Apartment residents in the upper floors of the world's tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower, will have to endure a longer daily Ramadan fast, according to the United Arab Emirates city’s top cleric.

Dubai International Finance Center (DIFC) is a global financial center that fills the time-zone gap for Western and Eastern financial centers.

The mosque is named after Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayhan, the late ruler and founder of the United Arab Emirates, and is a building of extraordinary dimensions: it is the third largest mosque worldwide, and features the largest dome of a mosque in the world.

For the first time in the history of NASA, foreign interns are taking part in a research program to develop new technologies for the benefit of space and mankind. Hailing from the UAE, researchers Shamma al-Qassim, Rajab Hamad and Hazza Bani Malek are all active participants at the renowned Ames Research Center in Northern California.Read More

‘Quality and Getting The Story Out’ has been the passion and motto of Hassan Fattah a journalist and editor of English Arab Newspaper published in the UAE (www.thenational.ae).

Hassan was initially a focused his career path towards Mining and Mineral Engineering, a graduate from the UC Berkley California.

His amazing solo experience trip, prior to his college graduation, from Austrlia, Asia and finally the MIddle East helped forged the need to tell stories from the region. With some assistance Hassan transfers himself from the sunny skies of California to the sky scrapers skies of New York.

It is within the New York area that Hassan develops and sharpens his skills as a journalism and finds his calling as the eyes and voice of the fall of Bagdad. @Heart asks Hassan to recall the various adventures that finally led him to the career as the Editor-in-Chief of The National and his motivation.

A report released in May by the Dubai-based market research firm AMRB and its international counterpart TRU found that UAE teenagers spent more than triple the global average.

On average, 12- to 19-year-olds here spent US$71 (Dh260) a week compared with an international average of $21. The only teenagers in the world who spent as much were Norwegians.

The study, which looked at the lifestyles of teenagers across 23 countries worldwide, included three Arab countries – the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

It found that UAE teenagers were much like those anywhere else – they spent a lot of time online visiting websites such as Facebook and blogs. Celebrity culture and music were also a major pastime. But spending set them apart from teenagers elsewhere in the world.

Saudi Arabia has joined the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia in planning to ban certain BlackBerry services.

DUBAI // Surfers have had a double dose of good news. With high winds and waves expected, the emirate’s first surfing competition, this weekend’s Surf Dubai Sunset Open, looks like it will be a hit.

Sixty four entrants will compete in three categories: the long board, the short board for those aged 14 years and over, and the short board for under 14s.

The other good news is that after five years of struggle, including disagreements with the authorities, the founders of Dubai’s first surf school are close to being accredited by the emirate’s Sports Council.

It has been a challenge almost as daunting as “shooting the curl” or “hanging 10”.

Previously, surfers faced numerous obstacles, from shrinking public beaches to a suspicion that the sport was a danger to beachgoers.

But that never dampened the enthusiasm for the sport felt by Scott Chambers and Daniel van Dooren, who founded the Surf School of Dubai five years ago.

Surf Dubai, an association also set up by Mr Chambers and Mr Van Dooren, has seen its membership grow from 15 to 1,500.

The sport’s surge in popularity is evident to anyone who sees the rising tide of surfers riding the modest swell each day at the Umm Suqeim public beach. Around 20 per cent of the students are locals, five of them members of Surf Dubai’s board, which champions the sport.

“So few people realise what great surfing Dubai has,” said Mr Chambers, 26.

The newly opened “Burj Khalifa” - a.k.a. the tallest building in the world - located in the Dubai was greeted by locals, royals, and celebrities in a blaze of glory complete with fireworks, media fanfare, and - the true marker of a big deal - a pretty groovy laser light show. However, what was once touted as a never before attempted odyssey between man and brute steel is now raising a whole bunch of eyebrows. A series of guffaws, disasters, missteps and utter failures has plagued the enormous monstrosity ever since its gilded doors were officially opened.Read More

It’s been a long and winding road - the mixed messages, hurt feelings and absolute betrayal on both sides. And no, I’m not talking about Tiger Woods. The financial showdown between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the mini-sheikdom neighbors of the UAE, finally subsided when Abu Dhabi finally opened up its enormous wallet and showed a little love to the cash-strapped Dubai in the form of a $10 billion bailout.Read More