Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
The killing of Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in a suspected Israeli strike in Tehran early on Wednesday has drawn thousands of Turks on to the streets of Istanbul, waving Hamas and Palestinian flags.
A merchant sold satin scarfs printed with the words, “martyr Ismail Haniyeh”. Others carried banners showing the faces of other Hamas leaders, including its founder Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by Israel in 2004.
“We came here today because a great mujahid, Ismail Haniyeh, was lost, and we are mourning,” Ramazan Citak told The National at the march’s starting point at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul on Wednesday night.
Turks across the political spectrum support Palestinian rights, and Turkey’s official position backs a two-state solution. The issue is particularly emotive for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's generally more conservative and pious support base.
“The Palestinian resistance and Jerusalem are Turkey's red line. Hamas is the one carrying the flag for the independence of the occupied lands,” an adviser to the Turkish President told The National.
Condolences poured out from Turkish government officials following Mr Haniyeh’s death.
“We condemn the murder of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, one of the leading figures of the Palestinian cause, as a result of a Zionist assassination in Tehran,” said Omer Celik, spokesman for Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Israel has struck Hamas leaders in Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, but not in Turkey so far. Ankara warned Israel against doing so following the assassination of Hamas official Saleh Al Arouri in Beirut in January.
Mr Erdogan has ruled Turkey for 21 years and in that time has built a reputation as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and Hamas.
Ismail Haniyeh went on an extended visit to Turkey in April. President Erdogan welcomed him in his Istanbul office, where the pair exchanged friendly embraces.
Other Turkish political parties in parliament also met with the Hamas leader, and described him as “our dear brother”.
Some of the movement's senior officials have also spent long periods in Turkey, and Israel has accused Ankara of offering Turkish passports to some of its members. Turkey never confirmed the allegations.
At the same time, Turkey has had a roller coaster of diplomatic relations with Israel. Following the killing of 10 Turkish citizens on an aid flotilla attempting to enter Gaza in 2010, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and officially downgraded diplomatic ties. Relations warmed before ambassadors were told to leave again in 2018, returning in 2022.
Over the same period, trade ties built up between the two nations, with Turkish companies exporting significant quantities of cement, steel and other building materials to Israel.
Mr Erdogan has also distanced himself from western countries over the war in Gaza, accusing them of complicity in the deaths of Palestinians.
That is part of a broader political attempt by Mr Erdogan and other senior officials to portray Turkey as an alternative centre of power and protector of Muslims. They warn that support for Israel will create long-term mistrust and resentment among Middle Eastern countries.
“The globalist neoliberal elites that rule the US and the powers behind them are trying to create war and chaos in order to survive,” the presidential adviser said.
“Spreading the conflict and assassinations are increasing hatred towards the US, Israel and England. If they cannot develop another method, they will not only lose but will also pay a very heavy price.”
After Hamas’s October 7 attacks, Turkey initially took a conciliatory position as it attempted to play a mediating role between Hamas and Israel. But its efforts were overshadowed by the US, Egypt and Qatar, and Mr Erdogan’s rising criticism of Israel also appeared to be a response to domestic anger over ties with the country.
In early May, Turkey banned imports from and exports to Israel, prompting a drop off in trade previously worth hundreds of millions of dollars a month. In its latest foreign trade figures for June, Turkey's Statistical Institute has no numbers recorded for Israel.
Mr Erdogan’s increasingly harsh comments about Israel could harm any prospects of a bigger Turkish role in the Palestinians’ future, some observers say. The Turkish leader has repeatedly compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler; Israeli officials have responded with criticisms of Turkish support for Hamas.
“Turkey’s one-sided stance means it has very little influence in the diplomatic sphere on discussions about the future of Gaza,” Gallia Lindenstrauss, a researcher at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, told The National.
Even before Mr Haniyeh’s killing this week, tensions had escalated between Turkey and Israel after Mr Erdogan threatened to intervene in the country. It prompted Israel to call on Nato countries to expel Turkey from the group. Israel is not a member of the alliance but has been an official partner since 1994.
“Partners do not have the authority to ask the alliance to 'expel a member' from Nato,” Mehmet Ceylan, a former Turkish ambassador to Nato, told The National. “There is no legal provision or a procedure to kick out an ally from the alliance.”
However, not all Turks are as supportive of Hamas as Mr Erdogan and his conservative allies.
Following Mr Haniyeh’s assassination, a senior official from Turkey’s main opposition, the Republic People’s Party (CHP), condemned the attack but did not glorify the Hamas leader, framing remarks around concerns over regional escalation and the need to maintain a focus on Gaza.
“We are especially concerned that this will not contribute to the peace of the region, that it will escalate the tension and the conflict,” CHP deputy chairman Murat Emir told Turkish legislators in Ankara. “Our desire is for the whole world to pay attention to the massacre, especially in Gaza, and to do whatever it can to stop it.”
About three-quarters of Israel-Turkey trade was Turkish exports, meaning that firms have lost a key source of income at a time when its economy is suffering a years-long crisis and inflation of over 70 per cent.
Many Turks take issue with the Israeli state, rather than its people.
“In Israel, there are lots of people who want peace,” said Ince Erkul, an engineer who attended the Istanbul march. “It’s just Netanyahu and some Zionist groups who want war.”
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THE%C2%A0SPECS
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
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.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
Results:
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah (PA) | Group 2 | US$55,000 (Dirt) | 1,600 metres
Winner: AF Al Sajanjle, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
7.05pm: Meydan Sprint (TB) | Group 2 | $250,000 (Turf) | 1,000m
Winner: Blue Point, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Firebreak Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (D) | 1,600m
Winner: Muntazah, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson
8.15pm: Meydan Trophy Conditions (TB) | $100,000 (T) | 1,900m
Winner: Art Du Val, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.50pm: Balanchine Group 2 (TB) | $250,000 (T) | 1,800m
Winner: Poetic Charm, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (D) | 1,200m
Winner: Lava Spin, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
10pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,410m
Winner: Mountain Hunter, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Recycle Reuse Repurpose
New central waste facility on site at expo Dubai South area to handle estimated 173 tonne of waste generated daily by millions of visitors
Recyclables such as plastic, paper, glass will be collected from bins on the expo site and taken to the new expo Central Waste Facility on site
Organic waste will be processed at the new onsite Central Waste Facility, treated and converted into compost to be re-used to green the expo area
Of 173 tonnes of waste daily, an estimated 39 per cent will be recyclables, 48 per cent organic waste and 13 per cent general waste.
About 147 tonnes will be recycled and converted to new products at another existing facility in Ras Al Khor
Recycling at Ras Al Khor unit:
Plastic items to be converted to plastic bags and recycled
Paper pulp moulded products such as cup carriers, egg trays, seed pots, and food packaging trays
Glass waste into bowls, lights, candle holders, serving trays and coasters
Aim is for 85 per cent of waste from the site to be diverted from landfill
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
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.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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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
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier, in Bangkok
UAE fixtures Mon Nov 20, v China; Tue Nov 21, v Thailand; Thu Nov 23, v Nepal; Fri Nov 24, v Hong Kong; Sun Nov 26, v Malaysia; Mon Nov 27, Final
(The winners will progress to the Global Qualifier)
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When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
Racecard
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Company Profile
Company name: Fine Diner
Started: March, 2020
Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and food delivery
Initial investment: Dh75,000
Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp
Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000
Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 258hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km
Price: from Dh362,500
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Read more about the coronavirus
The biog
Age: 46
Number of Children: Four
Hobby: Reading history books
Loves: Sports
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
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