A pregnancy can only be legally ended in Iran if the mother's life is in danger or if the fetus is found to have genetic problems, according to the country's Ministry of Health, which has announced formation of a special paramilitary patrol to combat unlawful abortions. A special "abortion patrol" made up of paramilitary Basij volunteers has been established in Iran to combat unauthorized...

Much of the US east coast now has significantly worse air quality due to wildfires raging in Canada. The US National Weather Service has issued warnings about the danger of such air to vulnerable persons. Yesterday, New York was recognized as having the second-worst air quality in the entire globe. Earlier this week, the city was ranked top by the IQAir service, surpassing even the established...

The World Bank increased its forecast for GDP growth in 2023 from the 1.7 percent anticipated in January to 2.1 percent. The World Bank (WB) has slightly increased its forecast for global economic growth in 2023, now anticipating a 2.1% growth in GDP rather than the 1.7% predicted in January. This is in line with the organization's most recent report on the state of the world economy. According...

According to a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released on Monday in honor of World Environment Day, the Earth has reached the "planetary limit" on chemical pollution and plastic waste. The report urges swift action to increase separate garbage collection in order to recycle consumer plastic waste more thoroughly. "With a global recycling rate of less than 10%, plastic recycling...

French President Emmanuel Macron has objected to NATO’s proposal to establish a presence in Tokyo. The office might be the alliance's first representative in the Indo-Pacific area, but sources told the newspaper that France's stance has complicated a conversation that has been going on within NATO for months. According to the Financial Times, the U.S. and Japan have pushed Europe to take a more...

The cost for ships to transit through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits increased by 8.3% in Turkey. It will be reviewed once a year, at the end of June. The cost to cross the Turkish straits from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea has increased, Turkey's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure stated. The charge will rise by 8.3%, from $4.08 to $4.42. According to the 1936 Montreux...

According to the Financial Times, which cites EU officials and diplomats, the European Commission is creating a new plan of financial aid to Ukraine worth "tens of billions of euros" that will last until 2027. It is anticipated that the four-year plan's provisions would be completed by the time of the conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, which will be held in London on June 21–22. The...

Warsaw is pushing Brussels to penalise Belarus in a similar manner as Russia, told Andrzej Sados, the Polish ambassador to the EU. "Poland raised the issue of Belarus, the need to immediately impose sanctions on Belarus, at today's meeting of the General Affairs Council," he said. "We informed about the government decisions that were taken yesterday concerning the imposition of sanctions on 365...

Republicans in Congress and the White House have come to a provisional deal to raise the US debt ceiling. According to the White House website, US President Joe Biden and speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy have agreed to lift the debt ceiling. When describing the agreement, Biden said that "not everyone will get what they want" and added that it was a...