Author: News Desk

Vatican City: Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit, in a turnaround in relations with the Vatican following the failure of negotiations for a papal trip to the country in 2017. There are about 20 million Roman Catholics in India, about 1.5 per cent of the population of 1.3 billion. In 2016, Pope Francis said he was “almost sure” of visiting India the following year along with Bangladesh. But Indian Catholic Church leaders failed to convince PM Modi to invite him. The last pope to visit India was John Paul II, who went to New Delhi…

India : Aryan Khan, the 23-year-old son of megastar Shah Rukh Khan, was released from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, two days after Bombay High Court granted him bail in connection with the drugs-on-cruise-case. He had to spend two nights in jail as his bail papers missed the deadline after a nerve-wracking countdown that went down to seconds. Aryan Khan, 23, was granted bail on Thursday by the Bombay High Court. “We won’t give special treatment to anyone. The law is the same for all. The deadline for receiving the bail papers was 5.30 pm. That has passed. He won’t be released…

Rome : The Group of 20 (G20) leading industrialized nations start their two-day meeting in Rome later on Saturday with climate action ahead of the COP26 summit and the coronavirus likely to dominate. The UN climate summit in Glasgow comes immediately after the G20 meeting and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres believes the fight against climate change could be lost if the G20 does not step up, dpa reported. “There is a serious risk that Glasgow will not deliver,” he said. Coronavirus will also be a major theme at the G20 meeting, which is being attended by US President Joe…

United Nations :  The UN humanitarian chief had a dire message for leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies meeting this weekend: Worry about Afghanistan because its economy is collapsing and half the population risks not having enough food to eat as the snows have already started to fall, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Martin Griffiths said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press that “the needs in Afghanistan are skyrocketing.” Half the Afghan children under age five are at risk of acute malnutrition and there is an outbreak of measles in every single province which is “a red…

Bahrain : Minister of Housing, Bassim bin Yacob Al-Hamar, has affirmed the Housing Ministry’s keenness to ensure that its current and future projects are capable of catering to the service and facilities needs of the beneficiaries so as to provide them with the requirements of decent and quality life, on the one hand, and carry on efforts to achieve the sustainability of housing services, on the other. He pointed out that the government attaches great importance to the environmental aspects in housing projects by allocating green sites and paths in all modern towns, in addition to waterfronts, beaches and sites…

Bahrain : Arab Parliament (AP) Speaker, Adel bin Abdulrahman Al-Asoomi, has congratulated the kingdom’s leadership and people on Bahrain’s winning the presidency of the Executive Committee of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) for the year 2022, noting that it is the first-of-its-kind GCC achievement since the ratification of the Montreal Protocol in 1987. Al-Asoomi asserted that the exploit adds to Bahrain’s rich record of achievements in all fields, and crowns its pioneering efforts to combat climate change and the challenges resulting from it for the sake of protecting the future of humanity from the…

Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here earlier in the day at the invitation of his Italian counterpart, was received by Draghi upon his arrival at Palazzo Chigi for the meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held the first in-person meeting with his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here during which the two leaders had extensive talks on diversifying the bilateral ties.

London : Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has been advised by her doctors to rest for at least the next two weeks after being admitted for an overnight stay in hospital this month. She is under orders, as a “sensible precaution”, to undertake “desk-based duties” only, but she has also promised a “firm intention” to be present at a national service of remembrance on November 14. The queen spent October 20 in hospital — the same day she attended an evening reception at Windsor Castle to mark the Global Investment Summit. “Following on from their recent advice that the queen should…

KSA :  Saudi Arabia today announced the capital city of Riyadh’s intention to bid for hosting the World Expo 2030 to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), World Expo’s organizing body. In a letter to the BIE, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, said: “We live in an era of change, and we face an unprecedented need for humanity’s collective action.” “It is clear that the whole world, as a collective, needs to work together to foresee the…

Bahrain : President of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH), Lieutenant General Dr. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, commended the royal support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to the health sector. He also praised the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to further optimize health services to achieve the goals of Bahrain Vision 2030. He pointed out the health insurance project and the radical change it requires in the funding, management and governance of the health sector. In his inaugural speech today of the…