Getting the most out of social media

Getting the most out of social media - Dubai's top social media guru Akanksha Goel tells Carolina D'Souza how we're all just one click away from a global audience

Akanksha Goel ( @AkankshaGoel) has more than 16,000 twitter followers. But that isn't the only reason she is recognised as one of the top social media consultants in the Middle East. "Like you're told not to judge a book by its cover, don't judge someone by the number of twitter followers or Facebook fans," she says. "What's important is how well you understand social media platforms and how effectively you use these to drive business. The numbers should translate into something substantial - the company's bottom line. In other words, you have to take the online contacts offline, and connect in person."

Just how well she uses social media platforms is evident from her portfolio of clients - Sony, Samsung, Philips, Puma, Mall of the Emirates, Mashreq bank, Welcare Hospital and Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, to name a few. "I'm glad I work with brands that are at the forefront of using technology as a part of their business models," she says.

Akanksha Goel heads Socialize, one of Dubai's largest social media agencies.

Using technology for business is something Akanksha is familiar with, having started out with connecting to the 3D virtual world Second Life. Podcasts and wikis (web pages that can be created and edited collaboratively by different people) followed, and now she heads Socialize, one of Dubai's largest social media agencies. Along the way, she worked as editor of Stuff magazine in Singapore and organised Asia's first PodCamp (a real-time community gathering for new media enthusiasts). She is also a speaker at major digital media and marketing conferences around the world.

Although she self-deprecatingly says, "I didn't plan anything. To start with, I was lucky to be in Singapore in 2005 at the heart of the social media revolution…", it wasn't just a case of being in the right place at the right time for her, it was knowing what to do with the right tools. We take a look at the steps she climbed on her northward bound career trajectory.

Step 1. Wiki

In 2006, while a student of Corporate Communication and Reputation Management course at the Singapore Management University (SMU), Akanksha signed into Second Life, an online virtual world in which users create avatars to interact with other users and trade virtual property. "It was at this point that I realised how much technology was redefining culture and helping me transcend boundaries. This led me to create a wiki with one of my professors, about how different cultures consume social media." That wiki (bit.ly/uUJVtT) is now a case study at The New York Times on collaborative learning.

The wiki was read by Mitch Joel, marketing and communications blogger and author of Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. He was due to visit Singapore and contacted Akanksha. "I was interviewed for episode 62 of his podcast on the rise of digital media in Asia, and at the end of my interview, I happened to share on-air that I was looking for a job in marketing."

Step 2. Podcast

Glen Myles, a publisher in Australia who was due to purchase a publishing house in Singapore, heard the podcast. "He offered me the job of editor-in-chief of Stuff magazine [a consumer electronics magazine]. I accepted. That was in 2007. What is amazing is that in the bricks and mortar world, it would take me so much time to email resumes to multiple companies, but with a podcast, you can reach a global audience with the click of a button," says Akanksha.

Step 3. Networking

At Stuff, Akanksha built up a good industry network. "I kept strong online and offline connections," she says. One of her contacts, Nicholas Paillart, founder of the DineDubai network and director of the Singapore-based loyalty programme OneEmpower, asked her to help with sourcing a good PR company. "In a way, I was playing the role of a media consultant. I was also asked whether I would help their in-house marketing team in Dubai and this spiked my interest. The next day, I was offered a job as their marketing director."

Step 4. Google Profile

Akanksha landed in the UAE in 2008 and set up a Google Profile account - sort of a networking wing of Google's social media services, where you can create a public profile and manage your online identity. On the profile, she placed a link to an interview she had done with the publication Knowledge@Wharton on social media in Asia. "Around the same time, Dubai-based Murdoch University invited me to give a talk on social media to their MBA class, and after that the demand quickly grew. By 2009, I was one of the first few speakers in the UAE talking about social media. I created my twitter account, and several of those who attended the sessions followed me. I began to receive inquires from companies, and it quickly became obvious that there was a huge demand for training."

Step 5. Twitter

On the eve of Dubai Twestival (a global social media fundraising initiative that connects communities offline on a single day to highlight a cause) the following year, local radio station Dubai 92 announced a compilation of Dubai's 100 Most Compelling Tweeters. "I was part of that list, and the recognition that came with that got me even more excited in the vast potential that these new platforms held. I slowly realised that I had to truly interact with Dubai's new league of netizens and this is when I organised one of Dubai's first tweet-ups. Soon, they became commonplace and businesses started to question how they could harness the power of social media. Socialize was born in 2010 to train companies on leveraging online tools and has since expanded into a full service agency that has over 40 clients across the region."

Lessons you can learn

Akanksha says, "Social media tools allow everyone to create a personal brand. Today one can reach a global audience with the click of a button, a privilege that was reserved for superstars and media companies less than a decade ago. Grab the opportunity to have your voice heard. After all, most employers Google you before they hire you. What will your Google footprint say about you?" ( gulfnews.com )

*Next week, are you a treasure hunter or observer? Read Akanksha's take on the five common social media personalities.

Tech translations

• Wiki: Wikipedia is the best example of these collaborative web pages.
• Podcast: Downloadable digital audio files.
• Google Profile: A public profile you can create via Google to display the information you want like your biography, contact details, and links to websites you have created.

READ MORE - Getting the most out of social media

Lives of Anna Chapman, other Russian spy suspects ranged from mundane to glam

Lives of Anna Chapman, other Russian spy suspects ranged from mundane to glam — Anna Chapman — one of 10 people the FBI arrested as Russian spies over the weekend — was dogged by a common IT headache, according to the criminal complaint filed against her: She spent a great deal of time trying to get her laptop to work.

According to the FBI, she belonged to a spy network the Russians dubbed "illegals," a group tasked with posing as Americans in order to get close to American policymakers. But she had persistent trouble getting the computer issued by her Russian handlers to wirelessly transmit her weekly intelligence reports, the Justice Department complaint alleges, because the connection didn't work.

Still, she liked her American computer well enough. In January, she raved on her Facebook page: "My new Mac has been the buy of the year... Love it!" Apparently, Russian spies are Mac evangelists. Who knew?

Emerging details on the alleged Russian spy ring show that some suspects were living mundane suburban family lives. But others, including Chapman, were operating as glamorous single partygoers. The New York Post calls Chapman a "flame-haired, 007-worthy beauty who flitted from high-profile parties to top-secret meetings around Manhattan."

The 28-year-old redhead reportedly owned an online real estate business worth $2 million (unnamed in news reports so far) and lived in a "fancy Financial District apartment," the Post said.

