Ramadan Kareem.

Despite the sandstorm in Riyadh, the new moon is expected to be sighted by the Moon Committee in Saudi tonight.  If this is the case, then the month of Ramadan and the fast will begin tomorrow (Wed).

What's wrong with this picture?

Another couple of 'only in Doha' moments.

 

Qatar: A peaceful transfer of power.

The outgoing Emir of Qatar, addresses the nation.

Its official. The rumours that have been widely circulating here have proved true. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, announced yesterday that he is stepping aside, handing power to his son Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani.  The outgoing Emir seized power from his own father in a bloodless coup 18 years ago, almost to the day.

The new Emir, Sheikh Tamim
bin Hamad al Thani.

The new Emir, Sandhurst educated Sheikh Tamim, is the second son of Sheikh Hamad and his second wife Sheikha Moza having replaced his elder brother Sheikh Jassim as Heir Apparent in 2003.  

His mother Sheikha Moza (yes, 'Moza' means banana in English) currently plays a very active role in public affairs here though whether that role will continue is as yet unknown. The transfer of power comes into effect immediately and today has been a public holiday, though the majority of the population did not know they had a day off until late last night.

This morning Sheikh Hamad addressed the public on tv and after that Sheikh Tamim, the new Emir, received a long line of representatives of the families, clans and tribes of Qatar who'd come to swear allegiance. The ceremony was shown in its entirety on local tv and will continue later this afternoon and again tomorrow.

The 'marriage 411' as a friend calls it is that the new Emir was born in 1980 and has two wives.  He married his first wife, Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim al-Thani, who's also his second cousin, when he was 18 and the couple has 4 children. He married his second wife, Anoud bint Mana Al-Hajri, in 2009 and they have two children. (Though the Arabic paper here says his first wife has 3 children and his second has 1.)      

          

Emir of Qatar hands power to his son.

In what must be a first for the region, the Emir of Qatar has peacefully handed over power to his son, Sheikh Tamim.  Exactly when this transition will take place has yet to be announced.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani announces handover of power to Heir Apparent

The weekend in Saudi: all change!

Finally! Saudi has changed from a Thursday/Friday weekend to Friday/Saturday weekend which brings it into line with the rest of the GCC. King Abdullah of Saudi issued the decree following a recommendation by the Kingdom's Shura Council.
Many Western companies have branches in the Kingdom and the fact that the Saudi offices were only open at the same time as Western offices on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday could be so frustrating. The change in Saudi comes into effect from next weekend. Oman also changed to the Friday/Saturday weekend recently.
Here in the Gulf, the weekends are reversed to what there is in the West where Saturday is for shopping, going out etc and Sunday is quiet. Here, Friday is quiet (you could fire a cannon down our street on Friday morning and not hit anyone) and Saturday is busy with families in the malls etc.