United News of Bangladesh

Earth's average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record. The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit, 17.23 degrees Celsius, surpassing the 62.9 and 17.18-degree marks set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world's condition. That average includes places that are sweltering under dangerous heat — like Jingxing, China, which checked in almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) — and the merely unusually warm, like Antarctica, where temperatures across much of the continent were as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) above normal this week. Also read: World swelters to unofficial hottest day on record The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued a note of caution about the Maine tool's findings, saying it could not confirm data that results in part from computer modeling. "Although NOAA cannot validate the methodology or conclusion of the University of Maine analysis, we recognize that we are in a warm period due to climate change," NOAA said. Still, the Maine data has been widely regarded as another troubling sign of climate change around the globe. Some climate scientists said this week they weren't surprised to see the unofficial records. Also read: Nearly 100 die as India struggles with a sweltering heatwave in 2 most populous states Robert Watson, a scientist and former chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said governments and the private sector "are not truly committed to address climate change." Nor are citizens, he said. "They demand cheap energy, cheap food and do not want to pay the true cost of food and energy," Watson said. Also read: Heatwaves to impact almost every child by 2050: UNICEF report  

Globally, women are most likely to be responsible for fetching water for households, while girls are nearly twice as likely as boys to bear the responsibility, and spend more time doing it each day, according to a new report released by UNICEF and WHO on Thursday. Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) 2000-2022: Special focus on gender – which provides the first in-depth analysis of gender inequalities in WASH – also notes that women and girls are more likely to feel unsafe using a toilet outside of the home and disproportionately feel the impact of lack of hygiene. "Every step a girl takes to collect water is a step away from learning, play, and safety," said Cecilia Sharp, UNICEF Director of WASH and CEED. "Unsafe water, toilets, and handwashing at home robs girls of their potential, compromises their well-being, and perpetuates cycles of poverty. Responding to girls' needs in the design and implementation of WASH programmes is critical to reaching universal access to water and sanitation and achieving gender equality and empowerment." Also read: Number of displaced children reaches 43.3 million in 2022: UNICEF According to the report, globally, 1.8 billion people live in households without water supplies on the premises. Women and girls aged 15 and older are primarily responsible for water collection in 7 out of 10 such households, compared with 3 in 10 households for their male peers. Girls under 15 (7 per cent) are also more likely than boys under 15 (4 per cent) to fetch water. In most cases, women and girls make longer journeys to collect it, losing time in education, work, and leisure, and putting themselves at risk of physical injury and dangers on the way. Also read: Millions of children at risk in Bangladesh, Myanmar in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha: UNICEF The report also shows that more than half a billion people still share sanitation facilities with other households, compromising women's and girls' privacy, dignity, and safety. For example, recent surveys from 22 countries show that among households with shared toilets, women and girls are more likely than men and boys to feel unsafe walking alone at night and face sexual harassment and other safety risks. Furthermore, inadequate WASH services increase health risks for women and girls and limit their ability to safely and privately manage their periods. Also read: Around 34.5 mln women in Bangladesh were married before they turned 18: Unicef Among 51 countries with available data, women and adolescent girls in the poorest households and those with disabilities are the most likely to lack a private place to wash and change. "The latest data from WHO shows a stark reality: 1.4 million lives are lost each year due to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene," said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Environment, Climate Change and Health Department. "Women and girls not only face WASH-related infectious diseases, like diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, they face additional health risks because they are vulnerable to harassment, violence, and injury when they have to go outside the home to haul water or just to use the toilet." The findings go on to show that a lack of access to hygiene also disproportionately affects women and girls. In many countries, women and girls are primarily responsible for domestic chores and caring for others – including cleaning, preparing food, and looking after the sick – which likely exposes them to diseases and other risks to their health without the protection of handwashing. Also read: 90% of adolescent girls, young women don’t use internet in low-income countries: UNICEF Additional time spent on domestic chores can also limit girls' chances of completing secondary school and gaining employment. Today, around 2.2 billion people – or 1 in 4 – still lack safely managed drinking water at home and 3.4 billion people – or 2 in 5 – do not have safely managed sanitation. Around 2 billion people – or 1 in 4 – cannot wash their hands with soap and water at home. The report notes some progress towards achieving universal access to WASH. Between 2015 and 2022, household access to safely managed drinking water increased from 69 to 73 per cent; safely managed sanitation increased from 49 to 57 per cent; and basic hygiene services increased from 67 to 75 per cent. But achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target for universal access to safely managed drinking water, sanitation, and basic hygiene services by 2030 will require a six-fold increase in current rates of progress for safely managed drinking water, a five-fold increase for safely managed sanitation, and a three-fold increase for basic hygiene services. Further efforts are needed to ensure that progress on WASH contributes towards gender equality, including integrated gender considerations in WASH programmes and policies and disaggregated data collection and analysis, to inform targeted interventions that address the specific needs of women and girls and other vulnerable groups.  

