Enjoy a sumptuous iftar spread in the Emirates Palace's spectacular purpose-built Ramadan tent with every night spent at the hotel. Rates start from Dh1,490 and include one night's stay in a double room, taxes and the daily iftar buffet per adult, per day. The offer is valid from August 10 until September 13. Call 02 690 8888 or visit www.kempinski.com to book.
Tuck into a private iftar in a chalet overlooking Ski Dubai. The Grand Ski Chalet Ramadan package at the Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, is perfect for large groups and families. Book the chalet for a day and enjoy watching all the action on the slopes. The iftar meal will be served at a luxurious majlis set up specially for the occasion. The package costs Dh365 per person, and comes with cold and hot mezze, soft drinks, water, juices, coffee and tea.
Or spend a night at the hotel and enjoy free iftar at the Sezzam restaurant, or suhoor at Aspen. Rates start from Dh935, including taxes. For dine-in-only guests, the iftar buffet at Sezzam is available for Dh170 per person and includes soft drinks, water, special Ramadan juices and hot beverages. Groups of 10 or more enjoy a discount of 15 per cent.
The hotel's KGrill restaurant has a set iftar menu that is offered with shisha. The meal includes all kinds of delicacies, soft drinks, fresh juices, water, coffee and tea, and is served in a majlis set up on the poolside terrace. Iftar with shisha costs Dh264 per person and Dh234 without shisha. The hotel also has a daily suhoor buffet at Aspen for Dh132 per person. All rates include taxes. Call 04 341 0000 or visit www.kempinski.com/dubai.
Celebrate Ramadan at the world's tallest hotel and win a complimentary one-night stay. Rose Rayhaan, a Rotana hotel, has set up a daily raffle draw for guests who partake in the iftar buffet (Dh143 per person, including taxes, unlimited juices and soft drinks) at Petals, the hotel's all-day dining restaurant. The winner gets a complimentary night in a basic room, either single or double occupancy. It is not applicable for stays on weekdays and during public holidays or exhibition times, and does not include breakfast and taxes. Valid for stays until December 31.
You can also spend four nights at the hotel and pay for three. Double rooms cost from Dh390 per night, including taxes. The offer is valid until September 8. Call 04 323 0111 or visit www.rotana.com.
Get away to the beachside Kempinski Hotel Ajman for a weekend during Ramadan. The hotel is offering special rates all summer, starting from Dh630 per night for a deluxe sea-view room (either single or double occupancy) on weekdays, or Dh738 per night on weekends. The rates are based on two people sharing, and include daily breakfast per person and taxes.
Guests who book online will receive food-and-beverage credit of Dh125, redeemable at any of the restaurants at the hotel. The online booking promotion is valid for stays until September 30.
For further information or to book, visit www.kempinski.com.
Stay at the Address Dubai Mall during the holy month and enjoy a complimentary iftar or suhoor buffet. A night's stay in a deluxe double room with suhoor costs from Dh1,078; a stay with iftar costs from Dh1,198 (one meal per day per guest). All rates include taxes. Children up to the age of four stay for free. Visit www.theaddress.com or call for more information.
See Singapore's sights with the special packages on offer at Singapore Airlines. Its Ramadan package starts from Dh2,990 per person, including return airfare (economy class), hotel accommodation for three days and two nights (based on two people sharing a double room), daily breakfast per person, round-trip airport transfers, use of the complimentary daily evening shuttle to Kampong Glam, and a gift bag from Bugis Street Mall.
The Spectacular Sentosa offer starts from Dh3,720 and includes economy-class return air fare, three nights at the Amara Sanctuary boutique resort on Sentosa, daily breakfast, round-trip airport transfers, complimentary entry to one attraction on the island, and one ticket per person to Universal Studios (for use on weekdays only).
Valid for outbound travel from August 10 to September 20. Call 02 622 1110 for more information.
ciyer@thenational.ae
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Usain Bolt's World Championships record
2007 Osaka
200m Silver
4x100m relay Silver
2009 Berlin
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2011 Daegu
100m Disqualified in final for false start
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2013 Moscow
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2015 Beijing
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Brief scores:
Newcastle United 1
Perez 23'
Wolverhampton Rovers 2
Jota 17', Doherty 90' 4
Red cards: Yedlin 57'
Man of the Match: Diogo Jota (Wolves)
