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Singapore did not copy the idea or design for Jewel Changi Airport from anyone. Changi Airport Group (CAG) and world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie, who designed the structure that has drawn international acclaim since its opening in April, have hit back at the chief of Qatar Airways, who made the accusation. At the unveiling of expansion plans for Qatar's Hamad International Airport in Doha two weeks ago, Mr Akbar Al Baker said, in an obvious reference to Changi's Jewel: "When I show you the images later (of the planned enhancements), you will realise that somebody copied our design, which was already on the table nearly six years ago... We had individuals from that country, I will not name it, that took our design and did it." An indoor waterfall and massive gardens are among the features planned that are strikingly similar to what Changi's Jewel offers. Construction is to commence by early next year, Mr Al Baker said. Responding to the copycat allegation, CAG chief executive Lee Seow Hiang told The Straits Times yesterday: "We value the originality and creativity of ideas as we innovate to elevate the Changi experience for all our visitors. We respect intellectual property rights and expect the same of all our partners." When Changi embarked on the Jewel project, the mission was to create a game-changing airport experience, he said. In July 2012, a competitive process was put in place to seek out the best ideas around the world for an integrated lifestyle complex. The contract was eventually awarded in May 2013 to CapitaLand for its proposal featuring a design conceptualised by Safdie Architects "which we found to be the most compelling", Mr Lee said. "Safdie Architects has since informed us that they have not done any work in Qatar; neither has Mr Safdie ever visited the country", he stressed. Mr Safdie said: "We have been pursuing the concept of gardens as a focal point for the public realm for many decades. We have also explored the concept of harvesting the rain into internal rainfalls at Ben Gurion Airport (Israel) and Marina Bay Sands. "The success of these explorations have further inspired and led us to create a new icon in the Jewel that we see today - a new kind of urban place that celebrates the elements of nature and urban life. "We are delighted that Jewel's uniqueness and originality has been well-recognised by the international community and resulted in many wanting to emulate it." The 10-storey complex has attracted about 50 million visitors since it opened six months ago. Design in question:

In my other thread, I slammed the Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Economy class product for the cramped seating. To be fair to Qatar, this thread is about giving good feedback on their newest A350 aircraft economy product. It is really good! We only got to fly the A350 on the final leg of our journey, which was the Doha-Singapore leg. This is the picture of the cockpit (from the aerobridge) of the Airbus A350, after landing at Changi. Here is my flight review video of the A350 experience. https://youtu.be/MeTxDyDYHyQ Qatar Airways A350 Flight on the new Airbus A350 from Doha to Singapore. It was a 0700hrs departure from Doha and landed in Singapore at 1950 hrs local time. We were travelling from London to Singapore, with a 45 minute layover in Doha. We had a 45 minute layover in Doha. The transfer was rather rushed, but still do-able. QR 002 landed in Doha on time, but we did not have an aero-bridge. We had to take a bus to the terminal, similar to earlier experience. At Doha, we had to re-do security screening, which fortunately was very fast and hassle free. There were many transfer passengers, however, I noticed that they cleared us very quickly as compared to say LHR. Some kind of huge yellow ultra big toy in the middle of the hall? Didn't have time to take a look. This picture was taken while walking! We boarded the aircraft rather late, i.e. almost all the other passengers had boarded. From the transfer security area, it was a rather long walk to the gate for the Airbus A350 flight to Singapore. I recall it was at Gate B8. See the time stamp on the Gate - 0647hrs! Yes, we got there just in the nick of time. The plane was new. This flight was rather empty so I had an empty seat beside me. Seat space was decent and the IFE system was modern with a nifty touchscreen.I found this video clip on the touchscreen IFE. Exciting! Onboard the aircraft now. Here is the safety card, Airbus A350-900. I found the safety card to be unexpectedly worn and used, I wonder why. I had thought the A350 was a very new aircraft? I was seated near the front of the aircraft. It was a day flight and I think most pax were not sleepy, unlike us. This is how the IFE system looked like. Very modern, and even better than the system on the Boeing 787. Service on board was good. Overall, Qatar offers a top notch product. Pity, however, the seat space on the Boeing 787 is terrible - that is for another video review. For the food, we had two meals. First meal of breakfast was served shortly after takeoff. We had three choices of the hot meal. I had the Asian inspired Thai-style with fried rice. As this was breakfast, it felt too early for alcohol, but I think I had some. After breakfast, I had a decent sleep, about 4 hours. Woke up about 2 hours before landing. The next meal served before landing was a light one. Sandwich plus cake and drinks. Still, it was a definitely a good snack. Taste was good, presentation was good. Landing in SIN was on time. The FAs were very pleasant and attentive throughout. I appreciate the extra attention they showered on my two kids. In this video, I also remember the recent earthquake tragedy in Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Several young primary school children and teachers lost their lives, due to falling boulders. Rest in peace. Thanks for reading.

