The Church of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a city that welcomes 30 million visitors a year
The Church of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a city that welcomes 30 million visitors a year
The Church of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a city that welcomes 30 million visitors a year
The Church of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a city that welcomes 30 million visitors a year

Can Europe find a way to live happily ever after with Airbnb?


Sunniva Rose
  • English
  • Arabic

The Catalan city of Barcelona, home to 1.6 million people and famous worldwide for its unique architecture, attracts about 30 million tourists a year.

But the flocks of visitors have also pushed up rent and real estate prices, and chased locals out of the city centre, causing disgruntled citizens to stage protests.

The finger of blame is often pointed at Airbnb and similar sites. They dispute such accusations, and some cities have a harmonious relationship with the online rental marketplace.

Yet in Barcelona, city officials say that registration rules on the platforms are too lax and allow people to advertise flats for short periods without the required permit.

Because anyone can sign up on Airbnb, illegal listings on the platform are proportionally higher than on rival websites, officials told The National.

In a signal of its tough stance on the matter, Barcelona became the first European city last year to ban short-term private room rentals.

At a cost of about €1 million ($1.06 million) a year, Barcelona city now has a dedicated team of about 35 people who check listings.

Every few months, the team sends a list of illegal listings to Airbnb's Dublin headquarters, which takes them down.

This system has cut the number illegal new listings from about 6,000 a month in 2016 to 500 today, the city says. Over the years, thousands of listings have been removed in this way.

Double checking information submitted by hosts is the city’s job, and the problem is that it is often false or misleading, said Eva Mur, director of Barcelona City Hall’s inspection services.

“Some people put the wrong ID or make up a licence number,” Ms Mur said.

Cities need more help to tighten controls, she said, which is where the EU steps in.

Barcelona and many other European tourist hot spots are closely watching a long-awaited EU proposal to increase transparency and data sharing from short-term holiday platforms such as Airbnb.

In early November, the EU’s executive arm unveiled a proposal to increase data sharing between public authorities and short-term rentals (STRs), which is the Brussels jargon for holiday platforms that include the likes of Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia.

The proposal calls on countries to give hosts a unique registration number that they must display online on a single digital entry point.

If a host fails to submit the requested documentation, which includes a description of the accommodation and its maximum number of guests, local authorities may suspend their registration number.

Travel platforms would also have to share monthly data on the same portal. They will be able to perform random checks on the validity of hosts’ ID numbers.

Airbnb has been blamed for forcing locals out of city centres that are popular with tourists. Bloomberg
Airbnb has been blamed for forcing locals out of city centres that are popular with tourists. Bloomberg

Stir in Brussels

The proposal has caused a stir in Brussels after years of attention-grabbing headlines about Airbnb’s legal battles with major European cities, such as Paris, over illegal listings.

“This file is getting a lot of attention", but the changes that Brussels wants to implement are “quite simple", Member of the European Parliament Kim van Sparrentak told The National.

Until now, European legislation considered travel platforms as websites with no obligation to share information, said Ms van Sparrentak, a Dutch politician.

But they are more than websites, they are service providers, she said. And service providers must comply with rules on data sharing.

Ms van Sparrentak said popular European tourist destinations such as Barcelona and Amsterdam had been robbed of their power to enforce their own rules on short-term rentals, which most often include a cap on the number of days a year property owners can rent their homes.

“Cities had lost grip,” she said. “Airbnb can decide what happens in cities and they can’t do anything about it. And this regulation is flipping that.

“The European internal market is very much based on 'the free market will solve everything' and that 'we don’t need rules'.

"And suddenly, we’re like, 'we need rules'. And I think that’s what we’re working towards."

But Ms van Sparrentak said she expected hurdles on the way to implementing the new legislation.

“It’s not going to be easy,” she said. “We know that Airbnb has a very bad reputation when it comes to lobbying and not abiding by the law, because it makes a lot of money with illegal listings.”

People are leaving the city centre for other neighbourhoods because the centre is only for tourists
Eva Mur,
director of Barcelona City Hall’s inspection services

Ms van Sparrentak will represent the European Parliament’s Green group in negotiations in the parliament on the topic.

Parliament must also negotiate with the European Council and discussions are expected to continue for at least a year.

After its adoption and entry into force, the EU’s 27 countries will have a two-year period to establish the necessary systems for data exchanges.

An ice rink outside the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a city struggling with unregulated short-term rentals. Reuters
An ice rink outside the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a city struggling with unregulated short-term rentals. Reuters

Lack of checks

Yet some cities say more is needed. This month, Barcelona described the EU Commission’s proposal as a “necessary starting point".

