Dubai, Oct 5 : The Dubai Public Prosecution has reportedly dropped the cases against five Indians who were arrested on charges of violating UAE national security laws after they organised a walk in support of anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare.

Dubai, Oct 2 : Pakistani pop singer Atif Aslam is all set to rock at the ‘Salaam 2011’ concert in Muscat on October 6.

The 28-year-old singer who has already made quite a buzz in the Indi-pop scene will be churning out some of his popular Bollywood chartbuster songs as well as his album hits, at the Qurum Amphitheatre.

The tickets are priced at 5, 15 and 30 Omani riyals per head, with special VIP passes available at 40 riyals and VVIP at 60 riyals respectively, reports Gulf News.

Dubai, Sept 24: Al Wasl football club manager Diego Maradona kicked a fan, who interrupted a pre-match photo session.

The supporter was continuously lifting Maradona's banner to catch his glimpse.

The banner, which was sent to Maradona by his daughters Delma and Giannina, read: `Babu Estoy con vos te amo -Benja,' meaning `Grandfather I love you and I am with you' and was signed by his grandson Benjamin.

Dubai, Sep. 23 : International Cricket Council (ICC) President Sharad Pawar has paid tribute to Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former India captain, who died aged 70 on Thursday.

Dubai, Sep 22: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the match schedule and unveiled the event logo of the 2012 World Twenty20, which will be staged in Sri Lanka from September 18 to October 7.

Reigning champion England will start its title defence at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 21, against one of the two qualifiers for the tournament.

Stuart Broad's side will complete its opening group commitments two days later against 2007 champion India at the same venue.

Dubai, Sep 19: Indian batsman Rahul Dravid has signed off on an illustrious ODI career in 118th position in International Cricket Council (ICC)'s Player Rankings after playing his first series in two years.

Dravid had scored 128 runs in the recently-concluded five-match series against England, which earned him three places in the batting chart.

Dubai, Sep 19: India captain M. S. Dhoni has moved up the order in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after producing a player of the series performance in the recently-concluded five-match series against England.

Dhoni finished the series as the leading run-getter with 236 runs at an average of little under 79.

Dubai, Sep 15 : Emirates airline will introduce two additional flights between Dubai and Mauritius, a move which will increase the service to 11 weekly flights.

The 10th frequency will be launched Nov 4 while the 11th weekly flight will start Dec 6r, increasing existing the capacity by 22 percent per week per direction.

"We are standing by the destination at a time when the international outlook for travel is uncertain," said Majid Al Mualla, Emirates' senior vice president, commercial operations, West Asia '&' Indian Ocean.

Dubai, Apr 24 : UAE-based Indian-origin doctor Mandar Bichu has published a book on legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, encompassing her six-decade-long enigmatic career.

“Lata, Voice of the Golden Era, is the first time that the six-decade-long career of the songstress has been analysed comprehensively. Lata is in the Guinness Book of World Records for singing 26,000 songs. Lata traces her career from music composers Anil Biswas to AR Rahman," said the doctor,” the Gulf News quoted Dr Bichu, as saying.

Dubai-based global ports operator DP World is mulling to get shareholder’s approval for undertaking a 1-for-20 share consolidation. The move is aimed to lift share prices for earning high revenue. Firm’s Annual General Meeting is scheduled to take place on May 11, 2011 where the issue would be discussed.

The ports operator said in the statement, “The board believes that undertaking a 1 for 20 share consolidations will better position DP World’s share price alongside global companies with an earnings per share ratio that better reflects the value of the company.”

The results of Dubai’s huge review would be released by the end of year according to Dubai’s real estate watchdog. Marwan Bin Ghalaita, CEO of Dubai’s real estate regulatory agency said that projects which are yet to be started are also under review.

The regulator would test contractors based on viability of project and their business credentials. Final approval will only be grated to projects fulfilling the regulatory guidelines, auditing system and standard construction norms.

Ghalaita said, "If developers don't have enough money to start construction or if they don't have experience or enough knowledge in real estate development, then they should not start the project. We are saving them, the industry and the business environment."

