The Grammy Awards are fast approaching and there's a lot to look forward to from one of music's biggest nights.
The live telecast from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is set to begin at 8pm Eastern Time, which is 5am on Monday in the UAE. The red carpet will begin two hours before the show.
Here are five things to watch out for.
Women will rule
At Sunday's gala, seven of eight nominees in the Album and Record of the Year categories are women, including Taylor Swift, SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, Janelle Monae, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus and indie supergroup boygenius.
Jon Batiste, the decorated jazz polymath who dominated the ceremony two years ago, is the sole man in the category.
It's a sea change many industry watchers see as long overdue.
SZA, real name Solana Rowe, is the most nominated artist this year, with nine nominations including for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best RnB Performance for Kill Bill, her revenge anthem cloaked in an RnB ballad.
Australian singer Kylie Minogue, who last appeared as a nominee during the 2009 ceremony, also features in the Best Pop Dance Recording category for summer smash hit Padam Padam.
There may also be some record breaking. If Swift wins Album of the Year for Midnights, she will be the first artist to win the category four times.
If SZA prevails with SOS, she will be the first black woman to win Album of the Year as a lead artist since Lauryn Hill received the honour 25 years ago.
Kelly Clarkson could break the record for most Best Pop Vocal Album wins if she gets her third trophy for her album Chemistry.
Music from Africa finally gets its due
A new award, Best African Music Performance, will be awarded on Sunday, highlighting regional musical traditions and recognising “recordings that utilise unique local expressions from across the African continent".
With performances on the world’s biggest stages and record numbers on global music charts, African acts are charting a new course for music produced on the continent, taking advantage of high-profile international collaborations, a boost from the internet and streaming platforms, and new investment opportunities.
Of the five nominees, only one – South Africa's Tyla who's nominated for her song Water – isn't Nigerian, recognising the country's dominance in the genre.
With his blend of Nigerian pidgin and Yoruba lyrics, Burna Boy, who has already won a Grammy, is nominated for four awards this year, including one for the new African category with the song City Boys.,
Artists Asake and Olamide are nominated for Amapiano, referring to South Africa's own popular genre.
Davido is nominated three times, including for his African award with the song Unavailable, featuring Musa Keys.
And Ayra Starr is up for an award for her single Rush.
The performances
Besides the awards and speeches, live performances will also be a highlight of the ceremony. Twelve acts are set to take the stage, according to the Recording Academy.
Joni Mitchell, 80, considered one of the greatest singer-songwriters, will take the stage for her first Grammy performance.
She received a folk album nomination for her live record Joni Mitchell at Newport, when she delivered a set just years after an aneurysm led to fears she might never play again.
Expected on stage is also Luke Combs, the country singer whose omission from the evening's major prizes was a surprise. Combs released a cover of Tracy Chapman's 1988 classic Fast Car to resounding success, earning a single nod in the country categories.
It is rumoured Combs's performance will include Chapman herself, who rarely appears in public.
Viewers can also look forward to a set from Billy Joel, who recently released a new single, his first original music in nearly two decades.
Other performers include SZA, Eilish, Rodrigo, Lipa, Burna Boy and Travis Scott.
Trevor Noah returns as host
The South African comedian will host the awards for the fourth consecutive year.
Noah himself is up for a Grammy this year, receiving his second nomination for Best Comedy Album.
“It is easily the most nerve-wracking thing that I do, but I love it every single time,” Noah told Associated Press. “Each year there’s a new highlight and a new moment that is embedded into my memory.”
Best known for hosting The Daily Show from 2015 to 2022, Noah recently won an Emmy Award for Best Talk Series for the last season of the show.
What's different in this year's show?
Executive producer Ben Winston said that for some artists, his team has created short films to play before their performances to “tell the story of the artist's year".
“We’re going to put the spotlight on them and the significance of the moment that the audience are about to witness,” he said.
Besides Best African Music Performance, two new award categories have been added: Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album.
Executive producer Raj Kapoor said this is the second year in a row the Grammys are collaborating with a visual artist for its design. This year it's David McLeod, a digital artist from the fine art world.
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
INFO
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Titan Sports Academy:
Programmes: Judo, wrestling, kick-boxing, muay thai, taekwondo and various summer camps
Location: Inside Abu Dhabi City Golf Club, Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone: 971 50 220 0326
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
