Fujairah wadis choking on waste ... Sandra Knuteson, the assistant professor of environmental science at the American University of Sharjah, collected and measured rubbish – including plastic bottles, glass, aluminium cans, paper, food wrapping and nappies – discarded at two popular wadis in Fujairah and Hatta. ... The scientist started her project in December, when she decided to estimate the impact of the National Day weekend on Hatta Pools. She cleaned up an area 300 metres long and 100 metres wide around the wadi a week before the long weekend, removing 183kg of rubbish from the site.
However, the following Monday, another 81kg of waste had appeared. Two-thirds of the rubbish was plastic and broken glass. The rest was aluminium cans, crisp wrappers, toys, nappies, styrofoam containers, cigarette butts, food and paper.
A similar method was used at Wadi Wuraya, a picturesque waterfall in the mountains of Fujairah. The project was carried out with volunteers from HSBC and the Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), which is working with the Fujairah Government to have the wadi declared a protected area.
On March 8, the volunteers removed 115.9kg of rubbish from a 0.05 square kilometre area. Two weeks later, 42kg was collected. Ms Knuteson believed the amount could have been substantially larger if a municipality clean-up had not been carried out during the two weeks.
Glass made up 47 per cent of the litter and some of the bottles were broken, putting the public’s safety at risk. There were also plastic, soft drink cans, cigarette lighters and batteries.
“The batteries are a danger to water quality,” said Ms Knuteson, adding that the acids contained in them can leak into the soil, reaching groundwater supplies.
Apart from being unsightly, litter is a threat to the well-being of animals.
An interesting and indepth coverage of business owners’ and tenants’ viewpoints on the imminent demolition of their premises and homes can be found in an article in this week’s Time Out Dubai edition. It also features a snippet from the post of alexander, a prominent UAE blogger and journalist.
Some are planning to move to their countries of origin after some 30 years in the UAE; others anticipate moving to Al Barsha, according to the article.
Some of Satwa’s highlights include Ravi Restaurant; the vast array of tailors; the infamous shawarmas and fast food…and a whole load more: you name ‘em.
Almost always, Dubai is interpreted, presented and discussed as an exception.
But what if we look at Dubai as a "normal" city – young and maturing – a city like any other, with potentials, problems and dilemmas … a city inventing itself on the run in a ruthless age of city marketing?
Beyond the tourism Babel on which its current fame is based, Dubai is turning into a vast mosaic of (sub)cultures – a unique urban assembly of the locals, the expats, the part-time, the traders, the workers, the rich, the poor, the serious, the frivolous.
Dubai will never be pure.
It is not a utopia.
Rather the city is an intelligent orchestration of needs and opportunities that have triggered a genuine Dubai culture. The result suggests a prototype of efficient globalized coexistence, a theater where the world's current connections and contradictions are played out. When many more established "civilizations" are stuck in more confrontational modes, perhaps Dubai is discovering, after all, the unexpected plausibility of a truly global culture.
- Rem Koolhaas, curator
In February 2007, the Dubai government announced a new phase in the city's evolution. A strategic plan code named Vision 2015, drafted by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, declared that, after decades spent assembling one of the most productive economies on earth, the time had come to shift priority from promoting growth to bringing Dubai's economy and society into balance. Having already overseen the generation of a metropolis, Vision 2015 announced the government's move from hardware to software - from buildings, roads and ports to regulations, legal frameworks and, significantly, culture. In the local media, the plan was presented as a new stage of Dubai's development, a mega-project in line with the construction of the city's infrastructure, but aimed at its people.
In the months following Vision 2015's unveiling, a new cultural agenda formed. It is articulated in the language of rational exuberance that has defined Dubai's development so far, and contains a program of investment that would be unimaginable almost anywhere else. A series of ambitious projects - including transforming a 27 kilometer-long stretch of the city into a culture and arts district - is already underway, steered by a newly created government body, the Dubai Arts & Culture Authority. With each new launch and release, the big picture becomes clearer: having already established itself as a center for trade and tourism, in the next decade Dubai will become a center of culture - a city that, in the words of its planners, "shapes 21st century culture and arts in the region and the world." It is an admirable ambition, one that raises an immediate question: What does "culture" mean in a city like Dubai?
To begin to address the issue, the Arts & Culture Authority has organized Dubai Next, the first exhibition sponsored by the government for an international audience. Two curators - Rem Koolhaas, the Dutch architect and writer, and Jack Persekian, Artistic Director of the Sharjah Biennale - were invited to provide alternate views of the city. Koolhaas represents the view of Dubai from the outside-in, overseeing a photographic documentation of the dense cultural tapestry formed by the more than 200 nationalities that call Dubai home. Persekian presents another perspective: by accumulating works by five artists based in Dubai, in combination with a selection of local films curated by Bidoun, he provides a glimpse into the experience of Dubai's indigenous population, a community of under 200,000 that oversees the city's development but accounts for less than twenty percent of its residents. In the span of a few decades, they have witnessed changes that formerly required a century and, for many, Dubai is now no more familiar than it is for the city's newest arrivals.
