Somalia Gets W’Bank, IMF $4.5bn Debt Relief
Somalia Prime Minister, Hamza Barre, on Wednesday, disclosed that the country has been granted a debt relief of $4.5 billion by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Barre noted that the relief is “equivalent to relieving every Somali person of a debt of more than $300,” adding that it’s a “testament that our country and our people are...
Pope Says Has Chosen His Tomb In Rome, Not Vatican
Pope Francis has chosen to be buried not in St Peter’s Basilica alongside his immediate predecessors but in a basilica in Rome, he revealed in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. “The place is already prepared. I want to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore,” the pontiff, who turns 87 this weekend, told Mexican broadcaster Televisa’s N+ streaming service. In the same...
Donald Tusk Sworn In As Poland’s New Prime Minister
Poland’s president on Wednesday swore in Donald Tusk as the new pro-EU prime minister, putting an end to eight years of right-wing populist rule. The ministers of the new administration were successively sworn in by the conservative head of state, who is allied with the previous government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Tusk, who previously served as prime minister...
Japa: Canada Extends International Students’ Work Hours
Canada’s Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has extended a policy that permits specific international students to work beyond the standard 20-hour-per-week limit for off-campus employment. The policy, which was initiated in 2022, was initially set to end on December 31, 2023, and has now been extended until April 30, 2024. Before the extension, international students were only allowed to work...
Russia To Hold Presidential Elections In Occupied Ukraine
The Russian election commission has given a hint that the upcoming presidential election would take place in regions of Ukraine that are currently under partial Russian occupation, Interfax reported on Monday, December 11. As the war in Ukraine approaches its second anniversary, the Russian news agency Interfax reports that it might be possible to hold elections in the areas currently...
Bethlehem Reduces Christmas Festivities Amid Ongoing Israel-Hamas Conflict
Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, are facing significant limitations this year due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. According to The Times on Monday, Churches in the West Bank, the holy land of Christianity, have called for subdued festivities to acknowledge the suffering experienced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank following...
Russia Teenager Shoots Classmates, Injures Five
A Russian teenager on Thursday shot dead a classmate and injured five others before killing herself in a school in Bryansk near the Ukrainian border. The Investigative Committee disclosed this on Thursday in a statement. “A 14-year-old girl brought a pump-action shotgun to school, which she used to shoot her classmates. As a result, two died, one of them the shooter...
Winter Storm Shuts Out Power Across Ukraine
A storm has left more than two thousand towns and villages in war-torn Ukraine without power Monday, the government said, piling pressure on the country’s fragile power grid. The energy infrastructure has been targeted systematically by Russian forces and Kyiv has warned that Moscow is preparing fresh strikes on key facilities this winter. “In total, 2,019 settlements in 16 regions are...
Microsoft to hire OpenAI’s Sam Altman – CEO
Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella, on Monday announced the hiring of OpenAI’s Sam Altman and other members of his team, days after the co-founder of the venture behind ChatGPT was fired. “The mission continues,” Altman, who rose to fame with the launch of the artificial intelligence chatbot last year, posted on X, formerly Twitter. Nadella wrote on X that Altman “will...
Israel Wants To Make Gaza a “Unlivable City” – Palestinian Envoy
The Palestinian Ambassador in Nigeria, Abu Shawesh, has called on the UN’s Security Council, International Criminal Court (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), and all UN member states to adopt/enforce the 4th Geneva Convention obligation on Israel. The Convention stipulates that each high contracting party shall be under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to...
