SANA'A //At least 30 more people died in fighting across Yemen yesterday as Houthis in the north and militants in the south clashed with security forces. A day after the government accused al Houthis of ambushing and killing a tribal chieftain, his son and four bodyguards in the northern province of Sa'ada, at least 26 people were dead after Houthis fought with soldiers and al Aziz, a government-backed tribe, in Harf Sufian, 100km north of Sana'a.
Those clashes raised the death toll in the north to at least 56 in the past four days and marked the deadliest day of fighting in the region since a ceasefire in February after a five-year conflict. In the southern province of Shabwa, five soldiers were killed and another wounded in a suspected al Qa'eda ambush in Attaq. The ministry of defence said a routine patrol was attacked with machine gun and artillery fire.
In the north, the rebels denied on Wednesday that they had ambushed the convoy of Sheikh Zaidan al Maknaee, although they admitted that he was killed in a confrontation with their members. While tribal mediators are trying to contain the deteriorating security situation, local sources say army troopers have been deployed to al Zalaa area and that intensified clashes have spread to other areas, including al Samsarah and al Labada.
The escalation in the north comes after Sana'a and Doha announced last week the revival of the peace agreement brokered in 2008 by Qatar, following a short visit to Sana'a last week by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Qatari emir. The north of the country, mainly Sa'ada, has endured six rounds of fighting since an on-and-off war erupted in 2004. The last round lasted until a truce was brokered in February. Thousands of people were killed and wounded in the fighting and about 250,000 displaced, according to the UN.
Mahmud Taha, a journalist based in Amran, attributed the escalation in violence in the north to the government's failure to provide genuine solutions to the Houthi problem. "Throughout the waves of clashes, the government messed up and used the tribes to support it against the Houthis, which allowed many groups to flourish by profiting from the war and what is happening now is a consequence of this policy," Mr Taha said.
He also said that the peace conditions presented by the government, and even by Qatar, have not addressed the roots of the Houthi insurgency. "There have not been any genuine solutions to the problem; they need to sit down with the Houthis and address their demands including the release of their detainees," Mr Taha said. The government accuses the rebels, who belong to the Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, of fomenting sectarian strife and of using arms in an attempt to restore the Zaidi imamate, which was overthrown in a 1962 revolution.
The Houthis, however, complain of socioeconomic and religious discrimination at the hands of the government. The ministry of defence said the attack in Shabwa carried "fingerprints of al Qa'eda" and that police are hunting down suspects. It would be the third in five weeks by Yemen's al Qa'eda affiliate, al Qa'eda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Local sources said the attackers looted all the weapons on the vehicle and ran away.
The province of Shabwa is believed to be a hideout for al Qa'eda militants including the US-born radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who is accused by the US government of playing a part in the failed terrorist Christmas Day attempt to take down a Detroit-bound passenger aircraft. The cleric also exchanged e-mails with Major Nidal Hasan, a US army psychiatrist accused of opening fire on colleagues at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13.
Yemen, the ancestral homeland of the al Qa'eda leader, Osama bin Laden, and the impoverished nation has witnessed repeated attacks claimed by the jihadists on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil facilities. Yemen's government has intensified its operations against AQAP since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the US-bound airliner, after details emerged that the attacker was apparently trained and supplied by the group. AQAP was created from the merger of the organisation's wings in Yemen and Saudi Arabia in early 2009.
@Email:malqadhi@thenational.ae * With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
(All games 4-3pm kick UAE time) Bayern Munich v Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg v Mainz , Eintracht Frankfurt v Freiburg, Union Berlin v RB Leipzig, Cologne v Schalke , Werder Bremen v Borussia Monchengladbach, Stuttgart v Arminia Bielefeld
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
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
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
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.
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out