Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Major Events

Dubai plays host to some of the major global events as well as local festivals that are held annually and are huge crowd pullers.

January

Dubai Shopping Festival
January 2013

Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) takes place every winter with its mammoth array of discounts, competitions, prizes, fireworks and entertainment. DSF offers amazing shopping discounts, attracting holiday makers from around the globe keen on grabbing a bargain.

Visit website for more info

Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
January 2013

The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon and Dubai Half Marathon have been held in the city since the year 2000 under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It is one of the first sporting events on the city’s calendar, occurring at the end of January, taking advantage of the cooler winter temperatures.

Visit website for more info

February

Dubai International Jazz Festival

14 February - 22 February 2013
The Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival celebrated its 10th year of spectacular live entertainment at its NEW HOME AT DUBAI FESTIVAL CITY.
The Festival featured a chilled atmosphere with comfortable seating and seating-free zones and alongside a specially created Food & Beverage zone by InterContinental Hotel-Dubai Festival City hosting 27 international bands and attracting a large crowd topping 46,000 fans throughout 9 nights!
Visit website for more info

Dubai Pet Show
February 2012

Most established consumer event in the UAE – the Annual Pedigree & Whiskas Dubai Pet Show at 7HE SEVENS stadium! at 8:00 am onwards. Visit website for more info

Dubai Desert Classic
February 2013

The Omega Dubai Desert Classic - a premier European Tour event which features a star-studded field led by Tom Watson, Lee Westwood and defending champion Rory McIlory among other big guns sponsored by Omega. Tickets can be purchased online. Visit website for more info

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

February 2013

The 20th anniversary are in full flow as Dubai gets set to once again welcome 8 of the world’s top ten women’s players and 6 of the top ten men’s players to centre court where they will vie for the title and a share of the USD$4 million total prize purse.
Visit website for more info

March

Dubai International Boat Show
Dubai International Boat Show

March 2013

Welcome to the world’s most anticipated marine event.

World premieres, regional launches, leading superyacht builders, Supercar Promenade, family area, awards ceremonies, VIP packages, media opportunities, live entertainment… all set within a stunning backdrop of the Dubai skyline.

Visit website for more info

Dubai World Cup

March 2012

The Dubai World Cup has emerged as a leading Horse Racing Betting event on the World stage and each year the festival goes from strength to strength. The racing in Dubai attracts the very best horses from the UK, South Africa, Australia and the US and as such can be regarded as a real world class event.

Visit website for more info

June

Dubai Summer Surprises

14 June - 14 July, 2012

The concept of DSS was largely based on launching promotional campaigns and organizing family entertainment activities to attract families of diverse nationalities to Dubai over the summer. This was done with the cooperation of the private and government sectors and eventually, DSS became the biggest and the only such event in the region providing the right combination of shopping, winning, and entertainment.

Visit website for more info

July

Ramadan
Ramadan

Dates TBC

Ramadan is the Muslim festival of fasting and is the most important festival in the Islamic Calendar which is celebrated by Muslims all over the world. The arrival of the crescent moon in the night sky signals the start of 30 days of fasting during which Muslims don't eat, drink or smoke during the day, eating all their meals before sunrise and after sunset.

October

Cityscape Global
Cityscape Dubai

02 - 04 October 2012

For more than a decade, Cityscape Global has been the annual meeting point for key real estate investors, developers, regional and city investment promotion authorities, architects, designers and other real estate professionals to drive growth in real estate investment and development across emerging markets globally.
Visit website for more info

GITEX Shopper

October 2012

GITEX ShopperTM is the biggest and the best consumer electronics retail platform with power retailers and world class brands. This unique fast-paced consumer event attracts a huge buying audience that includes IT professionals, technology enthusiasts, students and consumers as well as regional traders searching for the latest tech-innovations and shopping deals

Visit website for more info

GITEX Technology Week

14 - 18 October 2012

Technology buyers visit GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK to source the right products and solutions to deliver continual innovation and transformation for their businesses. At the forefront of the region’s ICT development, GITEX is a pivotal event for over 3,500 international and regional exhibitors each year.

