ABN Amro Up for Sale

WASHINGTON (Menafn - MarketWatch) -- The chief executive of ABN Amro is at risk of losing his job after the Dutch bank reversed course and allowed a takeover consortium to access its books, according to a media report.

Sunday's The Independent, a British newspaper, reported that CEO Rijkman Groenink only changed his position against allowing the Royal Bank of Scotland-led group to perform due diligence on ABN ABN after coming under intense shareholder pressure to consider their bid.

ABN is weighing competing bids Britain's Barclays PLC , offering about $91 billion, and the proposal by the RBS group, which is worth about $100 billion.

more

I wonder if the Arab Investors are going to jump in!!

Emaar

An interesting article covering EMAAR and a few choice quotes from Mohammad Alabbar...

"However, he rejects western criticisms of Dubai for its refusal to sanction social changes. There are no democratic elections, press freedom is curtailed, and the decision to ban trade unions recently prompted Human Rights Watch to describe Dubai’s 250,000-strong army of Asian workers as “deportable, forced labourers”.

“Does Singapore have trade unions? No. In America, thanks to trade unions, Ford, GM and Chrysler are in difficulties,” Alabbar sniffed. Not all democratic systems work. “Do you think the election to bring in George Bush was fair, or Robert Mugabe? If that is democracy, I don’t want it.”

Press criticism of government, he said, was “a good thing but we have to leave a little bit of respect for the sheikh. People should criticise in a civilised manner. Call that censorship, if you like.”

Dubai is a benign autocracy that works. “The system is pro-progress, relatively clean from corruption, promotes education and moves forward women.”

--more here

DIFF and press freedom

Courtesy of anonymous for this article...

"Breaking his silence on whether he'd jumped or been pushed, former Dubai Film Festival chief Neil Stephenson held a tumultuous press conference in Cairo saying he was forced out.
Claiming that he could not get fair press in Dubai, he spoke on Tuesday to Egypt media, some of whom hotly challenged his statements when he said he was fired in February.

Stephenson, who said he'd declined three months' severance pay, has hired lawyers to ensure his "efforts over the past five years to create DIFF are given due and fair credit."

-- more HERE

demographic issues..

its been a while since i last posted but this is a topic that strongly demonstrates my reason for joining the forum as an israeli who doesnt even live in the UAE..

demographics is a key issue on our side of the middle east.. be it the fear of yaffo's palestinians that jews are swamping the old town's formerly arab quarters sanctioned by municipal policies or be through jews concerned that the relentless bedouin birth rate will create a whole new population balance issue down south that has yet to be confronted..

everyone wants to be a majority around here (except the christians who seem to be content with their predicament..)

i now turn to this forum to ask you for your views about the UAE.. in a heated debate on this topic i made reference to the way the UAE seems to respond to its demographic changes with the percentage of foreigners appearing to fluctuate - whether they are foreign laborers or sophisticated expats.. in my mind pondering how some have complained in the past that muslim and arab issues seem to receive less interest even though this is a blog for people connected to the united ARAB emirates..

appreciative of your views especially in relation to how demography impacts the way of life in the UAE today and what hopes fears concerns you have for the future..

grateful in advance for the insite..
lirun

How many revolving towers are planned for Dubai?

Planned, whatever. According to www.homesgofast.com,

Three ambitious new building projects have been announced in Dubai all of which will feature rotation in the design. This new concept features rotation either of the whole towers or of certain floors within.

Such technology however exists since 2001 in Brazil. The 15 storey Suite-Vollard in Curitiba, Brazil has 11 apartments that turn independently at 360 degrees an hour. ...

The first of the three projects in Dubai is the High Rise Real Estate’s ‘Rotating City’. This development has towers and villas. The villas will rotate completely with the help of a certain mechanism. These will be lifted up to six metres in height and then turn around. In another fifteen storey tower within this city, five floors will be designed to rotate as well. Vehicle owners will also have it easy with the vehicles being transported up as well.

The second project located in the ambitious Dubailand is the Times Residences. This project is headed by the Dubai Property Ring and consists of 24 towers and expected to be ready by 2009-2010. The first tower will rotate on a 24 hours cycle. The remaining 23 towers will follow the different time zones across the world. Solar energy will power this technology.

The third project is the Da Vinci Tower which will rotate as well as change shape in the process.

It's all here. Credulous? I cut&paste, you decide.

Wafi robbery arrests

Dubai: Police have arrested three people in connection with a jewellery heist at Dubai’s Wafi City shopping mall. Police told a press conference that Dh14m of jewellery had been stolen in the raid, and that it had been recovered. The daring raid on April 15 stunned shoppers at the mall, as armed men crashed through the front doors of Wafi City in two stolen Audi cars. They then threatened the staff at the exclusive Graff store, before getting back into their cars and driving away. Police revealed that two of the arrests were made in the UAE, while one person was detained in an unspecified European country. The total value of the jewellery stolen - which was recovered from a car in the UAE on Saturday - was Dh14m according to police. It was revealed that one of the suspects provided logistical support to the gang, while the second was in charge of hiding the jewellery and sending it abroad. Police also said the robbers, who were part of an international gang, used a plastic gun during the heist. More follows… Link

Is it true?

Nation/Police and The Courts

Wafi robbery arrests
Police have arrested three people in connection with the Dh50m jewellery raid on a store at Dubai's Wafi City shopping mall earlier this month.

That's on the Gulf News website Home Page. Click to read the full story and you get:

The requested article cannot be found,
it may have been moved during our recent website re-launch.

I won't comment until it's confirmed or denied, but that's what the website is saying at 2pm Dubai time.

I tried, but I still don't get it

How could file a case against a person for something like this???

Women's Town

Looks like Dubai’s visionaries have missed out on the newest concept: the world’s first Women’s Town! According to reports from China:

The 2.3-square-km Longshuihu village in the Shuangqiao district of Chongqing
municipality, also known as "women's town," was based on the local traditional
concept of "women rule and men obey," a tourism official told
Reuters….

When tour groups enter the town, female tourists would
play the dominant role when shopping or choosing a place to stay, and a
disobedient man would be punished by "kneeling on an uneven board" or washing
dishes in restaurant, media reports said.

Good news animal story

The Daily Mail (UK) is intrigued by the beauty contest for camels being held in Saudi Arabia. These camels appear to get better treatment than some humans:

"In Lebanon they have Miss Lebanon," jokes Walid, moderator of the competition's Web site. "Here we have Miss Camel."
...
"The nose should be long and droop down, that's more beautiful," explains Sultan al-Qahtani, one of the organisers. "The ears should stand back, and the neck should be long. The hump should be high, but slightly to the back."

