In the steamy tropical night when the cry of cicadas was strongest and fruit bats swooped low on the horizon, I squeezed past coy couples and noisy families and eased myself down onto the hard stone bench.
Moments later a rhythmic drum beat brought silence to the audience and the darkness of the stage was pierced by a spotlight. And there, clutching his bow and arrow, stood Rama, Hinduism's embodiment of the perfect man. Under a clash of symbols and a flash of red and blue lighting, Rama, in an attempt to rescue his beautiful wife Sita from the clutches of the evil Ravana, strode into battle in a theatrical retelling of the Hindu Epic the Ramayana. Rising up behind the stage, and lit by spotlights and glittering under a star-soaked Indonesian sky, stood the 1,000-year-old Hindu temples of Prambanan.
This wasn't my first visit to Indonesia. On previous visits I've been pampered in Balinese resorts, seen lizards the size of dragons on Komodo Island and tracked orang-utan's through Sumatran forests. But Java, the heart of the nation, was an isle I had only ever skipped through with haste. Why? I guess I wanted an easy time and like so many before me I'd been put off by thoughts of numerous mega-cities with their mega levels of pollution and congestion.
However, with more than half of Indonesia's 240 million inhabitants, Java is the undisputed political, economic and commercial powerhouse of the archipelago and so it was only right that I dedicate this Indonesian journey to exploring Java in depth. From its glittering fields of rice to its equally glittering shopping malls, Java, with its backbone of belching volcanoes, is an island of extraordinary beauty and great diversity.
My Javanese explorations had begun, as they do for many, in the traffic jams of Jakarta, the capital. An ever-growing city of some 10 million, this seemingly endless sprawl of relentless concrete is a megalopolis of daunting proportions and most visitors try to escape its clutches as fast as they can. At first I thought I'd be like all the others and jump on the first plane, bus or train out of town, but I forced myself to slow down and, bit by bit, I found that the longer I stayed the more enjoyment I reaped from the city. I learnt to avoid travelling across town during rush hour, I discovered some of the best restaurants in the country and I poked about the Chinese markets with their stalls selling live eels and frogs, incense and traditional medicines. But what really made me enchanted by Jakarta was the Sunday afternoon I spent with hundreds of local families laughing at street performers and acrobats in the cobbled old town square of Kota and visiting the surrounding galleries and museums.
Every day new arrivals from the farthest reaches of this sprawling archipelago pour into Jakarta searching for its promise of wealth and opportunity. You can almost feel money being made and social boundaries breaking down. The social cohesion of village life is eroded away in Jakarta and what was once unacceptable becomes normal. Jakarta has certainly not left its past behind, but it's clearly looking towards a future where priorities will be very different to the traditions that still rule in towns and villages across the isle and the archipelago. It was while admiring the treasures displayed in the magnificent National Museum that I first learnt about the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta. The various museum displays made clear it was a city with one eye keenly on the future but the other staring firmly at the lifestyle of its past.
It took next to no time for me to decide that Yogyakarta, the cultural epicentre of Java, was possibly one of the most artistically rich cities I had ever visited. At the city's heart is the Kraton, the Royal Palace complex of the Sultans who were once regarded as divine rulers. Even today the Sultan still retains immense political and spiritual power and within the Kraton walls the ancient traditions of Javanese court life - its art, its dance, its poetry, its music and its rituals are kept alive and relevant. Courtly ceremony here is conducted with finesse. On days of great importance chariots are decked in royal robes and horses and smartly turned out guards lead the Sultan out to meet his people. On other days, though, the people come to the palace and are entertained by dancers and musicians, storytellers and shadow puppets. Even beyond the confines of the Kraton though, Javanese culture old and new thrives. In the south of the town a market sells ravens, owls and other creatures to be used in traditional medicines but, in a nod to future directions, come night young punks with hair dyed green leap about to the thumping drums and screaming guitars of an Indonesian punk-rock concert.
Wayang kulit, or a leather puppet shadow play, is more than mere children's entertainment. A show can last all night and involve hundreds of shadow puppets and an entire orchestra, but more to the point, the tales recounted in these performances, classic stories of good versus evil, are filled with the gods of Java's Hindu past. Yogyakarta is a centre of wayang kulit and naturally enough I found myself spending many an evening watching Ganesh, Kali and others flit across a backlit, white-cloth screen. But it was the Ramayana Ballet, a flamboyant spectacle involving up to 200 performers, ear splitting fireworks and daring fire walks that most had me enchanted.
