Author: Starvision News Desk

New York, Sep 15 (IANS) New multi-billion-dollar commitments to boost renewables and access to electricity and clean cooking technologies by 2030 have brought the finance and investment pledged through the UN for the energy transition over the trillion-dollar mark, according to a report released on Friday ahead of a UN summit.The second annual Energy Compact progress report shows an uptick in “Energy Compact” voluntary commitments, to be deployed by 2030, aimed at reducing the ranks of 675 million people living without electricity and over two billion still cooking with polluting fuels, while setting the world on a climate action trajectory…

Hong Kong, Sep 15 (IANS) China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday skirted questions on the whereabouts of the country’s Defence Minister, amid mounting speculation that the recently-promoted general has been placed under investigation, a media report said.Li Shangfu, who was appointed Defence Minister in March, has been absent from public view for more than two weeks, fuelling rumors about his fate after a series of unexplained personnel shakeups roiled the upper ranks of China’s ruling Communist Party this summer, CNN reported.The Financial Times reported late on Thursday that the US government believes Li has been placed under investigation, citing American officials. The…

San Francisco, Sep 15 (IANS) Proper nutrition is a must in childhood as malnutrition early in life sets stage for poor growth and death, according to three studies.”Children whose growth begins to falter before they are six months old are much more likely to die and much more likely to have severe forms of growth faltering by the time they’re 18 to 24 months old,” said Benjamin Arnold and Associate Professor at University of California-San Francisco. “There is a very narrow period in which we can intervene, ideally in the prenatal period. It also suggests broader interventions are needed to…

San Francisco, Sep 15 (IANS) People who use both tobacco and cannabis are more likely to have anxiety and depression than those who used tobacco only or only cannabis, according to a study. Researchers conducted the study on 53,843 adults who participated in online surveys of which 4.9 per cent use tobacco, 6.9 per cent use cannabis only, and 1.6 per cent use both. The findings, published in open-access journal PLOS ONE, showed that 26.5 per cent reported anxiety and 28.3 per cent reported depression among people who use both tobacco and cannabis. Meanwhile, in people who used neither tobacco…

New York, Sep 15 (IANS) Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel, the top Indian-origin aide to former US President Donald Trump and also a close associate, will be releasing a book next week, seeking to expose the “bad actors in senior leadership”. Titled “Government Gangsters”, the book targets multiple federal officials and “exposes the corruption of the Deep State”, The Washington Examiner reported. “It exists. It’s real. I wish I wasn’t writing a book on the Deep State, but whether it was my time in the Department of Justice, DOD (Department of Defence), the intel community, the State Department, wherever — there were…

Washington, Sep 15 (IANS) Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Nikki Haley is behind her former boss Donald Trump by 28 points, but ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a new poll of likely 2024 GOP primary voters in her home state, South Carolina.According to the Monmouth University-Washington Post poll released on Thursday, only 18 per cent of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina said they plan to vote for their former governor, while 46 per cent said they wanted Trump.Senator Tim Scott came in third place with 10 per cent support and DeSantis followed at 9 per cent, The…

London, Sep 15 (IANS) In a significant breakthrough, Spanish researchers have shown for the first time that breast milk from breast cancer patients contains tumour DNA, and may help in early detection of the most common type of cancer affecting women worldwide.  The tumour DNA, known as circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), can be detected through liquid biopsy in breast milk, even before breast cancer can be diagnosed using conventional imaging. It could become a new tool for early diagnosis of breast cancer in the postpartum period, reveals the research published in the journal Cancer Discovery.The findings were made by researchers…

San Francisco, Sep 14 (IANS) While being sedentary is harmful for all age groups, a new study showed older adults who keep seated for more than 10 hours a day watching TV may be at an increased risk of developing dementia.The study, published in JAMA, revealed that a sedentary lifestyle with a lot of sitting and lying down, with very little to no exercise accumulated over the course of the day didn’t matter as much as the total time spent sedentary each day. According to study author David Raichlen from University of South California (USC), total sedentary behaviour had a…

London, Sep 15 (IANS) The highly transmissible Covid sub-varaint EG.5, dubbed as Eris, is spreading rapidly across the globe because of its ability to escape from antibodies, finds a study.Since May 2023, the EG.5 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, known as Eris, has been spreading globally and was classified as a Variant of Interest by the World Health Organization (WHO) in early August.It is the most prevalent Covid variant in the US, UK and other countries. However, the cause of theincreasing spread of Eris has been unclear.Scientists from the German Primate Center-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Gottingen in Germany, have now…

Sanaa, Sep 15 (IANS) The people in Yemen, already burdened by the years-long civil war, now face another challenge posed by the unrelenting severe drought, a disaster brought on by climate change.This crisis poses a significant threat to Yemen’s agricultural sector, which is a lifeline for millions in this war-torn nation, reports Xinhua news agency.”This drought is a slow, silent disaster that cuts us deep,” said Majed Yahya Mouaidh, a farmer from the Hamdan district of Sanaa province.Invillages on the outskirts of Sanaa, arid and cracked soil and dry wells are a common sight. In Sawan village, about 10 km…