Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is said to be “angry” over leaks from within his department on Washington's Israel-Gaza policy, according to a report from Politico.
It said Mr Blinken ordered his team during a recent meeting with senior staff to “crack down” on leaks coming from the department.
“While we won’t comment on internal meetings, the secretary has been clear that leaks about sensitive diplomatic discussions don’t advance the interests of the United States, and can make it difficult to engage in the sort of broad internal consultations that enrich the policymaking process,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Discord over the US handling of the Israel-Gaza war and Washington’s refusal to pressure Israel into a ceasefire appear to have been growing inside the diplomatic centre in Foggy Bottom.
There has been a string of resignations over Washington's Israel policy since October 7, including Josh Paul, an official involved in handling arms transfers, and Annelle Sheline, a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour.
Hala Rharrit, who was the State Department's Arabic spokeswoman, also resigned last month.
Staffers have also sent numerous internal dissent messages.
The dissent channel is intended as a means for staff members to voice their concerns internally over policy issues.
“I've never seen a situation where there is as much internal opposition to a policy formulated by the White House carried out by the State Department,” Aaron David Miller, a long-time Middle East analyst at the State Department who retired in 2003, told The National.
“There is nothing that comes close.”
More than 35,500 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza, according to officials in the enclave.
That followed the Hamas-led October 7 assault on southern Israel, in which the militant group killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240, according to Israeli officials.
The US has been resolute in its support of Israel, although tension between the two countries has grown as the campaign has dragged on and the death toll continues to climb.
President Joe Biden paused a shipment of weapons this month and threatened more action if Israel carried out an expected military operation in Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge.
Israel has begun its incursion into the city, but the US has so far refrained from further holds on weapons shipments.
The State Department sent a report to Congress this month in which it said it was “reasonable” to believe Israel has broken international law in Gaza, but that the “provision of defence articles” can continue.
Domestically, the war has galvanised students across the US to protest against American policy and their institutions' connections to Israel.
That same discontent appears to be rippling through some echelons of the US government.
“People are distraught and angry,” said Mr Miller, the analyst.
“The Israel-Hamas war has reached a new standard or new level of unhappiness throughout the US government and clearly a primary location of that unhappiness, understandably, is the Department of State.”
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The%20specs
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
England 12-man squad for second Test
v West Indies which starts Thursday: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (captain), Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Jack Leach