Beware, if you are thinking of flying with Qatar Airways. They have Boeing 787 Dreamliners (I think 30). The Economy class seats are incredibly cramped. We flew to London with Qatar and on 2 of the 4 legs, we had the Boeing 787. The flights Singapore to Doha QR 945, departing SIN at 0230 - Boeing 787-800 Doha to London Heathrow QR 011 departing DOH at 0550 - Airbus A340 (45 minute layover at Doha) For the return London Heathrow to Doha, QR 002 - departing LHR at 2130 - Boeing 787-800 Doha to Singapore, QR 938 - departing at DOH at 0700 - Airbus A350 (very new plane!) I made some flight review videos, if you are interested to see the cabin. Singapore to Doha https://youtu.be/HEAy1KHMVtw London to Doha https://youtu.be/_bkNZfvfFf4 On a more positive note, the rest of the experience was good. The new Airbus A350 and the older Airbus A340 product was good too. So, it is just this Boeing 787 product. Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Singapore to Doha This is the flight review video - https://youtu.be/HEAy1KHMVtw This was the very first leg, Singapore to Doha. The flight would depart SIN at 0230. By that time, we were all very sleepy. A picture of the departures that early morning. Fortunately, Changi Airport had some loungers where we could snooze a bit. The loungers were very popular though. That area of the airport was very quiet and you could look at some plants and even a small water feature. Boarding was smooth and departure was slightly early, which was good because our connection at Doha was 45 minutes and we were wondering whether we could make the connection. The flight from Singapore to Doha would take about 7 hours. Now, I begin my rant. They call the Boeing 787 the Dreamliner, but it is certainly no dream sitting in the Economy class. Why? The seats are awfully cramped and the legroom is crazily tight. Even my kids felt a bit squashed and they are small in size. The Boeing 787 in Economy is in a 3-3-3 configuration. I went into lots of detail about this point in my flight review video. But here are some pictures to illustrate my point. This picture shows you the legroom available and the infamous IFE box, which takes up some space. The remaining space in front of my can barely take my backpack, which is by no means big. This picture shows you my legs in that small space. Another picture showing you the cramped seat and legroom. I guess for a short flight, say 2-3 hours, it is still ok. But for a red-eye, it is a completely different proposition. Do watch my video as I show you more of the cramped seating and I also take a walk around the cabin and you can see for yourselves the seating situation. To be fair to Qatar, other than the cramped seats on the B787 (which you can appreciate is a big deal given that we spend 99% of our time in the seat during a flight), all other aspects of the flight was very good, if not excellent. International crew was attentive and very pleasant. Service was prompt. The IFE system was very modern. Shortly after takeoff, we were served with a sandwich snack. These were warm sandwiches as well as a nice piece of warm cake. They were delicious. You could have a full bar service with your sandwich, that was nice. Thereafter they turned off the cabin lights so that we could get some sleep. 2 hours before landing, they served a full meal (breakfast). We landed early, which was a relief. To my surprise, we didn't have an aerobridge. We had to be take an airport bus to the terminal. However, while on the bus, I noticed that there were many empty aero-bridges. Strange. Were they deliberately creating work for the buses? I don't know. Here is a picture taken while boarding the airport bus at Doha Airport. The ground crew were unloading luggage, especially those that required rapid transfer. Anyway, do watch my review video if you want to see more, including the cabin, the food and even the bus ride from the plane to the terminal at Doha. Qatar Airways Boeing 787 London to Doha, Flight QR2. This was the flight back to Singapore, via Doha, on our way home. We had a good holiday in London. Now, it was time to go home. Departure was from London Heathrow Terminal 4. I spent quite some time at the Observation Deck and made a number of videos, see this link - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-ireland/1686930-viewheathrow-london-heathrow-terminal-4-a.html This is the flight review video. https://youtu.be/_bkNZfvfFf4 Gate 22 was the Boarding Gate. It was a short walk from the main terminal. Read this sign. Some planes parked at Terminal 4. We would be walking over to the other side for Gates 22-25. That would be our ride to Doha. Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner, A7-BCK. Spotted this plane coming in. Air One. Airbus A320. I checked wikipedia which reported that this company has ceased operations in 30 Oct 2014. So this plane is now operated by Alitalia? Boarding was quick and smooth and we got to our seats quickly. Now, in my last report, I had already made a big deal about the cramped seat. That left me thinking, what else can I do to illustrate to readers just how narrow the seat is? An idea struck me, let's do a selfie. Check out this photo of me. I am seated upright, leaning back against the seat fully, with shoulders touching the seat. Look where my shoulders fall and look where my arms are, in this relaxed position. I am by no means a big guy. To be more specific, I am about 5"9 and weigh around 160 pounds. And that's how cramped the seat is for somebody like me. See also the video, where I did a video version of the selfie, just to make the point clear to all interested viewers. Alright, it would take 6.5 hours to Doha. In the air. The main meal was served and I chose the beef. It was pretty good. The meal came with this small piece of chocolate, which was very good. Fortunately for me, the load on this leg was light enough such that the seat in between me and the other chap on the other aisle seat was empty. Phew! Much more comfortable. At least I managed to catch some sleep. Woke up about 2 hours before landing. This was the breakfast snack, which was pretty good. All the snacks we had on Qatar were good. We were put in a holding position before landing and that got me a bit anxious since our connection was only 45 minutes. Anyway, I figured the next plane would wait for us (I hope!). I took this photo to show you a comfortable leg position. Obviously, such a position is not possible if the middle seat is taken. This would be the typical position for my legs if the middle seat were taken. You can see that it would NOT be comfortable at all, especially if you are trying to sleep! Despite the holding pattern over Doha, I think we still landed on schedule. Again, we had to be bussed to the terminal. Oh well, at least I had an empty seat beside me for this London to Doha leg. That made the flight very much more comfortable.

