Features

Enormously spacious and large, yet, manoeuvrable and economic — and bearing Jordanians’ most coveted automotive brand — it was only a matter of time that the Mercedes-Benz Vito would become a much more common sight on Jordanian roads than it has in the past.

Available in three formats and three lengths, the Vito has traditionally been pricier than many other dual work and personal use vans. However, it has gained significant popularity on the independent grey import market in the last couple of years.

Up-market appeal

Traditionally less popular than less space-efficient SUVs and crossovers, it would seem that the latest generation Vito’s design, equipment and comfort have overcome any misplaced stigma that some quarters of Jordan’s motoring public might have associated with vans. Converging with such change of heart among some, a minor 2020 model revision has meant that pre-facelift examples of the current generation Vito have depreciated to within reach of many other van drivers looking for the same practicality, albeit with more up-market appeal. 

A significantly more economical model that it permitted with a Diesel engine than its more luxurious, three-row petrol-powered V-Class derivative that is classified as a passenger car, the Vito Mixto’s name sums up its configuration as a mixed use van. With generous two row passenger accommodation and tall and wide kerb-side sliding rear door for easy accessing tight parking spaces, the Mixto’s enclosed cargo area accommodates an enormous 3,600-litres volume through a massive, upright up-swinging tailgate, and benefits from a comparatively low 558mm loading height.

Utilitarian versatility

Uniformly shaped with near equal width and height, the Vito Mixto “long” version sits on the ground elegantly with its extended rear overhang complementing its short front overhang. Unadorned by unnecessary or exaggerated body styling flourishes, the Vito has a utilitarian appeal to its design, and provides good road visibility, and especially so its front sightlines, owing to an almost wedge-like rising bonnet angle and vast windscreen. Large side mirrors meanwhile offer excellent reversing visibility for such a large and bulky vehicle.

Instantly recognisable as a Mercedes-Benz with its large tri-star emblem, elegant familial style grille and headlights, the Vito’s sculpted clamshell bonnet, meanwhile, houses a thoroughly proven and fuel efficient 2.15-litre common-rail turbo-diesel engine positioned longitudinally and driving the rear wheels. Offered in several states of tune, the featured 116 CDI variant is the second most powerful Diesel option, producing 160BHP at 3,800rpm and a muscularly versatile 280lb/ft torque throughout comparatively broad and accessible 1,400-2,400rpm. This allows for estimated 0-100km/h acceleration of around 12-seconds.

Rich and responsive

Quick spooling and responsive for a turbo-diesel, the Vito 116 CDI’s turbo lag is little next to some similar vehicles, and is well managed and overcome by its 7-speed automatic gearbox, which smoothly and intuitively selects the right gear for the right occasion. The Vito’s gearbox is especially good at minimising lag and delivering responsive acceleration from standstill when one feeds in smaller, progressive throttle inputs. For more driver control and engagement, the 116 CDI is also available with a 6-speed manual gearbox. 

Effortlessly muscular through its torque-rich mid-range, the Vito 116 CDI pulls hard towards its peak power point and feels faster on the road than expected. Similarly, it is a far more manoeuvrable vehicle in town and in tight parking areas owing to its upright body panels, good visibility, big mirrors and tight 11.8-metre turning circle. Forgiving over most lumps and bumps with its coil spring rear suspension, the Vito can feel slightly firm in side-to-side vertical reactions on certain, unevenly choppy roads.

Commanding and comfortable

Stable and as refined as vans come at motorway speeds, the Vito is a natural and comfortable long distance cruiser with comparatively good Diesel clatter noise suppression. Handling through winding roads is, meanwhile, surprisingly agile for its segment. With balanced front-engine and rear-drive layout, the Vito is tidy turning in and grippy at the rear, but over-steer can be progressive if deliberately provoked. Well managing body lean for a tall and heavy van, its vertical movements are, meanwhile, settled, and its electric-assisted steering direct and accurate.

Classy and well-equipped with creature comforts, the cavernous Vito Mixto’s cabin features plenty of storage spaces. It is MPV-like rather than that of a ruggedly Spartan workhorse, and is available with progressively more generous trim levels. Seating is upright, alert, comfortable and commanding, while rear seats are highly spacious. Seating five with front captain’s seats, the Vito is available as a six-seater, with a front passenger dual occupant side bench. High on safety, extensive standard and optional driver assistance systems include blind spot warning, reversing camera and lane-keeping assistance.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2.15-litre, turbo-diesel, in-line 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 83 x 99mm
• Compression ratio: 16.2:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve, common-rail injection
• Gearbox: 7-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 160 (163) [120] @3,800rpm
• Specific power: 74.6BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: approximately 80BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 280 (380) @1,400-2,400rpm
• Specific torque: approximately 177.3Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: approximately 190Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: approximately 12-seconds (estimate)
• Fuel tank: 70-litres
• Length: 5,140mm
• Width: 1,928mm
• Height: 1,910mm
• Wheelbase: 3,200mm
• Track, F/R: 1,666/1,646mm
• Overhang, F/R: 895/1,045mm
• Loading height: 558mm
• Cargo volume: 3,600-litres
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.32
• Kerb weight: approximately 2,200 (estimate)
• Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion
• Turning circle: 11.8-metres
• Suspension F/R: MacPherson struts/semi-trailing arms, coil springs, anti-roll bars
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/discs
• Tyres: 225/55R17

