Author: Gulf News Week
BBCPlans for a new mosque in Fujisawa have sparked a wide range of emotionsToday, it’s a field of grass. But soon, it’ll be the site of the first mosque in this Japanese town.”It makes me worry about how our community might change,” says long-time resident Noriko Izumizawa.Plans to build an Islamic religious site in Fujisawa, a laid-back seaside town about an hour’s drive south of Tokyo, have sparked a wide range of emotions.There is anger and fear, as well as hope and acceptance, exposing the growing anxieties over immigration and social change as Japan grapples with a labour shortage from…
Chinese state mediaScreenshot shows Chinese state media debunking AI contentAs China deals with the fallout of Typhoon Noul that made landfall over the weekend, officials will be painfully aware that they will likely have an additional challenge to deal with: dangerously misleading videos created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).Powerful storms and flooding incidents over the last few months have seen fake videos inundating social media platforms – these include images of dead bodies floating in floodwaters, the false depiction of severe flooding in areas actually not affected and others with blatantly fake details of emergency response efforts.In some areas, videos containing…
A key U.S. government report on mental health, substance use and addiction showed continued improvements in several metrics, especially among young people.There was some uncertainty about the future of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health last year, when the entire 17-member team responsible for it was laid off by the Trump administration. But the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released the latest report Monday, with data that lets researchers look at trends from 2021 to 2025.Fewer adolescents aged 12 to 17 reported using tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and binge drinking in the previous month, the survey found.…
Watch: Savannah Guthrie posts new video pleading to mother’s kidnappersUS television presenter Savannah Guthrie has made another emotional plea to her mother Nancy’s abductors in a video she posted on social media, asking them to share her mother’s location. “I’m asking you, begging you, to do the right thing now,” she said. “Help us find her – tell us where to look for her.”Investigators believe that Nancy Guthrie, who was last seen on 31 January, was taken against her will from her home near Tucson, Arizona, but they have not shared a possible motive or arrested a suspect.A ransom note…
Getty ImagesTrump’s visit to Michigan comes as he seeks to bolster support for Republican candidates ahead of the November midterm electionsUS President Donald Trump has vigorously defended his economic policies in Michigan – a state hit hard by his tariffs, particularly in the automobile sector. Speaking at a General Motors plant in the town of Milford, Trump claimed his “historic” tariffs are reinvigorating the auto industry and forcing companies to relocate their overseas operations to the US. Job growth in Michigan, however, has slowed to a crawl and the state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.…
Office of Mitch McConnellUS Senator Mitch McConnell is out of hospital but still not “medically cleared” to return to work in the Senate, his doctors have said.It is the second statement from the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican since his admission to hospital in mid-June after a fall and “a mild case of pneumonia”.The senator has been away from work for weeks amid ongoing speculation about his health.”I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders,” he said in a statement shared…
Getty ImagesAt least 624 US military service members have been wounded since President Donald Trump ordered strikes against Iran in February, according to the Pentagon’s most recent update on 25 July. Among those wounded, 417 are attributed to Operation Epic Fury, while 207 are attributed to “Overseas Operations”. The US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April and signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June, but attacks from both sides have occurred throughout. Last week, the Pentagon revised its figures on those injured and killed in the war, taking the names of four who died in Operation Epic Fury…
BBCThe Caspian Sea forms a strategically vital direct supply route between Russia and IranUkraine has dismissed Iranian threats of retaliation, following Kyiv’s targeting of an Iranian cargo vessel in the Caspian Sea on Saturday.The incident marked the first direct link between the wars in Iran and Ukraine.”Iran’s threats are unjustified and groundless,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X this afternoon.”The regime in Tehran is a direct accomplice to Russian aggression against Ukraine, fuelling Moscow’s criminal war with weapons that have killed Ukrainians since 2022,” he wrote, referring to the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.The Security Service of Ukraine…
Getty ImagesVictor Jara is still remembered decades later as a victim of the Pinochet regimePolice in Chile say they have captured a man convicted years ago of the kidnapping and murder of popular folk singer Victor Jara under military ruler Augusto Pinochet.Nelson Haase was one of a group of officers given jail terms for the killing, which took place just five days after the coup which brought Pinochet to power in 1973. He was sentenced to 25 years.Haase took flight when the sentence was announced in August 2023 but was found by police on Saturday in the south of the…
Getty ImagesCarly Simon was one of the quintessential singer-songwriters of the 1970s and 80sThe singer-songwriter Carly Simon says she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and is “learning how to live” with the “sometimes frightening” condition.In a statement provided to the BBC, the 83-year-old described the “unpredictable” progress of the disease, saying: “Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.”But I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working,” said the singer, best known for songs like…