Historic Taif fortresses were built to last

Author:  TARIQ AL-THAQAFI Wed, 2017-11-29 23:02 ID:  1512060425135845800 JEDDAH: Taif city is rich with antique fortresses and castles that have withstood the test of time over many historical periods. These fortresses and castles, considered very interesting touristic landmarks, have always attracted visitors. The architecture of these castles and fortresses relied on designs that focused on providing protection from battles,...

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What’s wrong with a joke? Macron defends air-conditioning gag in Africa

Author:  Reuters Thu, 2017-11-30 22:30 ID:  1512059020715743200 PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has a reputation for disarming hostile audiences with repartee and humor, but his latest verbal jousting on a trip to Africa has drawn criticism at home. In an interview broadcast late on Wednesday, Macron dismissed as “ridiculous” suggestions he had offended Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Kabore when he quipped with...

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Kebabs face grilling in Brussels

Author:  OLIVIA CUTHBERT Thu, 2017-11-30 18:40 ID:  1512045647024409700 LONDON: The kebab has come under scrutiny in the European Parliament, where MEP’s are worried about phosphates in the food that has grown to become a fast food staple across Europe. Spanning cultural divides, kebabs enjoy widespread popularity in countries across the continent, where serving styles vary from the hearty kapsalon kebab favored in Holland...

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New city of the dead takes shape underneath Jerusalem

Author:  Jonah Mandel | AFP Thu, 2017-11-30 06:38 ID:  1512022993723080500 JERUSALEM: Under the serene and silent hills of Jerusalem’s largest Jewish cemetery, a team drills into stone to create a vast underground burial site, melding modern technologies with ancient concepts. A shortage of burial space in Jerusalem along with the requirements of Jewish law have brought together religious undertakers and a tunnelling expert...

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British-Iraqi designer rumored to be Harry and Meghan’s mystery matchmaker

Author:  REUTERS Thu, 2017-11-30 03:00 ID:  1511987749918584700 LONDON: Britain’s newspapers were rife with speculation on Wednesday about the mystery matchmaker of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry and his fiancee American actress Meghan Markle who met on a blind date in London last year. In a televised interview on Monday when they announced their engagement, the couple were coy about the identity of the “mutual friend”...

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’Despacito’ singer Luis Fonsi to make UAE debut

Author:  ARAB NEWS Thu, 2017-11-30 03:00 ID:  1511987749908584500 JEDDAH: The man behind the most viewed video on YouTube, Luis Fonsi, is all set for his debut UAE performance next week. Fonsi, singer of global hit “Despacito,” will appear at the Cavalli Club at the Fairmont Hotel on Sunday. The 39-year-old Puerto Rican singer will also be a guest of the Dubai International Film Festival, which runs from Dec. 6 to 13. “Despacito”...

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Arab world mourns Egyptian diva Shadia

Author:  ARAB NEWS Thu, 2017-11-30 03:00 ID:  1511987749898584100 CAIRO: The Arab world on Wednesday mourned legendary Egyptian actress and singer Shadia, who captivated millions for decades. She died late on Tuesday at the age of 86. Born Fatimah Shaker, but known throughout her career by her single stage name, Shadia suffered a stroke this month and later went into a coma. Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi and his...

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Royal fan urges Harry, Meghan to have India honeymoon, many kids

Author:  AFP Wed, 2017-11-29 11:10 ID:  1511949323895459100 MUMBAI: Mumbai cafe owner Boman Kohinoor, arguably India’s biggest fan of the British royal family, wants Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to honeymoon in India and have lots of children. The 95-year-old, who met Harry’s older brother William and wife Catherine when the royal couple visited India’s commercial capital last year, said he was delighted to hear news of...

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Marriage can make you crazy, but it deters dementia too: study

Author:  AFP Wed, 2017-11-29 02:30 ID:  1511948077565390500 PARIS: Marriage may test one’s sanity, but living into old age with a partner also lowers the risk of dementia, researchers said Wednesday. In a study covering more than 800,000 people, they found that walking through life alone increased the chances of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia by 40 percent. Being widowed after extended co-habitation also took a toll,...

