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DOLOW: This aerial view shows makeshift structures of people displaced by drought at the Ladan internally displaced people (IDP) camp in Dolow. More than a million Somalis have been displaced within their own country due to a ‘toxic’ mix of drought, conflict and floods, the UN and a charity said on May 24, 2023. – AFP

UN conference pledges $2.4 billion to head off famine in Horn of Africa

UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations-backed conference has raised $2.4 billion to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa, which is reeling from its worst drought in decades as global temperatures rise. The money will provide life-saving assistance for nearly 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the world body’s humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.“Famine has been averted, thanks in part to the tremendous efforts of local...

WASHINGTON: US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, speaks to the media about debt ceiling negotiations as he arrives at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, May 25, 2023. – AFP

Ratings agency Fitch put United States on notice

WASHINGTON: Ratings agency Fitch has put the United States on notice that its perfect credit rating could be jeopardized if the White House and Republican opposition fail to overcome their impasse on raising the nation’s borrowing limit, a week before a key deadline. Fitch placed the country’s AAA-ranked credit on “rating watch negative” - a move it said “reflects increased political partisanship that is hindering reaching a resolution...

FRANKFURT: ECB President Christine Lagarde (right) and her predecessors, former ECB presidents Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Trichet (center), cut a cake during celebrations of the European Central Bank ECB to mark its 25th anniversary at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.- AFP

ECB pledges to reduce inflation

FRANKFURT: European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde pledged to reduce high inflation in the eurozone as the institution that safeguards the euro marked its 25th anniversary. “For the ECB, our immediate and overriding priority is to bring inflation back down to our two percent medium-term target in a timely manner,” Lagarde told around 200 guests at an event to mark the occasion. “And we will do so,” she said, while warning that...

KUWAIT: (From left) Achraf Tamim, Hanan Zubaid, Hawazen Al Buaijan, Yousef Al Zahar, Fahad Al Mutairi, Shahad Al Barjas, Sandra, Farah Asaad, Ahmad Abdulmohsen take a group photo. - Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Volvo Cars Kuwait celebrates launch of first phase of sustainability initiative

KUWAIT: Volvo Cars Kuwait celebrates the launch of first phase of its sustainability initiative in their Retail Spaces. Sustainability is as important to Volvo Cars as safety. By working towards climate-neutrality, embracing the circular economy, and conducting business operations responsibly, Volvo is continuously working on protecting the planet and contributing to a fairer society.Volvo’s global retailers play a crucial role in projecting...

GOHEUNG, South Korea: This handout photo taken on May 25, 2023 shows South Korea's homegrown space rocket Nuri launching from the Naro Space Centre. - AFP

South Korea hails successful launch of homegrown rocket

SEOUL: South Korea said Thursday it had successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit, hailing a key step forward for the country’s burgeoning space program. It was the third launch of the Nuri, which successfully put test satellites into orbit last year after a failed 2021 attempt saw the rocket’s third-stage engine burn out too early.The three-stage rocket, more than 47 m long and weighing 200...

SYDNEY: This screen grab from a video shows people watching a fire on May 25, 2023. – AFP

Dramatic Sydney blaze consumes 7-storey building

SYDNEY: More than 130 firefighters battled towering flames and thick smoke Thursday as a huge blaze consumed an unoccupied seven-storey building in central Sydney. The flames appeared to be dying down as firefighters poured in water from multiple hoses two hours after the fire took hold in the vacant building near the Central Station railway hub.“We’re on top of the fire but it’s still burning,” NSW Fire and Rescue superintendent Adam...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: University students clean up plastics and other debris washed ashore at a port on May 21, 2023. – AFP

And now the weather: Cloudy with scattered showers of plastic

PARIS: Diplomats from 175 countries gathering in Paris for plastics treaty talks on Monday may want to pack an umbrella, but not just because there’s a chance of rain. France’s capital will also be showered during the five-day talks by billions of microplastic particles falling from the sky, according to the first-ever plastics pollution weather forecast.The predicted downpour will range between 40 and 48 kg of free-floating plastic bits...

US rapper Fetty Wap poses in the press room during the 2015 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, California.--AFP

US rapper Fetty Wap sentenced to six years for drug trafficking

American rapper Fetty Wap was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday for trafficking drugs across the United States. The “Trap Queen” rapper born Willie Junior Maxwell II had pleaded guilty last year to distributing and possessing cocaine. New York prosecutors said he was part of a ring of six men that distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey between June 2019...

Eurovision Song Contest winner Swedish singer Loreen holds the ESC trophy on stage to celebrate with fans at the Kungstradgarden park in Stockholm, Sweden.

‘Waterloo’ at Eurovision 2024? ABBA stars say ‘no way’

Two members of ABBA have insisted in an interview to air in Britain on Thursday that the Swedish pop icons won’t perform at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in their homeland. Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, one half of ABBA, downplayed the prospect despite Sweden hosting Eurovision on the 50th anniversary of the band’s win — the country’s first — with their breakthrough hit “Waterloo”. The Nordic nation is set to stage the...

Mohammad Rafi, a seller of colored pencils at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, reaches for a pencil at his shop.

Splash of color: Tehran bazaar’s pencil seller

In a dimly lit corner of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, Mohammad Rafi is surrounded by all colors of the rainbow in his tiny shop that sells nothing but art pencils. The world may have gone digital, but Rafi has stayed true to his passion of the past 35 years, surrounded by thousands of pencils in every hue and shade imaginable.With the pencils stacked from floor to ceiling, his tiny cubicle has become a photogenic splash of color, hidden deep in the...

US singer Tina Turner receives the Golden record award from Pathe Marconi chairman Guy Deluz (left) on October 8, 1986, in Paris.

Tina Turner : The raw power of rock and roll

Tina Turner, the growling songstress whose explosive stage presence electrified fans the world over, left an indelible mark on 20th-century rock with five decades of hits — first with husband Ike Turner, but most memorably as a wildly successful solo act. The Black eight-time Grammy winner lit up the stage from the 1960s onwards — and won a new generation of fans in a stunning comeback after escaping her violent marriage, making her popular...

SYDNEY: This screen grab from a video shows people watching a fire on May 25, 2023. – AFP

World mourns ‘simply the best’ Tina Turner

Tributes poured in on Thursday for Tina Turner, the trailblazing rocker whose powerful voice, electrifying stage presence, and personal story of triumph mesmerized global audiences for decades. Turner, an instantly recognizable performer whose popularity spanned generations, died on Wednesday at the age of 83 at her home in a plush Swiss suburb. Presidents, fellow singers and fans paid tribute to an explosive performer, whose popularity spanned...

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