A passenger bus lost control and veered off a road and into a 75-foot-deep (25 meter-deep) gully in southern Mexico early Wednesday, killing at least 29 passengers, officials said. The crash occurred in the largely indigenous Mixteca region of the southern state of Oaxaca. The state's interior secretary, Jesús Romero, said 27 people had died in the crash, including a 1 1/2-year-old toddler. He said that about 20 people were injured in the accident, some very seriously. His office later said the death toll had increased to 29, after two victims died from their injures at a hospital. Romero said the bus driver apparently lost control of the vehicle and plunged into the gully. “It appears that a lack of skill and tiredness caused the accident,” Romero said in remarks to a local television station. Read: Leaders of Italy and Poland say European Union should focus on stopping migration Photos distributed by police suggesting the bus had flipped over, totally crushing the passenger compartment. The bus set out from Mexico City to carry passengers to a number of tiny, remote mountain villages in the impoverished Mixteca region. The route, and the possessions, bundles and baskets strewn amid the wreckage, suggested the victims were people who worked in manual labor in the capital and were returning to their home towns.

Despite global disruptions created by the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical turbulence and high inflation, countries are continuing to move towards a seamless and efficient trading environment by simplifying and digitalizing formalities in international trading, according to a new survey by the United Nations. According to the fifth United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation covering 161 countries, progress has been observed in more efficient trade facilitation with the overall implementation rate of general and digital trade facilitation measures increasing by more than six percentage points between 2021 and 2023. The global average implementation rate currently stands at 68.7 per cent. The highest implementation rate is seen in developed economies (85.3 per cent), followed by countries in South-East and East Asia (76.6 per cent). Pacific Islands have the lowest implementation rate (42.3 per cent). Also read: UK to support Bangladesh’s aspiration of becoming an aviation hub In the Asia-Pacific region, implementation increased by about three percentage points since 2021, with the highest rates observed in Australia and New Zealand and East and North-East Asia. North and Central Asia and the Pacific Island Developing Economies recorded the most progress over the last two years, the survey shows. Measures included in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement continue to be largely implemented and paperless trade facilitation measures improved the most over the period, according to the report. Crucial to the progress made globally were regional and subregional initiatives such as the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (CPTA), the expansion of the ASEAN Single Window Agreement, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, the survey report by the United Nations shows. Also read: PMs of Kuwait and Bangladesh express satisfaction over bilateral ties in telephone conversation These initiatives could further support countries in gradually moving to less paper and then to paperless and cross-border paperless trade by providing a dedicated, inclusive and capacity-building intergovernmental platform. Conversely, the 2023 Survey also highlighted the insufficient adoption of sustainable trade facilitation measures and inadequate support for vulnerable groups, including the agricultural sector, Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and women traders. “More concerted international collaboration is necessary. I call upon countries to actively implement sustainable trade measures highlighted in the Survey to foster inclusive and sustainable trade and development,” said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP. The Survey was jointly conducted by the Economic Commission for Africa, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Economic Commission for Europe, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Also read: IFC providing $50 million to BRAC Bank to support trade finance, preservation of jobs The initiative supports the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, as well as emerging regional and global initiatives on paperless trade or e-trade, such as the recent CPTA. The Survey also recommends cutting-edge paperless and cross-border trade facilitation measures, as well as those supporting more inclusive and sustainable trade, targeted at supporting sectors and groups with special needs.  