But it also made several suggestions, such as asking platforms to conduct systematic inspections of host’s ID numbers, not random ones, and requested that cities receive logistical support ― possibly from the commission ― to provide better checks.

Ms Mur said illegal listings appear more often on Airbnb than on rival sites because its hosts are less likely to be professionals.

On Booking.com, about 50 listings of the 2,000 posted every month are illegal. That is about 2 per cent of the total compared with one quarter on Airbnb.

Booking.com works more with professionals and hotels," Ms Mur said. "With Airbnb, anyone can put an announcement up."

Since 2018, Airbnb has shared data with Barcelona that includes the URL of the listing, the name of the owner of the flat and the licence number.

Since 2021, Airbnb requires all new listings in the Catalan capital to provide a verified address before posting a new listing.

It says this means that the city can be sure that the data Airbnb has is accurate, which helps with its inspection and law enforcement.

The city of Barcelona disagrees. It says it continues to receive data from new listings that do not contain detailed address information.

Likewise, Airbnb considers that if it has an active listing without a licence that does not have an open calendar, this does not imply a breach.

“That’s an aspect we don’t agree with,” Ms Mur said.

Barcelona stopped issuing new short-term rental licences in 2014 to try to curb their number, which is now at about 9,500.

But it is not illegal to continue advertising long-term rentals on the platform without a tourist licence, which is required only for hosts advertising flats for less than 31 days.

The city can fine hosts who illegally rent their flat up to €60,000 ($63,660).

In addition to causing inconvenience to neighbours, illegal holiday rentals have raised the prices of real estate in Barcelona.

“There’s a huge rise in prices," Ms Mur said. "People are leaving the city centre for other neighbourhoods because the centre is only for tourists. It’s hard to rent long term there now."

A 2020 study published by the Journal of Urban Economics found that Airbnb activity in Barcelona had increased rents in highly popular areas by 7 per cent, and real estate prices by 17 per cent.

With more than 11 million guest nights booked, Barcelona in 2019 was the second most popular European city among short-term renters behind Paris, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said.

The agency in 2021 started releasing data shared by Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor.

The European cities alliance, which includes more than 20 major European cities and Eurocities, a Brussels-based network, echoed Barcelona's concerns.

"The fact that important short-term rental platforms have not fully co-operated with us by sharing the data we need to ensure compliance with our regulations has indeed been a burden over many years,” it said after the Commission's proposal.

The European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. EPA
The European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. EPA

But Airbnb protested against accusations of lacking transparency, saying it wants to be part of the solution to challenges facing cities.

“We have partnered with governments across the EU on measures to help hosts share their homes, follow the rules and pay tax,” Airbnb’s Belgium office told The National.

“We want to work together to improve access to data, boost transparency and address disproportionate local rules that prevent families from sharing their homes, at a time when 40 per cent of hosts on Airbnb in the EU say their earnings help them cover the rising cost of living."

In a position paper published on December 20, Airbnb also shared ideas regarding the Commission's legal proposal.

It said that that it should go further in adressing what it described as "disproportionate STR rules" such as the ban on room rental in Barcelona.

Other proposals were on the opposite end of the spectrum to those suggested by Barcelona city officials to The National.

Airbnb said that while random checks can be of assistance to competent authorities in flagging possible instances of non-compliance, it is imperative that they are done in compliance with EU laws to prevent a "general monitoring obligation" from being enforced on the platform.

More generally, Airbnb called for harmonised rules across the EU, and suggested that the single data entry point be implemented at EU level, not at country level, with a clearer role for the Commission.

The paper argued that local rules are often "burdensome and complicated" for hosts, and gave the example of the city of Berlin, where hosts must follow a "burdensome offline registration and permit process, even if they host in their primary residence".

Airbnb said that the typical host earned just over €3,000 ($3,194) last year and that as of August 2022, European tax authorities had collected $573 million in tourist taxes thanks to Airbnb.

Airbnb first began collecting and remitting tourist taxes in the EU in the Netherlands in 2014.

The company does not publish estimates of illegal listings. On its website, it has listed legal and regulatory guidelines for hosts who, by accepting Airbnb’s terms of services, certify that they will follow local regulations.

Airbnb declined The National's request to interview the platform's co-founder, Nathan Blecharczyk, who published an op-ed on November 17 in news website Euractiv in response the Commission's proposal.

His proposals echoed those made in Airbnb's position paper published this month.

Mr Blecharczyk said that the company was "excited about the future" and wanted "to move forward and build on this opportunity in collaboration with governments, communities, and industries across the EU to develop rules that truly benefit everyone".

