Joint UAE-Unesco project will help to restore Mosul’s cultural heritage


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The UAE and Unesco project to restore three religious heritage sites in Mosul must have strong involvement from the local community to succeed, the Iraq director of the UN organisation said.

The UAE will support rebuilding Al Nuri Mosque and its Al Hadba minaret, the 800-year-old Al Tahera church and the restoration of Al Saa’a church in the northern Iraqi city.

The two churches were blown up by ISIS during the battle for the city that ended in December 2017.

Al Nuri Mosque is the site where Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi announced in 2014 that he had ­established a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The mosque has been restored twice – in the 1960s and the early 20th century.

Mosul’s people will decide on what version of the mosque they wish to recreate.

“It’s very important for the UAE and Unesco that we are sure what we are doing corresponds to the will of the government but also corresponds to the desires of the people, especially in Mosul," said Paolo Fontani, Iraq director and representative at Unesco.

“The project is totally community-orientated because we want to bring back not just a building, but cultural identity.”

Mr Fontani said it was also an act of sharing, with the UAE having “invested the money to rebuild Islamic monuments and Christian churches”.

Last month, the UAE renewed its partnership with Unesco, taking its investment in the project to $50 million (Dh183.6m).

It will become the first country in the world to restore Christian churches in Iraq that were destroyed by ISIS.

“The project started a process of people wanting to be engaged in what we are doing,” Mr Fontani said.

“We’ve had a number of meetings before in Mosul where we called on people to come and share with us what’s happening at the mosque and the old city in general.”

He said the meetings were well attended by people including students and scholars working in fields such as architecture, engineering and history.

“Everyone wants to understand what’s going on,” Mr Fontani said. “This is their city and their heritage.”

The mosque is at the last stage of demining and is going through other structural health and safety checks.

The churches have further to go, but Mr Fontani expects the safety checks and preservation around those sites to be easier and take less time.

A technical committee for the project, which includes representatives from the Iraqi and UAE governments, Unesco and the Mosul community, is due to meet this month to determine the basic design of the reconstruction.

Unesco hopes to prepare a more detailed plan for the reconstruction of the places of worship and submit it to the Iraqi government in late January or early February.

After it is approved, bids will be submitted and the plan scrutinised for specification checks.

“We hope by the beginning of summer next year we would have already chosen the company that’s going to rebuild the complex,” Mr Fontani said.

The mosque complex will probably be divided into two, Mr Fontani said, with one section for the minaret and the other for the mosque.

The idea of setting up a museum next to the mosque to create jobs and help to educate people about the site’s history is also being explored.

Mr Fontani expects the project to create thousands of jobs and encourage people in Mosul to develop skills that they can transfer to future roles.

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The biog

DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year

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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

The biog

Age: 46

Number of Children: Four

Hobby: Reading history books

Loves: Sports

While you're here
The Pope's itinerary

Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport


Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial


Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport

360Vuz PROFILE

Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah 
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology 
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million 
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin

David Haye record

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

Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

Multitasking pays off for money goals

Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.

That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.

"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.

Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."

People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.

"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."

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My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press

Sustainable Development Goals

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality  within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development