By Rania Saadi
Licensed Rapid Transformational Therapist and Clinical Hypnotherapist

Have you ever been in a relationship where you always felt down, bad about yourself and tried to be someone else to please your partner? If your answer is “yes”, you probably were in a toxic relationship. 

Signs of being in  a toxic relationship

Toxic relationships are mentally, emotionally and possibly even physically damaging to one or both parties. Here are some warning signs:

•Verbal or emotional abuse, like constant criticising or disrespect 

•Feeling that your energy is drained all the time

•Constantly trying to change your personality to please the other person

•Lack of satisfaction and the presence of negative feelings like depression, anger and fear, most of the time

•Hearing comments from close friends and family indicating their concern

•Lack of ability to voice an opinion and express feelings without fear of a strong overreaction: Feeling unheard and invisible

•Losing confidence and self-esteem, caused by the regular putting down and rejection from the other partner 

•Other relationships in your life are getting affected because of this toxic relationship

Why some people attract toxic relationships

People tend to subconsciously recreate patterns they have experienced in childhood. Like recreating the relationship witnessed between our parents. Suppose parents had an unhealthy relationship where one parent abused or bullied the other parent. In this case, we tend to programme this as normal and familiar and then go out in the world and choose a partner who fits this same family picture, where we feel safe because of its familiarity and unaware of the long-lasting negative impact. 

Another common reason for attracting a toxic relationship is the need to resort to the “victim” role. For example, suppose that a person grew up in a household where she or he was constantly beaten or verbally abused. In this case, they will pursue a partner who will subconsciously reactivate and revive this role in them because it is familiar. Suppose a person grew up in a family where they had to sacrifice in silence while taking care of others, without the right to express feelings. This person could have also been the youngest who always followed, never allowed to share an opinion. It is expected that they will continue to play this role and find a partner that makes them feel the same.

Also, a person might attract a toxic relationship if they believe that they are not worthy. A thought process that says: “I am not good enough to deserve a person who treats me well”, leads the person to reject that thoughtful person if or when they appear in their life. I see this pattern a lot.

The subconscious mind is responsible for 95 to 99 per cent of our daily decisions, choices, behaviours and actions. And unless a person is aware of the subconscious beliefs responsible for choices made in choosing a partner, the same toxic personality will find its way into this person’s life. 

Four steps to break the toxic cycle

•Acknowledging we are in a toxic relationship because most people are not even aware of it 

•Acknowledging that “I am not the problem and I don’t need to change myself”. The bullying partner usually suffers from low self-esteem and the only way to feel good is by putting someone else down

•Avoiding feeding into the dynamics of this relationship; being defensive when attacked or attacking back. The more we do that, the more we keep this toxicity alive

•Working to block that toxic person’s criticism and negative energy by raising and building self-esteem by increasing positive self-talk

Did you know that 80 per cent of our daily self-talk is negative? Unless we are aware of it, we will keep putting ourselves down before anyone else does. Studies show that nothing builds self-esteem more than self-praise. After all, it is called “self-esteem” because it is based on what YOU think of yourself.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON — A gunman’s livestream of a mass killing in New York state was taken down in a matter of minutes — but even that was not fast enough to prevent those images from becoming effectively impossible to erase from the Internet.

Posting horrific clips like those is not barred by US speech laws, experts told AFP, so the decision on whether to keep them online is largely left up to individual tech companies.

But even the sites that want them taken down say they struggle to do so, since once unleashed onto the Internet, the videos can be edited and shared again and again.

In the case of the Buffalo shooting that killed 10 African Americans at a grocery store, it’s particularly chilling because writings attributed to the suspect noted he was in part inspired by another mass shooter’s livestream.

“If [companies] are going to commit to live streaming, you are committed to transmitting a certain number of rapes, murders, suicides and other types of crimes,” said Mary Anne Franks, a professor at University of Miami school of law.

“That’s just what comes with that territory,” she added.

