AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Security And SAfety for All

IN THIS ISSUE: DODGE SalOn DanGERS, BEaT OFFICE POlITICS, FOOD SaFETY

UAE 5.000 AEDKSA 5.000 SARKuwait 0.500 DKBahrain 0.500 BDQatar 5.000 QAROman 0.500 OR

at your fingertipsit’s all systems go in the uae

Robocop RetuRns

ThiS TimE in OUR STREETS

Gotcha! nO EScApE fOR

TAilgATERS nOw

SPOTLIGHT ON ABU DHABI Step into

the future in MaSdar

City

ISSUE 44 SEptEmbEr 2015

IN THIS ISSUE: wayS To kEEp morNINgS STrESS-frEE, THE HIgH-TEcH abU dHabI polIcE

YOUR ULTIMATEURBAN

TECHNOLOGYISSUE

smart citythe

Zenith_HQ • Visual: U13_EP7 • Magazine: 999_magazine 01_06_2015 • Language: EnglishDoc size: 210 x 280 mm • Calitho #: 05-15-108940 • AOS #: ZEN_09436 • TS 19/05/2015

B O U T I Q U E S Z E N I T HD U B A I M A L L - T E L . + 9 71 4 3 3 9 8 10 4

T H E G AT E M A L L - T E L . + 9 74 4 4 0 7 714 9

B O U T I Q U E S Z E N I T H

EL PRIMEROI Chronomaster 1969

Tour Auto Edition

L E G E N D S A R E F O R E V E R

NEW ADS-8.indd 3 5/23/15 2:28 PM

Security And Safety For Alleditor’s note

1999 security and safety for allseptember 2015

So, summer has peaked and we’re approaching the Spring Equinox, and with

that, hopefully, the end of blazing hot days. What kind of weather can we

expect—anywhere in the world, if we need to travel? There’s an app for that, of

course. And if we want to wipe the slate clean for our vehicle-related penalties

before driving out for the weekend? An app for that, too. And with the new school year,

our children being out and about more, what if we need to keep an eye on their safety?

Just get the app.

For many of us, our window to the world is now the size of our smartphone screen.

Time was when electronic services seemed revolutionary; if an e-mail or some info on a

website cut down on the time spent on a physical visit to an office, we felt delighted.

That was then. Now, we expect a few taps and swipes on our phone screen to get the

job done. The idea of queuing up seems outlandish. Why, when the same service can

be delivered via mobile platforms?

The UAE strives to be the best in terms of services delivered to the public, believing

that this makes for a happier nation. While the rest of the world is still working on “smart

cities”, urban enclaves where online platforms are interactive and services

instantaneous, the Emirates is aiming to become the first “smart nation”. What does that

mean? First, you won’t have to give the same information a dozen times to different

agencies. Your data will be managed securely, and will be shared between agencies so

that repetition is avoided. Second, the government won’t just deliver services, but will

modify them as per public inputs to create more responsive systems. A “smart nation”

continuously learns about the needs of its people and evolves to cater to those needs.

Our reports on the responsive technology in the UAE encompass those being used

by the Ministry of Interior and the police forces, including automated services and robots

that speed up help and minimise risks.

The process of creating a safe, happy nation also puts the onus of observing rules on

the public. Our road safety feature looks at a very common problem: tailgating. Every

now and then, a motorist tries to elbow everyone else out of the way—as if he owns the

road—and this causes immense distress and even fatal accidents. Really, should anyone

have to die because a driver hasn’t left home with enough time to spare? The police are

taking a zero tolerance approach and you should know all about it.

We understand that your mornings may be rushed, so our “Tips” section has easy

solutions for staying in control of your schedule.

Finally, since we’re talking cutting-edge technology, we invite you to visit Masdar City,

featured in the “Abu Dhabi Spotlight” section, and experience eco-friendly smart

mobility. If there’s a nation that already has one foot in the future, it’s the UAE.

Welcome to the future

If there’s a nation that already has one foot in the future,

it’s the UAE

contents

twitter.com/999english

Tel. 8002220 Fax 02-6424842

Stay connected. Follow us on: facebook.com/999english

Ministry of InteriorUnited Arab Emirates

Consultative Board Maj. Gen. Khalil Badran – Chairman

Col. Thani Al Shamsi – Member

Editor-in-ChiefLt Col. Awadh Al Kindi

Managing EditorIssam Al Sheikh

DesignerFatima Al Mickdady

Contact UsTel: +971 2 4194488Fax: +971 2 4194499

P.O. Box: 38999Abu Dhabi – UAEwww.moi.gov.ae

[email protected] Free: 800 9009

Subscriptions

Dh50 – Individuals

Dh100 – Companies & government

departments

13 FACTS & FIGURESSome numbers and quotations in the media that grabbed people’s attention

16 UAE NEWS BULLETINPolice news, people, numbers and events

34 FASTER, SMARTER,LEANER, MEANERGet to know how the Abu Dhabi Police uses the most advanced systems in the field and in its services

38 A SToRy A NIGhT kEEpS yoUNG MINdS BRIGhTEven with the unstoppable tech revolution and the ubiquity of screens, there are things that are best done in good ol’ ways—like reading a bedtime storybook to children

44 kEEp yoUR dISTANCEDon’t let the rush hour get the better of you on the road, brush up on the dangers of tailgating, and the fines and penalties

Disclaimer:

Published articles express the writer’s opinions and do not necessarily represent the official views

or policy of the UAE Ministry of Interior. Copyrights for all the articles, features, photos and topics

published are reserved for 999.

