UAE media recently reported the almost-unfathomable case of a woman who decided to divorce her husband after a year of marriage, because he loved her too much and never once argued with her. If this funny news story is anything to go by, too much of a good thing can indeed be harmful in the long run. A UAE woman recently sought to divorce her husband at the Shariah court in Fujairah, because she felt chocked by his love and affection. To make matters “worse”, the husband allegedly never argued with her during their one-year marriage and even helped her with house chores like cleaning, which she described as “hell”. Read More »

An Emirati entrepreneur and inventor has been working on an ambitious project that involves towing a giant iceberg all the way from Antarctica to the Arabian Gulf in order to provide fresh drinking water for the UAE. Because of its arid climate, the United Arab Emirates doesn’t have too many options when it comes to water sources. In fact , the Arab country relies heavily on desalinated water, which is not only expensive to obtain but very harmful to the environment. But businessman Abdulla Alshehi thinks he may have found a much better, albeit unconventional alternative. For the last six years he has been working on a plan to tow a 2km x 500m iceberg from Antarctica and use modern technology to tow it 5,500 miles to the Arabian Gulf. The floating block of ice would not only provide drinking water for millions of people, but also determine positive weather changes in the region. Read More »

A newly-married woman from the UAE recently filed for divorce from her husband, who she accused of being too cheap and making her pay for everything. Arabic newspaper Al Baiyan reports that the unnamed woman filed a case in the Personal Status Chamber at Abu Dhabi court, asking for a divorce from her Iranian husband, even though they were technically still in their honeymoon. She claims that the man, who is 13 years her junior, asked her to pay for everything, including groceries and bills for electricity and water. The scorned woman is apparently so determined to be rid of her husband that she agreed to waive all of her rights just to get the divorce. The woman complained that her “cheap” husband specifically asked her to register all utility bills under her name, claiming that he had lost all of his personal documents. Her attorney told the court that the man even asked her to handle all the registration for services, while he had his personal documents processed. Read More »

A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently sentenced a woman to three months in jail after her husband sued her for looking through his phone without his permission. In a statement made against his wife, the unnamed husband claimed that she would access his phone while he was asleep, copying all the data, including pictures and chat conversations to her own smartphone so she could look through all the information at a later date. The man also complained that his wife would share some of his private information with her siblings. Although the woman defended herself by saying that her husband had given her the password to his phone and permission to look through it, because she had previously caught him chatting with other women, a court in Ras Al Khaimah found her guilty. Read More »

Everyone knows that Dubai is a rich city, but not many people know it is so rich that even beggars there can earn a small fortune by asking for handouts. Begging in Dubai is so lucrative that people come into the UAE legally, on a three-month travel visa, just so they can fill their pockets on the streets. That may sound shocking, but some of these so-called “professional beggars” or “smart beggars” can earn up to Dh270,000 ($73,500) per month. That’s more than most jobs pay in a year. Reports of professional beggars taking advantage of the generosity and gullibility of wealthy Dubai citizens have been showing up online for the past three years now, but despite the best efforts of local police to eradicate the practice, it is still considered a widespread phenomenon. If anything, news headlines of beggars in the Las Vegas of the Middle East earning insane amounts of money by begging have only encouraged others to follow their example. Some sources report that there are now Arab and Asian gangs bringing beggars into Dubai legally and then taking most of their earnings. Read More »

It sounds like one of those funny news articles you read on sites like The Onion, but this one is sadly true. A man from the United Arab Emirates divorced his young wife just days after their wedding, after seeing her makeup free for the first time. The bizarre news was reported by psychologist Dr Abdul Aziz Asaf, who claims that the 28-year-old woman contacted his clinic to help her overcome the psychological suffering caused by the swift and unexpected divorce. Asaf did not reveal the woman’s identity for reasons of confidentiality, but told Gulf News that she had been engaged to a 34-year-old man for six months, before marrying him. Apparently, he had never seen her without makeup during all that time, because the first time he did, he hardly recognized her. The man accused Asaf’s patient of deceiving him by wearing so many cosmetics, including fake eyelashes, and not looking as pretty as before the wedding. Read More »

