Amna Al Qubaisi is leaving karts behind and will bring Kaspersky Lab sponsorship to the Prema team in becoming the first Arab woman to compete in Formula 4 next season.
“Racing with Prema and sponsorship from Kaspersky Lab is immeasurable,” said Abu Dhabi Racing managing director Khaled Al Qubaisi, Amna’s father and an endurance racecar driver himself.
“We hope this association will go a long way in getting Amna to compete ultimately at the highest level of this sport.”
Amna, 17, recently won honours at the GCC Young Drivers Academy in a season where she also became the first woman and Emirati to win the Senior class Rotax Max Challenge.
“I hope I can live up to the expectations,” said Amna, a graduate of Abu Dhabi Racing’s Daman Speed Academy.
“Prema are a great team, who have delivered champions. I am really looking forward to the season.”
* The National staff
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Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight
Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.
Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.
Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.
“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.
Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.
Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.
However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.
With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.
In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.
The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.
The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.
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Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
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Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Developer: Big Ape Productions
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Rating: 2/5
