Author: Gulf News Week
LIVEPM has ‘full confidence’ in Streeting, No 10 says, as health secretary’s allies expect him to launch challengeWes Streeting met the PM for less than 20 minutes in Downing Street this morning ahead of the King’s Speech to Parliament.
In a landmark German case targeting chocolate “shrinkflation”, a court has found that the manufacturer of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar cheated consumers and broke competition law.Cutting back on the amount of chocolate while having the same kind of wrapper meant that customers were being misled, Bremen regional court ruled.The three-week court case was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office (VZHH), which accused manufacturer Mondelēz of deceiving consumers by cutting the weight of the “Alpenmilch” bar from 100g to 90g.Reacting to the ruling Mondelēz told the BBC it was “taking the decision of the court seriously” and would “look at…
Support from Washington is conditional on clear progress in curbing pro-Iran militia activity.The decision by United States President Donald Trump to back Ali al-Zaidi as Iraq’s next prime minister may have surprised some quarters. But when one looks into whom Trump was trying to keep out, his motivation becomes clear.Iraq’s dominant parliamentary bloc, the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shia parties aligned with Iran, had initially thrown its weight behind former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. For Washington, the nomination of an openly pro-Iran premier was a red line, especially amid continuing attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi militias on US assets in…
Waymo is recalling thousands of its self-driving cars in the US over a software issue that could allow vehicles to drive into flooded roads.According to a letter posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website on Tuesday, the voluntary recall affects nearly 3,800 robotaxis that use the company’s fifth and sixth-generation automated driving systems.It follows an incident on 20 April in San Antonio, Texas, where an empty Waymo vehicle entered a flooded road and was swept into a creek.The company, which hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London by September, said it was working on “additional…
Issues with a new wave of “smart glasses” seem to be piling up.Yet some of the biggest technology companies in the world are poised to sell many millions of pairs in the coming years.Women leaving the beach, going into a shop, or simply standing outside are now being approached by men usually wearing Meta’s Ray-Bans, the company’s “smart” or “AI” glasses, often in order to film the women’s responses to casual questions or pick-up lines without their knowledge or consent.The women only find out about the videos of them after they gain traction, and often abuse, online. They have little…
Israel have sailed through to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, with the lovestruck pop song Michelle, performed by 28-year-old Noam Bettan.The contest’s festive atmosphere has been upended in recent years by a controversy over Israel’s military action in Gaza. Five countries have boycotted the 2026 event, including seven-time winners Ireland.Bettan faced a mixed reception at Tuesday’s semi-final. A few audience members booed and shouted anti-Israeli slogans, while others chanted his name in support. Before the show, the singer told the Jerusalem Post he was determined to concentrate on the music and relegate any criticisms to “background noise”.In a…
It is quite something when two blokes having a cup of coffee can generate more headlines and conversation than the King coming to parliament for the main ceremonial event of the parliamentary calendar.Both these things are happening this morning. The prime minister has met the Health Secretary Wes Streeting in private – a meeting offered by Sir Keir Starmer to cabinet ministers after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting and an offer Streeting took up.It was a very short meeting – under 20 minutes – and we may not know what happened in Number 10 immediately.And then, not long afterwards, the King will…
When China’s leader Xi Jinping hosts his American counterpart in Beijing this week, Donald Trump will be reminded of his last visit in 2017 – he was wooed hard, complete with dinner inside the Forbidden City, an honour no US president before him had received.This week’s reception promises to be just as grand, including a stop inside Zhongnanhai, the rarefied compound where China’s top leadership lives and works. The agenda too will be just as thorny, with Iran being a new source of tension, alongside trade, technology and Taiwan.But a lot has changed as Trump returns to a stronger and…
Former pro-basketball player Jason Collins, the first active male athlete on a major American professional team sport to come out as gay, has died aged 47.Collins died after a “valiant fight with glioblastoma”, an aggressive form of brain cancer, his family said in a statement shared by the National Basketball Association (NBA).He announced last year that he had been diagnosed with the cancer and was undergoing treatment to stop the spread of the inoperable disease.”Jason Collins’ impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future…
The Princess of Wales will step back on to the international stage on Wednesday, with a trip to the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, in a personal landmark in her recovery from cancer. “Undoubtedly this is a huge moment for the princess. There will be many highlights of 2026, but this being her first official international visit post her recovery, this is a really significant moment for her,” said an aide to the princess.It is more than three years since Catherine’s last official visit overseas – and the focus of her return trip is her early years education campaign.She wants…