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US President Donald Trump has confirmed a tense exchange with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he reportedly berated his close ally with expletives.In an interview published Wednesday in the New York Post, Trump was asked about the conversation he had with Netanyahu over the phone on Monday.”You said, ‘Are you f-ing crazy? What are you f-ing doing? I helped you stay out of jail.’ Is that true? Did you speak to him in those terms?” the interviewer asked.”I did,” Trump responded. “I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon.””I said, ‘Bibi, we gotta stop this.'”Trump went on to say he had a “very good relationship” with Netanyahu. “We’ve done well together… I like Bibi a lot.”Trump unleashed the profane tirade over Israel’s threats to bomb the Lebanese capital Beirut, fearing it would undermine talks with Tehran to end the war in the Middle East, the Axios news outlet and ABC News reported.The exchange underscored the shaky ties between two right-wing allies who started the war by launching an attack on Iran in late February that spread to Israel striking Lebanon.Israeli media have rejected the account of the conversation.A White House official referred AFP to Trump’s Truth Social posts from Monday in which he thanked Netanyahu for what he said was an agreement to pull troops back from Beirut.Iran had reportedly halted peace talks because of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Source link
The curtain will come down on the Al Shaqab Showjumping League season when the final event gets under way at the Longines Indoor Arena today, with riders across multiple categories battling for titles over three days of competition.Action begins with the Al Shaqab Champions class (140cm), offering a prize fund of QR70,000, followed by the Young Champions class (130cm) with QR45,000 at stake. Preliminary competitions at 40cm and 80cm will also be held.Tomorrow's programme features the 60cm preliminary class, the Amateur class (100cm) for QR15,000, the Future Champions class (110cm) carrying QR20,000 in prize money, and the Junior Champions class (120cm) with a purse of QR35,000.The final day on Saturday will see riders contest the Youth Champions class (135cm) for QR45,000, alongside the Amateur (105cm), Future Champions (115cm) and Junior Champions (125cm) classes, before the season concludes with the Al Shaqab Champions class (145cm), again offering QR70,000 in prize money. With league standings determined through a cumulative points system, the final round is expected to play a decisive role in crowning this season's champions following closely contested earlier stages.Fahad Abdullah al-Sulaiti tops the 40cm preliminary standings with 49 points, while Mashael Mohammed al-Thani leads the 60cm category on 35.5 points. Abdulaziz Ibrahim al-Baker heads the 80cm division with 50 points and Haifa Hamad al-Thani leads the Talents category (100-105cm) on 52 points.Abdullah Ahmed al-Khalifi sits atop the Future Champions standings (110-115cm), while Haya Khalid al-Hitmi leads the Junior Champions division (120-125cm) with 51 points. Mohammed al-Asaker holds first place in the Al Shaqab Champions category (140-145cm) with 50 points.The closest contest remains in the Young Champions division (130-135cm), where Khalid al-Hadi and Abdulaziz Fahad al-Eid are level on 57 points. In the team standings, Team Ghazal lead the way, ahead of Team Afrin on 57 points and Team Hariri on 49.5 points. Source link
Peace under pressureThe incoming members will take their seats at a moment when the Council faces some of its most difficult tests in years.Its work has…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing conerning the fiscal year 2027 budget for the State Department, on Capitol…
Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins Australia captain Pat Cummins indicated he might skip the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year to prioritise a heavy Test schedule and the one-day international World Cup.The 33-year-old fast bowler first played in the IPL in 2014 and has earned $1.9 million a year as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last three editions of the blockbuster Twenty20 tournament. Next year, though, Australia play four Tests in India in January and February, have a 150th anniversary test against England in Melbourne in March, and go on a full Ashes tour before the ODI World Cup in southern Africa in October and November.”Something has got to give at some stage next year and it’s not going to be test matches or an ODI World Cup,” Cummins told the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.”I will make a call a lot closer and work with the franchise to see what makes sense. Things can change. I’ve had a couple of injuries pop up, so I don’t really want to lock in anything.”The priorities for me are always the Test matches and that ODI World Cup. I dare say if I play all of India, I need some sort of break before a pretty gruelling Ashes series.”Cummins played only the Adelaide Ashes Test in the last home summer and skipped the T20 World Cup as he dealt with a nagging back injury.With his fellow fast-bowling stalwarts Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc also deep into their 30s, Cummins said consideration would be given to resting them for part of the home series against New Zealand around the New Year.”It’s possible. I think we’re fairly open-minded to anything, as we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” Cummins added.”I see a world where we’re potentially winding some bowlers down, even say at the back end of an Indian series if they don’t look like they’re going to play, to give them an extra rest ahead of the Ashes.”It’s going to be a big push the next 18 months or so, but I think we’ll look back on it hopefully and see it as one of the more rewarding periods of our career.” Related Story Source link
