UK teen of Goan roots 'beats' Einstein's IQ

October 14, 2012

UK_Teen_IQ

Margao, October 14: With a Mensa IQ score of 162, a 15-year-old London teenager with Goan roots has beaten Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Fabiola Mann's IQ has put her in the top 1% of intelligent people in the world, two points over the 160 scored by the scientific greats.

Mensa, founded in 1946 as a society for intelligent people, awarded Fabiola her membership certificate in August this year. The Harrow-on-the-Hill-resident, who wants to study medicine at Cambridge University and become a surgeon "because I like the idea of helping people", told STOI from London that she wasn't expecting the score.

"I had heard about Mensa and so decided to take their test," Fabiola said in an email. Being "always interested in puzzles", she "begged" her parents to apply for the test and paid the fee.

On July 30, the Northwood College School pupil sat down for a formal, supervised, three-hour test at the London UCL medical college. "The questions were slightly more confusing (from the practice IQ tests online) and we did not have much time to do them, so I could not really tell how I was doing," said Fabiola.

She had wait for a month for her scores instead of the customary two weeks as the results were lost in transit. "We went on holiday soon after (the test), and it was a month before I finally got a letter through the post telling me that I had an IQ of 162 and was invited to join Mensa. I was thrilled," said Fabiola.

Her mother Rene, a Margao native who moved to London in 1993 after marriage, said, "Obviously I had heard about Mensa and genius IQ level children, but I'm amazed that my own daughter is one."

Dad Anthony, who was born in England and is a lecturer, informed Fabiola's school, which in turn contacted local UK newspapers. Fabiola was interviewed by BBC in September and is also mentioned on the Mensa website. In her interview with 'Harrow Observer', the paper observed that "162 is the highest possible score anyone can achieve in the UK and European test".

Asked what the Mensa membership means to Fabiola, Rene, a news producer for Associated Press Television Network, told STOI from London, "People keep asking me the same thing, and to be honest I don't know. Hopefully it will mean an entry into the best universities and later job opportunities."

She quickly adds, "Of course Fabiola did not do (the test) for those reasons, these are just a mother's dreams. More than that, I hope she can go forward and realize her potential and do good in this world."

Fabiola's hobbies include martial arts — she has a purple belt in karate, and started taekwondo this year —chess and music. She plays the piano and guitar and according to her peers has an "amazing voice". She also loves creative writing and is currently working on a novel.

Fabiola's Margao-based grandparents Palikaran George, 79, and Teresa, 67, are "speechless" on their granddaughter's feat and can't wait for her to visit in December.


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News Network
May 27,2020

Mumbai, May 27: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered re investigation by the CID into the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer and his mother, allegedly over non-payment of dues by TV journalist Arnab Goswami and two others.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said he ordered re investigation after Adnya Naik, daughter of interior designer Anvay Naik, claimed that Alibag Police in neighbouring Raigad district did not probe the non-payment of dues which had driven her father and grandmother to suicide.

"Adnya Naik had complained to me that #AlibaugPolice had not investigated non-payment of dues from #ArnabGoswami's @republic which drove her entrepreneur father & grandmom to suicide in May 2018," Deshmukh tweeted.

"I've ordered a CID re-investigation of the case," the minister, an NCP leader, added.

He also used the hashtag "Maharashtra government cares" while sharing the tweet. Earlier this month, the police registered an abetment of suicide case against Republic TV editor-in-chief Goswami and two others.

The suicide note purportedly written by Anvay Naik, managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, said he was forced to take his life as he was not paid dues of Rs 5.40 crore by the three accused.

Republic TV denied the allegation and said that certain vested interest groups were running "a false and malicious campaign and making false statements and innuendos against the company by exploiting the tragic event".

Mumbai Police are also conducting a probe against Goswami over his statements about the Palghar lynching case of April this year.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Bengaluru, May 21: The COVID-19-induced lockdown saw a spurt in crybercrimes in India with Kerala recording the highest number during the period, according to an analysis of IT security solutions provider K7 Computing.

The report analyses various cyberattacks within India during the pandemic and reveals that threat actors targeted the States with COVID-19-themed attacks aimed at exploiting user trust.

The sudden surge in the frequency of attacks witnessed from February 2020 to mid-April 2020 indicates that scamsters across the world were exploiting the widespread panic around coronavirus at both the individual and corporate level, the company said in a statement.

These attacks aimed to compromise computers and mobile devices to gain access to users confidential data, banking details and cryptocurrency accounts.

The key threats seen during this period ranged from phishing attacks to rogue apps disguised as COVID-19 information apps that targeted users sensitive data.

Phishing attacks were noticed more in Tier-II and Tier-III cities while the metros fared better.

Smaller cities saw over 250 attacks being blocked per 10,000 users.

Users from Ghaziabad and Lucknow seem to have faced almost six and four times the number of attacks, respectively, as Bengaluru users.

In Kerala, regions like Kottayam, Kannur, Kollam, and Kochi saw the highest hits with 462, 374, 236, and 147 attacks respectively, while the state as a whole saw around 2,000 attacks during the period, the highest thus far in the country.

This was followed by Punjab with 207 attacks and Tamil Nadu at 184 attacks, the statement said.

A majority of the recorded attacks were phishing attacks with sophisticated campaigns that could easily snare even the most educated users, it said.

These attacks were aimed at heightening users fears and creating a sense of urgency to take action.

The report noted phishing attacks where scamsters posed as representatives of the United States Department of the Treasury, the World Health Organisation, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Users were encouraged to visit links that would automatically download malware on the host computer such as the Agent Tesla keylogger or Lokibot information-stealing malware, infamous banking Trojans such as Trickbot or Zeus Sphinx, and even disastrous ransomware.

Other attacks included infected COVID-19 Android apps like CoronaSafetyMask that scam users with promises of masks for an upfront payment; the spyware app Project Spy; and seemingly genuine apps that are infected with dangerous malware like banking Trojans such as Ginp, Anubis and Cerberus, it was stated.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rose to 1024 in the country, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

"The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rise to 1024 in India including 901 active cases, 96 cured/discharged/migrated people and 27 deaths," Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19, which has left thousands dead around the world.

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