Author: Gulf News Week
JORGE PEREZ / BBCSisters María Luisa and María del Cisne say sharing their experiences helps them cope with their challengesNestled in southern Ecuador’s network of Andes mountains is the town of Piñas, whose 8,000 inhabitants live in houses scattered across a valley.This remote town is home to an unusually high number of people living with Laron syndrome, a rare genetic condition that prevents the body from growing taller than 1.2m (3.9ft).María Luísa Romero and her twin sister, María del Cisne, both have the condition but they say being there for each other has helped them.”We’re always strong, we pool our…
Messi on the brink of history – will it be his last World Cup game?Argentina captain Lionel Messi will play his 34th World Cup match in Sunday’s final, but will it be his last appearance?2 hrs agoWorld Cup
PA MediaThe former owner of British Steel has said it will pursue the British government for compensation after the loss-making firm was nationalised.The UK took control of the Scunthorpe steelworks a year ago after China’s Jingye Group said it planned to close the site because it was not financially viable, and fully nationalised the plant on Thursday.In a statement on Sunday, Jingye said it will seek “full compensation through legal means to the very end” over the UK’s move.A government spokesperson said draft compensation regulations due to be released in the autumn will set out a compensation process through which…
Prime Minister Mark PhillipsRescuers have had to work through the night in their search for passengersA ferry carrying 116 passengers has sunk off the coast of Guyana with 53 people so far rescued, local authorities have said.The MV Barima capsized near Iron Punt, on its route from Georgetown to Port Kaituma.A distress call was received at 23:01 local time (03:01 +1 BST), triggering an urgent search operation involving state and private boats, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said in a statement posted on social media.The state of the operation is currently unclear and it is not known whether authorities expect…
ReutersThe latest Russian strikes hit both residential and non-residential buildings, Kyiv’s mayor saidRussia has carried out a wave of ballistic missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, killing one person and wounding at least 14, officials say.A number of areas in the region were hit overnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “one of the most massive ballistic attacks on Kyiv” since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.The Ukrainian military said air defences had shot down 18 out of 41 missiles. The systems also intercepted 108 drones.Meanwhile Ukraine has continued its assault on Russian sites. Drones hit two Russian oil…
AFP via Getty ImagesLuis Manuel Otero Alcántara speaks to journalists at Miami airportOne of Cuba’s most prominent dissidents has gone into exile in the US, after leaving Cuba where he had served a five-year prison sentence.Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, 38, is the leader of the San Isidro Movement (SIM), a group of artists, journalists and intellectuals who have campaigned for freedom of speech and democracy in the communist country.He was arrested in 2021 during Cuba’s largest anti-government protests in decades and spent five years in the maximum-security Guanajay prison near Havana.His whereabouts have been unclear in recent days as Cuban…
BBCTobey Newall has been practicing for six years ahead of his upcoming world record attemptA builder who can balance items like sheds, ladders and bicycles on his chin is hoping to break a world record.Tobey Newall, 25, from Salford, said he had discovered the talent after a trip to a DIY store with his brother six years ago when he tried to balance a plank of timber on his face.”I don’t know what possessed me to put it on my chin but I just did it and ended up being quite good at it,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.Newall, who…
Getty ImagesIt has been a blisteringly hot summer for much of the US and Europe.Scientists have warned that these extreme temperatures are the new normal for these communities.France reported an increase of more than 2,000 deaths during the record-breaking heatwave in late June. In England and Wales, scientists estimated that more than 2,700 people may have died from heat-related causes from a series of heatwaves since May. And in the US, at least 44 heat-related deaths were reported over the 4 July holiday weekend from the extreme weather. “People don’t realise this is not the same heat that we were…
Carla CressyDoctors removed Carla Cressy’s appendix, but it was endometriosis that was causing the excruciating painCarla Cressy worked as a model from the age of five until she was 17, but kept collapsing on shoots. “It was really embarrassing and I couldn’t do it anymore,” she says.From the age of 13, when she started her periods, she was plagued by excruciating pain but she was only finally diagnosed with endometriosis when she was 25.By then, doctors had removed her appendix, mistakenly thinking she had acute appendicitis. Carla ended up retraining as a beauty therapist because she felt she was “unemployable…
BBCIt is four in the morning, and the ward is quiet. A junior doctor has been on her feet for nine hours. She is tired, her muscles are sore and her eyes are straining, but when her shift ends at six in the morning and she finally gets home, she struggles to sleep.Her internal clock, built over millions of years of evolution to tune human biology to the rising and setting of the Sun, is insisting it is morning. Time to wake up. Time to be alert. No amount of darkness, earplugs or blackout blinds can entirely silence it.This is…