Tourists visiting the Burj Khalifa have told how dozens of people “began to cry” after being stranded on the building’s observation deck for over an hour.
At the Top, a visitor attraction located on the 124th floor of the world’s tallest building, is temporarily closed to the public following “technical issues with the power supply” but is scheduled to reopen on Sunday, February 14.
A senior Dubai Civil Defence official confirmed to Gulf News on Monday there was an incident at the Burj Khalifa on Saturday evening.
The official said: “This is a minor case; it was not serious at all. Staff members at the Burj Khalifa handled the situation perfectly. Our role was to ensure the safety of the public. It is absolutely normal for a new building to face minor issues such as this, which involved one of the Burj Khalifa’s elevators.”
Gulf News spoke on Monday to several tourists who were stranded on the observation deck for over an hour on Saturday.
Michael Timms, a 31-year-old telecommunications engineer from the US, said: “I was walking around the observation deck when I heard this really loud noise and what looked like smoke or dust coming out from one of the elevator doors. There were at least 60 people on the deck at the time. Employees and security staff were telling people that everything was ok. But once it became clear we were not being allowed back down, some people got really angry while others started crying.”…SOURCE
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.”…
The wide, smiling face of Sheikh Mohammed – the absolute ruler of Dubai – beams down on his creation. His image is displayed on every other building, sandwiched between the more familiar corporate rictuses of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. This man has sold Dubai to the world as the city of One Thousand and One Arabian Lights, a Shangri-La in the Middle East insulated from the dust-storms blasting across the region. He dominates the Manhattan-manqué skyline, beaming out from row after row of glass pyramids and hotels smelted into the shape of piles of golden coins. And there he stands on the tallest building in the world – a skinny spike, jabbing farther into the sky than any other human construction in history.
But something has flickered in Sheikh Mohammed’s smile. The ubiquitous cranes have paused on the skyline, as if stuck in time. There are countless buildings half-finished, seemingly abandoned. In the swankiest new constructions – like the vast Atlantis hotel, a giant pink castle built in 1,000 days for $1.5bn on its own artificial island – where rainwater is leaking from the ceilings and the tiles are falling off the roof. This Neverland was built on the Never-Never – and now the cracks are beginning to show. Suddenly it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert.
Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing – at last – into history.
Karen Andrews can’t speak. Every time she starts to tell her story, she puts her head down and crumples. She is slim and angular and has the faded radiance of the once-rich, even though her clothes are as creased as her forehead. I find her in the car park of one of Dubai’s finest international hotels, where she is living, in her Range Rover. She has been sleeping here for months, thanks to the kindness of the Bangladeshi car park attendants who don’t have the heart to move her on. This is not where she thought her Dubai dream would end.
Her story comes out in stutters, over four hours. At times, her old voice – witty and warm – breaks through. Karen came here from Canada when her husband was offered a job in the senior division of a famous multinational. “When he said Dubai, I said – if you want me to wear black and quit booze, baby, you’ve got the wrong girl. But he asked me to give it a chance. And I loved him.”
All her worries melted when she touched down in Dubai in 2005. “It was an adult Disneyland, where Sheikh Mohammed is the mouse,” she says. “Life was fantastic. You had these amazing big apartments, you had a whole army of your own staff, you pay no taxes at all. It seemed like everyone was a CEO. We were partying the whole time.”
Her husband, Daniel, bought two properties. “We were drunk on Dubai,” she says. But for the first time in his life, he was beginning to mismanage their finances. “We’re not talking huge sums, but he was getting confused. It was so unlike Daniel, I was surprised. We got into a little bit of debt.” After a year, she found out why: Daniel was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
One doctor told him he had a year to live; another said it was benign and he’d be okay. But the debts were growing. “Before I came here, I didn’t know anything about Dubai law. I assumed if all these big companies come here, it must be pretty like Canada’s or any other liberal democracy’s,” she says. Nobody told her there is no concept of bankruptcy. If you get into debt and you can’t pay, you go to prison.
“When we realised that, I sat Daniel down and told him: listen, we need to get out of here. He knew he was guaranteed a pay-off when he resigned, so we said – right, let’s take the pay-off, clear the debt, and go.” So Daniel resigned – but he was given a lower pay-off than his contract suggested. The debt remained. As soon as you quit your job in Dubai, your employer has to inform your bank. If you have any outstanding debts that aren’t covered by your savings, then all your accounts are frozen, and you are forbidden to leave the country.
“Suddenly our cards stopped working. We had nothing. We were thrown out of our apartment.” Karen can’t speak about what happened next for a long time; she is shaking.
Daniel was arrested and taken away on the day of their eviction. It was six days before she could talk to him. “He told me he was put in a cell with another debtor, a Sri Lankan guy who was only 27, who said he couldn’t face the shame to his family. Daniel woke up and the boy had swallowed razor-blades. He banged for help, but nobody came, and the boy died in front of him.”
