Doha (Qatar): Qatar and the Museum of Islamic Art have established a new Guinness World Record for most Languages in a Reading Relay last Wednesday evening.

There were 56 different readers reading passages from the Little Prince by the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery, including Arabic, French, Korean, Spanish, Slovak, Sanskrit, Urdu, Swahili, Hindi, Persian, Gujarati, Turkish, Italian, Greek and multiple other languages. 

Among the readers was Boluwatife Agbelusi from Museum of Islamic Art, who is the official translator of the book in Yoruba (one of the languages of Nigeria). Another was Saleh Al Marri from MIA Guides reading the text in Japanese! 

There were 75 judges in place who had the serious job of evaluating the readers language skills and acting as expert witness. Mr. Pravin Patel had flown in from Dubai as the Guinness Adjudicator who gave the final decision on if team was the new record setters. 

Participants from India, read out the translated portions from the story The Little Prince, in prominent Indian languages such as Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Gujarati. Engr. Noor Ahmed Sanadi who hails from Karnataka, was one of the independent judges for several Indian languages. 

The museum atrium looked gorgeous, the event was beautifully organized and supported by the French Embassy and Qatar TV. It was also impressive to see so many readers coming in their stunning national dresses. 

Reactions after were excitement, pride of Qatar and community. The Museum building projected the Guinness Attempt logo during the event.

 

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New Delhi: Since the closure of airspace in West Asia, Indian airlines have brought back around 15,000 stranded passengers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India), recovery flights began on March 2. These figures cover operations through March 5. On Friday, March 6, a total of 40 inbound flights returned people to India.


As many as 51 flights are scheduled to arrive on Saturday, March 7 which is the highest number since airstrikes in the region began on February 28, according to The Hindu.

Besides Indian carriers, Gulf airlines are also engaged in the airlifting activity. The Emirates, flydubai and Etihad Airways have operated some special flights and limited commercial services.

The ministry has set up a control room and helpline for passengers seeking travel assistance and can be contacted on 011-24604283 and 011-24632987.