Tag Archives: facebook
Lebanon forms government after 10-month deadlock
Lebanon forms government after 10-month deadlock (Reuters) / 16 February 2014 Prime Minister Tammam Salam hopes the new government would allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections before May. Lebanon announced a new government on Saturday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spillover violence from neighbouring Syria worsened internal instability. A caretaker government has run the country since former Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned in March as parties aligned with the Hezbollah movement and a Sunni-led rival bloc pursued a power struggle exacerbated by their support for opposing sides in Syria’s almost three-year-old civil war. “A government in the national interest was formed in a spirit of inclusivity,” new Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared on live television. He said he hoped the new government would allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections before President Michel Suleiman’s mandate expires in May and finally conduct parliamentary polls that were postponed last year due to the political impasse. “I extend my hand to all the leaders and I am relying on their wisdom to reach these goals and I call on all of them together to make concessions in the interest of our national project,” he said. Parliament designated the Sunni lawmaker as prime minister in April 2013, but he had been unable to form a cabinet for months due to rivalries between the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 bloc and the March 14 alliance, led by the Sunni Future Party. Former Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, from the March 8 bloc, becomes foreign minister. Former Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, also from March 8, takes the finance portfolio. Nouhad Machnouk, a March 14 legislator, was named interior minister. Salam said his “national interest government” had a mandate to fight mounting security problems, which he linked to Syria. “We must also deal with our complicated economic and social issues, the most important of which is the growing number of refugees from our Syrian brothers and the burdens this has placed on Lebanon,” he said. Sectarian violence has erupted sporadically in the past year, particularly in the north, and car bombings targeting both security and political targets have increased dramatically, with Hezbollah-dominated areas being the most frequent target. “We want this new government to open the doors for a complete settlement and to get the country back on the train to stability,” Finance Minister Khalil told Reuters by telephone. Salam had tried again to form a government last month, but was thwarted by a row over who would hold the energy portfolio, a ministry given extra weight by the discovery of potential gas and oil reserves off Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast. The Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a Hezbollah ally, had insisted former Energy Minister Bassil keep his post. The dispute was finally resolved with the appointment of Arthur Nazarian, from the FPM-aligned Tashnag, a small Armenian party. “The top priority of this government will be stability and security, and also to improve people’s daily life, and I think one of the essential things that is important to all Lebanese is the petroleum issue,” Bassil told a news conference. Salam had earlier made a deal with political parties that requires all cabinet roles to be rotated among different religious groups in each new government, so that no sect can indefinitely dominate a particular ministry. Lebanon, still struggling to recover from its own 1975-1990 civil war, has found its internal rifts aggravated by the conflict in Syria, whose sectarian divisions mirror its own. The Future party supports the anti-Assad uprising led largely by the Syria’s Sunni majority. Syria’s war has stoked a region-wide struggle for influence involving Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled states against Iran and its Shia allies in Lebanon and Iraq. The Lebanese cabinet deal could signal that those powers want to stem the sectarian violence convulsing Syria and rippling across Lebanon, Iraq and other countries. In a televised speech on Friday, Future party head Saad Hariri, a former prime minister who threw his weight behind a unity government with March 8 last month, vowed to tackle sectarian radicalism within his own Sunni sect. He also called on Hezbollah to pull its forces out Syria to prevent a “sectarian holocaust” in Lebanon. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Dubai clinches world record for most nails filed
Dubai clinches world record for most nails filed Lily B. Libo-on / 16 February 2014 The Beauty Connection Spa and KOKO Nail set a new record for the most nails filed totalling 50,080 and varnished fingernails of 5,108 people. Dubai set a new Guiness World Record for the most number of nails filed and varnished in eight hours at the Star Atrium of The Dubai Mall on Friday. Manicurists filed 50,080 nails to set the new world record. — KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd The Beauty Connection Spa and KOKO Nail set a new record for the most nails filed totalling 50,080 and varnished fingernails of 5,108 people. A total of 100 manicurists dressed as Rosie the Riveter, a symbol of feminism and women’s economic power, polished an astounding 50,080 fingernails at lightning speed to break the previous record of 2,572 mini-manicures hands and 25,750 finger nails varnished approximately 12 minutes per hand with 100 technicians set by Sally Hansen and Priceline in 2011. Nail technicians or manicurists on duty at The Dubai Mall’s Star Atrium did it from 2pm to 10pm giving complimentary mini-manicures with a KOKO Nail polish application to more than 5,000 people, who participated in the successful record-breaking attempt. Women participating in the record-breaking attempt received a file, a base coat, two coats of varnish and a top coat and men received a file and a buff to shine. Each mini-manicure completed also received a token of gratitude with the one and only Guinness special edition KOKO Polish to take home. The mini-manicures were free but a donation was welcome from participants towards ‘Rashid Centre for Disabled’, the charity partner of Beauty Connection Spa, For the manicures completed, Beauty Connection Spa also donated a lump sum to Rashid Centre for Disabled. lily@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Taking art to the masses in Dubai
