ArabCommons.org

Britain is well-known for the unique service provided by butlers. These butlers serve wealthy landlords and mansions with a team of 20-40 to address the needs of their masters. As far as the Batman franchise is concerned, the favour of butlers have shifted from the western countries to the Middle East.

In Saudi Arabia, palaces of wealthy Arabian families and royalties favour having British butlers. According to the owner of British Butler Guild, Anthony Seddon-Holland, 25% of his butlers go directly in posts in the Middle East. He claimed that the high demand for British butlers reflected on the trust given by the Arabians who grew up in the United Kingdom studying to their British butlers.

Steven Randolph, the owner of Randolphis, a butler recruitment firm, said that butlers working in the Middle East actually earn a top $150,000 yearly. However, he also says that this does not come without consequence.

Randolph recounts that life in the Middle East is a bit lonesome because the butlers have no social life as alcoholic drinks, nightlife and socializing with the opposite sex is impossible in the post. However, the perks of staying in Saudi, Oman and other Middle Eastern countries is that you don’t have to clean up after drunks, drugged people, prostitutes and gambling.

Source: CNN

Internet users in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and India had their connections disrupted yesterday because three scuba divers mistakenly cut an undersea Internet cable in the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. The cable, the South East Asia-Middle East- Western Europe-4 cable, was integral for linking Asia and Europe through Jeddah.

The slowdown was felt in some countries. Experts estimate that the Internet efficiency dropped by 60% in some areas.

The Egyptian military found the three scuba divers on board a small boat attempting to land on shore. The military gave chase and caught the three placed on arrest. The three scuba divers claimed that they cut the line by error.

International critics pointed out how easy it was to sabotage the Internet by means of cutting small fibre optic cables without decent protection from common scuba divers or anybody with an aqualung. Jeddah’s rerouting centres restructured the data flow from France to Singapore, causing the Internet slowdown to happen only within an hour.

. The SEA-ME-WE-4 is a submarine cable that stretches from Marseille to Singapore passing by Jeddah and Alexandria. It also passes through Annaba, Bizerte, Laermo, Suez, Fujairah, Karachi, Mumbai, Chennai, Colombo and reaches Singapore as its final destination hub.

Source: Arab News

Religious extremists may have won the chair of elections in many countries, but this does not guarantee that they have complete control using their own belief system as a guide to their countries. Analysts grant that these parties may have the best in terms of resources such as money and supporters and is greatly organized than any political party because of a binding belief, but they are challenged by the public, who are greatly shifting from draconian decrees into focusing themselves to what they need and practical decisions.

Analysts looking into the future of the Middle East cultures say that the countries would most likely resemble countries like India. India, apart from being economically strong, is a country that welcomes opinions and similarities from the different sectarians existing in their country. With an open debate, they focus on contributing to ideas that are practical based on the commonality of their beliefs, and openly justifying certain actions based on their belief while finding a resolution.

Currently, the Arab world is struggling with newfound political freedom. The Kingdom, in itself, is a democratic country. But the challenges of having a single, focused idea of Islam to rule the country with is still non-existent.

Islam might also tone down its sensitivity and extremism from its believers. The recent U.S. Consulate in Benghazi attack was a symbol of extremism and serves as a reaction to the movie “The Innocence of Muslims”, which killed a consulate and several other officers. This particular idea, should the Middle Eastern countries progress towards globalization, liberal ideas and global trends, can finally be shut down and finally the country can progress with different points of view.

Source:  Huffington Post

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Tehran, the capital of Iran, generates about 25% of the nation’s economy, and when Tehran fails, the economy of Iran can suddenly collapse without warning. The country is currently deadlocked as the United States and other western companies have shut out Iran from the International Banking System and has placed sanctions that targeted Iran’s rich oil exports. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran’s oil revenue dependence would be its downfall and it should move away from this particular move.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the flow of the economy must be changed. Tehran’s leading economic output should be dispersed throughout other Iran cities as concentrating on one city will make the money “topple over” leading to a sudden economic collapse.

