As part of the ’Smart Cities Global Network’ initiative, Smart Dubai held its first in a series of networking events titled ’Smart Talks’, organised in collaboration with the Swedish Trade and Invest Council of Business Sweden, at its headquarters on Tuesday, March 5, 2019. [Wired by: DubaiCityGuide.com - A Cyber Gear Company]
With sex outside marriage punishable by jail, migrant workers who become pregnant are often forced to keep their babies locked away
A sweltering, windowless room in an old district of Dubai, no more than 5 metres by 3 metres in size, is home to nine people from the Philippines. Eight are adults, working long hours in low-paid jobs so they can send money home to their families. The ninth is a six-year-old boy.
His name is Jerry and he shares a tiny bed with his mother, Neng. Jerry loves dancing, Peppa Pig and doughnuts. This small dark room is the only home he has known, as he’s spent his life in hiding as a stateless child. Growing up without a birth certificate or any other identification means he has no access to education and has never visited a doctor. Officially, this little boy does not exist.
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One quick guess what happened here:
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has said that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry E-mail and BlackBerry Web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11.
The suspension is a result of the failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring BlackBerry services in the UAE in line with UAE telecommunications regulations.
[...]
Today's decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the UAE.
The UAE tried to get RIM to let them snoop user data, and RIM told them to fuck off.
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It is impossible to know whether this post at Al-Emirati.com on the victims of the recent Air India disaster is intended to be some appalling attempt at humour or satire, but by every single measure it is absolutely beyond the pale:
Not really. Not only do I not care if the victims "rest in peace" but it seems to me that they are, rather, resting in pieces!
I am of course talking about flight IX 812 from Dubai to Balglapour (or some other hell hole, they're all the same) that recently crashed (click here)
I know I know. Mean, blah blah. The way I see it is as follows. The UAE is (about) 50% Indians, Something that I, and 90% of all other Emaratis see as a bad thing.
This plane, carrying Indians who live and work here, means that 160 indians that clog up the roads, cause accidents, fail code inspections at Indian restaurants, speak like this guy, and are a general drag on the security of the UAE, wont be coming back. That is a very GOOD thing!
I can only pray that this happens every week!
Sadly, we'll probably have 160 new VISAs for 160 new Indians issued in 3 hours... And the authority in charge of this will flaunt that, as if it's a good thing.
Roko Palmic has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry
Dubai is a great place to keep fit, with new classes, studios and race events popping up all the time, it can be hard to keep up. We’re stripping things back to the simple, yet effective outdoor workouts.
Give one of these 6 outdoor gyms in Dubai a try.
Dubai’s Laguna Waterpark at La Mer, which opened last May, has re-opened with the addition of an outdoor gym. The open-air studio, named Fit Hub, is a fully serviced outdoor training facility, featuring a variety of instructor-led workouts, including: boot camp, yoga, boxing, dance classes and more. Not only that, the class price includes free access on weekdays and all week long, guests will also be entitled to invite up to three friends and family to Laguna Waterpark at a 40 per cent discount.
Fit Hub, Laguna Waterpark, Dhs99 for a single class, Dhs449 for five classes or Dhs799 for ten classes. Tel: (04) 317 3999. lagunawaterpark.com
With the perfect view of the Marina skyline and the sea right next to you, what more could you want from an outdoor gym? Well there’s also callisthenics and CrossFit equipment, sprint tracks, climbing area and specialist flooring. Just bring your own towel and water and you’re ready to get fit!
Outdoor gym, Skydive Dubai, Dubai Marina, open 24 hours, free. skydivedubai.ae
Complete with weight lifting equipment, CrossFit apparatus, rope climbs, kettle bells, rowing machines and jump boxes, the outdoor facility located at The Beach opposite JBR has all the ‘fitspiration’ you’ll need. There is also staff on site to assist gym-goers with their workouts. Aside from private training options, fitness fans can opt to join one of the group classes, which include commando circuit classes, spinning and CrossFit.
Warehouse, The Beach, JBR, 6am to 11pm Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 10pm Friday and Saturday, Dhs105 per day. Tel: (04) 368 4080. whgym.com
A great freebie for Al Barsha residents, this park is kitted out with all the basic gym equipment you need. Elliptical machines, pull up bars, and a callisthenics area combine to a fitness area that rivals that of some paid gyms. Not to mention, the park also has a basketball court, running track and tennis courts.
Barsha Pond Park, Al Barsha, Opposite Barsha Mall, 24 hours a day, free. visitdubai.com
Talise Fitness is so much more than a hotel gym, with a wide variety of facilities and equipment including ropes, climbing area, boxing, free weights and sprint track. There’s also a variety of classes on offer, whether you’re in the mood for yoga, tennis, watersports or even squash.
Talise Fitness, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Jumeirah, 5.30am to 11.30pm, daily. Tel: (04) 406 8800. facebook.com
Tucked away in the recently opened Zabeel House in The Greens, Native Club has indoor and outdoor facilities as well as a spa and pool. The outdoor gym has a multipurpose training apparatus and is available for members and hotel guests.
