Sports
16m gallons pumped out after pipe burst in Gardens
16m gallons pumped out after pipe burst in Gardens Staff Reporter (sajila@khaleejtimes.com) / 24 July 2013 Sixteen million gallons of water was pumped out of the areas behind the Ibn Battuta Mall where a main Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) pipeline burst on Thursday night causing one of the worst flooding in the city. The Dubai Municipality has revealed it has cleared this much water after last weekend’s chaos that led to massive flooding on the roads in the area with submerged cars, electric short circuiting and traffic jams. It was the civic body that took the lead in salvaging the flooded residential communities around the Ibn Battuta Mall by pumping out the water. The chief of the emergency team of the municipality, who termed the incident “one of the most challenging crises that Dubai has witnessed” allayed fears of any public health issues due to the floods. Though an investigation into the incident is still on, Dewa has not yet given out details of how it happened and the amount of water lost. However, the Dubai Municipality said on Tuesday, a Sewerage and Irrigation Network Department team toiled for 15 hours and drained about 75,000 cubic metres of water – equivalent to 16 million gallons. Department director Hassan Makki, who led the activities to drain out the flood water from the inundated area and to reinstate the road transportation stalled during the accident, said in a media statement, that immediate action with emergency plans helped reducing the possible danger the residents in Gardens would have been exposed to following the floods. “It was late night on Thursday when we received the call from the police department (about the) pipe burst and the flood follow(ing) it, which blocked roads and left residents stranded. Without any delay, we deployed our action team to carry out operations according to the emergency plan we follow to tackle such circumstances.” He said the team started work at 1am on Friday, with eight tankers and pump sets while staff worked 15 hours continuously. Eight tankers having the loading capacity of 5,000 gallon removed 3,211 loads of water during this emergency action. Director of Public Health and Safety Department Redha Hassan Salman, who also heads the Corporate Emergency and Crisis Committee, said most of the flooded areas had been cleared. There would be no public health issues as a result of the floods with the water pumped out and discharged as storm water, he said. The official said the emergency and crisis plan and coordination between various government departments in Dubai was ready to tackle any such situation. “In such situations, actions should be well-coordinated and organised in order to make it fast and effective. This is what is meant by the emergency and crisis plan and coordination between Dubai government bodies headed by the police department.” Continue reading
William and Kate show off royal baby boy
William and Kate show off royal baby boy (AFP) / 24 July 2013 Britain’s Prince William, his wife Kate and their newborn baby son were spending their first day at home as a family Wednesday, a day after the royal couple showed off the future monarch to the world. A smiling Kate told the massed ranks of international media on Tuesday that motherhood was “very emotional”, while William said they were still choosing a name and revealed that he had already changed the baby’s nappy. Britain’s Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge appear with their baby son, outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, in central London.- Reuters The new third-in-line to the throne raised a tiny hand above his white blankets but remained peaceful, despite deafening cheers from well-wishers and the shouts of photographers outside St Mary’s Hospital in London. “It’s a special time,” said the 31-year-old Duchess of Cambridge, who was wearing a cornflower-blue dress with her brunette hair loose. “I think any new parent would know what this feeling feels like.” The duke, also 31, told reporters that “he’s got her looks, thankfully” as Kate playfully demurred, then added: “He’s got a good pair of lungs on him, that’s for sure”. The royal baby’s birth at 4:24pm (1524 GMT) on Monday sparked a global media frenzy, fuelled by the fascination that has surrounded the couple ever since they married in April 2011. The first photographs of Britain’s new prince dominated newspaper front pages on Wednesday, with the sapphire ring formerly belonging to William’s late mother Diana conspicuous on the hand of new mother Kate. Many of the papers, including the Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail and the Times, carried a picture of the day-old baby apparently waving to the throng of photographers and well-wishers on Tuesday. “Baby’s first royal wave” said the Daily Mail’s “magical picture souvenir” edition, while the Daily Mirror ran a similar headline: “Royal wave? I’ve cracked it mum”. The Daily Telegraph argued that the birth had secured the monarchy “for another century at least”. Congratulations have poured in from around the globe for the baby, a great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II, who is set to one day reign over Britain and the Commonwealth realms around the world. The Duchess initially held the baby as the royal couple emerged from the front door of the hospital’s exclusive Lindo Wing, before passing him to her husband, who was dressed in a blue shirt and jeans. The scene was reminiscent of when William was introduced to the world by his parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana outside the same hospital wing in 1982. Balding William joked that, despite the baby boy’s own thin wisps of hair, “he’s got way more than me, thank God”. Asked about changing the nappies of his son, who weighed in at a healthy eight pounds six ounces (3.8 kilograms) when he was born, the prince said: “We’ve done that already”. “He’s done his first nappy already,” added Kate. The traditional names George and James have been