Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 17, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE.
Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at listings@thenational.ae
Dubai
Performance
Get tickets for West Side Story at Dubai Opera and experience the New York-set story featuring romance, conflict, dances using Jerome Robbins's original choreography, and a score composed by Leonard Bernstein with timeless songs such as Tonight, Maria, Somewhere and America.
Today and tomorrow, 3pm and 8pm, from Dh250, Dubai Opera, Downtown Dubai, www.dubaiopera.com
Abu Dhabi
Performance
Make plans to attend I Am My Language, a theatrical show as part of an Emirati-French cultural programme with theatre training called Trance-Forms. UAE-based actors and comedians from various backgrounds and countries present a performance that encapsulates the evolution of Abu Dhabi as a city and the UAE as a country through the concepts of youth, memory and love through an assembly of dances, music, poems, stories and recitals of Arabic and French literature.
February 25-28, 8pm, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, www.abudhabievents.ae
Abu Dhabi
Music festival
Enjoy the final day of Barzakh Festival, the outdoor music event featuring diverse cultural performances by a Ukrainian art-folk quartet, Cambodian psych-pop and Indian bhangra funk. Pictured: Dengue Fever
Today, 6pm, free with registration, East Plaza, The Arts Center, NYU Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, register at www.nyuad-artscenter.org
Abu Dhabi
Kite festival
Attend the second Annual Kite Festival at Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara. Take part in kite building and flying, with great prizes for the most unique creations. Enjoy music, beach activities, a complimentary sausage sizzle and soft drinks.
Today, 11am to 5pm, from Dh150 for adults; from Dh100 for children; complimentary for hotel guests, Anantara Sir Bani Yas Island Resorts, Al Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, register at kitefest.sirbaniyas@anantara.com
Nationwide
New movie
Fist Fight is a comedy starring Charlie Day as Andy Campbell, a mild-mannered English teacher who, on the last day of school, is accused of getting his fearsome colleague Ron Strickland (Ice Cube) fired, and is challenged by Strickland to a fist fight after school. Also starring Christina Hendricks, Jillian Bell, Kumail Nanjiani, Tracy Morgan and Dean Norris.
Screening at cinemas across the UAE (15+)
Dubai
Happiness Festival
The Happiness Festival is an event that lets you tailor your own experience around the concepts of positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment, children’s well-being and well-being for men, including yoga, talks, workshops, meditation, games, group personal training, music and more.
Today, 11am to 6.30pm, free with registration, Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, Dubai, www.thehappinesshub.me
Dubai
Family fun
Visit Global Village for the launch of the three-week Kids' Fest festival with a programme of activities, games and entertainment featuring costumed characters from Angry Birds and Chhota Bheem, face-painting, balloon modellers, shows from Shaabiyat Al Cartoon (pictured) and Globo, the dance show City Jam and much more.
Daily until February 25, 4pm to midnight, Saturdays to Wednesdays; 4pm to 1am Thursdays and Fridays, Global Village, Dubai, www.globalvillage.ae
Dubai
Performance
Catch a performance of the final weekend of Aladdin. Creativiva Worldwide brings their production of the family musical to Dubai with exciting choreography, witty dialogue, circus acts and comedic scenes in the story of a young street boy who finds a magic lamp, releases a genie and is granted three wishes.
Today, 11am, 3pm and 7pm; tomorrow, 1pm and 7pm; Sunday, 7pm. From Dh180, Madinat Theatre, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, www.madinattheatre.com
Dubai
Theatre
Get tickets now for the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival 2017 and see a series of 10-minute plays in various genres presented by top independent theatre companies from Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai. The audience is eligible to vote for the best play at each show, giving the winner the chance at a spot at the People’s Choice Final on February 25.
Today and tomorrow and February 24-25, 7.30pm to 9.30pm today; 2.30pm to 4.30pm and 7.30pm to 9.30pm tomorrow; 3pm to 5pm and 8pm to 10pm on February 24 and February 25, from Dh100, The Junction, Al Quoz, Dubai, www.tixbox.com
Dubai
Film screening
See the docu-thriller The Imposter as part of the Work in Progress series presented by Cinema Akil and Alserkal Avenue. The 2012 UK film directed by Bart Layton is about a young man in Spain who claims to be the 16-year-old son of a grieving Texas family who has been missing for three years.
Tonight, 7pm, free on a first-come, first-seated basis, A4 Space, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz, Dubai, www.cinemaakil.com
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Results
Ashraf Ghani 50.64 per cent
Abdullah Abdullah 39.52 per cent
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 3.85 per cent
Rahmatullah Nabil 1.8 per cent
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