The live feed of the killing on Amazon’s Twitch platform was pulled down within two minutes, the company said — far quicker than the 17 minutes New Zealand mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant’s attack was streamed on Facebook in 2019.

Social media firms say they fight hard to keep these types of images off their platforms, with automated and manual efforts by workers to squelch video of the Buffalo attack and similar horrors. 

But the images can be edited, titles or names changed and then re-posted on sites that are happy to have the traffic that others have decided is beyond their limit.

One tweet cited the Buffalo suspect’s name, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, and included a link to a video about the attack, but did not show the killing.

However, once on the site viewers were offered additional videos, including one showing over 90 seconds of the attack and which said it had nearly 1,800 views.

Websites don’t have to allow this type of video but American law is mostly silent on prohibiting them.

“There is nothing illegal in the US about posting a video of the [Buffalo] livestream. It doesn’t really fall into a category of speech that is unprotected,” said Ari Cohn, who is free speech counsel at think tank TechFreedom.

‘Life and death consequences’

Once a crime like a mass shooting is broadcast on a major platform it can take various routes to perpetual life online, including being recorded by people watching it live.

A spokesperson for Facebook parent Meta said new versions of videos, which are created to dodge being removed, then become part of a whack-a-mole effort to hunt down the clips.

The same problem is seen at other platforms like Twitter, which has a policy of removing the accounts of mass attackers “and may also remove tweets disseminating manifestos or other content produced by perpetrators”, it says. 

Meta’s vice president of integrity Guy Rosen told journalists in a briefing the firm has to tread a fine line because too broad of a filter could end up unintentionally taking down the wrong kind of content.

Live broadcasts are one of the areas where social media platforms face accusations of fanning violence and hatred, and law professor Franks said it’s not likely wise to offer that capability to the general public.

“The bigger problem here is when tech companies make these decisions for the public... that this is a tool that is useful in ways that will outweigh its disadvantages,” she added.

New York’s Attorney General Letitia James announced a probe of various tech companies over the attack, including Twitch.

The general lack of up-to-date social media policies on the national level in the United States has also contributed to the problems associated with live videos online.

US states have crafted their own policies, which can reflect the heavy partisan divides along what should be allowed online.

Texas, for example, has enacted a controversial social media law that bars larger sites from “discriminating against expression”, which has been heavily criticised for being so broad that it interferes with content moderation.

“The recent tragedy [in Buffalo] underscores that this is not just about partisan point scoring,” Matt Schruers, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, told a panel discussion about the law this week. 

“There are life and death consequences to tying the industry’s hands to respond to bad actors on the Internet,” he added.

PARIS — Pollution caused some 9 million people to die prematurely in 2019, according to a new global report published on Wednesday, with experts raising alarm over increasing deaths from breathing outside air and the “horrifying” toll of lead poisoning. 

Human-created waste in the air, water and soil rarely kills people immediately, but causes instead heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems, diarrhoea and other serious illnesses. 

The Lancet Commission on pollution and health said the impact from pollution on global health remains “much greater than that of war, terrorism, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, drugs and alcohol”. 

Pollution is an “existential threat to human health and planetary health, and jeopardises the sustainability of modern societies”, it added.

In general, the review found, air pollution — accounting for a total of 6.7 million deaths globally in 2019 — was “entwined” with climate change because the main source of both problems is burning fossil fuels and biofuels. 

“If we can’t manage to grow in a clean and green way, we’re doing something terribly wrong,” said the report’s lead author Richard Fuller, of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, adding that chemical pollution also harms biodiversity — another major global threat. 

“These things are terribly connected and strategies to deal with one have ripple effects all the way through,” he said.

Overall, one in six premature deaths globally — or nine million — were caused by pollution, a figure unchanged since the last assessment in 2015. 

Researchers noted a reduction in mortality linked to indoor air pollution, unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation, with major improvements seen in Africa. 

But early deaths associated with industrialisation — outdoor air and chemical pollution — are on the rise, particularly in southern and eastern Asia. 

Ambient air pollution caused some 4.5 million deaths in 2019, according to the study, published in Lancet Planetary Health, compared with 4.2 million in 2015 and just 2.9 million in 2000. 

Chemical pollution is also increasing, with lead poisoning alone causing 900,000 deaths. Even that, the report warned, is likely a “substantial undercount” in light of new research suggesting there is no safe level of exposure.

Harmful to children

Algeria banned lead in petrol in 2021, the last country to do so. 

But people continue to be exposed to the toxic substance, largely due to unregulated recycling of lead-acid batteries and e-waste. Contaminated culinary spices are also a culprit. 

