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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UAE24HRS.COM ANNOUNCES THE FIRST ALL-EMIRATI TEAM FOR THE THIRD ANNUAL 24 HOUR RACE

UAE24hrs.com, a Dubai-based motor sport organization, today announces the first team consisting of all UEA drivers to participate in the Toyo Tires 24 hour race at the Dubai Autodrome on January 10, 2008.

Taking part in the race are no less than 90 teams from 17 countries. For the first time in 2008, there will be a team representing the entire United Arab Emirates with all drivers being Emiratis. The race starts at 2 pm on Friday January 11, 2008, and runs for 24 hours. For the UAE24hrs.com team, the drivers are Mohammed Al-Abdooli, Mohammad Al-Falasi, Khalid Al-Mutawa, Mohammed Al-Owais, and OmranAl-Owais.

Mohammad Al-Falasi, the Team Captain of the UAE24hrs.com team said, “Having the 24 hour race in the Emirates is a wonderful opportunity for us as local drivers to showcase our talent and passion to the region and to the world. This will be a great test of our abilities and dedication, but we’re confident we can prevail. I know these guys and they are the best. We ‘re proud of our country and we’re proud to be the first team with all Emirati drivers taking part.”

The Toyo Tire 24hr race is a competition of endurance as much as it is of driving skills. Cars as well as drivers are put to severe tests and it’s only the team with the best working combination of drivers, car, mechanics, and more that stand a chance to win. Drivers will take turns in approximately two-hour shifts.

One of the drivers in the UAE24hrs.com Team, Omran Al-Owais, said, “This will be a great challenge for us both physically and mentally. We don’t just have to look after ourselves but the car has to run for 24 hours, which is something we’re working hard on together with our excellent mechanics.”

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UAE24hrs.com, run by a team of Emirati racecar drivers, is a UAE-based motor sport organization, which combines the experience of driving in races around the Gulf region with creating awareness about local motor sport events. You can find out more about UAE24hrs at http://uae24hrs.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Crystal at +971-50-9211006, or e-mail at crystal@uae24hrs.com.

The last couple of days I’ve been getting strange things happening in my RSS reader for 7Days’ feed. Many articles in their feed appear three or four times, exactly the same thing. This morning, by chance, I checked their site and the same problem seem to be there.

I think someone needs to look at their publishing system.

March of millions: “Provided by 7DAYS.ae

Perched on their fathers’ shoulders, children joined the almost 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims thronging the Saudi holy city of Mina yesterday to cast their stones at Satan. Worshippers, dressed in the traditional white religious robes, filled the roads as they edged their way towards the sacred Jamarat Bridge to hurl rocks at the three pillars which symbolise the devil.
According to the figures given by the authorities a total of 2,454,325 pilgrims are performing the pilgrimage this year from 181 nations.  The walls are traditionally believed to be the place where the devil appeared to Abraham, his wife Hagar and son Ishmael.
After the stoning, the pilgrims celebrate Eid al-Adha, literally the day of sacrifice, when animals, normally sheep - but also goats, cows and camels, are sacrificed, in remembrance of Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son to God. The human wave approached the bridge amid tight security imposed in a bid to prevent repeats of the fatal crushes which have typified parts of past rituals and which have claimed thousands of lives.
In January last year, 364 people were killed in huge crush during the stoning ceremony and a similar tragedy in 2004 saw 251 people trampled to death. The worst incident occurred in 1990 when 1,426 people suffocated to death in a tunnel in Mina after a ventilation system broke down. Saudi authorities have built a third level on to the bridge complex to ease the pressure, allowing more than 200,000 people an hour to cast pebbles they collected the previous day.
The vast crowds can be particularly dangerous for children who can become separated from their family among the turbulent sea of people. Thousands of medical staff were stationed around the bridge to the treat cuts and bruises of pilgrims hit by stones which missed their intended target.

Read more UAE News on www.7days.ae“

(Via 7DAYS Local News | Dubai Abu Dhabi | UAE.)

Meto Progress…….Closer to reality!!: “Farrukh Ahmed:

The Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that the first two Metro trains have been transported out of the factory to undergo driverless operation and climatic testing in various locations in Japan.

(Via Metroblogging Dubai.)

“Driverless operation”… not sure I like the sound of that

The Kaaba’s New Kiswah (Asharq Alawsat Newspaper): “Following their departure from Mecca, millions of pilgrims have started to make their way to Mount Arafat. Coinciding with this unchanged ritual is the tradition of changing of the Kaaba’s ‘kiswah’, the cloth that adorns the Kaaba made of black silk and embroidered with gold calligraphy.

This event is customarily attended by the gate-keepers of the Kaaba and technicians from the Kiswah Factory, which has been manufacturing the fabric that adorns the Kaaba for the past six decades. These technicians employ a special mobile escalator so as to remove the old cloth and cover it with the new kiswah, one day before the first day of Eid ul-Adha.

Pilgrims visiting the holy Kaaba will see the cloth that has taken a whole year to complete at the hands of highly skilled professional tailors and artisans. The process by which the Kaaba is adorned in the new kiswah entails attaching special metal hooks (47 in total) to the roof of the Kaaba after which the ropes from the old kiswah are cut off so that the new cloth immediately falls above it to cover it. This is to avoid the Kaaba being exposed during the change.

In going with tradition, one-third of the cloth from the bottom is lifted up out of the reach of millions of pilgrims who might want to cut off a piece of the cloth to take with them. There is approximately two meters between the marble floor that surrounds the Kaaba and the beginning of the black kiswah.”

Kenya-UAE cable planned: “French-US outfit Alcatel-Lucent has signed an $82m contract to build a 4,900 kilometre submarine cable network linking the Kenyan port of Mombasa with the UAE’s Fujairah, reported the AFP. The East Africa Marine System consortium, which includes the Kenyan government and the UAE’s Etisalat, is behind the project; network installation should be completed by Q1 2009.
“

(Via Telco, Internet and IT.)

Wow, another cable that can cause problems.

UAE to review bodies: “

Look at that headline - it’s not about what you might think it is about

(Via 7DAYS Local News | Dubai Abu Dhabi | UAE.)

AFP: Muslim pilgrims make final preparations for hajj: “Hundreds of thousands of Muslims from around the world gathered in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, making final preparations for the annual hajj pilgrimage which is a central tenent of Islam.

Saudi officials say that more than 1.6 million Muslims from abroad have assembled for the hajj, which begins on Monday, the eighth day of the month of Dhi al-Hajja under the lunar calendar.

Hundreds of thousands of Saudi faithful as well as foreigners living in the desert kingdom are also expected to take part.

All Muslims are required to make the hajj to Mecca, in the western region of the kingdom, at least once in their lifetime if they have the means to do so.”

(Via AFP)

Just got my phone! : “

Just got my phone! :D”

(Via Un-Official dxb:729.)

Yippie! Omran found his Blackberry, and just in time for Hajj too. We wish him all the best for his coming adventure and look forward to hearing all about it once he’s back an recovered.

Today, November 11, is the anniversary of the Armistice on the Western Front in the First World War. The armistice agreement was signed at 5am on Nov 11, 1918, and took effect at 11am (elevent hour of the elevent day of the eleventh month).