The camels are divided into four categories according to breed - the black majaheem, white maghateer, dark brown shi'l and the sufur, which are beige with black shoulders. Arabic famously has over 40 terms for different types of camel.

Some females have harnesses strapped around their genitalia to thwart any efforts by the males to mount them. One repeat offender called Marjaa has been moved away.

It's all here.Like Miss Lebanon, the Miss Camel competition winners get large prizes.

Bad zoo news

I'm told Dubai zoo's move has been canned yet again.

This really is unacceptable - the zoo is an embarrassment, a blot on Dubai's name, an absolute disgrace in this day and age. It's particularly appalling given the billions of dollars being invested in the emirate.

Can you imagine horses or camels being imprisoned in the way the animals at the zoo are cramped into tiny, unsuitable space? Of course not. So how can it be acceptable for other animals?

I don't understand how the municipality can let this continue. It's not only damaging Dubai's reputation, it's a missed commercial opportunity - not something of which the authorities are often guilty. A good, modern zoological garden is a tourist attraction, a money-making enterprise.

It's another urgent problem that needs Sheikh Mohammed's attention.

Press freedom

Coming on the heels of the concluding day of the Arab Media Forum held in Dubai, an ironic newsreport:

Journalists charged with slander

A court will decide whether two senior journalists were liable for maligning two dignitaries by publishing a front-page article on how their horse was stripped of an award for taking a banned substance.

The Abu Dhabi Federal Court will issue its verdict against the UAE national journalists, a chief executive and an editor-in-chief of a Dubai-based Arabic newspaper, later this month, Gulf News has learnt.

The dignitaries' legal representative, of Rashid Bu Jsaim Advocates and Legal Consultants office, accused the defendants of intentionally publishing inaccurate and untrue information against the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs are also suing for publishing their pictures in a slanderous manner.
...
The lawyer [for the defense] handed the court a copy of an international sport court's ruling which stripped the plaintiffs of the award. Hashim also supported the court with a copy of the medical report (issued from the International Equestrian Federation) which proved that the horse was given a performance-enhancement drug.

Egypt's 'Dr. Ruth': Muslims need better sex

"Sex. Don't be afraid. Join me to talk about sex without shame."

Dr. Heba Kotb is tackling a taboo in the Arab world unlike anyone else: She's talking about sex openly on a show broadcast all over the Middle East. For the moment her main advice for married couples: Have more sex.

Despite the fact she addresses sex in the context of marriage, leaving aside homosexuality and adultery - we cant help but say :

Three cheers for the first female sexologist in the Middle East.

Sad and shocking

Via Mahmood.tv:



It would be interesting to see a similar experiment carried out in the US, my guess is they would probably arrest the "Arab" guy.

Help!! Help!! I 'm Stuck in Traffic

For the past three days I have been experiencing extreme traffic on the Discout Center and Sahara Center roads in Sharjah. A fifteen minute ride now takes an hour and a half!! I've called the police who said that two exits on Emirates Road in Sharjah/Dubai side, leading Ghusais have been permanatly closed. Well my Blogging Buddies I challenge you to find out what has happened. I haven't the time, cause... I'm stuck in traffic!!!

Quorn

Does anybody know where I could find Quorn here in Dubai? It's actually called mycoprotein, 'Quorn' is just a brand name. It's manufactured from a fungus, Fusarium and is supposed to be really healthy. I've checked at a local supermarket, but I didn't find it. I tried searching for it online, but no results. I wonder if they even have it here.

Thanks in advance! :)

Dubai Marina traffic gridlock

Just a heads-up if you have to travel to or through Dubai Marina...allow at least 45 minutes extra for the journey. At least for the next few days.

The area on Al Sufouh Road outside Mina Seyahi and Marina Phase 1 is chaotic and traffic is horrendous. Twice today, early and late-morning, I sat there for over 40 minutes travelling less than two kilometres.

They've changed the main traffic signal intersection as you come out past Phase 1 onto Al Sufouh Road to a temporary roundabout, the sequence of the surrounding signals has been changed and their timing also changed. They've also closed half the road and traffic towards the free zone is now on the 'wrong' side of the road.

And one of the new flyovers being built as part of the monster new Intersection 5 has opened unexpectedly. I don't know where the traffic comes from but it's coming out at the small traffic signal junction at Marina Heights tower. The junction is a small local one and can't cope - so bet your life that will soon be dug up and changed to something else.

As you would expect, it was done overnight with no warning and there are no signs to help anyone, so there's a lot of confusion adding to the problem. It may all settle down in a few days but for the moment, be warned.

Jumeirah Islamic Learning Centre

We at Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre are glad to invite you to attend a lecture at our premises in Um Suqeim1.
Thurs 26/04/07

How to Deal with Stress

Venue : Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre.
Time : 8.30 p.m.
Open to Muslims and Non-Muslims

Tel & Fax : 04 394 94 61
Mail: sara_ina@yahoo.com
SMS: 050 6326937

Emirates Evening Post - UAE's evening tabloid - is no more...

Emirates Evening Post - the UAE's evening tabloid - is with us no more, reported missing by Khaleej Times and ceased by ArabianBusiness.com.



I do want to know why publishing is becoming such a risky business. Journalists get injured, even killed in a war zone. I think to find out one fine day that your paper has closed down is nothing less damaging to one's career.

[Read more on... Marketing, Advertising and Creativity in the UAE]

Tasty Tap

Go figure.
Down by my house on Wahda, they put up two gigantic billbords, they could have brought some snazzy adverts and something to look at while you sit in traffic. But it block the view of the al Khan bridge, which means that you could not see if the bridge is blocked or not. Yeah, it was a bad idea. They soon realized it and began to tear the structure down. The question is didn't anyone just stand on the road and see that it was a useless idea?

For sure after it was too late, after the guys spent two weeks at least 200 feet in the air, in the hot sun, made even hotter by automobile exhust. They took it down.

There seem to be no end of unthought out plans, this goes in the bin with the public park visitors' license, the ban on bicycles on the roads, and now the new on the ban on bottled water from your local bodega.

