Both Iran and Russia vowed to retaliate against the US for the “blatantly hostile” decision to impose new sanctions.
The European Union also fired off an unexpected warning on Wednesday, saying the move would prompt “swift retaliation” which could punish energy firms and divide the West.
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani told his cabinet the government would “take any other action needed to preserve and strengthen the interest of the nation.”
Russia said the imposition of new sanctions made it all but impossible for the Trump administration to achieve its goal of improved relations.
The scale of “the anti-Russian consensus in Congress makes dialogue impossible and for a long time,” Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, wrote on Facebook. Russia should prepare a response to the sanctions that would be “painful for the Americans.”
In a show of bipartisanship, the US House of Representatives voted 419-3 on Tuesday to strengthen sanctions against Russia. In the Senate, the vote was 98-2 in favour.
The bill strengthens sanctions on Russia, imposes new penalties on Iran and North Korea and targets entities deemed to support terrorism, sell weapons to Iran or help its ballistic missile programme. It also means Congress can block President Trump from trying unilaterally to soften sanctions on Russia, which were imposed by the Obama administration in response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.
The measures come only three weeks after Mr Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin had their first official meeting at the G20nsummit in Germany, and less than a month after the US conceded the Iranians had complied with the agreement — despite Mr Trump calling it the worst deal he has ever seen. Scrapping it was one of his campaign promises but he taken no direct action yet to scuttle it.
Mr Trump supports sanctions but whether he will sign the bill into law is unclear.
But he may be obliged to, according to Mark Dubowitz, an expert on sanctions at The Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
"The overwhelming bipartisan support for the Iran, Russia and North Korea sanctions means the (Trump) administration will have little choice but to sign the legislation." He called it "a step in the right direction against three dangerous regimes" because it creates much greater risks for foreign companies engaging with an Iranian economy over which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has enormous control."
He added, "The legislation also squeezes the hard currency earnings of both Moscow and Pyongyang as both regimes continue to increase their threats against the U.S. and our Middle Eastern and Asian allies."
The US also wants to increase tensions with Iran separately from the nuclear deal, said Vincent Eiffling, an Iran researcher at the Centre d’Etudes des Crises et des Conflits Internationaux in Belgium.
“What investors — whether Russian, Chinese or Europeans or others — hate the most is uncertainty, and what worries Iran is that because of the uncertainty brought on by the US, Iran may not see the return of foreign investors it hoped the deal would yield,” he said.
In an unusual twist, the strongest reaction came from the European Union, where the 28 member states have struggled to stay united on their own sanctions on Russia that were first adopted after Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The EU is worried the sweeping measures would still unfairly penalise European firms that contribute to the development of Russia's energy sector, and its diplomats have heavily lobbied Washington to water down the measures.
"If our concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately within a matter of days. America first cannot mean that Europe's interests come last," European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said.
* Additional reporting by Joyce Karam in Washington
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sav%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Purvi%20Munot%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24750%2C000%20as%20of%20March%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
Cricket World Cup League Two
Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
The specs: 2018 Renault Megane
Price, base / as tested Dh52,900 / Dh59,200
Engine 1.6L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission Continuously variable transmission
Power 115hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 156Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.6L / 100km
PROFILE BOX:
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Rami Salman, Rishav Jalan, Ayush Chordia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Technology, Sales, Voice, Artificial Intelligence
Size: (employees/revenue) 10/ 100,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($800,000)
Investors: Eight first-round investors including, Beco Capital, 500 Startups, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Hala Fadel, Odin Financial Services, Dubai Angel Investors, Womena, Arzan VC
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
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)
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
