Staggered road closures will be in place in Dubai for the opening day of the UAE Tour Women cycling race on Thursday.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority said street intersections would be sealed off to traffic for about 10 to 15 minutes as riders pass along each section of the 122km route.
The closures will take place between about 1.30pm and 4.30pm.
"Once the last competitor passes, normal traffic flow will resume," the RTA said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The first stage of the four-day event starts from Dubai Miracle Garden and passes through Dubai Sports City, Al Qudra Cycle Track and Dubai Global Village, before riders hit the finishing line in Dubai Harbour.
The elite race, consisting of three sprints and a mountain stage, has drawn 20 international teams comprising 120 riders. It also marks the third round of the 2024 Women's World Tour.
UAE Tour Women schedule and route:
Thursday: Stage 1, from Dubai Miracle Garden to Dubai Harbour – 122km
Friday: Stage 2, from Al Mirfa to Madinat Zayed – 113km
Saturday: Stage 3, from Al Ain to Jebel Hafeet – 128km
Sunday: Stage 4, around Abu Dhabi City to Abu Dhabi Breakwater – 105km
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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