Meet the Filipino chef behind TikTok’s viral Dubai chocolate bar

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Updated 30 September 2024
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Meet the Filipino chef behind TikTok’s viral Dubai chocolate bar

Meet the Filipino chef behind TikTok’s viral Dubai chocolate bar
  • One video of the chocolate-pistachio dessert bar has racked up over 80m views
  • Filipino chef Nouel Catis Omamalin says his flavors are inspired by a sense of nostalgia

MANILA:  On TikTok, people’s feeds have been taken over by the “Dubai chocolate bar,” a gooey and crunchy candy stuffed with crispy knafeh and a creamy pistachio spread. 
The bar, with its artistic paint-like exterior, and textured, green-colored filling, shot to social media fame last December when UAE-based food influencer Maria Vehera posted a video of herself enjoying a taste, racking up over 80 million views to date. 
Since then, millions more have watched other content creators reacting to this viral confection, while cooks and businesses have created copycat versions across the globe, from New York to Auckland. 
Originally sold by Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai, “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” is the brainchild of Filipino chef Nouel Catis Omamalin and British Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda, who partnered in 2021 to launch the company. 
When Hamouda tapped Omamalin for his culinary expertise to create a chocolate bar brand that was “beyond ordinary,” he sought inspiration for his flavors through nostalgia. 
“I always go back to the nostalgia of things, the childhood memories of a certain culture, even any culture in general,” he told Arab News. “It never goes wrong when you think about nostalgia.” 
Omamalin thought of knafeh — the Middle Eastern dessert with chunks of pistachio enjoyed as a treat by Arab children — and how it had a particular crunch that lent itself well to chocolate.
“Everyone was just having the same kind of (chocolate) bar, and we thought, why not have a dessert in a chocolate bar? And knafeh is my favorite Arabic dessert,” he said. 
“So, I thought, let’s try to fuse them, and the challenge was to make it like dessert on top of chocolate without making it too sweet. That’s how the pistachio knafeh came about, because this is something that I am really passionate about in the kitchen — to recreate how nostalgia in this region would be enjoyed in a different manner.” 
Omamalin was born and raised in the Philippines, and trained as a pastry chef at L’Ecole Valrhona Paris. He has been running a culinary consulting company in Dubai for the past 15 years. Although he was no longer a partner at Fix when the chocolate bars went on sale in 2022, he stayed on to help perfect the candy. 
“I was working as a friend of Sarah’s,” he said. “I was helping her out because I really wanted her to succeed.” 
This entailed creating the bars by hand during the early days, a painstaking process that took Omamalin and his team six to eight hours to complete — from manually piping the filling to letting it set and packaging the items.
The process meant that only 25 bars could be produced each day, which meant the products sold out almost immediately. Fix has since scaled up its operations, but the bars still to sell out regularly in Dubai. 
Global social media fame also sparked high demand in other countries, including the Philippines, where unofficial resellers sell the Fix bars as high as $32 a piece, almost twice its UAE price. 
The Filipino chef, who grew up in Dipolog City in the southern Philippines, said living and working in Dubai since 2009 had given him a platform “to play around with ingredients” and “interact with different cultures.” 
After graduating from the University of the Philippines, and later studying pastry and baking at the French Culinary Institute, Omamalin pursued a career in the hospitality industry, before eventually moving to Dubai in search of greener pastures. 
“I’ve always been an artisan and I needed to craft something that is really different from anyone else,” he said. 
“I wanted to be the first Filipino who would break ground… I think that has always been my driving force up to now.” 
With the viral chocolate bar now being recreated across the globe, Omamalin found validation for his work. 
“For me, the biggest form of flattery is always when you copy someone’s work, and I have no problem with that at all because it means you’ve done something over and above what you have expected,” he said. 
“When people copy you that means you’ve really triggered a lot of their emotions or creativity.”
 


UK net migration in 2024 fell by half to 431,000

UK net migration in 2024 fell by half to 431,000
Updated 24 sec ago
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UK net migration in 2024 fell by half to 431,000

UK net migration in 2024 fell by half to 431,000
LONDON: Net migration to the UK dropped by half in 2024, the latest official figures showed on Thursday, in what will be a welcome boost for under-fire Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated the figure for last year stood at 431,000, a dramatic drop from the 860,000 recorded in the year to December 2023.
It was the biggest fall in net migration since the Covid pandemic.
“Long-term net migration is down by almost 50 percent,” the ONS said in its latest report.
“We are seeing reductions in people arriving on work- and study-related visas,” it added.
It had also recorded “an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024,” especially by those on work and study visas.
The previous Conservative government had toughed the rules for people applying for such visas, setting higher caps on salaries and refusing permission for people to bring their families with them.
Migration has become a hot-button issue in UK politics and Starmer unveiled tough new policies on May 12 vowing to “finally take back control” of Britain’s borders.
The measures included cutting overseas care workers, doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement and new powers to deport foreign criminals.
Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who voted for the UK to remain part of the European Union, is under renewed pressure to tackle immigration following surprise gains by the anti-immigration Reform UK party in May local elections.
He said in his speech that Britain risked becoming “an island of strangers,” triggering sharp criticism from within his own Labour party for his toughened rhetoric.


