A clean-up team has been drafted on to the Palm Jumeirah after complaints from residents about strong-smelling algae collecting along its shoreline.
For the past few weeks tenants living along fronds C and D of the artificial island, where garden homes cost up to Dh12 million (US$3.27m), have complained that the substance has left the area stinking “like sewage”.
Nakheel, the developer of the Palm, confirmed that the algae had been identified at locations around Palm Jumeirah. It said the phenomenon was common in summer, when warmer waters and increased sunlight provided perfect conditions for it to grow.
One resident said: “I don’t like to whinge, particularly with the current climate and with people losing their jobs, but when you pay a lot of money for a property on the Palm you want problems like this to be sorted out… MORE
Café Chic With a double Michelin-starred head chef, Philippe Gavreau, at the helm this hotel eatery really cannot go wrong. Mix in top quality ingredients, smooth service and a menu that cuts deftly between the classics and some daring variations and this is a top dining choice. Relax afterwards in the cigar bar for supreme decadence.
IndiaPalace
India Palace is very popular with the local expat community. The emphasis on Rajasthani cooking is backed up by themed décor and artefacts shipped in from the region. The open kitchen is a nice touch, as are the family booths upstairs, with privacy available at no extra charge. The excellent-value menu features starters such as lentil soup and prawn bisque with fresh vegetables, while mains include chicken and vegetarian kebabs and a range of delicately spiced curries. Alcohol is not available but the lassis are excellent, especially the unusual lassi seasoned with salt.
Luciano’s
Very good Italian cooking without having to commit a Mafia-style bank job to afford it. This unpretentious restaurant, poolside at the Habtoor Hotel, does all the Italian staples like lasagne and risotto with a minimum of fuss, relying on fresh ingredients and solid cooking to do the talking. A highlight on the dessert menu is the decadent ‘Luciano’s Cake’, a real calorific treat.
Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa
Tel: (04) 399 5000.
Website: www.habtoorhotels.com
Price: $$
TheManhattanGrill
The signature restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Dubai is the Manhattan Grill. Housed in the atrium of the hotel, this stylish restaurant is a firm favourite with the local smart set. The steaks are to die for, with fresh prime beef flown in from the USA. Other offerings on the menu include local and international seafood and grilled lamb. Wine is available by the glass or the bottle, with both New and Old World tastes catered for.
Grand Hyatt Dubai, Al Qutaeyat Road
Tel: (04) 317 1234.
Website: www.dubai.grand.hyatt.com
Price: $$$
The NoodleHouse
The Noodle House is a funky and laid-back eating venue. In contrast to the stuffy business restaurants that tend to be associated with this part of Dubai, the emphasis here is on light, tasty food served up in relaxed surroundings. Patrons can forget table reservations and join the rest of the diners at the long communal tables in enjoying some delightful Asian noodle soups. Also served are spring rolls and more substantial dishes, such as sweet and sour chicken. The desserts are a bit hit and miss but, for a quick and cheerful meal, The Noodle House is hard to beat.
04/14/2009 02:15 PM | By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
Sharjah: An 18-month-old baby has been declared an illegal resident by the Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Department (SNRD) and has been given one week to leave the country after which she will get a one-year ban.
Nayana Sanjay Kumar was born in October 2007 at Al Qasimi hospital in Sharjah, but her parents, both Indians from Kerala, could not sponsor their new-born baby as their salary was not enough at the time.
The girl’s mother, Sheeja, who works as a nurse at a Ministry of Health run government hospital told Gulf News that when her baby was born, she tried to sponsor her, but the application was rejected by the SNRD as she and her husband were not earning enough to sponsor the girl.
“In October 2008 my salary was increased. I was then able to sponsor my baby, but when I applied for a residency visa for her at the SNRD it was rejected too. My baby was declared an illegal resident and I had to pay hefty fines because she had been staying illegally in the country for one year since she was born,” the mother said.
Sheeja said SNRD officials told her the baby had to leave the country in less than a week with an outpass to avoid the fines, otherwise she would get a one-year ban.
“I was told that after one year I could obtain a new visa for my baby and bring her back to live with me,” she said.
“I told them my baby is very young, she is only one year old and I cannot send her away from me, but they did not listen to me, saying the law will be implemented equally.”…
04/14/2009 12:19 PM | By Kevin Scott, Staff Reporter
Dubai: The world’s first cloned camel has been born in Dubai.
The female calf, called Injaz (meaning achievement), was produced at the Camel Reproduction Centre (CRC) last Wednesday.
The team at the CRC, headed by Dr Lulu Skidmore and Dr Ali Redha, said Injaz was created from cumulus cells harvested from the ovary of a female adult camel, which were grown in culture before being frozen in liquid nitrogen.
