BTS member Jin to release solo single ahead of military service


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K-pop singer Jin, a member of the hit boy band BTS, will release his first official solo single next week, the seven-member band's agency said on Wednesday, following this week's announcement that he will soon start military duty.

The song, titled The Astronaut, will be released on October 28 at 8am UAE time, with pre-orders to begin later on Wednesday.

"Since it's a song made with so much love toward the fans, we hope The Astronaut can be a gift to all of you," according to the Bighit Music statement posted on global fandom platform, Weverse.

The announcement came after the band'a management group Hybe, which owns Bighit, on Monday said Jin will cancel a request to further delay his enlistment in late October. The other younger band members also plan to serve their compulsory service.

Jin, who will turn 30 in December, is the oldest member of the record-breaking K-pop group, and will be the first to enlist under South Korea's strict conscription law, which stipulates that all able-bodied men are required to perform 18 to 21 months of military service.

This comes after the group said in June that its seven members — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook — would go on a "hiatus" as they pursue solo work. The news caused widespread alarm among fans, even leading to stocks of Hybe to plummet. The management company later issued a statement saying that the band would not be going on a hiatus, but that members will simply be focusing more on solo projects.

The group reunited on Saturday to perform a free concert in the city of Busan in support of South Korea's bid to host the World Expo 2030 in the port city.

— Additional reporting from The National

15 celebrities at the White House, including BTS — in pictures

The Vile

Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah

Director: Majid Al Ansari

Rating: 4/5

Five healthy carbs and how to eat them

Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand

Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat  

Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar

Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices

Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants

Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

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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Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
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Tips for used car buyers
  • Choose cars with GCC specifications
  • Get a service history for cars less than five years old
  • Don’t go cheap on the inspection
  • Check for oil leaks
  • Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
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  • Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
  • If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell

Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com

Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin

Silent Hill f

Publisher: Konami

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Rating: 4.5/5

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

Updated: October 19, 2022, 4:42 AM