Author: News Desk

India: The Indian government has invoked emergency rules in order to stop a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s role in rioting in the western state of Gujarat in 2002. India: The Modi Question, a two-part documentary that followed his ascent through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata party and his nomination as Gujarat’s chief minister, has caused controversy. The BBC also found memos indicating that the British government and western diplomats had criticised Mr. Modi’s conduct at the time. Allegations that Mr. Modi engaged in violence during the Gujarat riots, which broke out when 59 Hindu pilgrims…

United Kingdom: A new study has found that widely used antidepressants can cause “emotional blunting.” According to the study, healthy volunteers became less responsive to positive and negative feedback after taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug for three weeks. The “blunting” of negative emotions could be part of how the drugs help people recover from depression but could also explain a common side effect. According to the National Health Service, more than 8.3 million patients in England received an antidepressant drug in the years 2021–2022. One of the most widely used classes of antidepressants, particularly for persistent or…

Pakistan: After a national grid failure on 23rd January, power was out across Pakistan. According to media sources, power was down in all major cities, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar. The grid experienced a “widespread breakdown” at 7.34 AM, as per the tweet from Pakistan’s Ministry of Energy. The National Grid’s system frequency decreased at 7:34 this morning. The power system experienced a widespread breakdown. The tweet stated that “system maintenance work is progressing quickly.” https://twitter.com/MoWP15/status/1617368399621017601?s=20&t=hUjU4Jk2CuUuNHshGu6ITw Mr. Khurrum Dastagir stated that, “This is not a major crisis,” and some grids in the country had already been restored. “I can assure…

Brazil: Brazil’s new President, Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has accused former President Mr. Jair Bolsonaro’s administration of “committing genocide against the Yanomami people of the Amazon.” Recently, the Ministry of Health declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory, the country’s largest indigenous reservation bordering Venezuela, following reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining. Mr. Lula visited the Amazon state of Roraima to denounce the plight of the Yanomami, whose supposedly protected lands fell into crisis due to government ignorance and the explosion of illegal mining. “More than a humanitarian crisis,…

United States: “Avatar: The Way of Water” showed no signs of giving up its dominance at the box office, earning an estimated $19.7 million in its sixth weekend of release in North America, as per the report. James Cameron directed sci-fi epic easily surpassed the $2 billion milestone globally, setting a record for the pandemic age with total ticket sales of $598 million domestically and $1.42 billion internationally. The Disney/20th Century picture is only the sixth movie to cross the $2 billion mark with the original “Avatar” still the all-time leader by $1.5 billion. Universal’s family-friendly “Puss in Boots: The…

Turkey: Turkey’s President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the country’s next parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14. Mr. Erdogan, who plans to seek re-election, made the announcement during a youth conference in the northwestern Bursa province. Earlier in January 2023, the Turkish President indicated that Ankara might reschedule the general elections from June 18 to an earlier date “in light of seasonal circumstances.” “I thank God that we are destined to share our path with you, our valued youth, who will vote for the first time in the elections that will be held on May 14,” Mr. Erdogan…

Australia: Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon winner, set her sights on eliminating Iga Swiatek as the world’s top player after the Pole was knocked from the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph. With her victory at Rod Laver Arena, Rybakina qualified for the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park for the first time. The player will compete against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia to advance to the final four. Rybakina claimed there were still “many things to improve” on but that if she could maintain her current form she was a match for anyone. “If I perform like I did this week and…

Sweeden: Turkey denounced Sweden following protests in front of its embassy in Stockholm that included the burning of a Quran by far-right sympathisers and a separate rally by Kurdish activists. According to Ankara a visit by Sweden’s defence minister was postponed in order to assuage Turkey’s concerns about joining NATO. Sweden needs Turkey’s support as concerns in Europe increase in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in order to join the military alliance. Mr. Rasmus Paludan, the head of the Danish far-right political group Hard Line, burned the Quran. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Mr. Paludan’s announcement…

United States: The popular mobile game “Pokemon Go” was released seven years ago, and now its developers want to give their new basketball game the same “real-world” appeal. While “Pokemon Go” players were guided by their mobile devices to actual sites where they could find magical creatures to collect, “NBA All-World” players can challenge one another to games on the street. The chief of Niantic, the company that produces both games, Mr. John Hanke, stresses that, like Pokemon, gamers of the NBA game will only need a mobile phone and won’t need to purchase pricey VR headgear or goggles. The…

France: The French President Mr. Emmanuel Macron has announced that the country will increase its military spending by more than one-third in the coming years while unveiling plans to transform the French army to deal with the great “perils” of the 21st century. “The next seven-year budget would increase to $449 billion (€413 billion) from 2024 to 2030, up from $320 billion (€295 billion),” Mr. Macron stated. “As war is changing, France has and will have armies ready for the perils of the century. We need to be one war ahead.” Mr. Macron, added while speaking at the Mont-de-Marsan airbase…