Author: News Desk

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who brought the Cold War to a peaceful end, has died aged 91. Mr Gorbachev, who took power in 1985, opened up the Soviet Union to the world and introduced a set of reforms at home. But he was unable to prevent the slow collapse of the Soviet Union, from which modern Russia emerged. Tributes have been paid worldwide, with UN chief António Guterres saying he “changed the course of history”. “Mikhail Gorbachev was a one-of-a kind statesman,” UN Secretary General Mr Guterres wrote in a Twitter tribute. “The world has lost a towering…

Indian multi-billionaire Mukesh Ambani has announced a $25bn (£21.3bn) plan to launch 5G mobile internet services in the country within two months. Mr Ambani, who heads the telecoms-to-retail group Reliance Industries, says the high-speed network will be introduced first in major cities, including New Delhi and Mumbai. He said it will then be expanded to the rest of India by December 2023. The company is also working with Google to develop a budget 5G smartphone. Speaking on Monday at Reliance’s annual general meeting, Mr Ambani said that once the firm’s 5G network is fully operational it would be the biggest…

Indian Community Relief Fund (ICRF) organized an event, “Azadi Ki Amruth Mahotsav”, commemorating 75 years of Indian Independence, I was celebrated at MCSC labor camp on Friday the 19th August 2022. H. E Sri Piyush Srivastava, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Bahrain, interacted and spent time in listening to queries of workers. He also distributed food Packets on behalf of ICRF. ICRF also organized food packets for over 800 workers at the camp. First Secretary Sri Ravi Shankar Shukla, ICRF Chairman Dr. Babu Ramachandran, Advisor Aruldas Thomas, Joint Secretary Nisha Rangarajan and ICRF Members Muralikrishnan, Ajay Krishnan, Pankaj…

A Shanghai court on Friday sentenced Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, not seen in public since 2017, to 13 years in jail and fined his Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate 55.03 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), a record in China. Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings were charged with illegally siphoning away public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, and the illegal use of funds and bribery, the Shanghai First Intermediate Court said. It added the punishment was mitigated because both had admitted their crimes and cooperated in recovering illegal gains and in restoring losses. China-born Xiao, known to have links to China’s Communist Party…

The ninth edition of the fellowship research programme in human rights has been officially launched. The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) is holding the programme for trainees from the University of Bahrain, as well as the “Forsa”, scheme which is run by the Ministry of Labour. The institution will deliver lectures and workshops related to human rights as part of the training programme, which also features field visits to official entities to learn about books and publications at their libraries. Participants will be trained on how to hold public events. They will be involved in events organized by the…

Chemists have identified how to destroy “forever chemicals” in a low-cost way for the first time, new research says. Scientists have linked exposure to the substances, known as PFAS, at certain levels to serious health risks, including cancer and birth defects. Their resistance to water, oil and stains make them highly useful. PFAS are used in hundreds of everyday objects from frying pans to makeup. But it is these properties that make them so difficult to destroy. PFAS stands for poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances. There are around 4,500 of these fluorine-based compounds and they are found in almost every dwelling on…

McDonald’s Corp said on Thursday it plans on reopening its restaurants in Ukraine over the next few months in an early sign of western businesses returning to the country, even as the conflict with Russia continues. The world’s biggest burger chain closed all its restaurants in Ukraine and Russia in March, following Moscow’s invasion of the eastern European country. McDonald’s had 109 restaurants in Ukraine, but did not specify how many it planned to reopen. It sold most of its 850 restaurants in Russia to one of its local licensees in May. The decision to reopen came after “extensive consultation and…

The Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre has activated the “Maternal and Child Health” program, which takes place annually in August, in cooperation with 35 maternity and children’s hospitals in Abu Dhabi. The move is part of the center’s collaborative efforts to provide the highest levels of health care and maintain the health of the Abu Dhabi Emirate community, especially maternal and child health, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported. The program is designed to improve women, infants, children, and families health and opportunities through preventive, evidence-based approaches, and evaluated by empowering the community, especially women and health care specialists. The program…

Satellite pictures released on Thursday showed devastation at a Russian air base in Crimea, hit in an attack that suggested Kyiv may have obtained new long-range strike capability with potential to change the course of the war. Pictures released by independent satellite firm Planet Labs showed three near-identical craters where buildings at Russia’s Saki air base had been struck with apparent precision. The base, on the southwest coast of Crimea, had suffered extensive fire damage with the burnt-out husks of at least eight destroyed warplanes clearly visible. Russia has denied aircraft were damaged and said explosions seen at the base…

The number of visitor arrivals to Bahrain in the second quarter of 2022 has increased by 38% compared with the first quarter, the latest statistics issued by the Information and e-Government Authority (iGA) show. The Ministry of Tourism indicated that the tourism recovery rate reached 82% compared to the pre-pandemic period, specifically, on Q2 of 2019. The ministry said that the hospitality and hotel sector in Bahrain recorded 2,973,000 nights of tourism during the second quarter of this year, compared to 569,000 nights of tourism in the second quarter of 2021, an increase of 422%. Total tourism revenues during the…