The statement of President Ahmadinejad shows the first time Iran has acknowledged western sanctions on its economy upon the call for economic structural changes in the country’s industries.

Iran’s market depends solely on crude oil sales as it allows 80% of foreign income in sales to the west and to the Asian countries. After the western sanctions were implemented, Iranian Budget Committee head Gholam Reza Kateb estimates that iran’s oil and gas exports have dropped 45% from the first date of the sanctions.

The western sanctions were designed to stop Iran from progressing with nuclear research as the United States believes that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons. However, President Ahmadinejad said that the research was for energy and cancer treatment purposes.

Source: Aljazeera.com

Victims need to make a compensation claim so that their offenders and respective “at-fault” insurance companies can provide compensation for all the damages they received. Making an effective claim means taking note of the following before submitting your claim.

1. Authorized Report
In a car accident, you’ll need a police report filed within 24 hours right after your accident. Police investigation data will also be available for your claim with a police report. You need to report your work accident to the company HR or the building administration to have a short investigation and record of your workplace accident claim.

2. Evidences
Your evidences in any accident should come in the form of photos and images of the place, what triggered the accident, your possible offender and the vehicles or equipment they possess and the aftermath of the accident. You will also need to submit yourself to at least two medical check-ups to ensure the medical certificate can indicate accuracy in your sustained injuries.

3. Legal Advice
Many legal professionals advise claimants never to underestimate legal professional expertise and knowledge. They advise claimants to work with legal professionals or at least have initial consultation for them before approaching their insurance companies. Insurance companies and claimants have competing interests, and only through the intervention of a legal professional or claims expert can claimants get their complete compensation.

Customers have spent at least £3000 on an average PPI claim, but if you owned it for a long time, yours might be higher. PPI is an insurance policy designed to protect your loan, mortgage and credit card from incurring high debt should you get sick or become unemployed. Not everyone needs or is eligible for the insurance policy, yet banks enclosed it with many financial transactions. If you want to make an effective PPI claim, read on.

1. Your Billing Statements
Before making your claim, it is important you confirm you are really mis sold PPI. Your billing statements, from the start of your financing until the recent date you paid for it is important to have. Not only do they drive your point properly, they serve as references to help you estimate the amount of refunds you deserve to have.

2. Ineligibility
Not everyone needs any type of insurance policy, and your ineligibility for your PPI is the key to proving that your bank mis sold you the insurance policy. People ineligible for PPI are those beyond the claiming age, retired, unemployed or self-employed or had a pre-existing medical condition before they purchased the insurance.

3. Processing
Most consumer group websites and the Financial Ombudsman itself provides a standard PPI claims form that you could download, fill up and print out. Once you have done this, include photocopies of your billing statements and the proof you used to prove your ineligibility, such as six-months-old medical certificates, birth certificate and your last official payslip. You can wait a few days and see what the bank’s verdict is.

4. Legal Help
If the banks are not processing your claim properly, or are delaying your repayments, you could approach claims management companies to help you or submit your claim directly with the Financial Ombudsman. Banks are known to delay repayments or try to reduce the repayments. The Financial Ombudsman also confirms that it upholds 7 out of 10 bank-rejected claims too.

The security fence of the West Bank was being cut to make an entrance by Samir Awad, a 16 year old Palestinian boy, as the Israeli Defense Force states that he was trying to “infiltrate into Israel”. However, the claims of the IDF are challenged by the family, friends and the school of the boy, who says that the IDF soldiers provoked the boy and later apprehended him.

Three shots were fired against Samir, who was hit on his back, neck, and leg. He died upon arrival at Ramallah hospital.

The eyewitnesses, mostly Samir’s schoolmates, superiors and family, said that Samir approached the fence after being incited by the Israeli troops, who shouted insults to the students of the Boudrous Secondary School and challenged them to come to the wall. An eyewitness said that the soldiers were calling insults already before Samir left his class and approached the security fence.

An Arab language teacher said that insults were daily bombarding the school, which is why it built a wall and fence around the school and gates that were locked during class hours to avoid provocation. However, these kinds of incidents still happen.

