NEWS FROM THE U.A.E.
Excerpts from UAE Dailies
Worker dies in crowded camp fire
Dubai - 25 June: One worker was burnt to death, and 19 others suffered various burns and injuries in a fire which started at a labour camp in Satwa, Dubai, early yesterday morning.
Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Al Sayegh, the acting Director General of Dubai Civil Defence, said that the fire started around 3.15am.
“The fire started in a traditional villa, divided into 10 rooms and as many as 65 workers were living in it. The workers were sleeping when the fire started. They were taken by surprise and did not react quickly.” He added: “The main rea son for this fire was a lack of safety measures. The villa was divided into many rooms without the permission from the municipality.” Lt Col Al Sayegh added that they were forced to rescue the workers by breaking the window-air conditioning units and helping the workers escape through the holes.
He added that the injured workers were taken to Rashid Hospital.
“One worker died and seven workers suffered serious injuries.Ten others had minor injuries and one worker was discharged after receiving treatment.” He said that the civil defence team extinguished the blaze within minutes.
“The owner had kept a huge number of workers in the house, and this is a breach of safety measures. Thus, we are going to prepare a report and send it to the municipality.” Residents of the gutted villa, who were mainly from Sri Lanka, told Emirates Today that they believed the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit.
Meanwhile, another fire gutted a villa occupied by about 200 Indian expatriate workers behind the Rolla Masjid in Sharjah at noon.
Fortunately, the occupants – mainly of whom were construction workers from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab – were outside the building when the fire began, but their belongings and documents were destroyed.
EMIRATES TODAY
New emiratisation drive
Abu Dhabi: 25 June: Private companies must henceforth recruit UAE nationals as human resources managers and secretaries, the labour minister said on Saturday.
"This will create 21,536 jobs including 671 managers," said Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi.
Private businesses are being given 18 months to replace their existing human resources and personnel managers with UAE nationals, while no more work permits for secretaries will be issued with immediate effect, according to two decisions signed by Al Ka'abi on Saturday.
The minister said foreign secretaries who hold valid labour cards and are recruited by virtue of job contracts will remain in their jobs until the end of their limited-period contracts or otherwise until the end of the labour cards, "whichever is earlier".
This, Dr Al Ka'abi said, implies that neither the job contracts nor the labour cards of secretaries will be renewed.
"Furthermore, private companies will not be allowed to transfer sponsorship of secretaries and they will not be issued temporary or part-time work permits or mission permits. Secretaries sponsored by their husbands or parents will no longer be issued labour cards," he said.
"The labour ministry's new emiratisation plan is meant to strengthen the recruitment of UAE nationals in certain jobs rather than in economic sectors after it [the ministry] found a lack of commitment to the emiratisation quota imposed by the Cabinet in the banking, insurance and trade companies."
Companies which wish to recruit UAE national secretaries should coordinate with Tanmia, the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority and other human resource development programmes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
Emiratisation, he said, will now be on the basis of profession, a policy that has succeeded in private companies with 100 workers or more, which recruit UAE nationals as government relations officers, also known as PROs.
The new decisions are applicable to all private companies, regardless of the number of their workers.
Dr Al Ka'abi said the emiratisation of human resource managers was prompted by foreign human resources managers' "preference to recruit their own nationals."
Calling the 18 months a suitable grace period, Dr Al Ka'abi said Tanmia will provide training to UAE citizens to be recruited in place of foreign human managers.
GULF NEWS
Thousands of jobs to be created
Abu Dhabi/Dubai: 25 June: Emiratisation of the human resources managers and secretaries posts will create thousands of jobs for UAE nationals, said Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour.
Al Ka'abi also said the companies must abide by the decision fixing minimum salaries for UAE nationals.
The decision says that if the UAE nationals are not paid as per the monthly-wages criteria set Dh5,000 for post-secondary school certificate holders, Dh4,000 for secondary school certificate holders and Dh3,000 for those below secondary school education the private companies employing them will not meet the quota criteria.
The Ministry of Labour's decision to replace foreign human resources (HR) managers and secretaries with UAE nationals has drawn mixed reaction.
A Palestinian HR manager who wished not to be named called it a good step. However, he added: "I think that UAE nationals need to be trained in this profession and 18 months is definitely not enough.
