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Rome CNN  —  An old saying about papal elections goes as follows: “He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal.” In other words, any candidate seen as the frontrunner before the voting begins should be treated with caution, and no cardinal should go into the Sistine Chapel assuming they will get the votes. At the 2013 conclave, one of the favorites was Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan. The Italian bishops were so confident that he would be chosen that after the white smoke emerged from the Vatican chimney, a senior Italian church official sent a message…

KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) has commenced academic accreditation procedures in partnership with the US-based Council on Occupational Education (COE), as part of its overarching strategy to enhance the quality of educational outputs and equip national cadres to meet evolving labor market demands.Director General of PAAET, Dr Hassan Al-Fajjam, said in a press statement on Monday that the move comes in line with the directives of Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr Nader Al-Jalal, who has called for elevating the standard of vocational education and achieving academic accreditation across all disciplines offered by…

KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) hosted the 31st meeting of heads and directors of technical and vocational education institutions from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, aimed at strengthening regional cooperation to better serve GCC citizens across various sectors.In his opening remarks, Abdullah Al-Rubaie, Head of the Human and Environmental Affairs Sector at the GCC Secretariat General, lauded the collective efforts of GCC technical and vocational training institutions, underscoring their pivotal role in fostering joint Gulf cooperation. “These institutions play a critical role in enhancing collaboration and advancing developmental goals,” he said. Al-Rubaie also extended…

RIYADH: Showcasing distinctive Kuwaiti and Gulf heritage collections, Kuwaiti creatives are participating with an outstanding pavilion at the International Handcraft Festival held in Al-Zulfi, Saudi Arabia. Organized by the “Expo 965” Kuwaiti team, the pavilion presents exhibits reflecting traditional Kuwaiti home life, along with displays representing Bedouin culture, maritime heritage, old ships, boatmaking equipment, and the craft of pearl trading (“Tawash” profession). The pavilion also features rare collections of natural pearls, traditional coffee pots (Dallah) and coffee preparation sets (Ma’ameel), as well as a range of old crafts such as goldsmithing, perfume selling, pottery engraving, metal shaping, and the crafting…

KUWAIT: The Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) on Monday hosted the 61st meeting of the Technical Committee of Civil Retirement and Social Insurance Agencies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. The three-day gathering, held in Kuwait, forms part of ongoing GCC efforts to strengthen joint mechanisms and harmonize practices in the field of social protection. In a press statement, the PIFSS said the committee’s discussions will focus on bolstering insurance rights for GCC citizens while advancing the financial sustainability of social insurance systems across the region.Key topics on the agenda include the development of electronic inspection systems and…

KUWAIT: The Regional Office of the International Organization for Leisure Activities in Science and Technology (MILSET Asia), based in Kuwait, organized on Monday the fourth annual scientific conference for outstanding secondary school students for the 2024-2025 academic year. The event was held under the patronage of Minister of Education Dr Sayyed Jalal Al-Tabtabaei and witnessed the participation of 112 distinguished students.Dr Abdullah Al-Mutawa, Head of the MILSET Asia Office, expressed his pride in the success of the scientific gathering, emphasizing the importance of nurturing excellence among students to foster innovation and creativity in service of Kuwait’s development. He called on…

CNN  —  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept up appearances for nearly 19 months: Freeing the hostages and defeating Hamas, he insisted, stood equally atop the pyramid of Israel’s war goals. Even as members of his right-wing governing coalition threatened to topple his government if he agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Even as he himself threw up eleventh-hour obstacles to reaching such a deal. And even as evidence mounted that Israel’s military operations had both directly and indirectly led to the killing of Israeli hostages. Amid all those contradictions, Netanyahu insisted both objectives were just as important. But…

Rebekah Vardy has agreed to pay almost £1.2m of Coleen Rooney’s legal costs after the latter won the high-profile Wagatha Christie libel suit against her, a judge has been told.A specialist costs court was previously told that Mrs Rooney, the wife of former England striker Wayne Rooney, ran up a legal bill totalling more than £1.8m after she successfully defended Mrs Vardy’s High Court claim in 2022. The high-profile court case took place after Mrs Rooney accused Mrs Vardy on social media in 2019 of leaking her private information to the press.Mrs Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy,…

President Donald Trump’s administration has been exploring ways to increase the country’s birth rate, with the president himself saying he wouldn’t mind being known as the “fertilization president.” But congressional Democrats and activists say Republicans have long overlooked the growing cost of having and raising children and ignore policy solutions that are readily available.“If you want to encourage families to have children and be serious about it, then you would work to lower costs, build economic security for families,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, an 18-term Democrat from Connecticut and a leading proponent of a federal paid family leave program, told NBC…

Last week, the predatory Israeli military took time from its busy schedule of exterminating Gaza’s Palestinians, bombing and shooting Palestinians across the West Bank, bombing Lebanon, and initiating an assortment of bombing runs across Syrian territory – including the capital Damascus – to launch an extra special bombing run. The latest air raid targeted what Israel claimed was “an extremist group” that had attacked members of the Syrian Druze community, whom Israel “promised” to defend within Syria itself. Following the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December at the hands of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda…