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Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Khaleej Times
Free fitness, family time: How Dubai beaches help residents cool down amid soaring heat
With increasing temperatures in the UAE, residents are flocking to the city's beaches to cool off, unwind, and make the most of the season. From early evenings to late nights, beaches across the emirate — including Kite Beach, Jumeirah and Al Mamzar are bustling with life over the weekends. The weekend rush begins as early as Friday afternoon and stretches into Sunday night. With the temperatures slightly decreasing after 4.30pm, families, fitness enthusiasts, and groups of friends head to the shore. Evening fitness at Kite Beach Kite Beach has become a favourite for those looking for leisure with exercise. With its jogging and cycling tracks, it draws residents from different parts of the city. 'I work as an HR manager, and my weekdays are all about being indoors,' said victor Boyle, 41, who lives in Al Barsha. 'Coming to Kite Beach in the evening is my way of staying active while enjoying the sea breeze. I usually run for 3km and then cool down by sitting near the shore. It's the perfect stress buster.' "Apart from my running and jogging, I also swim at the beach on Friday and Sunday. Its hot, but as soon as you immerse in the water, it feels like you release all your stress and enjoy the peace and calmness," added Boyle. Fitness enthusiasts aren't the only ones drawn to the beach. Children and teenagers splash in the water, play with inflatable boats, or enjoy a game of beach volleyball. Family time by the water At Jumeirah Beach and Al Mamzar beach, it's a more laid-back atmosphere, attracting families who set up camp for the evening with chairs, tables, and picnic baskets. 'My wife and I bring our two kids here every Saturday,' said Filipino expat and Sharjah resident Anthony Cruz, who works as a nurse in Dubai. 'The children love playing in the shallow waters, and we get to meet other families. It's affordable, relaxing, and keeps the kids away from their screens.' His wife is seen pouring juice and tea from the packed containers. 'Even in the summer, the evenings here are beautiful,' he said. 'We stay until about 9pm when the kids start to get sleepy.' Night beaches draw late crowds For many, the fun begins only after sunset. Dubai's night beaches, equipped with floodlights, allow residents to swim safely under the stars. 'I finish work around 6pm and head straight here,' said Haroon Malik, a Pakistani and a hotel manager in Dubai Marina. 'It's still warm, but the atmosphere is different at night, it's peaceful, and calm without the midday heat.' "I come here everyday not for just fitness, but there are amazing cafes here and I get to meet like-minded people," added Malik. Lifeguards and beach patrols are also deputed to ensure safety. 'We advise people to stay hydrated and avoid swimming right after eating,' said a lifeguard at Kite Beach, adding that evenings see the heaviest footfall during the summer. "The best part is that people listen to us and even ask us to keep an eye. They are absolute strangers, and they trust us ... feels absolutely great," added the life guard.
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Yahoo
North Korea's opened its doors to Russian tourists. So... how was their holiday?
