Author: News Desk

United States: The US President Joe Biden has signed a bill, requiring the release of intelligence reports of COVID origin, into law. The law demands the release of a report on potential links between the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Congress passed and sent the bill to Mr. Biden earlier in March 2023. “We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible,” Mr. Biden…

Thailand: According to an announcement in the Royal Gazette, Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has endorsed a decree to dissolve parliament for elections in May 2023. If the house is dissolute, which takes place right away, an election needs to be held 45 to 60 days later. “This is a return of political decision-making power to the people swiftly to continue democratic government with the King as head of state,” cited in the decree published. However a date for the election has not yet been set, Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Wissanu Krea-ngam earlier in the day stated that if the house…

London, UK: The United Nations is set to release a capstone report, a distillation of nearly a decade of published science on the impacts and trajectory of global warming and tools to prevent climate catastrophe. The approximately 30-page “summary for policymakers” from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which condenses 10,500 pages written by more than 1,000 scientists, will issue a grave warning. While diplomats from 195 countries met in Interlaken, Switzerland, to work out the final language, finalised by fatigued and sleep-deprived delegates two days behind schedule, UN chief Mr. Antonio Guterres warned that “we are nearing a point of no…

Taiwan: The former Taiwan President, Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, will visit China, the first visit by a current or former leader since the defeated Nationalist Chinese government fled to the island at the end of the civil war in 1949. The landmark visit has been presented by Mr. Ma and his party, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), as a chance to enhance friendly cross-strait exchanges at a time of extreme disconnection. The visit is also likely to fuel domestic political division between the KMT and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over relations with China. According to Mr. Ma’s office,the trip was…

Egypt: Israeli and Palestinian officials have met in Egypt to discuss steps to lower tensions ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh stressed the need to prevent any disruptive actions at Jerusalem’s holy sites. The joint statement issued following the talks attended by United States, Egyptian, and Jordanian officials further confirmed commitments made at a meeting in Aqaba in February 2023, including an Israeli pledge to stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months. However, Israel recently approved the construction of thousands of new settlement homes,…

United States: Central banks have taken action on a worldwide scale to maintain the flow of credit after a time of uncertainty in the US banking industry and the Credit Suisse merger. The Bank of England was one of six central banks that declared they would increase the flow of US dollars throughout the international financial system. UBS acquired the struggling Credit Suisse in a deal supported by the Swiss government. The coordinated initiative to increase the provision of liquidity was announced by the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank, the…

France: An international study has found that COVID-19 has not affected humankind’s happiness, even though it has claimed 6.7 million lives and led to a global economic slump. The study, conducted on more than 100,000 people across 137 countries, found significantly higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic. On a scale of one to 10, people on average gave scores just as high in the 2020–22 COVID years as in the 2017–19 years. “Things were slightly worse in western countries and slightly better in the rest of the world, but overall, the undoubted pains were…

Egypt: Officials from the Israeli and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are holding negotiations in Egypt despite criticism and demands for a boycott from Palestinian political parties. The one-day conference began in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where officials from Jordan, the US, and Egypt are also present. The negotiations take place before Ramadan, which is about to start, in an effort to keep things “calm” during the Muslim holy month, when tensions between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories frequently rise. The situation has been heated on the ground for more than a year, with…

Turki: According to Turkish President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the United Nations, a pact that had been set to expire 18th March 2023 and permitted the shipping of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea has been extended. Mr. Erdogan stated in a speech that in the western city of Canakkale that the agreement had been reached after discussions with Russia and Ukraine, although he did not say how long the extension had been for. While the Ukrainian ministry of infrastructure claimed that the agreement had been extended for 120 days, Russia said that it had only consented to a…

United States: Former US President Mr. Donald Trump stated that he anticipates being arrested in relation to the lengthy investigation into a hush money plot involving adult film actress Ms. Stormy Daniels. Mr. Trump also urged his fans to protest any such action. The “leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” Trump wrote on social media, referring to himself. He did not, however, elaborate on the circumstances behind his anticipated arrest. After Trump’s post, his staff claimed that it had not heard from the prosecution. Although his lawyer said…