News

Beijing, Dec 1 (ONA) --- The Chinese Mars probe codenamed Tianwen-1 and the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft have successfully performed a test of in-orbit relay communication. The communication lasted 10 minutes when China’s Mars rover Zhurong sent test data to Mars Express over a distance of approximately 4,000 Km. Data analysis results show that the relay communication equipment interfaces of Zhurong and Mars Express match and conform to international standards, and the contents of the transmitted data are complete and correct. The ...

Washington, 30 Nov (ONA) --- Nasa has postponed a planned spacewalk outside the International Station due to flying debris. Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron had been due to venture outside the space station but the spacewalk which was to fix a failed two-decades-old antenna had been canceled. Nasa TV had planned to provide live coverage of the six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. Dana Weigel, Nasa Deputy Manager for the ISS said that the agency had calculated a 7% higher risk of spacewalkers’ suits being punctured. Millions of pieces of space ...

Moscow, 25 Nov (ONA) --- An evacuation operation was underway at the Listvyazhnaya mine, where 70 miners had been brought to the surface, the Russian Investigative Committee said. "According to preliminary data, a number of workers suffered from smoke poisoning. The number of victims is being specified," the committee added. Interfax news agency, citing a mine official, reported that the whereabouts of 75 miners were unknown. --- ...

Moscow, 25 Nov (ONA) --- An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale stroke Kuril Islands located in the Russian Far East. The Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences stated that the earthquake occurred 208 km from Severo-Kurilsk town, at a depth of 40 km. Casualties or material damage have not been reported yet. Earthquakes regularly strike different parts of the Pacific belt, including the Kuril Islands, due to their presence on areas where many tectonic plates meet, which causes frequent volcanic and seismic activity.--- ...

Colombo, 23 Nov (ONA) --- A ferry capsized in eastern Sri Lanka today, killing at least six people, a navy spokesperson said. Twelve people have been rescued and the search for others is continuing, navy spokesperson added. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were on board the ferry or what caused it to overturn. Four children were among the dead, according to a policeman and a hospital worker. The ferry was traveling from Kurinchakeni to the town of Kinniya along the country’s eastern coast and about 260 kilometers northeast of the capital, ...

Sofia, 23 Nov (ONA) --- At least 45 people, including 12 children, have died after a bus crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria, local officials said. The incident happened on a motorway south-west of the capital Sofia. The bus was registered in North Macedonia and was mainly carrying tourists from the country, who were returning from Turkey. Seven people escaped from the bus and were taken to hospital with burns. Officials said the bus appeared to have hit a highway barrier and pictures showed a section of the road where the barrier had been ...

Ottawa, 17 Nov (ONA) --- A deadly storm described by local officials as a once-in-a-century weather event has severed road and rail links around Vancouver, Canada. Two motorways connecting the West Coast city were closed after being damaged by severe flooding. Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes due to the massive storm, which struck on Monday. A woman was killed in a highway landslide, and rescuers said at least two other people are missing. The impact of climate change on the frequency of storms is still unclear, but it is known ...

Lincoln, Nebraska, 14 Nov (ONA) --- Three snow leopards have died at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska in the United States of complications from COVID-19. The zoo made the announcement in a Facebook post, describing the deaths of the three leopards — named Ranney, Everest, and Makalu— as “truly heartbreaking.” The zoo began treating the leopards and two Sumatran tigers for the virus last month. The zoo said the tigers, Axl and Kumar, have made a recovery. The zoo said it remains open to the public and continues to take precautions to prevent the ...

Sofia, 14 Nov (ONA) --- Fire broke out on a ward for COVID-19 patients in Bulgaria early today, killing three people, local officials said. The blaze occurred in a room on the fourth floor where three male patients were receiving care. The fire was quickly extinguished, and an investigation was launched to establish the cause. A new surge in coronavirus cases is overwhelming Bulgaria’s health care system. Today, health authorities reported 8,178 patients in COVID-19 wards, 745 of them in intensive care units. The Balkan country of 7 million remains the ...

