Author: Gulf News Week

NEW YORK (news agencies) — One game into his major league career, Cam Schlittler is the hardest-throwing member of the New York Yankees’ rotation.Schlittler used his 100 mph fastball to shut down Cal Raleigh and the Seattle Mariners during an eye-opening debut Wednesday night, pitching the Yankees to a 9-6 victory before a throng of friends and family members in the crowd.“Obviously, it’s been my goal my whole life,” Schlittler said. “I don’t think I’ve really processed it yet.” One of the team’s top-rated prospects, the 6-foot-6 Schlittler struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings to earn the win. He…

LONDON (news agencies) — After the bonhomie and banquets of a formal state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron are turning to a topic that has stymied successive British and French governments: how to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.At a U.K.-France summit on Thursday that caps Macron’s three-day stay, senior officials from the two countries will try to seal deals on economic growth, defense cooperation and – perhaps trickiest of all – unauthorized migration.Macron and Starmer also will visit a military base and dial in to a planning meeting of the “…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (news agencies) — Rescuers searched Thursday for more than a dozen crew members who went missing after Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank a ship in the Red Sea as the United States alleged the group may “have kidnapped” those on board. The Houthis released dramatic footage of the sinking of the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned Eternity C, which the rebels targeted with gunfire and explosive drones for hours, killing at least three crew members. The attack on the Eternity C, as well as the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas after another attack Sunday, represent a new level…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — A surprise move by the IRS that would allow pastors to back political candidates from the pulpit without losing their organization’s tax-exempt status is drawing praise from conservatives and even some progressive religious groups but concern from other leaders of faith, along with tax and legal experts.A 1954 provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says churches and other nonprofits could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. The rule was rarely enforced. While the IRS…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — Forty years ago, the legendary Live Aid concerts aimed to do a lot of good — helping to raise over $100 million for famine relief in Ethiopia and inspiring worldwide awareness for a cause it might otherwise have ignored.Simulcast from Philadelphia and London on July 13, 1985, Live Aid was the most ambitious global television event of its time: 16 hours of live music in two different continents featuring Queen, The Who, a Led Zeppelin reunion and more.A lot has changed in the years since. “Live Aid, ’85 to now, is the same distance as…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered twice and drove in four runs, and Cam Schlittler won his impressive major league debut as the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 9-6 on Wednesday night. Jasson Domínguez had three hits, including an RBI single, and Aaron Judge added a two-run double to help the Yankees overcome four Seattle homers. New York has won three straight following its second six-game losing streak since mid-June.One of the team’s top-rated prospects, Schlittler (1-0) was called up from the minors to start in place of injured Clarke Schmidt. The 24-year-old right-hander froze…

Draft deal to end bitter decades-long conflict agreed 4 months ago, but timeline for sealing it remains uncertain.The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks in the United Arab Emirates after nearly four decades of conflict. The meeting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, confirmed by both their governments, comes after the two countries finalised a draft peace deal in March. The South Caucasus countries have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population at…

KYIV, Ukraine (news agencies) — Russia pounded Ukraine’s capital with another mass missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, causing fires in areas across the city and injuring at least 10 people a day after the heaviest aerial attack of the three-year war so far, according to Ukrainian officials.In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said rescue workers were working at a residential building in Shevchenkivskyi District, after falling debris caused a fire on the top floor of an apartment building.Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Administration, said there were fires in at least…

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (news agencies) — Wearing their blue, red and white jerseys, Paris Saint-Germain supporters were surrounded by white shirts.Real Madrid fans were 95% of the crowd at MetLife Stadium for Wednesday’s Club World Cup semifinal, the shirts of Los Blancos radiant in the harsh summer sun. Yet, it was PSG fans in a couple sections behind one goal who cheered virtually from start to finish as their team moved within one win of a historic quadruple.A 4-0 rout of Real Madrid in a Club World Cup semifinal following a 5-0 wipeout of Inter Milan in the Champions League…

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (news agencies) — Europe’s top human rights court delivered damning judgments on Wednesday against Russia, finding Moscow responsible for widespread violations of international law in Ukraine and the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014.Judges at the European Court of Human Rights issued judgements in four cases brought by Kyiv and the Netherlands accusing Moscow of atrocities in Ukraine dating back more than a decade. They include the murder, torture, rape, and destruction of civilian infrastructure and kidnapping of Ukrainian children. It’s the first time an international court has concluded there have been widespread human…