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SUAREZ, Colombia: A young woman shows a ballot box at the polling station where Colombian vice-presidential candidate Francia Marquez, running mate of left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, will vote during the presidential runoff election. - AFP

Uncertainty reigns in Colombia vote between ex-guerrilla and maverick

BOGOTA, Colombia: Colombians will vote for a new president on Sunday in an election filled with uncertainty, as former guerrilla Gustavo Petro and millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez vie for power in a country saddled with widespread poverty, violence and other woes. Abstention is expected to be high as voters face a stark choice between electing their first ever left-wing president or plumping for a maverick outsider dubbed the Colombian...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's Chief Executive-elect John Lee (front 3rd R) poses for a photo with his newly-appointed cabinet at the central government headquarters in Hong Kong on June 19, 2022. - AFP

New Hong Kong cabinet includes four senior officials under US sanctions

HONG KONG: Beijing on Sunday appointed a new Hong Kong administration that includes four senior officials under US sanctions its incoming leader has decried as an attempt to "bully" China. The United States hit 11 Hong Kong and Beijing officials with sanctions two years ago after a sweeping national security law was imposed to snuff out dissent in the semi-autonomous city following the massive, sometimes violent democracy protests of 2019.Seven...

TEHRAN: A butcher prepares an order at his shop in Iran's capital Tehran. Iran has been wrestling with rampant price growth for years, exceeding 30 percent annually every year since 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund. - AFP

Inflation and subsidy reform hit stomachs in isolated Iran

TEHRAN: Outside his butchery in the south of Iran's capital, Ali cuts up a sheep carcass for customers who, like him, have seen inflation and subsidy reform devour their purchasing power. "My sales have fallen significantly-almost by half," Ali, 50, told AFP. "What can I say? I am a butcher and you may not believe me, but sometimes I don't eat meat for a week," he added. "Everything has gone up in price." Inflation is making an unwelcome comeback...

NEW YORK: A Bitcoin ATM is seen at the Clark Street subway station in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Bitcoin fell below $24,000 this morning to its lowest level since December 2020. - AFP

Bitcoin plunges below $20,000

SAN FRANCISCO: Bitcoin plunged below $20,000 on Saturday, shedding nine percent from the previous day to fall to $18,740, its lowest level since December 13, 2020. With investors increasingly wary of risk, the world's most popular crypto asset has lost more than 72 percent of its value since reaching a high of $68,991 on November 10, 2021. After sinking to $18,740 on Saturday, Bitcoin rose to $18,941 at 1550 GMT, down eight percent from Friday....

NEW YORK: In this file photo, the new iPhone are displayed inside the newly renovated Apple Store at Fifth Avenue in New York City. A majority of employees at a US Apple store have voted to form a union on June 18, 2022, a first for the tech giant, which has so far tried to discourage unionizing attempts. - AFP

Apple store workers vote to form a union

SAN FRANCISCO: A majority of employees at a US Apple store have voted to form a union, a first for the tech giant, which has so far tried to discourage unionizing attempts. Of the 110 employees at the Towson, Maryland shop, 65 voted in favor and 33 against, according to a live count broadcast Saturday by the federal agency overseeing the vote. The vote comes after a group of employees called AppleCORE (Coalition of Organized Retail Employees)...

BEIJING: A man pedals a bicycle past the Heaven Supermarket bar where a COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak emerged in the Chaoyang district of Beijing. - AFP

Layoffs and exits as firms in China teeter under zero-COVID pressure

BEIJING: Fiona Shi lost her job twice during the pandemic-first, in 2020 when COVID ravaged the travel industry, and then this year as China's strict virus controls hammered businesses in the world's number two economy. China is the last major economy welded to a zero-COVID strategy-putting firms and workers at risk of snap lockdowns, freezing activity in the services sector and tangling supply chains crucial for factories to sell their goods.As...

Aerial view of people taking part in a massive boxing class at the Zocalo square in Mexico City. — AFP photos

Mexico City punches its way to a new Guinness record

Mexico City has set a world record for hosting the largest boxing class ever, with 14,299 people taking part in a massive lesson in the capital’s central plaza, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced Saturday. That huge turnout easily surpassed the previous record, set in Moscow in 2017 when 3,000 people showed up for boxing class.After Saturday’s attendance figure was certified by a Guinness World Records team, Sheinbaum posted a video thanking...

In a photograph taken in Kyiv on June 7, 2022, volunteer Masha prepares a vegan meal made of bulgur wheat for civilians in Kyiv, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. - AFP

Hummus on the front: Volunteers feeding Ukraine’s vegan troops

Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Zhuhan has no intention of giving up on his veganism while fighting invading Russian forces. The 37-year-old drama teacher, who enlisted with the army the day after Moscow attacked Ukraine on February 24, maintains his strictly plant-based diet while serving on the front lines.“At the beginning, it was very complicated,” Zhuhan, who is fighting in the southern Mykolaiv region, told AFP. “People told me that I...

Visitors pass by a Jeff Koons artwork «moonfaces, Leonardo da Vinci» during a preview day of Art Basel, the world's premier modern and contemporary art fair in Basel. — AFP photos

Moon sculptures, NFTs at futuristic Art Basel fair

The world's leading contemporary art fair has taken a futuristic turn this year, offering buyers the chance to see their sculptures placed on the moon. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are all the rage at the Art Basel fair in Switzerland, where the world of digital assets is taking off. Artist Jeff Koons plans to send 125 miniature sculptures to the moon with multi-billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company.The sculptures-set to be installed 384,400...

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Rock-around-Bangkok: Thai air guitar contestants give their all

What happens when Donald Trump, a Bangkok moto-taxi driver, and a Squid Games contestant take the stage in a Bangkok bar late on a Saturday night? It can only mean one thing: an air guitar battle for peace. The cosplaying individuals were gathered at the second annual Thai air guitar championship for the chance to represent Thailand in the beloved World Championships in Finland later this year.The hallowed international event, founded in Finland...

The National Assembly

'Loose laborers' aplenty, but nationality quotas unlikely

KUWAIT: A government team that was commissioned to study the population structure said it is unlikely to accept parliamentary proposals to set a quota for each expat community in Kuwait. It said such a plan is difficult to implement, as some nationalities still have security restrictions against their entry in the country, in addition to the large numbers of some communities. The local market's dependence on them makes it difficult to reduce...

GAZA: Fire erupts following a Zionist airstrike south of Gaza City on June 18, 2022. - AFP

Zionist entity strikes Hamas sites in Gaza

JERUSALEM: Zionist warplanes hit Hamas military sites in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave run by the Islamist movement, the Zionist army said. After the strikes, balls of flame shot into the air, leaving dark smoke drifting over the territory. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the air raids, in the southeast of Gaza City, "are an extension of the aggression against Palestinian territory in...

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