Author: Gulf News Week
Anadolu via Getty ImagesAbu Duhur military base captured by anti-Assad forces in December 2024The United States has issued a rare rebuke of Israel after reports emerged it struck a Syrian military airbase near the Turkish border, calling the attack an “unnecessary escalation”.Eight airstrikes hit the Abu Duhur airport runway and storage facility on Tuesday, according to Syrian state TV, although there were no reports of injuries. Israel, while not commenting on the strikes directly, said Syria “was on the verge of breaching” the security status quo, accusing Damascus of allowing Turkish troops to deploy to the airbase.Syria and Turkey blamed…
BBCAnaïs de Vos suspects a cup of coffee that Nègre gave her was drugged”I was really weak. I couldn’t really feel my legs any more,” says Anaïs de Vos. “I was scared. I didn’t know what was happening.”It was July 2011 and Anaïs, who was then 27, was being interviewed for a job at France’s Ministry of Culture in Paris.She didn’t usually drink coffee but when the interviewer, a senior civil servant called Christian Nègre, offered her one, she agreed out of politeness.He made it himself, she tells BBC Global Women, but “it tasted bad… so I drank about half”.As…
How the Meta trial could change social media for young peopleA court has heard claims Meta intentionally hooked a generation of children on Facebook and Instagram, as the biggest legal challenge faced by the social media platform began.A jury in Oakland, California will spend the next six weeks wading through claims by top attorneys from several US states and lawyers for the social media company.A lawyer for California claimed Meta found “millions” of 11 and 12-year-olds were on Instagram and “did little to keep them off” as the trial opened on Tuesday.Meta’s representative said just over 100,000 such users were…
EPAUS and South Korean soldiers take part in joint drills in 2023South Korea’s annual joint military drills with the US will be cut short by six days at the request of Washington, its defence ministry has announced.Seoul said that the “period and scale” of the 2026 Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise had been adjusted due to a “proposal of the US side”. The drill will now conclude on 21 August, rather than 27 August as planned. It comes after Donald Trump announced plans to curtail exercises with South Korea, citing his “very good” relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.South Korean…
Getty ImagesUS President Donald Trump said he will delay imposing new tariffs on a wide array of Canadian goods for three days as the countries firm up a trade deal.”I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Trump said in a social media post. The announcement came less than two hours before a 50% levy on nearly $20bn (C$28bn) of Canadian imports were set to go in place.The two…
Getty ImagesA member of Tupac Shakur’s entourage was combative in testimony during the second day of the rapper’s murder trial, decrying being forced to take the stand and identify those responsible for Shakur’s death.James “Mob James” McDonald said he was threatened with being held in contempt of court if he did not testify on Tuesday.Duane “Keffe D” Davis is charged with murder and accused of orchestrating Shakur’s death. He has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty.McDonald was asked repeatedly over whether he could identify who was responsible for Shakur’s death. “You’re asking me something that wouldn’t be good for…
ReutersFormer Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections, in what many see as the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency since war broke out with Russia in February 2022.”Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” said Fedorov, 35, in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine is fighting “precisely because we want to remain a free European state”.Since Russia’s invasion Ukraine has been under martial law, which means elections are suspended.Fedorov, who did not mention Zelensky by name in the video, was unexpectedly fired from his role as defence minister in late July, just…
LIVEAustralian court to hear mushroom killer’s appeal against murder convictionErin Patterson was convicted last year of murdering three relatives by serving them beef Wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms.
Cnews agenciesE CANAVERAL, Fla. (news agencies) — A NASA spacecraft circling the moon is providing the sharpest views yet of the crater carved by a crashing SpaceX rocket. The space agency released before-and-after photos of the impact area on Tuesday.The Falcon rocket’s upper stage plowed into the moon at 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) on Aug. 5 after drifting through space for more than a year. It launched a pair of private moon landers with experiments and even a tiny rover in 2025 as part of NASA’s push to commercialize lunar exploration.Based on these new photos by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an Alzheimer’s disease program. Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year. There’s just no one staffing it.Then there’s the agency’s Office on Smoking and Health. Congress allocated $246 million for that. Its staffers were cut, too.Same for the epilepsy program. Its sickle cell disease data collection operation. Its rape prevention unit.Think of them as the CDC’s zombie programs — they appear to be alive, at least according to legislation and congressional appropriations. But functionally they are dead or nearly dead, because the CDC experts who…