The aim of the new measures is to “reduce net migration substantially, with visa numbers falling by up to 100,000 a year by the end of this parliament” in 2029, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper said: “The 300,000 drop in net migration since the election is important and welcome after the figures quadrupled to nearly a million in the last parliament.”
She added that nearly 30,000 unsuccessful asylum seekers, many arriving on UK shores in small boats, had been returned to their countries of origin since the general election in July.
It marked a 12-period increase compared to the same period 12 months ago.
But opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued on X: “Numbers are still too high and Starmer STILL keeps voting against every plan to bring them down further.”
She alleged that as soon as Labour took power after winning the July election they had scrapped “the tough measures we took to get these numbers down.”
Conservative former home secretary James Cleverly said while Labour “will try to claim credit,” the changes were a result of policies enacted by his government.
“This drop is because of the visa rule changes that I put in place,” he argued on X.
According to the latest poll of voting intentions by YouGov, the Reform party of hard-liner Nigel Farage is ahead in the polls, with 29 percent support, compared to 22 percent for Labour.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats edged ahead of the Conservatives with 17 percent, who were relegated to fourth place on 16 percent.

Hooting not shooting across the India-Pakistan frontier

Hooting not shooting across the India-Pakistan frontier
Updated 9 min 15 sec ago
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Hooting not shooting across the India-Pakistan frontier

Hooting not shooting across the India-Pakistan frontier
  • “There is obviously no interaction with the enemy,” an Indian officer told AFP
  • Troops along the LoC began exchanging nightly gunfire two days after the attack, rattling off shots into the dark without causing casualties

INDIA: Sometimes the only outsiders that Indian troops posted along the contested frontier in Kashmir see are Pakistani soldiers eyeballing them across the remote valley high in the rugged Himalayan mountains.

Contact between them extends to what Indian soldiers posted to the fortified concrete bunkers call “hooting” — an occasional taunting shout or whistle echoing across the divide, which can be as little as 30 meters (100 feet) at its narrowest point.

That’s close enough to hurl a hand grenade or, perhaps more hopefully for the arch-rivals who share a sporting passion, a well-thrown cricket ball.

“There is obviously no interaction with the enemy,” an Indian officer deployed along the de facto border, dubbed the Line of Control (LoC), told AFP in a visit to positions organized by the army.

Troops on each side are settling back down to an uneasy standoff a month after the deadly April 22 attack on tourists in Kashmir sent relations spiralling toward a war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the Islamist militants it said were behind the killing of 26 men in the deadliest attack on civilians in Muslim-majority Kashmir in decades.

Pakistan denies the charge.

Troops along the LoC began exchanging nightly gunfire two days after the attack, rattling off shots into the dark without causing casualties.

India then launched strikes deep into Pakistan’s territory on May 7, triggering four days of intense drone, missile, aerial combat and artillery exchanges.

More than 70 people were killed on both sides, the worst conflict since 1999, before a ceasefire
was agreed on May 10.

It is still holding and the LoC is again quiet.

Diplomatically, New Delhi and Islamabad seem back to an uneasy peace, trading long-standing accusations that the other supports militant groups operating in their territory.

Islamabad blamed India on Wednesday for a bomb attack on a school bus that killed six people, which New Delhi called a “baseless” allegation and said it was “second nature for Pakistan to blame India for all its internal issues.”

India expelled a Pakistani diplomat on Wednesday, the second since the ceasefire deal.

Soldiers from either side eye each other warily across the razor’s edge of the LoC that slices through the territory, home to some 17 million people and which each side claims in full.

The Indian officer pointed to a green ridge where he said Indian and Pakistani posts were about 30-40 meters apart.

“There are many such places across the frontline,” he said.

“Our soldiers can see and hear the other side at such posts,” said the officer, who could not be identified because he did not have official clearance to speak to the media.

“There is even hooting at times, but no conversations.”

When the hooting does happen, it is sometimes to taunt the other during rare cricket matches between the rival nations.

For the Indian forces, the Pakistani soldiers can be the only other humans they see outside their unit for weeks when snow cuts them off in the winter months.

The border camp had multiple well-insulated bunkers, artillery pieces covered in camouflage tarpaulins and there were several radar and air defense systems on the hills.

The 770-kilometer (478-mile) LoC — the route of a ceasefire line dating back to 1949 — snakes down from icy high-altitude outposts to greener foothills in the south.

A senior officer in charge of multiple artillery pieces said that, for many of the men, the four days of heavy barrages had been their “first experience” of such conflict.

“It was really intense,” he said, adding that “at least 100 to 150 artillery shells fell around here.”

Outposts dot the picturesque but hard-to-reach terrain of snow-clad peaks, dense forests, icy
streams and ridges.

A small, seemingly tranquil village in Pakistani-run Kashmir surrounded by green hills was visible across the valley.