Finding a balance between tradition, a continually evolving local culture, and Dubai's majority of assorted expats is a challenge for which there are no good precedents. In establishing itself a global epicenter of culture, Dubai must find ways to represent itself without sacrificing the intricacy that distinguishes it in the Gulf region and beyond. It is an effort that is ongoing and will play out in the dozens of cultural institutions that the city is now planning. Dubai Next opens the discussion, and announces the start of a new chapter in Dubai life.
I have thought long and hard before posting this. I hope that it is not in bad taste, but I figured it was the only place to announce a new blog or a relaunch of one.
I have just re-themed and setup my blog with the intention to take on blogging on a whole more serious level. The reason I am posting here, aside from the shameless self-promotion, is to get a feel of what UAE Community Blog readers and contributors think a blog about business, economy, finance, etc. in the UAE should be like.
It is my plan to set the bar higher for blogging in the UAE and your feedback is much appreciated.
P.S. I intentionally am not posting a link to my blog (please see in comments instead).
It's cool to spot comedy content on YouTube originating from our very own Dubai and UAE. Here's a series pilot by Phat Mo I found on YouTube... there are many in the series which he calls 'half sketch, half reality". Just like Freej shows life in Dubai via animation, this stuff is a light-hearted look at the things we condemn...
There are other videos on the Phat Mo Show YouTube Page... but this is the one that made most sense to me. Does it ring a bell for other people too? The part about condemnation.... ?
This blog is an excellent effort for the uae expat/national group to voice their opinions.One always wanted a balanced perspective on this country ,which has obviously given a lot to most people who came here..whether they acknowledge it or not...and even if at the cost of relative loss of freedom. After I read some of the blogs here,specially one's written by locals..I began to feel sorry for them.It must feel strange to be alienated in one's own country and not find one's roots here.In India ,people may view a foreigner suspiciously.Here ,its the other way around,the foreigners view the locals in dismay.Its really high time the press opened up for the sake of its own people here.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi say that car pooling will be permitted, but with some mind-boggling red tape.
The Dubai RTA's Director of Planning & Business Development Department is quoted as saying:
"Now people can drive their friends and colleagues to and from their homes and workplaces without fear of getting fines if they get approval from the RTA."
It should never have been a problem, never have been banned, but it looks as though we're getting somewhere in the battle with traffic congestion. Until you read the "but" part of the reports.
To car pool:
The motorist must register the car with the RTA.
Motorists will be given certificates allowing them to share their cars.
The names of the persons sharing the car should be furnished at the time of registration to avoid a fine.
A maximum of four people will be allowed to share a car.
And look at this for the worst Big Brother part:
After they have entered their personal details and information on their vehicles, the authority will conduct background checks on colleagues wishing to carpool before issuing a letter of approval.
They're checking your background before you can sit in someone's car?!!
I can hardly believe these can be true reports.
All over the world people share cars. RTA equivalents and governments encourage and support it. Many cities have special lanes for them, to speed their journey. Singapore has various meeting places where a driver going into the city centre can pick up passengers.
If people want to give others a lift, and to share petrol costs if they choose, that is A Good Thing. And it should also be a personal choice, encouraged by the authorities to reduce traffic congestion, reduce the need for parking space, reduce pollution.
This is a real can of worms. Just a few of the questions:
The car must be registered with the RTA.
So if the car's in for service or repair, the owner can't use his hire car to drive his registered passengers around?
The names of those sharing the car must be pre-registered.
So when one of them leaves the company, his name has to be de-registered and any new passenger registered?
What if your company has an overseas visitor and asks you to drive him to the office - and around town come to that. Do you have to pre-register him as an approved passenger?
A maximum of four people will be allowed to share a car.
So if you have a vehicle suitable for carrying more, like a big 4x4 or a people mover, you can't fill it?
People can drive their friends and colleagues to and from their homes and workplaces.
What about other journeys? A group of friends going to dinner decide that one will drive them all. A friend or colleague is going to the airport and you offer to take him there. Illegal?
And in general, there are the less structured instances of people sharing cars.
What if a neighbour's car won't start and you offer to drive him to his office? Illegal?
A colleague's car is off the road so you offer him a lift until he has it back. Illegal?
