Author: News Desk

South Korea’s total coronavirus infections topped 10 million, or nearly 20% of its population, authorities said on Wednesday, as surging severe cases and deaths increasingly put a strain on crematories and funeral homes nationwide. The country has been battling a record COVID-19 wave driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant even as it largely scrapped its once aggressive tracing and quarantine efforts and eased social distancing curbs. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 490,881 cases for Tuesday, the second highest daily tally after it peaked at 621,205 on March 16. The total caseload rose to 10,427,247, with…

Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to attend a G20 summit being hosted by Indonesia later this year, Russia’s ambassador in Jakarta said on Wednesday, following calls by some members for the country to be barred from the group. “Not only G20, many organisations are trying to expel Russia….the reaction of the West is absolutely disproportional,” ambassador Lyudmila Vorobieva told a news conference on Wednesday. The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of Twenty (G20) grouping of major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters.

Taiwan is considering extending compulsory military service beyond the current four months, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on Wednesday, as the war in Ukraine renewed a discussion about how best to respond to China’s military threats. Taiwan has been gradually shifting from a conscript military to a volunteer-dominated professional force, but China’s growing pressure against the island it claims as its own, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have prompted debate about how to boost civil defence. Answering lawmakers’ questions in parliament, Chiu said that proposals to extend military service were still under consideration, and that there would “definitely”…

World number one Ashleigh Barty has shocked the sporting world by announcing she will retire from professional tennis at just 25. The Australian made the announcement on social media on Wednesday, saying she was leaving to “chase other dreams”. “I’m so happy and I’m so ready. And I just know at the moment in my heart, for me as a person, this is right,” she said in a video. Barty won her first Grand Slam at the 2019 French Open. She has remained the top-ranked player since then, backed up by success at Wimbledon last year. In January, she became…

Japan reacted angrily on Tuesday after Russia withdrew from peace treaty talks with Japan and froze joint economic projects related to the disputed Kuril islands because of Japanese sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Japan have not formally ended World War Two hostilities because of their standoff over islands, seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, just off Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. The islands are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories. Japan has imposed sanctions on 76 individuals, seven banks and 12 other bodies in…

Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 recorded an unprecedented increase of 50% in international tourists compared to 2019, due to the collaboration between BTEA, Gulf Air, and Bahrain International Circuit (BIC). BIC CEO Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa said that this unprecedented achievement underscores the success of the combined efforts to put on a phenomenal season for this annual event, which Bahrain has hosted since 2004, and in line with the “New Era” of Formula 1, as a radically new set of regulations come into force – all designed to produce even more spectacular racing. Shaikh Salman…

He survived the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II. He survived the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in the same war. And the Bergen-Belsen camp. Last week, Boris Romanchenko, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, was killed when shelling hit his ordinary flat in the war-ravaged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. “It is with horror that we report the violent death of Boris Romanchenko in the war in Ukraine,” the memorial for the Buchenwald survivors said on Monday in a statement. The multi-storey apartment building where Romanchenko lived was shelled and caught on fire,” said the statement. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has…

Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced its latest international exhibition, “Stories of Paper”, organised in partnership with Musée du Louvre and France Muséums, in collaboration with 16 French and international institutions and private collections. To run from April 20 to July 24 the exhibition explores the vast range of artistic expressions of paper, with the aim of cultivating the visitors’ deeper knowledge of a familiar, yet ever more distant material. Approximately 100 artworks and objects, including books, manuscripts, drawings, a reproduction of a house and 13 contemporary artworks and installations made of paper, will be on display, Emirates News Agency (WAM)…

Ukraine’s military warned the public on Tuesday of more indiscriminate Russian shelling from bogged-down Russian troops, and U.S. President Joe Biden issued his strongest warning yet that Russia is considering using chemical weapons. Amid the devastation caused by Russia’s unceasing bombardment of Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy highlighted the death of a 96-year-old survivor of Nazi concentration camps, killed in his flat by shelling in Kharkiv. Nearly four weeks into their invasion, Russian troops have failed to capture any major Ukrainian city and have been halted on nearly all fronts, but are hammering residential districts with artillery, missiles and air…

Transportation & Telecommunications and Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) Chairman Minister Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed met with Omar Ahmed Al Mansoori, on his appointment as General Manager of Bahrain Jet Fuel Company (BJFCO). BJFCO Chairman and BAC Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah was present. The minister congratulated Al Mansoori on his appointment, and wished him success in his new role. “Launched this year, the fuel farm complex is a vital component of the Bahrain International Airport (BIA) Modernization Program. BJFCO will strengthen Bahrain’s position as a major hub for aircraft fuel services in the region, contribute to sustainable economic…