 The United Arab Emirates will have four operational nuclear power plants by 2010. In a bold move that will reshape Gulf energy policy for decades, the UAE has brought transparency, disclosure, and marketplace practices to the all-too-sensitive world of nuclear energy in the Middle East. The UAE signed a series of agreements with South Korea by which the latter will build and maintain four nuclear stations at a cost of $20 billion. The deal was signed during a recent visit of the South Korean president to the UAE.
The Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), one of the world's leading nuclear power organisations, is in charge of the plan. KEPCO already operates 20 nuclear power plants. To supervise the peaceful nuclear programme, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has created the Emirates Nuclear Energy Commission (ENEC). Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, appointed the ENEC board of directors. For some years, the UAE government has been seeking a way of meeting increased demand for electricity in the country. It is estimated that the consumption of energy in the UAE will double in the next decade. Therefore, a clean and renewable form of energy was needed to sustain the UAE's high rates of economic growth. ENEC Chairman Mohamed Al-Hammadi says that the UAE has hired 57 nuclear experts of various nationalities to follow up operations and provide technical assistance for the four nuclear power plants. The UAE is relying on alternative sources of energy to boost economic growth, he adds. With its entry into the field of nuclear power, the UAE has blasted a new trail in the region, offering an example for all countries in the use of peaceful nuclear energy. For years, the matter of nuclear energy has been taboo. It was approached often with hesitation and sometimes by deceit. Countries that needed nuclear energy refrained from developing it, while others pursued secret programmes that were viewed with suspicion. In launching a peaceful nuclear programme and keeping it transparent, the UAE aims to serve as a model for others. The UAE will be importing nuclear fuel via the open market and also selling any fuel it may produce. It aims to be a net exporter of clean energy in the regional market. According to the World Nuclear Association, demand on energy in Gulf Cooperation Council countries is increasing by 10 per cent every year. GCC countries currently produce nearly 23 gigawatts of energy, with a growth rate of 7.5 per cent. With the growing demand on energy for desalination purposes, Gulf countries have to explore alternative means of clean and renewable energy. In the UAE, as well as in other Gulf countries, nuclear power would be of great help in desalination projects. The UAE is seeking to control its emissions of greenhouse gases.
As it embarks on ambitious development plans, especially in Abu Dhabi, the country needs to develop clean energy sources. Demand on energy is increasing as the population grows and industry becomes more sophisticated.
Electricity produced from nuclear power is 75 cheaper than that produced from gas. Al-Ahram 
 A COURT in the United Arab Emirates has acquitted the UAE President's brother of charges of torturing an Afghan as seen on US television but convicted five co-defendants, including two Americans, his lawyer said. The court acquitted Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan "after establishing he was not responsible" for the torture of the Afghan merchant in 2004, lawyer Habib al-Mulla said. Allegations against the sheikh emerged after the video, aired in April, appeared to show him beating a man with whips, electric cattle prods and a wooden plank with protruding nails. Assisted by police, Sheikh Issa is seen to pour salt in the man's wounds and run over him with a four-wheel drive. The victim needed months of hospital care following the incident. He was reportedly an Afghan trader who lost a consignment of grain worth $US5000 ($5450). However, the UAE court accepted the sheikh's defence that he was "under the influence of drugs that left him unaware of his actions", his lawyer said. The two US defendants of Lebanese origin, brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in jail each in absentia for having drugged the sheikh. The lawyer said the Afghan victim had demanded compensation from the brothers rather than from Sheikh Issa. Bassam Nabulsi reportedly leaked the video which exposed the case. The court also sentenced three other workers at the farm where the torture took place to between one and three years in jail for drugging the sheikh, likewise in absentia, according to Mulla. A guard at the farm was acquitted. Mulla said Sheikh Issa, 40, who has been in detention for the past seven months, would be released. The verdict, however, is not final as it will have to be reviewed by a higher court if the public prosecution decides to challenge the ruling. Sheikh Issa, who is the brother of UAE President and oil-rich Abu Dhabi's ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, pleaded not guilty at a hearing last month. The lawyer told the hearing in December the sheikh had been drugged against his will during the incident and had no recollection of what had happened. "We submitted medical reports showing that the drugs that the two co-defendants administered to him left him unaware of his actions," the lawyer said on December 15. In a rare trial of a high-ranking member of the ruling family, Sheikh Issa was charged at an opening hearing last October with endangering life, causing bodily harm and with rape for the incident. The lawyer told the court that one of the sheikh's co-defendants was responsible for Sheikh Issa's medications and had drugged him, then videotaped the incident and tried to blackmail him. The Australian
 UMAR Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of attempting to detonate an explosive aboard a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, spent about 2½ months in Dubai on a student visa, starting in May 2009, according to an official here familiar with the situation. Mr Abdulmutallab enrolled in a master's degree program at the Dubai campus of the University of Wollongong, said the official, who is familiar with the man's immigration status. His enrollment at the school was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The school is one of many foreign universities that have set up branch campuses in Persian Gulf states to attract foreign students to their programs.
