President Donald Trump's second term has seen an unprecedented blitzkrieg on America's governing norms, with his administration moving to overturn constitutional rights and protections, ignore the Supreme Court and cut tens of thousands of jobs from the federal government.
All of this and more happened in three months, delighting Mr Trump's supporters, who say he is doing exactly what they wanted him to, especially his clampdown on immigration.
Republican politicians have largely backed the President despite him grabbing at some of Congress's authorities over trade and spending. And the Democrats remain in disarray, incapable of offering a coherent alternative narrative, giving Mr Trump an air of untouchability.
Yet things can change quickly in politics. Next week marks 100 days of the second Trump term, and an interesting new milestone could be coming into view: the high-water mark of the 78-year-old leader's power.
Like a fighter in the ring stunning his opponent with one-two jabs, Mr Trump has left his naysayers and critics dazed and wobbly with an incessant stream of executive orders (139 and counting) and decrees.
But instead of pausing for breath and taking a step back to assess his next move, Mr Trump has kept on punching – and is starting to miss the mark.
The most obvious example is his tariffs policy. Trying to address some of the deleterious effects of globalisation on US and western workers is a worthy goal, but Mr Trump's approach has been disastrous.
Based on convictions he developed in the 1980s when Japan was America's top economic rival, Mr Trump is trying to uproot the same globalised trading system that the US pushed on the rest of the world for decades. He wants to resurrect America as a manufacturing powerhouse and is convinced his tariffs will bring the US untold wealth, even though it is American companies and consumers that must pay the bills.
To achieve this, he is bullying friends and foes alike with “reciprocal” tariffs that have little to do with supposed taxes charged by other countries.
Many economists warn that his policies will lead to shortages on American shop shelves, increased prices as tariff costs are passed on to the consumer and eventually to a recession as supply chains buckle.
Mr Trump was forced this week to reckon with the reality of the financial markets, which took another nosedive on Monday as he seemed close to attempting to fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, something Mr Powell maintains the President has no authority to do.
In his first term, Mr Trump bragged about stock market highs, so we know he would have been feeling queasy watching all the major indices bleed red for weeks on end.
Amid the rout, he insisted he wouldn't fire Mr Powell and he has ordered a 90-day pause on his tariffs on all countries except China. Few expect him to fully resume the tariffs when the time comes in July.
The markets acted as an unexpected check on Mr Trump's power, but not before he sustained political damage. According to a Pew Research Centre poll this week, only 40 per cent of Americans approve of how he’s handling the job – a decline of 7 percentage points from February and the lowest level of any recent president at this point in their term.
Another target of the Trump administration's ire this year has been American universities and their purported support of pro-Palestinian student protests, which Republicans claim were anti-Semitic. Mr Trump wants to cut multibillion-dollar research grants unless institutions agree to an ideological takeover by the government. Several acquiesced but Harvard University this month rejected demands for control of its student body and is now suing the government for trying to freeze its research grants. Other universities are now joining the pushback.
The Trump administration’s philosophy is to move fast, break things and see what policies it can push through before judicial or public disapproval forces a change in course. That disapproval is only going to increase as the economy sours and voters blame Mr Trump.
The President has long prided himself in ignoring counsel, and is so certain in his convictions that he recently displayed red baseball caps in the Oval Office emblazoned with the phrase “Trump was right about everything!”
“I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me,” he famously said back in 2018.
But recent weeks have shown that Mr Trump must contend with forces much bigger than his own intuition, and his next 100 days in office are likely to be harder for him than the first.
The five pillars of Islam
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: Automatic
Power: 530bhp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh535,000
On sale: Now
Price, base / as tested From Dh173,775 (base model)
Engine 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo, AWD
Power 249hp at 5,500rpm
Torque 365Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Gearbox Nine-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined 7.9L/100km
'Dark Waters'
Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, William Jackson Harper
Rating: ****
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')
Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
'Moonshot'
Director: Chris Winterbauer
Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20race%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Tigist%20Ketema%20(ETH)%202hrs%2016min%207sec%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Ruti%20Aga%20(ETH)%202%3A18%3A09%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dera%20Dida%20(ETH)%202%3A19%3A29%0D%3Cbr%3EMen's%20race%3A%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Addisu%20Gobena%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A01%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lemi%20Dumicha%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A20%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20DejeneMegersa%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A42%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
