A top Turkish court on Thursday ruled that the status of the Hagia Sophia, the world-famous Istanbul landmark which is now a museum after serving as a church and a mosque, will be announced within 15 days.
Five things to know about the Hagia Sophia
The edifice was first built as a church between 532 and 537 AD under emperor Justinian I and is considered the most important Byzantine structure.
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453, it was turned into a mosque before being opened as a museum in 1935 after the secular modern Turkish republic was established in 1923.
It was added to the list of Unesco's world heritage sites in 1985.
The Hagia Sophia remains a museum and hosts millions of tourists every year.
It was Turkey's most popular tourist attraction in 2019 with 3.8 million visitors.
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People fish next to the Bosphorus strait, at Eminonu district in Istanbul. AFP -

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Groom Okan Barut and bride Oya Kulaksiz wear face masks as they take part in their wedding ceremony at the Kadikoy Municipality marriage office in Istanbul, Turkey. Getty Images -

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A man walks in front of a closed Al Hamra Cinema in Manama, Bahrain. Reuters
The controversy
There has been more religious activity inside the museum in recent years – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited the first verse of the Quran in 2018.
There has been a long legal process leading up to the expected ruling on Thursday.
The Constitutional Court in September 2018 turned down a plea by an independent heritage association to open the building for Muslim worshippers.
The main opposition secular Republican People's Party (CHP) has accused the government of using the issue to distract voters from economic woes and other issues following the coronavirus pandemic.
After passages from the Quran were read inside the Hagia Sophia, the Greek foreign ministry said it was "an unacceptable attempt to alter the site's designation as a monument" and "also an affront to the religious sentiment of Christians" worldwide.
A ruling to change the status would hurt Turkey-Greece relations, which are already strained over migration and drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.
Tourists could still visit the Hagia Sophia even if it is turned into a mosque as they are able to see the Blue Mosque nearby.
But the example of the Hagia Sophia of Trabzon in northern Turkey, opened to Muslim worship in 2013, may give pause for thought.
"The number of visitors dropped significantly following its transformation into a mosque, especially because visitors could no longer appreciate the church's famous frescoes," said Tugba Tanyeri Erdemir, a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh. This, he said, had a negative impact on locals who depend on tourism revenues.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
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If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
The details
Heard It in a Past Life
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(Capital Records)
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The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar
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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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Founder: Omar Onsi
Launched: 2018
Employees: 35
Financing stage: Seed round ($12 million)
Investors: B&Y, Phoenician Funds, M1 Group, Shorooq Partners
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Final: Netherlands beat PNG by seven wickets
Qualified teams
1. Netherlands
2. PNG
3. Ireland
4. Namibia
5. Scotland
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Group A: Sri Lanka, PNG, Ireland, Oman
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Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
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- v Australia, today
- v Sri Lanka, Tuesday
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Baniyas Group 2 (PA) Dh 97,500 (Dirt) 1,400m.
7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
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8.50pm Rated Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 1,200m
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- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
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Brief scores:
Manchester United 4
Young 13', Mata 28', Lukaku 42', Rashford 82'
Fulham 1
Kamara 67' (pen),
Red card: Anguissa (68')
Man of the match: Juan Mata (Man Utd)
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
FIXTURES
All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Brackets denote aggregate score
Tuesday:
Roma (1) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2), 11.45pm
Manchester United (0) v Sevilla (0), 11.45pm
Wednesday:
Besiktas (0) v Bayern Munich (5), 9pm
Barcelona (1) v Chelsea (1), 11.45pm
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