Loitering about in malls, we came to the conclusion that we had sunk to new depths. Out of sheer boredom, we were reduced to playing a game to see who could get the most free tasters from ice-cream parlours before the salesperson started to look angry. It was decided that we need to use our summer more profitably.
Ice skating in Dubai Mall has proven to be an easy enough activity to do to where we can socialise while actually doing something, as opposed to socialising while standing around. For the fitness freaks among us, this provides a moderate workout, and it is easy to yap on to our hearts' content while skating side by side. Or so we thought.
We have been skating together at least a couple of times, but Diana still refuses to venture from the wall without having established a firm grip on someone's hand. Since the hand she is holding is usually not attached to an Olympic ice dancer, the result is often disastrous and involves copious amounts of wailing about getting a hangnail or wet jeans. The first time we embarked on an ice-skating outing, there was plenty of sliding around on bottoms and tripping over little children, then gazing ruefully at the little children who were speeding on and twirling about, unfazed. I was not pleased to discover that any skills I had once acquired when put into an ice skating course had been forgotten. My yell of, "Look at me, I can do a spin" ended in a few feeble rotations that Sarah quickly put to shame by losing control and careening wildly forwards in a sort of limbo dance.
Meanwhile, Diana had been painstakingly scanning the rink for her chief interest in life, and called out happily when she saw a boy she considered cute enough to try to befriend. She pinpointed a whole host of them, in fact, and then started muttering to herself about how she would go about making conversation with them. We left her to it and glided to the centre of the rink, where I tried to show Sarah how to switch from forward skating to backwards skating, doing my best imitation of my old coach (Bend. Rise. Turn.) All I forgot to tell her was to bend her knees, not her back, which made her topple over and furiously tell me that whatever career I chose, an ice-skating coach should be the last thing on my list.
That was when Diana came wobbling along and instructed us to start scraping ice with our skates at once, and get to work making snowballs. Or iceballs. We finally decided on slushballs. We were too used to indulging in her little whims to put up much of a protest. Working as Diana's unpaid slushball manufacturers at least averted the possibility of being associated with Diana in the middle of one of her temper tantrums. We were sent off to stand behind a boy she had set her heart on, and dreading what would come next, we took up our positions.
Our misguided friend then took a deep breath and flung a slushball half way across the rink. It struck a rink supervisor, who skated over and politely told her not to make snowballs or throw them, and gave her what, as far as I could perceive, was a lecture on safety.
When she trudged up to us, all weepy and crestfallen, she launched into a dramatic speech about how unfortunate life was. When asked about what possessed her to throw a snowball at a supervisor, she fixed us with a beady look and informed us that it wasn't meant for the supervisor, it was meant for the cute boy.
"Actually, it was meant for you, but it was supposed to hit the guy. When it hit the guy I could have told him that it was meant for you guys but I hit him by mistake." Shaking her head at our blank faces, she notified us that this was a conversation starter.
The things the human brain is capable of thinking up. Slurping her milkshake from the rink café later, Diana declared that at least she had had him notice her. "Maybe," she said thoughtfully, "maybe if I pretend to be bad at ice skating, and fall in front of him..."
My interjection of, "Pretend to be bad?" was coldly ignored.
"Yup, that's a good plan." She stood up, made her way into the rink, and promptly collapsed, taking two children down with her. A supervisor hurried over, looking not-too-happy. It's time we made these ice-skating jaunts less frequent.
Lavanya Malhotra is a 15-year-old student in Dubai
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
THE%20HOLDOVERS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlexander%20Payne%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Paul%20Giamatti%2C%20Da'Vine%20Joy%20Randolph%2C%20Dominic%20Sessa%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Schedule:
Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)
Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)
Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four
Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)
Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 28: Final (Dubai)
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
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
If you go
Flying
Despite the extreme distance, flying to Fairbanks is relatively simple, requiring just one transfer in Seattle, which can be reached directly from Dubai with Emirates for Dh6,800 return.
Touring
Gondwana Ecotours’ seven-day Polar Bear Adventure starts in Fairbanks in central Alaska before visiting Kaktovik and Utqiarvik on the North Slope. Polar bear viewing is highly likely in Kaktovik, with up to five two-hour boat tours included. Prices start from Dh11,500 per person, with all local flights, meals and accommodation included; gondwanaecotours.com
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: Dh898,000
On sale: now
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now