Overview

Sudan's conflict leaves over 15 million children out of school

Sudan's conflict leaves over 15 million children out of school

More than 15 million children in Sudan are out of school due to the country's ongoing conflict, the National Council for Child Welfare said.

"We have more than 15 million children out of school," said Abdul Qadir Abdullah Abu, the council's secretary-general, at a press conference in Port Sudan, the capital of Red Sea State, news agency reported.

Abu accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of systematic violations against children, alleging that the "militia" has kidnapped over 2,500 children. He added that nearly 3,000 children have been killed during displacement, and the RSF has recruited over 8,000 children to fight in its ranks.

Abu said that children are "the most vulnerable" group and need protection mechanisms.

On October 30, Save the Children reported that more than 2.8 million children under the age of five are facing dire humanitarian conditions as the conflict continues across Sudan. According to the report, children account for over half of the country's 11 million displaced people, with many living in camps, informal settlements, overcrowded schools, or public buildings.

India festive season sales log 12 pc growth at Rs 1.18 lakh crore, smaller cities lead

India festive season sales log 12 pc growth at Rs 1.18 lakh crore, smaller cities lead

Driven by tier 2 and 3 cities, India’s e-commerce sector registered a gross merchandise value (GMV) of approximately $14 billion (more than Rs 1.18 lakh crore) in this year’s festive season, marking a 12 per cent growth over last year’s festive period, a report said on Wednesday.

This growth was fuelled by resilient consumer spending across categories, including quick commerce, electronics, fashion, beauty and personal care (BPC), home furnishings and groceries, according to the report by Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Higher engagement with premium products and low average selling price (ASP) items alike indicated a dynamic consumer market this festive season (from September 15 to October 31).

WFP seeks fund to help over 1 million food-insecure Kenyans

WFP seeks fund to help over 1 million food-insecure Kenyans

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it requires $137.6 million in net funding to provide humanitarian aid to one million food-insecure Kenyans over the next six months.

The WFP estimates that one million Kenyans, primarily in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), are acutely food insecure -- a number projected to rise to 1.8 million by January 2025 due to anticipated La Nina conditions, news agency reported.

Over 900,000 children aged six to 59 months, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls, require nutritional supplementation, with high malnutrition rates concentrated in ASAL counties, especially in northern Kenya, it said.

The WFP, in collaboration with the UN refugee agency UNHCR and Kenya's Department of Refugee Services, is developing a differentiated assistance model tailored to the specific needs of refugee and asylum-seeker households.

Chinese EV giant BYD enters South Korean passenger car market

Chinese EV giant BYD enters South Korean passenger car market

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD on Wednesday officially announced its plan to enter South Korea's passenger car market.

BYD Korea, the company's South Korean sales subsidiary, said in a statement that it has "completed review to release passenger car brands in the domestic market" and officially confirmed its entry with a target date, likely early next year, to be set in the near future.

BYD Korea said it is currently working on establishing regional sales and service networks, recruiting staff, obtaining vehicle certifications, and finalising marketing plans and employee training, reports news agency.

"To meet the high expectations of Korean consumers, we conducted in-depth evaluations with experienced employees and partners," Cho In-chul, head of BYD Korea's passenger car division, said.

John Ratcliffe is Trump's pick to head CIA

John Ratcliffe is Trump's pick to head CIA

US President-elect Donald Trump has named John Ratcliffe, a former congressman and Director of National Intelligence, as his Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, contrary to feverish speculation that the job was going to Kash Patel, an Indian-American.

Trump had pushed for Patel as acting director of the CIA in the dying months of this first term as President.

The Indian-American lawyer had made news for driving congressional opposition to investigation of Trump’s links to Russia as an aide to a top Republican lawmaker.

He was widely expected to get the CIA directorship, given his unstinting loyalty to the former president. He did not get it, but he might still be in the running for a stop position in the Trump administration. The position of the Director of National Intelligence is still open.

