US President Joe Biden on Sunday honoured Dr Martin Luther King Jr's civil rights legacy with a sermon at the leader's Ebenezer Baptist Church.
From that historic pulpit, Mr Biden said the fight for voting rights and racial equity in America endured.
“Are we a people who would choose democracy over autocracy?” he asked the congregation.
“We have to choose a community over chaos. Are we, the people, going to choose love over hate?
"These are the vital questions of our time. I believe Dr King's life and legacy show us the way and we should pay attention."
The US marks Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday.
Among the civil rights milestones credited to Dr King's leadership before his 1968 assassination is the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The landmark legislation included laws that eliminated barriers to voting for African Americans, who in some areas had been almost completely disenfranchised.
Mr Biden made reference to Dr King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech in his sermon.
"We all deserve liberty and justice. And it's still the task of our time to make that dream a reality because it's not there yet," he said.
Rights watchers have warned that in many parts of the US, the right to vote is being threatened.
“State laws violate the right to vote and misinformation about the 2020 elections is eroding public faith in elections and democratic institutions,” Human Rights Watch wrote before last year's midterm elections.
Mr Biden's Democratic party failed to pass a voting rights bill that included provisions to make election day a national holiday.
It would have ensured access to early voting and mail-in ballots, and enabled the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference.
With a new Republican majority in the House, the Democrats face a steeper challenge to ensure that protection in the new year.
In September, Mr Biden gave a prime-time speech warning Americans that far-right groups “promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country”.
Georgia's newly elected Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock spoke before the president on Sunday, telling of America's democratic promise and its history of marginalisation.
Mr Warnock referred to the famous white monuments in the nation's capital — to founders George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and “the Great Emancipator” Abraham Lincoln.
He quoted Mr Jefferson's famous words in the US Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal".
“But on the other side of the Tidal Basin, a Black man stands there with his arms folded, as if to say to Thomas Jefferson. 'Did you mean what you said?'” he said.
A memorial to Dr King sits across from the Jefferson memorial.
Mr Biden is the first sitting president to stand at Dr King's Georgia pulpit to deliver a Sunday sermon, wearing the same Catholic rosary on his wrist that his late son Beau wore on his death bed, he said.
THE SIXTH SENSE
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Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
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The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
Company%20profile
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MATCH INFO
Everton v Tottenham, Sunday, 8.30pm (UAE)
Match is live on BeIN Sports
RESULT
Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2
Arsenal: Aubameyang (13')
Chelsea: Jorginho (83'), Abraham (87')
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Friday's schedule in Madrid
Men's quarter-finals
Novak Djokivic (1) v Marin Cilic (9) from 2pm UAE time
Roger Federer (4) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 7pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Alexander Zverev (3) from 9.30pm
Stan Wawrinka v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11.30pm
Women's semi-finals
Belinda Bencic v Simona Halep (3) from 4.30pm
Sloane Stephens (8) v Kiki Bertens (7) from 10pm
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
WORLD'S%2010%20HIGHEST%20MOUNTAINS
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
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
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
