WORLD
Xi, Biden hold 'broad, strategic discussion'
The White House said that the discussion, as per Biden, was part of Washington's ongoing effort to "responsibly manage the competition" between the US and China. Meanwhile, Beijing's state-run Xinhua news agency said that the two leaders "had candid, in-depth and extensive strategic communication and exchanges on China-US relations and relevant issues of mutual interest".
Taliban closes bank accounts of ex-Afghan govt officials
The announcement was made on Thursday by Anaamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban Cultural Commission, but he did not reveal the names of the affected former officials, TOLO News reported. "Accounts of some officials from the previous government, most of whom fled the country, have been closed," Samangani was quoted as saying.
UNSC adopts resolution on peacekeeping transitions
Resolution 2594, adopted on Thursday, stresses the crucial role of peace operations and emphasises the need for peace operations to engage at the earliest possible stage in integrated planning and coordination on transitions, reports Xinhua news agency.
Microsoft abandons plan to reopen US offices amid Covid worries
Microsoft had planned to fully reopen its Redmond, Washington, headquarters and many other offices in the US as early as October 4. "Given the uncertainty of Covid-19, we've decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening of our US work sites in favour of opening US work sites as soon as we're able to do so safely based on public health guidance," Jared Spataro said.
US Justice Department sues Texas over new abortion law
"The act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent," said Attorney General Merrick Garland at a news conference on Thursday to announce the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, Texas, asks a judge to declare the measure unlawful, block its enforcement and "protect the rights that Texas has violated". The lawsuit came a week after the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling, denied an emergency request from abortion-rights advocates for a temporary injunction to stop the abortion law from taking effect on September 1.
Chicago Public Schools reports 160 Covid cases
The new tracker data comes 10 days after CPS students returned to classrooms for full-time, in-person learning for the first time since March 2020. But the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) doubts the accuracy of the Covid-19 data as CPS is reporting only once a week on its online public dashboard.
Daily marijuana use among US college students reaches 40-yr high
Daily marijuana use, defined as using on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days, increased to 7.9 per cent in 2020 among 19 to 22-year-old full-time college students, showing a significant increase of 3.3 percentage points over the past five years, Xinhua news agency quoted the study as saying. Among same-aged young adults not in college, daily use was 13 per cent in 2020, below the all-time high of 15 per cent in 2019, representing a non-statistically significant decline in 2020.
Death toll from Indonesian prison fire rises to 44
"Three people died today after being hospitalised due to severe burns," Rika Aprianti, Ministry spokesperson, told Xinhua news agency on Thursday. Currently, five inmates are still under medical treatment at a hospital, including one who broke his leg after jumping from a height of two metres amid the fire. The fire broke out on Wednesday at Block C2 of the overcrowded prison, which held up to 2,072 inmates with the designed capacity of 600 people.
IAEA plans to inspect contaminated water release at Fukushima
The Japanese government decided in April to start discharging the water into sea from around spring of 2023. The decision has received strong criticism from China and other neighbouring countries. China has expressed serious concerns, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian saying that Beijing urged the Japanese side to take a responsible attitude and treat the issue of nuclear waste disposal with caution.
UN confirms cyberattack in April 2021
"We can confirm that unknown attackers were able to breach parts of the UN (communications) infrastructure in April of 2021," Xinhua news agency quoted Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as saying on Thursday. "This attack had been detected before we were notified by the company cited in the Bloomberg article, and corrective actions to mitigate the impact of the breach had already been planned and were being implemented.
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