Author: Gulf News Week
LAS VEGAS (news agencies) — Cooper Flagg made his professional debut Thursday night in the NBA Summer League and celebrated an 87-85 win over Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers.Flagg finished with 10 points on 5-for-21 shooting, including 0 for 5 from 3-point range. He also had six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. Though Flagg struggled at times to find his groove, there were flashes as to why he was chosen No. 1 overall last month, doing plenty of little things that helped the Mavericks seal the win, including a key block near the end of…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — President Donald Trump said in a Thursday letter that he will raise taxes on imported goods from Canada to 35%, deepening a rift between two North American countries that have suffered a debilitating blow to their decades-old alliance.The letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is an aggressive increase to the top 25% tariff rates that Trump first imposed in March after months of threats. Trump’s tariffs were allegedly in an effort to get Canada to crackdown on fentanyl smuggling despite the relatively modest trafficking in the drug, though he also expressed frustration with a trade…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Israel believes deeply buried stocks of enriched uranium at one Iranian nuclear facility hit by the U.S. military are potentially retrievable, a senior Israeli official said. And the agency that built the U.S. “bunker buster” bombs dropped on two other nuclear sites said Thursday that it is still waiting for data to be able to determine if those munitions reached their targets.Both developments widen the views on the damage from last month’s strikes, when the United States inserted itself in Israel’s war in a bid to eliminate the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. Iran…
BOGOTA, Colombia (news agencies) — Ecuador’s parliament has approved a new law on protected areas that has drawn sharp criticism from Indigenous groups, legal experts and environmental advocates who say it threatens Indigenous land rights and violates both national and international protections.The law, which passed on Thursday in the 151-seat National Assembly with 80-23 votes in favor, with the remaining lawmakers absent during the vote, allows private entities, including foreign companies, to participate in managing conservation zones.Government officials have defended the measure, arguing that it will strengthen oversight of protected lands, help improve park security, promote ecotourism and combat illegal…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — Justin Bieber is teasing his long-awaited seventh studio album — apparently called “Swag” — with a series of billboards and social media posts Thursday.Billboards depicting Bieber were found by fans in Reykjavik, Iceland and Los Angeles with the word “Swag.” The singer also shared images of billboards on his official Instagram account that appeared to depict a tracklist that includes song names like “All I Can Take,” “Walking Away,” “Dadz Love” and “Forgiveness.”No details on when the album would drop were included. The Hollywood Reporter, which was first to report the album was nearing release,…
ROME (news agencies) — The co-sponsors of a new bipartisan U.S. sanctions package targeting Russia briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation Thursday, in an effort to show continued resolve to help Kyiv and force Moscow to the negotiating table through what they describe as a “game-changer” bill.The bill backed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations like China and India, which account for roughly 70% of Russia’s energy trade and bankroll…
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland (news agencies) — Jake Knapp is loving links golf so much he’d like to extend his stay another week, and he took a step toward that Thursday with a 6-under 64 that put him in a four-way share of the lead after the opening round of the Scottish Open.The blustery conditions at The Renaissance Club were not enough to keep more than half of the 156-man field at par or better, although Rory McIlroy had to birdie his last three holes — and make a 25-foot bogey putt on the 15th hole — for a 68.Sepp Straka…
DENVER (news agencies) — A Denver museum known for its dinosaur displays has made a fossil bone find closer to home than anyone ever expected, under its own parking lot.It came from a hole drilled more than 750 feet (230 meters) deep to study geothermal heating potential for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.The museum is popular with dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages. Full-size dinosaur skeletons amaze kiddos barely knee-high to a parent, much less to a Tyrannosaurus.This latest find is not so visually impressive. Even so, the odds of finding the hockey-puck-shaped piece of rock were impressively small.With…
RIO DE JANEIRO (news agencies) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday that he will impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States if President Donald Trump follows through on a pledge to boost import taxes by 50% over the South American country’s criminal trial against his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.Lula said he will trigger Brazil’s reciprocity law approved by Congress earlier this year if negotiations with the U.S. fail.“If there’s no negotiation, the reciprocity law will be put to work. If he charges 50 (% tariffs) from us, we will charge 50 from them,” Lula told TV Record…
The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools Thursday saying it had rejected deals between players and donor-backed collectives formed over the past several years to funnel money to athletes or their schools. Those arrangements hold no “valid business purpose,” the memo said, and don’t adhere to rules that call for outside NIL deals to be between players and companies that provide goods or services to the general public for profit. The letter to Division I athletic directors could be the next step in shuttering today’s version of the…