Author: Gulf News Week

LONDON (news agencies) — Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown on Friday pleaded not guilty to two further charges related to the serious beating of a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub in 2023.Brown, 36, denied the more serious charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm at a hearing last month.The singer, wearing a light brown suit, pleaded not guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm to Abraham Diaw at the Tape nightclub in the swanky London neighborhood of Mayfair in February 2023.He also denied having an offensive weapon — a bottle — in a public place during…

‘Panic, fear, and terror that swept through the school overwhelming’ says survivor. of strike in Jabalia an-Nazla.At least eight people have been killed, including children, in an Israeli bombardment of the Halimah al-Saadiyah School in Jabalia an-Nazla, in northern Gaza, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, according to sources at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City who spoke to media. Several people were also injured in the attack. Survivors relayed a harrowing scene of inferno. “I saw the whole area filled with dust – that’s when I realised the strike had hit this place,” Abu Haitham Khalla told media, standing among the…

KYIV, Ukraine (news agencies) — By day, the Ukrainian capital hums with life — crowded metros, dog walkers and children on playgrounds. By night, Kyiv becomes a battleground as Russia unleashes relentless drone and missile attacks that chase much of the population underground for safety.The nighttime assaults have intensified in the fourth year of the full-scale invasion, with the number of drones sometimes exceeding 700. Swarms of 1,000 drones could soon become the norm, officials say.Many people in Kyiv describe the recent attacks as the most terrifying of the war, and even residents who previously ignored sirens have been driven…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (news agencies) — The developer of what would be the first new coal mine in Wyoming in decades plans to process the fossil fuel to extract hard-to-get metals that are crucial for tech products and military hardware.Energy Secretary Chris Wright, former West Virginia U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, and Wyoming’s congressional delegation are on the VIP list for a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at the Ramaco Resources, Inc., Brook Mine outside Ranchester in far northern Wyoming.Rare earth elements are a family of 17 metallic elements with unusual properties that make them useful for specific applications. Neodymium…

LONDON (news agencies) — Carlos Alcaraz takes on Taylor Fritz, and Jannik Sinner faces Novak Djokovic in the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon.Both matchups are scheduled to be played Friday at Centre Court, with No. 2 seed Alcaraz vs. No. 5 Fritz leading things off at about 1:30 p.m. local time, followed by No. 1 Sinner vs. No. 6 Djokovic.The two winners will meet Sunday to decide the champion.Alcaraz has won the last two trophies at the All England Club, beating Djokovic in the final each time.Alcaraz is on a career-best 23-match winning streak that includes the championship at the French…

Syria’s wildfires are the first major natural disaster since the country overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime in December.Qastal Maaf, Latakia, Syria – Abu Jameel Muhammed’s weathered hands, blackened by soot and ash, trembled as he patted the scorched earth around what remained of his beloved olive tree. At 80, the Syrian elder had survived a brutal civil war, economic collapse, and international sanctions – but the sight of his charred courtyard companion reduced him to tears. “Villagers rescued me as flames approached my home … I survived, but my only daughter on this land was consumed by fire. It was…

Fighters from PKK begin symbolic disarmament in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, ending decades-long battle with Turkiye.The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has begun the first steps towards disarmament, closing a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. A small ceremony was held on Friday in Sulaimaniyah in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, where 20 to 30 PKK fighters were destroying their weapons rather than surrendering them to any government or authority. The symbolic process was conducted under tight security and is expected to unfold throughout the summer. Images from…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — FBI Director Kash Patel pledged at his confirmation hearing that the bureau would not look backward, but the Trump administration’s fresh scrutiny of the Russia investigation has brought back into focus a years-old inquiry that continues to infuriate the Republican president.The Justice Department appeared to acknowledge in an unusual statement this week the existence of investigations into two central players from that saga, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, amid a new report revisiting a 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference. That the Russia investigation, which shadowed President Donald…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (news agencies) — An Iranian attack on an air base in Qatar key to the U.S. military likely hit a geodesic dome housing equipment used by the Americans for secure communications, satellite images analyzed Friday by media show. The U.S. military and Qatar did not immediately respond to requests for comment over the damage, which so far has not been publicly acknowledged. The Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha, Qatar’s capital, on June 23 came as a response to the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Tehran — and provided the…

‘Positive trend’ in US-Russia ties remains despite Washington’s ‘zigzag’ policy, Moscow says.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio have met again at the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, according to Russia’s state-run TASS agency, with the war in Ukraine the key focus. The conversation followed a longer 50-minute meeting between the two top diplomats the previous day. While no details have yet emerged from Friday’s exchange, Rubio told reporters after Thursday’s talks that the two sides had discussed a possible “new and different approach” to reviving peace efforts over Ukraine. “I…