Author: News Desk

Riyadh : Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will discuss the war in Ukraine and other international challenges with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday. The two leaders will speak about the consequences of the conflict for the rest of the world, as well as bilateral relations and “regional stability issues”, a source in the French presidency told. “The President of the French Republic will have a working lunch with Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on Friday June 16, 2023, at the Elysee Palace, as part of…

The medical team in Madinah has saved the life of an Indonesian woman whose heart stopped for eight minutes after she arrived in Saudi Arabia for Hajj. The woman landed at the city’s Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport. Staff at the airport medical centre stabilised her, before she was transferred to hospital, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Since Hajj season began in the kingdom last month, the medical centre has given care to more than 90,000 people. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the kingdom’s health authorities have expanded their efforts to provide treatment and operations to pilgrims this year,…

New York : The yen plunged to a fresh 15-year low against the euro on Friday after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept ultra-low interest rates and forecast that inflation will slow later this year, in contrast with the European Central Bank’s (ECB) rate hike on Thursday. The Japanese currency also fell against the dollar, dropping to a six-month trough. As widely expected, the BOJ maintained its -0.1% short-term interest rate target and a 0% cap on the 10-year bond yield set under its yield curve control (YCC) policy. “We expect inflation to moderate, but it’s true the pace of…

India : Police in Delhi have charged India’s wrestling federation chief and influential MP from the ruling BJP party with sexual harassment and intimidation following months of street protests by the nation’s top wrestlers. Delhi Police brought formal charges against Brij Bhushan Sharan before a city court on Thursday. The court said it would hear the case on July 4. At least seven female wrestlers, including one underage wrestler, have accused him of sexual misconduct. Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik, two-time world champion medallist Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik have accused Mr Sharan of sexually harassing, intimidating and stalking female wrestlers. The influential politician from Prime…

A mob of more than 1,000 people set the house of an Indian minister on fire in the north-eastern state of Manipur. The incident took place on Thursday when the group surrounded Rajkumar Ranjan Singh’s home in Kongba, Imphal, and threw petrol bombs. Mr Singh, India’s junior foreign minister, was not at home at the time of the attack. On Wednesday, the official residence of Nemcha Kipgen, the only female minister in Manipur, was targeted in Imphal. Large-scale violence has left at least 100 dead and displaced tens of thousands since May 3, when clashes began between the majority Hindu Meitei community and…

Manama : The Kingdom of Bahrain has maintained its Tier-1 status in the US Department of State’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Report for the sixth consecutive year. The TiP report assesses the efforts of governments around the world in combatting human trafficking, and a Tier 1 status reflects a country’s full commitment to standards applied by the US ‘Trafficking Victims Protection Act’. On the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), Nouf Abdulrahman Jamsheer, attributed this international recognition to the leadership’s vision and the Government of Bahrain’s commitment to upholding and protecting the principles…

Manama : The Royal University for Women (RUW) today hosted a ceremony at the Gulf Hotel in honour of its 14th and 15th batches of bachelor’s and master’s graduates. The graduation ceremony was held under the auspices of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), who deputised SCW member and InJax Bahrain Chairperson, Her Highness Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa, to attend it on HRH’s behalf. HH Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa presented the graduates with their certificates, in the presence of Fahad…

Bangkok: Asian shares logged moderate gains on Friday after Wall Street benchmarks swept higher, extending their longest rally in a year and a half.  Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index closed at a 33-year high, advancing 0.7% to 33,706.08 after the Bank of Japan wrapped up a policy meeting by keeping its ultra-lax monetary stance unchanged, as expected. It is a standout among central banks, most of which have sought to rein in inflation by raising interest rates. The key Japanese rate has stayed at minus 0.1% for a decade and policymakers have indicated they are not convinced that current inflation, which…

Rabat : Council of Representatives Rashid Mohammed Bounejma held a meeting with Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary-General Martin Chungong, on the sidelines of the conference on Interfaith Dialogue titled “Parliaments and religious leaders: Promoting dialogue, working together for our common future”, being held in Marrakesh, Morocco. The Secretary-General stressed commitment to exchange expertise with the IPU General Secretariat and build bridges of cooperation with all parliaments. He stressed the importance of highlighting the role of legislatures in supporting the international society in dealing with key issues, particularly peaceful coexistence, intolerance and hatred. He noted the call made by the 146th IPU…

Manama : The Kingdom of Bahrain ranked as top 10 MENA Ecosystem and top 10 Emerging Ecosystem in Performance in the 2023 Global Startup Ecosystem Report. The report is one of the world’s most comprehensive, data-driven research on startup ecosystems, and it is published annually by the world-leading policy advisory and research organization Startup Genome in cooperation with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). The latest version of the report was announced globally in Amsterdam during the TNW Conference. The report ranks a 100 emerging ecosystems around the world and provides compelling insights and knowledge about startup trends around the world. …