Published on behalf ofthe Ministry of Interior by

PO Box 77910

twofour54

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Tel: 02-4012835

[email protected]

www.newperspectivemedia.com

Security And Safety For All

Distributed by Tawzea


2 999 security and safety for all

50 LET ThERE BE pEACE oN ThE RoAdSTake it from the authorities: How the Abu Dhabi Police sees tailgating

56 BE ThE MASTER oF yoUR MoRNINGSStart the day right and stress-free — even during the busiest season

62 ECo-FRIENdLy ABU dhABI A sustainable, green future is shaping up; take a look at Masdar City and the nature reserves of the capital

68 CRIME & pUNIShMENTMan flees country, leaving his daughter in neighbour’s care, and his wife’s corpse in a deserted place

72 hISToRyRediscover how the Emirates had been before the rise of the oil economy

76 CRIME MySTERIESHow bizarre can a crime weapon really get? 34

september 2015

38

Robocop is a realityAutomatons are now being developed to work in every field. In the UAE, they augment policing by helping with explosive detection and rescue operations

28

NEWSA round-up of MoI and Abu Dhabi Police news stories and important events

COLU

MNI

STS

Maj Gen Dr Nasser Lakhreibani Al Nuaimi

15

Sec Gen of the Office of HH the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior

Ali ObaidHead of the News Centre at Dubai Media Incorporated

61Dr Samar Al-ShamsiInternationally respected artist

67Theodore KarasikGulf-based Political and Social Analyst at Gulf States Analytics

42Former Member of the Federal National Council (FNC), and UAE writer

54Maysa Rashed Tim Maycock

Director of Maycock Training Ltd, an international consultancy firm

27

68

8

78 hEALTh NEWSHealth technologies and research are always on the move, stay updated

3999 security and safety for all

84 GAdGETSTake a peek at the newest must-have high-tech electronic devices

86 BookSA controversial modern classic, thrillers of the moment, and the help you need to be successful every day, everywhere — all in bookstores

88 MoVIESThe hottest new international movie releases coming soon to a cinema near you

90 ENVIRoNMENT NEWSThe latest initiatives and concerns in keeping the earth green and in conserving its natural wealth

95 pUZZLES

96 hoRoSCopEWhat the month of September has in store for you

september 2015

18cover story

It’s

While some places are dealing With problems through apps and e-netWorks, the uae could be the first in the World

to have not just smart cities, but a smart nation

It’s happysmart,


4 999 Security and Safety for all

news

september 2015

UAE shows unwavering support for Yemen; humanitarian aid totals Dh 744 million

President declares Nov 30 ‘Martyr’s Day’, a public holiday

As Yemen faces one of its worst crises in recent years, the United Arab Emirates offers its unwavering support, reinforcing its commitment to uphold genuine Arab causes and rights.

To help alleviate the suffering of the people caught in the conflict, the United Arab Emirates, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has so far extended a total aid of Dh 744 million to Yemen over the last four months, making the country the largest donor to the humanitarian crisis, according to a report by the Ministry of International Cooperation and Development (MICAD).

MICAD said the food assistance, as directed by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was recorded at 23,000 tonnes, benefitting more than 181,000 Yemeni families or 1.1 million people.

‘’An additional 6,000 tonnes will shortly be sent to bring to

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered that the 30th of November every year be observed as ‘Martyr’s Day’ to honour the nation’s loyal people who have sacrificed their lives to keep the UAE flag flying high.

Marked as a public a holiday, the national event is in recognition of UAE’s sons and daughters who have gone above and beyond their call of duty in civilian, military, and humanitarian fields.

On this glorious day, national ceremonies and events will be organised, and all state institutions, nationals, and residents will be engaged to promote, mark, and remember the values of sacrifice, dedication and loyalty, which had been deeply embedded in the conscience of the UAE citizens who gave up their lives for the country.

29,000 tonnes the total food assistance provided to the affected Yemeni people,’’ the report added.

The value of assistance channelled into the energy sector to provide electricity and to repair damaged power stations and power transmission networks stood at Dh314 million against Dh188 million offered in urgent food assistance that included cereals, canned foods, edible oils, and other food items.

The report estimated urgent medical assistance and medicines at Dh122 million, support and co-ordination services at Dh 46 million, drinking and clean water and sanitation services at Dh 41 million, fuel at Dh14 million, miscellaneous relief items at Dh12 million, and transport services at Dh 7 million.

The UAE was ranked first globally as the largest donor to the Yemen crisis this year, representing 31 per cent of the total aid provided by countries from around the world, according to figures released by Financial Tracking Service, a UN-managed database that records all reported international contributions.


5999 Security and Safety for allseptember 2015

Mohammed bin Rashid launches UAE Innovation WeekHis Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has recently launched the UAE Innovation Week that will be held from the 22nd to the 28th of November this year.

“Innovation is not an option but a necessity. It is not a culture but work style, and governments and companies that do not innovate risk losing their competitiveness and falling far behind,” said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, urging government entities, as well as private and academic sectors, to actively participate in the weeklong event.

“Our key sectors of education, health, energy, environment, space, economy and services will present their achievements during the UAE Innovation Week. This will also be an occasion for our private sector to compete with the public sector to showcase their success in innovation,” Sheikh Mohammed said of the event, which is aimed to secure a position as the most important destination for innovation and innovators in the region.

By using an innovative platform himself, Sheikh Mohammed sent out tweets that called on the public to brainstorm and suggest activity ideas for the Innovation Week, such as ways to celebrate the best innovation in education, the best teacher in innovation, and the best government entity that has adopted innovation in its work.

Sheikh Mohammed also urged nominations for the best national innovative companies and best universities that support innovation, among other ideas.

Government initiatives and various events and activities by the private and academic sectors will also be laid out and announced during the Innovation Week. It will also feature

workshops, seminars, and innovative laboratories that will help generate new ideas and re-evaluate innovations achieved during 2015, which has been dubbed the “Year of Innovation”.

UAE Innovation Week was launched in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council; Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the National Innovation Committee; Khalifa Saeed Suleiman, Director General of the Department of Protocol and Hospitality in Dubai; Ohood Al Roumi, Director General of the Prime Minister Office; Najla Al Awar, Secretary General of the UAE Cabinet; and Huda Al Hashimi, Executive Director of Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation.

tHe UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has led a delegation of high-ranking officials to the recent inauguration of the new Suez Canal in Egypt, which was also attended by a number of Their Majesties Kings, Presidents, Emirs, and other world leaders.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi thanked the world leaders for their participation in the inauguration ceremony, saying that “Egypt offers to the world a gift for

VP celebrates with Egypt in new Suez Canal inaugurationdevelopment and construction.”