"I do not think that I will end up jobless as we can develop and improve this profession."
Ameena Taher, head of Marketing and Public Relations of Zabeel Investment, called it an excellent decision.
Ameena, a UAE national, believes that the grace period is short but the mission is feasible. "I think companies will manage to meet the target because there are many UAE nationals to fill this post but it may get harder when it comes to the secretarial jobs."
Jasem, another UAE national employee, said: "Many UAE nationals have higher qualifications than those required for secretary jobs, therefore the government should focus on other professions and sectors."
Sharon N, an Indian secretary, said she was shocked by the decision. "What do I do? I do not know anything besides being a secretary. Will they be giving us replacement jobs?"
Reena C., another Indian secretary, asked: "Will a local secretary work six days a week doing 8am to 6pm work with a half-an-hour lunch break? Will they work for a salary of Dh3,000 to Dh4,000?"
Statistics
670 vacancies to be made available
Emiratisation of the human resources jobs will create 671 jobs, including 140 in Abu Dhabi, 449 in Dubai, 61 in Sharjah, 8 in Al Ain, 3 in Fujairah, 5 each in Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Labour.
Emiratisation of executive secretary and secretarial jobs will create 20,865 jobs, including 4,399 in Abu Dhabi, 12,475 in Dubai, 2,647 in Sharjah, 378 in Al Ain, 83 each in Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain, 7 in Khor Fakkan, 257 in Ras Al Khaimah, 499 in Ajman, 6 in Kalbaa and 13 in Madinet Zayed.
GULF NEWS
Public schools to admit expat pupils next year
Dubai: 25 June: Expatriate pupils will be re-admitted into public schools in stages with Grade I pupils to join first, said the Minister of Education on Saturday.
Expatriate pupils will be initially admitted to Grade I of government schools, starting 2006-07 academic year, said Dr Hanif Hassan.
According to a Ministry of Education circular, government schools will start admitting pupils to the rest of the grades from 2007-08 academic year.
The move follows a Cabinet decision earlier this month, which readmitted expatriate children into government schools reverting a five-year-old rule.
The school fees for Grade I Dh 6,000, which is equal to the amount expatriates working in federal departments get as school fee per child, according to the circular.
Parents who work for federal bodies will still be entitled for the Dh6,000 school-fee allowance if their children continue to study in private schools.
Dr Hanif Hassan told Gulf News that parents who wish to enroll their children in public schools can contact the school of their choice and make the necessary arrangements with the school administration.
"To make the admission process smooth for schools and pupils, each school will be responsible for enrolment, the ministry and zones will not get directly involved in this process," said Dr Hassan.
According to the circular, pupils have to undergo an evaluation test and an interview to get enrolled in public schools. A committee set up by the school will deal with the admission by evaluating the qualities and skills of the pupils.
Pupils enrolling for other grades, starting 2007-08 academic year, have to secure an average of 90 per cent to qualify for the entrance examination.
According to the new regulation, expatriate pupils will only be allowed to take up 20 per cent of the overall number of pupils in the school and each class.
Also, no additional classes will be allowed to be created to cater to the new pupils.
GULF NEWS
DNRD busts 'visa racket gang' in sting operation
Dubai: 25 June: The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department has caught a seven-member gang that specialised in selling fake visa entry permits as well as counterfeit degrees and driving licences.
Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) sources said the suspects were arrested over the weekend in a sting operation where the authorities confiscated forged documents including college and school degrees issued from India as well as driving licences and an unidentified number of forged visa entry permits.
"Several fake stamps of the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs and outside UAE embassies were also seized," the source said.
The gang members were arrested in a sting operation after a DNRD undercover agent posed as a buyer who asked to purchase four visa entry permits which were reportedly sold for more than Dh9,000. During the sting operation, a special team from the DNRD raided a flat in Al Hamriya which the suspects used to allegedly fake the documents including passports.
The DNRD team seized sophisticated computers, typing machines and other equipment which were used in the scam.
Initial interrogations revealed the alleged racketeers divided the job, some of them worked on forging the documents while the rest used to promote and distribute the fake documents.
It is believed that the gang members were selling the visa entry permits for between Dh1,000 and Dh2,500. They allegedly sold the educational degrees for Dh500.
