From Foreign Waters

  Former pope  Benedict XVI   has died at the age of 95, almost a decade after he stood down from the papacy.   The Vatican has painstakingly elaborate rituals for what happens after a reigning pope dies but no publicly known ones for a former pope. His successor Pope Francis visited him at the monastery on Thursday morning as Benedict's condition worsened, the Vatican said.

  US President Joe Biden celebrated Israel's ratification of its new government under returning  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Israel ushered in its most right-wing government on Thursday amid international criticism over its hardline religious and ultranationalist stance. Mr Biden noted that he looks forward to working with his far-right Israeli counterpart, who “has been my friend for decades”. “The United States is working to promote a region that’s increasingly integrated, prosperous and secure, with benefits for all of its people,” Mr Biden added, emphasising Mr Netanyahu's partnership on Iran. The White House has previously dodged questions over Mr Netanyahu's right-wing politics, despite Mr Biden's leadership in the US centre-left Democratic Party and his criticism of  far-right  movements at home.

  Did you know that  Dubai's all-female   Firdaus Orchestra   is preparing for its maiden live online broadcast timed for the festive season. The multilingual, multinational ensemble, mentored by AR Rahman, India’s award-winning composer, made its debut during Expo 2020 Dubai and has been steadily building a fan base in the region. The musicians have been fine-tuning a diverse programme, the  Firdaus Holiday Experience,  that will run for a little over an hour on December 22 from 6pm.

    Dubai International Airport expects to deal with approximately million passengers over the busy excursion season, capping off a robust restoration in 2022 and edging towards pre-coronavirus every day site visitors numbers. As many as 245,000 passengers are predicted to byskip thru the hub, referred to as DXB, every day among December 27 and January 3, operator Dubai Airports stated on Tuesday. “DXB will continue to be especially busy over the the rest of the vacation season and properly into the New Year,” Dubai Airports stated . “December has been especially busy for DXB because of a mixture of factors, together with the seasonal inflow of visitors, the currently concluded World Cup soccer occasion in Doha and the electricity of Dubai’s role as one of the world’s maximum famous traveler destinations.” The airport retained its role because the world's busiest for global passengers in December, beforehand of foremost hubs together with L

  When you go out to celebrate the New Year on Saturday, you might not need to pack an umbrella or a raincoat. Dr Ahmed Habib, a meteorology expert from the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), told Khaleej Times that Saturday's weather is not expected to be wet but will instead be partly cloudy, with lows of 8°C or 9°C in the interior of the nation and 15°C to 17°C in the coastal regions. The daytime maximum is predicted to range between 23°C and 26°C. He predicted that the mild to moderate rain would last through today and tomorrow before ending by Thursday night. The forecast for Friday and Saturday calls for no rain, a moderate daytime temperature, and a little chilly evening. In order to boost rainfall, Dr Habib said that routine cloud seeding occurs when there are clouds that are already full of rain. The NCM stated in a report earlier this week that the country was "being affected by an extension of a southwest-bound surface low-pressure system, along with an

  Ahmed Al Sayegh, Minister of State, presented the medal to Ms Quintana at a reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation on Monday, news agency Wam reported. During the meeting, Mr Al Sayegh said the UAE was keen to strengthen relations with the Philippines in all fields and expressed his appreciation for Ms Quintana’s role in further improving bilateral co-operation during her time in the Emirates. Ms Quintana said she felt proud to receive the medal and thanked Sheikh Mohamed. She praised the leadership of Sheikh Mohamed and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai. She also thanked all government entities in the UAE for their collaboration, which helped her strengthen relations between the two countries.

  “ We think and plan for the next 50 years, and for the benefit of next generations, by building a diversified, solid and sustainable economy that does not depend only on traditional resources, and opens promising prospects that contribute to strengthen the foundations and capabilities of the nation.”  President Sheikh Mohamed said This month, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai launched the government’s new national vision, “We The UAE 2031”, saying that the country will “maintain its position as an economic destination and focus on strengthening the UAE’s economic partnerships with the world and consolidating its development model.”  The ambition of the words is matched by the scale of the numbers involved. Over the next nine years, we aim to double national GDP to Dh3 trillion, raise the value of non-oil foreign trade to Dh4 trillion, raise non-oil exports to Dh800 billion and increase the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP to Dh450 billion. In which th