El-Sisi stressed that Egypt completed the canal project, which is the first step in a series of others to come, “under critical circumstances,” commending all the government entities and companies that saw the project through, completing the new Suez Canal in a record one year’s time.

“The launch of maritime traffic in the channel highlights the goal sought by Egypt to achieve security and stability in a democratic state,” the Egyptian President also said.

Sheikh Mohammed congratulated President el-Sisi on this achievement.

The delegation accompanying Sheikh Mohammed included HH Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister; Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and Chairman of the Co-ordination Office of the UAE Development Projects in Egypt; Lt General Musabbah Rashid Al Fattan, Director of the Dubai Ruler’s Office; Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhaheri, UAE Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League; Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, Director General of Dubai Protocol and Hospitality Department, and other officials.



news

september 2015

Crown Prince assures Yemen, President Hadi of UAE supportHis Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has reiterated the unequivocal, historic, and supportive stance of the UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, towards Yemen and its people.

During talks with visiting Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, Sheikh Mohamed affirmed the UAE’s commitment to support Yemen in restoring the security and stability to the country and in preserving its sovereignty, unity, and Arab identity.

‘’What the UAE is doing under the umbrella of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition to support Yemen and its people springs from deep conviction of the vital importance of the joint Arab solidarity and co-operation to protect the Arab region from foreign ambitions, risks, and interventions into its internal affairs, and to stand with full force and resolve against any attempt to undermine its security and stability,’’ the Crown Prince said.

His Highness expressed the hope that welfare and peace would prevail in Yemen and that the Yemeni people would enjoy security and stability so as to pursue the path towards building and development.

‘’The UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will never be lacking in advancing and supporting Arab causes and rights, and we will never hesitate to participate in and back any efforts

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has recently welcomed Australia’s Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove to the country.

Mohamed bin Zayed receives Australian Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove

During talks with the Governor General, HH Sheikh Mohamed acknowledged the great advances in the relationships between the UAE and Australia over the past 40 years.

Referring to the vision of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince spoke of strengthening bilateral ties and co-operation with countries that have been marking impressive records in foreign policy, including Australia.

Governor General Cosgrove also hailed the growing co-operation between the UAE and Australia.

Aside from reviewing the progress of the two countries’ political and economic relations, the two sides also exchanged views on regional developments and issues of mutual interest.

aimed at preserving and safeguarding the Gulf and Arab national security,” Sheikh Mohamed said.

President Hadi expressed profound gratitude to the UAE for its pivotal role in the Arab Coalition to restore hope in Yemen. He also hailed the active role of the UAE in the ongoing relief operations to assist affected people and in implementing development projects .

Present at the meeting were Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court, Lt General Juma Ahmed Al Bawardi, Military Advisor to the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Salem Khalifa Al Ghafli, UAE Ambassador to Yemen.

‘Martyrs carved their names in nation’s memory, hearts of emiratis’

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, condoles with the families of the fallen soldiers Khalid Mohamed Abdullah Al Shehhi and Fahim Saeed Ahmed Al Habsi, saying, “Our martyrs carved their names in the nation’s memory and in the hearts of all Emiratis. The heroic sacrifices of our martyrs send a strong message that we will never compromise when it comes to the security and stability of our nation and of our brotherly nations.” His Highness also met with the family of the other martyr, Juma Jawhar Al Hammadi, in an earlier visit.



Minister of Interior hails Abu Dhabi Police’s awards

tHe recent month has been gloriously peppered with stories of heroism and martyrdom, especially of the gallant UAE soldiers who are part of “Operation Restoring Hope“ which supports the legitimate government of Yemen.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lt General His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan has expressed his sincere condolences

Saif bin Zayed honours martyrdom; condoles with grieving families of fallen soldiers from ‘Operation Restoring Hope’

dePuty Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lt General His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan acknowledges the prestigious awards won by the Abu Dhabi Police, namely the Best Government Authority Award for the CityGuard smartphone application, and being one of the Top 3 government departments for its distinguished performance in the Abu Dhabi Government Contact Centre System.

Major General Dr Nasser Lakhreibani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of HH Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, said: “This achievement comes as a response to His Highness’ instructions, and stems out of the abiding faith in Abu Dhabi Police GHQ’s vision, which seeks to efficiently establish Abu Dhabi emirate as one of the safest and most secure cities in the world.”

“Abu Dhabi Police are constantly seeking to provide the public with distinguished services,” Major General Al Nuaimi also said, stressing that high-quality services and high standards of safety and security are top priorities of the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ.

The awards were presented to His Highness by Major Mohammad Ismail Al Harmoudi, Head of the Complaints and Suggestions Department at the Ministry of Interior’s Strategy and Performance Development Directorate General; Major Ka’b Saeed Al Ka’bi, Chief of the Complaints and Suggestions Section at the Strategy and Performance Development at Abu Dhabi Police; and Captain Omar Salem Al Ka’bi.

Sheikh Saif has been briefed on the efforts of the ADP’s Complaints and Suggestions Section in developing a mechanism to receive complaints, suggestions, and queries, and in

responding to these issues in record time.His Highness congratulated the team for winning the

awards, and urged them to pursue further excellence in police work to provide better services to the community.

For his part, Colonel Mohammed Hamid bin Dalmouj Al Dhaheri, Strategy and Performance Development Director General, said: “The Abu Dhabi Police has managed to respond to all cases, including customers’ grievances and suggestions communicated via the CityGuard application, according to the standard response time rates set by Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC); thus positioning itself at the forefront of governmental institutions and departments in providing the fastest response time. This includes the referral of all requests to Abu Dhabi Police’s relevant departments, which in turn have responded in the best possible way.”

