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Cricket Grand Final match ups on Australia's Sunshine Coast have been set, with many being made through washed out semi finals. Three games scheduled the be played at Burpengary, Morayfield, and Wamuran were unable to proceed when the local government, Moreton Bay Council, closed access to any sporting grounds in their region. The games affected were the Division 3 game between Burpengary and USC, the Division 1 game between Caboolture and Maroochydore, and the Division 4 game between Wamuran-Stanley River and Palmwoods. No play was possibl

Tuesday, officials from the United States federal government announced plans to rename hundreds of places on federal land whose names contain an anti-Native American slur, having produced five possible replacement names for each site. They plan to hold virtual discussions with Native American groups before recommending replacement names to the Board on Geographic Names later this year. The 13 members of the Derogatory Names Task force includes individuals from the National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and

Yesterday, Russian forces attacked Ukraine's capital Kyiv with missiles resulting in blasts damaging residential areas. Russia continued its three-pronged invasion of Ukraine and has already reached the Obolon district of Kyiv. For the second day, sirens sounded over Kyiv and residents took shelter in underground metro stations. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko informed citizens, "saboteurs" had arrived and were fighting in the city's outskirts. Moscow claimed, it had captured and taken over control of Antonov International Airport, also kn

Findings published Monday by a team composed mostly of University of Washington Center for Forensic Science researchers in Nature Human Behaviour report using a form of DNA analysis techniques originally designed for human teeth to track ivory poached from African elephants. The scientists, in collaboration with the United States Department of Homeland Security, identified the criminal networks that killed the endangered animals and smuggled their valuable tusks across national borders. The scientists took DNA samples from 4,320 tusks taken

On Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced a three-month extension of a price cap on standard motor fuels in Hungary. The cap came in to effect on November 15 and would have ended on Sunday. The government hopes to undercut inflation and help the economy with this move, but does not indemnify petrol stations for their losses. A general election is scheduled for April 3, for which all opposition parties currently in Parliament but one have united to beat the ruling Fidesz-KDNP alliance, which is now in its twelfth year in tenure. Orbán

On Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The main agenda was the ongoing crisis near the Russian-Ukrainian border. On Monday, Scholz had visited Kiev, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and showed support to Ukraine against the Russian position. After Tuesday's meeting, a joint press conference was held, in which Scholz said, "it is our absolute duty as heads of government that Europe does not see an escalation into war." When asked about the deployments and the th

On Friday, Australia’s federal environment minister Sussan Ley declared the koala an endangered species in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The announcement follows proposals in 2020 by World Wildlife Fund Australia (WWF-Australia) and other organizations. The koala was previously considered a vulnerable species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) still lists it as one in the rest of the world. Some link the decline in koala population with previous natural disasters in the country,

The Commissioner of the London, United Kingdom Metropolitan Police (Met) Dame Cressida Dick resigned Thursday after losing the approval of London mayor Sadiq Khan. Dick's resignation took place just hours after she assured BBC Radio London she had "absolutely no intention" of leaving the post. However, in her stepping-down speech she concluded Khan "no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue", adding the mayor had left her "no choice but to step aside". Khan placed Dick "on notice" from February 2 to reform the police se

Yesterday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russia, deploying more troops near its border with Ukraine, could invade the country at any moment. In a press conference, Blinken advised all American citizens to evacuate from Ukraine within 48 hours to avoid the risk of a potential invasion. Australia and New Zealand have also recently warned their citizens to leave the Eastern European country. US President Joe Biden said in an interview with NBC News on Thursday the situation in Ukraine "could go crazy quickly". US Nationa

A team led by Dale Ferran disputed the idea that prekindergarten benefits children in the long term in a paper recently given advanced publication in Developmental Psychology. The team followed 2990 low-income children from Tennessee, United States, who applied to attend the state's free public preschools. The study was a natural experiment, as entry is decided through a lottery, rather than merit-based system. Scientists then recorded the students' academic and personal achievements as they left preschool for kindergarten through sixth grade

At least 26 people were killed on Wednesday in the outskirts of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo when a high-tension electric power cable was struck by lightning and fell to the ground near a marketplace. The country's energy provider, Société Nationale d'Électricité, said it happened during a severe storm and issued condolences to the victims' families. According to local media and police, the incident occurred in the Matadi-Kibala district and the electrocuted victims were mostly women working at the market. Prime Minister Jean-Mi

On Monday, the United Arab Emirates announced it would impose a federal corporate tax of 9% on business profits, effective from June 1, 2023. The tax will be levied from all corporations except those involved in "extraction of natural resources". Businesses with profits up to 375 thousand dirhams will be categorised as small businesses and will be exempted from the tax. The Emirates has long been a low tax country with no personal tax. The Ministry of Finance said the tax was being imposed to combat tax avoidance and to realign the country on