By the numbers

2004: UAE nationals

males age 15-19: 67,000
females age 15-19: 62,000
(Tanmia estimates)

males enrolled in secondary education: 49,163
females enrolled in secondary education: 53,116
(Ministry of Education)

males enrolled in higher education: 14,274
females enrolled in higher education: 27,262
(Ministry of Education)

males graduating from higher education: 4,546
females graduating from higher education: 8,597
(Ministry of Education)

Discuss.

[Source: UAE Human Resources Report 2005. Tanmia.]

Update: Girl in the Locker Room! makes an excellent point about similar US numbers: Men aren't disappearing from campus, it's just that their numbers are growing slower than those for women.

National Day

since no-one else has specifically mentioned it. i guess i will.

Happy birthday to the UAE!

you have made tremendous progress in such a short amount of time. i salute you!

Dear Khaleej Times,

Dear Khaleej Times,
I have an interesting query for you.
Exactly how many advertisements can you fit on one web page?
One? How about two? Three? No, you actually manage to fit Nine advertisements on a single webpage.

i hope its worth the extra money.

Let's Be Original

Let us not be lazy. Don’t just borrow some thing from the West to show them that you are on the same level. That way you will never get their respect. To earn respect, you have to be better, I am sure that there is a goldmine of talent in the UAE, why not us it? Have some competitions-do something that shows that the UAE is a free thinking and self confident country. Not a mindless copy cat. Let’s create some new democratic values. There are many living here in that are getting more and more worried about the turns that we are taking. Rapes, murders, homosexuality, prostitution, worker abuse, lewd clothing on young Muslim girls along with the headscarf, and a diminishing respect between everyone-yes, we seem to be on our way becoming a full democracy.
UAE-the undemocratic paradise for Westerners, because of its values, security, and lifestyle. Western democracy no longer works- unbridled, it has become like a wild fire. Yes, we need transparency-where no one is above the law, public opinion matters, and people do not live in fear of retaliation if they have a complaint. Religious values were the foundation of all democracies, from polytheist ancient Greece to Christian colonies of the US, but as they lost their values, lost their way. Democratic values are not variant forms of sex, drinking alcohol, or the right to abuse others. If we have to have democracy in the UAE- then let’s be original.

UN imposes asset freeze on arms dealers

UN imposes asset freeze on arms dealers :: ABC News

Quote:

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee called on all governments on Thursday to freeze the assets and travel of two individuals linked to international gunrunner Victor Bout over past arms sales to Liberia.

The council's committee on Liberia sanctions added Syrian-born accountant Richard Ammar Chichakli of Texas and Ukrainian-born businessman Valeriy Naydo, with an address in the United Arab Emirates, to its list of people whose assets and travel are to be frozen around the world.

The panel also called for an asset freeze on 30 business entities with ties to either Bout, Chichakli or Naydo, including Air Bas, Air Cess, CET Aviation Enterprise, Centrafrican Airlines, San Air General Trading FZE and Trans Aviation Global Group Inc.

Let's google "Victor Bout" and Sharjah and see what comes up. See also this google search.

Bloggers Beware

An Iranian-Canadian blogger was turned away from the U.S. border because of suspicions raised by his blog. Note that the suspicions were not necessarily political - he was apparently suspected (on fairly weak grounds) mainly of overstaying his visa - however, the border guards' suspicions were heightened because he was of Iranian descent, wrote about Iran, and had recently returned to Iran. "It was obvious the guy was trying to find an excuse not to let me in, and he found something," said the blogger after guards Googled him and read his blog.

Tiny Dubai is having huge global impact :: Daily Telegraph

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reporting:

Cannily, Dubai has found a niche recycling the oil wealth of its neighbours.

With global oil exports expected to reach $700billion this year, this is a huge sum, and some of it is sticking to them. The Dubai stock market has soared 1,200pc in just two and half years, and is now worth $253billion.

Its booming free-trade zone, entered through a granite Arc de Triomphe, has become the petrodollar entrepot. IPO share issues for the Gulf region have risen 20 times over the last year, expected to reach $15billion by the end of the 2005, according to the law firm Trowers & Hamlins. "This huge amount of cash will add fuel to the current wave of M&A activity. More European and North American companies are going to be targets of takeover bids," it said.
. . .
As far as buying private UK companies, in March Dubai bought Madame Tussaud's waxworks for £800m, which has since taken a majority stake in the London Eye. In just a year, the sheikhdoms have snapped up $1billion of DaimlerChrysler, America's CSX ($1.15billion), Holland's Celtel telecom operations in Africa ($2.8billion), Turk Telecom ($6.5billion), and property in London and New York.