DubaiNow, the first and only Dubai Government application, has achieved a milestone of one million users. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council, has expressed happiness over this milestone. The app offers access to 130 services from 30 government and private sector entities to the people. The Crown Prince hailed the integration, interconnection, and simplicity of digital services of the application. He reportedly said, “DubaiNow’s milestone of exceeding one million users is a testament to people’s confidence in the app. He said that the app was the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-President and the Prime Minister of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Ruler of Dubai. The Crown Prince of Dubai noted that the UAE President wanted to make Dubai the world’s best city in terms of access to services and quality of digital life. He further noted that the DubaiNow app promotes peopl

  Many have detected of them however few have really seen them. Despite abundant fanfare upon their donation in May, several of the French buses supposedly serving the folks of Beirut since Monday stay elusive. Bus drivers, passengers, and restaurant house owners at Beirut’s main intersections of Dawra, Cola,and Moucharafieh say they're however to identify the vehicles. "I apprehend this bus, it's a part of the new batch of state buses, I even have seen them on Facebook", aforementioned Ali whereas reckoning on his phone at the image of a inexperienced jade and white RATP bus recognizable to associate degree yone who has ever set foot in Paris. In May, France given fifty of them to Asian country as a part of an agreement to boost the country' crumbling transport network, that depends mostly on tatterdemalion government buses and personal micro-buses.

Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kerala, was granted bail today by the High Court in a case involving money laundering after being detained on terror-related accusations while travelling to UP's Hathras to cover the rape and murder of a Dalit lady two years ago. He had already been granted bail in the terror case, which was brought under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other related laws, by the Supreme Court in September, but he continued to be detained in Lucknow because the Enforcement Directorate's related case had not yet yielded any resolution. He and six other people were charged earlier this month in Lucknow by a court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which allowed the trial to start at last. KA Rauf Sherif, Atikur Rahman, Masud Ahmad, Mohammad Alam, Abdul Razzak, and Ashraf Khadir are the other defendants. These men, according to the authorities, are members of the now-outlawed Popular Front of India and its student arm, Campus

  Thanks to a UAE   led initiative,  two rural villages in eastern  Sudan  now have access to clean water  The humanitarian initiative, named   Beyond2020 , was launched by the Zayed Sustainability Prize in collaboration with leading local and international organisations. The initiative offers critical, life-transforming solutions to vulnerable communities in remote areas around the world.  With the objective to go “beyond generations”, “beyond borders” and “beyond limits”, the initiative supports Zayed Sustainability Prize winners and finalists in their efforts to reach people in need. A past winner of the Zayed Sustainability Prize has used the Dh2.2 million prize money to help save thousands of Africa

  On tuesday  Benjamin Netanyahu   announced that he had formed a new   Israeli government , returning to power as the head of the most right-wing coalition in   Israel's   history. His win enabled him to replace the ideologically disparate coalition that removed him as prime minister in 2021 and left him poised to end Israel's unprecedented era of political gridlock that forced five elections in less than four years.  "The politicisation of law enforcement will deal a serious blow to the most fundamental principles of the rule of law, that is to say equality, the absence of arbitrariness and impartiality," Ms Baharav-Miara said.

  Four new cases of BF.7, a variant of Covid-19 leading to the surge in infections in the People’s Republic of China, have been detected in India. Two cases have been found in Gujarat. Reportedly, a 61-year-old NRI (Non-resident Indian) woman living in Vadodara has tested positive for the BF.7 variant. She came from the United States to Vadodara in November. Later on, she tested positive for the virus. She was in isolation and took three doses of the vaccine. A man living in the Gota area of Ahmedabad was also tested positive for the virus. He came from abroad in September and contracted the BF.7 variant of Covid-19. It was found that he was infected with the BF.7 variant through genome sequencing. Another case was also reported in Odisha. Reportedly, another case was also detected in India. BF.7, a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5, can cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated. Indian Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also held a meeting with senior officials and

     Adnoc is getting a 24.9 per cent stake in Austrian energy company OMV from Mubadala Investment Company, it aforesaid on Wednesday. The money terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Through this investment in OMV, that holds a seventy five per cent stake in Austrian plastics maker Borealis, Adnoc can increase its stakes in each Borealis and Borouge. “As we have a tendency to still meet the growing world demand for lower carbon energy, we are fast-tracking the delivery of our growth strategy and increasing our footprint across key strategic markets and sectors,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of trade AN d Advanced Technology, and Adnoc decision maker and cluster chief executive. “This milestone transaction, aboard our twenty five per cent property in Borealis, is testament to our centered investment in building an integrated chemicals platform to accelerate our formidable growth strategy that may unlock vital growth opportunities across our broader chemic

