The EU is struggling to find ways to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel despite increasing frustration with the violence of the occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the conduct of the war in Gaza.
Only a minority of the bloc's foreign affairs ministers at a meeting on Thursday appeared to show interest in backing EU top diplomat Josep Borrell's calls to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
A toll of destruction and human suffering that we have not seen in the 21st century
Sigrid Kaag
Mr Borrell did not name the ministers but has previously been sharply critical of their actions.
He said he would ask foreign ministers whether they consider it appropriate to sanction "some Israeli ministers [who have] been launching hate messages, unacceptable hate message against Palestinians and proposing things that go clearly against international law and an incitation to commit war crimes."
There should be no "taboos" for the EU to use its "toolbox to make humanitarian law respected," added the Spanish diplomat.
Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib said Belgium supported more sanctions against "leaders of terrorist organisations, including Hamas, and violent settlers".
Some countries, including Hungary which has routinely blocked tough measures against Israel, rejected Mr Borrell's suggestions.
Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest considered Borrell's proposal "dangerous". His Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, said sanctions would not be "the right path" to keep Israel at the negotiating table.
Germany's foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, meanwhile, voiced reluctance on the proposal and recalled that EU sanctions were already in place against violent Jewish settlers.
Mr Smotrich and Mr Ben-Gvir's behaviour have triggered criticism from the Israeli defence and security apparatus.
Mr Smotrich recently appeared to suggest starving the entire Gaza Strip's population of two million people. Mr Ben-Gvir led a crowd of thousands in storming al Aqsa mosque in violation of a ban on Jewish prayer. On Tuesday, he said he would support building a synagogue at the compound, Islam's third holiest site.
Those comments earned Mr Ben-Gvir a rebuke from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who said on X that "challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary, and irresponsible act." Access to the site is controlled by Israel.
A third round of sanctions?
There was, however, interest in Brussels in issuing a third round of sanctions against extremist settlers who attack or harass Palestinian civilians in an effort to drive them out of territory that is meant to constitute their future state.
No announcement is expected because executive decisions cannot be taken at informal meetings of EU ministers.
Between October 2023 and August 2024, 622 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank. The Israeli army has also stepped up its raids in the area, with at least 17 dead in the past two days. In 2024, Israeli air strikes killed 136 Palestinians, compared to six between 2020 and 2023.
Sweden's Foreign Affairs Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters that he wanted "to highlight the growing problem of extremist settler violence in the West Bank."
"We’d also like to talk about listing more extremist settlers of course which we are already in favour of," added Mr Billstrom.
The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, was invited to brief ministers on the situation in the embattled enclave.
In Gaza, a "humanitarian tragedy has been unfolding of unprecedented proportions, with a toll of destruction and human suffering that we have not seen in the 21st century," Ms Kaag said.
Polio has recently returned to Gaza after 11 months of a retaliatory Israeli military war that has killed more than 40,500 people. The war was launched after Hamas-led attacks against Israel killed around 1,200 people.
The first case of polio in 25 years was last week, detected in a baby, leading the UN to call for a pause in the fighting to vaccinate Gaza's 640,000 children under ten years old. In a statement, Mr Borrell requested "humanitarian pauses" for the vaccination campaigns to be successful.
"An epidemic among a population already weakened by over 10 months of fighting and displacement, malnourishment, lack of basic health services, and deplorable sanitary conditions, as well as further spread internationally, must be avoided,” said Mr Borrell.
The conflict had Israel's "war against Hamas" had become a "war against Palestinians," said Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin. Ireland is one of two EU countries that recently recognised Palestinian statehood to further increase pressure on Israel.
Mr Martin said that he would reiterate Ireland's request, initially filed in February with Spain, that the EU review its trade association agreement with Israel.
The advisory opinion issued last month by the International Court of Justice deeming the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful had "shed the light on human rights clauses of that agreement," said Mr Martin.
"It cannot be business as usual," he said. "We have within our remit a moral obligation to raise these issues and do everything we possibly can to end this war because the level of death and destruction is quite shocking."
In its opinion rendered on July 19, the court said that it was up to the UN General Assembly and Security Council to decide on how to end Israel's illegal occupation of territories annexed in the 1967 war.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
MWTC info
Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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Elvis
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)
Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.
Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.
Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.
Get your priorities right.
And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
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.
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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
The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The Light of the Moon
Director: Jessica M Thompson
Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Stahl-David
Three stars
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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