Ayman Al Zawahiri, a feature on the US's most wanted terrorist list, has been killed by a US drone in Afghanistan.
After the September 11 attacks, the US State Department offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension and conviction of Al Zawahiri.
He is believed to have been involved in some of Al Qaeda's biggest terrorist operations, helping to organise the 2001 attacks, when airliners hijacked by his group Al Qaeda were used to kill 3,000 people in the US.
There, he was charged for his role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya.
US President Joe Biden revealed on Monday that he authorised a precision strike in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to kill Al Zawahiri with two Hellfire missiles.
The drone strike on Saturday was approved after weeks of meetings with advisers, according to American officials.
Eleven years after the killing of his counterpart and close friend Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan, Al Zawahiri has become the public face and voice of the terrorist group in many recordings.
A videotape aired by Al Jazeera network in 2003 showed Al Zawahiri and bin Laden walking on a mountainside.
Who was Ayman Al Zawahiri?
Born in the Egyptian city of Giza in 1951, Al Zawahiri had just turned 71 when he was killed during a visit with relatives, according to the US president.
His killing came one year after the US withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and brought an end to a 20-year occupation.
He came from a well-to-do family of physicians, distinguished Muslim scholars and academics.
One of his grandfathers was a grand imam of Al Azhar, the highest seat of learning in Sunni Islam. His maternal grandfather was a president of Cairo University.
One of his two brothers, Mohammad, is a dermatologist, and his twin sister Heba is an oncologist.
Al Zawahiri studied ophthalmology at Cairo University and worked as an eye surgeon for several years in his clinic in Cairo’s Maadi suburb.
In his teenage years, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood and was much influenced by Sayyid Qutob, the lead ideologue of the group, whose extremist theories inspired generations of terrorist and Islamist leaders.
Qutob was hanged in 1966 in connection with an attempt on the life of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
A life of terror
Despite a reputation for an inflexible and combative personality, Al Zawahiri managed to nurture loosely affiliated groups around the world that grew to wage devastating insurgencies and attacks.
The terrorism destabilised a number of countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The first time the world heard of Al Zawahiri was when he stood in a courtroom cage after the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat in 1981.
Al Zawahiri served a three-year jail term for illegal arms possession, but was acquitted of the main charges.
He went to Pakistan on his release, where he worked with the Red Crescent treating mujahideen wounded in Afghanistan fighting Soviet forces.
During that period, he became acquainted with bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who had joined the Afghan resistance.
Taking over the leadership of a militant group called Islamic Jihad in Egypt in 1993, Al Zawahiri was a leading figure in a campaign in the mid-1990s to overthrow the Egyptian government and set up a purist Islamic state. More than 1,200 Egyptians, mostly police officers, were killed.
Egyptian authorities took action against Islamic Jihad after an attempt on president Hosni Mubarak's life in June 1995 in Ethiopia.
Al Zawahiri soon responded by ordering attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Two cars filled with explosives crashed through the compound's gates, killing 16 people.
In 1999, an Egyptian military court sentenced Al Zawahiri to death in his absence.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
Empty Words
By Mario Levrero
(Coffee House Press)
Representing%20UAE%20overseas
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Recycle Reuse Repurpose
New central waste facility on site at expo Dubai South area to handle estimated 173 tonne of waste generated daily by millions of visitors
Recyclables such as plastic, paper, glass will be collected from bins on the expo site and taken to the new expo Central Waste Facility on site
Organic waste will be processed at the new onsite Central Waste Facility, treated and converted into compost to be re-used to green the expo area
Of 173 tonnes of waste daily, an estimated 39 per cent will be recyclables, 48 per cent organic waste and 13 per cent general waste.
About 147 tonnes will be recycled and converted to new products at another existing facility in Ras Al Khor
Recycling at Ras Al Khor unit:
Plastic items to be converted to plastic bags and recycled
Paper pulp moulded products such as cup carriers, egg trays, seed pots, and food packaging trays
Glass waste into bowls, lights, candle holders, serving trays and coasters
Aim is for 85 per cent of waste from the site to be diverted from landfill
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The specs: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Price, base: Dh1.2 million
Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 725hp @ 6,500pm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.3L / 100km (estimate)
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
57%20Seconds
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Company%20profile
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
UAE SQUAD
UAE team
1. Chris Jones-Griffiths 2. Gio Fourie 3. Craig Nutt 4. Daniel Perry 5. Isaac Porter 6. Matt Mills 7. Hamish Anderson 8. Jaen Botes 9. Barry Dwyer 10. Luke Stevenson (captain) 11. Sean Carey 12. Andrew Powell 13. Saki Naisau 14. Thinus Steyn 15. Matt Richards
Replacements
16. Lukas Waddington 17. Murray Reason 18. Ahmed Moosa 19. Stephen Ferguson 20. Sean Stevens 21. Ed Armitage 22. Kini Natuna 23. Majid Al Balooshi
Venom
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
Rating: 1.5/5
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