The entire planet sweltered to the unofficial hottest day in human recordkeeping July 3, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. High temperature records were surpassed July 3 and 4 in Quebec and northwestern Canada and Peru. Cities across the U.S. from Medford, Oregon to Tampa, Florida have been hovering at all-time highs, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Beijing reported 9 straight days last week when the temperature exceeded 35 C (95 F). This global record is preliminary, pending approval from gold-standard climate measurement entities like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. But it is an indication that climate change is reaching into uncharted territory. It legitimately captures global-scale heating and NOAA will take these figures into consideration when it does its official record calculations, said Deke Arndt, director of the National Center for Environmental Information, a division of NOAA. Read: Bangladesh to get assistance on priority basis to deal with climate change impacts, natural disasters.: UN ASG Mami “In the climate assessment community, I don’t think we’d assign the kind of gravitas to a single day observation as we would a month or a year,’’ Arndt said. Scientists generally use much longer measurements -- months, years, decades -- to track the Earth’s warming. In addition, this preliminary record for the hottest day is based on data that only goes back to 1979, the start of satellite record-keeping, whereas NOAA’s data goes back to 1880. But Arndt added that we wouldn’t be seeing anywhere near record-warm days unless we were in “a warm piece of what will likely be a very warm era” driven by greenhouse gas emissions and the onset of a “robust” El Nino. An El Nino is a temporary natural warming of parts of the central Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide and generally makes the planet hotter. Human-caused climate change is like an upward escalator for global temperatures, and El Nino is like jumping up while standing on that escalator, Arndt said. The global daily average temperature for July 3 came in at 17.01 degrees Celsius or 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a common tool often used by climate scientists for a good glimpse of the world’s condition. The reanalyzer is based on a NOAA computer simulation intended for forecasts that uses satellite data. It is not based on reported observations from the ground. So this unofficial record is effectively using a weather tool that is designed for forecasts, not record-keeping. Read: Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen? This average temperature may not seem that hot, but it’s the first time in the 44 years of this dataset that the temperature surpassed the 17-degree Celsius mark. Hotter global average temperatures translate into brutal conditions for people all over the world. In the U.S., heat advisories are in effect this week for more than 30 million people in places including portions of western Oregon, inland far northern California, central New Mexico, Texas, Florida and the coastal Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center. Excessive heat warnings are continuing across southern Arizona and California, they said. When the heat spikes, humans suffer health effects. “Those hotter temperatures that happen when we get hotter than normal conditions? People aren’t used to that. Their bodies aren’t used to that,” said Erinanne Saffell, the Arizona state climatologist and an expert in extreme weather and climate events. Saffell added that the risk is already high for the young and old, who are vulnerable to heat even under normal conditions. “That’s important to understand who might be at risk, making sure people are hydrated, they’re staying cool, and they’re not exerting themselves outside and taking care of those folks around you who might be at risk as well,” she said.

A 40-year-old killed one man in a house before fatally shooting four others on the streets of a Philadelphia neighborhood, then surrendering to police officers after being cornered in an alley with an assault rifle, a pistol, extra magazines, a police scanner and a bulletproof vest, police said. A 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old were also wounded in the Monday night violence that made the working-class area of Kingsessing the site of the nation's worst violence around the July Fourth holiday. Police called to the scene found gunshot victims and started to help them before hearing more shots. Some officers rushed victims to hospitals while others ran toward the gunfire and chased the firing suspect. Officers ultimately arrested the assailant in an alley, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference. The shooter had no connection to the victims before the shooting, she said. Bangladeshi businessman shot dead in South Africa  “On what was supposed to be a beautiful summer evening, this armed and armored individual wreaked havoc, firing with a rifle at their victims seemingly at random,” she said Tuesday afternoon. Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, the homicide unit commander, said witness interviews and video indicated that the suspect went to several locations in a ski mask and body armor, carrying an AR-15-style rifle. “The suspect then began shooting aimlessly at occupied vehicles and individuals on the street as they walked,” he said. The vehicles included a mother driving her 2-year-old twins home, and one was wounded in the legs and the other hit in the eyes by shattered glass. Pregnant woman fatally shot in car at Seattle intersection Philadelphia police on Tuesday afternoon identified the victims as 20-year-old Lashyd Merritt, 29—year-old Dymir Stanton, 59-year-old Ralph Moralis and 15-year-old Daujan Brown, all pronounced dead shortly after the Monday night gunfire; and 31-year-old Joseph Wamah Jr., who was found in a home early Tuesday, also with multiple bullet wounds. Investigators believe Wamah was the first victim killed, but he