Enjoy a sumptuous iftar spread in the Emirates Palace's spectacular purpose-built Ramadan tent with every night spent at the hotel. Rates start from Dh1,490 and include one night's stay in a double room, taxes and the daily iftar buffet per adult, per day. The offer is valid from August 10 until September 13. Call 02 690 8888 or visit www.kempinski.com to book.
Tuck into a private iftar in a chalet overlooking Ski Dubai. The Grand Ski Chalet Ramadan package at the Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, is perfect for large groups and families. Book the chalet for a day and enjoy watching all the action on the slopes. The iftar meal will be served at a luxurious majlis set up specially for the occasion. The package costs Dh365 per person, and comes with cold and hot mezze, soft drinks, water, juices, coffee and tea.
Or spend a night at the hotel and enjoy free iftar at the Sezzam restaurant, or suhoor at Aspen. Rates start from Dh935, including taxes. For dine-in-only guests, the iftar buffet at Sezzam is available for Dh170 per person and includes soft drinks, water, special Ramadan juices and hot beverages. Groups of 10 or more enjoy a discount of 15 per cent.
The hotel's KGrill restaurant has a set iftar menu that is offered with shisha. The meal includes all kinds of delicacies, soft drinks, fresh juices, water, coffee and tea, and is served in a majlis set up on the poolside terrace. Iftar with shisha costs Dh264 per person and Dh234 without shisha. The hotel also has a daily suhoor buffet at Aspen for Dh132 per person. All rates include taxes. Call 04 341 0000 or visit www.kempinski.com/dubai.
Celebrate Ramadan at the world's tallest hotel and win a complimentary one-night stay. Rose Rayhaan, a Rotana hotel, has set up a daily raffle draw for guests who partake in the iftar buffet (Dh143 per person, including taxes, unlimited juices and soft drinks) at Petals, the hotel's all-day dining restaurant. The winner gets a complimentary night in a basic room, either single or double occupancy. It is not applicable for stays on weekdays and during public holidays or exhibition times, and does not include breakfast and taxes. Valid for stays until December 31.
You can also spend four nights at the hotel and pay for three. Double rooms cost from Dh390 per night, including taxes. The offer is valid until September 8. Call 04 323 0111 or visit www.rotana.com.
Get away to the beachside Kempinski Hotel Ajman for a weekend during Ramadan. The hotel is offering special rates all summer, starting from Dh630 per night for a deluxe sea-view room (either single or double occupancy) on weekdays, or Dh738 per night on weekends. The rates are based on two people sharing, and include daily breakfast per person and taxes.
Guests who book online will receive food-and-beverage credit of Dh125, redeemable at any of the restaurants at the hotel. The online booking promotion is valid for stays until September 30.
For further information or to book, visit www.kempinski.com.
Stay at the Address Dubai Mall during the holy month and enjoy a complimentary iftar or suhoor buffet. A night's stay in a deluxe double room with suhoor costs from Dh1,078; a stay with iftar costs from Dh1,198 (one meal per day per guest). All rates include taxes. Children up to the age of four stay for free. Visit www.theaddress.com or call for more information.
See Singapore's sights with the special packages on offer at Singapore Airlines. Its Ramadan package starts from Dh2,990 per person, including return airfare (economy class), hotel accommodation for three days and two nights (based on two people sharing a double room), daily breakfast per person, round-trip airport transfers, use of the complimentary daily evening shuttle to Kampong Glam, and a gift bag from Bugis Street Mall.
The Spectacular Sentosa offer starts from Dh3,720 and includes economy-class return air fare, three nights at the Amara Sanctuary boutique resort on Sentosa, daily breakfast, round-trip airport transfers, complimentary entry to one attraction on the island, and one ticket per person to Universal Studios (for use on weekdays only).
Valid for outbound travel from August 10 to September 20. Call 02 622 1110 for more information.
ciyer@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Company%20profile
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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
How to donate
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
Company Profile
Company name: NutriCal
Started: 2019
Founder: Soniya Ashar
Based: Dubai
Industry: Food Technology
Initial investment: Self-funded undisclosed amount
Future plan: Looking to raise fresh capital and expand in Saudi Arabia
Total Clients: Over 50
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.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
Match info
Costa Rica 0
Serbia 1
Kolarov (56')
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
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
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
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
