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BEIRUT: Lebanese women walk past a branch of the Banque Libano-Francaise in Beirut.-AFP

Lebanon's 'zombie banks' downsize to weather crisis

BEIRUT: Once the economy's crown jewel, Lebanon's banks are shutting branches and laying off employees in droves, resizing to the bleak reality of a crisis they are widely blamed for. Before the onset in 2019 of a financial collapse deemed one of the world's worst since the 1850s by the World Bank, the small Mediterranean country had an oversized but prosperous banking sector.The capital Beirut was a booming regional financial hub, attracting...

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Luxury sector undaunted by COVID, soaring inflation

PARIS: The pandemic and soaring inflation have done nothing to take the shine off luxury brands, from Louis Vuitton to Gucci and Cartier, as the sector hiked prices to notch up stellar profits. The world economy began to recover from the pandemic last year but the rebound has been accompanied by rising inflation, with prices for raw materials and energy soaring.But luxury good-makers can respond by hiking their prices and actually look more...

A man looks at Cana throne, a sacred town some 12 miles away from Abomey kingdom looted by French colonial soldiers displayed during an exhibition of returned seized Benin artefacts and exhibition of contemoprary artworks at the presidency in Benin's capital Cotonou.-AFP photos

Benin exhibits stolen treasures returned by France

Benin President Patrice Talon on Saturday inaugurated an exhibition of historic treasures returned by France last year, nearly 130 years after they were stolen by colonial forces. The 26 pieces, some considered sacred in Benin, will be displayed from Sunday in a 2,000-square-metre (21,500-square-foot) space in the presidential palace in Cotonou in a show entitled "Benin art yesterday and today". The return of artefacts by France comes as calls...

ISTANBUL: This illustration photograph shows a physical banknote and coin imitations of the Bitcoin crypto currency. – AFP n

Why crypto creators want to stay anonymous

WASHINGTON: The two lifelong friends from Florida never sought the limelight, but then they built a multi-million-dollar empire selling digital art and people wanted to know who they were. Under the pseudonyms "Gargamel" and "Gordon Goner", they created the "Bored Ape Yacht Club", a collection of 10,000 cartoons of apes with various hairstyles and outfits. They sell these images as digital tokens (NFTs), and it is now hard to get one for less...

ODESSA, Ukraine: Protesters carry a giant Ukrainian flag during a rally to show unity and support of Ukrainian integrity amid soaring tensions with Russia yesterday. - AFP

Moscow, Kyiv call for talks amid shellfire

KYIV: Ukraine and Russia both called yesterday for intensified diplomatic efforts to avert all-out war, but blamed each other for a sharp escalation in shelling on Kyiv's frontline with Moscow-backed separatists. After separate calls with France's President Emmanuel Macron, both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky pressed for more talks.Washington is warning a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent, and Macron's office...

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Queen catches 'mild' COVID soon after 70th 'versary

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II tested positive yesterday for COVID-19 but aides said her symptoms were "mild", as politicians wished Britain's longest-serving monarch a rapid recovery in her 70th year on the throne. In what is meant to be a banner year of Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the news comes at a stressful time for the 95-year-old queen with scandals stalking her two eldest sons, Charles and Andrew.The queen's heir Prince Charles, 73, tested...

GUBA, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed cuts the ribbon during the first power generation ceremony at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) yesterday. - AFP

Ethiopia dam starts power generation

GUBA, Ethiopia: Ethiopia began generating electricity from its mega-dam on the Blue Nile yesterday, a milestone in the controversial multibillion-dollar project. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, accompanied by high-ranking officials, toured the power station and pressed a series of buttons on an electronic screen, a move that officials said initiated production. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is set to be the largest hydroelectric scheme in...

OTTAWA: A flatbed removes a truck from the convoy after police cleared Wellington Street, previously occupied by the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. - AFP

Show of force in Ottawa as police clear protest hub

OTTAWA, Canada: Police in riot gear cleared the main protest hub in downtown Ottawa Saturday, using batons and pepper spray and making dozens of arrests, as they worked to flush out a hard core of demonstrators occupying the Canadian capital. In a day-long show of force, hundreds of officers pushed into the city center-facing off in tense scenes with determined protesters who hurled gas canisters and smoke grenades at advancing police, linking...

This handout picture released on Saturday shows Ukrainian servicemen of 36 separate brigades of marines taking part in exercises on Feb 18, 2022. – AFP

UK PM denies ending COVID law reckless

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied throwing "caution to the wind" as he prepares to end all pandemic-related legal restrictions in England, amid a political backlash and scientific unease. Johnson's premiership is in peril as police investigate a series of lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street, and he stands accused by opposition parties of seeking to distract public attention with the new COVID plan.But in a BBC...

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Protests against foreigners resurface in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG: They turned up in a mob of several hundred at a migrant centre in South Africa's Soweto township-unemployed, wielding weapons and angry with foreigners they accuse of taking their jobs. "Foreigners, go home," they cried, according to witnesses. With unemployment at 35 percent-and rising up to 65 percent among youth-competition for jobs has spawned resentment among some jobless South Africans.In the past, xenophobic protests have...

MULTAN: Muhammad Waseem (C), the brother of slain social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch, sits outside a shop after he was freed from jail in Multan. – AFP

Brother freed over 'honor killing' of Pakistani social media star

MULTAN, Pakistan: A Pakistani man who murdered his celebrity sister was freed on Saturday after a court ruled it was not an "honour killing", allowing their mother to pardon him, lawyers said. Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death in 2016 by her brother Muhammad Waseem, who described her suggestive behaviour on social media as "intolerable".In response to public outrage, Pakistan passed legislation supposedly closing a legal loophole that allowed...

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The price of love: Pandemic fuels romance scams

WASHINGTON: For years, Debby Montgomery Johnson didn't tell anyone she'd been scammed out of more than $1 million by a man with whom she believed she was in a loving, though virtual, relationship. "It should not have happened to me," the business owner and former Air Force officer told AFP from her home in Florida, a common refrain among those defrauded by someone they met online and grew to trust.But many tens of thousands of people are targeted...

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HATHRAS, India: Policemen carry a person who died in a melee during a sermon in Uttar Pradesh state on July 2, 2024. - AFP

Stampede at India religious event kills 116

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Travelers and experts explore best options

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BEIRUT: Lebanese Uber driver Hussein Khalil shows his GPS jammed geolocation as Gaza's southern city of Rafah, as he sits in his vehicle in Beirut's Hamra Street on June 11, 2024.- AFP

Zionist jamming disrupts Lebanon ground, air traffic

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GAZA: Displaced Palestinians from areas in east Khan Yunis flee after the Zionist army issued a new evacuation order for parts of the city and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on July 2, 2024. - AFP

Arabs reaffirm Zionist boycott

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NAVI MUMBAI, India: Billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani (front third left) along with his family attends a mass wedding ceremony at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai on July 2, 2024. -- AFP

Ambanis celebrate son’s nuptials with mass wedding