Dubai Expo will host the World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) in December, announced the UAE's Minister of Culture and Youth, Noura Al Kaabi, at the Culture Summit Abu Dhabi.
Held online until Wednesday, and organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), Culture Summit Abu Dhabi brings together global experts in the fields of design, heritage, media, public policy, technology and business for a series of speeches, panel discussions, case studies, artist talks and performances.
Al Kaabi said the WCCE is a result of a partnership with Indonesia, which hosted the inaugural event in Bali in 2018.
“The core objective behind all the measures is to set up the foundations to aggregate, measure and nurture the sector in the UAE, and to ensure the provision of a required framework and policies for a thriving cultural sector,” she said.
Al Kaabi also revealed the UAE government was in the final stages of unveiling a 10-year strategy to enhance the economic contributions made by the country's creative and cultural industries (CCI).
“The strategy, which prizes eight objectives, and almost 40 initiatives will be launched later this year,” she said.
“It will set the national economy policy for CCI. It would become our reference roadmap to make the creative sector among the top economic sectors in the region.”
What is the World Conference on Creative Economy?
The event gathers government and private sectors, think tanks and thought leaders for discussions and networking sessions on developing and addressing challenges to global creative and cultural industries.
Taking part in the event in 2018 was Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Emmy Award-winning US filmmaker Lisa Russell, Danish designer Troels Seidenfaden and representatives from the China Film Group Corporation.
Discussion over three days included keynote addresses on creating a more inclusive sector and the future of online gaming, as well as panel sessions on media diversity and the future of creative education.
Culture Summit Abu Dhabi concludes on Wednesday, with panel sessions on musical minds and innovation as well as separate concerts by Moroccan singer Oum and Tunisia’s Ghalia Benali.
Culture Summit Abu Dhabi runs until Wednesday. Attendance is free and open to the public. Registration is live on the website.
Expo 2020 Dubai: life-size model of Michelangelo’s David to wow visitors at Italian pavilion
The specs: 2018 Kia Picanto
Price: From Dh39,500
Engine: 1.2L inline four-cylinder
Transmission: Four-speed auto
Power: 86hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 122Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.0L / 100km
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
The%20Kitchen
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The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Company%20profile
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THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
From Zero
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Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Netherlands v UAE, Twenty20 International series
Saturday, August 3 - First T20i, Amstelveen
Monday, August 5 – Second T20i, Amstelveen
Tuesday, August 6 – Third T20i, Voorburg
Thursday, August 8 – Fourth T20i, Vooryburg
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The years Ramadan fell in May
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France