The Queen Elizabeth 2 at Port Rashid will open her doors for Dubai's first-ever floating iftar, while the spreads at the city's various five-star hotels and local eateries promise to put you in a stupor - here are some iftars we can't wait to sample in Dubai.
3 in 1
What: In keeping with its name, the restaurant will have a three-day rotation iftar menu, with mains switching out each day to include some combination of lamb ouzi, kofta khashkhash, chicken shish taouk, chicken mloukhieh, lamb kofta, dajaj mashwi, fish harra, and lamb Dawood bahsa. In addition to Iftar favourite Umm Ali, desserts also feature a karak chai pannacotta and baklava crème brûlée.
When: From 7pm to 10pm
How much: Dh180 per adult and Dh90 for children between 6 and 12 years; kids below 6 eat free.
Where: Vida Downtown
Contact: Call 04 888 3444 or email dine@emaar.com
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Asateer Tent
What: The Ramadan tent at Atlantis, the Palm, will showcase dishes created by the kitchens of celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay (Bread Street Kitchen) and Giogio Locatelli (Ronda Locatelli), who will pay homage to traditional Emirati cuisine, with executive oriental head chef Ali El Bourji of Ayamna overlooking the proceedings. The two restaurants will also serve their signature dishes, including Ramsay's shepherd's pie and Locatelli's porcini mushroom risotto. The tent will also feature 10 dessert stations, including a live Arabic sweet-making counter.
When: From 7pm to 9.30pm, but guests can stay until 3am
How much: Dh220 per adult and Dh110 for children between 3 and 12
Where: Atlantis, the Palm
Contact: Call 04 426 2626 or email restaurantreservations@atlantisthepalm.com
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Queen Elizabeth 2
What: Dubai's first floating iftar will be held in a purpose-built majlis on the ship's largest deck. It includes live cooking stations, traditional Emirati dishes, fresh salads, hot and cold mezze, desserts and a selection of Arabic juices and coffee.
When: From 7pm to 9pm
How much: Dh250 per adult and Dh85 for children between 4 and 12; kids below 4 eat free
Where: Port Rashid
Contact: Call 04 526 8888 or email dining@qe2.com
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Sikka Café
What: An iftar buffet with hot and cold mezze, such as beetroot salad, tabbouleh, falafel, chicken liver and onion pakora; main courses including the restaurant's signature lamb machbous and shrimp salona, plus biryani, butter chicken, lamb ouzi and fish harra; and traditional desserts including legemat, baklava, and kunafa.
When: 7pm to 9pm
How much: Dh129 per person
Where: City Walk
Contact: Call 04 385 6524
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Al Nafoorah
What: One of Dubai's most popular Lebanese restaurants has an iftar buffet with a selection of mezze, salads, main courses and desserts, including its kofta bel seney, djej bil senyeh, kebbeh bil laben, mixed grill and shish barak.
When: From 7pm to 8.30pm
How much: Dh195 per adult and Dh95 for children between 6 and 12 years; kids under 5 eat free
Where: Jumeirah Emirates Towers
Contact: Call 04 319 8760
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Barbecue Delights
What: A good option for those who want to sample Indian and Pakistani cuisines and want a choice between a buffet and à la carte. On the menu are all manner of kebabs, including the creamy reshmi hebab and spicy Afghani tikka, plus mutton ribs, mutton karahi, fish tikka, biryani and pulao. Vegetarians can choose from palak paneer, khattay baingan (tangy eggplant) and aloo zeera (sautéed potatoes with cumin seeds). Desserts include gu; ab jamun, jalebi, custard and shahi tukre.
When: From 7pm
How much: Dh59 on weekdays and Dh69 on weekends at the Motor City and Dragon Mart branches; Dh69 or Dh79 at the Lamcy Plaza and Dubai Parks branches; and Dh79 or Dh89 at the Downtown, JBR and Ibn Battuta branches.
Where: Various venues across Dubai
Contact: Call 800 22283
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Boulevard Ballroom
What: This iftar is served at a communal table to further the Ramadan spirit of unity and sharing, and features traditional dishes as well as an oud player.
When: From 7pm to 9pm
How much: Dh195 per person
Where: Address Boulevard
Contact: Call 04 561 8888 or email dine.aboh@addresshotels.com
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Homestead Restaurant & Bakery
What: A set iftar menu featuring local, sustainably sourced and organic ingredients. Dishes include hot and cold mezze, such as loubieh bil zeit (green beans in oil) and red lentil purée with toasted Arabic bread; a choice of one main from among kannad machboos (fried kingfish with traditional Emirati spiced rice); butter chicken; grilled chicken marinated in local spices on a bed of freekeh; and mixed grill with chicken kebab and kebab Emirati. Desserts include kunafa, qatayef and sliced watermelon.
When: From 7pm to 9pm
How much: Dh105 per person
Where: The Yard
Contact: Call 800 466 383 230
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Karam Beirut
What: A traditional Arabic futoor experience with staples such as lentil soup, hummus, fattoush, tabbouleh and an assortment of sambousek for appetisers; all manner of mixed grills for mains; and a live dessert station with kellaj Ramadan, baklava, kunafa, Umm Ali, and dates and dry fruits.
