"The dialogue we mean is the one that is based on exchange of opinions, experiences and facts, recognises others and their right to exist and understands the characteristics of each culture without imposing certain cultures on others, and denounces differences and bolsters harmony," a member of the the UAE parliamentary delegation said while addressing the second conference of parliaments of the member states in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), being held here.

Member of the Federal National Council (FNC) Ahmed Ali Laha said that Islam, in both spiritual and material aspects, accorded top priority to peace, thus making the culture of peace a basic pillar of the Muslim community, culture, values, heritage and history.

"Throughout its history, the Islamic civilisation has never been in conflict with any other civilisations and the Islamic world has never been a party to international confrontations in the 20th century," Mr Laha said.

Islam, he said, took the lead in creating a concerted structure for social, political and economic relations and dealt with human beings on equel footing irrespective of their colour or race.

"There is an urgent need today for a dialogue and peaceful co-existence of civilisations," he said. Mr Laha said: "Failure of a civilisation to understand another one has deprived the process of dialogue of its essence of honesty, truthfulness, fairness and tolerance.

"Such a situation has dragged nations and civilisations into bloody conflicts based on racism, hegemony and narrow interests." Mr Laha denounced Israel for its genocidal and racist crimes against the Palestinian people. - Wam

HUNDREDS of people gathered outside the offices of UAE public welfare organisations along the Qasba Canal in Sharjah yesterday to commemorate the first anniversary of 'Al Aqsa Intifada'.

Young Arab men and women, wearing Kefiya and many of them having wrapped themselves in Palestinian flags sang nationalist songs and chanted anti-Zionist slogans.

A film on atrocities committed against the Palestinian people by Israel on a daily basis was screened on the occasion.

A gathering of men, women and children along the left bank of the Qasba Canal was addressed by Dr Mohammed Abdullah Al Rukn, chairman of the UAE Jurists Association, on behalf of the Permanent Commission of UAE Public Welfare Organisations for the Support of the Intifada.

"We turn our eyes today to our beloved Palestine, the land of resistance and struggle, the land of Al Aqsa, the land of the people fighting occupation for more than 75 years, first against the British occupiers and then against the Israeli occupier, offering martyr upon martyr, victim upon victim, sacrifice upon sacrifice. "We tell these mighty and brave people, hold fast for you are what is left of our Arab honour," Dr Rukn said, to rapturous applause from the crowd.

Addressing Palestinians everywhere, Dr Rukn continued: "You are fighting on behalf of us all, your survival in the face of occupation has exceeded all expectations.

"But you have no choice now but to continue the struggle until you push back the Israeli occupier and until you set up your Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

He said the Palestinian people had waged all forms of struggle in the past 75 years - strikes, demonstrations and civil disobedience - and had now entered the phase of armed struggle.

Dr Rukn reminded his audience that the first Intifada was stopped only because of the repercussions of the second Gulf War, which was followed by American promises to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli struggle.

"After Madrid and Oslo and the agreements and frail declarations that followed them and after seven years of peace proposals, it became clear to the Palestinian people that the choice of peace, if not supported by strength on the ground, will only lead to more oppression and more refugees. "The Palestinian people are at a crossroads today - either they choose a new defeat or a new war and a struggle for freedom.

"Israeli repression and terror, their assassination of Palestinian political figures and their use of internationally banned weapons against Palestinian civilians, all have but one aim, to evict the Palestinian people from their lands once again," Dr Rukn said.

He said the Palestinian who left his home in 1948, locked the door to his house and promised himself to return, would not be fooled again, adding that Intifada was the only path to freedom and independence for the Palestinian people.

"Today also happens to be the death anniversary of the great Arab leader Jamal Abdul Nasser, the custodian of Arab unity. "Some had thought that Arab unity died with him, they forgot that the dream of unity still burns strong in the hearts and minds of every Arab.

"Let us hope that this blessed Intifada and the repercussions of the new war, will lead to a general Arab and Muslim reawakening," Dr Rukn said.

