Author: Gulf News Week

Getty ImagesThere’s a different kind of depth to the darkness at nighttime in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighbourhood of Tucson, Arizona.Lights are limited by both the county and the homeowners’ association; they must be shielded and can only face down, a deliberate effort to maintain Tuscon’s “dark sky” status – designed to minimise light pollution, reduce energy waste and protect astronomical research at nearby facilities.The result is a quiet, peaceful blackness making Catalina Foothills the perfect spot for stargazing – or for furtive criminal activities like kidnapping an elderly woman.That’s what happened overnight on 31 January, when 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie,…

Prayers and relief efforts after Venezuela’s earthquakesThe BBC’s Vanessa Silva reports from Caracas as the city faces the aftermath of back-to-back tremors.56 mins agoLatin America

LIVEAustralia and Paraguay look to seal last-32 spot at World CupFollow live updates as Paraguay take on Australia in Group D of the FIFA World Cup.

Getty ImagesRumours continue to swirl about whether pop queen Taylor Swift will marry NFL star Travis Kelce at New York City’s Madison Square Garden over the 4 July Independence Day weekend, after city officials confirmed someone applied for a street closure permit nearby. Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the BBC a permit was filed in early June to close roads around Madison Square Garden from 2 to 4 July.The New York Times first reported the permit news and that several players on Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs team had booked hotel rooms nearby. Since Swift and Kelce…

ReutersThe UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) has paused the planned evacuation of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz after a cargo ship passing through the waterway was attacked.IMO chief Arsenio Dominguez said several boats had already been evacuated, but the agency wanted to ensure that “necessary safety guarantees” would continue to be in place.The British maritime security agency UKMTO reported on Thursday that a ship had been struck 7.5 nautical miles southeast of Oman’s port of Dahit by “an unknown projectile”. No casualties were reported.Maritime risk management firm Vanguard said the ship, Singapore-flagged Ever Lovely, continued…

Golden VillageThe Chinese movie Dear You was filmed almost entirely in Teochew, a dialect from China’s Chaoshan regionA nostalgic tale about family, hope and hardship, Dear You has swept the box office in China this summer – and opened an unexpected conversation about identity thousands of miles away in Singapore. The sleeper hit was filmed almost entirely in Teochew, a language from China’s Chaoshan region which is still spoken among older generations of Chinese in South East Asia.But when the movie hit Singaporean cinemas this month, many were dismayed to learn that most of the screenings would be dubbed into…

Getty ImagesThe King is the first British monarch to reveal their tax bill in modern timesKing Charles has disclosed he paid £12.9m in tax for 2024-2025 – becoming the first monarch to reveal their tax bill.The level of tax paid by the King puts him in the top 100 of UK taxpayers. The Prince of Wales declared he paid £7.76m tax over the same period, the figures in the annual royal report and accounts show. It has also been revealed the King and Queen Camilla will continue to live in Clarence House and not move into Buckingham Palace. Getty ImagesThe…

AFP via Getty ImagesEx-BBC producer Lisa Brinkworth claims she was sexually assaulted while working undercover to expose abuse in the fashion industryA group of women, who have alleged sexual assault or rape in France, are calling for the abolition of the statute of limitations which they say has prevented them seeking justice in criminal proceedings.It is the first time more than 50 women alleging sexual assault and rape by men, including Jeffrey Epstein, his former business partner and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel and billionaire businessman Mohammed Al Fayed, have come together collectively to demand the change to French law.Currently, there…

Detained in DubaiBrooke George is being held in Dubai A 23-year-old TikTok influencer charged with the murder of her boyfriend in Dubai is facing death by firing squad, a human rights group has said.Brooke George, from Gravesend, Kent, has been charged over the stabbing of a man who she was in a relationship with after they met online, advocacy group Detained in Dubai said.The group said she claimed she grabbed a knife in self defence during a violent attack by her partner in the UAE. The organisation called for her to be released on bail and for the case to…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — Humans and great apes have been giggling in similar ways since branching off the evolutionary tree, a new study suggests.How do we know this? Researchers tickled 13 captive apes — including gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos — and recorded the results. The new research reexamined those decades-old recordings and compared them with the newly captured giggles of four young children while they were being tickled and playing at home.It turns out that the chuckles of humans and great apes follow similar rhythms, with regular timing between their laughs, a uniting thread that likely reflects their…