Boris Johnson has written an open letter to Ukraine’s youngsters, praising them as role models for young children and adults everywhere and telling them that “we in the UK will hardly ever neglect you.” He writes, “In any other year, children like you might be flowing out of your houses and faculties to play with … Read more
Sydney: Before departing for a Quad meeting in Japan with US President Joe Biden and leaders of Japan and India, Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated the country’s relationship with China will remain “tough.” “China has changed, not Australia, and Australia should always stand up for our values, and we will in a government … Read more
Davos: The Covid pandemic has created a new billionaire every 30 hours, and now one million people may slip into extreme poverty at the same rate, according to Oxfam on the day of the return of the Davos summit. As the global elite gathered in the Swiss mountain refuge for the World Economic Forum after … Read more
Ukraine’s parliament prohibited the insignia “Z” and “V” used by Russia’s military to advertise its war in Ukraine on Sunday, but agreed to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request that they be allowed to be used for educational or historical purposes. An opposition member, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, reported the decision on the Telegram messaging app, stating 313 deputies … Read more
According to a survey conducted by the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee, nearly 61 percent of Taiwanese feel that same-sex marriage (couple) have the right to marry, up from 37.4 percent in 2018 before the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 went into effect. The “same-sex marriage act” went into effect on … Read more
The general public will be able to use a positive quick test result certified by a clinician for COVID-19 diagnosis as early as later this week, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), which recorded 79,441 new local infections and 53 deaths yesterday. The center said on Saturday that it would begin expanding its … Read more
Members of 60 civic organisations published a statement on Friday demanding that a pro-unification group linked to a church shooting in California last week be designated a terrorist organisation. A man linked to the Las Vegas branch of the China-based Chinese for Peaceful Unification — a group advocating for the unification of Taiwan and China … Read more
In what remains of Mariupol, Ukraine’s once-thriving port city, burned building carcasses stand amid lush greenery. Russian airstrike destroys Mariupol After weeks of siege and strikes, much of the city on the Sea of Azov’s coast has been left to ruins. Passers-by wept as the remaining Ukrainian troops in the town surrendered to the Russians … Read more
Female broadcasters on Afghanistan’s biggest news channels went on air yesterday with their faces covered, defying a Taliban directive to hide their appearance on television. Since gaining power last year, the Taliban have imposed a host of restrictions on civil society, many of which are aimed at limiting the rights of women and girls in … Read more
Shanghai reopened a tiny portion of the world’s longest subway system Tuesday after several lines had been shuttered for nearly two months, paving the way for a more full lifting of the city’s excruciating COVID-19 lockdown next week. With most inhabitants barred from leaving their homes and restrictions tightening in portions of China’s most populous … Read more
As a mass of hot, dry air rushes in from Africa, bringing dusty sky and temperatures of more than 40°C, parts of Spain are experiencing their hottest May on record. The Spanish weather service, Aemet, has predicted a weekend heatwave of “extraordinary intensity,” with temperatures ranging between 10°C and 15°C above the monthly average and … Read more
Nigeria, Onitsha: Police in Nigeria announced on Sunday that they had found the severed head of a state legislator who went missing last week in the southern state of Anambra, where the government accuses separatists of carrying out a wave of killings and kidnappings. The banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group has been leading … Read more
Canberra: Australia’s new center-left government Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took office on Monday, only hours before travelling to Tokyo for an international conference. Albanese, who believes Australia is eager to work with the rest of the world on climate change, will attend the Quad meeting on Tuesday with leaders from the United States, Japan, and … Read more
Netflix, the US streaming service, has agreed to settle a tax dispute with Italy, according to the company and legal sources on Friday. Prosecutors in Milan published a statement claiming they had reached an agreement with a worldwide video-on-demand streaming provider for the period October 2015 to 2019 and ordered it to pay EUR 55.8 … Read more
As the two met in Brazil on Friday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro termed Elon Musk’s potential purchase of Twitter a “breath of hope,” adding that he hoped the US billionaire would help erase the “lies” about his much criticised care of the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro and Musk, CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and rocket business … Read more
Thousands of COVID-19-negative individuals Due to a number of infections, Beijing citizens were forcibly transferred to quarantine hotels overnight, as the Chinese capital prepares to take increasingly stringent control measures matching virus-hit Shanghai. Beijing is dealing with its greatest outbreak since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since late last month, the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 has … Read more
Davos: After nearly two and a half years, the Swiss ski resort town of Davos is ready to host the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting once more, with a host of global leaders, including those from India, due to discuss the Ukraine crisis, climate change, and a variety of other global issues. The high-profile annual … Read more
Kharkiv: There appear to be new trenches, concrete blocks, sandbags, and several checkpoints all across Kharkiv, which has repelled one Russian attack on Ukraine’s second city and is ready to defend against another. In the regional capital, a pink plush toy marks the entrance to a newly dug trench. The cut ground is still soft … Read more
