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Photo shows the Eastern Express train passing through a snowy field near Kars. Festive garlands, red tablecloths and enticing bottles pop out the moment passengers clamber aboard the Eastern Express train before it glides off on an epic voyage across Turkey’s snow-capped plateaus along the Euphrates. Called Dogu Ekspresi in Turkish, the train offers one of the expansive country’s most coveted new experiences. — AFP photos

Bottles clinking, Turkish party train blazes through the night

Festive garlands, white tablecloths and enticing bottles appear the moment passengers board the Eastern Express for an epic journey across Turkey’s snow-capped Euphrates plateaus. Named the Turistik Dogu Ekspresi locally, the train offers one of the expansive country’s most coveted new experiences.Its nine carriages wind their way around mountain bends on a 32-hour, 1,300-kilometre voyage from the capital Ankara to Kars, an ancient city near...

WASHINGTON: View of the lounge area at the Wray building in Washington, DC. — AFP

Forget working from home: Why not live in an old office?

WASHINGTON: Blocks from the White House, an unassuming edifice in downtown Washington that once held offices used by the US Department of Justice is set to be converted into homes for hundreds of people. The transformation of the vacant office space is among a surge of “adaptive reuse” projects that swept the US property market in 2021, where developers bought hotels and offices that were struggling to get business and announced plans to turn...

WASHINGTON: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks to reporters during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill. — AFP

Some in Congress seek to ban US lawmakers from trading stocks

WASHINGTON: Capitol Hill has begun to debate whether to ban US lawmakers from trading stocks, but despite some rare bi-partisan unity on the question it is far from settled. Legislation introduced earlier this month by Democratic senators Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Mark Kelly of Arizona would require members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children to place their investments in a blind trust. “Members of Congress should not be playing...

A diver (right) performs an underwater lion dance at the Aquaria KLCC oceanarium in Kuala ahead of the Lunar New Year, which marks the Year of the Tiger. — AFP photos

Underwater lion dance at Malaysian aquarium ahead of Lunar New Year

With fish and turtles swimming around them, divers performed an underwater lion dance in a Malaysian aquarium on Friday, in a fresh take on the traditional Lunar New Year performance. Two people wearing a multi-colored lion suit performed in one of the tanks at Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur, as musicians played cymbals and drums outside.Turtles and colorful fish glided past the lion as it lumbered around in front of a rock formation. “The underwater...

An injured stray dog rests in a cage at the Baghdad Animal Rescue, west of the capital Baghdad. Iraq is trying to emerge from almost two decades of conflict and has been mired in a political and economic crisis, and animal welfare is far from a priority either for most people or for the authorities. — AFP photos

Stray animals find solace at animal shelter in Iraq

Bella the dog can barely stand after being abused, but she is now receiving care from a Baghdad refuge that hopes to become Iraq’s first veterinary clinic for stray animals. The Baghdad Animal Rescue opened around a week ago, and Bella, a nervous fox-like dog who raises her muzzle for strokes while still shaking in fear, seems in caring hands.“We are going to care for all kinds of animals and release them when they’re well,” said Nazik,...

LONDON: A volunteer uses a trolley to take food products to a car before heading out on a delivery from the Trussell Trust’s Norwood and Brixton Foodbank located in St Margaret’s the Queen Church in Brixton south London. — AFP

‘Heating or eating’: Britons struggle with rising costs

COLCHESTER, UK: Nestled amid superstores at a retail park, the Colchester Foodbank in eastern England last year gave out a total of 165 tons of food-enough to feed 17,000 people.But that could be surpassed this year, as British annual inflation hits a 30-year high of 5.4 percent in December, as real wages fall, and food and energy costs rise. “We think we’re likely to feed 20,000 people in 2022,” said foodbank manager Mike Beckett. “If...

