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Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Rashid al-Thani’s Aeon’s Aegis closed the card with a commanding display in the Thoroughbred Derby Trial for three-year-olds over 2100m, securing his second win in three starts in the season.At Al Uqda Racecourse Thursday, the three-year-old-gelding trained by Mohammed al-Ghazali was settled patiently before Soufiane Saadi unleashed him in the home straight. Aeon’s Aegis swept past his rivals one by one, hitting the front 100m from the line with a blazing turn of foot to score impressively by five lengths, giving Saadi a quick-fire double to conclude the evening.Rashid Saed Adiba, Head of QREC Racing Operations Section, crowned the winners.Mureb made his second start of the season with a hard-fought victory in the Purebred Arabian Derby Trial for four-year-olds over 2100m. The grey gelding, owned by Wathnan Racing and trained by Alban de Mieulle, was produced late by Soufiane Saadi and surged right on the line to secure the win by the narrowest of margins in a finish that kept everyone on edge. Mac’zoom Al Shahania ran a brave race to take second, while the result sealed a third triumph in the evening for the winning connections.Zah’ran Al Shahania remained unbeaten with another polished performance, winning the National Derby Trial for four-year-olds Local Purebred Arabians over 2100m. The bay gelding, owned by North Racing, travelled prominently throughout before quickening in the final 300m to assert his authority and win by 1½ lengths. Following his winning debut last week, he made it two from two and completed a quick-fire double on the evening for trainer Hamad al-Jehani and jockey Pierre Charles Boudot.Blessed Star broke her maiden in style in the Thoroughbred Oaks Trial for three-year-old fillies over 2100m. Representing Al Falah Stud, the bay filly travelled smoothly before digging deep in the final 100m to win a three-way battle by 1¼ lengths. Trained by Hamad al-Jehani — who secured the Oaks title for a second straight year—she was guided to victory by Boudot. 

Massacres of Alawite minority marked worst bloodshed since Assad was toppled in DecemberNearly 1,500 Alawites killed in March, Reuters investigation foundFormer rebel leader, now president Sharaa has promised accountability over violenceSyria Tuesday began the first trial of suspects in a wave of bloodshed in March during which pro-government fighters killed hundreds of members of the Alawite minority - a case seen as a test of President Ahmed al-Sharaa's promise of accountability.Judicial sources said the group of a dozen defendants was evenly split between people alleged to have taken part in attacks on Alawite communities, and others accused of taking part in attacks on government forces by militias loyal to ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, which sparked the violence.The bloodshed marked one of the worst eruptions of violence since rebels led by Sharaa toppled Assad, in December, ending 54 years of autocratic rule by the Assad family. The defendants went on trial in a public session at the Aleppo Court of Justice in northern Syria.The judicial sources said they faced charges that included fomenting civil war, secession, premeditated murder and looting. Defendants from both sides were questioned on charges of killing civilians and forming militias that carried out attacks on army checkpoints and government installations, according to a source in court and a televised broadcast of the proceedings.The prosecutor general has pressed charges against around 300 people linked to armed factions affiliated with the army, and around 265 who belonged to Assad-era paramilitary groups, Jumaa al-Anzi, head of a fact-finding committee appointed by Sharaa, said in comments carried by Syrian media reports of the trial. It is unclear how many are currently in detention.A Reuters investigation published in June found that Syrian forces killed nearly 1,500 Syrian Alawites from March 7 to 9. The attacks came in response to a day-old rebellion organised by former officers loyal to Assad that left 200 members of the security forces, according to the government. A Syrian government fact-finding committee reported in July that 1,426 people had died in March in attacks on security forces and subsequent mass killings of Alawites.COMMITMENT TO ACCOUNTABILITYOfficials say the authorities are committed to accountability in a new era that ends a dark phase of secretive authoritarian rule, noting it was previously unheard of in Syria to put members of the security forces on trial for crimes. Anti-government activists and Alawite lobbyists say the process is not independent and amounts to a sham by the authorities.UN investigators said in August that war crimes were probably committed by interim government forces as well as by fighters loyal to Syria's former rulers during the violence. Sharaa denounced the violence as a threat to his mission to unite Syria and pledged to hold those responsible to account.A senior Justice Ministry official said the trials mark the start of a long process that would also hold to account those responsible for atrocities during the Assad family’s long rule. “The trials won’t stop at the coastal violations. They will continue to include the leading criminals who perpetrated crimes and mass killings in past years,” Deputy Minister of Justice Mustafa al-Qassem told state media.

The defence team of Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro told the close of his trial for coup plotting Wednesday that an acquittal was "imperative" to avoid what it presented as a potential miscarriage of justice."An acquittal is absolutely imperative so that we don't have our version of the Dreyfus case," lawyer Paulo Cunha Bueno told the Supreme Court, referring to the infamous case of a Jewish French army captain wrongly convicted of treason in 1894.Bolsonaro, also a former army captain, risks up to 43 years in prison if convicted of trying to cling onto power after losing 2022 elections to his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.The court is set to deliver its verdict next week in a case which has sparked the ire of US President Donald Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro.The Trump administration has imposed 50% tariffs on a range of Brazilian goods and sanctioned the judge presiding over what the US leader has called a "witch hunt."On Tuesday, the judge presiding over Bolsonaro's trial, Alexandre de Moraes, accused the 70-year-old former far-right leader of seeking to install a "true dictatorship." Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, denies the charges.He insists he is the victim of political persecution and has declined to attend the verdict deliberations.Prosecutors accuse him of having led a "criminal organization" that conspired to claw power back from Lula.They say that, after his election defeat, Bolsonaro plotted to declare a state of emergency and call new elections but failed to win the support of the military top brass.Prosecutors also allege that he knew of a plot to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Moraes."There is not a single shred of evidence linking him" to the alleged coup plot, another of his lawyers, Celso Vilardi, told the court.Vilardi also questioned the plea bargain reached by the prosecution with one of Bolsonaro's co-defendants who turned state witness, Mauro Cid.Much of the state's case rests on the testimony provided by Bolsonaro's former right-hand man.The defence says the case contains parallels with the Dreyfus affair, whose conviction went down in history as a example of judicial bias.Unlike the Bolsonaro case, however, the Dreyfus affair was underpinned by anti-Semitism.As the trial wraps up, negotiations are accelerating in Congress on an amnesty bill which, if passed, could see Bolsonaro avoid prison even if convicted."We will work for a broad, general, and unlimited amnesty," Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president's son, told reporters on Tuesday.An amnesty would also potentially benefit hundreds of "Bolsonaristas" convicted over the January 8, 2023 storming of the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress.Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time but is accused of inciting the rioters, who called for the military to depose Lula a week after his return to power.