Sources said the DNRD will refer the suspects to the public prosecution after finalising its interrogations.
"Several fake stamps of the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs and UAE embassies outside were also seized."
GULF NEWS
Committee investigates Cadbury products
Dubai: 25 June: The UAE's National Food Safety Committee has ordered withdrawal of all Cadbury chocolate bars from supermarket shelves as a precautionary measure, an official confirmed on Saturday.
The decision came after reports on Friday that more than a million Cadbury products were recalled from the market in the United Kingdom over fears that they may be contaminated with salmonella.
"We are going to hold the products, and then make a survey to collect the necessary information. We cannot know for sure if all the imported products came from the UK," said Dr Ameen Yousuf, a Food Safety Consultant for the General Secretariat of Municipalities.
"If they came from any other country then there will not be any problem," he said.
The National Food Safety Committee on Saturday discussed the order with members of various municipality sections from all emirates, including the Food Control Sections.
The ban on sale of Cadbury products will remain until the committee conducts a thorough investigation with the dealer and clear the products, according to Dr Ameen.
A spokesperson for Cadbury Middle East headquarters told Gulf News that Arab countries are not affected by the contamination found in UK products, and all affected products are limited only to Britain.
"None of the affected products have been exported to other countries, and no Cadbury product in any market, other than the UK and Ireland, are affected," said Christine Deroyan, Legal Counsel for Cadbury Schweppes in the Middle East.
The contamination in the UK was traced to a leaking pipe in West Central England, which has already been repaired.
'Small level of salmonella in chocolate is enough to cause illness'
Cadbury Schweppes insisted on Saturday its products were safe despite waiting five months to inform health authorities it had discovered minute traces of salmonella at one of its UK chocolate factories.
The company announced in London on Friday it was recalling over 1 million chocolate bars in Britain and Ireland as a preventative measure in case they contained the bacterium, which can cause fever, stomach upsets and diarrhoea.
"We are absolutely satisfied that our products are and continue to be safe to eat," the company's European president Matt Shattock told BBC radio.
"We have no evidence that anyone has been ill from eating them," he said.
The recall involves seven products 250 gram bars of Dairy Milk Turkish, Dairy Milk Caramel and Dairy Milk Mint; Dairy Milk 8 chunk bars; 1 kilogram bars of Dairy Milk: Diary Milk Button Easter Eggs (105 grammes); and 10 pence Cadbury Freddo bars.
Hugh Pennington, president of the Society for General Microbiology, told BBC television that just a small level of salmonella in chocolate was enough to cause illness.
Fats in chocolate can protect the bacterium from stomach acids that would otherwise neutralise it. "The only safe level of salmonella in chocolate is zero," he said
GULF NEWS
Police seize cars of girls who harass picnickers
Dubai - 25 June: Police are getting tough, not only with young men, but also with young women who harass members of the opposite sex in an upmarket residential district and picnic spot in Dubai.
Police who are investigating complaints lodged by residents and visiting picnickers at Al Mamzar in Deira say measures, including those against girls, could go beyond warnings and vehicle seizures.
A senior official said police will soon use special cameras to take pictures of problem situations which will be used as proof against offenders.
Dubai Police have already seized the vehicles of young girls involved in harassment at Al Mamzar.
This is the first time that such a step has been taken by police, said Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation.
He said police initially acted upon complaints that some young men were harassing women in their cars in the area, a popular picnic spot in the city. Action was taken against the men, and their cars seized. Brigadier Al Mazeina declined to reveal how many cases were registered with police over the past 36 hours, but he said they were “many”.
“However, we found out that in many cases, boys were not always to blame. Some girls were also involved in harassment, and their cars were also seized.
“We have to be fair, and one cannot blame the boys for every wrongdoing [in these cases]”, he said.
Brigadier Al Mazeina said picnic areas were created in the city “for people to relax and enjoy… not for being harassed. Some people have misused the facilities”, referring to what he called “parades of cars” seen every now and then in the area.
“We will not remain silent to these offences,” he stressed, adding that such behaviour is alien to the culture and traditions of the UAE.
If the phenomenon continues, said Brigadier Al Mazeina, “the measures will no longer be against vehicles, but will be against those involved in harassment”.
He confirmed that a police vehicle has been assigned to keep a watch in the area, and cameras will also be used to take photos of incidents as proof against offenders.
