"ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- United Arab Emirates officials blocked a YouTube cartoon from Israel, featuring two Muslim boys who deflect their father's efforts to make them suicide bombers.
Officials said the cartoon is anti-Islam and racist toward Arabs, al-Arabiya reported.
In one episode, the two boys, Salim and Ahmed make a detour to get ice cream on their way to place an explosive on an Israeli bus. Then they put the bomb on a UAE bus.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said it had gotten complaints about the cartoons, which are subtitled in Hebrew and English.
A spokesman for the TRA said the agency has resisted calls to block YouTube completely. Adult content on the site is automatically blocked, he said."
Around 5 million dollars has been found in a Dubai laundry shop late last night. The police asked the customers at the laundry if it belonged to them but none of them claimed ownership, some even claimed that they didn’t even notice the money on the floor shop. Police are still looking for the owner.
In an unrelated incident, an irate Russian man was escorted out of the shop for shouting obscenities for no apparent reason.
"Dubai: A former minister and two of his managers charged with deceiving a businesswoman have been sentenced to two years in jail on Monday.
The Emirati ex-minister, his 26-year-old businessman son, 44-year-old American general manager, and 48-year-old Indian financial manager were charged by Public Prosecution with deceiving the 36-year-old Lebanese businesswoman and alluring her (as a successor) to waive her brother's stake and partnership in the company.
According to the Public Prosecution's charges, the incident happened between May 2, 2005, and May 27, 2008.
A Dubai court acquitted the former minister's son due to lack of evidence and ordered the expatriate managers to be deported after serving the prison term.
The court referred the businesswoman's compensation claim to a civil court."
The United Arab Emirates was found to be the most difficult for expats; only 54% of those surveyed said they'd made friends with locals.Maybe because locals are a really small minority? That's kind of an unfair survey, but this is what happens when you become the world's favorite place to hate.
Andy Roddick won’t defend his title in Dubai next week because he doesn’t agree with the decision to deny Israeli Shahar Peer a visa to play in a women’s tournament.
“There were a lot of factors why I should probably go, and obviously having played well there doesn’t make it any easier,” Roddick said ....
The mixing of politics and sports was a big part of Roddick’s decision to pull out of Dubai where he won his second of three titles in 2008. Roddick said he has enjoyed himself when visiting the United Arab Emirates but was disappointed to see the government make a decision that reflects poorly on a great tournament.
“I don’t think you make political statements through sports,” Roddick said.
"The WTA has fined Dubai Tennis Championships organizers a record $300,000 after Israeli player Shahar Peer was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates.
The Women’s Tennis Association also took steps Friday to compensate Peer and ensure she and other Israeli players won’t be shut out of future tournaments in the federation.
Organizers said at the time that they feared fan anger over Israel’s recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip would spill into riots in the Persian Gulf country if Peer were to play.
Part of the fine will go to Peer and doubles partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany to make up for the prize money they could have won at the lucrative tournament."
"The United Arab Emirates will issue an entry visa to Andy Ram of Israel for next week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Representative Anthony D. Weiner said Wednesday.
“I’ve gotten the assurance from the ambassador,” Weiner, Democrat from New York, said by telephone, referring to Yousef Al Otaiba, the U.A.E.’s ambassador to the United States.
The decision to grant Ram a visa to enter Dubai, one of the Emirates, comes after the government’s denial of a visa to another Israeli, Shahar Peer, the 48th-ranked women’s player in the world. She was to play in this week’s tournament in Dubai. The WTA Tour did not cancel the women’s tournament, but the Tennis Channel dropped its weekend coverage."
"Novelist Margaret Atwood has announced she will not attend the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature in Dubai after organisers decided to ban the launch of a book with a gay character.
The author of The Handmaid's Tale will not be among the more than 60 top authors who are attending the cultural event.
In a letter to organisers she wrote:
"I know you have put an enormous amount of work into it, I can imagine how many difficulties have had to be overcome, and I am very sad about the regrettable turn of events surrounding The Gulf Between Us.
"I was greatly looking forward to the Festival, and to the chance to meet readers there; but, as an International Vice President of PEN — an organisation concerned with the censorship of writers — I cannot be part of the Festival this year.""
"The Wall Street Journal Europe announced Tuesday that it had revoked its sponsorship of a Dubai women's tennis tournament, due to the United Arab Emirates' refusal to issue an entry visa for Israel's Shahar Pe'er.
"The Wall Street Journal's editorial philosophy is free markets and free people, and this action runs counter to the Journal's editorial direction," the Journal Europe said in a statement.
It added that it was also withdrawing its sponsorship of the men's tournament beginning next week.
In the US, the Tennis Channel has said it won't broadcast the event."
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