Tuesday, June 30

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Rising consumption of processed, packaged food in India to affect health outcome
Health

Rising consumption of processed, packaged food in India to affect health outcome

The rising consumption of processed and packaged food in India will likely affect health outcomes and policies may be required to regulate the nutritional content of these foods and promote healthier alternatives, a government paper has stressed.  According to the paper, titled ‘Changes in India’s Food Consumption and Policy Implications,’ by the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to the Prime Minister, across regions and consumption classes, “we observe a significant increase in the share of household expenditure on served and packaged processed food”. This increase was universal across the classes but more pronounced for the country`s top 20 per cent of households and significantly more in urban areas. “While food processing is a growth sector and a significant creator of jobs, this risi...
Gunman crossing from Jordan kills three Israelis at border, Israeli army says
World News

Gunman crossing from Jordan kills three Israelis at border, Israeli army says

Vehicles queue at the Jordanian side of the Allenby Bridge crossing between the West Bank and Jordan in 2022. Photo: AFP/ Khalil Mazraawi A gunman crossing from Jordan killed three Israeli civilians at the Allenby Bridge border in the occupied West Bank before security forces shot him dead on Sunday, Israeli authorities said. It was the first attack of its kind along the border with Jordan since 7 October, when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out an assault on southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza that has since escalated throughout the region. The attack took place in a commercial cargo area under Israeli control where Jordanian trucks offload cargo entering the West Bank, officials said. The crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, lies about midway between Amman ...
Is coal mining causing the ‘earthquake swarm’ hitting NSW’s Hunter Region?
World News

Is coal mining causing the ‘earthquake swarm’ hitting NSW’s Hunter Region?

By Bridget Murphy and Alexander Lewis, ABC Glencore's Bulga coal mine in the Hunter Valley. Photo: AFP / David Gray Saturday's 4.5-magnitude earthquake at Muswellbrook, in the New South Wales Upper Hunter, was the latest in a series of moderate-sized events near the town in just over a fortnight. A 4.7-magnitude quake was recorded on 23 August, then a 4.5-magnitude quake rocked the same area the next day. The latest quake happened just before 6am on Saturday (Australian time), with Geoscience Australia receiving more than 1,000 reports from the public - some hundreds of kilometres from Muswellbrook. These quakes have been described by experts as a part of a "swarm". So what is that? And what could be the cause? Is mining behind the NSW earthquakes? Muswellbrook is one of Australia's ...
Elton John dazzles Toronto’s red carpet for new documentary
World News

Elton John dazzles Toronto’s red carpet for new documentary

By Jenna Zucker, Reuters Elton John and David Furnish attend the World Premiere of Disney+ Documentary “Elton John: Never Too Late” at Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall. Photo: Sonia Recchia / Getty Images for Disney / AFP A bespectacled Elton John rolled down the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival in a purple golf cart adorned with stars, displaying a brand of showmanship befitting the world premiere of the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late. Amplified by archival footage and photographs, the film is an intimate look at the singer-songwriter's life and career through the lens of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which culminated with a 2022 performance at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The sun goes down on Elton John with a rhapsodic G...
The New Zealand company that saw its share price jump 900% in a year
Business

The New Zealand company that saw its share price jump 900% in a year

Photo: chatchaiyo/123RF A 916.67 percent investment gain in one year might be difficult to get your head around - but it is the best annual share performance of any company listed on the NZX in the last 10 years. The New Zealand stock exchange has provided data showing the most significant on-year movements over the past decade. The data assumes net dividends are reinvested and adjusts for capital events. Pacific Edge's share price increased 916.67 percent in 2020. It started the year at 12c and ended it at $1.22. It has since fallen away again, to 10c. "It's important to look at everything in context," Devon Funds head of retail Greg Smith said. "While it had a big run in that particular year, look at the bigger picture and it's lost 99 percent of its value from the peak. It was a big-s...
Venezuela opposition candidate Gonzalez leaves for Spain as diplomatic tensions rise
World News

Venezuela opposition candidate Gonzalez leaves for Spain as diplomatic tensions rise

By Lisandra Paraguassu and Vivian Sequera, Reuters Edmundo Gonzalez talks to supporters in front of the United Nations headquarters in Caracas in July. Photo: AFP / YURI CORTEZ Venezuela's vice president says that former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left the country Venezuela claims embassy used to plan assassination attempts Brazil insists on defending Argentine interests until new state is chosen Brazil and Argentina urge Venezuela to respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations Argentina's Foreign Ministry asks ICC to issue arrest warrant against Maduro Venezuela's former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left for Spain in the wake of the South American country's contested election, Venezuelan and Spanish officials said ...
Pope Francis delivers medical supplies in visit to remote PNG town
World News

Pope Francis delivers medical supplies in visit to remote PNG town

By Joshua McElwee, Reuters Pope Francis takes part in a meeting with Catholic faithful of the diocese of Vanimo in front of Holy Cross Cathedral in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, on 8 September 2024. Photo: TIZIANA FABI / AFP Pope Francis flew deep into the jungle of the Southwestern Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Sunday to visit Catholics living in one of the most remote areas of the world and deliver medical supplies and other aid. Travelling 1000 km in a C-130 cargo aircraft provided by the Royal Australian Air Force, Francis arrived with a small entourage in Vanimo, a township of some 12,000 people in the northwestern corner of PNG's main island, with no running water and scarce electricity. The 87-year-old pope brought hundreds of kilograms of items to help support the ...
Former US President George W. Bush does not plan to make election endorsement
World News

Former US President George W. Bush does not plan to make election endorsement

George W. Bush was US President from 2001-2009. Photo: AFP Former US President George W. Bush, 78, a Republican, does not plan to make an endorsement or voice how he or his wife Laura will vote in the presidential election in November, a spokesman said on Saturday. "He retired from presidential politics many years ago," said the spokesman, who did not wish to be named. The announcement came a day after Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, announced he would cross party lines and vote for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris over Republican former President Donald Trump. Cheney, who served as vice president under Bush from 2001 to 2009, said on Friday that "in our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald T...
Australian links revealed in global defence company scandal involving China, Russia and Iran
World News

Australian links revealed in global defence company scandal involving China, Russia and Iran

By ABC Defence Correspondent Andrew Greene Defence giant RTX has agreed to pay a US$200 million fine following 750 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Photo: NurPhoto via AFP US defence giant RTX has been fined for a series of unauthorised defence technology exports to Australia and other nations. RTX employees were also found to have taken work laptops containing sensitive military secrets into Russia and Iran. Australia's Defence Department is not commenting on the settlement reached between RTX and the US government but insists it works closely with international partners on export regulations. An American weapons company made illegal technology transfers to Australia at the same time some of its staff members breached stri...
Thousands protest in France against Macron’s choice of prime minister
World News

Thousands protest in France against Macron’s choice of prime minister

The procession and the crowd during the demonstration of the left-wing forces against the nomination of Michel Barnier, in Paris, France on 7 September 2024. Photo: AUGUSTIN PASQUINI / HANS LUCAS / AFP Thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday against Emmanuel Macron's decision to pick centre-right politician Michel Barnier as prime minister, with leftist parties accusing the president of ignoring election results. Macron named 73-year-old Barnier, a conservative and the former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, as prime minister on Thursday, capping a two-month search following his ill-fated decision to call a legislative election that delivered a hung parliament. "Democracy is not only the art of knowing how to accept victory, but the humility to accept defeat,...