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Dubai: The Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum UAE Breeders Society Challenge reaches its finale on Friday, when the fifth and final race in the series for Purebred Arabians bred in the UAE is staged at the Jebel Ali Racecourse.

The popular event continues to enjoy the support of its long-standing patron Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, through the Emirates Horse Breeders Society (EHBS).

Dr Hussain Habib Al Reda, Chairman of the EHBS, thanked Shaikh Hamdan for supporting the series, which is aimed at encouraging interest in, and the breeding of, Purebred Arabian horses.

"This year the UAE Breeders Society Challenge has produced some very exciting and high quality races," Al Reda told a press conference at the Jebel Ali Racecourse yesterday.

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CNN’s Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.

In our series of viewpoints from African journalists, film-maker and columnist Farai Sevenzo asks what kind of continent awaits the soon-to-be-crowned new Africa Cup of Nations champions.

And while my friends claim I often read too much into the meaning of sporting events, I have been beaming with the rest of southern Africa at the emergence of Zambia as a fully fledged African gladiator on the football field.

Would southern Africans have switched allegiances had the final pitted Ivory Coast with Tunisia?

What of a Zambia vs Mali final? Would that split the African audience along colonial allegiances?

Did South Sudan support their neighbour Sudan even as border disputes simmer between the old and new nations?

Has the year that has gone by seen the north take strident steps towards a new identity – that of being more Arab than African?

Is it the Arab League more than the African Union that now holds sway over our northern neighbours?

The events in sunny Gabon and rain-soaked Equatorial Guinea these past weeks did not answer these questions – and while the footballers took our attention, the politicians were meeting in a brand new headquarters in Ethiopia's capital for an ordinary session of the African Union.

These headquarters had been built by our new friends, the Chinese – who splashed out an intriguing $200m (£127m) on a building for an African Union at a time when such a union has never looked less likely.

It was left to the likes of President Robert Mugabe to call the African Union a "toothless bulldog" that had done nothing to prevent the murder of civilians in Libya and the killing of his friend Muammar Gaddafi – and to warn the gathered Africans yet again that "the West are after our resources".

It is said the recognition of Libya's National Transitional Council by the African Union had irked the veteran leader into this combative position.

The Chinese building in Addis Ababa, however, was the star of this ordinary meeting of African leadership.

It spoke plainly that while talk is of safeguarding resources, Gabon, Angola and Zimbabwe will already have been offering their oil and minerals to the new global power that builds buildings, erects cities and football stadia – all in the name of business and nothing else.

The revolutions will linger and allegiances change and by the time the final is played and won in the coming days, Africa's champions may well be reigning over a very different union of African nations – one seeking a new purpose, direction and a new set of teeth.

If you would like to comment on Farai Sevenzo's column, please do so below.

Story By: by Bill Chappell

The Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 shoots its water cannons at a Sea Shepherd craft during an altercation on Feb. 12, 2012. The photo was released by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

A group of Japanese whalers has failed to win an injunction against U.S. anti-whaling activists, as a federal judge refused their request for protections from boats owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The ruling was made in Seattle, where the whalers’ group, the Institute for Cetacean Research, had filed suit. In addition to restraints on Sea Shepherd, the whalers were hoping the judge would impose a freeze on the activists’ finances.

From the Northwest News Network, Tom Banse reports:

“U.S. federal district court judge Richard Jones did not give a reason for denying the request for a preliminary injunction. It would have prevented the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society from interfering with the Japanese whaling fleet.”

“Outside the courthouse, a spokesman for the whalers, Gavin Carter, expressed disappointment.”

“‘At the end of the day, you can’t have lawlessness on the high seas. You can’t have anarchy on the high seas,’ he said. ‘There has to be some structure under which ships can go about their legal business.’”

Sea Shepherd attorney Dan Harris tells Banse that his group, based in northwest Washington state, doesn’t believe whaling is a legal business.

“If a heroin dealer came to federal court and sought an injunction to be able to continue to sell their heroin in a particular neighborhood without interference from anyone,” he says, “I have no doubt that the court would turn them down.”

The group of Japanese whalers insists that its crew members have come under dangerous attacks, by smoke bombs and projectiles filled with either paint or butyric acid. It maintains a webpage listing the alleged attacks.

Clashes between the two groups are also documented on the TV show Whale Wars — including one incident in early 2010, when a collision between two ships resulted in a Sea Shepherd vessel’s bow being sheared off.

The AP reports, “Japan’s whaling fleet kills up to 1,000 whales a year, an allowed exception under a ruling by the International Whaling Commission. Japan is permitted to hunt the animals as long as they are caught for research and not commercial purposes. Whale meat not used for study is sold as food in Japan, which critics say is the real reason for the hunts.”

Japan’s whaling season runs from November or December to February or March. Last year, the country ordered an early halt to the Antarctic season, citing potentially dangerous interference by Sea Shepherd.

<span class="articleLocation”>(Reuters) – Portland Trail Blazers centre Greg Oden underwent micro-fracture surgery on his left knee and will miss the remainder of the National Basketball Association season, the team said on Monday.

Dr. Richard Steadman, who has worked on the knees of numerous Olympic skiers, performed the surgery at his Vail, Colorado, clinic.

It is another setback for Oden, the number one overall pick in the 2007 draft, who has been plagued by knee problems throughout his career and has not played a game since 2009.

