Dates for next year’s Emirates Airline Festival of Literature have been announced. The beloved annual celebration of books will take place between February 3 and 12, this time at a new location by the Dubai Canal.
The event will be held at Al Habtoor City, with special activations and sessions to coincide with Expo 2020 Dubai.
The theme will be Here Comes the Sun, which is “infused with optimism and positivity, and symbolic of our transition from the dark into the light”, said the event organisers.
Festival director Ahlam Bolooki said: “Our continued success as a festival is in part down to how we keep evolving, bringing in new elements, special events and features that resonate with our community.
“Our theme for the coming festival … is perfect for our post-pandemic world. This is the dawn of a new, forward-looking era. The 2022 festival will bring optimism, renewal and it will shed light on issues that are usually obscured by the dark, including some of the most important topics of our time.”
Take a look through the gallery below to see photos of the 2021 event:
This year, the event started in January and took place across three weekends at three different venues. A large portion of the festival was held outdoors, while talks and sessions were also held virtually, owing to Covid-19 restrictions in place at the time.
High-profile figures such as Malala Yousafzai and Elif Shafak gave talks via screens and answered questions from the audience.
“One important outcome of the festival is that it showed us what’s possible,” Bolooki told The National. "So many times, we’ve lost the opportunity to host big-name authors because of their clashing schedules. Now, through technology, they could be up close and personal even if they can’t fly in.”
The 2022 author line-up will be revealed on Wednesday, November 17.
More information is available at emirateslitfest.com
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
More on Quran memorisation:
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
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EA Sports FC 26
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