Latifa Ibn Ziaten, pictured in 2012, shows a photograph of her son to former president of France Francois Hollande. AFP
Latifa Ibn Ziaten, pictured in 2012, shows a photograph of her son to former president of France Francois Hollande. AFP
Latifa Ibn Ziaten, pictured in 2012, shows a photograph of her son to former president of France Francois Hollande. AFP
Latifa Ibn Ziaten, pictured in 2012, shows a photograph of her son to former president of France Francois Hollande. AFP

Activist whose son was murdered by extremist wins Zayed Award for Human Fraternity


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Latifa Ibn Ziaten was jointly awarded the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity on Wednesday.

The Moroccan-French activist is dedicated to raising awareness about extremism after losing her son, Imad, in a terrorist attack in 2012.

Imad Ibn Ziaten was shot by extremist Mohamed Merah after he refused to lie down on the ground.

Merah, born in Toulouse to Algerian parents, murdered seven people and filmed each killing, an episode that shocked France. He was killed in a police siege.

I'm not going to lie face down... I'm staying here. You're going to shoot? Go on then, shoot

“I’m not going to lie face down ... I’m staying here. You’re going to shoot? Go on then, shoot,” Ibn Ziaten, 30, was heard in a transcript of the killing.

Ms Ibn Ziaten later told media she wanted people to know how her son died.

“This is not Islam,” she said. “And my son, though he was a soldier, had never killed anyone.”

French security services had been monitoring Merah after he made trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ms Ibn Ziaten also paid a visit to her son's killer's home city to understand the path of violence the man embarked on.

Her experience led her to launch a foundation that aims to stop young French Muslims turning to extremism.

During the visit, in 2012, Ms Ibn Ziaten was shocked to find people regarded Merah as “a martyr, a hero of Islam”.

She felt “another Mohamed Merah” would happen unless more efforts were made to reach out to disaffected young people of Maghrebin origin.

Only when Ms Ibn Ziaten told the young men she encountered that she, a Muslim like them, was the mother of Merah’s first victim, an off-duty soldier, did their defiance give way to signs of contrition.

“They changed immediately and kept saying ‘sorry, madame’,” Ms Ibn Ziaten, 52, said in an emotional account of her visit, shown during a France 2 television debate on Islam.

Ms Ibn Ziaten, born in Morocco but a resident of France since her late teens, decided to create the Imad Association “for youth and peace” as a way of ensuring some good came from her son’s death.

Now she has been honoured for her efforts and on Thursday she will jointly receive the prize, and $1 million to invest in her initiative.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Oppenheimer
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Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

FIXTURES

December 28
Stan Wawrinka v Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Milos Raonic v Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm

December 29 - semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Stan Wawrinka / Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Milos Raonic / Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm

December 30
3rd/4th place play-off, 5pm
Final, 7pm

Recipe: Spirulina Coconut Brothie

Ingredients
1 tbsp Spirulina powder
1 banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (full fat preferable)
1 tbsp fresh turmeric or turmeric powder
½ cup fresh spinach leaves
½ cup vegan broth
2 crushed ice cubes (optional)

Method
Blend all the ingredients together on high in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy. 

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

On sale: now 

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh12 million

Engine 8.0-litre quad-turbo, W16

Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch auto

Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm

Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds

Top speed 420 kph (governed)

Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)