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DUBLIN: People walk by Meta’s office in the business and financial sector of Dublin City centre on October 7, 2021. Facebook owner Meta has been fined a record 1.2 billion euros (.3 billion), Ireland’s regulator announced May 23, 2023. – AFP
Meta hit with 1.2bn euro fine over EU rules
DUBLIN: Facebook owner Meta has been fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for transferring EU user data to the United States in breach of a previous court ruling, Ireland’s regulator announced on Monday. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which acts on behalf of the European Union, said the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) had ordered it to collect “an administrative fine in the amount of 1.2 billion euros”.The DPC...
AMRITSAR: A man poses with Indian 2000 rupees currency notes outside a bank in Amritsar on May 20, 2023. -- AFP
India’s CB pulls highest value banknotes from circulation
MUMBAI: India’s central bank sought to calm the public after its decision to withdraw its highest-value currency notes from circulation triggered alarm about financial stability. The Reserve Bank of India announced on Friday that it would eliminate Rs 2,000 ($24) notes, instructing the public to exchange or deposit them at banks by the end of September.The RBI added the notes would remain legal tender, though it did not clarify for how long....
DEMOKAYA, Sudan: A Sudanese man shows freshly-harvested gum arabic resin on the tip of a 'sunki', in the state-owned Demokaya research forest some 30km east of El-Obeid. – AFP
Sudan war hits gum arabic business
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s war has left farmers of gum arabic, a vital ingredient for global industry including fizzy drinks, bereft of local buyers but a trade group assures global stocks are — for now — sufficient.The golden blobs of resin tapped from thorny acacia trees are an emulsifying agent used in everything from soft drinks to chewing gum and pharmaceuticals. Sudan is the world’s largest producer of the raw gum which is a major source of...
A man rowing a newly-constructed traditional 'meshhouf' wooden boat in the area of al-Huwair in the sub-district of al-Madinah in Iraq's southern Basra province.
Against the stream: Iraqi artist battles to save boating tradition
Young Iraqis row a flotilla of traditional wooden boats down the Tigris river in Baghdad, celebrating an ancient nautical heritage in the now drought-stricken country. Once a common sight across Iraq’s southern streams and marshlands, the elongated boats with tapered bows and sterns known as meshhouf have been around “since the time of the Sumerians”, said event organizer Rashad Salim. But the elegant water craft have long been vastly...
(From left to right) Opera singers Olesya Petrova, Christian Van Horn, George Gagnidze, conductor Paolo Carignani, Jorge de Leon and Leah Crocetto pose backstage after the final performance of Giuseppe Verdi's 'Aida' at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center.--AFP photos
War Horse: Classic ‘Aida’ at Met Opera takes a bow
After more than 260 performances, the Metropolitan Opera this week retired its “Aida” staging, phasing out one of the company’s last remaining holdovers from the last century. The production, which premiered in December 1988, has been praised as a faithful rendition of Giuseppe Verdi’s tragic saga that has long wowed audiences with its mammoth sets and extravagant costumes. But the prestigious New York cultural institution has been...
Omani poet and novelist Zahran Alqasmi.
Omani novel on water wins top Arabic fiction prize
Omani poet and novelist Zahran Alqasmi was named on Sunday winner of the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction with his book “The Water Diviner”. Alqasmi, 49, will receive $50,000, and the prize committee will provide funding to translate the novel into English, organizers of the annual award said on their website. “The Water Diviner” tells the story of Omani villager Salem bin Abdullah, hired by his community to find...
Cuban writer Anton Arrufat at his home in Havana, September 15, 2022, during an interview with AFP. Arrufat (87), a transcendent figure of Cuban culture, was one of the intellectuals marginalized for homosexuality, religious beliefs and political opinions in the 1970s. In a few days, Cuba will submit to referendum a new Family Code that, among other changes, will legalize same-sex marriage.
Cuban poet, playwright Arrufat dies at 87
Cuban poet and playwright Anton Arrufat, a renowned and multifaceted writer who won his country’s top literature prize, has died at age 87, the culture ministry announced Sunday. Born in Santiago de Cuba, Arrufat, also a member of the Cuban Academy of Language, as a youth was keen on literature and theatre and then studied languages at the University of Havana. “Sad news for Cuba: the great poet, storyteller and playwright Anton Arrufat,...
A carpenter hammers beams as he builds a traditional 'meshhouf' wooden boat at a workshop.
British musician finds his forte: Saving unwanted pianos
In a deserted former department store near the port of Leith in Edinburgh, Tim Vincent-Smith reaches inside a grand piano’s open top, his fingertips lightly plucking at the taut strings. The piano is one of hundreds rescued by the musician and his team of volunteers, as homes around Britain discard the instruments in favor of more space. Vincent-Smith’s aim is to refurbish as many pianos as possible before putting them up for “adoption”....
JEDDAH: Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (center), flanked by representatives of the Sudanese army and the rival Paramilitary Rapid Support forces, posing for a photograph after the signing of a ceasefire agreement on May 21, 2023. — AFP
Heavy clashes as Sudan truce agreed
KHARTOUM: Heavy clashes again rocked Sudan’s capital on Sunday hours after rival generals agreed to an upcoming one-week ceasefire, the latest in a series of truces that have been systematically violated. The ceasefire is set to take effect at 9.45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday, the United States and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah.It “shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the...
SAN SALVADOR: Supporters are helped by others following a stampede during a football match between Alianza and FAS at Cuscatlan stadium in San Salvador. – AFP
El Salvador soccer stadium stampede kills twelve
SAN SALVADOR: Twelve people were killed and hundreds injured Saturday in a stampede at an El Salvador soccer stadium, police and emergency services said. Authorities said initial reports pointed to a crush of fans who tried to enter Cuscatlan Stadium in the Central American country’s capital San Salvador to watch a local tournament match between teams Alianza and FAS.The match was suspended as emergency personnel evacuated people from the...
LOS ANGELES: Jamal Murray #27 of the Denver Nuggets drives to the basket against the Los Angeles Lakers during Game Three of the Western Conference Finals. – AFP
Murray sinks Lakers to put Nuggets on brink of reaching first NBA finals
LOS ANGELES: Jamal Murray scored 37 points as the Denver Nuggets routed the Los Angeles Lakers 119-108 on Saturday to move within one win of reaching the NBA finals for the first time in the team’s history. A dazzling first-half shooting performance from Denver point guard Murray laid the foundation for a deserved road win that leaves the Nuggets with a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals series.After claiming...
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden speaks about debt negotiations in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC.輸FP
Biden says Republican demands on debt ceiling ‘unacceptable’
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Sunday slammed Republican demands in negotiations to resolve the US debt ceiling standoff as “unacceptable” but said a solution can still be found before a disastrous default. Speaking at a press conference just before leaving to return to Washington from the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden said Republicans’ latest demands for spending cuts as a condition for raising the US government borrowing...
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Crackdown on visa violators
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Kuwait expands ‘open door’ policy to virtual domain
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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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Minister of Municipal Affairs Dr Noura Al-Mashaan and Head of the Municipal Council Abdullah Al-Mahari inspect the Darwazat Abdulrazzaq project. – KUNA photos
Darwaza Abdulrazzaq project set to reopen
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Interior cracks down on residency violators