ABU DHABI //African drums, Chinese dragons and flamenco and Bollywood dancers took the Abu Dhabi Corniche by storm last night as the capital started the countdown to one of its most significant sporting events of the year.
Yasalam is a city-wide programme of concerts, open-air cinema and family entertainment leading up to the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November.
The city-wide celebration started yesterday with a parade of 100 performers and about 250 schoolchildren in Abu Dhabi.
"It is fun," said Khalid Haddad, 10, from the Pearl Primary School, one of 12 schools in the parade.
The children were dressed in the flags of each of the 18 countries that host F1 racing, while the professional entertainers wore costumes and memorabilia from other nations.
The event was good family entertainment, said Erik Furu, who was there with his wife Debbie and daughter Isabella, 2.
"It is fun to watch this," Mr Furu said.
A big attraction from the previous Grands Prix has returned to the Corniche, with the opening on Thursday of the F1 Fanzone, which features interactive simulators, remote-control car racing and screenings of some of the big F1 races.
The free public attraction will be open on weekdays between 5pm and midnight, and between 2pm and 1am on weekends.
Starting on Monday, visitors will be able to enjoy open-air movie screenings, including the UAE premiere of Senna, the documentary about the Brazilian racing legend Ayrton Senna, who died in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy in 1994.
Now in its third year, Yasalam will also feature free concerts by artists including the Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, the British R'n'B sensation Jay Sean and Wyclef Jean.
The celebrations will culminate on Yas Island between November 11 and 13, when Britney Spears, The Cult and Paul McCartney will entertain racegoers.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
About Tenderd
Started: May 2018
Founder: Arjun Mohan
Based: Dubai
Size: 23 employees
Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
