Author: Gulf News Week
Getty ImagesIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (L) shakes hands with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at last year’s assemblyThe US government has granted visas to Iranian officials so they can travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week, as the war between the two countries grinds into its seventh month. The BBC understands the core delegation permitted to attend includes Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.A spokesman for the US State Department confirmed the decision on Thursday, saying that the delegation will be placed under travel restrictions and will be banned from purchasing certain…
Watch: Royal row intensifies after fresh claims in Diana’s brother bookEarl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has claimed King Charles “sounded giddily elated” when he called him after her death in 1997.In a controversial book about Diana, he alleged the then-Prince Charles sounded like a “lottery winner” after the news.Buckingham Palace strongly pushed back on Wednesday against the credibility of the book, after an initial extract claimed Charles had said of Diana: “We’ll forget her soon enough.” A spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the…
Watch: Can humpback whales experience grief?Rare footage captured by researchers off Australia’s Gold Coast suggests humpback whale mothers may experience grief when their calves die.51 mins agoAustralia
Getty ImagesWarning: This article contains content that could be distressing. At least five women are feared dead in the US city of Philadelphia in connection with a home where guns, drugs, fake IDs and disturbing images were recovered by authorities. Eugene Horsch, 44, and his father, shared the home where Philadelphia police said they found a trove of digital video and images – some showing five women who appeared to be deceased.Investigators said Wednesday that they are still working to corroborate that video evidence and find more information. An illegally parked car leads to disturbing discoveriesThe investigation began in June…
Watch: ‘A better opportunity’ – Canadians on a closer alliance with EuropeMiriam Levin-Gold likes Prime Minister Mark Carney’s idea of Canadians being able to live and work in the European Union under proposed closer ties with the trade bloc.”I think that’s great for young people to explore different parts of the world and work in different places and have different experiences,” the commuter told the BBC in Toronto.Canadians woke up to news of Carney’s speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday morning, welcoming the EU’s ambition for Canada to become its first “associate member” as he urged closer…
Supplied: Rockhampton Regional CouncilQueensland’s Fitzroy River, home to saltwater crocodiles, has been approved as an Olympics rowing venue for 2032The annual rowing regatta for schools in the Australian state of Queensland usually passes off without too much attention.Each year more than 600 of the state’s most promising teenage rowers battle it out on the crocodile-inhabited Fitzroy River, in the city of Rockhampton.”We’ve never had any media wanting to attend here,” Anthea O’Loughlin, head of Rowing Queensland, tells the BBC.But this year is different. In six years’ time, the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics are set to stage rowing and canoe…
Watch: Is Canada about to join the EU?Is Canada about to join the EU? Headlines across Europe indicate a lot of confusion right now.The EU constitution rules that possibility out as Canada is geographically outside Europe.But in a speech on Thursday to the European Parliament, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said: “Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities.”Mark Carney was responding – extremely warmly – to an invitation by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for Canada to become the EU’s first associate member.Canada and the EU feel…
ReutersUlf KristerssonSweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has resigned after his ruling right-wing bloc was narrowly defeated by the centre-left opposition in the country’s general election.He made the announcement in a post on X on Thursday afternoon, after preliminary votes from Sunday’s election showed about 50,000 votes separated the two blocs in the country of about 10 million people.Opposition parties led by Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats look set to win 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament. Kristersson, a conservative, had been supported in government by the anti-immigration hard-right Sweden Democrats (SD), and had promised them cabinet jobs…
AFP via Getty ImagesThe latest body was found wrapped in a sheet on the side of the road in Dawn ParkPolice in South Africa have confirmed the discovery of a ninth woman’s body in just two months, amid growing concern over a string of unexplained deaths east of Johannesburg.The latest victim was found half-naked and wrapped in a sheet on the side of a road in Dawn Park on Thursday morning, police said. Her identity has not yet been released.The discovery follows the deaths of eight other women whose bodies have been found since July across Ekurhuleni, a major urban…
WANA via ReutersAt least 156 people, including 120 children, were killed in February’s strike on the primary school in MinabUN human rights experts say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran that killed at least 177 civilians.A new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said February’s missile strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd constituted indiscriminate attacks causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure.There was no immediate comment from the US. It has previously denied striking Lamerd and said it is…