A cat, 76 kilometres of open road, and one engine bay not fit for a feline.
This is the story of a cat who disappeared from his Al Ghadeer Village home, and resurfaced almost a week later at a villa in Al Shamkha.
Smudge had gone days without being seen before, after all - he was the neighbourhood feline walkabout, frequenting several houses for company or a meal.
But after he'd been missing almost a week, concerns began to grow.
"He's not shown up for a few days before, but he might go missing for three days and then he will show up. He has three or four other houses he visits," owner Jon Edwards told The National.
"After three days we contacted all the other people who know him and they realised they hadn't seen him either - at that point we started to get concerned."
On day six, Mr Edwards took to Facebook and dubizzle, asking for information on Smudge's whereabouts and offering up a Dh3,000 reward for his safe return.
By pure coincidence, his phone rang thirty minutes later.
"It was 12.30am at night and this guy speaking poor English was trying to talk to me. Initially I was thinking it was just a call offering to go look for him [for the reward].
"I gave the phone to an Emirati and he turned around and said 'Yeah, he's got your cat'."
But the men who found Smudge hadn't seen any of the social media posts, nor did they know about any reward.
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Mr Edwards immediately got in his car, and drove to Al Shamkha, where Smudge had approached an Emirati family's house in a sorry state.
Salah Ali was with his brother near the back door of the house when he noticed the small black cat approach them, and then run away.
The pair then managed to coax the cat into their house, where they then set about finding his owner.
"My brother noticed the ring around his neck, so he tried to let Smudge feel comfortable so he could see the number," Mr Salah said.
"Smudge was afraid and we tried to calm him down by offering milk and tuna for him."
The brothers waited up with Smudge until Mr Edwards arrived at about 2.30am, to reunite with his, by now, "quite stinky" cat. Mr Edwards said he was "incredibly grateful" to the pair for the compassion they showed his cat, when they quite easily could have just shooed him away.
Mr Edwards believes Smudge had climbed into an engine bay and fallen asleep, and bailed out of the car somewhere near Al Shamkha.
Cats have been known to crawl into engine bays seeking heat as the days get cooler. Many aren't as fortunate as Smudge though, and are frequently killed trying to jump from moving cars on busy highways.
But Smudge might have learnt from experience, as it's probably not the first time the feline has opted for this mode of transport.
"He came to us at five-weeks-old after being separated from his mother, probably because he took another journey in an engine bay.
"Hopefully he's learnt his lesson now."
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March
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1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March
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- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
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- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
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5) Don't be rushed into a sale
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