Her Facebook page is stocked with glamour shots worthy of a model, and New York party photographer Patrick McMullan has snapped her attending high-society events like the 2010 FDNY Foundation Dinner and an Armory Show Kickoff Party hosted by Whitewall Magazine.

The other suspects apparently lived more ordinary lives. A 40-something couple known as Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley (also known as Ann Foley) had two teen sons who, like many teens, sometimes disrupted their neighborhood in Cambridge, Mass., with loud parties, according to the Boston Herald.

Foley owned her own real estate website and worked as an agent for Redfin Realty, while Heathfield was a consultant doing leadership training for a firm called Global Partners Inc.

On Monday, one of Heathfield's partners there, Carolyn Quintin, told Yahoo! News that she was "shocked" at news of Heathfield's arrest. And on Tuesday morning, another partner, Jay Gronlund, said he was "very impressed with Don's professional skills — smart, personable." Gronlund said Heathfield hadn't done much work for the firm in recent years, even though he's listed as a partner.

Heathfield is also the founder of a company called Future Map, which claims on its website to sell strategic planning software to governments and corporations.

The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University confirmed to Yahoo! News that Heathfield earned a midcareer master's degree in public administration from the school in 2000, but declined to say what courses he took or which professors he studied under. According to the blog Wicked Local in Cambridge, Heathfield made a campaign donation to Massachusetts state Rep. Marty Walz, one of his Kennedy School classmates, in 2004.

Heathfield's colleagues say they believed him to be a Canadian national who'd earned American citizenship. Foley describes herself in an online profile as "a native of Montreal" who "lived and was educated in Switzerland, Canada and France."

Their neighbors describe them as a typical Cambridge couple: "I’m surprised, very surprised,” one told the Boston Herald. "She was a friendly neighbor. She was gorgeous. She was nice. They were European but I didn’t know what kind."

Another arrested couple, Vicky Pelaez and Juan Lazaro, lived on a quiet suburban street in Yonkers, N.Y., and also had children. Pelaez — a columnist of El Diario/La Prensa, one of the largest-circulation Spanish-language newspapers in the U.S. — has written critically of the United States, calling the American prison industry a form of slavery. Lazaro is a retired professor of political science at the New School for Social Research; both are Peruvian. The couple was arrested Sunday while returning home from a party with their 17-year-old son, according to El Diario (via Google Translate).

Richard and Cynthia Murphy lived in Montclair, N.J. One neighbor joked to the New York TimesAccording to Politico, Cynthia Murphyclaimed in a profile on LinkedIn (a service that many of the suspects apparently joined) to have attended Columbia University. Cynthia Murphy is described in the complaint as having made contact with an unnamed high-profile financier and political donor. that their gardening skills didn't quite fit in with the charge of espionage: "They couldn’t have been spies — look what she did with the hydrangeas." was a vice president at a Manhattan accounting firm called Morea Financial Services. She

An unmarried suspect who lived in Washington, D.C., Mikhail Semenko, an unmarried alleged operative, was described by neighbors as living a lifestyle closer to Chapman's. One woman described Semenko to the New York Times as "a stylish man in his late 20s who drove a Mercedes S-500."

Little has been reported about another couple, Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills, who recently moved to Arlington, Va., from Seattle.

An 11th and last suspect was arrested Tuesday in Cyprus: Christopher Metsos, who authorities alleged was the spy handler. He was picked up while trying to board a flight for Hungary.( yahoo.com )

READ MORE - Lives of Anna Chapman, other Russian spy suspects ranged from mundane to glam

Men are bigger liars than women

Men are bigger liars than women. Men are more likely to tell lies than women and feel less guilty about it, says a survey.

In a poll of 3,000 people, researchers found that the average British man tells three lies every day, that's equivalent to 1,092 a year.

However the average woman appears more honest, lying 728 times a year - around twice a day.

Mums are the people mostly likely to be lied to, says the Science Museum who commissioned the survey.

Twenty-five per cent of men say they've lied to their mother, but only 20% of women admit to having lied to their mum.

In comparison, only 10% of people said they are likely to lie to their partner.

Concerning the kind of lies we tell, men said that they most often lie to their partner about their drinking habits. "I didn't have that much to drink" is men's most popular fib.

Whereas women use the line, "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine" most often to hide their true feelings.

"It's just what I've always wanted" is the tenth most likely lie to be told to a loved one by either men or women, suggesting that men and women are quite discerning when it comes to buying presents for each other.

" I didn't have that much to drink" is a man's favourite lie

MEN'S TOP 10 LIES

1. I didn't have that much to drink
2. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
3. I had no signal
4. It wasn't that expensive
5. I'm on my way
6. I'm stuck in traffic
7. No, your bum doesn't look big in that
8. Sorry, I missed your call
9. You've lost weight10. It's just what I've always wanted

WOMEN'S TOP 10 LIES

1. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
2. I don't know where it is, I haven't touched it
3. It wasn't that expensive
4. I didn't have that much to drink
5. I've got a headache
6. It was in the sale
7. I'm on my way
8. Oh, I've had this ages
9. No, I didn't throw it away
10. It's just what I've always wanted

(bbc.co.uk )

READ MORE - Men are bigger liars than women

Can You Ever Be Friends With Your Ex?

Can You Ever Be Friends With Your Ex?. In most relationships, the time to say goodbye usually arrives at one point or another -- unless you intend to walk down the aisle, of course (and even then...). With your ex, you've shared memories that will either make you laugh or cry, and it's time to take your experiences, put them in your back pocket and move on. But somewhere on the road of parting ways couples feel the need to promise to stay friends -- which ultimately leads to more broken promises.

So, can you ever be friends with your ex? Does it have to be all-or-nothing?

Can You Ever Be Friends With Your Ex?

Comfort zone

Although it would make things much easier in the dating world, relationships rarely see mutual breakups. One person is usually the heartbreaker, while the other mulls over the breakup for weeks, even months. It's never easy to break up with someone you've shared good times with (and even if they were bad times, they were still times).

But the person who does the breaking up feels like less of a bad guy by offering that sense of truce: "It's not you, it's me. We can still be friends." This peace offering of friendship provides the dumper with the solace of knowing they aren't such a horrible person because they still want to be friends with their ex.

I've created a monster

Not only does it give the dumper the comfort of knowing they aren't monsters, but by wanting to remain friends, it also allows the dumper to feel that their former lover will still be in their life, and they won't have to miss having them around.

So now the dumper can move on with their life with ease, and with the pleasure of having coffee with their former mate every so often. The person who got dumped, however, has the pleasure of being constantly reminded of the person who ripped out their heart when they receive friendly messages and e-mail.

Obviously, these messages on the machine and coffee dates don't last long, and if they do, they end even worse than the breakup.

