Author: Gulf News Week

MAUMERE, Indonesia (news agencies) — Residents wore masks to protect themselves from thick volcanic ash that blanketed roads and green rice fields in villages in south-central Indonesia as rumbling Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupted Tuesday for a second straight day.The eruption at dawn sent lava and clouds of ash up to 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) high. That followed an eruption around midday Monday that sent a column of volcanic materials up to 18 kilometers (11 miles) into the sky and an evening burst that spewed lava and send volcanic ash as high as 13 kilometers (8 miles) into the air.Photos…

Steven Spielberg reflecting on his shark blockbuster in the documentary “Jaws @ 50″ and Clipse, the dynamic duo of Pusha T and Malice, returning for the album “Let God Sort Em Out” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by media’ entertainment journalists: Burna Boy’s eighth studio album, EA Sports’ College Football 26 and Season 10 of “Bachelor in Paradise,” which will include contestants from “Golden Bachelor” and “Golden Bachelorette.”— Steven Spielberg reflects on the “life altering experience” that was “Jaws,” which…

TEL AVIV, Israel (news agencies) — Five Israeli soldiers were killed overnight in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said Tuesday. Two other soldiers were seriously wounded.Meanwhile, health officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes at two locations in the territory killed 18 people.Israeli media said the infantry soldiers were on patrol when explosive devices were detonated against them. Media said militants also opened fire on the reinforcements sent to evacuate the dead and wounded.The latest violence comes as Israel and Hamas consider a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal to pause the 21-month conflict in the territoryThe soldiers’ deaths came roughly two weeks after…

LONDON (news agencies) — Jannik Sinner advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals despite hurting his right elbow in a fall in the opening game and dropping the first two sets Monday night, when his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, wound up quitting in the third because of an injured pectoral muscle.Sinner said he will have an MRI exam Tuesday on his elbow “to see if there’s something serious” and added in Italian: “There is some concern.”The No. 1-seeded Sinner hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament until falling behind No. 19 Dimitrov 6-3, 7-5. But at 2-all in the third set, Dimitrov stopped…

LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — Cierra Ortega, a contestant of this summer’s “Love Island USA” left the villa just a week before the finale of the hit reality series is set to air on Peacock.Her departure, announced Sunday, followed weeks of uproar from viewers after old posts from Ortega resurfaced that contained a racial slur against Asian people. The show’s narrator, Iain Stirling, announced Ortega had departed “due to a personal situation” early in Sunday’s episode.Ortega becomes the second contestant this season to depart the show amid controversy due to past social media posts. Yulissa Escobar abruptly exited last month…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a “client list,” the Justice Department acknowledged Monday as it said no more files related to the wealthy financier’s sex trafficking investigation would be made public despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists. The acknowledgment that the well-connected Epstein did not have a list of clients to whom underage girls were trafficked represents a public walk-back of a theory that the Trump administration had helped promote, with Bondi suggesting in a Fox News interview earlier this year that such a…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day sales and offering new membership perks to Generation Z shoppers amid tariff-related price worries and possibly some consumer boredom with an event marking its 11th year.The e-commerce giant’s promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members starts at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. For the first time, Seattle-based Amazon is holding the now-misnamed Prime Day over four days; the company launched the event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019. Before wrapping up Prime Day 2025 early Friday, Amazon said it would have deals…

INDIANnews agenciesOLIS (news agencies) — The Indiana Pacers won’t be rushing guard Tyrese Haliburton back to the court next season as he recovers from a torn right Achilles tendon.Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said Monday in a news conference that he has no doubt Haliburton, “will be back better than ever. … He will not play next year, though. We would not jeopardize that now. Don’t get any hopes up that he will play.”Haliburton suffered his Achilles injury early in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. He had surgery June 23 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in…

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (news agencies) — Haiti’s once-illustrious Grand Hôtel Oloffson, a beloved Gothic gingerbread home that inspired books, hosted parties until dawn and attracted visitors from Mick Jagger to Haitian presidents, was burned down by gangs this past weekend.Hundreds of Haitians and foreigners mourned the news as it spread across social media, with the hotel manager on Monday confirming the fire on X. Even though gang violence had forced the hotel in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, to close in recent years, many had hoped it would reopen.“It birthed so much culture and expression,” said Riva Précil, a Haitian-American singer who lived…

Paolo Banchero has checked a lot of boxes since joining the Orlando Magic. Won rookie of the year, been an All-Star, helped the team to the playoffs twice.And now, the Magic are betting on there being more — much more.Banchero has signed the richest contract in Magic history, the team announced Monday night. The five-year extension is worth $239 million and could reach about $287 million should he become eligible for a supermax deal, a person with knowledge of the agreement said.The person spoke to media on condition of anonymity because the terms were not revealed by either Banchero or…