wasn't found by family members until hours later, Ransom said. A 2-year-old boy shot four times in the legs and a 13-year-old shot twice in the legs were in stable condition, as were a 2-year-old boy and a 33-year-old woman injured by shattered glass. Russia fires 30 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets; Ukraine says 29 were shot down Police said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and there was no reason to believe anyone else was involved. Police and prosecutors said no charges were planned at this point against a second person taken into custody who is believed to have obtained a gun somewhere and fired back at the shooter. “When you are under fire in a mass shooting, there are rights to protect others and rights to protect yourself,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said. Authorities asked for patience as they investigate every aspect of the shooting. That investigation, Outlaw said, "includes the ‘why.’” Krasner said the suspect would face multiple counts of murder, as well as aggravated assault and weapons charges, and was expected to be denied bail. Outlaw praised the bravery of officers who tended to victims and rushed them to hospitals as others “fearlessly ran toward the sounds of gunfire,” and captured the suspect. "Their swift actions undoubtedly saved additional lives,” she said. At a holiday weekend block party in Baltimore, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the southwest of Philadelphia, two people were killed and 28 others were wounded in a shooting. More than half of the victims were 18 or younger, officials said. About four hours after the Philadelphia shooting, gunfire at a neighborhood festival in Fort Worth, Texas, killed three people and wounded eight. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney renewed his oft-repeated call to “do something about America’s gun problem.” “A person walking down the city street with an AR-style rifle and shooting randomly at people while wearing a bulletproof vest with multiple magazines is a disgraceful but all-too-common situation in America,” Kenney said. “I was today at Independence Hall where they wrote that Constitution, and the 2nd Amendment was never intended to protect this.” Krasner said that the morning after the shooting, he saw “completely empty streets” in the traumatized neighborhood on an otherwise beautiful morning. “I saw every porch empty. I saw every door closed. I saw every curtain where there was a curtain pulled. I saw no kids playing,” he said, describing a bicycle left on a corner, apparently untouched for 12 or more hours, “as if everybody understood what happened here was so horrible that for right now this is a desert, and for right now everything that we associate with celebrating Fourth of July is off.” Tim Eads said that on Monday night he heard fireworks, then gunshots, and saw police cars “flying by.” His wife was on the second floor “looking out the bay window and saw the shooter actually coming down this street here behind me.” Eads saw the other man with a pistol who, he said, may have been firing at the shooter. “He was using my car as a shield shooting out into the street,” Eads said. A resident named Roger who declined to give his last name said he and his family were eating in the living room at about 8:30 p.m. when they heard eight to 10 gunshots. “Everybody thought it was fireworks but ... been around here about three years so I heard it enough,” he said. “I looked out the window and seen a bunch of people running.” He said he heard about four more shots and “thought it was the end of it.” Ten minutes later, he said, police came “flying down here,” and about five minutes later he heard rapid gunfire open up right outside the house. The Philadelphia violence was the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, the highest on record by this time in the year. The number of people killed in such events is also the highest by this time in the year. There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been hurt.

The U.N. Security Council will hold a first-ever meeting on the potential threats of artificial intelligence to international peace and security, organized by the United Kingdom which sees tremendous potential but also major risks about AI’s possible use for example in autonomous weapons or in control of nuclear weapons. UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward on Monday announced the July 18 meeting as the centerpiece of its presidency of the council this month. It will include briefings by international AI experts and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who last month called the alarm bells over the most advanced form of AI “deafening,” and loudest from its developers. “These scientists and experts have called on the world to act, declaring AI an existential threat to humanity on a par with the risk of nuclear war,” the U.N. chief said. Guterres announced plans to appoint an advisory board on artificial intelligence in September to prepare initiatives that the U.N. can take. He also said he would react favorably to a new U.N. agency on AI and suggested as a model the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is knowledge-based and has some regulatory powers. Woodward said the UK wants to encourage “a multilateral approach to managing both the huge opportunities and the risks that artificial intelligence holds for all of us,” stressing that “this is going to take a global effort.” Read: China warns of artificial intelligence risks, calls for beefed-up national security measures She stressed that the benefits side is huge, citing AI's potential to help U.N. development programs, improve humanitarian aid operations, assist peacekeeping operations and support conflict prevention, including by collecting and analyzing data. “It could potentially help us close the gap between developing countries and developed countries,” she added. But the risk side raises serious security question that must also be addressed, Woodward said. Europe