There will be more than 70 fireworks displays across Dubai for DSF

Dubai Shopping Festival kicks off today, December 26. The annual event is now in its 25th year, and it runs until Saturday, February 1, and means there will be sales, events and concerts – but also daily fireworks.

That's right, fireworks will light up Dubai's night sky every single day of the festival.

The fireworks

Opening day fireworks

With Thursday, December 26 being the opening night, there will an extra special fireworks display across five different locations. At 9pm, fireworks will go off at The Beach, Al Seef, La Mer, Dubai Festival City and Dubai Creek. With the firework showing range from Dubai Marina to Deira means that almost all residents will be able to easily see one of the displays.

Fridays: Dubai Frame

There will be fireworks at Dubai Frame at 7.30pm every Friday from December 27 to January 31: so six Fridays in total.

New Year's Eve: Al Seef, La Mer and The Beach

While there will be a lot of New Year's Eve fireworks across the UAE (read about them all here), the fireworks put on by Dubai Shopping Festival will be at Al Seef, La Mer and The Beach: all at the strike of midnight, of course.

Festival City: January 4 to 8

From Saturday to Wednesday, January 4 to 8, there will be fireworks over the bay at Dubai Festival City near Jaddaf at 8pm.

16 displays at The Beach opposite JBR

That's right, 16 different firework shows will light up the sky around The Beach and Bluewaters Island on Friday, December 27, Thursday and Friday, January 2 and 3, Thursday to Friday, January 16 to 24 and Thursday and Friday, January 30 and 31. These shows will all be at 8.30pm.

Late January at The Pointe

Head to the Palm and book a table at one of The Pointe's waterside restaurants (which have great Atlantis views) to see the fireworks at 9pm across five nights, from Saturday to Wednesday, January 25 to 29.

16 shows at La Mer

The beach at La Mer in Jumeirah will be another major hub for DSF fireworks, with shows at 9.30pm on Friday, December 27, Thursday and Friday, January 2 and 3, Thursday to Friday, January 9 to 17 and Thursday and Friday, January 30 and 31.

Fireworks over the Creek at Al Seef

Al Seef has a great energy already, but expect even more buzz on the nights when there are fireworks, with displays at 10.30pm. There are shows from Friday, December 27 to Friday, January 3 (yes, that whole week) and then on Thursdays and Fridays on January 9 and 10, 16 and 17, 23 and 24 and 30 and 31.

The closing day: a cascade of fireworks

If you're really keen, you could drive north to catch all three displays on the final day of the festival (Saturday, February 1). The pyrotechnics will be at The Beach at 8.30pm, La Mer at 9.30pm and Al Seef at 10.30pm.

Other things to know about DSF

The 12 hour sale: On Thursday, December 26, from noon to midnight, there will be a flash sale at Majid Al Futtaim malls, with up to 90 per cent off. Participating malls include City Centre Me'aisem, My City Centre Al Barsha, City Centre Al Shindagha, City Centre Mirdif, City Centre Deira and Mall of the Emirates.

Daily deals: There will be sales across the city throughout the month, but from Thursday to Sunday, January 2 to 26, there will also be a specific deal of the day, which will only be announced 24 hours in advance. Keep an eye on DSF's social media accounts for updates.

Markets: The always-fun Market Outside the Box will return to Burj Park (they also host free yoga sessions); and there will also be markets at Hatta, Al Seef, City Walk, Al Rigga and Al Khawaneej.

Market Outside the Box at Burj Park. Supplied

Lego Festival: You'll fine 11 unique Lego zones at this event at Dubai Festival City. Tickets for the Lego zones are Dh29.99. The big night for this one is Wednesday, January 8, 2020, when the Lego Imagine Show will light up at night with lasers, fire and more (the Imagine show is free to watch).

Raffles and prizes: DSF is known for its prizes, and this year is no exception. Spend Dh350 at Dubai Mall from Friday to Saturday, January 3 to February 1 to be entered to win one million Skywards miles (you'll have to scan your receipt on the mall's app). A Dh200,000 cash prize and one Infiniti QX50 will be given away every day of the festival, while one winner will take home Dh1 million. Raffle tickets are Dh200 and can be bought at Enoc and EPCO stations, Zoom, Metro stations across Dubai, Gold Souq, Global Village and in some shopping malls.

There will also be a raffle of Nissan cars every day: the Nissan Patrol 2020, Nissan Pathfinder 2019, Nissan X-Trail 2020, Nissan Kicks 2020 and Nissan Sentra 2020 are all up for grabs, meaning a total of 37 cars will be given away. You can enter the raffle by making a purchase of Dh25 at any Enoc or Epco station. There is also a total of Dh4 million of gold being given away across various raffles.

Concerts: From Hussain Al Jassmi to Liam Payne, there are free concerts on Thursday and Friday, December 26 and 27. You can read more about them here.

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language

2018: Formal work begins
November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
November 2024: All 127 volumes completed

Match info

Uefa Champions League Group B

Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Eriksen 80')
Inter Milan 0

Step by step

2070km to run

38 days

273,600 calories consumed

28kg of fruit

40kg of vegetables

45 pairs of running shoes

1 yoga matt

1 oxygen chamber

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

The Lebanese state is going after social media activists

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

LEADERBOARD

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Student Of The Year 2

Director: Punit Malhotra

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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

Company: Instabug

Founded: 2013

Based: Egypt, Cairo

Sector: IT

Employees: 100

Stage: Series A

Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors

Where to buy art books in the UAE

There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.

In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.

In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.

In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.

Intercontinental Cup

Namibia v UAE Saturday Sep 16-Tuesday Sep 19

Table 1 Ireland, 89 points; 2 Afghanistan, 81; 3 Netherlands, 52; 4 Papua New Guinea, 40; 5 Hong Kong, 39; 6 Scotland, 37; 7 UAE, 27; 8 Namibia, 27

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if you go

The flights

Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.

The hotel

Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850

Events and tours

There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com

For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.

More information

For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com

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.”