Dr Lulu Skidmore, Scientific Director of the CRC, told Gulf News: “We are all very excited at the birth of Injaz as she is the result of great skill and teamwork of everyone at the Camel Reproduction Centre. This significant breakthrough gives a means of preserving the valuable genetics of our elite racing and milk producing camels in the future.”
The team said the camel was born after an uncomplicated gestation period of 378 days. Injaz currently weighs 30kg. The DNA of Injaz’s cells and that of the original ovarian cells have been tested using microsatellite DNA analysis at the Molecular Biology and Genetics Laboratory in Dubai, and have been found to be identical, thereby proving that Injaz is indeed a clone of the original female camel….
04/14/2009 02:39 PM | By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
Dubai: The Dubai Police chief expressed surprise at the response of Doha Centre for Media Freedom in condemning Dubai Police’s request to restrict access to pornographic materials on the internet.
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom stated in a press release that they sent an open letter to the internet giant Google “warning it not to give in to calls for censorship [by Dubai Police].”
Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, said: “I did not request Google representatives to block pornographic materials uploaded on YouTube from Qatar internet services, but asked them to take this into account in the UAE.”
He was responding to a press release released by the Doha Centre for Media Freedom in which they condemned the Dubai Police for calling for a campaign to restrict electronic content that is pornographic, mocks religions, strengthens atheism, fosters a feeling of insecurity or is unsuitable for young children.
YouTube, a video sharing website, was the focus of a much-debated discussion reported earlier in Gulf News between Major-General Khamis Mattar Al Muzainah, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police and Giselle Hescuk, Google’s head of development for Europe and the Middle East.
The press release incorrectly stated that Lieutenant-General Dahi drew up a censorship plan with Hescuk, “which the UAE authorities said would maintain religious harmony and prevent any infringements of religious and ethnic integrity in the light of local culture and traditions.”…
A new draft law to regulate the news media unlawfully restricts free expression and will unduly interfere with the media’s ability to report on sensitive subjects, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The pending law also includes provisions that would grant the government virtually complete control in deciding who is allowed to work as a journalist and which media organizations are allowed to operate in the country.
The 13-page report, “Just the Good News, Please: New UAE Media Law Continues to Stifle Press,” says that the new law contains some improvement over the draconian media law currently in effect. But it will continue to punish journalists for such infractions as “disparaging” government officials or publishing “misleading” news that “harms the country’s economy.” Human Rights Watch researched the report by analyzing the provisions of the pending law as well as interviewing foreign and local journalists based in the UAE.
“The law will muzzle the press, preventing honest reporting about the country’s continuing financial crisis or about its rulers,”…SOURCE
New Islamic lender Ajman Bank AJBNK.DU is revising its strategy amid the global economic crisis until the market improves over the next year, its chief executive said on Monday.
The bank, one of eight Islamic lenders in the United Arab Emirates, had originally planned an aggressive rollout in the federation and across the Gulf Arab region.
But it has pulled back from its pan-regional expansion and curbed plans to participate in the local real estate and credit card business as the global financial crisis sweeps across the region.
“Growth and profitability are no longer important objectives for 2009. What is more important is survival and, to some extent, continuity,” Yousif Khalaf told the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit in Dubai.
The United Arab Emirates’ construction sector is suffering a sharp slowdown as developers, especially in former boomtown Dubai, halt or postpone projects and thousands of jobs are slashed.
The bank had originally planned to open 15 branches in its first year, but will now open eight in 2009, six next year and another six in 2011…SOURCE
New York-based Human Rights Watch on Sunday urged the United Arab Emirates to amend a proposed media law it says will restrict the freedom of the press in the Gulf’s second-largest Arab economy. The group’s head of research for the emirates Samer Muscati told reporters at the launch of its latest report entitled “Just the Good News, Please: New U.A.E. Media Law Continues to Stifle Press,”…SOURCE
…Isolated incidents of ‘bling’ reoccur throughout the space, most notably in the bar area, where a sense of self confident, old-school glamour presides. One whole wall is adorned in black leather; marble coats the bar’s surface and upstands; red, crocodile leather bar stools and lounge seats inject a vibrant splash of colour; and wooden flooring reinforces the comfortable, all-encompassing nature of the space. “One of my joys is designing bars,” Mackenzie admitted. “This is where the glitz and glamour come in, but in a small area. It is moody, cosy and secluded, like a dining room in Paris.”
The restaurant’s location in a shariah-compliant hotel dictated that the bar would act only as a holding area, rather than a fully-fledged attraction in its own right. This presented a design challenge that Outcast was able to overcome by creating an intimate pocket nestled inconspicuously into one corner.
