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Kurds remain biggest winners from US-led invasion of Iraq

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Complexes of McMansions, fast food restaurants, real estate offices and half-constructed high-rises line wide highways in Irbil, the seat of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.Many members of the political and business elite live in a suburban gated community dubbed the American Village, where homes sell for as much as $5 million, with lush gardens consuming more than a million liters of water a day in the summer.The visible opulence is a far cry from 20 years ago. Back then, Irbil was a backwater provincial capital without even an airport.That rapidly changed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein. Analysts say that Iraqi Kurds — and particularly the Kurdish political class — were the biggest beneficiaries in a conflict that had few winners.That’s despite the fact that for ordinary Kurds, the benefits of the new order have been tempered by corruption and power struggles between the two major Kurdish parties and betwe...

China’s Xi, Japan’s Kishida end visits to Russia and Ukraine

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has left Moscow, wrapping up a three-day visit, shortly after Japanese PM Fumio Kishida left Kyiv.Kishida made a surprise visit Tuesday to Kyiv, stealing some of the attention from Xi’s trip to Moscow where he promoted Beijing’s peace proposal for Ukraine, which Western nations have already dismissed.Xi’s visit gave a strong political boost to Russian President Vladimir Putin just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on charges of alleged involvement in abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine.After the talks, Putin and Xi issued joint declarations pledging to further bolster their “strategic cooperation,” develop cooperation in energy, high-tech industries and other spheres and expand the use of their currencies in mutual trade to reduce dependence on the West.They said they would develop military cooperation and conduct more joint sea and air patrols, but there was no ment...

Marcos defends US military presence, which China opposes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday defended his decision to allow a larger United States military presence in the country as vital to territorial defense despite China’s fierce opposition and warning that it would “drag the Philippines into the abyss of geopolitical strife.”The Marcos administration announced in early February that it would allow rotating batches of American forces to indefinitely stay in four more Philippine military camps in addition to five local bases earlier designated under a 2014 defense pact of the longtime treaty allies.Marcos said without elaborating that the four new sites would be announced soon and they include areas in the northern Philippines. That location has infuriated Chinese officials because it would provide U.S. forces a staging ground close to southern China and Taiwan.The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in ...

Muslims in Indonesia gear up for first day of Ramadan

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Millions of Muslims in Indonesia are gearing up to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start on Thursday, with traditions and ceremonies across the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country amid soaring food prices.From colorful torchlight street parades to cleaning relatives’ graves and sharing meals with family and friends, every region in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago seems to have its own way to mark the start of Ramadan, highlighting the nation’s diverse cultural heritage.The country’s religious affairs minister on Wednesday evening will try to sight the crescent moon to determine the first day of the holy month. If the moon is not visible, as expected, the first day of Ramadan will be a day later. Most Indonesians — Muslims comprise nearly 90% of the country’s 277 million people — are expected to follow the government’s official date.Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah, which counts more than 60 mill...

Sleepless night after Pakistan, Afghanistan quake kills 13

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck much of Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan has killed at least 13 people and injured scores in both countries, officials said Wednesday as authorities struggled to collect data on casualties and damages from remote areas.The temblor rattled this South Asian region late Tuesday, sending terrified residents fleeing from homes and offices. At least nine people died in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan.The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake was 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-southeast of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. The quake struck 188 kilometers (116 miles) deep below the Earth’s surface, causing it to be felt over a wide area.The disaster management authority in northwestern Pakistan said nine people died and 47 were injured in various parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Many were hurt when the roofs of their homes ...

Europe's hopes for busy post-COVID summer dim as Chinese stay away

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

Urs Kessler, who runs Jungfrau Railways, a train that takes tourists up the highest mountain in Switzerland, was excited for the return of Chinese tourists after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted late last year.But barring one small group in February and a few larger ones expected in May, few have materialized.Many tour operators like Kessler are disappointed by lower-than-expected bookings from high-spending Chinese travellers who before the pandemic would typically splash between 1,500 and 3,000 euros per person, according to the Global Times newspaper.Chinese outbound flight bookings to Europe during March and August are only 32% that of pre-pandemic levels, according to travel data firm ForwardKeys.The travel industry is also grappling with cash-strapped domestic holidaymakers looking for cheaper vacations as energy and food bills rise. This summer, the second since Europe's COVID restrictions ended, is a test for airports and airlines, scrambling to hire staff and avoid a repea...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping left Moscow, wrapping up a three-day visit, shortly after Japanese PM Fumio Kishida left Kyiv.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping left Moscow, wrapping up a three-day visit, shortly after Japanese PM Fumio Kishida left Kyiv.Source

UK inflation makes unexpected comeback, jumps to 10.4 percent

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

After three months of small drops, Britain’s inflation jumped in February, defying expectations and raising pressure on the Bank of England to increase interest rates, data released by the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.The consumer price index rose by 10.4 percent in February, up from 10.1 percent in January.According to a Reuters poll ahead of the release, analysts had expected the U.K. to leave double-digit inflation levels behind, forecasting a decline to 9.9 percent. The U.K.’s inflation had peaked at 11.1 percent in October last year.The Bank of England is due to announce it next interest rate decision Thursday. Analysts had expected another rise in interest rates, but recent turmoil in financial markets sparked speculation that policymakers may hold rates. But the unexpected jump in inflation may now tip the balance in favor of further tightening of interest rates.

China, Japan leaders end visits to warring capitals

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine faced more Russian drone attacks Wednesday that killed at least three people shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left Kyiv.Kishida was back in Poland Wednesday morning, according to Japan’s Kyodo News, and is expected to return to Japan Thursday.Kishida’s surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital stole some of the attention from Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow where he promoted Beijing’s peace proposal for Ukraine, which Western nations have already dismissed. Xi left Moscow early Wednesday.Early Wednesday, Ukraine faced a new series of Russian drone attacks, which killed at least three people and damaged some infrastructure across the country.The Rival visits by Xi and Kishida, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) apart, highlighted how countries are lining up behind Moscow or Kyiv during the nearly 13-month-old war. Kishida, who will chair the Group of Seven summit in May, became the group’s last member to visit Ukraine...

Sotheby’s hopes for record sale of ancient Hebrew Bible

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:50:50 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — One of the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts, a nearly complete 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible, could soon be yours — for a cool $30 million.The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment tome containing almost the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, is set to go on the block at Sotheby’s in New York in May. Its anticipated sale speaks to the still bullish market for art, antiquities and ancient manuscripts even in a worldwide bear economy.Sotheby’s is drumming up interest in hopes of enticing institutions and collectors to bite. It has put the price tag at an eye-watering $30 million to $50 million. On Wednesday, Tel Aviv’s ANU Museum of the Jewish People opened a week-long exhibition of the manuscript, part of a whirlwind worldwide tour of the artifact in the United Kingdom, Israel and the United States before its expected sale, on Wednesday. “There are three ancient Hebrew Bibles from this period,” said Yosef Ofer, a professor of Bible studies at Isra...