A Bahraini prince flying into Nepal with 2,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine had all the required paperwork, authorities in Manama told The National on Wednesday after health authorities in Katmandu launched an investigation into the matter.
Sheikh Mohamed Al Khalifa, who arrived in Katmandu on Monday, planned to donate the AstraZeneca shots to a Himalayan village before attempting to climb Mount Everest.
But the Department of Drug Administration said it would launch an investigation after news reports said the prince had not followed the necessary paperwork.
"It was brought without meeting the required procedure and prior consent from our office, we are investigating and will take a decision on whether it can be used," Santosh KC, spokesman for the Department of Drug Administration, told AFP on Wednesday.
However, Sheikh Mohamed said the vaccinations would be carried out under the guidance of the Nepal Health Ministry and the government press office told The National that all required approvals had been given.
“To clarify, the Bahraini team arriving in Nepal had full approval to enter the country with a shipment of 2,000 vaccine doses,” a government spokesman said. “This approval was received before flying to Nepal from the Nepalese ambassador to Bahrain.
“The Nepalese embassy in Bahrain has today written to Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to confirm this and to apologise for any confusion within the Nepalese government, and subsequent media reports on the matter” the representative said.
Sheikh Mohamed said in a post on Instagram he planned to inoculate 1,000 people in Samagaun village, an area where locals recently renamed a hill after the Gulf country’s royal family.
“We will summit the Bahrain Royal Peaks that have been named after our beloved kingdom and while climbing, we will pass by a village with 1,000 citizens living by the Bahrain Royal Peaks and get them all vaccinated. We are already proud of our team and the least I can say is that it’s my total pleasure and honour to serve with them,” he said on social media.
The prince's group, which includes members of the Bahrain Royal Guard, is returning to Nepal after climbing the 8,163-metre Mount Manaslu and the 6,119m Lobuche in October.
At the time, there was a ban on foreign visitors because of the pandemic but Nepal made an exception and granted a permit to the sheikh's team.
Nepal has now opened its borders to climbers, and the prince and his team are among the first to travel to Everest this year after the virus wiped out last year's season on the world's highest peak.
Authorities in Samagaun named the local mountain the Royal Bahrain Peak after the sheikh’s ascent of Mount Manaslu. The peak is 5,200m above sea level, Bahraini media reported at the time.
It is not the first Nepalese mountain in the area to be named after a royal, with Harry Hill named after Britain’s Prince Harry, who helped to rebuild a local school after an earthquake in 2015.
The pandemic was a devastating blow to the many thousands of people in Nepal, from guides to hoteliers, who depend on the climbing industry for their livelihoods.
Mountaineers must now quarantine for seven days and present a negative test before heading out on their expedition.
Nepal began a vaccination drive in January after receiving one million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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Dhadak 2
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
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BMW M5 specs
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The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
