TRIPOLI // On a hill in Tripoli, concealed by green metal walls and a stand of trees, is a large, concrete house that is discoloured by fire and graffiti.
"La tana del topo" - "The den of the mouse" - is spray-painted in Italian on a nearby wall. Most likely "rat" was intended for the house belonged to Muammar Qaddafi. Today it is open to the public.
The house stands in Bab Al Aziziya, a military compound that served for decades as the nerve-centre of Qaddafi's regime. Now, every Friday, locals clamber over piles of tumbled concrete to Bab Al Aziziya's parade ground, where vendors come to sell clothing, produce, car parts and other goods. Some also stroll up the hill to explore Qaddafi's house.
One of last Friday's visitors was a mechanic named Abdallah, who had brought along his two young daughters. "Before, it was unthinkable for us to come near this place," he said. "Now, well, just look at it."
Abdallah and his daughters peered from a veranda into rooms gutted by fire. Nearby was an outdoor swimming pool clogged with furniture and charred debris. A network of interlocked tetrahedrons, the house belies the image projected by Qaddafi of tents, robes and desert simplicity.
Qaddafi did own a tent, pitched at Bab Al Aziziya and - when possible - in foreign capitals during his trips abroad. A video that circulated on YouTube after Tripoli's fall shows Qaddafi relaxing in the tent with his family, drinking tea and apparently cooing over grandchildren.
By his own account, Qaddafi was born to a livestock trader near the city of Sirte. In 1969 he led the military coup that overthrew Libya's pro-western king, Idris. Bab Al Aziziya was transformed into a lair from which Qaddafi directed four decades of tyranny.
There were watchtowers, military barracks, concrete administrative buildings and tunnels leading around Tripoli. National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters broke through Bab Al Aziziya's gates in August and laid it to waste. Later, the walls were destroyed and look now as if they were twisted apart by giant hands.
In October, locals began using the parade ground for a Friday market.
This, they say, reclaims the place for its historical use.
At Qaddafi's house, militiamen have covered the walls with graffiti to declare their presence: Souq Al Jumaa brigade, Zintan, Zuwara, and others.
No sign of Qaddafi remains in the ashes.
"Ana gaad hina" - "I will stay here", said one man visiting last Friday, quoting in mockery a televised pledge by Qaddafi in February not to leave Libya. Qaddafi did stay in Libya, but not in Tripoli. He fled the city as rebel fighters closed in and made his way to Sirte.
In Tripoli, painted images of Qaddafi's head on a rat's body - or, sometimes, in a hangman's noose - appeared on the walls. Young men fired celebratory gunfire to the tune of "faynou? shafshoufa waynou?" - "Where is he, frizzle-head, where is he?" - a popular song.
By then, Qaddafi was darting among safe-houses in Sirte as NTC fighters rained fire on the city. At dawn on October 20, he made a break for it. After his convoy was apparently hit by a Nato air strike, militiamen pulled Qaddafi from a culvert where he was hiding.
A video taken by his captors shows him injured, bewildered, yanked about by dozens of hands. Later that day, he was killed by a gunshot to the head.
Beside the culvert, someone spray-painted "the place of the rat, Qaddafi the malevolent". Later, a simpler label appeared beside it: "Qaddafi's hole."
jthorne@thenational.ae
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
SPECS
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If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
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if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com
'Avengers: Infinity War'
Dir: The Russo Brothers
Starring: Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Junior, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen
Four stars
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
