Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hold a press conference after their meeting on Libya at Lancaster House in London.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hold a press conference after their meeting on Libya at Lancaster House in London.

United States backs UN efforts to resolve Libya crisis



US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson threw his weight behind the UN’s mediation efforts in Libya in an apparent rebuke to squabbling European nations running their own diplomatic initiatives to restore peace.

Mr Tillerson said that the UN’s Libya envoy Ghassan Salame had the “full support of the United States” as the special representative prepares to outline his plan for national elections to end years of chaos following the 2011 toppling of Muammar Qaddafi.

Mr Tillerson was speaking after a meeting in London with his British counterpart Boris Johnson, Mr Salame, Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE minister of state for Foreign Affairs; Angelino Alfano, the Italian foreign minister; Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister and Nicolas de Riviere, political director of the French foreign ministry.

Mr Tillerson said that he was keen to ensure that Isil did not re-emerge amid the failure to get the country under control as rival militias continue to feud in the divided country.

“We think it’s time to focus mediation efforts in one location at the UN under his [Salame’s] leadership,” said Mr Tillerson at a joint press conference with Mr Johnson. “I think we had very strong unity among the group that met today to support the special representative.”

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Italy became the first Western diplomatic mission to reopen its embassy in January and had taken the lead in trying to bring peace to its former colony. It was angered when France launched its own efforts this year.

The country has had rival governments in east and west since 2014. Italy has thrown its weight firmly behind Fayez al-Serraj, head of Libya’s UN-backed government in Tripoli. Johnson last month met with Khalifa Haftar, the dominant figure in the east of the country, but who Italy regards with great suspicion.

In July, the rival leaders pledged in Paris to work towards elections in 2018 and a conditional ceasefire, but Haftar immediately played down the commitments.

Mr Johnson told reporters on Thursday that it was realistic for the country to hold elections by autumn 2018. Mr Johnson said that resolving conflict in Libya was a vital strategic goal with the country acting as the “front line” of a common struggle against terrorism and illegal migration.

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Mr Salame, who provided a summary of meetings with the key players in Libya to the London meeting, is due to present his plans to break the deadlock in Libya in New York next week.

He has said that new constitutional and electoral laws would have to be written to ensure any vote brought lasting change. That will entail a redrawing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) – which is due to expire on Monday – and accept the political reality that requires for Mr Haftar to play a role in the country’s future.

“Would it be premature to hold the elections within a year? I happen to think that could be about the right timescale," said Mr Johnson.

“It is very important however, that you don't do it too fast and that you get the political groundwork done first," he added. “There has to be a constitution, there has to be an accepted basis for those elections to take place.”

The meeting was an opportunity for the United States to inject leadership into a programme that had been drifting with Italy, France and Arab states all playing key roles in diplomatic efforts, said analyst Shashank Joshi, of the Royal United Services Institute based in London.

He said that the Italian approach based on its own narrow strategic interests was being questioned by the United States. “It’s the first really serious round of diplomatic activity that Tillerson has been involved with,” he said. “They’re trying to achieve a more coordinated position on some of these issues.”

The politicians also discussed recovery efforts in the Caribbean in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, their response to threats from North Korea and Iran, and the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Burma.

Mr Johnson said the suffering of the Rohingya people was an "abomination" and called on Burma’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to use her “moral capital” to take on the country’s powerful military to halt the violence against the Muslim group.

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Results

United States beat UAE by three wickets

United States beat Scotland by 35 runs

UAE v Scotland – no result

United States beat UAE by 98 runs

Scotland beat United States by four wickets

Fixtures

Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland

Admission is free

Sonchiriya

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Producer: RSVP Movies, Azure Entertainment

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey

Rating: 3/5

Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

MATCH INFO

Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)

Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5

Fighting with My Family

Director: Stephen Merchant 

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Thomas Whilley, Tori Ellen Ross, Jack Lowden, Olivia Bernstone, Elroy Powell        

Four stars

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Company%C2%A0profile
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Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Meydan Racecourse racecard:

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 1,900m

7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m

7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) Dh265,000 1,600m

8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) Dh165,000 1,600m

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh265,000 2,000m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m

10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,600m.

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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EA Sports FC 25
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega

Director: Tim Burton

Rating: 3/5

23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees

Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.

Results:

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m | Winner: AF Al Montaqem, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,200m | Winner: Daber W’Rsan, Connor Beasley, Jaci Wickham

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m | Winner: Bainoona, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel

6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: AF Makerah, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 | Winner: AF Motaghatres, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,600m | Winner: Tafakhor, Ronan Whelan, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The drill

Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.

Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”

Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”

Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.” 

The specs

Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six

Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm

Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto

Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km

Price: From Dh796,600

On sale: now

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.