Author: Gulf News Week

Palestinian group’s reply boosts chances of 60-day Gaza ceasefire, but Israel hasn’t responded publicly to the proposal.Palestinian group Hamas says it has given a “positive” response to a United States-brokered proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, raising hopes of a possible breakthrough in halting Israel’s deadly offensive. US President Donald Trump earlier announced a “final proposal” for a 60-day truce in the nearly 21-month-old war, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in the coming hours. Hamas said late on Friday that the group had submitted its reply to Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating the talks. “The movement [Hamas]…

PHILADELPHIA (news agencies) — Rapper LL Cool J and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan say they will not perform at a Fourth of July festival in Philadelphia in support of a strike by nearly 10,000 city workers in Philadelphia.LL Cool J had been scheduled to appear at the Wawa Welcome America Festival on Friday, along with Sullivan and other performers. LL Cool J said in a video posted on social media that “there’s absolutely no way that I can perform, cross a picket line and pick up money when I know that people are out there fighting for a living wage.”“I…

NUUK, Greenland (news agencies) — Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: We’re waiting for you.“Come visit Greenland,” said Nukartaa Andreassen, who works for a water taxi company in the capital city, Nuuk. “Learn about it, learn about us. We love to have you. We love to tell our stories and our culture.”The mineral-rich Arctic island is open for tourism. Whale-watching tours, excursions to the iconic puffin island and guided charters through remote settlements are just the beginning of what Greenland has to offer visitors. Locals want to show what makes the island unique beyond a recent…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP’s self-imposed deadline of July 4th. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an…

MEXICO CITY (news agencies) — Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico hadn’t previously arrested boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. on a 2023 arrest order, because he had been mostly been in the United States since.Sheinbaum spoke a day after U.S. authorities announced the boxer’s arrest in California for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application. He was being processed for expedited removal, according to U.S. authorities.“The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing Friday, referring to charges that Chávez faces for arms…

Repeated assaults and harassment by Israeli settlers and forces has surged since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.At least 50 Palestinian families from a Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank have fled their homes, following repeated assaults and harassment from Israeli settlers under the protection of Israeli forces, according to media reports and a local rights group. Thirty Palestinian families were forcibly displaced on Friday morning from the Arab Mleihat Bedouin community, northwest of Jericho, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, while 20 others were displaced on Thursday. Before the forced displacement, the community was home to…

London High Court upholds order that critics say puts the group’s anti-Gaza war protesters on a par with al-Qaeda, ISIL.Pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action‘s cofounder has lost a bid to pause the British government’s decision to ban the organisation under “anti-terrorism” laws pending their legal challenge. Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, had asked London’s High Court to stop the proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation. On Friday, the court heard a challenge to the order, and Judge Martin Chamberlain ruled against Ammori, meaning the proscription of Palestine Action is upheld and will come into…

Paul Kagame gives cautious welcome to US-brokered agreement, but says success depends on goodwill from warring parties.Rwandan President Paul Kagame has cautiously welcomed a United States-brokered peace deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while suggesting Kigali will retaliate if provoked. Speaking at a news conference in Kigali on Friday, Kagame said Rwanda remained committed to the agreement but questioned whether Kinshasa would uphold its part of the deal. “If the side that we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with…

LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — U.S. immigration officials have arrested famous Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. — days after his high-profile fight with Jake Paul — for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application, officials said Thursday.Chávez was detained in front of his home on Wednesday and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, authorities said. Here’s what to know about this arrest:The 39-year-old boxer is a former middleweight champion hails from Mexico. His father, Julio César Chávez, is one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of…

PRAGUE (news agencies) — The Czech Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was kicking off its 59th edition on Friday with honors for American actor Peter Sarsgaard and actress Vicky Krieps from Luxembourg.Sarsgaard and Krieps are both slated to receive the Festival President’s Award at the opening ceremony.The festival will screen “Shattered Glass,” a 2003 movie directed by Billy Ray, for which Sarsgaard was nominated for a Golden Globe. To honor Krieps, who received a European Film Award for best actress for her role of the rebellious Empress Sisi in “Corsage” (2022), the movie “Love Me Tender” (2025) will be shown…