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Severing ties with Israel was not discussed by foreign ministers of Arab League countries, as they worked to reach a unified position on Gaza ahead of the Arab League summit in Bahrain, a senior official has said.
Hossam Zaki, Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League, told The National that cutting off diplomatic ties “was not discussed in the meeting” on Tuesday.
He told reporters there was consensus at this year's Arab League summit, which is expected to focus on the war in Gaza.
“There is total and complete unanimous agreement this time around regarding the Bahrain declaration among the member states. The Bahrain declaration is a continuation of what was adopted in Riyadh," he said.
Mr Zaki was referring to an emergency summit convened in Riyadh in November, a month after Israel launched a military offensive on the Palestinian enclave in response to a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
"The war has continued and the war has evolved so we are adopting a political position that is adequate and commensurate with the current circumstances in Gaza,” Mr Zaki told The National.
Foreign ministers of Arab League countries gathered in Manama on Tuesday to finalise the bloc's joint action plan for the year before leaders arrive for their annual summit on Thursday. Bahrain, as current holder of the Arab League presidency, has been working towards Arab unity on the summit's final communique.
“Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani has been on a tour of the Arab states meeting with leaders to get them unified behind the final text, which is expected to announce a tougher stance against Israel,” a source told The National.
Emergency plan needed
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit arrived in Manama on Sunday and led a meeting of the group's Economic and Social Council, which was followed by talks on Arab unity regarding postwar reconstruction plans for Gaza.
“Every move, whether Arab or international, to put an end to Israeli crimes remains an utmost necessity,” he said at the opening session.
“The League of Arab States emphasised the importance of seeking to alleviate the pain of the residents of the Gaza Strip. The bridges of humanitarian aid coming from Arab countries to Gaza have not stopped, but Israel has continued to prevent the entry of aid and used the weapon of starvation against the people of the Gaza Strip,” Mr Aboul Gheit said.
He said the summit on Thursday would need to produce an “emergency plan to deal with the repercussions of the war”.
Muhannad Al Aklouk, the Palestinian representative to the Arab League, said the emergency response plan would require two stages.
“The first is programmes related to emergency response, comprehensive relief and early recovery, and the second will be worked on at a later time and is related to recovery and early reconstruction,” he told reporters in Manama.
Arab consensus
Diplomatic sources in Manama told The National that Bahraini summit organisers had been attempting to build on the resolution drafted at the Riyadh summit that failed to win majority consensus from the Arab League's 22 member states.
After concluding three days of talks on a collective response and action regarding the developments in Gaza, the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Co-operation jointly called for an arms embargo against Israel.
“There’s a sense with the diplomats already in discussions ahead of Thursday’s high-level meeting of leaders that this summit in Bahrain is a consequential summit because of the Palestinian cause,” Tawfeeq Almansour, a former Bahraini diplomat, told reporters on Sunday.
“The fate of the Palestinian cause is the fate of the Arab world. The recent aggression on Gaza solidified that even more.”
Addressing the foreign ministers' meeting on Tuesday, Mr Aboul Gheit said international intervention for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel was the only way to resolve their decades-old dispute.
“We call on international efforts to organise behind the creation of a two-state solution because the two parties, the Palestinian and the Israeli, are unable to reach an agreement on their own,” he said.
“Therefore, international intervention, in all its forms, has become a necessity. Returning to the path of bilateral negotiations is no longer a possible option. How can this negotiation take place when there is a party that rejects it in the first place?”
The UN General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly in support of a Palestinian bid for full membership of the world body, a symbolic move after the US earlier vetoed the measure in the Security Council.
The resolution, which states that the Palestinians should be admitted to the UN and grants them some additional rights under their current observer status, received 143 votes in favour and nine against, with 25 abstentions.
Speaking to reporters in Manama, Mr Zaki said the group was preparing for a peace conference towards achieving the two-state goal.
Calls for Gaza ceasefire
The summit is being held as Israel intensifies military operations against Hamas in northern Gaza and in the crowded southern city of Rafah.
Israeli troops entered Rafah last week despite warnings from the international community, including from its leading ally and benefactor the US, about a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel invaded.
Rafah has been hosting more than a million Gazans displaced from their homes during more than seven months of a war that has razed buildings across the besieged enclave, which has destroyed its infrastructure and health system and created acute shortages of food.
Many of the more than 35,000 people killed so far have been women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
The fighting in Rafah has forced out about 500,000 people so far, according to the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which said that “no place is safe” in Gaza.
ICC T20 Team of 2021
Jos Buttler, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi, Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mustafizur Rahman, Shaheen Afridi
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)
Engine 5.2-litre V10
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch
Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm
Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
