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WASHINGTON: People demonstrate in front of the White House in Washington, DC, against the Afghan Taleban regime's ban of higher education for women. - AFP

Obey or leave: NGOs torn over Taleban ban on women staff

KABUL: Aid groups say they have been "pushed against a wall" by the Taleban prohibiting Afghan women from working for NGOs, a ban that has left a dangerous gap in life-saving support. Afghanistan's NGOs have been instrumental in trying to address one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with half the country's population hungry and three million children at risk of malnutrition. "It is impossible for us to continue our activities in the...

INCHEON: Health workers guide travelers arriving from CHINA at a COVID-19 testing centre at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. - AFP n

China insists COVID data 'transparent' after WHO criticism

BEIJING: China on Thursday insisted it had been transparent with the international community about its COVID data, as it hit back against World Health Organization criticism that its tally of virus deaths was understating the true scale of its outbreak. There is mounting international concern over China's steep rise in COVID infections since Beijing abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions last month, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly...

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Huawei FreeBuds 5i: available now in Kuwait

KUWAIT: Huawei recently announced its all-new Hi-Res Certificated TWS with long battery life and outstanding ANC, the Huawei FreeBuds 5i. The latest iteration to the Huawei FreeBuds series offers users high-resolution sound with 28h of Music Playback and42dB Multi-Mode ANC. This is also topped off with a compact and comfortable design with dual-device connectivity and IP54 Water Resistance. More importantly, the Huawei FreeBuds 5i is compatible...

TOKYO: Staff members attend the opening of the stock market for the new year at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on January 4, 2023. - AFP

Global stocks extend solid start to year, oil prices bounce back

LONDON: Stock markets mostly extended the solid start to the year Thursday as China reopens its economy from lockdowns, while oil prices recovered after heavy losses. Markets tracked Wednesday's rally on Wall Street that came even as minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting showed officials lining up more hikes to US interest rates to fight decades-high inflation.The upbeat mood has been boosted by signs that China is implementing...

VATICAN CITY: Cardinals and Bishops attend the funeral mass of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at St Peter’s square in the Vatican on Thursday.— AFP

Benedict XVI: The pope who gave it all up

VATICAN CITY: Ex-pope Benedict XVI was a brilliant theologian and defender of conservative values who made history by becoming the first pontiff to resign since the Middle Ages, after a scandal-dogged papacy. German Joseph Ratzinger stepped down in February 2013 after almost eight years as head of the Catholic Church, blaming his declining physical and mental health.As pope emeritus, he retained the white cassock but spent the rest of his life...

BRÉTIGNY-SUR-ORGE, France: In this file photo, Amazon workers arrive at the company's centre in Bretigny-sur-Orge as Amazon France partially reopens amid the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). - AFP

Amazon to cut more than 18,000 jobs, CEO says

WASHINGTON: Amazon announced Wednesday it will cut more than 18,000 jobs from its workforce, citing "the uncertain economy" and the fact that the online retail giant had "hired rapidly" during the pandemic. "Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we're sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles," said CEO Andy Jassy in a statement to his staff. The company had announced 10,000 layoffs in November.Jassy said the...

The stunningly renovated Salle Ovale at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's historic Richelieu site is open to the general public. - shutterstock

Inside Paris' opulent new reading room (and other book-lover havens)

A stunning new public library and high temple to reading has opened in Paris for both local and traveling bibliophiles. It goes by a nickname that couldn't be more apt: the Oval Paradise. After a painstaking 12-year restoration that carried a price tag of €261 million, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's historic Richelieu site in 2nd arrondissement has reopened the last of its reading rooms, giving Parisians and visitors a soaring new...

Diogo Dieye 103, a former Senegalese tirailleur, who fought for the French during World War II, in Lebanon and in Libreville, poses for a portrait on his bed in Thies.-AFP photosn

New movie turns spotlight on France's forgotten colonial troops

"They made us join up to wage war," said Ndiogou Dieye, 103, casting his memory back more than eight decades to when he and other young Senegalese donned uniforms to fight for distant France. "We didn't know where we were going." The wizened old soldier is one of the last survivors of France's colonial-era African infantry-a force that fought in two world wars and colonial conflicts in North Africa and Indo-China.After years of neglect, the...

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Disney rules the Box office around the world in 2022 with $4.9 billion

The Walt Disney Company again leads the domestic and global box office in highest gross in 2022, according to Deadline. Sixteen Disney films totaled $2 billion at the domestic box office and $4.9 billion globally, making this the seventh consecutive year Disney has led the global category.Disney produced four of the top eight highest grossing movies this year, including Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange in...

The portrait of UAE's Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum lights the landmark Burj Khalifa tower at midnight in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on December 31, 2022. (Photo by Ryan LIM / AFP)

Dubai to 'double' economy

DUBAI: Dubai announced Wednesday a bold plan aiming to boost foreign trade and investment in the United Arab Emirates' financial hub and "double the size" of its economy by 2033. The Gulf emirate's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, unveiled in a series of tweets the Dubai Economic Agenda, dubbed "D33", with targets totaling 32 trillion dirhams ($8.7 trillion).The plan would "double the size of Dubai's economy in the next decade and...

WASHINGTON: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy walks through the rotunda as he arrives at the US Capitol on Jan 4, 2023. - AFP

Trump calls to back McCarthy amid deadlock

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Wednesday called for far-right Republicans to end their blocking of the party's candidate to become US House speaker, after a damaging split prevented Kevin McCarthy from securing the key role. Congress was thrown into disarray on Tuesday by the rebels' move to derail McCarthy's candidacy, with the House of Representatives failing to elect a speaker for the first time in a century.Rather than celebrating their new...

BAGHDAD: Picture taken on Dec 16, 2022 shows a view of unfinished apartment buildings at a housing complex in the Iraqi capital. - AFP

Graft pushes Iraq properties out of reach

BAGHDAD: Iraqi telecommunications worker Youssef Ahmed is married with a five-year-old son, but lives with his parents because he is unable to afford his own home amid soaring property prices. "Even if your income increases, it will never be up to the exorbitant prices of houses or land", said 29-year-old Ahmed, who earns a "comfortable" monthly salary of $1,000, double the national average.In oil-rich but corruption plagued Iraq, real estate has...

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Four new ministers in Cabinet

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Kuwait-based high school students secure patent for healthcare robot

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Khalifa Abdullah Dhahi Al-Ajeel Al-Askar
Minister of Commerce and Industry

Biographies of the new ministers

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KUWAIT: H the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receives Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs and Managing Director and CEO of QatarEnergy Saad Al-Kaabi on Aug 26, 2024.

Kuwait signs 15-year Qatar gas deal

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KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, in the attendance of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, receives HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah and four newly appointed ministers on Aug 26, 2024. – KUNA

Amir calls for good governance