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Women check gold sets and pendants at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition in Doha. —AFP photos

Qatari businesswoman sparkles at Doha show

A Qatari businesswoman has turned heads at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, pitting herself against giants of the industry while also bucking trends in the conservative country. Noora al-Ansari - a Qatari woman running her own company and dealing with customers herself - is a rarity in the wealthy Gulf state, where a growing number of women work but few have made their name in business. Since opening her first Papillon store in the...

BENGALURU: United States' Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen addresses the media during a news conference on the second day of the second meeting of the G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies under Indiaís G20 Presidency in Bengaluru on February 23, 2023. — AFP

G7 mulls new Russia sanctions

KYIV: G7 ministers on Thursday discussed imposing fresh sanctions on Russia on the eve of the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, as the UN General Assembly prepared to vote on a motion calling for “lasting” peace.The year-long conflict has devastated swathes of Ukraine, turned Russia into a pariah in the West and according to Western sources, has caused 150,000 casualties on each side. The approach of the first anniversary...

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Hong Kong exchange reports IPO drought in 2022 as profits slide

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s stock exchange last year saw the fewest new listings in more than a decade, it said Thursday as the city struggles to emerge from pandemic isolation and kickstart an economic recovery. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) reported 90 initial public offerings during 2022, raking in HK$104.6 billion ($13.3 billion), a fall of almost 70 percent from the previous year.Before the pandemic, Hong Kong’s bourse was often...

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Tight financing conditions challenge frontier markets’ credit strength

WASHINGTON: Recent improvement in financing conditions is positive for many emerging market (EM) issuers, with inflation, yields and spreads all somewhat lower since November 2022. Nevertheless, hopes for rate cuts in the US (Aaa stable) in the near term are likely misplaced, while China’s (A1 stable) rebound will not provide the same broad-based benefits as in previous cycles. Financing conditions will remain tight, with frontier economies...

Employees pose with an artwork entitled ‘Dance on the Beach’ (The Reinhardt Frieze) by Edvard Munch, during a photocall at Sotheby’s auction house in central London.— AFP photos

Kandinsky work among masterpieces at London auction

A newly restored masterpiece by Wassily Kandinsky, “Murnau Mit Kirche II”, will be auctioned in London on March 1, alongside a Munch and a Kupka once owned by Sean Connery. Valued at $45 million (42 million euros), the 1910 Kandinsky painting heralded the Russian master’s move towards abstraction. Measuring around one meter (three feet) by one meter, it offers a colorful vision of the German village of Murnau, with its pointed roofs and...

This handout photo shows the Neronian tiny points found in Grotte Mandrin were which experimentally reproduced using the same flint and replicating the same technologies. — AFP photos

Homo sapiens in Europe used bow-and-arrow 54,000 years ago

A cave in southern France has revealed evidence of the first use of bows and arrows in Europe by modern humans some 54,000 years ago, far earlier than previously known. The research, published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, pushes back the age of archery in Europe by more than 40,000 years.The use of the bow-and-arrow in Africa has been documented to date back some 70,000 years. But the oldest previous evidence of archery in Europe...

CARDIFF: Wales playing England at home is one of the stand-out fixtures of the Six Nations, a fierce rivalry between neighbors that sees thousands fill Cardiff for a day of rugby, drinks and cheer. Past matches have etched some of the most iconic moments in rugby history in both countries, a centuries-old ritual that has evoked high emotion since the initial game back in 1881.nIn his autobiography “Number Nine Dream”, ex-Wales scrum-half Rob Howley wrote: “As anyone who has ever played in an England-Wales game will tell you, the rivalry and intensity is unparalleled. It certainly doesn’t need the players or the pressmen to throw fuel on the fire.” “Look what these bastards have done to Wales,” talismanic ex-Wales fly-half Phil Bennett infamously told his teammates before the 1977 match against England they went on to win 14-9.nWales, Bennett said, had been “exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English”, citing natural resources diverted to England and the scourge of holiday homes among other gripes. Acrimony and animosity are generally far from the spirit of the average rugby union fan, supporters of both teams are more interested in good-natured banter than jibes based on perceived socio-economic and political exploitation, but the edge nevertheless remains. The fact Saturday’s Wales-England match nearly did not go ahead has left many in both countries astounded, with even Wales captain Ken Owens saying the country were the “laughing stock” of world rugby.nnStrike avertednA potential strike by Welsh players over contractual issues was averted just on Wednesday. The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) were left staring at massive losses had the game not gone ahead. An estimate of up to £9 million ($11m) lost by the WRU is more than doubled for the Welsh capital’s businesses on match day. “I’m pleased to announce that after extensive conversations and discussions over the last week the Wales-England game will go ahead as scheduled,” said Nigel Walker, the acting WRU chief executive.nAll professional players in Wales were invited to a meeting to discuss issues with the Professional Rugby Board (PRB), which handles contractual issues, on Wednesday - a deadline set by Welsh players for progress on the matter. Many of the players’ existing deals at the four Welsh regional sides expire at the end of the season. A new financial agreement between the four Welsh regions - Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets - and the WRU is set to be in place from next week.nAnd there was compromise on a number of issues including reducing to 25 the controversial 60-cap minimum Test selection rule for players at clubs outside of Wales, guaranteed representation at PRB board meetings and the inclusion of a solely fixed contract alongside fixed-variable hybrid contracts (80 per cent in set wages, with 20 per cent as bonus payments).n“Everybody in Welsh rugby really needs to pull together now to find the best way forward and we need to do it collaboratively, together, to put Welsh rugby back at the top end of world rugby and not the laughing stock which I think we are at the moment,” Wales skipper Owens said. Welsh fans will now hope that the players can put a troubled week behind them come Saturday at the Principality Stadium. Owens, while admitting that the dispute had been “a distraction”, vowed: “When we have crossed that white line at training, we’ve prepared well and done our work as professional players. We are ready for Saturday.n“We have fronted up in training and prepared as we would for any Test match and are looking forward to going toe-to-toe with England.” Wales coach Warren Gatland will now unveil his 23-man squad for the England clash on Thursday after cancelling Tuesday’s scheduled team announcement, with everyone hoping the focus switches to what should be a mouth-watering match in the third round of the Six Nations. —AFP