Java isn't all about high culture and dainty art though. This is an island that can be as ferocious as it is refined. To the north, and towering over Yogyakarta, is Mount Merapi, which at 2,930m is the most active volcano in a country bristling with angry mountains of fire. Merapi has erupted numerous times over the centuries and its fury has buried towns, villages and people under avalanches of ash, rock and lava over and over again. For the citizens of Yogyakarta its presence is so demanding that every year, to appease it, the Sultan of Yogyakarta is compelled to dedicate offerings to the spirits of the volcano. Merapi might be the most active of Indonesia's volcanoes, but for me it was two of Java's other volcanoes that had me enthralled. Mount Bromo, east of Yogyakarta, is a place of pilgrimage for Hindu's and a place of beautiful awe for all others and braving the pre-dawn cold to watch the first beams of the crimson morning sun light up the sandy crater floor in which Bromo sits is one of the finest ways to start a day I can imagine.
And it was further east still, at the point where Java falls into the waters separating it from Bali, where I truly felt the innards of the planet being spat out around me. Ijen is a moody volcanic crater on a high, mist-shrouded plateau. At its centre is a deadly lake of acid around which swirl clouds of noxious sulphurous fumes. It's hard to imagine a place more unsuitable for humanity but a special breed of man makes his living in the very belly of this beast.
In the dark hours long before dawn I walked to the crest of the crater and then, putting on a gas mask and goggles for protection, I followed a narrow, rocky trail into the guts of the volcano where I came upon dripping molten sulphur and bright, blue flames of fire (the burning sulphur causes the blue flames) and a group of unimaginably tough miners whose only protection from the toxic gases is often nothing but a handkerchief tied around the mouth and nose.
These hard men make their living in this most extreme of environments by digging the valuable yellow sulphur straight out of the flames of the volcanic vents and then, carrying up to 80 kilograms of sulphur at a time, they walk down the mountain to a processing plant where the sulphur is converted for use in fertilisers, cosmetics and medicines. Java could be cultured and civilised but after spending a day with these miners it was impossible to deny that it could also be a brutal and cruel island.
Sitting on the hard bench I was transfixed for hours as Rama and his fellow godly actors and dancers spiralled and twirled under a rainbow of spotlights. With their dance they carried us far away from the Java of today, across an Indian Ocean ripe in spice, to an India of thousands of years ago, when Rama and Sita lived and loved together. It was a story as old as Asia. A story of good and bad. A story of hardships and of art, of toil and of dance, of apocalyptic disaster and courtly elegance. And, as the final explosion of fireworks died away, the drums fell silent again and the dancers wiped away their make-up I looked up to see the nearby floodlit spires of the Prambanan temples and beyond, just visible in the darkened night sky, the clear outline of Merapi, the brooding mountain of fire.
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
THE CARD
2pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
2.30pm: Handicap Dh 76,000 (D) 1,400m
3pm: Handicap Dh 64,000 (D) 1,200m
3.30pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh 100,000 (D) 1,000m
4pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (D) 1,000m
4.30pm: Handicap 64,000 (D) 1,950m
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (11.30pm)
Saturday Freiburg v Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund, Cologne v Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld v Mainz (6.30pm) Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig (9.30pm)
Sunday Werder Bremen v Stuttgart (6.30pm), Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (9pm)
Monday Hoffenheim v Augsburg (11.30pm)
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
match info
Manchester United 3 (Martial 7', 44', 74')
Sheffield United 0
More on animal trafficking
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
Sri Lanka Test squad:
Dimuth Karunaratne (stand-in captain), Niroshan Dickwella (vice captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Dhananjaya de Silva, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohamed Shiraz, Lakshan Sandakan and Lasith Embuldeniya.
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Tuesday (UAE kick-off times)
Leicester City v Brighton (9pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (11.15pm)
Wednesday
Manchester United v Sheffield United (9pm)
Newcastle United v Aston Villa (9pm)
Norwich City v Everton (9pm)
Wolves v Bournemouth (9pm)
Liverpool v Crystal Palace (11.15pm)
Thursday
Burnley v Watford (9pm)
Southampton v Arsenal (9pm)
Chelsea v Manchester City (11.15pm)
RESULT
Copa del Rey, semi-final second leg
Real Madrid 0
Barcelona 3 (Suarez (50', 73' pen), Varane (69' OG)
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Honeymoonish
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
info-box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BRIEF SCORES
England 353 and 313-8 dec
(B Stokes 112, A Cook 88; M Morkel 3-70, K Rabada 3-85)
(J Bairstow 63, T Westley 59, J Root 50; K Maharaj 3-50)
South Africa 175 and 252
(T Bavuma 52; T Roland-Jones 5-57, J Anderson 3-25)
(D Elgar 136; M Ali 4-45, T Roland-Jones 3-72)
Result: England won by 239 runs
England lead four-match series 2-1
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
Brief scoreline:
Burnley 3
Barnes 63', 70', Berg Gudmundsson 75'
Southampton 3
Man of the match
Ashley Barnes (Burnley)