So, having considered all this, can you ever be friends with your ex? We say no. Find out why.

exes must stay that way because

You've seen each other naked

Although it may be possible to have casual sex with a friend, even this can damage a relationship. As hard as it is to accept, it's difficult to bring a relationship back to its normal state after having been intimate with someone. You will always have an image of that person naked, and memories of the trysts will always be triggered by the smell of her skin or perfume, or even by hearing a song that you once made passionate love to.

And as thick-skinned as you are, it's hard to see the person in the same light after being entangled in each other's skin and sharing a moment of sheer ecstasy with one another.

You can't confide in each other

As hard as two exes try to stay friends, they can never really confide in each other. How do you tell your ex that you have a hot date tonight or that you and your new lover are going away on a steamy getaway? You can't even tell your ex that the reason you're smiling so much is because a woman has just pleasured you like never before.

You can tell her these things, but new lovers and mates are always going to be a sensitive issue. It's even harder to tell her how hurt you were that your date stood you up the other night, thanks to your sense of pride.

Remaining friends seems to provide us with the security blanket that the person who has been in our life will still be there, and we can call on them every once in a while to find out how they are, however, we'll never actually know how they really are.

There will always be one-sided bitterness

Since breakups are rarely one-sided, one party will always feel resentment or bitterness toward the other. Even if your ex is feigning friendship, she's not sincerely your friend. If it seems like plans with your new potential woman are always being sabotaged, they just might be.

Jealousy comes into play

And where there's bitterness, there's jealousy. And the truth of the matter is that it's hard to be sincerely happy for your ex when she's just found the new love of her life.

You don't want them with anyone else

It's human nature to be jealous or resentful when our ex finds a new person to cuddle up to, even if our feelings have somewhat faded. It becomes a race of who will find the new lover first, a challenge especially brought on by the person who was dumped. Even for the person who did the breaking up, the thought of someone else taking your place in the memories that you and your ex shared is hard, and sometimes extremely painful to fathom.

Passion still exists

Even if your relationship was completely problem-ridden, chances are that the passion and sexual chemistry between the two of you still exists (unless lack of attraction was the reason for your breakup). This is a recipe for disaster because it means that every time you get together under this new "friendship" premise, the lust and passion you have makes it more likely that you'll end up in "one more" night of unbridled "goodbye" sex, for old times' sake. This brings you right back to square one -- how you felt right after your breakup, and just when you were doing so well.

moving on

Leaving the past behind is hard enough, and you don't want part of your past still programmed in your cell phone. Although it's easier for the dumper, recovering from a breakup is still a hard thing to do since it means being single again, getting back into the dating scene and no longer making that daily goodnight call you and your ex used to share.

But having that person lingering in your life as a constant reminder makes it even harder to move on with your life, meet new people and turn a fresh page. It's almost like keeping one foot in the past, and another struggling to make it back into the pickup scene.

It also might be a better idea to leave things with pleasant memories of the other person, rather than drag the potentially doomed relationship through the mud.

In a perfect world, the ideal would be for exes to succeed at being friends, but in one where bitterness, jealousy, passion, and human nature exceed reasoning and rational thought, it's impossible. Unless the two of you were the best of friends before, both broke up on the same terms in a perfectly mutual breakup, both have no qualms about either of you seeing new people, and have both instilled a policy of total honesty, you're better to leave the friendship behind... along with the memories. ( askmen.com )

READ MORE - Can You Ever Be Friends With Your Ex?

Sex once a day keeps sperm healthy

Sex once a day keeps sperm healthy, study says. Couples trying to conceive should have daily sex leading up to ovulation. Having sex every day improves the quality of men's sperm and is recommended for couples trying to conceive, according to new research.

Until now doctors have debated whether or not men should refrain from sex for a few days before attempting to conceive with their partner to improve the chance of pregnancy.

But a new study by Dr David Greening of Sydney IVF, an Australian center for infertility and in vitro fertilization treatment, suggests abstinence is not the right approach.

He studied 118 men with above-average sperm DNA damage and found the quality of their sperm increased significantly after they were told to ejaculate daily for seven days.

On average, their DNA fragmentation index — a measure of sperm damage — fell to 26 percent from 34 percent, Greening told the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Frequent sex does decrease semen volume but for most men this is not a problem.

"It seems safe to conclude that couples with relatively normal semen parameters should have sex daily for up to a week before the ovulation date," he said in a statement.

"In the context of assisted reproduction, this simple treatment may assist in improving sperm quality and ultimately achieving a pregnancy."

Greening said it was likely frequent ejaculation improved the quality of sperm by reducing the length of time they were exposed to potentially damaging molecules called reactive oxygen species in the testicular ducts. ( reuters.com )

READ MORE - Sex once a day keeps sperm healthy

Boy Stuck With 42 Needles in Rituals

Boy Stuck With 42 Needles in Rituals — The stepfather of a 2-year-old boy claimed he pushed 42 "blessed" sewing needles deep into the toddler because his lover told him to while in a trance, saying it would keep the couple together, according to police.

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, a 30-year-old bricklayer, told detectives the woman would enter a trance and "command him to stick the needles in the boy's body," police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana told The Associated Press by telephone.

AP Photo/Agencia O Globo

In this frame taken from a TV Globo video, a person points at a X-ray of a 2-year-old boy showing needles inside his body in a hospital in Ibotirama.

The lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, paid to have the needles measuring up to 2 inches blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, and convinced Magalhaes that inserting them into the boy would somehow allow them to be together, Santana said.

Police, however, believe Dos Santos was out for revenge on the boy's mother, though they did not say why.

"According to his confession, he acted under influence of the woman, but it was he who stuck the needles in the boy's body," the inspector said.

The child was airlifted to a hospital in northeastern Brazil on Thursday because two of the needles inside him were close to his heart, but it was not immediately clear when doctors might be able to remove them. The boy was in stable condition after the 240-mile flight to the coastal city of Salvador.

Surgeons in the city of Barreiras in Bahia state, where the boy had been hospitalized since Sunday, had decided not to try to remove any needles immediately for fear they could cause more damage.

Hospital spokeswoman Susy Moreno said an evaluation of when to perform surgery on the boy probably would not be finished until Friday. He was in an intensive care unit but was conscious.

Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges have yet been filed.

Dos Santos is not believed to be a member of any religious or occult group, and authorities believe she came up with the idea of the rituals on her own, Santana said.

The two were taken to an undisclosed lockup for their own protection after a mob threw stones at the police station where they were being held in the small northeastern city of Ibotirama. It was not immediately clear whether they had legal representation.

Authorities also detained the woman who blessed the needles so she could be questioned, but Santana said he expects she will be released without charge because she did not know how they were being used.

The boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in Ibotirama, population about 25,000, on Dec. 10, saying he was complaining of pain.

After X-rays revealed the cause, the mother told police she didn't know how the needles got inside her son, whose name was not released because of his age.

Police and doctors concluded it would have been impossible for the boy to have ingested the needles — which have been also been found in a lung, his left leg and spread throughout his abdomen.

Afro-Brazilian religions practiced in Brazil have no ceremonies, rituals or practices involving harm to people, said Nelson Inocencio, director of African-Brazilian studies at the University of Brasilia.

He worried that the incident could hurt the image of the religions, of which Candomble is the most popular, and concentrated most in Bahia state.

"What happened to this boy without a doubt could feed into the prejudice against Afro-Brazilian traditions," he said. ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Boy Stuck With 42 Needles in Rituals

Doctors Can't Remove Needles Stuck Near Boy's Heart

Doctors Can't Remove Needles Stuck Near Boy's Heart — The stepfather of a 2-year-old boy found with 42 needles in his body has confessed to jabbing them into the toddler as part of a religious ritual, Brazilian police said Thursday.

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes told detectives that a woman who went into a trance would "command him to stick the needles in the boy's body," police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

AP Photo/Agencia O Globo

In this frame taken from a TV Globo video, a person points at a X-ray of a 2-year-old boy showing needles inside his body in a hospital in Ibotirama.

"According to his confession, he acted under influence of the woman, but it was him who stuck the needles in the boy's body," the inspector said. He said three people, including the stepfather and the woman, have been arrested, though no charges have yet been filed.

An enraged crowd of more than 100 people surrounded the police station where the suspects were held Wednesday night, hurling rocks at the building. Santana said they broke out a window of his own car because they wrongly believed the suspects were in it.

Extra police were called in to restore order and protect the suspects.

The child, meanwhile, was airlifted to the heart unit of a major hospital in northeastern Brazil Thursday because two of the needles are close to his heart, but it was not immediately clear when doctors might be able to remove them.

Surgeons at a hospital in the town of Barreiras in Bahia state, where the boy had been hospitalized since Sunday had decided not to try to remove any needles immediately for fear they could cause more damage.

Doctors located 42 needles in the boy, who was in stable condition in the coastal city of Salvador after a 240-mile (390-kilometer) flight to a hospital with a special heart unit.

Hospital spokeswoman Susy Moreno said an evaluation of how to treat the boy probably would not be finished until Friday.

The boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in the small northeastern city of Ibotirama on Dec. 10, saying he was complaining of pain. Three days later, after X-rays revealed many of the needles, doctors moved him to the larger hospital in the nearby city of Barreiras.

The mother told police she didn't know how the needles got inside her son, whose name was not released because of his age.

The boy's father, Gessivaldo Alves, told the newspaper A Tarde that he believed his son could have been a victim of a black magic ritual. Alves reportedly said he visited the home where the boy was living and found unspecified items that could be used for black magic.

Santana said police are investigating to determine what sort of religious sect the stepfather and the women belonged to.

One of the doctors who treated the child, Luiz Cesar Soltoski, said he believed that the needles were stuck into the child's body one by one.

"We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. It couldn't have been by ingestion," Soltoski said.

Doctors found no signs of outside wounds on the boy. X-ray images carried by Brazilian Web sites clearly showed some of the needles deep inside his body ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Doctors Can't Remove Needles Stuck Near Boy's Heart

Doctors Treating Brazilian Toddler With 50 Sewing Needles Stuck in Body

Doctors Treating Brazilian Toddler With 50 Sewing Needles Stuck in Body — A 2-year-old Brazilian boy has as many as 50 metal sewing needles inside his body and a doctor treating the boy said Wednesday they were apparently stuck there one by one.

Dr. Luiz Cesar Soltoski told The Associated Press that surgeons hope to remove most of the needles — some as long as 2 inches (5 centimeters) — but because some are stuck in his lungs, they have to wait until the child's breathing improves.

AP Photo/Agencia O Globo

In this frame taken from a TV Globo video, a person points at a X-ray of a 2-year-old boy showing needles inside his body in a hospital in Ibotirama.

Some cannot be removed; they are too close to vital organs or actually inside them, Soltoski said.

The boy's mother, a maid, brought him to a hospital in the small northeastern city of Ibotirama on Thursday, saying he was complaining of pain. Three days later, after X-rays revealed some of the needles, doctors had him shifted to a larger hospital in Barreiras.

The mother told police she doesn't know how the needles got inside her son, but police have opened an investigation. The boy's name was withheld because of his age.

Soltoski said he believes the needles were stuck into his body one by one because it would have been impossible for him to swallow them.

"We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. It couldn't have been by ingestion," Soltoski said.

Doctors found no signs of outside wounds the boy, but X-ray images carried by Brazilian Web sites clearly showed some of the needles inside his body.

The boy is in intensive care, but Soltoski said his condition has improved since he was admitted. ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Doctors Treating Brazilian Toddler With 50 Sewing Needles Stuck in Body

Doctors Preparing to Extract Needles From Brazilian Toddler

Doctors Preparing to Extract Needles From Brazilian Toddler — Doctors prepared Friday to perform emergency surgery on a Brazilian toddler to remove some of the 42 sewing needles that were allegedly inserted into him by his stepfather during a series of bizarre rituals.

Surgeons in the northeastern city of Salvador plan to take out a needle that punctured the 2-year-old boy's heart and others threatening vital organs, said Susy Moreno, a spokeswoman at the hospital where the boy is being treated in the northeastern city of Salvador.

AP

Dec. 17: A 2-year-old boy, found with 42 needles inside his body, arrives to a hospital in northeastern Brazil.

Police say the boy's stepfather confessed to pushed 42 supposedly "blessed" sewing dneedles deep into the child because his lover told him to while in trances. The rituals were performed over a period of a month to try to keep the couple together, the stepfather told police.

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, a 30-year-old bricklayer, told detectives the woman would enter into trances and "command him to stick the needles in the boy's body," police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana told The Associated Press by telephone.

The lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, paid to have the needles measuring up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, and convinced Magalhaes that inserting them into the boy would somehow allow them to be together, Santana said.

Police, however, believe Dos Santos was out for revenge on the boy's mother, though they did not say why.

"According to his confession, he acted under influence of the woman, but it was he who stuck the needles in the boy's body," the inspector said.

Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges have yet been filed.

Dos Santos is not believed to be a member of any religious or occult group, and authorities believe she came up with the idea of the rituals on her own, Santana said.

