Author: Gulf News Week

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa (news agencies) — It is big and it is beautiful, says President Donald Trump.But for many Democratic leaders, the tax break and spending cut package adopted by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress Thursday represents the key to the Democratic Party’s resurgence.Even before the final vote was tallied, Democratic officials were finalizing ambitious plans for rallies, voter registration drives, attack ads, bus tours and even a multiday vigil — all designed to highlight the most controversial elements of Trump’s “big beautiful” bill: the deep cuts to the nation’s safety net that will leave nearly 12 million more Americans…

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz is the subject of a Major League Baseball gambling investigation and was placed on non-disciplinary leave Thursday, two people with knowledge of the investigation told media.The people spoke to the news agencies on condition of anonymity due to the nature of the investigation.The investigation is related to in-game prop bets on two pitches thrown by Ortiz that received higher activity than usual during his starts at Seattle on June 15 and his recent outing against St. Louis on June 27. The gambling activity on the pitches was flagged by a betting-integrity firm and forwarded to…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — In rejecting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ release on bail, a federal judge confronted the hip-hop impresario with a disturbing aspect of his criminal case that his lawyers couldn’t deny: his history of violence.Combs’ defense lawyers claimed he is a changed man. But Judge Arun Subramanian on Wednesday let the Bad Boy Records founder know that his hopes for freedom soon are slim — even after the jury acquitted him on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him in prison for life.Subramanian’s words signaled how he may approach sentencing Combs for his convictions…

BEIJING (news agencies) — The Chinese government is signaling enough is enough when it comes to the fierce competition in the country’s electric car market.China’s industrial policy has engineered a remarkable transformation to electric vehicles in what is the world’s largest auto market. In so doing, it has spawned far more makers than can possibly survive. Now, long-simmering concerns about oversupply and debilitating price wars are coming to the fore, even as the headline sales numbers soar to new heights.Market-leader BYD announced this week that its sales grew 31% in the first six months of the year to 2.1 million…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a case over state restrictions on which school sports teams transgender students can join.Just two weeks after upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the justices said they will review lower court rulings in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia. The case will be argued in the fall.The nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls on girls sports teams has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women…

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (news agencies) — A Missouri judge blocked many of the state’s abortion restrictions Thursday, reimposing a preliminary injunction against them just a little over a month after the state’s highest court had lifted a previous hold. The order by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said the abortion restrictions likely violate a state constitutional right to abortion that was approved by voters last year. Planned Parenthood said the order clears the way for it to again provide procedural abortions in Missouri. But Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said his office “will expeditiously appeal this ruling.”The court order…

The massive tax and spending cut bill that Congress passed Thursday ends federal tax incentives for electric vehicles. Buyers have until Sept. 30 to qualify for the federal tax credits on EVs before they are terminated. But experts say there are still strong financial reasons to consider buying the vehicles even without those incentives.Before the bill passed, new electric vehicles came with a $7,500 federal tax credit, and used EVs included up to $4,000. Those incentives were originally designed to help make the vehicles more affordable. According to the latest data from Kelley Blue Book, the average purchase price of…

JERUSALEM (news agencies) — The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American organization running a new aid program in Gaza, on Thursday denied a report by media that American contractors guarding the foundation’s aid sites inside Gaza were using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scrambled for food.news agencies’s story, released Wednesday, is based on accounts from two U.S. contractors who spoke anonymously because they were revealing internal operations of their employer. They said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered irresponsible and dangerous practices. It draws also on text messages, internal reports and…

LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — Famed Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. has been arrested for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, U.S. federal officials said Thursday.The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim, California. The Department of Homeland Security said officials determined Chávez should be arrested on June 27, a day before the fight. It was unclear why they waited to act for days after the high-profile event.The 39-year-old boxer, according to…

NEW YORK (news agencies) — EXT JUNGLE NIGHTAn eyeball, big, yellowish, distinctly inhuman, stares raptly between wooden slats, part of a large crate. The eye darts from side to side quickly, alert as hell.So begins David Koepp’s script to 1993’s “Jurassic Park.” Like much of Koepp’s writing, it’s crisply terse and intensely visual. It doesn’t tell the director (in this case Steven Spielberg ) where to put the camera, but it nearly does.“I asked Steven before we started: What are the limitations about what I can write?” Koepp recalls. “CGI hadn’t really been invented yet. He said: ‘Only your imagination.’”Yet…