Author: News Desk

Qatar: Concern over fighting near a disputed town in Somalia’s northern breakaway region of Somaliland, where at least 34 people were killed in hostilities, has been raised by Qatar, Somalia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Since the end of last year, tensions have increased in Lascanood between Somaliland and the local clan troops, and fierce violence has broken out all around the town, which sits on a major commerce route. “The partners expressed concern about the ongoing conflict in and around Lascanood and called on all parties to adhere to the ceasefire, de-escalate,…

China: The Chinese foreign ministry has stated that US government bans on Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok reveal Washington’s own insecurities and are an abuse of state power. “The US government has been stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress other countries’ companies. We firmly oppose those wrong actions. The US government should respect market economy and fair competition principles, stop suppressing companies, and provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the US,” Ms. Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese government, commented. “How unsure of itself can the world’s top…

Canada: TikTok will no longer be accessible on any devices provided by the Canadian government. The app “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security,” a government spokesperson declared in a statement following a review by Canada’s top information officer. A representative for TikTok expressed the company’s disappointment with the choice. It was announced just a few days after the European Commission did. The modification was necessary, according to Prime Minister Mr. Justin Trudeau, because of the level of security concerns around the app. TikTok has drawn flak for its usage of user data and connections to the…

Hong Kong, China: Hongkongers will finally be able to leave the house without a face mask starting after almost a thousand days since the pandemic mandate was put in place. The government declared that face coverings are no longer necessary indoors, outdoors, or on public transit, eliminating a rule that has been abandoned worldwide as people learn to coexist with the coronavirus. One of the last places on Earth to mandate mask use outside was Hong Kong, where offenders faced steep fines. The government’s attempt to attract visitors and foreign talent home to rebuild the recession-hit economy coincides with the…

Paris: Following Argentina’s World Cup triumph, Lionel Messi was named The Best FIFA Men’s Player for 2022. Alexia Putellas of Spain was named The Best FIFA Women’s Player for 2022 at a ceremony in Paris. Kylian Mbappe, a teammate of Messi’s at Paris Saint-Germain and a rival of his in the World Cup final, finished second to Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema in the race for the men’s award. It marks Messi’s second time winning the award, which FIFA instituted in 2016 following their separation from Ballon d’Or organisers France Football. The award honours the year in which the former…

United States: The United States government has announced measures to prevent child labour in the country amid a surge in violations and news reports stating the illegal employment of minors belonging to refugees and migrants in dangerous industries. The officials remarked that the Department of Labor had found a nearly 70 percent increase in child labour violations since 2018, with 835 companies found to have violated child labour laws in the last fiscal year alone. The statement added that US President Joe Biden’s administration is investigating the employment of children at companies, including Hearthside Food Solutions and suppliers to Hyundai…

North Korea: North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong Un convened a crucial party conference to talk about agricultural growth in response to reports of “grave” food shortages in the impoverished nation. These meetings typically only take place once or twice a year, but the plenary is held barely two months after the previous one, which also had an agricultural theme. There have been growing rumours that North Korea may currently be experiencing severe food shortages due to the discussions on agriculture’s unusually high frequency. In order to “analyse and review… the programme for the rural revolution in the new era,…

United States: Mr. Elon Musk has accused the media of being racist towards white and Asian people in the wake of criticism against a well-known cartoonist who made sexist remarks about Black people. Mr. Musk, the CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX, made the remarks after several US newspapers stopped running the “Dilbert” comic strip after its writer Scott Adams made anti-Black remarks. “For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians, same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist.”…

United States: Everything Everywhere All at Once has dominated the Screen Actors Guild awards, winning four major awards and breaking the record for most wins for a single film. With four wins, Everything Everywhere All at Once has broken the record for most SAG awards won by a single film ever since the awards began in 1995, passing four films, which won three awards. The multiverse fantasy film with the story plot of a Chinese-American family undergoing a tax audit who end up fighting a universe-hopping supervillain won best actress for Ms. Michelle Yeoh, best supporting actor for Mr. Ke…

China: A new report has stated that China has approved the construction of another 106 gigawatts of coal-fired power capacity in 2022, which is four times higher than 2021 and the highest since 2015. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM), over the year, 50 GW of coal power capacity went into construction across the country, up by more than half compared with the previous year, driven by energy security considerations. “The speed at which projects progressed through permitting to construction in 2022 was extraordinary, with many projects sprouting up,…