Author: Gulf News Week

LONDON (news agencies) — An expert group charged by the World Health Organization to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic started released its final report Friday, reaching an unsatisfying conclusion: Scientists still aren’t sure how the worst health emergency in a century began. At a press briefing on Friday, Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals. That was also the conclusion drawn by the first WHO expert group that investigated the pandemic’s origins in 2021, when scientists concluded the virus likely spread from bats to humans,…

A group of Environmental Protection Agency employees on Monday published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, saying they “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”More than 170 EPA employees put their names to the document, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation, according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science magazine who is not an EPA employee but was among non-EPA scientists or academics to also sign. The latter figure includes 20 Nobel laureates.The letter represents rare public criticism from agency employees who could face…

Move comes after rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and Kneecap lead crowds in chants calling for a ‘Free Palestine’.British police have announced that the weekend performances by rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and the Irish-language band Kneecap at the Glastonbury Festival are subject to a criminal investigation after they led crowds in chants calling for “death” to the Israeli military and a “free Palestine”. Police on Monday said the performances at the United Kingdom’s largest summer music festival “have been recorded as a public order incident”. Rapper Bobby Vylan, who until the weekend was relatively unknown, led crowds in chants of “free,…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Sunday he will not seek reelection next year, an abrupt announcement that came one day after he staked out his opposition to President Donald Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts package because of its reductions to health care programs. His decision creates a political opportunity for Democrats seeking to bolster their numbers in the 2026 midterm elections, creating a wide-open Senate race in a state that has long been a contested battleground. It could also make Tillis a wild card in a party where few lawmakers are willing…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Senate Republicans voting in a dramatic late Saturday session narrowly cleared a key procedural step as they race to advance President Donald Trump’s package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his July Fourth deadline.The tally, 51-49, came after a tumultuous night with Vice President JD Vance at the Capitol to break a potential tie. Tense scenes played out in the chamber as voting came to a standstill, dragging for more than three hours as holdout senators huddled for negotiations, and took private meetings off the floor. In the end, two Republicans opposed…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier will captain the WNBA All-Star Game next month, the league announced Sunday.Clark received 1,293,526 votes from fans, while Collier had about 100,000 fewer. “It’s cool that fans get to be a part of it and have a little impact on the game,” Clark said. “It’s going to be special to do it here in this city. … Trying to make it the best All-Star that the WNBA has ever had. It’s certainly a cool honor.”The Indiana Fever star, who is sidelined with a groin strain, is averaging 18.2 points and…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — Scientists have identified what could be the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in Canada. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has long been known for its ancient rocks — plains of streaked gray stone on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec. But researchers disagree on exactly how old they are.Work from two decades ago suggested the rocks could be 4.3 billion years old, placing them in the earliest period of Earth’s history. But other scientists using a different dating method contested the finding, arguing that long-ago contaminants were skewing the rocks’ age…

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (news agencies) — In the time before widespread vaccination, devastating infectious diseases ran rampant in America, killing millions of children and leaving others with lifelong health problems.Over the next century, vaccines virtually wiped out long-feared scourges like polio and measles and drastically reduced the toll of many others. Today, however, some preventable, contagious diseases are making a comeback as vaccine hesitancy pushes immunization rates down. And well-established vaccines are facing suspicion even from public officials, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, running the federal health department.“This concern, this hesitancy, these questions about vaccines are…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — What makes a great song of the summer? Is it an up-tempo pop banger? Something with an earworm chorus? Does it need to feature the words “summer,” “sunshine,” or another synonym — “California” — in the title? How could anyone attempt a song of the summer after the late, great Beach Boy Brian Wilson composed them so expertly, anyway?It very well may be subject to the eye (well, ear) of the beholder, but media views the song of the summer as the one that takes over those warm months between June and August, the kind…

TEL AVIV, Israel (news agencies) — Dozens of Israeli settlers rampaged around a military base in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, setting fires, vandalizing military vehicles, spraying graffiti and attacking soldiers, the military said.Sunday night’s unrest came after several attacks in the West Bank carried out by Jewish settlers and anger at their arrests by security forces attempting to contain the violence over the past few days. More than 100 settlers on Wednesday evening entered the West Bank town of Kfar Malik, setting property ablaze and opening fire on Palestinians who tried to stop them, Najeb Rostom, head of the local…