MyAdhan Blog

Link: New 7 Wonders: Cairo Amman Bank Makes ‘One Million Votes for Petra’

Cairo Amman Bank, in collaboration with Fastlink and the Ministry of Tourism, has announced the launch of the “1 Million Votes for Petra” campaign via SMS as part of the Bank’s ongoing contribution to the nationwide efforts to have Petra designated as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Link: New 7 Wonders: Ambika Soni roots for Taj via SMS

New Delhi : Culture and Tourism Minister Ambika Soni Friday cast her vote to include the 17th century architectural wonder Taj Mahal in the coveted list of ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’, saying it would “boost tourism” in India.

“The Taj Mahal has made it to the top 10 monuments of the world leaving behind 30 others. I am voting to see that it ranks number one in the world,” Soni said after sending her vote via SMS.

Link: Malaysian Police Chief: ‘Stop texting me crime reports’

Malaysian, Kota Kinabalu: City Police Chief, ACP Ku Chin Wah, advised the public to call the police hotline instead of sending a Short Messaging Service (SMS) text to his personal mobile phone in times of emergency.

Link: Yemen: State will loosen controls on media, says ministry

The ministry is also preparing to develop the second Yemeni channel, in additions to the new channel, to concentrate on education, tourism, and youth issues, al-Lawzi said. “The government is seeking over the next year to open five local radio stations in the governorates of Sa’dah, Marib, Shabwa, and Soqatra in addition to Ibb Radio, which was opened last month,” he said. Many Yemeni journalists hope that the new law will give them more freedom to talk about the troubling problems of the state, such as corruption. Al-Lawzi’s comments come in the wake of weeks of journalists’ protests of the curtailing of SMS news services and the blocking of several news websites.

Link: Saudi Arabia: Now You Can Get Passport, Visa Details Via SMS

RIYADH, 30 May 2007 — The Passport Department in Riyadh, in cooperation with the Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), has established a new interactive service called “Esh’ar” (Notification) that allows people to follow up on documents that are being processed at the Passport Department via their cell phones.

Link: Omantel agrees to buy Worldcall

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Oman Telecommunications Co has agreed to buy a majority stake in Pakistan’s Worldcall, a Worldcall source said yesterday, in a deal industry sources say could be worth more than $171m.

Omantel, Oman’s second biggest listed company by market value but the smallest telecom operator in the Gulf Arab region, has been planning to expand outside its home market, where it lost its mobile phone monopoly in 2005 and will lose a fixed-line monopoly this year.

Vote Link: New 7 wonders of the world: Vote via SMS for The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey

BBC Video Link: The contenders for the new Seven Wonders of the World

The Telegraph, UK Link: Telegraph: World votes for seven new wonders

It was billed as the world’s first exercise in “global democracy” but an attempt to find a new Seven Wonders of the World by a Swiss philanthropist looks increasingly likely to be determined by rather more local factors.

More than 50 million people have chosen their Seven Wonders, voting by phone, SMS text or email from a list of 20 contenders that includes the Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House and the statue of Christ the Redeemer.

Few people are able to name more than a couple of the original seven wonders of classical antiquity, six of which no longer exist.

But where the original seven were chosen by erudite historians and only situated in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean, the New 7 Wonders Foundation believes the global public should elect the seven modern great feats of human construction.

However, as the voting deadline draws near - the result will be declared in Portugal’s Benfica stadium on July 7, or 07/07/07 - the energetic campaigning of some nations is threatening to skew the poll.

Link: Riyadh: Mobily Doubles Broadband Mobile Internet Speed

(MENAFN - Arab News) RIYADH, 21 June 2007 — Mobily has doubled broadband mobile Internet speed on its network, the company said in a statement yesterday, noting that HSDPA speed is now 3.6 Mbps.

Link: 17.9 million Smart Phones in Middle East by 2010

According to industry researchers Gartner, consumer demand for Smart Phone technology throughout the Middle East is growing at over 50 per cent annually and will reach almost 18 million mobile devices by 2010, up from 6.3 million last year.

Link: Brunei: Refrain From SMS Gambling, Friday Sermon Warns Muslims

Some activities that contain elements of gambling include Short Message Service (SMS) quiz competitions, riddles, auction and surveys.

These are considered to be gambling because participants are charged a fee for every inclusion or entry they make. In SMS quiz competitions, as an example, participants who answer the questions are charged a fee that is higher than the normal rate for sending SMS.