When: From 7pm to 10pm
How much: Dh145 per person
Where: Karam Beirut branches at Mall of the Emirates, The Dubai Mall and Emirates Hills
Contact: Call 04 339 9789
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Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach
What: An Iftar buffet that combines Arabic, Moroccan and Turkish staples, and has a santoor player. Dishes include hot and cold mezze (hummus, sambousek, fatayer and tabbouleh with Arabic bread); plus lamb ouzi, mixed grill, and a shawarma station. For desserts, sample the kunafa, Umm Ali and baklava, as well as crêpes with various fillings.
When: From 7pm to 10pm
How much: Dh150 per adult and Dh75 for children between 7 and 12 years; children under 6 eat free, while two kids eat free per paying couple.
Where: The Walk on JBR
Contact: Call 04 448 4848 or email restaurants.dubaijbr@sofitel.com
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The H Dubai
What: An iftar Eat & Meat buffet, which includes traditional Ramadan delicacies with a focus on meats, plus salads, juices and live cooking stations.
When: From 7pm
How much: Dh160 per adult and Dh80 for children between 6 and 12 years; kids under 5 eat free
Where: One Sheikh Zayed Road
Contact: Call 04 501 8623 or email eatandnneat@h-hotel.com
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Amaseena Tent
What: An Ottoman-styled majlis that includes multiple cuisines, from Morocco and Lebanon to Peruvian and Italian, plus oud and violin music. Dishes include a mandi-cooked salmon and tagine cooked in an authentic clay pot.
When: From 7pm to 8.30pm
How much: Dh225 per adult and Dh112 for children between 6 and 12 years; kids under 5 eat free
Where: Ritz-Carlton Dubai
Contact: Call 04 318 6150 or email dine.dubai@ritzcarlton.com
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Yalumba
What: Iftar buffet that includes mixed grills, manakeesh, ouzi, pide and shawarma stations, plus the usual cold mezze platters.
When: From 7pm
How much: Dh169 per adult and Dh70 per child
Where: Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre
Contact: Call 04 702 2328 or email yalumba.lmdubai@lemeridien.com
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The Courtyard
What: A set menu that starts with cold mezze and soup, followed by hot mezze and a sharing menu with four live stations, including ouzi, shawarma, saj & falafel. Then, two main courses and four skewers of grills served directly to the table, and finally kunafa and a fruit platter, plus traditional juices.
When: From 7pm to 9pm
How much: Dh195 per adult and Dh100 for children between 6 and 12 years; kids under 6 eat free; plus Dh175 per adult for a group of 10
Where: Manzil Downtown
Contact: Call 04 888 3444 or email connect.downtown@vida-hotels.com
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Giardino
What: The jungle-themed restaurant will offer an iftar buffet with both international and Middle Eastern dishes, the latter including ouzi, harira soup, harees, sayadia fish, kousa mahshi, and kunafa, baklava and Umm Ali, among others.
When: From 7pm
How much: Dh230 per person
Where: Palazzo Versace hotel
Contact: Call 04 556 8888
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Read more for Ramadan:
Ramadan 2018 iftar guide: 10 to try in Abu Dhabi
10 modest fashion forward collections
FAQs: all you need to know about the holy month in the UAE
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RESULTS
Bantamweight: Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) beat Hamza Bougamza (MAR)
Catchweight 67kg: Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) beat Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) beat Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg: Mosatafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) beat Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Middleweight: Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) beat Badreddine Diani (MAR)
Catchweight 78KG: Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Adnan Bushashy (ALG)
Middleweight: Sallah-Eddine Dekhissi (MAR) beat Abdel Enam (EGY)
Catchweight 65kg: Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG) beat Rachid Hazoume (MAR)
Lightweight: Mohammed Yahya (UAE) beat Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 79kg: Souhil Tahiri (ALG) beat Omar Hussein (PAL)
Middleweight: Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Laid Zerhouni (ALG)
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Reading List
Practitioners of mindful eating recommend the following books to get you started:
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung
How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Mindful Diet by Dr Ruth Wolever
Mindful Eating by Dr Jan Bays
How to Raise a Mindful Eaterby Maryann Jacobsen
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Manchester United v Barcelona, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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OPTA'S PREDICTED TABLE
1. Liverpool 101 points
2. Manchester City 80
3. Leicester 67
4. Chelsea 63
5. Manchester United 61
6. Tottenham 58
7. Wolves 56
8. Arsenal 56
9. Sheffield United 55
10. Everton 50
11. Burnley 49
12. Crystal Palace 49
13. Newcastle 46
14. Southampton 44
15. West Ham 39
16. Brighton 37
17. Watford 36
18. Bournemouth 36
19. Aston Villa 32
20. Norwich City 29
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
The specs: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price, base: Dh198,300
Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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THE%20SWIMMERS
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Read more from Johann Chacko
The%20specs
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Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
The%20specs
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How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
The%20Beekeeper
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How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
THE SPECS
Touareg Highline
Engine: 3.0-litre, V6
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 340hp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh239,312
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
