Skip to main content

icnlive

ICN.live

Khaled Darwish

  • Poland plans to ban mobile phones for students under 16 in primary schools from September 1, 2026.
  • Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the rules protect children from addiction to platforms and games.
  • A separate bill demands stronger age verification for pornography sites without using biometric data.
  • A proposed social media ban under 15 follows, risking conflict with major United States technology firms.

Poland phone-ban in schools will start on September 1 across primary schools nationwide. Children aged 7 to 15 cannot use phones during lessons or even during short breaks. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the rules on Tuesday after months of internal debate. You see Poland joining nations like the Netherlands, South Korea, and Italy on this issue. These countries banned smartphones in schools over rising worries about concentration and student behaviour. The proposed mobile phone ban gives schools legal grounds to set up phone storage points. Teachers and parents gain a clear tool to manage screen time during the school day.

Tusk framed the move as a response to a deep problem facing young people. He warned about addiction to platforms and games among the youngest citizens across the country. This addiction can bring disastrous consequences for children’s lives and for the country, Tusk argued.

A separate bill targets websites offering pornography with new duties to block underage access. Officials designed the age verification pornography rules around strict privacy and data protection standards. You will also see a planned social media ban under 15 moving through parliament soon. Education Minister Barbara Nowacka outlined the social media plan back in February this year. Her proposal opens the door to a clash with major United States technology firms.

Tech firms push back against the limits

Technology companies argue the focus should fall on how children use devices, not bans. They point to parental controls and targeted limits as better routes than total restrictions. Firms also highlight benefits of smartphones for learning, communication, and student safety each day. Poland’s phone ban in schools still needs approval from parliament before it becomes a binding law. President Karol Nawrocki must also sign off on the package once lawmakers pass it. The government holds a majority, so passage through parliament looks likely in the months ahead.

Several European nations now act after Australia passed a world-first ban for under-16s. Spain, France, Denmark, and Norway weigh similar limits on young people and social platforms. From my standpoint, the Polish phone ban in schools signals a wider shift in child protection. Parents and teachers gain real authority to limit phones inside primary schools every day. You should watch how courts and tech giants respond to the new age limits. The mobile phone ban affects every primary school pupil in the country from autumn. The Polish phone ban in schools shows how policy now touches even daily classroom routines.

Poland’s phone ban in schools heads for a final vote

Schools will decide how to store devices, perhaps in lockers or sealed deposit boxes. Pupils get their phones back at the end of each school day under the rules. Donald Tusk stressed protection from harmful content as the single goal of the package. Critics say enforcement remains hard because teachers cannot police every pupil during busy breaks. Supporters reply with a strong point about a clear national law backing staff far better. The age verification pornography measure also avoids biometric data to guard each user’s privacy. Lawmakers want the social media ban under 15 to take effect by early 2027. Fines for platforms reach up to six per cent of their global revenue under the plan. Your view of phones in primary schools will shape this debate in the coming months.

TAGS

EXPLORE MORE ON:

FAB Launches the Emirati Jaywan Debit Card

FAB launches the Emirati Jaywan Debit Card, and the country now has a homegrown card sitting inside its biggest bank. The card is live for domestic use. It runs on the UAE national card scheme, the local rails managed by Al Etihad Payments and backed by the Central Bank of the UAE. First Abu Dhabi Bank is the largest lender in the country by assets. So this reads as a real signal, not a pilot.

What the Jaywan debit card does

Here is what you get. The Jaywan debit card handles everyday payments and cash access across the UAE. Tap or dip at local merchant outlets. Online, it works on UAE-based platforms. ATMs nationwide handle cash withdrawals. The card also links to digital wallets through tokenised wallet integration, so your card details get swapped for a secure token on supported devices.

Security sits at the core. The card uses Chip and PIN for in-person buys and 3D Secure authentication online. Your four-digit PIN confirms you are the real cardholder at the till. For a domestic scheme handling millions of daily taps, this layer counts.

