Author: News Desk

Japan: NATO Secretary-General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg says the Western military alliance will strengthen its partnership with Japan, adding that “our security is closely interconnected” as Russia’s war on Ukraine raises global threats. Mr. Stoltenberg arrived in Tokyo from South Korea, where he urged Seoul to increase its military support for Ukraine. Mr. Stoltenberg stated that his trip was intended to strengthen relations between NATO and “our highly valued partner” Japan. “The war in Ukraine also demonstrates that our security is closely interconnected,” Mr. Stoltenberg noted during a visit to the Iruma Air Base north of Tokyo. “If President [Vladimir] Putin…

United Kingdom: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the UK economy will shrink and perform worse than other advanced economies as the cost of living continues to hit households. The report stated that the country’s economy will contract by 0.6 percent in 2023, worse than it had been pencilled in just three months ago. In its World Economic Outlook update, the IMF, which works to stabilise economic growth, noted that the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would shrink rather than grow by 0.3 percent in 2023. Mr. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s economic counsellor, remarked that 2023 would be…

United States: According to a statement from the White House the national and public health crises proclaimed as the COVID-19 epidemic spread three years ago will formally end on 11th May 2022. Funds used to support COVID medicines, medical insurance, and other sorts of government aid related to the pandemic will cease to exist with the termination of both federal emergency declarations, which went into effect in January 2020 under the administration of then-President Donald Trump. In practice, Congress’ opposition has already caused a portion of these government assistance programs to stop operating. Republicans, who now control of the House of Representatives,…

Myanmar: The Myanmar military has been invited to take part in the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts’ Working Group on Maritime Security, co-chaired by Thailand and the United States. The five-day regional meeting is due to start on February 20, 2023, and will include “tabletop” exercises. The Myanmar military has been accused of ethnic cleansing against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority. The armed forces launched a military operation in 2017 that forced at least 730,000 of the mainly Muslim Rohingya from their homes and into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they recounted killings, mass rape, and arson. In 2021, Myanmar’s…

Delhi, India: Shares of the majority of Adani Group firms saw steep declines for a third straight trading session as the conglomerate worked to refute allegations made in a report by short-seller firm Hindenburg that it had engaged in stock manipulation and an “accounting fraud scheme.” After the company published a lengthy response to Hindenburg’s report over the weekend that spanned more than 400 pages and stated that it would exercise its right to “pursue remedies” to protect its investors “before all appropriate authorities,” Adani Enterprises erased earlier gains of up to 10 percent and last traded flat in Mumbai’s…

United States: Ms. Lisa Loring, the American actress who played Wednesday Addams on the classic TV adaptation of The Addams Family, has died at age 64. Ms. Loring is best known for her role as Wednesday on ABC’s black comedy The Addams Family, which she took on in 1964. Although Ms. Loring only played Wednesday for two years, she established the standard for live-action portrayals of the character. The actress was recently praised as an inspiration for Jenna Ortega’s interpretation on the hit Netflix series Wednesday. Ms. Loring’s personal friend, Ms. Laurie Jacobson, shared on Facebook that “Loring had suffered…

Australia: The mining giant Rio Tinto has offered an apology that has caused a radiation notice in some regions of Western Australia as the search for a tiny radioactive capsule that vanished while being transported to a storage facility in Perth continues. The small, silver-coloured capsule, measuring just 6 millimetres (0.24 inches) in width and 8 millimetres (0.31 inches) in length, was lost during transport from Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri mine near Newman, in the isolated Kimberley region, to a storage facility located about 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) away in Perth. The tiny capsule, which contains Caesium-137, a radioactive isotope that…

Peru: The Peruvian President Ms. Dina Boluarte has made a renewed appeal for Congress to hold early elections to end weeks of violent protests. Ms. Boluarte warned that if elections did not happen, she would seek constitutional reform to make a vote happen. Since December 2022, when former president Mr. Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, the South American country has been in the grip of a political crisis, with nearly daily protests. According to the Peruvian Ombudsman’s Office, over the course of seven weeks of demonstrations, 48 people have been killed in…

Australia: Novak Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece to win his 22nd Grand Slam at Rod Laver Arena in a thrilling match. The Serbian tennis legend was overtaken with emotion when he won his 10th Australian Open, a year after being sensationally banned from Australia. However, a small detail on Djokovic’s jacket immediately following the triumph sent tennis fans online into a frenzy. Djokovic, who is widely regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time, unveiled a white zip-up Lacoste jacket that already bore the number “22” on it for his trophy ceremony. The jacket, which was…

Turkey: The Turkish President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that Ankara could accept Finland into NATO but not Sweden. The Turkish President criticised Sweden’s refusal to extradite dozens of people allegedly tied to Kurdish militant groups and other critics of his government. “We may deliver Finland a different message on their NATO application, and Sweden would be shocked when they see our message. But Finland should not make the same mistake Sweden did,” Mr. Erdogan stated in a speech. “If you absolutely want to join NATO, you will return these terrorists to us,” the President remarked. In his speech,…