Author: Gulf News Week

If you’ve lately been feeling that the “Jurassic Park” franchise has jumped an even more ancient creature — the shark — hold off any thoughts of extinction. Judging from the latest entry, there’s still life in this old dino series. “Jurassic World Rebirth” captures the awe and majesty of the overgrown lizards that’s been lacking for so many of the movies, which became just an endless cat-and-mouse in the dark between scared humans against T-Rexes or raptors. “Jurassic World Rebirth” lets in the daylight.Credit goes to screenwriter David Koepp, who penned the original “Jurassic Park,” and director Gareth Edwards, who…

Sonia Dhamani, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, has criticised him for practices against refugees and migrants.A Tunisian court has sentenced Sonia Dhamani, a prominent lawyer and renowned critic of President Kais Saied, to two years in jail, lawyers have said, in a case that rights groups say marks a deepening crackdown on dissent in the North African country. Dhamani’s lawyers withdrew from the trial after the judge refused to adjourn the session on Monday, claiming Dhamani was being tried twice for the same act. The court sentenced Dhamani for statements criticising practices against refugees and migrants from sub-Saharan…

ATHENS, Greece (news agencies) — It’s dubbed the “Rally of Gods” — a punishing, four-day event on the World Rally Championship circuit that will take 69 crews from 31 countries across rough, treacherous terrain in Greece.Known for its brutal combination of dust and heat on its twisty, mountainous stages, the Acropolis Rally started on Thursday afternoon with a special stage in the very center of Athens. Unlike much of the rest of the rally, the start will see the cars sliding on city streets outside Greece’s parliament building near the foot of the Acropolis.Roads in the Greek capital’s center shut…

CAIRO (news agencies) — Israeli forces killed at least 67 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 22 others dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses, hospital and health officials said.One airstrike hit the Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside.“Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake,” he said.At least 30 people were killed and dozens were wounded, said Fares Awad,…

ATLANTA (news agencies) — João Neves scored a pair of goals for Paris Saint-Germain and the world’s best team overwhelmed one of the game’s greatest players, embarrassing Lionel Messi and Inter Miami 4-0 in the round of 16 at the Club World Cup on Sunday.With Messi facing the team where he spent two seasons before moving to Major League Soccer in the twilight of his stellar career, the European champions quickly erased the Herons’ hopes of pulling off a monumental upset before a crowd of 65,574 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.Neves scored his first goal just six minutes into the…

Cnews agenciesE CANAVERAL, Fla. (news agencies) — The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight.The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They launched Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.America’s most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, is the commander of the visiting crew. She works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the chartered flight.Besides Whitson, the crew includes India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary’s Tibor…

LONDON (news agencies) — An expert group charged by the World Health Organization to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic started released its final report Friday, reaching an unsatisfying conclusion: Scientists still aren’t sure how the worst health emergency in a century began. At a press briefing on Friday, Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals. That was also the conclusion drawn by the first WHO expert group that investigated the pandemic’s origins in 2021, when scientists concluded the virus likely spread from bats to humans,…

A group of Environmental Protection Agency employees on Monday published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, saying they “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”More than 170 EPA employees put their names to the document, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation, according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science magazine who is not an EPA employee but was among non-EPA scientists or academics to also sign. The latter figure includes 20 Nobel laureates.The letter represents rare public criticism from agency employees who could face…

Move comes after rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and Kneecap lead crowds in chants calling for a ‘Free Palestine’.British police have announced that the weekend performances by rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and the Irish-language band Kneecap at the Glastonbury Festival are subject to a criminal investigation after they led crowds in chants calling for “death” to the Israeli military and a “free Palestine”. Police on Monday said the performances at the United Kingdom’s largest summer music festival “have been recorded as a public order incident”. Rapper Bobby Vylan, who until the weekend was relatively unknown, led crowds in chants of “free,…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Sunday he will not seek reelection next year, an abrupt announcement that came one day after he staked out his opposition to President Donald Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts package because of its reductions to health care programs. His decision creates a political opportunity for Democrats seeking to bolster their numbers in the 2026 midterm elections, creating a wide-open Senate race in a state that has long been a contested battleground. It could also make Tillis a wild card in a party where few lawmakers are willing…