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California, New Zealand announce climate change partnership

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Top officials from California and New Zealand signed a pledge on Friday agreeing to help fight climate change by sharing ideas and best practices, including how to put millions more electric vehicles on the road. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke about the agreement at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The agreement doesn’t commit either government to specific policies but outlines broad areas for cooperation. “We have a natural connection and I’m so pleased we’ve put pen to paper today to confirm that and continue our cooperation on one of the great challenges from our generation,” Ms. Ardern said. Cars, trucks and other parts of the transportation sector are California’s biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, and New Zealand’s second largest behind agriculture, Ms. Ardern said. California is moving to ban sales of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. New Zealand wants 30% of all car sales to be electric by that year. M...
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India, Japan to work together to help Sri Lanka during crisis

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Mr. Modi and Mr. Kishida met on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit and held bilateral talks COLOMBO: India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, the Japanese government said, following a recent meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo. Mr. Modi and Mr. Kishida met on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit and held bilateral talks on “close cooperation” to promote efforts to realise a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’, in addition to collaboration in spheres including defence, clean energy, and investment. Following the meeting, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the leaders “discussed the situation in Sri Lanka and confirmed that they will cooperate with each other in light of the current economic crisis and deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country.” Further, they “shared the view to work together to develop Indo-Pacific Economic Framework into an inclusive framework that will bring sub...
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Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of International Booker Prize

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Geetanjali Shree has become the first Indian writer to win the International Booker Prize. Her novel Tomb of Sand, a family saga set in the shadow of the partition of India, follows an 80-year-old woman after the death of her husband. It was the first Hindi-language book to be shortlisted for the £50,000 prize. "I never dreamt of the Booker, I never thought I could," Ms Shree said. "What a huge recognition. I'm amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled." In her acceptance speech, quoted by the Press Trust of India, she said being the first book in Hindi to win the prize felt good. "Behind me and this book lies a rich and flourishing literary tradition in Hindi, and in other South Asian languages. World literature will be the richer for knowing some of the finest writers in these languages," she said. Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell speak to the BBC World Service Frank Wynne, the chair of judges, said the panel were "captivated by the power, the...
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WHO: Nearly 200 cases of monkeypox in more than 20 countries

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Dr. Rosamund Lewis, head of WHO's smallpox department, said that “there is no need for mass vaccination,” explaining that monkeypox does not spread easily and typically requires skin-to-skin contact for transmission The World Health Organisation says nearly 200 cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 20 countries not usually known to have outbreaks of the unusual disease, but described the epidemic as “containable” and proposed creating a stockpile to equitably share the limited vaccines and drugs available worldwide. During a public briefing on Friday, the UN health agency said there are still many unanswered questions about how the current epidemic arose, but there is no evidence that any genetic changes in the virus are responsible for the unprecedented epidemic. “The first sequencing of the virus shows that the strain is not different from the strains we can find in endemic countries and [this outbrea] is probably due more to a change in human behaviour,” said Dr. S...
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