Author: News Desk

France: French President Mr. Emmanuel Macron has vowed to include the abortion rights of women in the country’s constitution by 2024. Mr. Macron stated that his government would submit a draft text to France’s highest administrative court to make abortion rights constitutional by the end of the year. “In 2024, the right of women to choose abortion will become irreversible,” the French President posted on social media. The announcement follows a promise made by Mr. Macron on March 8, International Women’s Day, when he tweeted in response to the overturning of federal abortion rights in the US. “A universal message…

United States: A recent United Nations University (UNU) report from Germany has identified approaching risk tipping points. The report emphasizes that having foresight about these points enables the potential for taking preventive action to stop them. These tipping points can be set in motion by minor increases in their driving forces but can result in significant consequences. The risk tipping points, distinct from the climate tipping points facing the world, such as the Amazon rainforest collapse and the Atlantic Ocean current shutdown, are driven by human-induced global warming. Climate tipping points involve significant, broad-scale changes, whereas risk tipping points are…

Israel: Internet and phone services have been restored in Gaza after a communication blackout, which humanitarian organizations had cautioned might be exploited to conceal war crimes. Paltel Group, the provider of communication services in Gaza, announced that landline, mobile, and internet services were slowly coming back online after disruptions caused by ongoing aggression. “Our technical teams are diligently addressing the damage to the internal network infrastructure under challenging conditions. May God protect you all and our Country,” the telecom said in a statement. Gaza experienced an almost complete communication blackout lasting nearly 36 hours, which resulted from Israeli air attacks…

China: Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has fired an associate professor who researched the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Ms. Rowena He has been fired from her university position after the city’s immigration authorities declined to extend her visa. Ms. He has previously received outstanding teaching awards in 2020 and 2021. Ms. He is also the author of the well-received 2014 book Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China, and has published numerous articles in Chinese and English on China’s democracy movement and its aftermath. CUHK stated that Ms. He had been let go when she failed…

United States: A news study has found that female chimpanzees live for a lengthy period after menopause. “Menopause ends reproduction around the age of 50 in both humans and wild chimpanzees,” the researchers report, adding they found it was not unusual for chimpanzees, like humans, to live longer. In the study published in the journal Science, researchers noted how they studied 185 females in the Ngogo community of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda, from 1995 to 2016. The research team found the probability of giving birth fell after chimpanzees reached 30 years old, and no births occurred in animals…

United States: US President Mr. Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping in November 2023 after China’s top diplomat’s visit to the White House. According to reports, the two leaders will meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November, a gathering of world and business leaders. A recent readout from China’s Foreign Minister Mr. Wang Yi and US National Security Adviser Mr. Jake Sullivan noted that the two sides were “working together towards a meeting.” The last meeting between Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden was at the G20 summit in Bali…

Taiwan: A new report has stated that Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election will be a ‘window of opportunity’ to restart discussions between Taipei and Beijing, with the aim of reducing tensions and lowering the risk of conflict. The report by the International Crisis Group noted that a war over Taiwan is not inevitable, but “the current trajectory is dangerous.” Taiwan is now functioning as the greatest potential flashpoint for conflict between China and the US, Taiwan’s strongest supporter. Beijing claims Taiwan to be a Chinese province and has insisted it will be “reunified.” Taiwan’s government, led by the Democratic Progress Party’s…

Malaysia: Malaysia’s royal family has selected a prominent sultan from Johor in the south as the nation’s next king. While largely ceremonial, the role involves significant duties such as appointing the prime minister and serving as the head of Islam in the Muslim-majority country, as well as being the commander-in-chief of its armed forces. Malaysia follows a constitutional monarchy system with a distinctive practice where the throne rotates every five years among the rulers of the nine Malaysian states, each led by longstanding Islamic royalty. Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar was designated as the 17th king of Malaysia following a meeting…

United States: A new study has stated that pigeons’s way of problem-solving matches artificial intelligence (AI). It has previously been found that pigeons are highly intelligent animals that can remember faces, see the world in vivid colours, navigate complex routes, deliver news, and even save lives. In the new study, 24 pigeons were given a variety of visual tasks, some of which they learned to categorise in days and others in weeks. The researchers noted that the mechanism through which pigeons make correct choices is similar to the method that AI models use to make the right predictions. “Pigeon behaviour…

United States: The Pentagon has announced that the US carried out airstrikes on two facilities in Syria that were being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran-backed groups. This action followed a series of attacks against US forces in both Iraq and Syria. These airstrikes occurred in response to the commitment of President Mr. Joe Biden’s administration to retaliate against attacks on US personnel that have been attributed to armed groups supported by Iran. “The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against US…