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China has said it will not compromise on defending its national interests over Taiwan, in a rebuke to U.S. President Joe Biden's vow to protect the island from any invasion by its neighbor. China has repeatedly said Taiwan is part of its territory despite the two being governed separately since 1949. China has not ruled out using military force to achieve its ambitions with Taiwan . However, the U.S. continues to support Taiwan's autonomy, providing it with state-of-the-art weapons and military training. If China takes Taiwan, some experts have said it give it a greater advantage in the Indo-Pacific region, and the enable to threaten U.S. bases as far away as Guam and Hawaii. Biden made the comments early on Monday in a visit to Japan for talks with leaders of the "Quad" group, which includes Australia, Japan and India. He said China was "flirting with danger" in its aggressive policy towards the self-governing island. Speaking about whether the U.S. would...

The Turkish has accused Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of telling the US to not sell fighter jets to Turkey. He has called off planned talks between Athens and Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he  will no longer talk to his Greek counterpart , Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, following the Greek leader's visit to Washington. Erdogan claimed that Mitsotakis had called on US officials not to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, as well as accusing Athens of harboring followers of his declared nemesis, the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. The Turkish president also called off a planned meeting between the governments of the two neighboring countries. "This year we were supposed to have a strategic council meeting. There's no longer anyone called Mitsotakis in my book," Erdogan told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "I will never accept having such a meeting with him because we walk on the same path as politicians w...

The oldest subway stations in the world: The subway, or metro, is a popular means of transportation, especially in big cities. Interestingly, the first cars were often pulled by steam engines. More modern systems and networks then turned to electricity. And while subways frequently run underground, many networks around the world include elevated and exterior portions. Did you know that the first subway was built in London in the 19th century? Read on to learn more about the oldest subways in the world! London, 1863 London is home to the oldest subway in the world. Its first line, the Metropolitan, was commissioned and inaugurated in 1863. It ran for six kilometres between Paddington and Farringdon stations and has since been extended and modified. The London subway currently has 270 active stations and over 40 unused stations. Among these phantom stops, several lie along the Metropolitan line. King’s Cross St. Pancras, for instance, was moved, rendering the original station obsolete....

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey would not look "positively" on Sweden and Finland's NATO bids unless its terror-related concerns were addressed, despite broad support from other allies including the United States. Turkey has long accused Nordic countries, in particular Sweden which has a strong Turkish immigrant community, of harbouring outlawed Kurdish militants as well as supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based preacher wanted over the failed 2016 coup. Erdogan's threat throws a major potential obstacle in the way of membership for the hitherto militarily non-aligned Nordic nations since a consensus is required in NATO decisions. "Unless Sweden and Finland clearly show that they will stand in solidarity with Turkey on fundamental issues, especially in the fight against terrorism, we will not approach these countries' NATO membership positively," Erdogan told NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call, according to the presid...

The carcasses of charred buildings stand amid the lush greenery in what remains of the once bustling Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.  After weeks of siege and strikes much of the city on the coast of the Sea of Azov has been reduced to a wasteland. As the last Ukrainian troops in the town surrendered to the Russians at the bombed-out Azovstal steel plant, passers-by mourned their fate. Angela Kopytsa, a 52-year-old with bleached hair, said she saw no future for herself in Mariupol. "There is no work, no food, no water," she said, adding that both her home and life had been "destroyed". The city has lived without electricity since early March. Kopytsa breaks into tears as she recounts how during the hostilities she had to share morsels of food with her children and grandson and how "children at maternity wards were dying of hunger". "What future?" she said in Russian. "I have no hope for anything." Three months of fighting in Mariupol ...

The oldest cities in the world : Many of the earliest cities in the world are still inhabited, serving as living records of humanity’s first forays into civilization. Archaeologists dispute exact timelines and what counts as a city proper, but there is no doubt the first urban centres enshrine the development of agriculture, trade, and the many great empires that rose and fell over the millennia. Here is a sampling of some of the oldest cities in the world still living today. Jericho, West Bank The ancient city of Jericho, located in the West Bank on the shores of the Dead Sea, is widely considered the oldest in the world. First settled by Neolithic hunter-gatherers, by 8000 BCE Tell es-Sultan—as it is also known—had grown to a sizable town enclosed by a stone wall. The wall would be rebuilt many times as successive civilizations rose and fell, providing an important window into the evolution of humanity’s earliest urban settlements.

Different parts of Bangladesh have different geographical characteristics, which should be taken into consideration in designing development plans, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “You need to understand Bangladesh and work accordingly,” she said in the first meeting of the Delta Governance Council, formed to implement the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 at her office on Sunday. “We need to have a guideline to implement the Delta Plan. As the deadline for the plan is 2100, it should be amended and overhauled over time.” “This is how we should design the plan and work accordingly.” The Awami League government aims to ensure the socio-economic development of the people, she said. Hasina also said she believed the Delta Governance Council meeting would be able to draw up good recommendations for the agendas it discussed. “It will propel the implementation [of the Delta Plan] and enable us to take realistic measures. We should move forward accordingly.” The government has formed the council ...

