A fervent hastiness permeates the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm El Sheikh this week as it prepares to host the UN climate change conference Cop27, which starts on November 6.
Construction crews and heavy machinery were visible in almost every district of the city on Thursday.
While some were busy repaving large stretches of the city’s roads, others were hard at work levelling parts of its mountainous terrain for the installation of billboards bearing the conference logo.
“I hadn’t been in town for a few weeks as I was visiting my family,” a 47-year old taxi driver from the city told The National. "But when I returned, I was truly surprised by how different the city was to when I left. There were entirely new roads in areas that are usually left untouched when the city prepares for such conferences."
Residents said the government’s efforts to prepare it for the conference — expected to attract a lot of media coverage — reached a fever pitch in late June when several of the city’s main streets and most-visited sites were closed for weeks on end for renovations.
New roads and flyovers have been built along with several bicycle lanes on many of the city’s main roads.
About 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($650 million) has been spent on the city’s development for the conference, said the governor of South Sinai, the larger province of which Sharm El Sheikh is a part, earlier this month.
A large portion of the money went to improving environmental aspects of the tourist town in line with the theme of the conference.
The National spoke to Nour El Din Mohamed, a solar power engineer at one of several plants that have begun operations in the city in the past few weeks.
He said tremendous pressure had been put on the private company that built the plant to complete it as fast as possible in time for the conference.
“Just under three months ago, this was an empty piece of land, but the government was keen to have all the city’s green projects up and running before November,” Mr Mohamed said, pointing to a large expanse of desert covered by more than 9,000 solar panels west of the city.
He said most of the city’s solar farms have been successfully connected to the national grid, and are only awaiting final agreement between the private companies that operate them and the government.
The importance of ensuring the country's status as an environmental showpiece in recent weeks was also apparent at a terminal built in September to house a new fleet of 140 electric buses.
Saeed El Refaey, the terminal’s director of operations, told The National that there was also tremendous pressure from the government to have the terminal start operations ahead of the conference.
“All the functional aspects of the terminal are complete, all that’s left are just finishing touches, such as fencing the area, building the visitors’ centre and the drivers’ quarters,” Mr El Refaey said.
The terminal includes 70 vehicle chargers. It was packed with off-duty buses on Thursday. But around its central area, there was still some work to be done to the perimeter and entrance.
The buses were transporting passengers on Thursday. Many also lined up at petrol stations recently installed with electric chargers.
Ahead of Cop27, bus fares were waived by the city’s municipality, with a 15 pound (about $0.65) ticket charge coming into effect after November, Mr El Refaey said.
A significant increase in the security presence in the city is also causing disruptions to its normally quiet streets. Around the city’s Old Market on Thursday, a group of non-uniformed men stood visually inspecting passing cars. Other police checkpoints on previously empty roads were also inspecting passing cars.
Another taxi driver said that the men were General Intelligence Service officers who have been stationed there since the service took over securing the city ahead of the conference.
The governor of South Sinai’s office confirmed from its side that the GIS and the National Security Agency had taken over the task of securing the city before the conference.
A hotel manager in the city’s Al Hadaba district told The National that although its tourism sector had recorded a marked recovery earlier this year, a drop in tourists occurred about two months ago, which he attributes to disruption caused by the extensive preparations.
The city’s traffic control unit mandated earlier this month that all taxis must install a new smart monitoring device comprising a security camera and a microphone that feed the sound and image to a control unit run by the city’s municipality.
The surveillance system was met with mixed reactions from taxi drivers, many of whom reported feeling uncomfortable with what they consider an intrusion on their privacy.
Despite the undeniable hubbub caused by the conference, many of Sharm El Sheikh’s residents expect things to return to normal when it closes at the end of November.
Cop27 takes place from November 6 to 18 at the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre.
The years Ramadan fell in May
The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
The biog
Age: 30
Position: Senior lab superintendent at Emirates Global Aluminium
Education: Bachelor of science in chemical engineering, post graduate degree in light metal reduction technology
Favourite part of job: The challenge, because it is challenging
Favourite quote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Gandi
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
FIGHT CARD
Sara El Bakkali v Anisha Kadka (Lightweight, female)
Mohammed Adil Al Debi v Moaz Abdelgawad (Bantamweight)
Amir Boureslan v Mahmoud Zanouny (Welterweight)
Abrorbek Madaminbekov v Mohammed Al Katheeri (Featherweight)
Ibrahem Bilal v Emad Arafa (Super featherweight)
Ahmed Abdolaziz v Imad Essassi (Middleweight)
Milena Martinou v Ilham Bourakkadi (Bantamweight, female)
Noureddine El Agouti v Mohamed Mardi (Welterweight)
Nabil Ouach v Ymad Atrous (Middleweight)
Nouredin Samir v Zainalabid Dadachev (Lightweight)
Marlon Ribeiro v Mehdi Oubahammou (Welterweight)
Brad Stanton v Mohamed El Boukhari (Super welterweight
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Sukuk
An Islamic bond structured in a way to generate returns without violating Sharia strictures on prohibition of interest.
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Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
TICKETS
For tickets for the two-day Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event, entitled Dubai Invasion 2019, on September 27 and 28 go to www.meraticket.com.
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The biog
Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Doctorate degree in forensic medicine at the University of Bonn
Hobbies: Drawing and reading books about graphic design
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
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50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
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Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba
