The tropical island of Upolu is about as far as it is humanly possible to travel from Abu Dhabi. Deep in the Pacific Ocean and part of Samoa, the island is more than 17,000 kilometres from the capital of the UAE.
It is where Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, lived out his last days, and is the inspiration for characters from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.
But when darkness falls and the crickets begin their incessant chirp amid the coconut palms and dense rainforest, it is the UAE many of the 140,000 inhabitants have to thank for the lights going on.
It is a little more than 10 years since Masdar Energy Services completed a wind farm on the island. Two wind turbines, each 55 metres tall, deliver 1,500 megawatt-hours of power each year. It saves the island’s economy $475,000 (Dh1.74 million) annually in fuel and reduces its annual carbon footprint by more than 1,000 tonnes.
Crucially, in a region frequently hit by potentially devastating cyclones, the wind farms' innovative technology means the towers can be lowered quickly to the ground if a storm approaches.
Illuminating projects
The Upolu wind farm, opened in 2014, was the second project completed under the UAE-Pacific Partnership fund, whose aim is to unlock “significant economic and social benefits across the region”, said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and chairman of Masdar.
The fund, worth $50 million and backed with grant financing from Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) supports renewable energy projects in 11 Pacific island nations.
The first, in Tonga, was the La'a Lahi (Big Sun) solar plant, which now supplies 17 per cent of the island’s electricity. In the first phase, solar power farms were also built on Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.
The second phase includes the Solomon and Marshall Islands and Nauru. In Palau, a collection of more than 250 islands with a population only 21,000, a hybrid plant also includes a water treatment system.
Isolated by sometimes thousands of kilometres of ocean, all these countries face costly energy imports, up to 10 times higher than elsewhere. Renewable energy is seen as a way of reducing the financial burden and cutting carbon emissions.
All the projects were developed by Masdar, based on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. Set up in 2006, Masdar’s focus is on renewable energy, and is part of the UAE’s diversification strategy from oil and gas.
To date, Masdar’s reach extends over six continents and more than 40 countries. In the UK, the London Array in the Thames Estuary is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, supplying electricity to half a million homes.
The Sheikh Zayed Solar Power Plant in Mauritania supplies 10 per cent of the country’s grid capacity, while Egypt’s Benbah plant, the largest in Africa, powers one million homes.
In Morocco, smaller home solar-power systems supply more than 19,000 homes and 1,000 villages in remote rural areas, which previously had no access to electricity. In southern Afghanistan, Masdar has connected more than 500 homes in two dozen villages as well as schools and clinics that were previously off-grid.
Uzbekistan’s Zarafshan wind farm will be the biggest in Central Asia, but with concerns that birds of prey could collide with the spinning turbine blades. As a solution Masdar will use artificial intelligence to identify hawks in danger and switch off the turbines until they leave the area.
In total, Masdar estimates its global projects are producing enough power for 5.25 million homes and reduced carbon emissions each year equal to taking 6.5 million cars off the roads.
And for the people of Opulu, as the hits from South Pacific tell, each sunset really does bring some enchanted evening and happy talk.
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.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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)
The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
- 7 - million dollars, the film's budget
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
WHEN TO GO:
September to November or March to May; this is when visitors are most likely to see what they’ve come for.
WHERE TO STAY:
Meghauli Serai, A Taj Safari - Chitwan National Park resort (tajhotels.com) is a one-hour drive from Bharatpur Airport with stays costing from Dh1,396 per night, including taxes and breakfast. Return airport transfers cost from Dh661.
HOW TO GET THERE:
Etihad Airways regularly flies from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu from around Dh1,500 per person return, including taxes. Buddha Air (buddhaair.com) and Yeti Airlines (yetiairlines.com) fly from Kathmandu to Bharatpur several times a day from about Dh660 return and the flight takes just 20 minutes. Driving is possible but the roads are hilly which means it will take you five or six hours to travel 148 kilometres.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
