Abu Dhabi annual rainy day - video by Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi

It has been a routine to take photo and video of the rain that happens in Abu Dhabi for the past several years. Simply because, it is rare and it is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL thing I enjoy getting it. It is always one-off, it will remain so too. Just like the current bowling performance of Indian Cricket team - a one-off rare burst of six wickets by Ishant Sharma. A beauty to keep in mind for a long time. For all those who missed it, here it is.

However, when it rains, I get worried and try and reach home as early as I can, as it is the most dangerous time to be on the road. Many who are on the road doesn't know how to drive safe when it rains.

Safety First - let that be our motto. Start Early, Drive Carefully, Reach Safely. Keep reminding.

UAE Today - 27 October 2010

UAE Today - 27 October 2010

Saud is Ras Al Khaimah ruler as UAE mourns Shaikh Saqr

Ras Al Khaimah: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent his condolences after Shaikh Saqr Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, the late ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, died at dawn on Wednesday in Ras Al Khaimah.

The official mourning has been declared with effect from Wednesday for a week through which the flags will be flown at half mast.

For more information, please visit GULF NEWS online.

Adnatco takes delivery of first of 15 new vessels in South Korea

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company (Adnatco) said Tuesday it had taken delivery of the newly built M.V. Shah, a 37,000 metric tonne deadweight handy size bulk carrier, in South Korea.

This is the first of 15 new vessels to be delivered over the next 11 months.

For more information, please visit GULF NEWS online

Mohammed sets up Noor Dubai Foundation

(Wam) 27 October 2010

 

DUBAI — His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, has issued a law setting up the Noor Dubai Foundation, a non governmental, non-profit corporate body.

It will enjoy legal personality and independent legal capacity to pursue all its actions and achieve all its purposes and objectives in fighting against eye diseases and blindness within the emirate of Dubai and beyond.

The Foundation which will be headquartered in Dubai, with branches opening inside and outside the emirate, aims at combating eye diseases and blindness in Dubai and beyond, said Article 7 of the law.

Other objectives of the foundation include contribution to finance and support of the projects on combating the ailments, provide medical and therapeutic assistance to patients who suffer eye diseases and blindness.

 

For more information, please visit Khaleej Times online.

UAE Today - 26 October 2010

UAE establishes National Authority for Qualifications

National Authority for Qualifications will be affiliated to the Cabinet, have independent legal status and full legal capacity to act.

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a federal decree to establish a National Authority for Qualifications.

According to the Federal Decree No. 1 for the year 2010, the authority will be affiliated to the Cabinet, have independent legal status and full legal capacity to act.

Under this system, the authority will grant equivalent certificates and qualifications of higher, general, technical education and vocational training.

More info at GULF NEWS Online


Sports - Cricket - Pakistan vs South Africa - 1st T20 match in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi: Pakistan seek to regroup after their recent troubles to take on a strong and in-form South Africa in the first of their T20 internationals at the Zayed Cricket Stadium Tuesday night.

More info at GULF NEWS Online.

South Africa draw first blood
27 October 2010,

It was tipped to be a perfect batting strip but it was the bowlers who stole the show as South Africa won the first Twenty20 International of the Cool & Cool Cup at the Shaikh Zayed International Cricket Stadium.

For more information, visit Khaleej Times online.

Dubai Mining firm strikes gold
Yemen is expected to announce a major gold discovery on a concession held by Thani Dubai Mining.

The company, a unit of the Dubai family-owned Thani group, is understood to be awaiting government clearance to announce proved reserves of about 2.2 million ounces of gold on its concession near the coastal town of Al Mukallah, southeast of Yemen's famed Hadramaut region.

More info at THE NATIONAL Online.

UAE signs IRENA HQ agreement (Wam)

26 October 2010, ABU DHABI - The UAE on Monday (25 October 2010) signed the agreement for interim headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on the second day of the fourth session of the agency’s Preparatory Commission.

More information at Khaleej Times Online

Sharjah International Book Fair begins today (Wam)

SHARJAH - His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, will open the 29th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair today.

The event is being organised by the Department of Culture and Information at Expo Sharjah.

This year’s event will feature over 200,000 titles from 53 countries.

For more information, visit Khaleej Times online

Today in History - 30 July

1946 1st rocket attains 100 mi (167 km) altitude, White Sands, New Mexico

1935 1st Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution

1836 1st English newspaper published in Hawaii

Today in History - 29 July

1952 1st nonstop transpacific flight by a jet

1927 1st iron lung installed, Bellevue hospital, New York

1920 1st transcontinental airmail flight from New York to SF

1914 1st transcontinental phone link made between New York City and SF

1899 1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, New York

1858 U.S. citizens allowed to live anywhere in Japan

1786 1st newspaper published west of Alleghanies, Pitts Gazette

1655 Biggest townhall in the world opens in Amsterdam

Today in History - 28 July

1959 Great Britain starts using postal codes

1940 Radio Orange, London begins

1933 1st singing telegram delivered (to Rudy Vallee), New York City

1851 Total solar eclipse captured on a daguerreotype photograph

Today in History - 27 July

1953 1st insulin isolated by F Banting and C Best in Toronto

1949 1st jet-propelled airline, De Havilland Comet, flies

1945 U.S. Communist Party forms

1944 1st British jet fighter used in combat, Gloster Meteor

1920 Radio compass used for 1st time for aircraft navigation

Today in History - 26 July

1957 U.S.S.R. launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile

1915 International School for Wijsbegeerte forms

1887 1st Esperanto book published

1848 1st Woman's Rights Convention, Senecca Falls, New York

1835 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii

1775 1st Postmaster General: Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office

Today in History - 25 July

1983 1st non-human primate, baboon, conceived in a lab dish, San Antonio

1981 Voyager 2 encounters Saturn

1946 1st bikini is shown at a Paris fashion show

1944 1st jet fighter used in combat, Messerschmitt 262

1933 1st Dutch live radio concert: Duke Ellington

Today in History - 24 July

1987 IBM-PC DOS Version 3.3 (updated) released

1935 1st greeting telegram sent in Britain

1934 1st ptarmigan hatched and reared in captivity, Ithaca, New York

1870 1st trans-U.S. rail service begins

1793 France passes 1st copyright law

Today in History - 23 July

1972 1st Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) is launched

1947 1st (U.S. Navy) air squadron of jets, Quonset Point, Rhode Island

1937 Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)

1904 Ice cream cone created by Charles E Menches during La Purchase Expo

1880 1st commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Michigan

1877 1st U.S. municipal railroad, Cincinnati Southern, begins operations

1877 1st telephone and telegraph line in Hawaii completed

1852 1st interment in U.S. National Cemetery at Presidio

1827 1st U.S. swim school opens (Boston Mass)

Today in History - 22 July

1962 1st U.S. Venus probe, Mariner 1, fails at lift-off

Today in History - 21 July

1984 1st documented case of a robot killing a human in U.S.

1969 Neil Armstrong steps on Moon at 2:56:15 AM, GMT

1960 In Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Sirima Bandaranaike is world's 1st woman PM

1959 1st nuclear powered merchant ship, NS Savannah, christened, Camden, New Jersey

1957 1st black to win a major U.S. tennis tournament, Althea Gibson

1955 1st sub powered by liquid metal cooled reactor launched-Seawolf

1928 1st woman to win an olympic gold medal - Halina Knonpacka of Poland

1884 1st Test Cricket match played at Lord's

Today in History - 20 July

2005 Canada becomes the 4th country to permit same-sex marriage

1969 1st men on Moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Apollo 11

1960 1st submerged submarine to fire Polaris missile (George Washington)

1960 Sirima Bandaranaike becomes 1st female premier of Ceylon

1960 U.S.S.R. recovered 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space

1878 1st telephone introduced in Hawaii

1868 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes

Today in History - 19 July

1984 1st female to captain a 747 across Atlantic (Lynn Rippelmeyer)

1967 1st air conditioned New York City subway car (R-38 on the F line)

1961 1st in-flight movie shown, TWA

1957 1st rocket with nuclear warhead fired, Yucca Flat, Nevada

1941 1st U.S. Army flying school for black cadets dedicated

1939 1st use of fiberglass sutures, R P Scholz, St. Louis, Missouri

1939 Dr. Roy P Scholz is 1st surgeon to use fiberglass sutures

1877 1st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Spencer W Gore beats Marshall (61 62 64)

1860 1st railroad reaches Kansas

1848 1st U.S. women's rights convention (Seneca Falls New York)

Today in History - 18 July

1980 Rohini 1, 1st Indian satellite, launches into orbit

1974 World's tallest structure, 646-m Polish radio mast, completed

1968 Intel incorporates

1955 1st electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially

1940 1st successful helicopter flight, Stratford, Connecticut

1931 1st air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched

1914 U.S. Army air service 1st comes into being, in Signal Corps

1766 Society of the Dutch Literary forms

1743 1st half-page newspaper ad is published (New York Weekly Journal)

Today in History - 17 July

1989 1st Test flight of U.S. stealth-bomber

1974 1st quadrophonic studio in U.K. is open by Moody Blues

1879 1st railroad opens in Hawaii

1867 1st U.S. dental school, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, established

1775 1st military hospital approved

Today in History - 16 July

2007 Earthquake in Japan damages nuclear power plan releasing 300 gallons of radioactive water

1990 Ukraine declares independence

1945 1st atomic bomb detonated, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico

1936 1st x-ray photo of arterial circulation, Rochester, New York

1935 1st automatic parking meter in U.S. installed, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

1926 National Geographic takes 1st natural-color undersea photos

1661 1st banknotes in Europe were issued by Bank of Stockholm

1439 Kissing is banned in England (to stop germs from spreading)

Today in History - 15 July

1968 Commercial air travel begins between U.S. and U.S.S.R.

1954 1st coml jet transport plane built in U.S. tested (Boeing 707)

1952 1st transatlantic helicopter flight begins

1948 Alcoholic Anonymous founded in Britain

1929 1st airport hotel opens - Oakland, California

1783 1st steamboat, Pyroscaphe, 1st run in France

Today in History - 14 July

1993 Aeroflot starts non-stop flights between Moscow and NY

1959 1st atomic powered cruiser, Long Beach, Quincy Massachusetts

1951 1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)

1949 U.S.S.R. explodes their 1st atom bomb

1927 1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii

1914 1st patent for liquid-fueled rocket design granted, Dr. Robert Goddard

1853 1st U.S. World's fair opens, Crystal Palace New York

1850 1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration

1845 1st postmasters' provisional stamps issued, New York City