Author: Akshara Das

Singapore: Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, already the world’s highest-paid political leader, is set to receive an annual pay increase of about 1.4 million Singapore dollars ($1.1 million), taking the total package to around S$3.6 million ($2.8 million). Wong currently receives about S$2.2 million a year. Under the new arrangement, the increase will push the prime minister’s annual compensation more than 60 percent higher. Wong has said the additional income will be donated to charity over the next five years. The increase puts Wong’s compensation far above that of other national leaders. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is the…

France: French President Emmanuel Macron has urged the European Union to introduce a bloc-wide ban on social media access for children under 15, calling for tougher action to protect young people from online risks. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dated August 29, Macron said new EU legislation was needed to harmonise restrictions across the 27-member bloc. The letter was seen by Reuters and other media. “I believe it has now become essential to go further and, through a new European legislative text, harmonise a ban on access to social media platforms for children under…

Vienna: Austria’s ban on headscarves for girls under the age of 14 is facing its first major test as schools reopen in Vienna and several other states, with Muslim groups denouncing the measure as discriminatory and legal challenges expected. The ban was proposed by Austria’s ruling coalition of three centrist parties, which said the measure was intended to protect girls’ freedom and prevent pressure on young students to wear headscarves. Parliament approved the legislation in December with support from the far-right Freedom Party. The left-wing Greens were the only parliamentary party to oppose the measure. The Islamic Religious Community in…

New Delhi: Indian health activists have challenged the government’s proposed front-of-pack food warning system in the Supreme Court, arguing that plans to require red warnings only when at least two concerning nutrients are high could create a loophole that leaves consumers exposed to unhealthy products. The nonprofit group 3S And Our Health submitted the first formal objection to the proposal in the Supreme Court, which is considering petitions from health activists, the food industry and the government. The group described the proposed system as an “industry-friendly loophole” that could allow manufacturers to avoid warnings on products that contain excessive amounts…

Belgium: Travellers entering the European Union could face renewed border queues as temporary flexibility measures for the bloc’s Entry/Exit System (EES) expire on September 6, although technical problems and uneven enforcement could mean that biometric checks are not immediately applied everywhere. The European Commission has not extended the discretionary measures that allowed member states to temporarily ease or pause some EES controls when border congestion became severe. Airlines and travel groups had urged Brussels to extend the flexibility until the end of 2026, warning that stricter enforcement could again cause delays at busy airports and border crossings. The EES is…

United States: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the US government to review federal endangered species protections for grey wolves and Mexican wolves, a move that could eventually give ranchers greater scope to kill wolves that threaten livestock. The order does not immediately remove the wolves from the endangered species list or authorize ranchers to shoot animals preying on livestock. Instead, it gives Interior Secretary Doug Burgum 90 days to determine whether the grey wolf and Mexican wolf populations have recovered sufficiently to warrant removing federal protections. Trump’s order said ranchers play a ‘vital role’ in the…

Kathmandu: Nepal faces a major recovery and rebuilding effort after catastrophic floods caused widespread destruction across the country, with property, housing and infrastructure losses estimated at 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.56 billion), according to the country’s disaster authority chief. Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, told that the estimated losses covered homes, roads and other infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the floods. Upreti said a detailed assessment would be carried out to determine the full scale of the damage. The country is expected to need around $52.6 million during the first four months…

United States: OpenAI on August 3 unveiled a new artificial intelligence model called GPT-6 Astra, describing it as the company’s most capable model yet, while warning that its growing ability to operate independently could make human monitoring more difficult. The launch comes as OpenAI faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of agentic AI, which is designed to carry out tasks with little or no human intervention. The company has been dealing with the fallout from an incident in July in which its AI agents broke out of a secure testing environment and accessed systems belonging to open-source platform Hugging Face…

Moscow:  Russia’s Transport Ministry has provided foreign airlines with clarifications on safety measures at Russian airports and in the country’s airspace, Interfax reported on August 3, following a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that flights in Russia had become unsafe. Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said that foreign airlines work closely with Russian authorities and are familiar with the country’s rules and standards for aviation safety. “They work very closely with us and understand all our rules, standards and how we ensure flight safety,” Interfax quoted Nikitin as saying. The comments came after Zelenskiy warned airlines and insurance companies on…

Canada: A powerful thunderstorm swept through Toronto on August 2, bringing torrential rain, strong winds and large hail that damaged buildings, flooded roads and cut electricity to tens of thousands of residents. At least 45,000 customers were without power as of 8 pm, August 2, according to electricity provider Toronto Hydro. The storm also brought down trees and power lines across parts of the city, while flooding forced road closures and disrupted transportation. The Don Valley Parkway was among the roads affected by flooding. Images published by the broadcaster showed vehicles nearly submerged in floodwater in Vaughan, north of Toronto,…