We travellers are a hopeful breed. We hope that trains run on time and we hope that hotels have remembered our reservation and not given us a room above the nightclub, but most of all we hope that the natural world performs when we want it to.
We want dolphins to leap from the waves as we pass by on a dhow in the Musandam Peninsula, kangaroos to box in full view in the dusty Australian outback, and bright sunlight to follow deep snowfall and turn Scandinavian landscapes into winter wonderlands.
So it was with the traveller's hope in my heart and no fewer than eight layers of clothing, two pairs of gloves, a thermal balaclava, two hats and an Arctic survival jacket that I waited on Platform 6 at Helsinki's central train station as the temperature plummeted to -23°C.
I was off to Finnish Lapland, inside the Arctic Circle, on a mission to see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, one of the most magical but least predictable natural phenomena.
With me that evening were most of Helsinki's families, kitted out for a school holiday week of activities in the snow. The station's cathedral-like concourse echoed with the rustle of a thousand skisuits.
Because punctuality is not a luxury but a right in Finland, the double-decked P265 night train (return fare costs about €150 [Dh733] per person) left bang on time and slipped almost silently out of the station and through Helsinki's frozen northern suburbs. As it cleared the city's outskirts, sped up and plunged into the first of numerous snow-laden forests along the route, the families gathered their excited broods, settled into their sleeper compartments and fed and showered their children who, in their youthful imaginations, were already sledging with abandon on the Arctic slopes.
I sat at the window and gazed at a ghostly landscape in which endless lines of pine and birch trees stood stiff and weighted down by feet of snow, stoically waiting out the long bitter winter and yearning for the freedom of spring. Above them the sky was inky black and free of clouds, but the Northern Lights were not firing. Would this be my second failed attempt to see the aurora? An earlier adventure to Iceland in the depths of winter had resulted in a week of sleep deprivation as I sat at the north-facing window of my small hotel - the Northern Light Inn, no less - through the long polar nights, struggling to keep awake to see the lights billowing across the sky. My only reward was a single line of dull green, low in the sky, looking vaguely like a smudge of toothpaste and lasting for less than a minute. By that time I was so delirious with exhaustion that I was not entirely sure if it was the real thing or a figment of my imagination.
From the lower bunk of the sleeper compartment my wife reminded me to have hope - the traveller's hope - that we would witness the lights.
The next morning, as the grey of the slow winter dawn turned to blue and then snow-white outside the window, my BlackBerry's message light was flashing: it was an alert from the aurora-watchers at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. There had been a solar flare on the sun, it said, and a significant auroral display was expected imminently.
The sun occasionally spits out these gigantic solar flares that emit billions of charged particles called ions. As these ions hit the Earth's magnetic field, they are directed to the North and South poles and, as they collide with gases in our atmosphere, they glow, not unlike a neon light tube. Voila, Northern Lights.
According to Nasa, the sun has been quiet and boring for the past few years but now is entering a period of high activity - the sun is "waking up from a deep slumber", the agency has said - which means that the prospect of seeing magnificent auroral displays through 2011, 2012 and 2013 is higher than for many years.
Before we could put the scientists' predictions to the test that evening, we had to reach our destination. Our train terminated at Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland and the semi-official home of Santa Claus. The town has a Santa Claus Village, Santa Technology Park and a large post office where, apparently, all letters to Father Christmas end up. But it was another sight we were most excited about: just outside town, near Rovaniemi Airport, is a road sign letting travellers know that they are officially inside the Arctic Circle.
Another two hours north by bus, driving over snowy roads and dodging the odd reindeer, was "home" - a log cabin in the woods at the small ski village of Luosto.
When planning this trip we had drawn up a checklist including "absolute" items (cosy log cabin with log fire, cooking facilities and sauna plus lots of snow, skiing, walking and a restaurant serving meatballs - the local favourite) and "hopeful" items (Northern Lights). Our cabin at the Scandic hotel ticked all the absolutes - now we just needed the lights.
I did what thousands of guests before me have done and asked the hotel's receptionists if the lights were going to glow that night. So often are they asked this that they have come up with a witty response: "Which button would you like me to press tonight for you? You like green lights or red or the white ones? I have the buttons here. You let me know and I'll press them. Is 10 o'clock OK?"
The fact is that nobody really knows. Even in the Arctic Circle, at the right time of year (October/November and February/March are best) with a clear sky and after a major solar flare, the lights can fail. They did that night, and the next. The green glow was there, brighter than Iceland, but there were no dancing curtains or great columns of light resembling corrugated iron sheets or organ pipes.
In the mornings we slept in, catching up on the sleep we had missed in the night as we had gazed skyward out of the windows of the cabin in the hope of seeing something spectacular. To wake ourselves, we downed coffee, porridge, berries and Scandinavian pickled herring, wrapped ourselves in multiple layers of clothing and threw ourselves into snowy activities.
