Dubai a culinary capital in the making 

French chef Renaud Dutel serves a dish at STAY by Yannick Alleno restaurant in Dubai. (AFP)
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Updated 26 July 2023
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Dubai a culinary capital in the making 

  • Boasting about 13,000 restaurants and cafes, some of the city’s eateries are already making global waves

DUBAI: French chef Renaud Dutel never thought his career would take him to the UAE’s glam hub of Dubai, but has found there a culinary capital in the making.

Five years since he was offered a spot at a fancy restaurant in the Gulf financial and tourism hub — better known for its skyscrapers than its food scene — Dutel is delighted to have “taken the risk.”

“I believe Dubai is at the beginning,” he said as lobster cuts were sizzling on a skillet beside him at STAY, a Michelin-starred restaurant specialized in French cuisine on the city’s signature Palm Jumeirah man-made island.

“But (Dubai) is on the way to becoming one of the best destinations in the world to come to dine.”

Boasting about 13,000 restaurants and cafes, some of the city’s eateries are already making global waves.

Last year, 11 Dubai restaurants were awarded the Middle East’s first Michelin stars, with more joining the prestigious club this year.

Some like STAY by Yannick Alleno clinched two stars, but none made it to three — Michelin’s highest honor.

“Dubai’s gastronomy scene has transformed the city into one of the most diverse and dynamic food hubs in the world,” said Issam Kazim of the local government’s tourism and economy department.

The UAE, a five-decade federation of seven emirates along the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, lacks the rich culinary heritage of other Arab states.

The meat-heavy Emirati cuisine is strongly influenced by historic trade ties with present-day Iran and India.

But it did not see the “gastronomization” that culinary traditions in much of the West did, according to Loic Bienassis of the European Institute for the History and Culture of Food.

Still, it “can be done,” he said.

“And political will can play a role.” Instead, with expats largely outnumbering the local Emirati population, the city’s rich cultural mix has yielded a unique culinary identity.

Moonrise, a rooftop restaurant which offers a Middle Eastern-Japanese fusion and only seats 12 people at a time, is a prime example.

Solemann Haddad, Moonrise’s head chef and co-owner, described the food as one-third European, one-third Japanese and one-third Arabic, “but it’s 100 percent Dubai.”

Haddad, born in the city to French and Syrian parents, won a covetedMichelinstarlastyearat the ripe age of 27.

His dishes reflect the cosmopolitan spirit of Dubai, he said, combining elements such as date syrup with a chutney of saffron and pineapple.

Having established itself as a business and luxury hot spot, Dubai is now also attracting some of the world’s leading culinary names including Alleno and fellow Frenchman Pierre Gagnaire.

Britain’s Gordon Ramsay, Japan’s Nobu Matsuhisa and Italy’s Massimo Bottura have also joined therosterofcelebritychefswitha presence in the city.

But beyond importing top talent, Dubai is also fostering local stars, said Habib Al Mulla, an Emirati lawyer and culinary blogger who has reviewed more than 700 establishments worldwide.

“A new, young generation of homegrown chefs are coming up,” he said. “Many of them are winning ... worldwide recognition.”

Dubai’s rising culinary stars include not only chefs but also restauranteurs such as Omar Shihab, born and raised in the UAE to a Jordanian family.

The restaurant he founded, BOCA, was awarded the Michelin Green Star for sustainability this year.

Shihab sources a bulk of his produce from the UAE — a feat in a country that imports more than 80 percent of its food needs.

“Let’s face it, we live in the desert,” he said.


Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Updated 58 min 41 sec ago
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Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Istanbul: A 33-year-old Turkish man shot dead seven people in Istanbul on Sunday, including his parents, his wife and his 10-year-old son, before taking his own life, the authorities reported on Monday.
The man, who was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting, is also accused of wounding two other family members, one of them seriously, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement.
The authorities, who had put the death toll at four on Sunday evening, announced on Monday the discovery near a lake on Istanbul’s European shore of the bodies of the killer’s wife and son, as well as the lifeless body of his mother-in-law.
According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), a Swiss research program, over 13.2 million firearms are in circulation in Turkiye, most of them illegally, for a population of around 85 million.


