Hezbollah was designated by the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Reuters
Hezbollah was designated by the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Reuters
Hezbollah was designated by the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Reuters
Hezbollah was designated by the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Reuters

Czech Republic becomes latest EU state to designate all of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation


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The Czech Republic on Wednesday became the latest EU member to classify the whole of the Lebanese party Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

The Czech Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Parliament in Prague, voted 63-7 to adopt the new motion calling for the designation of the Lebanese group.

The resolution said Hezbollah, which has political and military branches, was “an indivisible whole and terrorist organisation that significantly destabilises the Middle East region and, through its global network, also threatens all democracies”.

The EU recognises Iran-backed Hezbollah’s military group as a terrorist organisation but not its political faction.

But the Czech Parliament's resolution “rejects the misleading division of this organisation into military and political parts, as this organisation acts as an internally interlinked structure".

Members of the European Parliament, national parliaments and the US Congress and Senate have all urged the EU to stop distinguishing between the two factions.

Although the Czech Republic does not have its own list of terrorist organisations, the legislature called on politicians to establish one and put Hezbollah on it.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi praised the move made by its longtime ally and urged other EU nations to follow.

The Czech Republic joins Argentina, Estonia, the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia and other countries in recognising all of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

Estonia imposed sanctions on the group last Thursday, becoming the fifth EU member state to designate it this year.

The measures mean Hezbollah affiliates believed to support terrorism are prohibited from entering the Baltic state.

This month, the US government announced a $10 million reward for information about a Hezbollah financing network.

It coincided with 37th anniversary of a bomb attack on a US marine barracks in Beirut.

The US is seeking information on the activities, networks and associates of Hezbollah, which form a part of its financial support.

It specified three key financiers – Muhammad Qasir, Muhammad Qasim Al Bazzal and Ali Qasir.

David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

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

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

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West Indies v England ODI series:

West Indies squad: Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Kemar Roach, Oshane Thomas.

Fixtures:

1st ODI - February 20, Bridgetown

2nd ODI - February 22, Bridgetown

3rd ODI - February 25, St George's

4th ODI - February 27, St George's

5th ODI - March 2, Gros Islet

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How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

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  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
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While you're here
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

While you're here
Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

SPECS
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SPECS
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FIGHT CARD

Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)

Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)

Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)

Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)

Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)

Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)

Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)

Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)

Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)

Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)

Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)

The line up

Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego  

Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh  

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Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes

Army of the Dead

Director: Zack Snyder

Stars: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera

Three stars

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

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UAE squad

Rohan Mustafa (captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan

Ferrari
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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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