Author: News Desk

Two Britons and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine were sentenced to death on Thursday by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), one of Russia’s proxies in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported. The court found the three men – Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun – guilty of “mercenary activities and committing actions aimed at seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order of the DPR”, the Interfax news agency quoted a court official as saying. The three men were captured while fighting for Ukraine against Russia and Russian-backed forces…

The Russian government added 551.4 billion roubles ($9.5 billion) to its emergency reserve fund on Thursday as the Kremlin steps up its stimulus package in a bid to protect the economy from the impact of Western sanctions and its actions in Ukraine. “The funds will be used in part to implement measures aimed at ensuring the stability of economic development in the conditions of external constraints,” the government said in a statement announcing the cash injection. The reserves boost came from extra profits generated by Russia’s vital oil and gas exports, which are bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars…

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the West will not be able to cut itself off from Russian oil and gas for several years. He added that nobody knows what might happen in that time, so Russian companies would not be “concreting over their oil-wells”. It comes as a US official admitted that Russian profits on energy may be higher now than they were before the war. The EU currently imports around 40% of its gas from Russia. The bloc has pledged to reduce its dependency on Russian oil by 90% by the end of 2022, but so far has not…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that millions of people could starve because of a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports which he said had left the world “on the brink of a terrible food crisis.” Russia has seized large parts of Ukraine’s coast, blocking farm exports and driving up the cost of grain. Zelenskiy said Ukraine was now unable to export large amounts of wheat, corn, vegetable oil and other products that had played a “stabilising role in the global market”. “Millions of people may starve if the Russian blockade of the Black Sea continues,” he said in a…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia’s invasion of his country posed a huge threat of pollution to water basins, including the Sea of Azov. In an address to a ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), he also underlined the need for green energy to replace Russian natural gas supplies following Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

Gulf Air Acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Waleed AlAlawi recently received a number of the airline’s distinguished operating crew consisting of pilots and cabin crew members who exhibited exceptional performance in serving the airline’s passengers; as they were hosted by Captain AlAlawi in the presence of a number of the airline’s executive management members. Congratulating the distinguished crew, Captain AlAlawi stated “I am delighted to shed light on this distinguished calibre of our operating crew who applied the utmost standards of quality in their performance. We are proud to have this kind of high quality calibre that represents the Kingdom…

Thailand legalised the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks on Thursday, the first Asian country to do so, with the aim of boosting its agriculture and tourism sectors but smoking pot is still against the law. Shoppers queued up at outlets selling cannabis-infused drinks, sweets and other items as advocates of the plant welcomed the reform in a country that has long had a reputation for strict anti-drug laws. Among those at the front of the queue at one Bangkok shop was Rittipong Dachkul, 24, waiting since Wednesday evening to buy his first ever legal marijuana.…

The President of the Moroccan Centre for Tolerance and Interfaith Dialogue, Mohammed Abaidou, has praised the initiatives launched by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to consolidate the culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, promote religious freedoms and interfaiith dialogue, and spread the values of peace, fraternity and solidarity among all. He made the statements while receiving the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the brotherly Kingdom of Morocco and Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps, Khalid bin Salman Al-Musallam. The Ambassador praised the efforts of the Moroccan centre to spread the values of peace, religious tolerance…

In a new achievement for the Bahraini press, Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) Head of International Relations Rashed Nabeel Al Hamer was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Al Hamer obtained 112 votes in the elections held at the 31st IFJ Congress in Muscat, Oman. It is the first time that a Bahraini journalist is elected to the IFJ Executive Committee. “This election to the IFJ Executive Committee reflects the confidence of the member states in the IFJ and the good reputation of the Bahraini press in international circles as well as its advanced levels…

South Korea and the United States staged their first combined military exercises involving an American aircraft carrier in more than four years, Seoul’s military said on Saturday, amid reports that North Korea was preparing for a nuclear test. The three-day drills took place in international waters off the Japanese island of Okinawa until Saturday, including air defence, anti-ship, anti-submarine, and maritime interdiction operations, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The exercises came amid signs that North Korea is gearing up to conduct a nuclear test for the first time since 2017. Seoul officials have said Pyongyang has conducted…