Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
A small community of Christians sheltering in the last remaining Roman Catholic church in Gaza receive a daily call from Pope Francis to inquire about their safety.
Priests and nuns gather to hear the Pope speak in the stairwell of the Holy Family Church which is a sanctuary to about 500 Christians from neighbouring areas taking shelter from air strikes.
Israeli forces have ordered everyone in Gaza to move south but parishioners have said they will not leave the church located in Gaza city.
The first phone call from Pope Francis came on Monday night and has been followed by daily check-ins ever since.
Every day becomes more difficult with the bombardment because we don’t have electricity and water
Sister Nabila Saleh of the Rosary Sisters School in Gaza
“Every day the Pope calls us, he prays for all of us and comforts us,” Sister Nabila Saleh of the Rosary Sisters School in Gaza told The National.
“Pope Francis is working to make peace possible.
“We know we are in his prayers.”
The Pope has asked how many people have taken refuge in the parish and the support they require.
“He knows the pain and suffering of the people,” said the nun who manages a nearby Catholic school and has lived in Gaza for about a decade.
The calls offer some hope and comfort to the tight-knit community. Many of those in the parish lost their homes in Israeli strikes that began on October 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israeli settlements near the border taking hostages and killing about 1,400 people.
Bombings by the Israeli forces have killed more than 3,800 people and injured about 12,500.
Supplies are running low
There are about 100 children among those staying in the church. Some members of the congregation have lost their homes and belongings since the war started and have taken shelter in the church.
They sleep and eat within the church compound.
Mass is celebrated twice a day and candlelight prayers are held in the evening when the power supply fails. On Sunday, a baptism ceremony was conducted for children.
“The situation is very difficult and every day becomes more difficult with the bombardment because we don’t have electricity and water,” Sister Saleh said.
“But we make an effort to give food and water to all the people who live here with us in the church.
“We too have left our school and are in the Holy Family Church.”
Sister Saleh said the daily prayers give courage to the congregation and the children distressed by the nearby strikes.
“We need everything (supplies) but we have to manage,” she said.
“We don’t know what will happen next but we have faith in God.
“We give people support when we pray – it’s important because the children cry with the bombarding.”
In his weekly address at St Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Pope Francis urged for “everything possible to be done to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe”.
“The number of victims is growing and the situation in Gaza is desperate,” he said.
“Lay down weapons and heed the cries for peace from the poor, the people and the innocent children.”
'Will not move out of church'
In Gaza, a community of about 1,000 Christians have taken shelter in the Roman Catholic church and a nearby Greek Orthodox church.
George Anton, a manager with Caritas, a Catholic humanitarian organisation, said the scale of the bombing was frightening.
Israel has asked people in northern Gaza to evacuate for their own safety, but parishioners said they would not leave the church compound.
“We will not move out of our church,” said Mr Anton who has lived in Gaza since 1995.
“This is our decision. We will remain in our church.
“We are safe in the church for the time being.
“But we don’t know what will happen in like five minutes.
“From our experience of previous wars, we knew this time would be very heavy.”
Like others, he moved with his wife and three children to the compound of the church as soon as hostilities escalated.
His neighbourhood, 10 minutes from the church, has been destroyed by Israeli strikes.
“We have seen destruction and war before but not like this,” he said.
“No place is safe on the Gaza Strip.
“Our neighbourhoods were wiped out totally.
“It is terrifying, especially for the children.
“We can only tell our children to remain strong and we will pray for this war to end.”
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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RESULT
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