2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

Updated 25 November 2024
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2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

  • The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night

Yabad: The Palestinian Authority said two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank village of Yabad.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night, leading to clashes during which soldiers shot dead two Palestinians.
The two dead were identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Muhammad Rabie Hamarsheh, 13, and Ahmad Mahmud Zaid, 20.
“Overnight, during an IDF (Israeli army) counterterrorism activity in the area of Yabad, two terrorists hurled explosives at IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and hits were identified,” an Israeli military source told AFP.
Last week, the Israeli army launched several raids in the West Bank city of Jenin, killing nine people, most of them Palestinian militants.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 777 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.


Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

Updated 25 November 2024
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Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

  • The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday
  • Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army on Monday said it had struck a Hezbollah command center in the downtown Beirut neighborhood of Basta in a deadly air strike at the weekend.
“The IDF (Israeli military) struck a Hezbollah command center,” the army said regarding the strike that the Lebanese health ministry said killed 29 people and wounded 67 on Saturday.
The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday, leaving a large crater, AFP journalists at the scene reported.
A senior Lebanese security source said that “a high-ranking Hezbollah officer was targeted” in the strike, without confirming whether or not the official had been killed.
Hezbollah official Amin Cherri said no leader of the Lebanese movement was targeted in Basta.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The war followed nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.
The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September this year.
On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.


HRW says Israel strike that killed 3 Lebanon journalists ‘apparent war crime’

Updated 25 November 2024
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HRW says Israel strike that killed 3 Lebanon journalists ‘apparent war crime’

BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch said on Monday an Israeli air strike that killed three journalists in Lebanon last month was an “apparent war crime” and used a bomb equipped with a US-made guidance kit.
The October 25 strike hit a tourism complex in the Druze-majority south Lebanon town of Hasbaya where more than a dozen journalists working for Lebanese and Arab media outlets were sleeping.
The Israeli army has said it targeted Hezbollah militants and that the strike was “under review.”
HRW said the strike, relatively far from the Israel-Hezbollah war’s main flashpoints, “was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime.”
“Information Human Rights Watch reviewed indicates that the Israeli military knew or should have known that journalists were staying in the area and in the targeted building,” the watchdog said in a statement.
HRW “found no evidence of fighting, military forces, or military activity in the immediate area at the time of the attack,” it added.
The strike killed cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda from pro-Iran, Beirut-based broadcaster Al-Mayadeen and video journalist Wissam Qassem from Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.
The watchdog said it verified images of Najjar’s casket wrapped in a Hezbollah flag and buried in a cemetery alongside fighters from the militant group.
But a spokesperson for the militant group said he “had no involvement whatsoever in any military activities.”
HRW said the bomb dropped by Israeli forces was equipped with a United States-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit.
The JDAM is “affixed to air-dropped bombs and allows them to be guided to a target by using satellite coordinates,” the statement said.
It said remnants from the site were consistent with a JDAM kit “assembled and sold by the US company Boeing.”
One remnant “bore a numerical code identifying it as having been manufactured by Woodard, a US company that makes components for guidance systems on munitions,” it added.
The watchdog said it contacted Boeing and Woodard but received no response.
In October last year, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed by Israeli shellfire while he was covering southern Lebanon, and six other journalists were wounded, including AFP’s Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, who had to have her right leg amputated.
In November last year, Israeli bombardment killed Al-Mayadeen correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari, the channel said.
Lebanese rights groups have said five more journalists and photographers working for local media have been killed in Israeli strikes on the country’s south and Beirut’s southern suburbs.


16 survivors rescued after tourist boat sinks off Egypt’s Red Sea coast

Updated 25 November 2024
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16 survivors rescued after tourist boat sinks off Egypt’s Red Sea coast

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities rescued 16 people after a tourist boat sank off its Red Sea coast, three security sources told Reuters on Monday, as search operations continued for the remaining passengers and crew members.
The boat, Sea Story, was carrying 45 people, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 14 crew, on a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam, according to a statement by the Red Sea Governorate.
Governor Amr Hanafi said some survivors were rescued using a helicopter and have been taken to medical care. Efforts to locate more survivors were ongoing in coordination with the Egyptian navy and army.
The governorate said a distress call was received at 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) and that the boat had departed from Porto Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday, with plans to return to Hurghada Marina on Nov. 29.
The Red Sea is a popular diving destination renowned for its coral reefs and marine life, key to Egypt’s vital tourism industry.