PAKISTANI expatriates in Abu Dhabi yesterday observed their country's Solidarity Day with patriotic fervour and determination to meet any crisis arising out of the present critical and challenging situation.

Ambassador Major General (retd.) Salimullah hoisted the national flag at a simple ceremony at the embassy premises, attended by a cross section of the community.

The ambassador read out the message to the nation by President General Pervez Musharraf for the occasion.

"We must emulate the principles of unity, faith and discipline to tide over the grave and delicate situation arising out of the terror attacks in America." He condemned the inhuman act of terrorism and reaffirmed Pakistan's support for eradicating the scourge of international terrorism. He said that Pakistan was cooperating with the international community in the campaign to root out this menace and establish peace in the world.

The envoy said: "The entire Pakistani nation supports the wise and realistic stand taken by President Musharraf in keeping the national interest above all other considerations."

He urged his countrymen to maintain unity in their ranks and continue to strive for peace, security and development of the UAE.

He also exhorted them to remain vigilant and foil the attempts of vested interests to spoil the excellent brotherly relations between the UAE and Pakistan.

Prominent expatriate Pakistanis who spoke on the occasion, lauded the stand taken by their government to uphold the interests of the country at this crucial juncture.

They expressed sympathy for the victims of the act of terrorism in the US and called upon the US and the West not to equate Islam with terrorism, saying that Islam is a religion of peace, harmony and tolerance.

"A rash action in Afghanistan could have catastrophic effects," they warned, saying that the Western world while waging war against international terrorism should also examine the root causes of the meance.

They urged the US to seize the opportunity to resolve the problems of Palestine and Kashmir.

A TOTAL of Dh6 million a year will be saved when the Dubai Department of Auqaf and Islamic Affairs carries out a project for purification and recycling of the ablution water used in Dubai's mosques.

"The project aims to reduce the consumption and waster of water by reusing Wadoue (ablution) water for other purposes such as irrigation," Dr Mohammad Hussein Al Qassim, Director of the Mosques' Administration Section at the department, told Khaleej Times yesterday. The project will be implemented, for a start, at Allaith bin Saad and Abu Manaratein mosques in Jumairah, and will be expanded later to cover all the 520 mosques in Dubai, Dr Qassim said.

"However, the success of the project depends on instructing cleaners at the mosques to sweep the dust and remove the leaves falling from trees before washing the floors."

The project also plans installing water taps which allow a break of more than six seconds to reduce the consumption of water during ablution and prevent people from keeping water running unnecessarily from the tap.

He said the company which won the tender to carry out the project would install modern equipment, taking into account the differences in water consumption between various mosques in the light of the number of worshippers.

"The money to be saved by this project will allow the department to invest it in other projects. But I ask people not to waste water," Dr Qassim said, adding that the UAE was one of the countries with the highest per-capita water consumption.

ABOUT 450 people including school and university students and volunteers from the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and the corporate sector turned up for the "Beach Clean Up Campaign" organised by EEG in Sharjah yesterday.

Organised as part of the "Clean Up the World" campaign held worldwide from September 18 to 20, it was the first such drive organised by EEG in Sharjah. Participants began the clean up at 8am and by 11.30am they had covered a stretch of 5km from Holiday Inn Resort towards the Coral Beach Hotel.

Bracing the harsh sun, participants wearing EEG T-shirts, gloves and carrying garbage bags provided by Sharjah Municiplaity collected a truck-load of garbage comprising mainly of polythene bags, plastic cups, bottles and plates, cigarette packs and waste wood. Many children also collected polythene bags floating in the sea that pose a threat to the country's marine life.

The unexpectedly large number of participants had to be divided into two groups with one group assigned to clean the area starting from the Holiday Inn Resort and the other group from Coral Beach Hotel, with both merging towards a point. Habiba Al Marashi, chairperson of EEG who supervised the campaign, said: "It was heartening to witness the participation of such a large number of people and parents encouraging their young children to ensure a clean and brighter tomorrow."

