Author: News Desk

United States: A UN assessment has found that invasive species are costing the world at least $423 billion every year and have become a threat to biodiversity on Earth. According to reports, at least 3,500 harmful invasive species have been recorded globally in every region, spread by human travel and trade. The impact is destructive for humans and wildlife, as it may lead to extinctions and permanently damage the healthy functioning of an ecosystem. “Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and can cause irreversible damage to nature, including local and global species extinctions, and also threaten human…

Israel: The army and defence ministry have stated that Israeli forces ordered the suspension of all commercial goods leaving the Gaza Strip following an alleged attempt to smuggle explosives. Israel’s military, responsible for overseeing the border crossings between Israel and the Palestinian enclave, announced that they discovered multiple kilograms of high-quality explosives concealed within a clothing delivery transported by three trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing. This information was released by the army and ministry in a statement issued on September 4, 2023. The halting of all “commercial deliveries from Gaza to Israel” is being carried out to allow “security adjustments…

Australia: Australia’s Qantas Airways has reportedly announced that its CEO, Mr. Alan Joyce, is retiring amid a publicity firestorm following an accusation of illegal ticket sales. The Chief Financial Officer Ms. Vanessa Hudson will take over the role after Mr. Joyce. The long-serving CEO decided to retire in November 2023 but announced that he was leaving two months early due to “the focus on Qantas and events of the past” in the last few weeks. Australia’s consumer watchdog filed a lawsuit against Qantas, accusing the airline of selling tickets for about 8,000 flights in mid-2022 that had already been cancelled,…

United States: A White House official has stated that North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong Un is expected to hold a meeting with Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin. Ms. Adrienne Watson, a United States National Security Council spokeswoman, noted that the meeting would be part of ongoing discussions over weapons sales between the two countries. “As we have warned publicly, arms negotiations between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are actively advancing. We have information that Mr. Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, including leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia,” Ms. Watson commented. Previously, the White…

Australia: Australia has evacuated a sick expedition member from a remote outpost in Antarctica in a rescue operation spanning thousands of kilometers. According to reports, the urgent rescue operation was launched last week to reach the researcher, who has an undisclosed “developing medical condition.” The mission involved a medical retrieval team, a massive icebreaker ship, and two helicopters. The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) said in a statement that the icebreaking ship RSV Nuyina had sailed more than 3,000 kilometers from Hobart in Tasmania to the Casey Research Station in the east Antarctic to attend to the unnamed patient. Medical facilities…

China: Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has concluded her visit to China, praising the ‘productive and substantive’ talks with Chinese officials. In July 2023, the IMF issued a warning that the global economic recovery from the pandemic was slowing down, despite a slight improvement in its outlook for this year’s world growth. In China, the IMF predicts 5.2 percent growth in 2023, which is slightly above Beijing’s target of approximately 5 percent. Yet, growth in the Asian nation has faltered in recent months due to factors such as low consumer demand, elevated youth…

United Kingdom: A group of respiratory experts has warned that the climate crisis may result in more risks for people with respiratory illnesses, with high temperatures and changing weather patterns worsening lung health problems. In a report published by the European Respiratory Journal, the experts have called on the EU to lower its regulatory limits for air pollution in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO). “We need to do all we can to help alleviate patients’ suffering,” the report noted. The report pointed out that the impact of the climate emergency on human health had become interlinked and was now…

United States: Four astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) made a successful splashdown landing in their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule off the Florida coast. The astronauts have successfully completed their six-month space mission. The astronauts, part of NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission, left the space station at 7:05 am ET on September 4, 2023. They spent the day on the 13-foot-wide Crew Dragon as it navigated Earth’s orbit towards its landing site off Jacksonville, Florida. They reportedly landed there after midnight. https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1698562657077563791?s=20 “Dragon splashes down off the coast of Florida with the Crew-6 astronauts, completing Dragon’s sixth long-duration mission…

Ukraine: Ukrainian President Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that he would ask parliament this week to dismiss Defence Minister Mr. Oleksii Reznikov, suggesting Mr. Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s main privatisation fund, as the new Defence Minister. The announcement came following Mr. Reznikov’s statement that Ukraine’s allies will deploy the F-16 fighter jets by the upcoming spring. Mr. Reznikov also highlighted Ukraine’s intentions to ramp up drone production during an interview with the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform. Mr. Zelensky’s announcement set the stage for the biggest shakeup of Ukraine’s defence establishment during the war, as per the statement. Mr. Reznikov,…

South Africa: South African President Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that an independent inquiry has found “no evidence” that his country supplied weapons to Russia. Mr. Reuben Brigety, the United States ambassador to South Africa, had previously claimed the Russian ship Lady R was loaded with arms at a naval base near Cape Town in December 2022. The South African inquiry found that the Russian cargo ship instead delivered armaments that had been ordered in 2028 for the South African National Defence Force. Mr. Ramaphosa stressed that there was no evidence that any arms had been exported, based on interviews…