Month: February 2025

Gambling isn’t just about casinos or lottery tickets anymore — it’s embedded in our everyday lives through seemingly innocent trends like blind boxes, trading card games, and loot boxes. Capitalising on the human attraction to luck, corporations come up with forms of casual gambling from collectible trading card games like Magic: The Gathering in the 90s to the current global phenomenon of Popmarts, appealing to kids and cultivating the habit of gambling from a young age. While most of this is harmless fun, it could lead to a gambling addiction if it goes unchecked. It is important for us to recognize this growing normalization of gambling and address the societal issue of problem gambling.

El Salvador made huge strides on Thursday towards a fairer democratic process amidst grave allegations of Bukele potentially running a dictatorship and centralizing power (Feb 13). World number one Jannik Sinner has been banned from tennis for three months after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following two positive drug tests in 2024. In a statement on Saturday (Feb 15).Iran has accused Israel of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut after an Iranian plane was denied permission to land in Lebanon’s capital. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Friday (Feb 14). Iran has accused Israel of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut after an Iranian plane was denied permission to land in Lebanon’s capital. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Friday (Feb 14).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has dual functions in the elections, it increases voter engagement and at the same time can lead to the spread of misinformation and cyber vulnerabilities. This technology can generate deepfakes and robocalls, that manipulate electoral narratives and incidents have occurred in multiple countries including those in the U.S, Slovakia, India, etc. Despite this AI has also managed to improve political interaction as seen in Pakistan and Belarus where opposition figures could connect better with voters. Experts stress on the significance of creating regulations that balances the freedom of speech and the prohibitions of the harmful practices of AI. Tech companies are urged to self-regulate whereas digital literacy initiatives may provide the voters with the ability to identify a reliable source. The changing relations between technology and politics demand proactive policymaking to protect the democratic processes and to embody the responsible use of AI in the forthcoming elections.