Bangladesh Pioneering Surfer

Zafar Alam says he has saved dozens of lives in the sea around Cox's Bazaar

Surfing is normally associated with places like Hawaii, California and Australia's Bondi Beach, but the sport has now even reached as far as the coast of Bangladesh.
Cox's Bazaar, in the country's remote south-west, is better known for its cyclones and vulnerability to rising sea levels, but it also boasts of having, at 125km (78 miles), the world's longest unbroken sandy beach.
According to the man who claims to be Bangladesh's first surfer, Zafar Alam, it also has great surf.
"When I'm riding the waves it feels like I'm on a speedboat and I just love that feeling," he says.
No leash
Before Zafar, the only people who surfed here were the occasional, intrepid foreign tourists. Ten years ago he was able to persuade one of them, an Australian man, to leave him his board.
"He asked for $200, but I was so young I didn't even know what a dollar was, so I gave him 200 taka" (the local currency which is worth considerably less).

Zafar now coaches about 70 young men and women
"In those days I didn't know how to stand up on the board, and it was very difficult because I didn't have a leash," he said. A leash is the string that attaches the board to the surfer's ankle and prevents it from being dragged away by the waves and the tide.
"I then saw people surfing on the television so I knew what to do and the next morning I tried to stand on the board for the first time."
His family was terrified because they had never seen anything like this before. Many fishermen and Bangladeshi tourists drown here every year.
"My mum sometimes cries. She thinks I will die in the ocean. But I tell her it is ok, that I love surfing."
In fact, Zafar used his new skills to save an astonishing number of lives - he says he has dragged 70 drowning people out of the water.
"Most Bangladesh is don't know how to swim and the currents and the waves here can be dangerous. All the time I have to rescue them."

The currents and waves at Cox's Bazaar can be dangerous
In 2001, Zafar was spotted by Tom Bauer, a surfer from Honolulu, Hawaii, who runs Surfing the Nations, a charity "that seeks to give communities... a message of love and hope through the sport of surfing and acts of selfless service".
He believes that "surfing can be used as a powerful tool to bring about positive change".
In Bangladesh that has meant enough equipment for Zafar to set up the country's first surf club, and an annual surf tournament. He now coaches about 70 young men and women.
Persuading them to take part is the hardest task, because the region's traditions discourage women from spending time with young men in public.
Cox's Bazaar is one of Bangladesh's most religiously conservative areas as well, so many women here wear the all-encompassing burka. This is not a place for bikinis and tight-fitting wet suits.
In spite of this, Zafar is hopeful that more and more people will take up the sport.
"When I started I was out there in the water all alone. But now I want there to be thousands and thousands of surfers here in Bangladesh."
(BBC)

Facebook website is a 'door to lust'

A woman was beaten up and shot dead by her father for talking online with a man she met on the website Facebook.

The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.

It said the man shot his daugther after discovering she had been chatting online to a young man she had met on Facebook.

“Security sources assured Al-Arabiya.net that the father beat up his daughter and then shot her dead,” it said.

A leading Saudi preacher told Al-Arabiya.net that Facebook was a "door to lust" for women and called for it to be blocked to prevent social "strife".

Sheikh Ali al-Maliki said women were posting "revealing pictures" and "behaving badly" on the site, which has become popular with young Saudis.

Internet engineers said that young Saudis were using Facebook to flirt and make "web-cam calls".

Saudi Arabia imposes an austere form of Sunni Islam which prevents unrelated men and women from mixing, bans women from driving and demands that women wear a headscarf and cloak in public.

One female Saudi Facebook fan told The Mail that blocking the site would be pointless because people would simply switch to similar sites.

The 27-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, admitted many young Saudis used Facebook to get in touch with members of the opposite sex.

“In Saudi Arabia, we live more of a virtual life than a real life. I know people who are involved in on-line romances with people they have never met in real life,” the woman said.

“And many of us use Facebook for other things, like talking about human rights and women's rights.

"We can protest on Facebook about the jailing of a blogger which is something we couldn't do on the streets."

Engineers also told Al-Arabiya.net that there were Facebook pages for homosexual and lesbian relations. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and is punished by flogging, jail or even death.

The Saudi authorities block access to websites they deem sexual, pornographic, politically offensive, "un-Islamic" or disruptive because of controversial religious and political content.

But Syria is the only Arab country so far to have blocked Facebook.

When the ban was enforced in December, Syrian media said it was to prevent Israeli users from infiltrating Syrian social networks.

