Debdatta Chakraborty's photograph shows a vendor in Srinagar, India, tending to his grilled kebabs and surrounded by cloudy smoke after firing up his charcoal oven.
For the stunning image titled Kebabiyana, the Indian photographer won the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2022 award.
Five photographers in the UAE were also honoured in the competition. Ameyaa Akhil Vinayak won second place in the Young (10-and-under) category for her image of fish in ice.
Manju Jisto was Highly Commended in The Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers category with Banana Blossom, a beautiful shot of banana blossom gathered in Kerala, India. The image also won Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (The Gulf) award, which goes to the most outstanding photographs from photographers in the GCC.
Second place in the category went to Shyjith Onden Cheriyath for Goat Attack, which showed a date farmer in Fujairah near Wadi Shees, while third place was awarded to Thushara Kambil for his experimental shot, New Life.
Christopher de Castro Comeso was Highly Commended for Feast For Faith, which captured Eid Al Adha preparations, while Jure Ursic was also Highly Commended for Singing with the Food, which showed an image of a waiter singing during the service of chicken souvlaki.
"As Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year enters its second decade, never has the importance of photography and food been so great," says Phil Turnbull, chief executive of APAL, the owner of Pink Lady.
"Huge global events — war, famine, the end of lockdowns, the revival of the hospitality industry, the chance to celebrate with friends and family again — all these are recorded in the Awards, which show so vividly how food touches every aspect of our lives. The competition continues to be a truly global celebration of the art of food photography.”
Here's the full list of winners:
Overall Winner (and Street Food)
Kebabiyana, Debdatta Chakraborty, India
Bring Home the Harvest
Movement Of Noodles, Chang Jiangbin, China
Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration
Traditional Skill, Chen Ying, China
Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer
Lemon Cake, Isabelle Hattink, Netherlands
Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Overall Winner (and People)
Gathering prunings on Corton Hill, Jon Wyand, United Kingdom
Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Places
Architecture And Wine, Marina Spironetti, Italy
Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Produce
On Ice, Suzanne Becker Bronk, United States
Food at the Table
Putting On The Ritz, John Carey, United Kingdom
Food for the Family
Traditional Food, Weining Lin, China
Food in the Field
Agricultural Art, Paolo Crocetta, Italy
Food Stylist Award
Pumpkin Buns; Berry Jewels On Semolina Pudding; Summer Veg Tart; Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie; Blood Orange Madeleines, Carolin Strothe, Germany
Fujifilm Award for Innovation
Central Park, Yuliy Vasilev, Bulgaria
Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture
Watermelon & Feta Salad, Daniela Gerson, US
MPB Food Influencer
Draining Pasta By The Window, Elisa De Cecchi, Italy
On the Phone
Drying Stockfish, Kasia Ciesielska-Faber, United Kingdom
One Vision Imaging Cream of the Crop
Carrot Field Forever, Paolo Grinza and Silvia Vaula, Italy
Pink Lady Apple a Day
Autumnal Woodland Apple Party, Amanda Farnese Heath, United Kingdom
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (African Territory)
Flower girl with a packet of Simba chippies, Marguerite Oelofse, South Africa
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (Chile)
Grape Hat, Matt Wilson, Chile
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (Europe)
Pasta And Fake Curls, Remko Kraaijeveld, Netherlands
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (The Gulf)
Banana Blossom, Manju Jisto, United Arab Emirates
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (New Zealand)
Boning Competition, Christall Lowe
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (South East Asia)
Anchovy Catching, Thien Nguyen Ngoc, Vietnam
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year (USA)
Home Box Office, Sriram Rajmohan, US
Politics of Food
Where Dreams Fly Away, K M Asad, Bangladesh
Production Paradise Previously Published
Red Mullet, Mike English, United Kingdom
Student Food Photographer of the Year supported by The Royal Photographic Society
Pot Of Tea, Kim Bainbridge, United Kingdom
The Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers
At The Table, Marguerite Oelofse, South Africa
The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action
Cook, Weining Lin, China
Unearthed Food for Sale
Herbwoman, Anna Loraine Hartmann, Germany
World Food Programme Food for Life
Food After Work, Faisal Azim, Bangladesh
Young (10-and0under)
Processing Fish, Rupkotha Roy Barai, Bangladesh
Young (11 - 14)
Chhath Puja Offerings, Indigo Larmour, India
Young (15 - 17)
Food-processing, Joyjit Das, Bangladesh
Food Film Shorts
DaCrema Image Video, Miklos Terei, Hungary
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Patrick Chamoiseau
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
Australia squads
ODI: Tim Paine (capt), Aaron Finch (vice-capt), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
T20: Aaron Finch (capt), Alex Carey (vice-capt), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth.
