US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin was readmitted to hospital on Sunday “for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue", the Pentagon said, weeks after a stay he controversially kept secret prostate cancer treatment.
In a statement, the Pentagon said Mr Austin was taken by his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr Austin transferred the functions and duties of the office of the Secretary of Defence to Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was also notified, as well as the White House and some members of Congress.
Mr Austin was due to depart on Tuesday for Brussels to hold a meeting of the Ukraine contact group, which he established in 2022 to co-ordinate military support for Kyiv after Russia's invasion.
After that, he was scheduled to attend a regular meeting of Nato defence ministers. It was not immediately clear if his hospital admission would change those plans.
Mr Austin apologised this month after coming under political criticism for keeping the previous hospital admission secret.
“I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis,” he told journalists on February 1.
At the time, he said he was in recovery, suffering from leg pain and using a golf cart for transport inside the Pentagon.
The undisclosed absences, and this current hospital stay, come at a time when the US faces a crisis in the Middle East, with American forces in Iraq and Syria facing near-daily attacks from Iran-backed militants in retaliation for Washington's steadfast support of Israel.
Mr Austin is also a key figure in attempts by the Biden administration to maintain support for Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion, as Republican members of Congress refuse to authorise new funding for military aid to Kyiv.
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
Dunki
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RESULT
Uruguay 3 Russia 0
Uruguay: Suárez (10'), Cheryshev (23' og), Cavani (90')
Russia: Smolnikov (Red card: 36')
Man of the match: Diego Godin (Uruguay)
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
