Decades after Sheikh Rashid uttered the famous line, the unprecedented dual shock of plunging oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic jolted the Arab states of the Gulf into kicking off key reforms. On May 11, Saudi Arabia announced austerity measures, “tripling its VAT to 15 per cent and cutting a cost-of-living allowance for government workers,” Bloomberg reported. Bahrain, meanwhile, slashed ministries and government agencies spending by 30 percent. Still, even this might not be enough....

With their loss at the Etihad Stadium, the Eagles became the first side in English professional football history to lose their first six games of the season without scoring a single goal. West Brom 20/1 to beat Arsenal 1-0 Raheem Sterling notched a brace as the home side scored four of their five goals after half-time. Frank de Boer was sacked earlier this month after beginning the season with four consecutive league defeats....

In a Monday statement, President Joe Biden said, “We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime.” Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, a Cuban exile and member of the Assembly for Cuban Resistance, told Newsweek that Biden’s “initial statements” have “been a good start,” but stressed the need for military intervention....

Schwarber has exactly one career start in right field, that coming Friday night against the Brewers in Miller Park. MORE: Cubs postseason preview | Ranking NL’s postseason pitching staffs Drafted by the Cubs as a catcher with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft, Schwarber has played mostly left field in recent weeks. He recorded one putout in his only chance Friday, catching a line drive in the second inning....

Rojas originally reported Castro had been arrested: PHOTO GALLERY: The baseball year in review Col. Jacobo Mateo Moquete, spokesman for the Dominican national police, told Rojas Castro is being detained at the office of the prosecutor for the city of Montecristi. He is being questioned for his alleged involvement in the shooting, which took place at a nightclub in the city. The spokeman said people close to Castro, inlcuding his brother and bodyguard, are believed to have participated in the shooting....

A 13-year MLB veteran, Haren got the regular-season-ending win Sunday against the Brewers in what very well may have been his final outing. MORE: Cubs postseason preview | Ranking NL postseason pitching staffs “If I don’t pitch in the postseason, that’s it,” Haren said (via ESPN.com). “It’s been fun. Hopefully there’s a lot more games to go. … If my name is called, I’ll be ready.” Haren is a long shot to make the Cubs’ postseason roster, despite finishing strong (two earned runs in his final 17 2/3 innings)....

The challenger, Jessica Cisneros, the broadside reads, “would defund the police and border patrol which would wreck our local economy.” It claims she is backed by the “Defund the Police movement,” and has “pledged to defund the border patrol and our immigration courts.” It ends by charging that Cisneros would make “our communities less safe, open the border, and take away good paying jobs from South Texas families.” But it’s not a Republican opponent hurling these GOP talking points at Democrat Cisneros....

What happened in that hospital? A life was ended and a life was saved. Or, an unborn child was killed, and a desperate, dying man underwent an experimental operation unlikely to help him. It is the Rashomon of science. There are as many ways to describe the use of tissues from aborted fetuses as there are individual values through which the practice is refracted. On his third day in office, President Bill Clinton rescinded the Reagan-era ban on spending federal funds for the transplantation of tissue from aborted fetuses into humans....

Kloden, from Germany, brings the curtain down on a 16-year career that also saw him claim a bronze medal in the road race at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He failed to find a team for the 2014 season. He finished second in 2004 and 2006, behind Lance Armstrong in the first of those. Armstrong was later removed from the records because of doping offenses. Kloden's later years in the sport were blighted by allegations of drug-taking, which he always vehemently denied....

On Thursday against Iowa State, the Longhorns were in firm control for much of the game, but down the stretch showed why they will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday instead of comfortably waiting for their matchup. MORE: Championship Week scoreboard | March Madness confidence index They held a 10-point lead with just under three minutes to play, but a dry spell on offense coupled with a lack of rebounding on defense helped Iowa State get back in the game....

The findings were published in the journal Trends in Plant Science. Rainforests are wet by definition, which makes them resistant to flames, but when they are destroyed by cyclones, and dry out, fire can begin to spread. For fires to start, fuel needs to burn; the micro-climate must be dry enough and there must be a source of ignition. Cyclones can affect all of these. The intense storms originate in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, and like hurricanes, they unleash gale-force winds and heavy rains....

In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/throwawayAdam4113 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) recounted the lineage of the precious family necklace and said his 15-year-old daughter will be next to wear it—much to the dismay of his 17-year-old son. Titled, “[Am I the a**hole] for refusing to let my son have my daughter’s necklace?” the post has received nearly 9,500 upvotes and 2,000 comments in the last 10 hours....

In a viral Reddit post, u/Specialist_Bake_1036, explained his mom fell pregnant with another man’s baby while married to his dad. Following the divorce, she went on to have four more kids with different men. The original poster, 20, explained his step-siblings “hate” his dad for only taking care of him and not the rest of them while their mom was struggling. It seems the young man isn’t the only one who thinks his dad “didn’t do anything wrong” as a family therapist told Newsweek, his father’s decision was “both a practical solution and a moral one....

But while those around him have been critical of his approach, his actions have drawn a decidedly different response on social media. It would appear there are pros and cons to feeding children vegan diets. A 2021 study by researchers at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in London and the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw, Poland concluded children on vegan diets had a better cardiovascular profile and less body fat than their meat-eating peers....

In a post to Reddit on Thursday, the boys’ mom (user u/Sad-Skill-6214) wrote that her sons hate staying with their father and his new family. At first, she and her ex shared joint custody, but the agreement was amended after the judge ruled that the father was guilty of “parental alienation.” Unsurprisingly, this led to a confrontation between the poster, her ex and his wife. Parental Alienation Although mothers are more likely to win custody battles than fathers, joint custody is becoming more common....

Laney Perdue, the 11-year-old who survived, was with her father and three others on the plane who did not survive. Laney remains hospitalized with five broken bones but did not have more serious injuries from the crash. Christina Perdue, Laney’s mother, said her late husband, Mike Perdue of Gaylord, held Laney tightly while the two-engine commuter plane crashed on the island in Lake Michigan. “Laney told me in the hospital that her last memory is that dad just grabbed her and held her really, really tight, and in my heart I know that protected her,” she said in an interview aired Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America....

The comment, meant to poke fun at Harris’ clear lack of conditioning, understandably upset Harris’ family. MORE: Worst MMA fight ever | Total embarrassment | Good, bad, ugly of event “The Harris Family is appalled at the overtly racist and offensive comments directed at Dada 5000 by Joe Rogan who said in an interview that Dada’s heart was filled with ‘cheeseburgers, fried chicken, and orange soda’, mocking the family’s statement issued the previous day,” a statement distributed by BYB Extreme Fighting read....

VIDEO OF THE DAY When pitchers were able to throw these kind of curveballs, 12-year-old me decided my baseball career was over. WHAT WE’RE READING The five articles you’ll want to save and share with your friends 1. Abrams alert! Jonathan Abrams on former lottery pick Jonny Flynn trying to make it back in the NBA. [READ MORE] 2. Granted, we've been fooled before, but CBS Sports' Matt Snyder says it's time to lay off Chris Davis....

WHAT WE’RE READING The articles you’ll want to save and share with your friends 1. Manu Ginobili's shoe that blew out on Wednesday night was actually a shoe he'd had since 2009. He had worn others in the interim, but still, that's a long time for any NBA player to hold onto kicks. [READ MORE] 2. Tom Ziller gives you the reason to hold out hope for Royce White and his NBA career....