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This file photo shows Sudanese Amira Osman Hamed speaking with an AFP journalist during an interview in Khartoum. — AFP
Sudan women’s activist wins human rights prize
Sudanese women’s activist Amira Osman Hamed has won a Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, the organisation announced Friday. The activist and engineer, now in her forties, has been advocating for Sudanese women for two decades, and was detained this year in a crackdown following the country’s latest coup.She was among defenders from Afghanistan, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Mexico who also received the 2022 award for Human...
In this file photo actor Ray Liotta arrives for the world premiere of Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted,” at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California.
‘Goodfellas’ actor Ray Liotta dead at 67
Actor Ray Liotta, who starred in Martin Scorsese’s gangster classic “Goodfellas,” has died suddenly in the Dominican Republic, officials and police said Thursday. He was 67. Liotta, whose blistering turn as real-life mobster Henry Hill in Scorsese’s crime masterpiece won universal admiration, was shooting a new film in the country when he died in his sleep. Police said emergency services were called early Thursday morning to a hotel in...
Vampires gather in the grounds of Whitby Abbey during a Guinness world record attempt to gather the largest number of vampires together in one place, in Whitby, north-east England. — AFP photos
‘Fang-tastic’: Dracula fans in UK set new world record
Author Bram Stoker only had one bloodthirsty creature of the undead in mind when a visit to the seaside Yorkshire town of Whitby inspired “Dracula”. But to mark the 125th anniversary of the chilling book’s publication, 1,369 people have gathered to break the world record for the largest crowd of vampires. They needed to stand together in the same place for five minutes to break the Guinness record, which previously stood at 1,039 people set...
KFH, KFH Turkey and KFH Capital officials with the awards.
KFH wins 8 prestigious awards from Islamic Finance News
KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House Group (KFH Group) won eight prestigious awards from Islamic Finance News (IFN) thus representing the largest number of awards received by a banking group from a single entity.  The award “Best Islamic Bank in Kuwait 2021” took the lead among the eight awards. They included also best three “Deals of The Year” awards organized by the group in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. There were other newly created...
HOSTOMEL, Ukraine: This handout picture released Friday by Maxar satellite image shows a burning city market grocery store and damaged residential buildings, in Hostomel northwest of Kyiv. — AFP
Boosting Ukraine’s anti-air batteries proves easier said than done
WASHINGTON: Joe Biden has promised to help Ukraine get air defense systems with a longer range than the shoulder-borne Stinger missiles already on the ground, but finding the powerful anti-missile batteries Ukraine’s military so urgently needs is proving easier said than done. The US president, who wants to support Ukraine militarily without entering into direct conflict with Russia, is seeking to provide better defenses against the Russian...
BLACKPOOL, UK: Commemorative souvenir mugs featuring depictions of former Conservative Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher (left) and Winston Churchill are pictured for sale at the Conservative Party Spring Conference, at Blackpool Winter Gardens in Blackpool, north-west England on Friday. — AFP
Freud, a ‘mad’ president and a century of European diplomacy
PARIS: Finding a lost manuscript by Sigmund Freud has caused a French historian to revisit a key moment in European diplomacy 100 years ago that reverberates today as war returns to the continent. “Le President est-il devenu fou?” (Has the president gone mad?) by Patrick Weil takes a fresh look at US president Woodrow Wilson (1913-21), who helped forge the Treaty of Versailles after World War I and tried to establish lasting peace through the...
ZHANGJIAKOU, China: File photo shows a worker using a torch to cut steel pipes near the coal-powered Datang International Zhangjiakou Power Station at Zhangjiakou, in China’s northern Hebei province. — AFP
China’s Congress to focus on boosting slowing economy
BEIJING: A property downturn, slowing economy and war in Ukraine loom large over this week’s annual convening of China’s legislature, with policymakers expected to focus on shoring up faltering growth. The rubber-stamp parliament starting Saturday in Beijing gathers some 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress (NPC) for highly choreographed meetings over bills, budgets and personnel changes.The ruling Communist Party uses the...
PORTOVAYA BAY: File photo shows a Russian construction worker speaking on a mobile phone in Portovaya Bay, during a ceremony marking the start of Nord Stream pipeline construction.
Germany begins slow move away from Russian gas
BERLIN: The invasion of Ukraine has thrown Germany’s problematic dependence on Russian gas into stark relief, forcing Europe’s largest economy to urgently reshape its energy mix. In a previously unthinkable step for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s young government, the crisis even has politicians considering delaying Germany’s planned exit from nuclear energy and coal to keep the lights on. “We will change course to overcome our import...
WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell testifies about ‘monetary policy and the state of the economy’ before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington, DC. — AFP
Equities rise as Powell soothes rate fears
HONG KONG, China: Stocks rose yesterday after Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said the bank would hike interest rates gradually to fight inflation, though oil marched towards $120 as the Ukraine conflict continues to roil energy markets. With the Russian invasion of its neighbour hammering all assets across the board as uncertainty reigns supreme, traders were given a much-needed shaft of light on Wednesday when the Fed boss eased concerns...
Silvio Parrello, dubbed ‘Er Pecetto’, poses past Pasolini’s pictures on the wall of his artist’s workshop in Monteverde district in Rome.— AFP
Who killed Pasolini? Italy still questions century after birth
Provocative Italian filmmaker and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini had no shortage of enemies, but half a century after his brutal murder on a beach, his death remains a mystery. Italy marks the 100th anniversary on March 5 of the birth of one of its leading left-wing intellectuals, while a retrospective of his estimated two dozen movies is planned in Los Angeles.But the most crucial questions that have gripped Italy since his mangled body was found on a...
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Kim Kardashian, Kanye West finalize divorce
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Kanye West officially ended Wednesday when a Los Angeles judge finalized her divorce from the rapper now known as Ye. Kardashian appeared before the court virtually but Ye was represented only by his lawyer, who brought no objection to the end of the marriage.Ye had publicly fought the separation, including with social media posts imploring Kardashian to reconcile. Kardashian filed for divorce last...
A person takes images of a model of the Sagrada Familia Basilica using a smartphone by Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company Oppo in the MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona. — AFP photos
Foldable future: Smartphones return to design classic
The “snap!” of a shutting phone is the nostalgic sound resonating from the giant stands of Samsung, Oppo and Huawei at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. Star of the early 2000s, the flip-phone is making a comeback, with the big names of the industry hoping the high-tech new version-the foldable smartphone-is on the verge of going mainstream. As production costs start to fall, analysts expect a tenfold increase in sales by...