The two were taken to an undisclosed lockup for their own protection after a mob threw stones at the police station where they were being held. It was not immediately clear whether they had legal representation.

Authorities also detained the woman who blessed the needles so she could be questioned, but Santana said he expects she will be released without charge because she did not know how they were being used.

The boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in the town of Ibotirama on Dec. 10, saying he was complaining of pain.

After X-rays revealed the cause, the mother told police she didn't know how the needles got inside her son, whose name was not released because of his age. The boy was later transferred for more advanced evaluation at a much larger hospital in the coastal city of Salvador.

Police and doctors concluded it would have been impossible for the boy to have ingested the needles — which have also been found in a lung, in his left leg and spread throughout his abdomen.

Afro-Brazilian religions practiced in Brazil have no ceremonies, rituals or practices involving harm to people, said Nelson Inocencio, director of African-Brazilian studies at the University of Brasilia.

He worried that the incident could hurt the image of the religions, of which Candomble is the most popular, and concentrated most in Bahia state.

"What happened to this boy without a doubt could feed into the prejudice against Afro-Brazilian traditions," he said. ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Doctors Preparing to Extract Needles From Brazilian Toddler

Brazil Man Says Needles Were Meant to Kill Stepson

Brazil Man Says Needles Were Meant to Kill Stepson - The 2-year-old boy who had nearly three dozen sewing needles shoved into his body by his stepfather is expected to undergo another surgery this week, doctors said Monday.

A day after a jailed Brazilian man admitted in a television interview he wanted to kill the boy to spite his wife, doctors said they will try to remove three needles from the boy's abdominal region on Wednesday.

AP
Dec. 17: A 2-year-old boy, found with 42 needles inside his body, arrives to a hospital in northeastern Brazil.

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The boy is recovering well from a five-hour operation Friday to remove four rusty needles that were near his heart and in his lungs.

He is expected to undergo a third surgery in the near future at the Ana Nery hospital where he is being treated in the northeastern city of Salvador, said hospital spokeswoman Susy Moreno.

Speaking from his cell phone Sunday, 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes told how he doped the child with wine mixed in water, then stuck needles into his body while his lover held the boy down.

"I did this two or three times a week during one month," Magalhaes said in an interview with Globo TV's "Fantastico" program from a jail in the northeastern state of Bahia.

The boy was too drunk from the wine mixture to cry while the needles were being pushed in, but he felt pain after the alcohol wore off, Magalhaes said.

"It was truly an unbearable suffering," he said. "It was to get back at the boy's mother. I thought the needles would work their way through his body and kill the boy. It was a way to kill without anyone discovering."

But the pain led the toddler to complain to his mother, and on Dec. 10 she took him to a hospital where X-rays revealed about 30 needles lodged throughout his body.

Moreno said hundreds of people across Brazil had contacted the facility to inquire about the boy.

"Many people are coming by to bring Christmas presents," she said. "Many are also calling us to express their outrage. ... The support has been incredible."

Along with Magalhaes, police believe his lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, was also seeking revenge on Magalhaes' wife.

The bricklayer told detectives that dos Santos would enter into trances and give him commands to insert the needles, police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said.

Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges had been filed. They were taken to an undisclosed location for their own protection after a mob threw stones at the police station where they were being held.

Dos Santos is not believed to be a member of any religious or occult group, and authorities believe the pair came up with the idea on their own.

The boy's name is not being released because of his age.

Local media reported Monday that another 2-year-old boy was being treated in the northern state of Maranhao after having nine needles found in his body. Police were investigating the circumstances of the case. ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Brazil Man Says Needles Were Meant to Kill Stepson

Sex and happiness go together

Sex and happiness go together. Sexual satisfaction can improve well-being, whatever her age, study finds. Women who are sexually satisfied are also happier, no matter their age, a new study suggests. It's not clear which causes the other, however. 

You might be thinking, "Duh, better sex makes for a better mood." But in science, thinking something is true doesn't make it so. "A lot of the things we make assumptions about have never been documented," said study researcher Susan Davis of the Women's Health Program at Monash University, Australia. 

While some might claim to have known a lady's sex life can affect her quality of life, Davis says the link is not always taken seriously. As such, when a guy cries "erectile dysfunction," doctors are quick with prescriptions and advice. But, the researchers point out, a woman's sexual desire, and lack thereof, may garner quizzical stares or even a "Who cares," Davis said.

Among the things scientists do know about women and sex: Women's most common complaints involve sexual desire and interest, as well as pleasure and satisfaction, the researchers say. The problems are often attributed to women's busy schedules (and so sex becomes another "task"); discontent with their own bodies; unwillingness to ask for what they want in bed; and other factors. At the end of the day, some women just settle for mediocre sex. 

Whether boosting a women's sexual pleasure has any impacts beyond the bedroom has remained less clear, scientifically speaking. 

The new study, detailed in the October issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, suggests there is, in fact, a strong connection. 

Study's limitations

The study does have its limitations, including a relatively small number of study participants (nearly 300). In addition, the results only show a link between sexual satisfaction and overall well-being, but which factor (if either) causes the other can't be teased out by this study. 

"The problem with interpreting this finding is that it is impossible to determine if dissatisfied women had lower well-being because they were sexually dissatisfied, or if the reverse is true, such that women who started with lower well-being tended to secondarily have sexual dissatisfaction," said lead researcher Sonia Davison, also of Monash's Women's Health Program. 

One big positive, the study wasn't funded by a drug company, but rather by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Plus, the effect found was large, and for post-menopausal women the difference in well-being between sexually satisfied and dissatisfied women was statistically significant. 

For instance, among post-menopausal women, those who reported sexual dissatisfaction scored 10 percent lower on an established "well-being" scale. Overall, the difference in well-being is similar to that found between healthy women and those with severe, chronic back pain, Davis noted. 

Sexual stats

To get the scoop on the sex effects, Davis, Davison and their colleagues surveyed nearly 300 women ages 20 to 65, with about half who were pre-menopausal and half post-menopausal. More than 140 women reported they were dissatisfied with their sex lives, about equally split between the pre- and post-menopausal participants. 

Over a 28-day period, participants recorded their daily sexual events. They also responded to questionnaires focused on well-being and sexual satisfaction. 

The well-being scale included questions about anxiety, depression, cheerfulness, self-control, general health and vitality. Post-menopausal women showed the greatest difference in overall well-being between the two groups, with sexually satisfied women scoring nearly 84 on the questionnaire compared with 76 for the dissatisfied group. (Total points were out of 110.) 

For post-menopausal women, those whose sex lives were in the dumps scored on average lower on questions related to anxiety, depression, positive well-being (cheerfulness) and vitality. Pre-menopausal women showed similar results, with the sexually dissatisfied scoring lower on vitality and positive well-being. 

