Author: News Desk

South Korea: A South Korean lawmaker has stated that North Korea may launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or take other military action in protest at a major summit between the United States, South Korea, and Japan. US President Mr. Joe Biden is due to meet South Korean President Mr. Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Fumio Kishida at Camp David on August 19. The move is part of an effort to enhance ties between Seoul and Tokyo amid nuclear threats from North Korea and China’s increasing assertiveness. North Korea has previously criticised deepening military cooperation among the three…

Israel: Israel said that the US has approved the “landmark” sale of the Arrow 3 hypersonic missile defence system to Germany. The missile is jointly produced by Israel and the US. The Arrow 3 system is an interceptor designed to shoot down ballistic missiles above the Earth’s atmosphere. Israel’s Defence Ministry commented in a statement that the US State Department had received the US government’s approval for Germany to procure the Arrow 3 system. “The Israeli Ministry of Defence, the German Federal Ministry of Defence, and Israel Aerospace Industries will sign the landmark $3.5 billion defence agreement, marking Israel’s largest…

Lithuania: Lithuania will temporarily close two of the country’s six border crossings with Belarus due to “geopolitical circumstances.” The move comes as concerns grow in the region over the presence of thousands of Russian Wagner Group mercenaries on Belarusian territory. Belarus, Russia’s staunchest ally, reacted promptly to the announcement by criticising what it called Lithuania’s “far-fetched” decision to close two of its border checkpoints. “This decision is one of the preventive measures to contain threats to national security and possible provocations at the border,” Lithuania’s Interior Minister Ms. Agne Bilotaite stated. Mr. Bilotaite did not mention the threats in the…

Singapore: Singapore police have reportedly arrested 10 people and seized $735 million, including luxury homes, cars, and cash, as part of their biggest anti-money laundering probe. The police force said in a statement that they have raided across the city-state looking for groups suspected of laundering proceeds from “overseas organised crime activities, including scams and online gambling.” Those who were arrested had passports from China, Turkey, Cambodia, Cyprus, and Vanuatu and were aged between 31 and 44. According to the police, the group was “suspected to be involved in laundering the proceeds of crime from their overseas organised crime activities,…

United States: Surgeons in the United States have successfully transplanted a pig kidney into the body of a brain-dead human patient who has functioned normally for more than a month. It comes as part of scientists in the country experimenting with ways to use animal organs to save human lives. This particular experiment was done by surgeons at the New York University Langone Transplant Institute. They have announced that the milestone is the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one. “We have a genetically edited pig kidney surviving for over a month in a…

China: Human Rights Watch has stated that racist content targeting Black people is widely circulated on China’s social media platforms, where it is being used to attract traffic and generate profit. The rights group reviewed hundreds of videos and posts from 2021 on platforms including Weibo, a short messaging app, and Douyin, the Chinese TikTok, and found that content often portrayed Black people through “offensive racial stereotypes.” “Such content was also circulated on the video-sharing platforms Bilibili and Livestream, the video app Kuaishou, and the social media and e-commerce site Xiaohongshu,” the group said, noting that the companies had failed…

Australia: The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Anthony Albanese, has announced that the national cabinet has agreed to give states and territories a “new home bonus” of up to $3 billion if they assist in achieving a revised goal of constructing 1.2 million new homes within the next five years. The new goal involves building an extra 200,000 homes beyond the target set in the National Housing Accord, which was agreed upon by states and territories last year. “All governments recognise the best way to ensure that more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home is to boost…

London, UK: A new study suggests that old people playing online puzzle games have the same memory as people in their 20s. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of York, England. The researchers have found that individuals aged 60 and above who engage in digital puzzle games showed enhanced skills in disregarding irrelevant distractions. However, older adults who played strategy games did not display similar memory or concentration improvements. A lot of research has focused on action games, as it is thought that reacting quickly, keeping track of targets, and so on helps attention and memory, but…

Latvia: Latvian Defence Minister Ms. Inara Murniece has ordered the army to guard the country’s border with Belarus. The moves came at a time of “hybrid threats” facing the country, and a reported 96 attempts were made by people to cross the border in 24 hours. “Latvian Border Guard officers have been recalled from their holidays to help with patrols,” officials stated. Latvia has “information about a possible increase in hybrid threats”, the Border Guard said in a statement, noting that Belarusian authorities are increasingly involved in organising the flow of people, many of whom are asylum seekers and refugees,…

Poland: Poland has held the Armed Forces Day parade, its biggest military parade since the Cold War, to showcase the country’s state-of-the-art weaponry as defence takes centre stage ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for October. The parade marked the 103rd anniversary of Poland’s victory over the Soviet Union’s Red Army in the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, during which Polish troops defeated Bolshevik forces advancing on Europe. With the country’s election campaign in full swing, the immense display of military hardware provided a chance for the government to promote its security credentials. “The defence of our eastern border, the border…