Six Nations sigh of relief as Wales-England to go ahead

CARDIFF: Wales playing England at home is one of the stand-out fixtures of the Six Nations, a fierce rivalry between neighbors that sees thousands fill Cardiff for a day of rugby, drinks and cheer. Past matches have etched some of the most iconic moments in rugby history in both countries, a centuries-old ritual that has evoked high emotion since the initial game back in 1881.In his autobiography “Number Nine Dream”, ex-Wales scrum-half Rob...

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Somaliland clashes kill at least 96 in two weeks: Hospital

MOGADISHU: At least 96 people have been killed in more than two weeks of clashes between security forces and clan members in the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland, a hospital director said Thursday. “We have 96 dead and 560 wounded,” Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, director of the main hospital in the contested town of Las Anod, told AFP by telephone.Garaad Jama Garaad Ali, a senior clan chief, had said on Wednesday that 150 people had been killed...

An aerial photo shows the small island of San Biagio, off Manerba del Garda, Lake Gard.

Lake Garda tourists flock to island reconnected by drought

On foot or by bike, visitors stream across the narrow path connecting the small island to the edge of Lake Garda, a symbol of the winter drought hitting northern Italy. Dotted with cypresses and rocky white beaches, San Biagio island was in the past only accessible by boat. But historically low waters on the lake have revealed a sand and stone causeway-and tourists are flocking to the site.“It’s a beautiful sight, but sad at the same time,...

View of footprints of black shell female collectors at a mangrove swamp near the town of Aserradores, Pacific Coast of Nicaragua.

When men won’t ‘get dirty’, Nicaraguan women dig for cockles

From a young age, Elena Martinez and other female residents of Aserradores, a small fishing community in eastern Nicaragua, learn to navigate the dense mangrove forest to extract a black mollusc from deep under the mud. Every few days, they leave home at dawn to row about two kilometers (1.2 miles) in a fishing boat to the mangroves, where they crawl through gnarly branches knee-deep in mud, digging for the delicacy by hand.While keeping food on...

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Isa Cultural Center offers unique journey into Bahrain’s past, present

Isa Cultural Center (ICC) takes visitors on a journey featuring Kingdom of Bahrain’s past and present while also highlighting future aspirations. ICC is a unique architectural edifice of its kind, combining originality of traditional architecture and sophisticated technology. The ICC, named after the late Amir Sheikh Isa Al-Khalifa, is one of Bahrain’s leading cultural institutions that offered services in intellectual, cultural and...

Kuwait Padel player Aziz Mayoof

BNK Padel Open tournament places Kuwait on global map

Bader Al-Kharafi is flanked by padel players Ahmed Rabeaa, Aziz Mayoof and Paquito NavarroBader Al-Kharafi (center) and his son Nasser with Abdullah Bouftin and his sons Abdulrahman and AhmedBader Al-Kharafi (center) with member of the board of Kuwait Olympic Committee Fatma Hayat, member of Padel Union Ali Hayat and Kuwaiti players Mariam Sarraj and Dana Al-FulaijBader Al-Kharafi (right) and Chairperson of the women's sports committee and member...

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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

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