There was no real difference in other well-being factors, such as general health and self-control, regardless of age. 

Beyond the bedroom

As for how sexual desire and pleasure can impact a woman's well-being, Davis suggests several reasons, including the effect on a couple's relationship and a woman's self-esteem. "They just don't feel as good about themselves," Davis said of women who lack sexual libido.

The results have various implications.

"The take-home message is that it's an important issue for women to talk to their doctors about, and it's okay to talk to their doctors about," Davis told LiveScience. "And it's an important issue for doctors to talk to their patients about." 

She notes that doctors who treat a woman for depression may want to ask her about sexual and relationship satisfaction. That way, before writing out a prescription for an anti-depressant, a doctor could help the patient deal with an underlying issue with sex, Davis said. 

Doctors might want to probe past the question of sexual intercourse frequency, the researchers point out, as both sexually satisfied and dissatisfied women may be equally likely to get intimate with their partners. For instance, more than 90 percent of participants reported their sexual activity involved a partner, and was initiated by the partner at least half the time. As such, women's sexual activity may have been the result of their partner's nudging or not-nudging as well as other factors not addressed in the current study, the researchers say.

"The fact that women who self-identified as being dissatisfied maintained the level of sexual activity reported most likely represents established behavior and partner expectation," Davis said. ( LiveScience.com )

READ MORE - Sex and happiness go together

Picturing sex

Picturing sex: Kinsey explores what turns us on. Choices for institute's juried art show raise question of art, porn — or both. Art historian and museum curator Jennifer Cahn wasn’t sure what to expect when she was asked by the Kinsey Institute to select the works for the organization’s fourth annual juried art show.

Kinsey Institute

The ultrachrome fine art print titled "La Source, after Ingres" (show here in detail) by Gary Laird of Houston, Texas, will be on exhibit as part of the Kinsey Institute's fourth annual juried art show.

The show, opening Friday, is about sexuality, naturally, this being the Kinsey Institute, the famous Bloomington, Ind., research center founded by Alfred Kinsey, the man who raised the curtain on 1950s American sex.

But Cahn certainly never expected to receive over 700 submissions, the most ever for the show. Though she was given carte blanche to select the final group, something any judge likes to have, she found making her selections difficult because she was faced with distinguishing between porn, art, erotica and aesthetic value. That’s tough for anybody.

“We try to avoid making the distinction here,” explained Catherine Johnson-Roehr, who runs Kinsey’s art operation. “Anybody who comes here, or sees the online galleries, sees that it is a wide range of art and some of it might fit a particular person’s definition of porn.”

Take, for example, the institute’s recently acquired engraving from 1526 depicting a scene from Genesis, Potiphar’s wife trying to seduce Joseph. Joseph is depicted nude with quite an erection. Porn? Art? Both? “It’s fuzzy,” Johnson-Roehr said.

Exactly. So Cahn created her own criteria.

“The distinguishing factor to me was that I was looking for work with the strongest aesthetic qualities,” she explained. “And I was aware that there are lots of topical issues out there and I wanted to make sure as many voices got a say as possible. Some [works] have to do with ageism; how old can you be and still be sexually attractive? I picked things dealing with the forbidden — S and M and voyeurism and public sex.”

Drawing lines this way may seem arbitrary and sometimes it is, Cahn said. “It’s about personal background, what society and culture did you grow up in, the mores and values of your world. I tried to be as objective as possible but I knew there would be times when my life story would enter into how I look at things and what kind of art I like.”

Kinsey Institute This slip cast and assembled stonewear piece titled "Tit Tats: Juicy Orange" by Cara Jung of Erie, Pa., will be displayed at the Kinsey Institute's juried art show.

The draw of homemade erotica

Cahn said said she was intrigued by submissions that seemed homemade. Works that seemed slick sometimes struck her as prurient.

“Homemade work done in a bedroom by a lover was erotica. When it was a professional photographer in a studio, for me, that was making porn. It sounds corny but those aren’t about love. It is about sex devoid of emotion. Even a homemade image that has other emotions like anger, resentment, repression, those to me were beautiful and fascinating. The commercial ones were not.”

That’s an interesting observation given two recent news items. A German archeologist announced he had found a new “Venus,” a small carved figure of a woman equipped with enormous breasts and exaggerated genitals dating from about 35,000 years ago, so long ago that whoever made it was sharing Europe with Neanderthals. This may make it the oldest known piece of figurative art ever found, about as close to eternal as you can get on the human scale.

Kinsey Institute A digital photograph titled "Will You Malign Me? (Part 2)" by Sarah Taavola of Hartland, Wis., will be included in the Kinsey Institute's juried art show.

Fast forward a few dozen thousand years to Playboy, that 20th-century paeon to pulchritude, which is now struggling for relevance. The company, once revolutionary, recently announced that it has been losing money on its flagship magazine which has been getting skinny faster than a Biggest Loser contestant. According to spokesperson Theresa Hennessy, the July and August issues will combine to save money. The company still isn’t sure what schedule it will follow after that.

I am sentimental about Playboy, not only because I saw my first naked woman in its pages but also because it published some of the best journalism of the last century. But judging from its June issue, its editors are hoping a less-sophisticated magazine will bring the ads and the readers back. Maybe that will work. I hope so. But it could be that the success of the revolution Hugh Hefner helped create, giving people permission to enjoy and show off sex, is responsible for the magazine’s straits.

“One thing that struck me, and it brings sense to why Playboy is cutting back, is that people are producing high-quality work at home,” Cahn said. “And I think homemade erotica can be much more powerful than something you buy on the newsstand.” You could say we might be returning to the stone age.

Nobody knows just why someone made the newly-discovered Venus figure all those years ago. Maybe it was a wish for fertility, or a homage to a goddess, or cave man porn. But it was definitely a “homemade” exploration of sex just like the artists who submitted their work to the Kinsey show and most impressed Cahn.

For all the challenge in her task of judging, she said, “in the end, I thought, ‘This is a beautiful show.’ I felt proud of America, that people with such varied interests and abilities were free to submit their work. That’s democracy.” ( msnbc.com )

READ MORE - Picturing sex

Bankers seeking recession affairs

Bankers seeking recession affairs. Public revulsion for bankers one of top reasons cited on adultery site. Reviled by the public and spurned in private, bankers have been looking for solace in adultery, according to a dating Web site for people seeking affairs.

IllicitEncounters.com said it has seen a huge increase in the number of financial workers signing up to have affairs after the collapse of the markets in October last year, and that "finance" continued to be one of the most represented professional areas on the site.

