The remains of around 20 bodies found dumped in the Aqraba district of south-eastern Syria were collected by civil defence teams on Monday, as medics continue working to uncover mass graves across the country that have been found in the wake of the removal of the dictator Bashar Al Assad.
The remains were discovered inside canvas bags – typically used to hold rice and other dry goods – by local workers near the Fifth Bridge area of rural Damascus three days ago, medics and residents told The National, as crews worked to transport the bodies into body bags. Many of the bags “contained small, blackened bones”, civil defence board member Ammar Selma told The National. Entry to the area was previously restricted by Syrian regime security forces.
“We documented around 20 bodies, but it could be more because sometimes in one bag, there are two or three skeletons of different bodies,” he added.
He said crews were working to transport the bodies – possibly belonging to pro-government militias – to a burial site, but that they would be inspected for any traits or markers such as teeth for future identification. Locals said they had watched two cars pull into a turn-off road near an abandoned fairground. The occupants dumped the canvas bags, which were found shortly afterwards, on Friday.
“At first we thought they were dumping trash. But the next morning my workers called me over and we saw the bags contained bones and body remnants,” said Radwan Bweydani, the owner of a nearby theme park. Decaying flesh clung to bone remnants as civil defence crews sifted through the bodies.
The smell of death permeated the air. Some bags were found with cards carrying numbers and nationalities corresponding to the remains – but no names. Most of the bodies were found wearing military fatigues, The National observed, while some of the bags were accompanied by forms containing writing in Farsi, according to Mr Selma.
Thought to be among the bodies were also people of Syrian nationality. One was labelled: “Syrian security."
It was not immediately clear who dumped the bags of bodies near the fairground, why, or how old the remains are. The Fifth Bridge area was a highly militarised and security zone throughout Syria’s 14-year civil war, in which numerous foreign proxies fought to support various warring Syrian groups. In addition to the Syrian military, Iran-backed pro-government militias had a presence in the area, according to residents.
“We don’t know the story. Of course, someone took them out of a grave and threw them here. Why they were taken out of the grave, we don’t know. Where they were previously, we don’t know,” Mr Selma said. Residents and Mr Selma raised the possibility that it could have been an attempt by pro-government militia members to discard evidence of their operations after Syrian rebels swept into Damascus on December 8.
Around 150,000 people remain unaccounted for as a result of the civil war, according to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). As a change of government takes hold over the country for the first time in 54 years, many are now looking to find out what happened to loved ones who were detained by Syrian security forces and affiliates loyal to Mr Al Assad and held in the regime’s notorious prisons.
A mass search for missing people began following Mr Al Assad’s overthrow, with search crews and thousands of relatives pouring through the once-secretive prisons, security branches, and military hospitals across the country for any clues on where loved ones could be held or buried.
In the notorious Sednaya prison, also known as “the human slaughterhouse”, around 4,300 prisoners were reportedly freed when rebel forces swept into the area, according to documentation found by Syrian Civil Defence. As hopes fade that the remaining thousands of missing could still be alive, numerous search crews have begun to slowly uncover mass graves dispersed throughout the country.
“It’s important for Syria’s future to know the fate of missing persons,” Mr Selma said. “Their families are still waiting for them.”
TYPES%20OF%20ONLINE%20GIG%20WORK
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDesign%2C%20multimedia%20and%20creative%20work%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELogo%20design%2C%20website%20design%2C%20visualisations%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBusiness%20and%20professional%20management%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELegal%20or%20management%20consulting%2C%20architecture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBusiness%20and%20professional%20support%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EResearch%20support%2C%20proofreading%2C%20bookkeeping%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESales%20and%20marketing%20support%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESearch%20engine%20optimisation%2C%20social%20media%20marketing%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EData%20entry%2C%20administrative%2C%20and%20clerical%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EData%20entry%20tasks%2C%20virtual%20assistants%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIT%2C%20software%20development%20and%20tech%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EData%20analyst%2C%20back-end%20or%20front-end%20developers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWriting%20and%20translation%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EContent%20writing%2C%20ghost%20writing%2C%20translation%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EOnline%20microtasks%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EImage%20tagging%2C%20surveys%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%20World%20Bank%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Specs
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Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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Available: Now
