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COLOMBO:Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa meets with State Councilor and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who was paying an official visit to Sri Lanka.—AFP

Sri Lanka rules out IMF bailout, seeks new China loan

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka ruled out an IMF bailout yesterday and said it plans to seek another loan from China to address an economic crisis that has led to food and fuel shortages. The island’s tourism-dependent economy has been battered by the pandemic, with supermarkets rationing goods and rolling blackouts imposed by power utilities unable to fund oil imports.International rating agencies have warned of a looming sovereign default on Sri Lanka’s...

SHENYANG, China: Residents visit a market in Shenyang in China’s northeastern Liaoning province yesterday. — AFP

China inflation eases in December, providing opportunity for rate cuts

BEIJING: Inflation in China eased in December thanks to falling food and commodity costs, with analysts saying yesterday figures give policymakers room to unveil measures to kickstart the stuttering economy including interest rate cuts. Like most other countries, China has seen prices surge for much of the past year owing to pick-up in the cost of energy, putting pressure on an economy also being battered by a crisis in the key, growth-driving...

In this file photo, Kim Kardashian’s husband rapper Kanye West performs during his concert in central Yerevan early. The mercurial Kanye West anticipates traveling to Moscow later this year, according to a Billboard article published - a trip that will see him hold a Sunday Service performance and meet with President Vladimir Putin. — AFP

Kanye West planning to perform in Russia, meet Putin

The mercurial Kanye West anticipates traveling to Moscow later this year, according to Billboard, a trip that will see him hold a Sunday Service performance and meet with President Vladimir Putin. West heads to Russia as he works on new business deals with Aras Agalarov - the Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire businessman with ties to Donald Trump - and Agalarov’s musician son Emin, the music outlet said, citing West’s advisor Ameer Sudan.“He...

Takuma Iwasa, Shiftall CEO, demonstrates Haritora X, a full body tracking system for VR, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. A jacket equipped with sensors that let wearers feel hugs or even punches encountered in virtual reality was among the innovations giving the metaverse a more realistic edge at the Consumer Electronics Show. — AFP photos

Body-monitoring technology trend comes with concerns

A ring shimmers on display at the Consumer Electronics Show, but this is no mere piece of jewelry - it’s packed with sensors capable of detecting body temperature, respiration and much more. Startups at the annual gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas touted technology-enhanced accessories designed to look fetching on the outside while scrutinizing what is happening on the inside of wearers. “We want to democratize personal health,” said Amaury...

An aerial picture shows stalls in the first camel hotel during the sixth edition of the King Abdulazziz Camel Festival in Rumahi region some 160km east of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Hot milk and grooming for camels at Saudi luxury ‘hotel’

With heated stalls and hot milk, life couldn’t get more glamorous for Saudi Arabia’s most beautiful camels when they stay at a luxury compound near Riyadh. For 400 riyals (just over $100) a night, the camels are trimmed, scrubbed and pampered before taking part in beauty contests, where millions of dollars are at stake. The camels, many of which are rented, are checked closely for Botox and other illegal enhancements which could see them...

In this file photo, an Oscars statue is displayed on the red carpet area on the eve of the 92nd Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. — AFP

Oscars will have a host again in 2022

The Oscars will have a host for the first time since 2018, broadcaster ABC said Tuesday, after television ratings for film’s biggest night have plummeted in recent years. The 94th Academy Awards, scheduled for March 27, will see Tinseltown’s most important prize-giving event return to its traditional Dolby Theatre venue in Hollywood.Last year’s unorthodox edition, held at a Los Angeles train station with no host, was watched by just over 10...

Residents ride past incense sticks drying on a street in Quang Phu Cau village on the outskirts of Hanoi.

COVID pall over Vietnam’s pink incense village as the Lunar New Year nears

Vietnam’s “incense village” is dazzling pink as workers prepare the fragrant sticks for the Lunar New Year holiday, but strict rules to stop the spread of COVID-19 are dulling its lustre. January is usually the busiest time of year for workers in Quang Phu Cau village on the outskirts of Hanoi, where the tradition of making incense goes back more than a century.As Vietnam’s Tet new-year holiday approaches - this year it begins on February...

Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka

Tearful Sabalenka melts down; Open warm-up in tatters

ADELAIDE: World number two Aryna Sabalenka’s Australian Open preparations were in tatters yesterday when she self-destructed for the second week in a row and was almost unable to serve at an Adelaide warm-up event. A week after her delivery deserted her at the first of two Adelaide lead-in tournaments, Sabalenka suffered the same fate as she was stunned in three sets by world number 93 Rebecca Peterson 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.Sabalenka dished up 21...

MELBOURNE: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic takes part in a training session in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament yesterday, a day after a court overturned the Australian government’s decision to cancel his visa on COVID-19 vaccination grounds. — AFP

Djokovic trains as Australian Open dream hangs in balance

MELBOURNE: Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic trained at the Australian Open venue yesterday for his attempt to win a record 21st Grand Slam but his dream hung in the balance as the government pondered cancelling his visa, again. The world number one had scored a surprise courtroom victory the day before, overturning the Australian government’s decision to cancel his visa on COVID-19 vaccination grounds.But the immigration minister said he may...

BERLIN: Incoming German Central Bank head Joachim Nagel poses with his certificate of appointment presented to him by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not in picture) at the presidential Bellevue palace in Berlin.— AFP

New German CB chief warns ECB to watch inflation

FRANKFURT: Monetary policy in the eurozone needs to “be on its guard” in the face of record inflation, new Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said yesterday, placing himself in the institution’s hawkish tradition.“The risk right now is that inflation rates stay elevated for longer than currently expected,” Nagel said at an event to mark the handover from his inflation-wary predecessor Jens Weidmann. “In any case, monetary policy must...

BERLIN: German Minister of Economics and Climate Protection Robert Habeck presents a chart on the development of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany during a press conference yesterday in Berlin. — AFP

Germany vows to speed up green energy projects in ‘gigantic’ effort

FRANKFURT: Germany’s Climate and Energy minister Robert Habeck yesterday pledged to drastically ramp up renewable energy projects in the coming years, saying the country faced a “gigantic” task to meet climate protection goals.Germany needs to become “more efficient and faster” in the fight against climate change, Green party minister Habeck said, as he unveiled an ambitious package of measures to help make Europe’s top economy carbon...

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Poet Angelou becomes first Black woman to appear on US coin

Poet and activist Maya Angelou has become the first Black woman to appear on the US quarter, in a new version of the coin unveiled by the US Mint on Monday. Angelou, author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” will also be the first figure commemorated through the American Women Quarters Program, which was signed into law in January 2021. The US Mint “has begun shipping the first coins” with Angelou’s likeness on the American quarter,...

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Tareq Al-Bannai

Kuwait demands action on POWs, UN urges urgency

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KUWAIT: A voter casts his ballot in the Municipal Council by-elections on May 18, 2024.

Kuwait holds municipal by-elections

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Kuwait ambassador to US visits patients

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People walk past a housing complex under construction in Beijing on May 17, 2024. -- AFP

China offers to buy up commercial real estate to boost market

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GAZA: A man pushes a wheelchair filled with belongings past garbage piled up near tents set up by displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024. - AFP

Rafah rocked by Zionist brutality