The Web site said in a statement that it has over 380,000 members across Britain of which more than 20,000 work in "financial services" and said it surveyed over 600 men and women bankers to compile a top 10 list of reasons why they embarked on extra-marital affairs.

The list shows that public revulsion for bankers combined with a lack of affection in private was the top reason for having an affair, followed closely by the excitement of doing something risky, escaping boredom, feeding the ego and one-upping the boys with a trophy mistress.

"We were surprised at the honesty of some responses," IllicitEncounters representative Sara Hartley said of the replies, which also showed that long work hours and commuting left many bankers with very little time at home for romance.

"The more time they spend away from home, the less time they have to rekindle that spark."

A common reply from male respondents had to do with boosting egos and giving in to the peer pressure of having a mistress for the sake of status.

"Where I work, many of the tops (sic) dogs are open about their affairs," the Web site quoted "member 23*56" as saying in its statement. "Having a mistress is like having a flash car."

A list of the top 10 reasons bankers gave for having affairs follows:

1. To feel loved
2. For the thrill
3. Unstable home life
4. To escape the mundane
5. Ego boost
6. To avoid costly divorce
7. To lavish attention on someone
8. Because they feel entitled
9. Because they can/opportunity
10. Peer pressure

( Reuters.com )

READ MORE - Bankers seeking recession affairs

Reasons Strip Clubs Can Spice Up Your Sex Life

Reasons Strip Clubs Can Spice Up Your Sex Life. It’s the threesome of foreplay — only there’s no touching involved. Every now and then, a couple will steal away to a night club for a few hours of arousal. In a few situations, it’s a festive Chippendales venue; but in most cases, it’s a dimly-lit, somber, reserved experience with all eyes on the women.

Whether it’s a seedy hole in the wall or a high-class venue, scantily-clad women suggesting triple-X action is the theme of the show. Relegated as a male “pastime,” this world of table and lap dances is seen as his escape.

So when his partner is willing to get in on the act, eyebrows are raised.

Why in the world would any "respectable" woman want to go to a strip club? Such old-fashioned speculation comes swiftly, but is easily met with the fact that times have changed.

Plenty of women are all for a good striptease. In recent years, we’ve seen mothers and wives from coast to coast take to pole dancing, whether for exercise or to spice up their sex lives.

For those not into this type of naughty, the appeal is hard to fathom. What exactly is the draw of this pleasure pursuit as a pair?

Couples are going to strip clubs because:

FNC

1. There’s no work involved.

Foreplay becomes a breeze even before you take your seat. Lovers often find themselves sexually excited at the mere prospect of going to a strip club. Yet this arousal goes far beyond pre-game show titillations, with lovers already anticipating what will happen once they get back home.

2. It’s a bonding experience.

Sure, strip clubs don’t exactly bring on the warm fuzzies, but they raise the temperature in other ways. Lovers enjoy “sharing” the stripper, but staying focused on their union by touching and flirting with each other. This sex worker becomes a mutual object of desire that can have partners feeling closer, sexually speaking.

3. They like the power dynamic.

It’s not PC to admit it, but some couples like that they’re the paying customer. Consciously or not, they’re into the sense that when they give the dancer money, they get to “own” her to some degree. The room full of naked gals is all about their pleasuring and nothing else.

4. The experience can make them feel sexier.

By identifying with the stripper’s sexuality or desiring it, lovers can feel more wanton in the process. In other cases, where a stripper looks particularly haggard, a woman may come away from the experience feeling confirmed (and relieved) that she’s more attractive than the gal on stage. After all, the slight jealousy that can be fueled by the experience acts as inspiration to outdo the stripper at some point.

5. It’s fun.

Going to strip clubs allows for novel experiences and variety, sometimes inspiring moves for bedroom action.

6. It’s so bad that it’s good.

Despite its popularity, the experience of going to a strip club is still very taboo in nature. Couples thrive off of doing the unconventional and feeling more than a bit naughty. This includes the turn-on of seeing a partner flirt with a stripper or vice versa.

7. It invites sex and only sex.

Going to a strip club can be the excuse couples need for not being emotionally intimate from time to time. It keeps the action at home more sex-focused and can act as a safety valve for those who cannot or don’t want to connect with their partner.

8. It’s safe.

Health-wise, going to a strip club invites some of the tag team experience without presenting the sexual health risks involved. Couples don’t have to worry about sexually transmitted diseases, yet they can still relish the third-party effects.

9. It puts a woman's mind at ease.

Even if they don't like watching their men get turned on, some women would rather know what their partners are doing than be left wondering. Accompanying him to a strip club makes her feel like she’s more on top of his sexual liaisons.

Going to a strip club isn’t for every couple. If it goes against your values or invites sexual jealousy, then definitely stay away. But if your relationship can handle such experimentation, be sure to discuss ahead of time what is and isn’t allowed.

Is it okay to get a lap dance? What’s considered cheating? How will you handle amateur night?

Remember, flexibility is key, as the rules may need to change once you’re inside. Seeing strip club fantasies become reality can be difficult for some. It may tap insecurities for some, while the sight of often sad, blank-faced strippers evokes pity from others.

If your partner looks uncomfortable or wants to go, don’t make a big issue over it. Just be sure to tell — and later show — your lover that, at the end of the night, they’re always the star of the show. ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Reasons Strip Clubs Can Spice Up Your Sex Life

Dubai ruler's ambition sowed seeds of crisis

Dubai ruler's ambition sowed seeds of crisis. Extravagant sheik commanded desert state's meteoric rise, aided its bust - Dubai's ruler writes poetry, rides horses across the desert in long-distance endurance races and hobnobs with royals like the Queen of England. Mixing extravagance with boundless ambition, he commanded the desert city-state's meteoric rise — and helped sow the seeds, some observers say, of its debt crisis.

Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's business-over-politics approach turned Dubai into a city-state with the surface trappings of Western liberalism — a thin veneer over the conservatism and strict political boundaries familiar throughout the Arab world.

Drink at the bars, wear bikinis at the beach, hit the discos and make money, was the overt message. But there was a red line in the sand: Don't question his grandiose plans or the foundations they were built on. Those foundations, it turns out, were not oil, but other people's money. Lots of it.

"In the past, the ruler was trusted on finances because everyone thought they were backed by oil," said Simon Henderson, a Gulf and energy specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It will be different from now on."

Dubai is one of seven highly autonomous statelets that make up the United Arab Emirates. Though UAE capital Abu Dhabi has huge oil riches, neighboring Dubai has very little.

The 60-year-old Mohammed's confidence and ambition gave way to aspirations to place Dubai in the same league as London or New York.

