News & Current Events

[ad_1] A billboard campaigning for each family to have two children in an effort to improve the birth rate stands along the street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Image credit: AP) Vietnam has officially ended its long-standing two-child policy. The country’s National Assembly amended the law on Tuesday that restricted families to having one or two children. The news was confirmed by state media, Vietnam News Agency, on Wednesday. The decision was made to boost falling birth rates and address concerns about an aging population.Vietnam's "golden population" period - when the working age population outnumbered the dependent population- began in 2007 and may continue until 2039. The working population is likely to reach its peak in 2042, and the total population may start shrinking by 2054. This shift could slow economic growth, as there will be fewer workers and […]

[ad_1] Image generated by AI for creative and illustrative purpose The UAE has officially announced the dates for the Eid Al Adha 2025 public holiday. Following the moon-sighting committee’s confirmation on Tuesday, May 27, the holiday begins on Thursday, June 5 with Arafat Day, and continues with Eid Al Adha on Friday, June 6, Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8.This results in a four-day long weekend for both the public and private sectors across the UAE, allowing many residents to enjoy extended time with family, travel, or leisure activities.No additional day off for weekend overlapThough the Eid holiday includes Saturday and Sunday, already part of the regular weekend, the UAE Labour Law does not mandate a compensatory day off when public holidays fall on weekends.According to the UAE Cabinet, “public holidays are not carried forward if they fall on […]

[ad_1] Representative Image (AI-generated) I once heard someone say, "Having a child is like outsourcing a vital organ that runs around outside all by itself and climbs trees." Having a child is as fascinating and meaningful as it can also be worrying and exhausting.A new study on parental satisfaction confirms this apparent contradiction. Compared to people who are childfree, parents feel their lives are more fulfilled. However, parents are not more satisfied with their lives than non-parents. On the contrary: they are often more dissatisfied.These are the findings of the sociologists Marita Jacob and Ansgar Hudde from the University of Cologne, published this month in the specialist Journal of Marriage and Family. The researchers based their study on data from the European Social Survey, which had more than 43,000 respondents from 30 countries.Jacob and Hudde determined that, regardless of nationality […]

[ad_1] Second world war era bomb fenced off with screens to defuse them (AP) COLOGNE: More than 20,000 residents were being evacuated from part of Cologne's city centre on Wednesday as specialists prepared to defuse three unexploded US bombs from World War II that were unearthed earlier this week.Even 80 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs dropped during wartime air raids are frequently found in Germany.Disposing of them sometimes entails large-scale precautionary evacuations such as the one on Wednesday, though the location this time was unusually prominent and this is Cologne's biggest evacuation since 1945. There have been bigger evacuations in other cities.Authorities on Wednesday morning started evacuating about 20,500 residents from an area within a 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) radius of the bombs, which were discovered on Monday during preparatory work for road construction. They were found in […]

[ad_1] Image generated by AI for creative and illustrative purposes The UAE Ministry of Education and Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has published the official academic calendar for the 2024–2025 school year and confirmed key dates for the 2025–2026 term. The calendar applies to all public and private schools following the Ministry curriculum, with detailed instructions on term lengths, exam schedules, holidays, and instructional days.End-of-year schedule for 2024–2025Third-Term Exams: Final term exams for all grade levels will begin on June 10 and continue until June 19, 2025.Results: Student results will be released between June 30 and July 2.Re-examinations: Scheduled from July 4 to 10, with results announced on July 14.Student Summer Holiday: Begins on June 30.Teaching and Administrative Staff Holiday: Starts on July 14, following the release of re-exam results.The third term includes 11 weeks, amounting to 52 […]

[ad_1] Representative image (AI) TOKYO: The number of births in Japan last year fell below 700,000 for the first time on record, government data showed Wednesday.The fast-ageing nation welcomed 686,061 newborns in 2024, 41,227 fewer than in 2023, the data showed. It was the lowest figure since records began in 1899.Japan has the world's second-oldest population after tiny Monaco, according to the World Bank.Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the situation a "quiet emergency", pledging family-friendly measures like more flexible working hours to try and reverse the trend.Wednesday's health ministry data showed that Japan's total fertility rate the average number of children a woman is expected to have also fell to a record low of 1.15.The ministry said Japan saw 1.6 million deaths in 2024, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier. Ishiba has called for the revitalisation of rural […]

[ad_1] In a "national security" threat, two Chinese nationals have been charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly conspiring to smuggle a toxic fungus into the United States terming it a "potential agroterrorism weapon". During the investigation, the FBI found that one of them was a member of the Chinese Communist Party.Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, have been charged with conspiracy, smuggling, making false statements, and visa fraud. While Jian is currently in US custody, Liu's whereabouts remain unknown.The US justice department said that the two individuals conspired to illegally bring Fusarium graminearum—a fungus that causes "head blight" in crops like wheat, barley, maize, and rice—into the States."These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a 'potential agroterrorism weapon' into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to […]

[ad_1] KYIV: Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had struck the Crimean bridge for the third time since the start of Russia's invasion, after spending months planting explosives on support structure beneath the water. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but the Security Service of Ukraine, the intelligence agency known as the SBU, released a statement and a video that it said showed one of the detonations."Today, at 4.44am, without any civilian casualties, the first explosive device was detonated," the agency said in a statement. "The underwater support pillars were severely damaged at the seabed level - aided by the equivalent of 1,100 kg of TNT." Surveillance footage released by the agency and verified by NYT shows an explosion under the Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Russia's mainland and the Crimean peninsula. The attack appeared to target […]

[ad_1] Institute of Peace cleaners found marijuana after 'DOGE goons' left their building. Elon Musk has left the White House and his brainchild, the Department of Government Efficiency, but has left a huge mess in all the offices that his team camped in. The Economist reported that the cleaners of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a think-tank, found marijuana apparently thrown out by DOGE staffers. The institute building was forcibly taken by the DOGE, but a court ruling stayed that. From March to May, the building was with DOGE and the administrators of the institute re-entered their building only on May 19. A judge ruled last month that the DOGE didn’t have the authority to seize the $500 million USIP headquarters or to fire the agency’s employees. USIP, which Congress founded as a nonprofit corporation in 1984, describes […]

[ad_1] Donald Trump Jr comments on his father's memecoin $TRUMP. Donald Trump Jr was grilled on CNBC as he was asked about his opinion on his father President Donald Trump having a memecoin ($TRUMP) in his name. Memecoins have no value and no expectation of financial return, though they are considered as cryptocurrency. The memecoin, according to one recent estimate, has generated more than $320 million for the president and business entities connected to him. "Is that OK -- for your dad to have a meme coin?" Donald Trump Jr was asked. The president's son said the memecoin was launched before Trump's second term began. Defending his family's crypto business, Don Jr said it started out of necessity when the Trump family was de-banked. “There was a time … I could call any single banker in New York City, they’d […]