“This is not the news we were hoping for Greg or the organization,” said Trail Blazers president Larry Miller. “It’s hard to put into words the heartbreak for everyone involved but especially for Greg.

“He’s a young man who has experienced a great number of physical challenges in his playing career and today is yet another significant setback for him.”

Since being drafted, Oden has played in just 82 games (60 starts), averaging 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a game.

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Ian Ransom)

Expired credit card
I have been using Mashreq’s credit card for more than three years. In December 2010, I cancelled my visa from a Sharjah company and went to India. Since January 2011, my cousin in Dubai paid the minimum payment every month until I came back to the UAE in October 2011. Everything was fine.
My card expired in March 2011 when I was in India. Upon returning, I called Mashreq to get my card reactivated. They said: “Sir, we have sent you a new card already. Since you were not here, the card was returned to Mashreq, and as per the new rule we cannot re-send the card. The only thing you can do now is to please settle the dues completely and the card will automatically be cancelled. Then you have to apply for a new one.”
Is this fair? I have seen Gulf News help people in such cases, therefore I request Gulf News to look into this matter.
From Mr Rajeev Sreedharan
Ajman

The management of Mashreq responds:
We would like to thank Gulf News for sharing Mr Rajeev Sreedharan’s letter.
We have initiated an investigation and it reveals that Mr Sreedharan travelled out of the UAE in December 2010 and returned in October 2011. While Mr Sreedharan arranged for monthly payments to be made against his Mashreq credit card, the card expiry was due in March 2011 and we had arranged for a new card to be delivered to him but it was returned to the bank as undelivered, as he was not reachable.
As per bank policy, we are unable to reinstate the card, as the customer was out of the country at the time we dispatched the new card. The same has been communicated to Mr Sreedharan. We would like to thank Gulf News for seeking clarification.

Mr Sreedharan responds:
Even though the bank’s reply did not favour me, Gulf News’ prompt action regarding this matter is appreciated.

Customer service
I spoke to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s (ADCB) customer service executive on October 18 on the toll free number 8002030. The previous month, ADCB sent me my statement two days late and they charged interest on the outstanding amount.
I explained to the customer service executive that it was not my fault, as I received my statement late so why should I pay the interest and finance charges? He was extremely rude on the phone and at times told me a straight “no” that the charges would not be reversed. When I asked to speak to someone senior, instead of treating my request, he said that even a senior representative would tell me the same thing. He also said that the bank will never refund finance charges.
He told me that I should call the bank and ask when they will send me the statement. I deposit my money in a bank to get a service from the bank. Why should I have to call them up and ask them to send my statement?
On two occasions, he mentioned the amount of Dh5 as the finance charges, probably to make me realise the money involved is a very small amount. I do not mind paying anything as far as the amount is justified.
Had he behaved a little less rudely I would have also complied. But trying to make me realise my responsibility of calling the bank and asking for the statement is very bad customer service.
I would like to ask Gulf News to assist in this matter as I would like a senior representative to liaise with me. I have placed a complaint with ADCB as well and I am awaiting their reply.
Thank you for your help.
From Mr Kunal Bhatia
Dubai

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Story By: by Scott Hensley

Dolphin bite? There’s a medical code for that.

Poking fun at a complex new system for classification of diseases is surprisingly easy and enjoyable.

Yes, there are codes your doctor will be able to use someday to submit bills for treatment of a dolphin bite (W5601XA), being struck by a dolphin (W5602XA) or “other contact” with a dolphin (W5603XA). And that’s just the start.

Thousands of detailed codes form the backbone of a billing system that the federal government has been seeking to modernize for a while. The U.S., unlike other countries, is still using old codes.

But it’s going to take a while longer before things change. The Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday it’s delaying implementation of the ICD-10, short for International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision.

Many doctors had raised a ruckus about the inconvenience and expense of switching to ICD-10 when so many other things are changing in health care.

The regulations requiring the move were published three years ago, and were set to take effect in Oct. 2013, two years later than originally planned.

Even so, the American Medical Association, among others, has argued the regulatory burden imposed on doctors by ICD-10 is heavy and is inconsistent with President Obama’s executive order telling federal agencies to look for ways to reduce bureaucratic headaches.

An AMA letter (sent on Groundhog Day) to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius laid out the doctors’ case. And today Sebelius saw it the AMA’s way. A new deadline will be set in a future, but unspecified, round of regulation-writing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the AMA praised the delay. “The timing of the ICD-10 transition could not be worse for physicians as they are spending significant financial and administrative resources implementing electronic health records in their practices and trying to comply with multiple quality and health information technology programs that include penalties for noncompliance,” Dr. Peter Carmel, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.

The delay is likely to irk hospitals and insurers who’ve spent a lot of dough on getting ready for the ICD-10 system, since HHS has said the 2013 deadline was for real.

“Sounds like the lowest common denominator in the health care system wins out,” health industry consultant Bob Laszewski wrote in a blog post. “It was obvious a year ago that the docs … weren’t going to be ready yet [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] kept telling everyone to keep spending big money on all of this.”

White Stag Block, Portland, Ore. — In one of America’s greenest cities, three long-vacant historic commercial buildings have been brought back to life in a textbook example of sustainable development.