عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

King Charles III Shrugs off Health Scare to Begin Italy Visit

(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)
(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)
TT
TT

King Charles III Shrugs off Health Scare to Begin Italy Visit

(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)
(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)

King Charles III arrives in Italy on Monday for a four-day visit where he will become the first UK monarch to address Italy's joint parliament, but will not meet Pope Francis due to the pontiff's health issues.

The trip comes 10 days after Charles, 76, had his own health scare, being admitted to hospital after experiencing temporary side effects from his cancer treatment, AFP said.

Royal sources cited by the UK media said the king was "raring to go" on the trip, during which he will also celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary with wife Camilla.

Charles, who is the head of the Church of England, was scheduled to meet Pope Francis on Tuesday.

But the 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church is recovering from life-threatening pneumonia at his Vatican home, where doctors say he will need at least two months of convalescence, forcing the king to reschedule his plans.

"Their Majesties send The Pope their best wishes for his convalescence and look forward to visiting him in The Holy See, once he has recovered," said the royal family's official X account.

Francis made a surprise appearance Sunday as he mingled with crowds at the Vatican, two weeks after leaving hospital.

Charles, who is making his first visit to Italy as king, will instead spread his Rome engagements over two days, allowing "the program to breathe a bit", according to a royal source.

The couple will visit the Colosseum Archaeological Park in Rome, where they will be met by Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, his ministry has announced.

Charles will also meet Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella, and is set to become the first British monarch to address a joint sitting of the Italian parliament, according to Buckingham Palace.

'Minor bump'

The king and queen are expected to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary on Wednesday at a state banquet in Rome.

Following a decades-long affair, the couple married on April 9, 2005, at a ceremony in Windsor, followed by a religious blessing in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Charles announced he had cancer in February 2024.

Just six weeks after came the news that his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, had also been diagnosed with cancer and had begun chemotherapy.

Catherine, who is married to throne heir and Charles's eldest son, Prince William, said in January that she was now in remission.

Charles returned to work within two and a half months and gradually ramped up his duties during the rest of 2024, making several foreign trips that took him as far as Australia and Samoa.

But the Italy trip was thrown into doubt on March 27, when the palace announced Charles had been hospitalized due to side effects from his weekly treatment.

Officials said the stay of a few hours was a "minor bump" in his medical journey, and he resumed engagements last Tuesday.

Charles and Camilla will also visit Rome and Ravenna in northern Italy to celebrate "the strong bilateral relationship between Italy and the United Kingdom", the palace said.

While there, they will attend a reception marking the 80th anniversary of the region's liberation from Nazi occupation by Allied forces on April 10, 1945.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Norway Plans to Ban Social Media Use by Children Under 16

FILE PHOTO: Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Reddit applications are displayed on a mobile phone ahead of new law banning social media for users under 16 in Australia, in this picture illustration taken on December 9, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Reddit applications are displayed on a mobile phone ahead of new law banning social media for users under 16 in Australia, in this picture illustration taken on December 9, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/Illustration/File Photo
TT
TT

Norway Plans to Ban Social Media Use by Children Under 16

FILE PHOTO: Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Reddit applications are displayed on a mobile phone ahead of new law banning social media for users under 16 in Australia, in this picture illustration taken on December 9, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Reddit applications are displayed on a mobile phone ahead of new law banning social media for users under 16 in Australia, in this picture illustration taken on December 9, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/Illustration/File Photo

Norway said on Friday it would present a bill in parliament by year-end to ban children from using social media until they turn 16, making technology companies responsible for the task of age verification.

Several European nations seeking to rein in children's ⁠use of social media ⁠after Australia took the lead with a world-first ban on under-16s last December.

"We are introducing this legislation because we want a childhood where ⁠children get to be children," Reuters quoted Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere as saying in a statement.

"Play, friendships, and everyday life must not be taken over by algorithms and screens. This is an important measure to safeguard children's digital lives."

The government did not say ⁠which ⁠applications would be targeted.

Australia's ban covers Meta apps such as Instagram and Facebook as well as TikTok, Snapchat, Google's YouTube and Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter.

Norway will introduce its bill in parliament by the end of 2026, the minority Labour government said.

Varieties

'Cretaceous Kraken' Prowled the Seas During the Age of Dinosaurs

An artist's reconstruction of a finned octopus of the species Nanaimoteuthis haggarti that reached a length estimated at up to 18.6 meters (61.02 feet) and lived about 86 to 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, released on April 23, 2026. Yohei Utsuki/Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University/Handout via REUTERS
An artist's reconstruction of a finned octopus of the species Nanaimoteuthis haggarti that reached a length estimated at up to 18.6 meters (61.02 feet) and lived about 86 to 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, released on April 23, 2026. Yohei Utsuki/Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University/Handout via REUTERS
TT
TT

'Cretaceous Kraken' Prowled the Seas During the Age of Dinosaurs

An artist's reconstruction of a finned octopus of the species Nanaimoteuthis haggarti that reached a length estimated at up to 18.6 meters (61.02 feet) and lived about 86 to 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, released on April 23, 2026. Yohei Utsuki/Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University/Handout via REUTERS
An artist's reconstruction of a finned octopus of the species Nanaimoteuthis haggarti that reached a length estimated at up to 18.6 meters (61.02 feet) and lived about 86 to 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, released on April 23, 2026. Yohei Utsuki/Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University/Handout via REUTERS

The Kraken is a huge tentacled sea monster from Norse folklore that drags ships and sailors down into the deep. During the age of dinosaurs, new research shows, there existed a creature as close to a real-life Kraken as you could possibly get - an enormous octopus that prowled the seas as an apex predator.