Colonel Al Dhaheri also noted that community members’ transactions and feedback regarding police performance were processed by qualified staff, working in the fastest and most accurate way according to the system.

with the families of martyrs Corporal Abdurrahman Ibrahim Issa Al Bloushi, First Corporal Khalid Mohammed Abdullah Al Shehhi, and First Corporal Fahim Saeed Ahmed Al Habsi, who all died while performing their national duties.

Al Shehhi and Al Habsi died during operations in Yemen, along with another first corporal, Juma Jawhar Juma Al Hammadi, while Al Bloushi

was killed in a car accident in Saudi Arabia while on duty as part of the restoring hope operations.

Sheikh Saif visited in separate days Al Bloushi’s home in Al Rashidiya in Dubai and the residences of Al Shehhi and Al Habsi in Ras Al Khaimah.

He prayed that the martyrs’ souls be granted eternal rest and that families be provided with patience and solace as they bear such a loss.



news

september 2015

Abu Dhabi Police officers promoted, urged to push further

Al Khaili presents residency officers with new ranks

MAjor General Dr Nasser Lakhreibani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of HH the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, accompanied by Major General Khalil Dawood Badran, Director General of Finance and Services, Abu Dhabi Police, decorated a number of officers at Abu Dhabi Police with new ranks as per the ministerial decree No. 396 of 2015.

Al Nuaimi congratulated the newly promoted officers at the General Directorate of Finance and Services, and urged them to push for more achievements in discharging their duties and to hone their skills through training and knowledge acquisition. This promotion, he said, was considered an incentive for all

MAjor General Khalifa Hareb Al Khaili, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Naturalisation, Residency, and Ports Affairs, presented a number of officers working in the sector with the new rank of “Major” by vir tue of a recent ministerial resolution.

Al Khaili congratulated the promoted officers and urged them to double their efforts to enhance police work; he called for complete dedication to raising the quality of services, with a view of maintaining the Ministry of Interior’s achievements in security and stability. The officers were also asked to show team spirit in their work.

to exert further efforts to serve the homeland. “This reflects the vision of the higher leadership, which always motivates us to better serve the public and upgrade work quality per the best international standards,” he noted.

Badran underscored how His Highness Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, values the initiative that motivates officers and staff members to always strive for excellence and maintain it. This policy, he said, enabled Abu Dhabi Police to become an outstanding institution. Saying this, Sheikh Saif also praised the promoted officers for their efficiency and hard work.

9999 Security and Safety for all


september 2015

Al Menhali and Badran Sign ‘Fazaa’ Initiative membership

New ranks for Sharjah Police officers; reflects high standards

MAjor GenerAl Mohammed bin Al Awadhi Al Menhali, Assistant Undersecretary of Resources and Support Services, and Major General Khalil Dawood Badran, Director General of Finance and Services at the Abu Dhabi Police, has recently signed on to the “Fazaa” initiative, which falls in line with the Social Solidarity Fund vision and mission to support the employees of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and develop their community.

Organised by the Fazaa Management to engage MoI personnel in the initiative, the signing ceremony held at the Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters is part of a month-long tour that has begun in the last week of August.

Major General Al Menhali emphasised that Fazaa is an ambitious programme that offers excellent and leading services for the Ministry’s employees. He has praised the directives of the higher police leadership to launch a programme that caters to the needs of the staff members and their families, a gesture that is anchored upon the MoI’s responsibility towards the public and its staff.

BriGAdier Saif Mohammad Al Zari Al Shamesi, Commander-in-Chief of Sharjah Police, conferred new ranks

“The project provides a wide and unique range of services designed to support the MoI’s employees so as to increasingly enhance economic and social cooperation—thus ensuring the welfare of the public. It also aims to create additional incentives and opportunities to delight the MoI’s staff members and their families,” according to the Fazaa Project Manager, Major Ahmed bu Haroun, Deputy Director General of the Social Solidarity Fund.

The initiative provides numerous advantages and exclusive services

that include no-interest loan schemes with repayment facilities, discount programmes and unique promotions, personal accident insurance, competitive auto insurance prices, rent-to-own car leasing services, discounted rental car rates, and medical care, the Fazaa Project Manager said.

Major bu Haroun also addressed the “Amaken” service recently launched by the Fazaa initiative. The service aims to assist members in selecting the best local and international holiday destinations at competitive prices.

upon 26 police officers from different departments and stations. Of them, two were promoted from “Captain” to

“Major”, and 24 from “Lieutenant” to “First Lieutenant”.

Al Shamesi congratulated the newly promoted officers, and called upon them to show the highest degree of responsibility and sense of initiative. They should, he said, be very well versed in security and legal issues, and make the best use of the resources offered by Sharjah Police, treating these promotions as incentives to perform even better.

The steadfast support from the Ministry of Interior had raised the standards of the nation’s police forces to the highest level, said Al Shamesi. The state-of-the-art technological and scientific tools made available by the leadership served as an encouragement for better co-ordination and the development of police personnel and systems, he added.


Security And Safety For All news

september 2015

Al Mazeina evaluates traffic safety strategy in meeting

‘Safe Summer’ drive with youth a success in Umm Al Quwain

MAjor General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, and the Head of the Traffic Safety Team, reviewed Dubai’s traffic safety strategy, in the presence of Salem Mohammed bin Mesmar, Assistant Director General for Health, Safety and Environment at Dubai Municipality; Colonel Jamal Mohammed Al Bannai, Acting Director of the General Traffic Department at Dubai Police; Fatima Ghanem Al Marri, CEO of School Agency at Dubai Knowledge Authority; Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of the Licensing Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority; Sultan Al Marzouqi, Director of Drivers’ Licensing at the RTA;

under the patronage and in the presence of Brigadier Dr Salim Ahmed Al Mazrouei, Acting Commander-in-Chief of Umm Al Quwain Police, an honouring ceremony was held at the Centre of the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Social Development. Those honoured were students and organisations that participated in the success of the 15th “Safe Summer 2015” initiative for training male and female students in government and local institutions and departments in the emirate. A total of 52 students participated in this initiative, with the sponsorship of Umm Al Quwain Charity.

