One of the especially heartbreaking aspects of the Grenfell Tower tragedy was the devastation it inflicted on children. Almost all the local schools lost pupils, teachers or other staff members. Holland Park, the local state secondary school situated less than three kilometres away, is no different..
“The news broke on the radio as I was driving into work,” said deputy head Richard Northover. “As soon as I arrived at school I searched the database to find out if any students lived there.”
One of the names Mr Northover found was Nur Huda el-Wahabi, 15, who had previously been in his English class. He remembers her as “a warm, good-spirited [child]”. The teacher tried to contact the family via Nur Huda’s father, but the phone was never answered and the line soon cut out.
The entire family, who were originally from Morocco, are believed to have perished in the tower: Nur Huda, her father Abdul Aziz, 52, mother Fouzia, 42, and two brothers, Mehdi, eight and Yasin, 21. Yasin was also a student at Holland Park..
Nur Huda’s name is set to live on beyond the official tributes and memorials to the victims of Grenfell because she is to be immortalised as a character in a children’s book written by Philip Pullman, the author of the hugely popular His Dark Materials trilogy (part of which, Northern Lights, Nur Huda had read in primary school).
Mr Pullman and many other members of the literary world, including Margaret Atwood, Michael Rosen and Antonia Fraser, donated work or their skills to an online auction to help raise money. The 70-year-old novelist offered up the right to name a character in the second part of The Book of Dust series he is currently writing.
“This book … will be published [next] year,” the online entry reads. “The right to name a character doesn’t guarantee that he or she will be good, bad, beautiful or otherwise, but it will be a speaking role with a part to play in the plot.”
Enter James Clements, who had taught Nur Huda at primary school and bid an initial £1,500 for the item “on a whim”.
“I thought a character in The Book of Dust would be a nice way of remembering someone I taught and was fond of," he said. "A life that was so full of promise has been cut short in the most terrible way. As well as raising some money, this would mean her name would live on. Plus Nur Huda is a pretty cool name for a character." ”
The bid picked up more support, and within days y 449 people had raised £32,000 to win the auction.
Mr Northover says the gregarious Nur Huda would have loved the idea of having a character named after her. “She didn’t shy away from the limelight. She sat at the back of my room, in the middle; she was a focal point. She liked to joke but worked hard as well. In that sense she was a positive role model. I saw her mature into an impressive young lady.”
Mr Clements also remembers a girl whose enormous potential was cut short by the fire, among many others. “We should remember the names of everyone who didn’t make it out of the building that night. We should remember their names, remember what happened to them, and as a society, make sure that we do all we can to stop anything like it happening again.”
Poacher
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The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The%20specs
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The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
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'Cheb%20Khaled'
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Results
- Brock Lesnar retained the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns
- Braun Strowman and Nicolas won the Raw Tag Team titles against Sheamus and Cesaro
- AJ Styles retained the WWE World Heavyweight title against Shinsuke Nakamura
- Nia Jax won the Raw Women’s title against Alexa Bliss
- Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon beat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
- The Undertaker beat John Cena
- The Bludgeon Brothers won the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos and New Day
- Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle beat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
- Jinder Mahal won the United States title against Randy Orton, Rusev and Bobby Roode
- Charlotte retained the SmackDown Women’s title against Asuka
- Seth Rollins won the Intercontinental title against The Miz and Finn Balor
- Naomi won the first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal
- Cedric Alexander won the vacant Cruiserweight title against Mustafa Ali
- Matt Hardy won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal
