Author: News Desk

Bahrain has reported 724 new cases of coronavirus, among 474 expatriate workers, 240 new cases are contacts of active cases, and 10 are travel-related, after conducting over 9,600 additional COVID-19 tests on Friday. The death toll stands at 73, as 2 new deaths were reported in the kingdom. Meanwhile, 636 additional recoveries from COVID-19 were reported. ♦ About half of the population tested, confirms Jameela Al-Salman ♦ Bahrain gives utmost safety for health workers ♦ Making the COVID-19 cases zero is not a miracle, but an achievement: Al-Qahtani The total cases have driven to 24,805 of which 19,137 have recovered, which means that over 76…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined several steps the social network will take to combat hate speech as companies pull advertising from its platform. In a live stream and post published to Facebook on Friday, Zuckerberg detailed multiple steps the company will take ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Among the planned steps: pushing back against voter suppression, boosting standards for hateful content in ads, and labeling content deemed newsworthy. “I’m optimistic that we can make progress on public health and racial justice while maintaining our democratic traditions around free expression and voting,” wrote Zuckerberg. “I’m committed to making sure Facebook…

Bahrain has announced the death of a 47-year-old female citizen from coronavirus, the total death toll reached 73. It’s the second death on Friday. The MOH expressed its condolences to the family of the deceased. The total cases have driven to 24,081 of which 18,501 have recovered, which means that over 76 percent of the confirmed cases have recovered from the virus. Currently, there are 5,507 active cases. Also, there are 136 COVID-19 cases receiving treatment, of which 38 are in a critical condition. So far the country has conducted 511,458 tests, as per the government statics.

The Trump administration has announced visa restrictions on current and former Chinese officials who it says “were responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Friday. “Today, I am announcing visa restrictions on current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. Family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions,” Pompeo said. Pompeo did not name the Chinese officials.…

Unilever PLC said on Friday it will stop advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States for the rest of the year, citing “divisiveness and hate speech during this polarized election period in the U.S.” The consumer goods company, which owns brands like Dove Soap and Lipton tea, joins a growing advertising boycott against Facebook as part of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign started by U.S. civil rights groups after the death of George Floyd. ♦ Unilever to drop terms like ‘whitening’ from beauty products ♦ L’Oreal to drop words such as ‘whitening’ from skin products The effort called…

Amazon has agreed to buy California-based self-driving startup Zoox Inc in a deal reported to be worth more than $1 billion that gives it options to use autonomous technology in either ride-hailing or its delivery network. The world’s largest online retailer has stepped up its investment in the car sector, participating in self-driving car startup Aurora Innovation Inc’s $530 million funding round early last year. While Amazon and Zoox did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, the Information said on Thursday, citing sources, that Amazon had agreed to pay over $1 billion to buy Zoox. The report did not…

L’Oreal, the world’s biggest cosmetics company, will remove words referencing “white”, “fair” and “light” from its skin-evening products, a spokeswoman said on Friday, a day after Unilever made a similar announcement in the face of growing social media criticism. Unilever and L’Oreal are two big players in the global market for skin whitening creams used in many Asian, African and Caribbean countries where fair skin is often considered desirable. Unilever, in particular, came under fire for its “Fair & Lovely” brand at a time of worldwide focus on racial injustice following weeks of protests sparked by the May death of George…

Bahrain has announced the death of a 83-year-old female citizen from coronavirus, the total death toll reached 72. The MOH expressed its condolences to the family of the deceased. The total cases have driven to 24,081 of which 18,501 have recovered, which means that over 76 percent of the confirmed cases have recovered from the virus. Currently, there are 5,508 active cases. Also, there are 136 COVID-19 cases receiving treatment, of which 38 are in a critical condition. So far the country has conducted 511,458 tests, as per the government statics.

Emirates will be offering scheduled flights for passengers from seven additional cities in the month of July. These include Khartoum (from 03 July), Amman (from 05 July), Osaka (from 07 July), Narita (from 08 July), Athens (from 15 July), Larnaca (from 15 July) and Rome (15 July). This takes the total number of destinations that Emirates is offering to 48, facilitating additional travel options through a convenient connection in Dubai for customers across the world, while undertaking extensive measures to ensure the health and safety of customers and employees. ♦ Emirates will have to review strategy after coronavirus pandemic: COO Customers…

The World Health Organization-led coalition fighting the coronavirus needs $31.3 billion over the next 12 months to develop and roll out tests, treatments and vaccines, it said on Friday. It said $3.4 billion had been contributed to date, leaving a funding gap of $27.9 billion, of which $13.7 billion was “urgently needed”. The WHO initiative aims to scale up delivery of 500 million tests and 245 million courses of treatments to low- and middle-income countries by mid-2021, it said in a statement. It also aims to scale up delivery of 2 billion vaccines doses, including 1 billion to be bought…