عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Thousands Displaced in Floods in North-Eastern India, Rain Abates 

A one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (AFP) 
A one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (AFP) 
TT
TT

Thousands Displaced in Floods in North-Eastern India, Rain Abates 

A one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (AFP) 
A one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (AFP) 

Thousands of people have been displaced in India's north-eastern state of Assam and at least 37 people have died in heavy rain, floods and landslides in the last two months, officials said on Monday.

Although rains have abated in the last two days and improved the flood situation marginally, at least 200,000 people were affected in 11 districts of the state due rain-related incidents, a release from the state's disaster management authority said.

More than 12,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the state and authorities said they expected another wave of floods in July, with the Kushiyara river, a transboundary river between India and Bangladesh flowing above the danger mark in several places.

India's north-east and neighboring Bangladesh have been ravaged by floods in the last two months, leaving millions stranded, with weather authorities predicting that the situation could worsen.

The situation in Bangladesh had also improved as water levels of various rivers had receded and upstream water from India had reduced, officials said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

A Set of 1st Editions of Shakespeare's Plays Could Fetch $6 million at Auction

This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)
This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)
TT
TT

A Set of 1st Editions of Shakespeare's Plays Could Fetch $6 million at Auction

This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)
This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)

A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s collected works is expected to sell for up to 4.5 million pounds ($6 million) at auction next month.

Sotheby’s auction house announced the sale on Wednesday, Shakespeare's 461st birthday. It said the May 23 sale will be the first time since 1989 that a set of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Folios has been offered at auction as a single lot.

The auction house estimated the sale price at between 3.5 million and 4.5 million pounds.

After Shakespeare’s death in 1616, his plays were collected into a single volume by his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell, actors and shareholders in the playwright’s troupe, the King’s Men, The AP news reported.

The First Folio — fully titled “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies” — contained 36 plays, of which half were published there for the first time. Without the book, scholars say, plays including “Macbeth,” “The Tempest” and “Twelfth Night” might have been lost. Sotheby’s called the volume “without question the most significant publication in the history of English literature.”

About 750 copies were printed in 1623, of which about 230 are known to survive. All but a few are in museums, universities or libraries. One of the few First Folios in private hands sold for $9.9 million at an auction in 2020.

The First Folio proved successful enough that a an updated edition, the Second Folio, was published in 1632, a third in 1663 and a fourth in 1685.

Although the First Folio is regarded as the most valuable, the third is the rarest, with 182 copies known to survive. It is believed the third book’s rarity is because some of the stock was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The Third Folio included seven additional plays, but only one – “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” – is believed to be by Shakespeare.