Al Qa'eda in the Arabian Peninsula seems to be trying to appropriate an army. The group's hate-mongering magazine Inspire last week announced the "creation" of the Aden-Abyan army, a claim that was as dubious as the propaganda outlet itself. The so-called army actually dates back to the 1990s and the civil war. AQAP is not creating anything, merely trying to capitalise on Yemen's existing divisions.
The irony is that many southern separatists will not trust al Qa'eda because it is widely believed to be allied with the government in Sana'a. President Ali Abdullah Saleh has a proven track record of supporting extremist groups against his enemies, be it the Houthis in the north or the secessionists in the south.
Even as the United States is spending $150 million on military assistance and providing elite training to federal forces, there is very little indication that Mr Saleh is on the same page. "The Americans are pushing hard and the government is resisting hard," said Yasser al Awadi, a senior politician allied with Mr Saleh.
Washington has good reason to be concerned. Two plots carried out within its borders - the Fort Hood shooting and the failed Christmas day airline bomb plot - have been linked to militants in Yemen. There are several US citizens, including the editor of Inspire, who are believed to be using the country as a base to foment terrorism.
But arming Mr Saleh's regime and assassinations by drone attacks are not working. The United States is matching its military assistance with development aid, but it would be better off building schools than running bombing campaigns. AQAP's membership is only an estimated 300 militants; the threat is the support it has found among Yemen's disaffected groups, the Aden-Abyan army among them.
Al Qa'eda has laid claim not just to Yemen, but the entirety of the Arabian Peninsula - Saudi Arabia is the target of this recent propaganda blitz as much as Yemen. GCC members of the Friends of Yemen Group, including the UAE, have more at stake than anyone. The Gulf countries also have many more tools at their disposal.
There are ties of kinship, culture and religion that bind Yemen to the rest of the Gulf. There is no need to deal exclusively with Mr Saleh's regime or engage in the regional arms race. Development aid that reaches the south will do far more for regional security. And in areas where Sana'a does not have full control, it will provide an incentive to push al Qa'eda into the cold.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The%20specs
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
SOUTH%20KOREA%20SQUAD
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