Berlin, 4 Nov (ONA) --- Germany’s disease control agency today reported the highest number of new coronavirus infections since the outbreak of the pandemic.The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said 33,949 new cases had been registered in the last 24 hours, up from 28,037 daily cases a week ago. The previous record was 33,777 new cases on 18 December 2020.The all-time high comes as the country’s federal Health Minister Jens Spahn is set to meet with the 16 state health ministers to discuss how to limit the spread of the virus in the winter as intensive care units in the ...

Geneva, 3 Nov (ONA) --- The number of coronavirus cases has risen in Europe for the fifth consecutive week, making it the only world region where COVID-19 is still increasing, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today. In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said new cases jumped by 6% in Europe compared to an 18% increase the previous week. The weekly number of new infections in other regions either fell or remained about the same, according to the report. The sharpest drops were seen in the Middle East, where new cases decreased by ...

Glasgow, 2 Nov (ONA) --- The US is set to announce measures to prevent millions of tonnes of the greenhouse gas methane from entering the atmosphere. The measures will target methane leaking from oil and gas rigs across the US. It is one of the most potent greenhouse gases and responsible for a third of current warming from human activities. A global partnership to cut methane is to be announced at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow later today. Dozens of countries have joined the initiative led by the US and the EU to cut emissions of the gas ...

Moscow, 28 Oct (ONA) --- The Russian capital on today started a nonworking period intended to stem coronavirus infections as new daily cases and deaths from COVID-19 surged to all-time highs. The government coronavirus task force reported 1,159 deaths in 24 hours, the largest daily tally since the pandemic began. The country’s official death toll from the pandemic, by far the highest in Europe, now stands at 235,057, To slow the spread of the virus, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a nonworking period from 30 October to 7 November 2021, when most state ...

London, 28 Oct (ONA) --- British zookeepers welcomed the first birth of a black rhino in Europe this year, and the rare spectacle was captured on camera. The baby male black rhino was born at Flamingo Land in Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, after its mother had a 16-month pregnancy. The calf, which is yet to be named, is the first eastern black rhinoceros to be born in Yorkshire, and continues the zoo's conservation work, which has seen two rhinos leave the site to be released into the wild in Africa. Same DeBelle, Head Keeper at Flamingo Land said that ...

Berlin, 28 Oct (ONA) --- The United Nations (UN) top human rights official called today for countries to act decisively on climate change, saying it is a “matter of survival” for humanity. In a statement ahead of next week’s UN climate summit in Glasgow, the global body’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that “only urgent, priority action can mitigate or avert disasters that will have huge – and in some cases lethal – impacts on all of us, especially our children and grandchildren.” Bachelet urged governments taking part in ...

Muscat, 26 Oct (ONA) --- The National Centre for Emergency Management (NCEM) is representing the Sultanate of Oman at the international ConvEx-3 rehearsal exercise on nuclear emergencies.The two-day drill, held via video conferencing, due to be hosted by Barakah plant, the United Arab Emirates, will be attended by representatives of many military, security and civil agencies concerned.ConvEx-3 exercise is carried out in response to safety measures set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for member states.The exercise offers an opportunity to examine the system of ...

Kathmandu, 21 Oct (ONA) --- Floods and landslides triggered by days of torrential rains have killed at least 99 people in Nepal since Monday, local officials said. In neighboring India, heavy downpours this week have also wreaked havoc, killing at least 88 people, while flooding roads, destroying bridges and causing landslides that washed away several homes. Police in Nepal said rescuers were looking for at least 40 people who have been reported as missing, sparking fears that the death toll could rise. A majority of the deaths occurred in the country’s ...

Madrid, 21 Oct (ONA) --- Hundreds of people were evacuated during the night on the Spanish island of La Palma as a river of molten rock crept deeper into a coastal town during a protracted volcanic eruption, local authorities said today. Emergency services helped some 500 people leave their homes. A total of around 7,500 people have been forced to flee since the Cumbre Vieja began erupting more than a month ago. Scientists say the eruption could go on for three months. The tension of not knowing whether the slow-moving molten rock would entomb their homes, ...

Ibra, 20 Oct (ONA) --- Mohammed Badr Al Ghusaini, a talented Omani from the Wilayat of Ibra, North A’Sharqiyah, has mastered the skills and art of building replicas of old Omani ships of all types. Al Ghusaini told Oman News Agency (ONA) that he transformed his childhood hobby into a crafts industry that attracted a large number of Omani youths. Some of the youths set up their own small and medium enterprises in different governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, he added. Al Ghusaini pointed out that the courses and workshops on this type of craft were conducted in ...

