Five months after Coca-Cola Arena hosted its latest performance, organisers are bringing back live shows during the Dubai Summer Surprises shopping festival.
Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, a regular performer in the UAE, will headline two shows on Wednesday, July 21 and Friday, July 23. The first show, called Just Qawali, will focus on the devotional genre made famous by Khan and his late uncle, the Grammy-nominated Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The second performance, titled Just Bollywood, will feature Khan's extensive repertoire of film songs, starting from 2003.
"Dubai is my second home and each time I perform here is like performing at home. My last commercial concert in December 2019 was in Dubai, where I enjoyed performing at the Coca-Cola Arena and I'm equally excited to return back to the same venue," Khan said.
Organisers at Coca-Cola Arena say the shows will follow strict government Covid-19 guidelines. Capacity for each day will be capped at 1,500 guests with social-distancing regulations in place. Attendees will be required to have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
"We are delighted to announce the return of our first live event at the region's premier entertainment venue and kicking off Dubai Summer Surprises. We look forward to welcoming both residents and tourists to many more live events at Coca-Cola Arena," Mark Kar, general manager of Coca-Cola Arena, said.
English-Norwegian DJ Alan Walker was the last performer at the indoor venue on January 7 during the Dubai Shopping Festival.
The show was held without a dance floor, with masked crowds seated metres apart.
"I didn't realise the audience weren't allowed to stand. So when I was on stage and said 'one, two, everybody jump,' and no one did, I was like 'this is a tough crowd'," Walker recently told The National.
"But then I realised what was going on and it made sense. It just felt really good to play for an audience again. I think we all missed that experience.”
The annual Dubai Summer Surprises shopping festival will begin on Thursday, July 1 and run for 10 weeks. The 24th season of the festival, organised by Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, is set to bring back many of its popular elements, including shopping, hotel, dining and entertainment options at discounted summer rates as well as new events and offers.
Tickets for Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's shows start at Dh400 and are available at coca-cola-arena.com
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
F1 drivers' standings
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 281
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 222
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 177
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 138
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 93
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 86
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 56
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Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
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Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
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