According to a recent study, pre-existing health disparities among ethnic minorities with diabetes have become worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Academics from the University of Leicester are urging care services to address the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on people from ethnic minority backgrounds after highlighting an increase in health inequalities.

Border control at Copenhagen Airport

A proposal to ban Schengen visas for Russia was put forward to the European Union for discussion, official spokesman of the German Cabinet Steffen Hebestreit said, adding that Berlin took note of that.

"It was put forward by certain countries in the EU and is thereby on the agenda. The German government should now discuss it among Cabinet members and inside the EU. These discussions are not completed and therefore I cannot tell you about interim results," Hebestreit said during a media briefing on Wednesday, as per TASS news agency.

Children playing around NRC's vehicle during a distribution in North Kivu in 2020. The Democratic Republic of the Congo tops NRC’s neglected crises list for the second year running. Photo: Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation announced today that The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has been selected as the 2022 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize recipient and will receive US$2.5 million in funding. As the world’s largest annual humanitarian award presented to a non-profit, the Hilton Humanitarian Prize recognizes extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering.

Photo: Santeri Viinamäki

Users of WhatsApp will no longer have just one hour to delete a message after sending it; instead, they will now have slightly more than two days.

According to The Verge, to start using the new feature right now, open up the WhatsApp group or individual chat where you sent the message(s).

Space Station Over Earth (NASA, International Space Station, 05/23/11)

Russia is looking into potential projects to replace the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 and is currently working on extending the operation of the ISS past 2024, Roscosmos Executive Director for Piloted Spaceflights Sergey Krikalev said on Thursday.

"Of course, the station will have an end eventually. New spacecraft will replace the ISS and we are looking into projects for the new station, but, for now, we are working on extending the operation on ISS.

Beijing China-Germany Industrial Park

A decoupling of the EU and Germany from China, which would result in retaliatory measures from the latter, would cost Germany almost six times as much as Brexit. This is the finding of a scenario analysis conducted by the ifo Institute on behalf of the Bavarian Industry Association (vbw). “De-globalization makes us poorer. Rather than turning away from important trading partners without good reason, companies should additionally source inputs from other countries in order to reduce one-sided and critical dependencies on certain markets and authoritarian regimes,” says Lisandra Flach, coauthor of the study.

Over 220 U.S. Marines and Ukrainian forces, riding in 15 Amphibious vehicles, participated in an amphibious landing operation in Odessa, Ukraine, July 27. Photo: NATO

Russia on Tuesday accused the United States of direct involvement in the Ukraine war.

Lt Gen Igor Konashenkov, spokesperson for Moscow's defence ministry said that they intercepted calls between Ukrainian officials that revealed the direct involvement of the US in the Ukraine war.

Germany is going to allow 21 coal plants to restart or work past planned closing dates for the next two winters, according to media reports.

France, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands have also announced plans to reactivate old coal power plants, however, the plans of Germany are most extensive, according to the Washington Post.

Russia central bank

The Russian economy will shrink year-on-year until mid-2023, and from the middle of next year and in 2024 it will grow at a recovery pace, according to the central bank's report on monetary policy.

"In general, by the end of 2022, according to the forecast of the Bank of Russia, GDP will contract by 4-6 per cent, which is somewhat better than the April estimates (8-10 per cent). In annualized terms, the reduction will continue until mid-2023, therefore, by the end of 2023, a decline in the range of 1-4 per cent is predicted," the regulator said.

Bilateral meeting with Finland and Sweden. Left to right: Pekka Haavisto (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finland) with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ann Linde (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sweden)

The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO is a formal step, what will happen next with instructors and bases is important, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Moscow will monitor de facto the consequences of the accession of these countries to NATO.