Showing 1 - 10 of 18
Sumo diplomacy: Japan's heavyweight 'soft power' ambassadors
AFP, Published on 30/01/2026
» TOKYO - Two giants stare each other down before colliding with a dull thud. After years on the sidelines, sumo is back centrestage as part of Japan's soft power arsenal overseas.
Italy's luxury brands shaken by sweatshop probes
AFP, Published on 03/12/2025
» ROME - A series of investigations into exploitative work conditions within fashion subcontractors has roiled Italy's luxury industry, with the government decrying attacks on "Made in Italy".
Prada to buy Versace for 1.25 bn euros to create new force in Italian fashion
AFP, Published on 10/04/2025
» MILAN (ITALY) - Prada said Thursday that it had reached a deal to buy Versace for 1.25 billion euros ($1.38 billion), building a new Italian fashion powerhouse and hoping to insert much-needed "spark" into its smaller, flashier rival.
Miuccia Prada's path from activist to top designer
AFP, Published on 10/04/2025
» MILAN (ITALY) - As a student in the volatile May of 1968, Miuccia Prada took to the streets of Milan to demonstrate for women's rights wearing an Yves Saint Laurent suit.
Venice recruits next generation in flooding fight
AFP, Published on 25/01/2023
» VENICE - As rising waters fuel fears that Venice may one day be entirely submerged, local children are being educated on how to protect the lagoon, a fragile ecosystem threatened by climate change.
Sunak makes second bid to become UK's first Hindu PM
AFP, Published on 23/10/2022
» LONDON - Rishi Sunak looked set for at least several years in the political wilderness after helping topple ex-prime minister Boris Johnson but then losing to Liz Truss in the summer's Conservative leadership contest.
Luxury brands drop Chinese star held for hiring sex workers
AFP, Published on 13/09/2022
» BEIJING: Global brands including Prada and Remy Martin have cut ties with Chinese superstar Li Yifeng, after the actor was detained for soliciting sex workers.
UK PM rivals spar over tax in first head-to-head primetime TV debate
AFP, Published on 26/07/2022
» LONDON - Britain's two prime ministerial contenders clashed fiercely over tax Monday night in their first head-to-head televised debate, as former finance minister Rishi Sunak seeks to peg back the frontrunner, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
The male model testing gender norms in a changing Saudi Arabia
AFP, Published on 20/04/2022
» With his hot pink hair extensions and leopard print pantsuit, model Ziad al-Mesfer was bound to turn heads during his recent public photo shoot in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia.
China's luxury shoppers call in the tidy teams
AFP, Published on 09/11/2020
» BEIJING: The discovery of a Burberry jacket she does not recall buying proved to Chen Rui that she was right to have brought in experts to manage her out-of-control luxury wardrobe.