Abu Dhabi, UAEMonday 26 October 2020

Prayer Times
Weather
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is being investigated for a speech made to the Republican party convention from Jerusalem. AFP

Mike Pompeo under investigation for RNC speech from Jerusalem
Pilgrims from foreign nations will be allowed to perfrom Umrah after months of border closures. Reuters

Saudi Arabia to allow foreign pilgrims to return from November 1

GCC
Halo's work began 32 years ago clearing 1.7 million landmines and 12 million pieces of explosive ordnance. The Halo Trust

Halo Trust: Landmine clearance jobs slow spread of extremism

World
US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, testifies during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. AFP, POOL

Biden couldn’t lift all Iran sanctions even if he wanted to, says Trump envoy

The Americas

France issues plea after boycott calls in Muslim nations

MENA

Armenia and Azerbaijan trade blame for latest ceasefire violations

Europe

Australia ‘concerned’ as women strip-searched on Qatar Airways flight

GCC
IN DEPTH
President Donald Trump reacts during the second and final US presidential debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden, in Nashville on October 22, 2020. via AP

Trump-Biden debate: what a difference a mute button makes

The Americas
Hanadi Saad, a human rights advocate who was nominated for the position of oil minister in Iraq. Hanadi Saad

'They view us as slaves': black Iraqi women say discrimination denies them hope

MENA
Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in the 1963 epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Gadot’s Cleopatra sparks Egyptian debate on race and history

MENA
An archaeology worker opens a sarcophagus at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, in the presence of journalists and officials. Egypt’s ministry of antiquities and tourism says at least 59 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside were found that had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Khaled)

Why curse of the pharaohs or Covid won’t slow Egypt’s archaeologists

MENA
An elderly man stands in front of a destroyed house after shelling in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region's main city of Stepanakert. AFP

Turkey's Syrian militias in Nagorno-Karabakh ask: 'Why are we here?'

Europe
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: A poll worker helps voters at the Queens Public Library during early voting for the U.S. Presidential election on October 24, 2020 in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in the Queens borough in New York City. Due to the coronavirus and social distancing concerns New York State is allowing early voting for the first time. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP

Beyond The Headlines: How will Arab Americans vote in US presidential election?
Santa Claus is pictured in his chamber behind a plexiglas screen at Santa Claus Village in the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi, Finland October 13, 2020. Normally Santa's village in northern Finland is bustling with visitors in the months before Christmas but this year the pandemic has made them stay away, plunging the tourist attraction into crisis. Picture taken October 13, 2020. REUTERS/Attila Cser

Santa Claus: Covid-19 won’t cancel Christmas
A seal examines a pup on a beach near Pelican Point, Namibia, on September 30, 2020. Picture taken September 30, 2020. Reuters

At least 7,000 dead seals wash up on Namibian tourist beach
This picture taken on October 20, 2020 shows a view of a passageway inside the medieval Crusader fortress Krak des Chevaliers, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Syria's central city of Homs and close to the border with Lebanon. Dozens of Syrian volunteers gathered to clear grass, shrubs and dead trees from the UNESCO-listed fortress this week, to protect it from forest fires that have ravaged the region. Krak des Chevaliers, sitting atop a high ridge in what is now the Homs province of modern-day Syria, was built by the Knights of St John medieval Catholic military order, who held it from 1142 to 1271, when it was captured by a Mamluk sultan. Many centuries later, after civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, the fortress again became a battleground, this time between government forces and rebels. / AFP / LOUAI BESHARA

The Middle East framed - today's best pictures
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 22: Theo Jackson, the photographer's son, picks pumpkins for Halloween at Garson Farm PYO on October 22, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

World in focus: best photos of the day
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, October 20, 2020. Qasr Al Watan reopens to public tours on Tuesday with strict measures in place to limit the spread of Covid-19. The exterior of the main dome of the palace. Victor Besa/The National Section: NA Reporter:

The Middle East Framed - regional photos of the day
(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 13, 2019, a Lebanese protester stands in front of burning tyres and debris in the area of Jal el-Dib, on the northern outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Lebanon is now suffering though one of the darkest periods in its chaotic history, and soaring poverty combined with a seemingly inexorable brain drain make for a bleaker future yet. / AFP / JOSEPH EID

Beyond The Headlines: Lebanon's year of turmoil and disasters
TOPSHOT - Colombian indigenous people demonstrate against the government in the framework of a "Minga" (indigenous meeting) in Bogota, on October 19, 2020. Thousands of indigenous Colombians arrived in the country's capital on Sunday, demanding a meeting with President Ivan Duque and an end to growing violence in their territories. / AFP / Raul ARBOLEDA

World in focus: best photos of the day

Coronavirus

A scientist works at a laboratory in Garin, Buenos Aires province, where an experimental vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca laboratory will be produced for Latin America. AFP 

Oxford vaccine ‘triggers immune response to Covid in young and old’