Why FAB launches the Emirati Jaywan Debit Card now

Timing tells the story. FAB launches the Emirati Jaywan Debit Card as the national rollout moves from plan to practice. The card is integrated with the FAB Mobile app, so you manage it where you already bank. You watch transactions, handle your account, and run digital servicing from one screen. Al Etihad Payments built Jaywan to localise card payments and cut transaction costs. Keeping this flow inside UAE borders also strengthens national data sovereignty, a point FAB made plainly.

Two names carried the message. Futoon Al Mazrouei, Group Head of Personal, Wealth and Business Banking at FAB, tied the card to trust and customer focus inside the UAE’s financial system. Andrea Ciancetti, Chief Products Officer at Al Etihad Payments, called the FAB launch “a critical milestone for the roll-out of the scheme,” and thanked the bank for making Jaywan real for people nationwide.

How to get the Jaywan debit card

Getting one is simple if you already bank with FAB. Apply through the FAB Mobile app or at a FAB branch. No account with the bank yet? Open an eligible one first, then apply. Elite and Private Banking clients can go through their relationship managers. FAB has not disclosed fees, account tiers, or rewards, so check those points before you commit.

Jaywan is bigger than one card. The scheme, launched in 2024, is the first UAE national card scheme, built to localise payments and lower costs for merchants and banks. First Abu Dhabi Bank is one of the early issuers, with other lenders lining up prepaid and debit products over the coming months. Al Etihad Payments has also signed global networks for co-badged cards, so travel use can follow the domestic base. For now, the FAB card stays inside UAE borders.


IMPORTANT: CONTENT SUBMITTED BY THE CLIENT. THIS IS A PRESS RELEASE ARTICLE. PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION BELOW.

ICN.live neither validates nor guarantees the accuracy, reliability, or quality of the information, promotional materials, or products mentioned herein. Readers are encouraged to conduct independent due diligence before making any decisions related to the featured company. ICN.live bears no responsibility, directly or indirectly, for any harm, loss, or consequences that may result from reliance on or interaction with the content, services, or offerings described in this release.

The details shared in this announcement do not constitute financial, trading, or investment guidance. Readers are strongly advised to carry out independent research and seek advice from a qualified financial professional before making any investment or cryptocurrency-related decisions.

ADNOC Umm Shaif Gas Cap

The ADNOC Umm Shaif Gas Cap has moved from a plan to a funded project, with a $6.2 billion final investment decision now signed. ADNOC will develop the offshore field alongside TotalEnergies, Eni and China National Petroleum Corporation. The deal carries a headline figure of AED22.6 billion. It targets first output by 2030.

What the ADNOC Umm Shaif Gas Cap deal delivers

The development will add more than 600 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas and associated gas liquids. That equals close to 10 percent of what the UAE burns in a day right now. For a country holding the world’s seventh-largest gas reserves, the math matters. Rising UAE natural gas production feeds homes, factories, and the power-hungry data centres behind artificial intelligence growth. You can read this as a bet on demand staying strong.

The Umm Shaif Gas Cap FID sits inside a wider push. ADNOC has been expanding its liquefied natural gas reach and firming up UAE energy security at the same time. Global demand for lower-carbon gas keeps rising, which raises the stakes. Both goals point the same direction.

Who is building it and how

Contracts back up the ambition. ADNOC awarded three engineering, procurement and construction packages worth a combined $5.1 billion, or AED18.8 billion. Consortiums of UAE and international contractors won the work, which covers large-scale offshore infrastructure. A separate $365 million programme, AED1.3 billion, funds 14 wells. ADNOC Drilling will run that campaign over 18 months using three rigs it already owns. No new rigs join the field.

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, tied the move to the company’s broader plan. “The Umm Shaif Gas Cap FID is another important milestone in delivering this strategy and reinforcing ADNOC’s position as a reliable gas supplier,” he said. Umm Shaif is Abu Dhabi’s longest-operating offshore field, so this builds on decades of work.

