Author: Gulf News Week
Getty ImagesThousands of US military members who have been living aboard an aircraft carrier for more than 250 days are reportedly contending with food shortages, broken plumbing, exhaustion, and other hardships, leading a lawmaker to demand answers from the Pentagon and putting pressure on the Trump administration over the Iran war.Military news outlets reported multiple sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln have considered jumping overboard, as well. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday called reports of poor conditions “completely misrepresented”.The carrier left California in November for the South China Sea and was sent to the Middle East ahead of attacks…
ReutersL-R: Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube and Cal FooteFour ice hockey players who were acquitted of sexual assault last year should remain barred from representing Canada at international level because they broke Hockey Canada’s code of conduct, an independent appeals board has ruled.The board recommended that four of the five acquitted players remain suspended from all Hockey Canada-sanctioned programmes.The fifth player, Alex Formenton, was also deemed to have broken conduct rules, but is now being reinstated. The former players for Canada’s under-20s junior hockey team were accused of sexual assault over an incident that took place in…
Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov believes that Ukraine cannot be conquered, only destroyed by PutinAt the Moscow offices of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the corridors are silent.There is an overwhelming sense of emptiness.”There is no newspaper anymore,” former chief editor Dmitry Muratov tells me in an exclusive interview, published on the BBC News YouTube channel.Muratov, 64, co-founded Novaya Gazeta more than 30 years ago. It became the flagship for hard-hitting independent journalism in Russia, shining a light on human rights abuses and high-level corruption.It was recognition for courageous reporting.But it didn’t protect the paper.EPAMuratov auctioned off his Nobel Prize medal…
‘Maybe the message is getting through’: Surgeon on eclipse eye damageEye experts are warning people to be on the alert for any signs their vision has been damaged by looking at the sun during Wednesday’s eclipse.The symptoms can include blurred vision, a central blind or dark spot and increased sensitivity to light.After the previous total eclipse of the sun that was visible in the UK in 1999, around 70 people were left with damaged sight.Many of them had spent less than a minute looking at the spectacle, without realising they were harming their eyes.The sun is incredibly bright, even when…
EPAThe Israeli army pictured in the West Bank village of Qusra on WednesdayThe Israeli military says it will deploy additional troops to the occupied West Bank after failing to force away Israeli settlers who have trapped two Palestinian families in their homes since Sunday. The Abu Ridi and Hassan families – who live on the outskirts of the village of Qusra, south of Nablus – made appeals for help after their water and power supplies were cut off and their food stocks ran low.The case is the latest to draw attention to the relative impunity of settlers and how Israeli…
AFP via Getty ImagesBruno Foucher has served in CAR since 2023France has opened disciplinary proceedings against its top diplomat in the Central African Republic (CAR) over accusations of misconduct.This emerged after a report in a French weekly that Ambassador Bruno Foucher allegedly had brought dozens of women into his official residence and had sex with some of them. He has not commented publicly.The allegations, which refer to events said to have happened between January 2024 and March this year, prompted investigations by France’s foreign ministry into a potential security breach.A French diplomat told the BBC that the ministry has since…
Hannibal Hanschke/EPA/ShutterstockThe 71st Eurovision final will take place on 15 May 2027 in Burgos, Bulgaria after singer Dara’s win last time outEurovision 2027 will be a seaside song contest held in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, organisers have confirmed.The competition will take place in the city, which is close to the Black Sea, from 12 to 15 May, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced on Thursday.It comes after Bulgarian singer Dara won this year’s contest in Vienna, Austria in May – her country’s first Eurovision win – with her pneumatic dance anthem Bangaranga.Eurovision Song Contest…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Public health experts have been quick to condemn an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S., but the biggest obstacles may be the unprecedented financial and logistical challenges it would impose on parents, health providers and drugmakers.Monday’s announcement by the Republican president calls for separating combination shots — including the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine — into separate injections. Appointments for that and other vaccinations should be spaced out whenever possible, the order states.To accomplish that, drugmakers would need to revive a slate of individual vaccines that…
Ministry of DefenceRoyal Marine Commandos were involved in the operation to seize the MT SmyrtosThe UK government has defended its seizure of a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the English Channel, after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to “respond in kind”.The Smyrtos has been anchored off Weymouth after Royal Marines Commandos intercepted and boarded the vessel in a first-of-its-kind operation to disrupt the sanctioned tanker in June.The vessel’s captain, Ajay Pant, has been charged with breaching Russian sanctions, accused of directly or indirectly supplying or delivering prohibited Russian oil.Overseeing Russian navy drills in the Pacific Ocean, Putin scolded Western…
Watch: Millions watch ‘surreal’ eclipse in UK and EuropeThe UK and Europe have enjoyed their most dramatic solar eclipse for nearly 30 years, with millions thought to have witnessed the once-in-a-generation event.Those watching the astronomical phenomenon from the UK were treated to a partial eclipse, which peaked shortly after 19:00 BST, when most saw more than 90% of the Sun covered by the Moon.But parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain experienced the complete darkness and spectacle of a total eclipse. Large crowds at viewing sites across the UK and Europe reacted with gasps and cheers, with astronomy enthusiasts saying it…