The National's Sport cover for the Thursday, March 12 issue, featuring Osman Samiuddin's preview of Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Osman takes note of the stretch, from Auckland, New Zealand to Itajai, Brazil, for its reputation as one of the most demanding feats in all of sailing.
Already, the leg start has been delayed due to a major storm system churning up the waters around New Zealand.
Writes Osman:
“All those scare stories about the Volvo Ocean Race being the toughest of examinations for the participants and how it is the Everest of sailing, or an extreme sport only in long form, are about to be tested.
“It is the next leg from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil ... on which those tales were based.
“At 6,776 nautical miles and traversing the Southern Ocean, it is the longest and most volatile leg, the one that terrifies sailors as much as it excites them.”
Read his full preview of the treacherous task here.
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
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