Author: News Desk

United States: 21 people have died there as the US struggles with a winter storm that has seen temperatures drop as low as -45C. More than 200 million people – around 60 percent of the US population are under some form of weather warning or advisory, with the brutal cold expected to continue through the Christmas weekend. The Kansas Highway Patrol stated that three people died in separate car accidents as a result of drivers losing control of their vehicles on icy roads. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in inland states have plunged, the Des Moines, Iowa, feeling like it…

China: The National Health Commission (NHC) of China has announced that the country will no longer publish daily figures for COVID-19 cases and deaths, ending a practice that began in early 2020. The country’s top health authority stated that “relevant outbreak information” will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], a sub-department managed by the NHC. The NHC did not explain the reason for its decision to stop releasing daily COVID data. From today, we will no longer publish daily information on the epidemic. The CDC will publish information about the outbreak for reference and…

Russia: Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin stated that he was ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine but that Kyiv and its Western backers had refused to cooperate. The most lethal conflict in Europe since World War II and the largest standoff between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were both triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022. The war still has a ways to go until it is over. While Kiev claims it won’t stop until every Russian soldier is gone from all of its land, including…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government ordered all domestic and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) to prohibit female employees from coming to work in the latest restriction on women’s rights. The letter, confirmed by economy ministry spokesperson Mr. Abdulrahman Habib, stated that the female employees were not allowed to work until further notice because some had not adhered to the administration’s interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women. The Taliban-led government had imposed a ban on women attending universities, drawing widespread international condemnation as well as domestic protests and harsh criticism days after. The Taliban and representatives of the civic society were…

Kurdish: New conflicts between police and Kurdish community members erupted in Paris as a result of the killing of three of their community members on 23rd December 2022. Several cars were overturned and small fires set alight near Republic Square, the traditional venue for demonstrations in the city where Kurds earlier held a peaceful protest, as per the reports. Conflict broke out as some protesters exited the square. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. In a busy area of Paris’ 10th district, a gunman shot and killed two people at a Kurdish cultural centre and a neighbouring cafe shocking…

United  States: The United States House of Representatives has passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown. The spending bill survived a Republican-led motion to postpone, passing 225 to 201 along party lines.  The bill will be sent to President Mr. Joe Biden to be signed into law. The massive spending bill for fiscal year 2023 includes $772.5 billion for non-defense, domestic programs and $858 billion in defense funding. The bill provides roughly $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies and roughly $40 billion to respond to natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires and…

North Carolina: A new scientific study has discovered the reason behind the transparent nature of glass frogs. According to the research published in the scientific journal Science, the frog is able to pool blood in its body without being negatively affected by clots. “When they are transparent, it’s for their safety. When they are awake, they can actively evade predators, but when they’re sleeping and most vulnerable, they have adapted to remain hidden,” Mr. Junjie Yao, a Duke University biomedical engineer and study co-author, stated. “Because they have transparent skin and other tissues, it’s the blood circulating through their bodies…

Canada: According to Canadian government reports, the polar bear population in the country’s western Hudson Bay has fallen by 27 percent in just five years. The report estimates that 618 animals lived in the area in 2021, which is down from 842 in 2016. The new estimate is roughly a 50 percent drop from the 1980s. “The observed declines are consistent with long-standing predictions regarding the demographic effects of climate change on polar bears,” the Canadian government report stated. Mr. John Whiteman, chief research scientist at conservation nonprofit Polar Bears International, expressed that the report is really “shocking” and added…

India: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to start wearing masks again as the country increases surveillance due to the global rise of COVID cases. Mr. Modi held a meeting to review the COVID situation and other related aspects in the country amid a new variant scare. “COVID is not over yet,” Prime Minister stated, calling for more testing and a return to COVID-appropriate behavior. The Indian states are becoming more cautious as mask rules are brought back in crowded places. Earlier, India relaxed its COVID rules, including mask-wearing, after a fall in infection levels. According to Union…

Russia: The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, is preparing a “rescue” plan to return three crew members from the International Space Station (ISS) earlier than expected after their Soyuz capsule suffered a coolant leak. Representatives from Roscosmos and NASA cited they were still looking into how the coolant line of the spacecraft’s external radiator developed a minor hole last week, just as two cosmonauts were getting ready for a routine spacewalk. The exact method by which the three Russian crew members will return to Earth is still unknown. Options include launching another empty Soyuz to rescue them or, perhaps less likely,…