A man jogs along an empty street along the Seine river in Paris. The European Union's leaders are trying to hammer out an agreement for a €1.5 trillion package to help member states struggling with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the continent's tourism industry. AP Photo
A man jogs along an empty street along the Seine river in Paris. The European Union's leaders are trying to hammer out an agreement for a €1.5 trillion package to help member states struggling with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the continent's tourism industry. AP Photo
A man jogs along an empty street along the Seine river in Paris. The European Union's leaders are trying to hammer out an agreement for a €1.5 trillion package to help member states struggling with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the continent's tourism industry. AP Photo
A man jogs along an empty street along the Seine river in Paris. The European Union's leaders are trying to hammer out an agreement for a €1.5 trillion package to help member states struggling with th

Economy

EU needs €1.5tn recovery fund to be ready by September, says commissioner

Economy and Financial Affairs head Paolo Gentiloni tells Italian TV a part of the package should be non-repayable

Bloomberg

April 26, 2020

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A European Union recovery fund worth around €1.5 trillion (Dh6tn) needs to be available by mid-September and include loans as well as a portion of non-repayable money, the EU's economy and financial affairs commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said.

“Financing must be provided now,” Mr Gentiloni said in an interview with Italy’s Rai 3 television on Sunday. “We cannot wait two years, like it happened between the end of the World War II and the Marshall Plan,” he said.

EU leaders inched toward an agreement on their rebuilding plans during a video conference on Thursday, but they haven’t yet resolved differences over whether member states will be given grants or loans.

France and Spain are leading a group demanding the recovery is funded via handouts from a supercharged EU budget while the Netherlands and Austria are among countries insisting the additional funds should take the form of low-interest loans.

“Real budget transfers will be needed, not just loans,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after the meeting. “If we let down a whole part of Europe, it’s Europe as a whole that will fall.”

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Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.

Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50

Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others

Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.

As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.

Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.

“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”

Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.

“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”

Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.

Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.