ABU DHABI // There was a festival feel to the fourth annual Prevent Diabetes Walk yesterday, as an estimated 15,000 participants descended on the Yas Marina Circuit.
Stilt walkers carefully made their way through the thousands of people who came to the event, stopping to take pictures with excited groups of young people. Long lines formed in front of the climbing wall. Others sat down to learn how to play goblet-shaped African drums, taught by enthusiastic instructors with dreadlocks. At Dh10 a ticket, entire families came out to enjoy the atmosphere and raise awareness about diabetes.
Mohammed Ahmed donned a pair of boxing gloves and enthusiastically hammered away at an instructor's padded hands. After a few minutes, the instructor took a break and asked the 13-year-old whether boxing was hard. "Yes," he said breathlessly, as he continued to throw combinations of lefts and rights on command for several more minutes.
Afterwards, Mohammed, who also practises karate, kobudo (an Okinawan martial art using weapons), football, basketball, swimming and tennis, denied finding the boxing difficult. "I just like throwing punches," he said. "It's a very good workout."
Mohammed was at the walk because, even at a young age, he is obsessed with living a healthy life. That is what brought him out to walk around the Yas Marina Circuit's 5km track. "It's fun and I want to tell people to do it because it's healthy," he said.
Many people came to show support for diabetic family members. Anna Paquibit, whose mother has diabetes, was one of them. "I just wanted to help out," said the 25-year-old.
Both of Jayaved Dhakshinamoorthy's parents are diabetic. "It is good to be part of this," said the 43-year-old, who had come out to raise awareness about the condition.
Meanwhile, Mohammed al Minhali, 30, brought his diabetic father, Hamed al Minhali, 55, to the walk. "My father has diabetes, but he is here to do the walk. I am here because I wanted to support efforts to raise awareness about diabetes," said the younger Mr al Minhali. He said the disease had been a wake up call for his father. "He is living healthily now, and has lost a lot of weight," he said.
Although bound to his wheelchair, Bani al Najar, 45, was looking forward to circling the track. Mr al Najar is not a diabetic, but he wanted people to appreciate their health. "I came to support the message about healthy living. Don't eat fast food, don't stop walking," he said.
Carol Sansour works for the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi, which organises the annual walk. "The philosophy of the walk is to spread the message that even an exercise as simple as walking can help prevent diabetes," she explained.
Those who have a history of diabetes in the family, or lead sedentary lives, are at an increased risk of developing the disease. According to the Imperial College, they can reduce their risk of contracting diabetes by up to 58 per cent by walking every day.
For Geoffrey Bottomley, 49, and his wife, the best part of the event was the feeling of community. This was the second year they had participated. "We came last year and saw the unity of everybody. It gets everyone together from all walks of life."
"It also promotes healthy eating, which I definitely need," he said while patting his stomach.
smclain@thenational.ae
Tottenham's 10 biggest transfers (according to transfermarkt.com):
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2). Roberto Soldado - Valencia - £25m: Flop
3). Erik Lamela - Roma - £25m: Jury still out
4). Son Heung-min - Bayer Leverkusen - £25m: Success
5). Darren Bent - Charlton Athletic - £21m: Flop
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
Company%20Profile
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Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
IF YOU GO
The flights
FlyDubai flies direct from Dubai to Skopje in five hours from Dh1,314 return including taxes. Hourly buses from Skopje to Ohrid take three hours.
The tours
English-speaking guided tours of Ohrid town and the surrounding area are organised by Cultura 365; these cost €90 (Dh386) for a one-day trip including driver and guide and €100 a day (Dh429) for two people.
The hotels
Villa St Sofija in the old town of Ohrid, twin room from $54 (Dh198) a night.
St Naum Monastery, on the lake 30km south of Ohrid town, has updated its pilgrims' quarters into a modern 3-star hotel, with rooms overlooking the monastery courtyard and lake. Double room from $60 (Dh 220) a night.
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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