Hundreds gathered in Tunis to celebrate the start of the Tunisian national team's Fifa World Cup journey as they took on Denmark on Tuesday.
Cheers and enthusiastic chanting mixed with traditional Tunisian songs could be heard in the city centre area as people waved flags to show their support for their compatriots.
Nerves were frayed as fans cheered on the team as they continually defied Danish attacks, with the crowd saluting their players’ efforts.
In the end, Tunisia survived a stoppage-time penalty check to earn a 0-0 draw.
Excitement reached its peak as the referee's whistle declared the end of the game — and a result deemed more than satisfying for the Tunisians.
Feten, 46, a nurse, compared the celebrations to those of Eid.
“Our joy is big despite all the crisis in Tunisia,” she told The National as she stood in the front row to watch the game.
“We wanted to forget the general mood and stress. We’re all happy and the guys lived up to our expectations and brought us hope back.”
For Noor, 22, a student, football is not usually something she would take much of an interest in.
“I don’t follow football a lot,” she said. “But I saw that they played well and did not leave room for the Danish team to score. They made us proud and we are hoping next time we will do better.”
Football restoring a sense of belonging
Amid challenging socio-economic conditions, Tunisians flocked in big numbers to watch TV screens in cafes and public spaces to cheer on their team as they try to seize a rare moment of joy and celebration.
“As usual, football is the only thing that makes us happy in this country,” Amara Masoudi, 69, told The National.
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
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.
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
Challenge Cup result:
1. UAE 3 faults
2. Ireland 9 faults
3. Brazil 11 faults
4. Spain 15 faults
5. Great Britain 17 faults
6. New Zealand 20 faults
7. Italy 26 faults
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
