Category: WORLD NEWS

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received parenting tips from Barack Obama when she met the former US president in Auckland today. Ardern, who is expecting her first child in June, held discussions with Obama after he received a traditional Maori welcome at Government House. “I asked him about parenthood and he had tips that I will probably long remember,” the centre-left leader told reporters, without giving further details. Obama and his wife Michelle have two children, Malia and Sasha. Ardern said they also discussed the state of progressive climate…

Read More

At least 18 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bus travelling in northeastern Thailand veered off the road and smashed into a tree, authorities said today. The accident occured Wednesday evening in Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province with the double decker bus carrying around 50 people returning home from a holiday. “There are 18 people killed, of these 12 women and six men including one boy,” Suthep Ruenthawil, chief of the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial disaster prevention and mitigation unit told AFP. He added that 28 people are receiving treatment…

Read More

It was one of hundreds of cute questionnaires that were shared widely on Facebook and other social media, like “Which Pokeman Are You?” and “What Are Your Most Used Words?” This one, an app called “thisismydigitallife”, was a personality quiz, asking questions about how outgoing a person is, how vengeful one can be, whether one finishes projects, worries a lot, likes art, or is talkative. About 320,000 people took the quiz, designed by a man named Alexsandr Kogan. Kogan was contracted to do it by a company called Cambridge Analytica, founded by US…

Read More

China elevated a key confidante of President Xi Jinping to one of the top positions in government on Monday as Beijing cracks down on riskier financing and a debt to reduce systemic risks to the world’s second-largest economy. The election of Liu He by parliament to be a vice premier also comes as the United States presses China to cut its trade surplus by $100 billion. Harvard-educated Liu, 66, was the most prominent envoy to visit Washington recently in a bid to prevent the outbreak of a trade war. While most of the personnel changes…

Read More

 China‘s head of the newly-created Ministry of Ecological Environment warned on Monday of continuing challenges in the prolonged battle against pollution and expressed concerns about tight natural gas supplies. “We are making a three-year plan to win the battle for blue skies. The detailed plan is under work, but in principal we want to control pollution in key areas and from heavy industries,” said Li Ganjie, the new minister for the Ecological Environment ministry, during a session at this week’s National People’s Congress (NPC). China announced last week during the NPC that it…

Read More

India today gave yet another Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the “intimidation and harassment” of mission officials, the 13th such diplomatic note in less than three months. Official sources said that in the communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically highlighted three cases of harassment, including one in which the second secretary at the mission was aggressively followed today by unidentified people in a car in close proximity in an intimidating manner while he was going to a restaurant. Videos…

Read More

Stephen Hawking, the legendary British theoretical physicist who explored the mysteries of the universe from his wheelchair and went on to become an inspiring figure globally, died today at his home in Cambridge. His family said that Hawking, 76, died peacefully in his home near Cambridge University, where he did much of his ground-breaking work on black holes and relativity. Hawking’s children, Lucy, Robert and Tim said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. “He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man…

Read More

The UK government today said that it was “encouraged” by the support offered by its international allies over the poisoning of a UK-based Russian spy, even as Russia denied any role in the deadly nerve agent attack. UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson said that he had spoken to a number of allies, including the US and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and there had been a “willingness” to show “solidarity”. His comments came a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May set a Tuesday midnight deadline for…

Read More

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed strong concern over continued violence and hostilities in Syria, saying the Arab country is “bleeding inside and out”. He called for full implementation of a UN resolution for a ceasefire in the strife-torn nation. “I am deeply saddened by the immense loss and cascading suffering of the Syrian people. And I am deeply disappointed by all those who have, year after year, by action or inaction, by design or indifference, allowed this to happen Syria is bleeding inside and out,” the UN chief…

Read More

All 11 people on board a private Turkish plane that crashed in southwestern Iran died in the incident, Iranian state media reported today. Turkish and Iranian officials said there were eight passengers and three crew aboard the plane, which crashed in the Zagros Mountains on Sunday evening during a flight from Sharjah to Istanbul. Turkish media reports said the eight passengers were Mina Basaran, the daughter of a leading Turkish businessman, and seven of her friends who had spent the past days in the United Arab Emirates to celebrate her…

Read More