News in Brief (2022-06-04)

FE Team | Published: June 03, 2022 21:40:12

Soldier killed in Pakistan terror attack
ISLAMABAD, June 03: A soldier was killed when terrorists targeted security forces in the North Waziristan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an army statement said on Thursday night. The terrorists fired at a military post in the area of Datta Khel town of the district. — Xinhua
Japan posts record low births
TOKYO, June 03: Japan recorded a record low number of births in 2021, prompting the biggest ever natural decline in the population, government data showed on Friday. There were 811,604 births last year, the fewest in health ministry data going back to 1899. Deaths climbed to 1,439,809, leading to an overall drop of 628,205 in the population. — Reuters
Royals lead thanksgiving service for Queen Elizabeth II
LONDON, June 03: Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were on Friday expected to make their first public appearance in Britain in two years, at a Platinum Jubilee church service for Queen Elizabeth II. But hopes the family would re-unite altogether were scuppered after his grandmother was forced to pull out after suffering "some discomfort" at Thursday's kick off to four days of celebrations. The 96-year-old monarch has been dogged by difficulties standing and walking that have forced her to cancel a slew of engagements since last year. On Thursday, she made two public appearances on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in central London after the Trooping the Colour military parade. In the evening, she was at Windsor Castle for a ceremony to light beacons across the country and the Commonwealth of 54 nations that she also heads. — AFP
Global plastic waste on track to triple by 2060
PARIS, June 03: A world severely blighted by plastic pollution is on track to see the use of plastics nearly triple in less than four decades, according to findings released Friday. Annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics are set to top 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060 and waste to exceed one billion tonnes, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). — AFP
Saudi women move from behind wheel to under the hood
JEDDAH, June 03: An auto repair garage in Saudi Arabia is turning to an untapped source for new car mechanics: Saudi women, who just four years ago weren't even allowed to drive. At the Petromin Express garage in Jeddah, on the Red Sea coast, new female recruits check oil and change tyres alongside their male counterparts, part of a nationwide push to bring more women into the workforce. Yet the women trainees have, perhaps inevitably, encountered a host of barriers as they enter a field that is male-dominated the world over-and even more so in the conservative Muslim kingdom. Several told AFP their first months on the job have brought flashes of self-doubt, scepticism from relatives and outright hostility from some customers. — AFP
India woman's plan to 'marry herself' sparks debate
GUJARAT, June 03: Sologamy, a wedding ceremony where people marry themselves, has been a growing trend in the West over the past few years. It has now reached Indian shores. Kshama Bindu has a traditional Hindu ceremony due to take place on the evening of June 11 in a temple in the city of Vadodara, in the western state of Gujarat. Decked up in her red bridal outfit, with henna on her hands and vermilion powder in her hair parting, the bride will do the customary seven rounds around the sacred fire, she tells me on the phone from her home. Pre-wedding rituals such as Haldi (where turmeric mixed with oil is applied on the bride) and sangeet (music and dance) will be held earlier in the day. — BBC