The latetest mess up is the ban on local shops selling the 5 gallon of water. The excuse is that the store are using tap water. The probably are, buy hey, it tastes great! Also, that is doesn't have that nasty rusty brown color in it that non-bottle tap has.
I know, there are dirty rotten scoundrels selling foul water, like that guy off of Wahda, around the corner from the Rainbow House buffet opposite Shop and Save who was selling gasoline tainted water in those big bottles. I went to his shop and complained about this serious health hazard and this rascal snapped, "Well, no one else is complaining." "So, what, you could have killed me or my daughter." I never darkened his door again.

Still, why not hire a group of inspectors, there are so many locals looking for jobs? In this glorified labor camp e.g. UAE, who will be at home waiting to receive the waterman? There days life is getting nastier by the minute, so perhaps your niehbour with pinch it, if she gets hard up for a cup of life. Go Figure.
Perhaps the team that figures out which ideas are stupid and should be chucked will get on this one soon...
InshaAllah

"Extreme Commuting"

No wonder so many Dubaians are increasingly depressed and frustrated with life here. According to Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam:

“I was shocked to find how robust a predictor of social isolation commuting is... There’s a simple rule of thumb: Every ten minutes of commuting results in ten per cent fewer social connections. Commuting is connected to social isolation, which causes unhappiness.”

From the same article, University of Zurich researcher Alois Stutzer:

“People with long journeys to and from work are systematically worse off and report significantly lower subjective well-being... According to the economic concept of equilibrium, people will move or change jobs to make up for imbalances in compensation. Commute time should be offset by higher pay or lower living costs, or a better standard of living. It is this last category that people apparently have trouble measuring. They tend to overvalue the material fruits of their commute—money, house, prestige—and to undervalue what they’re giving up: sleep, exercise, fun.

Of course here most people aren't doing a long commute by choice, to save more money. They're living in Sharjah because they cannot financially afford to live in Dubai: the rents are actually higher than their income.

And let us not forget the growing numbers of people who commute back to a tiny, empty room or apartment because they have been forced to repatriate their families for economic reasons.

Credit Card Warning

How many times have you handed over your credit card to a cashier only to have it returned as soon as its been swiped without your signature being checked against the one on the card?

I tell the cashier "please check my signature", but I wonder if the message sinks in. They don't care if someone has just paid for something with a stolen card.

If it happens to you, I think the best course of action is to educate the cashier as to why they should be checking signatures. Then, you should inform the management that signatures aren't being checked and how it is in their interest that they do this in future. You could also threaten not to go back to the shop as you don't feel happy using your credit card in there while the signature is not being verified.

Daynight Robbery

I don't really feel like talking about it or addressing it, but I feel recent events have bothered me, upset my foundations of security.

My feeling must be shared by the majority. How could they do this? Why did they do it? How come they did it here? Where are they? Have they been caught? Am I still safe? Are you still safe? Who are these people? Why are they here? How dare they do this? Will they get away with it? A thousand other questions. Did this happen? I wish it didn't.

Feeling congested?

Quote:

(CBS) NEW YORK A controversial new plan is about to be implemented to improve the quality of life in New York City. This weekend Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to introduce an $8 congestion fee for drivers who enter Manhattan below 86th Street.
...
A mayoral panel has proposed charging motorists to enter Manhattan below 86th Street from 6 am to 6 p.m. That charge would:
-- Include any bridge or tunnel tolls people already pay
-- Exempt drivers who bypass the business district on their way to another part of the city.
-- Exempt taxi drivers, and possibly give discounts for people who live and work in the zone.

Advocates said it's crucial for a city that's expected to add another million people in the next 20 years. "Things here are gonna grind to a halt if something is not done to relieve the congestion on New York City's streets," said Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives.
...
This could set off a battle royale from here to Albany [capital of the state of New York], where the legislature would have to approve the plan.

As Paul Simon might say:

Get on the bus, Gus
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me

I trust the relevance to the Dubai and Sharjah community is clear.

BLOG SILENCE

I know full well this is not relevant to the UAE, but it is to blogging especially in light of the recent events at Virginia Tech. This is also not an advertisement, nor is the page in question making profit off it. For those interested, on April 30th 2007, the blogosphere will hold a daylong blog silence to honor the victims and to show respect toward those who lost their loved ones. Click on the image below for more information.

American Dreamz - brilliantly funny

I wouldn't normally plug a film here, but American Dreamz (2006) is one of the funniest, cleverest satires of the Bush administration/war in Iraq you will see. Dennis Quaid is amazing as a cretinous George W Bush figure (he's eerily similar looking - especially the dumb-frown facial expression) and the scenes set in "Eye-raq"/Afghanistan are also very amusing. It's a black comedy so pretty much every side gets sent up: the US president, his advisors, the US army, terrorists, the American public and reality show contestants. And it's already out on DVD.

A clip of scene sending up American military policy is here.




(Click any of the pics to enlarge)

Huge Dubai Creek Extension

A 13 kilometre extension to Dubai Creek, which will more than double its length, was approved yesterday by the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It will run from Ras Al Khor, which is the wetland at the end of the natural Creek, into the Gulf at Jumeirah, giving it two outlets to the sea.

Read More [Via Metroblogging Dubai]

Abu Dhabi Wildlife Center

OK...time for an Aaahhh moment! This is Diego the cheetah and Lilly the serval cat from the ADWC. To learn more about them and ADWC visit my blog You can also visit their site directly at www.abudhabiwildlifecentre.com Enjoy!

Dubai from a New School point of view :: openDemocracy

One extract:

If democratic representation does not characterise political life in Dubai, public opinion certainly does, in the form of newspapers, radio and a welter of professional and community associations. The lively debates through which public opinion in the city are registered are not of course regulated by national interest, though they do sometimes include national loyalties from elsewhere - thus the many letters in the local media by well-paid American expatriates complaining about anti-United States bias.

Another:

As the images of planes crashing into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center were relayed across the world on 11 September 2001, throngs of shoppers stopped to watch this spectacle on the television monitors of Dubai's many malls. Surrounded by American fast-food outlets, and clutching just-bought items of American fashion like the baseball caps that are worn with Arab robes, these spectators cheered as if they were American fans watching a sporting event. What did this celebration mean for the prosperous citizens of the United Arab Emirates, a country that is not only an American ally but in love with American commodities and culture? A country where Twin Towers and World Trade Centers continue to be built, looking now like the growing children of a fallen parent?

Whatever the reasons for their unseemly cheering as the events of 9/11 unfolded on television, the shoppers of Dubai were not manifesting anti-American sentiments because of their economic deprivation, nor out of hatred for the west. They were not even motivated by Arab or Islamic politics, since that now familiar entity, the "Arab street", does not in fact exist in Dubai.

There's plenty more to reflect on in the essay. It's all here at openDemocracy. The author is Faisal Devji is assistant professor of history at New School University, New York. His writing includes Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity.

Comment Moderation

We have been forced to temporarily enable comment moderation due to the behaviour of a former member of UAE Community blog, A Blessing in Tragedy (ABIT).

ABIT was removed as a member after posting hardcore pornography recently; fortunately it was removed quickly. Since then he has continued to post a range of abusive comments, ranging from insults and obscentities to threats of actual violence against members and their families including threats to rape 9 year old girls; he also did not hesitate to mention that he has a 3 digit numberplate.

While the comments intent appears to be of an annoying rather than a threatening nature; comment moderation has been enabled to prevent the comments from appearing. Enabling comment moderation means we can filter comments before they appear. Existing members will be able to comment without moderation. We ask visitors/non-members to be patient and we will approve your comments as quickly as we can.

GN: Hundreds watch couple try to 'resurrect' son

So according to this article in GN today, a couple in Hyderabad were arrested for digging out their son's grave (he died 40 days ago) in an attempt to resurrect him - infront of an audience of a hundreds of people. The couple apparently had 'supernatural powers to resurrect the dead'.

Aside from how wacko the whole thing was, what stuck me as odd was the 'digging the grave bit'. Why you ask?

Well from the names of the couple I understand that they are Hindus and from what I know Hindus don't bury the dead right?

Correct me if I'm wrong guys.

World's Top 100 Most Livable Cities

Dubai and Abu Dhabi ranked 80 and 88 respectively in the year 2007 for the most livable cities in the World. Dubai is up 5 spots from last year

I guess the traffic needs to improve for us to move up that list.


The complete list...

DEADLIEST U.S. SHOOTING

Full story (CNN).

One cynical comment: Good! The US may finally go about outlawing gun possession. How loony it is for a country with so much gun crime to continue respecting the individual's right to bear arms. WAKE UP, America.

The Wafi Robbery

I dont know if you all heared but yesterday there was a roberry in wafi city...here is the story as people have told me...and u can check the video above...

two Audi A8 cars broke into wafi through the main entrance, they broke into one of the jewlery shops. there were six armored, masked and wearing all black men...they stole around 24 million, went out the other entrance...and some people say tha the cars were found a bit later set on fire...i also heared someone saying the robbery took about 1 minute and 50 seconds, while the police arrived after 3 minutes...

this is a really serious thing and its the first time it happens here in dubai and if they didnt get caught i think more people will be encouraged to do similar attempts...

but the weord thing that i opened Emirates Today and the only thing i found was a really short article about thee lines long in the right bottom end of the third page...

40% of the Internet is blocked in the UAE

According to media luminary Abdul Latif Al Sayegh:

“The internet blockage rate [of unwanted material] in the UAE has reached 40 per cent that is among the highest in the world.”

Al Sayegh’s remarks came at a conference on Emirates Media Freedom at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi.

Not really something for the nation to be proud of, is it?

Robbery in Wafi Mall

Apparently there was a pretty daring robbery in Wafi Mall last night.

Here's a video of the robbery in progress.

Whoops.

The NEW YORK TIMES is reporting that Emaar is taking a huge hit this quarter:

Dubai-based Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU), the largest Arab real-estate developer by market value, reported its slowest rate of profit-growth in the first quarter in at least two years as the U.S. housing market cooled.

The earnings missed even the smallest profit-forecast of four analysts polled by Reuters last month.Net income in the three months to March 31 rose 13.3 percent to 1.72 billion dirhams ($468.5 million), or 0.28 dirhams per share, compared with 1.52 billion dirhams, or 0.25 dirhams per share, in the year-earlier period, Emaar said.

Compared with the fourth quarter, revenue fell almost 30 percent. Cost of revenue tripled to 1.98 billion dirhams.

There may be a silver lining this cloud as per the Reuters:

Dubai's government took a majority stake in Emaar in March by exchanging land for $7.6 billion worth of stock.

The deal could increase Emaar's land holdings in Dubai by 55 percent, giving the developer more room to expand at home until foreign projects start generating profit, analysts have said.

That might actually work to your average Joe's advantage -- the larger the number of housing units available, the cheaper the purchase price or rent, no?

Support for Mahmood.tv

Bahraini journalists plan to gather at Bahrain's High Criminal Court on Tuesday 17th April to protest the libel case brought against Mahmood Al-Yousif by government minister Mansour bin Rajab.

Mahmood criticised bin Rajab and his department's response to heavy December rains that caused flooding. The minister claims his "feelings are hurt".

This is a stark reminder that the privileges of freedom of speech that many of us enjoy back home in the West are not available in this region. In properly democratic systems of government, criticism of the government and government figures is expected and necessary for the democratic process. According to the UAE Publications Law, such criticism is illegal. In Bahrain, and in the wider Gulf, one can face heavy fines and lengthy jail sentences:

Article 70

No criticism shall be made against the Head of State or Rulers of the Emirates


Article 84

It is prohibited to malign a public official, or anybody occupying a post in the public prosecution, or assigned to perform a public job. The writer shall not be held responsible if he proves he did so in good faith.

Mahmood, who has pioneered blogging in the Gulf and been nominated for many awards, has suffered various threats during his years in the blogosphere. His blog was blocked for some time last year.

Anyone wanting to support him and the cause of greater freedom of speech is encouraged to write about his case, or should you be in Manama this week, to show up at his trial.

DUBAI BRANDING PRESENTATION

I wanted to invite the public to a presentation I am making titled

BRAND DUBAI
Marketing and PR as a Strategy for Economic Development

Who: Jeremy Tamanini, Researcher in UAE
When: Thursday April 19th at noon
Where: Zayed University, Dubai Campus in Academic City

RSVP: pearlofdubai@gmail.com

My talk will present findings on the success factors for the communication of Brand Dubai, as well as suggestions for enhancing the current model. Anyone interested in Dubai, city branding or marketing/PR should come. Please make sure to RSVP if you are coming so that I can provide you with detailed directions and make sure your name is with security at Zayed University.

Look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

GN: Mums could be dads soon

So this whole thing to make men redundant is all good I think, but won’t there be loads of genetic defects in the babies? I mean isn't the genetic disease probability factor for the child the reason marrying into family (close family atleast) is considered and proven to be such a big risk in the first place??

Cloning women (yayyy) and everything is great. Yes, let’s make them men redundant. I’m all for it.

But really is there someone in the house who can elaborate on the risk for the child?

