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Lifestyle

Lifestyle and entertainment news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Kuwait City: looks nice, but would you want to live here?

Welcome to Kuwait, the world’s worst expat destination

They say they are unhappy with career opportunities, fed up with the poor quality of life, find it difficult to settle and rarely talk to “unfriendly” locals. It’s no wonder that expats in Kuwait have voted it the worst place in the world to live and work. Kuwait not only ranks last of all 52 […]

Arab music streaming service expands into live events

Abu Dhabi-headquartered Arabic music streaming service Anghami has expanded into the live music sector through its acquisition of Dubai-headquartered events and concert organiser Spotlight Events. The partnership will bridge the online and offline sector, giving Anghami music fans opportunities to see their favourite acts live, access to exclusive private concerts, VIP lounges, artist meet-and-greets and […]

$500-an-hour sobriety coach helps Dubai’s big drinkers

Dubai’s work-hard, play-hard expat party lifestyle, and its famous all-you-can-drink weekend brunches can be the perfect breeding ground for potential alcoholics, according to the founder of a new $500-an-hour sober coaching service. British sober and recovery coach, David Golding, relocated to Dubai nearly four months ago and has launched Sober Lifestyle Coaching, a 13-week recovery […]

Reviving the ancient tradition of wine-making in Egypt

Egypt’s revival of its tourism sector following the coronavirus pandemic impacts on its wine industry as well as its expanding hotel sector. Today, popular wine brands in the country include Omar Khayyam, Ayyam, Shahrazade, and Beausoleil, which are served in many of Egypt’s hotels, resorts and the bars in some of the more upmarket neighbourhoods. They’re […]

Asim Amin, the founder and CEO of Plumm
  • Exclusive

Mental health as important as salary in the Gulf

Companies offering robust mental health support programmes will secure the best talent in the Gulf, according to the founder of a workplace wellbeing platform. Asim Amin, founder and CEO of Plumm, said that while businesses in the region have started to realise the importance of their employees’ mental wellbeing, there is “still a long way […]

Heidi Shara, CEO and founder of Wear That

How I got to the top: Heidi Shara, CEO and founder of Wear That

What does your company do? Wear That is a digital platform that creates personalised looks for women to try on before they buy in the comfort of their own home, with a real-life personal stylist. What inspired you to develop your idea? Having styled thousands of women all over the world in both luxury and […]

First multifaith gathering held on Arabian Peninsula in 1,000 years

In contrast to a rhetoric of conflict, the forum proposes a unifying vision The Muslim World League held the Forum on Common Values Among Religious Followers this week in Saudi capital Riyadh. A multifaith event with leaders from around the world, the forum included 90 faith leaders in all, with Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and […]

Emmanuel Macron learns the art of compromise the hard way

Jupiter has lost his thunder. Emmanuel Macron, whose first presidential mandate was marked by a top-down government style he compared to that of the almighty Roman god, will have to learn the art of consensus-building in the second. Deprived of an absolute majority by voters on Sunday, the French president can no longer count on […]

Erika Blazeviciute Doyle, managing director at Drink Dry

How I got to the top: Erika Blazeviciute Doyle, Drink Dry

What does your company do? Drink Dry is the UAE’s first and only non-alcoholic drinks marketplace. We aspire to open the world to new and better ways of drinking. We sell and distribute premium non-alcoholic drinks in the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. What inspired you to develop your idea? The business idea […]

Staying in five-star hotels would have hurt the bank balance

Poor us: Dubai’s richest suffer 19% increase in cost of living

A report this week found that the UAE is expected to gain an extra 4,000 millionaires this year, but another study reveals that the cost of living for Dubai’s wealthiest rose 19 percent in the past 12 months. The Henley Global Citizens Report forecast that the UAE would see 4,000 high net worth individuals or […]

Hollywood actor Chris Evans voices Buzz Lightyear in the movie

‘Lightyear’ banned days after Disney streaming launch

The UAE has banned the latest Disney animated blockbuster from showing in cinemas in the country, just days after the American entertainment giant launched its long-awaited streaming service across the region. The Media Regulatory Office, part of the UAE Ministry of Youth and Culture, said in a tweet on Monday that the “the animated film […]

How I got to the top: Aidan Christofferson, co-founder, Flashy

What does your company do? We are a 10 month old startup tech company, based in Dubai, which provides a platform for scalable photography solutions for GCC customers. Whether you’re a sole entrepreneur looking to capture images for your product, or a multinational enterprise looking for thousands of images a week, our platform takes care […]

Cinemark subscription surge hails post-pandemic cinema rebound

Cinemark Holdings Inc has signed up 1 million paying subscribers to its Movie Club monthly subscription plan, the company said on Wednesday, hailing a rebound in moviegoing after disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic. The third-largest movie theater chain in the United States said it was the first cinema operator to cross the 1 million milestone […]

Damian Lewis, Salman Rushdie and Rio Ferdinand among UK honours list

Actor Damian Lewis, author Ian Rankin and former Northern Ireland first minister Arlene Foster were among more than 1,100 people recognised by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in her annual birthday honours. The list, which is issued to mark the 96-year-old monarch’s official birthday, honours recipients for their “outstanding” contributions; most awards recognise public service or community […]

Clothing, Apparel, Person

Age is just a number – and that number is $33trn

As companies join the global race to prolong life, the Gulf is positioned to lead the way in preventative medicine “Live long and prosper” may be a quote from science fiction, made famous by a Star Trek movie in 1979, but its sentiment is driving real growth in today’s global scientific economy. The global longevity […]

Dubai ranked most overworked city in the world

Dubai is the most overworked city in the world, according to a new global report out this week – but a workplace culture expert said this could be due to the type of workers the emirate traditionally attracts. Kisi, a New York-based cloud-based security systems provider, looked at the work-life balance in 100 global cities. […]

Ecclestone denies arrest for carrying illegal gun

Former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone today denied he had been arrested in Brazil and said an illegal gun found in his luggage before boarding a flight was never used and had no ammunition. The 91-year-old Briton, now in Portugal, said a “silly, tiny little incident” had caused a lot of aggravation as he and […]

Smize Cream: ADIO initiative is helping US companies led by women and minority entrepreneurs expand in emirate

Supermodel Tyra Banks to launch ice cream brand in Abu Dhabi

Californian supermodel Tyra Banks has picked Abu Dhabi as the first international market outside the US to launch her global ice cream brand, Smize Cream, as part of a partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). The 48-year-old entrepreneur made the announcement at the Access Granted talk series on Thursday, adding that she was […]

Clothing, Apparel, Person

Move over Hollywood, it’s Arab time at Cannes film festival

The Middle East is one of the big talking points among the international film set at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, especially the presence of Saudi Arabia which unveiled big-ticket incentives to lure Hollywood and Bollywood producers to the kingdom. “I think in the past [the Middle East] always had some sort of presence but […]