During his brief stay, Mr Abdulmutallab didn't exhibit any signs of radicalism, according to this official.
The school, like all universities based here, offers visa support to foreign students. The website for the Dubai campus of Wollongong says master's degree courses range in cost from about $18,000 to $25,000 for a degree.
 DUBAI (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi stepped in to help fellow United Arab Emirates member Dubai with a $10 billion injection, of which $4.1 billion was allocated to troubled state-owned conglomerate Dubai World to pay immediate obligations, Dubai said on Monday. The move was the least expected of all options Dubai had on the table after requesting a standstill on $26 billion in Dubai World debt on November 25, alarming markets and shaking the image of the emirate as a regional business hub. "The government of Abu Dhabi has agreed to fund $10 billion to the Dubai Financial Support Fund that will be used to satisfy a series of upcoming obligations on Dubai World," the chairman of the Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee said in a statement. "As a first action for the new fund, the government of Dubai has authorized $4.1 billion to be used to pay the sukuk obligations that are due today." The yen fell sharply against other currencies on the news, while the dollar shot up to 88.90 yen and the euro also jumped to 130.43 yen. S&P futures jumped to be up 0.7 percent, reversing early losses and pushing Treasury futures to session lows. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shot up 300 points in the last minutes of morning trade to finish in positive territory, while other markets across Asia also pushed higher. Abu Dhabi is the largest member of the United Arab Emirates federation and a big oil exporter. "We are here today to reassure investors, financial and trade creditors, employees, and our citizens that our government will act at all times in accordance with market principles and internationally accepted business practices," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saaed al-Maktoum said in the statement. "Dubai is, and will continue to be, a strong and vibrant global financial center. Our best days are yet to come." Excess funds would be used to cater to Dubai Worlds needs up until the end of April 2010, the statement said. Dubai has announced a bankruptcy law that it said could be used in case Dubai World and creditors failed to reach an agreement on debt maturing in the future. "Dubai will announce a comprehensive reorganization law, a framework that is based upon internationally accepted standards for transparency and creditor protection," Sheikh Ahmed said. "This law will be available should Dubai World and its subsidiaries be unable to achieve an acceptable restructuring of its remaining obligations." Yahoo News
 The emirate of Dubai has in the past few decades been more than a shiny example of glitzy capitalism and the insulation from the repercussions (and responsibilities) of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It has represented the type of political model which has been promoted to the Arabs, by their rulers and by the West. When George W Bush, the former US president, visited the United Arab Emirates during his last year in office, he praised Dubai and its models of economic and political prosperity; he promoted the UAE's mantra and ethos as glimmers of hope to the new generation of Arabs. It took the former president little more than a few hours during his stop-over to assess the conditions in the region, and to reach his conclusions: resistance to Israel clashes with the type of prosperity that was prevalent in Dubai. Dubai hit a dramatic rise in the 1990s and became a success story that was carefully calibrated, promoted and disseminated in the Arab media and collective psyche. Daniel Pipes, who has a reputation for hostility towards Arabs and Muslims, was interviewed two years ago in the Jerusalem Post praising Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, after the release of his memoirs. There was not one word about Palestine in that book which nevertheless offered a recipe of unregulated and unrestricted capitalism. Dubai was supposed to be the antithesis of Palestine. It was designed to create a concrete Utopia that would encourage all young Arabs to forget about their political aspirations and dreams. In Lebanon, the March 14 opposition movement has been posing this question to the Lebanese people for three years: Hanoi or Dubai? But Hanoi is today a far more promising model than Dubai. Not only has Hanoi been liberated from foreign occupation and a corrupt puppet regime, but it has also become part of a sovereign country with a record of fast economic growth. Much has been written about Dubai and even more will be written about the emirate which was positioned as the success story that all Arabs were to emulate. However, its success is not based on sound economic or classical political theories. It was in fact a projection of what the West wanted to see in the Middle East. This projection represented the fruits of US co-operation with Middle Eastern governments, especially in the realm of defence and national security. Dubai was more important for the US due to military intelligence co-operation than for its lavish seven-star hotels. Dubai was supposed to be a vision but one not rooted in the productive sectors of the economy. There were early warnings of the debacle that struck Dubai World - too much glitz and ostentation and little attention to a careful building of culture and economy that reflect the region. There was a rush to build multi-billion dollar artificial ski slopes and playgrounds for the very rich of the world. But Dubai did not want to be part of the region, politically speaking. Instead it modelled itself as a copy of Las Vegas in the heart of the Arab Middle East. Dubai carefully steered away from all the issues that alarmed and agitated Arab public opinion. More at Al Jazeera
 The crisis in Dubai has gone beyond debt and become one surrounding the credibility of its leadership. Dubai World’s failure to honour its obligations has shaken faith among the international investment community in Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emirate’s normally ebullient leader. The price of restoring it is likely to be much more than just more prudent borrowing and greater transparency. It is likely to be a demand for a restructuring at the top: this means a much clearer distinction between the Royal Family, the Dubai Government and the businesses of the glittering Emirate. “It has absolutely destroyed confidence. Who will do business with Dubai now?” said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf economics at the University of Durham. “Sheikh Mohammed was hinting for years about a full sovereign guarantee behind these developers. “The international financial community, and I know this to be the case in London, won’t do business with Dubai again,” he said. It’s a really devastating scenario.” Experienced analysts no longer trust the Government’s statistics, claiming they do not fully reflect the amount Dubai owes its foreign creditors. EFG Hermes, a regional investment bank, thinks Dubai could owe as much as $150 billion (£91 billion), twice the size of the economy and two and half times its officially declared debt. Dubai World alone owes British banks $5 billion. The extent of Sheikh Mohammed’s personal holdings in the big state-owned companies is often unclear. “We are probably talking many many years before we see a resolution,” said Fahd Iqbal, Gulf strategist at EFG. Sheikh Mohammed, 60, who took over in 2006, has presided over Dubai’s final growth spurt. His image appears in every marble hotel lobby and public building. He is, in effect, a benign dictator, a man not to be crossed but who wants to be liked. His grand vision for Dubai, however, is over. Even if its richer neighbour Abu Dhabi helps it out again financially, it will not be with the blank cheque Sheikh Mohammed had hoped for. He may have surrounded himself with “yes men” who sugar-coated worsening news, but Sheikh Mohammed cast himself as Dubai’s chief executive and if this were a company he would be on his way. Such an outcome may not displease Abu Dhabi nor the United States. Dubai and Iran are trading partners, and arms shipments have been intercepted sailing from Dubai’s ports bound for the Islamic Republic. Sheikh Mohammed’s anointed successor is Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 27, but he recently made a gaffe by telling the World Economic Forum that the economy was “humming again” just days before the Dubai World crisis. Sheikh Mohammed’s older brother and official deputy, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is largely unassociated with the boom and a more experienced possibility. Times Online
 Abu Dhabi is moving to bail out on a selective basis the state-owned Dubai World, whose debt default led to a sharp drop in global markets, a senior official has said.
The unnamed official told news agencies on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates' wealthy capital would "pick and choose" how to assist its debt-laden neighbour.
"We will look at Dubai's commitments and approach them on a case-by-case basis," the official told the Reuters news agency by telephone, adding: "It does not mean that Abu Dhabi will underwrite all of their debts." Dubai's crisis exploded on Wednesday when the emirate, known for opulent lifestyles and the world's tallest building, said it would delay payment on debt issued by Dubai World, triggering panic among investors and driving global markets down. Abu Dhabi's selective assistance for companies in "Dubai Inc", a network of quasi-sovereign industries, instead of blanket assistance, is likely to disappoint many investors who assumed the city would provide a safety net for its neighbour.
The official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media, said: "Some of Dubai's entities are commercial, semi-government ones. Abu Dhabi will pick and choose when and where to assist."
At stake is the $59bn in debt held by Dubai World, the holding company, and Nakheel, its property arm, known for building palm-shaped islands for wealthy celebrities.
On Friday, stocks from Tokyo to Mumbai reacted badly to news of lenders' exposure in the firms that built artificial island housing developments in the Gulf emirate.
Banks in Asia and Europe were quick to distance themselves from Dubai, and shares on the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong plunged 3.45 per cent after the morning session, down 765.28 points to 21,445.13 as a result of the panic.
European stocks fell to lows not seen since May and bonds jumped after the restructuring was announced. Dubai, part of the oil-exporting UAE, said on Wednesday it would ask Dubai World creditors and Nakheel to agree to a standstill on billions of dollars of debt as a first step towards restructuring. Alia Moubayed, a senior economist at Barclays Capital in London and author of the Dubai Debt Problem report, said the "challenges Dubai is facing are considerable".
"The sources of financing, however, at this stage are ... the extent of the Abu Dhabi support that's likely to come through," she told Al Jazeera. More at Al Jazeera
 Nakheel, Dubai's property developer and part of the heavily-indebted Dubai World conglomerate, has asked Nasdaq, a US stock exchange, to stop trading its bonds. The bonds have been taken off the Dubai bourse, Nasdaq said on their website.
Markets in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had fallen 7.3 per cent by the end of trading on Monday after the Eid al-Adah holidays. Some major securities, including the construction and banking shares, fell to almost the 10 per cent maximum allowed. Dubai World, the emirate's investment arm, announced on Wednesday that it would seek a six-month freeze on debt repayments of almost $60 billion, prompting concerns about its economic health. Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan, reporting from Dubai, said: "It has been a bad day here. The main bourse dropped 5.6 per cent instantly. "Analysts said before they opened that anything more than a three per cent drop would be a disaster. "But others are pleased that it is not the full 10 per cent drop, which was certainly possible. "Selling orders are far outnumbering buying orders and that is of great concern. "It is certainly worrying signs at the stock market. "There are concerns that there will be another large decrease on the stock market tomorrow. But hopes are that it will increase next week." Shares in the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, another of the UAE's seven emirates, dropped by 7.4 per cent early on Monday, due to Dubai's debt crisis. Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the UAE, said on Sunday that would shore up Dubai's finances on a case-by-case basis, while the UAE said that it would offer emergency support to the region's banks. Abu Dhabi has already provided $15 billion in assistance to Dubai this year. Nakheel said that it wanted to halt trading in its three Islamic bonds, or sukuk, until it can provide the market with a complete picture of its restructuring plans. The bonds are worth $5.25 billion. Asian markets rose on Monday between 1.7 and 2.7 per cent on average, with bank and construction shares, big losers last week, leading the turnaround. Global stock markets had taken a nosedive last Friday, triggered by news of Dubai's request for a debt repayment freeze. However, Monday's tentative recovery came as investors' nerves steadied on hopes that the fallout from a potential default will be limited. Francis Lun, general manager of Fullbright Securities in Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera: "A lot of Chinese companies are major contractors in the Middle East. "Now that a crisis has hit Dubai World, I think that many of these construction companies will have to wind up their operations in the Middle East. So it will be a big hit for them." Al Jazeera
 The UAE central bank intervened yesterday, setting up an emergency liquidity facility for lenders in the second-largest Arab economy. Its move was designed to head off a run on local banks when they re-open today after a four-day holiday. The rulers of Abu Dhabi are expected to make a statement before the markets open on whether they will bail out Dubai and which businesses and projects will be rescued. Such a statement would be a key test of financial stability in the region. Senior analysts in the region expect that projects regarded as folly will not be backed but operations and investments with a strong business model will be. Restructuring of the debts on those had already been started by investment bankers at Rothschild and accountants at Deloitte. KPMG is expected to be confirmed this week as lead adviser to the biggest creditors to Dubai World, including British banks. Western banks welcomed the UAE central bank action but analysts called it “a holding tactic”. The central bank said that it “stands behind local and foreign banks operating in the country”. Peter Sands, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, which has lent about $US8bn to Dubai, said: “The central bank has acted decisively and pragmatically. Their support for the banking system will underpin consumer and market confidence in the economy.” Raj Madha, a banking analyst at EFG Hermes, an investment bank based in Egypt, said that further measures were required. He said that the facility “may be enough to stop any liquidity drain gaining momentum tomorrow, but they need to clarify the long-term health of the banking sector by a guarantee of loans or by offering to buy up exposure.” Last night, the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, its much richer sister emirate, were locked in fraught talks about the terms of a potential rescue. The UAE central bank is advised by Oliver Wyman, the management consultancy, and has held talks with the office of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the multibillionaire whose investment fund owns Manchester City Football Club. Today will mark the first key test of whether Dubai will default on its estimated $US88bn debt pile, when interest payments of about $US138 million become due on a $US2bn bond issue by Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, a unit of Dubai World. Abu Dhabi, which sits on one-tenth of the world’s oil reserves, has the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, valued at $US700bn. It can afford to bail out Dubai but is thought to be driving a tough deal, possibly demanding control of key assets, such as Emirates Airline. Projects begun but not completed include the $US20bn Dubai Land, 3bn sq ft of theme parks, shopping centres, hotels and residential properties due to be completed in 2018; the $US15bn Dubai Festival City, a 1300-acre complex of schools, hotels, offices and leisure facilities to be completed in 2020; and The Lagoons, a $US17.7bn development of seven islands, to be completed next year. In a related development, Dubai censors scrambled to stop The Sunday Times reaching news stands yesterday. SAB Media, the Dubai licensee, was told the paper was blocked from distribution. No reason was given but the recall was probably prompted by an illustration of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum swept away in a wave of debt. In Dubai, it is illegal to produce a derogatory image of the ruler or to deface his picture. The Australian
 Dubai's move to suspend payments on its Dubai World conglomerate's debt was "carefully planned" and done in full knowledge of how the markets would react, the chairman of the Supreme Fiscal Committee said on Thursday. "Our intervention in Dubai World was carefully planned and reflects its specific financial position," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said in a statement. "The government is spearheading the restructuring of this commercial operation in the full knowledge of how the markets would react. We understand the concerns of the market and the creditors in particular. "However we have had to intervene because of the need to take decisive action to address its particular debt burden." However, Sheikh Ahmed insisted that "unprecedented growth, in Dubai and across the (United Arab Emirates), over the past decade has helped lay the foundation for what is now a broad-based sustainable economy beyond just natural resources." Breitbart
 Haneen Dajani Oprah Winfrey's production company has apologised after a show that featured comments about Dubai. Harpo, the production company behind The Oprah Winfrey Show, has apologised for misrepresenting Dubai in a segment of the programme featuring women around the world.
Dr Lamees Hamdan of Dubai, an Emirati mother of five and the founder of the Shiffa cosmetics brand, sparked controversy when she appeared via Skype as one of six women featured on the hugely popular US-based show.
The segment began with a voice-over by Ms Winfrey that said: “Thanks to this country’s rich oil supplies, the government provides its citizens with free water, electricity and health care. The best part? No income tax!” Dr Hamdan said, incorrectly, that water, electricity and health services were free in the UAE. And she referred to the shela and abaya as “cultural” and not religious. She said she does not wear them, although her sisters do.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for Oprah’s production company told PageSix of the New York Post that “it was never the intention of the Oprah show to misrepresent the people of Dubai”.
Many local viewers of the show have reacted. Haif Zamzam from Abu Dhabi wrote on The National website that she was “highly disappointed that people got this worked up about what [Dr Hamdan] said.
I feel she said nothing (of substance) that was wrong, except for the fact we don’t pay utility bills. Other than that, it was all spot-on.” The National
 MUSLIMS are increasingly rejecting Darwin's theory of evolution, under the influence of conservative elements in Islam, a science conference was told yesterday. Nidhal Guessoum, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told the conference, being held in Egypt by the British Council, that in too many places students and academics believed they had to make a "binary choice" between evolution and creationism, rather than understanding that one could believe both in God and in Darwin's theory.
Dr Guessoum, who is a Sunni Muslim, said that in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia, only 15 per cent of those surveyed believed Darwin's theory to be "true" or "probably true". This stand was equally prevalent among students and teachers, from high school to university. Most alarmingly, he claimed, science teachers were misrepresenting the facts and theories of evolution by mixing it with religious ideologies.
 Haneen Dajani A recent episode of a top-rated American TV talk show has prompted a barrage of comments on online forums about the way it portrayed Emirati women. The Oprah Winfrey Show, which is broadcast locally on MBC4, featured women from various cities around the world including Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Istanbul talking about their daily lives. Dr Lamees Hamdan, a physician, businesswoman and mother of four from Dubai, was one of six women featured on a show about the happiest people in the world. She allowed cameras into her five-bedroom house, her daughters’ bedrooms and her kitchen, which she said she rarely uses because her in-laws, who live across the street, have a private chef. Dr Hamdan said that people in the UAE do not pay for electricity or health care. And although she chose not to wear a shela or abaya, she told Oprah, via Skype, that her sisters did and that their decision was cultural, rather than religious. The episode of the show, which draws an average of 10 million viewers a month in its Saturday-to-Wednesday twice-daily broadcasts, prompted women from the UAE to voice their opposition on online forums including Oprah.com and the social networking site, Facebook. In addition to pointing out that health care was not free for everyone, many complained that the episode made Emirati women look dependent, and that Dr Hamdan’s comments about the abaya were misleading. Fatima al Dhaheri, 25, an Emirati investment analyst at Abu Dhabi Investment Council who saw the programme, believed the issue was with the way Dr Hamdan’s comments were portrayed.
“The problem with the segment is that it was not based on facts, it was based on her own thoughts,” she said.
Fatima Amer, a 25-year-old Emirati financial analyst at the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, agreed: “She should have said, ‘I don’t pay’.” Read more at the National
 NAKHEEL, Dubai's leading property company and owner of the Palm development, offshore of the Gulf city, is in talks with Dubai World, its heavily indebted parent, over the repayment of a $US3.5 billion ($3.76 billion) Islamic bond. Dubai World, which also owns DP World, the world's third biggest port operator, is guarantor of the Nakheel bond, which is being watched closely by Islamic investors as a bellwether for the shaky finances of the city-state and the health of Islamic finance, generally.
Dubai World is the investment holding company of a clutch of emirate-related businesses that have huge debts. Dubai has to refinance $US50 billion of maturing borrowings by 2013. Dubai World is believed to owe $US60 billion. In an effort to keep the State's business ventures afloat, the Dubai Government this year raised an emergency $US10billion loan from the central bank of the United Arab Emirates. Talks over Nakheel's sukuk, an Islamic financial bond, which matures next month, are taking place as Dubai's ruler castigates the Emirate's critics. They point to strained relations with Abu Dhabi, its richer, but more conservative, neighbour, which has been forced to step in, using its vast oil wealth to guarantee Dubai's huge property debts. Dubai's bubble economy of property and hotels came a cropper in last year's financial crash. Speculators and migrant workers fled the emirate, many abandoning cars, flats and credit card debts in a rush to escape punitive bankruptcy laws. In November last year, the United Arab Emirates Government, backed by the oil wealth of Abu Dhabi, stepped into the breach, promising to stand behind Dubai's borrowings that exceed the state's GDP.
In the wake of the financial crash, concern is now mounting over the region's trillion-dollar market in Islamic bonds. Troubled investments and a series of defaults, including Saad Group and Investment Dar, a Kuwaiti Islamic investment fund, in April, have focused attention on the obscure and untested legal structure of Islamic bonds. The Gulf's oil, property and finance boom helped to launch the market in sukuk, a form of bond that complies with Sharia (Islamic law) strictures that prohibit the payment of interest on money. Islamic financial institutions have devised a variety of structures using techniques, such as sale-and-leaseback, to get round the prohibition.
Typically, Islamic banking seeks to structure interest as a profit-sharing venture but, according to Neale Downes, a partner at Trowers & Hamlin, the law firm, in Bahrain, there is confusion over the legal protection offered to holders of sukuk.
In some cases where sukuk issuers have become insolvent, Mr Downes said that "investors have found themselves unexpectedly competing with the general body of creditors, rather than simply enforcing against or taking possession of assets supporting their sukuk". The outcome of negotiations over the Nakheel sukuk will be key to the future of the Islamic bond market, which has been rocked by a series of defaults. Investment Dar, which owns half of Aston Martin, the British luxury car company, failed to make an interest payment in April on a $US100million sukuk issue. Investment Dar's default followed one at Global Investment House, another Kuwaiti investor. In June, $US650million of Islamic bonds issued by Saad Group, the investment company controlled by Maan al-Sanea, which owns a stake in HSBC, were downgraded to default status. Source: The Australian
 DUBAI: The UAE will appoint what are likely to be the world’s first state-sanctioned female muftis next year, after the Grand Mufti announced details yesterday of plans to recruit and train them.
Six Emirati women are being considered for the training programme, said Dr Ahmed al Haddad, who is also the head of the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department.
Once accepted they will begin the course, which will last several months, early next year. The move follows a fatwa issued by Dr al Haddad in February that sanctioned women’s role as muftis. In May, he called on qualified Emirati women to apply for the programme, which includes instruction in Sharia law and legal thinking. “We continue to accept new applicants until we begin the training,” said Dr al Haddad. “It is already part of the 2010 budget.”
The status of female muftis has caused controversy within the religious establishment elsewhere in the Muslim world, with Egypt’s Al Azhar University, a powerful centre of Sunni scholarship, rejecting the possibility of women becoming grand muftis. However, Dr al Haddad said that debate did not affect whether women should serve in other roles.
“The controversy over female muftis is not necessarily over this point, but about whether or not a woman should be appointed as the grand mufti of a state,” he said. “And that is not what we’re trying to do at this point.”
The move is part of a broader push to recruit and train Emiratis to the department, especially in the role of advising and issuing decrees on religious matters. They will be instructed according to the Maliki school of jurisprudence, one of four in the Sunni tradition and the one followed in the UAE. Instructors are typically from academic and religious institutions, including practising muftis. Although women currently serve as religious advisers at the Abu Dhabi fatwa centre, their role is limited to advising women on “women’s issues”. The Dubai move would mark the first time women have acted as muftis on a par with their male counterparts. In February 2008, the Egyptian family court appointed Amal Soliman as the first female Islamic notary with the ability to perform marriages and divorces. Her duties were not equal to those of a mufti. Dr al Haddad, who has five daughters, one of whom is a student of Sharia, said his fatwa earlier this year was based on Islamic tradition, which he said was “rich in examples of highly learned women acting as muftis and issuing decrees on all matters”. “A woman who is learned and trained in issuing fatwas is not limited in her role to issuing fatwas that relate to women only, but rather she is qualified to issue on matters of worship, jurisprudence, morality and behaviour,” he said. He referred to a Quranic verse to support his decree that Islamic tradition has always sanctioned women to act as muftis on all matters that concern society.
A fatwa, or religious decree, is in effect a legal opinion derived from the Quran, hadith or precedents in the Islamic tradition. “Evidence points to the fact that women too can order acts of virtue and ban acts of vice just like a man can,” he said, referring to the basic tenement of a mufti’s role. “And of course she can do that only with acquired scholarship and training, which is what female contemporaries of the Prophet have done as well as the women who came after them.” Source: The National
 Wafa Issa The head of the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children yesterday appealed to the police to ensure victims of domestic violence and human trafficking were dealt with by female officers.
Afra al Basti made the call to Dubai Police at a two-day workshop aimed at giving officers the skills to spot and help victims of abuse, both women and children.
She said it was vital to have female officers present when victims were interviewed and called on the force to have more policewomen in place to do so.
“To have female officers is essential in the context of domestic abuse and human trafficking, because these women need to talk about very sensitive issues,” said Ms al Basti.
She said many female victims would be further traumatised by having to reveal details of abuse to a male officer, and that the fear of having to do so could even discourage them from seeking help in the first place.
This, said Ms al Basti, was especially true in UAE society where “women are not used to recounting details of their lives to men”.
Having female officers handle cases of domestic violence and human trafficking would encourage victims to contact the police more readily, Ms al Basti said.
She added that the environment within police stations themselves needed to appear less threatening, so victims seeking help would not be put off.
Read more here,,,, Source: The National
 A SHIEKH from the United Arab Emirates is likely to take over Christian Lacroix, the loss-making French fashion house, tomorrow when his 100 million euros ($163m) rescue deal goes before the Paris Commercial Court.
Sheikh Hassan bin Ali al-Nuaimi, a nephew of the ruler of Ajman, the smallest member of the UAE, has emerged as a clear favourite to become owner of the designer.
Lacroix's house went into administration in May after filing for protection from creditors as the global crisis hit its already weak finances.
Rival offers have been submitted by Bernard Krief Consulting, of France, and the Financiere Saint-Germain, a holding company that owns Daum and Lalique, the crystalware makers.
The proposition from a sheikh with few international investments surprised observers in France. But Regis Valliot, the administrator, said that "it fulfils perfectly all the necessary criteria. It is the fantastic solution we dared not hope for."
Borletti Group, the Italian owner of the La Rinascente retail chain and Lacroix's first choice as a partner, dropped out of the race after the sheikh's move.
His offer includes an injection of €70m into the business and a pledge to take on all 124 employees, with debts of €14m to suppliers and part of €30m that it owes to the Falic Group, Lacroix's Florida-based owner.
The overall sum injected by the sheikh will be about €100m, according to Mr Valliot.
"On the face of it, there seems to be little suspense," industry insiders in Paris said. "The sheikh's offer is by far the most solid."
Mr Nuaimi said that he wanted to diversify the business. "The idea is not to focus on fashion by itself,” he said.
“We are discussing different activities in leisure ... private jets, hotels, high-quality yachts, palaces and interior decoration. We will focus on very exclusive areas and don't want to sell his name cheap in the market.
“Christian Lacroix is one of the lords of fashion design in the world ... but, on another side, as a businessman he has a lot of problems. We will run it better commercially."
Lacroix himself would become a minority shareholder in the house under the terms of the deal. Despite a glowing reputation and widespread admiration for his colourful, often baroque style, Lacroix has never made a profit in 22 years of trading.
Last year, losses reached €10m on sales of €30m.Falic, an American duty free retailer that bought Christian Lacroix from LVMH, the French luxury goods group, in 2005, has put forward a restructuring plan, which involves shedding the haute couture line and cutting the workforce to 12.
The plan provoked fury in France, when Frederic Mitterrand, the Culture Minister, said that the loss of the fashion label would be a "cultural disaster".
Christian Estrosi, the Industry Minister, also promised backing for a designer whom he described as a "flagship for haute couture", which had "contributed to fame of French elegance and skill".
Ajman has followed Dubai with a huge real estate development program, which includes shopping centres, hotels and residential areas. But, like Dubai, it has suffered from the economic slowdown this year.
 The 'statesman for hire' earns a fortune as he flips roles between public official and private consultant, writes Jon Ungoed-Thomas TONY Blair has cashed in on his contacts from the Iraq war and his role as Middle East peace envoy for a private business venture expected to earn him more than pound stg. 5 million ($8.9m) a year.
The former British prime minister has sold his political and economic expertise to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, via his fledgling private consultancy. He also represents the investment bank JPMorgan in the region. Mr Blair has been working pro bono in the Middle East as a peace envoy while amassing a fortune from the US lecture circuit. By offering himself to the Arab states as a statesman for hire, he could double his annual earnings. His consultancy, the London-based Tony Blair Associates, emulates the New York partnership Kissinger Associates, founded by Henry Kissinger, the former national security adviser to US president Richard Nixon. A friend of Mr Blair said: "TBA has been set up to make money from foreign governments and major companies. There's a focus on the Middle East, because that's where the money is." His expanding business interests as he roves across the Middle East mean he flips his roles on a daily basis in official meetings. One hour he is the official peace envoy meeting a Middle East minister or ruler, the next he is a representative of TBA or JPMorgan. In some meetings with Arab states, where Mr Blair is introduced as the peace envoy, he has been flanked by Jonathan Powell, his former chief of staff, who accepted a job with Morgan Stanley, another US investment bank, after leaving Downing Street. Mr Powell has no role in the peace process, but is a senior adviser to TBA and helps to win business in the Middle East. Peter Brierley, 59, from Batley, West Yorkshire, whose son Shaun, 28, was killed near the Kuwait-Iraq border in March 2003 and who refused to shake Mr Blair's hand at a memorial service this month, said: "This beggars belief. "It's absolutely scandalous that he's now trying to make money from his contacts in the region. It's money from the blood and lives of the soldiers who died in Iraq." Hours after he stepped down from No10 in June 2007, Mr Blair became the Middle East envoy, on behalf of the European Union, the UN, US and Russia. Four months after leaving office, Blair signed a pound stg. 5m book deal with Random House. He is working on his memoirs, which are pencilled in for publication this time next year. His fees for talks, along with contracts with JPMorgan and Zurich Financial Services, are estimated to put his earnings -- excluding the book deal -- well in excess of pound stg. 5m a year. TBA's annual earnings in the Middle East alone could be expected easily to double his current income, according to business sources in the region. Mr Blair disclosed last December that he had formed TBA to advise on "political and economic trends and governmental reform". One of his first recruits was Mr Powell. On January 17, Blair was in Saudi Arabia in his peace envoy role to hold talks with King Abdullah on the Gaza strip and the need to end Israeli aggression. Mr Powell was also on the trip. Two days later, Mr Blair and Mr Powell met the nephew of the king, Prince Alwaleed, the wealthiest businessman in the Middle East, with a fortune of more than $26 billion. Read more here,,,, Source: The Australian
 By Charles Stratford Every year thousands of women arrive in the Gulf to take up jobs as domestic workers. The majority of them leave behind their families on a huge financial gamble to try to earn enough in remittances. But behind closed doors, in the homes of their employers, some find themselves trapped in a cycle of horrific abuse. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford spoke to one housemaid, Mary, who suffered two years of abuse in the United Arab Emirates. Two and a half years ago, Mary left her family in East Africa to work as a maid in a private house in the Middle East. "The beatings started on the second day," she said. "No day passed without beatings. If she didn't beat me in the day she would beat me at night." One day she was ordered to have sex with another maid. When she refused, her employer threatened her with more beatings. "She said the law was in her favour. Not in mine," Mary said. Simel Esim, a specialist in domestic worker abuse at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said the workers are simply not protected by labour laws. "Domestic workers ... are excluded from unionising and organising around the globe," she said. "[This] kind of economic infrastructure [in the Gulf] has created a huge inflow of labour migration that requires immediate and urgent attention. "The sponsorship system ... The way it is set up, it is bound to fail. "You are attaching a person's legal status, visa status and employment to one person as the employer and also the provider of housing, food and health care. "It creates total dependency and total dependency means total vulnerability and opens the door wide for abuse and exploitation." Mary left her country determined to earn money for her family. But two years later, she is horrified at the prospect of her family knowing about her suffering. "How can I go back home with this body? My mother is sick," she said. "If she sees me like this she will die of shock. I am so ashamed to see my friends. Even now I feel shame." Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Roee Nahmias Month and a half after plan to blow up tallest skyscraper in world exposed, 45 more suspects arrested in addition to eight arrested when plot unraveled.
Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese among those detained. Iran suspected to be mastermind behind plot The defense apparatus in the United Arab Emirates arrested 45 suspects, most of them Palestinian and Lebanese, after the plot to blow up Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) was uncovered. Dubai Tower, currently under construction, is the tallest building in the world.
The current wave of arrests adds to the eight other suspects detained immediately after the plot was revealed one and a half months ago. The detainees were apparently sent as agents of Iran. Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Jareeda, reported a month and a half ago that UAE security officials arrested "an armed network affiliated with one of the countries in the region that operated on Ras al-Khaimah." Dubai was apparently hesitant to say so explicitly, but the implication was towards Iran as the responsible party for the terror network.
Ras al-Khaimah was is the northern-most emirate in the United Arab Emirates and borders the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, both of which run parallel to Iran.
The Kuwaiti newspaper reported that of the eight detainees, two are UAE citizens and the rest are Syrians and Palestinians. They were transferred to Abu Dhabi for investigation under a strict media blackout.
According to the report, UAE officials found a weapons cache in a house in which the detainees were staying. One of the detainees with UAE citizenship works in the pharmaceutical industry, and the other UAE citizen is "a member of a well-known family in Abu Dhabi."
Officials connected to the case reported to Ynet that some of the detainees said in the investigation that they plotted to crash a plane into the Burj Dubai. The plan apparently was to carry out the attack close to the inauguration of the building upon its completion at the end of 2009. According to these same sources, it was possible that the plane would await them in an unofficial airfield in Iran.
Ynet has learned that the UAE has embarked upon an additional wave of arrests as the case has developed. Recently, 45 more suspects were arrested. Most of the detainees in this round of arrests are Lebanese and Palestinian with various citizenships. A majority of them were expelled from the country. The UAE has denied these allegations.
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The United Arab Emirates will have four operational nuclear power plants by 2010. 
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