AMMAN // When Ahmad Daour was only 10, he saw a bee swarm buzzing near his house in Qalqilya, a town in the north-west of the West Bank. He asked his father if he could keep the bees.
"He encouraged me," Mr Daour, 56, said. "But then I ran home crying after I was stung many times. I could hardly see and I started to vomit. My life was hanging on a thread then. I didn't know I was allergic to bees, but luckily I survived."
"I was stubborn then. And after I developed a resistance after many bites, I started beekeeping as a pastime."
In 1983, when Mr Daour moved to Jordan, he started a business in beekeeping and honey producing. He is now one of the main beekeepers in the country, and owner of Honey House, a shop on the outskirts of Amman.
Like most beekeepers in Jordan, he is concerned after deadly viruses wiped out nearly half of the bee population in the region in the past two years.
Varroa mites, parasites that suck the bee's blood and shorten its lifespan, and viruses that attack honey bees and eventually paralyse them and deform their wings were identified in Jordan by the Bee Research Unit at the country's National Centre for Agricultural Research and Extension Research.
"We were all affected by the diseases ... So I got rid of 10 to 15 per cent of the infected beehives and I isolated five per cent," Mr Daour said. "But it wasn't such a loss compared to small beekeepers when it comes to diseases we cannot identify, this is where the fear lies."
"These diseases are blamed for the 45 per cent drop of the bee population in the northern parts of Jordan along the border with Syria and Israel in the past two years," Dr Nizar Haddad, who founded the Bee Research Unit in 2002, said. "These numbers are very similar and very close to the bee losses in the southern parts of Lebanon and Syria ... In Halabja in northern Iraq, 90 per cent of the bees died," he said.
Efforts are underway to prevent the disease from spreading further and threatening Jordan's estimated 60,000 beehives.
A new lab that opened last month at the research unit with a US$500,000 (Dh1.83 million) grant from the US Agency for International Development is trying to help researchers from Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq to understand why the bees are dying and boost their knowledge of bee diseases.
"We are hoping that the lab with its specialised equipment would help us better diagnose the viruses. Before we were able to diagnose two or three bee samples a week," Dr Haddad said. "We want to help beekeepers to select bees resistant to diseases and parasites to ensure that there are enough bees in the country for pollination and honey-production purposes.
"We also aspire to be a regional research-based centre that would promote sustainable beekeeping for poverty alleviation and technology transfer."
The research unit is working to educate as many of the country's 3,000 beekeepers on how to prevent the diseases from spreading.
"It is like educating the public how to prevent Aids. The proper beehive management could help control the spread of the viruses. But there are misconceptions among some beekeepers here and in the region that we are trying to counter," Dr Haddad said.
Mr Daour and other beekeepers applaud the work of the new lab, where four researchers and four research assistant work. But they are particularly concerned about the importation of bees from Egypt, which they say are infected with a hive beetle, a pest that invades and scavenges on honeybee colonies.
While 20 per cent of the honey consumed in Jordan is produced within its borders, between 3,000 and 5,000 packaged bee colonies are imported each year from Egypt.
Jordanian beekeepers are lobbying the ministry of agriculture to ban the imports.
"If they enter the country they can destroy the bees and the hives and threaten the crop pollination.
"We can identify these disease with the naked eye," Mr Daour said. "I raise queen bees from a good breed. But the mating takes place in nature, and they can infect our bees," he said.
"With a new lab, whenever there is a disease we cannot identify, at least we can send samples for testing and take the necessary precautions. But we cannot stop the Egyptian male bees from mating with our queen bees if they are not banned from entering the country."
smaayeh@thenational.ae
Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
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
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.
The figures behind the event
1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew
2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show
3) 1,000 social distancing stickers
4) 809 hand sanitiser dispensers placed throughout the venue
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures:
Monday, 1st 50-over match
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
More Iraq election coverage:
Specs
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Range: 400km
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Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
Pupils in Abu Dhabi are learning the importance of being active, eating well and leading a healthy lifestyle now and throughout adulthood, thanks to a newly launched programme 'Healthy Lifestyle'.
As part of the Healthy Lifestyle programme, specially trained coaches from City Football Schools, along with Healthpoint physicians have visited schools throughout Abu Dhabi to give fun and interactive lessons on working out regularly, making the right food choices, getting enough sleep and staying hydrated, just like their favourite footballers.
Organised by Manchester City FC and Healthpoint, Manchester City FC’s regional healthcare partner and part of Mubadala’s healthcare network, the ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ programme will visit 15 schools, meeting around 1,000 youngsters over the next five months.
Designed to give pupils all the information they need to improve their diet and fitness habits at home, at school and as they grow up, coaches from City Football Schools will work alongside teachers to lead the youngsters through a series of fun, creative and educational classes as well as activities, including playing football and other games.
Dr Mai Ahmed Al Jaber, head of public health at Healthpoint, said: “The programme has different aspects - diet, exercise, sleep and mental well-being. By having a focus on each of those and delivering information in a way that children can absorb easily it can help to address childhood obesity."
Results
2pm: Serve U – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Violent Justice, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
2.30pm: Al Shafar Investment – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Desert Wisdom, Bernardo Pinheiro, Ahmed Al Shemaili
3pm: Commercial Bank of Dubai – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Fawaareq, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Shadwell – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
4pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Rakeez, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
4.30pm: Al Redha Insurance Brokers – Handicap (TB) Dh78,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Capla Crusader, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
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.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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