Photo shows French climber Charles Dubouloz as he ascends the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc range. —AFP

Dubouloz joins the mountain greats with solo climb of grandes jorasses

After six days and five nights fighting against the freezing wind, being “glued to the ice”, barely sleeping, hardly eating, Charles Dubouloz is still on a high. The French mountain guide may be suffering from intense fatigue and frostbite, especially on his hands, but his eyes sparkle as he smiles-he has just conquered the world.“I wanted to take a nice trip without taking the plane,” he chuckled as he spoke to AFP on Wednesday after...

Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi poses in front of a painting representing Pope Gregorio XV, at the Casino dell’Aurora inside the Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi in Rome.

The Caravaggio, the American princess and a bitter family dispute

Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi has the rarest of guilty pleasures: gazing up at the world’s only Caravaggio mural, as she practices yoga in her Roman villa. But those days of stretching and contorting under a depiction of the gods may soon be over. The villa in central Rome is up for auction due to a bitter inheritance dispute. Now she’s hoping the Italian government will step in to purchase it-and let her remain living in...

Dialika Sane (center), trainer at the Kourtrajme Dakar film school, speaks during a course with the learners on scriptwriting in Dakar. — AFP photos

Ground-breaking film school gets down to work in Senegal

It’s the tale of a boy who cheats on his fiancee - one misdeed too many in a selfish life - and in desperation turns to a genie for help. The genie gives the errant lad five magic cowrie shells to wipe the slate clean... but these will only work if he uses them wisely. This is the idea for a script pitched by Kine Niang, a 30-year-old student screenwriter at new film school in Senegal that hopes to unlock Africa’s movie-making potential....

WASHINGTON: World Bank President David Malpass on Wednesday drew a contrast between the deal and the amount of money rich nations have pledged to help poor countries facing higher debt loads.

Retirements common factor in US, UK labor shortage: IMF

WASHINGTON: An exodus of older workers is the “common thread” behind the baffling labor shortages faced by companies in the United States and Britain, the IMF concluded in a report released Wednesday. The “mismatch” between job openings and workers’ willingness to do those jobs, especially low-paying positions, also plays a role, but pandemic aid payments were not a big factor keeping workers away, the International Monetary Fund found...

LEICESTER, England: Tottenham Hotspur’s Dutch midfielder Steven Bergwijn (L) scores his team’s second goal during the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur at King Power Stadium in Leicester. —AFP

Never say die Spurs delight Conte with Leicester late show

LEICESTER: Antonio Conte said he saw the spirit he is trying to implement at Tottenham after Steven Bergwijn scored twice deep into stoppage time to stun Leicester with thrilling 3-2 win on Wednesday. The Foxes looked set to snatch victory against the run of play as Patson Daka and James Maddison struck either side of Harry Kane’s first-half equaliser.However, Bergwijn, who had not scored a Premier League goal this season, came off the bench to...

WENGEN, Switzerland: Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde competes during the men’s FIS Ski World Cup Super G event in Wengen, Switzerland. —AFP

Norwegian Kilde leads racers in pre-Olympic Kitzbuehel test

KITZBUHEL, Austria: As a warm-up for the Beijing Olympics, it does not get any tougher: The men’s World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel, the most prestigious course on the circuit, but also widely regarded as the most testing.Just weeks out from the February 4-20 Winter Games, skiers will take to the thigh-trembling 3.3km-long Streif course on the Hahnenkamm mountain in the knowledge that nothing can be held back on a piste where the vertiginous...

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ADDIS ABABA: Pedestrians walk past old Lada cars parked and ready to carry goods in the vicinity of a busy market in Addis Ababa. – AFP photos

The last of Ethiopia’s Soviet-era Lada cars

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KUWAIT: Kuwait’s new Amir HH Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah salutes as he swears in before lawmakers as the country’s 17th Amir, at the Kuwaiti parliament, on December 20, 2023 in Kuwait City. - Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Amir’s first year leading Kuwait drives development and unity

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KUWAIT: Cabinet ministers convene for their weekly meeting on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium. — KUNA

Cabinet approves MoU with China to accelerate Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port

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Floating diwaniya on a yacht trip.

Kuwait’s hidden appeal

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A design of a bridge with the sea stretching on both sides.

Vision for a sustainable Kuwait