“The fact that lead is getting worse, mostly in poorer countries, and ramping up in terms of the number of deaths, is horrifying,” said Fuller.

Heart disease is the cause of almost all early deaths from exposure to lead, which hardens arteries, said Fuller. 

But elevated lead levels in blood — estimated to affect hundreds of millions of children — also harm brain development and are linked to serious losses of cognitive function. 

The report said lead is also linked to a spike in behavioural disorders and diminished economic productivity, with global economic losses estimated at almost $1 trillion annually. 

In Africa, economic losses from lead-related IQ loss are equivalent to about four per cent of gross domestic product, while in Asia it amounts to two per cent. 

Silent killer

Overall, excess deaths due to pollution have led to economic losses totalling $4.6 trillion in 2019, or around six per cent of global economic output, researchers said.

Low- and middle-income countries are by far the most affected, with more than 90 per cent of deaths in these regions.

There is also increasing evidence of pollution crossing national boundaries in wind, water and the food chain. 

Wealthier nations that have reduced domestic outdoor air pollution effectively “displace” it overseas to countries with higher levels of manufacturing, the report said.

Prevailing global winds transport air pollution from east Asia to North America, from North America to Europe, and from Europe to the Arctic and central Asia. 

Meanwhile, cereals, seafood, chocolate and vegetables produced for export in developing countries can be contaminated as a result of soil and water polluted with lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and pesticides. 

This “increasingly threatens global food safety”, the report said, adding that “toxic metals found in infant formula and baby foods are of particular concern”.

Fuller said the threat of pollution — particularly air and lead pollution — is underappreciated, with more attention focused on the health implications of microplastics. 

“We can show a million people dying from lead pollution right now — more than die from malaria, more than die from HIV — and that’s not even discussed,” he said.

WASHINGTON — After some four years probing Mars’ interior, NASA’s InSight lander will likely retire this summer as accumulated dust on its solar panels saps its power. 

The lander will, however, leave behind a legacy of data that will be tapped by scientists around the world for years to come, helping to improve our understanding of planet formation, NASA said, while announcing on Tuesday the imminent end to InSight’s science operations. 

Equiped with an ultra-sensitive seismometer, InSight recorded more than 1,300 “marsquakes,” including a magnitude 5 quake on May 4, the largest so far. 

But around July, the seismometer will be turned off. 

The lander’s energy level will then be checked about once a day, and some pictures may still be taken. Then by the end of 2022, the mission will be completely stopped.

The cause: the accumulation over months of Martian dust on the lander’s two solar panels, each measuring about 2.2 metres wide. 

InSight, which is already running on only a tenth of the energy it had at the beginning, will soon find its batteries drained.

The speed at which dust accumulated corresponded more or less to what had been estimated by NASA.

The lander got a new lease on life around a year ago, when its robotic arm was put to new and unplanned use to remove some dust from the solar panels, extending the mission. 

The manoeuvre — employed six times successfully — saw the arm use dust itself to clear the panels, as it scooped up some Martian soil and gently dropped onto the robot so the dirt was blown across the solar panels, clearing parts of their surface.

Adding something to the lander specifically to clean the panels was forgone due to costs, explained Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, during a press conference on Tuesday.

Such a mechanism would leave “less to put into the science instruments”, he said.

‘Treasure trove’

InSight, one of four missions currently on the Red Planet — along with the US rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, and China’s Zhurong — arrived on Mars in November 2018.

Its seismometer, made in France, has since paved the way for great advances.

“The interior was kind of just a giant question mark,” said Banerdt, who has worked on the InSight mission for more than a decade.

“Thanks to InSight, we’ve been able to map out the inside of Mars for the very first time in history.”

Seismic waves, varying based on the materials they pass through, offer a picture of the interior of the planet.

For example, scientists were able to confirm that the core of Mars is liquid and to determine the thickness of the Martian crust — less dense than previously thought and likely consisting of three layers.

The magnitude 5 quake in early May was much larger than all those previously recorded and close to what scientists thought would be the maximum on Mars, though it would not be considered a huge tremor on Earth.

“This quake is really going to be a treasure trove of scientific information when we get our teeth into it,” Banerdt said.

Earthquakes are in particular caused by plate tectonics, he explained. But, they can also be triggered when the Earth’s crust moves due to temperature anomalies caused by its mantle. 

It is this type of vibration that scientists think they are dealing with on Mars.

Not all of InSight’s scientific operations have gone smoothly, however, such as when its heat probe had trouble being successfully buried below the surface to take the planet’s temperature because of the composition of the soil where the robot landed.

Regardless, in light of the seismometer’s success, NASA is considering using the technique elsewhere in the future, said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division.