Twins this year

Identical twin brothers Isaac (L) and Owen Wonner from Petersburg, OH, gather before taking part in in a look-alike contest during the final day of the 32nd annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio Aug. 5, 2007. The twins, born on Halloween Oct. 31st, 2005, are participating in the festival for their second time. The self-proclaimed "largest annual gathering of twins in the world" attracted almost 2,000 sets of identical and non-identical twins this year, who participated in look-alike contests, talent competitions and other entertainment.

Penang's prime residential properties

Piling works have started on the RM936mil Gurney Paragon mixed development project located at Jalan Kelawei and Gurney Drive

LUXURIOUS high-rise and landed residential properties, with a gross development value in excess of RM1.5bil, will be developed in prime locations of Georgetown and South Seberang Prai over the next five years.

These projects are from Hunza Properties Bhd, Ivory Properties Group and Asas Dunia Bhd. The three property development companies are generally regarded as having the most anticipated projects on the island and mainland. The RM936mil Gurney Paragon mixed development project from Hunza -located at Jalan Kelawei and Gurney Drive - is currently undergoing piling works.

“To attract local and foreign investors and second home buyers, Hunza is investing substantially to preserve and restore the St Joseph's Novitiate chapel as a living heritage (as well as a) masterpiece arts and culture centre,” Hunza executive chairman Datuk Khor Teng Tong said.

“Apart from being an arts and culture centre, it will also house boutique retailers and fine dining restaurants. “To enhance its rich historical and heritage value, Hunza has set aside 60,000 sq ft of prime land as a public Festival Court, which will form the nucleus of all activities with the St Joseph's Novitiate chapel as the showpiece of the development. There will be beautifully landscaped gardens and water features with ample pedestrian walkways.”

At the heart of Gurney Paragon are two condominium towers facing the sea at Gurney Drive and a shopping mall. “There are 260 luxurious condominium units, of which we have sold 10% since the soft-launch, generating about RM38mil.

Also currently under construction by Hunza is the RM220mil Infinity super condominium project, strategically located in the Tanjung Bungah area and facing the sea. “We have sold 10% of the 260 units, which are priced from RM1.4mil upwards,” he said. The units have built-up areas between 3,800 and 4,800sq ft.

The Ivory Properties Group will develop high-rise and landed properties with a gross sales value of about RM380mil over the next 12 months

From Ivory Properties Group, some 873 high-rise and landed properties with a gross sales value of about RM380mil will be developed over the next 12 months on the island and the mainland. Its general manager Chok Keng Vui said that of these, some 302 units were landed properties and high-rise condominium units which are part of the group's latest Island Resort project, yet to be unveiled. “The Island Resort project is strategically located in Batu Ferringhi. It will be launched later this year during the festive season, targeted at local investors and foreign buyers,” he said.

On the mainland, Asas Dunia Bhd is launching over 1,000 units of residential properties with a gross development value of about RM200mil in South Seberang Prai later this year. Its managing director Datuk Jerry Chan said the group was now moving towards developing higher-end properties. “The projects are located in Nibong Tebal and Sungai Duri, close to the interchange of the upcoming second bridge,” he said. In Nibong Tebal, Asas Dunia is building some 600 units of high-end houses. In Sungai Duri, it is building 90 single-storey semi-detached houses, and 450 low-medium cost properties.

‘Dead’ Man Woke Up at his Funeral

An 87-year-old man gave his relatives a shock in Taiwan - when he woke up at his own funeral.

The man’s relatives were in a Buddhist mourning hall, reciting prayers over the dead body, when it gasped and woke up.

The family had been told by the hospital which had been treating the man that the only thing keeping him alive were oxygen hoses, and that he would die quickly if they were removed.

The family opted to take him out of the hospital so that he could die at home.

They removed the oxygen hoses, dressed him in funeral clothes, and placed him in the mourning hall - until he started breathing heavily.

The family sent him back to the hospital. Doctors are reportedly baffled as to his impressive recovery.

Half grass / half clay tennis court cost 1.63 million

One is the king of grass, the other the king of clay. On Wednesday, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal will be king of both.

Four-time Wimbledon champion Federer plays two-time French Open winner Nadal in an exhibition on a customized half-clay, half-grass court on this Spanish island.

Organizers needed 19 days and $1.63 million to create the court, which divides the surfaces by halves for a unique match in which a player can receive on clay and hit a winner on grass -- or vice versa



"The result is not the most important thing. It's about having fun out there," the top-ranked Federer said. "It's going to be exciting and a good atmosphere. It doesn't always need to be crazy serious out on the match courts." A sellout crowd of nearly 7,000 is expected at the Palma Arena for the match, which is backed by the Balearic Islands tourism bureau.