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The Mövenpick Hotel and Resorts brand in Dubai opened their five star classified Ibn Battuta Gate Dubai hotel in October 2010. The Swiss groups current portfolio includes 22 hotels in the Middle East contributing to 5 670 rooms. In Dubai the properties also include locations in Bur Dubai, Deira, Jumeirah Beach and one on The Palm.

Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel

Mövenpick partnered with real estate developer, Seven Tides on the project.

The Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel has 396 rooms, 29 of which are themed Battuta Suites with 10 different interior themes throughout the room floor levels of the hotel. Each floor design themes centre on the travels of the 14th century traveller Ibn Battuta and his journeys throughout the Middle East, Arab Africa and the Far East.

New Dubai location

The hotel is one of a very few 5 star hotels situated in the so called “New Dubai”, directly opposite the Ibn Battuta Mall and within walking distance to the metro and bus stops.

The hotel offers a number of opportunities for five star services to the surrounding residential communities of Jumeirah Islands, The Gardens and Discovery Gardens as well as the huge industrial area of Jebel Ali Port.

Leisure and Business opportunities

The hotel has successfully established itself as a destination for leisure travellers as well as business guests with its many offerings. The adjoining double 12 storey upscale business complex and apartment facility of the multi faceted “Ibn Battuta Square” has opened a way for more business opportunities. The hotel looks grander inside than the rather plain large pink exterior which does include the impressive arc joining the business centre to the hotel.

The windows seem rather small from outside but change once you have a feel of the interior. The entrance is somewhat tricky to get to with the U-turn road system, but once inside the entrance, you are easily distracted. It is comfortable and intimate at check in. The impressive lobby is inviting and has ample opportunity to relax and watch the world go by. The 88 mammoth, eastern style lanterns dazzle the ceiling. From this Grand Hall you can wonder along to all the dining outlets the hotel offers.

Culinary choice

The large culinary choice includes flavours from around the world in separately themed venues. Chor Bazaar has a large open view to watch the flavours of India come alive at the cooking stations.

Sicilia is the rustic Italian themed restaurant with staff dressed in mafia themed suites that adds charm and suspense.

Shanghai Chic in its deep reds and black offer intimate seating for a twist on the traditional Chinese cuisine with their signature Pecking Duck a favourite.

Pastane allows you to have a quick rest with tea and indulge in the pastry and cake selection.

Moroc is the hotels contemporary lounge and bar with an al fresco terrace that offers the perfect start or end to an evening.

And Mistral offers a bold choice elegantly presented in the buffets large selection stations.

The staff are all eager to show you around the individual restaurants and explain the menu on offer and add a helpful hand to those with children.

Amenities

The choice for business meeting venues and conference facilities is easily made for by a large outside area that is quite easily transformed to host the required services. The conference facilities are adequate despite the appeal lost to a very plain entrance to each suite.

The hotels gym is well equipped and overlooks both the pool and the mall on either side. The grand pool is lovely, large enough to put in a decent length of cardio training. The seating arrangements are a little close for passersby but neatly arranged.

The rooms are elegantly styled and the signature executive suites with large balconies are exceptional, comfortable and spacious with a choice of seating arrangements and style. The views are disappointing but the themed interiors make up for any distraction outside and the lighting is excellent.

In all this hotel is neatly presented with its variety of themed niche locations. The Swiss hospitality shows in the staff with their pleasant and welcoming way, they live like that.

Dubai: Godolphin’s progressive City Style had his first look at Kranji Racecourse in Singapore ahead of a shot at the S$3 million (Dh8.75 million) Group One Singapore Airlines International Cup on Sunday.

The Mahmoud Al Zarouni-trained six-year-old flew in from Dubai on Monday evening after completing his final piece of work at Godolphin’s Dubai headquarters in Al Quoz.

Andrea Mascolo, who accompanied City Style on the six-and-a-half-hour flight, said on the stable’s website: "City Style took the journey very well. He has been drinking all of the time and had some feed on the plane as well. He is a quiet horse who is used to travelling, so we didn’t have any problems. We will give him a trot around the racecourse on Tuesday morning to show him the track and then he is due to canter on Wednesday."

City Style, who will be ridden by Dubai World Cup-winning French jockey Mickael Barzalona, will bid to replicate the feat of Godolphin’s Grandera who won the race in 2002.

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Poll finds Romney behind Bush, McCain in evangelical supportMitchell Landsberg ("Los Angeles Times," May 10, 2012)

Los Angeles, USA – Even before he announced his support for same-sex marriage, President Barack Obama was badly trailing Republican Mitt Romney among evangelical Christians, the group most committed to traditional forms of marriage, according to a new poll about the attitudes of religious voters.