Mountaineers climbing a slope lined up during their ascent from the Hillary Step to summit Mount Everest in Nepal. (AFP) More than one thousand climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest this season, officials said yesterday, making it the busiest season on record.Climbers and officials said that a wide summit window — a period of stable weather that allows safe attempts — contributed to a surge of successful ascents.”More than a thousand climbers reached the summit this season, but the final number will have to be verified,” Nepal’s tourism department official Himal Gautam told AFP.The Himalayan Database says the most ascents of Everest in a single season was achieved in 2019, when 877 claimed success.The total number of successful summits will be tallied after the climbs are verified, which require photographs and statements from the climber’s expedition company and guides.At least five people have died this season — two Indians and three Nepali climbers involved in Everest preparations. Another Nepali guide is missing after he vanished during his descent from the summit.The world’s highest peak, which straddles the Nepal-China border, can be scaled from either Nepal or the northern face in Tibet. But China closed its route this year.Nepal had issued a record 494 Everest permits for foreigners this season, with a city of tents springing up at the foot of the mountain for climbers and support staff.On May 21 alone, an estimated 275 climbers reached the summit of the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) Himalayan peak, marking the busiest single day on the southern side.On that day, climbers waiting to summit were seen in photographs standing in line on the icy heights.— ‘Teamwork made it possible’ —The season began with fears of delay after a serac — a block of glacial ice — blocked the way, but Nepali climbers established an alternative route.”It was a challenging start and we were worried what would happen if we couldn’t open the route,” Lakpa Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, who had 80 clients and guides on the top of Everest this season, said yesterday.”But teamwork made it possible and we now have a very successful season with low fatality.”Guides also said that improved logistics and technology — including access to the internet — made climbing safer.Multiple records were broken this season, including that for the highest number of summits by Nepali guide Kami Rita Sherpa, who celebrated his 32nd summit.Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring.A climbing boom has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made the first ascent in 1953. Source link
England captain Ben Stokes has warned leading players such as Jofra Archer could be driven away from international cricket if England attempt to limit their Indian Premier League commitments.Several months after their embarrassing 4-1 Ashes series loss in Australia, England return to Test cricket against New Zealand at Lord’s on Thursday.But they will be without pace spearhead Archer, a member of the Rajasthan Royals team beaten by Gujarat Titans in the IPL last Friday.The 31-year-old is now in Barbados, the country of his birth, and his availability even for the second Test at the Oval remains uncertain.Archer has a lucrative England central contract and has been supported by the England and Wales Cricket Board through five years of injury trouble.Former New Zealand paceman Simon Doull said it was “absolutely ludicrous” that Archer would be absent from the series opener.But Stokes told reporters at Lord’s on Wednesday that top white-ball players could be lost to Test cricket if they had to make themselves available for every match.”I totally understand people’s frustrations around it, but there is another side to it,” he said.”A lot of it has to do with the landscape of cricket and where it is at the moment.”A lot of points people are making around Jof and that situation are to do with the landscape when they were playing.”But it’s completely different now. There are opportunities for cricketers now that there were not 10, 15, 20 years ago.”Stokes said Archer’s desire to play for his country was unquestionable, warning against a hardline approach.”There is a situation where it could get messy and players like Jofra might not play for England again if you handle it in a different way, and that is not good for there anyone,” he said.”Jofra has shown that he’s committed and loves playing for England. Just because he’s not available for this first Test match does not change that.”Jacob Bethell represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 20-over IPL but is in the England team at Lord’s, the first of a three-Test series.The batter has played no meaningful red-ball cricket since his stunning Ashes century in Sydney in January.”It’s just one of those things. You have your number three (Bethell), he has a great couple of games out in Australia, then he spends nine or 10 weeks out in India and you are seeing him two days before a Test match,” said Stokes.”That is almost becoming the norm. The game is changing all the time. There are some things you have to roll with and accept, it is what it is.” Related Story Source link
