Dubai Open at risk following Peer refusal....

The future of the US$2 million Dubai Open may be at risk after Israeli tennis player No. 1 Shahar Peer was prevented from competing in the event. The world number 48 from Israel has been denied a visa into the Gulf state, bringing a critical statement from the Women's Tennis Association, which runs the women's tour. The Dubai Tennis Championship is one of the WTA Tour's most prestigious events and this week features every player from the world's top 10 except the injured Nadia Petrova.

Last year, Peer was given a visa to play in the Qatar Open in Doha.

"We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) denying Shahar Peer a Visa that would permit her to enter the country to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships," Larry Scott, chief executive of the WTA, was quoted as saying by AFP. "Ms. Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it is regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right.

"Following various consultations, the Tour has decided to allow the tournament to continue to be played this week, pending further review by the Tour's board of directors.

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No-Frills Air Arabia Creates a New Passion for Travel in the Persian Gulf

There was a time, not long ago, when the idea of jet travel in the Persian Gulf countries conjured up images of white-robed sheiks accompanied by cages full of squawking falcons and of European oil executives lounging in first-class luxury — of a frequent-flier population more at home with a large entourage than a humble rolling suitcase.

The characters appeared on billboards and newspaper inserts throughout the Middle East.
How things have changed. Now, in the domed rotunda of the old-fashioned little airport in Sharjah, you are as likely to come across a family of Egyptians returning from a shopping spree in Dubai or a group of young men from the United Arab Emirates off for a week of partying in Beirut. For the last three years, Air Arabia has been shaking up the world of Persian Gulf air travel with the Middle East's first no-frills low-cost airline. Based in the emirate of Sharjah and founded through royal decree by Sheik Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah, Air Arabia aims to do for air travel in the Arab world what budget airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet, JetBlue and Southwest have been doing the last decade in some Western countries.

Air Arabia first sprang onto the regional scene in 2003 with a series of light-hearted advertisements featuring cartoon figures with outsized circular heads and stocky bodies, similar in appearance to the characters in "South Park" but dressed in traditional Arab clothing and carrying luggage. Air Arabia's little round men — wearing Saudi-style white dishdashas or Levantine sherwal pantaloons and often sporting scruffy cartoon beards — danced across billboards and newspaper inserts throughout the Middle East, their startled cartoon eyes popping wide at the news of Air Arabia's cheap fares.

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Persian Gulf's 'City of Gold' losing its glitter

Atlantis The Palm Jumeirah Hotel

DUBAI – Moving here seemed like a good idea at the time. Craig Ferrie insists he has no regrets, but he is bidding farewell to Dubai just the same.

The Scottish nationalist, British national and former Canadian resident will be returning to Toronto before the end of March, only a year after exchanging the frozen north for this glittering monument to capitalism on the Persian Gulf.

The reason for leaving is simple and proves that what's true in Paris, London, Edinburgh and Toronto is also true here – it's hard to make ends meet when the money stops.

"It's an expensive place to live with no income," said Ferrie, 27, whose job as a real estate agent is now of little value in a city where almost no one is in a mood to buy. "The way things have gone, it has become a tricky place to live."

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