She said that of the 450 participants, two-third consisting of students from various Sharjah and Dubai-based schools.

"We made sure that a large number of schools were given the opportunity to participate in the clean-up campaign. As a result, we had to restrict the number of participants," Mrs Marashi said. Students from School of Knowledge, Emirates National School, Our Own English High School, New Indian Model School, Sharjah American International School, American University of Sharjah, Arab Unity School (Dubai), Ibn Seena School, Dubai and Indian High School in Dubai participated in the three-and-a-half-hour beach clean-up campaign.

EEG organises clean-up campaigns at least twice a year in different emirates, said Mrs Marashi hoping to target more areas in other emirates in the future.

The clean-up campaigns, which started in 1992, are organised in the first and last quarters of the year to mark national and international environmental occasions. Mrs Marashi urged more people to come forward and promote such community waste reduction programmes, both as means of protecting the environment from long-term burden of waste and also as a flagship for improving the community's environmental awraeness.

"We feel that by working at a local level, our efforts contribute to a much larger goal, to the protection of the world we live in," she said. Yesterday's campaign was organised by EEG in conjunction with Sharjah Municipality, Gulf Today and Holiday Inn Resort

NOT one, but four Charlie Chaplins with the sloppy walk and the famed hat will be in the UAE to take the audience on a hillarious rollercoaster ride through various stage performances of "Chaplins in Arabia" to be held in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Fujairah from October 18 to November 9.

In addition to the UAE, several shows will also be held in Bahrain, Doha and Oman.

The Chaplins will be played by popular artistes from South India - Jayaram, Dileep, Kalabhavan Mani and Harishree Asokan. They will be joined by many South Indian artistes who have proven their worth on silver screen.

Seasoned actors Salim Kumar, Nadir Shah, K.P.S Padannayil and Thomas Thoppilkodi will provide comic relief, while singing sensations Samad and Ashitha promise an unforgettable concert.

Besides, South Indian film actresses Roja, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Kavya Madhavan, Manju Pillai and Bindu Panicker will give dance performances.

Chaplins in Arabia takes a break from the usual programmes and is being directed by one of the best directors, Rajeev Kumar.

The director has been a moving force behind the success of several mega-hit stage shows in the Middle East and around the world.

The programme will take off with the first show in Ajman on October 18, followed by shows in Sharjah on October 19 (Sharjah Cricket Stadium) and October 29 (Expo Centre), in Fujairah on October 21, Ras Al Khaimah on October 22 at Expo Centre, Al Ain on October 24, Abu Dhabi on October 25, Dubai on October 26 (two shows) and October 27 (one show) at Al Nasr Leisureland Ice Rink, Doha on November 1 at Al Gazal Stadium, Bahrain on November 2 at Al Ahli Club, Kuwait on November 5, Sohar in Oman on November 7, Ruwi in Oman on November 8 at Amphi Theatre, Ibri in Oman on November 9 at Ibri Stadium.

A TOTAL of 730 multi-storey buildings are currently under construction in Dubai which will add 4,622 apartments and 636 shops to the growing property sector of the emirate, according to figures released by the Building and Housing Department of Dubai Municipality.

According to Fouzi Mohammed Al Shuhhi, Head of the Building Control Section at the department, which regulates construction activities in Dubai, of the total multi-storey buildings coming up in Dubai, 579 are in Deira which offer a total of 4,550 apartments and 630 shops and 151 buildings in Bur Dubai with 72 apartments and two shops.

Apart from the multi-storey buildings, there are 3,151 other buildings currently under construction in Dubai, of which 1,404 are in Deira, 1,652 in Bur Dubai and 95 in rural areas. Mr Shuhhi added that the construction of 160 buildings had been completed in Dubai during the month of August at a total cost of over Dh297 million.

The monthly report of the Building Control Section shows that, of the total number of buildings, the construction of which was completed last month, 84 were in Deira, 74 in Bur Dubai and two buildings in rural areas.