“We created a space that was not immediately visible to people dining in the restaurant or even walking past. It is actually possible to have a meal in the restaurant and leave without even noticing the bar – which was quite a design challenge,” Penketh said.
Overtones of glamour are also inherent in the elaborate crystal chandeliers that tumble elegantly from the ceilings elsewhere in the restaurant. “Again,
we wanted to bring in a bit of glitz
and glamour, and the lighting and crystals are part of that. Everything else is pretty angular and straightforward,” commented Mackenzie… The underlying inspiration for the restaurant was a classical dining room, with strong art deco influences from the 1920s and 30s. A simple yet striking colour scheme favours beige, black and red – but while the design is subtle and understated, it is also extremely rich, Penketh pointed out.
“We were careful not to overdesign, but every inch of the space contains some level of detail. It is a very rich design but we’ve created something that is comfortable and that you are not overwhelmed by,” he elaborated. “There is an incredible amount of work in the detailing and this grows on you as you sit in the restaurant.”
Sculpted ceilings
The depth of the design is intended to reveal itself only upon closer inspection. Ceilings, for example, have been carefully sculpted, with different layers, coffered effects and elaborate inlays acting as a sophisticated differentiator of spaces. “Ceilings are an important element in restaurants at the high end of the market. You have to use them to define the space.
“We’ve also used the ceiling to create perspective and to give the impression of more space. Most people don’t look up when they go into a restaurant but part of our aim was to make sure that the longer you spend in there, the
more you notice how much is going on,”
Penketh explained.
The carefully considered nature of the design also reveals itself in the seating, which was all conceptualised from scratch and manufactured in Dubai. Different types and heights of seating create choice for diners, as well as visual contrast across the space. Along one side of the restaurant, red banquet seating melds itself into curved booths cut into the wall to create secluded, semi-enclosed cocoons…SOURCE
Round Table Pizza, an American pizza restaurant icon known for quality and innovation, has signed a long-term development agreement with United Arab Emirates partner Ghassan Wehbe.
Mr. Wehbe, who currently operates 7 Round Table Pizza restaurants in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has acquired rights to expand to 17 locations within the UAE. Additionally, Mr. Wehbe and Round Table Pizza are laying the groundwork for further development in other Gulf Coast countries based on their success.
“We are excited to extend Round Table Pizza to a broader global audience,” says Round Table President Rob McCourt. “Our founding principles of providing families with a comfortable place to dine and serving premium pizzas are universally appealing”…SOURCE
A colleague who recently dined at California Pizza Kitchen confided in me that she found it to be ‘the best pizza in Dubai’. As evidence she submitted the fact that her boyfriend (who claims Italian roots, albeit second generation) thought it was ‘the most authentic pizza outside of Italy’. I was doubtful (it is called California Pizza Kitchen, after all). Furthermore, CPK is an American chain that launched in 1985 on the heels of a California pizza revolution forged by the likes of American celebrity chefs Alice Waters and then Wolfgang Puck.
Basically, California-style pizza is unique, just as New York and Sicilian pizza are. It’s thin, it’s usually single portion and it’s known for its unusual toppings. In other words, California pizzas really are nothing like Italian pizzas. Still, after gentle urging from a few different and self-proclaimed pizza aficionados,
I decided that I’d give the place a lunchtime visit…
this concoction could only have come from the American west coast. It wasn’t bad. My companion had opted for the thinner ‘Neapolitan’ crust, which was flaky and crisp. Sliced red onions and some deliciously hammy flavoured gouda combined nicely (the result was a bite that tasted like canned smoke), but the syrupy barbecue sauce made for one saccharin savoury…
The result was, yes, very nice pizzas, but not in the simple, rustic way you picture in Italy, where the only toppings you need are some excellent mozzarella and a ripe tomato. Still, for an American pizza chain in the basement of The Dubai Mall, it hit the spot…MORE
Gale-force winds battered parts of the UAE yesterday and visibility along stretches of the Abu Dhabi to Dubai motorway was reduced to zero at times.
Traffic lights above many of Abu Dhabi’s roads swayed alarmingly as winds gusted at more than 60kph, whipping up clouds of dust and uprooting trees.
Weather forecasters at the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) warned that the gales were likely to continue throughout today and that the Western region would continue to be the worst hit.
“Visibility on the main motorway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi has dropped to zero in places,” said the one meteorologist.
“The wind has reached 62kph at times and Abu Dhabi has seen winds of around 50kph. The west of the country has been worst affected, including parts of Sharjah.
“Dust and sand raised by the wind have made driving conditions very dangerous. Al Hamra saw visibility drop to 100 metres.”