Fire in Qusais

A traditional house in qusais was set on fire tonight and is now probably totally uninhabitable due to the powerful explosions that shook it.
Read more at Awannah!.

NYT: call for civility in the blogosphere

Many of you may have seen it since it was printed April 9, but the New York Times ran a story about a group that is seeking to come up with a code of conduct for writers of blog posts and blog comments. The topic is central to the mission of UAE community forum, and we've had recent posts on the subject.

Here's the NYT article. Here's a snip:

Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Wales talk about creating several sets of guidelines for conduct and seals of approval represented by logos. For example, anonymous writing might be acceptable in one set; in another, it would be discouraged. Under a third set of guidelines, bloggers would pledge to get a second source for any gossip or breaking news they write about.

Bloggers could then pick a set of principles and post the corresponding badge on their page, to indicate to readers what kind of behavior and dialogue they will engage in and tolerate. The whole system would be voluntary, relying on the community to police itself.

“If it’s a carefully constructed set of principles, it could carry a lot of weight even if not everyone agrees,” Mr. Wales said.

The code of conduct already has some early supporters, including David Weinberger, a well-known blogger (hyperorg.com/blogger) and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. “The aim of the code is not to homogenize the Web, but to make clearer the informal rules that are already in place anyway,” he said

I think one of the women pictured for the article is Secret Dubai. Just kidding.

Blogs of Note

Secret Dubai is listed under Blogs of Note today/yesterday by Blogger.

Way to go SD.

Someone tell me this isn't true

I cannot believe what I have just read.

Highlights:

The Federal Sharia Court of First Instance in Ajman earlier sentenced................... Abdul Aziz - in his fifties .... to death ..... guilty of having sexual relationships with his stepdaughters. .............

The four girls were sentenced to 80 lashes each. Those sentences have already been carried out.

They were charged with 'allowing' their stepfather to have sex with them. The girls reportedly gave birth to 11 children by the man.

One of the girls was eight months pregnant when they were arrested in 2005, according to police.

The women now aged between 21 and 26 told the judge their stepfather used to threaten them with a knife, forcing them to surrender to him.

Oh, and there's more:

the younger daughter aged 15 was planning to marry an Emirati, but her stepfather refused.

With the help of her fiance, she reported the case to police accusing her stepfather of incest and fathering children with her sisters, and that he also wanted to have sex with her.

So. Let's do the maths, shall we?

He married their mother twelve years ago, when the girls were between 9 and 14 - and the youngest would have been 3.

Let's do a little thinking, shall we? If he's trying to start with the youngest when she's 15, perhaps that has been the pattern with the others? Unless of course, this is the one who had the wits and nerve to hold him off a bit longer?

Howsoever, let us say, for the sake of argument, that you are Stepdaughter Number One, aged 15, and Mummy and nice shiny new StepDaddy have been married a whole year, when Mr Shiny comes at you with - Oh look! - a nice shiny knife - demanding sex. What do you do?

Well, you're 15, which makes you a big girl now: confident, resourceful, mistress of your fate, and ..........ah..... alone in the house. You just say no, don't you? Of course you do, and then he smiles understandingly, puts the knife away, and tells you you're a good girl to know the difference between right and wrong, and stand up for your personal standards.

And he's just an old silly-billy.

If, on the other hand, you allow your mother's forty-something husband to do what he wants, then obviously, you want it too. ("Oh StepDaddy, what a big knife you have." smirk). You also want a baby - babies! - lots of babies! Just think how you'll enjoy the baby showers! The excitement of clandestine, they'll-imprison-and-lash-me-if-they-ever-find-out-about-this, childbirth, in the cosy, loving care of Mummy, your role model for female empowerment.

How you'll brag to your sisters, tell your friends, and look forward to each romp, each birth.
How jealous you'll be when he starts 'courting' Sisters Number Two - and Three - and Four - and Five.

And of course, they'll be just as keen as you were, because they are also just desperate to have sex at knife-point with their step-father; thus terminating their childhood, ruling out marriage, and committing themselves to living a shameful, criminal lie that can only end when StepDaddy dies or the police find out and put you all in a proper jail.

But then, won't it be fun when you girls have eleven babies to play with? Fun, fun, fun!

Unless Miss Priss, sister number 5 spoils it all. Don't you just hate whistle-blowers?


That's it, isn't it? Innocent or guilty.

Pop Quiz! (Please scroll down: I can't close this gap.)

Either

A		B
You say no	or	You willingly surrender at knifepoint
You're honourable	or	You must be culpable
You live happily ever after in the family home with knife-waving-but-otherwise-harmless StepDaddy, who will obviously respect your wishes	or	You're a very bad girl
You and your sisters make a free decision to remain inviolate	or	You all choose to have illicit sexual relations with your mother's husband, and to have eleven children by him

If you ticked A, that's lovely, and just what any judge in the land would expect.

If you ticked B, then of course you deserve 80 lashes each, you wilful, self-indulgent sluts.

And pity poor StepDaddy, who has been sentenced to death by stoning.

I know I do.

Let's (not) talk about sex

The Gulf News has a number of sex related articles in today's Nation section:

-STDS:

"Seven cases of gonorrhoea and 24 of syphilis, both bacterial infections that spread through sexual contact, were reported to the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms) for the whole of last year, which doctors doubt reflects reality."

-Step daughters whipped:

Ajman: The Federal Supreme Court upheld the stoning death sentence against a Pakistani man who was found guilty of having unlawful relations with his four stepdaughters, Gulf News has learnt.
...
The four girls were sentenced to 80 lashes each. Those sentences have already been carried out. They were charged with 'allowing' their stepfather to have sex with them. The girls reportedly gave birth to 11 children by the man.
...
The women now aged between 21 and 26 told the judge their stepfather used to threaten them with a knife, forcing them to surrender to him.

Their Indian mother was earlier married to an Emirati [my emphasis], but after his death 12 years ago, married the Pakistani resident.
...
According to a police officer, the family was arrested in Ajman when the younger daughter aged 15 was planning to marry an Emirati, but her stepfather refused. With the help of her fiance, she reported the case to police accusing her stepfather of incest and fathering children with her sisters, and that he also wanted to have sex with her.

- Pictures of "considered-beach-Romeos" to be printed in the paper

- Tom (29-year-old suspect, O.O., from Kyrgyzstan) inadvertently peeps into ladies dressing room?


