Author: News Desk

Israel: Internet and phone services have been restored in Gaza after a communication blackout, which humanitarian organizations had cautioned might be exploited to conceal war crimes. Paltel Group, the provider of communication services in Gaza, announced that landline, mobile, and internet services were slowly coming back online after disruptions caused by ongoing aggression. “Our technical teams are diligently addressing the damage to the internal network infrastructure under challenging conditions. May God protect you all and our Country,” the telecom said in a statement. Gaza experienced an almost complete communication blackout lasting nearly 36 hours, which resulted from Israeli air attacks…

China: Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has fired an associate professor who researched the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Ms. Rowena He has been fired from her university position after the city’s immigration authorities declined to extend her visa. Ms. He has previously received outstanding teaching awards in 2020 and 2021. Ms. He is also the author of the well-received 2014 book Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China, and has published numerous articles in Chinese and English on China’s democracy movement and its aftermath. CUHK stated that Ms. He had been let go when she failed…

United States: A news study has found that female chimpanzees live for a lengthy period after menopause. “Menopause ends reproduction around the age of 50 in both humans and wild chimpanzees,” the researchers report, adding they found it was not unusual for chimpanzees, like humans, to live longer. In the study published in the journal Science, researchers noted how they studied 185 females in the Ngogo community of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda, from 1995 to 2016. The research team found the probability of giving birth fell after chimpanzees reached 30 years old, and no births occurred in animals…

United States: US President Mr. Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping in November 2023 after China’s top diplomat’s visit to the White House. According to reports, the two leaders will meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November, a gathering of world and business leaders. A recent readout from China’s Foreign Minister Mr. Wang Yi and US National Security Adviser Mr. Jake Sullivan noted that the two sides were “working together towards a meeting.” The last meeting between Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden was at the G20 summit in Bali…

Taiwan: A new report has stated that Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election will be a ‘window of opportunity’ to restart discussions between Taipei and Beijing, with the aim of reducing tensions and lowering the risk of conflict. The report by the International Crisis Group noted that a war over Taiwan is not inevitable, but “the current trajectory is dangerous.” Taiwan is now functioning as the greatest potential flashpoint for conflict between China and the US, Taiwan’s strongest supporter. Beijing claims Taiwan to be a Chinese province and has insisted it will be “reunified.” Taiwan’s government, led by the Democratic Progress Party’s…

Malaysia: Malaysia’s royal family has selected a prominent sultan from Johor in the south as the nation’s next king. While largely ceremonial, the role involves significant duties such as appointing the prime minister and serving as the head of Islam in the Muslim-majority country, as well as being the commander-in-chief of its armed forces. Malaysia follows a constitutional monarchy system with a distinctive practice where the throne rotates every five years among the rulers of the nine Malaysian states, each led by longstanding Islamic royalty. Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar was designated as the 17th king of Malaysia following a meeting…

United States: A new study has stated that pigeons’s way of problem-solving matches artificial intelligence (AI). It has previously been found that pigeons are highly intelligent animals that can remember faces, see the world in vivid colours, navigate complex routes, deliver news, and even save lives. In the new study, 24 pigeons were given a variety of visual tasks, some of which they learned to categorise in days and others in weeks. The researchers noted that the mechanism through which pigeons make correct choices is similar to the method that AI models use to make the right predictions. “Pigeon behaviour…

United States: The Pentagon has announced that the US carried out airstrikes on two facilities in Syria that were being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran-backed groups. This action followed a series of attacks against US forces in both Iraq and Syria. These airstrikes occurred in response to the commitment of President Mr. Joe Biden’s administration to retaliate against attacks on US personnel that have been attributed to armed groups supported by Iran. “The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against US…

Brussels: European Union leaders have demanded humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Gaza war. During an EU summit in Brussels, the leaders issued a declaration calling for an end to the fighting and giving much-needed aid to Gaza. “The European Council expresses its gravest concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and calls for continued, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures, including humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs,” the declaration shared. The declaration was issued as the Middle East countries severely criticised Israel’s air raids and a “complete siege”…

Israel: Israeli forces, including troops and tanks, conducted a significant overnight ground operation in Gaza, with a full-scale ground invasion widely anticipated following nearly three weeks of intense air raids on the besieged Palestinian territory. A video released by the Israeli army showed an overnight operation, featuring armoured vehicles moving through a sandy border area. In the footage, bulldozer levels a raised bank, tanks fire shells, and explosions can be observed near or within a line of damaged buildings. Israel has conducted a series of small-scale advances into the Gaza Strip during the last two and a half weeks. However,…