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An Israeli strike destroyed a bridge in the upper reaches of northern Lebanon, official media said on Sunday, in an expansion of an air campaign against Hezbollah supply lines from Syria.
Lebanon's National News Agency said that one child was killed in the attack on Akroum, in Akkar governorate, on the border with Syria. The attack destroyed a bridge linking the rugged area with the interior of Lebanon, local sources said.
Mohammad Yehia, a parliamentarian representing the mostly Sunni region, said the attack late on Saturday was part of Israeli's objective of "cutting off Lebanese areas from each other, and from the outside [world]". Historically, Akkar has been part of a lawless arc comprising northern and eastern Lebanese areas on the border with Syria, where smuggling of drugs, weapons and other contraband has been rife.
Mr Yehia called for "holding on to national unity". Sectarian tensions in Lebanon have risen since Hezbollah, a Shiite armed group supported by Iran that has members in parliament but operates outside the control of state authorities, started attacks on northern Israel in October last year. The Hezbollah-Israel war, the second since 2006, started a day after Hamas, another militant group supported by Iran, killed 1,200 people in an incursion into south Israel from Gaza on October 7. Israel retaliated with a military offensive in Gaza that is now in its 13th month.
Israel has carried out extensive air strikes in the Bekaa Valley, which is adjacent to Akkar, since launching an all-out offensive against Hezbollah in later September, after a year of limited exchanges across Lebanon's southern border.
Earlier that month, Israel reportedly sent its special forces into Syria to destroy an Iranian-controlled weapons development facility in Masyaf, a city in Hama province. The raid ushered in a concerted campaign to cut off Hezbollah weapon deliveries from Iran, focused on areas along the border between Lebanon and central Syria. Among the targets has been the Syrian city of Qusayr and its countryside, a Hezbollah stronghold near Akroum.
The Qusayr area has increasingly served as a supply route since Hezbollah captured the city from rebels fighting the Syrian army and allied pro-Iranian militia in 2013, security officials in the Middle East said. Hezbollah poured militiamen and hardware into Syria shortly after the 2011 revolt against President Bashar Al Assad.
During the course of the ensuing civil war, Hezbollah, along with Iraqi militias, became the enforcers of an Iranian-controlled corridor running across Syria from Iraq to Lebanon. Israel has struck targets in the corridor hundreds of times in the last decade.
The attack on Akroum was followed overnight by an Israeli strike on the Jusiya border crossing south of Qusayr, Telegram groups run by loyalists of Mr Al Assad said, without mentioning any casualties.
On Thursday, Israeli war planes struck a road and workshops in Qusayr, residents said on WhatsApp groups. Syrian media quoted a military official as saying Israel targeted residential buildings.
Precision missiles and drones, developed and assembled at Iranian-run sites in central Syria, have been flowing across the border to Hezbollah, Syrian opposition sources said, adding that Iraqi militias are involved in delivering the parts from Iran.
Iran has launched what it describes as a multi-front war by its proxies against Israel, in response to the war in Gaza. But Hezbollah has said in the recent weeks that it would accept a ceasefire with Israel even if the Gaza war continues, in a reversal of its previous stance.
The so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a collection of Iran-backed armed groups, said it had launched drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied area of the Golan Heights and on the Jordan Valley on the weekend. There were no reports of casualties, or any confirmation that the drones had reached their targets. They would need to pass over Jordan to do so.
In the past several weeks, Jordanian authorities have reported instances of drones falling in various areas of the country, warning people to stay away from the objects and to report any new occurrences. But officials have not said whether the drones were brought down by air defences, or who launched them.
Jordanian troops on Sunday foiled attempts by "several groups of smugglers" to infiltrate the kingdom's northern border with Syria, according to a military official quoted by state media. One smuggler was killed when the army engaged with the infiltrators at dawn, he said, without giving details.
Jordan has accused the Syrian military and its Iran-aligned militia allies of complicity in the cross border drug trafficking, especially of the amphetamine Captagon, which Arab security officials says constitutes a major source of financing for Tehran's allies in Syria and Lebanon. Mr Al Assad has denied that any official Syrian involvement.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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Results
5pm: Warsan Lake – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 2,200m; Winner: Dhaw Al Reef, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Al Quadra Lake – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Mrouwah Al Gharbia, Sando Paiva, Abubakar Daud
6pm: Hatta Lake – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: AF Yatroq, George Buckell, Ernst Oertel
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Adries de Vries, Ibrahim Aseel
7pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Listed (PA) Dh180,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Zakher Lake – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Alfareeq, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Company%20Profile
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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
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Three stars
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
SECRET%20INVASION
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Company%20Profile
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The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
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