Author: News Desk

United States: The United States has stated it is “disturbed” by Russia’s move to reverse its ratification of a 1996 treaty banning the testing of nuclear weapons. Recently, Russia’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Mr. Mikhail Ulyanov said that Moscow will revoke its ratification of the pact. The announcement by Mr. Ulyanov added new fuel to tensions between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and US military support for Kyiv. Mr. Ulyanov posted on social media that “Russia plans to revoke ratification [which took place in the year 2000] of the Comprehensive…

Spain: Poland and Hungary have rejected a proposed law on irregular migration as the summit of European leaders concludes. Mr. Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish Prime Minister, and Mr. Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister, shot down a joint document for inclusion by EU leaders. The move forced European Council President Mr. Charles Michel to issue a separate statement in his name about asylum policy and border protection. The French and German leaders noted that the legislative process on the issue would continue as planned. Mr. Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s Prime Minister, who hosted the summit in Granada, dismissed concerns about the clash. “The…

United States: UNESCO, the United Nations’ culture body, has announced plans to launch the first virtual museum to showcase stolen cultural artifacts, aimed at raising public awareness of trafficking and the unique importance of cultural heritage. “Behind every stolen work or fragment lies a piece of history, identity, and humanity that has been wrenched from its custodians, rendered inaccessible to research, and now risks falling into oblivion,” the UNESCO Director General Mr. Audrey Azoulay stated. “Our objective with this is to place these works back in the spotlight and to restore the right of societies to access their heritage, experience…

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: The Saudi STEM Education Conference 2023 has held at InterContinental Riyadh from September 19–20, 2023. The event brought together educators, policymakers, industry leaders, and STEM enthusiasts from across the region to explore innovative strategies and solutions for advancing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in Saudi Arabia. The conference, organised by IBEForuM, was a resounding success, fostering collaboration and inspiring a brighter future for STEM education in the Kingdom. This year’s conference theme, “Empowering the Future: Building a Strong STEM Foundation,” set the stage for engaging discussions, insightful presentations, and interactive workshops aimed at addressing the…

Russia: Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin has stated that Ukraine could not survive for more than “a week” if Western military and financial aid stopped. Mr. Putin made the claim on the same day as a European Union official warned that the bloc could not deal with the funding gap if support for Kyiv from the United States ends. Recently, US President Mr. Joe Biden admitted that he “does worry” that US support for Ukraine might get derailed. At a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think tank, Mr. Putin said that Ukraine was being propped up “thanks…

United States: Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concert film has crossed over $100 million in advance ticket sales a week before its release. The film will be screened in 8,500 theaters worldwide. The film could see another $100 million of box office takings in North America on its opening weekend, as per the statement. For the release, Variance Films is managing distribution in the US, Cineplex in Canada, Cinepolis in Mexico and Central America, and Trafalgar Releasing outside of North America. AMC, the distributor, has announced that pre-sales for the movie have exceeded $100 million worldwide. They mentioned that the demand…

United States: A new report has found that at least 43 million children have been displaced due to extreme weather events over the past six years. As a result, about 20,000 children are being forced to abandon their homes and schools every single day. According to the analysis by UNICEF and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), floods and storms were the cause of 95 percent of recorded child displacement between 2016 and 2021. The rest, more than 2 million children, were displaced due to wildfires and drought. The consequences of displacement are traumatic, disruptive, and damaging for children, who…

London, UK: The UK’s cloud computing market will face an investigation over concerns that it is being dominated by tech giants Amazon and Microsoft. Ofcom, the media watchdog, stated that Amazon and Microsoft collectively represent 70–80 percent of the UK’s cloud computing sector, with Google being the closest competitor at 5–10 percent. In April 2023, Ofcom expressed concern that the limited competition in the market made it challenging for businesses to switch cloud computing providers. Ofcom has asked the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate the matter within the sector. Cloud computing is essentially storing data online, allowing…

United Kingdom: A new study has revealed that fluorescence in mammals is much more common than previously anticipated. In recent years, a luminous feature called fluorescence has been found in Australian marsupials, including platypuses, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and echidnas. According to the latest reports, scientists believe that the quality is widespread across mammals after they studied 125 species and found that all of them showed some form of fluorescence. The researchers found that 107 of the 125 species had fur that glowed under UV light. The 125 species represent all 27 living mammalian orders and about half of all living…

United States: The US military has said that over one million rounds of ammunition seized from Iran were sent to Ukraine. The US Central Command stated that the ammunition had been seized last year from a ship accused of transporting weapons from Iran to the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. “The US government transferred approximately 1.1 million 7.62mm rounds to the Ukrainian armed forces, obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims,” the military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. The decision was made during a time of increased tension…