Your market is covered as the exhibition attracts senior executives and more than 136,000 ICT professionals from over 135 countries covering a targeted framework of vertical sectors each year.

Visit website for more info

Eid Al-Adha
Dates TBC

(Festival of Sacrifice) One of the two main Islamic festivals (the other is 'Id al-Fitr), this festival falls on the 10th day of the lunar month of Zul-Hijja and is the concluding act of pilgrimage to Makkah. In commemoration of Abraham's faith, sheep, goats and camels are offered to God, and the meat is distributed to the poor and needy. 'Id al-Adha is observed whether or not one is on pilgrimage.

December

Dubai International Film Festival

Dates TBA

Dubai has joined the ranks of the world's premier film festivals with the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). Showcasing a wide selection of features, shorts and documentaries from around the world, submissions come from more than 100 countries

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Good Friends Are Good for You

They might get on your nerves at times, but good friends have bigger benefits than you may realize.

You got to have friends to make that day last long," sings Bette Midler. But good friends may help your life last longer, too, according to an Australian study. Conducted by the Centre for Ageing Studies at Flinders University, the study followed nearly 1,500 older people for 10 years. It found that those who had a large network of friends outlived those with the fewest friends by 22%.

Why is this so? The authors suspect that good friends discourage unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and heavy drinking. And the companionship provided by friends may ward off depression, boost self-esteem, and provide support. Also, as people age, they may become more selective in their choice of friends, so they spend more time with people they like.

Recommended Related to Mind, Body, Spirit

Feeling Hormonal?

By Aviva Patz Hey, we all are. Hormones control just about every aspect of our physical and mental health — and when they go off-kilter, they can trigger anything from acne and insomnia to memory loss and weight gain. It's enough to ruin any woman's day. Here, 6 common side effects of hormonal flux, plus how to balance yours.

Close relationships with children and relatives, in contrast, had almost no effect on longevity. Lynne C. Giles, one of the four researchers who conducted the study, emphasized that family ties are important; they just seem to have little effect on survival.

The Health Benefits of Good Friends

Lots of research has shown the health benefits of social support.
One such study, reported in the journal Cancer, followed 61 women with advanced ovarian cancer. Those with ample social support had much lower levels of a protein linked to more aggressive types of cancer. Lower levels of the protein, known as interleukin 6, or IL-6, also boosted the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Women with weak social support had levels of IL-6 that were 70% higher in general, and two-and-a-half times higher in the area around the tumor.
In 1989, David Spiegel, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, published a landmark paper in Lancet. Itshowed that women with breast cancer who participated in a support group lived twice as long as those who didn't. They also had much less pain.
Sheldon Cohen, PhD, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, has shown that strong social support helps people cope with stress.
"Friends help you face adverse events," Cohen tells WebMD. "They provide material aid, emotional support, and information that helps you deal with the stressors. There may be broader effects as well. Friends encourage you to take better care of yourself. And people with wider social networks are higher in self-esteem, and they feel they have more control over their lives."
Other studies have shown that people with fewer friends tend to die sooner after having a heart attack than people with a strong social network. Having lots of friends may even reduce your chances of catching a cold. That's true even though you're probably exposed to more viruses if you spend a lot of time with others.
"People with social support have fewer cardiovascular problems and immune problems, and lower levels of cortisol -- a stress hormone," says Tasha R. Howe, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Humboldt State University. "Why? The evolutionary argument maintains that humans are social animals, and we have evolved to be in groups. We have always needed others for our survival. It's in our genes. Therefore, people with social connections feel more relaxed and at peace, which is related to better health."

