Author: News Desk

Thailand: According to officials, this week’s air pollution in Thailand caused nearly 200,000 hospital admissions, with Bangkok blanketed in a dangerous haze. The Thai city, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and home to an estimated 11 million people, has been covered for days by an ugly yellow-grey mixture of exhaust from vehicles, industrial pollution, and smoke from burning agricultural land. The public health ministry stated that, air pollution had caused more than 1.3 million illnesses in the country since the beginning of the year, with roughly 200,000 people being admitted to hospitals this week alone.…

Georgia: The ruling party of Georgia has announced that it is withdrawing a draft law from parliament that has been criticised as potentially stifling media freedom and civil society after days of protests against it in the capital. The Georgian Dream Party noted in a statement that it would “unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations.” The statement cited the importance of reducing “confrontation” in society. The bill would have required Georgian organisations receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents” or face fines. Earlier, Georgian Dream stated that the law…

Ukraine: The Ukrainian President Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres have called for the extension of a vital deal allowing Russian and Ukrainian wheat and fertilisers to be exported through the Black Sea, amidst reports that Moscow does not intend to renew its participation. The UN-backed deal was signed by Ukraine and Russia for an initial 120 days in July 2022, allowing the export of millions of tonnes of grain from blockaded Black Sea ports, an agreement that was meant to tackle the threat of a global food crisis. A subsequent extension in November to…

United Kingdom: A new study has found that COVID-19 may not have as great an impact on the mental health of most people as earlier research has indicated. According to a review of 137 studies from around the world led by researchers at McGill University in Canada and published in the British Medical Journal, the pandemic resulted in “minimal” changes in mental health symptoms among the general population. Mr. Brett Thombs, a psychiatry professor at McGill University and senior author, remarked that some of the public narrative around COVID-19’s impacts on mental health was based on “poor-quality studies and anecdotes,”…

United States: Adidas has raised concerns about a potentially significant impact on its profitability After severing its collaboration with musician and fashion designer Mr. Kanye West in November 2022. The company could lose hundreds of millions of dollars this year if its stock of Yeezy sneakers is not sold, according to the new leader of the company. The sportswear giant cut ties with Mr. West, known as Ye after he posted anti-Semitic comments on social media. The company has issued a profit warning four times since July 2022 with this announcement. “The numbers speak for themselves. We are currently not…

Australia: The prime minister of Australia announced that he would soon meet with President Mr. Joe Biden in the United States. They plan to announce a contract for nuclear submarines that will be used to fend off China’s rising assertiveness in the Pacific. After 18 months of discussions, Australia is anticipated to announce plans to purchase eight nuclear-powered submarines, which would represent “the single biggest leap” in defence capability in Australia’s history, according to Prime Minister Mr. Anthony Albanese. The agreement is a component of the newly formed AUKUS regional security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United…

Fiji: The former Prime Minister of Fiji, Mr. Frank Bainimarama, has resigned from the country’s parliament after he was suspended for sedition and insulting the president. Mr. Bainimarama posted on the FijiFirst party’s Facebook page that he was tendering his resignation “with immediate effect,” but had no intention of resigning from politics. The 68-year-old had led Fiji since taking power in 2006 and was replaced as prime minister following a closely contested general election last December. Parliament suspended Mr. Bainimarama in February 2023 until 2026 following a speech in which he criticised his successor, Mr. Sitiveni Rabuka, and President Mr.…

Japan: In statements made in honour of International Women’s Day, Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Fumio Kishida vowed to “Work even harder” to address gender inequality, including one of the biggest gender wage discrepancies in the world. Mr. Kishida stated that Japan needed to eliminate the pay gap, appoint more female executives, and stop the tendency of women taking on lower-paying contract job after giving birth. “We will press forward with reviewing parts of our tax system that deter women from entering the workforce, and introduce systems in which it is easier than ever for both men and women to take…

United States: The United States administration has supported the recently filed lawsuit against Texas’s abortion ban, led by five women who were denied reproductive healthcare in the state. The country’s Vice President Ms. Kamala Harris issued a statement calling the women’s stories “devastating”. “As the President and I have long made clear, taking away the right of women to make their own reproductive health care decisions endangers women’s health, with potentially life-threatening consequences,” Ms. Harris remarked. The recently filed lawsuit calls for an injunction against Texas’s abortion ban due to its “uncertainty” in the law’s language. Currently, under Senate Bill 8…

Turkey: A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) official has stated that the damage caused by the February 2023 devastating earthquakes in Turkey will exceed $100 billion. “It’s clear from the calculations being done to date that the damage figure presented by the government and supported by international partners would be in excess of $100 billion,” the UNDP official Ms. Louisa Vinton shared from Gaziantep, a Turkish city that suffered severe damage in the quakes. According to Ms. Vinton, the provisional damage figure covers only Turkey and is being used as a basis for a donor conference on March 16, 2023,…