Romney led Obama by 68 percent to 19 percent among evangelicals in the poll released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Religion News Service. The nationwide poll was conducted over four days ending Sunday, before Obama’s remarks about same-sex marriage. (And no questions were asked on that topic.)

The good news for the Obama campaign is that Romney doesn’t have as much support yet among evangelicals as Republican John McCain did in the 2008 election, when exit polls showed that he had captured 73 percent of the evangelical vote. George W. Bush did even better in 2004, when he claimed 79 percent of evangelicals.

But the poll does suggest erosion for Obama, who received 26 percent of the evangelical vote in 2008.

LOS ANGELES — Even before he announced his support for same-sex marriage, President Barack Obama was badly trailing Republican Mitt Romney among evangelical Christians, the group most committed to traditional forms of marriage, according to a new poll about the attitudes of religious voters.

Other findings:

—Despite his tussles over the contraception mandate in the new health care program, Obama still has a lead among Catholic voters, 46 percent to 39 percent, according to the poll. He also leads among mainline Protestant voters and those with no religious affiliation.

—Only about half of the voters responding to the survey could identify Romney as a Mormon. The percentage has barely moved since October 2011, when 49 percent were aware of his faith as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the latest poll, the number stood at 51 percent. That may be fine with Romney, who almost never mentions his religious affiliation.

The poll was conducted by phone with 1,006 adults. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Yet it happens more often than you might think. From a white lie about time spent as a customer service rep to a whopper about earning an MBA, résumé padding occurs regularly across industries, experts say. In a 2010 survey of 1,818 organizations, 69% reported catching a job candidate lying on his or her résumé, according to employment screening service HireRight.

The most common lie on a résumé has to do with education, said Kim Isaacs, founder and director of ResumePower.com and Monster.com‘s résumé expert. The discovery that Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson does not have a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science (he has a bachelor of science degree in business administration, with a major in accounting) makes him the latest executive to be targeted for falsely claiming to have a degree.

Or, at least, a certain kind of degree.

In the wake of the allegation, made by shareholder firm Third Point, Yahoo removed all references to Thompson’s degree from his biography on its website and said the error “in no way alters that fact that Mr. Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies.” The company’s board said Tuesday that it has hired an outside counsel to conduct a review of the false statement.

The incident has raised debate over whether the gaffe counts as inconsequential “fudging” or “exaggeration” of his credentials or a lie that casts a shadow over his long career.

Readers weigh in on résumé padding

Many in the tech industry, including Third Point, are demanding Thompson’s ouster. Others have spoken out on his behalf, calling upon the “Silicon Valley bloggerati” to stop picking on Thompson.

“Thompson has a degree in accounting, not computer science, but frankly at this point in his career does it really matter what he studied as an undergraduate?” Newsweek technology editor Dan “Fake Steve Jobs” Lyons asked in a Daily Beast column.

“(Thompson is) 54 years old, has been CEO of PayPal, and before that held high positions at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa, and Barclays Global Investors. He’s qualified to run Yahoo.”

CNNMoney: Yahoo may need to go back to the drawing board

Résumé “embellishments” among titans of industry have led to mixed results. Former RadioShack CEO Dave Edmondson resigned less than nine months after taking his post after the revelation that he did not have degrees in theology and psychology. On the other hand, Bausch & Lomb’s Ronald Zarrella offered to resign when it was discovered that he had not earned his MBA from NYU, as he’d claimed. The board did not accept his resignation, but he was forced to give up his bonus that year.

It’s not a phenomenon exclusive to Fortune 500 companies. Former Notre Dame football coach George O’Leary resigned after five days on the job when it came to light that he did not have a master’s in education from NYU or play football at the University of New Hampshire.

Résumé padding has become a point of increasing concern for companies big and small, prompting them to step up screening methods and background checks for job applicants, according to HireRight’s Employment Screening Benchmarking Report.

“Screening continues to be a heavily adopted practice by employers in order to protect their business from unnecessary risks, maintain compliance and avoid poor quality hires,” the report said. “Even where lies may not represent a huge loss to the employer, companies report that catching a candidate in an untruth undermines confidence and credibility.”

The 2010 survey found that 94% of respondents performed criminal checks, 70% performed identity and previous employment verification, and about half verified education and references.

Isaacs sees résumé padding with growing frequency in her role as a résumé adviser because of the fluctuating job market and high unemployment rates. People often omit months in the start and end dates of their last jobs to exaggerate periods of employment and minimize unemployment. They also exaggerate accomplishments, like raising sales from 15% to 25%, or take individual credit for a project that was accomplished through teamwork, she said. Inflating titles from receptionist to administrative assistant, for example, also occurs frequently, she said.

People see job postings for which they feel they have the right experience but not the requisite degree, prompting them to fabricate an extra line on their résumés, Isaacs said.

“People feel inadequate and that they have to do whatever it takes to get their foot in the door. It’s a combination of wanting to get an edge and jobs being limited due to the economy,” she said. “People see others getting ahead and think, ‘maybe it’s my résumé.’ The temptation arises from a desire to stay competitive.”

It comes at a high price, including eventually being found out or, for those with a guilty conscience, the constant fear of being found out, she said.

It’s easy to disparage Thompson, she said, but given the high incidence of résumé padding in general, people should use this opportunity to take a second look at their own résumés.

“He got caught, so he’s the obvious target. But it’s quite likely that many of the people who will talk about him have a similar lie on their résumés,” she said.

“Sell your benefits, the ones that reflect … why you’re perfect even though you don’t have the degree,” Isaacs suggested. “Armed with an excellent résumé, you’ll get your foot in the door, and there’ll be something that comes along that’s perfect for you, and you can start a job on honest footing, and it’s just better for everybody.”

Do you think Scott Thompson deserves a pass or should he be reprimanded? Let us know in the comments or tweet your thoughts to @CNNWriters!

Football pundits Andy Gray and Richard Keys have won a Sony Radio Academy Award, less than 18 months after leaving Sky Sports amid a sexism row.

Speaking of 6 Music's win, judges said the station showed "a confidence across its schedule that not only reflects a real passion for music but also a firm understanding of the audience".

Best breaking news coverage went to Radio 4's PM show, and news journalist of the year was Radio 4's Mike Thomson. Best news and current affairs programme went to the BBC's 5 live Drive.

And the judges also named BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans – the host of the event – as music radio personality of the year.

Breakfast Show of the Year went to Kiss FM's Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin and Charlie.

And Radio 1 presenter Fearne Cotton, nominated for the first time at the Sony awards, won in the best music programme category.

The award for 6 Music is the first time a digital-only service has won this prize, and it comes two years after the station's future was in the balance.

A BBC strategy review had marked it out for closure but this sparked a huge backlash from musicians, listeners and politicians. The BBC Trust later ruled out its closure.

Meanwhile, Classic FM took the Special Award in recognition of "its significant and valuable contribution to commercial radio in this its 20th anniversary year".

And Nicholas Parsons was awarded the honorary Gold Award after 45 years as host of the BBC Radio 4 show Just A Minute.

John Myers, chief executive of the Radio Academy and chairman of awards committee, said: "All our award winners have shown that UK radio is crackling with talent and vitality."

The case — lately reopened by police — riveted millions. It also changed the country.

“It awakened America,” said Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “It was the beginning of a missing children’s movement.”

The Patz case was the first of several high-profile cases that catapulted concern about missing children to the forefront of national consciousness.

Just weeks after Etan disappeared in May 1979, an attacker abducted the first of more than 20 children to be kidnapped and killed in Atlanta, stirring fear until police arrested a suspect two years later.

In another case that made headlines, in 1981 someone abducted 6-year-old Adam Walsh from a Florida shopping mall and killed him.

The cases received increasing news coverage in a fast-changing landscape that saw a proliferation of media outlets with growing interest in compelling visual images — such as a heart-rending photo of a smiling child or video of parents pleading for their child’s safe return.

The actual number of children who were kidnapped and killed did not change — it’s always been a relatively small number — but awareness of the cases skyrocketed, experts said.

“Interest in the situation exploded,” said Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and strangled to death in a 1993 case that also received intense news coverage.

“It really pulled the lid off of America’s dirty little secret, the fact that children are being victimized in large numbers,” he said Friday.

The cases also stoked fear, sparked awareness and prompted change from politicians and police.

In 1984, Congress passed the Missing Children’s Assistance Act. That led to the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

President Ronald Reagan opened the center in a White House ceremony in 1984. It soon began operating a 24-hour toll-free hotline on which callers could report information about missing boys and girls.

Police officers also started to respond more quickly to reports of missing children, experts said.

After Etan disappeared, investigators tried what was then a novel technique to try to find him: They put his face on thousands of milk cartons, a technique that would become more common in the next few years.

Relatives and authorities also put the images of missing children on billboards and fliers distributed by mail.

Those more assertive efforts eventually led to the AMBER alert system, which broadcasts news about missing children on TV, radio, the Internet, mobile phones, lottery tickets and highway signs.

That system has helped save 554 children, the federal government says. Most of them were recovered after the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children in 2002.

Before the dramatic increase in awareness of crimes against children in the 1980s, only a few high-profile cases grabbed the public’s attention.

Klaas points out that in 1873, after a 4-year-old Philadelphia boy named Charley Ross disappeared, authorities produced the first missing child flier.

The 1932 disappearance and killing of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of the world-famous aviator, attracted worldwide attention. It resulted in the Lindbergh Law, which permitted federal authorities to chase kidnappers across state lines.

Even before the Etan Patz case, groups were working in the 1970s — largely out of the spotlight — on the issue of missing children. They advocated tougher rules in cases of children who were abducted by relatives, said Joel Best, professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware.

Children abducted by relatives, runaways, and abductions by strangers are the three classifications of what came to be repackaged and rebranded by activists as “missing children” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Best said.

“The missing children’s movement was the outgrowth of an earlier child-snatching movement,” Best said.

Runaways comprise the largest number of the missing children, Best said, and while there are few abductions by strangers, those “emotional, wrenching stories” make an impact.

Lisa Cohen, author of “After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive, said the Etan Patz case galvanized media-saturated New York. So did his photo, which Cohen called a “beautiful” shot made by his photographer father, Stan.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” she said.

Cohen said people empathized with the angst of Stan and his wife Julie — seen by TV viewers and newspapers readers as normal, intelligent and wise people.

The case never ended, the story was never over, and the news outlets never stopped covering it.

“It started a ball rolling,” she said. “There was a real momentum.”

Barbara Friedman, associate professor of University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said such “heinous crimes are always newsworthy” and “have been reported in the press for as long as there has been a press.”

“As media became more plentiful and visual in the 1980s, child abductions and child murders allowed for the kinds of images that are at once intimate and universal — like school photos and grieving families,” Friedman said.

“The use of milk cartons as another form of media to locate missing children was a way to bring the issue into the family space — the breakfast table — heightening awareness as well as anxieties.”

Etan’s family and Adam Walsh’s parents have been particularly media savvy, she said, as they kept their cases front and center before the public and law enforcement.

“They were strategically and actively engaged in cultivating their attention. And in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, there were more reporters looking for substantive news stories and more space to fill,” she said.

The case raised consciousness but also stirred fear.

“I think it ended an era of innocence in this country,” Allen said. “Parents around the nation saw how it happened and thought, ‘But for the grace of God, my child.’”

This year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made clear that Europe and the international community remain rudderless when it comes to economic policy. Financial leaders, from finance ministers to leaders of private financial institutions, reiterated the current mantra: the crisis countries have to get their houses in order, reduce their deficits, bring down their national debts, undertake structural reforms, and promote growth. Confidence, it was repeatedly said, needs to be restored.

It is a little precious to hear such pontifications from those who, at the helm of central banks, finance ministries, and private banks, steered the global financial system to the brink of ruin — and created the ongoing mess. Worse, seldom is it explained how to square the circle. How can confidence be restored as the crisis economies plunge into recession? How can growth be revived when austerity will almost surely mean a further decrease in aggregate demand, sending output and employment even lower?

This we should know by now: markets on their own are not stable. Not only do they repeatedly generate destabilising asset bubbles, but, when demand weakens, forces that exacerbate the downturn come into play. Unemployment, and fear that it will spread, drives down wages, incomes and consumption — and thus total demand. Decreased rates of household formation — young Americans, for example, are increasingly moving back in with their parents — depress housing prices, leading to still more foreclosures. States with balanced budget frameworks are forced to cut spending as tax revenues fall — an automatic destabiliser that Europe seems mindlessly bent on adopting.

Alternative strategies

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Release Date: 05/04/2012Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn, milbourn.cathy@epa.gov, 202-564-7849, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft underground injection control (UIC) program permitting guidance for class II wells that use diesel fuels during hydraulic fracturing activities. EPA developed the draft guidance to clarify how companies can comply with a law passed by Congress in 2005, which exempted hydraulic fracturing operations from the requirement to obtain a UIC permit, except in cases where diesel fuel is used as a fracturing fluid.

The draft guidance outlines for EPA permit writers, where EPA is the permitting authority, requirements for diesel fuels used for hydraulic fracturing wells, technical recommendations for permitting those wells, and a description of diesel fuels for EPA underground injection control permitting. The draft guidance describes diesel fuels for these purposes by reference to six chemical abstract services registry numbers. The agency is requesting input on this description.

While this guidance undergoes public notice and comment, decisions about permitting hydraulic fracturing operations that use diesel fuels will be made on a case-by-case basis, considering the facts and circumstances of the specific injection activity and applicable statutes, regulations and case law, and will not cite this draft guidance as a basis for decision.

EPA continues to work with states, industry and other stakeholders to help ensure that natural gas is developed safely and responsibly.

EPA will take public comment on the draft guidance for 60 days upon publication in the Federal Register to allow for stakeholder input before it is finalized.

More information: http://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/class2/hydraulicfracturing/hydraulic-fracturing.cfm

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