Cubans expressed rage and disappointment in their government on Sunday, as they dealt with day three of a near-total nationwide power outage, with residents of the island nation running short on cash, watching their food spoil and carrying water in buckets. «What is going to happen to my daughter?» asked a desperate Adismary Cuza, worried for the 21-year-old whose medication for a chronic kidney disease needs to be chilled. «My refrigerator has been down for three days and I am afraid everything is going to go to waste,» she said on her way to work in Havana's old quarter. «What is going to happen in this country?» asked Cuza. Residents of Communist-run Cuba have grown used to sporadic blackouts, but Cuza questioned how authorities could have allowed the entire grid to go down. The power grid failed in a chain reaction Friday due to the unexpected shutdown of the biggest of the island's eight decrepit coal-fired power plants, according to the head of electricity supply at the energy ministry, Lazaro Guerra. Crews have been scrambling to restore power, but while some customers were back online, the blackout remained near total on Sunday, according to officials. - 'No life here' - Serguei Castillo, a 68-year-old retired construction worker, was as worried as Cuza. He went out in search of cigarettes, although he had no cash since banks had been closed since Friday and ATMs were down. «There is no life here. This country gives nothing,» said Castillo, who retired three years ago and receives a monthly pension that is equivalent to about $38. He said he had been living on junk food for two days. Cuba was already dealing with its worst economic crisis in 30 years, battling sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water, plus increasingly frequent power outages. «Two days without electricity? What is this, sir? What is going to happen? Cubans are tired of so many problems,» said Castillo. In recent months some provinces have had to put up with blackouts lasting as long as 20 hours per day. - 'Paralyzed' - The blackout has had knock-on effects, too. Among other things, no electricity means many buildings cannot pump water. In the Vedado neighborhood, Isabel, 51, said her husband had just carried 20 buckets of water up to their second-floor apartment. She said they were able to tolerate power outages that lasted a few hours, but the extended blackout was unacceptable. «This is a lack of respect for people. I have no other way to describe what is happening,» said Isabel, who declined to give her last name. «A country paralyzed for three days is too much,» she said. Luis Jimenez, a 22-year-old university student, said he frets over the future -- the next few days, and over the longer term. «If this is not resolved soon I don't know how we will live in the next few days,» he said. «This is a country in ruins. It is destroyed,» said Jimenez. © Agence France-Presse

Air Seychelles has announced several new flights as part of its service expansion for the busy upcoming festive season to provide passengers with even more options when choosing their holiday destinations. Starting in December and continuing to early January, Air Seychelles will add a new flight on Wednesday resulting in an average of four flights per week. The Seychelles' national carrier will also increase its services to Johannesburg to meet the high demand during peak travel times. A fourth weekly flight will include a new Saturday evening departure with a return journey available early Sunday morning. There will be an expanded schedule for Mumbai in India from December 18 to January 1st next year. Three additional flights on Wednesdays will be added, facilitating a twice-weekly service to Mumbai. Additionally, the Saturday flight to Colombo in Sri Lanka will now depart Seychelles at 5.30 pm to provide a significantly faster connection to multiple destinations offered by Air Seychelles' codeshare partner SriLankan Airlines. Air Seychelles said this will be particularly beneficial for visitors exiting Bangkok in Thailand as it allows for a quick one-hour connection without the need for a visa. A seasonal service to Reunion Island, a French overseas department, will be launched from December 30 to January 18 next year. Charles Johnson, chief commercial officer of Air Seychelles, said, «We are excited to announce additional flights for the upcoming festive season, allowing passengers even more options for their favorite destination. Additionally, our new nonstop flights to La Reunion provide significant time savings over previous indirect flight options. As this will be a very busy holiday period, we recommend everyone to book their flights as soon as possible.»

The winners of the Antoine Abel Prize, a writing contest that encourages the production of literature in the Seychellois Creole language, were rewarded on Friday at the International Conference Centre of  Seychelles  (ICCS). Marie Clarisse, Aneesa Vel, Rita Julie, Lourra Barra and Marie Hoareau produced the best works this year, while Robert Mondon received his prize posthumously. The prize-giving ceremony allowed the authors to sign copies of their books on sale in local book outlets. The Antoine Abel Prize is named after Seychelles' renowned poet and writer Antoine Abel, who passed away in 2004. The literary contest was first launched by Seychellois artist Leon Radegonde, as a regional competition in 1997, promoting literary works in the Indian Ocean region. The competition encourages Seychellois writers to submit work in various categories, in the native Seychellois Creole language. The fourth edition of the literary contest saw the participation of writers in five categories: short story, poetry, novel, translation and play. The prize-giving ceremony allowed the authors to sign copies of their books on sale in local book outlets. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY  This year the prize-giving ceremony coincides with the 39th edition of the Creole Festival, a month-long event, which is an annual celebration of the various aspects of the country's culture. An assistant researcher at the Literature Unit at the Creole Academy, Jenny Saminadin, told SNA that the quality of work received this year has been very good. «Usually the literary contest is held every two years, however, we launched this one last year as we are catching up with the delay caused by COVID,» she said. While all the given categories open to prospective writers had submissions, Saminadin explained that it was only for translated works that they did not receive enough submissions. The winners received monetary prizes for their efforts - SCR 20,000 ($1,500) for the first prize, SCR 15,000 ($1,100) for the second, and SCR 10,000 ($700) for the third. The entries for the sixth edition of the Antoine Abel competition have already been submitted to the Creole Academy, while Saminadin explained that they have already launched the seventh. 

