county Gulf: Last News

There’s always a buzz at this time of year as the PDC World Darts Championship gets underway.

Calvin Harris took to the stage in Qatar last night despite concerns raised by gay rights campaigners. The Scots megastar DJ had been urged to pull out of playing a lucrative set during the World Cup because of the country’s human rights record. Ahead of ­headlining the Fifa Fan Festival event last night, Harris, 38, came under ­pressure from LGBT groups not to perform in the Gulf state, where same-sex ­relationships are banned.

A Scots SAS hero who executed his girlfriend with a Gulf War machine gun is feared to have returned here after being released early.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here. World Cup fever has gripped Deadline Towers and while our U.S. colleagues gobble up their turkey with all the trimmings, we’ve got plenty to round up in the world of international TV and film.

Will Young penned a fierce open letter to David Beckham over his controversial £10million deal to act as an ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar.

An Ayrshire daughter has told sick vandals to 'hang their head in shame' after trashing a poppy wreath laid in memory of her late dad.

Mel C is at risk of igniting a Spice Girls feud after revealing she would reject an offer to perform at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar if offered.

David Beckham's decision to take a reported $10 million pay packet for promoting the host country of the 2022 World Cup.She insisted that she would be much too "uncomfortable" to perform in the country due to its human rights reputation, exclaiming: "I'm an ally to the LGBTQ+ community!""It's not something I would feel comfortable in doing," the former Spice Girls singer explained."People want to go over there and help to make a change.

As controversy continues to swirl around World Cup hosts Qatar, and with the tournament due to begin next Sunday, British comedian Joe Lycett has said he will give £10,000 to charities that support gay people in football if David Beckham pulls out of a reported £10 million deal to act as an ambassador for the event. If Beckham does not, Lycett said he would put the money through a shredder and livestream himself doing so ahead of the opening ceremony. 

A British holidaymaker died after being beaten and starved by cruel guards in a Dubai police station, an inquest heard. The hearing was told that Lee Brown passed away after five days in custody at the Bur Dubai police station.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sony Music Entertainment Middle East and Kuwait-based music studio and video production company Ghmza have forged a partnership to produce music and promote emerging pop artists from the Gulf Cooperation Council and across the Middle East. Under the deal, popular actor and Arabic pop singer Bader Al Shuaibi, and Kuwaiti singer, songwriter and television personality Bashar al-Shatti will be the first two artists to work with Sony Music in the Gulf region. A pioneer in the genre known as Khaleeji pop reinvention – the term Khaleeji refers to nationals of six states: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the U.A.E. and Oman – Bader Al Shuaibi has over one billion audio and video streams and three million social media followers, according to a Sony Music statement.

XPENG X2 took to the skies at an event in Dubai, where spectators were treated to an airshow featuring the two-seater flying car.READ NEXT:Luxury flying car uses 'Blade Runner' sci-fi tech but doesn't have a cup holderThe X2 is a VTOL, meaning it uses drone-style turbines to take off and land vertically. But what makes it stand out is its two driving modes: manual and autonomous, which can be used to ferry passengers to their destination from landing to take-off at the touch of a button.The X2 is designed to provide low-altitude flights between destinations within cities as an alternative to road vehicles.

Three House Democrats are introducing a bill to remove U.S. defense systems from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in response to the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day – a move that is expected to drive up gas prices in the U.S.

Netflix has previewed a selection of upcoming films and shows aimed at the Arab world and hailing from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan.

Qatar's 'secret police' before his death.Found dead in the Curve Hotel in Doha on Christmas Day in 2019, Marc Bennett, 52, a travel industry executive, had told his friends before his death that the secret police had detained and tortured him.Mr Bennett moved to the Gulf in 2012 and was headhunted to become senior vice-president at Discover Qatar, to increase the nation's tourism industry for the 2022 World Cup that begins in November.READ MORE: Britain's best police dog honoured after dragging suspect from hedge by genitalsIn October 2019, he announced his resignation from the company and was reported to the police under the accusation that he had sent "highly confidential documents" to an external email address.According to a former colleague, Mr Bennett's resignation was taken as a "massive insult".The final weeks of his life were marred by the poor treatment he had suffered after his arrest.Following his arrest at the Qatar Airways Office, he was handcuffed and blindfolded before being transported to a state security detention centre.Having been released from the detention centre three weeks later, Mr Bennett listed what he had undergone including being stripped of his clothes, sprayed with a high pressure hose and being subjected to methods of sleep deprivation.His death had been labelled as suicide, but a coroner in the UK said that Mr Bennett showed "no specific evidence of suicidal intent" before his death, adding that "the circumstances of the months leading up to his death remain unclear".The night before he died, he was on a video call, "laughing and joking" with his wife Nancy and their children and despite his death being ruled a suicide, Mr Bennett did not leave a suicide note.To stay up to date with all

Hurricane Ian has torn into western Cuba as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a Category 4 storm before it hits Florida.

England fans travelling to the World Cup in Qatar - on a network of 250,000 security cameras.The Gulf state’s CCTV system includes state-of-the-art facial-recognition technology which can track supporters around stadiums and fan zones. Those who ignore Qatar’s strict anti-booze laws could find themselves arrested.Public drunkenness carries a six-month jail sentence.

US President Joe Biden has taken a swipe at Liz Truss's economic plan ahead of their meeting in New York at the United Nations tomorrow.

Scientists fear an undiscovered shark or squid species strong enough to swim off with an alligator, is lurking in the deep sea.Of three dead alligators dumped on the ocean floor two were scavenged on the spot but a third disappeared entirely, sparking chilling theories about the existence mystery sea creature.A mystery creature was not the only new discovery either as scientists saw the bone-crunching work of a previously unknown horror worm. READ MORE: Shark attack victim was warned about beast just moments before she was mauledThe shocking findings came last year following an experiment conducted by Louisiana University, intended to learn more about predators in an environment less well-explored than the surface of the Moon.Marine Consortium scientists took three alligator carcasses out into the Gulf of Mexico and dropped them about a mile down to the ocean floor.Study lead Clifton Nunnally said: "To explore the food web deep inside the sea, we placed three dead alligators at least 6,600 feet down in the Gulf of Mexico for 51 days.“We have seen alligators and crocodiles utilising marine habitats more in recent years...so we decided to do this experiment to investigate the impact of a large reptile carcass on deep-sea food webs and large reptile carcasses as a potential carbon pathway to the deep.”The first alligator was completely gone in less than a day after underwater scavengers, such as giant sea snails, gobbled it up much more quickly than expected.The second alligator carcass lasted a little longer but when researchers pulled it up 51 days later, its bones had been picked completely clean.“That one genuinely surprised us.

A group of Gulf states are threatening Netflix with legal action if the streamer does not remove what they class as content that “contradicts” Islamic values. The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issued a statement saying it has contacted the SVoD to demand the content, which was not specified publicly, is removed.