Is this the daughter of the celebrated artist Salvador Dali? Pilar Abel, photographed in Madrid on July 19, 2017, claims she is the product of her mother's affair with Dali. The artist's body was exhumed on July 20, 2017 so DNA samples could be taken. Francisco Seco / AP
Is this the daughter of the celebrated artist Salvador Dali? Pilar Abel, photographed in Madrid on July 19, 2017, claims she is the product of her mother's affair with Dali. The artist's body was exhumed on July 20, 2017 so DNA samples could be taken. Francisco Seco / AP
Is this the daughter of the celebrated artist Salvador Dali? Pilar Abel, photographed in Madrid on July 19, 2017, claims she is the product of her mother's affair with Dali. The artist's body was exhumed on July 20, 2017 so DNA samples could be taken. Francisco Seco / AP
Is this the daughter of the celebrated artist Salvador Dali? Pilar Abel, photographed in Madrid on July 19, 2017, claims she is the product of her mother's affair with Dali. The artist's body was exhu

Dali's trademark moustache is intact at '10 past 10' as he is exhumed for DNA testing to prove whether this woman is his daughter


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Master of surrealism Salvador Dali's trademark moustache is in perfect shape in its "ten past ten" position, officials said on  Friday, a day after his remains were exhumed to settle a paternity claim.

"I was very anxious about what I would see," said Narcis Bardalet, the forensic expert who embalmed Dali back in 1989 and who was at his grave the moment he was exhumed on Thursday night so that DNA samples could be taken.

"I was absolutely stunned. It was like a miracle...his moustache appeared at 10 past 10 and his hair was intact," Mr Bardalet said, referring to the positions of the hands on a clock.

The arduous task of exhumation involved removing a slab weighing more than a tonne that covered his tomb at the Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueras in northeastern Spain where the eccentric artist was born.

Mr Bardalet was one of only a handful of people including a judge allowed to watch the removal of samples from Dali's remains.

"It was a moving moment for him and for us," said  Lluis Penuelas Reixach, the secretary general of the Salvador Dali Foundation.

DNA samples were taken from Dali's hair, nail and two long bones. A court in Madrid last month granted Pilar Abel a DNA test to determine whether she is Dali's child, as she claims.

Ms Abel, 61, who worked as a psychic in Catalonia, says her mother had a relationship with the artist when she worked in Cadaques, a picturesque Spanish port where the painter lived for years. If Ms Abel is confirmed as Dali's only child, she could be entitled to 25 per cent of the huge fortune and heritage of one of the most celebrated and prolific painters of the 20th century, according to her lawyer Enrique Blanquez.

But the lawyer for the Dali Foundation's lawyer has indicated Ms Abel could end up with a big bill if her claims are proven false.

"If Pilar Abel is not Dali's daughter then we must ask this woman to reimburse the costs of the exhumation," said Albert Segura.

Before work in the crypt began on Thursday, mobile phones were put in a deposit box and a marquee installed under the museum's glass dome to prevent any photography or video from drones.

A crowd of onlookers gathered outside the elaborate museum of Dali's work to watch as police escorted the experts into the building, which is topped by a huge metallic dome decorated with egg shapes. Dali designed the building himself.

The Dali Foundation had tried to  appeal against the exhumation, but there was not enough time for all parties to present their case, a court spokesman said. The foundation blasted the court's decision to order the exhumation, saying it was based solely on Ms Abel's claim that her mother once had a relationship with Dali.

Ms Abel has already provided a saliva sample for comparison and the results are expected within a matter of weeks. But the foundation maintains her DNA should have been compared to her brother's first, before carrying out an "invasive" exhumation of Dali's remains.  If ms Abel's DNA matched her brother's, it would mean that they both had the same father - who was not Dali.

Dali's estate, which includes properties and hundreds of paintings, is entirely in the hands of the Spanish state.

The foundation says it was worth nearly 400 million euros ($460 million) at the end of 2016.

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

David Haye record

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

The specs

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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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  • Sri Lanka: Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan (rumoured)
  • Bangladesh (Mashrafe Mortaza)
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures

October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.