Author: Gulf News Week
LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — An 11-month strike by video game performers could formally end this week if members ratify a deal that delivers pay raises, control over their likenesses and artificial intelligence protections. The agreement feels “like diamond amounts of pressure suddenly lifted,” said Sarah Elmaleh, a voice actor and chair of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ interactive branch negotiating committee.Union members have until Wednesday at 5 p.m. Pacific to vote on ratifying the tentative agreement.Voice and body performers for video games raised concerns that unregulated use of AI could displace them and threaten…
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have ratified their extension of the collective bargaining agreement, securing labor peace in the sport through 2030.The league and union announced in a joint news release Tuesday that the deal had been approved. It took a vote of the Board of Governors and the full NHLPA membership.“The partnership between the Players’ Association and the league is stronger than it ever has been, and working together under this agreement presents a fantastic opportunity to continue to grow the game,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We are grateful to the Board of Governors for its support…
Tehran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi visits Saudi Arabia for the first time after Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Jeddah in the first visit by a top Iranian official to the Gulf kingdom after Israel’s war with Tehran. Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Araghchi’s talks with Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials on Tuesday were “fruitful”. The visit after the 12-day intense conflict between Israel and Iran, which saw the United States bomb three Iranian nuclear facilities before mediating a ceasefire, suggests…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — A memoir by an Israeli man held in captivity for more than a year by Hamas is coming out this fall in the U.S.Eli Sharabi’s “Hostage,” written in Hebrew and already a bestseller in Israel, is the first published memoir by anyone kidnapped by Hamas during the deadly surprise attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Tuesday that the English-language edition of his book will come out this Oct. 7, the 2-year anniversary.Sharabi, 53, was released in early February and has said that he had shrunk to under 100…
Elon Musk has said that he’s formed a new political party, but it’s unclear what steps — if any — he’s taken to do so, or how the effort might affect upcoming elections.Musk has not yet released any additional information. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, didn’t immediately comment Monday. While there are many recent federal elections filings that reference the Tesla and SpaceX CEO or his companies, Musk himself has even gone on his social media platform batting down at least one filing as fake.The possible new political party marks another development in the rift…
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (news agencies) — João Pedro scored twice against his boyhood team in his first start for Chelsea, leading the Blues over Fluminense 2-0 Tuesday to assure an all-European Club World Cup final.A 23-year-old who had been at Fluminense from about age 10 until leaving for Watford in 2020, João Pedro scored in the 18th and 56th minutes and refused to celebrate either goal in a sign of respect for his former club. He joined Chelsea from Brighton on July 2.Seeking its second world championship, Chelsea advanced to Sunday’s title match against the winner of Wednesday’s game between…
Opposition leader Ghannouchi, ex-prime minister and former presidential aide sentenced amid President Saied’s crackdown on dissent.A Tunisian court has handed jail terms to 21 high-profile politicians and former top officials, including opposition leader and ex-Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, the Tunis Afrique Press (TAP) news agency reports. The rulings on Tuesday are the latest move in President Kais Saied’s widening crackdown on critics and political opponents. Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahdha party who has been in jail since 2023, was sentenced to up to 14 years in jail. Several others, including former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and ex-Minister of Foreign…
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … a purple and orange shape-shifting chemical compound?Writer-director James Gunn’s “Superman” was always going to be a strange chemistry of filmmaker and material. Gunn, the mind behind “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad,” has reliably drifted toward a B-movie superhero realm populated (usually over-populated) with the lesser-known freaks, oddities and grotesquerie of back-issue comics.But you don’t get more mainstream than Superman. And let’s face it, unless Christopher Reeve is in the suit, the rock-jawed Man of Steel can be a bit of a bore. Much of the fun and frustration…
Trump aide says Washington ‘hopeful’ a 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas can be reached by the end of the week.An aide to United President Donald Trump has suggested a Gaza ceasefire is close, saying Washington hopes to see an agreement finalised by the end of the week. “We’re in proximity talks now, and we had four issues, and now we’re down to one after two days of proximity talks,” special US envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “So we are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — The Trump administration is dropping plans to allow continued use of the last type of asbestos legally allowed in U.S. manufacturing after an outcry from asbestos opponents.The Environmental Protection Agency said in a court filing Monday that it will now defend the Biden administration’s ban of chrysotile asbestos, which is used in products like brake blocks and sheet gaskets.The carcinogenic chemical has been mostly phased out in the U.S., but last year, the agency under former President Joe Biden sought to finish the decadeslong fight with a comprehensive ban. The EPA in 2024 said “exposure to…