Of these, there were 96 villas, 32 industrial or service buildings and 32 multi-storey apartment buildings that consist a total of 321 flats and 69 shops.

Of the multi-storey buildings, there was one building with eight or more stories, three six-storey buildings, 5 five-storey buildings, 3 four-storey buildings, 2 three-storey and 12 two-storey.

THE Public Health Section at Sharjah Municipality has issued 214 orders for health rule violations in August to shops that did not follow municipality regulations which are applied in order to protect the health of the consumer.

The number of health violations came in the monthly report issued by the section. Ali Abdel Qader Murshed, Head of the Public Health Section, said the section carried out 2,458 inspection visits of shops in the emirate. It also inspected 263 cargo containers and 37 foodstuff trucks.

Mr Murshed said the section issued 502 warnings, five temporary closure orders, 126 confiscation orders, two destruction orders, 44 sample taking orders.

The section also issued 168 public health guide booklets to shops that were subjected to health inspections. It also issued 651 food export certificates.

The section also renewed 38 permits for companies from outside the emirate for the sale of foodstuffs and potable water inside the emirate.

Mr Murshid said that the public health section inspected in August 3,000 restaurants, 267 cafeterias, 605 supermarkets, 557 groceries, 14 sweet shops, 56 bakeries, 89 barber shops, 141 butcheries, 81 laundries, 37 factories, 20 roasteries, 24 mills, 14 hotels and 16 poultry shops.

The report also showed that 802 food samples had been collected and referred to the central laboratory for testing. From samples collected and tested, 693 samples proved to be suitable for human consumption, while 109 samples were found to be unfit for human consumption.

Public health inspectors also visited 32 ships at Port Khaled where they checked 955 containers including 425 refrigerated containers and issued four citations to ships attesting they are free of vermin. Inspectors also destroyed 42 tons of vegetables and fruits that they found unfit for human consumption.

MOBILE telephones, cameras, jewellery, hand bags and wallets containing cash and important documents are the most common items which passengers forget to pick up at the end of their journey in Dubai taxis.

According to information gathered from Dubai Transport Corporation and its three franchisee taxi companies, lost items worth over Dh3 million have been returned to passengers in the past one year alone. But, there have been a few cases wherein the passengers could not get back their lost belongings, mostly cash.

Abdul Razak, Manager (Commercial and Administration) at the Cars Taxi Services Company which operates a fleet of 754 taxis, said that the company, since its operation last year, has returned valuable items worth Dh500,000 and various other items including mobile phones and cameras to the passengers.

He said unclaimed items which are in the company's custody are handed over to the police every month. Recently, four French tourists were handed over a bag containing pearls worth $60,000 which they had forgotten to pick up from the boot of a Cars taxi, almost seven hours after they left the taxi at the Gold Souq after boarding it at the Emirates Towers hotel.

As the company does not have a GPS, the task of locating the car was difficult as it required individual contact with the drivers and search of all the 754 taxis operated by the company. The passengers did not remember the car number. The company officials managed to trace the taxi (CT-619) driven by Salim Jaafar Ahmed, an Indian national. Interestingly, the driver had no clue about the bag lying in the car's trunk.

The official said the company's headquarters has a fully-fledged Lost & Found Department which remains very active every day dealing with inquiries from passengers about their lost belongings. "It is always good to take down the registration number of a taxi. This helps in locating the taxi without loss of time. It is a tough job for us as we don't have a GPS to track the movement of our fleet," Mr Abdul Razak said.

The company is planning to install a GPS system soon which will help a great deal in locating the taxis if required.

National Taxi, another franchisee of Dubai Transport, said that an average of eight items are reported lost on its taxis. In June this year, the Lost & Found Section recovered 100 items from the fleet, of which 67 were returned to the passengers. The section, manned by three employees, works from 8 am until midnight.

Petra Knotkova, Head of Marketing and Customer Care at the National Taxi, said the any single complaint is acted upon by the company's highly qualified Service Officers to help recover any lost item or receive surrendered goods left behind by a customer from the honest drivers.