Karen managed to beg from her friends for a few weeks, “but it was so humiliating. I’ve never lived like this. I worked in the fashion industry. I had my own shops. I’ve never…” She peters out.
Daniel was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at a trial he couldn’t understand. It was in Arabic, and there was no translation. “Now I’m here illegally, too,” Karen says I’ve got no money, nothing. I have to last nine months until he’s out, somehow.” Looking away, almost paralysed with embarrassment, she asks if I could buy her a meal.
She is not alone. All over the city, there are maxed-out expats sleeping secretly in the sand-dunes or the airport or in their cars.
“The thing you have to understand about Dubai is – nothing is what it seems,” Karen says at last. “Nothing. This isn’t a city, it’s a con-job. They lure you in telling you it’s one thing – a modern kind of place – but beneath the surface it’s a medieval dictatorship.”…SOURCE
Dubai: Emirates airline yesterday announced that it has decided to offer unpaid leave to its cabin crew.
“After a careful review of our operational requirements, we have decided to offer our cabin crew staff the opportunity to apply for unpaid leave on a purely voluntary basis, starting from May 2009. In anticipation of our growing fleet, Emirates’ recruitment efforts over the past 12 months have been highly successful in meeting our operational requirements. Combined with a sharp drop in cabin crew attrition, we now find ourselves in a position to be more flexible as an employer,” an Emirates spokesperson said in a statement.
“We believe some of our staff will welcome the opportunity to take time off to pursue personal interests such as: further studies, hobbies, or simply to spend time with family and friends,” the airline said.
Cabin crew may opt for unpaid leave from a period of one month up to a maximum of six months. “While on leave they will still be employees of the airline, and continue to be eligible for various benefits including paid accommodation and travel concessions.”…
Puffing shisha (hubble bubble) in public parks could be a recreation option of the past soon.
The Dubai Municipality is discussing options to ban or regulate the use of shisha in public parks, officials told Khaleej Times on Wednesday.
The move, which is likely to be announced soon, is an extension of the smoking regulations announced by the civic body from time to timein the past.
Salem bin Mesmar, the Assistant-Director General of Health, Safety and Environment Control said, “the matter is being considered and discussions are on with the concerned authorities at the moment. The decision in this connection will be taken soon.”
Many people, mostly Arab nationals, puff the hubble bubble in public parks and beaches, particularly during the weekends, which is one among their favourite leisure options.
The same could be extended to shisha smoking in public beaches too.
Civic body officials have earlier said that the aim of introducing smoking regulations in public places is aimed at protecting people from the harmful effects of smoking.
Last month, Redha Hasan Salman, the Director of Public Health and Safety Department at the municipality had told Khaleej Times that there will be new and more stringent regulations against smoking in public places this year.
The official had pointed out that 25 per cent of the coffee shops in the emirate continue to serve shisha without abiding by the regulations.
Last year, the civic body had announced regulations on shisha smoking giving a one year grace period for the those operating the business to make necessary changes, which ended in December last year…SOURCE
Britney Spears is being lined up to give a private concert for super-rich Dubai Arabs, according to UK tabloid the Daily Star.
Pakistani Sheeraz Hasan, founder of celebrity website hollywood.tv, is reported to have approached Spears for a one-off appearance that could net her $4 million.
Hasan claims he has already secured tabloid editor’s second favourite blonde, Paris Hilton, for a personal appearance in Dubai…LINK
There have been a number of rumors about this event. The most convincing one I heard was that the CID was actually involved in a heavy operation against and Afghani drug gang who offered resistance. If true, why not report it? Answer: they were armed and shot back. If true, this is a very uncommon thing in the UAE. However, if the CID are rooting out the heavy drugs… all I can say is go get them!
In the meantime, here is the purported story of what happened in Ajman:
02/27/2009 06:54 PM | By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
Ajman: Security forces conducted a search for illegal workers on Thursday, closing off the industrial district of Ajman from the Sharjah border.
The roads were closed from 8am in and out of the Ajman Industrial Area. People who wanted to enter or leave the area were turned away, giving rise to various rumours.
Military forces and riot police with dogs were seen patrolling the area, and army helicopters circled overhead.
Brigadier Ali Abdullah Alwan, chief of Ajman Police, told Gulf News that they were scouring the area for illegal workers.
“It is a hunt for illegal workers. There are many of them here. Many companies from other emirates are accommodating their workers here,” he said. Residents were in the dark about what was unfolding…
Puffing shisha (hubble bubble) in public parks could be a recreation option of the past soon.
Pakistani Sheeraz Hasan, founder of celebrity website hollywood.tv, is reported to have approached Spears for a one-off appearance that could net her $4 million.
CID was actually involved in a heavy operation against and Afghani drug gang who offered resistance. If true, why not report it? Answer: they were armed and shot back. If true, this is a very uncommon thing in the UAE. However, if the CID are rooting out the heavy drugs… all I can say is go get them!
