The welcome
For the past 150 years, the Beau-Rivage has had a reputation for being Switzerland's grandest hotel, and there is no mistaking the air of confidence that comes with age, status and a guest list that includes a string of heads of state and Hollywood stars. The welcome from the uniformed doorman is warm, check-in is efficiently sorted and, while we sit on a sofa in the lobby lounge, and an immaculately dressed, very old lady - who is apparently a confidante to hundreds of regular guests - comes over to say hello.
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The neighbourhood
With a four-hectare estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, this is one of the most exclusive locations in the region. A few steps away from the famous Olympic Museum, 10 minutes from Lausanne's city centre and 30 minutes from Geneva Airport, the hotel is accessible from lots of European cities. More attractively for me, it is a 40-minute drive to the ski resort of Villars with its 220km of trails, making it perfect for a quick day trip. A one-day ski pass costs 30 Swiss francs (Dh117) and children under nine ski for free.
The room
All the rooms are different. I was in a junior suite in the Palace wing. It was very large, with a hallway, cloakroom, bathroom and a comfy, elegant seating area. Best of all was the tiny balcony overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps. As views go, they don't get much better. Personal touches included a vase of red roses, chocolates and a huge bowl of fruit.
The service
Impeccably attentive, efficient and just on the right side of friendly, as you would expect from a five-star Swiss hotel. Breakfast in the room came exactly when requested. The hotel being privately owned, many of the staff have been there for years and the chief concierge is, unusually for Europe, a woman.
The scene
In the last 20 years, US$100 million (Dh367m) has been spent renovating the hotel. Some features, such as the Cinq Mondes Spa, are new while others, such as the outdoor terrace, have had a modern facelift. But generally, the money has been spent on restoring old-school grandeur with marble floors, gilt ceilings, chandeliers, stained-glass windows and extraordinary murals.
Past guests include Coco Chanel, Mary Pickford, Gary Cooper and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham (the latter two featured the hotel in their novels). The hotel's current guests are a mix of nationalities and professions but it is "old money" that dominates.
The food
There are four restaurants: the sushi bar Miyako; the Cafe Beau-Rivage on the terrace that provides brasserie-style food; L'Accademia, an Italian restaurant; and the signature Anne-Sophie Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace. Pic, renowned for being the only three-generation, three Michelin-star chef in the world, brought with her high expectations, and she doesn't disappoint. She offers an a la carte menu plus two fixed-price, five-course tasting menus. One, dubbed "Emotions", is the more daring and imaginative menu. Costing 245 francs (Dh959), it features ingredients ranging from sea urchins to tongue, black truffles and juniper-smoked venison. The other, the "Pic collection d'hiver" (330 francs [Dh1,292]), includes line-caught bass with aquitaine caviar "as my father Jacques Pic loved it, 1971" . The kitchen adapted the Emotions menu into a vegetarian tasting menu for me and it was suitably delicious and surprisingly light.
Loved
A memorable day in which I breakfasted on the balcony of my room, skied all morning, lunched in a mountainside restaurant in Villars called L'Etable with only a glass wall between us and the sheep and the donkeys, and had dinner at Anne-Sophie Pic. If only life was always like that.
Hated
Trying to find the spa when I was already running late. It is badly signposted and the approach is through what looks like a door to a service lift. But the body and spirit massage - a mix of Thai, Balinese and European influences - was sensational.
Verdict
Elegant and classy. With the fashion for designer boutique hotels, it may be a bit impersonal by comparison, but you cannot fault the service, location or grandeur of the decor.
The bottom line
A garden room costs from 520 francs (Dh2,036) per night, including taxes. Beau-Rivage Palace, Place du Port, Lausanne 6, Switzerland (www.brp.ch; 00 41 21 613 33 33).
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Scorecard
Scotland 220
K Coetzer 95, J Siddique 3-49, R Mustafa 3-35
UAE 224-3 in 43,5 overs
C Suri 67, B Hameed 63 not out
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
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
Mountain%20Boy
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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 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 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
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.
The package
Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
