Author: News Desk

A man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses in connection with the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more, according to police. A 24-year-old, from the Fallowfield area of Manchester, was arrested “shortly after arriving back in the UK” and remains in custody for questioning, according to a Friday statement from the Greater Manchester Police. The statement did not specify from where he was traveling. On May 22, 2017, Salman Abedi detonated a bomb which killed 22 concertgoers and injured hundreds more — many of them children and young people — as they left…

Alec Baldwin has made his first public statement since a fatal shooting on the set of his new film on Thursday. “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin tweeted on Friday. “I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.” The actor was in…

Washington : US President Joe Biden is planning to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Rome at the end of this month, the White House said on Friday after a telephone conversation between the two. A dispute over a large submarine contract has caused a major rift between the countries – a deal arranged separately by the US had caused a 56-billion-euro (66-billion-dollar) submarine contract between Australia and France to be scrapped, dpa reported. It is not clear whether the talks will take place on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rome or whether a meeting in another form…

The US supreme court allowed a Texas law that bans the vast majority of abortions to temporarily remain in effect, but will hear arguments on 1 November. The law, known as Senate Bill 8, bans the procedure after roughly six weeks gestation or before most women know they are pregnant. The justices said they will decide whether the federal government has the right to sue over the law. The court’s action leaves in place, for the time being, a law Texas clinics say has led to an 80% reduction in abortions in the nation’s second-largest state. The refusal by the court’s conservative majority to…

Geneva : Europe’s top soccer leagues cautioned that FIFA’s biennial World Cup plan is still on the table and they vowed Friday to resist the proposed overhauls of the international match schedule. FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised Wednesday to seek a global consensus during a longer period of consultation about the World Cup’s future. That was seen as him acknowledging the strength of European opposition to doubling the frequency of the World Cup, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The 33-nation European Leagues group was later briefed by FIFA officials, including Arsène Wenger, who shaped the proposal that includes biennial World…

Bahrain :  His Majesty King Hamad sent a cable to Queen Elizabeth II following the reassuring results of the medical checks undergone by Her Majesty and her return from hospital. HM King Hamad wished Queen Elizabeth II good health and happiness.

Berlin : BMW (BMWG.DE) will stop making internal combustion engine (ICE) cars at its main plant in Munich in three to four years, its head of production said on Friday at a conference marking the start of production of its electric i4 model. The ICE cars currently made in Munich will be produced in BMW’s factories in Austria and the UK in future, production chief Dr Milan Nedeljkovic said, adding that by next year at least half the vehicles produced in Munich would be electric, Reuters reported. BMW has set itself a target for at least 50% of new global…

Wellington : New Zealand on Friday announced a new roadmap that will see coronavirus measures eased for the fully vaccinated after 90 per cent of the population get their two jabs, said dpa. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was initially resistant to setting a vaccination target. “We didn’t want anyone to be left behind,” she said. However, she said once 90 per cent of the eligible population of each health board region was fully vaccinated, New Zealand would transition from seeking to eliminate Covid-19 cases entirely to a “minimize and protect” strategy. “Delta has made it very hard to…

Seoul : South Korea on Thursday carried out its first ever test of a domestically produced space rocket, but admitted that it had not succeeded in its key task of putting a dummy satellite into orbit, reports dpa international. The rocket took off at 5 pm (0800 GMT) from the Naro Space Centre near the southern coastal town of Goheung. South Korean television stations broadcast the launch live. The 200-ton KSLV-II-type rocket is the first launch vehicle developed and built entirely in South Korea, but it did not perform as well as expected. President Moon Jae In, who watched the…

Baltimore, Oct. 22 (BNA): U.S. President Joe Biden has backed away from pledged tax increases to fund planned infrastructure and social spending, and also said he was open to reforming Senate voting rights by “fundamentally altering” its filibuster custom. In a wide-ranging CNN town hall in Baltimore, Biden said he was close to striking a deal to pass major spending measures after weeks of intraparty bickering among his fellow Democrats, Reuters reports. However, he said that raising corporate tax rates, one of his most oft-cited promises, was unlikely to be part of the legislation. A separate minimum corporate tax proposal…