Author: News Desk

US President Joe Biden will meet outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington next month, the White House said on Friday. “President Biden looks forward to welcoming Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to the White House on July 15, 2021,” press secretary Jen Psaki said. He added that ending the COVD-19 pandemic and tackling climate change were top of the agenda.

The Philippines is once again polio-free, the World Health Organization said Friday, after a successful vaccination campaign that has raised hopes for COVID-19 inoculations in a country plagued by mistrust of jabs. Polio re-emerged in the country in 2019, nearly two decades after its last cases were detected, sparking a nationwide effort to immunize millions of children against the crippling disease. At least 17 people were infected, but health authorities said they have not detected the virus in a child or the environment in the past 16 months. “We are celebrating freedom from polio,” said Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the WHO representative…

The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments has closed one mosque after the National Medical Team for Combatting COVID-19 discovered a positive case there. The mosque, located in the Northern Governorate, will be closed for one week “in order to preserve the requirements of public health and protect worshipers,” the ministry said. “The time will be used by the relevant teams to carry out the process of tracing contacts, sanitize the premises and ensure that all precautionary measures are taken.” Bahrain has re-opened mosques for the five daily prayers, but insisted that worshippers comply with the health protocols and…

Leaders of the Group of Major Industrialized Nations (G7) are meeting on Friday for a summit that is overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. On the first day, leaders are due to discuss recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on questions such as Covid-19 vaccine donations and financial aid to build vaccine production sites around the world. In the evening, leaders are scheduled to attend a reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Prince Charles, during which environmental protection and fighting climate change are on the agenda. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hosting the three-day summit in the…

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) announces new data from Bahrain’s Ministry of Health, obtained during the Kingdom’s national vaccination campaign, confirming the safety and high efficacy of the Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine. An efficacy study was conducted in Bahrain in accordance with WHO guidelines involving more than 5,000 subjects. Overall efficacy beyond 14 days after administering a second dose was estimated at 94.3%. Analysis is based on data collected between February and early May 2021. The data of the Ministry of Health confirmed that, of those vaccinated with Sputnik V and infected 14 days…

Biden drops Trump attempt to ban TikTok, WeChat President Joe Biden on Wednesday withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok, and ordered a Commerce Department review of security concerns posed by those apps and others. The administration of former President Donald Trump had attempted to block new users from downloading the apps and ban other technical transactions that Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok and WeChat both said would effectively block the apps’ use in the United States. The courts blocked those orders, which never took effect. A separate U.S. national…

Ferrari has turned to technology industry veteran Benedetto Vigna to drive the luxury sports car maker known for its roaring, high-octane engines into a new era of silent, electric powertrains. Vigna, 52, currently runs the biggest division of semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics (ST), where he has worked since 1995 and helped pioneer the sensors first used in iPhones to rotate the screen by turning the handset. Vigna’s appointment announced on Wednesday shows Ferrari’s development strategy remains firmly anchored in manufacturing cutting-edge, high-end sports cars for an electric era, rather than repositioning itself as a pure luxury goods company. It also highlights the…

The US tax authority on Tuesday said it was investigating the leak of tax records of the country’s super rich, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, included in a media report. “I can’t speak to anything with respect to specific taxpayers,” Internal Revenue Service (IRS) chief Charles Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee. “I can confirm that there is an investigation, with respect to the allegations that the source of the information in that article came from the Internal Revenue Service,” he added. The unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information is illegal, said a spokesperson for the US Treasury Department,…

Under the patronage of Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) President Dr. Abdulhussein bin Ali Mirza, Majid Al Futtaim Company and Yellow Door Energy Company signed an agreement virtually to install the largest central solar energy system with a maximum production capacity of 6.2 megawatts to provide clean energy for The Bahrain Mall. The event was attended by Chief Sustainability Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Holding Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, Carrefour Bahrain Director at Majid Al Futtaim Retail Jerome Eckel, Chief Commercial Officer at Yellow Door Energy Rory McCarthy, CIO of Economic Development Board Mahmood Al Aradi and a number of experts from the…

Deputy Prime Minister and Ministerial Committee for Development and Infrastructure Projects Chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said that Bahrain’s positive and rapid economic growth in the prosperous reign of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and with the support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, have been accompanied by a strong drive to provide high-standard infrastructure through strategic projects, especially in the electricity and water areas. The government’s belief in the importance of electricity and water as important sources of energy, and the backbone of other services and…