По меньшей мере десять человек погибли в результате столкновения в Кении

Question

I am new to using the paracol package and while I have learnt the basics of the package I am stuck on the following. Here is a MWE.

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\usepackage{metalogo}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\newfontfamily\greekfont[Script=Greek]{GFS Neohellenic}
\setdefaultlanguage{greek}

%set gfsartemisia as main font
\usepackage{gfsartemisia}


%load hyperref package to enable links
\usepackage{hyperref}


%switch effortlessly between 1 column and 2 column document
\usepackage{paracol}
\setlength{\columnseprule}{1pt}

%define custom environment for exercises

\def\UrlFont{\ttfamily}

% Counter for exercises
\newcounter{exercise}

% Define the environment with 3 optional arguments:
% #1 = proposer
% #2 = url
% #3 = post-body (e.g., a hyperlink to the solution)
\NewDocumentEnvironment{exercise}{O{} O{} O{}}
{
    \refstepcounter{exercise}%
    \par\medskip
    \noindent\textbf{Exercise \theexercise}%
    \IfNoValueF{#1}{\ \textit{(Proposed by #1)}}%
    %\IfNoValueF{#3}{\ \textnormal{ #3}}%
    \par\medskip
    \begingroup
    \setlength{\parindent}{0pt}%
    \itshape
}
{
    \par\medskip
    \normalfont
    \IfNoValueF{#2}{\noindent\textbf{Link:} \raggedright \href{#2}{#3}\par}
    \medskip
    \endgroup
}


\begin{document}
    
    \begin{paracol}{2}
        
        \begin{exercise}[George][www.domain.com][www.domain.com]
            
            Here is the first exercise
            
        \end{exercise}
        
        \switchcolumn
        
        \begin{exercise}[John Doe][www.domain2.com][www.domain2.com]
            This is the second exercise
        \end{exercise}
        
    \end{paracol}
    
\end{document}

So the problem is when I switch columns the \begin{exercise} does not auto increment but resets back to 1 as can be seen below.

\

I can force a change by using the \stepcounter{exercise} command but I would like something more automated.

Answer 1

The issue is similar to Scope of counters in paracol environment and Figure counter is not incrementing after use of paracol. It can be solved by placing \globalcounter{exercise} after \usepackage{paracol}.