I write in reference to your news report Singles of the world unite: Facebook to offer dating service for first time (May 1): Facebook will certainly benefit financially, thanks to the increased usage and consequent advertising boost that its new dating service will offer. Nevertheless, as recent scandals have shown, potential users should be aware of the dangers involved in placing their personal data and pictures on such sites. Our private lives have been reduced to public displays, due to our adoration for different social networks.
Once anything is typed or posted on a site, it cannot be retracted, just as extracted toothpaste cannot be thrust back into a tube. Then the data is potentially available to the site provider, governments, research agencies, advertisers and others. As a result, it might not be wise for potential dating partners to use social networking sites, where every thought or emotion can sadly become grist for the public mill.
Rajendra Aneja, Dubai
We should be more optimistic about North Korea talks
In reference to Rashmee Roshan Lall's interesting column The only predictable thing about North Korea is its unpredictability (May 1), Ms Roshan Lall has astutely silenced the naysayers following the recent meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in. Contrary to popular belief, she demonstrates how North Korea's unpredictability could in fact ease tensions. She is right to point to the fall of the Berlin Wall as an example of unlikely expeditious progress. But I wonder if the two Koreas' summit will set an example for the upcoming meeting between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump. We will have to wait and see.
K Ragavan, Denver
Lack of Skype is harming our businesses in a digital age
Referring to your article Skype ban in the UAE: what the future may hold for VoIP service (May 2), losing the ability to Skype my family and friends requires me to pay more to contact them. It is infuriating but possible for me, thankfully. However, explaining to clients across America, Europe, India and Africa that I cannot demonstrate our new products, developed in a "digital city", because Skype is blocked is more of an issue. The inability to communicate effectively with the outside world is harming our business.
Pete Alexander, Dubai
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
PFA Team of the Year: David de Gea, Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Alonso, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero
The%20new%20Turing%20Test
%3Cp%3EThe%20Coffee%20Test%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EA%20machine%20is%20required%20to%20enter%20an%20average%20American%20home%20and%20figure%20out%20how%20to%20make%20coffee%3A%20find%20the%20coffee%20machine%2C%20find%20the%20coffee%2C%20add%20water%2C%20find%20a%20mug%20and%20brew%20the%20coffee%20by%20pushing%20the%20proper%20buttons.%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EProposed%20by%20Steve%20Wozniak%2C%20Apple%20co-founder%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
