Update: The Jo Koy show that was due to take place on Saturday has been postponed to May 26
The annual Dubai Fitness Challenge kicks off this week. And, in keeping with the annual citywide exercise initiative, The National pulls together some of the many ways to keep active – as well as a couple of events for culture enthusiasts.
Here's what's on across the Emirates from October 23 to 28.
Monday
Ahead of Dubai Fitness Challenge, which starts on Saturday, residents over the age of 16 can sign up for a Les Mills x adidas class, which will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for “largest high-intensity interval training class”.
The high-octane 30-minute session itself begins at 5am on November 12, led by Les Mills trainers Ben Main, Caley Jack and Kaylah Blayr, but registration is open now via the adidas app and booking is recommended to not miss out.
Tuesday
Take the family on an outdoor adventure at the Bear Grylls Explorers Camp in Ras Al Khaimah.
The nature-focused venue on Jebel Jais is offering a half-term package for three people, inclusive of a two-day adventure that features a survival course crafted by Bear Grylls and his team. The course covers essential survival skills in the wild, as well as activities such as high ropes and archery. The package also includes a one-night stay at the venue's cabin area.
Those who want to experience the survival course alone can sign up for the individual package at Dh290 per person (down from Dh350).
Tuesday and Wednesday; Dh950 for three people; Ras Al Khaimah; 056 501 5831
Wednesday
Register for the limited-capacity Dubai Run, where participants take over the 14-lane Sheikh Zayed Road for a few hours. This year's event on November 26 is free to attend and is open to participants of all ages and fitness abilities.
Participants can choose between a 5km or 10km route, with the first run starting at 4am as the event must finish by 8.30am so the roads can reopen.
Register at www.dubairun.com and then collect the Dubai Run bib, without which you will not be allowed to participate. Bibs can be collected at Fitness Village: Run and Ride Central at One Central.
Thursday
World-renowned violinist David Garrett is performing at the Dubai Opera, as part of his world tour.
The German musician is known for his genre-defying artistry, pioneering the crossover trend where he blends traditional sounds with popular music. He has a long track record of multi-platinum and gold albums. He released the album Iconic this year, which is also the moniker for his world tour. Concertgoers can expect a night of tunes and virtuosic showpieces.
Thursday, from 8pm; from Dh295; Dubai Opera; dubaiopera.com
Friday
Join a wellness weekend retreat in the Liwa Desert.
Organised by Samadhi, the three-day affair will be held at the Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara, and is designed to encourage participants to set out on “a journey of renewal” via yoga, meditation and other mindfulness practices. The retreat will be led by Estefa Pastor.
The first day focuses on self-reflection with a vinyasa flow in the afternoon and restorative yin yoga in the evening. Yoga sessions continue the next day, plus a brunch, sound bath and cacao ceremony. The last day starts with an early pranayama and vinyasa flow session, followed by brunch before checkout.
Friday to Sunday; price on request; Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort, Al Mirayr, Abu Dhabi; samadhi-wellness.com
Saturday
Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy is performing at the Etihad Arena on Saturday.
The comic is known for his funny quips about his Filipino heritage, as well as parenthood and other observations about family life and pop culture. He has a number of Netflix specials under his belt, and the Abu Dhabi show marks the stand-up's second performance in the UAE.
Saturday, 7.30pm; from Dh180; Etihad Arena, Yas Island; etihadarena.ae
Sunday
Dubai Fitness Challenge, which started on Saturday, will be in full swing today. The annual event encourages residents to complete 30 minutes of exercise each day for 30 days.
While you can sign up for one-off events, there is a massive fitness village at Kite Beach, which has 24 zones, offering courts for padel, cricket, football and basketball, plus yoga sessions and circuit training.
Various fitness villages across the city, where you can rent courts for everything from padel to badminton as well as circuit training. This year these are located at places such as Danube Sports World Fitness Hub, Al Mamzar Beach Park and Inspiratus Sports District Fitness Hub.
More information about events, bookings, courts and activities can be found online.
Until November 26; 3pm-10pm from Monday to Friday; 7am-10pm on Saturday and Sunday; dubaifitnesschallenge.com
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
- Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
- Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
- Synthetic fibres that make up the average garment can take hundreds of years to biodegrade
- Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
- 27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
- Hundreds of thousands of fast fashion labourers work without rights or protection and 80 per cent of them are women
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Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
