Agence France-Presse at Inquirer.Net
Posted date: September 13, 2007
DUBAI -- The world's tallest building, still under construction in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai, has become the world's tallest free-standing structure, its developers said on Thursday.
The Burj Dubai tower is now 555 meters (1,831.5 feet) tall and has surpassed the 553-metre- (1,824.9-feet) CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, which held the record for the world's tallest free-standing structure since 1976, developers Emaar Properties said in a statement.
The skyscraper, being built by South Korea's Samsung and set for completion at the end of next year, is one of several mega projects taking shape in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.
The statement did not reveal the tower's final projected height or its final number of storeys, which Emaar has kept secret since launching the project in January 2004.
The developer announced in July that Burj Dubai, Arabic for Dubai Tower, had exceeded Taiwan's Taipei 101 which is 508 meters (1,676.4 feet) tall, to become the tallest building in the world.
Monday, May 11, 2009
No dancing in public in Dubai--report
Agence France-Presse
Inquirer.net
Posted date: March 14, 2009
DUBAI -- Playing loud music, dancing, nudity, kissing and even holding hands in public is considered inappropriate behavior under new guidelines laid down by the authorities of Dubai, a report said Saturday.
Arabic-language daily Al Emarat Al-Youm said the Dubai Executive Council had urged residents of Dubai, where foreigners make up more than 80 percent of the population, to respect the customs of the Muslim majority country and avoid inappropriate behavior.
The rules, which apply to all public places, include a ban on all forms of nudity, playing music loudly and dancing, exchange of kisses between men and women -- and even on unmarried couples holding hands.
Any breach of the guidelines, by nationals or expatriates, carries a possible prison penalty, the paper said.
The guidelines also stipulate that anyone caught under the influence of alcohol -- even small amounts -- outside designated drinking areas is liable to being fined or imprisoned, the paper added.
Dubai, a member of the seven-emirate United Arab Emirates, has a diverse culture as it is home to a foreign population made up mainly of low-skilled workers from Asia and Western professionals.
Unlike most of its neighbors in the conservative Gulf region, the emirate tolerates a relatively relaxed dress code and hosts dozens of hotels that have bars and clubs, where alcohol is legally served.
However, a series of incidents, including crackdowns on cross dressers and the expulsion of two British expatriates found guilty of having sex on the beach, has thrown into the limelight the sometimes clashing local and foreign cultures.
Inquirer.net
Posted date: March 14, 2009
DUBAI -- Playing loud music, dancing, nudity, kissing and even holding hands in public is considered inappropriate behavior under new guidelines laid down by the authorities of Dubai, a report said Saturday.
Arabic-language daily Al Emarat Al-Youm said the Dubai Executive Council had urged residents of Dubai, where foreigners make up more than 80 percent of the population, to respect the customs of the Muslim majority country and avoid inappropriate behavior.
The rules, which apply to all public places, include a ban on all forms of nudity, playing music loudly and dancing, exchange of kisses between men and women -- and even on unmarried couples holding hands.
Any breach of the guidelines, by nationals or expatriates, carries a possible prison penalty, the paper said.
The guidelines also stipulate that anyone caught under the influence of alcohol -- even small amounts -- outside designated drinking areas is liable to being fined or imprisoned, the paper added.
Dubai, a member of the seven-emirate United Arab Emirates, has a diverse culture as it is home to a foreign population made up mainly of low-skilled workers from Asia and Western professionals.
Unlike most of its neighbors in the conservative Gulf region, the emirate tolerates a relatively relaxed dress code and hosts dozens of hotels that have bars and clubs, where alcohol is legally served.
However, a series of incidents, including crackdowns on cross dressers and the expulsion of two British expatriates found guilty of having sex on the beach, has thrown into the limelight the sometimes clashing local and foreign cultures.
Duped drivers from Dubai to file class suit
Case readied vs recruitment agency, lending firms
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
Reporter
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: May 06, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino drivers who have returned home from Dubai after being fooled by their recruitment agency are preparing a class suit against the agency and the lending firms responsible for making them incur up to P1.9 million in debt each.
Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, legal counsel of the drivers, said they would file the class suit within the week to ask the court to nullify the agreement of the drivers with the lending firms.
In a phone interview, Robles said that while the original placement fee was only P150,000, the lending firms are now demanding P1.9 million from each driver.
“The court should nullify the checks that the drivers have signed because in the first place they didn’t even know what they were signing,” he said.
The first batch of 40 drivers out of the total 141 who went to Dubai, who are now in the country, will represent the group in the class suit against the recruitment agency CYM International Services and the lending firms now going after the workers, including Asia United Bank (AUB), Paramount Life Insurance and General Insurance Corp., HQR Technical Insurance Agency Inc., and RJJ Lacaba Financing Corp.
At the Ayes and Nays news forum in Quezon City, Representative Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada party list said officials of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency should also be suspended for allowing CYM to recruit workers and then duping them.
He said the permit of the CYM should be cancelled so it could no longer operate and victimize more Filipinos going abroad.
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
Reporter
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: May 06, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino drivers who have returned home from Dubai after being fooled by their recruitment agency are preparing a class suit against the agency and the lending firms responsible for making them incur up to P1.9 million in debt each.
Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, legal counsel of the drivers, said they would file the class suit within the week to ask the court to nullify the agreement of the drivers with the lending firms.
In a phone interview, Robles said that while the original placement fee was only P150,000, the lending firms are now demanding P1.9 million from each driver.
“The court should nullify the checks that the drivers have signed because in the first place they didn’t even know what they were signing,” he said.
The first batch of 40 drivers out of the total 141 who went to Dubai, who are now in the country, will represent the group in the class suit against the recruitment agency CYM International Services and the lending firms now going after the workers, including Asia United Bank (AUB), Paramount Life Insurance and General Insurance Corp., HQR Technical Insurance Agency Inc., and RJJ Lacaba Financing Corp.
At the Ayes and Nays news forum in Quezon City, Representative Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada party list said officials of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency should also be suspended for allowing CYM to recruit workers and then duping them.
He said the permit of the CYM should be cancelled so it could no longer operate and victimize more Filipinos going abroad.
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