has led the world in efforts to regulate artificial intelligence, which gained urgency with the rise of a new breed of artificial intelligence that gives AI chatbots like ChatGPT the power to generate text, images, video and audio that resemble human work. On June 14, EU lawmakers signed off on the world’s first set of comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence, clearing a key hurdle as authorities across the globe race to rein in AI. In May, the head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT told a U.S. Senate hearing that government intervention will be critical to mitigating the risks of increasingly powerful AI systems, saying as this technology advances people are concerned about how it could change their lives, and “we are too.” Read: ChatGPT's chief to testify before US Congress as concerns grow about artificial intelligence's risks OpenAI CEO Sam Altman proposed the formation of a U.S. or global agency that would license the most powerful AI systems and have the authority to “take that license away and ensure compliance with safety standards.” Woodward said the Security Council meeting, to be chaired by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, will provide an opportunity to listen to expert views on AI, which is a very new technology that is developing very fast, and start a discussion among the 15 council members on its implications. Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that the UK will host a summit on AI later this year, “where we'll be able to have a truly global multilateral discussion," Woodward said. Read more: How Europe is building artificial intelligence guardrails    

The Myanmar pro-democracy movement must listen to the calls of women and ethnic groups and their vision for federalism, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today. On June 29, APHR held a closed-door meeting with women’s rights defenders and activists from Myanmar civil society groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand as part of a series of discussions that aim to provide a platform for gendered perspectives on the crisis in the country, including topics such as federalism, patriarchy, and ethnic inclusion.  UN shines light on humanitarian crisis in Myanmar As long as there has been a civil war in Myanmar, there has been a struggle for ethnic autonomy, including the rights to their land, language, health care, education and traditions. For women, in addition to the fight for ethnic equality, has also been for gender equality. In the current context of post-coup Myanmar, new challenges have emerged and a new struggle for equality across all genders and ethnicities.  “The commitment and dedication of women to Myanmar’s struggle for democracy is evident across the movement,” said APHR Board Member and former Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya. “Federalism cannot exist in Myanmar without democracy, and certainly not without the contributions of women.” US sanctions Myanmar’s defense ministry, 2 regime-controlled banks “The history of Burma is rooted in ongoing conflict. When we look at the creators of conflict, it is very clear it is the Myanmar junta. Women have always been involved in revolutionary acts because we believe in genuine peace,” said Moon Nay Li, Joint General Secretary of the Women’s League of Burma .  While pro-democracy bodies, including the National Unity Government, the National Unity Consultative Council and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, have called for federalism to defeat the junta, women-led organizations and activists are advocating for a future that is gender-equal as well as federal. Dhaka seeks ASEAN’s active role for repatriation of Rohingyas “Too often, women are told that their pursuits for gender equality are of lesser importance amidst the shared struggle to defeat the junta. These struggles are interconnected as the commitment to end military rule is rooted in ending patriarchal norms and institutions,” said APHR member and member of the Philippines House of Representatives Arlene Brosas. “Women’s rights defenders are critical actors in the pro-democracy movement, and their voices must be amplified to ensure their needs are met and perspectives are heard.” ASEAN leader acknowledges no progress toward ending Myanmar's deadly civil strife During the meeting, the women’s rights defenders and activists were very clear that more reflection needed to be done on how the ‘pro-democracy’ movement is currently progressing. For many, this includes inner work, primarily from the Bamar majority, on how to ‘unlearn’ certain attitudes and beliefs which stem from Burmanization and the patriarchy. Calls were also made to the international community to engage with pro-democracy stakeholders, and not the regime.  “The international community, including ASEAN, must support women human rights defenders and their calls for a more inclusive vision of federalism in Myanmar. Defeating the junta is imperative, but without the participation of women and ethnic people, a democratic Myanmar cannot be sustainable,” said APHR Chair and member of Indonesian House of Representatives Mercy Barends. Alarm over Myanmar, sea feud under ASEAN summit spotlight