If high quality sportswear can improve performance in human athletes, then it technically should work for animals as well. Testing this theory is UAE-based camel and horse luxury products company Al Shibla. They recently launched a line of lycra-style outfits for camels, and they claim that the bizarre product has already garnered tremendous interest among stable owners in the Middle East. It’s true that compression suits are worn by race horses around the world to improve performance, but the owners of Al Shibla believe that camels deserve the very best in comfort clothing as well. “If it’s fitting the horse, why we don’t do it for the camel?” asked Anne Wolter, co-founder and head of research and development. Made of soft, thick material that covers the body, the suits improve blood circulation by slightly constricting blood vessels. Worn before and after training, it increases blood and oxygen supply to the muscles, reducing the lactic acid build-up that causes cramping. The animal is covered entirely, except for the head and neck. Read More »

The Arabs appreciate their camels rather deeply. They call these beautiful creatures ‘God’s gift to the Bedouin’. In fact, they love camels so much that they get together once a year to pick out the most beautiful ones of them all. The Al Dhafra Festival is held annually at Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. The camel beauty pageant is the highlight of this festival, featuring 30,000 camels from all over the Gulf region. It’s something like a dog-show, with the animals being paraded around and given marks on their appearance. How does one judge the beauty of a camel? According to Ali Al Mansouri, a camel owner and member of the Al Dhafra organizing committee, “The judges are looking for camels with big heads, wide necks, firm ears, broad cheeks and big whiskers.” He also said that the body should be long, the hump and the back should be big, and the color and posture of the camel are important.

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An $11 million Christmas tree may seem incredible, but the simple fact  that it was put up in the lobby of a 7 star hotel  in United Arab Emirates makes it a little more believable. According to Hans Olbertz, general manager of the Emirates Palace Hotel, this is the world’s most expensive Christmas tree.

But what makes a Christmas tree worth $11 million. Well, it appears its immense value is given by the fact that instead of traditional ornaments, the tree is decorated with very expensive jewelry draping around it’s branches, along with a few gold and silver bows and some lights.

The artificial Christmas tree standing at over 13ft tall had an initial value of only $10,000, but the sum kept rising as gold, pearls, diamonds, sapphires and other precious stones provided by Style Gallery, were being added. There are now 181 jewels decorating the world’s most expensive Christmas tree.

Maybe the idea of an $ 11million Christmas tree wouldn’t seam that out of the ordinary if you knew that the Emirates Palace Hotel is offering a seven days package at the price of “just” $ 1million, which includes a luxurious car and a private plane at the disposal of the guest.

The owners of the luxurious Abu Dhabi hotel are planning to contact the Guinness Book of Records about their creation.

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Daad Murad Abdul Rahman, a 64-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates, is the proud father of 88 children, but doesn’t plan on stopping until he reaches his 100th offspring.

One thing is for sure, if good parenting was judged by the number of children, Daad Murad Abdul Rahman would definitely qualify for the title of world’s greatest dad. He is the father of 50 boys and 38 girls. His eldest son, Tariq, is 39 years old, while his youngest child was born just a few months ago. Over the years Daad has been married 15 times, and has had children with every one of his wives. Twelve of them have divorced him (probably tired of giving birth), but three still remain faithful.

To reach his goal of becoming the father of 100 children, this Arab superdad is planning on marrying once again, to an 18-year-old Indian girl. The Meher (money the groom pays the bride’s father) has already been paid, and the wedding is scheduled to take place in Jaipur. Naturally, the 64-year-old is thrilled about the marriage, and says he’s already applied for an Indian visa.

Believe it or not, Daad Murad Abdul Rahman is seen as a national hero in the UAE, and enjoys many benefits offered by the state. His 127 family members were offered seven free houses to live in, and Rahman himself receives pension from the military, as well as substantial financial aid.

Daad and his family first attracted the attention of international media in 2007, when he had “just” 78 mouths to feed. He’s been really busy, and managed to make 10 more babies in just three years time, so his goal doesn’t seem hard to reach at all.

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