Taking art to the masses in Dubai Dhanusha Gokulan / 13 February 2014 Art Dubai has become the most global fair to date with 85 participating galleries from 34 countries and works by more than 500 artists. Community and creativity will intermingle from March 14 to April 15 as public spaces come alive for the ‘Dubai Art Season’. Starting with the Art Week, which features SIKKA Art Fair, Design Days Dubai, and Art Dubai, ‘Dubai Art Season’ will also encompass the Middle East Film and Comic Con and will culminate with Gulf Film Festival 2014. An art piece displayed at JBR during the art project named ‘The city is your canvas’ . — KT file photo Shaikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, said: “Dubai’s extensive portfolio of arts and culture events has set a clear growth track for its creative landscape. Boasting platforms that lend momentum to each discipline of art, from visual arts and performing arts, to film, the city has become an incubator for aspiring and emerging artistic talent.” He added: “As the umbrella arts initiative of the city, ‘Dubai Art Season’ will integrate Dubai’s community into the burgeoning creative industry, with the activation of public spaces, outdoor art projects, interactive initiatives, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions, and performances, among others.” He said ‘Dubai Art Season’ would play an integral role in underlining the cultural and artistic strengths of Dubai. “Especially in the run up to World Expo 2020, where every element of the city will mark its arrival in the global spotlight,” added Shaikh Majid. Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director-General of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, told Khaleej Times: “The reason we have decided to place all the cultural events under one banner is because we wanted to highlight these individual events and let it expand geographically as well.” He added: “A lot of the local artists who initially started out with Art Dubai, are now doing exceedingly well for themselves. Though we cannot take credit for their work, we want to further help them gain international recognition. This is heaven for any artist, support from both private and the government sector.” dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com Set to woo the community In 2008-09, at the peak of the global recession, art patrons, gallery owners, and artists’ were living in constant worry about the future of art — would it survive the economic meltdown? At the third edition of the Global Art Forum (2009), held in conjunction with Art Dubai, Thomas Krens, senior adviser for international affairs, Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation, had addressed his concerns on whether museums were fast ‘dying out in a time of economic turmoil’. Worry about art dying had come to such an extent that experts were talking about collaboration between museums and art venues. However, art showed extreme resilience and thrived over the years after the economic meltdown. It didn’t die out like people predicted it would, and it instead thrived — in the UAE, within the region, and internationally. Speaking about where art is at this juncture, Art Dubai fair director Antonia Carver said: “The biggest shift in the art scene in the Middle East was the rise of the Gulf cities as a melting point for art and I hope Art Dubai has played a major role in that shift.” In an interview with Khaleej Times , Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General of Dubai Culture said: “The youth in the region embracing art and culture, and being open to cultural dialogue has a big role to play in the rise of art. A couple of years ago, the young preferred sports to anything else. But now they are showing a sense of national identity and are embracing art and culture.” What has now become a leading international art fair in the Middle East and South Asia, the eighth edition of Art Dubai is all set to woo the art community across the globe. Salient features Taking place between March 19 and 22, the 2014 edition of Art Dubai features three gallery programmes — Contemporary, Modern and Marker — the winners of The Abraaj Group Art Prize; artists’ and curators’ residencies; site specific commissions and projects; the critically acclaimed Global Art Forum; live radio; film and more. Held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, Art Dubai is run in partnership with the Abraaj Group and is sponsored by Cartier and Emaar. Madinat Jumeirah is home to the event. Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) is the strategic partner of Art Dubai and supports the fair’s year-round education programme. It has become the most global fair to date with 85 participating galleries from 34 countries and works by more than 500 artists across the programmes. For the first time, the galleries are presented in three distinct programmes: Contemporary; Modern, inaugurating this year; and Marker, the curated section of invited art spaces and galleries focusing in 2014 on Central Asia and the Caucasus. Alongside the gallery halls, the fair also features an extensive not-for-profit programme including dynamic commissioned site-specific works for Art Dubai Projects; an exhibition by winners of The Abraaj Group Art Prize; the critically-acclaimed, five-day conference Global Art Forum; a live radio station; film and video screenings; Shaikha Manal Little Artists Programme for children; plus an engaging programme of curator-led tours, book launches, talks and so on. “Over the past eight years, Art Dubai has evolved into an extraordinarily dynamic art fair with particular emphasis on diversity and quality. The fair echoes the expansion of the arts infrastructure in Dubai and the region,” said Carver. “Our roots are firmly grounded in the UAE arts scene and we believe this year’s fair reflects Dubai’s identity as a major cultural city, alongside its role as a hub for trade, finance and transport. Art Dubai’s growth has been organic and supported by a highly motivated audience of artists, curators, gallerists, patrons and enthusiasts. We’re aiming to welcome even more visitors than the 25,000 that walked through the doors in 2013.” For more information about Art Dubai Projects check out http://artdubai.ae/art-dubai-projects dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