“We’d really like to set up a complete network on the moon to really understand what’s going on there.”

PARIS — Lea had no problems breastfeeding her newborn son when she took him to see an osteopath in Paris, who nonetheless recommended surgery to cut a “too thick” strip of tissue under his tongue.

She said the osteopath indicated that “we don’t really know why, but it’s always better to have it cut”.

The procedure, which is used to treat a condition called “tongue tie” that can make breastfeeding painful, has exploded in popularity in recent years but doctors warn it is often unnecessary, backed by little research and being pushed by for-profit consultants without medical training.

Called a frenotomy, the simple procedure involves snipping the thin band of tissue that connects the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth.

France’s National Academy of Medicine warned last month that this “aggressive and potentially dangerous procedure for newborns and infants” has seen a “spectacular increase” throughout the world.

A 2018 study found that the diagnosis of tongue tie, also known as ankyloglossia, had increased more than 10-fold in numerous countries in just a decade.

The increased awareness of the condition propelled a surge in procedures to fix it — a report in Australia found that the number of frenotomies increased by 420 per cent from 2006 to 2016.

The standard procedure, when there is a visible tight band, can be useful when tongue tie is clearly affecting a baby’s ability to feed.

‘Quick fix’

But Lyndsay Fraser, an ear, nose, and throat surgeon in Scotland, warned that there were “potentially significant risks” from a deeper dissection at the tongue’s base to divide posterior tongue tie and that in her opinion it “has no evidence base and should not be routinely offered”.

Fraser told AFP she believed its rising popularity has been driven by mothers finding information on the Internet — “often factually incorrect and driven by private industry” — as well as “extreme pressure on mums to breastfeed” and “our inclination as a society to medicalise every difficult aspect of childcare rather than just providing support”.

Many mothers are “disappointed to be told there is no tongue tie and therefore no ‘quick fix’ to the feeding issue”, Fraser said. 

“Many will see private practitioners who will then divide a tongue tie for a sum of money.”

Virginie Rigourd, a paediatrician at a Paris hospital, said that osteopaths and breastfeeding counsellors had contributed to the rise in frenotomies.

The website of one French breastfeeding counsellor claims that not having a frenotomy “jeopardises breastfeeding and the health of both babies and mothers”, offering a 100 euro ($105) training course on the subject.

“It’s not something new, it’s been going on several years now,” Rigourd said. “It probably started in the United States and Canada and spread.”

“There is a return to breastfeeding but there is also a lack of well-trained staff to inform mothers, so there are also increasing problems” like mothers finding breastfeeding painful, Rigourd added.

Lack of quality research

Cochrane, a British organisation that reviews medical research, found that existing research on the procedure had “serious methodological shortcomings”.

“No study was able to report whether frenotomy led to long-term successful breastfeeding,” Cochrane said.

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, a global organisation of doctors, last year lamented the “lack of high-quality evidence-based studies”.

It said that “frenotomy can be an effective way to increase maternal comfort and breast milk transfer by the infant”, but the decision to undertake the procedure “requires a high level of clinical skill, judgement and discernment”.

The procedure, however, is still being offered to mothers without breastfeeding issues.

Lea turned down her osteopath’s suggestion of a “preventative” frenotomy in 2018, but said she understood how other new parents might give in to the pressure.

“You want what’s best for your child — if someone tells you that having part of your child’s tongue cut is best, even for no obvious reason, you go for it,” she told AFP.

With Chinese cars just as quickly winning over many Jordanian and international drivers as the products themselves have dramatically and swiftly improved over recent years, the BAIC Beijing X7 is one of the latest and most convincing of such recent arrivals.

Produced by one of China’s largest and most experienced auto manufacturers — boasting collaborations with several foreign manufacturers — the X7 proved to be a refined, confident, elegant, spacious, well-equipped and good value proposition, even next to other moderately priced and impressive new generation co-national competitors.

Elegantly athletic

Under new management in Jordan since earlier this year and with a auto building history going back to 1958, the Chinese manufacturer is marketing the X7 and other models from different sub-brands under the core BAIC brand in the region instead. Known elsewhere as a product of the Beijing brand, the BAIC X7 is a handsome and sleek mid-size front-drive crossover that well hides its height and size with sharp, crisp lines, smoothly muscular surfacing, subtle lower black cladding and an assertive yet elegantly athletic fascia treatment. 

With slim, heavily browed headlights, and similarly narrow and a jutting upper grille element contrasting with a wide and tall — almost Aston Martin-like — lower grill, flanked by blistered side gills, the X7 cuts a dramatic figure with a sense of momentum. Its sportily flavoured styling also features a stepped clamshell bonnet emphasising height at the centre, but minimising sheet metal above the wheel-arches. Meanwhile an elegantly descending “floating” effect roofline, jutting slim rear lights and evocative Coke-bottle haunches further play to the X7’s urgent demeanour.

