Warner Bros. To Open Theme Park & Cinemas In Abu Dhabi

What’s up doc? Quite a bit in Abu Dhabi after a developer yesterday signed a multi-billion-dirham deal to bring the creative energy of Warner Bros Entertainment to the emirate.

A joint venture was created between Aldar and the newly-established Abu Dhabi Media Company and the studio that brought us the Harry Potter and Scooby-Doo films and Bugs Bunny.

The massive entertainment project will include a theme park, a luxury hotel and multiplex cinemas on Yas Island, the formation of a joint fund to finance feature films and develop and produce video games, as well as the growth of new media in the emirate.

And that’s not all, folks… New Warner Bros branded cinemas will also be built in Abu Dhabi’s under-construction Central Market, Ruwais in the Western Region and Al Ain.

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This blog has a lot of GONU CYCLONE MEDIA

The blogger has put in a great deal of effort - a lot of pictures and youtube videos.
Some of the pics are posted in Flickr, which are obviously blocked... URL HERE

Africa Day in Abu Dhabi

On June 18, starting at 7:30pm, the African Embassies in the UAE come together for Africa Day, celebrating all things Africa. More information at www.crdsom.org.

CYCLONE GONU

U.A.E. May Be Next to End Dollar Peg, Forwards Show

U.A.E. May Be Next to End Dollar Peg, Forwards Show
By Matthew Brown

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates may be the next Middle Eastern country to stop pegging its exchange rate to the U.S. dollar, according to trading in currency forwards.

The second-largest Arab economy may follow Syria and Kuwait, which both said in the past two weeks that they would dump the dollar peg to curb rising import costs and inflation. Middle East currencies have been dragged lower by declines in the dollar, pushing up the cost of imports from Europe and Asia.

Burj Construction Update

Rem Koolhaas's Dubai Deathstar

We show a lot of proposals for buildings in Dubai, often draped in photovoltaics and covered in propellers, or twisting and turning, it is a Disneyland of architecture. Sometimes we think they are going a bit overboard, as they evolve from Disney to Lucas with buildings like OMA's Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre. We have used Picasso's bon mot, updated by Le Corbusier before: "Good architects borrow but great architects steal" but never was the homage so obvious. Architectspeak below the fold....

rest of story

Maktoum launches largest education foundation with $10b endowment

His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, today launched the 'Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation', a major initiative to promote human development and provide hope and opportunity by investing in education and knowledge-development in the region. His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed, made the announcement in a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum for the Middle East being held in Jordan.

[Dubai] The Lighthouse: An Innovative Green Skyscraper

The Lighthouse is another innovative green skyscraper to be constructed in Dubai. For energy generation, it will have three enormous 225 kilowatt wind turbines (29 meters in diameter), and 4000 photovoltaic panels on the south facing façade. To optimize performance and operational periods, the turbines have windward directional wind vanes or limited yaw.

The Skyscraper That Creates All Its Own Energy

"This skyscraper, to be built in Dubai, is called the Burj al-Taqa ('Energy Tower'), and it will produce 100% of its own power. The tower will have a huge (197 foot diameter) wind turbine on its roof, and arrays of solar cells that will total 161,459 square feet in size." more here

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round...

I decided to catch a bus the other day. In Dubai that's a strange concept. Firstly white people are rarely seen standing at the bus stop and secondly, as a woman there are only four seats available to you. Confused? So am I.

You go to the bus stop and wait with all the other people. The bus pulls up and you go to get on and there are eight women sitting in the first four seats. These seats are designated for women only. How nice and polite I thought...how cavalier...how old fashioned...how weird.

However the bus was full and those seats were already occupied by other women so I kept walking down the aisle in the aim of standing up and holding on. People started looking at me and then a women yelled out to me that I had to get off the bus because it was full. I looked around and to my untrained eye the bus still had plenty of standing room. I followed this woman and got off the bus, blushing, because I felt I'd committed some sort of crime.

The kind lady explained to me that women are only allowed to sit in the first four rows and are not allowed to stand on the bus. So when the four seats are full, bad luck, you have to wait for another bus. Even if it's 45 degrees outside.

I looked around me, there were at least 15 women waiting. I stood there feeling like an idiot, then did what every Euro expat here does - hailed a taxi.

New Palm Deira Design

Visitor gets four-year term for drug possession

Dubai: A Greek police official will spend four years in jail for possessing 0.17 gram of marijuana and two promazepam capsules for personal use, ruled a court yesterday. [more]

Fire on the Palm !

More pictures here

Driving Rules

1. If your road map is more than a few weeks old, throw it out and get a new one.

2. If you are in Rashidiya and your map is one day old, then it is already obsolete.

3. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Dubai has it's own version of traffic rules, which can be summarized as "Hold on and pray!"

4. If it is your priority to cross, forget it and wait.

5. There is no such thing as a dangerous high-speed chase in Dubai . Everyone drives like that.

6. When you plan to get a new car, ask first about its acceleration from 80 to 160 Km/h (recommended: 3 seconds). Very important if you frequently use the Emirates Road

7. All directions start with Sheikh Zayed Road , which has no beginning and no end.

8. The morning rush hour is from 5:00 AM to 1:00 PM, The evening rush hour is from 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM .

9. Thursday's rush hour starts Wednesday morning.

10. If you slow down at a yellow light, you will be rear-ended and then given a ticket by the Dubai Police.

11. If you are the first one at the intersection, when the light turns green ignore the car honking behind you and count to five to avoid crashing into one of the cars running the red light in cross-traffic.

12. Construction on all main roads is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment. (Sorry for the inconvenience)

13. All unfamiliar sights are explained by the phrase, "Oh, we must be in Sharjah!"

14. Car horns are actually toys for big boys.

15. Anyone in a Land Cruiser, Tuned Patrol, jeep or Mercedes with tinted windows has the right of way. Period!

16. If you are driving a Corolla, Sunny, or another small Japanese car, stay on the far right lane. No comment!

17. Most roads mysteriously change names as you cross intersections.

18. To ask directions, you must have good knowledge of Hindi/ Malayalam

19. A trip across town will take a minimum of four hours, although Sheikh Zayed Road has an unposted minimum speed of 150 Km/h.

20. It is sobering to realize that local Arabs are taught how to drive by Malyalyee.

21. 18 wheeler trucks are one of the fastest vehicles in Dubai ; they can do 120 Km/h on Hatta-Oman Road when fully loaded.

22. The minimum acceptable speed on the Emirates Road is 160 km/h. Anything less is considered downright sissy.

23. Al Khail Road is Dubai's daily version of NASCAR.

24. Dubai Autodrome has a new extension: The Emirates Road.

25. WELCOME TO THE UAE!

Dubai retailers worry over rising gold prices

Dubai retailers worry over rising gold prices
By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter

Dubai: The emirate's gold industry fears consumer resistance to jewellery purchases if the precious metal crosses the $700 per ounce price threshold.

Dubai's jewellery sales volume last year was 108 tonnes and the industry is trying to achieve the same level this year amid anxiety over volatile gold prices, Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group (DGJG) vice-chairman Chandu Siroya said. [more]

BURJ ALIVE AND KICKING

120th Floor Sold for $13.7 MillionThe 120th floor has been sold to Italian investors for Dh50 million (US $13.6 million) at last week's International Property Show.

The following shows other floors' prices:

Floor Area (ft2) Price (million)

----- ---------- ---------------

120 11,200 Dh50 / $13.6

117 11,200 Dh22 / $6

116 11,200 Dh23 / $6.3

115 11,100 Dh22 / $6

[Full Article]

Dubai Will Build & Export Rotating Pre-Fabricated Units For Rotating Towers

Dubai: An Italian firm is setting up a facility in Jebel Ali to produce pre-fabricated units for a revolving tower that it intends to build in Dubai.

It said the facility will be set up with an investment of about Dh110 million, but the futuristic tower will cost about Dh1.28 billion and it was looking for investors to fund the project.

The fabricated units made in Dubai will be shipped to 11 other major cities including Moscow, Milan, New York and Tokyo, where similar towers will be built after one is completed in the emirate, said David Fisher, chairman of Rotating Tower Technology Limited.

"Dubai is going to be the first place to have this type of tower," he said at a press conference where he unveiled the "Dynamic Architecture" concept.

Each floor of the tower will rotate within a set speed, enabling the building to constantly change shape.

Article Here

Dubai Municipality - Pocket sized Contact Card

On display at the Dubai Municipality office in Deira, this business card / pocket sized card contains their Contact Center numbers and contact numbers of all their branches throughout Dubai:

GUMBALL 2007 Tomorrow

London to Asia…and back in 7 Days!

Starts this Sunday 4PM Pall Mall… Lets have it!!!!

3000 miles, 120 cars, 17 Countries, 7 days, 2 Continents, 1 amazing adventure!

Here we go… we’re just hours away from the start of the 9th Annual Gumball 3000 Rally. The event kicks off with the pre rally party tomorrow night (Sat 28th) at the Gumball Space Station (inside the Trocadero) with the Fun Lovin Criminals DJing and ‘Towers of London’ playing live!!!! Then on Sunday (29th) all 120 amazing cars go on display at 1 PM on Pall Mall - and then at 4PM England and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole will wave the start flag!

Check out Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay, Star Wars’ Hayden Christensen, Supermodel Caprice, The Business’ stars Danny Dyer & Tamer Hassan (these guys are hosting this years Gumball TV series), MTV Pimp My Ride host and rap star Xzibit, Gumball host Maximillion Cooper, and loads more…driving Bugatti Veyrons, Ferrari Enzo’s, Rolls Royce Phantom’s and more Lamborghini’s that you’d care to mention! Come down to cheer off the amazing and eccentric cars!!!

Follow the rally live throughout the week on http://www.gumball3000.com/ as the cars head off on a 3000 mile adventure across 17 countries from London to Asia and back in just 7 days, partying each night with some of the world’s coolest DJ’s and celebs. Then head down to Great George Street opposite Big Ben next Saturday 5th May between 5-8PM - to see who crosses the finish line first!!!

“Imagine the scene; Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay leading the pack of supercars in his Porsche GT3 with supermodel Jodie Kidd in hot pursuit, whilst Star Wars Darth Vader Hayden Christensen vies for position just behind, as Danny Dyer chills out in his Range Rover, and MTV’s Pimped My Ride host Xzibit cruises in his pimped out Lamborghini and you start to get the picture. Gumball is no ordinary event!” Maximillion Cooper (Gumball host)