Europe
Germans protest against lockdown restrictions in Berlin. Getty Images

France has ‘lost control’ of Covid pandemic as Germans protest over restrictions

Europe
Medics tend to a Covid-19 patient at the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Iranian Health Ministry via AP

Iran reports a Covid-19 death every five minutes as cases surge

MENA
A patient undergoes a Covid-19 swab test. Bloomberg

How and where to get a Covid-19 test in Dubai and across the UAE

Health

Coronavirus Explained

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Reporter: N/A. News. Coronavirus/Covid-19. A lady works on her laptop while wearing a mask at Times Square in Dubai. Tuesday, October 20th, 2020. Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

UAE reports 1,111 new cases after 85,093 further tests

World
The border controls between Abu Dhabi and Dubai aim to curb the spread of coronavirus and safeguard public health. Francois Nel / Getty Images

Everything you need to know about Abu Dhabi's new border rules

Transport
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Reporter: Kelly Clarke. Coronavirus/Covid-19. Twins Ghazal and Yara (R) Ghnimat. Parents rush to buy PPE for children in time for back-to-school. Sunday, August 23rd, 2020. Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National

How to get your child ready to head back to school

Family
A child arrives at Dubai International Airport. Courtesy: Dubai Customs

Entering the UAE: What do the immigration changes mean?

Transport

GCC

A new bursary programme will enable Saudi Arabian citizens to study at top universities around the world. Reuters

Saudi Arabia launches new student scholarship programme

Israel won’t prevent UAE buying F-35 stealth fighter jets

Oman: Sultan approves plans to reduce debts to offset lower oil prices

Omanis relieved as night lockdowns to end on Saturday

Kuwait Emir calls for 'national unity' before parliamentary elections

MENA

Pilgrims from foreign nations will be allowed to perfrom Umrah after months of border closures. Reuters

Saudi Arabia to allow foreign pilgrims to return from November 1

Coronavirus: Algerian president enters voluntary quarantine

The Middle East framed - today's best pictures

Iran reports a Covid-19 death every five minutes as cases surge

Mapping the new energy world: face to face with Daniel Yergin in Washington

ASIA

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin is known as a guru in the oil and gas industry. Image:  Cary Hazelgrove

Mapping the new energy world: face to face with Daniel Yergin in Washington

Recruiters warn jobseekers not to fly to Dubai without firm offer

Top Al Qaeda figure killed during arrest in Afghanistan

Suicide bomber kills 24 people in Kabul, including school children

Washington steps up efforts to end Nagorno-Karabakh fighting

AFRICA

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok speaks during a Reuters interview in Khartoum, Sudan, on August 24, 2019. 

Sudan says it will discuss trade and migration with Israel

Why are people protesting in Nigeria and why does Rihanna care?

Ethiopia summons US ambassador after Trump comments on dam

Nigeria’s police order massive mobilisation after unrest

Israeli officials to travel to Sudan after states agree to normalise ties

EUROPE

The results of a recent study demonstrate how the coronavirus spreads on a plane. Reuters 

How one flight from the Middle East to Ireland led to 59 Covid cases

Putin rejects Donald Trump's criticism of Biden family business

France has ‘lost control’ of Covid pandemic as Germans protest over restrictions

Oxford vaccine ‘triggers immune response to Covid in young and old’

How Britain’s elite Special Boat Service seized stranded oil tanker in nine-minute operation

THE AMERICAS

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are seen during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 30, 2018. Reuters

Putin rejects Donald Trump's criticism of Biden family business

US elections: When to expect ballot results from the states that will decide the election

QAnon cult steps out of the shadows for 2020 election

Can Democrats take back the Senate?

Mapping the new energy world: face to face with Daniel Yergin in Washington

OCEANIA

A rescued short-beaked echidna puggle was brought to Taronga Wildlife Hospital. Reuters

Lucky baby anteater escapes birds, falls from tree into care of Australian zoo

Millennials more disillusioned with democracy than any generation in a century, study finds

US sanctions Australian jeweller as an al-Qaeda financier

New Zealand election: Jacinda Ardern wins landslide

After Covid-19 shutdown, Lahore’s fightback against polio begins

COMMENT

Hundreds line up to find assistance with their unemployment claim in Frankfort, Kentucky, US, June 18. Reuters

White, middle-aged men in the US are suffering

Will Democrats follow Republicans to the fringe?

It isn't just Americans whose lives are shaped by US elections

Turkey and Qatar's brotherhood of the boycotted

What the young can teach us about climate change

BREXIT

Clouds gather above skyscrapers on the skyline in the City of London. The City of London Corporation unveiled a five-year mission to reinvent the capital by 2025 with new start-up hubs, affordable work spaces, digital funds and stock exchange reforms. Bloomberg

Tough challenges facing the City of London's five-year rebrand plan

UK signs first big post-Brexit trade deal with Japan as talks with EU rumble on

UK foreign policy ‘lacks clarity’ as MPs distracted by Brexit

Boris Johnson: We will use historic ties to strike Gulf trade deals

Sterling traders opt to ignore Brexit noise until the 'real deadline'