Fri 26 January 2024: Islamabad, Pakistan – Journalist Amir Mehmood* was getting ready for work when his phone buzzed with a WhatsApp message. As a member of the top management at a private news channel in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, Mehmood was used to getting non-stop calls and messages, even at odd hours. But the name […]
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Wed 24 January 2024: Palestinian tax revenue destined for Gaza has been frozen by Israel since November – here’s what’s happening now. On Sunday, Israel approved a plan to send taxes earmarked for Gaza to Norway instead of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Since November, taxes that would ordinarily […]
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Sun 21 January 2024: Is it possible for there to be ghosts? – Madelyn, age 11, Fort Lupton, Colorado Certainly, lots of people believe in ghosts – a spirit left behind after someone who was alive has died. In a 2021 poll of 1,000 American adults, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they […]
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Pakistani activists of Muslim Talba Mahaz (MTM) protest against Iranian missile strikes at the Pakistani border village in Balochistan province, in Islamabad, Pakistan, 18 January 2024. EPA / Sohail Shazad Fri 19 January 2024: In just two days this week, Iran launched missiles – first into Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region and Syria, and then […]
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Wed 17 January 2024: Waging war is a costly business for any state – and raising the funds required to fight one can be laden with political controversy. But when that state’s cabinet is volatile, mistrustful and deeply divided, then the stakes can be higher still. Indeed, the 37th government of Israel has rarely enjoyed much […]
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Tue 16 January 2024: Have you ever found yourself thinking about loved ones during a boring meeting? Or going over the plot of a movie you recently watched during a drive to the supermarket? This is the cognitive phenomenon known as “mind wandering”. Research suggests it can account for up to 50% of our waking cognition […]
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Mon 15 January 2024: South Africa experienced unprecedented electricity shortages in 2023 as ageing coal plants became increasingly prone to breakdowns. The country urgently needs to develop new electricity generation facilities and reduce reliance on coal power. In the first week of 2024, the South African energy minister, Gwede Mantashe, released a proposed roadmap for the future […]
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Sun 14 January 2024: The year 2023 will be remembered as turbulent for cryptocurrencies, with numerous important developments that ultimately helped to “clean up” the space to potentially make it more attractive to mainstream investors. Notably there was the conviction of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for fraud. Top exchange Binance also reached a US$4 billion settlement (£3.1 billion) with […]
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Sat 13 January 2024: Tensions in the Red Sea have extended to Yemeni land after the United States and the United Kingdom led bombings against multiple sites controlled by the Houthi armed group on Thursday night. The Houthis have carried out dozens of attacks on commercial vessels that they say are linked to Israel, and that were […]
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Fri 12 January 2024: The needless controversy surrounding the Tamil film Annapoorani, which was removed by Netflix, could have been avoided had the ‘upper’ caste people outraged over a dialogue actually read the very text they were seeking to defend. Another needless controversy over culture and food, provoked, as usual, by Hindutva hot-heads has broken […]
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