The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East. Located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula, it shares borders with Oman and Saudi Arabia; as well as maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran. The United Arab Emirates is an elective monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates. As of 2023, the UAE has an estimated population of 9.97 million. Emirati citizens are estimated to form 11.6% of the population; the remaining residents are expatriates, the majority of whom are South Asian. Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language. Abu Dhabi is the country's capital, while Dubai, the most populous city, is an international hub.
The music of the United Arab Emirates stems from the Eastern Arabia music traditions. Distinctive dance songs from the area's fishermen are also well-known. Liwa is a type of music and dance performed mainly in communities which contain descendants of Bantu peoples from the African Great Lakes region, and hybrid Afro-Arab rhythms such as the Sha'abi al-Emirati and Bandari remain the standard in both traditional and popular music in this historically cosmopolitan country.
Ice Princess is a 2005 American teen sports comedy-drama film directed by Tim Fywell, written by Hadley Davis from a story by Princess Diaries creator Meg Cabot and Davis. It stars Joan Cusack, Michelle Trachtenberg, Kim Cattrall and Hayden Panettiere. The film focuses on Casey Carlyle, a normal teenager who gives up a promising future academic life in order to pursue her new-found dream of being a professional figure skater. The film was released on March 18, 2005. It flopped at the box office, grossing $25.7 million during its theatrical run against a production budget of $25 million.
Human Rights in the UAE are substantially restricted. The UAE does not have democratically elected institutions and citizens don't have the right to change their government or form political parties. Activists and academics who criticize the government are detained and imprisoned, and their families are often harassed by the state security apparatus. There are reports of forced disappearances of foreign nationals and Emirati citizens, who have been abducted, detained and tortured in undisclosed locations, and denied the right to a speedy trial and access to counsel during investigations by the UAE government. Human Rights Watch states that Emirati laws maintain capital punishment and discriminate against women, migrants and LGBT individuals.
The House of Nahyan is the ruling royal family of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and one of the six ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The family is a branch of the House of Al Falahi, a branch of the Bani Yas tribe, and are related to the House of Al Falasi from which the ruling family of Dubai, the Al Maktoum, descends.
According to Human Rights Watch, there is substantial discrimination against women in the United Arab Emirates. The status of women has improved over the years. UAE performs better on metrics of gender equality than many other states in the Gulf region, and it has been making reforms to protect women's rights and empower women in different sectors. Critics describe some of these reforms as window dressing.
Iraqi-Emirati relations are foreign relations between the Republic of Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Iraq has an embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulates general in Dubai, while the United Arab Emirates has an embassy in Baghdad.
Baniyas Sports and Cultural Club is an Emirati sports club, based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi. The club competes in the UAE Pro League.
The Emirates Hockey League (EHL) is the national ice hockey league of the United Arab Emirates. The league is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation and founded in 2009 by the country’s Winter Sports Federation and the Emirates Olympic Committee. The Scorpions and Mighty Camels are composed of expatriate players, including Canadians, working in the U.A.E., while the other clubs consist of mostly Emirati players who form the United Arab Emirates national team.
Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Ketbi is the third wife of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder and inaugural president of United Arab Emirates. She is referred to as the mother to The UAE and as The mother of Nation.
There are up to 10,000 Italians in the United Arab Emirates approximately two-thirds of whom are in Dubai, and the rest in Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates in recent years has attained the status of a favourite destination for Italian immigrants, with the rate of Italians moving into the country having increased by forty percent between 2005 and 2007.
The United Arab Emirates has an embassy in London while the United Kingdom maintains an embassy in Abu Dhabi and is unique in having another Embassy in Dubai, albeit with His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General to Dubai and the Northern Emirates, as opposed to a separate British Ambassador. The UAE-UK relations have been described as a "special relationship".
Elizabet Tursynbaeva is a Kazakh retired figure skater. She is the 2019 World silver medalist, the 2019 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2017 CS Ice Star champion, the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy silver medalist, the 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist, the 2019 Winter Universiade silver medalist, and a three-time Kazakhstani national champion (2015-2017). She placed 12th at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Having successfully landed a quadruple Salchow at the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships, Tursynbaeva is the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in senior international competition.
Reem Al Marzouqi is an Emirati engineer and the first female citizen of the UAE to be granted a patent in the United States of America for designing a car that can be driven without hands.
Zsolt Kerekes is a Hungarian figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 1994 Ondrej Nepela Memorial champion, a two-time Karl Schäfer Memorial silver medalist, and a two-time Hungarian national champion.
The Abu Dhabi Classic Trophy is an annual international figure skating competition which is generally held in January in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It is the only figure skating competition in the Arab world included on the International Skating Union's calendar. Medals may be awarded in men's singles and women's singles at the senior, junior, and novice levels.
Aiza Evfratkyzy Imambek or Mambekova is a Kazakh figure skater. She is the 2019 Reykjavik International silver medalist, the 2018 FBMA Trophy bronze medalist, and a five-time Kazakhstani national silver medalist (2014–2018). She represented Kazakhstan at the 2018 Winter Olympics, placing 30th.
Ihab Darwish is an Emirati composer, Universal Music Artist, and Recording Academy voting member. Darwish has been playing music since the age of ten and grew up in a family that supported his passion for music and composing. He received his Bachelors in Advertising and Art Design from the Lebanese American University in Beirut.Years after graduation, Darwish designed and created his own home recording studio equipped with state of the art instruments and technology. He has experimented with music for years, working mainly in the genre of classical music.
Figure skating at the 2019 Winter Universiade was held on March 7-9 at the Platinum Arena in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, ice dancing, and synchronized skating.
