Author: Gulf News Week
PA MediaPeople thought to be migrants onboard a small boat in Gravelines, FranceThe UK will not have to pay Rwanda millions of pounds over the collapsed asylum agreement that was cancelled by Keir Starmer shortly after he took office, an international court has ruled.The Rwandan government had sought to sue the UK for more than £100m, saying it had breached the terms of the deal.Signed by the previous Conservative government, it was meant to see the UK pay Rwanda to host asylum seekers who had arrived illegally in the UK.Lawyers representing the UK during the three-day hearing in the Netherlands…
ReutersMany Lebanese fled Beirut’s southern suburbs following Netanyahu’s statementIsrael’s prime minister has ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, as the conflict with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah continues to escalate.Benjamin Netanyahu said “terrorist targets” in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh would be struck in response to attacks on Israeli civilians and other violations of a US-brokered ceasefire announced in April that has failed to end the fighting.A senior Lebanese government official told the BBC that it was relying on US mediation efforts to pressure Israel to end its own violations and prevent further civilian casualties.On Sunday,…
Getty ImagesThe midwife’s notes were short and to the point.The three letters – “FOH” – that she had written on a whiteboard next to names of heavily pregnant women were not there to alert colleagues to women having a specific medical condition or requiring a certain type of care.Instead, they were an acronym for a three-word offensive statement signalling they wanted the women to leave the maternity unit run by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).The “F”, a swear word. The “O”, standing for “OFF”. The “H”, short for “HOME”.In the same letter, another midwife was reported to have advised…
NewsFeedIsrael bombs a beloved Lebanese landmark, chef Husen Fayad’s restaurantIsrael destroyed Arch Almoulouk, a resort and restaurant owned by famous Lebanese chef Husen Fayad in Wadi al-Hujeir, southern Lebanon – widely regarded as one of the south’s most beloved landmarks. During the war, the restaurant became known for providing free meals to displaced families. Fayad shared images showing the popular destination reduced to rubble.Published On 1 Jun 20261 Jun 2026SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd media on Googleinfo
PA MediaThe appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington is like a bad news boomerang for the government.Over and over again the prime minister’s most consequential judgement in office circles back into ministers’ airspace – and today it will do with gusto.It will be “another one of those weeks” one senior figure said, wearily.The scale of what is to come will be quite something: the largest government publication ever put before the Commons, and therefore us, other than the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War – and that was a 12 volume, 2.6 million word affair.Printed and…
Getty ImagesThe second tranche of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the US will be published on Monday, three sources involved in the process have told the BBC.While Number 10 has refused to confirm the publication date, a government spokesperson said the latest batch “will be among the largest publications ever laid in Parliament”. Lord Mandelson was sacked as ambassador last year after the emergence of new revelations about the extent of his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.In February, MPs voted to force the government to publish all papers relating to…
BBCIran has damaged 20 US military sites since the start of the war, satellite images and videos analysed by BBC Verify show, suggesting the attacks are more extensive than publicly acknowledged.Iran has targeted key facilities across eight countries in the Middle East since the end of February, causing millions of dollars of damage to state-of the-art air defence systems, refuelling aircraft and radars.Tehran has targeted both US bases and shared military facilities in retaliation to the US-Israeli strikes across Iran and Lebanon over the past three months. The Pentagon says it has hit more than 13,000 targets in Iran since…
Getty ImagesThe Strait of Hormuz remains blocked as attacks continue despite ceasefire negotiationsThe US has said it struck Iranian military sites over the weekend while Tehran said it responded by targeting a US base, marking the third known escalations in a week around the Strait of Hormuz.US Central Command (Centcom) said it launched “self-defence strikes” in response to “aggressive Iranian actions”, which it said included a US drone being shot down over international waters. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) meanwhile said it had targeted an air base used by US forces for an attack on southern Iran, but did…
Imtiyaz AliJaved, his wife Mariam and their two children died in the Air India plane crash last yearWhen I called Imtiyaz Ali to ask if we could meet, nearly a year after a plane crash killed his brother Javed, his sister-in-law Mariam, and their two children, we first decided to speak at his home in Mumbai. Hours later, he changed his mind. “Let’s meet at the hotel instead,” he said.Later, beneath the dim lights of a business hotel in Mumbai, he explained why.Javed and his family had built a life in the UK, but they returned often to Mumbai to…
BBCBus driver Maksym Dyak was hospitalised with a broken rib and shrapnel embedded in his chest after a drone attack but he says he owes it to his city to keep drivingWarning, some of the details of this story are disturbingAnatoly Dmytrov was driving his bus on Route 14 in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson earlier this month. The bus was full and people were standing in the aisle, when it reached an intersection and it was hit by a Russian drone.”All the windows got smashed. I barely made it to the next stop, where there was a shelter.…