The fiance of a 27-year-old firefighter who died in the Beirut port blast last August said he would distribute food parcels to the poor to mark their planned wedding day on Sunday.
In an emotional Facebook post, Gilbert Karaan paid tribute to "heroine" Sahar Fares.
“Our wedding cocktail will be to provide 100 food boxes in the two towns you loved the most, Jdeideh and Qaa – and some medical examinations for the elderly,” he wrote.
Ms Fares, a paramedic, became a symbol of Lebanon’s trauma after the blast. She was the only woman in the team of 10 firefighters dispatched by the Beirut Fire Brigade to extinguish a fire raging at the port early evening on August 4.
All 10 firefighters were killed after rushing to the port to fight the warehouse fire, unaware that the burning building housed a dangerous cocktail of chemicals, including thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
More than 200 people were killed and 6,000 injured in the explosion.
Senior government officials, including President Michel Aoun, later admitted that they knew that the ammonium nitrate had been stored unsafely there for years.
In media interviews in the aftermath of the explosion, Mr Karaan said he had been on the phone to his fiancee while she ran for cover after the fire intensified and stored items exploded. The line went dead as she ran.
The couple had been planning their wedding at the time. Photographs posted by Mr Karaan alongside his Facebook message showed Ms Fares smiling and wearing a white dress.
In another photo, she is wearing a green swimsuit and a banner across her chest that reads “bride to be”.
Before the blast the country had already been suffering from its worst-ever economic crisis.
An ongoing local investigation into the explosion has been marred with political interference.
Days after the disaster, Fares’ friends and family bade her goodbye in her home town of Qaa in north Lebanon with the wedding party she would never have.
Sobbing, her fiance danced, sitting on the shoulders of relatives, as others held Fares' white coffin high, moving it to the beat of a drum.
Mr Karaan wrote: "Sunday was going to be the dream, the day I wanted to see you in your white dress, the day we had been waiting for after seven years of hard work and fatigue, the day we would be under one roof, me and you, and make the best family.”
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens
Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
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Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
