Author: KAVIA M R

The risk of a major cardiac rhythm issue is increased by exposure to secondhand smoke, even in tiny doses, according to data presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC) scientific conference, EHRA 2024. Longer periods of passive smoking were associated with a higher risk of atrial fibrillation. “The dangers of secondhand smoke were significant regardless of whether individuals were at home, outdoors, or at work, indicating that exposure universally elevates the risk of atrial fibrillation,” said study author Dr. Kyung-Yeon Lee of Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea. “We should all make every effort to avoid spending…

United States: US pop sensation Lizzo has left the music business because she can no longer take the jokes about her appearance and personality that she receives online. The singer of About Damn Time, whose actual name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, doesn’t specify what she is talking about or what prompted the comment on the internet. But that happened only one day after Lizzo’s attorney, who is defending three former dancers in a lawsuit against the singer that was filed in August, called it “shameful” that the musician was the main attraction at a Radio City fundraiser for President Joe…

United Kingdom: New research shows that providing free vapes in emergency rooms might aid thousands of smokers in giving up. The experts behind the research now think that “if this intervention was widely implemented it could result in more than 22,000 extra people quitting smoking each year,” according to Dr. Ian Pope of UEA’s Norwich Medical School. A little over 6.4 million adults in the UK were smokers in 2022, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, and the National Health Service estimates that smoking causes roughly 76,000 deaths in the country each year. In their trial, which…

United Kingdom: Buckingham Palace has revealed that King Charles III is “so proud of Catherine for her courage” in discussing her cancer treatment. A brief statement remarked that the King, who has been afflicted with cancer himself, is “closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law.” In a video posted on YouTube on Friday, the princess called her diagnosis a “huge shock”. Since late February, she has been receiving preventive chemotherapy. The princess said that although her family had experienced an “incredibly tough couple of months,” she was “well and getting stronger every day.” Her announcement coincides with King Charles’s six-week hiatus…

UAE: The UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil, former and future UN climate summit hosts, are collaborating to secure an international agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The UAE’s COP28 presidency plans to form a “troika” to ensure ambitious CO2-cutting pledges are made before the 2025 COP30 summit in Brazil, while Azerbaijan will host the UN climate event in November. “We cannot afford to lose momentum, we must do everything we can to keep 1.5°C within reach,” stated Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE president of COP28. In 2015, nearly 200 governments signed the Paris climate agreement, aiming to phase…

Israel: The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Israel in an attempt to finalise a truce agreement that would end the Gaza War. On Wednesday, Blinken began his fifth tour of the volatile region since October of last year, arriving in Jerusalem after meetings the day before in Egypt and Qatar, both of which served as mediators between Hamas and Israel. To discuss the Palestinian group’s response to the proposed deal, he will meet with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others. According to Hamas’ past statements, any agreement must result in the war’s…

Chile: A state of emergency has been declared in Chile in response to the rapidly spreading forest fires in the nation’s centre, which have claimed at least ten lives to date. President Gabriel Boric announced the measure on X, posting that “all forces are deployed in the fight against the forest fires.” He also mentioned that emergency services would meet on Saturday to evaluate the situation. Since Friday, the fires have destroyed thousands of hectares of forest, shrouding coastal cities in a thick cloud of grey smoke and displacing residents of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso in the centre. A…

United Kingdom: The UK government has stated that disposable vapes will be outlawed in an effort to address the growing number of young people who are starting to vape. Along with targeting underage sales, measures will also be implemented to stop vapes from being marketed to children. According to data from the charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), 7.6 percent of 11 to 17-year-olds vape frequently or occasionally, up from 4.1 percent in 2020. “As any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends at the moment is the rise in vaping among children, and so we…

United States: The talks between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were intended to maintain communication, as per their statement. Wang emphasised that the largest threat to Sino-US relations was “Taiwan independence.” Less than two months after meeting on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping got together with Wang and Sullivan on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand. China’s foreign ministry released a statement stating that the two “had candid, substantive and fruitful strategic communication on implementing the consensus reach at the…

A recent study found that children who live close to green spaces, such as parks, gardens, or forests, have a higher likelihood of having stronger and healthier bones. The study, which is the first of its kind, confirms earlier research showing adults who live in greener areas typically have stronger bones as well. Researchers at Hasselt University in Belgium discovered that 327 kids between the ages of 4 and 6 who lived in the greenest areas had higher bone mineral density. The areas that ranked in the top 20 to 25 percent of nearby green space were considered to be…