Housing crisis

Some observers believe that the Commission’s proposal is avoiding the underlying issue that pushed it to increase data sharing between cities and STRs in the first place — access to affordable housing.

Barbara Steenbergen, head of the International Union of Tenants’ liaison office with the EU, said the Commission’s proposal was “a good first step that serves to set up a data interface with the platforms to fight illegal short-term rental practices".

“It might particularly help cities that do not already have a system in place to control Airbnb in their inner-city areas,” she said.

But Ms Steenbergen also said that the Commission’s proposal failed to address the “professional profit-oriented exploitation of the market".

“When you walk through cities like Lisbon you have endless streets that are Airbnb," she said. "These are all extracted apartments from the regular housing market."

Luis Mendes, a researcher at the University of Lisbon who has worked extensively on the Portuguese capital’s housing crisis, said that better information helped European cities strongly affected by mass tourism and gentrification to make better decisions.

But so far, data is held on corporate digital platforms that “have generally not disclosed it in a systematic manner", Mr Mendes told The National.

“The EU has consequently become a key battleground for the future regulation of both short-term rentals as a service, and of platforms as online intermediaries of such services,” he said.

Lisbon, which was the third most popular city for STRs in 2019, with 10.5 million guest nights booked, according to Eurostat, does not know how many illegal listings there are because it lacks the data.

The city’s communications department told The National that it would soon release a comprehensive report on the sector with input from Airbnb and other stakeholders, which will play an important role in the city's regulations for local accommodation.

The city welcomed the new EU regulation on data sharing, which will allow "regulators to have an accurate picture of the market and make informed decisions".

The housing crisis in the Portuguese capital, born out of the 2008 European debt crisis, has made headlines. Prices are soaring and ordinary city dwellers are being evicted from their homes.

STRs made the situation worse, Mr Mendes said.

Like Ms Steenbergen, he highlighted the need for EU regulation to form part of a broader debate on the housing crisis, which he said has been caused by factors including the financialisation of real estate and local measures affecting the supply of social housing.

“These dynamics … raise the highly political question of how housing should be governed and regulated when it has become an asset in a globalised world of transnational mobilities and capital fluxes, investments and financialisation,” Mr Mendes said.

Ms van Sparrentak said that the right to affordable housing should be handled separately from the Commission’s proposal on data sharing.

“Having transparency on short-term rentals is a very good first step, but there are a lot of housing providers and building buyers that still have to have more scrutiny,” she said.

“That’s a bigger step in working on the internal market and making it less free for all. And it’s also a bit more of a difficult discussion.”

While you're here

Michael Young: Where is Lebanon headed?

Kareem Shaheen: I owe everything to Beirut

Raghida Dergham: We have to bounce back

If you go

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.

The car

Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.

Parks and accommodation

For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

Paris Can Wait
Dir: Eleanor Coppola
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard
Two stars

'Brazen'

Director: Monika Mitchell

Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler

Rating: 3/5

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo

Power: 258hp from 5,000-6,500rpm

Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,000rpm

Transmission: Eight-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km

Price: from Dh362,500

On sale: now

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M3%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%20up%20to%2010-core%20CPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2013.6-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%2C%202560%20x%201664%2C%20224ppi%2C%20500%20nits%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20wide%20colour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%2F16%2F24GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStorage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201%2F2TB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thunderbolt%203%2FUSB-4%20(2)%2C%203.5mm%20audio%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wi-Fi%206E%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2052.6Wh%20lithium-polymer%2C%20up%20to%2018%20hours%2C%20MagSafe%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECamera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201080p%20FaceTime%20HD%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Support%20for%20Apple%20ProRes%2C%20HDR%20with%20Dolby%20Vision%2C%20HDR10%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204-speaker%20system%2C%20wide%20stereo%2C%20support%20for%20Dolby%20Atmos%2C%20Spatial%20Audio%20and%20dynamic%20head%20tracking%20(with%20AirPods)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Midnight%2C%20silver%2C%20space%20grey%2C%20starlight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20MacBook%20Air%2C%2030W%2F35W%20dual-port%2F70w%20power%20adapter%2C%20USB-C-to-MagSafe%20cable%2C%202%20Apple%20stickers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh4%2C599%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Panipat

Director Ashutosh Gowariker

Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment

Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman

Rating 3 /stars

Brief scores:

Manchester City 3

Aguero 1', 44', 61'

Arsenal ​​​​​1

Koscielny 11'

Man of the match: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

If you go

The Flights

Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Johannesburg from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. Economy return tickets cost from Dh2,650, including taxes.