The honouring was attended by Said bin Nasser Al Tallai, Head of the Aid Committee; Colonel Ahmad Rashid Al Shamsi, Acting General Director of Resources and Support Services; Colonel Rashid Sultan Al Khargi, Acting General Director of Police Operations at Umm Al Quwain Police; representatives

Hussein Al Banna, Director of Traffic at the RTA; and Maryam Al Obaid, Senior Consultant, Department of Policies and Strategies for Sustainable Development at the Executive Council.

At the meeting, Al Mazeina listened to an explanation of the traffic safety strategy from Hussein Al Banna that included the proposed vision and goals of the sector, initiatives, and frameworks of co-ordination with partners. The plan is based on four axes: traffic monitoring and checking; developing road engineering and vehicles; enhancing traffic awareness; and upgrading systems and management. Al Banna also showed the indicators of strategic performance for the

traffic safety sector according to the best practices in most developed countries, e.g. Sweden and Norway. These indicators include the death rates in traffic accidents per 100,000 people; deaths caused by pedestrian accidents; and the death rates per 10,000 vehicles. Dubai’s results on these indicators are being compared to global statistics, with the aim of reaching the emirate’s 2021 targets.

Finally, Sultan Al Marzouqi presented the currently adopted mechanism at the RTA for issuing driving licences, the areas of co-operation between the RTA and training institutes, and the initiatives for improving the licensing process and the skills of new drivers.

of government and local entities; and police officers.

Al Mazrouei hailed the efforts by the Ministry of Interior, and the directives of His Highness Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, on delivering the best standards of police services and strengthening awareness of the security culture. “These instructions hold us, with all other institutions, responsible to our

community, and require that we focus on youth energy, channelling the same into creativity and innovation, developing their administrative and leadership skills through plans such as the ‘Safe Summer’ initiative,” he said, adding that the minister’s directives “push us to aim for quality, rather than quantity, in the ‘Safe Summer’ initiatives that we will take in the future.” Such initiatives achieve common goals and promote collaboration between entities.



september 2015

Fujairah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah Police extend, enhance public reach in various initiatives

BriGAdier Mohammed Ahmed bin Ghanim Al Ka’abi, Commander-in-Chief of Fujairah Police, presided over the seventh meeting of the Higher Leadership Committee this year. The meeting reviewed strategic initiatives and indicators for the years 2014-2016, discussed proposals and complaints regarding the Fujairah security zone, and presented the methodology of feedback on the communication mechanism in the Higher Leadership Committee.

The meeting was attended by Brigadier Mubarak Rabi bin Sinan, Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Fujairah; Colonel Humaid Mohammed Al Yamahi, Director General of Police Operations at Fujairah Police; Colonel Abdullah Hassan Al Sagheri, Director General of Resources and Support Services; Colonel Ali Obaid Al Tunaiji, Director General of Civil Defence in Fujairah;

Colonel Ahmad Ali Al Sagheri, Director General of Naturalisation at Fujairah Police; and members of the secretariat of the Higher Leadership Committee.

In Ajman, Colonel Abdullah Ahmad Al Hamrani, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Ajman Police, and Colonel Khalid Al Qamzi, Director of the Police Training Institute, attended the graduation ceremonies of two courses conducted by the institute at the Ajman Police General Headquarters. The first course was “Overcoming work pressure”, whose lecturer was Dr Youssuf Shamsuddin Shabsough, and participants were 20 officers from different police leaderships in the country. The second course was “Skills of approaching the public”, and this was attended by 35 officers, who were given lectures by Dr Haytham Abdul- Rahman Al Samarraei. The two lecturers were honoured and course participants were given certificates.

In Ras Al Khaimah, the radio

programme Watchful Eye, created by the Department of Media and Public Relations at the Ras Al Khaimah Police General Headquarters, addressed society on the dangers of school students and youth possessing white weapons. The guest speaker for this episode was Mohammad Al Khateeb, from Dubai Media Incorporation and a UAE news correspondent on Dubai Satellite Channel. The guests who spoke on the show via telephone were: Chancellor Ahmad Al Khatri, Chairman of RAK Courts Department, and Colonel Dr Jassim Khalil Mirza, Director of Security Awareness, Dubai Police. The episode spoke of the necessity of greater co-operation between educational, cultural, and security institutions for this sensitising campaign.

One part of the Watchful Eye programme, named “Correspondent”, aired interviews with inmates of punitive and correctional institutions at RAK Police.

Ras Al Khaimah Police’s radio programme Watchful Eye addresses the dangers of the youth’s possession of white weapons

Untitled-1.indd 138 8/25/15 2:45 PM


facts & figures Security And Safety For All

september 2015

In line with the national smart government initiative, 12

rescue officers were sent to Amsterdam in the Netherlands

and underwent training on the Crash Recovery System

(CRS), a new programme that bolsters the police’s response

to traffic accidents. A new CRS-enabled smart device system

gives rescuers access to sophisticated vehicle information

that would help them rescue victims trapped in cars.

Keeping the youth aware of road safety and reinforcing

the ideal traffic culture, the Traffic and Patrols Directorate,

represented by the Public Relations Section, engaged more

than 95 students in a two-day programme that is part of the

police’s “A Summer without Accidents” campaign.

The Abu Dhabi Police provided 100 Braille tourism brochures to the Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs for the benefit of the visually impaired and blind visitors of the emirate.

For their hard work, commitment, and achievements in fulfilling

their duties, 17 personnel of the General Directorate of Finance

and Services were honoured in the 18th Ideal Employee Award

of the Abu Dhabi Police.

Ras Al Khaimah Police’s Organised Crimes Section at the

Criminal Investigation Department foiled an Asian gang’s

attempt to distribute fake Dh 100 bills in various emirates. The

gang of six members was arrested and the bogus bills were

seized.

