US President Joe Biden will meet the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and have tea with King Charles at Windsor Castle on Monday during a stopover visit to the UK.
Mr Biden arrived at Stansted Airport late on Sunday evening on his way to the two-day Nato summit in Lithuania on Tuesday.
At Windsor Castle, he will receive a Guard of Honour and the Band of the Welsh Guards will play the US national anthem.
The king will accompany Mr Biden to inspect the Guard before watching the military march past, before both men have tea together.
They will also join delegates at the Climate Finance Mobilisation Forum, being held on Monday.
The forum brings together finance and philanthropic leaders from the UK and the US to strengthen their commitments to climate action in emerging markets and developing economies.
But Mr Biden's decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine could overshadow his visit to the UK.
The Democrat leader will leave behind criticism over his latest choice of ammunition for Kyiv, which has led to furious members of his own party trying to block it.
The White House on Friday announced that Mr Biden had approved the transfer of cluster bombs to Ukraine.
Mr Sunak has declined to back him up, stressing that Britain “discourages” the use of such weapons.
Lord Ricketts, the UK’s first national security adviser, told Sky News that Nato allies were “all very uncomfortable with this” decision.
“It is a hard choice of the kind that countries have to make in wartime,” he said. “I am uncomfortable with it. Yes, I wish it wasn’t being done, but I think we can understand why they are doing it.”
US President Joe Biden visits the UK - in pictures
Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sky News that cluster bombs were not “appropriate weapons” to send to Ukraine.
The UK is one of more than 120 signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the manufacturing, use, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions.
The US, Ukraine and Russia are not signatories of the international convention.
Campaigners say civilians account for the vast majority of casualties caused by such weapons.
Unexploded cluster munitions from decades ago are still lying dormant in Vietnam and Laos, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition.
The activist group, which is trying to have the weapons banned everywhere, say they are dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground or sea, opening in mid-air to release hundreds of submunitions that can saturate an area the size of several football pitches.
The coalition said sometimes “large numbers of the submunitions fail to function as designed, and instead land on the ground without exploding, where they remain as very dangerous duds”.
Barbara Lee, a Democrat congresswoman representing California, condemned Mr Biden’s decision, saying she was alarmed at the thought of cluster munitions being used in Ukraine.
“The US and Ukraine don’t need to stoop to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s level,” Ms Lee tweeted.
Democrats representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Sara Jacobs of California on Friday introduced an amendment that would effectively block the transfer of these munitions.
“The innocent victims of the cluster munitions will almost exclusively be Ukrainian civilians,” Ms Omar said.
She said the use of cluster bombs was a breach of human rights.
“We have to be clear: if the US is going to be a leader on international human rights, we must not participate in human rights abuses,” Ms Omar said.
Bill Richardson, who was energy secretary and UN ambassador during the administration of president Bill Clinton, also voiced his disapproval of Mr Biden’s latest move.
Mr Richardson told CNN he would have advised Mr Biden against the decision if he was in his administration.
“I worry about civilians, non-combatants getting exposed to this,” he said. “So I’m concerned. I don’t know who advised the President on this.”
Mr Sunak and Mr Biden put on a united front at a joint press conference at the White House last month. But behind the scenes there are tensions.
The US leader is understood to have blocked UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's bid to become Nato's next secretary general over the fact that he once served as a British soldier in Northern Ireland.
Mr Biden, who has Irish ancestry, has made no secret of his support for Ireland and has been accused by some figures of showing a hatred for Britain.
US donations of cluster bombs for Ukraine are likely to feature heavily in discussions between Nato's 31 member states.
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Four tips to secure IoT networks
Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:
- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version
- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number
- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently
- Always create a different guest network for visitors
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
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
more from Janine di Giovanni
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
More from our neighbourhood series:
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
How to vote in the UAE
1) Download your ballot https://www.fvap.gov/
2) Take it to the US Embassy
3) Deadline is October 15
4) The embassy will ensure all ballots reach the US in time for the November 3 poll
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
