Author: News Desk

Chile: Chilean legislators have passed a bill reducing the country’s work week from 45 to 40 hours as part of improving the quality of life and rights of workers in the South American nation. The bill was passed by the lower house of Chile’s Congress by a margin of 127 to 14 after being anonymously approved by the Senate several weeks ago. Chile’s left-wing President Gabriel Boric, who is expected to sign the bill into law, described it as a “pro-family project that aims at the good living of all.” Labor Minister Ms. Jeannette Jara commented that “this is a…

South Africa: A new study has found that the swimming pools, well-watered gardens, and clean cars of the rich are driving water crises in cities at least as much as the climate emergency or population growth. According to the researchers, the vast difference in water use between rich and poor citizens had been largely overlooked in seeking solutions to water shortages, with the focus instead on attempts to increase supply and higher prices for water. The researchers suggest that the only way to protect water supplies is by redistributing water resources more equally. The study used Cape Town, South Africa,…

Philippines: The United States and the Philippines have launched their largest-ever military drills, which will include a live-fire exercise on a sunken ship in the South China Sea. More than 17,000 soldiers are taking part in the annual event, known as Balikatan, including about 12,200 American troops, 5,400 members of the Philippines Armed Forces (AFP), and representatives from other countries, including Australia. Balikatan means ‘shoulder to shoulder’ in Tagalog. The drills are scheduled to end on April 28. “The Balikatan Exercise enhances both the AFP and the United States Armed Forces’ tactics, techniques, and procedures across a wide range of…

United States: A new report has stated that the recent leak of more than a hundred secret US defence documents could just be the “tip of the iceberg” of a trove of material that had started circulating long before it was widely noticed. According to analysts, the disclosure of highly classified material represents Washington’s worst national security breach in many years, including details about Ukraine’s lack of ammunition, US intelligence collection methods used against Russia, and embarrassing evidence pointing to US spying on close allies such as Ukraine, South Korea, and Israel. Analysts further suggest that the damage to the…

United States: Mr. Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has announced on Twitter that his company would build a factory in Shanghai with the aim to assemble 10,000 giant batteries annually for electric producers and distributors. The batteries, which Tesla calls Megapacks, are designed to store large amounts of electricity. According to Tesla, a single Megapack can power 3,600 homes for one hour. The batteries, which are roughly the length and height of an international shipping container, can discharge the electricity to run factories or homes when demand from the local power grid is high or during a blackout.…

Japan: Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has won key local elections in the first big electoral test for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The electoral win was considered significant to the LDP after damaging revelations emerged about the party’s ties to the Unification Church. LDP candidates triumphed in governor elections in prefectures from Hokkaido in the country’s north to Oita in the south-west. The elections further witnessed Nippon Ishin no Kai (the Japan Innovation Party) extend its influence outside its home turf of Osaka as the rightwing populists tried to establish themselves as a national political force. The LDP has…

Ukraine: Ukrainian President Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned Russian air strikes that were held during the Orthodox Church’s observance of Palm Sunday, including an attack that killed a 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter. “This is how the terrorist state marks Palm Sunday. This is how Russia places itself in even greater isolation from the world,” the Ukrainian President stated in his nightly video address. According to the Ukrainian emergency services, the man and his daughter were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. A woman who seemed like the wife and mother…

India: A latest census report released by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has found that the country’s tiger population reached 3,167 in 2022. According to the new census data, from 2006 to 2018, the tiger numbers almost doubled to 2,967 and are now above 3,000 in the nation that is home to 70 percent of the world’s tigers. “This is a success not only for India but for the entire world. India is a country where protecting nature is part of our culture,” Mr. Modi stated at a meeting in Mysuru, in the southern state of Karnataka, where he released…

United States: A new report from the US government has stated that the temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high since satellite records began, leading to marine heatwaves around the globe. According to the climate scientists, preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed the average temperature at the ocean’s surface has been at 21.1 C since the start of April, beating the previous high of 21 C set in 2016. “The current trajectory looks like it’s headed off the charts, smashing previous records,” Prof. Matthew England, a climate scientist at the University…

China: China has launched military drills around Taiwan, which it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government after a meeting between the country’s president and the US House speaker. The move has led to condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely.” “China will send planes, ships, and personnel into the maritime areas and airspace of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east,” Mr. Shi Yin, a People’s Liberation Army spokesperson, stated. Taiwan’s President Ms. Tsai Ing-wen denounced the…