s belly dancing gains popularity internationally, young Egyptian performers are working to restore its reputation at home, pushing back against decades of stigma to reclaim the dance as part of their artistic heritage. Once iconic figures of Egypt’s cinematic golden age, belly dancers have watched their prestige wane, their art increasingly confined to nightclubs and…
ritish punk duo Bob Vylan has hit back at critics after their Glastonbury performance sparked fierce backlash — and a criminal investigation — over pro-Palestine chants, including a crowd-led call of “Death to the IDF.” Following statements from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a Metropolitan Police probe, the band issued a fiery statement online addressing the controversy,…
NEW YORK: The New York City Election board on Tuesday confirmed a stunning victory by mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary, clearing the way for the political upstart to be the party’s nominee for the November mayoral election. The ranked-choice voting results released on Tuesday showed Mamdani, who started his campaign as little-known New York…
A satellite backed by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been lost in space while carrying out an important climate change mission, New Zealand officials said on Wednesday. Designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions with “unprecedented resolution”, the MethaneSAT space probe was also funded by Wellington and the US-based Environmental Defence Fund. Plagued with technical…
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender athletes from its women’s sports teams, settling a federal civil rights case stemming from the furore around swimmer Lia Thomas, the US government said on Tuesday. The US Department of Education said in a statement that UPenn had entered into a resolution agreement vowing to comply…
The online retail platform of Chinese tech giant Alibaba announced on Wednesday that it will issue $7 billion in subsidies for certain purchases, providing a much-needed boost for a country struggling with sluggish spending. Taobao, China’s e-commerce champion launched by Alibaba in 2003, said in a WeChat statement that the 50bn yuan ($6.97bn) would “directly…
The Quad grouping of the United States, India, Japan and Australia called on Tuesday for the perpetrators of a militant attack that killed 26 in India-occupied Kashmir to be brought to justice without delay. The April 22 attack in held Kashmir’s Pahalgam sparked heavy fighting between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry as India blamed…
US President Donald Trump urged Hamas on Tuesday to accept a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, saying that Israel had agreed to finalise such a deal, as its forces also stepped up operations in the Palestinian territory. Nearly 21 months of relentless Israeli bombardment have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in…
Bangladesh on Wednesday convicted fugitive ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina of contempt of court and issued a six-month prison sentence in absentia, the first verdict since she was ousted last year. Hasina, 77, fled to neighbouring India at the culmination of the student-led uprising in August 2024, and has defied orders to return to Dhaka. “She will serve the sentence the day…
