Author: Gulf News Week
PARIS (news agencies) — Sketched out on an air sickness bag, the first Birkin handbag — the prototype for fashion’s must-have accessory — sold for a staggering 8.6 million euros ($10.1 million), including fees, on Thursday in Paris to become the second most valuable fashion item ever sold at auction. The winning bid of 7 million euros drew gasps and applause from the audience. The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag — $513,040 paid in 2021 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.Now, the original Birkin bag, named after the actor, singer and…
DHAKA, Bangladesh (news agencies) — A special tribunal indicted Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday by accepting charges of crimes against humanity filed against her in connection with a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year.A three-member panel, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, indicted Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five charges. Hasina and Khan are being tried in absentia.Responding to the panel’s decision, Hasina’s Awami League party condemned the trial process and said the tribunal was a “kangaroo” court. The tribunal opened the trial…
Millions of U.S. workers who earn tips and overtime pay may be eligible for a federal tax break when they file their 2025 income taxes next year.But which workers will qualify for the new deductions is among the details the government has to work out after President Donald Trump’s signature spending and policy package won final congressional approval. Under the bill Trump signed into law on July 4, the U.S. Treasury Department must publish a list by Oct. 2 of occupations that qualify for tax-free tips. The department is also expected to publish guidance on how to report tips and…
MILWAUKEE (news agencies) — Former Olympic wrestler and MMA star Ben Askren, who has been hospitalized in Wisconsin after a severe case of pneumonia, said in a post on social media Wednesday that he had undergone a double lung transplant and is in recovery.Askren said during the Instagram video that he recalls very little of what happened over a monthlong stretch from late May through the first two days of July. His wife, Amy, had said in a series of social media posts that Askren was put on a ventilator in June and placed on the donor list for a…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — Stephen King has a rule for anyone wanting to adapt one of his books for the big or small screen. It’s basically the Hippocratic oath for intellectual property — first, do no harm.“When you deviate from the story that I wrote, you do so at your own risk,” he says in a recent interview from his home in Maine. “I know what I’m doing and I’m not sure that screenwriters always do or that producers and directors always do.” Not everyone has listened to King, who has enjoyed hit adaptations — “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Stand…
Tesla has scheduled an annual shareholders meeting for November, one day after the electric vehicle company came under pressure from major shareholders to do so. Billionaire Elon Musk’s company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that the meeting will be held on Nov. 6. A group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders said in a letter to the company a day earlier that it needed to provide public notice of the annual meeting. Texas law states businesses must hold annual meetings within 13 months of their last one, if shareholders request it. But the law also allows for “written…
LONDON (news agencies) — Players and fans felt the impact of high temperatures at Wimbledon when Thursday’s semifinal match between top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova was delayed twice in the first set because of spectators feeling unwell.The affected fans at Centre Court were seated in the lower level — not shaded — and on both occasions Sabalenka walked over to offer a bottle of water. The first time, she also offered a blue ice pack.“I feel like London is not ready for this weather. It was super hot,” Sabalenka said after losing to Anisimova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.The temperature during…
MONROVIA, Liberia (news agencies) — There was confusion and anger in Liberia on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump praised the English skills of President Joseph Boakai. “Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai at the White House, with visible surprise. “Such beautiful English.”English has been the west African nation’s official language since the 1800s. But Trump did not stop there.“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” he continued, as Boakai murmured a response. “Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia?”The exchange took place during a meeting in the White House between Trump and five West African leaders on…
Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko has pledged not give up on the Formula 1 title fight until it’s mathematically impossible for Max Verstappen to win, even after Christian Horner was fired as team principal.In the first sign of the team’s ambitions after ending Horner’s 20-year tenure and appointing Laurent Mekies, Marko dismissed suggestions Thursday that the move might mark a shift of focus to 2026.“As for the current sporting situation: there are still twelve races to go, and we will continue to fight for the drivers’ championship as long as it’s mathematically possible,” Marko said in comments released by…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Most of the U.S. adults who have experienced major flooding in the past five years think climate change was at least a partial cause, according to polling conducted earlier this year, before the deadly Texas floods. But while Americans largely believed the federal government should play a major role in preparing for and responding to natural disasters, an analysis of recent news agencies-NORC polls shows less consensus about whether the government should be involved in combating climate change to try to keep extreme weather from getting worse.The polls from media-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research were…