News in Brief

Date: 14 July 2023 - 21:53

News ID: ۱۱۷۱۸۷

LONDON (Al-Jazeera) - The Solomon Islands has denied suggestions by Australia and others its policing deal with Beijing is “a threat to the Pacific region peace” and says China will enhance the capability of its 1,500 police officers in cybersecurity and community policing. The United States, Australia, New Zealand and Solomon Islands’ opposition party have called for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to “immediately” publish details of the policing deal signed in Beijing.

***
LONDON (Reuters) - More than a quarter of Britain’s single parent households have recently run out of food and been unable to afford more, according to a survey from the country’s statistics agency which highlights the impact of surging inflation. Out of nearly 15,000 households surveyed between Feb. 8 and May 1, 5% said they had run out of food in the previous two weeks and been unable to buy more, rising to 28% for households with a single parent and at least one child. Pressures are greatest for larger families, as support payments since 2017 have been limited to a maximum of two children per household, with limited exceptions.

***
BUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency in response to high inflation threatening food security in Africa’s most populous country, the State House said. Dele Alake, a spokesman for the president, revealed this at a press briefing in the capital of Abuja, adding that Tinubu “is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens ... affordability has been a major issue for many Nigerians in all parts of the country.” Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed the headline inflation rate in Nigeria has remained stubbornly high since January 2021.

***
TOKYO (Reuters) - A rocket engine exploded during a test in Japan on Friday but there were no injuries, an official at Japan’s Education, Science and Technology Ministry said. The explosion of the Epsilon S engine at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) testing site is the latest in a series of failures that have deflated Japan’s space ambitions. The explosion took place about a minute into the test of the second stage engine, the official said.

***
PARIS (AFP) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” but ruled that small amounts are safe for consumption. A chemical sweetener most commonly found in diet sodas, aspartame has been linked to a litany of health problems. In a report published on Friday, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found “limited evidence” linking aspartame with hepatocellular carcinoma, a form of liver cancer. The IARC, a WHO body, came to its conclusion after examining three large-scale human studies in the U.S. and Europe.