Civilians in Aleppo have been experiencing a heartbreaking situation as major gains by the Syrian army have left rebels on the brink of defeat.
The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has voiced alarm “over reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians” in the city.
Emirati singer Ahlam Al Shamsi took to Twitter to urge her followers to use the hashtag #SaveAleppo to make this an internationally trending topic.
Meanwhile, heartfelt messages for Aleppo residents poured in from around the world. Videos of bombings were posted on social media with the comment that these were real-life scenes, and not ones from films. “Close your eyes and imagine yourself there,” one comment read.
Many Twitter users apologised to Syrian victims for not being able to help them.
A teacher tweeted that he needed help to save his daughter. “I might not be able to tweet for long,” he wrote in desperation.
* Sarah Khamis
skhamis@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @SarahKhamisUAE
Quick facts
- Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) offers free guided tours of art in the metro and at the stations
- The tours are free of charge; all you need is a valid SL ticket, for which a single journey (valid for 75 minutes) costs 39 Swedish krone ($3.75)
- Travel cards for unlimited journeys are priced at 165 Swedish krone for 24 hours
- Avoid rush hour – between 9.30 am and 4.30 pm – to explore the artwork at leisure
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures and results:
Monday, UAE won by three wickets
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
FIGHT CARD
Anthony Joshua v Otto Wallin, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Deontay Wilder v Joseph Parker, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Dmitry Bivol v Lyndon Arthur, 12 rounds, light heavyweight
Daniel Dubois v Jarrell Miller, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Filip Hrgovic v Mark de Mori, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Arslanbek Makhmudov v Agit Kabayel, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Frank Sanchez v Junior Fa, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Jai Opetaia v Ellis Zorro, 12 rounds, cruiserweight
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.