Author: Gulf News Week
Nike/Palace/England/Adidas/Irn-BruClockwise from top left: Wayne Rooney, Kim Kardashian and son Saint West, Susan Boyle and Timothée Chalamet have all featured in adverts in advance of the World CupAlmost six minutes into Nike’s frenzied recent football-themed advert, Norwegian superstar striker Erling Haaland finally leaps into life.Having hitherto sat around the film set waiting patiently with his supposed stunt double, US actor Channing Tatum, the Manchester City forward appears as if from nowhere in slow motion – and in final boss mode – to ruin a young player’s shot at glory.Rip the Script, as the ad is called, features Haaland alongside fellow…
LIVEWorld Cup 2026: Highlights & reaction as Mexico & South Korea start with winsAll the latest reaction, highlights and talking points as the 2026 Fifa World Cup gets underway.
BBCThe Awad family home in East Jerusalem is one of the properties being demolished There is the loud din of a demolition below Jerusalem’s walled Old City, and from a hillside I watch a large Israeli excavator tearing into a Palestinian house.Some 59 properties have now been destroyed in the al-Bustan area of the Silwan neighbourhood since late 2023. With world attention diverted by the war in Gaza and now in Iran and Lebanon, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of Palestinians being pushed from their homes in Israeli-occupied east of the city.”There is no future. They…
ReutersSir Keir Starmer is under fresh pressure after the resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey on ThursdayAfter the spray of resignations, fury and anger a month ago following Labour’s calamitous election results, the Makerfield by-election campaign had put a temporary cork in the bottle of the party’s dissent.Or so we thought.It turns out we didn’t have to wait to find out if the Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham would be returning to Westminster before the bubbles of anxiety about Sir Keir Starmer would be visible again.The prime minister had sought to seize this brief opportunity to project direction and delivery…
LIVESouth Korea come from behind to lead Czech Republic Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live commentary, follow text and score updates and track the latest match stats as South Korea take on Czech Republic in Group A of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Getty ImagesSpaceX has raised $75bn (£56bn) from financial firms ahead of it becoming a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history.In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the space exploration and artificial intelligence (AI) company said it had sold $75bn in shares priced at $135 each.The share price matches the estimate SpaceX gave last week, leaving the firm’s expected initial stock market value to be nearly $1.8tn.At that value, chief executive Elon Musk – already the richest man in the world – is set to become the…
Getty ImagesShe was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn’s seven childrenThailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who has been in a coma for more than three years, has died, the royal household has announced. She was 47.She collapsed in December 2022 while exercising her dogs. Her doctors attributed it to a severely irregular heartbeat, caused by a mycoplasma infection in her heart.With her death, the Thai royal family has lost its most visibly accomplished member, and someone who might have played a pivotal role in an as yet unclear succession.She was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn’s seven children, born on 7 December 1978 to…
BBCFootball World Cups are rarely completely politics-free but never has the beautiful game navigated a geopolitical high-wire act of this kind. The main host is at war with a participant, whose team must commute in on match days from another country.Add to that the quite astonishing coincidence of the US, Canada and Mexico, the three co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup, being in the midst of an epic trade war. Indeed, in the period in between the opening ceremony at the Estadio Azteca, and the final in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, the three will be renegotiating the USMCA, the North…
Flip flop or deliberate? – Unpacking Trump’s strategy on IranThe BBC’s Gary O’Donoghue looks at the US president’s mixed messaging over the war and the questions it raises.3 hrs ago
ReutersThe 2026 World Cup has begun in Mexico City with an opening ceremony filled with colour, culture and a performance by global music star Shakira.Thousands of fans arrived at the legendary Azteca stadium in Mexico City with a real sense of excitement and anticipation to watch the World Cup on their home turf for the first time in 40 years.It’s been a complicated build-up, from the renovations of the airport and Azteca stadium, to protests and clashes around the event, and the cartel violence seen in Mexico only months ago.On Thursday, those issues appear to have been mostly pushed to…