All posts tagged: Country

Kanye West runs into more tour trouble as Italy becomes latest country to block his concerts

Kanye West runs into more tour trouble as Italy becomes latest country to block his concerts

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Kanye West has run into further touring troubles as Italy becomes the latest country to block the rapper’s concerts. Italy has banned two shows involving West and fellow US musician Travis Scott, which had been due to take place on 17 and 18 July in the northern city of Reggio Emilia. Salvatore Angieri, the local prefect, made the decision to cancel the events on grounds of public order and safety, including the potential for protests. West, 48, is yet to address the news on his social media, where he has previously spoken about cancelled dates. The Independent has contacted a representative of Scott for comment. This is the latest blow to West’s touring schedule, which has come up against significant disruption in certain regions due to his past anti-semitic and pro-Nazi comments. Last month, Swiss football club FC Basel blocked a concert that …

Trump chillingly threatens to ‘blow up’ another country ‘if they don’t behave’ | World | News

Trump chillingly threatens to ‘blow up’ another country ‘if they don’t behave’ | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump has chillingly threatened to “blow up” Oman if they don’t “behave” in a move that risks dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East. The US President made the comments at the White House when asked about reports that Iran and Oman have struck a deal to jointly control the Strait of Hormuz. However, Mr Trump warned he would not accept any such arrangement as part of a peace deal with Iran. He told reporters following a Cabinet meeting: “No, the Strait is going to be open to everybody. It’s international waters. Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it – we’ll watch over it – but nobody’s going to get control of it as part of any negotiation. They would like to control it. Nobody’s got any control. “It’s international waters. And Oman will behave just like everybody else. If they don’t, we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.” The remarks came amid ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire and broader agreement following months of …

Alan Cumming Says Donald Trump’s America Is A ‘Fascist Country’

Alan Cumming Says Donald Trump’s America Is A ‘Fascist Country’

Published by Sam Flores

Alan Cumming has spoken candidly about living in the United States during Donald Trump’s second tenure as president. The Scottish actor holds dual US and UK citizenship, and currently resides in New York with his husband, the visual artist Grant Shaffer. Later this week, the Emmy winner is due to make his debut in Tip Toe, a new Russell T Davies drama which takes an unflinching look at modern life in an ever-divided world. Speaking to Radio Times to promote his new show, Alan claimed: “Of course, there are kind people in America, and I live in New York, which is a different kettle of fish to the rest of America.” “But the government…” he continued. “It is a fascist country and I’m paying taxes to it. It’s horrible.” Riffing on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Alan remarked: “Make America like the 1950s again, more like. When Black people would serve you, you could do whatever you liked, and anyone who you didn’t like, you would get the boys to duff them up. That’s …

I live and work in a country where 40C temperatures are normal – this is my advice on how to cope

I live and work in a country where 40C temperatures are normal – this is my advice on how to cope

Published by Sam Flores

It’s hot — probably too hot. From my sweltering living room, the heat outside looks like a mirage, distorting the view of the dusty street. For people like myself who live in North Africa or those currently facing heatwaves, summer can feel like a battle of mind and body. Home to sun-baked pyramids and vast golden deserts, Egypt offers a unique lifestyle that’s definitely exciting. However, in such unforgiving heat, temperatures can also dictate your daily life and make even the simplest tasks feel challenging. I’m based in Dahab on the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, an hour away from Sharm El-Skeikh, and this will be my second year living through a sweltering desert summer. My past experiences of heatwaves in Jordan, Mexico, and Australia, as well as travels in India, have also taught me the rules of life in extreme heat. Obviously, the potential dangers of blistering temperatures, like heatstroke and dehydration, require some added precautions. Beyond staying in the shade, here’s my personal experiences on how to survive – and actually enjoy – …

Middle East war live: Trump says no country will control Hormuz Strait under future Iran deal

Middle East war live: Trump says no country will control Hormuz Strait under future Iran deal

