British tourist sexually assaulted in lift

A British tourist was sexually assaulted in a lift as she was heading to a yoga class, a court has heard.

The 35-year-old woman was in the UAE to visit her husband when the alleged attack took place.

Dubai Criminal Court was told how a man rushed up to her in the lift and started pleasuring himself against her.

When she realised what was happening she tried to step away but was too afraid to scream.

“I tried to step away from him because he stood too close behind me,” she told the hearing.

“But he stuck to me and I knew what he was doing. I was very much afraid to scream.”

The alleged attack happened at Business Bay’s Aspect tower during the afternoon of November 11 last year.

The court heard how the victim had stepped into the lift to go to the 37th floor when the man followed her in.

After the assault, he left the lift on the 34th floor while the shocked woman called security.

Police said they were able to use CCTV footage to identify the defendant and that DNA evidence also linked him to the scene.

The man denied a single charge of sexual assault and a verdict is expected to be given on February 25.

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The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.

“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.

"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."

This is then injected into the body.

"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.

"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."

The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.

Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.

“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.

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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact

US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.