My comments:

- STDs are underreported because the civil penalty for having STDs is so high (e.g., deportation if nonnational). Those penalties may in theory deter unsafe sex, but the danger is that people go untreated and spread STDs to others.

- How can girls in their teens be held liable for 'allowing' (scare quotes in the orginal article) their stepfather to have sex with? It is obvious they were raised in a highly abusive world created by their mother and step father. And what incentives does the sentence of whipping innocents create? Their sister may not have reported the abuse if she knew that consequence.

- I rather doubt the beach front "Romeos" will be dealt with if they have not been dealt with in the past. The fact that they've gotten away this 'til now influences my forecast.

Jellyfish

I spotted a lot of these little creatures in the waters at Jumeirah Beach today. They were up to 5 inches in diameter, of translucent blue color, and in any, say, 15 or 20 square foot area of water one could be seen floating about. No idea if they were dangerous are not. I didn't see anyone fleeing the water, but I didn't feel comfortable swimming around them. Anyone knows if dangerous?

Dubai Architecture - Lecture at JILC

A Lecture about The Traditional Architecture of Dubai will be taking place in our premises in Um Suqeim 1 as part of JILC Fun Day.

Fri 13/04/07
The Traditional Architecture of Dubai

Venue : Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre.

Time : 5.00 p.m.

Speaker: Rashad Mohammed Bukhash

He is the Director of General Maintenance Dept, Dubai Municipality and Chairman Architectural Heritage Society. Bukhash, is considered one of the leading authorities in the field of conservation in the gulf region. He supervised the restoration of all the historical buildings in the emirate of Dubai including the Bastakiya area and the Hatta Heritage Village . He has a Master in Philosophy in Architecture from Manchester University , U.K and a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University , Syracuse , N.Y. , U.S.A

A Project for the Community

I just had a thought of how we at the UAE Community can do something meaningful and productive together. The idea would be to pool our knowledge as UAE insiders and our talent at writing and posting online to have an Edit Wikipedia day or week. Wikipedia is an excellent and now very popular source for info on virtually any subject. Search any term on Google and you're likely to come up with Wikipedia links.

So the idea would be for us as a community to focus for a day or week on updating or adding Wikipedia edits with relevance to the UAE. I really think this would be a fun and worthwhile project to do as community. What about it--would it be worth a go?

On Rules & Free Speech

The gentleman pictured above was Mario Savio. In 1964, he was one of the leaders of the Free Speech Movement at the University of California -- a group that fought for the rights of people to say and do what they want and to prevent prior restraint on a person's writing and speech. One of the things he said was "To me, freedom of speech is something that represents the very dignity of what a human being is. ... It is the thing that marks us as just below the angels."

I think you've probably guessed where I'm heading here -- I don't agree with some of the new rules on the UAE COMMUNITY BLOG, particularly those that appear to impose prior restraint on writing and speech.

Having said that I also have to acknowledge the fact that the administrators of this blog certainly have a right to establish whatever rules they want. Let's face it, regardless of whatever proprietary feelings we may have as members of the UAE COMMUNITY BLOG -- ultimately, it's the administrators right to... well, administer it, I guess.

My first reaction to all this was to say -- well, I'm no longer allowed to say what I said -- but obviously it was profane and had something to do with ditching this place and moving on. And then I thought, well wait a sec, here -- why can't there be two blogs: one that has a set of rules and one that doesn't?

Which is why I threw something together called UAE FREE SPEECH ZONE. It's a blog set up specifically for those folks who want to say what they will in an unfettered manner and perhaps have at each other as well. It should be made clear from the outset that this has nothing to do with anger or malice -- it is simply the establishment of an alternate place where contrarians can feel free to post material that may be considered too brusque or racy here.

So if you'd like to join the UAE FREE SPEECH ZONE, head over there and send me an email. I'll add you to what will hopefully become a rather cantankerous group of malcontents.

Until it gets blocked by TRA, of course...

Posting Rules

Seeing as people have been asking for some posting guidelines I have produced the following; it is not my wish to have hundreds of rules or censor the postings here, however without some sort of guidelines this will inevitably turn into a spam blog or at the very least a blog about ‘anything’.

Posting and Commenting rules:

The 2 main rules of this blog...

• Posting is a privilege and not a right. Admins may edit/remove your post for any reason that they state.
• By making a post/comment on this blog you agree that you are solely responsible for its content and that you are up to date on the laws of the country you are posting from and that your post/comment abides by them.

Other rules:

• Obscenely-hateful, obscenely-racist and comments inferring violence against other users are prohibited.
• Detailing methods of bypassing the proxy is prohibited as it may get the site banned.

• Listing information considered private is prohibited. Inciting other users to do anything similar, discussing it (even if it is meant to be in a light hearted manner) is prohibited.
• Harassing, intimidating and/or threatening users is prohibited.
• Posting deliberately confusing/obscure messages is prohibited; this includes using the avatars, usernames, names and/or likeness of other users.
• Commercial posts and comments are prohibited; NO commercially oriented postings, NO advertising, NO promoting events and NO advertising in the comments section.
• NO SEO ADVERTISING (search engine optimization)
• In some circumstances (usually where users security/privacy is threatened), posts and comments may be removed, redacted, or disabled by admins for any reason.

Privacy

There are some rules and restrictions that relate to privacy--it is aimed that the privacy of all bloggers and commenters is respected, however users that continually threaten, spam and/or harass may not have this respected.

Additional policies & information

Anonymous and non-member comments are placed in a moderation queue that is controlled by a few admins. Even if your comment is published it may be deleted at a later stage in keeping with the rules and to ensure discussions remain on topic.

Relevance

Relevance is always a touchy subject on this blog; It is sometimes difficult to judge what is relevant and what is not.

Blog posts should preferably have some relevance to the UAE or the immediate surrounding area.

Occasional off-topic posts are tolerated, however it would be nice to see the majority of posts remain about the UAE.

In the commenting section, off-topic comments are permitted as long as the general topic remains the same.

Comment wars

Comment wars may be allowed for some time however users will eventually be asked to stop and return to the original topic. Comments may be permanently deleted to restore the post to its original topic.

Formatting

It would be nice if everyone kept their posts with the same formatting; this means that information is easier for people to read and ensures readability by all browsers and operating systems.

• When quoting news articles, don’t paste an entire article; link/reference all sources.
• Please avoid modifying the fonts used on your posts, leave the default font; bold, italics etc are acceptable.
• No large font titles/introductions, large images, flash content etc; please link to content that may take a long time to load rather than embed it.
• Cross post in moderation. Linking to your blog 70 posts in a row is generally frowned upon. If you’re linking to your blog, it should be for a reason.
• Please avoid using flash applets (youtube is accepted on occasion, but limit it to one video per post). This is because users on older computers may be unable to load the content--you can always link to sites.

