It saddened me to read your article One family carried out deadly Indonesia church bombings (May 13). The suicide attack by one family which took the lives of so many engaged in prayer in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, is unacceptable and tragic. The attack against Indonesia's minority community shows once again that terrorist groups hate co-existence. It is a truly sad state of affairs.
K Ragavan, Denver
Everyone wants to control Syria for their own reasons
In reference to your article Russia should walk away from Iran or risk regional escalation: experts (May 13): everyone, it seems, is looking to control Syria, just on a series of different fronts.
Haitham Barwani, UAE
I write in response to your editorial Israel and Iran are walking us towards the precipice in Syria (May 10): it is indeed true that unless the conflict in Syria is contained, we might be headed towards another world war, since a global superpower, namely Russia, is actively involved in supporting Iran.
US President Donald Trump should bring to the task of resolving this crisis the energy and out-of-the-box thinking that characterised his negotiations with North Korea. This bleeding imbroglio needs urgent attention.
Rajendra Aneja, Dubai
Smartwatch makers should create apps to suit our needs
I am writing in response to the article Fitbit smartwatches: how do the Versa and the Ionic stack up? (May 13): the makers of these smartwatches need to work on calculating the number of floors the wearer has climbed. They need to develop their own apps for food scanning and create more databases like other apps.
There are also issues when it comes to synchronising with other apps. The sleep mode is not very accurate, although it is better than others.
I use Charge 2, which is better than similar watches, but it does have some technical problems. It still does not calculate the floors correctly and its sleep mode function is not accurate.
There are cheaper smartwatches available but from the reviews I read, Fitbit still seems to have the edge on its competitors.
Ziad Albasir, UAE
Please keep mosques open during the holy month
Nowadays most of the mosques of Abu Dhabi open only during prayer times and remain shut at other times. Even the ablution facilities and courtyards are closed. Anyone who simply wants to read the Quran or arrives late at the mosque is not able to perform their prayers.
I hope and wish that the authorities will direct all mosques to remain open at all times during the month of Ramadan so that Muslims can pray and read the Quran and make use of other facilities.
MA Mannan, Abu Dhabi