ATP Finals: Sinner fends off Fritz; Koolhof-Mektic pair down second seed Granollers-Zeballos

ATP Finals: Sinner fends off Fritz; Koolhof-Mektic pair down second seed Granollers-Zeballos

World No.1 Jannik Sinner's quest to conclude his outstanding season with a ATP Finals trophy continued as the top sealed a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Taylor Fritz, moving to 2-0 in the Ilie Nastase Group.

Fritz put Sinner through his paces in the early stages of the contest. The Italian, however, raised his game when required to register a one-hour, 40-minute triumph, improving to 3-1 in the pair's ATP Head-2-Head series.

Sinner, who is chasing his Tour-leading eighth title of 2024, now looks in strong contention to progress from the group, having not dropped a set. He will seek to extend his perfect 2-0 record in the Ilie Nastase Group when he takes on fourth seed Daniil Medvedev on Thursday.

South Korea, US-developed solar coronagraph installed at International Space Station

South Korea, US-developed solar coronagraph installed at International Space Station

A solar coronagraph jointly developed by South Korea and the United States has been successfully installed on the International Space Station (ISS) to begin its mission of observing the sun and its outer atmosphere, or corona, Seoul's national space agency said on Wednesday.

The Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) was installed on the ISS's external platform, successfully received power, and established communications, according to the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), news agency reported.

CODEX, a collaboration between the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will perform solar observation missions for up to two years following a one-month test run, starting next year.

CODEX is the world's first coronagraph designed to observe the temperature and velocity of the solar wind in addition to the density, KASA said, noting it will help researchers better understand the solar wind and predict the space weather.

Indian stock market opens in red amid consolidation phase

Indian stock market opens in red amid consolidation phase

The Indian stock market opened in red on Wednesday as selling was seen across sectors, except private banks, in early trade.

Sensex was trading at 78,260 after slipping 414 points and Nifty was trading at 23,706 after dropping 167 points.

The market trend remained negative. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 335 stocks were trading in green, while 1,948 stocks were trading in red.

Nifty Bank was at 51,194.40 after gaining 36.60 points or 0.07 per cent. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 54,375.30 after falling 882.20 points or 1.60 per cent. Nifty Small cap 100 index was at 17,618.75 after a huge fall of 372.85 points or 2.07 per cent.

M&M, Tata Steel, Maruti, Sun Pharma, Reliance, Nestle India, JSW Steel and Power Grid were the top losers in the Sensex pack. NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC were the top gainers.

India likely to add 33.9 mn jobs to its workforce by 2028 in AI era

India likely to add 33.9 mn jobs to its workforce by 2028 in AI era

With AI-driven transformation, India is projected to increase its workforce from 423.73 million in 2023 to 457.62 million by 2028, a net gain of 33.89 million workers, according to a report on Wednesday.

Emerging technology will transform talent across India’s key growth sectors, generating 2.73 million new tech jobs by 2028, according to new research by AI platform for business transformation, ServiceNow.

The research, commissioned from the world’s leading learning company, Pearson, showed that the retail sector is set to lead employment growth, requiring an additional 6.96 million workers to fuel its expansion.

This is followed by manufacturing (1.50 million jobs), education (0.84 million jobs) and healthcare (0.80 million jobs) sectors.

South Korea: 7 out of 10 people say couples can live together without marriage

South Korea: 7 out of 10 people say couples can live together without marriage

Almost seven out of 10 South Koreans said couples can live together without marriage, while nearly four in 10 replied that couples can have a baby out of wedlock, a statistical office survey showed on Tuesday.

According to the Statistics Korea poll of around 36,000 respondents aged 13 and older conducted between May 15 and May 30, 67.4 per cent said couples can live together without tying the knot.

Support for cohabitation was on the rise from 46.6 per cent in 2014 to 56.4 per cent in 2018 and 65.2 per cent in 2022.

Of the total respondents this year, 37.2 per cent said couples can bear a child without getting married.

The ratio has also been on the increase from 22.5 per cent in 2014 to 30.3 per cent in 2018 and 34.7 per cent in 2022.

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