Author: News Desk

United Kingdom: The Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, criticised his British counterpart, Mr. Rishi Sunak, for cancelling a scheduled meeting in London. According to reports, the Greek PM had hoped to raise the issue of the Parthenon marbles in the meeting as disagreements over the antiquities erupted with renewed intensity. Mr. Mitsotakis told reporters that he was “deeply disappointed by the abrupt cancellation” of the meeting. “I want to express my annoyance at the fact that the British prime minister cancelled our scheduled meeting a few hours before it was due to take place,” the centre-right leader said in…

Israel: The Israel-Hamas conflict appeared to be entering its fifth day of truce as the two sides finished their fourth round of prisoner releases from Gaza in return for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails during the first four days of the agreement, although negotiators stated the process would go on. There was an agreement to extend the initial four-day truce by two days; it was set to expire on Monday. Qatar, along with Egypt, has facilitated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. “We have an extension … two more days,” Qatar’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ms. Alya Ahmed Saif…

Australia: Australian authorities will ban imports of disposable vapes from January, which comes as part of efforts to curb nicotine addiction in children. The country will further introduce new rules to stop single-use vapes from being made, advertised, and supplied. The move comes amid a broader push to eliminate recreational vaping completely. Vaping has been marketed as a way to quit smoking. But, according to Australia’s Health Minister, Mr. Mark Butler, it has created a “new generation of nicotine dependency.” Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are lithium battery-powered devices that have cartridges filled with liquids containing nicotine, artificial flavourings, and a range…

United States: The US navy has captured five attackers who seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden amid missile attacks from Houthi-controlled Yemen. “The destroyer USS Mason responded to a SOS call from a commercial tanker that had been taken over by armed assailants in the Gulf,” US Central Command announced. The Liberian-flagged tanker, which had been hauling phosphoric acid, was identified as the Central Park by the vessel’s company. The ship is managed by Zodiac Maritime, a London-headquartered international ship management firm owned by Israel’s Ofer family. The US military noted that the USS Mason, with…

United States: Neuroscientists Ms. Tamar Makin and Mr. John Krakauer have argued that previous studies don’t conclusively show the brain’s capacity to rewire itself after a stroke, an amputation, or sudden loss of vision or hearing can functionally reorganize itself. “The idea that our brain has an amazing ability to rewire and reorganize itself is an appealing one. It gives us hope and fascination, especially when we hear extraordinary stories,” remarked Mr. Krakauer from Johns Hopkins University. “This idea goes beyond simple adaptation, or plasticity – it implies a wholesale repurposing of brain regions. But while these stories may well…

China: China has opened an investigation into one of the country’s biggest shadow banks, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group (ZEG), which has lent billions to real estate firms. The group has an asset management arm that reportedly handled more than $139 billion. According to reports, the authorities are investigating “suspected illegal crimes” against the firm. This comes days after reports that ZEG had declared it was insolvent. Last week, the firm told investors in a letter that its liabilities, amounting to $64 billion, have surpassed its assets, currently valued at approximately $38 billion. While authorities stated that they had taken “criminal coercive…

United States: A US official reportedly stated that US President, Mr. Joe Biden, will not be attending the recent UN climate summit in Dubai. This Thursday’s opening of COP28, which could be the largest UN climate summit ever, is expected to draw about 70,000 attendees, including Pope Francis and national leaders. Mr. Biden and Vice President’s, Ms. Kamala Harris, schedules, made public by the White House, indicated that neither would be visiting Dubai this week. In addition to lighting the national Christmas tree, Mr. Biden will be visiting Colorado to promote US investment in wind energy. The US president will…

Italy: Italy has won the Davis Cup title for 2nd time after beating Australia 2-0 in the final. Matteo Arnaldi, the 22-year-old player, won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 against Alexei Popyrin, giving Italy the initial point. Then, less than twenty-four hours after defeating Novak Djokovic twice in a single day, Jannik Sinner once again showed strong determination as he defeated Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 to cap off the finest two weeks of his career. “This is a really important win for me and for the whole team and Italy together, no? We felt the pressure. We had a lot of…

United States: The White House has moved to permanently lift nearly all restrictions on Tel Aviv’s use of US stockpiles of weapons in Israel. The move is aimed at enabling a smoother weapons pipeline to Israel, which has paused weeks of its devastating bombing of the Gaza Strip. The White House asked the United States Senate to scrap the restrictions in its latest supplementary budget request on October 20. If granted, the move would allow Israel to access more high-powered US weapons at a reduced cost with less congressional oversight. The request calls for changes to policies governing the War…

United States: Winter weather alerts have been issued for more than 10 million Americans as a cross-country storm continues to bring snow to some areas of the nation during the popular holiday travel weekend. The National Weather Service reported that eleven states, ranging from Texas to New York, were under winter alerts due to the post-Thanksgiving storm that was currently affecting the central United States. However, the National Weather Service stated that snowfall amounts are predicted to be lower than what has fallen thus far. This storm has already brought heavy snow to the Northern to Central Rockies, including more…