NicoleB Photography

Gimme Shelter: A Profile of Dubai’s Surrogate Mother

With more constructions cranes than any other city in the world, Dubai is undergoing a massive physical and economic transformation. Yet local laws offer few protections for the millions foreign workers fueling this growth. Now, one local woman has taken it upon herself to help abused female workers (full article) who have nowhere else to turn.

Excerpt from Hamsa

Dubai, 14 April (AKI) - Thousands of websites in the United Arab Emirates were blocked on Monday, according to an email statement sent by DU, one of the country’s major Internet service providers, to all its users.

The list of websites that have been blocked does not only include anti-Islam sites or those that are deemed morally inappropriate, but also various information sites such as the Arab Times.

Full article on AKI

A well-known Saudi blogger, Fuad Ahmed al Foran, was jailed last December for criticising the government in Riyadh in his blog and a Bahraini blogger and human rights activist, Abdullah Mohsen, was also recently arrested.

What is going on?
There’s a long article in todays Arab Times about this as well.

Something a bit different than the shiny steel & glass palaces.