00:00Good day. Welcome to the Gulf News Update for Thursday, August 22. Here are the top
00:09stories at this hour.
00:11Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces bombarded rebel-held suburbs of Damascus today,
00:16keeping up pressure on the besieged region a day after the opposition accused the army
00:20of gassing hundreds in a chemical weapons attack.
00:23With Wednesday's death toll estimated between 500 and 1,300, emergency meeting of the UN
00:29Security Council failed to explicitly demand a UN probe of the incident.
00:33The Indian rupee sank further today to hit a new low against the US dollar. As of 10.20
00:38a.m., it was trading at 65,5438 to the US dollar, with the currency still being hit
00:44by heavy demand for the dollar from banks and importers.
00:47Dubai police have equipped two special rescue vehicles with a device to safely bring to
00:52a halt two cars suffering from cruise control malfunctions.
00:55Major General Mohammed Saif al-Zarfain, chief of Dubai Police's traffic department, said
01:00if the trial was successful, the device will be fitted on a number of police vehicles.
01:05European foreign ministers agreed to scale back military ties with Egypt following the
01:09wave of violence that has swept across the country in recent weeks, but it stopped short
01:14of slashing aid or banning arms exports to Egypt's interim authorities.
01:19China has begun the trial of Bo Xilai, the disgraced politician once tipped for the highest
01:23levels of power on charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power. The former Communist Party
01:29leader is accused of accepting money from two businessmen, the court said.
01:33Arsenal are in talks to sign Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and winger Angel Di Maria. In
01:38tennis, Russian star Maria Shapova has pulled out of next week's US Open with a shoulder
01:43injury.
01:44The producers of Shah Rukh Khan's Happy New Year, which will be filmed in Dubai next month,
01:48are casting extras to appear in the Farrakhan-directed movie. People of all ages and nationalities
01:54can apply for roles in the comedy.
01:56This weekend, at the cinema, there are laughs, frights and civil war with horror film The
02:00Conjuring, gross-out comedy Grown Ups 2 and Sri Lankan tale Madras Cafe.
02:05And finally, the weather. Today's high across the UAE will be 40 degrees Celsius, dropping
02:10to 33 at night.
02:11That's all for now. Thanks for watching. We will be back with the newscast on Sunday,
02:15and you can always get the latest news at golfnews.com.
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