Forging ahead with eye-popping development, he vigorously wooed investors, leading to excesses that created a speculative bubble. One of the biggest borrowers was the government's own development vehicle, the conglomerate Dubai World, which shook markets with its announcement last week that it needed to delay payments on part of its $60 billion debt.

Mohammed and his government, however, have refused to stand by the company's debts, and when the signs mounted that Dubai was falling victim to the world economic turmoil, he denied it and never came up with a recovery plan.

City's stunning makeover

Dubai's ruler supervised the Gulf city's stunning makeover in the past decade, turning it into a model for development in an Arab world plagued with poverty, corruption and nepotism.

Along with extravagant projects like artificial islands and glitzy skyscrapers, international schools, multinational companies and luxury hotels mushroomed around the city. They offered young Arab professionals jobs and a lifestyle they couldn't find or afford in Cairo or Beirut.

Like his Muslim city-state with a Western outlook, Mohammed, whose net worth is listed at $12 billion by Forbes, has held onto deeply rooted Arabian traditions while pursuing his ambitions for modernity.

He breeds camels and is a passionate lover of horses. He rides endurance races in the desert and drives a customized Mercedes four-wheel drive SUV along Dubai's sprawling highways. He listens to residents' complaints the old-fashioned way, in his diwan, or reception room, but also regularly updates his Facebook profile and exchanges tweets with Dubai's youth.

That mix has suited his personality and ruling style in a region where personality cults around leaders are considered part of good governance.

Taken in by Mohammed's marketing skills, deposed politicians, oil tycoons and powerful executives willingly participated in Dubai's real estate bonanza — no questions asked — as did professionals from Europe and Asia who flocked to the emirate, paying for condos and villas before building even started.

Some multinational companies even made the emirate their regional headquarters, and company executives rubbed shoulders with Hollywood stars like Charlize Theron and athletes like Tiger Woods.

Charmed by Mohammed's personality and his assurances, investors poured in billions.

Bubble bursts, ruler retreats

Taking advantage of cheap credit, developers — some run by the government and other's closely linked to it — built soaring skyscrapers and luxury residential compounds on man-made islands at a pace that outstripped real demand. Despite oversupply, real estate prices soared, in a mirror image of what happened in the United States before the subprime mortgage crisis sent the world into its worst recession in over six decades.

When the global financial crisis hit Dubai, prices collapsed by 50 percent in a year while the cheap funding dried up, meaning other projects either sat unfinished or were scrapped.

Now, as the emirate's largest government-owned conglomerate, Dubai World, reels under the weight of its $60 billion in debts, Mohammed has retreated from the limelight.

Given how intertwined Dubai is with its ruler and members of the Maktoum dynasty, the fallout could create trouble for Mohammed, who must now either hope that the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi will step in with some sort of bailout or that creditors will see they have little choice but to agree to restructuring debt.

"It will be very difficult for Sheik Mohammed to survive this one," said Christopher Davidson, an expert in Gulf affairs at Britain's Durham University and author of two books on the Emirates. He said Mohammed misled investors by giving them the impression he had money to back his plans.

The Associated Press e-mailed requests for an interview with Mohammed but they were not answered.

Dubai World's debt not addressed

Dubai officials said the city's government will not be responsible for the company's debts and Mohammed has shown little inclination over the past week to address Dubai World's debt problems directly.

When he recently came forward, he accused the media of exaggerating the situation and arguing that the market reaction showed a "lack of understanding of what is going on in Dubai."

The lack of clarity from Dubai's ruling and corporate elite has been evident over the past year, when Dubai became the Gulf region's biggest credit crunch victim.

At a rare meeting with reporters two months ago, Mohammed's answer to a question about Dubai's debt-load was: "I assure you we are all right. ... We are not worried."

By November, he had grown more testy. In a meeting with international investors in November, he switched from Arabic to English to tell naysayers in the media to "shut up." ( msn.com )

READ MORE - Dubai ruler's ambition sowed seeds of crisis

Website emails from beyond the grave

Website emails from beyond the grave. The fear of dying suddenly, without the chance to mend wrongs or say goodbye, has prompted an Australian entrepreneur to start a website where people can contact loved ones from beyond the grave.

Security systems retailer Peter Ingram watched as his aunt lost her ability to speak, write, or even smile within just two weeks of being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

She was fully conscious and able to understand what was happening around her, but remained silent until her death, taking her secrets, thanks and regrets to the grave.

The website lets loved ones leave messages - or embarrassing videos - for after they pass away. Picture: AFP

"I'd known her for 20 years and to me that was devastating," Mr Ingram said.

He recently launched Australia's first virtual time-capsule site, FromBeyond2u.com, where the living can leave videos, photographs and documents to be sent out to loved ones after death.

The site charges $US1 for users to store their "cherished digital memories" and programme farewell messages for the time of their death and on fixed dates such as birthdays or anniversaries into the future.

"It's not a new concept, leaving things, letters for people, videos, messages, but the internet has changed what we can do with it," Mr Ingram said.

"You can keep in touch today, tomorrow and beyond."

Subscribers can write their own eulogy and create a multimedia tribute for use at their funeral, and bequeath their photo and video files.

Whilst living, they can use the site as a place to store and share their files with friends and family all over the world.

A certificate with an activation code in the event of death is given to every user to be left with their will or next of kin.

Taboo topics

The website could, of course, have less savoury applications, Mr Ingram said.

"I had a radio station ask me the other day 'What if people leave nasty messages? Maybe I want to tell my mother-in-law for the next 10 years that I didn't like her,'" he said.

"I guess she can change her email address if you keep on badgering her with emails, but that's not what it's about."

People could also use the future messages service to posthumously speak to a mistress or spill their darkest secrets, knowing they wouldn't have to deal with the consequences, he added.

"That's none of my business, you can do whatever you want," he laughed.

Sharing with family

Mr Ingram said he had already accumulated plenty of embarrassing footage of his "angelic" son on the site in preparation for his 21st birthday celebrations.

"This is you chucking a tantrum, this is you when you're nine years old telling me you'll always love me, even when you're a teenager," he joked.

"Hopefully at his 21st I will have 12 or 13 years of backed-up photos and memories and hopefully I'll be there. But if I do kick the bucket they'll all be there for him," he said.

Users can also leave more obscure instructions they might overlook in a legal will, such as where they kept their motorcycle keys or hid precious things, he said.

Far from being morbid or narcissistic, Mr Ingram believes the site encourages sharing with family and community.

"I think the number one (aim is) definitely sharing the love with loved ones and being there for them, and not to be forgotten, that's a fear of mine," he said. / news.com.au

READ MORE - Website emails from beyond the grave