BERLIN // Calls grew in Germany on Monday for the government to posthumously honour the Polish lorry driver who is believed to have saved many lives during the Christmas market attack.
More than 33,000 people had signed an online petition at Change.org by Monday afternoon, demanding that Lukasz Urban be awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, the highest civilian honour, by German president Joachim Gauck.
Meanwhile, opposition MP Omid Nouripour called on foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to honour Urban with the national Order of Merit.
Police say Urban was shot dead by the suspected attacker, Tunisian Anis Amri, shortly after Amri had ploughed Urban’s 40-tonne lorry through a crowd of revellers at a Berlin Christmas market on December 19.
Twelve people were killed and dozens injured, but investigators believe Urban prevented even more casualties by grabbing the steering wheel in a struggle with Amri and directing the lorry back out of the crowd.
The Change.org petition said: “According to current reports, the autopsy shows that he struggled with the perpetrator and was severely injured and eventually killed by him”.
“With this heroic act, he probably saved many lives ... For this bravery, he deserves Germany’s highest decoration.”
Amri is believed to have overpowered Urban in the hours before the attack, commandeering his lorry while holding him captive in the passenger seat, where the Polish driver was later found dead with a gunshot wound.
Amri went on the run after the deadly rampage and was the focus of a Europe-wide manhunt before he was shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later after opening fire first.
* Agence France-Presse
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
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How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
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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
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