Residents in the Middle East and North Africa might be forgiven for finding the hysteria over a record-breaking heatwave in the UK a bit excessive.
During the summer, temperatures there consistently exceed the 40ºC reached in some parts of Britain on Tuesday.
In some parts of Iraq and Kuwait, sweltering summer temperatures stay above 50ºC for weeks, while average temperatures across the region average a sweat-inducing 35ºC.
So when the Met Office issued its first red alert over the two-day scorcher that sent Brits running for cover, some of the UK’s Middle Eastern residents did not quite get what all the fuss was about.
On the hottest day in British recorded history, people attending an event at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) offices in central London seemed minimally concerned by the scorching conditions outside.
“I walked here from my office,” said a Saudi Arabian man who lives in London. “This is fine, it’s not too bad. You should come to the Gulf this time of year and see.”
Naturally, sitting in an air-conditioned basement room away from the sun’s glare made for a relatively cool time for attendees escaping the afternoon sun.
It also shed light on the reasons why Europeans and Brits struggle to adapt to the heat.
“I guess we have a lot more air conditioning in the Middle East, which you don’t really have in the UK,” Fayha, a Syrian, said at the ABCC’s offices.
“But we also don’t go out during the hottest daytime hours, the streets are empty during those times and everyone stays indoors and we move our outings and shopping to the evening instead.”
As she rushed to make it to the London underground before the rush hour began, the added realisation came that the different modes of public transport in the two regions also affect overall heat tolerance.
Travelling by train is still relatively uncommon in most of the Middle East with heavy reliance on artificially cooled cars ― or buses with windows rolled down ― to get around.
Where new railway or underground facilities have been built, as in the UAE, carriages are well equipped with air conditioning.
Meanwhile, in the UK capital, only four out of 11 underground Tube lines have air conditioning and the country’s steel railway tracks are buckling under the extreme heat, resulting in widespread disruptions to service.
“I’m Lebanese, whatever you throw at us we manage. I’m really fine with this heat,” said another member of the chamber when asked her she was handling the hot weather.
Indeed, perhaps it is also the chaos the extreme heat induced that has allowed Middle Easterners in the UK to approach the scorching temperatures with such insouciant familiarity.
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Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT)
Tuesday
Mairobr v Liverpool
Spartak Moscow v Sevilla
Feyenoord v Shakhtar Donetsk
Manchester City v Napoli
Monaco v Besiktas
RB Leipzig v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur
Wednesday
Benfica v Manchester United
CSKA Moscow v Basel
Bayern Munich v Celtic
Anderlecht v Paris Saint-Germain
Qarabag v Atletico Madrid
Chelsea v Roma
Barcelona v Olympiakos
Juventus v Sporting Lisbon
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg
Ajax v Real Madrid, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Naga
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
