Those pouting lips might have seemed too good to be true, as was the shapely hump and long slender neck.
As it turns out, the winner of Qatar’s first camel beauty contest was entirely the work of nature and nothing to do with Botox or cosmetic surgery.
Mangiah Ghufran was declared the most beautiful beast at the festival, in Al Shahaniya, this week, after first satisfying the judges that his appearance had not been artificially enhanced.
Qatar Camel Festival judges were exercising extra caution after fears of what they called widespread “tampering” in the world of camel beauty competitions.
Last December, at a contest in Saudi Arabia, 43 camels were disqualified after it was discovered that unauthorised enhancers had been applied to the animals. These included Botox and other drugs designed to make their lips droopier and humps more shapely.
While the drugs can have the temporary effect of improving the camels’ appearance, they have serious long-term issues for their health.
Mangiah Ghufran was subject to intense scrutiny, including X-rays, before being anointed as the winner of the contest, which has a prize of one million riyals ($274,600).
Chief festival organiser, Hamad Jaber Al Athba, said: “Corruption was fought seriously at the Qatar Camel Festival.
“We had professional veterinary staff and advanced equipment and we worked to combat tampering and limit the spread of cosmetic materials.”
Mangiah Ghufran’s owner, Fahed Faj Algufrani, explained it had taken “years” to prepare his prize-winning camel.
Judges looked the appearance of the head, the length of the neck and the position of the camel’s hump in selecting the winner.
This was Qatar’s first international camel festival, attracting breeder from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, with prize money worth a total of 47m riyal.
Camel festivals have long been part of the UAE’s cultural scene, with the biggest being the Al Dhafra Festival in Abu Dhabi, which this year offered prizes totalling Dh110 ($29.9m).
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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Anti-semitic attacks
The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises the Jewish community on security , warned on Thursday that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had reached a record high.
It found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Semitic crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged “the eradication of Jewish people” and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
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- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