• Failure to follow these guidelines will result in me or another admin editing your post and leaving a comment stating why.

If anyone has any concerns with these guidelines, feel free to use the commenting section or email me at sam@samurai-sam.com

Just another day

...for you and me in paradise.

That Phil Collins song comes to mind when I view the photo essay for the article Sonapur: Welcome to the Dark Side, at the new Gulf News XPress tabloid. I was critical of the tabloid in an earlier post, but I find this kind of article of more value to the community.

The song speaks of homelessness and other matters of destitution in society. The article speaks of the harsh conditions in this country's largest labor camp. How many of you have ever seen it first hand? It is worth a visit to keep in perspective the range of experiences that charactise life in the UAE.

This article surmises,

With more residential buildings coming up for workers in Sonapur, its population is expected to rise. With its ongoing construction, Sonapur is probably set to become the largest camp of workers in the world.

I don't think we're likely to hear this new wonder fact about Dubai alongside the likes of:

Jumeirah Beach Residents--the largest single-phase property development in the world.

The population of Sonapur is already many times greater than JBR's will ever be, and by extension is more typical of life in Dubai.

The BCCI link

What do the Bush family, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden have in common?

They all used the same bank.

Excerpt:

BCCI was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a dirty offshore bank that then-president Ronald Reagan's Central Intelligence Agency used to run guns to Hussein, finance Osama bin Laden, move money in the illegal Iran-Contra operation and carry out other "agency" black ops. The Bushes also benefited privately; one of the bank's largest Saudi investors helped bail out George W. Bush's troubled oil investments.

BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani banker, Agha Hasan Abedi, with the support of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and head of the United Arab Emirates. Its corporate strategy was money laundering. It became the banker for drug and arms traffickers, corrupt officials, financial fraudsters, dictators and terrorists.

Read full article here.

Trucks Banned From Using The BB Bridge

Lorries, tankers and other heavy vehicles have been banned from using Dubai’s Business Bay Crossing.

The order by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is intended to ensure the safety of drivers and keep traffic moving in both directions between Bur Dubai and Deira.

The ban applies to any vehicle weighing 2.5 tonnes or more and will be in force 24 hours a day as well as on all holidays.

[Read more on Emirates Today]

Burj Dubai Towers With Storeys

Burj Dubai, already the tallest structure in the Middle East and Europe, has set a new global record for having more floors than any other building in the world.

Currently at 120 storeys and 422.5 metres high, the iconic building developed by Emaar Properties is also one of the five tallest structures in the world.

Height-wise, the tower is now taller than the Empire State Building (381 metres) in New York City and the John Hancock Centre (344 metres) in Chicago – two of only five completed buildings in the world that have 100 storeys or more.

[Read more on Emirates Today]

Liquids To Be Restricted On Board

Passengers may have to give up liquids, pastes and gels under the government’s new safety rules covering hand luggage, Emirates airline conveyed yesterday.

Any drink, pastes, gels and lotions in containers larger than 100ml will have to be handed over before boarding. This restriction will apply to all fluids as well as aerosol sprays and creams.

The regulations, which are in line with the recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organisation, are being introduced.

The new hand baggage restrictions apply to passengers boarding in Australia, China, the EU, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Japan, the Maldives, Mauritius, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.

[Read more at Emirates Today]

Headline: "Expats with GCC licences to take fresh driving test"

Khaleej Times:

Shihab Hamad Bu Shihab, Manager of Driving Licences at the RTA, said the step had been taken to unify the driving styles of these drivers with those in the UAE to make the country's roads safer for motorists.

Bu Shihab said the new rule was implemented on January 15 this year. The official did not explain why passport holders of these countries, including Oman and Kuwait, would still be allowed to convert their licences to the UAE's, after paying Dh100. "Licence holders from these 36 countries will have to attend a minimum of 21 classes before qualifying for a driving test conducted by the RTA," the official noted.

My emphasis.

Previously drivers with a valid license from some countries - like the US - could acquire their UAE license without taking a test, let alone lessons. The end of special treatment, I guess.

I do wonder to whose standard of driving are styles being harmonized.

Sir Ben Kingsley in Abu Dhabi

What a amazing last few days! We hosted SBK here and while I have always been a fan of his, to meet him in person and be around him, he is a special human being.

On Thursday he gave a lecture at ADWC and the room was over capacity. The students were there from HCT as well as ZU. It's great as I got to meet a lot of very enthusiastic young people.

Alexander Siddig and Thomas Sangster are visiting as well. Alexander is a great actor and Thomas has soooo much talent.

We had a charity event at The Emirates Palace for the Manzil Center for Challenged Individuals last night and although there were a few glitches, it went off well. SBK entered the room with Sasha, a student from the center, on his arm. He is very caring and kind.

Anyway, glad the nerve wracking part is over, but sad to see them all leave! This was a first in the UAE and we hope to do more things like this for charity. DONATE to Manzil, your gift will help a special person. Pictures on my blog.

Another Bad Net Day?

Seems like the Internet's speed has been painfully slow all day today. Is it just my connection? Any word of undersea earthquakes?

Advertising in Blogs

Just out of curiosity, I wonder what others think about having ads posted in blogs. Some have them, many don't, including this one. Personally, I'm against it--not that I mind people making money through the effort they put into blogging, but because I find the placement of these ads often detracts and distracts from the content of the blog itself. I often find myself having to scroll down or hunt for the real content in the face of ads all over the place. If the ads could just be more discreet, but by its very raison d’être an ad cannot be discreet.

In addition I see blogs as having a certain aesthetic which sets them apart from a lot of other things on the net. One component of this aestheic is the non-commercial element. We know when we read a blog that it is the genuine expression of an individual attempting to either share a part of himself/herself or at least contribute to dialog on an important issue. This is the beauty of blogging and advertizing sort of takes away from that.

I'm all for more freedoms, but...

Apparently the Gulf News publishers have entered the tabloid field,

Smart. Bold. Quick.
Developed by the Al Nisr Group, publisher of the successful and respected Gulf News, XPRESS is Dubai’s newest and truest tabloid newspaper. A "people paper" with strong emphasis on human interest stories, it addresses the issues of modern life in Dubai as well as keeping readers up-to-date with the most interesting world news. Divided into three sections – News, Life and Sport – XPRESS has a distinct focus on the local. That means more local news, more local life and more local sport. This also means including anything of interest to the local reader from around the world.

