John McCain, the Republican US presidential nominee, joins his running-mate Sarah Palin on stage during the Republican National Convention.
John McCain, the Republican US presidential nominee, joins his running-mate Sarah Palin on stage during the Republican National Convention.

Any mantra, so long as it's change



ST PAUL, Minnesota // The general election campaign for US president will begin in earnest today with two historic tickets eager to try to out "change" each other in a race that is becoming increasingly defined by pledges to shake up Washington. John McCain, the senator from Arizona, was scheduled to give his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination last night in St Paul, repeating a message that has been on offer here all week: he is the real change agent in the race.

Much like his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, Mr McCain speaks of changing the "same old Washington politics" and the "stagnant, unproductive partisanship" he says has become that city's hallmark. But Republicans have been making a concerted effort to draw a distinction between change, the word that is more than any other at the centre of Mr Obama's campaign, and reform, which the Republicans say is at the foundation of Mr McCain's long political career. Republicans and others, including some Democrats, have criticised Mr Obama for making lofty calls for change - "Change We Can Believe In" - without saying exactly what that change would mean to Americans struggling to fill their gas tanks and pay their mortgages and to a global community dealing with such threats as terror and global warming.

"Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy," the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, said in his keynote address on Wednesday night. "Change: nobody knows what change is, what is good change or bad change," Frank Donatelli, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, said this week. "But reform means you understand the problem, and you have to start to deal with it." To some, the idea of Republicans running against Washington is something of a stretch; the party has held the White House for eight years, and controlled Congress, albeit without large majorities, from 1994 until two years ago, when anger over the Iraq war spurred widespread Democratic victories.

Even Pat Buchanan, the conservative political commentator who has run for president several times, seemed a bit awed by the tactic. "The Republicans are running against Washington, the Washington that they run," he told MSNBC this week. "And they're pulling it off." The Obama campaign, for its part, has been linking Mr McCain with the unpopular president and invoking the mantra "More of the Same" everywhere it can. But Mr Obama himself faced questions about whether he had undermined his own change message by choosing a 35-year senate veteran, Joe Biden, as his running mate. David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University in St Paul, said campaigning as an outsider has been common in presidential campaigns at least since the 1970s, because of the stain of the Watergate scandal, which epitomised Washington gone awry. Jimmy Carter's winning campaign slogan in 1976 was "A Leader, For a Change". In 1984, Walter Mondale's campaign declared, though not convincingly enough: "America Needs A Change." "The mantra of running against Washington is a very successful tool to use," Mr Schultz said. This year, as the candidates talk up their change message, each campaign is defining that word in different terms, he said. "Obama's is a change which, on one level, is about a generational change," Mr Schultz said. "It's about being post-racial, post-Cold War, post-baby boom. McCain's sense of change is different. What McCain's trying to do is capture what I call the Reagan brand, this idea that government isn't the solution, it's the problem." Republicans, he added, are trying to cast Mr Obama's vision of change as something to be feared, something "wild and unpredictable", something that will result in a vastly bigger government, though not a different one. Mr McCain's surrogates played up his reformist credentials all week, pointing to his work on campaign finance and ethics reform and other issues on which he has broken ranks with Republicans - including George W Bush - and forged alliances across the partisan aisle. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat turned independent in the Senate who only eight years ago was the Democrats' vice presidential nominee, called his friend a "restless reformer". In fact, Wednesday night's entire programme was devoted to the theme of reform, and Sarah Palin, the senator's running mate and the Alaska governor, a self-described reformer in her own right, threw Mr Obama's favourite word right back at him. "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers," she said. "And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change." @email:eniedowski@thenational.ae

Book%20Details
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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
  • Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
  • Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
  • Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
 
 
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry

4/5

Company Profile 

Founder: Omar Onsi

Launched: 2018

Employees: 35

Financing stage: Seed round ($12 million)

Investors: B&Y, Phoenician Funds, M1 Group, Shorooq Partners

'Laal Kaptaan'

Director: Navdeep Singh

Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain

Rating: 2/5

The specs: 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

Price, base / as tested: Dh101,140 / Dh113,800


Engine: Turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder


Power: 148hp @ 5,500rpm


Torque: 250Nm @ 2,000rpm


Transmission: Eight-speed CVT


Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km

Engine: 3.5-litre V6

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 290hp

Torque: 340Nm

Price: Dh155,800

On sale: now

Janet Yellen's Firsts

  • In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve 
  • In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers 
The specs

Engine: 5.0-litre V8

Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm

Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: L/100km

Price: Dh306,495

On sale: now

Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
​​​​​​​Bloomsbury Academic

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE

There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.

It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.

What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.

When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.

It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.

This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.

It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.

The Bio

Name: Lynn Davison

Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi

Children: She has one son, Casey, 28

Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK

Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Favourite Author: CJ Sansom

Favourite holiday destination: Bali

Favourite food: A Sunday roast

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
THE SPECS

      

 

Engine: 1.5-litre

 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

 

Power: 110 horsepower 

 

Torque: 147Nm 

 

Price: From Dh59,700 

 

On sale: now  

 
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
The specs: 2018 Maserati Ghibli

Price, base / as tested: Dh269,000 / Dh369,000

Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 355hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 500Nm @ 4,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 8.9L / 100km