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Dhaka Capitals said Mahbub Ali felt unwell during training and collapsed on the field. He was given CPR at the venue before being taken to hospital.…
Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire agreement, following three days of talks after violent confrontations between the two bordering countries.The Cambodian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the ceasefire includes all kinds of weapons, civilian and military targets on both sides.The two countries announced Wednesday that military officials from both sides began talks after the conflict killed at least 86 people. Related Story Source link
Social media platforms with infinite scrolling, auto-play and algorithmic feeds will be required to display warning labels about their potential harm to young users’ mental health under a new law, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced yesterday.”Keeping New Yorkers safe has been my top priority since taking office, and that includes protecting our kids from the potential harms of social media features that encourage excessive use,” she said in a statement.This month Australia imposed a social media ban for children under 16.New York joins states like California and Minnesota that have similar social media laws.The New York law includes platforms that offer “addictive feeds”, auto play or infinite scroll, according to the legislation.The law applies to conduct occurring partly or wholly in New York but not when the platform is accessed by users physically outside the state.It allows the state’s attorney general to bring legal action and seek civil penalties of up $5,000 per violation of the law.Hochul compared the social media labels to warnings on other products like tobacco, where they communicate the risk of cancer, or plastic packaging, where they warn of the risk of suffocation for small children.Spokespeople for TikTok, Snap, Meta, and Alphabet did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The effect of social media on children’s mental health has become a growing global concern, with US school districts suing Meta Platforms and other social media companies.In 2023, the US surgeon-general issued an advisory on safeguards for children and later called for social media warning labels like the one now required in New York. Source link
A major Gaza hospital said yesterday it had suspended several services because of critical fuel shortages in the devastated Palestinian territory, which faces a severe humanitarian crisis.Ravaged by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.“Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators,” said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital. “Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and paediatrics.”To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added. Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 litres of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 litres available.“We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel,” Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage “would pose a direct threat to the hospital’s ability to deliver basic services”.Khitam Ayada, 30, who has taken refuge in Nuseirat, said she had gone to the facility after days of kidney pain. But “they told me they didn’t have electricity to perform an X-ray… and that they couldn’t treat me,” the displaced woman said.“They gave me a painkiller and told me that if my condition didn’t improve I should go” to another hospital, she said.“We lack everything in our lives, even the most basic medical services,” she added. Hospital official Mehanna urged local and international organisations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady fuel supply.Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis. While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, only 100- 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organisations.The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza’s 2.2mn people. The vast majority of Gaza’s residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for daily survival.Gaza’s health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war. During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centres across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centres there, an allegation the group denied.International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza’s 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilisation centres for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs. The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas storming of Israel in October 2023.In Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people – also mostly civilians – have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.These figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. Source link
Storm-hit Southern California is at risk of more floods hampering millions of motorists traveling after Christmas, but the National Weather Service (NWS) predicts a drier weekend.The holiday deluge that started in earnest on Christmas Eve was spawned by the region’s latest atmospheric storm, a vast airborne current of dense moisture siphoned from the Pacific, that swept inland over the greater Los Angeles area.It dumped 6” of rain in the Los Angeles area with up to 18” of rain in the mountains, washing out some roads, and spurred evacuations and some shelter-in-place orders.An additional 1-3” of rain was expected yesterday, said Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, a commercial forecasting company.”Our overall picture is that there’s just one more day of this mess, mostly across Southern California, specifically in the LA area,” Kines said yesterday. “We still have some issues today with bouts of heavy rain, but this weekend is mainly dry, thankfully.”More than 14.5mn Californians were expected to travel by car over the Christmas holiday, according to AAA.The coming drier weather should make traveling easier, after days of slick or flooded roads, forecasters said.The atmospheric river that brought the trouble will wind down throughout the day across California with lingering heavy rainfall, heavy mountain snow, and gusty winds.Many of the evacuation warnings issued in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties were lifted on Christmas Day.However, the orders remained yesterday in the hard-hit town of Wrightwood, a rural community with a population of about 5,000 in the San Gabriel Mountains on the border between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.Aerial video footage posted online on Christmas Eve by the fire department showed rivers of mud coursing through inundated cabin neighbourhoods, and mud-covered cars and homes.Videos posted online on Thursday showed some residents scrambling over washed-out roads, picking through rubble on Christmas Day as streams of water still flowed over mounds of mud and into gullies that were once streets. Source link