And their feature NEWS headliner today...Dubai's Dancing Divas, including photos like the one below, which I doubt UAE community moderators will consider fit to keep posted on this website:


Moderators, you have my consent to edit this if you see fit.

Now, I'm all for more freedoms within society where individuals have, within reason, the right to behave in any manner that they see as correct, as long as it poses no harm to others. The UAE is making continued progress in this regard. But I believe it hurts the course of this progress when this freedom is in a sense flaunted soley for the sake of commercial profit. It poses the risk of turning the clock back on such progress if the sensibilities of a large number of people (conservative Muslims, traditionalists and others with consevative values) are affronted. Let us all enjoy our freedoms, but let's do so being respectful of others, especially when it does not require that we relinquish our own right to live comfortably.

I'm all for addressing the issues of modern life in Dubai as the tabloid in its about us post explains. But I don't think this kind of headliner is doing that. While I'm not against a tabloid trying to make money, which is obviously what motivates this sort of thing, there are other less controverisal ways to do so.

End of an Al Ain Landmark

This week has seen the beginning of the destruction of the Sheikha Salama Mosque. This mosque was built in honor of Sheikh Zayed's mother. I have some pre-destruction photos here if you are interested. Apparently a new mosque will being built in its place.

Global IT Report

The World Economic Forum has released its annual Global Information Technology Report which is an evaluation of "the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from [Information and Communication Technology] developments".

The UAE ranks 29th, first amoung GCC nations; Qatar is 36, Bahrain 50, Kuwait 54. Saudi Arabia and Oman are not ranked.

History of Education

My post about Islamic sex education created a divide among fellow community members, i wanted to put forward my opinion to some muslim and non muslims for better understanding of a islamic opinion regarding sex education .... i meant no harm or did not mean to target anyone in perticular....some of the members pointed out that religion, culture should be separated from the education....

Every individual has his or her opinion and no one can force it to change, nor can i. My posts are meant to share my opinion as we live in a country that is home to many nationalities and cultures.... Its all done in Good faith and to create an understanding between each other....

Well the comments i got made me think about the Education part and its relation with religion and culture, is it related to culture and religion or is it not...i came across History of Education in Encarta...It gives you a fair idea that birth of education is directly connected to culture and religion......

Some of us think what we learn in schools make us a better person and thats called education.. While culture educates a person , so does religion and our life we live teaches us lessons as well...

So i forward this link in good faith so people including me can understand and take it as a reminder of relationship between culture, religion and education....... they all go hand in hand... or atleast have connections in the past, present or future...

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561415/History_of_Education.html

P.s... this post in not dedicated to any perticular individual so please try not to take it personally.... i think atleast it will make us look back in history and remind us the basics of education...i believe most of us dont know, to be honest i did not know untill i read it.

"Dubai - A Lebanese national, 27, has been jailed for three months for raping a 26-year-old Brazilian air hostess after a night out at a club in Dubai. The defendant was also fined dhs1,000 for drinking alcohol and ordered to be deported. "

Observe.

Now, I don't understand why newspapers have to mention the nationality of the crime-doer. Is it really necessary? Seriously. It sounds just as good with out the nationalities.

Dubai - A 27 year old man has been jailed for three months for raping a 26-year-old air hostess after a night out at a club in Dubai. The defendant was also fined dhs1,000 for drinking alcohol and ordered to be deported.
.
I've heard of Europeans stoning their house-helpers.
I've heard of Arabs doing things for the good of turtle-kind!I've heard many other things!

There is no need to mention nationality! It's the idiocy of the people! Not the nation! All it's doing is producing horrible comments like this:

Anonymous April 4th, 2007 at 8:52 amDont just deport this one but the other lebs too. They’re the reason this place is losing its morals.

No one is committing the crime but the crime-doer. They can be of any race, any nationality. They're still doing something disgusting.

AnonymousApril 4th, 2007 at 8:54 am The Lebanese are known for their antics - running after every woman on this planet and driving like mad on the roads almost getting people killed.

Holy! I know a few Lebanese people! They aren't even remotely similar to the description above. Generalizing. Generalizing. Tutut.

The statement above is just one of many, many examples! My english teacher, has been guilty of this too!

"This man, he was asian, and he was a friend of my insert relative here , and he stole all his money, yak yak yak".

-it just goes to show, generalizing is stupid. Stereotyping is stupid. Pointing fingers is stupid. In the end, we're all people. We all do wrong, and we all do right.

Get a grip everyone! This is the age of internationalism. Where we all try to live peacefully with each other. I thought everyone knew that.

EDIT: Whoopsie. I forgot to link to the article. Zing!

Citizen journalism emerges powerful tool: Forum - Qatar

With people quickly adapting to multi-media innovations, the communication industry is undergoing a seismic shift in its orientation. Citizen Journalism has emerged as a powerful tool of communication in several countries, the experts observed while participating in panel discussions at the third Al Jazeera Forum, yesterday.

Community radio, blogs and SMS text message have emerged as powerful democratic tools in the Arab countries, especially in the conflict-ridden Iraq, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, they said while debating on "New Media: Speaking Truth to Power?"

more .........

Interesting to see how everyone recognizes the power of citizen media, but with the acknowledgements comes scrutiny and skepticism. Any thoughts...!

blog issues

"Blog issues
This morning I heard this breakfast show on a radio station, where the RJ made some amusing statements on the new species she calls as "blogittarians".

Adding that people go online out of sheer desperation to get noticed. She also ridiculed a popular community website.

She seemed to have no idea on how blogging or the internet helps in networking with the like minded."

--more from HERE

Did anyone hear this on the radio?

Inclement Weather

Nice photos, accompany Gulf News' coverage of the weather. Bloggers... how about more of our own? Meanwhile, I got news of the death of a construction worker at the Princess tower construction site in Dubai Marina today, when a board from a neighboring build site landed on his head. May he rest in peace.

Beauitful Rain

Dark clouds moved in this afternoon...


The promised rain arrived in Dubai.

Muslim and Muslima – The Fundamentalist Couple

Part 2 - About Sex Education in United Arab Emirates Schools and Else where

Recently, the couple had heard of children getting into illegal sexual activities at schools. They had also read about the growing concern to educate children about sex in various newspapers by people advocating Sex Education for students in UAE schools and other countries.

Their concern on the matter led to the following discussion. Read Further..........