Follow the latest updates on the Libyan floods
Libyans in the UAE are anxiously trying to contact families back home to confirm their safety after the deadly floods brought on by Storm Daniel left a path of devastation across the country.
The storm wreaked havoc across eastern towns causing flash floods in many areas, including the city of Derna, where dams were destroyed and entire neighbourhoods washed away.
The death toll in Derna had risen to 5,300 by Wednesday morning, the Interior Ministry appointed by the country's parliament said.
Nearly 10,000 people are reported missing.
At least 600 people who died in floods in Derna were buried in mass graves, a resident told The National.
Entire families have vanished in the blink of an eye
Dr Matouk Mohamed Zbaeda,
medical director at a hospital in Abu Dhabi
Dr Salem Abu Fanas, Dean of Dentistry College at Ajman University, found himself in a state of despair as he tried to reach his family in Libya.
“Most of my family lives safely in the city of Misurata in Libya,” he told The National.
But one of his brothers, and his daughters and their families, live in Al Bayda, where roads and buildings were damaged by the storm.
At least 50 people are reported dead in Al Bayda and its main hospital was flooded, forcing the evacuation of patients, according to a post shared by the hospital on Facebook.
“I immediately called him, but there was no way of reaching him,” Dr Salem said.
“So I called my brothers in Misurata, who confirmed he was safe.
“But the sadness and feelings of loss and uncertainty held me captive until I finally heard his voice.”
Dr Salem said his brother lost his entire brick factory, a lorry and a car as a result of the floods.
“Not only that but the security guard at the factory was washed away and is missing, believed to be dead,” Dr Salem said.
“This is not the first time Al Bayda witnessed such a storm.”
A similar storm struck the region around 60 years ago, but the city was barely populated back then, said Dr Salem.
“It's God's will in the end. However, one can't help but think if Libya was not divided between two rival governments, it wouldn't have been left with inadequate infrastructure,” he said.
“Had it been more stable, there would have been better preparations that could have helped minimise the losses in lives and property.”
Dr Matouk Zbaeda, a medical director at a hospital in Abu Dhabi who lost friends in the flood, agreed.
“Shock isn't even the word,” he told The National.
“Entire families have vanished in the blink of an eye. It is unimaginable and what's worse is that we don't even know the extent of it yet.
“It will be a lot worse and we expect total deaths to be much higher than what was reported,” he said.
Dr Zbaeda, from Tripoli, said he lost both friends and a classmate in the floods.
“They were at home when the floods hit. Then in a few minutes, the entire family was gone. Siblings, children, in-laws, parents and everyone in that area,” he said.
“What's hard is that there was no communication with them and then the videos started coming out and we couldn't contact them or call anyone to rush to their aid which was the first instinct.”
Dr Zbaeda, along with other Libyan doctors and residents in the UAE, are planning to go to Libya to offer their assistance and find ways to support those affected by the storm.
“I've been trying to find flights. Getting to Libya is difficult on a normal day. Imagine it now? No one is able to get in or out,” he said.
Dr Zbaeda's son, who is based in Britain, is also trying to gather aid and donations for the people in Libya.
“There are only around six million Libyans and now so many are gone. We still can't process what happened and the problem is that it is only getting worse,” he said.
“It will be weeks until we know the magnitude of it all.
“You hear of these things happening in other countries or see it in movies, but you would never imagine it happening to you, in your home country,” he said.
ELIO
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Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Abu Dhabi card
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 2,400m
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 2,200m
6pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
The National selections:
5pm: Valcartier
5.30pm: AF Taraha
6pm: Dhafra
6.30pm: Maqam
7pm: AF Mekhbat
7.30pm: Ezz Al Rawasi
Leaderboard
15 under: Paul Casey (ENG)
-14: Robert MacIntyre (SCO)
-13 Brandon Stone (SA)
-10 Laurie Canter (ENG) , Sergio Garcia (ESP)
-9 Kalle Samooja (FIN)
-8 Thomas Detry (BEL), Justin Harding (SA), Justin Rose (ENG)
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Teams in the EHL
White Bears, Al Ain Theebs, Dubai Mighty Camels, Abu Dhabi Storms, Abu Dhabi Scorpions and Vipers
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
The stats: 2017 Jaguar XJ
Price, base / as tested Dh326,700 / Dh342,700
Engine 3.0L V6
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 340hp @ 6,000pm
Torque 450Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.1L / 100km
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Dubai Women's Tour teams
Agolico BMC
Andy Schleck Cycles-Immo Losch
Aromitalia Basso Bikes Vaiano
Cogeas Mettler Look
Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport
Hitec Products – Birk Sport
Kazakhstan National Team
Kuwait Cycling Team
Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux
Minsk Cycling Club
Pannonia Regional Team (Fehérvár)
Team Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Team Ciclotel
UAE Women’s Team
Under 23 Kazakhstan Team
Wheel Divas Cycling Team
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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
