Ayman Al Zawahiri, a feature on the US's most wanted terrorist list, has been killed by a US drone in Afghanistan.
After the September 11 attacks, the US State Department offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension and conviction of Al Zawahiri.
He is believed to have been involved in some of Al Qaeda's biggest terrorist operations, helping to organise the 2001 attacks, when airliners hijacked by his group Al Qaeda were used to kill 3,000 people in the US.
There, he was charged for his role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya.
US President Joe Biden revealed on Monday that he authorised a precision strike in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to kill Al Zawahiri with two Hellfire missiles.
The drone strike on Saturday was approved after weeks of meetings with advisers, according to American officials.
Eleven years after the killing of his counterpart and close friend Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan, Al Zawahiri has become the public face and voice of the terrorist group in many recordings.
A videotape aired by Al Jazeera network in 2003 showed Al Zawahiri and bin Laden walking on a mountainside.
Who was Ayman Al Zawahiri?
Born in the Egyptian city of Giza in 1951, Al Zawahiri had just turned 71 when he was killed during a visit with relatives, according to the US president.
His killing came one year after the US withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and brought an end to a 20-year occupation.
He came from a well-to-do family of physicians, distinguished Muslim scholars and academics.
One of his grandfathers was a grand imam of Al Azhar, the highest seat of learning in Sunni Islam. His maternal grandfather was a president of Cairo University.
One of his two brothers, Mohammad, is a dermatologist, and his twin sister Heba is an oncologist.
Al Zawahiri studied ophthalmology at Cairo University and worked as an eye surgeon for several years in his clinic in Cairo’s Maadi suburb.
In his teenage years, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood and was much influenced by Sayyid Qutob, the lead ideologue of the group, whose extremist theories inspired generations of terrorist and Islamist leaders.
Qutob was hanged in 1966 in connection with an attempt on the life of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
A life of terror
Despite a reputation for an inflexible and combative personality, Al Zawahiri managed to nurture loosely affiliated groups around the world that grew to wage devastating insurgencies and attacks.
The terrorism destabilised a number of countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The first time the world heard of Al Zawahiri was when he stood in a courtroom cage after the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat in 1981.
Al Zawahiri served a three-year jail term for illegal arms possession, but was acquitted of the main charges.
He went to Pakistan on his release, where he worked with the Red Crescent treating mujahideen wounded in Afghanistan fighting Soviet forces.
During that period, he became acquainted with bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who had joined the Afghan resistance.
Taking over the leadership of a militant group called Islamic Jihad in Egypt in 1993, Al Zawahiri was a leading figure in a campaign in the mid-1990s to overthrow the Egyptian government and set up a purist Islamic state. More than 1,200 Egyptians, mostly police officers, were killed.
Egyptian authorities took action against Islamic Jihad after an attempt on president Hosni Mubarak's life in June 1995 in Ethiopia.
Al Zawahiri soon responded by ordering attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Two cars filled with explosives crashed through the compound's gates, killing 16 people.
In 1999, an Egyptian military court sentenced Al Zawahiri to death in his absence.
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