Native Club, Zabeel House by Jumeirah, The Greens, Dubai, open daily. Tel: (04) 519 1111. facebook.com
If you want to train outdoors but hate having to wait your turn for the equipment, Fit Inc has the answer. With a big selection of weights, bars, ropes, jump boxes and medicine balls, you won’t be fighting for the last 10kg dumbbell in the rack.
Floor 6, City Tower 2 Car Park, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, 6am to 8pm, daily. Tel: (800) 348462. Metro: Dubai World Trade Centre. fitinc.ae
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Images: Facebook
The post 7 outdoor gyms in Dubai you need to try this winter appeared first on What's On Dubai.
For about my last five years in Dubai, I had an officette in Dubai Media City. DMC was quite a pleasant place to work. On one side we had the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and on the land side we had an artificial lake and a bit of parkland beyond that. There was this wiggly bridge thing that crossed the lake, with a square bulge in the middle that had a kiosky/kitchenny thing that could be used for a teeny-weeny cafe. I think it had one tenant for about two months during all the time I was there.
I used to like to go out on the bridge several times a day. I would stand on the cafe platform and stare into the water, lost in my thoughts. One day in high summer, I noticed there were thousands of little fish lurking in the shade provided by the bridge and the platform. I also noticed that the sun was at such an angle it cast a shadow of my upper body onto the water. And then I noticed the little fish were moving into the shaded area provided by me.
So, here's the confession; I would wait until my shadow was full of fish. And then I would deliberately move several steps to the left or right, thereby exposing the fish to the full heat of the sun, causing stress, trauma, and goodness knows what else to the poor little blighters.
Sorry, fish.
Move follows letter to the Guardian ahead of event calling for release of Ahmed Mansoor
The former UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson has pulled out of a literary festival in Dubai after the publication of an open letter by authors, MPs and campaign groups calling for the release of the jailed Emirati human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor.
Robinson, a former Irish president, had come under fire after claiming on a visit to Dubai last month that an Emirati princess campaigners said was being held against her will was “in the loving care of her family”.
Related: Ahmed Mansoor must be freed now. His jailing is an attack on human rights | Letters
Related: 'It's a very big torture': the children growing up in hiding in Dubai | Katie McQue
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Early this morning, the Israeli Defence Force boarded one of six ships carrying humanitarian aid from Turkey to Gaza and killed at least 10, possibly 19 unarmed activists. This happened about 50 miles offshore, in international waters. By any reckoning, that's an act of war. And yet, there is hardly any international condemnation (half a dozen ambassadors called in for a slap on the wrists), and the silence from the US has been deafening.
Israel behaves more like the rogue state it is with every passing day. Arab states continue to prevaricate and tremble at the knees, while the US not only refuses to condemn Israel's actions, but actively enables them with billions of dollars of aid every year. I would have expected Obama to take a very firm line with Israel, but it seems he's lost his bottle.
Had the Israeli government sat down and brainstormed what was the worst, most revolting, sickening and disgusting thing they could do, I doubt they could have dreamt up anything to beat murdering a dozen or so peace campaigners whose sole aim was to bring some relief to the Palestinians. I am sure that most Israelis are fundamentally decent people, but that cannot be said for their leadership. Human decency features nowhere on their agenda.
Will no-one stop these bastards?
So, Pastor Terry Jones, a Florida-based leader of A Very Small Church Of Nutters, has declared this coming September 11th to be 'International Burn a Koran Day'. Despite massive condemnation from Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Pope and Tony Blair, he is still planning to go ahead and throw 200 Qurans onto a bonfire. I find it incredibly hard to believe that, in a country where pretty much anyone can be arrested for pretty much anything, this moron from hell cannot be stopped from carrying out this vile act. Sadly, there's also no way you can explain that to the proto-rioters in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East and bits of North Africa, who are so used to a lack of freedom they think if your Government knows you are about to do something insanely stupid and doesn't stop you from doing it, then that government implicitly supports your actions.
In this case, bollocks to freedom of speech. Pastor Jones must know the impact of what he is planning, and the likely consequences thereof. If the US government cannot stop him, then there is something seriously wrong with the system.
We regularly get asked about jobs in the UAE and how to get them. So to throw it out there to readers:
- how did you get your own job?
- what are the best recruitment agencies for media jobs in Dubai? and the worst?
- which job ads sites are most useful?
- is there need to visit the UAE and go doorknocking, or can jobs be picked up remotely?
- what about jobs on the sales side as well as editorial?
Dubai Rental Property have been comment spamming this blog and my Madrid blog, neither of which are about property rental, at least in Dubai. I asked them to desist yesterday, and in response they left me five fresh comments. I know that off-site links from other blogs and websites are good for search engine rankings, but this is going too far. I will be watching the results for Dubai Furnished Property quite closely over the next few days, and also reporting the company to Google if they persist in their extremely irritating action. Foolishly, they publish a mobile, landline and fax number on their website. It may become necessary to make a few phone calls.
