Author: Gulf News Week
Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, and Slovenia refuse to participate in next year’s event after calling for Israel to be banned.Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have said they will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, following the decision to allow Israel to compete.The response on Thursday came immediately after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the competition, said there would not be a vote on whether to exclude Israel, despite calls from some countries to do so.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Eurovision organisers debate whether Israel should be barred from contestlist 2 of 4Netanyahu will win again,…
Tense FIFA Arab Cup group finale awaits as Asian Cup holders Qatar held by Syria while Palestine also draw with Tunisia.Tournament hosts Qatar kept alive their FIFA Arab Cup 2025 hopes, avoiding a shock early elimination, following a 1-1 draw with Syria in Group A at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan.Having lost their opening match to Palestine, the AFC Asian Cup holders need to avoid defeat on Thursday to maintain their chances of reaching the knockout stages.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Root’s first century in Australia gives England edge as Starc topples Akramlist 2 of…
Raids lead to arrest of Palestinians, as Israeli violence surges across northern occupied West Bank.Israeli forces have escalated their attacks across the northern occupied West Bank with fresh assaults on the town of Qalqilya.The Israeli military stormed the eastern entrance of Qalqilya at dawn on Thursday morning before deploying soldiers through several neighborhoods and establishing what local reports have described as a tight cordon around one, Kafr Saba.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Global campaign launched to free jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghoutilist 2 of 3‘Collective punishment’: Family home of suspect demolished in West Banklist 3 of 3Why…
Rights chief fears another wave of violence similar to el-Fasher as death toll mounts across strategic region.The United Nations has warned that the Kordofan region of Sudan could face another wave of mass atrocities as fierce fighting between rival armed forces threatens a humanitarian catastrophe.UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Thursday that history was “repeating itself” in Kordofan following last month’s fall of el-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, where warnings of impending violence were largely ignored by the international community before widespread killings occurred.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Amnesty calls for war…
His supporters defend him, his opponents cannot look past him and the centre keeps trying to bargain with him.Israel hasn’t talked about the “war” in Gaza for many weeks. After all, there’s a ceasefire in place, is there not? The fact that more than 350 Palestinians, including more than 130 children, have been killed during this so-called “ceasefire” is neither here nor there, as is the fact that Israel killed them. Palestinians die because that is what Palestinians are there to do. There is nothing to discuss.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request, however, is another ball of wax. It is…
Strike on Jbaa follows warnings for more attacks as Israel continues daily attacks despite year-old ceasefire.Israel’s military has launched air strikes on at least three towns in southern Lebanon, Mahrouna, Jbaa, and al-Majadel, despite the ceasefire in place since last November.According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the attack on Jbaa on Thursday destroyed a building in a densely populated residential area and caused extensive damage to nearby structures.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Lebanon and Israel talks raise hope of more robust, expanded trucelist 2 of 3Lebanon and Israel hold first direct talks in 40 years as war…
US defense secretary was accused of putting military personnel in danger when he used messaging app to discuss strikes.United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put defence personnel and their missions at risk when he used the messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive information about military strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, a classified Pentagon watchdog report has found.In a report provided to Congress on Tuesday, the Pentagon inspector general said its investigation concluded that Hegseth violated protocol when he used his personal phone for official communications, and recommended that all Pentagon officials be better trained, according to US media reports quoting sources…
Ahmed Nejib Chebbi is among dozens of government critics facing years-long prison terms after ‘sham trial’.Tunisian police have arrested top opposition figure Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, his family says, as a crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied widens in the North African country, once a beacon of fledgling democracy in the years after the Arab Spring.Chebbi was arrested at his home on Thursday, days after he was sentenced to 12 years for plotting against the state in a trial denounced by human rights groups as politically motivated and a “sham”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘Enough repression’: Thousands…
EBU will have a jury vote along with the public if it cannot pass rules preventing bids that sway the public, as Israel allegedly did last year amid Gaza carnage.Public broadcasters are meeting to discuss whether Israel should be excluded from the Eurovision Song Contest over alleged interference in last year’s competition and its continued genocidal war on Gaza.The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which brings together member broadcasters organising the feel-good music contest, launched two days of talks on the divisive issue on Thursday, ahead of the 70th edition in Vienna next May.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of…
Gaza has exposed the limits of US power and opened space for new centres of global diplomacy.In Gaza, the world has seen the cost of a diplomacy that claims to uphold a rules-based order but applies it selectively. The United States intervened late, and only to defend an occupation the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled illegal. Alongside other Western nations that built multilateral institutions, the US increasingly pursues nationalist agendas that undermine them. The hypocrisy is stark: one set of rules for Ukraine, another for Gaza.This erosion of credibility marks the structural collapse of unipolar authority, symbolised by…