Published by Sam Flores

27/05/2026 – 21:28 ‘More than 100,000 people live in this city’: Israel urges Tyre residents to leave homes FRANCE 24 correspondent Renée Davis reports from Beirut on the Israeli military’s call for the population of Tyre in southern Lebanon to leave their homes ahead of a fresh wave of air strikes. 27/05/2026 – 21:23 South Korea summons Iran envoy over ship attack Seoul summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest after a probe concluded it was “highly likely” that an Iranian-made missile was to blame for a strike on a South Korean ship in the Strait of Hormuz. In remarks carried by Iranian state media, Tehran’s envoy to Seoul denied his country had anything to do with the incident. The South Korean cargo ship was hit by unidentified projectiles on May 4 in the strait. US President Donald Trump claimed Iran had “taken some shots” at the Panama-flagged vessel, while Tehran had denied responsibility for the attack. Following a weeks-long investigation, the South Korean government said technical analysis concluded that the unidentified projectile that struck the vessel …

Country diary: A jaw-dropping bounty of wildlife – and a reminder of what Britain has lost | Poland

Country diary: A jaw-dropping bounty of wildlife – and a reminder of what Britain has lost | Poland

Published by Sam Flores

Have I made a mistake in visiting Biebrza national park? Not that I mind encountering more bird species in a day than I do in a year at home. Nor do I regret meeting a young elk, all gangle and improbable proportions; or kneeling before a clump of lady’s slipper orchid in jaw-droppingly ostentatious bloom among Solomon’s seal and a carpet of lily of the valley. I definitely appreciate the homely clatter of the neighbourhood white storks, and the constant soundtrack of cuckoos and golden orioles. I certainly have no objection to watching the sunset from a wood-fired hot tub, listening to corncrakes as bats emerge and a beaver cruises past. But something shifts in me when, in the space of a few minutes in an observation tower, we watch three species of marsh tern hanging like precision-engineered angels to tweezer insects from the water’s surface, and a white-tailed eagle hunting greylag geese then settling with its mate in a dead tree to watch a train of common cranes in the field below meeting a …

This country star brings a Pakistani vibe to his songs : NPR

This country star brings a Pakistani vibe to his songs : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Singer-songwriter Mo Sabri loves country music — and Pakistani devotional music. His new music reflects both genres. Mo Sabri hide caption toggle caption Mo Sabri When the singer-songwriter Mo Sabri was growing up in East Tennessee, his Pakistani immigrant parents loved playing the swirling, rhythmic sounds of qawwali, Sufi Muslim devotional music. They also loved playing country classics by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. After all, Johnson City, Sabri’s hometown, is a 30-minute drive from Bristol, Tenn., known as the birthplace of country music. Those musical influences would have a profound effect on Sabri. Today, he is a country music artist in Nashville who proudly identifies as a Pakistani American and a Muslim — and creates music drawing from those worlds. On his YouTube channel, you’ll find original country songs like “Married in a Barn” but also a cover of the qawwali “Tajdar e Haram.” YouTube And he’s making music history. On May 31, this Muslim country singer will play with the Nashville Symphony. They will perform an orchestral rendition of his new album, Tennessee …

Trump directs legal migrants to return to home country to apply for green cards

Trump directs legal migrants to return to home country to apply for green cards

Published by Sam Flores

The Trump administration on Friday announced prospective immigrants would need to return to their home country to apply for green cards, a move that would stifle the most common pathway used for legal immigration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) portrayed the new policy memo as “returning to the original intent of the law,” while… Source link

Ancient Mayan Limestone Lintel Repatriated to the Wrong Country

Ancient Mayan Limestone Lintel Repatriated to the Wrong Country

Published by Jenni Sidey

The cultural minister of Guatemala has begun the process to reclaim a 1,200-year-old stone lintel that was repatriated from the United States to Mexico in mid-April, according to a report in the Art Newspaper. The object was initially brought to the Mexican consulate in New York by an unidentified American businessman, who presumably realized that it had been illegally removed from its country of origin at some point before he or she acquired it. The lintel depicts ritual acts involving the sun god and Cheleew Chan K’inich, a late ruler of the ancient Mayan city Yaxchilán, and was made around 600-900 CE. It is signed by the carver known as Mayuy, one of the only artists in the ancient Americas to sign his sculptures. “He was extraordinarily inventive,” Stephen Houston, an anthropology professor at Brown, told TAN. “[Mayuy fused] in his carvings relationships among gods, the ordering of the cosmos and dynastic machinations.” (Houston is the author of the 2021 book A Maya Universe in Stone, which examines the history of Mayuy’s ancient carvings.) Related …