Author: Gulf News Week
A year to go until France chooses its next president, the big question is who can save the election from being a battle of the extremes.For now, and perhaps only for now, the answer is pretty clear. It is President Emmanuel Macron’s former prime minister, Edouard Philippe.Latest opinion polls concur that the 55-year-old centre-right politician is the only figure capable of beating a hard-right candidate in round two of the vote next May, whether that is Marine Le Pen or her young deputy Jordan Bardella.In any other polled scenario, the other candidate would lose and France would have a populist-right…
The Trump administration’s new investigation-compensation fund is drawing sharp criticism from members of the president’s own party who declined to pass government-funding legislation on Thursday due to disagreements over the fund.The justice department created the $1.8bn (£1.3bn) fund to pay individuals “unfairly” investigated under previous presidents. Among the claimants are people charged in the 6 January 2021 riot at the US Capitol.”So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong – Take your pick,” Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said.Democrats also have called it a “slush fund”…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised retaliation after accusing Ukraine of carrying out a deadly attack on a student dormitory in an occupied part of eastern Ukraine.Six people were killed and 39 injured in the overnight strike in the town of Starobilsk, Luhansk region, Putin said. Another 15 people were missing.Ukraine’s military said it hit the headquarters of Russia’s elite Rubicon drone military unit in Starobilsk. It did not say whether it was the same building as the one identified by Russia.”There are no military facilities, intelligence service facilities, or related services in the vicinity,” Putin said in Moscow. He…
Tulsi Gabbard will resign from her position as the US director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, citing her husband’s recent bone cancer diagnosis. “His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” she wrote in her resignation letter on Friday. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Gabbard “has done an incredible job, and we will miss her”.Her resignation is effective 30 June. Aaron Lukas, the principal deputy director, will step in as acting…
The public health risk from the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been raised from “high” to “very high” by the World Health Organization (WHO).In an update on Friday, WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said the risk in the wider region in Africa was “high”, but it remained “low” globally.The rare species of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo, has no proven vaccine and kills about a third of those infected. So far, the outbreak centred on DR Congo has resulted in 177 suspected deaths and 750 suspected cases.It comes as scientists at Oxford University in…
Fighter jet shoots down UFO in newly declassified videoExperts say the videos released by the US government give no evidence of alien technology or extraterrestrial life.2 hrs agoUS & Canada
Waymo has now paused its self-driving car service in five US cities, in response to a software issue which has seen some vehicles enter flooded roads and get stuck.The US firm recently issued a recall of thousands of robotaxis following an incident on 20 April in San Antonio, Texas when an empty Waymo vehicle entered a flooded road and was swept into a creek.Following a similar incident in Atlanta, Georgia, a Waymo spokesperson said it had expanded the temporary pause to five cities – four in Texas as well as Atlanta – “out of an abundance of caution”.The company told…
The resounding victory earned Al Ain their eighth President’s Cup trophy, capping off a spectacular domestic double just weeks after they secured their 15th UAE Pro League crownAl Ain put on a dominant display to lift the 49th UAE President’s Cup, crushing regional rivals Al Jazira 4-1 in a thrilling final at the Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium tonight to put the curtains down on the 2025-2026 football season.The resounding victory earned Al Ain their eighth President’s Cup trophy, capping off a spectacular domestic double just weeks after they secured their 15th UAE Pro League crown.Al Jazira caught the champions off…
The boss of Standard Chartered has apologised after describing employees whose jobs are vulnerable to being replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) as “lower value human capital”.Discussing how automation was likely to lead to thousands of job cuts at the bank at a recent conference, Bill Winters said it wasn’t about cost cutting but “replacing, in some cases, lower value, human capital, with the financial capital and the investment capital that we’re putting in”.He later sought to contextualise the remarks via LinkedIn and said he was sorry for his wording, which had “caused upset to some colleagues”.He said he was committed…
Why thousands of stock trades tied to Trump are raising eyebrowsThe BBC’s Michelle Fleury looks at trades disclosed by the president.5 hrs agoBusiness