The oil states seem to have learned the lessons of the 1970s when the windfall slipped through their fingers, leaving grand buildings, wide roads, and debt. This time they are saving 60pc, compared to 40pc in the first oil shock. Shunting wealth overseas, they are buying future global growth.

The story was sent to me by John Palmer who read it at the (Canadian) National Post under the title " 'The City' of Islam: With oil reserves quickly dwindling, Dubai has reinvented itself as a 'recycling' business hub for its oil-rich neighbours" (I've not provided a link b/c it's premium content at NP).

Etisalat Block a good source to redirect traffic

This is a part of the 'Block msg' one sees on blocked ad displays e.g a Weblog displaying a Flickr album preview would have a similar (part) block message.


This is actually a prime Advertising space occupied to display a 'Blocked message' in arabic.

What they should do is display 'This website is blocked but consider these website' Website One, tow, three etc. Infact, with the no. of sites being blocked- Etisalat could buy the Adsense technology and make money out of it ;-)

UAE to hold elections

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Dec 1, 2005 — The United Arab Emirates will hold its first ever elections in a vote to pick half the members of a consultative council, the president announced Thursday.

Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that the Federal National Council, the closest body the country has to a parliament, will have half of its members elected and the other half appointed. He did not set a date for the election.


any thoughts?

personally i liked the fact that dubai was never keen on political campaigning in the press etc. i cant stand it ):

25 top officials quit HCT :: Khaleej Times

Khaleej Times story.

So what's the rest of the story?

Sorry guys a bit off topic, but...

This goes back to New Orleans. Although it would be nice to get their free internet service I hope that Dubai never becomes so mired in government shenanigans.

Just read the following intro. If you find it interesting then by all means follow the link to read the rest of the story:

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply...

(actual letter): Dear Sir:

Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral proper back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.

The rest of the story, the lawyer's reply!

The day the power went out

I was reading the July issue of Gulf Business magazine the other day at the barbershop. On page 12 there was a two line report that said business losses from the June less-than-8-hour power outage were estimated to be $75 million.

Hard to believe. Does anyone have information on how that estimate was formed?

hilarity ensues.

Dubai: Etisalat is in negotiations with a UK-based company to purchase a system that could block all voice over internet calls. Currently, Skype bypasses network proxys, allowing individuals to talk or exchange information undetected. Bitek has two systems Snyper and Guardian which can block Skype.

I'm not so sure etisalat needs the stupidity of this plan pointed out to them.
This is so entertainingly stupid, i think i may stick it on my wall.

Dubai The Model? :: Tech Central Station

Dubai The Model?

Former Gulf News reporter Neil Hrab writes:

the UAE censors the Internet. The state-owned communications monopoly blocked a local blogger in July, for posting an allegedly offensive satire of life in the Emirates.

The media face severe pressure at times to follow the government line. Foreigners working in the newsrooms of Dubai's older daily papers quietly bear the wounds (thankfully figurative) of past tangles with officials eager to shape the news.

As open as the UAE is to outsiders, its press law is not going to win any awards from the ACLU. The text of this law (which I encourage you to read) leaves no doubt that the authors believe in a highly regulated press.

Read the whole thing. Hrab's bottom line: half a loaf is better than none at all.

Something that's nagging at me... (I should be sleeping now!)

Are there any Indian expat's on this forum? I would really appreciate some feedback on the following:

Let's say the UAE government decides they want such-and-such class of immigrant to have a minimum of a high school diploma. Now once word of this spreads in India, how will the would-be-immigrant who falls into the aforementioned category respond to this new (UAE) government edict. Will he think, OK, let me go to school for a year or two and earn my diploma, or instead will he think only, who do I have to pay now to get that diploma.

I raise this point because in some sense you have a double-edged sword in the labor/exploitation "game" in the UAE. Sure, you have the companies that are up to no good, lining their coffers at the expense of cheap labor. But at the same time you seem to have a country full of would-be-immigrants who have little regard for what is legal and their first (and probably only) thought is who do I have to pay and how much.

Any comments. I really want to hear others' perspectives.