favoured by bookmakers as fit for a king, but the royal couple gave nothing away. “We are still working on a name so we will have that as soon as we can,” William said. After speaking briefly to the press, the royal couple re-emerged from the hospital with their son in a car seat, which William secured in their vehicle before driving his new family back to their home at Kensington Palace. Kate’s sister Pippa was reportedly waiting for them there. Hordes of journalists had camped outside the hospital for three weeks waiting for the baby, testament to the enduring appeal of the British monarchy and particularly the glamorous William and Kate. Cannon fire salutes rang out on Tuesday at the Tower of London and Green Park in celebration of the royal birth, while the bells at the 11 th century Westminster Abbey pealed across the capital for three hours. The couple had earlier received their first visitors when Kate’s parents Michael and Carole Middleton, self-made millionaires who run a party supplies business, arrived at the hospital in a humble black London taxi. “He’s absolutely beautiful. They’re both doing very well and we’re so thrilled,” a beaming grandmother Carole said afterwards. Charles arrived around two hours later with his second wife Camilla in a chauffeur-driven limousine. “Marvellous, thank you very much, absolutely wonderful,” said Charles. At Buckingham Palace, crowds straining for a glimpse of the official birth announcement on a gold easel in the forecourt were treated to a special edition of the Changing the Guard ceremony featuring the Cliff Richard song “Congratulations”. The baby will be titled His Royal Highness, Prince (name) of Cambridge — the blank to be filled in when his name is announced. William’s name was not announced for a week, while the world had to wait a whole month when Charles was born in 1948. It is the first time since 1894 that three direct heirs to the throne have been alive at the same time. The 87-year-old Queen said she was “delighted” at the birth of her third great-grandchild, reportedly telling a guest at a palace function that “the first-born is very special”. William and Kate are hugely popular and have been widely credited with revitalising the British royals following decades of scandal and the death of William’s mother Diana in a car crash in 1997. US President Barack Obama led the international messages of congratulations, which also poured in from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Israel, Japan and Singapore. Continue reading
Philanthropy needs audacious thinking
Philanthropy needs audacious thinking (Wam) / 24 July 2013 Philanthropists should tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges such as poverty, endemic diseases and illiteracy through audacious and innovative thinking without fear of failure, a leading global expert on philanthropy has said. “What we need to do more in philanthropy is think and talk about failure,” Michael Green, London-based economist and writer, said in a lecture attended by General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, here on Monday. “Failure has a very potent part in our lives, in our learning processes, but it seems to be an alien concept in the world of philanthropy. Failure is a chance to learn things. You learn more from failure than from success.” Green made it clear that failure was a result of putting new ideas into action as well as a product of taking bold and innovative decisions. “Fail often, but move on and learn from the failure,” Green, who is the executive director of the Social Progress Imperative (SPI), said. The SPI runs the Social Progress Index, which ranks a group of 50 countries by their social and environmental performance. The UAE topped the list in the Middle East and North Africa states that have been ranked in this year’s index. Green’s lecture was part of a series of lectures organised by Gen. Shaikh Mohammed’s Majlis at Al Bateen Palace in Abu Dhabi. The lecture series is held every year during the holy month of Ramadan and speakers include renowned scholars, scientists, experts and decision-makers in different areas of interest. Green has written a number of books, including ‘The Economist of Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World’, which he co-authored with Matthew Bishop. He has also written ‘The Road from Ruin: A new capitalism for the big society’. In his lecture, the philanthropy expert gave a number of examples of world-renowned philanthropists, including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, and British-Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim. He said ambition and leadership were key traits of Gates’ philanthropic work, which includes a drive to eliminate death from Malaria in Africa. “Bill Gates stuck his head out and took a leadership role in eradicating malaria. He’s pushing for ending deaths from malaria by the end of this decade perhaps,” Green said. “Ambitious leadership, taking a risk, standing out and saying let’s go for it, let’s do it. He’s doing this not only on malaria but also in school reforms in America,” said Green. He argued that philanthropists, unlike major corporations or governments, have more freedom to take risks and test new ideas. “If governments are having to do the conventional things, then shouldn’t philanthropy be trying the crazy things? Trying things that no one can try?” he asked. Green ended his lecture by striking a note on the importance of educating the public about the values of philanthropy and the government’s role in this process. “Governments should define the role of philanthropy in society and explain to people why they should give,” he said. The lecture was attended by a number of Shaikhs and senior officials, including Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region; Shaikh Tahnoon bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region; Shaikh Saif bin Mohammed Al Nahyan; Shaikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation; Lt-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister. Continue reading
