Claims that Russia may have resorted to using chemical weapons during an attack against Ukrainian positions raises important questions about how the West might respond to any further escalation in the conflict.
To date, Nato leaders have been determined not to enter the war for fear of becoming involved in a military confrontation with Russia, a development that could have catastrophic consequences for the rest of Europe.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg neatly summed up the continent's dilemma following a recent meeting between members of the security umbrella, when he warned that the alliance was treading a fine line between providing Kyiv with military support it needed, but not to the extent that it risked provoking a direct conflict with Moscow.
The West may be keeping Moscow guessing as to how they might react to any given situation
It is for this reason that the alliance has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with offensive weaponry, such as tanks and warplanes, preferring instead to concentrate on defensive measures, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. The Neptune anti-ship missile, believed to have struck Russia's Black Sea flagship Moskva, is a Ukrainian-made weapon based on a Soviet-era anti-ship missile.
But while western leaders are taking extreme caution to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond Ukraine's borders, the issue of chemical weapons – and whether Russian forces might be tempted to employ them as they intensify their efforts to capture the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine – presents a completely different set of challenges.
A decade ago, during the Syrian civil war, the possibility that the Assad regime might use chemical weapons against rebel forces was deemed by the Obama administration and its western allies, such as the UK, to be a "red line" that, if crossed, would prompt a military response.
But when forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad were accused of using chemical weapons in an attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in August 2013, the West's failure to respond by launching military strikes seriously damaged its international credibility.
The Ukraine conflict is different in nature, but the issue of chemical weapons is one that western policymakers cannot simply ignore.
To date, they have declined to be drawn on whether they would consider the use of such weapons against Ukrainian forces to be the proverbial red line that obliges them to act. Speaking after a meeting of Nato leaders in March, US President Joe Biden simply stated that his country and its allies would respond "in kind" if such weapons were used, without providing precise details.
Indeed, the longer the conflict continues, there is a deepening understanding among western leaders that, rather than stating their intentions in public, it is to their advantage to introduce a degree of ambiguity in their statements, thereby keeping Moscow guessing as to how they might react to any given situation.
The West's dilemma was brought into focus this week after unconfirmed reports of a possible attack taking place against Ukrainian forces defending the besieged city of Mariupol.
A video published online by Ukraine's Azov Regiment, which is playing a key role in Mariupol’s defence, claimed that a Russian drone had dropped some form of poisonous material on Azov fighters and civilians in the city. The report claimed victims experienced difficulty breathing, muscular function problems, pain and irritation to throat and lungs, and racing heartbeat.
Three people required medical attention, although no one was badly injured, with the worst-affected casualty said to be an elderly civilian.
Concerns that banned weapons might have been used at Mariupol deepened after Eduard Basurin, the leader of Russian separatist forces in the region, had claimed that the only way to defeat the Azov forces was to "bring in chemical troops".
The West was quick to take the reports at face value, with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss issuing a warning. "Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his regime to account." In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the US had "credible information" that Russia could use some form of "chemical agents" in its efforts to capture Mariupol.
"We have credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken and incapacitate entrenched Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of the aggressive campaign to take Mariupol," Mr Blinken said.
To date, there has been no independent confirmation whether last week's alleged attack contained a chemical agent. There is also a chance the report could have been a propaganda exercise on the part of Ukraine's highly effective information warfare centre.
Nevertheless, the incident will have concentrated the minds of western leaders.
The Russian military, it is alleged, has allowed for the use of banned weaponry before – including supposedly in Syria, where chemical weapons of varying descriptions were used against civilian targets in cities such as Aleppo. Moscow has long denied doing so, but human rights groups have accused Syrian government forces fighting alongside the Russians of launching co-ordinated chemical attacks against opposition-controlled parts of the country's north.
Whether or not such tactics will be used in Ukraine, the West is yet unclear about how its leaders might respond without provoking an even bigger conflict with Moscow.
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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.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)
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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THURSDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 10am:
Lucrezia Stefanini v Elena Rybakina (6)
Aryna Sabalenka (4) v Polona Hercog
Sofia Kenin (1) v Zhaoxuan Yan
Kristina Mladenovic v Garbine Muguruza (5)
Sorana Cirstea v Karolina Pliskova (3)
Jessica Pegula v Elina Svitolina (2)
Court 1
Starting at 10am:
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Nadia Podoroska
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
Elise Mertens (7) v Alize Cornet
Tamara Zidansek v Jennifer Brady (11)
Heather Watson v Jodie Burrage
Vera Zvonareva v Amandine Hesse
Court 2
Starting at 10am:
Arantxa Rus v Xiyu Wang
Maria Kostyuk v Lucie Hradecka
Karolina Muchova v Danka Kovinic
Cori Gauff v Ulrikke Eikeri
Mona Barthel v Anastasia Gasanova
Court 3
Starting at 10am:
Kateryna Bondarenko v Yafan Wang
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Anna Bondar
Bianca Turati v Yaroslava Shvedova
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus
Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India
Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes
Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island
Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
Wonka
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
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.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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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
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Results
2.15pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m
Winner: Maqam, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer).
2.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m
Winner: Mamia Al Reef, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami.
3.15pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m
Winner: Jaahiz, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel.
3.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m
Winner: Qanoon, Szczepan Mazur, Irfan Ellahi.
4.15pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup Handicap (TB) Dh200,000 1,700m.
Winner: Philosopher, Tadhg O’Shea, Salem bin Ghadayer.
54.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m
Winner: Jap Al Yassoob, Fernando Jara, Irfan Ellahi.
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