BlackBerry romance results in rape charge for Dubai student



DUBAI // A student who went to visit a girl he met on BlackBerry Messenger has been accused of raping the 13-year-old and assaulting her pregnant sister-in-law.

At about 3am on November 24, Z?S went to check on her husband’s younger sister and found her cowering in her bedroom, a court heard yesterday. Z?S searched the room and found the defendant, S?S, 16, hiding in the bathroom.

Z?S, who was seven months pregnant at the time, grabbed S?S and screamed for her husband to come help her. But S?S hit her and pushed her violently to the ground.

The husband, M?J, a soldier, caught S?S then called police to the family home in Al Warqa.

M?J told prosecutors his wife suffered back and abdominal pains because of the fall.

Upon questioning, the girl told prosecutors she had met S?S on BlackBerry Messenger about three months before the incident happened. “S?S is my love,” she said. “I loved him so much and I still do.”

On the day of the incident, she said S?S asked to meet her so she gave him her brother’s villa address. “I was surprised to see him near the house and was afraid I would be busted, so I let him hide inside my room, but he started touching me then ripped off my clothes and raped me,” she said.

S?S was charged with trespassing, rape, and assault while H?J was charged with aiding S?S to commit trespassing.

S?S told prosecutors: “She asked to see me and said I could come to her brother’s house, so I went. But I didn’t have sex with her and, no, I didn’t assault her sister-in-law.”

Both denied all charges at the Dubai Court for Juveniles and Family. The next hearing will be on March 19.

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Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East

In the role: Since January 2015

Lives: In the UAE

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

How Apple's credit card works

The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.

What does it cost?

Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.

What will the interest rate be?

The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts

What about security? 

The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.

Is it easy to use?

Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision. 

* Associated Press 

The struggle is on for active managers

David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.

The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.

Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.

Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.

Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.

At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn. 

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Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Colomba, Resistance and the Struggle to Liberate Europe
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