Real Madrid scraps $1bn UAE football resort in Ras Al Khaimah


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Real Madrid has cancelled a planned football-themed resort in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah after the project's organiser defaulted on payments, the club said.

The licensing accord with RAK Marjan Island Football, the Luxembourg-based organiser of the project, was scrapped after it defaulted on payments and “didn’t provide guarantees,” Real said in its financial report distributed in Madrid on Sunday.

Louis-Armand de Rouge, the chief executive of RAK Marjan Island Football, didn’t return calls made by Bloomberg News.

The world’s richest football club said last year it was lending its name to a resort that includes a 10,000-seat stadium, a marina, homes, a shopping mall, a football training academy and a 450-room five-star hotel. The development was set to be completed by 2015 on the 40-hectare artificial Marjan Island. RAK Marjan Island Football assumed all the financial risks of the project, Real Madrid said in its report. The football club, which agreed to a 22-year licence, said it will search for alternative projects in the UAE, without giving more details.

Real Madrid posted a net income of €36.9 million (Dh183.3m) for the year through June 2013. That’s 52 per cent more than the year earlier period after prize money from competitions and exhibition games climbed, according to the annual report.

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

If you go

The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.

The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What are NFTs?

Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.

You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”

However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.

This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”

This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh960,000
Engine 3.9L twin-turbo V8 
Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Power 661hp @8,000rpm
Torque 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.4L / 100k

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

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  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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MATCH INFO

Burnley 0

Man City 3

Raheem Sterling 35', 49'

Ferran Torres 65'

 

 

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

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The Lost Letters of William Woolf
Helen Cullen, Graydon House 

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed