Author: Gulf News Week

Repeated assaults and harassment by Israeli settlers and forces has surged since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.At least 50 Palestinian families from a Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank have fled their homes, following repeated assaults and harassment from Israeli settlers under the protection of Israeli forces, according to media reports and a local rights group. Thirty Palestinian families were forcibly displaced on Friday morning from the Arab Mleihat Bedouin community, northwest of Jericho, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, while 20 others were displaced on Thursday. Before the forced displacement, the community was home to…

London High Court upholds order that critics say puts the group’s anti-Gaza war protesters on a par with al-Qaeda, ISIL.Pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action‘s cofounder has lost a bid to pause the British government’s decision to ban the organisation under “anti-terrorism” laws pending their legal challenge. Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, had asked London’s High Court to stop the proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation. On Friday, the court heard a challenge to the order, and Judge Martin Chamberlain ruled against Ammori, meaning the proscription of Palestine Action is upheld and will come into…

Paul Kagame gives cautious welcome to US-brokered agreement, but says success depends on goodwill from warring parties.Rwandan President Paul Kagame has cautiously welcomed a United States-brokered peace deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while suggesting Kigali will retaliate if provoked. Speaking at a news conference in Kigali on Friday, Kagame said Rwanda remained committed to the agreement but questioned whether Kinshasa would uphold its part of the deal. “If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with…

LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — U.S. immigration officials have arrested famous Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. — days after his high-profile fight with Jake Paul — for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application, officials said Thursday.Chávez was detained in front of his home on Wednesday and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, authorities said. Here’s what to know about this arrest:The 39-year-old boxer is a former middleweight champion hails from Mexico. His father, Julio César Chávez, is one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of…

PRAGUE (news agencies) — The Czech Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was kicking off its 59th edition on Friday with honors for American actor Peter Sarsgaard and actress Vicky Krieps from Luxembourg.Sarsgaard and Krieps are both slated to receive the Festival President’s Award at the opening ceremony.The festival will screen “Shattered Glass,” a 2003 movie directed by Billy Ray, for which Sarsgaard was nominated for a Golden Globe. To honor Krieps, who received a European Film Award for best actress for her role of the rebellious Empress Sisi in “Corsage” (2022), the movie “Love Me Tender” (2025) will be shown…

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” with its policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda.In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. In a statement Thursday, the EPA said it has a “zero-tolerance policy…

LONDON (news agencies) — This most unpredictable of Wimbledons delivered yet another surprise Friday when reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the No. 6 seed, was a lopsided loser in the third round, eliminated 6-3, 6-3 by 104th-ranked Laura Siegemund of Germany.Keys’ exit left just one of the top six women in the bracket before the end of Week 1: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who was scheduled to face 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu later in the day.No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen already were out. The men’s…

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (news agencies) — A team of scientists from the University of Miami, the Florida Aquarium and Tela Marine in Honduras is working together to transplant crossbred coral fragments onto a reef off Miami’s coastline that was devastated by coral bleaching two years ago.They’re looking for ways to help reefs survive increased ocean temperatures caused by global warming and climate change.“It’s the end of a very long process,” Andrew Baker, professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School and director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab, said Tuesday as divers planted the corals…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — There’s no filibuster in the House, but Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries essentially conducted one anyway.Jeffries held the House floor for more than eight hours Thursday, taking his “sweet time” with a marathon floor speech that delayed passage of Republicans’ massive tax and spending cuts legislation and gave his minority party a lengthy spotlight to excoriate what he called an “immoral” bill.As Democratic leader, Jeffries can speak for as long as he wants during debate on legislation — hence its nickname on Capitol Hill, the “magic minute,” that lasts as long as leaders are speaking.He began the…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (news agencies) — Matthew “Moose” Musquiz was working as a diesel mechanic in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when his physical therapist told him about a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, that he might like.Musquiz loves the Texas dance hall style of venues popular there, but he hadn’t really found a good one in Nashville, which is about an hour south of the U.S. Army installation. “He told me, ‘Tuesday night at the American Legion Post 82 is kind of like a dance hall,’” said Musquiz.In a dimly lit cinderblock building tucked away off…