A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel AME church following a 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. The new Texas law could mean a rise in mass shootings that Americans routinely condemn and yet take for granted. AP Photo
A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel AME church following a 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. The new Texas law could mean a rise in mass shootings that Americans routinely condemn and yet take for granted. AP Photo
A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel AME church following a 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. The new Texas law could mean a rise in mass shootings that Americans routinely condemn and yet take for granted. AP Photo
A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel AME church following a 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. The new Texas law could mean a rise in mass shootings th

Texas's new gun law normalises every American's fear


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Last week, I met friends in London and returned home just before midnight. My walk back from the train station was through a dimly lit park. It’s not a high-crime area but I was thinking whether I would feel safer if I carried a gun.

The reason for this bizarre thought was that on the train I read a newspaper article about Texas, where legislators  passed a bill allowing Texans to carry handguns without a permit. What was it about Texas, I wondered, that made being able to hide a handgun under your coat seem like a good idea?

For now, Texans require a handgun licence, undergo weapons training and submit to background checks. Those with criminal convictions may be disqualified. But Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, says he will sign the new bill into law. The new rules are known as "constitutional carry". The name comes from the second amendment to the US constitution that gives Americans the constitutional "right to bear arms".

For years, gun control groups have argued for tighter interpretations of the second amendment, querying why Americans have the “right” to military-grade weapons, including assault rifles. The precise legal position differs from state to state, but Texas has already some of the loosest rules anywhere.

It’s normal to see rifles carried openly and gun racks in cars, and to be invited by friends or acquaintances to go to a shooting range or to head out to a field or forest for target practice. I once spent a few hours with a Texas family “plinking” for cans, shooting tin cans with a variety of firearms. It was innocent fun.

The geography of America means that in remote areas gun ownership can seem a necessity. I have friends with a cabin in the White Mountains of Arizona, on the border with New Mexico. If I lived there, or in the great vastness of parts of Texas, kilometres from any town or law enforcement and emergency services, I can see why gun ownership might seem necessary. My Arizona friends’ cabin is 65 kilometres from the nearest small town. Local people are self-reliant, law abiding and used to protecting themselves.

But there is clearly a difference between having a rifle or shotgun for hunting or protection in the wide open countryside and having a hidden handgun in a Texas city such as Houston or Dallas. Handguns are easy to conceal and therefore potentially even more dangerous than having a rifle. On a Texas firing range I was once instructed on the virtues of a Glock 17, a handgun which, as the name suggests, may contain 17 bullets. Some handgun extensions mean they can be loaded with twice as much firepower.

A Glock 17 pistol, or handgun, is displayed during a gun 'buyback' event held in New York. Handguns are easy to conceal and therefore potentially even more dangerous than having a rifle.AFP
A Glock 17 pistol, or handgun, is displayed during a gun 'buyback' event held in New York. Handguns are easy to conceal and therefore potentially even more dangerous than having a rifle.AFP
Slogan of gun enthusiasts that they need more weapons because otherwise only criminals will have them, is not just hollow. It is deadly

But why would I want – or need – a handgun walking home alone in the dark in England? I wouldn’t. So why would someone in Houston or San Antonio feel the need to have a hidden gun? The only possible answer is fear – fear of crime, fear of some predator, fear of becoming a victim.

And that is America’s gun paradox: the more guns are available, the more fear increases, and cannot decrease.

I have been told innumerable times in Texas and elsewhere that if law abiding people are prevented from owning guns, then only criminals will have them. The result is America’s civilian arms race, with terrible consequences. More guns mean more fear not less.

Imagine, for example, you are a Texas police officer. You see someone driving erratically, stop the car and question the driver, but you know that driver may – legally – be carrying a hidden handgun. How frightened would you be? Would fear mean you would draw your own weapon? Would fear make the car driver reach for his or her own handgun, too? Does this mutual fear explain – but not condone – some of the horrific examples of police violence? I believe it might. Nervous cops are likely to be trigger-happy cops.

Stephen Willeford, centre, who confronted the Sutherland Springs church shooter in 2017, joins community members outside West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas for a candlelight vigil in 2019. The US has had many shootings in recent years. AP Photo
Stephen Willeford, centre, who confronted the Sutherland Springs church shooter in 2017, joins community members outside West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas for a candlelight vigil in 2019. The US has had many shootings in recent years. AP Photo
People attend a vigil for the victims of a shooting in San Jose, California, last week. AFP
People attend a vigil for the victims of a shooting in San Jose, California, last week. AFP

The American west has always been wild, but nowadays some gun owners have – literally – stockpiles of weapons in their home arsenals. The new Texas law means those stockpiles will grow, and so will the numbers of mass shootings that Americans routinely condemn and yet take for granted. Two mass shootings in Texas killed 30 people in August 2019. A high school shooting in 2018 claimed 10 lives, and in 2017 another 27 Texans were killed at a church shooting.

The repeated slogan of American gun enthusiasts that they need more weapons because otherwise only criminals will have them, is not just hollow. It is deadly. It’s not a reason. It’s an excuse.

Even walking through a dark park in England at midnight I am cautious and alert, but not fearful. The chance of meeting someone with a gun in England is almost zero. Owning a gun for protection in a big European city is not normal behaviour. The fact that it has become normalised in the US is an acceptance of the normalisation of gun violence, mass shootings, and ultimately the normalisation of fear.

Gavin Esler is a broadcaster and UK columnist for The National

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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

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Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

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Specs

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Power: 134bhp

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THE SPECS

Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre

Transmission: Seven-speed auto

Power: 165hp

Torque: 241Nm

Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000

On sale: now

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
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SPECS
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Bantamweight

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Catch 74kg

Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.

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Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.

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Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.

Lightweight

Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.

Welterweight

Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.

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Lexus LX700h specs

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Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

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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 

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Company%20profile
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Company%C2%A0profile
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE

Date started: February 2017

Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: E-commerce 

Size: 50 employees

Funding: approximately $6m

Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

Takreem Awards winners 2021

Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)

Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)

Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)

Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)

Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)

Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)

Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)

Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)

Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)

Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)

Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)

Venom

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed

Rating: 1.5/5

Analysis

Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.

The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement. 

We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment. 

 

Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance

Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.

Stat of the day – 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.

The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227-4 at the close.

GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE CARD

The line-up as it stands for the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia on April 27

50-man Royal Rumble

Universal Championship
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Casket match
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Intercontinental Championship
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Singles match
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To be confirmed
AJ Styles will defend his WWE World Heavyweight title and Cedric Alexander his Cruiserweight Championship, but matches have yet to be announced

Company profile

Company name: Dharma

Date started: 2018

Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: TravelTech

Funding stage: Pre-series A 

Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs

BORDERLANDS

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Director: Eli Roth

Rating: 0/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Washmen Profile

Date Started: May 2015

Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Laundry

Employees: 170

Funding: about $8m

Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures

Who has been sanctioned?

Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.

Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.

Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.

Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.

About Proto21

Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: N2 Technology

Founded: 2018

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Startups

Size: 14

Funding: $1.7m from HNIs

RACE CARD

5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,400m
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Amith's selections:
5pm: AF Sail
5.30pm: Dahawi
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6.30pm: Pharitz Oubai
7pm: Winked
7.30pm: Shahm
8pm: Raniah

Honeymoonish
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

While you're here
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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League final:

Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports

UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

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