Quiet conviction

Offered with a single, small but prodigious engine option in Jordan, the X7 280T is powered by a transversely-mounted turbocharged 1.5-litre 4-cylinder motor driving the front wheels through a smooth shifting 7-speed automated dual-clutch gearbox. Developing 185BHP at 5,500rpm and 203lb/ft torque throughout a broad, accessible and versatile 1,500-4,500rpm plateau, the X7 is estimated to be able to propel its 1,665kg mass through the 0-100km/h acceleration benchmark in approximately 10-seconds or less. Meanwhile combined cycle fuel consumption is frugal for its class at 6.8l/100km.

Smooth and quietly well-insulated, the X7’s engine is quick-spooling and responsive, with only faint evidence of the lag often associated with turbo engines. At its best throughout its wide, rich and flexibly useful peak torque band, the X7 pulls hard through revs, and overtakes with conviction, even on briskly driven inclines. Underwritten by generous torque, the X7’s engine meanwhile builds power progressively to a comparatively low-revving maximum, where it feels confidently capable, before the next gear engages and revs drop to its mid-range sweet spot.

Refined ride

Intuitive in finding the right gear for the right moment in response to throttle input, whether in default or more responsive “sport” driving modes, the X7’s gearbox can be shifted in a sequential manual mode through the gear lever. Shifting so gives added driver control, but with shift speed-favouring smoothness over snappiness, and no steering mounted shift buttons, the X7’s gearbox is best in auto mode. Its stylishly elegant gear lever button locations meanwhile take a few minutes to get accustomed to when first manoeuvring in tight confines.

A refined and relaxing ride with terrific stability at speed and cabin noise suppression — including active noise cancellation tech — the X7 meanwhile fluently dispatches uneven and lumpy road surfacing, without the pronounced side to side jostling of occupants that some significantly more up-market competitors suffer from. Similarly better-settled and comfortable in vertical movements than many costlier crossovers, the X7 dismounts large bumps with poise and control. Forgivingly comfortable and poised over most potholes, the X7 finds a good balance between comfort and cornering body control.

Confident comfort

A comfortable, high-riding front-driven cruiser, the X7’s handling nevertheless proved to be unexpectedly adept. Turning tidily and precisely into corners, with above average agility for its class, the X7 meanwhile displayed reassuring road-holding at the rear. With dampers pushing tyres firmly into the tarmac, the X7 — unlike some better-known rivals — resisted any unintended mid-corner skips or slides on brisk, narrow and poorly paved switchbacks. Braking was similarly reassuring, while well-damped steering was accurate, intuitive and light, if not especially textured in nuance, feel and feedback.

Competitively priced, the X7 looks and drives above expectation, and is thoroughly equipped with numerous convenience, infotainment, safety and driver assistance systems, including 8-speaker sound system, three touchscreens, 360° camera, lane departure assistance, blind spot and forward collision warnings, adaptive cruise control, and parking assistance. Elegant inside, the X7 has an airy and fresh ambiance, with modern trim and good quality textures. Its driving position is supportive and well-adjustable, while rear space and cabin access is comfortable and generous, even for larger and taller occupants.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.5-litre, transverse, turbocharged 4-cylinders

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 7-speed dual-clutch automated, front-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 185 (188) [138] @5,500rpm

Specific power: 123.4BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 203 (275) @1,500-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 183.4Nm/litre

0-100km/h: approximately 10-seconds (estimate)

Fuel consumption, combined: 6.8-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 60-litres

Length: 4,710mm

Width: 1,892mm

Height: 1,715mm

Wheelbase: 2,800mm

Ground clearance: 200mm

Kerb weight: 1,665kg (estimate)

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/discs

Tyres: 235/55R19

Price, on-the-road, with third party insurance: JD27,000

Warranty: 6-years or 200,000km

Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City

Matthew Teller

London: Profile Books, 2022

Pp. 336

In his new book, author Matthew Teller takes the reader on a somewhat unconventional tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. While there are captivating descriptions of the city’s famous landmarks as well as less known nooks and crannies, the emphasis is on people, their lives and history.

The dynamics of the book stem from the author’s interviews and friendships with scores of the Old City’s inhabitants from different walks of life, different religious communities, and sometimes different ethnic and language groups. Though some speak of catastrophes and injustices, including those brought on by Israel’s ethnic cleansing and restrictions, the overall effect is upbeat. 