The trip

Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays (worldwidemotorhomingholidays.co.uk) operates fly-drive motorhome holidays in eight destinations, including South Africa. Its 14-day Kruger and the Battlefields itinerary starts from Dh17,500, including campgrounds, excursions, unit hire and flights. Bobo Campers has a range of RVs for hire, including the 4-berth Discoverer 4 from Dh600 per day.

Avatar%3A%20The%20Way%20of%20Water
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJames%20Cameron%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESam%20Worthington%2C%20Zoe%20Saldana%2C%20Sigourney%20Weaver%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Kanye%20West
%3Cp%3EYe%20%E2%80%94%20the%20rapper%20formerly%20known%20as%20Kanye%20West%20%E2%80%94%20has%20seen%20his%20net%20worth%20fall%20to%20%24400%20million%20in%20recent%20weeks.%20That%E2%80%99s%20a%20precipitous%20drop%20from%20Bloomberg%E2%80%99s%20estimates%20of%20%246.8%20billion%20at%20the%20end%20of%202021.%3Cbr%3EYe%E2%80%99s%20wealth%20plunged%20after%20business%20partners%2C%20including%20Adidas%2C%20severed%20ties%20with%20him%20on%20the%20back%20of%20anti-Semitic%20remarks%20earlier%20this%20year.%3Cbr%3EWest%E2%80%99s%20present%20net%20worth%20derives%20from%20cash%2C%20his%20music%2C%20real%20estate%20and%20a%20stake%20in%20former%20wife%20Kim%20Kardashian%E2%80%99s%20shapewear%20firm%2C%20Skims.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
AGL AWARDS

Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)

If you go

The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.

The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.

The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan

Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm

Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km

THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick

Hometown: Cologne, Germany

Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes

Favourite hobby: Football

Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
If you go

The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Santiago, via Sao Paolo cost from Dh5,295 with Emirates


The trip
A five-day trip (not including two days of flight travel) was split between Santiago and in Puerto Varas, with more time spent in the later where excursions were organised by TurisTour.
 

When to go
The summer months, from December to February are best though there is beauty in each season

Results

Stage 5:

1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Jumbo-Visma  04:19:08

2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates  00:00:03

3. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers

4. Sergio Higuita (COL) EF Education-Nippo 00:00:05

5. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:06

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 17:09:26

2.  Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:45

3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:01:12

4. Chris Harper (AUS) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:01:54

5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 00:01:56

MATCH INFO

Burnley 0

Man City 3

Raheem Sterling 35', 49'

Ferran Torres 65'

 

 

The Birkin bag is made by Hermès. 
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

House-hunting

Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove

  1. Edinburgh, Scotland 
  2. Westminster, London 
  3. Camden, London 
  4. Glasgow, Scotland 
  5. Islington, London 
  6. Kensington and Chelsea, London 
  7. Highlands, Scotland 
  8. Argyll and Bute, Scotland 
  9. Fife, Scotland 
  10. Tower Hamlets, London 

 

It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

FIXTURES

Saturday
5.30pm: Shabab Al Ahli v Al Wahda
5.30pm: Khorfakkan v Baniyas
8.15pm: Hatta v Ajman
8.15pm: Sharjah v Al Ain
Sunday
5.30pm: Kalba v Al Jazira
5.30pm: Fujairah v Al Dhafra
8.15pm: Al Nasr v Al Wasl

KLOPP%20AT%20LIVERPOOL
%3Cp%3EYears%3A%20October%202015%20-%20June%202024%3Cbr%3ETotal%20games%3A%20491%3Cbr%3EWin%20percentage%3A%2060.9%25%3Cbr%3EMajor%20trophies%3A%206%20(Premier%20League%20x%201%2C%20Champions%20League%20x%201%2C%20FA%20Cup%20x%201%2C%20League%20Cup%20x%202%2C%20Fifa%20Club%20World%20Cup%20x1)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

The specs
Engine: 2.5-litre, turbocharged 5-cylinder

Transmission: seven-speed auto

Power: 400hp

Torque: 500Nm

Price: Dh300,000 (estimate)

On sale: 2022 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
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Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

PROFILE OF STARZPLAY

Date started: 2014

Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand

Number of employees: 125

Investors/Investment amount: $125 million. Major investors include Starz/Lionsgate, State Street, SEQ and Delta Partners

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor

Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000

Engine 3.5L V6

Transmission 10-speed automatic

Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm

Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km

25%20Days%20to%20Aden
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Zidane's managerial achievements

La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
Fifa Club World Cup: 2016, 2017

Updated: January 01, 2023, 9:15 PM`