The Seychelles' honorary consul general in Bulgaria, Maxim Behar, visited the Beau Vallon Administration office last week and presented on his behalf an expensive, super–powerful laptop with all necessary software preloaded, sports equipment, footballs, tennis rackets, balls, and specially produced t-shirts for the children with the sign «Mon Kontan Beau Vallon.»  Behar, together with the Seychelles' honorary consuls in Israel, Jordan, and Bangladesh, had «adopted» the district as part of a programme initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism. The donation was accepted with thanks by the elected member of the National Assembly for the Beau Vallon district, John Hoareau, and also by the district administrator, Mirenda Cardovillis, at a special ceremony in the building of the Administration office. «This is an honour and responsibility to be able to donate such useful equipment to my lovely Beau Vallon district where I come for decades and I think I know personally almost all inhabitants. I am really sorry that my other three colleagues could not join me on this visit, but I am sure that their donations will be presented soon,» Behar said. Two years ago, Behar also donated a huge quantity of sports equipment to Marie-Celine Zialor, the Minister for Youth, Sports Family to help the preparation of the Seychelles football team for the Indian Ocean Games. Years before he also donated a set of musical instruments to the Seychelles School of Music, Dance and Drama. Last week also, Behar was awarded a special plaque for his long-term service to Seychelles by President Wavel Ramkalawan.

Firebrand Indigenous politician Lidia Thorpe has interrupted King Charles ' address at Parliament House in Canberra with a foul-mouthed rant, after he finished a speech praising his welcome to Australia.

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Lidia Thorpe, 51, (pictured) has a track record of stunts at major political events and angry outbursts, from calling the Queen a 'coloniser' to berating a group of men outside a strip club.

Dressed in a native fur coat, Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, 51, shouted at Parliament House in Canberra that the King had 'committed genocide against our people', adding: 'F*** the colony'.

«North Korea is our close neighbor, our partner, and we are developing our relations in all areas,» Dmitry Peskov underlined

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Mechanical push buttons at pedestrian crossings will soon be replaced by touchless sensors, making them a thing of the past. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced this on Sunday (Oct 20) through a Facebook reel showcasing the new technology. The new touchless buttons will be operated through the use of microwave sensors where pedestrians can simply wave their hands in front of the button to activate it.  The new touchless sensors will have a guide for the visually impaired, including braille text embedded on the exterior of the devices that say «Touch to activate».  Upon activation, the sensors will emit a sound to indicate that the system has registered a pedestrian’s intention to cross the road. There are reportedly about 11,500 push buttons at around 2,790 traffic junctions across Singapore.  Two years of testing LTA said it has been conducting trials for the touchless buttons since 2022 with touchless buttons installed at multiple pedestrian crossings, at Jalan Besar, Syed Alwi Road, and Bukit Batok Street 32.

While trying to bring her drunk friend home, a woman was allegedly punched by two male friends of the former. The assault left the woman — named only as S — bleeding from the mouth and caused three teeth to be loosened, according to a screengrab of an Instagram Story (IGS) on the incident circulating online. Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, S said she was invited to a female friend's birthday celebration at a club in Suntec City. When she arrived at the club in the early morning of Tuesday (Oct 15), a group of men were already present. «These few men are friends of my female friend. I've met them before and this is my second time seeing them,» she said. At about 3am, the woman's drunk friend asked her to send her home. Both women live in the same condominium. Just as they boarded a taxi, however, one of the men suddenly opened the vehicle's door and insisted on taking the intoxicated woman away. «I said don't worry, I will send her back safely and he suddenly said, 'do you believe I will take out my ring', which meant he wanted to hit me,» S told Shin Min.

Some 22 crew members were rescued from a burning tanker anchored off the East Johor Straits, within Singapore waters. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a statement that they were alerted to the fire on board the Malta-flagged tanker Med Atlantic at 10.30am on Monday (Oct 21). The fire started in the engine room. Singapore Civil Defence Force marine firefighting and rescue vessels, and two tug boats were deployed on-scene to render assistance and ensure navigational safety. An MPA patrol craft, two police coast guard craft and two tugboats were also deployed to render assistance and ensure navigational safety, MPA added. According to a media statement by MPA, all 22 crew members have disembarked the vessel, and are reported to be safe with no injuries.

Mats Steen, a 25-year-old from Norway, passed away from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. His parents, Trude and Robert, believed their son had led an isolated life, but the reality was far from it.

The Chancellor could reform business relief, closing a loophole that allows the wealthy to halve their inheritance tax bills at a cost to taxpayers of £2billion a year.

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The Belarusian player, who competes at the international tournaments under a neutral status, returned to the top of the WTA Rankings for the second time in her career after she reigned the list of the world’s best female players last year for eight weeks - between September 11 and November 5, 2023

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As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a rebellion from his own MPs in caucus this week, former B.C. premier Christy Clark is suggesting she would be interested in replacing him, should Trudeau decide to step down.