MOSUL // They have been waiting for two and half years and the children of Iraq’s east Mosul are flocking to enrol in their reopened schools, eager not to waste another day.
“It’s a great day, today we are giving our children their right to receive an education,” said Ghassan Ahmed, queueing with his seven-year-old in the yard of Farahedi primary school.
The red-and-yellow walls of the school in Muharbeen, a neighbourhood of northeastern Mosul that was retaken from ISIL, are still riddled with bullet holes.
Life is starting to return to the city’s east bank, which Iraqi forces have now completely retaken from ISIL, 100 days into a vast military operation launched in mid-October on the extremists’ last major stronghold in Iraq.
Ghassan Ahmed was a professor at the University of Mosul before ISIL seized the city in June 2014.
Like many other parents, he refused to send his child to school under ISIL’s self-proclaimed “caliphate”. His son has never been to any school.
“I kept them at home and started teaching them the official curriculum of the Iraqi government myself,” he said.
Across the street, the charred carcass of a building stands as a reminder that only days ago the entire neighbourhood was a battlefield where extremists countered advancing Iraqi forces with suicide car bombs, snipers and mortar fire.
Mohammed, a nine-year-old from the neighbourhood, said ISIL burnt down the house as part of tactics to prevent raids by US and other warplanes on their positions.
Just like 250 other children, Mohammed was at the Farahedi school for the first time since the militants took over his city.
He said he could not wait to return to school despite the fact that it still lacked running water, electricity and schoolbooks.
“I’m super happy to be going back to class. I want to become a doctor,” he said with a toothy grin.
As an explosion rumbled in the distance, the birds fell briefly silent but Mohammed did not flinch and went off to play with his friends.
In east Mosul, which a minority fled when the offensive was launched but where half a million residents stayed, 30 schools reopened this week and a total of 16,000 children were enrolled.
“Education can’t wait. It must be a priority,” said Maulid Warfa, who heads the UN children’s agency Unicef in Erbil, the nearby capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
“Schools can be a tool to slowly help them heal from the trauma ... Many children in this city have seen way too much destruction and death.”
Millions of children have lived under the tyrannical rule of ISIL since the group proclaimed its caliphate in June 2014.
Many were kept out of school for more than two years, some forcibly enlisted as child soldiers.“With two million inhabitants in Mosul, bearing in mind that 35 per cent of the population are children, we’re really talking about a huge number of children who will need to go back to school,” Mr Warfa said.
“It’s a huge task,” he said, adding that another 40 schools were scheduled to reopen in coming weeks.
* Agence France-Presse
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency in the world. It was created in 2009 as a new way of paying for things that would not be subject to central banks that are capable of devaluing currency. A Bitcoin itself is essentially a line of computer code. It's signed digitally when it goes from one owner to another. There are sustainability concerns around the cryptocurrency, which stem from the process of "mining" that is central to its existence.
The "miners" use computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in Bitcoin. This uses a tremendous amount of energy via computers and server farms all over the world, which has given rise to concerns about the amount of fossil fuel-dependent electricity used to power the computers.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
POSSIBLE ENGLAND EURO 2020 SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson.
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Joe Gomez, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Ben Chilwell, Fabian Delph.
Midfielders: Declan Rice, Harry Winks, Jordan Henderson, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Forwards: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi.
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RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Omania, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
Winner: Brehaan, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez
6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Craving, Connor Beasley, Simon Crisford
6.30pm: The President’s Cup Prep (PA) Dh100,000 2,200m
Winner: Rmmas, Tadhg O’Shea, Jean de Roualle
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 1,200m
Winner: Dahess D’Arabie, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: Fertile De Croate, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel
Ashes 2019 schedule
August 1-5: First Test, Edgbaston
August 14-18: Second Test, Lord's
August 22-26: Third Test, Headingley
September 4-8: Fourth Test, Old Trafford
September 12-16: Fifth Test, Oval
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
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THE POPE'S ITINERARY
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport