At TED2008 in March of this year, TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong was granted a wish to change the world. This is what she asked for:

"I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect."

Since then support for idea has built among numerous religious groups, spiritual leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, and Britain's first female Rabbi Julia Neuberger have joined a special Council to oversee the Charter, and Kluster, a collaborative decision making platform, has built a groundbreaking site that will allow anyone to contribute to the Charter.

We urge you to take a moment to watch a short video that went live on the web today. Beautifully filmed and edited by Jesse Dylan and his team at Form TV, it might just be the most inspiring thing you see this week.

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I’ve been racking my brain for the last few weeks over what to write about. The interesting thing is that it’s not lack of choice that’s been the trouble…it’s too much of it! From the excitement caused by US underdog Barack Obama’s win and the promise of a brighter political future… to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer causing a buzz with his first-ever “holographic” interviews in the newsroom, there’s been plenty going on to keep techies and armchair futurists abuzz. And while CNN’s holograms weren’t really holograms when you cut to the chase…one development is very real…the advancing global recession that we’re slowly coming to grips with.



Hospitality media has been filled with reports about dropping profits margins, especially in hard hit areas and suggestions to hoteliers on how to best tackle the market situation, i.e. tough it out, work smart and dust off your selling shoes. What surprises me, though, is that while the hotel industry continues its distribution war with online 3rd parties with super-deep advertising pockets, it still continues to ignore its most lucrative booking distribution channel…its guests! [Read More!]

Take a video tour of the Kingdom of Bahrain with this 5min collage of footage from this modern country set in the Gulf!



The Kingdom of Bahrain—a name that translates as "Two Seas"—is actually an archipelago of 33 low-lying islands located in the heart of the Gulf. Situated along traditional Arabian and international trade routes between Asia and the West, the Kingdom has served as an important port and center of business for thousands of years. Today, the capital city of Manama is a vibrant cosmopolitan center offering an open society and an educated workforce enhanced by modern cultural am enities like museums, shopping, restaurants and fine hotels.
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5 Future Developments that will revolutionize Online Hotel Marketing: “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”, says a famous proverb…and what better fit to apply this than in the world of technology and marketing?



The breakneck speed of tech evolution is inspiring (and often scary) but the two keywords that will set winning developments apart from the ‘also ran’ are ‘love’ and ‘simplicity’. It doesn’t take a degree to understand that people adopt technologies that fuel their imagination & passions…and the rate of adoption is in close sync to the simplicity of its interface and operation. Great technology needs to adapt to the needs of the user and future breakthroughs will bear testament to this. [Read More!]

About XDRTB.org - XDRTB.org is an extraordinary effort to tell the story of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and TB through powerful photographs taken by James Nachtwey. XDR-TB, or extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, is a new and deadly mutation of tuberculosis. Similar in creation to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) but more extreme in its manifestation, it arises when common tuberculosis goes untreated or standard TB drugs are misused. James’ photographs represent these varying strains.

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It is the year 2020. The past twelve years have been a flurry of development in the areas of design, nanotechnology, robotics, medicine, the internet, security and law. Contrary to popular opinion, the hotel industry has not been slow on the uptake. It’s been the decade of hospitality renaissance. A coming of age, an evolution of service as it should be…and a tribute to true personalization. Here’s a look at the hotel guest experience in the year 2020 and how guests have helped the industry become truly magnificent: [Read More!]

Watch Matt do this thing - he spent 14 months, visited 42 countries and involved thousands of people around the globe (including Bahrain!) in this effort. Truly inspirational and worth sharing with the world...have a fantastic day!


