Tom Miles and Oliver Holmes
GENEVA // Russia and the United States agreed yesterday to a new push to negotiate an end to Syria’s civil war as they discussed a plan to destroy President Bashar Al Assad’s chemical weapons to avert US air strikes.
US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met for a second day in Geneva to work on Moscow’s disarmament proposal. Washington remains sceptical, warning military action is still possible to punish the Assad regime for a poison gas attack in rebel territory last month.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said yesterday he expected a UN report into the attack on the outskirts of Damascus to offer “overwhelming evidence” that chemical weapons were used. More than 1,400 people were killed in the attack, according to the US.
Syria applied to become a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the UN said, a step outlined in Russia’s proposal.
After meeting the UN envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, both Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov said progress on the arms issue in their talks could help relaunch their efforts to bring Syria’s warring sides together and negotiate an end to a conflict that has inflamed the Middle East and divided world powers since it began in 2011.
Mr Kerry told a joint news conference: “We are committed to trying to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons, in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace.”
He hoped a date might be set for peace talks, but added: “Much ... will depend on the capacity to have success ... on the subject of the chemical weapons.”
Talks with Mr Lavrov, which also involved US and Russian weapons experts, are expected to end today.
Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry said they hoped to meet in New York in about two weeks during the UN General Assembly, to see if they could schedule a new international peace conference on Syria.
Russia has resisted calls from Syrian rebels and Arab and western leaders for Mr Al Assad to make way for an interim transitional government. Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning against what he calls western interference in sovereign states without UN backing, says outsiders should not impose a settlement.
Mr Putin yesterday welcomed Syria’s announcement that it had joined a global anti-chemical weapons treaty, saying it showed Damascus was serious in its intention to resolve conflict in the country.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said yesterday that Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, had contacted it with a request for technical assistance.
But the UN has asked Syria for more information about its application to join the chemical weapons convention, holding up accession, a spokesman said yesterday.
“We are in touch with the Syrian government about their application. We are trying to obtain some further information so that the accession process can be completed,” said a UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
He declined to say what information was missing.
Syria had been one of seven UN members that have refused to join the 1993 convention banning the production and stockpiling of chemical arms.
The talks are part of a diplomatic push that prompted US president Barack Obama to put on hold his plans for US air strikes in response to the chemical weapons attack.
“I believe that the report will be an overwhelming, overwhelming report that chemical weapons were used even,” Mr Ban said at a UN meeting yesterday.
Moscow’s proposal also spared Mr Obama facing a vote in Congress on military action that he had appeared increasingly likely to lose at this stage.
The US and its allies say Assad regime forces carried out the attack with sarin nerve gas, killing more than 1,400 people. Mr Putin and Mr Al Assad have blamed rebel forces.
The Syrian opposition complains that chemical weapons are a sideshow and want their allies to step up their support, notably in the form of armaments, to help them topple Mr Al Assad. Rebels say the Assad regime has been buoyed by Mr Obama’s failure to attack.
Reuters
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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EA Sports FC 24
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees
Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.
Super 30
Produced: Sajid Nadiadwala and Phantom Productions
Directed: Vikas Bahl
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastav, Mrinal Thakur
Rating: 3.5 /5
INFO
Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
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What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
if you go
The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow.
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes).
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TOUR DE FRANCE INFO
Dates: July 1-23
Distance: 3,540km
Stages: 21
Number of teams: 22
Number of riders: 198
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
