The scene of the violence in Luxor on June 10, 2015, after a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt, just steps away from the ancient temple of Karnak. Stringer/Reuters
The scene of the violence in Luxor on June 10, 2015, after a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt, just steps away from the ancient temple of Karnak. Stringer/Reuters
The scene of the violence in Luxor on June 10, 2015, after a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt, just steps away from the ancient temple of Karnak. Stringer/Reuters
The scene of the violence in Luxor on June 10, 2015, after a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt, just steps away from the ancient temple of Karnak. Stringer/Reuters

Suicide bomber strikes popular Egyptian tourist spot


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temple

LUXOR // A suicide bomber on Wednesday struck just steps away from the ancient temple of Karnak in the southern city of Luxor, one of Egypt’s most popular tourist attractions.

Security officers fired at the bomber before he could enter the temple. An accomplice was shot dead in the gunfight and another was wounded and captured.

The nationality of the attackers is not known.

The three men carrying bags had got out of a car in the temple’s car park, which immediately made the police suspicious.

One of the three started running when police ordered them to stop.

Officers fired at him and the explosive belt he was wearing blew up. The tourism ministry said the man detonated the device, killing himself instantly.

Two policemen and a staff member at the site were also wounded. Only a handful of tourists and Egyptians were inside the temple at the time.

The explosion left large parts of the temple’s car park littered with debris.

Hundreds of onlookers and workers from a row of shops just outside the temple gathered after the attack as ambulances rushed to the scene.

It was the second attack this month close to a major tourist attraction, marking an escalation and a change in tactics by militants who are waging a campaign of violence against the government of president Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

The extremists appear to be shifting focus from hitting security forces to targeting the crucial tourism industry.

Sustained attacks threaten to ruin the industry again, just as it was beginning to recover from the uprising in 2011. On June 3, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire outside the Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, killing two police officers.

The governor of Luxor, Mohammed Badr, said Wednesday’s attack was “an attempt to break into the temple of Karnak”.

“They didn’t make it in,” Mr Badr said.

The last time Luxor was hit by such a significant attack was in November 1997, when militants opened fire on tourists at the city’s 3,400-year-old Hatshepsut Temple on the west bank of the Nile, killing 58.

Tourism is the lifeblood of Luxor, home to some of Egypt’s most famous ancient temples and pharaonic tombs, including that of King Tutankhamun. The city has been hit hard by a sharp downturn in foreign visitors in the four years since Egypt’s 2011 uprising.

Wednesday’s attack bore all the hallmarks of militants who have been battling security forces in the strategic Sinai Peninsula for years.

Last year, the Sinai-based group Ansar Beit Al Maqdis pledged allegiance to ISIL, which has destroyed archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, viewing them as idolatrous.

The campaign of violence in the Sinai accelerated and spread to other parts of Egypt following the 2013 military overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi. The militants say the attacks are in revenge for a government crackdown on supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The attack on the Luxor temple comes as Egypt tries to rehabilitate its tourism industry, which accounted for as much as 20 per cent of foreign currency revenues before the 2011 revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak and later years of turmoil.

From a high of 14.7 million tourists in 2010, Egypt has had an average of around 9 million a year since then, though officials say tourists are now returning. The government says tourism industry revenues more than doubled to Dh14.7 billion in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year.

But Wednesday’s violence is likely to result in cancellations for bookings for Luxor – although that would only involve small numbers, given that the tourist season in Luxor ends around May when temperatures begin to rise above 40°C, keeping away until October.

* Associated Press

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Bio

Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Three-day coronation

Royal purification

The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.

The crown

Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.

The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.

The audience

On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.

The procession

The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.

Meet the people

On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

The biog

Hometown: Cairo

Age: 37

Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror

Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing

Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition

The specs
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  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
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Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre 

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Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
 

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match info

Union Berlin 0

Bayern Munich 1 (Lewandowski 40' pen, Pavard 80')

Man of the Match: Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich)

What is the FNC?

The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning. 
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval. 
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
 

Suggested picnic spots

Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
 
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes 

What is type-1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.

It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.

Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.

Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.

Lexus LX700h specs

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Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

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Transmission: 10-speed auto

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