12

95

100

17

dH 100“The UAE is committed to pursuing its efforts to enhance human rights, in keeping with its leading position and special characteristics.”- Brigadier Ahmed Mohammed Nehkairah, Head of Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior, on spreading the culture of human rights as discussed in a recent meeting of the special committee on the matter. Nehkairah emphasised the commitment of police leaders and urged everyone’s participation in ensuring that human rights are protected at all costs.

40Beefing up the police’s rescue capabilities in rough terrain and

elevated areas, 40 Abu Dhabi Police personnel completed an

intensive, specialised training course on rope rescue held at

Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain and at the 160-metre-high Hyatt Capital

Gate Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

“Launching the online visa issuance service for GCC residents and their escort is a paradigm shift in upgrading services’ efficiency, [which is] within an integrated strategy towards smart transformation of services, [ensuring] their availability through the Ministry of Interior’s website and smartphones. This approach is in line with the vision of the Government aimed at upgrading services provided to the public and empowering the concept of fast, high-quality services.”- Major General Khalifa Hareb Al Khaili, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Naturalisation, Residency, and Ports, on the recent introduction of the smart visa system to the public. The online visa service allows GCC residents and their escorts to get their UAE entry permits via the various ports of the country through the Fawri portal on the Ministry of Interior’s website, www.moi.gov.ae.


khalifa ads.indd 25 11/24/14 5:34 PM



coluMn

TreaTing The public wiTh respecT

Major General Dr Nasser Lakhreibani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of HH

the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior

The old days of policing, when catching criminals was the force’s main job, have given way to a spectrum of services that requires mutual trust

september 2015

The Ministry of Interior prepares the police staff to offerhigh-quality services, now and in the future

Customer service is a set of activities aimed to promote

the level of customer satisfaction with a product or a

service. Specifically, it is defined as the process

through which the needs and expectations of customers are

met. Specialised research gives solid evidence that

organisations that concentrate on customer needs and train

their staff to respond well are able to achieve their objectives

and reach the highest degree of excellence.

As modern life unfolds, it has brought about a radical change

in the notion of what police services should be. Every day, the

police responsibilities are increasing. Traditional policing tasks

have become only one part of a wider spectrum of services.

The traditional concept was based on security control,

whereby policemen would enforce the law and prevent crime,

arrest perpetrators, and bring them to

justice. This had always been

accompanied by some degree of

violence because the police mainly

dealt with criminals.

The new pattern of police work

includes offering better services at the

security, social and administrative levels,

while focusing on human rights and

preserving human dignity. Today, the

police are required to gain the trust and

respect of the public, since the services target them directly.

No doubt, the public plays a vital role in ensuring security

by aiding the police in their mission. No police force is

capable of maintaining safety and security in any community

unless the people stand with the force. It is important to build

a positive relationship between the policeman, who

represents an official body concerned with security, and the

man in the street, who benefits from this security. In the

absence of such a relationship, it becomes difficult to fulfil the

security requirements – the police services then do not reach

the ideal level of security coverage.

Not long ago, the UAE Ministry of Interior celebrated

winning many excellence awards. Such recognition was well

deserved by the ministry because of the attention it paid to

developing an advanced mechanism for dealing with the

public and improving customer service.

The first step focused on choosing the best staff to work in

customer service offices and enrolling them in specialised

training courses. Those unsuitable for these jobs were moved

to other departments, on grounds that customer service

employees represented the frontline of the police

organisation, the first to deal with the public. With this strategic

plan, the Ministry of Interior prepares the police staff to offer

high-quality services, now and in the future.

Receiving guests and people in need and offering them

help is also considered one of the noble Islamic Sharia

principles as well as Bedouin Arab

values. This is especially true of the

UAE community. When a guest arrived

at its dwelling, an Emirati family would

send the best men to meet him.

Unfortunately, we abandoned such

authentic values and traditions.

The Ministry of Interior offers a

number of services to the public, such

as the services of comprehensive

police stations that include receiving

reports, complaints, and community police services. There are

services such as issuance and renewal of vehicle licences,

driving licences, passports, residence visas, entry permits,

ambulance services, rescue, civil defence, traffic management,

patrolling, etc. The ministry is in direct contact with the public

all the time and that requires making a good impression about

the quality of its services. In order to create such an

impression in the mind of the people, the ministry has directed

that each field or administrative officer or warrant officer

should treat any member of the public as a guest who should

be honoured and respected, as such ethics promote a sense

of cordiality between the guest and the host.

khalifa ads.indd 25 11/24/14 5:34 PM

UAE nEws bUllEtin

newsSecurity And Safety For All

police news, people, nuMbers and events

By busting an African gang, the UAE Ministry of Interior has recovered more than five million e-mail IDs of American citizens and organisations. The gang used to hack mail accounts and steal private documents and information, to be used in fraudulent activities. The cyber criminals operated out of an apartment in Ajman; they were captured by a special team of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Ajman police forces.

A sexual predator was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by deportation, for abusing a girl only two-and-a-half years old. He was also convicted of illegally staying in the UAE. The Asian man was the child’s neighbour. More than once, when the man saw the toddler and her brother playing outside, he gave money to the boy to buy sweets, so that the little girl would be left alone with the criminal. The abuse was noticed when the child began bleeding and crying excessively.

Two persons, an advocate and a manager, tried to con a bank out of $100 million (Dh367m) with a forged banker’s cheque, which they claimed was issued by an eminent Asian personality to build an autism hospital in Dubai. They deposited the cheque for encashment, and were told a week later by the bank that it was forged. The two were convicted of fraud and jailed for three years each, though both denied any knowledge of forgery.

Someone holding 100 heroin capsules in his stomach cannot be feeling too good – this pasty appearance and distressed behaviour landed a drug “mule” in the police net at the airport. The South Asian man confessed once he was detained. He was taken to the hospital and the pills were recovered from his viscera.

