Author: News Desk

London: A fire that broke out in the west wing of Somerset House yesterday afternoon has led to the indefinite closure of the historic arts venue in central London. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) responded swiftly, deploying 125 firefighters to tackle the blaze. After hours of effort, they managed to contain the fire, with thick smoke billowing over the River Thames and Waterloo Bridge as the situation was brought under control. Fortunately, no injuries were reported, and it was confirmed that no artworks were stored in the affected area. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Somerset House,…

Western Turkey has evacuated over 4,000 residents triggered by a forest fire in its coastal province of Izmir, fanned by strong winds and hottest July. Helicopters and water bombers were brought in to put out the fire, dry, hot, and windy weather conditions caused a dangerous series of fires. More than 1,000 firefighters were battling the blaze. According to Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, 900 residents from five affected neighborhoods were evacuated overnight in Izmir, the country’s third-largest city. Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) reported that 1,430 people were evacuated from Izmir, 1,475 from Manisa, 516 from Bolu, and…

Portsmouth (UK): The UK has launched its first dedicated Earth-imaging satellite, named Tyche, marking a significant step in its space defense capabilities. The satellite, approximately the size of a washing machine, is designed to provide the British military with crucial surveillance and reconnaissance data. Tyche is expected to orbit the Earth at an altitude of around 500km for at least five years. Enhancing UK’s Space Capabilities Tyche is a demonstration satellite that is part of a broader strategy to establish a network of military satellites equipped with various sensors. These future satellites will enhance the UK’s ability to monitor battlefield…

UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer has called for renewed vigilance and responsible sourcing of livestock, in the wake of the rising number of bluetongue cases in Europe. The latest outbreak assessment from the Animal and Plant Health Agency confirms the growing number of cases of Bluetongue virus (BTV-3) in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, with over 4,000 recorded new cases reported since May 2024. The first-ever cases of BTV-3 have also been confirmed in France, Luxembourg and Denmark, while the virus strain has successfully overwintered in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. While the overall risk level for an incursion of BTV-3 into Great…

Thailand’s parliament has voted for Paetongtarn Shinawatra to be the country’s next prime minister, two days after Thailand’s Constitutional Court removed former premier Srettha Thavisin from office over ethics violation. The daughter of billionaire tycoon and former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn, 37, will be Thailand’s second female prime minister, after her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, and the youngest to hold the position. Paetongtarn won 319 votes in the House of Representatives to become the 31st Prime Minister of Thailand, after being nominated as the sole candidate by her Pheu Thai party’s ruling coalition to replace Srettha. Paetongtarn Shinawatra still needs to…

Sweden has reported its first case of mpox, the Scandinavian nation’s public health agency reported. A person who sought care at Region Stockholm has been diagnosed with mpox caused by the clade I variant. It is the first case caused by clade I to be diagnosed outside the African continent. In this case, a person has been infected during a stay in the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox clade I. The person in Sweden who has been confirmed to be infected has received care and rules of conduct, said Magnus Gisslén, state epidemiologist at the…

North Korea will reopen one city to foreign tourists in December after nearly five years of border closures due to the Covid pandemic, according to tour operators. Two China-based Shenyang’s KTG Tours and Beijing’s Koryo Tour operators have announced that tourists will soon be allowed to visit the mountainous northern city of Samjiyon. When the pandemic first began in early 2020, North Korea sealed itself off and didn’t ease sanctions until the middle of the previous year. According to BBC reports, the border closures also cut off imports of essential goods, leading to food shortages that were made worse by international sanctions because…

Russia and Ukraine have been accusing each other of a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russian forces had purposefully started the fire to blackmail Kyiv, while Russian-installed officials in the region blamed Ukrainian shelling. Both parties affirmed that there was no radiation surge or immediate nuclear threat, amid the tensions. The incident happened when the conflict was intensifying and coincided with Ukraine’s major military advances into Russian territory. Zelensky stressed that Russian forces had started a fire at the plant, which has been occupied by Moscow’s forces for more than two years. The…

Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest known seagrass in Finland, using a new method to determine the age of aquatic plants that put it at 1,403 years old. By measuring the number of genetic mutations occurring over time in seagrass, which reproduces by cloning itself over and over again, the scientists were able to determine the age of the original ancestor plant with groundbreaking precision. “This is the first really reliable clone age estimate,” study co-author Thorsten Reusch told AFP. Researchers used the new method, dubbed a “genetic clock,” at 20 sites across the world and found that a lush…

Arizona: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Arizona on Friday, aiming to challenge Republican Donald Trump in key Western states. Meanwhile, Trump rallied in Montana to support a Republican Senate candidate. Harris, recently named Democratic presidential candidate, is on a weeklong tour across seven states that could decide the November 5 election. In Phoenix, she addressed volunteers and voters, winning the endorsement of LULAC Adelante, a political action committee of the oldest Latino civil rights group in the U.S. During her Glendale rally, attended by over 15,000 people, Harris addressed pro-Palestinian demonstrators critical of her stance on Israel’s conflict…