Pope Francis has joined Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders in Bahrain in calling for the world's great religions to work for peace.

Pope Francis is urging Bahrain authorities to renounce the death penalty and ensure basic human rights for all citizens as he arrived in the Sunni-led kingdom.

That style would be challenged in the 2011 protests by the island’s Shiite majority and others, who demonstrated against him over long-running corruption allegations surrounding his rule. Late on Wednesday, Bahrain's state-run news agency initially announced Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa would lead the Council of Ministers, typically the job of the island’s prime minister. Under an informal arrangement, Sheikh Isa handled the island’s diplomacy and ceremonial duties while Prince Khalifa ran the government and economy. But while other hard-line members of the Al Khalifa family actively pushed for a confrontation with Shiites, Prince Khalifa maintained contacts with those the government opposed. “Khalifa bin Salman could and did work with both Sunni and Shia, especially through his relations with Bahrain’s business community,” Diwan said.

“Corruption and tax avoidance are rampant,” said former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė, a panel co-chair. “Our weakness in tackling corruption and financial crime has been further exposed by ... COVID-19,” said former Niger prime minister Ibrahim Mayaki, a panel co-chair. “Resources to stop the spread, keep people alive and put food on tables are instead lost to corruption and abuse. ___4:55 p.m.China, the United States and Russia have traded allegations at the United Nations about who mishandled and politicized the coronavirus pandemic. Sarraj delivered his prerecorded remarks to the world body’s first-ever virtual General Assembly from Tripoli, where his U.N.-backed government is based.

President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One for a trip to a campaign rally in Freeland, Mich., Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, in Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – Bahrain has become the latest Arab nation to agree to normalize ties with Israel as part of a broader diplomatic push by President Donald Trump and his administration to fully integrate the Jewish state into the Middle East. Trump announced the agreement on Friday, following a three-way phone call he had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The three leaders also issued a brief six-paragraph joint statement, attesting to the deal. Bahrain’s foreign minister will attend the event.

DUBAI Bahrain will allow all flights coming to and departing from the United Arab Emirates to cross through the island kingdom's airspace a statement apparently allowing Israeli flights after neighboring Saudi Arabia issued a similar announcement. The state-run Bahrain News Agency made the announcement without directly naming Israel, just as Saudi Arabia had. The statement makes no mention of the kingdoms rival, Iran, nor Qatar, which Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are currently boycotting. Flights between Bahrain and the UAE now skirt just north of Qatari airspace as Doha remains banned from the airspace of boycotting nations amid a yearslong political dispute. Iranian flights to the UAE similarly don't need to enter the airspace of Bahrain, an island nation just off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.

An official stands at the door of an Israeli El Al airliner after it landed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. King Hamad praised the steadfast, historic stances of the United Arab Emirates in ensuring Palestinian rights, BNA said. Kushner has expressed optimism that other Arab countries will soon follow the UAE in establishing official ties with Israel, even in the absence of a peace deal with the Palestinians. The United Arab Emirates committed treachery against either the Islamic world or Arab nations and regional countries, as well as Palestine," Khamenei said. The treason will not last for long.Both the UAE and Israel share a mutual suspicion of Iran.

DUBAI U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will hold closed-door meetings Wednesday with Bahrain's royal family and top officials in the United Arab Emirates amid the Trump administration's push for Arab nations to recognize Israel. In Manama, Pompeo is expected to meet with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his son, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Bahrain, a small island nation just off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, has a historic Jewish community. The kingdom has slowly encouraged ties to Israel, with two U.S.-based rabbis in 2017 saying King Hamad himself promoted the idea of ending the boycott of Israel by Arab nations. Later on Wednesday, Pompeo is expected in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the seven-sheikhdom federation of the UAE.