Abdullah Al Kindi, Operations Director at the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) said on Monday that issue and renew of residency visas will be linked with national ID cards in Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah. He said that this new service of 2011 will at first include these two emirates and other emirates where most of the expatriate community resides like Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be included under the new service in the forthcoming months.

Al Kindi , talking to Khaleej Times on the marginal issues of the ‘ID World Abu Dhabi said that for obtaining residency visas, it will be important for persons after completing the preventive health examinations, to register themselves for the EIDA ID cards.

Twofour54 deal will give the first time opportunity to choose between the telecommunications providers Etisalat and du by breaking Etisalat's monopoly.

At present, few areas of Dubai like the Dubai Marina and certain free zones are offered with du fixed line services. But now the operator has signed a memorandum of understanding with twofour54 to supply fixed-line telephone and broadband services to businesses operating in the media zone.

In 2010, residents of Burj Khalifa in UAE were the first to choose their broadband provider.

While twofour54 deal has made it possible for duo to, offer its primary fixed-line and broadband services in Abu Dhabi.

Dubai Customs expressed commitment for offering high quality customs services to all those visiting the nation through air, land or sea links. The department recently launched "Dubai Customs Passenger Charter" in line with its initiatives to offer world class services the visiting passengers.

Dubai Customs has introduced a framework for passengers clearly defining passengers' rights and duties with regards to customs services. It also introduced a mechanism for submitting suggestions, enquiries and complaints by the visiting passengers in line with the guidelines set under the ISO standards including 10001:2007.

Mattar Al Tayer, the Chief of Dubai transport, has directed the concerned authorities for expediting the Al Sufouh tram project.

The RTA's chairman and executive director said that message has been conveyed to with contractor, the Alstom-Besix Consortium for speedy completion of the project, 30 percent of which has been completed till now.

Work on the project was started in January at a time when financial crisis grappled the region. Al Tayer said, "The RTA has agreed with the Alstom-Besix Consortium to step up the work tempo in the project, the first stage of which is set for completion in 2014."

British Defense Secretary Liam Fox got a warm welcome from Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at a function held at the Zaabeel Palace. The British Defense Secretary is visiting the country along with a high level delegation from England for expediting co-operation between two nations in the field of Military setup.

They discussed various issues of mutual interest and expressed satisfaction over the current level of relations in various fields.

Dubai based interior contractor Depa Ltd has announced its financial figures for the year 2010 reporting a net loss of $53.9m. Firm’s operating loss, according to a statement posted on Nasdaq Dubai, stood at AED3.8m for the year.

Mohannad Sweid, Chief Executive, termed the year 2010 as "recession year" for the firm and said that it had seen a very challenging period. He, however, projected rosy picture of the future adding that it would return to profit in the coming period. He was relying on impending infrastructure projects and hoped that the forthcoming FIFA World Cup would definitely push its growth.

The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), Dubai’s real estate watchdog, said that it is in the process of financially reviewing about 90,000 real estate units. There project would be tested on their viability before they actually delivered in the market.

Marwan Bin Ghalaita, the CEO of the body said, “We are reviewing more than 90,000 units that will come to the market from today to 2016. Some people do not like the word cancelled, they keep saying delayed, delayed, and delayed. Sometimes we have to face the truth and if a project is not good for Dubai then we have to admit and say it is cancelled.”

Strong conditions of global equities strengthened the market and pushed bellwether stocks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Shares of Aldar Properties, the Abu Dhabi developer, surged 4 per cent to stand at Dh1.55 making the firm top performer on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). Investors made beelines for the shares amid buoyant sentiments prevailing in the market.

The Kerala government on Wednesday entered into an agreement with its Dubai-based promoters for establishing the Smart City IT project in Kochi. This was a long pending project which was on halt due to some disputes between the two parties.

It is anticipated that Smart City project will generate direct employment for 80,000 people and indirect employment to another 20,000 people.

The dispute was regarding the land ownership but the dispute was resolved at the talks between Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Ahmed Homaid al Tajir, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Public Holding Group.