The world's most secretive state is a mystery for billions of people - but not Anastasiya Samsonova. She has returned from a week's holiday in North Korea. "We saw nothing terrible there, there is no danger there," the 33-year-old HR manager tells me. "Frankly speaking, we really liked it." She was part of a group of 15 tourists who were the first foreign visitors to a new seaside resort, which was in June. Her holiday snaps show a white sand beach, shimmering seas and high-rise hotels. But something's missing - people. There are rows of sun loungers, but not a soul sitting on them. A glittering banquet hall that's devoid of diners. That's because, when it comes to international tourists, the Wonsan-Kalma resort is currently only open to Russians. "The hotel was absolutely new," Anastasiya enthuses, unfussed by the absence of others. "Everything was done very beautifully, a good interior ... very developed infrastructure." But why not Turkey? Or Thailand? I gently suggest that people in Britain might be shocked at the idea of a summer break in a country better known for famines and forced labour than parasols and pina coladas. "We were interested in seeing how people live there," Anastasiya explains. "There were a lot of prejudices about what you can and can't do in North Korea, how you can behave. But actually, we felt absolutely free." Anastasiya is one of a growing number of Russians who are choosing to visit their reclusive neighbour as the two allies continue to forge closer ties following the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. Last year, North Korean troops supplied military support in Russia's Kursk region, and now there is economic cooperation too. North Korean produce, including apples and beer, has started appearing on supermarket shelves in Russia's far east. And last month, Moscow launched direct passenger flights to Pyongyang for the first time in decades. But can this hermit nation really become a holiday hotspot? The Moscow office of the Vostok Intur travel agency believes so. The company runs twice-weekly tours there, and I'm being given the hard sell. "North Korea is an amazing country, unlike any other in the world," director Irina Kobeleva gushes, before listing some unusual highlights. "It is a country where you will not see any advertising on the streets. And it is very clean - even the asphalt is washed." She shows me the brochures, which present a glossy paradise. There are images of towering monuments, pristine golf greens and immaculate ski slopes. But again, no people. Ms Kobeleva insists the company's tours are increasingly popular, with 400 bookings a month. "Our tourists are mostly older people who want to return to the USSR," she says, "because there is a feeling that the real North Korea is very similar to what was once in the Soviet Union. "But at the same time, there is a huge growing demand among young people." Sure enough, while we're chatting, two customers walk in to book trips. The first is Pavel, a young blogger who likes to "collect" countries. North Korea will be number 89. "The country has opened its doors to us, so I'm taking this chance," he tells me when I ask why he wants to go. Read more from Sky News: For pensioner Tatiana, the reason is sentimental. "My husband wanted to go there, but now he's gone. So I want his wish to come true," she says. It'll certainly cost them. One week's trip that takes in Pyongyang, a circus and the new beach resort, costs roughly £1,500 without flights. At that price, I suspect most tourists will be content for this secretive state to remain hidden.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- The Guardian
The story of the Coldplay couple unfolded like a soap opera. But was the pile-on that followed a proportional response?
By now we've all seen the video: a couple locked in an intimate embrace at a Coldplay concert. Within milliseconds, the woman turns her face and the man ducks. The crowd gasps. Chris Martin quips: 'Either they're having an affair or they're very shy.' Within 24 hours, the internet had done what it does best: turned sleuth. The names of the pair were quickly revealed. LinkedIns found. Both were senior executives at a New York data firm, he, the CEO; she, the head of HR. Both married. With children. The story unfolded like a soap opera. The CEO's wife's Facebook was discovered. Internet watchdogs noticed she'd removed her last name. The internet was furious and equally entertained. Thousands of memes circulated. Parodies flooded TikTok. Calls to fire them rivalled calls for humanitarian justice and in the most corporate plot twist of all, it spilled over to LinkedIn. Beneath the HR manager's last post, commenters asked if cheating was in the job description. This was a media storm. But more than that, it was a public trial. We live in a digital panopticon. Surveillance isn't top-down any more, it's lateral. It's ambient and crowdsourced. It can come from your neighbour. A passerby. A stranger on their phone. Think of the people unknowingly caught in the background of an OOTD video. A 'what are you listening to?' vox pop could inadvertently feature a woman on the run from an abusive partner. In a world obsessed with consent, there seems to be a blind spot when it comes to online consent. There's an entire genre on TikTok dedicated to background reactions. Someone in the corner makes a face, maybe startled by a flash, maybe just not wanting to be filmed and the internet crowns them a hater or a bully. Then, their account is found. Their employer tagged. Calls for termination follow. When did virality replace due process? Public shaming is now a participatory sport. Viral justice is gamified. We chase information like it's loot in a moral scavenger hunt for names, jobs, partners, homes. Every