2014 report to 122 micrograms per cubic metre.

The 2014 report was based on 2010 data while the latest report includes data from 2012, 2013 and a part of 2014 for India, a year before the new AAP government took charge in Delhi. As for other global cities, the data spans a period of 2008-2013, depending on the numbers available from those locations. The report states that global urban air pollution levels increased by eight per cent, despite improvements in some regions.

The latest PM 2.5 level rankings show Iran’s Zabol topping the list with 217 micrograms per cubic metre followed by Gwalior with 176 and Allahabad with 170. Patna at sixth place (149) and Raipur on seventh spot (144) are the other Indian cities in the top 10. In total, the top 20 global cities with highest PM 2.5 levels includes 10 Indian cities, including Kanpur, Ludhiana and Firozabad.


Source: http://indianexpress.com/

World's Oldest Person Dies In New York At The Age Of 116

The world's oldest living person, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones, died on Thursday in New York City, a research group said.

Jones' death makes Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, a 116-year-old woman in Italy, the oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Jones, who was born in the southern U.S. state of Alabama in 1899, was the daughter of sharecroppers and granddaughter of slaves.

After graduating from high school she moved north in 1922 to New Jersey and then New York, where she worked as a housekeeper and childcare provider, according to Guinness World Records and the Vandalia Senior Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where she lived.

Jones, who retired in 1965, had said that lots of sleep is the secret to her longevity and that she had never smoked or drank alcohol.

The oldest verified person was Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 at 122 years and 164 days, the research group said.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.in