Eyewitnesses said that Samir ran away from the fence as the soldiers fired tear gas. He was stopped by two soldiers hiding in a trench. Running towards the barrier, he was shot three times.

The incident is now being investigated by the Israeli Military Police.

Source: Telegraph

The United Kingdom’s legal system function in a way wherein citizens can file a compensation claim for any injury found to be a result of an action of an offending party and a client can hire a legal representative to help them get all the compensation they deserve. Most legal representatives, such as the claims experts at the NoWinNoFeeCo.co.uk, work under a no win no fee basis. If you’re wondering how it works, here’s a good breakdown.

1. You Don’t Pay Anything Until The End

The first and most basic point of the no win no fee agreement is that the client will not pay anything in advance or for the other miscellaneous expenses of the legal representative until the entire case or claim is settled successfully or satisfactorily. Legal representatives cannot charge their customers until after the case. Everything needed for travel, fees for documentation and other money-related processes will be the responsibility of the legal expert.

2. A Complete Guarantee

The purpose of a no win no fee agreement is to ensure that the quality of service provided by a legal professional also includes his or her full potential. Without any success, a legal representative earns his or her share of legal fees from the government, which is lower than the 25% share the legal representative earns upon successfully winning a customer’s claims case.

3. Any Complaints Make It Void

No client is encouraged to go for a no win no fee legal representative, but if the legal representative performs inadequately or just as efficient as the client him or herself and this can be proven through a complaint filed through the Ministry of Justice, the client does not need to pay anything at all. Complaints about up front fees against legal representatives also makes the agreement void and punishable by law.

Hayat Sindi, one of the 15 newly-appointed female Shoura council members, called for Saudis to opt for scientific careers and raised her concerns about making progress in providing clean water, food and the environment for the kingdom and the entire world. Sindi is the founder and the Ceo of the i2 Institute of Imagination and Ingenuity, a non-government organization focusing on developing scientific innovation in Saudi Arabia.

Sindi earned a doctorate from Cambridge University in the field of biotechnology and is a science ambassador for the UNESCO.

She wants to contribute and see the society of Saudi Arabia become progressive in the field of science and other fields and industries in the country. But as a woman, she also upholds the rights of women inside the kingdom. She says that she wants to concentrate on innovating education and scientific research and inspiring the youth to take interest in this field.

Sindi intends to motivate women to build their own companies, businesses and enterprises to help make job creation and diversity in the kingdom, which can help many unemployed citizens find jobs that suit them perfectly.

She intends to make science an integral part of the Arabian academic curriculum in all universities so that the kingdom can progress continuously in helping resolve technological, environmental and economic problems.

Source: Arab News

Fadi, a Syrian native living amidst the chaos between the Syrian regime and rebellion, gives the world how it looks like to live everyday and attempt to keep in mind that violence, gunfire and explosions are part of everyday life. His recent post last year, December 24, 2012, shows what the country went through as Christmas eve pushed through for the whole world.

Fadi resides in Yabrood, an area free of government control and for almost a year since the 21-month Syrian civil war began, he says that no government forces have occupied the city since the Free Syrian Army held them back six months ago. Regular air strikes from the government forces in the outskirts of Yabrood attacked the city once in a while.

Fadi states that the conflict’s effect on their area had only caused 40-50 casualties, relatively small compared to the number of people who have died in Homs and Aleppo. Fadi states that the city is run by two councils, one who is military and the other for food supplies and health care for residents. Without the airstrikes, Fadi said that the city would have been any other city in the world.

During Christmas, Fadi states that the citizens try hard to send each other greetings. He says that a quarter of Yabrood is made up of Christians. While they might not put up Christmas decorations, they still make sure to celebrate it with the people they love.

The population of Yabrood, which was 60,000, was estimatd by Fadi to have fallen to 20,000, including the refugees from other cities. The city is managed by the civilian ruling body and the local residents themselves, who strive hard to provide for everyone what they need.

Source: BBC