16 999 Security and Safety for all september 2015

10 yearsAbU DHAbi

5 millionAJMAn

$100m DUbAi

100sHARJAH


Two Asian men were arrested for circulating illegal telephone cards, and during the raid, police found from their vehicles and homes 1,500 such cards, valued at Dh45,000. The cards were bought outside the UAE for sale in the country, which is a violation of telecom rules.

A group of South Asians – four women and two men – was convicted of running a brothel from an apartment building, and each person was sentenced to three years in jail. The racket was exposed when a tenant in the same building complained to the police.

A young Asian man taking a late-night swim in a hotel pool drowned right there, in front of his family and friends who never noticed that he was in danger. The accident took place at 12:30am.

FUJAiRAH

6


UMM Al QUwAin

12:30am

RAs Al kHAiMAH

1,500

september 2015



cover story

september 2015 19999 Security and Safety for all


It’sby Shalini Seth

the city of the future has a blueprint based on the concept of reducing specific pain points, thus making life vastly better for people. While some places are dealing With

problems through apps and e-netWorks, the uae could be the first in the World to have not just smart cities,

but a smart nation

An app that shows you the most scenic route for

getting home; another one that lets you request any

government service; street lights that act as sensors for

light, humidity and fog, alerting commuters – all of these

represent aspects of a smart city lifestyle. Some of these are works

in progress, a few may appear to be in the realm of science fiction,

but there’s no doubt that smartphone-equipped people can expect

more and more smart services from their cities.

These are not simply web-enabled services; these are services

that anticipate a person’s wants and needs. The smart nation

blueprint is based on the concept of reducing specific pain points

and enabling happiness. A smarter city, officials say, is a happier

city, with their minds set on winning the title of the ‘happiest city in

the world’.

At the inaugural Internet of Things Expo 2015, held in Dubai this

June, full digitisation strategies were in focus. According to Cisco

Visual Networking Index Forecast 2015, launched also in June,

annual Internet protocol traffic will triple between 2014 and 2019,

when it will reach two zettabytes. Factors expected to drive traffic

growth include global increases in Internet users, personal devices

and machine-to-machine connections, faster broadband speeds,

and the adoption of advanced video services.

It’s happysmart,

cover storySecurity And Safety For All


Smartphones will be the delivery tool for gov’t services

This means that your smartphone will

be the delivery tool for many government

services, personalised health services and

any number of other things that act like

invisible hands removing hurdles from your

path as you go along.

More choices

The UAE, which aims to be one of the

happiest nations in the world – the

happiest, if possible – has got its priority

in place. Speaking at the ‘Smarter People,

Smarter Cities, Smarter Governments’

plenary session at the Government Summit

2015, Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director

General of Abu Dhabi Systems and

Marwan Abdulla Bin Dalmook, du Senior Vice President, Managed Services

Information Centre, said that smart services

were about making life easier. “We need to

make sure that we’re connecting people.

And not just people, but [that] we’re also

connecting things around the cities,”

he said. “Smart cities comprise smart

infrastructure and smart services under

one umbrella of cyber-security. In terms of

smart infrastructure, [it] should be dynamic

[enough] to respond to the customer.

Responsive cities today are about how

you hear the public at the end, how you fix

things, how you go to them and how you

deliver your service to them.”

An example is the ‘CityGuard’ free app

that allows anyone, including visitors, to

report any incident or submit a complaint to

the government of Abu Dhabi. According

to its description, the app “aims to increase

civic participation and collaboration between

the public and the government in order to

improve the emirate at all levels”. No complaint

is too small for attention. Al Mansoori said, “A

team collects all the reports, and makes sure

that [they’ve been] addressed.”

Ever-competitive Dubai has made it a

goal to top the Happy Planet Index by

2021; as of now, the emirate ranks 130

among the 151 countries measured on

the index. While it has a very good score

on well-being, the emirate’s high carbon

footprint has been a drawback for its

raking. Dubai Plan 2021, launched late last

year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed

bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President

Ahmed bin Byat, Chairman of Smart Dubai Executive Committee

Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General of Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre



Depending on the specific problems they needed to

solve, cities around the world have implemented

various smart services. Examples include:

Citizen Connect, Boston: The US city has armed its citizens

with an application called ‘Citizen Connect’, which allows

residents to report problems such as potholes, graffiti and

damaged signs. The app, which also has a hands-free version

on the mobile, has seen about 70,000 requests being logged

from its launch in 2009 till 2015.

Smart Bumps: Some data collecting apps, such as ‘Smart

Bumps’, don’t require the mobile phone user to do anything.

Once enabled, it runs in the background, collecting data on

where the bumps are as the mobile user drives around the

city. The data is sent to a server where another functionality

decides whether the bumps warrant any repairs.

City management centre, Rio de Janeiro: The city, which

is home to 6.32 million people, is known for its vibrant life, but

its services are pushed to the limits during major events, such

as the Pope’s visit in 2014 and the coming 2016 Olympics. In

2010, Rio enlisted IBM to design a centre that collects and

integrates data from 30 agencies, including roads, municipality,

subway system, and weather satellites. Alerts from the nerve

centre lets city officials take corrective or preventive action,

e.g. evacuating a colony if a mudslide is foreseen near a

hillside community, or re-routing in case an accident has

blocked one road.

Disaster management system, Haiti: The Sahana Free

and Open Source Disaster Management System has been

in use in multiple disaster relief operations around the world.

During the Haiti earthquake in 2010, it functioned as a central

registry of approximately 700 organisations, tracking about

10,000 requests for assistance, providing a timed registry

of the 162 operating hospitals and medical facilities, along

with bed availability and status, and aggregating 40 layers

of data from various sources onto one 360 degree-situation

map. This allowed organisations to plan and co-ordinate,

prioritising ambulance trips and dispatching of essentials such

as drinking water. The system is in use in disaster management

preparedness or relief in India, New York, Philippines and Sri

Lanka, amongst other places.

