Nescafe coffee in Dubai recalled over safety reasons

"Dubai Municipality says that the situation is not serious as the product [is] not commonly found in UAE."
Not serious? NOT SERIOUS?  They're kidding.  So there's the remotest chance of bits of glass in the coffee, oh for %^* sake, I'll sift it through my teeth if necessary.  This is a disaster of Titanic proportions. The reason Alta Rica is not commonly found here is because all us rabid 'Alta Ricans' raid the supermarket shelves and buy all the stock as soon as the Coffee Boat comes in to Dubai. After buying 8 jars from the last shipment, and kind friends also buying jars for me when they saw them, I'm now down to the last half a jar. NOT SERIOUS? Aaaaagh! Does anyone know the baggage allowance for bringing jars of coffee into the country? Can we still get it in Oman? Can I swap my alcohol allowance at Customs for a coffee allowance?
Source: Gulf News 20th May 2010
Photo: http://www.nescafe.co.uk
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A range of Nestle coffee has been recalled over concerns that the jars may contain fragments of glass, the manufacturer announced in a press statement.
Products that may be affected are in a speciality soluble range in 100g jars, including the Alta Rica, Alta Rica Decaff, Cap Columbie, Suraya and Espresso types, which have a distinctive plastic sleeve.
Some of the jars may be susceptible to breakage during the delivery process to our customers and consequently may contain small pieces of glass, the statement read.
However, Dubai Municipality said that this isn’t serious.
“This is not a serious issue as the product is not commonly found in the UAE,” Khalid Mohammed Sharif, Director of Food Control department at Dubai Municipality said. 
“The product is produced in South East Asia and is only found in limited quantity and in select stores,” Sharif explained.
He added that the recall is only a precautionary measure and that Nestle had already informed the Municipality of its decision to recall.
“We were informed about it two days ago by Nestle as they wanted us to be in the picture. We have since taken all the necessary action is such situations and made sure the product is removed from stores.”
The Nestle statement continued: “The quality and safety of our products is a non-negotiable priority for our Company. Only products in this specific jar format are affected. We will be changing the packaging format before we reintroduce this coffee range to the market,” the statement continued. It also included an apology to consumers and customers for any inconvenience.

Internet ban for tourists

Sigh...why doesn't someone think these things through before making a public announcement?  The latest idea reported in Emarat al-Youm a UAE Arabic language newspaper, is to restrict use of 'public internet' to holders of UAE National ID cards only.  Public internet would include hotels, coffee shops, the airport or internet cafes.  And who uses these places for net access?  And who doesn't have an ID card? Why, every tourist who comes to Dubai.  Can you imagine a visiting businessman coming to Dubai and finding he is banned from using the internet?  The people this ban seeks to target aren't sitting in internet cafes surrounded by tourists writing emails to Mum or playing "Halo".  They're in their own homes in a room with the door shut.
Tourists expect access to the net while they travel, business people expect internet access so they can do business.  All this ban will do if it comes into effect, and surely someone will see sense before then, is to make selling Dubai to tourists/businesses even harder. 
Source: ArabianBusiness
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People will be barred from accessing the internet publicly in the UAE without a national identity card under an initiative by the Interior Ministry to crack down on cyber crime and child sex abuse, UAE daily Emarat al-Youm reported on Wednesday.
The initiative will allow authorities to monitor everyone who accesses the internet from public locations such as internet cafes, coffee shops and malls, the Arabic newspaper said.
Emarat al-Youm said the Interior Ministry is working with the Emirates Identity Authority to introduce the internet restrictions.
The newspaper said the restrictions would be come into force “soon”, without being more specific.
The UAE aims to issue mandatory national ID cards its citizens and expatriates by the end of 2010 under an ambitious population registration programme.
The single card is expected to later replace other forms of identification in the UAE such as labor permit, health card and driving license.
Emarat al-Youm said the technology would also be made available to parents to monitor their children’s internet use.
Major General Nasser Lakhraibani-Naimi, Interior Ministry secretary-general, said the initiative would “develop levels of awareness and protection of children against the potential risks from the use of the internet”.

The reason Skype is banned in the UAE

Etisalat and rival du would have to hike the cost of local fixed line calls if Skype and other VoIP based software were allowed in the UAE, the company’s chairman told Arabian Business on Friday.