new fact unlocked is rewarded in likes and retweets. What starts as accountability often becomes performance. What begins as critique becomes content. Yes, if the Coldplay couple were having an affair, it may be amoral. It might shed light on power dynamics in the workplace. But was the doxing, the intense, invasive publishing of private details a proportional response? Don't get me wrong, doxing has done good. During the January 6 Capitol riots, internet sleuths helped identify rioters, some of whom were later arrested. It showed that the people, armed with nothing but wifi and rage, could hold power to account. But doxing is neutral and the internet is agnostic to moral weight. It rewards the performance of outrage, not the ethics behind it. Sometimes, people get doxed over something as small as complaining about a coffee order or a haircut. We don't pause to ask: What kind of day were they having? What if they were grieving? Overwhelmed? Underpaid? In the rush to moralise a moment, we strip away all context. There's no room for nuance. Sometimes, innocent people get caught in the crossfire, punished not for who they are, but for a single frame of a much bigger picture. The collateral damage of instant moralism is real. Do we really want kids harassed at school because their parent made a mistake? Or someone's house posted online because they turned away a guest and their antipasto salad? What about the CEO's wife, who woke up one day and watched the entire internet dissect her life, her job, her marriage? Once something is online, it metastasises far beyond the original wrongdoing. It's not just about justice any more. It's about content spreadability. Today's reality is knowing your face might be the next meme. Your breakdown, someone's new Twitter DP. The just world hypothesis suggests we like to believe people get what they deserve. It comforts us. But 'deserving' is a slippery logic. It changes depending on the narrative, the context, the mood or even the meme template. Honestly? I was entertained by the Coldplay spectacle. He's a CEO, and I'm a card-carrying member of the 'eat the rich' school of thought. But even that is a slippery slope. We're collectively trying to decide through digital telepathy, what makes it OK to ruin someone's life. That is an impossible task. It's endlessly malleable. Infinitely debatable. What do we lose when we treat every viral moment like a courtroom? What do we gain from piling on, without considering the proportion of the punishment? Yes, celebrities have chosen to live in the public eye. They have PR teams. They have crisis managers. Sometimes, they have Oprah and a tell-all interview. But the Coldplay couple? They don't have a publicist and even if they did, they owe the public nothing. If something did happen, the only people who deserve an explanation are their families, whose lives have been permanently altered by two people's choices. Well… maybe also the HR manager at their workplace. Oh, wait. Never mind. I never said I wasn't part of the problem. Miski Omar is a speech pathologist, writer and director from Sydney
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
HR manager ends lawsuit alleging Clorox fired her for reporting bias complaints
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. A former HR manager for Clorox agreed to end her lawsuit alleging that the company terminated her in retaliation for raising complaints about discriminatory practices at an Atlanta facility, according to a July 10 court filing. Per the complaint in Martin v. Clorox Manufacturing Co., the plaintiff said she received complaints from Black workers of racial favoritism towards White workers in areas such as promotion, hiring and termination decisions, as well as shift scheduling. She alleged management refused to investigate the complaints and later fired her after she complained that Clorox's employee relations team would not investigate. Clorox denied the claims in a November 2024 filing. An April filing indicated that the parties has settled. As part of their joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, both parties agreed to bear their own costs, expenses and attorneys' fees. In her complaint, the plaintiff alleged she had engaged in protected activity by opposing unlawful acts or practices under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. She also claimed that her firing constituted unlawful retaliation for engaging in protected activity. Federal equal employment opportunity statutes, such as Title VII, prohibit retaliation against employees who oppose prohibited discrimination, including by complaining about alleged discrimination or threatening to file such a complaint, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Retaliation also is prohibited when an employee participates in a discrimination proceeding, such as filing an employment discrimination charge. HR professionals have filed similar lawsuits in the past. In one case, a construction company agreed in 2024 to pay $50,000 to settle allegations that it took action against an HR manager who sought to investigate an employee's sexual harassment complaints against a higher-up. Unhealthy work environments, including those that permit discrimination to go unchecked, constitute a top cause of lawsuits by employees, an attorney told attendees at SHRM's 2025 annual conference. The speaker said HR should ensure a clear system of reporting and addressing potentially discriminatory behaviors is in place to help reduce potential legal liability. Recommended Reading In broad sweep, EEOC moves to abandon its pending gender identity bias lawsuits
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Yahoo
Help! I Pretended to Be My Ex in an Email. It Ruined His Life.
