Tag Archives: history
A fitting Mother’s Day gift to martyr’s mother
A fitting Mother’s Day gift to martyr’s mother (Wam) / 22 March 2014 Vice President decorates Tareq’s mother with ‘Mohammed bin Rashid Sash’ His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has presented the “Mohammed bin Rashid Sash” to the mother of martyr Tareq Al Shehi on the occasion of Mother’s Day. Shaikh Mohammed visited Hessa Abdullah Al Qadhi at her residence in the Sham area of Ras Al Khaimah and decorated her with the “Mohammed bin Rashid Sash”. The Vice-President affirmed that the highest degree of sacrifice is that of the mother who offers her precious son for the sake of the homeland. He added that the mother of the martyr and all mothers of Emirati martyrs are the true model of the UAE mothers and they are a role model for all mothers and they are worth being honoured and appreciated permanently. Shaikh Mohammed also pointed out that martyr’s reputation and love demonstrate good morals, noble values and principles that have been instilled in him since early childhood, adding that honouring is a kind of thanks and appreciation for the mother of Tareq. He also reiterated that Tareq is the martyr of the whole UAE and not only his family and he is the son of the UAE and his mother’s sacrifice for the homeland makes her a model for all Emirati mothers. The Vice-President added that Tareq’s sons will be under his personal care and guard since the UAE is only one family and the country never forgets those who sacrificed their lives for its sake and names of mothers of the martyrs would be immortal in the history of the UAE. Shaikh Mohammed was accompanied by Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs; Lt-General Misbah bin Rashid AI Fattan, Director of the Office of the Vice-President; and Khalifa Saeed Suleiman, Director-General of the Department of Protocol and Hospitality in Dubai. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Heritage Village: Reviving a national legacy
Heritage Village: Reviving a national legacy Sudeshna Sarkar / 27 January 2014 The Heritage Village is a brainchild of the Hamdan bin Mohammed Heritage Center that adds a new dimension to the Global Village. IGNORING A sudden downpour that has created puddles difficult to navigate and a sharp nip in the air, Hanifa Qureshi has come to the Global Village from Abu Dhabi chasing a hope. As her elder daughter Maria pushes her wheelchair, manoeuvring through the crowds and slush, and the younger, Sophia, struggles to keep an umbrella over the heads of all three, the 64-year-old matriarch scans the passing stalls anxiously to check if they are close to their destination. It’s a person rather than a pavilion that the trio is searching for. They want to meet Fatima Essa, one of the top-notch practitioners of traditional herbal medicine. In an initiative that adds value to the festival, Essa is available for chats with visitors, offering health tips. Hanifa Qureshi suffers from severe gout and friends who have consulted Essa with satisfying results have urged her to try out a traditional cure. Fatima Essa sits in a traditional hut in an area known as the Heritage Village. Though the Global Village, Dubai’s unique annual tourism and cultural event, was launched in 1997, the Heritage Village is a new initiative started this year. It is the brainchild of the Hamdan bin Mohammed Heritage Center that was founded by Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, in April 2013 to promote the Emirati national heritage, especially among the youth. “The Global Village has pavilions representing different countries,” says Sumaya Saeed Khalfan, marketing and corporate communication director at the centre. “We wanted to put up something that would showcase traditional life in the UAE as well as the region. There is a heritage village in Deira; we thought we would build another one at the Global Village. “One of the most important parts of a nation’s heritage is its people. So the Heritage Village brings you people who represent traditional arts and skills. We don’t want visitors to only hear of heritage or traditional lifestyle. We want them to experience it from people who know it firsthand.” The little clusters in the Heritage Village represent different kinds of traditional architecture. They were all built when the event started. Visitors admire the Saffa house, the hardy residence built of stone for mountain areas. A little farther is the Bait Al Sha’ar, the Bedouin shelter made of sheep’s wool. Three authentic Bedouins sit chatting at the shelter and visitors can walk in and share a cuppa with them. Another exhibit is the Kirin tent, built from palm leaves and supported by poles. Once found near the coast, now it could