Author: Gulf News Week
It is quite something when two blokes having a cup of coffee can generate more headlines and conversation than the King coming to parliament for the main ceremonial event of the parliamentary calendar.Both these things are happening this morning. The prime minister has met the Health Secretary Wes Streeting in private – a meeting offered by Sir Keir Starmer to cabinet ministers after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting and an offer Streeting took up.It was a very short meeting – under 20 minutes – and we may not know what happened in Number 10 immediately.And then, not long afterwards, the King will…
When China’s leader Xi Jinping hosts his American counterpart in Beijing this week, Donald Trump will be reminded of his last visit in 2017 – he was wooed hard, complete with dinner inside the Forbidden City, an honour no US president before him had received.This week’s reception promises to be just as grand, including a stop inside Zhongnanhai, the rarefied compound where China’s top leadership lives and works. The agenda too will be just as thorny, with Iran being a new source of tension, alongside trade, technology and Taiwan.But a lot has changed as Trump returns to a stronger and…
Former pro-basketball player Jason Collins, the first active male athlete on a major American professional team sport to come out as gay, has died aged 47.Collins died after a “valiant fight with glioblastoma”, an aggressive form of brain cancer, his family said in a statement shared by the National Basketball Association (NBA).He announced last year that he had been diagnosed with the cancer and was undergoing treatment to stop the spread of the inoperable disease.”Jason Collins’ impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future…
The Princess of Wales will step back on to the international stage on Wednesday, with a trip to the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, in a personal landmark in her recovery from cancer. “Undoubtedly this is a huge moment for the princess. There will be many highlights of 2026, but this being her first official international visit post her recovery, this is a really significant moment for her,” said an aide to the princess.It is more than three years since Catherine’s last official visit overseas – and the focus of her return trip is her early years education campaign.She wants…
US President Donald Trump is bringing a host of top business and technology industry executives on his trip to China this week. Among those joining the president on his official trip to Beijing are Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Larry Fink of BlackRock, as well as other executives from Meta, Visa, JP Morgan, Boeing, Cargill and more. In total, 17 US executives will join Trump on the trip, a White House official with knowledge of the plans told the BBC.The trip is seen as important for the US, as Trump will meet with President Xi…
A new daily pill could help people coming off weight-loss jabs remain slim, latest research says.The drug is already available in the US and could soon launch in the UK.Trials found that patients given the tablet, called orforglipron, every day for a year avoided regaining much of the weight they had lost – a known risk when coming off GLP-1 injections.The study in the journal Nature Medicine was funded by the manufacturer Eli Lilly, which also makes the weight loss jab Mounjaro. Swallowing a pill might be more attractive to patients than having to inject themselves, says Dr Marie Spreckley,…
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is to meet Health Secretary Wes Streeting, one of his potential leadership challengers, this morning, as his government faces an attempt by Labour MPs to oust him from the top job.The meeting comes after four ministers resigned, including prominent MP Jess Phillips who quit as safeguarding minister, and Streeting ally Zubir Ahmed.More than 80 Labour MPs also urged Sir Keir to stand down, exposing deep divisions over the prime minister’s future.Sir Keir vowed to get on with governing on Tuesday, while his cabinet allies and more than 100 MPs rallied behind the prime minister, warning…
US President Donald Trump’s futuristic “Golden Dome” missile defence system will cost about $1.2 tn (£882bn) to develop, deploy and operate over two decades, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates.That figure is significantly higher than the initial sum of $175bn (£129bn) that had been earmarked. And the system designed to shield the US against ballistic and cruise missiles might not even work. The new CBO report warned the Golden Dome could be vulnerable to a full-scale attack by Russia or China.Acquisition costs alone would be over $1tn, including for the interceptor layers and a space-based missile warning and tracking system,…
In under a month from now, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to release its final report on the crash of London-bound Air India flight AI‑171 that went down seconds after take‑off from Ahmedabad in western India on 12 June 2025.As the world awaits the findings on the devastating tragedy that claimed 260 lives, a cascade of formidable challenges has deepened the crisis at Air India.A leadership vacuum, mounting financial losses, airspace closures and a Middle Eastern fuel shock have put the carrier’s ambitious turnaround into question. A spate of recent incidents have also cast a shadow on…
An independent, Israeli investigation has published harrowing details of “systematic, widespread” sexual violence by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during the attacks on 7 October 2023, and against hostages.The 300-page report concludes that rapes, sexual assault and sexual torture were intended “to maximize pain and suffering”.While the UN and others have published reports on sexual violence during the attacks – in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage – this is the most comprehensive.It draws on 430 filmed interviews with survivors and witnesses, more than 10,000 photographs and videos filmed by attackers, and official records and…