Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum vanished in February, apparently attempting to escape the UAE. This is the story of the tape she left behind
Escape from Dubai: The Mystery of the Missing Princess (BBC Two) has already made headlines, and no wonder – it is an extraordinary documentary, and tells a story so astonishing that at times even its participants are forced to admit that events sound far-fetched. But its director and producer, Jane McMullen, has resisted the urge to focus only on the harrowing drama of what happened to Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, and has instead made a film that asks bigger questions of itself and its viewers: issues of money, political alliances and easily won PR; on the staggering reaches of technology; and on family, complicity and betrayal.
Princess Latifa is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. She is one of 30 children, and the second who is known to have tried to escape from the “gilded cage” of her life. Her sister Shamsa ran away from a £75m Surrey mansion in 2000. Shamsa was captured weeks later in Cambridge and taken back to the UAE. After she alleged that she had been kidnapped on UK soil, the police officer put in charge of the case was denied permission to visit Dubai, and the investigation was dropped.
Continue reading...
A British-led scientific mission to document changes taking place beneath the Indian Ocean has broadcast its first live More...
The QE2 was known it is sailing heyday for lavish spreads and luxe dinner parties, but now it’s anchored in Dubai, how does its Friday brunch measure up to its high reputation?
The three-and-a-half hour package runs from 12.30pm until 4pm, taking place at the floating hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, Lido. The space itself is pretty simple, with accents of light green furnishings brightening an otherwise pretty plain restaurant space.
It’s already almost full when we arrive, with long tables filled with families already piling there plates. The buffet selection is brilliant, with everything from seafood and salads to made to order pasta, Asian dishes and a live carving station. The dishes are constantly being stocked up by dozens of chefs, and the layout is clear enough that you can move around everything with ease.
The seafood is fresh, salads are varied, and we have to go back for seconds of the traditional roast dinner, with a choice of chicken or beef and fluffy Yorkshire puddings the star of the show.
Dessert is a real highlight. There’s so much choice our eyes don’t know where to look, and between an assortment of mini pastries and cakes there’s also an ice cream machine, chocolate fountain hot homemade apple crumble, a rich chocolate pudding and the best eton mess we’ve eaten since arriving in Dubai
Service is faultless – staff are friendly and a team of waiters and waitresses are always on hand to clear away plates and top up glasses.
The live entertainment is a bit hit and miss, with one singer stronger than the second. But, song choices are popular with brunch goers and many are dancing along with little ones by the time the third set kicks in.
It’s a brilliant option for families, with a huge play area adjacent to the restaurant housing all the toys and playhouses little ones could need for a fun-filled afternoon.
While it’s an indoor-only restaurant, as brunch progresses, guests drift outside towards the downstairs deck, and we only wish we were able to enjoy the alfresco setting more. We’ve since been advised that this will soon open up for the Friday brunch seating, which would definitely bring us back.
Lido restaurant, QE2 Dubai, Port Rashid, Dubai, Fridays 12.30pm to 4pm, Dhs225 soft, Dhs395 house. qe2.com
— For the best of Dubai straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
The post The big brunch review: Lido brunch at QE2 Dubai appeared first on What's On Dubai.
A five-month-old infant with a rare case of acute appendicitis was successfully operated on at Zulekha Hospital in More...
Aaargh. We've had a couple of weeks of completely unexpected delay in the production of my wonderful novel. Firstly, I thought I had uploaded the files to the printer's website. There was no obvious way to verify this, so I emailed my 'client services representative', who ignored me for a few days and finally, after a whole wasted week, said the files had not been received by them, and explained the completely impossible-to-find way to find out what the situation is on their (absolutely bloody horrible) website. Marvlious.
So I uploaded the files again, and after a three-day wait the pre-flight crew in the US complained about 'multiple missing fonts'. We're talking about PDF files here, and standard practice when creaing PDFs is to embed any unusual fonts, but not to embed things like Arial or Times New Roman which are present on every PC and have direct equivalents on Macs, Linux boxes, etc. So these #$%#$^ in the US were quibbling about the absence of Arial and Times New Roman. Arial is actually used in the headers of the bookblock, but TNR appears nowhere. Anyhow, I had to produce and upload another file for the bookblock, and force the embedding of these common-as-muck fonts, and then wait another three days while they got around to opening it. Finally: two days ago the status was 'printing'. Yesterday, the status was 'shipped'.
Hopefully I will receive the proof copy tomorrow or the day after. If it's ok I can order the initial print run and fulfill the pre-orders that we have. So those of you who have not yet ordered your copy: the special offer of a full-colour map of Xanadu-du, signed by moi, still stands, but only until the point where the book goes into production. So get thee over to the Xanadu-du website and place thy order.
Emirates flight from Dubai landed on Wednesday morning after passengers complained of cough and fever
An Emirates airline flight from Dubai was quarantined at New York's John F Kennedy international airport on Wednesday morning after as many as 100 passengers and crew reported feeling ill, authorities said.
Emirates flight 203, carrying at least 521 passengers, landed shortly after 9am EDT, according to an airlines spokeswoman. Health workers were evaluating the passengers as the airplane sat on the tarmac, authorities said.
So I just landed from Dubai and now there is like tons of ambulances and fire trucks and police all over the place pic.twitter.com/i9QLh6WyJW
Continue reading...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKOL0LmMoCU]
UK House of Commons Speaker John Bercow dealt a major blow to Theresa May’s Brexit strategy by effectively banning her from bringing her deal back to Parliament for a third time, unless it changes significantly. In a surprise ruling yesterday, Bercow...
Bring on the World Cup, we fear no one: Afghan spin king KhanTrailblazing bowler Rashid Khan said Afghanistan will fear More...
It is impossible to know whether this post at Al-Emirati.com on the victims of the recent Air India disaster is intended to be some appalling attempt at humour or satire, but by every single measure it is absolutely beyond the pale:
Not really. Not only do I not care if the victims "rest in peace" but it seems to me that they are, rather, resting in pieces!
I am of course talking about flight IX 812 from Dubai to Balglapour (or some other hell hole, they're all the same) that recently crashed (click here)
I know I know. Mean, blah blah. The way I see it is as follows. The UAE is (about) 50% Indians, Something that I, and 90% of all other Emaratis see as a bad thing.
This plane, carrying Indians who live and work here, means that 160 indians that clog up the roads, cause accidents, fail code inspections at Indian restaurants, speak like this guy, and are a general drag on the security of the UAE, wont be coming back. That is a very GOOD thing!
I can only pray that this happens every week!
Sadly, we'll probably have 160 new VISAs for 160 new Indians issued in 3 hours... And the authority in charge of this will flaunt that, as if it's a good thing.
Creative children’s tours of the 13th Art Dubai have been organised by the Cultural Office of Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to harness the artistic skills of children aged 5-17 years old. [Wired by: DubaiCityGuide.com - A Cyber Gear Company]
