By Jocelyne Tan

WHAT IS THE G7 SUMMIT?

The G7 summit is an annual meeting between the world’s seven leading liberal democracies, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is an opportunity for the leaders of the aforementioned nations to discuss solutions to key global challenges. Recent topics on the agenda include recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and intensifying climate change hazards.

KEY DETAILS OF THE EVENT

The United Kingdom is president for this year’s G7 summit. Representatives from India, South Korea and Australia have also been invited to take part as guests this year. …

An update on India’s COVID situation in a 3minute read

What is happening?

In recent weeks, India has become the latest hotspot of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 3 million people worldwide, even as richer nations take significant steps towards normality with accelerating vaccination programs.

With the oxygen supplies of hospitals running empty, doctors across India are desperately borrowing cylinders of oxygen to keep their patients alive. The country, which has recorded over 195,000 deaths, registered 2,812 new deaths and 352,991 new infections last Monday (26th April) alone— its highest tolls since the start of the pandemic. This brings its…

By Sarah Chong

T he French Senate has passed a law to ban those under 18 from wearing the hijab publicly in France. This move is part of a broader push to boost the country’s secular nature, which prohibits “religious … dress or clothing which would signify inferiority of women over men [for minors].”

French president Emmanuel Macron has previously said that the hijab restricted women’s freedoms, and that banning it was a step towards gender equality in France. The move is also slated to reduce Islamic radicalism by preventing a move away from “French values”.

Why is it controversial?

The law has been…

By Anay Kotak

The former Jordanian crown Prince Hamzah made his first public appearance since he was put under house arrest by King Abdullah II for alleged accusations of being involved in a “malicious plot” to destabilize the kingdom. In statements leaked to the media, the Prince denied the accusations and instead accused the country’s government of corruption and incompetence.

Significance of Timing

His house arrest comes at the same time as a number of other high profile arrests in Jordan, including those of people in and close to the royal family.

As many as 20 of Jordan’s high-ranking individuals have been arrested…

Multiple countries around the world, including the United States, Canada and many European countries have reported rare cases of sometimes fatal blood clots developing in patients that have recently received the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.

How serious are these blood clots?

Blood clots are small clumps of gel-like blood that can prevent bleeding in certain areas of the body. Should they travel to the brain, they could prevent blood from circulating properly, which is often fatal.

Experts believe that the blood clots, which appear in roughly 1 in 100,000 patients who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine, are a result of antibodies…

At least 50 were killed and 494 injured when a train collided with a vehicle in the coastal city of Hualien, Taiwan. This is the deadliest train accident that Taiwan, which has entered a period of mourning, has faced in seven decades. Currently, workers are still removing wreckage from the scene.

A truck — which was not parked properly — slipped from a nearby construction site onto the train tracks. Just over a minute later, the train collided with the vehicle and was derailed.

The truck is the property of the construction site manager, Mr Lee Yi-hsiang, who has been…

By Diya Jalan

According to preliminary data shared with Reuters, U.S. authorities recorded more than 171,000 migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico in March. This is the highest monthly total in over 2 decades.

The current total includes approximately 19,000 unaccompanied children and 53,000 family members. Single adults accounted for about 99,000 of the total.

The increase in children is due to Title 42, a COVID-19 health order used by both the Trump and Biden Administrations to stop migration during the pandemic, from which unaccompanied children are exempted. Biden exempted unaccompanied children from the said policy in February.

The…

Dozens have been injured and killed in violent protests in Bangladesh’s capital city Dhaka over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on the eve of the country’s 50th anniversary.

Clashes between protesters and security forces began on Friday after weekly prayers. In major cities, the radical islamist group ‘Hefazat-e-Islam’ led demonstrations denouncing Modi and has urged a nationwide shutdown.

While the Bangladesh government has encouraged talks to boost partnerships between the two countries, some of the Modi government’s policies, which some perceive to be anti-Muslim, have been unpopular in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

These include laws that would make the expulsion of…