Author: News Desk

United States: Scientists from UC Davis, the Alaska Whale Foundation, and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have communicated with a whale in a landmark experiment. The group spoke with Twain, a humpback whale, for twenty minutes in her tongue language. The experiment was conducted for a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal PeerJ. To find out if any whales would react, the scientists sailed a boat off the coast of Alaska and played what’s known as a “contact call” into the water. As expected, Twain approached and circled the boat in the water. Twain answered the call each time,…

United Kingdom: The UK Home Office has stated that it will amend the Criminal Justice Bill and update the Offences Against The Person Act 1861 to make it clear that spiking is illegal. As campaigners and opposition parties demand harsher measures to protect women, ministers are under pressure to designate needle and drink spiking as a specific offence. The act of injecting drugs into another person’s bodily fluids or drinking without that person’s knowledge or consent is “spiking.” This is anticipated to manifest as a revision to the guidelines promulgated under Section 182 of the Licencing Act 2003. UK Home…

Israel: The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, has stated that new negotiation talks to recover hostages held by Hamas are underway. Mr. Netanyahu declared that Gaza would be demilitarised and come under Israeli security control during a televised news conference. The PM also called the conflict an “existential war” that must be waged until victory, despite pressure and costs. A partial hostage-release agreement was reached in November, according to Mr. Netanyahu, who also pledged to keep up strong military pressure on Hamas. “The instruction I am giving the negotiating team is predicated on this pressure, without which we have…

United States: A recent study by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), has revealed that female patients with a history of suicidality have an increased risk of suicidal ideation or suicidal planning in the days surrounding menstruation. This is the first longitudinal study to examine how these symptoms fluctuate over the menstrual cycle. The findings provide new guidelines for clinicians regarding when to target interventions with suicidal patients. “As clinicians, we feel responsible for keeping our patients safe from a suicide attempt, but we often don’t have much information about when we need to be most concerned about their…

United States: An autopsy revealed that Friends actor Matthew Perry accidentally overdosed on ketamine, which is why he was discovered dead in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home in October. Perry, who portrayed the witty Chandler Bing in the hit US sitcom, died on October 28 at the age of 54 from the “acute effects” of the sedative, with drowning serving as a secondary cause, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said on Friday. The autopsy report listed heart disease and “the effects of buprenorphine,” a medication used to treat opioid abuse, as additional contributing factors. Perry had…

United States: Barbie, the highest-grossing movie of 2023, has received a lot of nominations for the 81st Golden Globes. Nine awards, including picture (comedy or musical), screenplay, director, leading actress for Margot Robbie, supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, and three separate entries in the original song category, are up for grabs for Greta Gerwig’s pastel-coloured satire. After losing out on nominations for Lady Bird and Little Women, this is Gerwig’s first time on the directing shortlist. With this haul, Barbie becomes the second-most-nominated movie in Globe history, behind only Nashville with eleven nominations. Along with Oppenheimer, the movie whose unlikely…

Myanmar: The United Nations (UN) report shows that Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan as the world’s biggest producer of opium. This year, Myanmar produced an estimated 1,080 metric tonnes of opium, which is needed to make heroin, according to the most recent report released by the UNODC, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime. The figures come after the UNODC reported that after the Taliban banned poppy cultivation in April of last year, opium production in Afghanistan fell by an estimated 95 percent to about 330 tonnes. Methamphetamine and opium trafficking in particular have long been active in the “Golden…

United States: Mr. Donald Trump, the former president of the US, has stated that he has “nothing more to say” in response to his decision not to testify again in his civil fraud trial in New York. The leading candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential contest, Mr. Trump, stated on Sunday that he did not think it was necessary to testify because he had already done so “very successfully & conclusively” last month. “I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say,” Mr. Trump cited in a post on his Truth Social platform. The…

Sudan: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reported that two people have died and seven others have been injured in an attack on their humanitarian convoy in the capital of Sudan. The Red Cross added in a statement that three ICRC employees were among the injured. “The humanitarian convoy, consisting of three ICRC vehicles and three buses, all clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem, was due to evacuate over a hundred vulnerable civilians from Khartoum to Wad Madani when it came under attack upon entering the evacuation area,” as per the statement. The ICRC expressed shock…

United States: Strong thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across Tennessee, resulting in at least six fatalities. Emergency management officials reported that three people had been confirmed dead in Madison, Tennessee, which is located just north of Nashville. “We have teams assessing damage and looking for patients. Unfortunately, we can confirm there are three fatalities as a result of the severe weather on Nesbitt Lane,” the Nashville Office of Emergency Management shared on X. “At this time we can confirm that three people are deceased, two adults and one child as a result of the tornado that touched down this afternoon. Additionally,…