A car bombing at the police headquarters in the western Afghan province of Ghor killed at least 13 people and wounded about 120 others on Sunday.
The attack took place in Feroz Koh, the capital of the province, where there has been less violence than other regions of the country.
The head of a hospital in Ghor, Mohammad Omer Lalzad, said emergency staff were treating dozens of people with both serious and light injuries from the bombing. He expected the death toll to rise.
Juma Gul Yakoobi, a health official in Ghor, said victims included members of the security forces.
The Ministry of Interior said the car bomb detonated near the entrance of the provincial police chief's office and other nearby government buildings in the area at about 11am local time.
"The explosion was very powerful," said Aref Abir, spokesman for the Ghor governor.
He said the sound of the blast could heard across the capital city.
“It damaged and partially destroyed a few government buildings, including the police chief's office, the women's affairs department and the provincial office for refugees,” Mr Abir said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid an increase in attacks by the Taliban insurgents as representatives of the group and Afghan government officials hold their first-ever face-to-face talks in Qatar, where the Taliban have had a political office for many years. The negotiations are meant to end decades of war in Afghanistan.
On Friday, the Taliban agreed to suspend attacks in the southern province of Helmand, which displaced thousands of residents last week, in exchange for the US halting all air strikes and night raids in keeping with the peace agreement the US signed with the Taliban in February.
The US had been conducting air strikes in support of Afghan forces trying to repel Taliban assaults in Helmand province.
The peace talks in Qatar began in September, but appear to be stalled as the Taliban and government have struggled to establish a basic framework for negotiations.
While successful negotiations are seen as critical to ending the fighting, the withdrawal of American troops relies on the Taliban honouring their commitments from the February accord to not support terror groups and fight all militants, most specifically the region’s ISIS affiliate.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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2019 Asian Cup final
Japan v Qatar
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
UAE SQUAD
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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
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
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Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
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