Author: News Desk

Gabon: The African Union’s Peace and Security Council has announced that it has decided to “immediately suspend” Gabon following the military coup in the country. The Council posted on X that it “strongly condemns the military takeover of power in the Republic of Gabon” and has decided “to immediately suspend the participation of Gabon in all activities of the AU, its organs, and institutions”. The statement came after a meeting of the council on the coup in Gabon that followed disputed elections in which President Mr. Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared the winner. The meeting was chaired by the African…

London, UK: Mr. Grant Shapps was named as the new Defense Secretary after Mr. Ben Wallace resigned. This marks Mr. Shapps’ fifth cabinet position in less than a year, having previously served as Energy Secretary, Transport Secretary, and briefly as Home Secretary. Mr. Ben Wallace will not seek re-election as an MP in the upcoming election. In a statement, Mr. Shapps expressed his commitment to carrying on Mr. Wallace’s backing of Ukraine in their struggle against Mr. Putin. Mr. Shapps expressed his honour at being appointed and praised Mr. Wallace’s significant contribution to UK defence and global security during the…

United States: The United States has approved military aid to Taiwan under a programme that is usually used to assist sovereign states. The move is likely to anger China, which claims the self-ruled democratic island as its own territory. The US Department of State informed Congress about the $80 million package, which marks the first time Washington has provided assistance to Taipei under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme. The move is likely to increase tensions with Beijing, which has not ruled out the use of force to take control of Taiwan. The State Department stressed that the first-ever aid under…

Mexico: The opposition party in Mexico has chosen a female senator as their candidate for the 2024 presidential race. Ms. Xóchitl Gálvez, aged 60, is a computer engineer and entrepreneur. Her nomination increases the possibility of Mexico having its first female president. Ms. Claudia Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City, is seen as the leading candidate for the Morena party, which is led by leftist President Mr. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Ms. Gálvez receives support from a three-party coalition that includes the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which held significant political power in Mexico until 2000. As a child, she…

United Kingdom: A new health review has found that teenagers, young adults, pregnant women, drivers, and mentally ill people should avoid cannabis. The findings were based on an umbrella review conducted by an international expert team over the last two decades. The in-depth evidence review of ‘cannabis and health’ was published in the medical journal BMJ. The study noted that even though cannabis compounds could help people with certain medical conditions, taking the drug could have an adverse effect on some other groups of people. The researchers analysed data from 101 meta-analyses on cannabis use. The studies were published from…

Russia: Russia used its veto power to block the continuation of a United Nations expert team in Mali. This team had implicated foreign fighters, hinting at Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, in various abuses within the military-controlled West African nation. 13 out of the 15 UN Security Council members supported a proposal to extend sanctions on Mali for one year and maintain the presence of experts in the region. During the UN meeting, Russia used its veto power to oppose the extension proposal, which was led by France and the United Arab Emirates. China chose to Refrain from the vote. Russia’s…

United States: The United States has warned North Korea over the sale of munitions to Russia for its war in Ukraine as tensions between Pyongyang and Washington continue to rise. White House national security spokesperson Mr. John Kirby stated that the US is concerned about potential arms deals between Russia and North Korea. “We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia,” Mr. Kirby commented, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The…

Pakistan: Mr. Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been placed on judicial remand for two weeks on allegations of disclosing state secrets, according to his attorney. Mr. Khan’s detention has been prolonged until September 13 as part of the investigation into the “cypher” case. This decision came after a special court conducted proceedings at the Attock city jail. former judicial remand occurred one day after the Islamabad High Court suspended his conviction and three-year prison sentence for corruption charges. The former prime minister is charged with making public the contents of a confidential cable sent by Pakistan’s…

India: India’s space agency has stated that its moon rover has confirmed the presence of sulphur and detected several other elements on the lunar south pole. Recently, India became the first country to land a craft near the largely unexplored south pole and the fourth nation to land on the moon. “The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement. “These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of sulphur in the region unambiguously,…

United Kingdom: A new report has shown that the 27 European Union member states burned 17 percent less fossil fuel to make electricity between January and June 2023 than over the same period the year before. A study from the clean energy thinktank Ember found that the EU made 410 terawatt-hours of electricity from sources that release planet-heating gases, which analysts say is the lowest level since 2015, the first year for which they have monthly data, and “very likely” since 2000. According to the report, the drop in fossil fuel generation was due to a fall in demand for…