From left, Quacy, Quintan, both 12, Milo, and Quacy Jr, both 16 hold placards as they walk in the rain after attending a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Lafayette Park, near the White House, Washington DC. AFP
A man reacts at a memorial for George Floyd following a day of demonstration in a call for justice for the black American who died while in custody of the Minneapolis police, on June 5, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AFP
A protester participates in a demonstration during a storm in front of Lafayette Park next to the White House, Washington, DC. AFP
Demonstrators attend a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protestors in Sydney. AFP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, second left, takes a knee during in a Black Lives Matter protest on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada. AFP
Protesters take a knee and raise their fists during a 'Black Lives Matter' demonstration in front of the Brooklyn Library and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York. AFP
Youths kneel with placards reading 'Black Lives Matter' in front of riot police officers blocking the way in Athens during a rally against racism and police brutality and in support to the protests in US. AFP
People hold banners during a Black Lives Matter rally in central Seoul, South Korea. EPA
A man holds a placard in solidarity with thousands of people marching during a Black Lives Matter protest in Brisbane. AP
Protesters wear masks during a rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter demonstration on June 6, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Getty
Aboriginal elders conduct a traditional smoking ceremony at Town Hall during a 'Black Lives Matter' protest on June 6, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Getty
Demonstrators are seen in the rain wearing protective face masks during a Black Lives Matter protest in Verulamium Park, St Albans, Britain, following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, on June 6, 2020. Reuters
People hold placards at a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protesters, in Melbourne on June 6, 2020. AFP
Activists hold placards as they attend a rally in support of the 'Black Lives Matter' demonstrations in the US, during a march in the Myeongdong district of central Seoul on June 6, 2020. AFP
Activists hold placards as they attend a rally in support of the 'Black Lives Matter' protests, during a march in the Myeongdong district of central Seoul on June 6, 2020. AFP
A placard reading "black lives matter" is seen in a car during a communal conference of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at a drive-in cinema on the site of the former blast furnace Phoenix West in Dortmund, western Germany, on June 6, 2020 amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The conference aims at preparing the local elections in September. / AFP / Ina FASSBENDER
Protesters chant and hold placards during a 'Black Lives Matter' march on June 6, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Getty
A young child attends the 'Black Lives Matter' march with her family on June 6, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Getty
Protesters gather at a Black Lives Matter rally in Genoa, Italy, on June 6, 2020. EPA
Demonstrators wearing protective face masks attend a Black Lives Matter protest in London's Parliament Square on June 6, 2020, following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Reuters
Race relations can be a fraught subject anywhere but especially so in the US right now. The long hot summer of national reckoning on race and policing has slipped into an autumn of continuing anguish and defiance.
Americans' view of the relations between black and white races is now the most negative of any year since Gallup started asking the question in 2001. And the issue of racial injustice has become one of the top four concerns, according to an NPR/Ipsos poll, as Americans prepare to vote in a consequential presidential election that will be closely watched around the world.
It figures. Nearly 60 years after Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech to an audience of a quarter of a million people in Washington, DC, the issue of race relations in America can be boiled down to three intensely symbolic, highly charged things: knees, guns and votes.
Knees feature prominently. Late last month, tens of thousands joined the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks march in Washington, so named because of the manner in which George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, died at the hands of police in May.
A policeman knelt on Floyd’s neck as he gasped “I can’t breathe”. A bystander’s cellphone video of the atrocity went viral. The march followed repeated instances of the world and its sportsmen kneeling in support of racial and social justice campaigners in America.
And US President Donald Trump, who has called anti-racism activists "domestic terror", launched an ad attacking his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, for "taking a knee" while racial justice protests in Minneapolis turned violent. The unsubtle message is that Mr Biden is complicit in the rioting that has occasionally erupted during the protests. It is the same subtext as Mr Trump's Republican National Convention last month, which focused on characterising the Democrats as the party of chaos and anarchy.
Guns too are increasingly coming into play as armed right-wing militia and vigilante groups supporting Mr Trump directly confront anti-racism protesters on the streets of American cities such as Kenosha, Wisconsin, Portland, Oregon and, more recently, Louisville, Kentucky. Sometimes the racial justice protesters are also visibly armed, raising the prospect of dangerous confrontations across a nation on edge.
Finally, there are the votes. With less than two months to go to the election, there are growing fears of vote suppression, especially in the case of poorer black voters and those who prefer to cast their ballot by mail because of the pandemic.
