Q&A: Quarantine rules limit travellers landing in the UK Minister quits over Cummings scandal as Boris Johnson's approval rating plummets You might also like Exclusive excerpt: Peter May's pandemic novel 'Lockdown' Culture and the creative spirit have great value in these uncertain times History tells us the UAE has beaten uncertainty and threats in the past too Global Fungi Facts • Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally • Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered • Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity • Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil MORE ON LOCUSTS Editorial: In the eye of the swarm Environment: Locust vs drone: how the UN is trying new weapons against the plague Taylor Heyman: Locusts on the agenda at Riyadh International Humanitarian forum Habtoor interview The UAE should temporarily scrap VAT, Khalaf Al Habtoor says The specs Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 Power: 640hp Torque: 760nm On sale: 2026 Price: Not announced yet MATCH INFO Champions League quarter-final, first leg Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE) Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
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The National
20 minutes ago
- The National
ICEBlock: app reports immigration agent sightings amid crackdowns by Trump administration
ICEBlock, an app that allows people to report sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, has been downloaded about one million times and has become the bane of US President Donald Trump's administration. While the app continues to gain popularity, Mr Trump has increased funding for ICE, whose mandate includes detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants. Critics say the agents arrest and deport people with little concern for their legal rights, including due process. 'When I saw what was happening in this country I knew I had to do something to fight back,' said ICEBlock app developer Joshua Aaron, who resides in Texas, a state with a large undocumented immigrant population. Mr Aaron, who is Jewish, told The National that he had decided to create the app after meeting Holocaust survivors and learning all about Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany. The app aims to alert users to the presence of ICE officials in an 8km radius. It is powered by crowdsourced data, relying on people to report ICE agents wherever they might be. The app also allows for users to describe the vehicles ICE might be using and their attire. Once a sighting is reported, push notifications are sent to other users nearby. It is ranked in the top 20 for downloads in the social networking section of Apple's App Store. The app is only available for iPhone. According to Mr Aaron, the privacy settings he deems necessary for ICEBlock are not yet possible on Android devices. Mr Aaron acknowledges criticism that the software could be misused, as the Trump administration has claimed violence against ICE agents is on the rise. 'Please note that the use of this app is for information and notification purposes only,' reads a disclaimer appearing throughout ICEBlock, with an added warning that the app should not be used 'for the purposes of inciting violence or interfering with law enforcement'. Despite the disclaimers, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has suggested that those promoting the app should face prosecution. 'We're working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them because what they're doing is actually encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activity operations,' she recently told a reporter. As for Mr Aaron, US Attorney General Pam Bondi recently told Fox News that the Justice Department was 'looking into him'. 'He is giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are and he cannot do that,' she said, adding that Mr Aaron should 'watch out' and claiming that his app did not fall into the category of protected speech. Various legal precedents, however, have tended to protect those who report the potentially illegal actions of law enforcement. But Timothy Kneeland, a professor of history, politics and law at Nazareth University in upstate New York, said that the Trump White House could pursue several legal avenues that might create problems for the app. 'The government could invoke national security issues because ICE might be trying to apprehend a suspected terrorist,' he told The National, also acknowledging that many legal arguments could be made to defend the app, such as the right against self-incrimination. He also said the government might pursue the angle that ICEBlock enables obstruction of justice, which has led to jail time in the past. The developer, however, disagreed with how some are interpreting his software. 'This app is to inform not obstruct,' said Mr Aaron. 'They can continue to demonise me and the app all they want, but nothing about it is illegal.' He added that if ICE officials are abiding by the US Constitution in how they go about their work, there should be no reason for the White House to fear people knowing their whereabouts. Mr Aaron also accused ICE of having complete disregard for individual circumstances with their arrests, referring to college students being targeted for their decision to protest, mothers being separated from their children, or detainees not being given access to legal representation. 'That is not something I can abide and is the reason ICEBlock was created,' he continued, referring back to the rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany. 'We are literally watching history repeat itself.'
