Author: News Desk

China will make great efforts to consolidate its economic recovery particularly in the crucial third quarter, putting a priority on stabilising employment and prices, state media reported on Friday after a regular cabinet meeting. The world’s second-biggest economy narrowly missed a contraction in the second quarter, growing just 0.4% year-on-year, weighed down by COVID-19 lockdowns, a weak property sector and cautious consumer sentiment. The government has set a 2022 growth target of around 5.5%. Major hurdles in the second half include China’s persistent zero-COVID policy that entails curbs and restrictions that could again disrupt local businesses, employment and consumption. To…

The suspected assassin of Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will undergo psychiatric evaluation until later this year, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Tetsuya Yamagami, an unemployed 41-year-old, has been identified by police as the suspect who approached Abe at a campaign speech on a street corner on July 8 and opened fire with a handmade gun. A court in Nara in western Japan, where the suspect lived and the shooting occurred, granted prosecutors’ request that Yamagami be held for psychiatric examination, the Nikkei and other media reported. Nara prosecutors could not be reached for comment outside business hours. The…

Heavy fighting has been taking place in the last 48 hours as Ukrainian forces continued their offensive against Russia in Kherson province, west of the Dnipro River, British military intelligence said on Saturday. Russian forces are using artillery fire along the Ingulets River, a tributary of the Dnipro, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said. “Supply lines of the Russian forces west of the river are increasingly at risk,” the ministry said in an intelligence update. It added that additional Ukrainian strikes have caused further damage to the key Antonivsky Bridge, though Russia has conducted temporary repairs.

The United States is exploring whether it can send U.S.-made fighter jets to Ukraine, a White House spokesman told reporters on Friday, as the conflict with Russia is about to enter its sixth month and fighting rages in eastern Ukraine. While the Biden administration was making preliminary explorations into the feasibility of potentially providing the jets to Ukraine, the move is not something that would be done immediately, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a briefing. “It’s not something that would be executed in the near-term,” Kirby said. Such a move would be a major increase in U.S.…

Foreign Ministry Undersecretary o for Political Affairs,  Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat), Dr. Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, affirmed the keenness of the Kingdom of Bahrain under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to devote the values of peace, dialogue and coexistence among peoples towards a stable and prosperous Middle East. This came during his participation in the “Aspen” Security Forum Colorado, USA, from July 19-22, in the presence of a group of decision makers, senior officials of homeland security, intelligence, defense…

The Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) have taken over command of the Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) for the 3rd time from their Pakistani counterparts in a special ceremony held at the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base in Bahrain. During the celebration, the RSNF Commodore Abdullah Al-Mutairi has officially taken over command of Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) from Pakistan Navy Rear Admiral Zulfiqar Mohammad. The CTF-150 was established in 2002 as one of four Task Force: Task Force (CTF-151), Task Force (CTF-152), in addition to the Task Force (CTF-153) announced in the final statement of Jeddah Security and…

More than 157,550 pilgrims of different nationalities have arrived in Madinah after performing this year’s Hajj, reports Saudi Press Agency (SPA) The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’ statistics on receiving and departing pilgrims in Madinah showed that 11,125 pilgrims have left Madinah through Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport and the Land Pilgrim Reception Center. Statistics also showed that the number of pilgrims staying in Madinah until yesterday totaled 74,316 pilgrims.

Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkey and the United Nations said, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased. Russia and Ukraine, both among the world’s biggest exporters of food, sent their defence and infrastructure ministers respectively to Istanbul to take part in a 1330 GMT signing ceremony, the two sides said. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, expected to co-sign the accord, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan were to attend. But fighting continued unabated in Ukraine’s east and, underlining deep-seated enmity…

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed four U.S.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) between July 5-20. “Four launchers and one reloading vehicle for the U.S.-made multiple launch rocket systems (HIMARS) were destroyed,” it said in a daily briefing. Reuters could not verify battlefield reports. Kyiv has hailed the arrival of eight HIMARS in Ukraine as a possible gamechanger for the course of the war. The advanced weapons are more precise and offer a longer range than other artillery systems, allowing Kyiv to strike Russian targets and weapons depots further behind the front lines. Moscow has…

Russian-backed separatists in a breakaway region of eastern Ukraine have blocked access to the search engine Google, their leader said on Friday, citing what he calls “disinformation”. In a message posted on his Telegram channel, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), accused Google of promoting “violence against all Russians” and said that its “handlers from the U.S. government” were to blame. “If Google stops pursuing its criminal policy and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, there will be no obstacles to its work,” he said. He did not provide evidence to support…