be a permanent exhibit to remind visitors of the resourcefulness of the traditional way of life. Besides the traditional architecture, artefacts and people, Heritage Village is also showcasing the fauna associated with the Arab way of life. Two Arabian horses stand patiently nearby. In the next enclosure a billy goat rears up on its hind legs, trying to cadge treats from passersby. But the most arresting animals are the two camels rigged up in an eye-catching gear. These are no ordinary beasts but celebrities in their own rights. Ghaiman and Dhafar have now become legends, taking part in Yemeni Odysseus Ahmed Al Qasimi’s epic 40,000 km trip to Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Al Qasimi has brought them back to Dubai as a thanksgiving gift for Shaikh Hamdan since the Hamdan bin Mohammed Heritage Center sponsored his last trip to Africa. Perhaps the most eloquent tribute to the Emirati’s pride in his country is the replica of the Union House, the history-making site where on December 2, 1971 the treaty to establish the Arab world’s first federation of states, the United Arab Emirates, was signed. “The Union House was the place where the UAE dream came true,” says Khalfan. “We wanted to show people that part of our history.” Though a replica, the “Union House” at the Heritage Village will remain a centre of nationalist activities as long as the Global Village continues. On November 6, the UAE Flag Day was celebrated here, National Day on December 2, and on January 4 the special occasion when His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum became the Ruler of Dubai eight years ago. sudeshna@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Nadal tops Djokovic for 13th major title
Nadal tops Djokovic for 13th major title (AP) / 10 September 2013 Hard to believe this is the same Rafael Nadal who was home during the U.S. Open a year ago, nursing a bad left knee. Hard to believe this is the guy sent packing in the first round of Wimbledon in June, losing against someone ranked 135 th . Looking fit as can be and maybe even better than ever, the No. 2-ranked Nadal pulled away from No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in a taut, tense U.S. Open final for his 13 th Grand Slam title. “Very, very emotional, no?” Nadal said during the on-court trophy presentation. “Probably only my team knows how much (this) means for me.” They started in sunlight and finished at night, a 3-hour, 21-minute miniseries of cliffhangers and plot twists and a pair of protagonists who inspired standing ovations in the middle of games. There was no quit in either of them, during points that lasted 15, 25, even more than 50 strokes. “Probably nobody brings my game to the limit like Novak,” said Nadal, who collected $3.6 million in prize money, including a $1 million bonus for results during the North American hard-court circuit. This was their 37 th match against each other, the most between any two men in the Open era, and Nadal has won 22. It also was their third head-to-head U.S. Open final in the last four years. Nadal beat Djokovic for the 2010 title, and Djokovic won their rematch in 2011. They know each other’s games so well, and play such similar hustle-to-every-ball styles, but in the end, it was Nadal who was superior. “He was too good. He definitely deserved to win this match today and this trophy,” Djokovic said. “Obviously disappointing to lose a match like this.” Nadal improved to 22-0 on hard courts and 60-3 overall in 2013 with nine titles, including at the French Open, which made him the first man with at least one Grand Slam trophy in nine consecutive seasons. The 27-year-old Spaniard’s total of 13 major championships ranks third in the history of men’s tennis, behind only Roger Federer’s 17 and Pete Sampras’ 14. Nadal no longer wears the strips of white tape he once did to bolster his left knee, and the way he covered the court against Djokovic — switching from defense to offense in a blink — proved that while he says he still feels pain in that leg, he definitely does not have problems moving around. These are the same two who played the longest Grand Slam final in history, a nearly six-hour struggle that left both needing to sit in chairs during the ceremony after Djokovic’s victory at the 2012 Australian Open. This time, when it ended with a forehand into the net by Djokovic, Nadal dropped to his back on the court, saluted by an Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that included the Queen of Spain. Nadal was relentless from shot to shot, yes, and from point to point, too, but what might have been most impressive was the way he stayed steady when Djokovic recovered from a rough start and began asserting himself. Continue reading