Gulf Today
39 minutes ago
- Gulf Today
Donald Trump has finally found a way to arm Ukraine
President Donald Trump has finally found a way to like arming Ukraine: ask European allies to donate their weapons, and sell them American replacements. Now comes the hard part — agreeing on who will actually give up their prized systems, including the Patriot missile batteries that Kyiv has been desperately seeking. "We're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO," Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. Some Patriot missile defence systems should arrive in Ukraine 'within days,' added Trump, who faces resistance from some high-profile figures in the MAGA movement who oppose US support for Ukraine. The costly Patriot systems — in high demand among US allies — have proven effective at destroying Russian ballistic missiles aimed at Ukraine's cities. The US has also signaled willingness under the proposed arrangement with European allies to send additional offensive weapons, said one source familiar with the matter, though Trump has said that Ukraine should refrain from attacking Moscow. The plan, which Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte hatched in recent days, according to two sources familiar with the discussions, has been received positively by Ukraine and its allies. Leaders in Kyiv and elsewhere have celebrated a major tonal shift from Trump, who had until recent weeks spoken glowingly of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But since the announcement, it has become clear Trump presented a framework — not a fleshed-out plan. How material any support ends up being for Ukraine will depend on coming negotiations about who provides which equipment, according to 10 officials in the US and Europe. "As always with these things, the devil is in the details," said one northern European ambassador in Washington. The central question is who would donate the Patriot batteries, and when. During his Oval Office meeting with Trump on Monday, Rutte mentioned six NATO countries — Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada — that were willing to participate in the weapons-purchasing scheme. High-ranking sources at two of those countries' embassies in the US told Reuters they personally learned of the plan as it was announced. Even close US allies appeared to learn of the proposal in real time. "It is my clear sense that nobody has been briefed about the exact details in advance, and I also suspect that internally in the administration they are only now beginning to sort out what it means in practice," said a separate European ambassador. Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to NATO, said Trump found a way to balance support for Ukraine with the political realities of the Republican Party. Having the European allies underwrite US arms supplies is "very consistent with what he (Trump) said during the campaign," he said. Throughout the campaign, Trump said he would push European countries to spend more on defense, to great applause from MAGA crowds. "You gotta pay," he said. "If they're not going to pay, we're not going to protect, ok?" Volker said Ukraine could ultimately receive 12 to 13 Patriot batteries but it could take a year for them all to be delivered. Asked for comment, a NATO official said the defense alliance would coordinate weapons deliveries through a mechanism known as the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine, a NATO mission located in Germany that is responsible for coordinating Western military aid for Kyiv. "Several European countries have already committed to support this initiative including Germany, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada and Finland," the official said. "Details are still under discussion." In response to a request for comment, the Pentagon referred Reuters to Trump's Monday remarks announcing his agreement with Rutte. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the Ukrainian or Russian embassies in Washington. The rapid hardening of Trump's rhetoric toward Moscow in recent weeks has come amid an increasingly firm belief that Putin is not engaging in good-faith negotiations, according to two US officials. "At a certain point, you know, ultimately talk doesn't talk. It's got to be action. It's got to be results," Trump said during his meeting with Rutte on Monday. One of the officials said Trump came to realize that Putin's ambitions extend beyond Crimea and four eastern regions of Ukraine, a point Kyiv and European allies have publicly and frequently made. Three Russian sources close to the Kremlin said Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West and believe that Russia — which has survived the toughest sanctions imposed by the West — can endure further economic hardship, including Trump's Monday threat to impose US tariffs targeting buyers of Russian oil. Now, three US officials involved in weapons matters said, the real work begins. US officials are now talking with NATO allies and gauging who is willing to send what to Ukraine. European officials have been broadly receptive. "We are ready to participate," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of European Union ministers. One official cited Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain as good candidates to send a Patriot battery to Kyiv, either because they had multiple batteries or the threats they face are relatively remote. Some, including Greece and Spain, have previously resisted