Author: National Tone

The United States government hit its borrowing limit last week on January 19, leading to new economic worries at a time when most countries are expecting a slowdown in economic growth. The US administration has already started implementing measures to avoid any default, which could have catastrophic effects on both domestic and global economies. Here are the nuts and bolts of the debt ceiling issue and why it matters. What is the debt ceiling? The debt limit, also known as the debt ceiling, is the statutory limit for the amount of money that the US Treasury can borrow in the…

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Arizona Coyotes defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere is expected to miss four to six weeks with an upper-body injury, head coach Andre Tourigny announced Thursday. The injury occurred Tuesday when the Coyotes played the Anaheim Ducks. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; Gostisbehere has been a consistent point-producing blueliner, having twice exceeded the 50-point mark. As a pending unrestricted free agent on a team near the bottom of the standings, Gostisbehere could be on the move at the NHL’s trade deadline, though he may not play now until after the deadline passes on March 3. The 29-year-old has nine goals and…

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Havana, Cuba – Patri, 24, is hiding $1,100 in a storage ottoman in her bedroom in the Cuban capital of Havana. “It doesn’t look like much, but I’ve been saving it for five years,” the manicurist and makeup artist said, surveying her thin stack of bills. Patri asked that her last name be omitted for her safety, as privately exchanging Cuban pesos for dollars is technically illegal. To avoid drawing attention to herself, Patri has only informed her father and grandmother of her plans to leave Havana for the United States this year. But she has put her trip on…

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Top-ranked Rory McIlroy was mounting a recovery from a slow start to the Dubai Desert Classic when play was suspended with only 11 players managing to finish their weather-affected first rounds on Thursday. The start of the European tour event was delayed by more than six hours after heavy overnight rain left the course unplayable at Emirates Golf Club. McIlroy got in 15 holes before the siren sounded to suspend play because of fading light. After opening with two bogeys in his first six holes, McIlroy — playing his first event of 2023 — made…

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The municipal cemetery of Tapachula in the Mexican state of Chiapas is a sprawling expanse overflowing with graves in colourful disrepair. Tombstones from centuries past crack and crumble, and the clutter is so extreme that, to reach certain parts of the graveyard, you must resign yourself to stepping on the dead. Some of the newer graves still host the remains of the Day of the Dead celebration in November – death being far more, well, lively in Mexico than in most other places on the planet. The country becomes awash in the cempasúchil flower – or Mexican marigold – and…

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Flying drones into each other’s airspace violated an armistice that ended fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War, UN says.North Korea and South Korea violated the armistice that governs their shared border by sending drones into each other’s airspace in December, the US-led United Nations Command says. Five North Korean drones crossed into the South on December 26, prompting South Korea’s military to scramble fighter jets and helicopters as well as send surveillance aircraft into the North to photograph its military installations. The UN Command, which has helped oversee the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas since an armistice ended…

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Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar will have known that there would be pushback from the country’s ruling establishment to his surprise decision to resume the investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion. Before the suspension of the investigation 13 months ago, those charged had mostly been low-level officials, but on Tuesday, it was revealed that Bitar had targeted a number of senior officials, with charges against Lebanon’s ex-prime minister and the chief prosecutor, among others. The chief prosecutor, Ghassan Oweidat has fired back, stating that the inquiry was still suspended by law and that he would notify security…

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Footage has emerged showing Novak Djokovic’s father at a pro-Russian demonstration at the Australian Open on Wednesday.A group gathered on the steps outside Rod Laver Arena following Djokovic’s quarter-final victory over Russian Andrey Rublev holding Russian flags, one of which bore the face of Vladimir Putin, and chanting “Serbia, Russia”.And a post on a pro-Russian YouTube channel shows Srdjan Djokovic standing with a man holding the Putin flag and wearing a T-shirt with the pro-war Z symbol on it.Djokovic Sr then makes a comment to the man, which is translated on the video as “long live the Russians”.Tennis Australia said…

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England captain Ben Stokes has been named as the ICC men’s Test Cricketer of the Year, while England women’s Nat Sciver has been named as women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2022.Stokes’ year on the Test scene was one to remember, his 870 runs keeping him as one of the leading batters in the game. Not only that, his leadership alongside new head coach Brendon McCullum to rejuvenate the Test side caught the attention of all the cricketing world.In what was already an incredible career, Sciver produced another year to remember in 2022, scoring five half-centuries and two centuries…

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Thousands of people have marched in cities across Australia, rallying in support of Indigenous rights and protesting against marking their country’s national day on the date that the British colonial fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour more than two centuries ago. In Sydney, the capital of New South Wales – Australia’s most populous state – large crowds gathered in the city’s central business district on Thursday, with some people carrying Aboriginal flags and chanting “Australia Day is dead”. Indigenous activist Paul Silva said the national holiday – which some label “Invasion Day” – should be abolished. “If someone invaded your home,…

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