Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
At least seven civilians from the same family, including one child, were killed in a single Israeli strike that destroyed a residential apartment in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Wednesday night.
Israel claimed that overnight one of its fighter jets killed a number of Hezbollah fighters, including a commander in the group's elite Radwan Force and his deputy.
The commander, Ali Mohammed Debs, had allegedly planned and operated attacks on Israel since October 8, when near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces began.
Hezbollah on Thursday confirmed the deaths of three of its fighters, including Mr Debs, without giving their ranks.
On Thursday morning a Civil Defence spokesman in Nabatieh declined to provide a final toll for dead and wounded, adding that the group was “still working".
The official National News Agency said the civilians killed were members of the Berjawi family. As rescue efforts continued into Thursday afternoon, a pile of the family's clothes, mattresses and other belongings lay strewn on the ground near the semi-destroyed building.
Abou Ibrahim, an elderly man who lives in the building directly across from the one targeted said many residents had left the area but that he had no plans to leave his home.
"Today the town was empty and people are in shock, but tomorrow, inshallah, it will return to normal," he said.
Hussein, a cousin of one of those killed in the Berjawi family, said rescue teams had heard a voice in the rubble.
"I'm waiting to see what will happen," he told The National.
The attack capped the deadliest day of strikes since the cross-border conflict between Israel and armed groups led by Hezbollah began in October, after a wave of strikes earlier on Wednesday that killed a mother and two of her children in the town of Sawaneh, bringing the day’s civilian death toll to 10.
It is the highest number of civilians killed by Israel in a day since the conflict began on October 8, when Hezbollah formally announced its support for its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah promised retaliation for the civilian deaths in the cities of Nabatieh and Sawaneh.
More Israeli strikes pounded south Lebanon on Thursday as the country's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the escalation.
“At a time where we are insisting on calm and are calling on all sides to not escalate, we find the Israeli enemy extending its aggression,” said a statement from his office.
The opening of the southern Lebanese front was intended as a pressure campaign to deter Israel from its assault on the besieged enclave.
The majority of the attacks had been confined to the Lebanon-Israel border area. But in recent weeks Israel has struck further into Lebanese territory, including the strikes on Nabatieh this week, indicating that it is expanding the conflict.
Cross-border violence has killed at least 254 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also 38 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
The war began with the surprise attack on southern Israel by Hamas on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, while Israel struck the densely populated Gaza Strip with relentless air strikes and a ground invasion, killing more than 28,000 people.
The war has gradually widened into a regional conflict as numerous Iran-allied militias announced their involvement in an attempt to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.
Lebanon's caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said Wednesday evening in an interview on the al-Hadath channel that he feared "war is getting closer to the heart of Lebanese territory."
The raid caused severe damage to the three-storey building and a nearby road, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. Cars and telephone infrastructure were also damaged.
Videos of the scene immediately after the attack showed chaos as ambulance crews rushed to clear rubble and find the injured.
Nabatieh schools and government institutions on Thursday announced that they would close “given the security conditions resulting from the repeated Israeli attacks, and out of concern for the safety of employees and stakeholders”, a statement carried by the National News Agency said.
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
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
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Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
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New process leads to panic among jobseekers
As a UAE-based travel agent who processes tourist visas from the Philippines, Jennifer Pacia Gado is fielding a lot of calls from concerned travellers just now. And they are all asking the same question.
“My clients are mostly Filipinos, and they [all want to know] about good conduct certificates,” says the 34-year-old Filipina, who has lived in the UAE for five years.
Ms Gado contacted the Philippines Embassy to get more information on the certificate so she can share it with her clients. She says many are worried about the process and associated costs – which could be as high as Dh500 to obtain and attest a good conduct certificate from the Philippines for jobseekers already living in the UAE.
“They are worried about this because when they arrive here without the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] clearance, it is a hassle because it takes time,” she says.
“They need to go first to the embassy to apply for the application of the NBI clearance. After that they have go to the police station [in the UAE] for the fingerprints. And then they will apply for the special power of attorney so that someone can finish the process in the Philippines. So it is a long process and more expensive if you are doing it from here.”
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Madrid Open schedule
Men's semi-finals
Novak Djokovic (1) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 6pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11pm
Women's final
Simona Halep (3) v Kiki Bertens (7) from 8.30pm
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Pathaan
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