Monday, January 14, 2013

NaturalNews) Extremely shocking information has recently been revealed in a new report released by the University of Queensland. According to the report, a person reduces his lifespan by 22 minutes for every hour spent watching television. That adds up to a staggering total of 5 years if 6 hours were spent in front of the tube on a daily basis. It seems that watching TV could be as hazardous to health as smoking or being overweight.

Experts from the University of Queensland, Australia, write: "TV viewing time may have adverse health consequences that rival those of lack of physical activity, obesity and smoking; every single hour of TV viewed may shorten life by as much as 22 minutes."

Television watching - One hour may shorten life by twenty-two minutes

Extremely shocking information has recently been revealed in a new report released by the University of Queensland. According to the report, a person reduces his lifespan by 22 minutes for every hour spent watching television. That adds up to a staggering total of 5 years if 6 hours were spent in front of the tube on a daily basis. It seems that watching TV could be as hazardous to health as smoking or being overweight.

Experts from the University of Queensland, Australia, write: "TV viewing time may have adverse health consequences that rival those of lack of physical activity, obesity and smoking; every single hour of TV viewed may shorten life by as much as 22 minutes."

Watching TV is one of the most common and popular "activities" today. Due to the extreme prevalence behind TV viewing, the effects it has on overall population can't be overlooked. It is only in today's time period where anyone can easily find a TV in nearly every room in any house. They are no longer items simply for the family room.

Australian and American guidelines suggest that kids spend no more than 2 hours a day in front of a TV. With this new proven information, it is also recommended that parents limit their time in front of television sets. Not only does it lengthen the lifespan of adults, but it also has a positive influence on children, communicating that TV is not an item which should be focused on.

Today is a highly technological age. Before these massive advancements, kids and adults alike would be more physically active outside for many hours of the day. Problems stemming from cell phones, televisions, and microwaves weren't always an issue, and until recently there hasn't been cold, hard evidence demonstrating how harmful such technology can really be on overall health.

People make conscious health choices to not smoke or to eat healthy. This new report puts forth another choice people must make -- to avoid excessive television watching. The information is now there and readily available to be utilized by health-conscious individuals worldwide. TV is not only a highly popular household item, but for many families it is also a daily ritual. Now that the life-shortening effects of television have been highlighted, people must make a conscious decision to make a change

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033507_television_lifespan.html#ixzz2FncbBYbY

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Get your vacation off to the right start by booking a flight on one of these top-rated airlines.

World Best Airlines

Buckling your airplane seatbelt and weight-loss personality Richard Simmons aren't things you'd necessarily think go together. But if you flew on Air New Zealand in the recent past, it's Simmons who may have video-instructed you how to buckle up.
Great companies always think outside the box, and Air New Zealand is no exception. In the most recent Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards survey, the Kiwi airline came in No. 2. And while readers didn't specifically rank in-flight entertainment, ANZ's fresh, amusing spin on the standard safety video surely gave passengers a memorable impression of the airline.
The factors our readers did vote on, across 76 global airlines: cabin comfort, in-flight service, customer service, value, and food. No one was surprised to see Singapore Airlines topping the list; it has been the No. 1 airline for the past 17 years. And Singapore Airlines must be doing something right—it didn't even have Richard Simmons entertaining its passengers.
While many of the best airlines are indeed Asian, it's remarkable that half of the airlines in the survey's top 10 rankings are from different continents. And they got to the top through more than stellar customer service. The survey's value category allows readers to voice their complaints—with a vote—about high airfares that offer little value for money. And while no one boards a plane for the sake of eating, a celebrity chef or commitment to better-than-average in-flight meals did have an impact on the results.
Cabin comfort is also key, and this is where creative carriers shine. In some cases, it's about providing power outlets at every seat. For others, like Asiana and Cathay Pacific, it's the introduction of premium economy class on transpacific flights—a gesture to passengers who dread coach seats on a 14-hour flight but can't afford a business class seat.
So in 2012, competition remains heady at the top. Find out which airlines earned the highest marks for a combination of innovation, service, and the perception that even if what they offer is fully priced, it remains good value.