The delusional world of the RTA

RTA studying phase 2 and 3 of Salik

"Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA , yesterday said the road toll system had been very successful in reducing traffic congestions and that the authority was studying the options regarding the implementation of Phase 2 and 3."

Is he having a laugh?

Mr. Al Tayer has obviously never travelled from Jebel Ali to Deira between the hours of 4pm to 10pm, and has probably never spent 2 whole hours trying to make an otherwise 20-minute commute.

Successful, my a**.

Read more here.

GCC urged to search elsewhere for foreign labour

Bahrain is suffering from a serious case of Asia-phobia. Taken from Arabian Business:

Bahrain’s government stressed the need for Gulf states to find alternative countries to source foreign workers from on Tuesday, warning that overdependence on existing labor export countries may lead to imposition of their own working conditions.

“I do not exaggerate when I say that we will soon see a Gulf minister or Member of Parliament from the Indian subcontinent." [said Bahraini Minister, Al Alawi]

Al Aswat warned that the presence of foreign workers in the Gulf was a greater threat to the region than the fallout of a nuclear bomb or an Israeli attack.

Gulf nations are in negotiations with Vietnam to source workers(...)

Bahrain’s position on foreign workers has come under heavy criticism from human rights organizations in recent weeks after the kingdom doubled the cost of work visas for expatriates and proposed a duel price system, under which foreigners would be charged more for basic goods than locals. Bahrain has also proposed a 6-year residency cap for foreign workers.

Google betas Arabic blogging service

"Google has released its popular blogging platform in Arabic, the company announced today.

The Blogger platform, Google's own tool set to enable web users to create their own web logs, is available now as a beta test in Arabic.

The company also announced that it will be the official sponsor of the Morocco Blog Awards and the Blogotour in Morocco. Blogotour is a five day, five city tour of Morocco which is intended to encourage local communities to start blogging. The finale of the tour will be the award ceremony for the Morocco Blog Awards."

Source

UAE to introduce Anti-Doping Law

Khaleej Times

The UAE has drafted, and is ready to implement the Anti-Doping Law to regulate the illegal use of performance enhancing drugs in sports, Abdul Rahman Al Owais, UAE’s Minister for Culture, Youth and Social Development said yesterday.
...
“Our athletes are clean and there only are a few cases of drug use. Several countries in the world have adopted testing procedures, but in the UAE, we don’t have dedicated laboratories,” he explained.

Horses are also athletes, but in this case it appears that law encompasses only human atletes.

There's a cable cut again folks.

I guess you're all having the same problems as me with the connection.

There's a cable cut, according to Reuters it's near Alexandria, and it's affecting the region from India to Egypt to Saudi Arabia to the UAE...

It will take "several days" to fix.

Oh great.


The reuters report is here.

Update - Gizmodo has more details.

WE HAVE A PROBLEM?

Perhaps my paranoia is getting the better of me. Perhaps the person who tried to wipe out my husband last night is the same one who pulls plugs at Itisatwat?

Blogger dashboard sign in process has been in Arabic only for days now. I've gone through all my settings, but no ways can I find any mistake. It should be in English, but it isn't. *sigh*

The Nav bar has taken on schitzophrenic tendencies - one day it's in Arabic, the next in English. It can't seem to make up its mind(s?)

And now, my battery has been p*ssed on, because when I clicked on the link for the Blogger Help Group, I got the 'Site Blocked' blue & red page!

Can anyone shed some light on this for me please?

Dubai Metro construction pictures

A website in Romania has some interesting pictures of the upcoming Dubai Metro...
Page 1
Page 2

EDIT: these (as pointed out in the commenting section) are photographs of the new airport terminal and not Dubai Metro

Al Ain Aerobatics Show

Why no pisc from Al Ain show? It was good.

As cool as it gets.

Girls on top. Nothing unusual.

A romanian duo on russian YAKs.


A Russian Nose-Spin. SU-31 - a perfect cork screw.

The two best decisions I ever made

Two things that regular travellers should never do without especially if you are based in Dubai – the e-gate card and a priority pass membership card. I have both. I have been doing a fair bit of travelling but now that I have an e-card, I am convinced that even if I use it once a year, its well worth every penny. It saves you a lot of time hanging around in queues – of course there are no guarantees in the baggage claim but that's beyond our control. Maybe that is something the airlines might want to think of – priority baggage. Hmm?

The other is my priority pass membership. I know this is blatant publicity but I think that was also one of the best investments I made. If you are anything like me (a small business owner), then every time you travel you are looking for the best deal possible and quite often this means that you need to sometimes transit through a second airport. Thanks to my priority pass – while I save money travelling cattle class – I get the privilege of using the comfy lounges and relax in the plush sofas, eat and drink for free, access the Internet. When you have to kill more than 3 hours – this is heaven sent.

Trust me – its all worthwhile

"Picture perfect: How the story of Dubai’s other side can never be told"

An interesting read from Arab Media & Society...

"It’s inevitable, then, that I sometimes forget Emiratis may even read my articles. I resort to using British idioms and words I know they wouldn’t understand, but it isn’t something I’m conscious of; the sad reality is that I’m simply not conscious of them at all. Except, of course, when the government steps in to demand that we remove a chapter or an article from a guide or a magazine.

