Christina Aguilera arrives at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, for a press conference before her concert.
Christina Aguilera arrives at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, for a press conference before her concert.

Aguilera set for Middle East debut



ABU DHABI // Pop star Christina Aguilera said she decided to make her live Middle East debut in Abu Dhabi, as it was the "hot new place to go". And the diminutive singer, known for her love of the party lifestyle, said she was looking forward to exploring the city after tomorrow's concert at the Emirates Palace Hotel. "I am only here a few days but I plan to have a few nice dinners and possibly see what the night life has in store for us," she said. "The city is really building up. There are great places to eat, great night life as well as beaches. It seems to have everything to offer." Aguilera is expected to perform in front of an audience of 20,000 on the lawns of Emirates Palace although, unlike previous artists including Justin Timberlake, tickets to the event are still available. They are priced from Dh295 to Dh890 (US$80 to $222). The concert will be the biggest-budget music production the country has ever seen with a 14-piece backing band, a light show and a fireworks display. The Abu Dhabi show is part of the singer's Back to Basics tour, to promote her latest multi-platinum-selling album. More subdued and sophisticated than some of her earlier shows, the tour has seen Aguilera return to her soul roots, the genre she has said most inspires her music. The singer, who in February gave birth to her first child, Max, also spoke of her new life as a working mother and claimed her child had become her inspiration to take up more vigourous campaigning for children's rights and against domestic violence. Aguilera, a former child star, rose to fame after a string of hit songs including Genie in a Bottle and What a Girl Wants.

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Contracted list

Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Company%20Profile
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THE SPECS

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Company%20Profile
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While you're here ...

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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history

4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.

50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.  

1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.

Six pitfalls to avoid when trading company stocks

Following fashion

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Losing your balance

You end up with too much exposure to an individual company or sector that has taken your fancy.

Being over active

If you chop and change your portfolio too often, dealing charges will eat up your gains.

Running your losers

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Selling in a panic

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Timing the market

Even the best investor in the world cannot consistently call market movements.


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