DEIR EZZOR, SYRIA // Mohammed Al Obeid used to be a taxi driver. The only park in his district used to be a popular place for townsfolk to relax under the many shady trees. But two years under ISIL siege have changed all that.
Instead of ferrying customers around Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, Mr Al Obeid now buys old furniture and chops it up to resell as firewood for cooking and heating.
“People sell me household furniture — beds and wardrobes — and other wooden objects so they can use the money to buy food,” he said. he sells the wood outside his home in Jura district.
In 2014, ISIL extremists seized parts of Deir Ezzor after a lightning advance across large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq. In January 2015, they imposed a choking siege on the regime-held western half of the city. According to the United Nations, nearly one million people in Syria are living under siege, mostly in areas surrounded by Syrian government forces. Deir Ezzor became, and remains, the only place in Syria where ISIL holds a pocket of government-controlled territory under siege.
With no way in or out except by military helicopter, the 100,000 or so civilians — around a third of the city’s pre-war population — are trapped with scarce supplies of food and fuel. The World Food Programme and Russia, the Syrian regime’s ally, have airdropped aid to the city — the only besieged part of the country to receive such assistance.
But in the market on Al Wadi street, there is still little on offer to weary, hungry residents. Rocket and spinach are almost the only vegetables available alongside tinned goods. And what is available is often beyond the means of local residents, with a kilo of fly-ridden meat on sale for 15,000 Syrian pounds ($30) .
“In two years I haven’t eaten meat, fruit or biscuits because of the siege,” said 12-year-old Mustafa Al Musa. “I miss all those foods.”
The government now provides free bread to needy residents, distributing it through the Syrian Red Crescent society which expects to hand out 17,000 batches by the end of November.
Outside a nearby public bakery, dozens of locals gathered to wait for rations.
“We stand here for hours waiting for a bag of bread to keep us alive,” said Um Khaled, a retired government employee in her sixties. “The siege means we never have enough, and we suffer for hours in the cold and the heat to get a few loaves.”
Residents have also been forced to dig wells for water, because fuel shortages make it virtually impossible to power pumps.
Without fuel, residents can also no longer make the long drive to the outskirts of the city to bury their dead at the official cemetery. Instead, the only park in Jura district has become a sun-baked burial ground, where children play among dozens of makeshift headstones.
“The park used to be full of trees and green grass, and was a relaxing place for locals,” said Khalaf Al-Saleh, a local in his forties. “But the blockade and the main cemetery’s distance from the city meant the park had to be turned into a cemetery for the dead from the besieged neighbourhoods.”
ISIL militants have also cut the city’s electricity supply and internet access, leaving residents with little in the way of both light or ligh relief from their predicament. with no television, they feel cut off from the outside world. Cafe owners who can afford generators have set up TV sets for customers — if they can pay inflated prices for a hot drink and a water pipe while they catch up on news.
The government has hired Chinese companies to link the town via satellite to the mobile phone network, but lack of fuel means it only operates a few hours a day.
“We have nothing left but the clothes we are wearing, which barely cover us enough because they have been washed so many times,” said Um Bassel, housewife in her fifties. “We want to break the blockade and go back to feeling like we are humans who deserve to live.”
* Agence France-Presse
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THREE
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Nayla%20Al%20Khaja%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Jefferson%20Hall%2C%20Faten%20Ahmed%2C%20Noura%20Alabed%2C%20Saud%20Alzarooni%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
The biog
Hobbies: Salsa dancing “It's in my blood” and listening to music in different languages
Favourite place to travel to: “Thailand, as it's gorgeous, food is delicious, their massages are to die for!”
Favourite food: “I'm a vegetarian, so I can't get enough of salad.”
Favourite film: “I love watching documentaries, and am fascinated by nature, animals, human anatomy. I love watching to learn!”
Best spot in the UAE: “I fell in love with Fujairah and anywhere outside the big cities, where I can get some peace and get a break from the busy lifestyle”
Company%20Profile
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A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Kill%20
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The%20Specs
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2015%20PRO%20MAX
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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.
Company%20profile
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12%20restaurants%20opening%20at%20the%20hotel%20this%20month
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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Superliminal%20
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KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
Forced%20Deportations
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Violence%20
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The%20Letter%20Writer
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
SPECS
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Company%20Profile
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