Author: News Desk

Bahrain : His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Prime Minister, today received a cable of congratulations from the Deputy Prime Minister, His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, on the 54th anniversary of the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF). HH Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa expressed his deep pride in the advanced level reached by the BDF and its dedicated personnel, becoming the kingdom’s protective shield. HH the Deputy Prime Minister wished the BDF further progress, under the leadership of HM the King, the Supreme Commander. HH Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa…

LONDON :  Queen Elizabeth marks 70 years on the British throne on Sunday, a milestone never reached by any of her predecessors over the last 1,000 years, and one which only a few monarchs across the globe have ever achieved. The woman who became Queen Elizabeth II will mark 70 years on the throne Sunday, an unprecedented reign that has made her a symbol of stability as the United Kingdom navigated an age of uncertainty. From her early days as a glamorous young royal in glittering tiaras to her more recent incarnation as the nation’s grandmother, the queen has witnessed…

BEIJING:  Chinese President Xi Jinping opened a Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday that not only bear the mark of the global coronavirus pandemic but are also mixing sport and global politics as few others have since the era of the Cold War. The scintillating opening ceremony ended with a member of China’s Uyghur minority – whose treatment is the focus of international human rights criticism – helping to light the Olympic cauldron, hours after Xi announced a new strategic alliance with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Three thousand performers took to a stage comprising 11,600 sq meters of high-definition LED…

French Defence Minister Florence Parly said the UAE has been a victim of terrorist attacks. Ms Parly said her country would provide military support to the Emirates and assist it in protecting its airspace against any intrusion. France and the UAE are linked by a strategic partnership, with defence co-operation a part of the agreement, she said. Ms Parly said her country’s Rafale fighter planes are based in Abu Dhabi and would help the UAE Armed Forces in carrying out surveillance, detection and interception missions, if necessary. There have been three attacks on the UAE by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in…

Washington : U.S. President Joe Biden joined Pope Francis and a leading Sunni imam on Friday in calling for greater global cooperation to fight the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other world crises on the second anniversary of a landmark Christian-Muslim peace initiative. The Vatican released a statement from Biden marking the International Day of Human Fraternity, a U.N.-designated celebration of interfaith and multicultural understanding inspired by a landmark document signed on Feb. 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi by Francis and Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb, the imam of the Al-Azhar center for Sunni learning in Cairo. The document called for greater mutual…

Netherlands : Chinese President Xi Jinping has backed Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in his standoff with the West over Ukraine as the two leaders met before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The leaders used a joint statement to call out what they called a “minority on the world stage” for advocating “unilateral approaches to resolving international problems and resort to military policy.” Meanwhile, the leaders of European Union powerhouses France and Germany announced plans to head to Moscow and Kyiv soon for talks aimed at easing tensions. Here are things to know Friday about the international…

BEIJING : The U.S., Britain and a handful of others aren’t sending dignitaries to the Beijing Winter Games as part of a diplomatic boycott, but the Chinese capital is still attracting an array of world leaders for Friday’s opening ceremony.  President Vladimir Putin is meeting Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ahead of the opening ceremony, underscoring closer ties between Beijing and Moscow as they both face Western criticism and pressure.  Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic have growing frictions with the West over their authoritarian policies and human rights records. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s…

BEIJING :  The country where the coronavirus outbreak emerged two years ago launched a locked-down Winter Olympics on Friday, proudly projecting its might on the most global of stages even as some Western governments mounted a diplomatic boycott over the way China treats millions of its own people. The opening ceremony began just after the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach at the same lattice-encased National Stadium that hosted the inaugural event at the 2008 Olympics. With the dimming of the lights and a countdown in fireworks, Beijing became the first city to host both…

China : When Madison Chock looks outside here in the Chinese capital, the U.S. Olympic ice dancer sees glimpses of herself, the Associated Press (AP) reported. “Every time I’m on the bus, I’m just looking out and studying the city and just imagining my roots are here, my ancestors are here,” says Chock, whose father is Chinese-Hawaiian, with family ties to rural China. “And it’s a very cool sense of belonging in a way, to just be on the same soil that your ancestors grew up on and spent their lives on.” She adds: “It’s really special, and China holds…

Bahrain : Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Board Chairman of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority (BTEA), honoured today 16 cadres from BTEA with the “Prince Salman bin Hamad Medal for Medical Merit”, in the presence of the authority’s Chief Executive, Dr. Nasser Qaedi. The medal was presented in implementation of the royal order and in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to all the competent authorities to grant the medal to the frontliners from the medical cadres, Bahrain Defence…