A photograph released by the Lebanese Government Press Office yesterday, shows Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam speaking during a press conference after a cabinet session in…
Thailand’s prime minister yesterday expressed hope for a ceasefire with Cambodia, even as Phnom Penh accused the Thai military of intensifying its bombardment of disputed border areas.Anutin Charnvirakul said Thailand’s National Security Council had agreed to send the country’s defence minister to meet his Cambodian counterpart today – the fourth day of border talks aimed at negotiating an end to deadly clashes. “If the defence ministers can reach an agreement that both Thailand and Cambodia accept, the document they sign will largely follow the four main points” outlined in a previous joint declaration that followed a round of clashes earlier this year, he said. The October declaration said the two sides would organise mine clearing efforts along their border, withdraw heavy weapons and allow access to ceasefire monitors.“What matters is that we must keep our promise not to invade, threaten, provoke or escalate tensions between the two sides,” Anutin told reporters at a news conference.“You can trust Thailand. We always uphold our agreements and commitments. Let this be the final signing, so that peace can be restored and our people can return home.”The neighbours’ long-standing border conflict reignited this month, shattering an earlier truce and killing more than 40 people, according to official counts. Around a million people have also been displaced.As Cambodian and Thai officials held their third day of talks at a border checkpoint yesterday, Cambodia’s defence ministry said Thailand carried out a heavy bombardment of disputed border areas in Banteay Meanchey province.“From 6am to 7.15am, the Thai military deployed F-16 fighter jets to drop as many as 40 bombs, to intensify its bombardment in the area of Chok Chey village,” the defence ministry said in a statement.Thai media said yesterday that Cambodian forces had launched heavy attacks overnight along the border in Sa Kaeo province, where several homes were damaged by shelling.The two countries blame each other for instigating the fresh fighting, which has spread to nearly every province along their border.Both countries also claim to have acted in self-defence and accuse the other of attacking civilians.The US, China and Malaysia brokered a truce to end five days of deadly clashes in July, but the ceasefire broke down.Earlier yesterday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Facebook that he had spoken by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the two discussed “ways to secure a ceasefire along the Cambodia-Thailand border”.The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800km frontier and a collection of temple ruins situated there. Source link
German Foreign Minister Johannes Wadephul has affirmed that Berlin strongly supports the transition to the second phase of the ceasefire plan and post-war arrangements in Gaza, warning that prolonging the current situation would exacerbate human suffering and undermine the prospects for stability.Wadephul added, in a statement to German media, that improving humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip is a top priority for Berlin, emphasising that the German government has intensified its contacts with international partners to facilitate the delivery of aid through all available channels.Wadephul noted that Germany is among the largest international supporters of humanitarian organisations operating in the Palestinian territories, explaining that these organisations need safe, sustained, and unimpeded access to expand their operations and meet the growing needs of the civilian population.The German foreign minister affirmed Berlin’s readiness to play a pivotal role in international efforts to rebuild the Gaza Strip, emphasising that this process requires substantial financial participation from the international community.He cautioned that reconstruction must proceed in parallel with a clear political track that guarantees the prevention of a recurrence of cycles of violence.He explained that Berlin supports the idea of holding an international conference for Gaza’s reconstruction in the near future, with the participation of international and regional stakeholders, to co-ordinate efforts, define priorities, and ensure that aid is directed effectively and sustainably.The German foreign minister ruled out his country’s participation in any potential international force to stabilise the Gaza Strip, asserting that the German government does not see a realistic possibility at present of deploying German troops for such a mission.He added that talk of an international force is not merely symbolic or political, but rather entails intervention to impose security in a highly complex environment.He further stated that this type of mission is currently inconceivable for German forces. He clarified that Germany is instead focusing on contributing politically and diplomatically to international efforts aimed at reaching a sustainable settlement, noting that any future security arrangements in Gaza must be part of a comprehensive political process that enjoys clear international legitimacy and regional acceptance. Source link
Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak (second right) leaves after his verdict in the 1MDB trial at the Palace of Justice, which houses the Malaysian Court…
Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker near the Iranian island of Qeshm in the Gulf, saying it was carrying 4mn litres of smuggled fuel, state media reported yesterday. Authorities did not name the vessel or disclose its nationality. They said 16 foreign crew members had been detained on criminal charges. State TV said the tanker was seized on Wednesday.Iranian news websites published video footage and photographs of what they said was the seized tanker. Iran said last week it had seized another foreign tanker carrying 6mn litres of what it described as smuggled diesel in the Gulf of Oman without identifying the vessel or its nationality. Iran, which has some of the world’s lowest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and a sharp fall in the value of its national currency, has been seeking to curb widespread fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to other states. Source link