The meteorologist added that trees had been torn down by the strong gusts along parts of the E11 motorway and on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.
“The roads are very dangerous and drivers should take precautions such as slowing down.
“Cars travelling quickly on the roads become more unstable in strong wind, and this combined with poor visibility can be very dangerous.”…SOURCE
Dubai Airports has won the Newsweek Award of Excellence, achieving the accolade ‘The Single Largest Development in Aviation History in the Region’.
It was chosen for the award by senior correspondents and writers of the Newsweek (Arabic) editorial board.
Dubai Airports chief executive officer Paul Griffiths said the growth and development of Dubai city and Dubai Airports were closely inter-linked.
“As the city has grown, Dubai Airports has seen an increase in the number of its client airlines and their passengers, bringing more business, industry and professional expertise to enhance Dubai’s business acumen and standing in the world community,” he said in remarks made available here…SOURCE
Marnie Pearce shuffles into the narrow, glass-fronted booth from where she greets visitors at Dubai’s Al Awir women’s jail.
Ill-fitting, dusty-pink drawstring pants and a matching shirt hang loosely on her gaunt frame – she has lost nearly a stone since being imprisoned for adultery seven weeks ago.
Despite the artful application of make-up, her once glowing complexion is pale and dry. Her face is drawn into a tight mask of despair and her long, blonde hair, which was her crowning glory, reveals prominent dark roots.
The former florist from Berkshire has become an unlikely cause celebre for human rights campaigners – Amnesty International has called for her immediate release – since her dubious conviction under draconian Sharia law.
She was sentenced to six months, cut on appeal to three, after her former husband, an Egyptian, told police she had been having an affair. And Marnie, 40, has clearly been struggling to cope with life behind bars.
Marnie and Ihab on their wedding day. Soon after they married Ihab became violent towards her, subjecting her to ‘years of abuse’
She has not seen her children, Laith, eight, and Ziad, four, since she was locked up.
…
Marnie’s nightmare began on March 27 last year when police raided the family home in a smart suburb of Dubai. They found her inside with Brian Clark, also British, who was visiting from Saudi Arabia.
Marnie was arrested and Ihab, 41, claimed she was having an affair. The family’s Indonesian maid, whose salary he pays, gave supportive evidence.
Under strict Muslim edict, it is unlawful for a woman to be alone in her home with a man, other than her husband or a family member.
The rule is rarely enforced for Westerners. And Marnie certainly hadn’t concerned herself because in the past Ihab had always held liberal views on such matters. She had not counted on him exploiting the system to avoid an expensive Western divorce and custody battle.
‘Ihab set me up,’ Marnie insists, jabbing her finger as she becomes increasingly animated. ‘I did nothing wrong. He bribed the maid to spy on me and then planted used condoms as evidence.’…SOURCE
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom, a Qatar-based non-governmental organisation, on Sunday called on the popular internet search engine company Google to reject a request from Dubai Police to ban approximately 500 terms.
A representative from Dubai Police confirmed the request for a ban. The list of key words included pornographic and anti-religious terms and was discussed in conjunction with the widely reported request for a similar ban on items on the user-generated video site YouTube, according to police media executive Ashur Musa.
Dr. Mohammad Mourad, the director of decision making at Dubai Police, said the list, originally compiled by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, has not been finalised. Dubai Police will meet with representatives from YouTube, owned by Google, in two weeks to discuss the potential YouTube ban.
While the list of search terms has not yet been implemented, Mourad described the representatives from Google as “very cooperative.” Google could not be reached for comment.
Google has agreed to government requests for internet monitoring before, most notably in China. As a precondition for tapping into the country’s market, the company agreed to scrub certain websites from search results, essentially presenting users with a sanitized version of the internet.
While the UAE authorities have said that the potentially banned terms are related to security and pornography topics, the Doha Centre was unable to obtain a copy of the list from either the police or Google.
According to the Doha Centre, the UAE authorities said they sought to “maintain religious harmony and prevent any infringements of religious and ethnic integrity in the light of local culture and traditions”.
Xavier Rinaldi, a journalist at the centre, said the strategy will prove ineffective in the long run. “If you don’t have choice, you don’t have harmony. You create, you maintain and you perpetuate frustration. Blocking or censoring leads to frustration.”…SOURCE
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albeit second generation) thought it was ‘the most authentic pizza outside of Italy’. I was doubtful (it is called California Pizza Kitchen, after all). Furthermore, CPK is an American chain that launched in 1985 on the heels of a California pizza revolution forged by the likes of American celebrity chefs Alice Waters and then Wolfgang Puck.
