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Arabic internet adverts set to soar

A report tips a fourfold rise in the internet’s share of advertising expenditure in four years, due to doubling of broadband penetration.

Oasis

Mushroom madness

With the advent of Gourmet Abu Dhabi, the unassuming mushroom is acquiring higher status. Here's a look at some that are available in local supermarkets.

Exclusive: Historic footage of Sheikh Zayed

A decade of pupils called ‘lost generation’

A college director says secondary school reforms have achieved little over the past decade and the UAE risks a 'lost generation' of pupils.

Genetic disease clinic asks for help

Thalassaemia affects up to eight per cent of the population, but only one overcrowded centre in Dubai specialises in treatment.

Take the train not the car, workers urged

Hundreds of municipal staff will not have to worry about traffic jams next week – they’ll be leaving their cars at home and taking public transport to work.

Eastern Syria faces ‘catastrophe’

Economists say the combination of economic reforms and water shortages has impoverished the region, leading to mass emigration.

Arabic internet adverts set to soar

A report tips a fourfold rise in the internet’s share of advertising expenditure in four years, due to doubling of broadband penetration.

America’s Cup blow is softened

The cream of the world's sailors and four 85-foot long America’s Cup Class yachts are to descend on Dubai for the Louis Vuitton Trophy in November.

UAE

Porter jailed for stealing jewellery

A former porter at Dubai International Airport is sentenced to three months in prison for stealing jewellery from luggage.

Students provide lesson in budget travel

Two British university students set out with no money or travel tickets and get all the way to Abu Dhabi's Corniche as part of a charity stunt.

Yas bosses: crowds will be back

Organisers of the GP2 Asia Series motor racing at Yas Marina Circuit play down the modest attendance and begin looking forward to the track’s next big event.

World

Iran moves closer to nuke warhead capacity

Iran has formally informed the UN nuclear agency of its intention to enrich uranium to higher levels.

197 are charged over massacre in Philippines

Prosecutors charge 197 people, including two former governors and allies of the president, with murder following the mass killing of 57 people last year in the southern province of Maguindanao.

Brotherhood arrests are ‘tactic in Egypt poll’

More raids on the Muslim Brotherhood are expected after 15 members of the opposition party are detained in run-up to elections.

Al Khaleej Sugar Company, the Dubai refining giant, has more than $450m worth of the raw commodity on hand and plans to boost production capacity by 40 per cent this year to capitalise on record prices.

New funds for occupied territories

Riyada investment platform's $50m of Abraaj’s own capital brings hope for economy and employment across the MENA region.

Hard-hit advertising tipped to rebound

The media industry of the Arab world was among the hardest hit worldwide by last year’s downturn, but it is expected to bounce back this year, a new study says.

Opinion

We’re running into oil rather than running out

Hanan Alawadi: The “peak oil” frenzy of the 1970s has reared its head again. The world’s increasing demand and a fixed, finite supply should have led us to a point of no return by now. So what happened?

It’s hard not to feel like a criminal in the airport

Hisham Hellyer: American customs officials are invariably unwelcoming to pretty much anyone, and I suspect more so to people who have entry stamps from a number of Arab countries.

The magic of a good book, lost in digital translation

Ross Anderson: The fundamental misconception undermining the e-book is the assumption that a book is no more than words.

Sport

UAE open campaign with bittersweet win

Hosts beat Kenya in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 qualifier but are set to lose all-rounder for Netherlands game.

ICC move gathering momentum

A return to Lord’s will be discussed ‘seriously’ at the executive board meeting today while Modi hints at holding IPL matches in the UAE.

United building up head of steam

Rooney and Nani are leading the charge for the champions as the cohesive unit have now rattled off six wins and a draw in the league.

Arts

Midlake: The Courage of Others

This group of Texan jazz students have released 11 hobbit-rock dirges that all sound the same.

Hilary Hahn, Matthias Goerne and Christine Schäfer – Bach: Violin and Voice

This is a trio of heavyweights but it is clearly Hahn who is not only technically brilliant but utterly instinctive.

Massive Attack: Heligoland

The band's latest guest-laden album is almost a return to form for the trip-hop group.

Life

Our love-hate relationship with MSG

Chinese takeaway could well be both the death knell and the saving grace of the restaurant industry.

Beijing

Ambience is not its selling point but this Chinese eatery is as authentic as Chinese food gets in the capital.

Thorough breads

Our undercover gourmet puts Abu Dhabi’s Frankie’s through its paces.

Video

Review

Follow the money

Cover story When Salah Ezzedine’s alleged pyramid scheme collapsed, it left thousands of Lebanese Shia with empty bank accounts – and presented Hizbollah with a crisis of authenticity. Joshua Hersh reports from Beirut.

Come together

The big idea For the world’s rising powers, Bruce D Jones and Richard Gowan write, co-operation holds more promise than renewed competition.

Eastern promise

Books The West bemoans China’s increasing presence in Africa, writes Howard W French, but Beijing’s engagement with the continent could be more productive and sincere than Europe’s ever was.

Magazine

New films throw light on the Arab world

Cover At the Sundance festival an Iraqi’s road trip film, a New York-set mystery by an Arab-Bosnian and a satirical British comedy about suicide bombers have helped give new perspectives on the Arab world in film.

The young Syrian businessmen making it happen

Feature A new breed of businessman is reaping the rewards of a more dynamic, developing Syria. Entrepreneurs are tapping into a growing wave of demand and changing the country’s commercial and retail landscape beyond all recognition.

The coldest show on earth

Feature At the Winter Olympics, which start in Vancouver on Friday, some of the world’s top athletes will compete in the sort of sports we in the balmy UAE can only dream about.

Weekender

Blows to India’s free speech

As India muscles its way to the front rank of global powers, one of its principal strengths, supposedly, is its vaunted democracy.

Space rat and groundhog

Iran’s successful launch of a rocket, with passengers that included a rat, had the West anxious, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of wintry weather, and two cubs were born to rare striped hyenas on Sir Beni Yas Island.