Scientists said fossils of beaks - the soft-bodied invertebrate's hard jaw structure - indicate that an octopus species named Nanaimoteuthis haggarti that lived about 86 to 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period ranged from 22 to 61 feet (6.6 to 18.6 meters) long.

"These animals were remarkable. With their large bodies, long arms, powerful jaws and advanced behavior, they represent what could be described as a real 'Cretaceous Kraken,'" said paleontologist Yasuhiro Iba of Hokkaido University in Japan, lead author of the research published on Thursday in the journal Science.

"For roughly the past 370 million years, marine ecosystems have been thought to be dominated by large vertebrate predators - first fishes and ⁠sharks, then marine ⁠reptiles and later whales. Our study shows that giant invertebrates, namely octopuses, also functioned as apex predators in the Cretaceous sea," Reuters quoted Iba as saying.

Iba said Nanaimoteuthis haggarti is one of the largest invertebrates on record.

"Until now, the largest-known invertebrate has been the modern giant squid, which can reach about 12 meters (39 feet) in total length," Iba said.

The intense wear observed on the beaks is consistent, the researchers said, with repeated crushing of hard structures such as bones and shells, indicative of a predator that hunted large fish, shelled tentacled creatures, clams and other sizable prey.

"In the largest specimens, about 10% of the ⁠total jaw length appears to have been lost due to wear. This is more severe than what is typically seen in modern octopuses and cuttlefishes that feed on hard prey," Iba said.

The beaks were shaped like those of certain deep-sea octopuses alive today that swim with the help of fins, leading the researchers to conclude that these Cretaceous octopuses also bore fins.

The numerous beak fossils studied in the research came from Japan and Canada's Vancouver Island. The researchers reexamined previously known specimens and discovered new fossils as well.

The researchers also studied the beaks of a close relative called Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi that lived about 100 to 72 million years ago. It was not quite as big, ranging from 9 to 25 feet (2.8 to 7.7 meters) long, but also was an active predator.

Because octopuses are soft-bodied animals, they seldom fossilize well. The beak, the only rigid part of the octopus body, is made of a hard and durable material ⁠called chitin, also found in ⁠the exoskeletons of crabs, lobsters and insects.

Guided by modern-day octopus anatomy, the researchers were able to estimate the size of the Cretaceous octopuses based on the dimensions of the beaks.

"Octopuses are not simply biting predators. They use long, flexible arms to capture prey and powerful jaws to process it. As body size increases, their ability to control large prey with their arms and to process it with their jaws also increases," Iba said.

"In addition, octopuses are among the most intelligent invertebrates. In our fossils, the jaws show asymmetric wear, suggesting lateralized behavior - favoring one side over the other, something like handedness. This indicates not only strength, but also advanced and flexible behavior," Iba said.

These octopuses shared the Cretaceous seas with other large predators including marine reptiles called mosasaurs and plesiosaurs that reached up to around 50 feet (15 meters) long as well as sharks rivaling today's great white in size.

"These giant octopuses likely occupied the same ecological tier and may have competed with marine reptiles and sharks within the same ecosystem," Iba said. "Their existence changes how we view ancient oceans. Instead of ecosystems dominated solely by vertebrate predators, we now see that giant invertebrates such as octopuses also occupied the very top of the food web."

Varieties

Saudi Team Successfully Separates Filipino Conjoined Twins in Highly Complex Surgery

The operation was conducted at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City of the Ministry of National Guard in Riyadh. SPA
The operation was conducted at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City of the Ministry of National Guard in Riyadh. SPA
TT
TT

Saudi Team Successfully Separates Filipino Conjoined Twins in Highly Complex Surgery

The operation was conducted at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City of the Ministry of National Guard in Riyadh. SPA
The operation was conducted at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City of the Ministry of National Guard in Riyadh. SPA

The specialized medical and surgical team of the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program achieved on Thursday a new medical milestone by successfully separating the Filipino conjoined twins Klea and Maurice Ann following a highly complex surgical procedure, considered among the most challenging cases worldwide.

The operation was conducted at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City of the Ministry of National Guard in Riyadh.

Advisor at the Royal Court, Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), and head of the medical and surgical team of the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah stated the Filipino twins were separated after 12 hours and 45 minutes from the start of anesthesia.

This marks the completion of the third stage, with the fourth and fifth stages remaining, which are expected to take several more hours and will include reconstruction, cosmetic procedures, and cranial closure.

He added that the operation was carried out with the participation of 30 consultants, specialists, and nursing and technical staff across multiple disciplines, including anesthesia, intensive care, advanced imaging, plastic surgery, and other supporting specialties, ensuring the highest levels of precision and safety throughout all stages of the procedure.

Al Rabeeah noted that this marks the third separation of conjoined twins from the Philippines and the 70th case within the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program, which spans more than 35 years.

The program has covered 27 countries and evaluated 157 cases worldwide, underscoring the Kingdom’s leading role in this rare medical specialty, under the direct support and patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

Al Rabeeah expressed, on behalf of himself and all members of the medical and surgical team, his deepest gratitude to the Kingdom’s leadership for the continuous support and close follow-up provided to the program.

He also extended his thanks to the surgical team, led by pediatric neurosurgery consultant Dr. Moutasem Azzubi, as well as to all members of anesthesia, plastic surgery, nursing, and technical teams for their efforts, which contributed to the success of the operation and the safety of the twins.

He affirmed that this achievement reflects the Kingdom’s noble humanitarian mission and its position as a global center of excellence in this field.

For their part, the twins’ family expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince for the high-quality medical care provided, praising the tremendous efforts exerted by the medical team to ensure the success of the operation.