Videos from US President Donald Trump’s trip to the Gulf are still making the rounds on social media. Seemingly everyone, including body language experts, have an opinion.
“What I did notice is he's a little more subdued in these videos than you often see,” said Abbie Marono, a behavioural scientist who has also occasionally given training to entities including the US Secret Service, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies across the US.
Ms Marono compared Mr Trump’s mostly stoic and reserved face and hand gestures during visit to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar to his usual interactions with US reporters and his appearances at various events.
“I think it's a cultural respect issue,” she said. Middle East "culture is more reserved, and although Trump still retained some of his typical body language, it was more subtle.”
She also said that during Mr Trump’s interactions with both Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed, his body language showed respect while also maintaining confidence and comfort.
“They're equally faced forward and orienting, towards each other” she explained, after looking at videos of Mr Trump standing next to Prince Mohammed and Sheikh Mohamed during the separate visits.
“I thought this was really interesting, because in his debate with Kamala Harris, every time she spoke, he wouldn't orient towards her. He wouldn't face her when she was speaking, and that’s a big sign of disrespect.”
A particular moment during Mr Trump’s UAE trip stood out to Ms Marono: when he sat and spoke to President Sheikh Mohamed.
To the untrained eye, the interaction may have seemed unassuming, but to Ms Marono, who wrote The Upper Hand: Mastering persuasion and getting what you want with social engineering, Mr Trump’s consistent preference of making a triangle with his hands while sitting spoke volumes.
“It's very clear that he was either feeling very confident, because that steeple is a sign of confidence, or he was purposely projecting confidence,” she added.
“That is a gesture that we all do know is associated with power now, because it's so widely talked about, there's no way that his team aren't aware.”
She said Mr Trump’s body language showed he was confident upon his arrival in the UAE.
“It was a very comfortable interaction and it didn't appear there was any political, political unrest or any conflict between them,” she said. “It's not exactly the kind of comfort you'd see between friends, but it was a calm and controlled comfort.”
She compared his interactions with Gulf leaders to his interactions with various world leaders during the US leader's first term, and said that she feels he made the decision to curtail his usually gregarious handshakes where he was known to pull people in and maintain a grip.
“He presented dominant but not aggressive, whereas previously he has presented dominant and aggressive,” she said. “There has either been coaching or growth ... there is definitely a change in his purposeful presentation.”
Ms Marono became a professor of psychology at 23 after earning her PhD, and currently serves as director of education at Social-Engineer, LLC, a firm specialising in behaviour analysis.
The US granted her an O-1 non-immigrant visa, which, according to the US State Department means that she is a top 1 per cent expert in her field.
Ms Marono said that although world leaders are often seasoned with advice from sometimes hundreds of consultants related to body language and verbal communication, inevitably she can always find clues from in certain moments that can reveal bigger truths.
“Even if you are perfectly coached, you're still human and you're still reacting,” she explained. “Just look at the various political debates that take place, you see leaders get emotionally reactive because even with all the coaching in the world, when you care about something and you’re passionate about it, it's really hard not to react.”
Yet in all her experience, she finds one US politician to be among the most difficult to get a read on, former president Barack Obama.
“He is almost always perfectly presented and doesn’t tend to react a lot,” she said, reflecting on his eight years in the White House.
“I feel that he's very deeply coached, that his non-verbals feel so authentic that it's so hard to identify when they’re genuine or artificial.”
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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Honeymoonish
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
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Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
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)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Barbie
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Hotel Data Cloud profile
Date started: June 2016
Founders: Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok
Based: Dubai
Sector: Travel Tech
Size: 10 employees
Funding: $350,000 (Dh1.3 million)
Investors: five angel investors (undisclosed except for Amar Shubar)
Emirates Cricket Board Women’s T10
ECB Hawks v ECB Falcons
Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
Hawks
Coach: Chaitrali Kalgutkar
Squad: Chaya Mughal (captain), Archara Supriya, Chamani Senevirathne, Chathurika Anand, Geethika Jyothis, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kashish Loungani, Khushi Sharma, Khushi Tanwar, Rinitha Rajith, Siddhi Pagarani, Siya Gokhale, Subha Srinivasan, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish
Falcons
Coach: Najeeb Amar
Squad: Kavisha Kumari (captain), Almaseera Jahangir, Annika Shivpuri, Archisha Mukherjee, Judit Cleetus, Ishani Senavirathne, Lavanya Keny, Mahika Gaur, Malavika Unnithan, Rishitha Rajith, Rithika Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Shashini Kaluarachchi, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Vaishnave Mahesh
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
