Bestajman

Here is a film made by the BBC in 1975 about Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. At that point he was the ruler's son, but he would become the man who helped create modern Dubai. It is a glimpse of Dubai just before it started to become the strange fantasy world it is today. It has a great creepy British under-secretary for foreign affairs, plus very good tartan fashions. It is also wonderfully shot. The cameraman was Erik Durschmied. He shot many BBC factual films in the 60s and 70s. I think he films in an incredibly modern way. His camera does exactly what you would do if you were in the room - gazing and flitting between details - yet it manages to always remain beautifully composed. BBC - Adam Curtis Blog: Dubai 1975

British woman 'arrested in Dubai after being raped' - Telegraph The woman, a Muslim of Pakistani descent, was celebrating her engagement to her 44-year-old boyfriend, and was allegedly attacked when she passed out in a hotel lavatory. Despite approaching police about the attack, she was arrested after admitting to "illegal drinking" outside licensed premises as well as having sexual intercourse outside marriage. Her fiancé was also charged with the same offences.

'Secret wife' of Dubai sheikh seeks UK asylum - Telegraph

LAMU, Kenya — The evening call to prayer here is like a summons, for everyone on the island. As the sun dives toward the ocean, the Muslim residents stream into the mosques, little boys wearing impossibly bright white skullcaps, their mothers in diaphanous, black head-to-toe gowns. The last of the bikini-clad tourists pick themselves up from the beach, dust off the powdery sand and head back to the hotel for a drink. Lamu is one of the last outposts of pure Swahili culture. Lamu has been like this for decades, a historic seafaring place where modernity has been gracefully folded into traditional culture without completely spoiling it. The snaky alleyways of the island’s old town (which the United Nations recognizes as a World Heritage site), the omnipresent smells of donkey dung and sweetly rotting fruit and the crescent-sailed dhows plying the sea make the island feel like a glass museum case — one with a living culture inside. But all that may be about to change. To the dismay of man

gulfnews : Burj Khalifa: Tower of love

Dubai: The internet domain name burjkhalifa.com, which was snapped up by a cyber squatter at the very moment when the tower was renamed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa during Monday evening’s opening ceremony, is obviously changing ownership every day. While web databases first revealed the owner as a person giving his name as Shakil Farooqi, based in Karachi, the ownership later changed to Abdulla Matar from Dubai, owner of the Emirates Auction website, who, however, denied having registered burjkhalifa.com under his name when asked by Gulf News. On Thursday, according to domain registration databases, the ownership switched back to a person called Saeed Hafiz, giving an address in Karachi again. Meanwhile, Gulf News received an anonymous email with an @burjdubai.com appendix by somebody saying he was “the rightful owner”. “I am the rightful owner and I registered this domain on 4/1/10,” the email said. “My reason behind purchasing this domain was not monetary gain. It was available a

gulfnews : Holidaymakers urged to present valid documents at Oman border Ras Al Khaimah: The RAK Naturalisation and Residency Department called on Emiratis and expatriates interested in crossing the border to Oman for their vacation there to present valid passports, ID cards, and vehicle registration cards. A senior police officer at the department said failure to present the required documentation would result in would-be holidaymakers being barred from crossing the border. An average of 10,000 to 15,000 people have crossed the UAE-Oman border — the Ras Al Darah Border Checkpoint — from both sides daily, in the period from when the Eid Al Adha holiday started and stretching on till the UAE National Day holiday. Ras Al Darah Border Checkpoint has functioned at full capacity with the four lanes on each side being fully operational. The number of passengers from the UAE, crossing into Oman to spend their vacation, has been almost been double the numbers of Omanis coming to the UAE. Quick