Jordan's King Abdullah II last visited Germany in March, in an official capacity. His back surgery in Frankfurt was deemed a success by his doctors. AP
Jordan's King Abdullah II last visited Germany in March, in an official capacity. His back surgery in Frankfurt was deemed a success by his doctors. AP
Jordan's King Abdullah II last visited Germany in March, in an official capacity. His back surgery in Frankfurt was deemed a success by his doctors. AP
Jordan's King Abdullah II last visited Germany in March, in an official capacity. His back surgery in Frankfurt was deemed a success by his doctors. AP

Jordan's King Abdullah has successful back surgery in Germany


Mina Aldroubi
  • English
  • Arabic

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has had surgery on his back in Germany, the Royal Court said on Tuesday.

During his absence, Crown Prince Hussein, 27, took over his father's duties.

“The Royal Hashemite Court announces that His Majesty King Abdullah II had successful surgery to treat a herniated disc in the thoracic spine area,” it said.

The king, who is 60, needed urgent surgery to relieve pain from a slipped disc, the palace said on Saturday.

His doctors advised him to have the operation in Frankfurt. He is expected to remain in Germany for a week.

The statement from the Arab kingdom’s Royal Hashemite Court said the king suffers from intermittent spine pain “as a result of parachute jumping during his years of service in special operations,” and doctors advised him to receive the surgery as the pain increased recently.

King Abdullah ascended the throne in 1999 after the death of his father, King Hussein.

During his youth, the king raced cars and served as a paratrooper in the Jordanian Army.

“His Highness Prince Hussein, the crown prince, took the constitutional oath as regent to king, in the presence of the Cabinet,” official broadcast media said on Saturday.

Prince Hussein has been given more responsibilities in the last few weeks and has been promoted in the military.

The hashtag 'get well soon our King,' trended in Jordan on Sunday, Roya News reported.

During the last few weeks, King Abdullah began a series of diplomatic initiatives to try to contain violence in Palestine.

At the end of March he travelled to Ramallah, accompanied by Prince Hussein, to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He also met several senior Israeli officials in Amman.

He was last in Germany on March 15 on an official visit when he met Chancellor Olaf Scholz. After that meeting, Mr Scholz said all diplomatic channels should be kept open in the Ukraine crisis to press for an immediate ceasefire.

"It is a question of using all the formats of dialogue and maintaining them ... and of pressing for a ceasefire to come soon, so that it comes immediately."

North Pole stats

Distance covered: 160km

Temperature: -40°C

Weight of equipment: 45kg

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Terrain: Flat ice
 

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Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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The specs

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Group A

Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA

Group B

Uruguay
Mexico
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Belarus
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Brazil
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Nigeria

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Look north

BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.

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

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Green ambitions
  • Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
  • Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
  • Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
  • Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water 
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Profile

Name: Carzaty

Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar

Launched: 2017

Employees: 22

Based: Dubai and Muscat

Sector: Automobile retail

Funding to date: $5.5 million

Teaching your child to save

Pre-school (three - five years)

You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.

Early childhood (six - eight years)

Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.

Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)

Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.

Young teens (12 - 14 years)

Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.

Teenage (15 - 18 years)

Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.

Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)

Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.

* JP Morgan Private Bank 

Updated: June 19, 2023, 12:34 PM`