The Tesla CEO is known for busting a move whenever he attends the opening of a new factory, but he reportedly won't be slipping on his boogie shoes in India anytime soon. The electric auto maker has put its plans to sell cars in India on hold, abandoned a search for showroom space and reassigned some of its domestic team after failing to secure lower import taxes,  Reuters reported , citing anonymous sources.  The company did not respond to a request for comment. Tesla had sought to test demand by selling EVs imported from the US and China at lower tariffs, but government officials had pressed for the company to commit to manufacturing locally before it would lower tariffs, which can run as high as 100% on imported vehicles. Musk had said Tesla In January was "still working through a lot of challenges with the government" in regard to sales in India. Tesla incorporated an Indian company in Bengaluru, the capital of India's southern Karnataka state, in 2021, with the g...

Hypersonic weapon passes test. ARRW under development by Lockheed Martin for Air Force. B-52 bomber from Edwards Air Force Base was used to successfully test a hypersonic weapon, on May 14, the Air Force announced. The AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) is in development by Lockheed Martin for the Air Force. It is intended to be launched from an aircraft and boosted by a rocket to travel at speeds in excess of Mach 5 to its target. In the recent test, the bomber, taking off from Edwards AFB, carried the missile over the Pacific Ocean for the test launch. Once the ARRW was released, its booster ignited and burned for the expected duration, reaching hypersonic speeds, according to an Air Force statement. Hypersonic refers to speeds in excess of Mach 5, and is a frontier researchers have been striving to employ effectively for decades. The field has recently gained traction, with projects in development on a number of fronts. The 419th Flight Test Squadron and the Global P...

President  Joe Biden  said Sunday that "everybody" should be alert to the recent outbreak of monkeypox cases in the United States and Europe and stay on top of developments. Biden made the comments before  Air Force One 's departure from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The trip, which included a stop in Japan, was his first to Asia as president.  "They haven't told me the level of exposure yet, but it is something that everybody should be concerned about,"   Biden told reporters . "We're working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine, if any, may be available for it. But it is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread, it's consequential." Monkeypox, a rare virus typically found in Africa, had recently confirmed cases  in Massachusetts , along with Canada and Europe. The Massachusetts case involved a person who had recently visited Canada. The  World Health Organization said  it is tracking 92 confirmed cases ...

Surprising Side Effects of Eating Corn : Whether you love  cornbread , corn chowder, or just enjoy adding some fresh kernels to your favorite  salad ,  corn  is a staple food in countless homes around the world. However, it's not just the versatility of this tasty vegetable that makes it such a great addition to meals—it also confers plenty of health benefits even the biggest connoisseurs may not recognize. Read on to discover the side effects of eating corn, according to science. And if you want to get healthier, start by ditching the  100 Unhealthiest Foods on the Planet .

Russia ordered dozens of French diplomats to leave the country Wednesday as relations between Russia and the West continue to deteriorate.  Russia's move targeted 34 French diplomats, as well as 27 from Spain, according to Russian Foreign Ministry statements. Both France and Spain took similar actions to expel Russian diplomats from their own countries in recent weeks. The Spanish diplomats must leave Russian soil within a week, while the French were granted two weeks. France expelled six Russian citizens it said were operating as spies under a diplomatic cover in early April. The Kremlin's retaliation comes as tensions between Russia and the West continue to escalate. Sweden and Finland filed a joint request to join NATO on Tuesday, despite their tradition of neutrality. Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime had previously stated that such a move could warrant the deployment of nuclear and hypersonic weapons to the Finnish border. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov brushed...

NASA set for Boeing's Starliner uncrewed space capsule test :  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA astronauts and officials on Wednesday said Boeing Co's Starliner space capsule is ready for its uncrewed launch this week to the International Space Station, a long-delayed test mission meant to demonstrate the aerospace giant can safely fly humans in space. Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule, a gumdrop-shaped astronaut pod, has experienced multiple setbacks in recent years. Software failures in 2019 nixed its debut attempt to dock at the space station. Fuel valve issues last year added nine months of further delays. At 6:54 p.m. EDT (2254 GMT) on Thursday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Starliner is set to make another attempt at launching to the space station without any astronauts aboard, aiming to provide Boeing a much-needed success as the company strives to climb out of successive crises in its jetliner business and elsewhere in its space and defense uni...

May 18 - Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressed the Russian Parliament (Duma) and Moscow State University during his historic visit to Russia in 1972. Fifty years later, on the centenary of his birth, a seminar was held at the same university again on Tuesday which was seen as a source of pride and joy for all. On the occasion of the golden jubilee of Independence of Bangladesh and the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , the daylong seminar was organized at the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University. Moderated by Professor Alexey Maslov, Director of the Institute, the seminar started with the introductory speeches of Ambassador of Bangladesh to Russia Kamrul Ahsan and Ambassador of Russia to Bangladesh Alexander Mantytskiy. Later, university professors, fellows and policy makers of various Russian institutions presented their topic-based speeches. The seminar was attended by represe...