On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden repeated the claim that Russia might resort to using chemical weapons to overcome strong Ukrainian resistance to its invasion.
Russia denies possessing chemical weapons and poisoning Russian dissidents in the UK with chemical nerve agents, charges made by the US, UK and Europe.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki had previously suggested Russia could stage a “false flag attack” or spread conspiracy theories to blame Ukraine.
"We should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them – it's a clear pattern," Ms Pskai said on Twitter.
But what are chemical weapons, why are they controversial and what advantages might they have on the battlefield?
When were chemical weapons developed?
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) describes them as "munitions, devices and other equipment specifically designed to weaponise toxic chemicals".
First used at the battle of Ypres in the First World War in 1915, they are banned under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which has been signed by 193 countries including several that have declared possessing them (the US, Iran) and countries accused of using them in wartime (Syria).
The weapons have been seen by many as a red line in modern warfare because they kill indiscriminately and horrifically.
Victims suffer muscle failure and paralysis, suffocating as their lungs fail, may lose bodily control, vomiting before death or suffer gruesome injuries including severe blistering to the skin, or blindness.
They were used to devastating effect when German forces used canisters filled with mustard gas at a 6-kilometre French and British defensive line at Ypres, Belgium, also overwhelming allied Algerian soldiers.
The scale of the attack is vital in understanding how deadly these weapons of mass destruction can be: at least 1,000 soldiers died from chlorine asphyxiation on the front line.
There are three broad categories of chemical weapons. Nerve agents such as Tabun block an enzyme in the body that controls the muscles, causing cramping that stops the lungs and other organs from functioning. Blood agents, such as cyanide, stop cells from functioning properly, eventually causing death.
Then there are blistering agents, such as the mustard gas commonly used in the First World War. Unlike nerve and blood agents, some of which can kill people in seconds in tiny doses, blistering agents are much less likely to kill but cause lung and skin damage and even blindness.
Are they illegal?
Chemical attacks became common during the First World War and are thought to have killed 90,000 soldiers on all sides but the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibited their use.
When the Second World War broke out, rival armies refrained from using lethal gas – by this point, the Germans had developed nerve gas, a deadly substance that stops nerve signals and cell function in the body.
While the Geneva Protocol sought to stop their use in wartime, further treaties attempted to prevent development of the weapons during the tension of the Cold War, when the US and former Soviet Union were developing terrifying weapons, including nuclear missiles and biological weapons that kill through disease.
The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention sought to stop countries possessing any toxic chemical that could have no peacetime use – but did not allow for international monitoring.
That changed in 1993 when the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was set up to monitor the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles among signatories of the CWC.
Have chemical weapons been used in recent years?
It wasn’t until 1984 that a large-scale chemical weapons attack would happen again, when Iraqi forces dropped sulfur mustard and nerve gas agents such as Tabun on Iranian troops around Majnoon near the border with Iran.
The US State Department believed Iraq had used chemical weapons even before then, reporting in 1983 that Baghdad had developed the weapons "with the essential assistance of foreign firms”.
Washington initially condemned the use of the weapons but continued to support Iraq throughout the conflict with Iran, along with European and Russian companies which supplied chemicals and delivery systems.
Iraq would go on to use chemical weapons most infamously at Halabja in the Kurdish region of Iraq in 1988, killing between 3,000 and 5,000 civilians.
After the invasion of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq said it had destroyed its chemical weapons arsenal, despite insistence by the US and UK that some had been retained. That was one of the reasons given for the 2003 US-led invasion, sparking a bitter rift with UN inspectors.
Chemical weapons made headlines again in August 2013, when Bashar Al Assad used them against rebel forces in the Syrian civil war. At Ghouta, hundreds of – and perhaps up to 2,000 – civilians died in a Syrian government chemical attack.
Further use of the weapons by Assad led to the UK, US and France bombing Syrian research centres in April 2018.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
You may remember …
Robbie Keane (Atletico de Kolkata) The Irish striker is, along with his former Spurs teammate Dimitar Berbatov, the headline figure in this season’s ISL, having joined defending champions ATK. His grand entrance after arrival from Major League Soccer in the US will be delayed by three games, though, due to a knee injury.
Dimitar Berbatov (Kerala Blasters) Word has it that Rene Meulensteen, the Kerala manager, plans to deploy his Bulgarian star in central midfield. The idea of Berbatov as an all-action, box-to-box midfielder, might jar with Spurs and Manchester United supporters, who more likely recall an always-languid, often-lazy striker.
Wes Brown (Kerala Blasters) Revived his playing career last season to help out at Blackburn Rovers, where he was also a coach. Since then, the 23-cap England centre back, who is now 38, has been reunited with the former Manchester United assistant coach Meulensteen, after signing for Kerala.
Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
Emiliano Alfaro (Pune City) The Uruguayan striker has played for Liverpool – the Montevideo one, rather than the better-known side in England – and Lazio in Italy. He was prolific for a season at Al Wasl in the Arabian Gulf League in 2012/13. He returned for one season with Fujairah, whom he left to join Pune.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
RESULT
Los Angeles Galaxy 2 Manchester United 5
Galaxy: Dos Santos (79', 88')
United: Rashford (2', 20'), Fellaini (26'), Mkhitaryan (67'), Martial (72')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Afghanistan fixtures
- v Australia, today
- v Sri Lanka, Tuesday
- v New Zealand, Saturday,
- v South Africa, June 15
- v England, June 18
- v India, June 22
- v Bangladesh, June 24
- v Pakistan, June 29
- v West Indies, July 4
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
