Author: Gulf News Week
A US citizen has been convicted of helping run what has been described as the first known secret police station in the US on behalf of the Chinese government.A jury found that Lu Jianwang, 64, opened and operated the station in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighbourhood in early 2022 for China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).He was found guilty on charges of acting as an illegal agent of the government of China in connection with the station and with obstruction of justice for destroying related evidence.The conviction comes the same week a California mayor resigned after she was charged with acting as…
Pomp and pageantry: Key moments from day one of Trump’s visit to ChinaChina welcomed US President Donald Trump with cheering children and a troop parade on Thursday, before a nearly two-hour long meeting with Xi-Jinping.46 mins agoWorld
LIVERayner says she has been cleared over tax affairs, paving way for any UK leadership bidThe former deputy prime minister said she had been “exonerated” of the accusation she had “deliberately sought to avoid tax”.
A mother who published a children’s book about grief after the sudden death of her husband was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of his murder.A jury in March found that Kouri Richins of Utah killed her husband in 2022 by poisoning him with a fentanyl-laced drink.Richins, 36, had racked up millions of dollars in debt, taken out life insurance policies on her husband and was having an extramarital affair, prosecutors said during her weekslong trial this year.When issuing the sentence on Wednesday – the day Eric Richins would have turned 44 -…
Embattled Sir Keir Starmer has warned his ministers and MPs that a Labour leadership contest could result in “chaos” amid speculation that Health Secretary Wes Streeting is plotting to challenge him imminently.The prime minister sought to rally his quarrelling MPs behind a package of new laws aimed at ending “the status quo that has failed working people”.Speaking in the Commons before he met the ministers and MPs, he promised reforms to areas including health, housing and immigration. He is battling to save his job after four ministers quit and dozens of Labour MPs urged him to resign after last week’s…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he “secretly visited” the United Arab Emirates and met its president during the war with Iran.Netanyahu’s office said the meeting between the Israeli PM and President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed led to a “historic breakthrough”.However shortly afterwards, the UAE foreign ministry denied said the claims about the visit were “entirely unfounded”, and insisted relations between the two countries were not based on “unofficial arrangements”.Iran hit several targets in the Emirates during the conflict, and Tehran has repeatedly criticised the country for what it sees as its closer ties with the US and Israel.He added…
Last Saturday an Israeli air strike, at lunchtime and without warning, destroyed a building where a family displaced by the war were sheltering in a town in southern Lebanon called Saksakiyeh. A ceasefire, announced last month, has failed to stop the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Shia Muslim armed group. In this part of the country, Israel’s attacks come day and night.When I arrived, rescuers had already ended their search. At the top of the rubble a man looked at the devastation in silence. Neighbours had recovered a kids’ bicycle, damaged, and a purple teddy bear, which was covered…
An Alberta judge has thrown out a petition seeking for the province to separate from Canada, after indigenous First Nations groups argued that an independent Alberta without their consultation would infringe on their treaty rights.The 37-page ruling was delivered on Wednesday in an Edmonton court by Justice Shaina Leonard.It comes after Stay Free Alberta, the group behind a citizen-led petition on Alberta independence, said it had gathered more than 300,000 signatures – enough to trigger a province-wide referendum.Justice Leonard paused verification of those signatures pending her decision on the First Nations legal challenge. In the ruling, the judge wrote, “As…
A congressional panel investigating late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has released transcriptions of interviews with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ted Waitt, the billionaire co-founder of Gateway computers.Lutnick discussed having three interactions with Epstein – a neighbour of his in New York – which included a visit to the financier’s home next door and a trip to his island in the Caribbean after he was thought to have cut ties with Epstein.Waitt testified about his years-long relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator, and his concerns about her working for him.Neither Lutnick nor Waitt have been accused of any…
Higher ticket prices for air travellers in Europe are “inevitable” because of the high cost of jet fuel, according to the head of the International Air Transport Association.Although some airlines have cut their European fares recently because of a lack of demand, Willie Walsh said there was no way airlines could absorb the extra costs over time.He told the BBC there was still concern the industry in the UK could face shortages of fuel over the summer, although he insisted there was no need to panic.However, he noted that even if the Strait of Hormuz were reopened tomorrow, the impact…