This is part of Revenge Week, a series about how vengeance runs America, from the White House to cheating spouses to that bad boss who deserved it. Our advice columnists have heard many stories about revenge over the years—so we're diving into the Dear Prudence archives to share these classic letters with our readers. Submit your own questions to Prudie here. Dear Prudence, About two years ago my then-boyfriend got a job offer at a large, global company for nearly a 40 percent pay raise. He was contractually obliged to give a month's notice at his old job and during that time I found out he cheated on me, amongst other things. To get back at him I logged into his email (he gave me his password previously) and wrote an email pretending to be him. The email detailed a drunken weekend out using recreational drugs, racist vents about my ex's then boss, and the last paragraph contained offensive remarks about the HR manager who recruited him. I sent it to the HR manager to make it look like he'd accidentally sent it to her instead of a friend, then deleted the email from his sent account. Naturally the company withdrew the job offer with the excuse that his position was no longer available. My ex was also not permitted to have his old job back, so he spent four months unemployed. To be honest, I feel no guilt over this event considering how much he lied to me, but something keeps nagging at me and I feel like I have to confess it to him. He probably has no idea what happened. Am I morally obliged to tell him, or should I keep it under wraps? —Confessing to an Ex-Boyfriend Dear Confessing, I always appreciate it when I hear from the people who behave horribly (the insanely jealous, the rageaholics) to get their perspective on what it's like to be the person who damages those around them. So thank you for this letter about your diabolical plot to try to destroy your ex's career. He cheated on you, which makes him a louse who you should have (and did) broken up with. If in the course of breaking up you broke a few of his plates or his high school football trophy, OK. But being cheated on does not then result in a free pass to try to annihilate his professional life. You say you don't feel guilty, but obviously you do because what you did justifiably nags at you. Your ex-boyfriend is lucky that your email only resulted in a short period of being out of work. The consequences of what you did could have dogged him for years; his former employer could be providing the kind of reference that sends someone permanently to the bread line. It will be a very difficult conversation to have, but I think he's entitled to know why his great job offer was suddenly withdrawn and also be prepared in case this ugly episode re-emerges somehow. So tell him that in your rage at his cheating on you, you hacked his account and sent an inflammatory email to his former HR manager. You don't have to give chapter and verse of everything you said in the email, but adding an apology would be a good thing to do. And please, everyone who is in love, keep in mind you can share your body and your soul with your beloved, but sharing your password is not such a good idea. —Emily Yoffe From: Type 'R' for Revenge. (Aug. 29, 2011). Dear Prudence, I was a bully in high school and middle school. I made cruel comments about others' clothing, cut friends out from our group, and was in general a mean little terror. My stepdad was wealthy and a city council member and I exploited that for popularity (this was in a small Midwestern town). But that same stepdad was mentally and physically abusive to me and my sisters and mom for seven horrific years. In seventh grade, I missed curfew, so he drove me to the middle of a field with my new kitten and forced me to abandon it. That was when he wasn't using a belt to beat us bloody where nobody could see marks. He convinced us that nobody would believe us, and I internalized that. I was angry that I had to hide so much pain and took it out on everyone else, which I deeply regret. In junior year, I called the police when he almost killed my mom, but he then shot himself in front of us when the cops arrived. After that, I spent part of senior year with my grandparents and missed a lot of school, but the whole thing was pretty hushed up. I somehow managed to graduate, went to college (and lots of therapy), and have moved away to get my masters degree. As part of my therapy, I wrote handwritten letters to the people who I remembered targeting, explaining my situation at the time and expressing my sincere apologies and desire to be a better person, and also saying that they didn't have to forgive me or acknowledge the letter. I don't want to return to that town ever again. But I was