http://rt.com/news/215363-qatar-fifa-fake-fans/ Migrant workers in Qatar get one dollar an hour for sitting in the stadiums and pretending to have fun, to applaud and to do the wave, AP reports. Sometimes they even were asked to dress like Qataris in white robes and head-scarves.

what was the amount singapore spent on YOG? [laugh]

In the Middle East, where some of the richest people on this planet live, super cars are left abandoned in the desert under the hot scorching sun. Why are these cars left to rot under severe temperatures and harsh weather conditions? Let us unveil the story behind these once magnificent rides. One of the reasons behind this is failed entrepreneurship. The picture above shows a Ferrari Enzo in a police impound lot. This is where cars of failed entrepreneurs end up. Some might think that it just need some wash and wax and a through interior tidy up. But by looking at the amount of sand and dust, including the hot temperature the car has been exposed to every single day, nobody can truly guess the impact of damage it had gone through. Only 400 units of the Enzo were ever produced. Fitted with a 6.0 litre V12 engine and a six-speed F1 styled transmission, with shift paddles. It produces 651 bhp at 7800 rpm and 657 N m of torque at 5500 rpm. If Enzo Ferrari is still alive today, this would probably break his heart. The next example shown above is the Jaguar XJ220. It was found abandoned in a Qatari desert. This car was originally sold in Dubai and was last seen in Beirut about six years ago. It was found with only 560 miles on the clock. Once known as the rarest car on this planet, has now left to rot in a desert. The Jaguar was most probably abandoned due to the same reasons as the Ferrari. It was, at one time, the world's fastest production car. A total of 281 XJ220 were made. Comes with a 3.5 litre twin turbocharged V6 engine and 5 speed manual transmission. It produces 542 bhp at 7000 rpm and 645 N m of torque at 4500 rpm. With these cars being really super rare and even if someone has the money to buy one right now, he or she has to wait for someone to let go of it. And when that time comes, the price would be in the millions. I wonder who the cars

LINK SHANGHAI : A Chinese pilot's refusal to give up his landing slot to a passenger plane that issued a distress call to say it was running out of fuel almost caused a disaster, state media reported Thursday. China's privately-owned Juneyao Airlines confirmed that one of its pilots refused to give way when a Qatar Airways plane contacted air traffic controllers at Hongqiao airport, asking permission to land immediately. The pilot of the Qatar plane said it had just five minutes' worth of fuel left after it was diverted from Shanghai, the Global Times newspaper reported, adding that a disastrous accident was only narrowly averted. The Qatar plane was travelling from Doha to Shanghai when it was ordered to divert due to a thunderstorm on August 13. Air traffic controllers in Hongqiao, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) from Shanghai, ordered the Juneyao pilot to circle the airport and allow the Qatar plane to land first, but the pilot refused. The Global Times said the Juneyao pilot claimed he had been waiting "a long time" and needed to land "right now", citing comments posted online. Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines, which was founded in 2005, said the pilot and crew had been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, but that the "rumours on the Internet are far from the truth". "It remains doubtful whether the fuel on the Qatar Airways plane was really fewer than five minutes," the paper quoted a spokeswoman as saying. "And why didn't it inform the tower controller earlier?" At one point, the two aircraft came perilously close for there to be a risk of collision, according to an aviation forum quoted in The Global Times. "A Mayday is rare and means the plane is in an extreme emergency and may even face the danger of a crash," the paper quoted an unnamed senior air traffic control official as saying. China's civil aviation authority said in a statement it was investigating the incident and those responsible would be "severely punished". The Qatar plane landed safely after the incident. - AFP/ir

Was following the annoucement ceremony on the World Cup ytr... I was told that Qatar winning bid include plan to build new stadium for the World Cup... after the World Cup, the new Stadium (so of them) will be dismanlte and then given to 3rd world country as a gift... sort of promoting the football in 3rd world countries in Africa. Is it possible? we are easily talking abt stadium that easily seat 40K~60K ppl and cause billions to build... is there really any sense in this kind of project? wont the relocation cause as much? Could this just be marketing trick or really possible.

The pic shows the Qatar track which held the first night race for the Moto GP 2008 season. The race was held yesterday. There is a repeat telecast on Star Sports this evening at 10.30pm. The track lit up was very professionally done...wonder will Singapore 1st GP be able to match them when the first F1 night race starts in Sept 2008.