Author: News Desk

New Zealand: The New Zealand Prime Minister Ms. Jacinda Ardern has announced that she has “no more in the tank” to continue leading the country and will step down as Prime Minister no later than early February 2023. Ms. Ardern shared that it had been a tough five and a half years as prime minister, as well as that she was only human and needed to step aside. “This summer, I had hoped to find a way to prepare for not just another year but another term, because that is what this year requires. I have not been able to…

Pakistan: Human rights experts have denounced the abduction, forced marriages, and conversions of girls from Pakistan’s religious minority and urged the government to immediately put an end to such actions. “We are deeply troubled to hear that girls as young as 13 are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to locations far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and coerced to convert to Islam,” the experts noted in a statement. The UN experts called on Pakistan’s government “to take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts.” In response, Pakistan’s federal minister for human…

Australia: Defending champion Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Australian Open following an injury suffered during his 6-4 6-4 7-5 loss to American Mackenzie McDonald. In addition to upsetting the men’s draw, Nadal’s elimination puts a twist in the race for Grand Slam titles. Nine-time winner Novak Djokovic could catch up to Nadal in major titles with a 10th victory at Melbourne Park. At Rod Laver Arena, Nadal appeared to hurt his left hip when running for a backhand late in the second set. After receiving treatment from a trainer, he took an off-court medical timeout with the score 6-4 5-3.…

Taiwan: The Defense Ministry of Taiwan has announced that the country has plans to include women in its reservist training for the first time as the island tries to bolster its forces against threats from China. The Defense Ministry stated that it will allow 220 discharged female soldiers to enrol in the training starting in the second quarter of 2023. According to Major General Yu Wen-cheng, from the ministry’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, the move would be on a trial basis for the year. “We will plan the training capacities according to the number of applicants. The voluntary programs aim…

China: After a three-and-a-half-year delay that cost Disney hundreds of millions in ticket sales, China has removed its de facto restriction on Marvel movies, with superhero movies Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania both securing surprise release dates. The movies will be released in February 2023 after the Chinese New Year, making them the first Marvel movies to be released in the second-largest theatrical market since Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Regulators at the China Film Administration, a division of the Chinese Communist party’s propaganda department, decide whether or not foreign film releases are permitted. To uphold…

Japan: The Pacific island nations have urged Japan to delay the release of water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant over fears that fisheries will be contaminated. Recently, the Japanese government announced that treated wastewater from the Fukushima plant, which was destroyed in an earthquake and a tsunami in 2011, could be released into the sea “around this spring or summer.” Japan had previously approved the future release of more than 1 million tonnes of water from the site into the ocean after treatment in April 2021. According to the Pacific Island Forum, a regional bloc of 17 island…

United States: The US President Mr. Joe Biden and Dutch Prime Minister Mr. Mark Rutte have held a meeting at the White House to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the protection of supply chains, and the upcoming Summit for Democracy, which will be hosted by the two countries along with Costa Rica, South Korea, and Zambia. The meeting included a discussion on Dutch concerns about new US restrictions on exporting chip-making technology to China. “It did come up in their conversation,” White House press secretary Ms. Karine Jean-Pierre commented after the talks. “The two leaders discussed the importance of…

Italy: The legendary Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida passed away at the age of 95, the death was confirmed by her agent, Paola Comin. Together with Sophia Loren, Lollobrigida came to symbolize the earthy sexuality of Italian actresses in the 1950s and 1960s. Lollobrigida began her career as a popular beauty queen and model after completing her schooling as a painter and sculptor. In 1946, she made her film debut in a modest role in the action-packed adventure “The Black Eagle.” Lollobrigida had already made appearances in more than twenty European films when she made her first English-language film, John Huston’s…

Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Open organisers have banned Russian and Belarusian flags from the tennis tournament after a courtside incident. The ban was announced after a complaint from the Ukrainian ambassador to the country. Earlier, spectators were allowed to bring the flags into Melbourne Park on the condition they did not cause “disruption.” But the organisers reversed that decision after fans displayed a Russian flag during a match between Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl and Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova. Ukrainian fans reportedly called security and police to the stands during the incident. A Russian flag was also unfurled at Rod Laver Arena during…

United States: According to recent research, eating one freshwater fish from a river or lake in the United States is the same as drinking one month’s worth of water contaminated with toxic “forever chemicals.” The PFAS, or Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, were created in the 1940s to withstand heat and moisture and are now found in nonstick cookware, clothing, firefighting foams, and food packaging. However, PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are indestructible, which means that over time, the contaminants accumulated in the air, soil, lakes, rivers, food, drinking water, and even human bodies. PFAS have been linked to a number of…