Author: Gulf News Week
The commander of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Odeh, has been killed in a strike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday – days after his predecessor died in a similar attack.At least three Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured in the attack, which hit a residential building in one of Gaza City’s busiest market areas, local medics and witnesses said.Israel’s military and Shin Bet security service and said buildings that served as a hideout for Odeh were targeted after his movements were tracked for several months. Hamas has yet to issue an official statement, but a local Hamas source…
For the first time since 1957, India no longer has a single communist-led state government.The defeat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala this month, after a decade in power, marked the end – at least for now – of one of the world’s most enduring experiments in democratic communism.At their peak, India’s communist parties ruled states stretching from West Bengal to Kerala and Tripura. They impacted the lives of more than 100 million people through trade unions, peasant organisations, student wings and disciplined cadre networks.In West Bengal, the Left Front governed continuously from…
Ashoka Shivareddy comes from a family of farmers, but it was hard to make a living in their drought-prone district of Kolar in southern India.”The area receives rainfall of only 60 to 70 centimetres, and farmers dig borewells of up to 1,300 feet – most of their money goes into chasing water,” he says.Amid mounting losses the family gave up farming and in 2005 moved to the city – to Bengaluru – and started a vegetable shop.Shivareddy became an AI software engineer, but he never lost the farming bug.”I was looking for a crop that could survive with very little…
According to experts, shared meals and family gatherings are not just part of tradition they can rewire the brain for happiness As families and friends gather across the UAE to celebrate Eid Al Adha, neuroscientists have a message — those shared meals and laughter-filled gatherings are not just cultural traditions — they are essential medicine for the brain. Dr Eleni Margioti, neuropsychology lead at The Brain and Performance Centre, explained that quality time with loved ones triggers powerful neurological benefits. “We see the release of oxytocin, the bonding hormone, which strengthens trust and connection,” she said. “At the same…
Italy’s highest court has ruled a five-star Dolomites hotel was acting lawfully when it refused to provide tap water to a tourist.The woman unsuccessfully argued that “water is a natural resource and a universal human right” after a waiter only offered her €7 (£6) bottled mineral water at the restaurant of the five-star Hotel Sassongher in Corvara during the 2019 ski season.The Italian Supreme Court denied her request for €2,700 to compensate her for emotional distress and economic damage, Italian media reports.Silvio Belardi, the lawyer representing the hotel, is quoted in the newspaper Corriere Alto Adige as saying the court…
Ukraine is urging the EU to help negotiate an end to the war with Russia, a topic that will be discussed in detail at an informal meeting of European foreign ministers in Cyprus.The EU is actively considering re-engagement with Moscow over Ukraine as US efforts to mediate have ground to a halt and Russia steps up its deadly strikes.Now, Ukraine’s foreign minister has told the BBC that Kyiv is keen to introduce some “new dynamics” into the negotiation process.”We need to move to a new format of talks with the Russian side,” Andrii Sybiha said in a recent call, suggesting…
Ghanaian authorities are repatriating the first group of 800 citizens they say have registered to be flown home from South Africa on Wednesday morning.The BBC saw dozens of buses chartered by the Ghanaian embassy dropping off passengers at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport around 03:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday.There were men, women and children of all ages. A smaller group of people also arrived in a police van and were kept apart from the majority of passengers and watched over by police.It follows a wave of protests against illegal immigration in South African cities in recent weeks, leading to…
The White House has begun construction on a UFC fighting cage on its South Lawn ahead of next month’s event to celebrate 250 years of American independence.Workers were seen assembling domed arches and a staging area, which based on online renderings, will form an octagon-shaped ring surrounded by a wire-mesh fence and thousands of temporary seats.US President Donald Trump previously said the project will be the “biggest event” the UFC has ever had, featuring an “arena right outside the front door of the White House”.Dubbed UFC Freedom 250, the event is due to take place on 14 June, with the…
Akira was always a fast learner, her father Al Amin says with pride. At 6 months she was already saying her first words. At just over 4 years old, she had started to say some words in English.He stops, his voice catching.”She was never short of love from both families. She was the crown of all.”They took her four times to get it; twice she was turned away because she had a cold. “Don’t stress,” he says the health care worker told them, “the vaccine can be administered up until she reaches 5.” The third and fourth time, he says,…
The UK is at a “moment of consequence” as Russia is “relentlessly targeting” critical infrastructure, the UK’s largest spy agency will warn.GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler will set out threats facing the UK and the measures she believes need to be taken to confront them when she makes her inaugural public speech on Wednesday.In excerpts from her address, Keast-Butler singles out Russia for “targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust”.Russia has been blamed for a string of espionage plots on British soil and, more recently, waging an undeclared ‘hybrid war’ against the UK and other Nato countries. The…