At least 22 people were killed in a wave of attacks in Afghanistan over the weekend, including four in the second mosque bombing in the capital this month.
Ten police officers were killed on Friday night when Taliban insurgents stormed a checkpoint in western Ghor province.
A local police chief said one policeman was wounded and another was missing after the attack in a remote village in Pasaband district.
The police official said the attack was carried out by Taliban insurgents who have a strong presence in the area, especially in Pasaband.
In the eastern Khost province, gunmen targeting a local warlord killed eight people in the Ali Sher district, said Adel Haider, spokesman for the provincial police chief.
He said one of those killed was the target of the attack — Abdul Wali Ekhlas, a candidate in last year's parliamentary elections who did not win a seat.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, which followed the bombing of a mosque in Kabul on Friday that killed at least four people including the prayer leader.
It was the second such attack in the capital this month after an imam and a worshipper were killed when a bomb exploded at a mosque near Kabul's Green Zone on June 2.
The Afghan affiliate of ISIS claimed the earlier attack but there was no claim of responsibility for the latest bombing.
The Taliban strongly condemned Friday's attack. "Such systematic killings have begun taking place as the Afghan people have started taking steps towards peace," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in a statement.
The latest bloodshed comes as the Taliban and the Afghan government appear to move closer towards potential peace negotiations.
The much delayed talks aimed at ending the conflict are expected to begin once the two sides complete an ongoing prisoner swap, accelerated after a brief ceasefire last month.
The rare truce to mark the Eid Al Fitr holiday has been followed by an overall drop in violence across the country, though authorities have blamed the Taliban for a number of attacks in recent weeks.
"While the government has continued to advance the cause of peace, the Taliban continued their campaign of violence against the Afghan people during Eid and the weeks after that," Javid Faisal, spokesman of the National Security Council tweeted on Saturday.
"In the last two weeks, they killed 89 civilians and wounded 150 across 29 provinces."
The Taliban have largely refrained from launching major attacks on Afghan cities since February, when they signed a deal with the US meant to pave the way for peace talks with the Kabul government.
At the same time the government is battling the local outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of confirmed cases in Afghanistan has passed 20,000 but is believed to be far higher because of the lack of adequate testing.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
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Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
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Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
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Founded in 2002 and set up as a foundation in 2006, Health Valley has been an innovation in healthcare for more than 10 years in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
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The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
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- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
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