DUBAI: Prominent UAE businessman Majid Al Futtaim, who founded retailing and entertainment giant MAF, has died, Dubai’s ruler said on Friday in a Twitter post paying tribute to one of the emirate’s pioneers “who gave back to the nation.”
Al Futtaim, who was born in the 1930s according to local media, in 1992 established Majid Al Futtaim (MAF), a conglomerate that develops shopping malls across the Middle East and North Africa.
He was ranked the third-richest Arab businessman by Forbes Magazine this year with a family fortune of $3.6 billion.
“May God have mercy on our brother Majid Al Futtaim, a pioneering businessman and one of the most important in Dubai and among its greatest men who gave back to the nation,” Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum tweeted.
He referenced MAF’s decision this year to hire 3,000 Emiratis over the next five years.
Arab billionaire businessman Majid Al Futtaim dies
https://arab.news/r4pab
Arab billionaire businessman Majid Al Futtaim dies
- Al Futtaim established Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) in 1992, a conglomerate that develops shopping malls across the Middle East and North Africa
- He was ranked the third-richest Arab businessman by Forbes Magazine this year with a family fortune of $3.6 billion
France bans smoking in beaches, in parks and bus shelters
PARIS: France will ban smoking on beaches and in parks, public gardens and bus shelters from Sunday, the government said.
The decree, published in the official government gazette on Saturday, will also ban smoking outside libraries, swimming pools and schools, and is aimed at protecting children from passive smoking.
The decree did not mention electronic cigarettes. Violaters of the ban will face a fine of 135 euros ($158).
“Tobacco must disappear from places where there are children,” Health and Family Minister Catherine Vautrin had said in May, underscoring “the right of children to breathe pure air.”
Cafe terraces are excluded from the ban.
Some 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62 percent) favor a smoking ban in public places.
Pakistan PM meets Sana Mir after ICC Hall of Fame induction, hopes she will nurture new talent
- A trailblazer for women’s cricket in Pakistan, Mir represented the national team from 2005 to 2019
- She holds the record for the most wickets by a Pakistani woman in one-day internationals with 151
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday met with former Pakistan Women Cricket Team captain Sana Mir and congratulated her on her induction into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame, Sharif’s office said.
Mir this month became the first woman cricketer from Pakistan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. She was honored alongside India’s MS Dhoni, England’s Sarah Taylor, South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith, Australia’s Matthew Hayden, and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori.
PM Sharif appreciated Mir saying that the Pakistan women cricket team achieved significant successes and made Pakistan famous all over the world under her leadership.
“The government is trying to promote talent on the basis of merit in every field of sports. Giving equal opportunities and facilities to men and women in every field of sports, including cricket, is among our priorities,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.
“Hopefully, you will play an active role in providing training to new talent in cricket with your experience.”
Mir thanked the prime minister and said she was trying her level best to represent Pakistan fully in the World Cricket Association and the ICC.
She gave suggestions for further promotion of cricket, especially women’s cricket, in Pakistan.
A trailblazer for women’s cricket in Pakistan, Mir represented the national team from 2005 to 2019. She is the eighth Pakistani overall and just the 15th woman globally to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
She holds the record for the most wickets by a Pakistani woman in one-day internationals with 151 and was the first Asian woman to feature in 100 T20 internationals. In 2018, she became the first Pakistani woman to top the ICC ODI bowling rankings.
‘Waiting for others’: Belarusians hope for more prisoner releases
- A popular blogger, Tikhanovsky, 46, was jailed in 2020, weeks before he was due to stand in presidential elections against Belarus’s long-time leader, Alexander Lukashenko
WARSAW: Belarusian exile Asya watched from the sidelines in central Warsaw as a crowd greeted and applauded Sergei Tikhanovsky, the Belarus opposition figure who was unexpectedly released, barely recognizable after five years in prison.
A popular blogger, Tikhanovsky, 46, was jailed in 2020, weeks before he was due to stand in presidential elections against Belarus’s long-time leader, Alexander Lukashenko.
His arrest was the opening salvo in a sweeping crackdown that escalated after Lukashenko claimed victory over Svetlana Tikhanovskaya – Tikhanovsky’s wife, who ran in his place – in a ballot widely decried by critics and rights groups as rigged.
Asya was among several hundred fellow Belarusians, living in exile in neighboring Poland, celebrating his surprise release under pressure from the United States.
But her mind was with others still incarcerated.
“I am happy for those who are freed, but with each release I always look for the names of my friends,” she said.
There are 1,169 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the Viasna rights group.
The sight of Tikhanovsky – who lost almost half his weight and appeared to have drastically aged behind bars – has given even more urgency to securing their release, Asya said.
“Honestly, regime change is needed. But for me, the priority is for people to be freed and for them to be safe,” she said.
Having been held incommunicado since March 2023, many had long feared for how Tikhanovsky was being treated.
His emaciated appearance was still a shock.
“I cried all day when I saw him,” said Alexandra Khanevich, a 71-year-old activist who fled Belarus in the wake of the protests.
“My mother went through concentration camps... This is what I thought of.”
Tikhanovskaya said the couple’s young daughter did not recognize him.
The bones on his face and fingers are visible, and the 46-year-old looks far older.
“Only when we heard his voice, we knew it was really him,” said Yulia Vlasenko, who had protested in 2020 against Lukashenko in the eastern city of Vitebsk.
Others said they knew him by his distinctive ears.
