• Anti-government protesters gather outside the provincial council building during protests demanding free elections and against corruption in Basra, Iraq. AP Photo
    Anti-government protesters gather outside the provincial council building during protests demanding free elections and against corruption in Basra, Iraq. AP Photo
  • Mahmud Moussa rests on a makeshift bed outside his house, which was destroyed in the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo
    Mahmud Moussa rests on a makeshift bed outside his house, which was destroyed in the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo
  • Palestinian workers cross illegaly into Israeli areas through a hole in Israel's barrier fence near the Mitar checkpoint and the village of al-Dahriya, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. AFP
    Palestinian workers cross illegaly into Israeli areas through a hole in Israel's barrier fence near the Mitar checkpoint and the village of al-Dahriya, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. AFP
  • Israeli infantry soldiers walk next to a tank and an armoured personnel carrier near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. AFP
    Israeli infantry soldiers walk next to a tank and an armoured personnel carrier near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. AFP
  • A Palestinian protester from a group calling themselves the 'Night Confusion Units' flashes the V-sign for victory as they gather near the Gaza-Israel border east of Al Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip. Israel's army launched new air strikes against Hamas positions in Gaza and closed the fishing zone around the Palestinian enclave in response to rockets and firebombs sent into Israeli territory. AFP
    A Palestinian protester from a group calling themselves the 'Night Confusion Units' flashes the V-sign for victory as they gather near the Gaza-Israel border east of Al Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip. Israel's army launched new air strikes against Hamas positions in Gaza and closed the fishing zone around the Palestinian enclave in response to rockets and firebombs sent into Israeli territory. AFP
  • A Syrian street vendor sells apples and prickly pears across from a mural painted as part of an awareness campaign by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) intitative, bearing instructions on protection from Covid-19 in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province after a spike in infections in the area. AFP
    A Syrian street vendor sells apples and prickly pears across from a mural painted as part of an awareness campaign by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) intitative, bearing instructions on protection from Covid-19 in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province after a spike in infections in the area. AFP
  • Iraqis lift national flags as they demonstrate near the governor's residence in the southern city of Basra, to protest assasinations and demand the resignation of top security officials in the governorate. AFP
    Iraqis lift national flags as they demonstrate near the governor's residence in the southern city of Basra, to protest assasinations and demand the resignation of top security officials in the governorate. AFP
  • Rubble of destroyed buildings is seen in a neighborhood near the site of the August 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo
    Rubble of destroyed buildings is seen in a neighborhood near the site of the August 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo

The Middle East Framed - regional photography for August 17, 2020


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  • Arabic

More galleries from The National:

Jordan's Queen Rania wears filtered mask to inaugurate hospital in Amman 

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane enjoy pre-season training camp with their Liverpool teammates 

How 10 of the world's top universities are managing the pandemic

Name: Peter Dicce

Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics

Favourite sport: soccer

Favourite team: Bayern Munich

Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer

Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates 

 

How green is the expo nursery?

Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery

An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo

Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery

Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape

The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides

All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality

Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country

Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow

Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site

Green waste is recycled as compost

Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs

Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers

About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer

Main themes of expo is  ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.

Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months

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'Downton Abbey: A New Era'

Director: Simon Curtis

 

Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Profile of MoneyFellows

Founder: Ahmed Wadi

Launched: 2016

Employees: 76

Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)

Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Jewel of the Expo 2020

252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

World’s largest 360-degree projection surface

Studying addiction

This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.

Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.

The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.

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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THE BIO:

Sabri Razouk, 74

Athlete and fitness trainer 

Married, father of six

Favourite exercise: Bench press

Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn

Power drink: A glass of yoghurt

Role model: Any good man

Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin

Favourite film: Marvel movies

Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence

ESSENTIALS

The flights 
Fly Etihad or Emirates from the UAE to Moscow from 2,763 return per person return including taxes. 
Where to stay 
Trips on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian cost from US$16,995 (Dh62,414) per person, based on two sharing.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet

Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder

Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5