Author: News Desk

An enormous space telescope has given astronomers a peek into the early cosmos, capturing light of galaxies that formed not long after the birth of the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the world’s most advanced space observatory, was in development for nearly two decades and is expected to create an astronomical revolution. The $10 billion “time machine” will help astronomers to study what the universe looked like millions of years ago. It is much more advanced than the Hubble Space Telescope because of its breakthrough technology, design and its planned location in space. https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1546621144358391808?s=20&t=K5d0ziFLxbXT_Ds6-g9Qrg Hubble made countless discoveries after it was launched in…

Oman has temporarily closed all tourist sites across the Sultanate due to unstable weather conditions, local media reported. According to the Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority (CDAA), the decision comes after several missing cases and deaths were reported in different parts of the country. https://twitter.com/Rassd_Oman/status/1546371213408305155?s=20&t=wzXDGrxLdy3VoF1Y0OM-EQ An eight-member expat family drowned in the sea on Sunday after they fell off a cliff near the Al Mughsayl beach in Dhofar Governorate. The authority also confirmed the death of two Omani citizens in Suhar after their vehicle swept away in Wadi Ahan. In a statement issued on Sunday, the CDAA said all tourist…

The record arrivals of tourists in Bahrain is also offering an unexpected boost to the gold and jewellery sector, it has emerged. Sources say a large number of tourists are taking an interest to shop for gold and jewellery items owing to the VAT refund, which is giving them additional purchasing power compared to citizens and expatriates. Apart from tourists, the refund option is also available to non-residents as well as citizens residing abroad. Speaking to The Daily Tribune, a senior manager with one of the leading jewellery houses in Bahrain, said, of late, many tourists, especially from South Asian…

Bahrain is amongst the top 25 countries the Overseas Indians prefer to work and live. Bahrain, which houses 330,000 Overseas Indians, enjoys 18th rank among the top 25 countries preferred by Overseas Indians, says statsofindia. The ranking features destinations preferred by 32.1 million Overseas Indians who by status are not residents of India or are persons of Indian origin. PIOs or Persons of Indian Origin means foreign citizens who held an Indian passport or their parents, grandparents or great grandparents were born in India or spouses of Indian citizens. However, considering the top 25 countries preferred by Non-Resident Indians, Bahrain…

Russia opened fire with artillery, multiple rocket launchers and tanks around Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv and shelled cities in the east, Ukraine’s general staff said on Monday, after a strike that killed 18 people in an apartment building. The rocket strike on the five-storey residental block in Chasiv Yar on Saturday night also left two dozen people trapped in the rubble, the emergency service said. Rescuers were in voice contact with two people under the wreckage, it said. The rocket attack was part of Russia’s push to capture all of Donetsk province, which makes up part of the industrial…

Tensions between China and the United States, and the withdrawal of the remote Pacific island nation of Kiribati, have overshadowed the Pacific Islands Forum as leaders arrived in Fiji on Monday for the first in-person summit in three years. During the four-day meeting, Pacific island leaders will discuss how to gather more international support and funding to fight the impact of rising sea levels and climate change, as well as China’s ambitions for greater security ties across the region. A bid by Beijing to sign a broader regional trade and security deal with 10 nations that recognise China, but is…

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi warned on Monday in a policy speech in the Indonesian capital that countries should avoid being used as “chess pieces” by major powers in a region that he said was at risk of being reshaped by geopolitical factors. Addressing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariat in Jakarta, Wang, who was speaking through a translator, said many countries in the region were under pressure to take sides. “We should insulate this region from geopolitical calculations… from being used as chess pieces from major power rivalry and from coercion,” he said, adding: “The future of…

The Russian parliament’s organising council was due to meet on Monday to decide on calling an extraordinary meeting of parliament on July 15, but it was not immediately clear what was to be discussed. The lower house of parliament said the council was to meet on Monday due to “issues that require urgent solutions” and the need to consider “government initiatives”. It gave no further details. At the scheduled start of the council meeting, there was no public live translation on the meeting and no agenda was published, Reuters reporters said.

Lithuania on Monday expanded restrictions on trade through its territory to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, as phase-ins on earlier-announced European Union sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine took effect. Additional goods barred from Monday morning include concrete, wood, alcohol and alcohol-based industrial chemicals, a spokesperson for Lithuanian customs said. Russia warned Lithuania and the European Union on Friday that it could adopt “harsh measures” against them if the transit of some goods to and from Kaliningrad did not resume “within the coming days”. On Monday, the Kaliningrad regional governor proposed a total ban on overland movement of…

France’s energy-intensive companies are speeding up contingency plans and converting their gas boilers to run on oil as they seek to avoid disruption in the event any further reduction in Russian gas supplies leads to power outages. Gathered over the weekend at a business and economics conference in southern France, several top executives said they were preparing for possible blackouts. “What we’ve done is we’ve converted our boilers, so they’re capable of running on gas or oil, and we can even switch to coal if we need to,” said Florent Menegaux, the boss of Michelin, one of the world’s leading…