The situation remains volatile as Labour Day, marked in the US on the first Monday in September, came and went. Labour Day is traditionally seen to kick off the last lap of the general election campaign, which means both the Trump and Biden teams are intensifying their efforts to dominate the narrative, win over new voters or sway wavering ones.
The Black Lives Matter movement saw a revival following the killing of a black American man at the hands of a white American policeman. AFP
The most recent estimates show Mr Trump trailing in national opinion polls as well as in Wisconsin and Michigan, two of the three key swing states. He is currently tied with Mr Biden in Pennsylvania. An incumbent American president has never got past Labour Day as such a clear underdog since George H W Bush in 1992.
Analysts say Mr Trump has a narrow path to re-election and that it runs through heavily white states like Wisconsin and Minnesota. Unsurprisingly then, Mr Trump has put himself at the centre of the raging national debate about race and police tactics, but only by dismissing suggestions of "systemic racism" and assuming the mantle of guarantor of law and order.
Mr Trump recently tweeted mockingly about a Black Lives Matter activist and hailed his administration’s controversial new move to cut off federal agencies' anti-racism training, which has been cast by the government as "divisive, anti-American propaganda". He also continues to deride calls for policing reforms and to describe the unquiet status quo as the “American way of life”. This is thought to be code for white dominance of the levers of power.
Barack Obama's election wasn't so much a sign that America had achieved a post-racial society but that it was striving towards it
So, what might happen next? The logic and demands of politics in a presidential election year would seem to be heading for a full-frontal collision with a passionate, once-in-a-generation call for wholesale change. The disparate protests for social justice across the country show no sign of petering out, with Portland hitting the 100th-day mark of continuous demonstrations at the weekend.
Meanwhile, new cases of alleged police mistreatment of black people and brutality towards them continue to emerge, further fuelling sorrow and rage on the part of protesters. The case of Daniel Prude, a black man who suffocated in March while being handled by police came to public attention just last week. Prude was placed in a restraint called a "spit hood" by police.
The only certainty right now is that tension on America’s streets will continue to escalate. What is not clear is the extent to which Mr Trump’s “law and order” message will resonate in the countdown to election day, November 3, as Americans increasingly express alarm about protests and counter protests in their neighbourhoods and cities.
Perhaps the best way to think about the future of the US is to disentangle the facts from popular perception. The facts tell a compelling story.
Despite its shortcomings, America in 2020 is nothing like the 1950s, when the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was very far from reality, inter-racial marriage was illegal in many states and housing and education were segregated. And then there was Barack Obama's election – and re-election – to the highest office in the land. It wasn't so much a sign that America had achieved a post-racial society but that it was striving towards it.
The US has been a country in social transition for much of the past half-century. For some, the pace is imprudent and all too hasty. But despite everything, there is nothing yet to suggest these naysayers will ultimately prevail.
Rashmee Roshan Lall is a columnist for The National
The biog:
Favourite book: The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma
Pet Peeve: Racism
Proudest moment: Graduating from Sorbonne
What puts her off: Dishonesty in all its forms
Happiest period in her life: The beginning of her 30s
Favourite movie: "I have two. The Pursuit of Happiness and Homeless to Harvard"
Role model: Everyone. A child can be my role model
Slogan: The queen of peace, love and positive energy
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
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.
Where to apply
Applicants should send their completed applications - CV, covering letter, sample(s) of your work, letter of recommendation - to Nick March, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National and UAE programme administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, by 5pm on April 30, 2020.
Please send applications to nmarch@thenational.ae and please mark the subject line as “Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application)”.
The local advisory board will consider all applications and will interview a short list of candidates in Abu Dhabi in June 2020. Successful candidates will be informed before July 30, 2020.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Poland Statement
All people fleeing from Ukraine before the armed conflict are allowed to enter Poland. Our country shelters every person whose life is in danger - regardless of their nationality.
The dominant group of refugees in Poland are citizens of Ukraine, but among the people checked by the Border Guard are also citizens of the USA, Nigeria, India, Georgia and other countries.
All persons admitted to Poland are verified by the Border Guard. In relation to those who are in doubt, e.g. do not have documents, Border Guard officers apply appropriate checking procedures.
No person who has received refuge in Poland will be sent back to a country torn by war.
Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.
4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')
Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')
Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