One cannot help but be impressed by the interviewees’ energy, resourcefulness, originality, persistence, and accomplishments against the odds, as well as by the author’s depth of historical knowledge, his mastery of linguistics and choice of subjects. 

Teller is quick to warn that things are not as they seem, comparing the city to an iceberg where only a fraction appears above the surface. It soon becomes apparent that he is out to dispel certain myths that are cherished by parties that benefit from them. The most important premise that he contests is the idea that the Old City of Jerusalem can be neatly divided into four quarters with a single religious community inhabiting each one.

In recent times, this myth has been contested by a few serious scholars, but it is still reflected in popular travel literature and Israeli-issued information. Teller’s insistence on demolishing this myth is politically motivated, because if the Old City can be so divided, it feeds into the false perception that the conflict over Palestine is all about religion rather than being about colonialism and occupation. 

According to Teller’s research, no ancient map depicted religiously-defined quarters. He makes a side trip to Jordan to view the Madaba map, considered the oldest in the world, which showed one unified city. As he also points out, all during the 20th century and up until today, most quarters had a mixed population. So, how did a map, dated 1837, which divided Jerusalem into four religiously-defined quarters, evolve? Though unable to find out much about the European cartographer who drew it, Teller did not give up but continued to examine the beginnings of British colonialism in Palestine, and the maps made in the following decade.

He learned that when the British sent troops against Mohammad Ali’s incursion into Ottoman-controlled Palestine, they assigned two military engineers and a missionary to make a map to guide their efforts. Influenced by Protestantism, these men were only interested in Jews and Christians, used archaic terms from Crusader times, and introduced the concept of a Muslim quarter--all in the service of divide-and-rule. (Teller notes how Israeli urban policy built on that of Britain.)

The book is a delight to read because Teller has a way with words reflected in clever chapter titles and a keen sense of irony, poking fun at illogical assumptions. In this case, he terms it bizarre to designate a particular quarter as Muslim, since the city as a whole was majority Muslim; it is equivalent to defining a part of Rome as the Catholic quarter. 

Having dismissed the veracity of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian Quarters, Teller proceeds to lead readers through the Old City guided by other landmarks, usually the city gates, but also Khan Al Zeit (the main Jerusalem market), the Stations of the Cross in Via Dolorosa, and the Al Aqsa compound. For each, there is a brief history of the surrounding area, then on to the real target—Jerusalemites who have something to share. There is a visit to Stork Tower (Bab Az-Zahra), the Old City’s poorest and most underdeveloped area; to a Sufi lodge, hospices established by various countries, private library collections, etc.

At the Lions Gate (Bab Al Asbat), an articulate young woman relates the marginalised status of the Dom community, Arabic-speaking, mainly Muslims, and wrongly called gypsies, and how she put herself through college and now works to improve their situation. At Aladdin Street, we learn about the origins of the story of the same name, and how this area is populated by African Muslim pilgrims who came to the city as early as the 15th century and stayed at the gates of Al Aqsa. 

A whole chapter is devoted to the stories of remarkable women from ancient times until today, and another to the Moroccan Quarter (Bab Al Magharba) and how it was bulldozed in the immediate aftermath of the June 1967 war, so that now only one zawiya remains. In contrast, the Jewish Quarter is clearly delineated and almost all new. Teller also interviews an Armenian musician whose playing ranges from rock to folksongs, and the owner of the only art gallery in the Old City. He also visits the Syriac community that still speaks Aramaic, and the café founded by Khalil Sakakini near Jaffa Gate (Bab Al Khalil). 

Matthew Teller is a well-known journalist who writes for a variety of respected international media. He has published several travel guides, including “The Rough Guide to Jordan”. In this new book, he combines architecture with social history and current reality to shake up common presuppositions about Jerusalem. He interviews famous people as well as little known ones, deliberately eschewing false notions of balance to focus on those whose stories are usually excluded, especially the Palestinians.

By Dr Tareq Rasheed
International Consultant 
and Trainer

To gain a competitive edge in today’s world, an individual, group or organisation must be continually evolving. If you’re looking to enter the dynamic and progressive area of coaching and leadership, there are important tools for the continuous development of individuals and organisations-begin by understanding the five levels of leadership.

Leaders play different roles in organisations to help achieve business continuity and growth. These roles are: teachers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, mentors, consultants and counsellors, and I define each in two words: 

• Teachers: Knowledge Providers 

• Trainers: Skill Providers 

• Facilitators: Support Providers

• Coaches: Energy Investors 

• Mentors: Goal Motivators 

• Consultants: Problem Solvers 

• Counsellors: Path Advisors

Situational leadership

Situational leadership directs leaders towards their roles depending on the situation followers face. Vary your style according to the situation. Leaders can delegate most roles except coaching and mentoring, which are the roles that ensure leadership effectiveness.

