Friday, July 4, 2025

BIG Wrap

WHO declares ‘global health emergency’ over

(BBC News) The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that COVID-19 no longer represents a "global health emergency." The statement comes three years after it first declared its highest level of alert over the virus. Officials said the virus's death rate had dropped from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just more than 3,500 on April 24 of this year. The head of the WHO said at least seven million...

Fed raises U.S. interest rates to highest in 16 years

(BBC News) The U.S. central bank has raised interest rates to the highest level in 16 years as it battles to stabilize prices. The Federal Reserve increased its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points — its 10th hike in 14 months. The Fed signalled that Wednesday's rise may be its last for a while. The moves have pushed its benchmark rate to between 5% and 5.25% — up from near zero in March 2022. Higher rates have...

Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Iran has seized an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in the second such incident in the region in a week, as tension with the United States continues. The Middle East-based U.S. 5th Fleet and Iranian media confirmed on Wednesday that the naval force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stopped a tanker in the busy waterway. A video released by the 5th Fleet appeared to show about a dozen fast-attack...

More than 100 police hurt in French May Day demonstrations

(BBC News) At least 108 police officers have been injured in clashes across France with protesters angry at pension reforms, the interior minister has said. Gérald Darmanin said such a large number of police wounded was extremely rare, adding that 291 people had been arrested during the unrest. Hundreds of thousands have been taking part in May Day demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron's reforms. Most were peaceful but radical groups threw petrol bombs and fireworks. Police responded with...

U.S. ‘war on terror,’ 20 years after ‘mission accomplished’

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Two decades ago, on May 1, 2003, then-U.S. President George W Bush declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended” in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, with a banner behind him proclaiming “mission accomplished.” The theatrical event, coming just 43 days after the United States had launched a ground invasion of Iraq, was meant to declare the beginning of the end of one of the main prongs of Washington’s...

Air strikes hit Khartoum despite truce

(BBC News) Air strikes have pounded Sudan's capital, Khartoum, despite a truce aimed at allowing civilians to flee. The army said it was attacking the city to flush out its paramilitary rivals, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The fighting intensified even as the warring sides said they would extend the truce by another three days. More than 500 deaths have been reported with the true number of casualties believed to be much higher. Army commander General Abdel Fattah...

Armed attack kills 10 in Ecuador port

(Al Jazeera Media Network) At least 10 people have been killed in an armed attack overnight in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s main port city and economic hub that is under a state of emergency due to rising drug violence, the public prosecutor’s office and police have reported. Three people were wounded, including a five-year-old girl, police said on Sunday. A rifle and 9mm-calibre guns were found at the scene, the Ecuadorean Prosecutor’s Office posted on its Twitter account. “We...

Zhurong rover finds evidence of water at low latitudes on Mars

(Chinese Academy of Sciences) The Zhurong rover has found evidence of water on dune surfaces on modern Mars by providing key observational proof of liquid water at low Martian latitudes, according to a study led by professor Qin Xiaoguang from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories of CAS and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of CAS were also involved in the...

Crimea fuel-tank blaze likely drone attack, says Moscow official

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A huge fire has broken out in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol following a probable drone attack on a fuel storage tank, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor, wrote on Telegram. “A fuel tank is on fire.... According to preliminary reports, a drone attack might have caused the blaze,” he wrote early on Saturday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. He said an area of 1,000 square metres had been engulfed in...

Research team touts accuracy of molecular clock

(Phys.org) In recent years, many physicists worldwide have introduced atomic clocks, systems to measure the passing of time that are based on quantum states of atoms. These clocks can have numerous valuable applications, for instance, in the development of satellite and navigation systems. Lately, some researchers have also been exploring the possible development of molecular clocks, systems that resemble atomic clocks, but based on simple molecules. A team at Columbia University and University of Warsaw...