50 per cent discount for Dragoman trips
The specialist overland tour operator Dragoman is offering 50 per cent off overland trips booked between now and March 31, for departures before June 30. The company offers 278 different itineraries to 55 countries throughout Asia, the Americas and Africa. Trips are between six days and 235 days in length.
Discounted trips include a 101-day trip from La Paz in Bolivia to Quito via the Andes and Amazon, departing April 20, which was US$5,821 (Dh21,381), reduced to $2,900 (Dh10,652), though a kitty covering food for the trip is an additional $4,480 (Dh16,456) per person; a 37-day trip from Beijing to Kunming, departing April 13, which was $2,910 (Dh10,669) but now costs $1,455 (Dh5,344), plus a kitty of $1,340 (Dh4,922) per person; a 31-day trip from Kathmandu in Nepal to Xi'an, China, departing May 11, will cost just $1,330 (Dh4,885) per person instead of $2,260 (Dh8,300), with a kitty of $950 (Dh3,490) per person. Airfares are not included; for more information visit www.dragoman.com.
Get half off best rates from Corinthia Hotels
Corinthia Hotels has extended its annual sale, offering up to 50 per cent off its best available rate at all its hotels for bookings made by March 31 for travel until the end of this year. A minimum two-night stay is required for properties in Budapest, Lisbon, St Petersburg, Prague and Malta; a three-night minimum stay is stipulated for Corinthia Hotel London. Blackout dates may apply; for more information and to book visit www.corinthia.com.
Free Wi-Fi on transfers in Middle East and Asia
Travellers who use the limousine airport transfer services of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will get free Wi-Fi and the optional use of iPads en-route to 21 hotels in the Middle East and Asia, including Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Sana’a, Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, Tala Bay, Aqaba, Phuket, Cebu, Hanoi and Singapore, with more to follow in the coming months.
It was announced this week that all buses, taxis and parks in Dubai would offer free Wi-Fi within the next three years. Mövenpick's vehicles have been fitted with 4G Lite Wi-Fi car mobile devices (www.moevenpick.com).
[ rbehan@thenational.ae ]
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Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
MO
Creators: Mohammed Amer, Ramy Youssef
Stars: Mohammed Amer, Teresa Ruiz, Omar Elba
Rating: 4/5
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
Anti-semitic attacks
The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises the Jewish community on security , warned on Thursday that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had reached a record high.
It found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Semitic crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged “the eradication of Jewish people” and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
HEY MERCEDES, WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?
Mercedes-Benz's MBUX digital voice assistant, Hey Mercedes, allows users to set up commands for:
• Navigation
• Calls
• In-car climate
• Ambient lighting
• Media controls
• Driver assistance
• General inquiries such as motor data, fuel consumption and next service schedule, and even funny questions
There's also a hidden feature: pressing and holding the voice command button on the steering wheel activates the voice assistant on a connected smartphone – Siri on Apple's iOS or Google Assistant on Android – enabling a user to command the car even without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto
FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
The five pillars of Islam
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
New Zealand 15
Tries: Laumape, J Barrett
Conversions: B Barrett
Penalties: B Barrett
British & Irish Lions 15
Penalties: Farrell (4), Daly
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
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)
A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
UAE v West Indies
First ODI - Sunday, June 4
Second ODI - Tuesday, June 6
Third ODI - Friday, June 9
Matches at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. All games start at 4.30pm
UAE squad
Muhammad Waseem (captain), Aayan Khan, Adithya Shetty, Ali Naseer, Ansh Tandon, Aryansh Sharma, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Ethan D’Souza, Fahad Nawaz, Jonathan Figy, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Lovepreet Singh, Matiullah, Mohammed Faraazuddin, Muhammad Jawadullah, Rameez Shahzad, Rohan Mustafa, Sanchit Sharma, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan
Naga
Director: Meshal Al Jaser
Starring: Adwa Bader, Yazeed Almajyul, Khalid Bin Shaddad
Rating: 4/5
MEDIEVIL (1998)
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation, PlayStation 4 and 5
Rating: 3.5/5