Brigadier Al Mazeina, who also discussed harassment on a popular Arabic service radio station, did not rule out referring cases to the courts of law.
He said photographs taken as proof will be submitted to the courts.
Dubai Police have cracked down hard on offenders involved in sexual harassment cases over the past few years, and published in local newspapers the photographs of men of different nationalities who harassed women in shopping malls, parks and other public places.
The measure, according to police officials, has been an effective tool to curb the menace of public harassment.
EMIRATES TODAY
Donor pays for Indian’s body to return home
Dubai - 25 June: A well-wisher has donated Dh3,000 to the family of Gatoo Jatasowami, the 28-year-old Indian who died late last month after drinking acid in a bid to get Dubai Police to deport him.
The family of the man had been unable to raise the Dh3,000 they needed to send his body back to India and had appealed for help.
The victim’s brother, Naraish Jatasowami, 24, who works as a salesman at a grocery store in the Al Nahda area in Dubai said: “We are very grateful to the Indian man who has paid for the expense of sending my brother’s body back to India.
“We are also grateful to Emirates Today for helping us find a donor.” He had previously said: “Gatoo drank acid and wanted the police to arrest him and deport him to India because he couldn’t afford to pay for an air ticket home.” He said that Gatoo had been staying in Dubai illegally for the past six years.
“He came on a visit visa, and was working as a cleaner on a part-time basis. He did not want to kill himself… all he wanted was to go home, even if it meant taking drastic measures like drinking acid.” He added that they belong to a poor family in Hyderabad. “We are two brothers and three sisters.They live with my parents in India,” he said.
EMIRATES TODAY
Ten per cent of students have planned suicide bids
Abu Dhabi - 25 June: A medical survey by the Ministry of Health has shown that 13 per cent of young teenage students in both government and private schools have seriously thought of committing suicide over the past year.
The survey also said that 9.8 per cent of students in the same grades had actually made a plan to make an attempt on their own lives.
The startling revelations came after the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health and Medical Services (DOHMS) and the General Authority of Health Services (GAHS) in Abu Dhabi, conducted the survey. More than 16,000 students at 200 schools in the UAE were questioned for the survey.
The findings were released at a press conference yesterday by Minister of Health Humaid Al Qutami.
The survey also found that five per cent of the total number of students had tried drugs at least once in their lives.
It also showed that 9.3 per cent had smoked cigarettes at least once during the 30 days prior to the survey’s starting date. Some 39 per cent of the students – aged 13 or younger – had tried cigarettes.
The minister said 31 per cent of the students were exposed to physical assault at least once in a year, and 43.2 per cent of them took part in a physical assault, while 20.8 per cent were exposed to harassment at least once a month.
Of those surveyed 18.8 per cent considered themselves to be part of a gang.
The report did not make clear why such a high percentage of the students were exhibiting such anti-social behaviour.
However, Dr Mariam Al Matroushi, the Director of the Central Administration of School Health, told Emirates Today that the questionnaire, which was distributed to students and working groups, received answers without the students being given the opportunity to explain the questions or interpret the answers.
Al Qutami said that the results of the survey added to the responsibility of the ministry, and that future plans would have to be drafted based on such surveys.
EMIRATES TODAY
Retrial for man who killed his friend by throwing shoe at him
ABU DHABI — 25 June: The Federal Supreme Court has ordered the retrial of an Asian convict for throwing a shoe so forcefully at his friend’s neck that his main blood vessels lacerated, resulting in his death due to internal bleeding.
The Public Prosecution had earlier sought capital punishment. The case unfolded on December 29, 2004, when the culprit and victim had a brawl after a fierce argument over a game of cards.
The Sharjah Public Prosecution charged Omar Farouq with killing Shah Dawoud, by ruthlessly throwing a shoe at his neck that he died on the spot.
The prosecution referred the accused to the Sharjah Shariah Criminal Court, and prayed that he be penalised in consonance with the rulings of the Islamic Shariah, and the related articles of the Federal Penal Code.
The court unanimously on June 27 last sentenced the accused to death, since the victim’s father, who was present at the hearing, insisted on the death penalty.