I am tempted to provide an example of this sort of censorship, but I have been asked not to. While the incident between the government and Time Out is common knowledge amongst journalists in both my company and in other publishing houses, Dubai isn’t ready to admit that it breaches the media’s right to freedom of speech. But I’ll allow myself this: the piece that offended the government was a guide to alcoholic beverages sold legally in Dubai; it is neither news nor a surprise that the emirate has licensed liquor outlets within its borders.

[...]

You can blame it on companies being unaccustomed and overly sensitive to criticism, or you can look at the reality of being an expatriate journalist in Dubai. One of the problems we face is that we rarely hear an Emirati voice. They haven’t had a chance to develop one that foreigners can understand or relate to just yet. They will in time, but until then, the expatriate community will have to continue guessing which subjects we can tackle without having to deal with censorship or corporate bullies.

Such incidents of sporadic censorship have made me, as well as other journalists hesitant to tackle the real stories. As mentioned, it isn’t that the stories aren’t there, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a journalist who’s willing to have their career shredded for a 300-word article.

The result is that Dubai’s stories are rarely told. The truth about the conditions within labor camps throughout the city, where the men who toil for hours in the region’s unforgiving sun live, isn’t exposed. And the women who suffer the injustices of a so-called traditional society, while their men indulge in the freedoms of a modern world, rarely have their say.

But like most journalists, I make mental notes of the laborers forced to defecate on street corners for lack of toilets, and the Emirati woman who calls me once every four or five months to remind me she’s willing to talk, but not today; I hoard these stories, knowing full well that if I pursue them I’ll get barred from the emirate. But I’m waiting for the day I leave and have the freedom to write with the sort of brutal honesty these stories deserve."

read more here (article is 2 seperate pages)

Letters from Readers: "Womanhood"

"I know what Victoria's Secret is. The secret is that nobody older than 30 can fit into their stuff. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.

Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today!
Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness.

I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting my pantyhose on fire.

Amazing! You hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks two sizes!
Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like, "You know, sometimes I just forget to eat."..........continue to the full declaration !

TDIM 2008

The official link to the TDIM 2008 exhibition is here.

More effective advertising might have resulted in better footfall @ this highly important show.

"One of the world's largest privately-held property developers, will showcase plans for its new era of waterfront development at this year's TDIM 2008 (Tourism Development project & Investment Market), a new exhibition taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre on 20th to 22nd January.

Nakheel will play a key role in the first ever TDIM exhibition with the largest stand in the company's history, which is approximately the same size as three Olympic swimming pools. A number of new developments will be revealed in exciting shows talking place in two large domes situated within the stand. Nakheel will also unveil a 13 metre-long scale model of Dubai with an updated show, detailing the role the waterfront has played in the growth of Dubai and the major role Nakheel has played in this."

Director, Sales, Marketing and Customer Services:

"Nakheel is thrilled to play such a major role in the first ever TDIM exhibition. As the creator of some of the world's most iconic developments, TDIM provides a perfect opportunity to showcase our most visionary projects, such as The Palm Jumeirah and The World, but also the exciting new waterfront projects that we are launching this month." (...)

rest of official article is here

Censors tackle nudes

That's the headline of a (U.S.) National Public Radio report on censorship in Dubai. Here's a link to the blurb and the audio.

As usual for American public radio, there are great sound effects. They went to the censorship office to get sounds of offensive pages being ripped out, sensitive stories being cut, and touchy images being retouched with a fat black marker.

Letters from Readers: "Mistaken Identity"

Dear All,

I received a mail from a reader describing her recent experience with the Dubai authorities.
It is not shocking, but informative, calm & well written letter - " good to know" story!

"I would like to tell you about my recent experience I had on a trip to Dubai.

I arrived at the early morning hours on Tuesday 15th January. I was travelling with my husband who is a captain for an international airline based in Asia. I had decided to go on a trip with him which allowed me to stop in Dubai for 24 hours on our way to London.

I had a lovely day in Dubai visiting the fantastic shopping malls and even had the opportunity to go snowboarding in the indoor ski slope situated in the Mall of the Emirates............."

Continue to the full story here.

Victory at the Dubai Rent Committee!

This post is just to thank all the members of the UAE Community blog for their advice and encouragement to file a case with the Dubai Rent Committee. Special thanks to i*maginate.

I had posted "Is there a Rent Cap?" on 11 October 2007, when my landlord had moved to increase my rent despite a decree by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed stating there would be no rent increase in 2007, if the rent was increased in 2006. My landlord refused to listen to reason and turned highly non-cooperative, forcing me to approach the Rent Committee.

After a few months and 6 hearings later, due to some delay tactics from the Landlord by his non-appearance, the Rent Committee finally ruled in my favour and ruled out a rent increase for the rent contract supposed to be signed in 2007. I must state that the Dubai Municipality is doing its best in patiently hearing cases and sorting out disputes. They also used DHL to ensure the landlord got the summon to be present at court. They were friendly and approachable from the very start and deserve to be lauded for their efforts to enforce the decree.

With the new rule capping the Rent to a 5% increase for 2008 in Dubai, I encourage others facing a similar situation from their landlords, to approach the Rent Committee located on the 2nd floor of the Dubai Municipality Building, Deira.