appeals from allies to give some of their Patriot systems to Ukraine, arguing that they are essential to defend their own countries and NATO as a whole. Trump's move to take credit for the additional weapons headed to Ukraine has created some mild friction in Europe. "If we pay for these weapons, it's our support," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, speaking after the Brussels meeting, adding that she welcomed Trump's decision. "So it's European support, and we are doing as much as we can to help Ukraine ... If you promise to give the weapons, but say that somebody else is going to pay for it, it's not really given by you, is it?" One of the officials said that the Trump administration has been going through NATO inventories to see what's available. Their next effort is to attempt to persuade the allies to gift the equipment to Ukraine in exchange for a "trade" of some sort, the official said. The trade could be a variety of things, the official said, including giving up an impending acceptance of a piece of military equipment through the Foreign Military Sales program, or sending munitions to Ukraine in exchange for an earlier replenishment date. Trump told reporters there was one country with 17 Patriots, some of which would go directly to Ukraine. The figure has caused widespread confusion among European allies and on Capitol Hill — many of whom have not been briefed — according to the US and European officials. No NATO member except the US has that number of Patriot systems, said two sources familiar with the matter, causing speculation that Trump may have been referring to particular Patriot components, like launchers or missiles. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who visited the Pentagon on Monday, said the Germans would discuss sending Patriot batteries to Ukraine with the US in the coming days or weeks. But no Patriot system would arrive in Kyiv for months, he said, likely delaying any receipt until after the tactically crucial summer months. Another official said Trump was engaged directly in negotiations, though talks so far were "squishy." "So far folks have said, 'We can help,'" that official said. "Now, what that means, we don't know." Reuters
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Trump's war with Federal Reserve nears breaking point
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied reports he intends to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as the White House escalates its attacks on the central bank. After US media reported the President indicated he was open to dismissing the Fed chairman, Mr Trump confirmed he had met Republicans from the House of Representatives during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday. 'I talked about the concept of firing him. I said, 'what do you think?' Almost every one of them said I should, but I'm more conservative,' he said before a meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. When asked if he would rule out the idea, Mr Trump said: 'I don't rule out anything but I think it's highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud.' Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee were expected to meet Mr Powell on Wednesday night, Semafor reported. Mr Trump has launched an unrelenting campaign to pressure Mr Powell to lower interest rates, which the President wants to help service the nation's debt in a concept known as 'fiscal dominance'. On Wednesday, he again said the Fed's current target rate of 4.25 per cent to 4.50 per cent should be three points lower. Under the Federal Reserve Act, a president can remove a Federal Reserve official only 'for cause'. This means the White House must show a Fed official or its chairperson had committed an act of malfeasance or neglect of duty. A recent Supreme Court ruling upheld the notion that legal reasoning the White House has been used to fire officials at other independent federal agencies does not apply to the Fed. But the White House in recent weeks has launched a new phase of attack on the Federal Reserve, accusing Mr Powell of mismanaging the central bank given the ballooning renovation costs of its headquarters. Asked if Mr Powell should be investigated, Mr Trump said: 'Well, I think he's already under investigation. He spent far more money than he was supposed to rebuilding.' Some Trump officials, including National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, said Mr Powell could be fired over the renovation project. When asked on Tuesday if the renovation issue was a sackable offence, Mr Trump said: 'I think it sort of is.' Mr Powell, whose term as Fed chairman expires next May, has asked the Fed's inspector general to review the renovation project. The Fed chairman has remained adamant that the President has no authority to fire him. In November, Mr Powell said such a move is 'not permitted under the law'. Mr Trump's pressure campaign comes as the central bank has extended its pause on interest rates as it braces for tariff-related inflation. A Labour Department report on Tuesday showed inflation accelerate in line with expectations last month. Underlying numbers in the report showed rising prices in goods such as household appliances and clothing are showing that tariffs are being passed on to consumers. Most Fed officials suggest they are still waiting further clarity before cutting interest rates, meaning they are likely to continue their rate-cut pause when they meet later this month.
