Gulf News leads today with a report about the flash floods in the Philippines saying that the number of people dead or missing has risen to at least 284.Officials fear worse weather is set to come.

“A second cyclone is threatening the eastern Philippines but it’s difficult to predict damage it might cause,” Met official Geoffrey Love told the paper. “This storm could reach the east of the archipelago in the next two or three days and its intensity could increase during that time.”

Khaleej Times also focuses on world disasters with its report on the tsunami which struck the south Pacific islands of Samoa.

The National’s main story is about the UAE establishing the world’s first ever DNA database for all residents. Basically, everyone - Emiratis and expats alike – would have to give a sample of their DNA to be stored in a central database. Is this not a step too far? Residents have already given their fingerprints and iris scans for ID cards, don’t the authorities have enough of our personal data already?

While Emirates Business reports on an increase in requests for developers to convert offices in Dubai into homes – strange when there are estimated to be 30,000 surplus properties in the emirate…

PS. We’re pleased to see Saudi Gazette is back up and running today after a two week break. Although, it we might have been the only ones to see a homepage frozen in time after a reader Muscat said the site was working fine for them.

The following report is from Bloomberg.

A tsunami in the Pacific Ocean caused by a magnitude-8 earthquake may have killed more than 120 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, as well as prompting warnings that waves may hit Japan and the US west coast.

The toll in Samoa, where 26 people are confirmed dead, may rise to 100 as rescue teams reach isolated villages, Radio New Zealand reported, citing an estimate by the nation’s Disaster Management Office. At least 19 people are dead in American Samoa, according to territory director of homeland security, Mike Sala. Tonga is checking reports of 10 deaths.

A 5-foot (1.5-meter) tsunami was reported at Pago Pago, on the northern side of American Samoa, the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Waves have been as high 15 feet in other parts of the island, Eni Faleomavaega, the territory’s delegate to the US Congress told Agence France-Presse.

The quake was the biggest since a magnitude-8.1 tremor hit east of the Kuril Islands in Russia in January 2007. The Pacific warning center extended a tsunami advisory to the west coast of the U.S. from the Californian-Mexican border to the Oregon-Washington border.

A warning was issued by Japan’s weather agency for an 0.5 meter (1.6 feet) tsunami to hit the country’s eastern seaboard by 3 pm Japanese time. Officials in Ofunato, a city in northern Japan, ordered the evacuation of about 10,000 residents, according to a notice on the municipality’s Web site.

A tsunami alert issued for the South Pacific region was later canceled.

President Barack Obama declared a “major disaster” in American Samoa, the White House said in an e-mailed statement. The declaration makes government funding immediately available for aid operations and rebuilding in the territory that has a population of about 65,600 people.

The tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-8.0 earthquake shortly before 7 am local time on September 29 about 122 miles (196 kilometers) southwest of Apia, the Samoan capital.

We found these guidelines on how to use the metro published in Gulf News today.  Now, is it just us or are these not common sense…?

- If standing, hold on to one of the handrails to avoid falling

- Please give up you seat to the elderly or to those in greater need

- Do not use the emergency call points and emergency stop buttons without any real emergency

- Touch your card to the card reader machine and walk through briskly

- Do not loiter within the gate area

- Please carry the children under five to avoid the gates closing on them.

- Do not run

- Do not crowd and obstruct walkways in the stations

- Stand aside and let arriving passengers alight before you board

- Do not attempt to board once the doors are closing.

The Arabian Business team is a bit tired this morning after all the excitement of the CEO Awards last night.

There was a great turnout with lots of Dubai’s top movers and shakers there – so much so there almost wasn’t room for us to sit down at the tables.

One guest was playing a little game of guess the wealth in the room. He was asking people to put a price tag on how much everyone was worth. Totals ranged from $20bn to $50bn, but it was a bit like playing pin the tail on the donkey, they were really just taking a stab in the dark. Feel free to post your guesses below.

Noteworthy winners were: Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) who scooped the prestigious Man of the Year award for his leadership in the Dubai Metro project; Leila El Solh, the vice president of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, winner of the Businesswoman of the Year award; and Arabtec boss Riad Kamal, who received a special Lifetime Achievement Award.

For more more news and a full list of winners read our story here.

Or see pictures of the winners here.

Highlight: Mr Kamal’s guest speech (and joke).

Low: Getting to Grosvenor House Hotel, what is going on with the road works?

A slogan by Mashreq has raised eyebrows around the Gulf this summer amid a slew of international financial scandals.

“We do banking, you do life,” is the strapline used by the UAE’s third biggest bank by revenue in a series of radio and print advertisements.

Following a number of high profile, global corporate scandals over the last year, some people have taken the word “life” in that sentence to mean something very different from what the copywriters had in mind.

The Random House Dictionary of the English Language lists one of the meanings of the word as “a prison sentence covering the remaining portion of the offender’s animate existence”.

“I nearly dropped my mobile phone and coffee when I heard the Mashreq slogan,” a British expat wrote on the popular website Qatar Living.

“Am not sure, as a customer, if I’d ever want to do life, in prison! Whoever did the creative, probably should get life,” blogger UAEian wrote.

Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) is seeking more than $1bn from Mashreq in a counterclaim to the bank’s $150m lawsuit in New York against the troubled Saudi conglomerate.

AHAB has accused Mashreq of aiding and abetting fraud, conversion and breach of fiduciary duty, as well as unjust enrichment and bad faith.

Dubai-based advertising agency Team Y&R was responsible for creating Mashreq’s “you do life” slogan.

“In a fast-paced world, Mashreq ensures its customers enjoy what they cherish most. Life. Since different people interpret convenience differently, Mashreq’s range of products and services ensures that everyone’s life is made easier,” a spokesperson said.

“This research has translated in to a consumer promise and our tagline of - ‘we do banking, you do life,’ meaning we focus on looking after your financial well being so that you can focus on enjoying life.”