Author: Gulf News Week
The U.S. has closed its southern border again to livestock imports, saying a flesh-eating parasite has moved further north in Mexico than previously reported. Mexico’s president was critical Thursday, suggesting that the U.S. is exaggerating the threat to its beef industry from the parasite, the New World screwworm fly. The female flies lay eggs in wounds on warm-blooded animals, hatching larvae that are unusual among flies for feeding on live flesh and fluids instead of dead material. American officials worry that if the fly reaches Texas, its flesh-eating maggots could cause large economic losses, something that happened decades ago. The…
The death of a Russian Cabinet minister in a field near his posh home in a Moscow suburb has fueled wild speculation about how he died and what it means.Among the unanswered questions: Did Roman Starovoit really kill himself in his car, as authorities said, or did he take his life in a nearby park? Was he facing a criminal investigation into large-scale corruption? And does his death signal a new, harsher environment for Kremlin elites related to the war in Ukraine?Russian media was abuzz with claims that Starovoit, who was found dead hours after being fired Monday by President…
Amid aid restrictions and violence, EU strikes new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza.Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 82 people since dawn, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, amid ongoing ceasefire talks and criticism of plans to forcibly transfer Palestinians to Rafah. Among those killed on Thursday, 15 people, including nine children and four women, were killed in an Israeli air attack while waiting in line for nutritional supplies for children in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza. At least 30 others were wounded, including 19 children, during the Israeli attack. Catherine Russell, the…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — When Claire Paré was a classroom teacher, working in a setting where every minute, down to the bathroom breaks, was scheduled, she brought granola bars, fruit and protein shakes to school so she’d be prepared when hunger hits. Then she transitioned to a job at education publisher McGraw Hill. Working remotely at home in New Hampshire, her children’s cheddar bunny crackers and Fruit Roll-Ups lured her to the pantry, confounding her commitment to healthy snacking.“I have the opportunity to be judicious, but I choose not to most of the time,” Paré said. “I really do…
PARIS (news agencies) — Sketched out on an air sickness bag, the first Birkin handbag — the prototype for fashion’s must-have accessory — sold for a staggering 8.6 million euros ($10.1 million), including fees, on Thursday in Paris to become the second most valuable fashion item ever sold at auction. The winning bid of 7 million euros drew gasps and applause from the audience. The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag — $513,040 paid in 2021 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.Now, the original Birkin bag, named after the actor, singer and…
DHAKA, Bangladesh (news agencies) — A special tribunal indicted Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday by accepting charges of crimes against humanity filed against her in connection with a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year.A three-member panel, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, indicted Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five charges. Hasina and Khan are being tried in absentia.Responding to the panel’s decision, Hasina’s Awami League party condemned the trial process and said the tribunal was a “kangaroo” court. The tribunal opened the trial…
Millions of U.S. workers who earn tips and overtime pay may be eligible for a federal tax break when they file their 2025 income taxes next year.But which workers will qualify for the new deductions is among the details the government has to work out after President Donald Trump’s signature spending and policy package won final congressional approval. Under the bill Trump signed into law on July 4, the U.S. Treasury Department must publish a list by Oct. 2 of occupations that qualify for tax-free tips. The department is also expected to publish guidance on how to report tips and…
MILWAUKEE (news agencies) — Former Olympic wrestler and MMA star Ben Askren, who has been hospitalized in Wisconsin after a severe case of pneumonia, said in a post on social media Wednesday that he had undergone a double lung transplant and is in recovery.Askren said during the Instagram video that he recalls very little of what happened over a monthlong stretch from late May through the first two days of July. His wife, Amy, had said in a series of social media posts that Askren was put on a ventilator in June and placed on the donor list for a…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — Stephen King has a rule for anyone wanting to adapt one of his books for the big or small screen. It’s basically the Hippocratic oath for intellectual property — first, do no harm.“When you deviate from the story that I wrote, you do so at your own risk,” he says in a recent interview from his home in Maine. “I know what I’m doing and I’m not sure that screenwriters always do or that producers and directors always do.” Not everyone has listened to King, who has enjoyed hit adaptations — “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Stand…
Tesla has scheduled an annual shareholders meeting for November, one day after the electric vehicle company came under pressure from major shareholders to do so. Billionaire Elon Musk’s company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that the meeting will be held on Nov. 6. A group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders said in a letter to the company a day earlier that it needed to provide public notice of the annual meeting. Texas law states businesses must hold annual meetings within 13 months of their last one, if shareholders request it. But the law also allows for “written…