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ARLINGTON: In this file photo, American Airline planes sit on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. — AFP
American, United Airlines report loss on COVID drag
NEW YORK: American Airlines reported another quarterly loss yesterday after the latest COVID-19 surge dented demand at the end of the year, but said consumers were booking more trips for the spring. The big US carrier echoed rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in citing the Omicron wave of Covid-19 as a recent drag that has depressed bookings early in 2022.But American has seen an uptick in reservations beyond the next 60 days, Chief...
KIBUYE, Rwanda: Cyprien Bigirimana, a maintenance technician, seen inside the barge extracting methane gas on Lake Kivu, at the Kivuwatt power plant in Kibuye, Karongi District, in the Western Province of Rwanda.— AFP
Peril and promise: Gas from ‘killer lake’ powers Rwanda
KIBUYE, Rwanda: The engineers aboard the floating power station on Lake Kivu could only watch nervously as the volcano in the distance erupted violently, sending tremors rumbling through the water beneath them. It was not the lava shooting from Mount Nyiragongo last May that spooked them, but the enormous concentrations of potentially explosive gases within Kivu, one of Africa’s great Rift lakes lying between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic...
File photo shows Afghan men working at a site near the Minaret of Jam. An 800-year-old minaret considered one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in Afghanistan was damaged by two earthquakes this week and is in danger of collapse, an official said. — AFP
Ancient Afghan minaret in danger of ‘collapse’ after quakes
An 800-year-old minaret considered one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in Afghanistan was damaged by two earthquakes this week and is in danger of collapse, an official has said. The Minaret of Jam, a UNESCO world heritage monument in the central province of Ghor, was in desperate need of repair even before Monday’s quakes, but provincial official Abdul Hai Zaeem told AFP the 65-metre (213-foot) structure had weakened...
A general view of the dog park called Muizenbark, inside the facility of @Frits, a dog hotel, in Cape Town on December 14, 2021. - Wealthier South Africans take their dogs to doggy daycares or fancy dog hotels while they are away. (Photo by Alessandro iovino / AFP)
South Africa’s luxury dog hotels give paws for thought
Three dachshunds lay claim to a big bed, while an agitated mongrel yaps constantly and a miniature schnauzer appears disgruntled despite soothing Bob Marley tunes playing over the stereo. It’s just another morning at SuperWoof, a luxury dog hotel in South Africa’s city of Cape Town, where the wealthy check in their canines for some serious pampering.Should the dogs feel like a sundowner later, drinks are available in little bottles of...
The artistic director Carlo Chatrian (R) and managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, of the International Berlin Film Festival Berlinale pose for photographers during a media event. — AFP
Berlin filmfest to go forward in person as COVID surges
The Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year, will take place next month as an in-person event, organisers confirmed Wednesday, just as the Omicron wave is expected to peak in Germany. Surprising some observers expecting it to go online for the second year running, the Berlinale announced a programme with 18 films in competition. It includes new movies from France’s Francois Ozon and Claire Denis, “Carol” screenwriter...
File photo shows Vogue Editor-at-Large Andre Leon†Talley†arrives at the Saint-Roch church in Paris, to attend the funeral mass held by father Roland Letteron for fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent. — AFP
Former Vogue creative director Andre Leon Talley dies at 73
NEW YORK: Influential fashion journalist Andre Leon Talley, the first Black creative director of Vogue, died Tuesday in New York at the age of 73, with figures from fashion and entertainment paying tribute. “It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Andre Leon Talley,” a statement posted on his official Instagram account said, without specifying the cause of death.“Mr Talley was the larger-than-life, longtime creative director at...
File photo shows (L-R) Actor Kevin Costner, producer/writer Taylor Sheridan, and actors Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille, and Gil Birmingham of ‘Yellowstone’ speak onstage during the Paramount Network portion of the 2018 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena. — AFP photos
‘Yellowstone’: from ‘red state’ to ‘every state’ TV hit
With its gun-totin’ heroes, elegiac shots of rodeo horses and disparaging jokes about Californians, “Yellowstone” might appear to be a television show aimed squarely at America’s conservative heartland. But the Kevin Costner-fronted Western, which blends soapy melodrama with brutal vigilante violence, has become a rare crossover hit, bridging the stark cultural divisions of the United States.The show follows the wealthy Dutton family,...
Participants try to control a bull during an annual bull taming event ëJallikattuí in Palamedu village on the outskirts of Madurai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Indian cowboys grab the bull by the horns at Jallikattu
Teams of daring young men grappled in the dirt with furious bucking bulls on Monday at an often-lethal Indian festival that has been a proverbial red rag to animal rights activists. “Jallikattu,” or the taming of the bulls, is a hugely popular annual event in Tamil Nadu state, where revelers wrestle the beasts into submission as they run past crowds of people. The animals, often festooned with marigold flowers, are released from pens and...
Photos show staff member Kimiko Osawa making crafts for a welfare trade shop that sells items made by hand by people with various disabilities across Japan, in the city of Hachioji in Tokyo. — AFP photos
Japan’s ‘invisible’ disabled artisans fight for spotlight
In a trendy Tokyo neighborhood, customers browse the wares at Majerca, a shop stocked with handmade items from scarves to glassware, all produced by people with disabilities. The shop, and the workshops where the items were produced, are part of a small but burgeoning movement in Japan aiming to promote work by people with impairments. Despite being the only country to host the Paralympics twice, and the government’s public commitment to...
Horsemen ride through a bonfire in the village of San Bartolome de Pinares in the province of Avila in central Spain, during the traditional religious festival of ëLas Luminariasí in honor of San Antonio Abad (Saint Anthony), patron saint of animals. — AFP photos
In ancient rite, Spanish horses brave fire to fight virus
At full gallop, the horse emerges from the darkness and races through a string of bonfires in an ancient ritual to ward off sickness performed every January in a tiny Spanish village. Known as Luminarias, the festival takes place every January 16 in San Bartolome de Pinares, a village perched high in the hills about 100 kilometers west of Madrid.By the light of an almost full moon, several local officials are sweating copiously, despite freezing...
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Qasr Iraq Al-Amir: Hallmark of Hellenistic architecture
Qasr Iraq Al-Amir, an ancient sight located on the outskirts of Jordanian capital of Amman is considered a hallmark of Hellenistic era architecture as it is most notable for its large stone masses. The naming, Iraq Al-Amir, is of Sumerian origins and the word “Iraq” means cave. It is named so as the area is riddled with caves, and similar in properties to Iraq Al-Dub area in Ajlun northwest of the country.The palace is believed to have been...
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic
Djokovic could be barred from French Open over vaccine
PARIS: Novak Djokovic could be barred from playing in the French Open under current rules after the sports ministry said yesterday that elite sportspeople would need to be vaccinated to perform in France. The ministry said a new vaccine pass, approved by the French parliament on Sunday, “applies to everyone, to volunteers and to elite sportspeople, including those coming from abroad, until further notice.” The unvaccinated Djokovic was...