President Joe Biden will head to Europe at week's end for a three-country trip intended to bolster the international coalition against Russian aggression as the war in Ukraine extends well into its second year. The main focus of Biden's five-day visit will be the annual NATO summit, held this year in Vilnius, Lithuania. Also planned are stops in Helsinki, Finland, to commemorate the Nordic country's entrance into the 31-nation military alliance in April, and Britain, the White House announced Sunday. US, NATO had no involvement in Wagner's 'short-lived' revolt in Russia: Biden Biden will begin his trip next Sunday in London, and will meet with King Charles III at Windsor Castle the next day, according to Buckingham Palace. The president did not attend Charles's coronation in May, sending first lady Jill Biden to represent the United States. In June, Biden hosted British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House, where the two leaders pledged continued cooperation in defending Ukraine. Sunak's office said he looked forward to welcoming Biden and that their meeting would build on earlier visits. The NATO meeting comes at the latest critical point in the war. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says counteroffensive and defensive actions against Russian forces are underway as Ukrainian troops start to recapture territory in the southeastern part of the country, according to its military leaders. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, visited the White House on June 13, where he and Biden made clear that the Western alliance was united in defending Ukraine. Biden said during that meeting that he and other NATO leaders will work to ensure that each member country spends the requisite 2% of its gross domestic product on defense. Just a day after Blinken’s Beijing visit to stabilize US-China relations, Biden calls Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ "The NATO allies have never been more united. We both worked like hell to make sure that happened. And so far, so good," Biden said as he sat alongside Stoltenberg, who is expected to extend his term for another year. "We see our joint strength in modernizing the relationship within NATO, as well as providing assistance to defense capabilities to Ukraine. When Finland joined NATO in April, it effectively doubled Russia's border with the world's biggest security alliance. Biden has highlighted the strengthened NATO alliance as a signal of Moscow's declining influence. Sweden is also seeking entry into NATO, although alliance members Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the move. Biden will host Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, at the White House on Wednesday in a show of solidarity as the United States presses for the Nordic nation's entry into NATO. Biden hosting Modi as US sees India as a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said Sweden is too lax on terrorist groups and security threats. Stoltenberg has said Sweden has met its obligations for membership through toughening anti-terrorist laws and other measures. Hungary's reasons for opposing Sweden have been less defined, complaining about Sweden's criticism of democratic backsliding and the erosion of rule of law. Hungary, while providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, has also sought to balance its relations between NATO and Russia. Budapest is heavily reliant on Russia for its energy requirements. After last weekend's abortive rebellion in Russia, the fate of some top generals is unknown All nations in the alliance have to ratify the entry of a new member country. The White House has stressed that Sweden has fulfilled its commitments to join NATO and has urged that it join the alliance expeditiously. Putin says the aborted rebellion played into the hands of Russia’s enemies  

A statue has been standing — in remembrance to his loyalty towards his owner — outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo since 1948. The cream white Japanese Akita Inu — popularly known as “Hachiko” — has been memorialized in everything from books to movies to the cult science fiction for his loyalty. All these movies, books tell the true story of Hachiko, the faithful dog who continued to wait for his master at a train station in Japan long after his death. Hachiko was born in November 1923 in the city of Odate in Akita prefecture, the original home of Akitas. Read more: Benefits of Pets for Kids: Why Raising Children around Livestock? The Akita is one of Japan's oldest and most well-known breeds. For its calm, sincere, intelligent, and brave personality, they used to be taught to hunt animals like wild boar and elk. The breed was designated as a national icon in 1931 by the Japanese government, according to the BBC. The famed puppy arrived at the Ueno residence in the Shibuya neighborhood on January 15, 1924. Ueno named him Hachi, or eight in Japanese. Ko is an honorific bestowed by Ueno's students, according to the BBC. Read more: 10 houseplants that are bad for your pets Hachi’s owner took a train to work several times a week. He was accompanied to Shibuya station by his three dogs, including Hachiko. The trio would then wait there for his return in the evening. When Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 53 on May 21, 1925, Hachiko had been with him for just 16 months. "While people were attending the wake, Hachi smelled Dr Ueno from the house and went inside the living room. He crawled under the coffin and refused to move," Prof Mayumi Itoh wrote in a biography about Hachi. Hachiko spent the next few months with different families outside Shibuya but eventually, in the summer of 1925, he ended up with Ueno's gardener Kobayashi Kikusaburo, according to BBC. Read more: First all-female police dog handler team introduced today After returning to the area where his late master Ueno lived, Hachiko soon resumed his daily commute to the station, rain or shine. According to Hachiko’s biographer, Hachi used to stand on four legs at the ticket gate and look at each passenger “as if he were looking for someone." He gained nationwide fame after Japanese daily Tokyo Asahi Shimbun wrote about him in October 1932. The station started receiving donations from across the country. Later, a fundraising event in 1934 to make a statue of him reportedly drew a crowd of 3,000. Read more: Gulistan blast: RAB dog gets award for heroic role Hachiko's eventual death on March 8, 1935 made the front page of many newspapers. At his funeral, Buddhist monks offered prayers for him and dignitaries read eulogies. Thousands visited his statue in the following days. Every year on April 8, a memorial service for Hachiko is held outside Shibuya Station. His statue is often decorated with scarves, Santa hats and, most recently, a surgical mask.