Once the item is recovered from a driver a customer is immediately contacted without delay to advise the status of his or her complaint. The most frequent lost items are mobile phones, wallets, keys and documents.

All the taxi companies have in place a monthly reward scheme to honour their honest and efficient drivers.

An official of the Dubai Transport Corporation which operates a fleet of over 2,000 taxis said that the corporation enjoys good reputation due to the high honesty records of its drivers. Recently, a Pakistan driver, Mohammed Younus Maher, was honoured by the Dubai Police, for returning jewellery worth Dh900,000 which he found in his cab.

"Reports about lost items are an everyday affair. The GPS has helped us in tracking the cab and its drivers to trace the lost goods," the official said.

Officials of taxi companies says that it is a tough job to track the lost items considering the fact that an average cab does 25 to 40 trips a day.

An official of the Metro Taxi said that his company too has returned lost items to passengers. " It is a problem we face every day and solve successfully in most cases. Having honest and efficient drivers is an asset in this business," he said.

Dubai Police records show that lost items including jewellery and mobile phones worth Dh1.85 million were given back to their owners between 1995 and 2000.

A sizable number of these items were lost in taxis. These include 60 mobile phones and 168 gold items. The unclaimed items are auctioned off by the police authorities after a lapse of six months to one year.

THE Ministry of Health honoured on Wednesday 190 students for their remarkable performance during the ministry's summer training programme which covered a wide range of administrative and clinical services for patients.

Around 1,000 preparatory, secondary and university students attended a two-month training course at the Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine, and a number of hospitals and health centres in Abu Dhabi.

Some 95 male and 92 women students also attended a training programme at the New Psychiatric hospital in Abu Dhabi. The training highlighted psychological factors behind the tendency for violence among children and teenagers, the negative impact of drugs on general health, risks of smoking and means of quitting it at a young age, general information about physical and psychological changes during adolescence.

Officials from the hospital and the Abu Dhabi Police Department also organised a special seminar about drug related crimes and ways to protect students from it.

Seven students from the UAE University also attended a special training programme to ready them for employment in health institutions after graduation.

Ministry Undersecretary Hassan Al Alkim, said that the students gave several recommendations and ideas to improve the performance in various departments. "The ministry will study these recommendations to assess their feasibility for implementation," he said.

Ahlam Al Jasim, Director of the Administrative Development Unit, which organised the training, pointed out that the ministry had appointed 30 lecturers and 25 supervisors for the students during the training to improve health awareness among the young.

"We prepare those students to take the lead in the future. We offered our experience and knowledge to them so that they can improve health services in the country. We selected students who showed excellent performance during the training to be honoured for their efforts and activities," she said.

Dr Mariam Al Matroushi, Director of the Health Education Department, highlighted the positive impact of training on supporting students to experience healthy life-styles and daily practices.

SHAIKH Hamad bin Saif Al Sharqi, Deputy Ruler of Fujairah, opened the 150,000 sq.ft mega Lulu Hypermarket in Fujairah on Thursday. The hypermarket which is the 36th retail outlet of the Emke Group is the company's newest outlet in the country. It offers a host of shopping facilities for the first time in the emirate of Fujairah.

Apart from the exclusive counters of many prestigious brands, the hypermarket integrates an expansive department and supermarket offering the convenience of shopping of everything under one roof. The hypermarket also houses many utilities such as bank terminals, photography centre, bookshop, pharmacy and an amusement centre for children.

The outlet is laid out in such a way as to accomodate greater customer traffic on weekends and holidays without any hassle and also boasts of an extensive car parking facility.

According to Yousaf Ali, managing director of Emke Group, the Lulu Hypermarket has added a whole new dimension to shopping in Fujairah. Mr Ali said that following the success of Lulu Hypermarket in Dubai, Fujairah was chosen as the next in line since the emirate is in the process of rapid development and the need for an ultra sophisticated complex was strongly felt.