The accused contested the verdict with the Sharjah Criminal Court of Appeal, which on December 19, 2005, quashed the earlier judgment, sentenced the accused to three years in jail, followed by deportation, and the charge be amended from premeditated murder to assault leading to death.
The prosecution challenged the ruling before the Federal Supreme Court, contending that the previous ruling should be declared null and void on the grounds that it amended the charge from premeditated murder to assault leading to death without giving reasons. Furthermore, the court did not order the accused to pay the set Shariah blood-money (diya), as per the Maliki Jurisprudence School adopted here. The apex court agreed with the prosecution’s rebuttals, and pinpointed that the ruling of the Islamic Shariah are to be observed, and all rulings passed against it are to be declared invalid. Scholars unanimously ruled that diya must be paid in case of any assault leading to death.
The murderer had admitted, before the prosecution, to hurling a sharp-edged shoe at the victim, who fell on the ground and internally bled to death. The convict’s admittance came in line with the testimonies of the two witnesses Mohammed Nadeem Qoraishi, and Shihab Sirdar before the prosecution, the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal, and the autopsy report, which asserted a tight neck deadly assault with a hard object, most likely the seized shoe, that he sustained laceration in the main blood vessels, internal bleeding, low blood pressure, and heart and lung failure. In view of that, the apex court declared the judgment of the court below as null and void, and sent the case back to the Sharjah Criminal Court of Appeal, but before another bench of judges.
KHALEEJ TIMES
When flight got diverted with kids on board, Air India ‘ignored’ parents
DUBAI — 25 June: A mother who waited endlessly to hear from her two children travelling unaccompanied on Air India's Dubai-Poona flight, after it got diverted to Mumbai due to bad weather on Thursday evening, says the airline staff's casual attitude added to the anxiety of the family.
Andrea Irani, mother of Aroushka and Ivanka Irani, aged 10 and 8 years, said the two minors had been booked on Business Class. The children, she said, went through a horrifying experience of being stranded at Mumbai airport, and reached Poona only the next day evening.
As per schedule, the flight that left Dubai at 1900hours should have reached Poona at 2315hours. "But, till 2325hours, we had no news that the flight had been diverted to Mumbai due to bad weather", Andrea told Khaleej Times. “Air India ground staff at Poona airport were not being cooperative and didn't answer queries. Nobody could tell me (here) or my parents waiting to receive the girls at Poona airport on the whereabouts of my children.”
“We were getting conflicting stories — some said they were still on the plane while some said they were in the lounge, causing us absolute panic,” she said.
Finally, through her contacts in Mumbai, Andrea managed to get the number of the transit lounge in the airport and called to check. That only added to her worries. The children were not there.
She says persistent calls to the Air India office at Dubai airport didn't help either. The official was “rude and uncooperative". “ Finally, I learnt that the children were taken for security check at Mumbai airport for the flight to Poona scheduled to take off at 3 am.”
“ The kids were made to sit in the aircraft for a long time, not knowing what was going on. Later, when the airline decided that the flight would not take off, the kids were taken to the transit lounge by Air India ground staff and were made to wait without any staff with them.” “My kids were completely worn out, exhausted, tired and stressed out,” Andrea said.
On Friday morning at 8.30 am, calling up Mumbai airport, I was once again snubbed by an Air India staff who said he was very busy handling flights and unable to attend to any queries.
“Finally, after 3pm, I received a call from Air India staff in Mumbai, saying that the flight had left for Poona and that they wanted details of the relatives who would receive them there.” “But, by then, my kids had already reached home,” the mother said.
The mother said the kids were not served proper meals while they waited in the transit lounge for the entire morning on Friday. “ Besides, I spent almost Dh2000 on phone calls made all over in Dubai, Mumbai and Poona to know the well-being of my children.”
She has other complaints against the airline too. A couple of days before departure, Air India informed the family that the aircraft was downgraded from an Airbus to Boeing 737 and that, for this change, the airline would offer Business class passengers a 15 per cent price reduction on their tickets, she said.
An Air India official in Dubai, when contacted for comments, said she does not deny inconvenience was caused to the parents and the unaccompanied children travelling to Poona. “The matter is not being overlooked by Air India. We are investigating the matter and are waiting for reports from our Mumbai airport staff,” she said, pointing out that an official statement on this issue will follow.
KHALEEJ TIMES