Author: Gulf News Week
BBCCharlotte Caldwell and her son Billy who, against the odds, recently celebrated his 21st birthday Turning 21 is a milestone for most.For Charlotte Caldwell, celebrating her son Billy’s 21st birthday was something she feared would never happen.Billy Caldwell, from Castlederg in County Tyrone, has a severe form of epilepsy, which at one point had him suffering hundreds of “life-threatening” seizures a day.After a legal battle, Billy was prescribed a cannabis-based medicine which stopped his seizures.Behind the birthday celebrations is a story that helped change UK law.Billy was born with severe life-threatening form of epilepsy that proved extremely difficult to control.…
Glasgow has seen protests by far-right organisations whose members cover their facesVideos of brutal beatings, blatant drug deals, and racial violence in the centre of Scotland’s biggest city have become a common sight on social media.Posts claim that parts of Glasgow’s city centre are a “no-go zone” where it’s not safe for unsuspecting members of the public, especially women, to enter.Angry protests have spilled on to the streets – but is it as bad as some say?For a week in June, BBC Disclosure filmed in the city centre to see for ourselves.A taxi driver who regularly drives into the area…
ReutersLev Shlosberg said he was punished for his political positionRussia’s prominent anti-war politician Lev Shlosberg has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for “discrediting” the country’s armed forces and “spreading false information” about them.Shlosberg, 63, condemned the verdict by a court in the city of Pskov, saying its only task was to “punish a person for his political, public and civil position”. His liberal political party Yabloko, which he is deputy head of, said it would appeal.The ruling came just minutes before Russia’s Supreme Court rejected Yabloko’s appeal against a ban on it taking…
BBCCambridge University’s chancellor has criticised the “racist feeding frenzy” around Jason Arday, the professor who died after stepping down during a plagiarism row.Arday – who became the university’s youngest black professor when appointed in 2023 – had faced weeks of media coverage over plagiarism allegations and questions about his achievements. He denied the claims. Speaking publicly for the first time, Lord Chris Smith said academic integrity could be upheld while questioning Arday’s treatment.Thousands gathered on Monday for a vigil organised by Stand Up To Racism in Trafalgar Square, where Labour MP Diane Abbott said Arday had been subject to a…
BUNIA, Congo (news agencies) — Congo’s fast-moving Ebola outbreak has now killed over 2,300 people and become the deadliest outbreak of the disease on record in the Central African nation.The outbreak unfolding in one of Congo’s most vulnerable regions is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever, with 4,945 cases including 2,325 deaths, according to government data released overnight into Monday.This is Congo’s 17th and largest Ebola outbreak. The toll eclipses that of the country’s 2018-2020 outbreak when 2,299 deaths out of 3,481 cases were recorded.The latest data shows 101 new cases and 33 deaths reported in the previous 24 hours. Over…
LIVETupac Shakur murder trial begins in Las Vegas 30 years after rapper’s shootingThe prosecution is set to deliver opening arguments in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, who has pleaded not guilty to the 1996 murder.
ReutersMt Etna is Europe’s most active volcano, with a series of eruptions occurring in recent weeksAn American tourist has died after being struck by lightning while hiking on Mount Etna in Sicily.The 30-year-old, who has not been named by authorities, was on the active volcano on Sunday when a thunderstorm broke out, Italian media report.The man is said to have been found by firefighters and emergency services in a state of cardiac arrest at about 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) in a restricted area sometimes used to get closer to the summit. He was flown by helicopter to Cannizzaro Hospital…
Watch: Some benefit claimants ‘can work but have chosen not to’, says JenrickForeign nationals would be excluded from most benefits under a Reform UK government, the party has said.The ban, part of a proposed overhaul of Britain’s benefits system, would include European Union (EU) nationals with settled status in the UK, meaning a renegotiation of the UK’s Brexit deal with the EU.In a speech on Monday, the party’s economy spokesman, Robert Jenrick, said: “The British taxpayer is acting as the welfare state for the world. That’s unfair, we all know it.”Reform claims the policy would save £21bn a year by…
LIVEBonnie Tyler’s coffin arrives in hometown to cheers and singing after funeral serviceThe Welsh singer, whose famous works include Total Eclipse of the Heart, died on 8 July, aged 75.
ReutersHayden Panettiere, who has died at the age of 36, lived most of her life in the spotlight – from success as a child star to lead roles in hit TV shows Heroes and Nashville – but also endured struggles that went along with the pressures of fame.Panettiere appeared in her first commercial when she was 11 months old. Her mother Lesley Vogel was an actress and set her daughter on the same path.By the age of four, Hayden was in US TV show One Life to Live, then at eight joined another soap opera, Guiding Light.Her natural acting ability…