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

tags: inspiring, matt, video, cultures, people, travel, world, global

Westin ATM party draws over 2,000: Pre-ATM bash declared ‘hottest’ party of the year



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 6, 2008 – It was Open House at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina last night as the five-star resort flung open its doors to welcome in the world’s travel industry and give them a glimpse of Dubai’s very latest beachfront resort.
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Are you a hotel eMarketer looking for ways to better communicate, educate and develop the role at your property/ies? This article explores some of the issues surrounding these efforts, complemented by a dose of perspective and a generous helping of best practices, all garnished, hopefully, by your own ideas and experiences. By Jitendra Jain

Finding Meaning: Wikipedia attributes the word ‘evolution’ to the Latin term ‘evolutio’ meaning "unfolding". While the tech and Internet revolution have anything but “unfolded” upon us (“exploded” would be more appropriate, given the short span of time over which most Internet-related developments have occurred), there is something to be learnt from the nature of these changes.
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With the spectacular W Hotel in Doha set to open this year, there are plenty of opportunities for young talent to showcase their abilities at this landmark property. Check out the details below, including a full release on the hotel and some visuals!



W HOTELS. DOHA. QATAR. PRE-OPENING OPPORTUNITIES. TALENT. SHOW. Auditioning now for the following talent:

> Welcome Office - Welcome Agents
> Welcome Office - W Insiders
> Whatever/Whenever - Concierge
> Beverage & Food – Servers
> Beverage & Food – Hostesses
> Beverage & Food – Bartenders [Read More!]

10 photos from the underground work going on with the Dubai Metro Project. View the photos here [Read More!]

I came across this post called “The Top 20 Reasons Not to Move to Dubai (in no particular order!)” on the Net and felt that it did a pretty-good job of Dubai-bashing without necessarily substantiating everything objectively and looking at the pros. It’s a given that Dubai also has its weaknesses and flaws, but doesn’t every other place on earth? It’s important to look at the big picture and see how much this great city has also achieved in such a short span of time!

I, like most other expatriates have come to Dubai looking for good job opportunities, a decent standard of living and security. I think the city does a pretty good job of offering that to most people who’ve moved here for the right reasons and in the right frame of mind…! It would be naive to expect everything would be perfect and that everyone who comes to Dubai, like any other expat destination would be entirely happy. Hey - I have some issues that I’m particulary pleased about, but then again it all depends on your alternatives! If I have similar or other problems back home I have no right to gripe…and if conditions are better back home, why move in the first place? Continue reading [Read More!]

The Apple iPhone has been causing waves long enough in North America and the most users have found a workaround, hack or just a usuable alternative to get a hold of this magnificient device and start using it...even in the Middle East! Dubai is already flooded with a plethora of "distributors" - each who claims a working hack, spew of add-ons and the best deal you'd get in your life :) (Read the post and comments here for a preview of the frenzy!). How about buying and using an iPhone in Bahrain however? Though the official launch of the iPhone in most countries worldwide is still a few months away (mainly due to bundling and distribution issues with the local Telecom providers) the iPhone is already being sold and brought into the country and used with the hacks now easily available online. And while the phone has its drawbacks for advanced users, the beauty of the interface and the feel make it worth all the trouble! How has YOUR experience been with the Apple iPhone? Did you buy in Bahrain? What issues did you face with local distributors and making it work with Batelco / MTC Vodafone? [Read More!]

BATELCO (The National Telecommunications Company of Bahrain) has launched a new, first-time video mail service in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This is part of their 3.5G portfolio that promises the fastest broadband services to mobile users in the country:

Batelco’s 3.5G ‘portfolio’ includes mobile broadband, video calling and a new mobile portal with a wide range of exciting content targeting all segments in Bahrain. To use the exciting new services, customers need to subscribe to Batelco’s O services and register for video mail. Each customer will be assigned a video mailbox. The cost for registration is only BD1 and video mail forwarding is free of charge.

tags: batelco, voicemail, video-mail, video, broadband, mobile, telecom, 3.5g, mobile-broadband, bahrain, manama, kingdom, video-mailbox

The Qatar–Bahrain Friendship Bridge is a long-discussed bridge that is to be constructed between the two Gulf states of Qatar and Bahrain.

The link will be about 45 kilometers (28 mi) long. The beginning of the causeway in Qatar will be located at Ras Ashairij area, five kilometers South of the city of Al Zubara, and a similar spot will be located North of Askar village in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The link is expected to consist of a number of bridges combined with roads constructed on dams and will be a natural extension of the King Fahd Causeway that connects Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, thus linking the entire region.
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