Muscat, 20 Oct (ONA) --- The Environment Authority (EA) today launched a campaign to replant and replace trees damaged during the recent tropical condition /Shaheen/. A large number of volunteers joined hands with the municipalities of North Al Batinah and South Al Batinah, Oman Environment Society and Sidr Oman Society. Fahd Said Al Nasri, who oversees the campaign, said that the campaign seeks to maintain the biodiversity of the Sultanate of Oman and develop plant cover and combat desertification. --- Ends/AB/KH ...

Kuwait, 18 Oct (ONA) -- A fire out broke in the sulfur removal unit of Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery in the State of Kuwait.The firefighters are dealing with it currently, as no casualties registered so far, said Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC).The fire did not affect the refinery, export, and marketing operations, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported. --- ...

  Kerala, India, 17 Oct (ONA) --- At least 19 people have been killed in floods in southern India after heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, cutting off towns and villages.   Several houses were washed away and people became trapped in the district of Kottayam in Kerala state.   Days of heavy rainfall in Kerala has caused deadly landslides and the Indian military has joined rescue efforts.   Helicopters have been used to fly in supplies and personnel to parts of Kottayam district, where people have been trapped under debris by the ...

  Melbourne, 17 Oct (ONA) --- The Australian city of Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, is set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week. Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria state of which Melbourne is the capital, announced the easing of curbs today. The move comes with officials projecting that the state’s double-vaccination rate will reach 70 percent this week. By the time the curbs are lifted, the city of five million people will have been under six lockdowns totaling 262 days since March ...

Rome, 17 Oct (ONA) --- Archaeologists in southern Italy have come across the skeleton of an ancient man who died in the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. "A find from which we expect a lot," Francesco Sirano, director of the Ercolano archaeological Park, south of Naples. It will provide information about the last moments of the buried city of Herculaneum, which in ancient times was located where Ercolano is today. During the eruptions of Vesuvius at that time, the famous city of Pompeii was also buried. The man was found with his head facing the sea, Sirano added. He is ...

    London, 14 Oct (ONA) ---- Carbon emissions are rebounding strongly and are rising across the world's 20 richest nations, according to a new study.   The Climate Transparency Report says that CO2 will go up by 4% across the G20 group this year, as it dropped 6% in 2020 due to the pandemic.   The authors say that the continued use of fossil fuels is undermining efforts to rein in temperatures.   With just two weeks left until the critical COP26 climate conference opens in Glasgow, the task facing negotiators is stark.   One ...

Tokyo, Oct 22 (ONA) --- Sayyid Asa'ad bin Tariq al-Said, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs, Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan received at his place of residence in the Japanese capital, Tokyo today Andrej Babis, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.     The meeting reviewed the good bilateral relations existing between the two friendly countries and scope of the future cooperation between them. The meeting also reviewed means of promoting and enhancing the bilateral relations in various spheres, in ...

Muscat, Oct 14 (ONA) --- Yousef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs today received K. Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Law of the Republic of Singapore and his accompanying delegation.           The two sides reviewed a range of topics and latest regional and international developments, as well as the existing ties of cooperation and coordination between the two friendly countries.           The meeting was attended by Sayyid Badr bin Hamad ...

Muscat, Oct 14 (ONA) --- On behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, Sayyid Asa'ad bin Tariq al-Said, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs, Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan received in his office today Mahanad Saleh, Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Sultanate to bid him farewell at the end of his tour of duty.        The ambassador expressed his thanks to His Majesty the Sultan for the support extended to him during his tour of duty ...

Muscat, Oct 14 (ONA) --- Gen. Sultan bin Mohammed al-Nu'amani, Minister of the Royal Office received in his office today K. Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law in the Republic of Singapore and his accompanying delegation.           Gen. al-Nu'amani welcomed the guest, who expressed his delight to visit the Sultanate.      The meeting exchanged cordial conversations and reviewed march of the good historic relations binding the two sides in all fields and means of promoting them to ...