The United Nations General Assembly has lacked a little punch this week. Benjamin Netanyahu used to provide it. His battle to remain in power made him stay home.
But Mr Netanyahu's bellicose tone and far-right politics stalled the Middle East peace process.
A sceptic of the two-state solution, he paid lip service to the concept during the two-term presidency of Barack Obama. The two men had a relationship that was uneasy - at best.
Mr Netanyahu, however, found a friend in Donald Trump. In the past three years the US officially recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and agreed to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv, defying international conventions.
The Trump administration also cut funding for Palestinian refugees and has looked the other way when it comes to Israel's expansion of housing settlements on occupied land, which is occurring at record rates.
As far as Riyad Al Mansour, Palestine's ambassador to the UN, is concerned, the Israeli prime minister's current troubles represent an opportunity.
"The era of Benjamin Netanyahu may be finished," Mr Mansour told The National, noting that Mr Trump's long-awaited Middle East peace plan is adrift.
“People are not buying it,” Mr Mansour said, noting the resignation and imminent departure of its co-author Jason Greenblatt, who twice visited the UN in recent months to rally support for the American-led initiative.
He failed.
“There is global reaction of not accepting the Trump administration position,” Mr Mansour said of the US's economic and, as yet unpublished, political proposals, now led solely by Mr Trump's son-in-law and Middle East envoy Jared Kushner.
“Anything other than the two-state solution will fail,” said Mr Mansour, suggesting that public opinion in Israel may be amenable to a rethink and that a new government would allow some breathing space.
“If Prime Minister Netanyahu will not be the next prime minister it makes, for me, a lot of sense to say that we hope that the political formation in Israeli society will move in the direction of working with the international community and ending the occupation.”
Robert Danin, a former State Department and National Security Council official who worked in Democratic and Republican administrations, agreed that the US approach would not work, regardless of who leads Israel's next government.
“Given the line-up of players on all sides, the deep internal divisions among Palestinians and Israelis, and the larger regional challenges, no negotiation right now will produce a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace,” said Mr Danin, senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.
“That being said, a change in leadership in Israel, depending on who it is and the composition of the next government, could possibly open up new opportunities for renewed engagement and an overall improved environment for constructive diplomatic and on the ground steps necessary to prepare the groundwork for negotiations.”
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
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Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
Messi at the Copa America
2007 – lost 3-0 to Brazil in the final
2011 – lost to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals
2015 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
2016 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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