📚 1. Leila Aboulela Wins PEN Pritzker Prize 2025
Renowned Sudanese-Scottish author Leila Aboulela has been awarded the prestigious PEN Pritzker Prize 2025, recognizing her profound exploration of migration, identity, and faith.
- 🔹 Her works like Minaret and Elsewhere, Home provide a human face to the refugee experience, focusing on Muslim women's narratives.
- 🏆 The PEN Pritzker Prize is known for celebrating literary excellence on civil liberties and human rights.
- 🕊️ In a world grappling with migration crises, her storytelling serves as both documentation and empathy.
📌 Why it matters?
In global literature, this recognition amplifies African and Islamic perspectives, often underrepresented in Western literary spaces.
🏛️ 2. UNESCO Removes 3 African Sites from World Heritage List
In a significant decision, UNESCO has delisted three African heritage sites citing deterioration and lack of conservation:
- 🇲🇬 Rainforests of the Atsinanana, Madagascar – crucial for endemic species like lemurs.
- 🇪🇬 Historic Cairo, Egypt – known for its Islamic architecture and ancient mosques.
- 🇱🇾 Leptis Magna, Libya – one of the most preserved Roman cities in the Mediterranean.
📌 Why it matters?
This marks a serious warning on cultural preservation amid urbanization, war, and neglect. Delisting impacts global funding and attention, highlighting the urgent need for restoration.
🏏 3. Sachin Tendulkar Immortalized at Lord’s – MCC Museum Unveils Portrait
Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar receives a timeless tribute as his portrait is unveiled at the prestigious MCC Museum at Lord's Cricket Ground, London — the "Mecca of Cricket."
- 🎨 Painted by British artist Stuart Pearson Wright, the artwork captures Sachin's grace beyond just statistics.
- 🏛️ The MCC Museum houses historic memorabilia from over 300 years of cricket — being featured here is cricketing immortality.
📌 Why it matters?
Tendulkar is the first Indian in over a decade to receive this honor, celebrating his impact not just as a sportsman but as a global ambassador of cricket and humility.
🐘 4. Assam Launches “Gaj Mitra Yojana” in Conflict Zones
The Assam government has launched the “Gaj Mitra Yojana” in 8 human-elephant conflict-prone districts, including Sonitpur and Udalguri.
- 🐘 Locals will be trained as “Elephant Friends” to track, alert, and coordinate safe animal movement.
- 🌿 The scheme aims to reduce the rising fatalities caused by habitat loss and accidental encounters.
📌 Historical context:
India hosts over 60% of the Asian elephant population, and Assam is a critical corridor. This initiative blends community engagement with conservation, much like Gujarat's Gir forest model for lions.
🧬 5. Microsoft Unveils BioEmu 1 – AI That Decodes Protein Motion
Microsoft has launched BioEmu 1, an advanced AI-based system to simulate protein motion — a revolutionary step in drug discovery and biomedical research.
- 🧠 It uses deep learning to predict how proteins behave, which is essential to understand diseases like Alzheimer's or cancer.
- 💊 The system has already helped identify potential new drug pathways in clinical trials.
📌 Context:
This echoes DeepMind’s AlphaFold breakthrough, but BioEmu goes beyond static structures, focusing on real-time dynamics — opening new frontiers in precision medicine.
