Davos Man is hard to pin down. He was officially born in January, 1971 in the eponymous ski resort in Switzerland when the first European Management Forum (forerunner of the World Economic Forum) convened.
But in fact he is ageless.
He could be a dynamic "social entrepreneur" in his 20s, or the political leader of a nation-state in his 50s, or a businessman or financier in his early 70s. He could also be a musician, a writer, an academic or a philosopher.
He is not only ageless, but timeless. He was there as a "philosopher king" in ancient Greece, as a wealthy merchant-patron in Renaissance Italy, and as a capitalist benefactor, such as Carnegie or Cadbury, in 19th century Europe and America - rich, powerful men with a social conscience and an eye for the arts.
Davos Man shares with these spiritual ancestors a deep concern for humanity, a selfless resolve to confront the problems of the world, as well as an abiding affection for the good things in life, material and spiritual. And he plans to do all this with his partner and soul-mate, Davos Woman.
She is rather easier to identify. Younger than her husband by several years, she is less likely than he to be European, and is passionately involved, as much as her busy social diary can allow, in the three Cs: culture; charity; and cuisine. A dinner invitation from Davos Woman, at any one of their homes in Europe, California or the Caribbean, is a much sought after thing.
If you had to pin down Davos Man more specifically, this is the stereotype: a businessman in his early 70s who has amassed a fortune in finance or industry, who wants to "give something back" to society (apart from taxes, which he is dead against), and who, perhaps because of his declining years, wants to stay in touch with the younger generation and its new technology and philosophy.
But at the same time, he values the old, especially in cultural matters. He is as well versed in Mozart as in Eminem. Refine him down further, and this is how his life and career went: born in war-torn central Europe, he was brought up on the necessity for hard work and a love of culture - Mozart and Beethoven, Goethe and Schiller.
His instinct was to be an engineer, and he graduated with a first-class degree to win employment in one of the big German car manufacturers at a time when that industry was rebuilding itself.
He was spotted as executive material early on, and the promotions and perks followed: he soon found himself being chauffeured in one of the top-range vehicles he had helped design.
International travel, still his passion, followed. The US was then the engine of international capitalism, and his visits to New York, Chicago and California made him a true trans-Atlantic citizen. It also introduced him to Mary, his first wife, whom he encountered as a budding Hollywood starlet on one of his trips. Two children followed in quick succession.
By 1970, as an ambitious 30-something, he met one of the two people who changed his life forever. Klaus Schwab was then a professor of economics at a Swiss university. Of similar age and background, the professor and Davos Man were instant friends and collaborators in Prof Schwab's pet project: a management forum that would bring together the best brains in the business world.
The European Management Forum was born, and Davos Man had found his spiritual home. Over the next 40 years, he and the forum grew together. He became the chief executive, then the chairman of his motor company and widened his circle of influential friends via a carefully tended portfolio of non-executive jobs with global corporations. The jet-set travel introduced him to new cultures and philosophies and he became a cosmopolite, fluent in several non-European languages and as at home in Shanghai as in Switzerland.
The forum, meanwhile, went from strength to strength. Prof Schwab had a talent for giving the power-players the intellectual diversions they needed, while simultaneously salving their consciences by persuading them that a few days of chat in the Swiss Alps was helping the rest of mankind. Davos Man loved it. He was truly, as Prof Schwab put it, a "partner in shaping history". In 1979, the first participants from China took part in the forum (the beginning of a long love affair with the country); in 1982 he was present as a witness (Prof Schwab swung it for him) at the first Igwel - or informal gathering of world economic leaders - where he met top policymakers from every conceivable country of the world, including many where his motor company could do good business.
In 1987, to reflect its growing gravitas on the global stage, it officially declared itself the World Economic Forum (WEF). The following year, the forum moved into the diplomatic arena, with Prof Schwab helping to smooth the way for a peace pact between Turkey and Greece that became known as the Davos Declaration.
For Davos Man, who had never contested an election in his life, this was political influence of the sweetest kind.
In the early 1990s, his cup overflowed. Communism was defeated and his beloved Germany reunited; Nelson Mandela attended the forum, his first trip outside South Africa after his release from many years in prison.
In the 21st century, things started to hot up. The WEF was held outside Davos for the first time in its history, in New York, as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of 9/11. Then, later in the decade, the financial crisis of 2009 made circumstances difficult or the "masters of the universe".
It made little difference to Davos Man. He had made a fortune, and after the crisis cash was king, in the Swiss Alps as much as anywhere else.
But he was changing, physically, emotionally and philosophically. Now a senior world figure in his 60s, he still craved new challenges, and found them in China, where he met Li Lu, who became his second wife. He found her youth and intellectual vigour exciting after years of enervation with Mary, who took the divorce well enough (though she also took the houses in New York and California, one of the jets, and a big chunk of cash).
Li Lu led Davos Man down new avenues. He became aware of the younger generation as never before, and revelled in the wealth of new ideas the new generation of social entrepreneurs brought to Davos. Li Lu taught him how to use an iPhone, and later an iPad, which he now finds indispensable. She taught him, too, about street wisdom and the coolness of the new music, as well as introducing him to Buddhism.
Sometimes, he finds it hard to keep up with the youngsters at the après-forum parties that rave on all night at Davos and, when he's honest with himself, he would rather the security of his childhood Lutheranism than the exoticism of Buddha.
But he takes comfort in the fact that he is, after all, "improving the state of the world", and anyway, if Davos gets too tedious, or the anti-capitalist protesters too loud, he is so rich he can jet off to anywhere in the world, any time he likes.
fkane@thenational.ae
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
Brief scoreline:
Toss: South Africa, elected to bowl first
England (311-8): Stokes 89, Morgan 57, Roy 54, Root 51; Ngidi 3-66
South Africa (207): De Kock 68, Van der Dussen 50; Archer 3-27, Stokes 2-12
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
RACE SCHEDULE
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday, September 29
First practice: 7am - 8.30am
Second practice: 11am - 12.30pm
Saturday, September 30
Qualifying: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday, October 1
Race: 11am - 1pm
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
The Disaster Artist
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
Nick's journey in numbers
Countries so far: 85
Flights: 149
Steps: 3.78 million
Calories: 220,000
Floors climbed: 2,000
Donations: GPB37,300
Prostate checks: 5
Blisters: 15
Bumps on the head: 2
Dog bites: 1
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
Brief scores:
Toss: India, opted to field
Australia 158-4 (17 ov)
Maxwell 46, Lynn 37; Kuldeep 2-24
India 169-7 (17 ov)
Dhawan 76, Karthik 30; Zampa 2-22
Result: Australia won by 4 runs by D/L method
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
LAST-16 EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES
Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)
FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm
Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm
Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm
Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm
Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm
Sevilla v Roma (one leg only) 8.55pm
FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm
Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm
The First Monday in May
Director: Andrew Rossi
Starring: Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, John Paul Gaultier, Rihanna
Three stars
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Match info
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Man of the match: Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace)
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