The field runs deep in the emirate’s history. It hosted Abu Dhabi’s first offshore well and fed the emirate’s first oil exports back in 1962. Six decades on, it now anchors a gas plan aimed at near self-sufficiency by 2030.

The bigger gas play

This Abu Dhabi offshore gas project does not stand alone. The ADNOC Umm Shaif Gas Cap follows a concession award for the Bab Gas Cap from the Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs. That field is expected to add another 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas and liquids. Stack the two, and the supply picture grows fast.

There is a trading side too. A new ADNOC LNG platform now sits in Abu Dhabi Global Market. The venture is chasing 47 million tonnes per annum of marketable LNG capacity by 2035. That scale would place it among the largest LNG traders anywhere. The ADNOC Umm Shaif Gas Cap fits neatly into that goal, feeding molecules into a growing export machine.

My read: the ADNOC Umm Shaif Gas Cap is Abu Dhabi buying insurance and market share at once. Demand for reliable, lower-carbon gas keeps climbing, and ADNOC wants to be the name buyers trust when they place long orders. The 2030 timeline gives partners room to build. Watch the drilling pace over the next 18 months for the first real signal.

NBQ's 2026 half-year profit

NBQ’s 2026 half-year profit came in at AED271 million for the six months to 30 June. Behind that figure sit the depositors, borrowers and staff who keep the lender running. The National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain results point to steady footing at a small bank that families and businesses in the northern emirates lean on for everyday needs.

What NBQ’s 2026 half-year profit shows

The bank credited its first-half showing to a wider mix of income and a broader balance sheet, paired with tight cost control. Total interest income reached AED503 million over the period. Net interest income held about flat at AED310 million, against AED309 million a year earlier. That flat line matters more than it looks. Interest rates fell over the year, so keeping core income steady took real work on both pricing and funding.

For a customer, this shows up in small ways. Your deposit stays safe. Loan terms stay predictable. A bank that earns steadily can keep the lights on for the people who bank with it.

Balance sheet growth and deposits

NBQ total assets rose to AED24.1 billion by the end of June, up 5 percent from December and 20 percent from a year earlier. Customer deposits did much of the heavy lifting. They climbed 29 percent to AED17.1 billion, a sign that more people trusted the bank with their money. Net loans and advances grew 4 percent over the year to AED8.7 billion. Shareholders’ equity reached AED6.4 billion, up 3 percent from June 2025.

Deposit growth on that scale tells a human story. When savers move money into a bank, they place a bet on its stability. That trust gives the lender room to fund loans for homes, shops and small firms across the emirate.

Capital strength and asset quality

The capital adequacy ratio stood at 31 percent, well above the floor the Central Bank of the UAE sets under Basel III rules. Put simply, the bank holds a thick cushion against shocks. The non-performing loans ratio came in at 0.4 percent, up slightly from 0.3 percent at the end of 2025 but far below the 2.2 percent seen a year earlier. Fewer bad loans mean fewer customers in distress and a cleaner book. NBQ net profit after tax landed at AED271 million on the back of these numbers.

Adnan Al Awadhi, Chief Executive Officer of NBQ, said the bank delivered solid results despite geopolitical uncertainty and lower interest rates. He pointed to a diversified model, careful balance sheet management and a focus on lasting growth. Al Awadhi said the bank kept strong capital and liquidity while supporting customers and the wider economy through prudent risk management and better asset quality.

He added that NBQ kept investing in digital tools to improve the customer experience and to make its platforms safer and more reliable. Partnerships would widen its services further, he said. Al Awadhi also restated the bank’s pledge to Emiratisation, leadership development, sustainability and community work.

Why NBQ’s 2026 half-year profit matters to customers

Numbers like these can feel far from daily life. Yet a stable bank shapes real choices for real people. NBQ’s 2026 half-year profit gives the lender the means to keep lending, keep hiring and keep serving the towns it calls home. For anyone who banks there, that steadiness is the point.

Share this post

on your favourite social platforms

or copy the link