Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
America's tower block embassy has been tucked away in relative obscurity in a quiet part of London since it opened six years ago, but this weekend it will be thrust into the spotlight during the city's pro-Palestinian protest.
The latest weekly demonstration in the UK capital is expected to draw up to half a million protesters, making it the biggest crowd yet to assemble in the enclave of luxury apartment buildings south of the Thames.
Built at a cost of $1 billion, the modern glass building is meant to resemble a crystalline cube, which Americans say embodies the "core democratic values of transparency, openness and equality".
Once derided as "off location” by former president Donald Trump, who refused to take part in its opening ceremony, the embassy in Nine Elms will finally grab the world's attention as the culmination of the most controversial protest march yet against the Israel-Gaza war.
Organisers have been working on the plans for a month even though the date coincides with Armistice Day, the official commemoration of the end of the First World War.
Throughout that weekend the UK remembers its war dead, but police have said the legal threshold for banning the pro-Palestine march cannot be met. The UK government disputes this.
A compromise has been offered whereby the marchers avoid the Cenotaph war memorial, the focal point of commemorations, and instead make their way across the Thames to the US Embassy.
The march will be the fourth one held in London on consecutive weekends since the Israel-Gaza war broke out and the events have become increasingly controversial.
Given the close ties between the US and the UK, the embassy has huge symbolic status and London's Metropolitan Police will be aware that any confrontation with demonstrators will be beamed across the world.
Graham Wettone, a former Met officer and expert in public order policing, told the The National that the force will have carefully planned the route the marchers will take to the embassy and will be helped by it being an “island site” that can be ringed with officers.
“The difficulties you have is no event organiser can ever guarantee that everybody on their march is actually going to behave and abide by whatever conditions the police impose,” he said.
Nine Elms, where the embassy is located, is an area just south the river that has been extensively redeveloped in recent years, with tall buildings now dominating the skyline.
The Americans moved there in 2017 from an imposing building in Grosvenor Square, central London.
A moat, the first built in London since medieval times, sits at the front of the current embassy, doubling up as protection from a terrorist attack and a pleasing visual feature.
There has yet to be a repeat of the scenes outside the Grosvenor Square embassy in 1968 when protests against the Vietnam War descended into running battles with police.
A demonstration by the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 featured some pushing and shoving, but feelings aroused by the situation in Gaza and America’s long-standing support for Israel mean Saturday’s protest presents the biggest challenge for the Met since 1968.
Mr Wettone said police preparations will have been extensive. “The US embassy is a target that will have to be secured," he said.
"When there are public events, you go through various scenarios asking ‘what if someone does [or] tries this’ but it’s a very well-protected premises.
“They have their own internal security and are more than capable of locking their building down and securing it properly, as they did at Grosvenor Square. So potentially there could be disorder but the police are well-versed in working with the US Embassy.”
Ahead of the march, US Ambassador Jane Hartley said Israel had a right to defend itself, in accordance with international law, while reinforcing calls by Secretary of State Antony Blinken for “pauses” to allow aid to enter Gaza.
“We’ve made it very clear we care deeply about one, humanitarian aid getting in, two, the release of the hostages, and three, Israel obviously has a right to defend itself,” she told CNN.
“This was a terrible, horrific terrorist attack but what Secretary Blinken has also said, that how they defend themselves, is also very, very important and that means in accordance with humanitarian law and the rules of war.”
Ms Hartley said she believed concern was mounting over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and said the US was “working very closely with our allies” to get more aid in.
Britain prepares for Armistice Day - in pictures
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Janet Yellen's Firsts
- In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve
- In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
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Disposing of non-recycleable masks
Use your ‘black bag’ bin at home
Do not put them in a recycling bin
Take them home with you if there is no litter bin
- No need to bag the mask