  The United States actors and former couple Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have finally settled their defamation case, months after a Virginia court announced the decision. Heard will pay her ex-husband Depp $1m in a settlement of their defamation suit. Heard announced the defamation settlement on Monday. She also said that she lost “faith” in the American legal system. In June this year, Heard lost the defamation trial against her ex-husband. A Virginia jury awarded Depp $15m in damages. The jury also awarded Heard $2m for one part of her own counterclaim against Depp. However, Heard filed an appeal in the case earlier this month. Her legal team reportedly filed a new 68-page appeal against Depp. Heard’s ex-husband also filed his appeal of the $2 million verdict ruling. He said that he does not want to pay his ex-wife the $2 million. However, on Monday, she chose to finally settle the case. She said that she cannot go through another trial. She finally agreed to pay Depp the amount awar

  The UAE has been chosen to host international trade development talks in Feb 2024. President Arab chief Mohamed created the announcement on weekdays that representatives from 164 countries within the World Trade Organisation can convene in the nation's capital. in an exceeding message denote online.  The same that UAE is worthy to possess been selected because of the host country for the international organization Ministerial Conference in 2024. “We forestall to facilitating constructive dialogue between WTO nations and strengthening international co-operation for a property economic future.” The WTO' twelfth Ministerial Conference was command in Geneva, Switzerland, from Gregorian calendar month twelve to June 17. it had been originally meant to be held in an Asian nation in 2020, however, was delayed thanks to the pandemic. regular to finish on June 15, the ministerial gathering in Geneva was extended by 2 days to permit longer for negotiations and for agreements

  In  2020  the UAE's space agency launched its first Mars mission,    The spaceship was called "Hope". It was not American, or Russian, or from the European Union. Hope was the first spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) to travel further than an orbit around the Earth. If successful, it would be the first spacecraft from an Arab nation to reach Mars, and the UAE would become only the fifth nation in the world to successfully put a spaceship in orbit around Mars. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) lies at the far end of Dubai International Airport, about half an hour's drive east of the Burj Khalifa. By space centre standards it is relatively compact; you could probably lose it in the car park of Nasa's giant Johnson Space Centre in Houston.  In February 2022, Omran Sharaf was leading the Emirates Mars Mission. Sharaf, 38, says the inspiration for the mission was the "triple helix model, in which you have the private sector

   Khaloud Al Mazrouei, deputy project manager at Etihad Rail, told the steps being taken to safeguard nature because the national rail network takes shape. She aforementioned 1,300 ghaf trees and many sidr and date palms are resettled to preserve diverseness and natural heritage. over three hundred animals have been relocated as a part of the initiative, together with twenty four 2 short-fingered lizard s, 24 baluch rock gecko and 5 saw-scaled vipers ― a venomous snake found within the UAE ― among others. Once complete, the rail network can connect regions of the UAE with the remainder of the Gulf. Stage one in every of the project is operational and is employed to move merchandise and materials across the Emirates. The project is currently seventy per cent complete and also the railway line between Abu Dhabi and city was joined up in March and connected to Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah in October this year.

  The abrupt conclusion of China 's Covid Zero programme is making it difficult for the managers of the Xiangfu Nursing Home, a luxurious home for the elderly in Shanghai's Changning neighbourhood. Shutting the doors was their quick fix for the time being. In order to buy time while the virus spreads quickly throughout the nation, Xiangfu prohibited admission to family members and other guests in late November. After finishing their duties, employees are unable to leave and must instead stay on-site to sleep. As China's elderly, who are under-vaccinated, find themselves suddenly surrounded by infection after three years of low threat, the same hunkering down is occurring throughout the country. Local governments are requiring care facilities to use the same closed-loop system that companies did during prior outbreaks in areas like Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Time is of the essence. Evidence from around the world demonstrates that senior living facilities frequentl

  An Emirati delegation to Ireland to discuss efforts to bolster co-operation between the nations. Talks were centred on ways to forge closer links in trade and small and medium enterprises, as well as in logistics and the financial technology industry, also known as FinTech. Dr Al Zeyoudi held meetings with the country's leaders, including Leo Varadkar, Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland and Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State at the Department of Transport. An agreement was signed aimed at formalising political dialogue to strengthen ties in areas of mutual concern, state news agency Wam reported on Friday.