“If Skype or other types of Voice Over IP (VoIP) is introduced in the UAE, that will affect the revenue not only for us, but for also for du,” said Mohammed Omran in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.

“In the UAE, quite a good portion of revenue comes from international calls and the tariffs in the UAE are still unbalanced. Local charges are much lower than cost, especially for fixed line.”

Etisalat charges private users AED15 per month for unlimited local, fixed line calls, and AED50 for business users.

“This is below cost and normally this is partly compensated with international calls. We have called several times for readjustment of the tariff to link it with the cost, so that we would be able to lower the cost of international calls,” Omran said.

The cost of line rental and local calls should be in line with other countries, Omran said.Etisalat does not know if and when VoIP software will be legalised in the UAE, he added.

Kuwait travel ban for expats with unpaid loans

From Arabian Business, 10 March '09

Kuwaiti ministers are drawing up plans to stop expatriates leaving without paying off their loans.
Expatriates living in Kuwait could be banned from travelling out of the country unless they can prove they have paid all their debts, it was reported on Tuesday.The new rule is part of plans being drawn up between the Ministry of Communications (MoC) and the Ministry of Interior, according to a senior official at the MoC in an interview with Kuwait daily Kuwait Times. The move comes in the wake of an Audit Bureau report that accused the MoC of negligence in collecting debts owed by a number of corporate companies and domestic customers.

Zakariya Mohammed Al Ansari, the head of the MoC’s accounting and commercial services department confirmed to the newspaper that the two ministries were working closely on plans that wold ensure expatriates did not leave the country without repaying their loans. But he rejected the bureau’s report findings that estimated debts exceeded KD120m ($408m), saying the sum was nearer to KD9m.The department had collected KD117m in unpaid debts in 2008 alone, as well as 98 percent of the amount owed to the ministry by local embassies, Al Ansari added.

[No doubt the UAE is looking at something similar thereby formalising what is already happening here ie companies informing the banks when a person is made redundant. The banks in turn are informing the immigration department who are then refusing exit visas. I've heard of a 22 year old who, when he arrived in Dubai a year or so ago, bought a car but has now been made redundant. He's done the right thing, tried to get another job, tried to sell the car both non-starters in the current economy. When he attempted to fly out of Dubai he was told at the airport that he couldn't leave the country until he "sorted it out". How he'll "sort it out" with no job and no income I have no idea.]

Facebook and You Tube blocked in the UAE?

Happy to be proved wrong but like a lot of people in Dubai I haven't been able to access either Facebook or YouTube for 3-4 days. I assume that like Skype (see entry below) they've both now been blocked. No luck using a VPN over the weekend and today I can't even access the websites for either H.S.S. or T.C. We're with Etisalat. Friends with 'du', the other comms company here in Dubai, say they can still access Facebook and YouTube, but its "up and down". If Etisalat has barred the sites then du won't be far behind.

Here's what happens:

Facebook: the sign-in page comes up as normal, I type in my password, press enter and get bounced straight back to the sign-in page, repeat ad infinitum.

YouTube: the site comes up ok, type in subject, maybe something innocuous like "kittens playing", press enter, the little Ouroboros thing comes up in the middle of the black screen followed by the words "This video is no longer available". Also "not available" to protect the public, due to the obviously corrupting nature of the content are tips on propogating tomatoes, my own videos of John driving the Lambo, Crufts Dog Show, bellydance, pro wrestling, and even instructions on textured finishes for painted walls (for some reason this reminds me of Lister's crocheted hat and "Wall-papering, Painting, and Stippling - a DIY guide".)

If anyone's having better luck let me know.

Skype blocked in the UAE

Skype is a software programme, created in Estonia, which allows users to make phone calls from their PCs. Calls made to other Skype users are free and there's a small fee for calls to landlines and cell phones. I can make calls to NZ, talk for 15-20 mins and it only costs around 40c US.

Access to Skype is now blocked (again) in the UAE. It was banned previously (2005-ish) but people got around it by using VPNs but now that doesn't work either. Attempts to access the Skype website result in this message:



'We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.'

I don't understand how making phone calls to family and friends overseas is "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the UAE". Inconsistent with profit making more like it........