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Indonesia’s ‘Niqab Squad’ takes aim at face veil prejudice

Author:  AFP Wed, 2017-11-29 06:26 ID:  1511948155995393800 BEKASI, Indonesia: Riding a horse or nailing an archery target is tough at the best of times — it’s even harder when you’re wearing a niqab. But that isn’t about to stop a group of Indonesian women who have banded together to combat prejudice against the face-covering veil, which has been at the center of a heated global debate over religious freedom and women’s...

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Pakistani fashion designer: Responsibility is more important than affordability

Author:  Amna Ehtesham Khaishgi Wed, 2017-11-29 14:49 ID:  1511945799625288100 KARACHI: Those who are fashion conscious should look for the responsible, not the affordable, a leading Pakistani fashion expert has said. “Affordable fashion means that somewhere, at some stage, someone was exploited,” Mohsin Sayeed, creative director of The Pink Tree Company, told Arab News. He is unapologetic about his brand The Pink Tree being...

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Meet Wonho Chung, the man who crosses cultures with comedy

Author:  Elize Knutsen Wed, 2017-11-29 14:21 ID:  1511944025335204700 LONDON: In 2007, a TV producer scribbled a handwritten note on a casting tape he had just recorded, before eagerly sending it off to the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour group in Hollywood. The troupe, composed of laugh-makers from Palestine, Iran and Egypt, had a longstanding joke that the addition of a North Korean comedian would complete their rogue-state humor. In...

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Two human heads found outside broadcaster’s office in Mexico

Author:  Reuters Wed, 2017-11-29 09:59 ID:  1511941765065047000 MEXICO CITY: Two human heads were discovered in a cooler outside an office of broadcaster Televisa in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, authorities said on Tuesday. It was not clear who the heads belonged to, but the cooler contained a threatening message signed off with “CJNG,” the Spanish initials of a drug gang, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a security...

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AC/DC rock legend Malcolm Young remembered at private funeral

Author:  Reuters Tue, 2017-11-28 11:01 ID:  1511859689355837400 SYDNEY: Australian rock legend and AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young was remembered at a private funeral in Sydney on Tuesday attended by family, friends and fellow musicians. Former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd, promoter Michael Chugg and Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes attended the service at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Younger brother Angus placed a guitar on the casket,...

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Diabetes, obesity behind 800,000 cases of cancer worldwide

Author:  AFP Tue, 2017-11-28 15:50 ID:  1511873471027032100 PARIS: Nearly six percent of new cancers diagnosed worldwide in 2012 — some 800,000 cases — were caused by diabetes and excess weight, according to a study published Tuesday. Among the 12 types of cancer examined, the proportion of cases chalked up to these factors was as high as a third, researchers reported in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, a leading...

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Indian court rejects bid to stop world release of Bollywood film

Author:  AFP Tue, 2017-11-28 11:23 ID:  1511859983185847500 NEW DELHI: India’s top court Tuesday rejected a legal attempt to block the global release of a Bollywood film that has sparked violent protests, warning against pre-judging the controversial historical epic. Caste-based groups have been staging violent demonstrations against “Padmavati” amid rumors that it will depict a romance between a Hindu queen and a Muslim...

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Book Review: Can collective intelligence change our world?

Author:  Lisa Kaaki Tue, 2017-11-28 17:14 ID:  1511868074676531800 A new field has emerged, carried by a surge of digital technologies. It is known as collective intelligence or crowdsourcing, which has a familiar ring but should not be confused with crowdfunding. Crowdsourcing refers to harnessing the power of a large number of people to implement a task or project to obtain information or to solve a difficult problem. The...

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Prison-themed restaurant in Egypt draws in curious diners

Author:  By NARIMAN EL-MOFTY | AP Tue, 2017-11-28 03:00 ID:  1511851160575551700 MANSOURA, Egypt: A prison-themed restaurant in Egypt? It might seem distasteful in a country where thousands of people, mostly Islamists but also secular pro-democracy activists, are languishing in jail on what right groups say are trumped-up charges. Yet, the restaurant in the coastal city of Mansoura called “Food Crime” is doing good business...

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Disgraced Weinstein hit by new sex attack lawsuit

Author:  AFP Tue, 2017-11-28 07:03 ID:  1511844743625385000 LOS ANGELES: Another actress added her name Monday to the dozens accusing movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of a litany of depraved sexual misconduct as he was forced to quit Hollywood’s directing union. More than 100 women have come forward since October to accuse the veteran producer of various degrees of bullying, degrading behavior over the past 40 years, from intimidation...

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