Aleppo, Syria // At least 30 civilians were killed in regime and rebel bombardment across Syria on Saturday, threatening an eight-week-old truce at a time when peace talks are stalled in Geneva.
Twelve civilians were killed in air strike on the northern metropolis of Aleppo, a local civil defence official said.
State news agency Sana, meanwhile, said three civilians were killed and 17 wounded in rebel shelling of government-held areas of Aleppo.
The Syrian Human Rights Observatory said 13 others died in shelling of the rebel-held town of Douma, east of Damascus, while two men were killed in regime air strikes on Talbisseh in central Homs province.
The head of a Britain-based monitoring group said the escalating violence meant a ceasefire between the regime and non-extremist rebels, in place since late February, had effectively collapsed.
The truce brokered by Russia and the United States had raised hopes that UN-backed talks in Geneva this month would lead to a solution to the five-year conflict.
But the negotiations due to continue until Wednesday have faltered after Syria’s main opposition group this week suspended its official participation in the talks over the escalating violence.
The barrage of air strikes on Aleppo on Saturday targeted several neighbourhoods, including the heavily populated Bustan Al Qasr district.
The deadliest raid was on the Tariq Al Bab neighbourhood on the eastern edges of the city.
A civil defence volunteer was seen carrying a screaming woman down a ladder from a damaged building in the neighbourhood, as a pickup truck removed the remains of a victim’s body.
Another volunteer operating a crane brought down a young man cradling a baby from an upper storey.
It was the second day of deadly strikes on Aleppo, after 25 civilians were killed and another 40 wounded in air strikes on Friday.
Once Syria’s commercial hub, the northern metropolis has been divided by government control in the west and opposition groups in the east.
“The ceasefire ended when the first bomb hit the city,” Muhammed Mashhad, a civil defence volunteer, said.
“The regime is intensifying its air strikes, which have reached around 20 a day,” he said.
“This regime is criminal and doesn’t understand the language of political negotiations. All it gets is bombing, killing and destruction.”
In the rebel-held town of Douma, 13 people – including three women and two children – were killed in government shelling on the city. The Observatory said all the dead were civilians.
Douma lies in the Eastern Ghouta opposition bastion, where the Jaish Al Islam rebel group – also party to the truce deal – is dominant.
The ceasefire deal saw Syria’s government and non-extremist opposition agree to halt attacks while pursuing peace talks.
Violence dropped across the country, including in Aleppo city, where residents cautiously began shopping in open-air markets and taking their children to parks.
But Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said on Saturday that the truce had effectively collapsed.
“Most of the areas that were under the ceasefire are now seeing fighting again,” he said.
US president Barack Obama and the UN’s special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Friday said the ceasefire was in grave peril.
Syria’s main opposition High Negotiations Committee halted its formal participation this week in the Geneva talks, which started on April 13.
But Mr De Mistura said members of his team had continued to meet remaining HNC members at their Geneva hotel.
In Syria itself, regime officials and Kurdish representatives were meeting on Saturday for a second day of talks aimed at ending deadly clashes in the northeastern city of Qamishli, a senior security source said.
More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict broke out in 2011.
* Agence France Presse
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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Company%20profile
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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The cost of Covid testing around the world
Egypt
Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists
Information can be found through VFS Global.
Jordan
Dh212
Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.
Cambodia
Dh478
Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.
Zanzibar
AED 295
Zanzibar Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, located within the Lumumba Secondary School compound.
Abu Dhabi
Dh85
Abu Dhabi’s Seha has test centres throughout the UAE.
UK
From Dh400
Heathrow Airport now offers drive through and clinic-based testing, starting from Dh400 and up to Dh500 for the PCR test.
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
MATCH DETAILS
Liverpool 2
Wijnaldum (14), Oxlade-Chamberlain (52)
Genk 1
Samatta (40)
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.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
EXPATS
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RACECARD%20
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SPECS
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Tips to avoid getting scammed
1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday
2) Visit an RTA centre to change registration only after receiving payment
3) Be aware of people asking to test drive the car alone
4) Try not to close the sale at night
5) Don't be rushed into a sale
6) Call 901 if you see any suspicious behaviour
Company%20Profile
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
The%20specs%20
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