Author: Press Room

India’s government-run animal welfare department has appealed to citizens to mark Valentine’s Day this year not as a celebration of romance but as “Cow Hug Day” to better promote Hindu values.The Animal Welfare Board of India said Wednesday that “hugging cows will bring emotional richness and increase individual and collective happiness.”Devout Hindus, who worship cows as holy, say the Western holiday goes against traditional Indian values.In recent years, Hindu hardliners have raided shops in Indian cities, burned cards and gifts, and chased hand-holding couples out of restaurants and parks, saying that Valentine’s Day promotes promiscuity. Hardline political groups like Shiv…

Release welcomed as ‘excellent’ news amid Nicaraguan government’s crackdown on opposition figures and critics.Nicaragua has released 222 inmates, many of whom were considered to be political prisoners of longtime Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government, and they are on their way to the United States, a senior US official has said. “Some of these individuals have spent years in prison, many of them for exercising their fundamental freedoms, in awful conditions and with no access to due process,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in a statement on Thursday. The Nicaraguan government did not immediately confirm the release.…

The Nets were moving forward with their roster after trading Kyrie Irving to the Mavericks, but Kevin Durant had other plans. In the aftermath of Irving’s move to the Western Conference, the Nets initially informed interested teams that they were not planning on trading Durant before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline at 3 p.m. ET. Nevertheless, things quickly changed when Brooklyn traded Durant to the Suns for a haul of first-round draft picks in a surprise blockbuster in the early hours of Thursday morning. It was apparently a fast-tracked deal that Durant wanted done. “I can tell you that on Sunday…

Chioma also took a field trip to the Industry City showroom of Raul Lopez’s Luar, the biggest little brand to know right now and the show that will close New York Fashion Week, an honor typically bestowed on more heavyweight brands like Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs. Chioma first met Lopez in 2006, when they were both babies and Lopez was just starting out at Hood By Air with Shayne Oliver. Fast forward almost 20 years, and she’s on another studio visit, this time for the designer’s own label—his first name spelled backwards. Lopez really got to showcase his design…

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.__________DeFi newsAave today announced the launch of the stablecoin GHO on Ethereum’s Goerli testnet. The Aave Companies said that GHO (pronounced ‘GO’) is the first Aave Protocol-native decentralized, over-collateralized crypto-backed stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the USD. The Aave DAO will manage the supply of GHO and the interest rate, and determine the risk parameters. Developers and prospective integrators can now access GHO codebase and begin testing before GHO’s planned launch on Ethereum Mainnet. “The official launch of GHO is…

Trafigura has alleged it has been the victim of a “systematic fraud” and faces a writedown in excess of half a billion dollars after discovering that shipments of nickel that it purchased failed to contain the metal.One of the world’s biggest commodities traders said in a statement on Thursday that it had recently discovered the alleged fraud and has begun legal action against a group of companies “connected to and apparently controlled” by Dubai-based metals trader Prateek Gupta, including TMT Metals, and companies owned by UD Trading Group. Since late December, Trafigura said that a small proportion of containers purchased from…

Tether previously claimed its stablecoin was backed 1-to-1 by U.S. dollars.Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty ImagesTether on Thursday published its latest quarterly financials, with the world’s top stablecoin issuer stating publicly for the first time that it generated a profit. Tether, which is owned by Hong Kong-headquarter Ifinex, said in a new attestation report that it made a $700 million “net profit” in the December quarter. The company says it has added the money to its reserves.Tether said its latest quarterly results were buoyed by interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which have resulted in higher yields on…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Thursday that several leaders of European Union countries have signaled they are ready to provide his military aircraft in its fight against Russia. Zelenskyy made the remark while visiting the European Union headquarters in Brussels. So far, Western nations including the U.S. have agreed to provide Ukraine with tanks and other weapons, but have stopped short of sending over fighter jets – something it has been calling for since the war broke out nearly a year ago. “Europe will be with us until our victory. I’ve heard it from a number of European leaders… about the readiness…

It was a moment that everybody in Brussels longed to see: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine standing tall on the podium and addressing a full house of the European Parliament. For lawmakers, the occasion was solemn and poignant, the reflection of an ever-closer geopolitical bond between the bloc and the war-torn nation.For Zelenskyy, though, it felt like a homecoming.As he delivered his rousing speech, the Ukrainian leader spoke of the European Union as his country’s rightful place, its natural habitat, almost as if it were already part of the 27-member club.Zelenskky passionately exalted the European way of life and its paramount…

As Dr. Edgar Guarín participated in World Vasectomy Day over the years, he noticed something that sparked an idea. Physicians in countries, such as Mexico and Indonesia, relied on mobile clinics to bring doctors to communities lacking in the health care to make obtaining a vasectomy easier. He thought something similar could work for his practice but could foster something a little different — a positive dialogue about vasectomies. To encourage more men to undergo vasectomies, Dr. Edgar Guarín answers all patient questions himself and has a thorough website with information about the procedure.Courtesy SimpleVas Vasectomy Clinic“After 2017 in Mexico,…