Author: News Desk

United States: Neuroscientists Ms. Tamar Makin and Mr. John Krakauer have argued that previous studies don’t conclusively show the brain’s capacity to rewire itself after a stroke, an amputation, or sudden loss of vision or hearing can functionally reorganize itself. “The idea that our brain has an amazing ability to rewire and reorganize itself is an appealing one. It gives us hope and fascination, especially when we hear extraordinary stories,” remarked Mr. Krakauer from Johns Hopkins University. “This idea goes beyond simple adaptation, or plasticity – it implies a wholesale repurposing of brain regions. But while these stories may well…

China: China has opened an investigation into one of the country’s biggest shadow banks, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group (ZEG), which has lent billions to real estate firms. The group has an asset management arm that reportedly handled more than $139 billion. According to reports, the authorities are investigating “suspected illegal crimes” against the firm. This comes days after reports that ZEG had declared it was insolvent. Last week, the firm told investors in a letter that its liabilities, amounting to $64 billion, have surpassed its assets, currently valued at approximately $38 billion. While authorities stated that they had taken “criminal coercive…

United States: A US official reportedly stated that US President, Mr. Joe Biden, will not be attending the recent UN climate summit in Dubai. This Thursday’s opening of COP28, which could be the largest UN climate summit ever, is expected to draw about 70,000 attendees, including Pope Francis and national leaders. Mr. Biden and Vice President’s, Ms. Kamala Harris, schedules, made public by the White House, indicated that neither would be visiting Dubai this week. In addition to lighting the national Christmas tree, Mr. Biden will be visiting Colorado to promote US investment in wind energy. The US president will…

Italy: Italy has won the Davis Cup title for 2nd time after beating Australia 2-0 in the final. Matteo Arnaldi, the 22-year-old player, won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 against Alexei Popyrin, giving Italy the initial point. Then, less than twenty-four hours after defeating Novak Djokovic twice in a single day, Jannik Sinner once again showed strong determination as he defeated Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 to cap off the finest two weeks of his career. “This is a really important win for me and for the whole team and Italy together, no? We felt the pressure. We had a lot of…

United States: The White House has moved to permanently lift nearly all restrictions on Tel Aviv’s use of US stockpiles of weapons in Israel. The move is aimed at enabling a smoother weapons pipeline to Israel, which has paused weeks of its devastating bombing of the Gaza Strip. The White House asked the United States Senate to scrap the restrictions in its latest supplementary budget request on October 20. If granted, the move would allow Israel to access more high-powered US weapons at a reduced cost with less congressional oversight. The request calls for changes to policies governing the War…

United States: Winter weather alerts have been issued for more than 10 million Americans as a cross-country storm continues to bring snow to some areas of the nation during the popular holiday travel weekend. The National Weather Service reported that eleven states, ranging from Texas to New York, were under winter alerts due to the post-Thanksgiving storm that was currently affecting the central United States. However, the National Weather Service stated that snowfall amounts are predicted to be lower than what has fallen thus far. This storm has already brought heavy snow to the Northern to Central Rockies, including more…

United Kingdom: A new study has found that having a greater amount of ultraprocessed food may increase the chances of developing cancers of the upper digestive tract, including mouth, throat, and esophageal cancer. Researchers noted that people who consumed 10 percent more ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) than others in the study had a 23 percent higher risk of head and neck cancer and a 24 percent higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, a type of cancer that grows in the glands that line the insides of organs. “This study adds to a growing pool of evidence suggesting a link between UPFs and…

Ukraine: The Ukrainian President, Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has stated at an international summit on food security in Kyiv that Ukraine needs more air defences to protect its grain export routes as well as regions bordering Russia. “There is a deficit of air defence – that is no secret,” Mr. Zelenskyy told the Grain from Ukraine summit, which was attended by senior officials from European countries, including Mr. Alain Berset, Swiss President, and Ms. Ingrida Simonyte, Lithuanian Prime Minister. Mr. Zelenskyy was speaking following Russia’s largest drone attack of the war, which saw 75 drones attack Ukraine over the course of…

Italy: Tens of thousands of people have protested across Italy, demanding an end to violence against women. The protests took place amid surging public anger over the murder of Ms. Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old biomedical engineering student who had been due to graduate from the University of Padua last week. Ms. Cecchettin was allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Filippo Turetta, days before she was due to graduate. Large crowds participated in protests across Milan and Naples, and there was gridlock in the centre of the capital, Rome. Italy’s President, Mr. Sergio Mattarella, stated that the murder of women could…

Palestine: Hamas has released 13 Israeli captives and four Thai nationals to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the second day of the Israel Hamas truce. The release came after a delay of seven hours as the Palestinian militant group claimed that Israel had violated the terms of a truce. The dispute was resolved following mediation by Qatar and Egypt. Israel is now expected to release 39 Palestinian prisoners from its jails. Mr. Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on X that “13 Israelis and four foreign nationals had been…