Set to be this year’s biggest blockbuster, The Odyssey’s cast has been selected to ‘represent the world’. Fair enough – except that one key country seems to have gone completely unrepresented … There are the American accents, gleaming body suits and a muddy Dunkirk palette. And then there is Lupita ...
Month: June 2026
Oman pours money into food security with $4.2B agriculture developmentOman pours money into food security with $4.2B agriculture development
Oman has started work on a $4.2 billion agriculture development in the Batinah region which could provide food for 25,000 people — part of wider efforts to reduce the country’s dependence on imports, according to officials quoted by AGBI. Food security is a perennial issue for Gulf countries, where the ...
Bahrain bets on French luxury dealsBahrain bets on French luxury deals
Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat is partnering with France’s TRAIL to back an investment fund focused on arts, music, luxury, and sports deals. As part of the arrangement, the French fund will open an office in Bahrain and use it as a hub for fundraising and the expansion of its ...
Abu Dhabi doubles down on French AI with fresh dealsAbu Dhabi doubles down on French AI with fresh deals
Abu Dhabi’s MGX is doubling its investment in data centers in France, as the country emerges as the UAE’s top technology partner in the EU. The joint venture of MGX, state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, chipmaker Nvidia, and France’s AI champion Mistral announced their Campus AI expansion on the sidelines of ...
Kuwait shuts airport after Iranian hitKuwait shuts airport after Iranian hit
Kuwait briefly closed its international airport on Wednesday, after Iranian drones and missiles killed one person and injured more than 60 others, and caused “significant damage” to the facilities at Terminal 1. The building had only reopened on Monday after work to repair the damage from earlier Iranian hits. Kuwait ...
Japan capitalizes on China backlash, courts Pacific island nationsJapan capitalizes on China backlash, courts Pacific island nations
Japan’s prime minister courted Pacific island nations at a summit in Tokyo aimed at keeping them out of Beijing’s orbit, underscoring an intensifying rivalry between the Asian powers. Sanae Takaichi said her government would help smaller states strengthen their “autonomy and resilience,” part of an anti-China push by Japan: It ...
Far-right praise for shah’s secret police puts Reza Pahlavi on the spotFar-right praise for shah’s secret police puts Reza Pahlavi on the spot
Son of deposed shah forced to distance himself from once-dreaded Savak as some of his ‘fascistic’ supporters glorify it For decades, the Savak was seen as the most hated symbol of repression that kept Iran’s last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in power – and a main driving force behind the ...
US and Iran launch new strikes, as Kuwait says airport hit by Iranian dronesUS and Iran launch new strikes, as Kuwait says airport hit by Iranian drones
Kuwait says its international airport has been badly damaged by Iranian drones, and traffic is suspended. ...
Royal Navy helicopter crashes into fieldRoyal Navy helicopter crashes into field
The A386 between the A30 and Okehampton is closed as a result of the incident. ...
‘They beat me until I lost consciousness’: growing reports of brutal arrests, torture and deaths in Iran’s prisons‘They beat me until I lost consciousness’: growing reports of brutal arrests, torture and deaths in Iran’s prisons
Testimonies from political prisoners and journalists arrested in crackdowns since the war have started to emerge as regime’s internet blackout lifts Iranian writer Hamid Asefi wasn’t home on the afternoon of 5 March when armed intelligence agents stormed his Tehran apartment, breaking down the door with a sledgehammer and axe. ...