“We’ve been preparing for years — and were ready,” the artillery officer said, adding that none
of his men were wounded or killed and that they “gave a befitting reply to the enemy.”

Indian army officers at another frontier post pointed to a damaged Pakistani post they’d targeted.

Another officer showed the long rolls of concertina razor wire along their side of the frontier, a formidable barrier to protect their mountain-top outposts.

“Who holds the higher position in the Himalayas is critical in any conflict,” he said.


Russia says it captures a village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Russia says it captures a village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Updated 22 min 36 sec ago
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Russia says it captures a village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Russia says it captures a village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
  • Air defenses had shot down 317 Ukrainian drones over the territory of Russia

MOSCOW: Russian forces have captured the settlement of Nova Poltavka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Russian defense ministry said on Thursday.

Russian news agencies, citing the defense ministry, separately reported that air defenses had shot down 317 Ukrainian drones over the territory of Russia in the past 24 hours and 485 drones in total since the evening of May 20.


China and Philippines trade blame over South China Sea confrontation

China and Philippines trade blame over South China Sea confrontation
Updated 26 min 10 sec ago
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China and Philippines trade blame over South China Sea confrontation

China and Philippines trade blame over South China Sea confrontation
  • Chinese Coast Guard fire water cannons and sideswipe a Filipino vessel as it conducted marine research around a disputed South China Sea reef

MANILA/BEIJING: China and the Philippines traded accusations on Thursday following a confrontation between two of their vessels in contested waters of the South China Sea, the latest incident in a long-running maritime standoff in the strategic waterway.
The Philippines’ fisheries bureau said the lives of a civilian crew were put at risk when the Chinese Coast Guard fired water cannons and sideswiped a vessel as it conducted marine research around a disputed South China Sea reef.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources condemned what it said was the “aggressive interference” of the Chinese Coast Guard against the Datu Sanday and a second ship in Wednesday’s incident, saying its vessels had not previously been subjected to water cannons in the area.
The Chinese Coast Guard said two Philippine vessels had illegally entered waters near Subi Reef and Sandy Cay and organized personnel to land on Sandy Cay.

 


The Coast Guard responded with what it described as professional and lawful control measures and went ashore to verify and handle the situation, it said in a statement.
A collision occurred after one of the Philippine vessels ignored multiple warnings and approached a Chinese vessel dangerously, the Coast Guard said, placing full responsibility for the incident on the Philippine side. The Chinese statement did not mention any use of water cannons. The US ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson described China’s actions as aggressive and, in a post on X, said they “recklessly endangered lives and threaten regional stability.”
Sandy Cay is close to Thitu Island, the largest and most strategically important of the nine features the Philippines occupies in the Spratly archipelago, where China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have a presence.
Last month, China said its Coast Guard had landed on Sandy Cay as part of operations to exercise its sovereignty. The Philippines has denied Beijing has seized control of the disputed reef.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
A 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal found Beijing’s sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.

 


Thai ex-PM Yingluck ordered to pay $305 million in damages over rice scheme

Thai ex-PM Yingluck ordered to pay $305 million in damages over rice scheme
Updated 22 May 2025
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Thai ex-PM Yingluck ordered to pay $305 million in damages over rice scheme

Thai ex-PM Yingluck ordered to pay $305 million in damages over rice scheme
  • Yingluck is one of four members of the billionaire Shinawatra family to have served as prime minister
  • She has been living overseas to avoid jail for failing to prevent corruption in the rice scheme

BANGKOK: A Thai court on Thursday ordered self-exiled former premier Yingluck Shinawatra to pay 10 billion baht ($305 million) in damages over a botched rice pledging scheme that saw her sentenced in 2017 to five years in prison for negligence. Yingluck, one of four members of the billionaire Shinawatra family to have served as prime minister, has been living overseas to avoid jail for failing to prevent corruption in the rice scheme, which paid farmers up to 50 percent above market prices and caused massive losses to the state.
The program, a flagship policy of her populist Pheu Thai party, cost the state billions of dollars and led to millions of tons of rice going unsold. Thailand is the world’s second-largest rice exporter.
Thursday’s ruling was on Yingluck’s appeal against a previous order to pay 35 billion baht ($1.07 billion) in damages to the finance ministry.
“The accused performed duties with gross negligence that caused damage to the state and therefore must pay compensation,” the Supreme Administrative Court said, adding the previous order exceeded the legal threshold of her responsibility and was unlawful. Yingluck 57, came to power in 2011 after a landslide election victory and resigned just days before her government was ousted in a coup in 2014. She is the aunt of current Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and younger sister of former premier and political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra. Thursday’s verdict comes less than two years after her family’s Pheu Thai party returned to power after a decade in the political wilderness, coinciding with influential brother Thaksin coming home after 15 years in self-exile to avoid jail.
The Shinawatras have consistently denied wrongdoing and have long maintained they have been victims of political vendettas by powerful figures in the conservative establishment and royalist military.
Yingluck on Thursday said the order to pay 10 billion baht was excessive.
“Even if I repaid it my entire life, it would never be enough,” she said on social media. “I will continue to demand and fight for justice.”