Today's best photos: from a military explosion to Christmas in London


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Military exercises in Iran

EPA
EPA

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps taking part in military exercises in three provinces around the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in southern Iran. The military exercise follows tension between Iran and Israel over nuclear talks in Vienna.

Philippines typhoon aftermath

AP
AP

Clothes are left to dry on a typhoon-damaged tree in Surigao City, southern Philippines. The governor of a central Philippine province devastated by Typhoon Rai last week pleaded on the radio for the government to quickly send food and other aid, warning that without outside help, army troops and police forces would have to be deployed to prevent looting amid growing hunger.

Winter in Poland

EPA
EPA

A winter landscape in Suloszowa village, in southern Poland. Temperatures were reported at minus 3 degrees Celsius.

2001 A space odyssey

EPA
EPA

The hall in '2001: A Space Odyssey' is part of the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Fine Arts Circle in Madrid, Spain. The exhibition, which runs until May 8, features more than 600 pieces to explain the US director's films.

Black lives matter

AFP
AFP

A person demonstrates in support of Daunte Wright in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during jury deliberations in the trial of former police officer Kim Potter. Potter, 49, is charged with first-degree manslaughter over the fatal shooting of Wright, 20, on April 11. She claims the shooting was an accident, saying she mistakenly grabbed her gun instead of her Taser.

Deep sea Santa

AFP
AFP

A scuba-diving 'Santa' takes a dip in Acapulco, Mexico.

Dinosaur discovery

AFP
AFP

A drawing of a close-to-hatching oviraptorosaur dinosaur embryo, which is based on the new specimen ‘Baby Yingliang’ found in southern China.

St Paul's choristers

Choristers light their candles at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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

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

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Copa del Rey final

Sevilla v Barcelona, Saturday, 11.30pm (UAE), match on Bein Sports

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LA LIGA FIXTURES

Friday

Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)

Valencia v Levante (midnight)

Saturday

Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)

Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)

Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)

Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)

Sunday

Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)

Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)

Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)

Correspondents

By Tim Murphy

(Grove Press)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Updated: December 22, 2021, 12:57 PM`