We took a cross-country skiing lesson from a local instructor who laughed so much at our early wobbles and falls that his tears froze on his face.
We shot off across a frozen lake on snowmobiles, whooping with excitement and feeling the breathtaking rush of the polar wind blowing our cares away. We took a magical husky sleigh-ride following a trail through hillside forests deluged with more than a metre of pristine snow, blinding white against an aquamarine sky.
Our boots crunched satisfyingly as we walked along trails that were deserted apart from the occasional snow bunny and a lone Siberian Jay, one of only a few birds to over-winter in Arctic Finland. In the depths of the forests we paused, closed our eyes and smiled at the soft woollen silence. Beneath our feet and beneath the many eiderdowns of snow, Finland slept deeply through the winter, dreaming of spring.
After a sauna and supper on our third night I took the first watch at the window. The green glow was there but nothing more. Fighting off fatigue and the mesmeric lure of the log fire, we once again donned our polar gear and trudged out into the night, ever hopeful of success. It was around 10.30, the temperature had dropped below 28 and, as we stepped outside our cabin, we were hit by a biting, swirling and altogether inhospitable wind. Then we looked up.
Directly above our cabin and filling the northern sky was the Aurora Borealis. A great sheet of white silk was thrown from left to right, billowing and rippling, its lower fringes reaching down and turning crimson and purple. We watched its skirts flip and twirl, its colours raining down, just for us.
We gazed in amazement, mouths open and all thoughts of the cold and discomfort instantly forgotten.
We ran and slithered down the path we had made earlier that day through a snowdrift to a small clearing in the forest, away from the porch-lights of the cabins. The aurora faded and waited, somewhere off-stage before, bounding back stronger than before, fiery red in the north-west and mellowing to cream and light blue as it danced westward across the treetops.
The green glow was brilliant now, growing, spreading, contracting again and then spreading itself thinly and vividly right across the sky, throwing the pines into silhouette. The trees swayed violently in the Arctic wind, reaching up to the lights and encouraging them to dance some more. They jolted left and right, flashing almost, and then flooded the sky in a magnificent flourish, like the finale of a royal firework display where every last gram of pyrotechnic material explodes in rapid succession.
A surge of white turned to orange and red and left behind it a distinct rust-red swishing tail, and I remembered that the Finns call the aurora revontulet, or "fox fire".
Finally our lights dimmed and danced off into the atmosphere. I struggled to pull back my many sleeves to see my watch. We had been outside for an hour in seriously cold temperatures and yet it had seemed like just a few minutes. The lights had come and gone, each display lasting about five minutes, the intervals punctuated by our screams for more.
Along with the traveller's hope, there is the realisation that few things are truly as wonderful as they appear in the imagination, but the Northern Lights must surely be the exception. They really do dance across the sky and much faster and more dramatically than I thought. It's no graceful ballet; it's Gene Kelly at his twisting, spinning, prancing best. They really do flicker brilliantly through the spectrum. And they really do leave you speechless, thrilled and eternally grateful.
We stayed for an encore but maybe this had been just the dress rehearsal. If the scientists are right, our show may have been merely a precursor to a two- or three-year cavalcade of displays that will thrill millions of people.
We can hope.
If you go
The flight Return flights on KLM (www.klm.com) from Dubai to Helsinki via Amsterdam cost from Dh2,440, including taxes
The hotel A seven-night stay for two in a log cabin at Scandic Lodge in Luosto (www.scandichotels.com; 00 358 16 3667 400) in mid-November costs from €700 (Dh3,396), including breakfast, Wi-Fi and taxes
The info For more details, go to www.visitfinland.com
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
How to volunteer
The UAE volunteers campaign can be reached at www.volunteers.ae , or by calling 800-VOLAE (80086523), or emailing info@volunteers.ae.
Super Bowl LIII schedule
What Super Bowl LIII
Who is playing New England Patriots v Los Angeles Rams
Where Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, United States
When Sunday (start time is 3.30am on Monday UAE time)
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Company%20Profile
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%20Supercharged%203.5-litre%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20400hp%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20430Nm%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh450%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 4 (Salah (pen 4, 33', & pen 88', Van Dijk (20')
Leeds United 3 (Harrison 12', Bamford 30', Klich 66')
Man of the match Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Cracks in the Wall
Ben White, Pluto Press
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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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.”
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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NBA Finals so far
(Toronto lead 3-1 in best-of-seven series_
Game 1 Raptors 118 Warriors 109
Game 2 Raptors 104 Warriors 109
Game 3 Warriors 109 Raptors 123
Game 4 Warriors 92 Raptors 105
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
The five pillars of Islam
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The 24-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Bromwich Albion), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur).
Forwards: Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea/Dortmund), Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Standby player: Laurent Ciman (Los Angeles FC).
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
No_One Ever Really Dies
N*E*R*D
(I Am Other/Columbia)
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand (Saturday, 12pm)
Wales v South Africa (Sunday, 1pm)
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The five pillars of Islam