Tikhanovsky has broken down in tears several times when talking about his ordeal in prison, describing alleged torture and being held in solitary confinement.
Prison officials had attempted to “fatten him up” in the months before his release by giving him “meat, fats, butter,” he told a rally in Warsaw.
He believes there will be more releases.
Officers from the KGB state security service – which has retained the feared Soviet-era name – were touring prisons pressuring people to sign statements asking for pardons from Lukashenko, he said.
Many were hopeful his release could give a new energy to the mostly exiled Belarusian opposition movement.
Tikhanovsky, who has pledged not to get in the way of his wife, said he has “even more energy” than before he was jailed.
The couple are radically different in style.
Svetlana has spent five years touring Western capitals, meeting leaders in polished suits.
Sergei is known for his tongue-in-cheek colloquialisms, having famously called Lukashenko a “cockroach” in one YouTube broadcast.
“Svetlana is more of a diplomat... Sergei is like from the street,” said protester Alexandra Dobrovaya, giggling.
Vitaly Moisa, a 42-year-old in construction, said he hoped the pair would be a “double hit” for the regime, with the opposition boosted by Tikhanovsky’s “charisma.”
He drove more than six hours from southern Poland to see “hero” Tikhanovsky.
“It’s hard to imagine he was not broken by such conditions,” he said.
Many came to the rally with masks on, fearing retribution for their families back home if they were recognized attending the rally.
Ukrainian Oleg Abrashim – who has never been to Belarus – had come with a mission: to give Tikhanovsky a hand-written letter from his Belarusian girlfriend.
“She did not want to come as it will be full of the KGB and she has not got her parents out yet,” he told AFP.
Listening to Tikhanovsky, he was reminded of the style of someone back home he had voted for in 2019: Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I understand why they followed him,” Abrashim said.
From Ukraine’s Kharkiv, which has been pounded relentlessly by Belarus’s ally Russia since it invaded, he was inspired by the messages of hope.
“Belarus and Ukraine should be free,” he said, clutching the letter.
Thousands mourn top Iranian military commanders and scientists killed in Israeli strikes
- Caskets of Guard chief Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital
- Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefir
DUBAI: Thousands of mourners lined the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday for the funeral of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel.
The caskets of Guard’s chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street.
Salami and Hajjizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities.
Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared on Tuesday, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group.
Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.
Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel views it as an existential threat and said its military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.
Drilling for water in Venezuela’s parched oil town
- No water came out of the taps in certain parts of the city for over a month at the start of 2025
- Experts blame the nationwide shortage of drinking water on corruption and years of underinvestment and mismanagement by national and local governments
MARACAIBO: In Venezuela’s oil capital of Maracaibo, a drilling frenzy has led to dozens of new wells — but the valuable liquid being pumped out is just water, not petroleum.
In a symbol of the woes of Venezuela’s crumbling economy, the once flourishing oil town of 2 million people is parched.
Experts blame the nationwide shortage of drinking water on corruption and years of underinvestment and mismanagement by national and local governments, resulting in frequent water cuts.
The corroding infrastructure has led to schools, homes, businesses, churches and health centers all digging their own wells — at a huge expense.
A private well costs between $1,000 and $6,000, a fortune in the sanctions-hit Caribbean country where the minimum monthly wage is around $200.
As a result, homes that come with a ready-made well and generator — Venezuelans also live with recurring power cuts — sell for a premium.
While water rationing has been in place in Venezuelan cities for years, the situation in Maracaibo has become critical, as pumping stations break down, old pipes leak and reservoirs run dry.
No water came out of the taps in certain parts of the city for over a month at the start of 2025.
Manuel Palmar and six other families in the lower-middle-class neighborhood of Ziruma saw the writing on the wall four years ago.
They each paid $2,500 to build a 12-meter-deep (40-foot) well, which can store up to about 80,000 liters (21,000 gallons) of spring water each week.
Now when Palmar turns on the tap, water gushes out for free.
The water is not fit for drinking due to its high salinity — saltwater from the Caribbean Sea seeps into Lake Maracaibo, a coastal lake used as a freshwater source — but “it’s perfect for washing clothes and flushing toilets,” he explained.
“It’s a blessing!” the 34-year-old accountant said.
There’s a solution of sorts for every budget.
Some residents fill 200-liter drums at official filling stations or communal taps for $2-$3.
Others order a water truck to fill their building’s tank for between $40 and $60.
Some even recycle the water produced by the tropical city’s ubiquitous air conditioners or collect rainwater.
But those are all quick fixes.
Over the past six years, more and more residents have begun digging wells to guarantee their long-term supply for the future.
Gabriel Delgado has built about 20 wells in Maracaibo, including at a heart disease clinic and four private schools.
He also built one at his mother-in-law’s home: a gray cement cylinder, one and a half meters in diameter, buried under metal sheeting and rocks.
Cobwebs dangle just above the water level, but as soon as he activates the pump, water pours forth.
It’s crystal clear, unlike the yellowish liquid that flows from the city’s taps during the rainy season, and Delgado eagerly sips it.
Venezuelans must receive authorization from health and environmental authorities before drilling a well, and they are required to provide water samples for testing to ensure it is fit for consumption once it’s built.
But not everyone bothers.
Javier Otero, head of Maracaibo’s municipal water department, told AFP that he had come across shallow artisanal wells built near sewers or polluted ravines.
“Some people drink water that is not potable, that is brackish,” he told AFP.
The municipality has built seven wells to supply Maracaibo’s poorer neighborhoods.
