"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing," co-founder Jimmy Wales said in 2004, when asked by a user what Wikipedia's mission was.
It seemed a long shot at the time. Little did he know that Wikipedia would become precisely that: the world's largest repository of human knowledge, offering more than 55 million articles in 309 languages.
How Wikipedia was born
It all started in January 2001, when internet entrepreneurs Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger registered Wikipedia's domain as an offshoot of an earlier web-based encyclopedia project, Nupedia.
As the site became established, it soon grew beyond the scope of the earlier project.
According to co-founder Mr Wales, "the project passed 1,000 articles around February 12, 2001, and 10,000 articles around September 7. In the first year of its existence, over 20,000 encyclopedia entries were created – a rate of over 1,500 articles per month".
The same year, the free, open content encyclopedia began to expand internationally and attract contributors from around the world.
The first domain reserved for a non-English Wikipedia was deutsche.wikipedia.com, followed by a wave of new language sites, including the Arabic one that appeared in September 2001.
The wiki website continued to grow at an explosive rate. As of January 2020, Wikipedia ranks as the 13th most-visited and the most linked-to website on the planet, an extraordinary result for a project that was long deemed unreliable and lacking authority.
Its open nature makes it a prime target for fake news and misinformation. Because articles do not necessarily include bylines and authors are not publicly accountable for what they write, the site's entries are vulnerable to unscrupulous edits.
However, what was once considered the site's most significant vulnerability has proved to be its greatest strength.
How Wikipedia fact-checks information
Unlike other tech giants
, Wikipedia started tackling misinformation on its website as early as 2003.
Two years after the project was born, Mr Wales launched the Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee – or ArbCom – as an extension of the decision-making power he formerly held as owner of the site.
The committee, made up of 15 jurists, acts as Wikipedia's high court, restricting, blocking or banning contributors and trying to prevent the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories.
Wikipedia's community of contributors, too, has proved an essential tool in tackling the spread of disinformation on the website.
About 200,000 editors contribute to Wikipedia projects every month, updating and correcting information at a rate of 350 times a minute.
Finally, Wikipedia has an army of 2,470 bots, automated software that carry out the "repetitive and mundane tasks to maintain the 52,341,763 pages of the English Wikipedia".
Bots can detect and clean up vandalism almost as soon as it occurs, making them indispensable to the success of Wikipedia's project.
Its ability to attract diverse contributors, maintain high standards of accuracy, and evolve as fast as the internet makes Wikipedia one of the most successful crowdsourcing experiments of all time.
While other tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube struggle to contain the spread of
hate and disinformation
across their platforms, Wikipedia shows that a different model is possible.
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The Cockroach
(Vintage)
Ian McEwan
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
HEADLINE HERE
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Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
