It is a tough old game running a newspaper in the second decade of the 21st century.
In Paris, the daily France-Soir, founded by resistance leaders in 1944 and once able to claim sales of more than a million copies, has been placed under court protection for four months, freezing debts while a long-term solution is sought to its financial crisis.
With a circulation now hovering around 70,000, it is kept alive only by generous cash injections from the Russian owner, Alexander Pugachev, which he estimated in an interview last November at about €2 million (Dh10.4m) monthly. Other French titles have serious financial problems, leaving few outside the regional press and a group of children's daily newspapers able to claim reasonably strong health.
In the US, editors complain they no longer have enough staff or editorial resources to consider their publications to be papers of record.
And in the UK, to add to the problems caused by the phone hacking scandal, commercial pressures are inflicting a slow death on a grand institution of British newspaper publishing: the Saturday night football "Pink".
It may seem the least of the industry's problems. The Newspaper Society, which represents the British local and regional newspaper industry as a whole, could not even provide the names or locations of those still in publication.
But such is the lure of nostalgia, especially for football supporters of a certain age, that the complete passing of the Pink would seem like a minor national tragedy.
The reasons are straightforward: the price of televised football includes having to accept so many kickoffs on Saturday evenings, Sundays and beyond that newspapers struggle to keep up to date. People also have instant access, via broadcasting, internet and mobile phones, to sporting results and comment.
But until relatively recent times, virtually every British town that had an evening paper also had a Saturday evening sports edition.
In fact, although the Newspaper Society may not know it, only four survive. One - printed by the Sheffield Star - chooses a different colour and is known as "the Green 'Un".
Mention of Sheffield would have some people scratching their heads.
Why would a city without Premier League football - both once-mighty Sheffield teams, Wednesday and United, play in League One, the misleading name for the third tier - need a sports special on Saturday nights?
But survive it does, along with the Southern Daily Echoin Southampton, and Football Mail in Portsmouth (both covering teams currently playing in the Championship, or second division), and the Football Echo in Sunderland, which at least has a Premier club.
"Ours is not under threat but is constantly under review," says Ian Murray, the editor of the Southern Daily Echo. "But we feel it makes a valuable contribution."
The paper sells only about 5,000 copies, compared with the average daily sale of the main edition of 35,000. But Mr Murray feels it offers an important showcase for local and youth sport as well as chronicling the fortunes of Southampton FC and maintaining a presence in summer, when cricket takes precedence.
He also believes some regional press groups closed their equivalents as a knee-jerk response to a "fashion" within the industry.
No one predicts Pink 'Uns that have ceased publication - the most successful English footballing city, Manchester, lost its version as long ago as 2000 - are likely to return.
But the appetite of rich men for owning newspapers, even if they do not make them richer, has not quite died, as is shown by the examples of Mr Pugachev in Paris and Alexander Lebedev, the owner of the Evening Standard and Independent, in London.
If they should find their heads turned and wish to study a model, they might do worse than look at the Football Echo in Sunderland. Despite summer rumours, the Saturday edition has reappeared for the new season.
"Circulation is very dependent on results," says Rob Lawson, the editor. "If Sunderland win, it's about 14,000 to 15,000, if they lose we're lucky to do 10,000, compared with the main paper's circulation of about 31,000 a night."
Overseas subscriptions, offered to exiles living and working around the world, are especially popular.
Perhaps the new breed of press baron could contemplate resurrecting a gimmick from the past.
When Sunderland went down to England's old second division in 1958, the first relegation in the club's history, the paper changed from pink to white "in shame", says Mr Lawson.
It initially recovered to a "strange greeny blue" before regaining its traditional colour on promotion a few seasons later.
business@thenational.ae
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The biog
Birthday: February 22, 1956
Born: Madahha near Chittagong, Bangladesh
Arrived in UAE: 1978
Exercise: At least one hour a day on the Corniche, from 5.30-6am and 7pm to 8pm.
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi? “Everywhere. Wherever you go, you can relax.”
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