You and a colleague are going to business meetings in the same area, so you offer to drop him off. Illegal?
And then there's the enforcement of it all. What's the plan, to stop all cars with more than one person in it? Check who they are, where they're going, if they have a car pooling certificate, if the passengers are registered?
And who will do it, the police? Don't they have enough real work to do?
"Muslim men wishing to end their marriages may be ordered in future to use the legal system because of growing concern about the abuse by some husbands of the right to oral divorce, a leading Islamic cleric has warned." /"Oral divorce could give way to courts" /
I'm thinking about moving this blog to a more modern blogger platform (this does not mean away from www.blogger.com); we currently use a prehistoric plain HTML design with blogrolls that are located on an external server (blogrolling.com)--this alone increases load times dramatically.
At the moment the design is looking quite stale and isn't up to date with regards to video on the internet, and web 2.0 etc, I would like to make this blog into a more modern website.
The list on blogrolling is also difficult to manage, and due to the fact we have something like 200 links on this page showing at once, we must constantly rid the list of outdated links.
Unforunately, the current design would disappear because it is impossible to move it onto draft.blogger.com, and 3-column designs are impossible using the newer blogger designs; this could make space quite cramped.
I've made a small example of what this blog could easily look like (http://testuae.blogspot.com/; the list on the right titled "My blog list" is what could be done with the blogrolls. It is possible to list the 25 most recently updated blogs using this list, among other things this would...
decrease loading times
attract more attention to bloggers who regularly update (as opposed to listing a few hundred blogs)
actually provide users with an accurate method to determine which blogs have been updated, blogrolling is notoriously inaccurate at reading when the blog has last been updated
Using the newer blogger platform we can also create image/video streams (this would enable sharing of photographs/video taken by people who post them to appropriate channels/lists).
Please share your opinions/ideas about this in the commenting section.
The Meteorological Department at the National Centre of Meteorology and seismology (NCMS) today carried out tests to induce artificial rains.
The NCMS used planes to sprinkle cloud seeding salts in the moist clouds heading towards Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain. The monitoring stations already registered light to medium rainfalls in different areas of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The Centre is planning to repeat the tests tomorrow. WAM
The UAE will be ready to introduce a system of value added tax (VAT) by the end of the year.
Abdul Rahman al Saleh, the executive director of Dubai Customs, said the “infrastructure” for an Emirates-wide taxation system would be put in place between October and December.
Dubai Customs was commissioned by the Government two years ago to look into a potential VAT and is finalising the strategy. If implemented, it would be the first time VAT, which is applied to the sale of goods and services and not income, has been imposed in a GCC nation.
However, a government source said although the mechanics would be in place, it was “very unlikely” that VAT would be introduced this year because Federal approval and GCC co-operation, on several related issues, would be required.
VAT would be introduced to replace customs duties, which the UAE must phase out as part of the free trade agreements (FTAs) it is signing with a number of major trading partners, Mr Saleh said.
The government source, who declined to be identified, said a GCC-wide agreement on these FTAs is still some way off.
Mr Saleh told a seminar at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai that VAT was likely to be set at a flat rate of between three and five per cent. It would be applied to all goods and services.
Freedom House, the not for profit organisation that monitors international democracy and freedoms, has released it's 2008 "Freedom of the Press" Survey which it conducts annually. Since Freedom House commenced this survey in 2002, the UAE has maintained it's "Not Free" rating, which is the lowest of the 3 possible grades allocated. This year, fellow "Not Free" countries include China, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, KSA and North Korea.
So I went that day to my friends majlis. One of them asked me if I've heard about this Emirati guy who married a famous model. I answered him that I don't and that it shouldn't be a big deal. He said that this dude wore the Kandura in his wedding and French kissed her in front the public and his picture is all over the media.
Just to go out my cave (lol @ i*maginate), I posted this topic in the most famous Emirati Financial Forum with an average of 3000 visitors at any given time. Btw, it has been locked and deleted there. Fortunately I saved it before that. It is in Arabic if anyone is interested, source1, source2 . I'll leave you with the most interesting comments, positive or negative !! - There is no strength nor power except Allah
- There are guys with Kanduras who steal, commit adultery, flirt .... and no one told them anything. "If it was bald, let it herd"
- May God bless us from these things
- Maybe he wants someone to sponsor him in 2040? He has a vision don't you think?
- We ask God for forgiveness, "if you are shameless, do whatever u want"
- May God guide him.
- It is true that there are Emiratis who steal and commit adultery but they cover themselves, unlike this man.
- Real men are died.
I guess am not the only one who is living in a cave. The ones who have no idea why there are such responses need to go out their caves too. Is he one of ur local friends Rosh? :P
