A yellow cartoon character called Hadaaf in the guise of a football-shaped money box is to kick off a football-themed fund-raising drive next week to aid eight children's charities. Some 100,000 money boxes are to be handed out to children from Thursday next week in shopping malls across the country as part of the campaign, called Let's Save for a Noble Goal.
The money-raising drive will include the auction of a royal football in September. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, are among 11 members of the Royal family to have signed it. The campaign was dreamt up last year when the Austrian and Swiss ambassadors, Gerald Kriechbaum and Wolfgang Amadeus Bruelhart, were given a Euro Championship 2008 football and took it on a tour of the emirates, asking sheikhs to sign it at each stop.
The royal football and two lots of tickets to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, are to be auctioned off at a gala dinner at the Emirates Palace hotel on September 28. The campaign culminates in the first week of October when the Hadaaf money boxes will be handed in and the money raised will be distributed to the charities. "The name Hadaaf, which means scorer in Arabic, fits well with the concept of the whole campaign, connecting the football principle of scoring and reminding that with a team spirit together we can score a noble goal," said Mr Kriechbaum.
Jude al Qubaisi, 10, the first child to receive a Hadaaf money box, said she was going to add to it every time she got her pocket money. The charities to benefit are: Al Ain Paediatrics Department; Abu Dhabi's Special Care Centre; Dubai's Al Noor Training Centre for Children with Special Needs; the Emirates Association for the Blind, in Sharjah; Umm al Qaiwain's Umm Al Quora School; a rehabilitation centre in Ajman for the disabled; the Privacy Centre in Ras al Khaimah; and Fujairah's Private Academy School.
asafdar@thenational.ae
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- 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
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
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Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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