Author: News Desk

Russian missiles hit an apartment block and kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, in strikes U.S. President Joe Biden condemned as “barbarism” as world leaders gathered in Europe to discuss further sanctions against Moscow. Up to four explosions shook central Kyiv in the early hours, in the first such attack on the city in weeks. Two more blasts were heard on the southern outskirts of the city later in the day, a Reuters reporter said. “The Russians hit Kyiv again. Missiles damaged an apartment building and a kindergarten,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s administration. A Reuters…

A growing number of large U.S. companies have said they will cover travel costs for employees who must leave their home states to get abortions, but these new policies could expose businesses to lawsuits and even potential criminal liability, legal experts said. Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Lyft Inc, Microsoft Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co were among companies that announced plans to provide those benefits through their health insurance plans in anticipation of Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide. Within an hour of the decision being released, Conde Nast chief…

U.S. President Joe Biden told allies “we have to stay together” against Russia, as world leaders met on Sunday at a G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps that will be dominated by war in Ukraine and its painful impact on food and energy supplies across the globe. At the start of the meeting, four members of the Group of Seven rich nations moved to ban imports of Russian gold as part of efforts to tighten the sanctions squeeze on Moscow and cut off its means of financing the invasion of Ukraine. However, it was not immediately clear whether there was…

The world’s central bank umbrella body, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), has called for interest rates to be raised “quickly and decisively” to prevent the surge in inflation turning into something even more problematic. The Swiss-based BIS has held its annual meeting in recent days, where top central bankers met to discuss their current difficulties and one of the most turbulent starts to a year ever for global financial markets. Surging energy and food prices mean inflation in many places is now its hottest in decades. But the usual remedy of ramping up interest rates is raising the spectre…

Customs President Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa has been re-elected uncontested as president of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Council for a third exceptional term (2022-2023) in an unprecedented move. The WCO system allows the election of the WCO Council President  for a one-year term, in addition to the possibility of re-election for a second one-year term. In certain exceptional cases the board can also re-elect the incumbent president for a third one-year term. WCO Council member countries endorsed the re-election of Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad AlKhalifa in recognition of his efficient management during the pandemic, which enabled the…

The Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD) will hold its popular webinar, entitled “National Leadership in Parliamentary Diplomacy”, on Sunday. First Deputy Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Abdulnabi Salman, First Deputy Chairman of the Shura Council, Jamal Mohammed Fakhro, and Bahrain’s Permanent Representatives to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Dr. Yousef Abdul Karim Bucheeri, will participate in the online symposium. The symposium aims to review the history of parliamentary work in the Kingdom, shed light on national achievements at the GCC, Arab and international levels, and introduce the importance of parliamentary diplomacy and its growing importance in consolidating bridges…

The National Space Science Agency (NSSA) is set to take part in an international conference “Middle East and North Africa Space Capabilities and Security Challenges: Applications to Disaster Management”. The event will be held in cooperation with NATO on June 28 and 29 in Napoli, Italy, at an invitation by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). NSSA delegation will be headed by its Chief Executive Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Asiri who will participate as a keynote speaker in the second session of the conference themed “Middle East and North Africa: Applications to Space Capabilities and Security Challenges for Disaster Management”. Aisha…

Bahrain and Kyrgyzstan are set to enhance relations and expand cooperation across several areas, the Kyrgyz foreign minister has said. “Talks with HRH the Crown prince and Prime Minister, the Speaker and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were highly successful,” Jeenbek Kulubaev said. “There was full understanding and we had agreements all the way. Both our countries are committed to boosting relations and to boosting the exchange of visits at the highest levels,” the minister told Bahrain News Agency (BNA). Kulubaev on his first visit to the Kingdom said he was “very impressed” by what he saw in Bahrain, its…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major federal gun reform in three decades, days after a decision he condemned by the Supreme Court expandingfirearm owners’ rights. “God willing, it’s going to save a lot of lives,” Biden said at the White House after signing the bill with his wife Jill by his side. The bipartisan bill came together just weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo that killed more than 30 people, including 19 children at an elementary school. The law includes provisions to help states keep guns out of the hands of those…

Russian forces have fully occupied Sievierodonetsk, the mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city said on Saturday, confirming Ukraine’s biggest battlefield setback for more than a month, after weeks of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Pro-Russian separatists said Moscow’s forces were now attacking the last major Ukrainian-held bastion in eastern Luhansk province, Sievierodonetsk’s twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river. The fall of Sievierodonetsk – once home to more than 100,000 people, now a wasteland – was Russia’s biggest victory since capturing the port of Mariupol last month. It transforms the battlefield in…