recently messaged on Facebook by a woman who I had bullied and had sent a letter to, and she accused me of lying about what I went through and said she 'knew the truth: that I was evil deep down, and even if it was true, I deserved it.' She said that she would post the letter all over Facebook and then I would be exposed as a liar. I am terrified by this—my stepdad's death was explained away as a tragic accident, and my mom and little sisters moved away to escape the memories. Everyone in town loved him, and if my letter is posted, I know my family will be targeted by his friends and neighbors. But I also have wondered if this is just karma for how I behaved, if the terror I feel now reflects how I made her feel then. I caused this woman pain and was horrible, I can't force her to forgive me. Yet I also am now living in fear that I will wake up to a flood of messages and comments agreeing that we all deserved the abuse or calling me a liar. What should I do? How should I respond? Please help! —Fearful Former Bully Dear Fearful, You have been through some deeply traumatizing experiences, overcome them, taken amazing care of yourself, and worked to undo any harm you caused. It would be such a shame to let this woman's threatened Facebook campaign against you derail all that progress. In fact, when you think about her threats, I want you to consider how mild they are compared to what you've already survived. You are a very strong person. If she manages to rally people against you (and this is a big if—my guess is that most people will see any letter she posts on Facebook and go, 'What the hell is this about? Seems messy,' and keeps scrolling), I want you to feel confident that you can handle it. You can sign out of Facebook and continue to focus on your own healing journey, with the help of your therapist. You will be okay. You always have been. —Jenée Desmond-Harris From: Help! I Apologized for Bullying a Girl During High School. Now She Wants to Blow Up My Life. (March 13, 2023). Dear Prudence, I just found out that my old roommate from a year ago poisoned my dog. Back when we lived together, my dog kept having severe stomach problems off and on for months. I took time off work, took the dog to the vet, and made more expensive visits to the emergency vet. No one could figure out what was wrong. Because I moved out and my dog is no longer getting sick, I figured it was an allergy to our last apartment or something. Then a close mutual friend who was a little tipsy told me that my old roommate would feed him scraps as a way of 'getting back at me' when we had disagreements. He knew he was getting my dog sick and wanted to inconvenience me. I thought he and I were good friends who only had the typical disagreements roommates can have. To this day, he is still very friendly with me. But I am furious! I can't get back the time I took off work or the thousands of dollars I spent trying to help my dog. Worse yet, the fact he was willing to make my dog so sick without caring about his health is appalling. Is it worth confronting him? If we weren't still on great terms, I would start beating the war drums. What do I do? —Poisonous Secret Dear Secret, You are not on 'great terms' with this guy! He poisoned your dog! Perhaps he pretends to be friendly when he sees you, but that's not the same thing as being on great or even decent terms. This guy poisoned your dog! You have my permission to yell at him. You might also consider yelling at your tipsy friend who clued you in only after the fact. (It's possible your mutual friend didn't know until you'd moved out, but even so, they should have told you right away.) And feel free to warn any other mutual friends who might consider moving in with this guy in the future that he's liable to kill their pets if they can't agree on who should roll the trash bins out to the curb. But yes, my God, confront someone who tried to poison your dog; that's certainly worth having a confrontation over. It doesn't have to be in person, especially if you're worried you'd try to take a swing at him and end up in trouble yourself, but this is not something you should just shrug off. —Danny M. Lavery From: Help! My Roommate Poisoned My Dog to Get Back at Me. (Nov. 30, 2020). My father has always been a smart aleck who loves practical jokes and discreetly needling people. My husband has been one of his favorite targets for stupid pranks and comments about his choice in clothing, hairstyle, shoes, or whatever else stands out. For many years, I've warned my father that my husband disliked him and that his behavior was causing real animus. It never registered for him until recently, when my husband—whom I had never previously seen angry—lost it completely.
