Marine Le Pen delivers a speech for her far-right Rassemblement National party, ahead of the European elections. EPA
Marine Le Pen delivers a speech for her far-right Rassemblement National party, ahead of the European elections. EPA
Marine Le Pen delivers a speech for her far-right Rassemblement National party, ahead of the European elections. EPA
Marine Le Pen delivers a speech for her far-right Rassemblement National party, ahead of the European elections. EPA

Fringe parties lack real policies, but will have a far-reaching effect on the European parliament


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Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right party Rassemblement National, is heavily tipped to be one of the big winners of this weekend's European parliament elections.
Humiliated by Emmanuel Macron's triumph in the 2017 French presidential contest, Ms Le Pen has projected the right mix of outrage and frustration to lead the opinion polls this time round.
A win for Ms Le Pen will prove that these elections have rewarded a paucity of policy. Movements that propose nothing, rubbish everything and rely on stirring up resentment and anger have been at the forefront of the news in many European countries.

One revealing glimpse of Ms Le Pen on the campaign trail last week came when she was asked about her environmental ideas. The topic is hardly novel. Protest movements on the issue of climate change are common in Europe.
In response, she then launched into a speech about ecology being tied to identity. People who trashed the environment then moved to other parts of the world was her thesis. This rant against migration was all the green policy she could muster.
The rising popularity of figures such as Ms Le Pen will be felt around the world. Migration is a hot topic and the European parliament could become a platform of protest for them. 
The four-decades-old institution remains a work-in-progress. It has steadily become more important, but piecemeal advances mean its resilience has not yet been proven.
It is expected that these elections will end the dominance of the two large centrist blocs: the Social Democrats and the European People's Party. Both have controlled the presidency and prevailed in the European parliament's committee system for many years. Now, polls indicate that this duopoly will crack, but not break.
The power brokers can be expected to turn to the also-rans for a majority, either with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or the Greens. The strength of President Macron will be key to this, as his French MEPs are expected to join the liberal bloc for the first time.
The European electorate is enormously volatile, so the composition of the house remains hard to gauge. There is for example a good chance that the turnout will be higher than normal this year, bucking a downward trend.
The signs are that this rise in participation will be driven by moderates concerned about the ethno-nationalist lurch in European politics. The beneficiaries could be smaller factions, such as the liberals, which will offset but not blunt entirely the rise of hardliners.
But the hard-left and far-right should not be counted as mere spoilers that roar from the sidelines. These groups are far better organised than ever before. True to their roots, they remain noisy, but experience has sharpened the political talons.
Ms Le Pen failed to win the French presidency in 2017, but she has bounced back. There are similar tales elsewhere, including that of Nigel Farage, the British campaigner, who declared himself semi-retired not so long ago. Others were more successful in clambering to the political summit, most notably in Italy where the once fringe League and Five Star Movement parties jointly control the government.
With a perhaps temporary boost from the UK, where the upstart Brexit Party is likely to emerge at the head of the field, hardline alliances should be able to take control of some committees and, with that, gain the ability to change or block legislation.
The lack of debate in the campaign on the big issues, therefore, matters. Ms Le Pen's ecological views are a form of wilful ignorance. The same is true of the big economic questions and the progress of new rounds of trade liberalisation.
With a weaker leadership and Eurosceptics working to sow confusion, the European parliament will inevitably be a less reliable player in the continent's already questionable power matrix. That will have knock-on effects on other institutions, including the make-up of the European Commission leadership. 
The parliament had been widening its powers and maturing as a legislative body. It has had some important achievements with global resonance, such as the General Data Protection Regulation, and its trade deals with Canada, Japan and South Korea are some of the most ambitious ever seen.
In an era of great power competition, Europe has forged a unique identity. The pitfalls of Europe as a player are well known, especially as it goes through a very messy divorce with Britain.
A European parliament that shirks its role would have worldwide consequences at a time when the margin of error for all is perilously thin.

The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
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About Krews

Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Founded: January 2019

Number of employees: 10

Sector: Technology/Social media 

Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support

 

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The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Squad

Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas) 

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Essentials

The flights

Etihad (etihad.ae) and flydubai (flydubai.com) fly direct to Baku three times a week from Dh1,250 return, including taxes. 
 

The stay

A seven-night “Fundamental Detox” programme at the Chenot Palace (chenotpalace.com/en) costs from €3,000 (Dh13,197) per person, including taxes, accommodation, 3 medical consultations, 2 nutritional consultations, a detox diet, a body composition analysis, a bio-energetic check-up, four Chenot bio-energetic treatments, six Chenot energetic massages, six hydro-aromatherapy treatments, six phyto-mud treatments, six hydro-jet treatments and access to the gym, indoor pool, sauna and steam room. Additional tests and treatments cost extra.

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

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1921

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Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

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How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia

Three Penalties

v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)

v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)

v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)

Four Corners

v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)

v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)

v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)

v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)

One Free-Kick

v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)

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The biog

From: Ras Al Khaimah

Age: 50

Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years

Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'

Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'

ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY

Starting at 10am:

Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang

Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)

Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)

Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera 

Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas

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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE

There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.

It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.

What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.

When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.

It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.

This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.

It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Federer's 19 grand slam titles

Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal

French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling

Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic

US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now