Steve Luckings
highlights five events to watch, attend and buy tickets for in the UAE this week.
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FOOTBALL: Premier League, Tuesday and Wednesday, beIN Sports
Leicester City may be Premier League champions, Aston Villa may have said "goodbye" long ago, but there is still plenty to be decided in terms of who makes up the top four and which teams will be playing in the Championship next season. West Ham United's hopes of qualifying for the Uefa Champions League next term were dented by a humiliating 4-1 defeat at home to Swansea City on Saturday, while fifth-place Manchester United boosted their chances of usurping rivals Manchester City for the coveted fourth spot by beating Norwich City 1-0 away. West Ham and United clash on Tuesday at Upton Park in a 10.45pm UAE kick off. On Wednesday, Sunderland have the chance to secure their top-flight status if they can beat a horribly out-of-sorts Everton at the Stadium of Light (10.45pm), while Norwich City will be condemned to relegation if they fail to beat Watford at home (10.45pm).
BUY TICKETS: Etihad Airways Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, November 25-27
As if the action on the track for F1's season finale wasn't enough to entice you, Flash Entertainment's announcement last week that the Chemical Brothers (Friday) and Rihanna (Sunday) will perform at the after-race concerts should. The ninth staging of the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix will take place on November 27 at Yas Marina Circuit.
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Buy tickets for the Etihad Airways Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
FOOTBALL: President's Cup quarter-finals, Thursday and Friday, AD Sports
With the Arabian Gulf League season playing its final round on Sunday, May 8, attention turns to the President's Cup, with the quarter-finals taking place on Thursday and Friday. Thursday's matches see Al Jazira take on Sharjah at Al Ain's Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, and Al Ain v Al Wasl at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Both kick off at 7.40pm. On Friday, Al Shaab take on recently crowned AGL champions Al Ahli at the Sharjah Stadium, and Emirates and Baniyas clash at Al Nasr's Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai. Both these matches begin at 7.35pm.
FOOTBALL: Championship play-offs, Friday and Saturday, beIN Sports
Aside from the prestige of playing in the Premier League, the monetary value of playing in England's top tier in 2016/17 is almost incalculable. With a new television deal set to boost all 20 clubs' coffers to new heights, every club will be desperate to become team No 20 next season. The first-round of the Championship play-offs to determine the identity of that club begin on Friday, with Sheffield Wednesday hosting Brighton & Hove Albion, who narrowly missed out on automatic promotion after Middlesbrough pipped them on goal difference. The match at Hillsborough kicks off at 10.45pm UAE, while Saturday's encounter between Derby County and Hull City begins at 3.30pm UAE.
BUY MORE TICKETS
Several live events will be held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai this month. Abu Dhabi Warriors, the Middle East's premier MMA fighting championship, returns to Abu Dhabi for an action packed, 10-fight card on May 24 at the Ipic Arena at Zayed Sports City; squash's PSA Dubai World Series Finals takes place at Burj Park, Downtown Dubai from May 24-28; and the Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters runs May 26-27.
For more information and tickets visit:
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Abu Dhabi Warriors 4
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PSA Dubai World Series Finals
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Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
More on Quran memorisation:
Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
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The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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The specs: 2018 Renault Megane
Price, base / as tested Dh52,900 / Dh59,200
Engine 1.6L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission Continuously variable transmission
Power 115hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 156Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.6L / 100km
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)