The rescue vessel 'Aquarius', carrying a total of 629 migrants who were rescued off the Libyan coast, was denied access to ports in Italy and Malta in a diplomatic row between the two countries. EPA/KENNY KARPOV / HANDOUT MANDATORY CREDIT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
The rescue vessel 'Aquarius', carrying a total of 629 migrants who were rescued off the Libyan coast, was denied access to ports in Italy and Malta in a diplomatic row between the two countries. EPA/KENNY KARPOV / HANDOUT MANDATORY CREDIT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
The rescue vessel 'Aquarius', carrying a total of 629 migrants who were rescued off the Libyan coast, was denied access to ports in Italy and Malta in a diplomatic row between the two countries. EPA/KENNY KARPOV / HANDOUT MANDATORY CREDIT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
The rescue vessel 'Aquarius', carrying a total of 629 migrants who were rescued off the Libyan coast, was denied access to ports in Italy and Malta in a diplomatic row between the two countries. EPA/K

The fate of Aquarius highlights the triumph of nationalists across Europe


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Medicines Sans Frontiere appealed Tuesday to the Italian government to allow migrants stranded at sea on rescue ship it operates in the Mediterranean to be allowed to disembark temporarily in Italy as governments around Europe squabbled over their fate. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, weighed into the increasingly bitter row with an attack on Rome after the government banned the ship from entering the country’s ports.

"In cases of distress, those with the nearest coastline have a responsibility to respond,” Mr Macron’s spokesman said. "There is a degree of cynicism and irresponsibility in the Italian government's behaviour."

The intervention came a day after Spain’s new left-wing government offered to take in the more than 600 migrants and refugees on the Aquarius. It has bobbed uncertainly in the waters near the southern coast of Italy since Saturday. Its exhausted occupants were picked up from half a dozen boats adrift in the Mediterranean and now swelter under the blazing sun on a boat dependent on supplies from the coastguard

MSF welcomed the Spanish offer but has urged Italy to reconsider its ban because the four-day journey to Spain “would mean already exhausted people rescued at sea would have to endure four more days exposed to the elements on the deck, in an overcrowded boat already well over maximum capacity and in deteriorating weather conditions”.

“The better option”, MSF said, “would be to disembark the rescued people in the nearest port, after which they can be transferred to Spain”.

Previous Italian governments backed down from efforts to stop ships landing but Matteo Salvini, the hardline interior minister, has refused to budge.

“Rescuing lives is a duty, transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp is not”, he wrote in a post published on Facebook the same day. “Italy has stopped bowing its head and obeying,” he said.

Mr Salvini’s defiance, directed at the European Union and Italy’s neighbours – particularly Malta, which is a short distance from Italy – has been welcomed by Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement which, along with the interior minister’s League party, leads the coalition governing the country.

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The pledge to crackdown on immigration was the central theme of Mr Salvini’s campaign in the run up to the elections held in March. Italy’s burgeoning migrant population – more than half a million have arrived from Africa alone since 2014 – has caused such an uproar that the centre-left Democratic Party appealed to fellow European nations and the EU to help stem the tide of incomers. Few were willing to help, however, and the subject became rife for exploitation by Mr Salvini, who cast himself in the role of Italy’s saviour while leading a formerly separatist party that sought until recently to cleave Italy. Mr Macron’s decision to upbraid the Italian government has been welcomed by the latter as proof that it is standing up for Italians. Mr Di Maio, the leader of the Five Star Movement, responded by asking the French to open their ports so that Italy could “transfer a few of the people to France”.

Pedro Sanchez, a pro-European Socialist, is the antithesis of Mr Salvini. By inviting the Aquarius to dock on Spain’s shores, his government said, Madrid is fulfilling its “obligation to avoid a human catastrophe” and reaffirming its commitment to “international law”. By volunteering to take in migrants and refugees turned away by Italy, Mr Sanchez is signalling that Spain has not succumbed to the anti-immigrant mood prevalent in the neighbourhood.

But can this resolve be sustained? Despite an economy that has registered consistent growth over the past three years, Spain still has one of the worst unemployment rates in Europe; last year, almost 40 per cent of the nation’s under 25s eligible for work were without a job. Mr Sanchez’s ability to fix unemployment is undermined by the rickety nature of his premiership, dependent on a mutually distrustful coalition of nationalists and left-wingers brought together by their aversion to his predecessor. Mr Sanchez is on much shakier ground compared to Angela Merkel, Germany’s long-serving Chancellor, who barely survived the backlash generated by her decision to admit a large number of refugees into Germany.

To be sure, Mr Sanchez has granted entry to a very modest number of migrants. But what happens when the next rescue ship arrives? Will he be able to walk away from the precedent he has set with Aquarius? Far-right political parties have thus far been a marginal force in Spain’s politics – as they were in much of Europe a decade ago. Will Mr Sanchez’s liberalism, ironically, breed the conditions for the rise of illiberal politicians? With notable exceptions, the story of Europe over the past decade is that nations that saw themselves as exceptional and immune to the currents of populism are now besieged by democratically elected populists.

THE SPECS

GMC Sierra Denali 1500

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Price: Dh232,500

RACE CARD

6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,600m

7.05pm: Meydan Sprint – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (Turf) 1,000m

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Winners

Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)

Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski

Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)

Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea

Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona

Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)

Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)

Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)

Best National Team of the Year: Italy 

Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello

Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)

Player Career Award: Ronaldinho

ENGLAND SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope 
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold 
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph 
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck

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5.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic (PA) Prestige Dh 110,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Saab, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel

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7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap Dh 70,000 2,200m | Winner: AF Kafu, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 2,400m | Winner: Brass Ring, Fabrice Veron, Ismail Mohammed

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  • Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
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F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5