Features

Lenovo expands ‘smart’ footprints

  Dubai / Emirates Business Lenovo (HKSE:992) has launched its latest smartphones with the pioneering devices, the Moto Z and the Moto Z Play, in the United Arab Emirates. With Moto Mods, Lenovo has entered the next era of mobile technology. Consumers can transform their Moto smartphone into exactly what they need it to be, and the possibilities are endless. ...

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The Classic Sonata from Ulysse Nardin

  Emirates Business Combining classical beauty with stunningly functional complications, the Classic Sonata makes its entrance. Mechanical complications that have been pared down to their most essential form are celebrated by the classical lines of this covetable piece in titanium and steel. The alarm function with its pleasant chime, and the Dual Time system with instant time zone adjustor, are ...

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An aerial eye for Jordan’s heritage

  QASR BSHIR / AP The helicopter door opens and Robert Bewley leans out hundreds of feet above the Hisban Roman ruins outside Amman, Jordan. Feet on the struts, the Oxford University archaeologist begins snapping photos as the chopper circles the ancient stones. Sheep flock far below amid marble columns from 1,700 years ago. After a few minutes, Bewley squawks directions ...

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The real-life scarecrows of Frankfurt airport

  Frankfurt / DPA Juergen Ebert’s four-wheel-drive vehicle rushes along a path, parallel to an airport runway. His blank gun lets off a loud bang and a flock of starlings flies off. Soon afterwards, a plane roars nearby and takes off: mission accomplished! Ebert is a biologist and leads the wildlife control team at Frankfurt airport, the third-busiest airport in ...

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Avocado hunger eats up forests

  Mexico City / DPA Whether it’s guacamole, smashed on toast or in a salad, avocados are appearing on menus around the world from Melbourne to Berlin. Trendy food blogs post recipes for apple and avocado smoothies, avocado soup with pancetta, even avocado and white chocolate ice cream. Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow included three recipes for avocado toast in her ...

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Iceman murder mystery coming to cinemas

  Eschenlohe / DPA Scientists have examined the contents of his intestines, his finger nails, his soot tattoos and his teeth. Oetzi the Iceman suffered from tooth decay, degeneration of the spinal column, a genetic predisposition to heart disease and was lactose intolerant. He ate ibex, a type of wild goat, wore goatskin leggings and was in possession of a ...

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Pets or pests?

  Madrid / AFP They may be cute, colourful and chatty, but South American quaker parrots have taken up residence in Madrid and other Spanish cities, irritating residents with their shrill squawks and destabilising the ecosystem. The small, bright green and grey-breasted birds — also known as monk parakeets — first arrived in Spain in cages as entertaining pets, but ...

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Madagascar hillsides stripped bare

Ranomafana / AFP “Last time, I burnt a section about that big,” says Mihareta Laivoa, pointing to a parcel of land about the size of a football field, as the farmer admitted to having destroyed forest to make way for his crops. “I don’t own a piece of land in the valley, so I have no choice,” explains the 41-year-old ...

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Hard times fuel Tehran taxi glut

  Tehran / AFP Mansour Faridfar did well on the black market until the law caught up and left him jobless, forcing him to join the thousands of “shakhsi” unofficial taxi drivers clogging Tehran’s streets. “I used to be very well off and I thought my fate was in my hands, but I gradually learned that was not true,” said the ...

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LED shows the ‘way up’ for agriculture

AFP As cities expand, eating up swathes of countryside in the process, agricultural pioneers are finding new ways to grow the fresh produce we need, in containers, empty buildings and any other spare space they can find to create new vertical farms. “We are just trying to imitate nature. It’s not as futuristic as it might sound,” insists a smiling ...

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