Updated: Apr 4th, 2026 Iran has rejected a US proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Friday.  The proposal was delivered to Iran through a “friendly” country on Thursday, Fars quoted an informed source as saying. Washington has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, particularly after an Iranian strike targeted a US...

At least eight people have been killed in a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan, Mohammad Yousuf Hammad, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said.  A house in Kabul province collapsed following the quake, killing eight residents and injuring a child, Hammad said late Friday night. Strong tremors were also felt in the capital, Kabul. The epicentre,...

Updated: Apr 4th, 2026 United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis II astronauts sent stunning images of Earth as they approached closer toward the moon.  Photo captured by Commander Reid Wiseman showed a curved slice of Earth framed by the Orion capsule’s window. A second image revealed the entire globe, with its oceans crowned with white clouds and...

Updated: Apr 4th, 2026 Frequent users of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude and Grok may have noticed a recurring pattern that these systems often appear to agree readily with users. While this can feel efficient and helpful, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reportedly have warned that such interactions may come at a cost...

Updated: Apr 4th, 2026 A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran, triggering a combat search-and-rescue operation, with one crew member rescued and another still missing.  Both crew members ejected from the aircraft. One has been found alive, while efforts continue to locate the second, whose status remains unclear. The F-15E is a two-seat multirole fighter...

Image: X  (Ferozwala) Iranian media has once again claimed that an F-35 stealth fighter jet was shot down over central Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), even as the United States dismissed the assertion as false. According to reports by Iran news agency, visuals of aircraft debris were released, which Tehran described as remnants of an American fighter...

Updated: Apr 3rd, 2026 Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has been elected the country’s President after he secured more votes among the three nominees, media reported on Friday.  Hlaing’s two Vice Presidents are former military-appointed Prime Minister Nyo Saw, a longtime loyalist, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, the Karen State chair of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party...

Updated: Apr 3rd, 2026 The Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Randy George, has stepped down and retired with immediate effect after being asked to do so by Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, in a sudden move that underscores a widening shake-up at the Pentagon.  “General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st...

Updated: Apr 3rd, 2026 US President Donald Trump has fired his embattled Attorney General Pam Bondi, announcing it on a delicately worded post on Truth Social on Thursday.  She is the second Cabinet official dismissed by Trump, following the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on March 5. President Trump said that he was appointing Bondi’s Deputy, Todd Blanche,...

Updated: Apr 2nd, 2026 Efforts to reduce air pollution in East Asia, especially China, may be unintentionally accelerating global warming, as per a study. The article, titled “East Asian aerosol cleanup has likely contributed to the recent acceleration in global warming”, was conducted by Bjørn H Samset of the CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, and was published...