Author: Gulf News Week
TOPEKA, Kan. (news agencies) — The U.S. government is preparing to breed billions of flies and dump them out of airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to fight a flesh-eating maggot.That sounds like the plot of a horror movie, but it is part of the government’s plans for protecting the U.S. from a bug that could devastate its beef industry, decimate wildlife and even kill household pets. This weird science has worked well before.“It’s an exceptionally good technology,” said Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who studies parasites in animals, particularly livestock. “It’s an all-time great…
DHARAMSHALA, India (news agencies) — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday said the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist institution will continue after his death, ending years of speculation that started when he indicated that he might be the last person to hold the role.Speaking at prayer celebrations ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism said that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions, while signalling that China should stay away from the process of identifying his successor.The Dalai Lama’s succession plan is politically consequential…
PARIS (news agencies) — The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, has withstood war, terror, and pandemic — but on Monday, it was brought to a halt by its own striking staff, who say the institution is crumbling under the weight of mass tourism.It was an almost unthinkable sight: the home to works by Leonardo da Vinci and millennia of civilization’s greatest treasures — paralyzed by the very people tasked with welcoming the world to its galleries. Thousands of stranded and confused visitors, tickets in hand, were corralled into unmoving lines by…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — A proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision from the legislation after weeks of criticism from both Republican and Democratic governors and state officials.Originally proposed as a 10-year ban on states doing anything to regulate AI, lawmakers later tied it to federal funding so that only states that backed off on AI regulations would be able to…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation on the women’s swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.The U.S. Education Department and Penn announced the voluntary agreement of the high-profile case that focused on Thomas, who last competed for the Ivy League school in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title.The department investigated Penn as part of the Trump administration’s…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — The jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial is set to resume deliberations Wednesday after reaching a yet-to-be-disclosed verdict on all but one of the five charges the hip-hop mogul faces.U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ordered the jury to continue its closed-door discussions for a third day after the panel of eight men and four women said Tuesday that it was unable to reach consensus on the top count: racketeering conspiracy.The judge agreed with prosecutors and Combs’ defense team that less than 13 hours of deliberations was too soon to give up on reaching…
KYIV, Ukraine (news agencies) — Ukraine is forging ahead with embryonic plans for joint weapons production with some of its international allies, top officials said, while the U.S. announced it was halting some arms shipments promised to help Ukraine fight off Russia.Those plans come at what appears to be a key point in the all-out war launched by Moscow nearly 3½ years ago. A renewed Russian push to capture more Ukrainian land has put Ukraine’s short-handed defenses under severe strain, and Russian missiles and drones are battering Ukrainian cities. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to find a peace settlement, meanwhile, have stalled.As…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — An analysis finds that a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump’s current tariff plans, a sum that could be potentially managed through price hikes, layoffs, hiring freezes or lower profit margins.The analysis by the JPMorganChase Institute is among the first to measure the direct costs created by the import taxes on businesses with $10 million to $1 billion in annual revenue, a category that includes roughly a third of private-sector U.S. workers. These companies are more dependent than other businesses on imports from China, India…
The UK once called me a terrorist for resisting hate and protecting my community. Now it’s doing the same to those opposing genocide.In the coming days, the United Kingdom government is moving full steam ahead to proscribe Palestine Action – a movement of young people with a conscience – as a terrorist group. Some of its members are already behind bars; others face trials or await sentencing. Yet, despite the “terrorist” label and the threat of imprisonment, tens of thousands across the country have taken to the streets chanting, “We are all Palestine Action”. If the government’s goal was to…
LONDON (news agencies) — Coco Gauff became just the third woman in the Open era to lose in the first round at Wimbledon right after winning the championship at the French Open, eliminated 7-6 (3), 6-1 by unseeded Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine on Tuesday night.The No. 2-ranked Gauff made mistake after mistake at No. 1 Court, finishing with just six winners and a total of 29 unforced errors that included nine double-faults.“Dayana started off playing strong,” Gauff said. “I couldn’t find my footing out there today.”She joined another highly seeded American, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, in bowing out on Day…