CHANNEL Holdings, a Sri Lanka-based investments and management company with interests in the US, Hong Kong, Dubai and India, has announced it will donate 100 per cent profit from its entertainment business around the world to set up and run 'Thambapanni', a charity home for homeless children in Colombo.

Chulaka Gunawardana, Chief Executive Officer of Channel Holdings, made the announcement at the soft opening of the company's first Sri Lankan cuisine restaurant 'Tunnel' in the Rydges Plaza Hotel in Dubai.

Mr Gunawardana said the establishment of Thambapanni for homeless children, victims of the separatist insurgency in Sri Lanka, was his dream since he left the country 10 years ago. "And now, we have bought 150 acres of land, about 45km from Colombo, for this project expected to accomodate upto 2,500 children," he said.

About Dh2.5 million has been already allocated for the project to be ready by April 2003, Mr Gunawardana said. Unlike an orphanage, Thambapanni will be run by his parents and will be designed as a normal home for children with all amenities and facilities.

Mr Gunawardana, who has recently taken over the Tunnel'outlet in Rydges Plaza Hotel, said the outlet will be known as Thambapanni in future and will be the only Sri lankan speciality restaurant of its kind in the Gulf. Based on this module, the company has plans to open eight more restaurants in Canada, Australia, UK and Hong Kong by next year, he added.

Present on the occasion were Sri Lankan Ambassador Janaka Nakkawita and Consul-General Asoka Godawita. They hailed Mr Gunawardana's decision to establish the home for children.

THE Le Meridien Hotel Group has announced a GBP850 million global investment programme designed to dramatically upgrade facilities at its properties worldwide and catapult the brand to the top of the hotel industry rankings in three years.

About GBP350 million of the investments will come from Le Meridien for its owned and leased properties, and an estimated GBP500 million is anticipated to come from hotel owners in the group.

At the heart of the renovation programme is the introduction of a dramatically different style of hotel bedroom, the Art & Tech room, designed to offer today's sophisticated traveller the ultimate in innovative luxury. With the more discerning frequent traveller moving to so-called 'boutique hotels' in the last three years, Le Meridien is the first international hotel brand to take these hotels on head-to-head by combining individual style and service with a global portfolio of luxury properties.

Juergen Bartels, the new Chief Executive of the Group, said in Dubai on Wednesday that the growth of boutique hotels represents, in effect, the biggest-ever research and development programme in the hotel industry and their style and innovation now attracts more discerning travellers than ever before. "As a result, Le Meridien has embarked on a three-year programme designed to offer the demanding travellers of today and tomorrow an experience never seen before in a global luxury hotel group - individual, innovative, stylish luxury," he said.

The Art & Tech room, he said, will help drive Le Meridien to the top of the hotel league tables - measured by occupancy, average room rate, GOP and quality - by 2004. The Art & Tech room concept is underpinned by the use of the latest technology and meticulous detailing. A 42-inch plasma screen TV, electronically controlled bed and the latest in shower technology provides guests with the ultimate in luxury.

The Art & Tech room will feature in the majority of Le Meridien hotels and there are currently plans for 5,000 rooms to be renovated around the world. Some hotels will become all Art & Tech room properties, whereas other more traditional hotels such as The Ritz in Madrid, may include an Art & Tech annex. The first Art & Tech room hotel will open next year at The Cumberland Hotel in central London.

As part of the initiative to make maximum use of all properties around the world, many meeting rooms will be turned into new bedrooms and inefficient storage and dead-space will become meeting rooms. In all, Mr Bartels has uncovered capacity of an addition 1,600 bedrooms and thousands of square feet of meeting and banqueting space, which will be built over the next two years, across the Le Meridien Group.

Nomura International, a Japanese investment house, had in July this year acquired Compass Group PLC for GBP1.9 billion. Compass used to operate the 126 Le Meridien properties in 57 countries with a total of over 38,000 rooms.

The chain has more than 32 properties in 24 locations in the Middle East, accounting for 25 per cent of the global portfolio.