Author: News Desk

China’s U.N. envoy said on Thursday that Beijing does not want to see North Korea carry out a new nuclear test, which is partly why China vetoed a U.S.-led bid to impose new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang over renewed ballistic missiles launches. But Ambassador Zhang Jun warned against making presumptions on how Beijing might react at the United Nations if North Korea goes ahead with its first nuclear test since 2017. Washington has warned such a test could happen at “any time” and it would again push for more U.N. sanctions. “Let’s see what will happen, but I think we…

The Nasser bin Hamad Premier League 2022-2023 will kick off officially on September 11. Meanwhile, the first round of the Second Football Division Championship will be given the go-ahead on September 8. Bahrain Football Association (BFA) has also announced that the preliminary phase of His Majesty King’s Cup will be held on September 19. The BFA Cup competition will be organized at the beginning of September 2022. According to the BFA announcement, the first registration window for the new season will be held from June 16 to September 6. First and second divisions clubs are allowed to sign four foreigners,…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has granted  USD 30 million to support the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF), which operates under the umbrella of the Islamic Development Fund (IsDB), in coordination with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The grant comes in line with Saudi  humanitarian and relief efforts and assistance to brotherly and friendly countries through King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) and the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD). The move aims at  alleviating the suffering of the Afghan people and limiting the risks of deteriorating the critical humanitarian conditions and possible economic collapse in Afghanistan, which…

Two Britons and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine were sentenced to death on Thursday by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), one of Russia’s proxies in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported. The court found the three men – Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun – guilty of “mercenary activities and committing actions aimed at seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order of the DPR”, the Interfax news agency quoted a court official as saying. The three men were captured while fighting for Ukraine against Russia and Russian-backed forces…

The Russian government added 551.4 billion roubles ($9.5 billion) to its emergency reserve fund on Thursday as the Kremlin steps up its stimulus package in a bid to protect the economy from the impact of Western sanctions and its actions in Ukraine. “The funds will be used in part to implement measures aimed at ensuring the stability of economic development in the conditions of external constraints,” the government said in a statement announcing the cash injection. The reserves boost came from extra profits generated by Russia’s vital oil and gas exports, which are bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars…

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the West will not be able to cut itself off from Russian oil and gas for several years. He added that nobody knows what might happen in that time, so Russian companies would not be “concreting over their oil-wells”. It comes as a US official admitted that Russian profits on energy may be higher now than they were before the war. The EU currently imports around 40% of its gas from Russia. The bloc has pledged to reduce its dependency on Russian oil by 90% by the end of 2022, but so far has not…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that millions of people could starve because of a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports which he said had left the world “on the brink of a terrible food crisis.” Russia has seized large parts of Ukraine’s coast, blocking farm exports and driving up the cost of grain. Zelenskiy said Ukraine was now unable to export large amounts of wheat, corn, vegetable oil and other products that had played a “stabilising role in the global market”. “Millions of people may starve if the Russian blockade of the Black Sea continues,” he said in a…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia’s invasion of his country posed a huge threat of pollution to water basins, including the Sea of Azov. In an address to a ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), he also underlined the need for green energy to replace Russian natural gas supplies following Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

Gulf Air Acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Waleed AlAlawi recently received a number of the airline’s distinguished operating crew consisting of pilots and cabin crew members who exhibited exceptional performance in serving the airline’s passengers; as they were hosted by Captain AlAlawi in the presence of a number of the airline’s executive management members. Congratulating the distinguished crew, Captain AlAlawi stated “I am delighted to shed light on this distinguished calibre of our operating crew who applied the utmost standards of quality in their performance. We are proud to have this kind of high quality calibre that represents the Kingdom…

Thailand legalised the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks on Thursday, the first Asian country to do so, with the aim of boosting its agriculture and tourism sectors but smoking pot is still against the law. Shoppers queued up at outlets selling cannabis-infused drinks, sweets and other items as advocates of the plant welcomed the reform in a country that has long had a reputation for strict anti-drug laws. Among those at the front of the queue at one Bangkok shop was Rittipong Dachkul, 24, waiting since Wednesday evening to buy his first ever legal marijuana.…