Level #1: Make the most of your position to understand people, their emotions and their motivators to help influence their abilities to higher levels. Management is position and authority, while leadership is character and power. Once you master this secret, you can gradually move to the next one.

Level #2: Gain people permission. Leadership is dynamic; people will respond to you based on your level of trust with them. To gain trust, consider competency and credibility. Are you competent for the position as a leader? Are you credible in your values and ethics? If yes, then you master the second secret and people will grant you permission to lead.

Level #3: Start the production process and each advance allows you to be more effective in leading others. Greater effectiveness is achieved once you are productive and can affect others. Good leaders always make things happen. They get results. They are productive individually, but they can also help the team produce. This ability gives leaders increased influence.

Level #4: Develop your people, apply the roles mentioned, teach them, train them, support and facilitate their performance and maximise their energy. Here you need to understand the psychology of people. The law of circles comes in handy here. Leadership is the art of influencing followers; once you know their centres of concern, you can influence and lead. We all have concerns and people can be classified according to their centres of concern:

• Money-centred people

• Work centred people

• Family-centred people

• Society-centred people

• Friends-centred people

• Pleasure-centred people

• Self-centred people

• Spouse-centred people

• Fear-centred people

Level #5: Empowerment of others to create second, third and fourth layers of leaders; leaders develop leaders. You can achieve this by applying these steps: Teach, Train, Develop, Qualify, Delegate, Support, Appreciate and Empower. At this leadership level, you achieve greatness, not only effectiveness. Great leaders leave a legacy and are remembered for what they left in their people, community and country. On the other hand, ordinary managers leave the position and no one remembers them. Leave a legacy to have the greatest influence.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Wednesday said it is strapping a smartwatch onto its Pixel hardware line as part of an “ambient computing” vision to make its services available anywhere at any time.

The Alphabet-owned Internet titan used its annual developers conference to showcase a Pixel line expanding to include a smartwatch and tablet, as well as upgraded earbuds and a more affordable version of its flagship smartphone.

Backed up by artificial intelligence, cloud computing and sophisticated custom mobile chips, the family of gadgets is intended to work seamlessly together, Google senior vice president of hardware and services Rick Osterloh said during a briefing.

“All these things work in concert on our vision of ambient computing,” Osterloh said. “Providing the help people need, whenever they need it.”

The Pixel Watch will be released late this year, along with a new premium Pixel 7 smartphone, with pricing and other details to be disclosed closer to launch, Google said. 

The first Pixel smartwatch designed and built by Google will integrate health features from Fitbit, which Alphabet bought in a $2.1 billion deal that closed last year, and take on market leading Apple Watch.

“It just takes time to integrate a company with all the technology and people that Fitbit has,” Osterloh said of the Pixel smartwatch timing.

There will be a version of the Pixel Watch that synchs to Android-powered smartphones and one that has its own wireless Internet connectivity, the Internet giant said.

Google is also working on a Pixel tablet computer expected to be released next year, figuring there is an interest in large screen mobile devices even if that overall market has been lacklustre.

“We’ve got a lot going on in the Pixel pipeline and it represents investments across all different kinds of technologies,” Osterloh said.

A smaller version of the Pixel 6 smartphone released by Google late last year will hit shelves on July 28 at a price of $449, along with new Pixel Buds Pro ear pieces priced at $199.

While smartphones powered by Google’s free Android operating software dominate the global market, the Silicon Valley company’s Pixel models have amassed scant share.

“We’re really investing a lot and expanding the mobile part of our vision,” Osterloh said.

“It’s like an iceberg and that you didn’t see a lot of what was happening underneath, but now you can really see all these things coming to the surface.”

Software smarts

Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai provided a peek of augmented reality glasses that Google is working on, providing few details but demonstrating how they could translate conversations in real time, showing wearers transcriptions.

“All of this work is in service of a timeless mission to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” Pichai said of what Google shared during a 2-hour presentation before a live audience in a concert venue near the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters.

Google’s hardware announcements were backed by a slew of enhancements to software powering its core search service, artificial intelligence capabilities, and Android mobile devices.

Improvements included enabling artificial intelligence to converse with people more naturally, and to “read” through pages of documents or messages and provide people with insightful, terse summaries of their contents.

An enhancement to search lets images captured by smartphone cameras and queries uttered by users be combined to allow, for example, someone to ask Google to scan a market shelf to find a top-rated brand of nutless chocolate, demonstrations showed.

And a new Google Wallet being rolled out in the weeks ahead is being designed to one day replace real-world billfolds, right down to holding digital versions of driver licenses.