Forensics team members take photographs of the site following a fire that broke out at a hotel in New Delhi yesterday. (AFP) A fire ripped through a hotel in New Delhi yesterday, killing at least 21 people, many of them foreign nationals, police and local media said.Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and routine disregard for safety regulations.The fire broke out in the morning at Flourish Stay, a bed-and-breakfast in a congested neighbourhood in the south of the city, Delhi Police said in a statement.”It is with profound sorrow that 21 persons have been declared dead in this tragic incident,” police said.Several of those killed were foreigners, mainly from Central Asia and Africa, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting unnamed officials.Many of them had come to the city for medical treatment, according to local media reports.Authorities said more than 40 people were taken to hospitals for treatment.Eight were in a critical condition, according to a statement by a nearby hospital.Indian television channels showed flames leaping from the building and thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky.Some 47 guests were in the hotel when the fire broke out, local lawmaker Satish Upadhyay told reporters.Locals rushed to the site, as firefighters worked to douse the blaze and ambulances arrived to transport the injured.Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the deaths “tragic”.”My condolences to those who have lost their loved ones,” his office said in a statement.— ‘Jumped from the building’ —Some reports suggested the hotel had just one door for entry and exit and lacked proper ventilation.”An inquiry will be conducted, and anyone who has broken norms and is responsible will be immediately arrested,” Upadhyay said.Some people trapped on the upper floors of the building jumped onto mattresses laid out by on the street outside, said eyewitnesses.”We got mattresses from a nearby bedding shop because people needed to be rescued,” Mohammad Anees, a local resident, told AFP.”Once the mattresses were laid out, five women jumped from the building and landed safely on them.”The blaze was eventually brought under control with the help of eight fire engines, police said.The cause of the fire, one of the deadliest blazes in the Indian capital in recent years, was not immediately clear.Electrical short circuits, often caused by poorly maintained wiring, remain the leading cause of fire incidents in India.In March, a fire at a government-run hospital in eastern India killed 10 critically ill patients.The last major fire incident in Delhi killed 43 factory workers sleeping in a building in the city’s old quarter in 2019. Source link
In a step that reflects Qatar’s ambition to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2036, Fatima Sultan al-Kuwari has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Qatar’s bid file, as part of the State’s efforts to present the first Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Middle East.The appointment comes as preparations continue to develop a comprehensive bid that builds on the State of Qatar’s proven record in hosting major international sporting events. It also reflects Qatar’s commitment to using sport as a platform for development, bringing people closer together and promoting dialogue and cultural understanding.Al-Kuwari brings more than 20 years of executive leadership experience to the role, having held senior leadership roles at Ooredoo, the global telecommunications company. She has a strong track record across strategy, operations and institutional transformation in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.She has held a number of senior leadership positions, including as part of the Group Executive Committee, and has overseen operational activities across nine markets. She also contributed to the establishment of the Ooredoo Doha Marathon in 2013.In her new role, al-Kuwari will lead the strategic, operational and organisational aspects of the bid, coordinating with local and international partners to support the development of a comprehensive and competitive proposition that reflects the growth of Qatar’s sporting infrastructure and its long-term vision.The appointment comes within Qatar’s broader ambition to host an exceptional edition of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that reflects the country’s standing and the region’s ability to host the world’s largest sporting events, while using sport as a platform for development, unity and the creation of a sustainable social legacy. Source link
US President Donald Trump meets with Republic of Korea President Lee Jae-myung on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) leaders’ summit in Gyeongju. (Reuters/File…