The world of smart services

Nitin Khanapurkar, Partner, KPMG Rabih Dabboussi, General Manager, Cisco UAE



cover story

Sustainable cities have happier people

• There will be 218.3 million residential Internet users with fixed access

• Machine-to-machine will be the largest residential device/connection category with 93 million M2M

• Tablets will be the largest residential device category (excluding M2M) with 63.0 million tablets (up 25.8% compound annual

growth rate)

• Social networking will be the most highly penetrated residential Internet service with 176.0 million users, or 81% of residential

Internet users (up 10.5% CAGR)

• There will be 69.0 million digital television households

• There will be 4.1 million video on demand (VoD) users, or 6% of digital TV households

• There will be 53.6 million business mobile users

• The average mobile business user will have 2.3 mobile devices/connections (including M2M)

• M2M will be the largest business device/connection category with 145.0 million

• There will be 3.1 million desktop video conferencing users

Source: Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast 2015

Smart users in the MENA region

Cisco, the international information technology company that is one of the key players in enabling the delivery of smart services, has the following forecast for the Middle East and Africa by 2019:

and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of

Dubai, makes sustainability one of the key

principles of a smart city. The plan specifies

six themes that would define Dubai at the

beginning of the next decade – a city of

happy, creative and empowered people;

an inclusive and cohesive society; the

preferred place to live, work and visit; a

smart and sustainable city; a pivotal hub in

the global economy; and a pioneering and

excellent government.

“Our smart city is a city that provides

a platform for sustainability for people.

It has a human element to it more than

the gadgets and systems,” said Ahmed

bin Byat, Chairman of the Smart Dubai

Executive Committee, at the Government

Summit plenary session. “As far as city

managements are concerned, they’re

moving from measuring how many minutes

you wait in the queue to how happy you

are about the experience. We believe

sustainable cities have happier people.”

For instance, while the GPS, he said,

could make it efficient to commute, it could

be used to do more, to make a person

happier. “Today, if you open an app, a map

app in your car in Dubai, it’ll give you the

shortest route between point A and B. But

that’s the only choice you have. It doesn’t

give you a route that makes you happier,

takes you through parks or gardens or

a longer way where you enjoy the view.



The UAE offers a host of applications for people to have access to the gov’t e-services. Find these in your app stores now:

That’s what we’re talking about. You

should have that choice as well: to say

that I can walk the shortest way or I

can walk through the park; it takes me

10 minutes longer but it gives a better

feeling.”

Focus on people

It’s not truckloads of apps alone that

make a difference in an individual’s life.

What matters is how those apps can

instantly give one the information that

makes a difference between a good day

and a bad day.

Here’s an example of how technology

can make that difference. At the

Government Summit, bin Byat spoke

of an app being developed on the

request of a resident who suffers from

asthma. “This person like to jog and walk

in the park, but he or she wanted to know

when there’s more pollen in the park, so

that they could avoid that park and go

to another park,” he said. “Today, we’re

working – someone in the city is working –

on an application where red or green flags

will tell you that if you’re asthmatic don’t

go to this park, because the flowers are

blooming today. That’s happiness.”

In Barcelona, Spain, sensors around

the city tell the municipality how full

each garbage bin is and where garbage

collection needs to take place. This

helps plan routes, saves fuel and helps

keep the city clean. That again means

happier residents.

“We should not focus only on technology.

Technology is always there. But we should

focus on people,” said Marwan Bin Dalmook,

Senior Vice-President, Managed Services

& Smart City/Smart Gov Initiative Lead at

telecom service provider du.

He said, “First of all, this is two things:

the infrastructure and the network. This

is our responsibility. We need to enable

it and make sure that we’ve covered at

least the whole city with such capabilities.



cover story

The second area that we’re looking at

is to have a unified Internet of Things

(IoT) platform, where it can be used for

industrials and for consumers. These

sensors can connect back to one single

platform and they can be managed and

controlled by the consumers. This is the

area we’re now looking at, so we can

support the other government entities.”

Smart nation

There are cities that are already interacting

with citizens to improve the quality of life,

e.g. the app ‘Citizen Connect’ that lets

residents of Boston, US, report potholes,

graffiti and other damages so that they can

be fixed immediately. However, experts say

that the UAE may be the first country in the

world to go beyond a ‘smart city’, creating a

‘smart nation’ instead.

In July this year, the Ministry of

Environment and Water became the latest

government agency to join the UAE’s

Electronic Federal Network (FEDnet),

which connects 42 federal entities with

each other, offering security and efficient

services at a reduced cost.

Media agencies cited a review by the

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority,

which said that smart services usage

was estimated to reach 80 per cent in

three years. Already, the UAE Insurance

Authority, Securities and Commodities

Authority, the General Civil Aviation

Authority, and the Ministry of the Economy

are said to have achieved a 100 per cent

shift towards electronic services.

Another achievement is a 100 per

cent shift to e-services across 62

priority government services. These

developments show that the ‘Smart

Government’ initiative, launched in

May 2013 with a plan to give people

access to government services

through a single ID, is well on track.

When it’s ready, more than 2,000

government services will be

available through mobile and

electronic media.

Rabih Dabboussi,

General Manager, Cisco

UAE, said, “There’s a national agenda,

which is critical in setting high-level

strategies and long-term vision. The

UAE is a highly matrixed country from

a government perspective as well as

private businesses. So although there

are federal agencies and ministries

that set the stage and the vision and

strategy for digitisation for overall health

care, education and national safety, you

also have, to a certain degree, local

government entities that do similar things

for Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah.”

Cisco is one of the international major

players working with government agencies

and private sector partners to enable

delivery of services for the local or federal

government. While government services

at the federal level work on one vision,

in each emirate this requires a specific

blueprint aligned with the national agenda.

Nitin Khanapurkar, Partner, Management

Consultant, KPMG, said, “Many smart

services are related to Dubai. Abu Dhabi

and Sharjah are also key players. If you’re

looking at a smart country, then the

blueprint has to be countrywide. There

needs to be integration between players.

There should not be duplication. How are

they going to integrate, how the data is

shared across emirates needs to be [in

the] blueprint. Water usage and electricity

consumption will be linked with smart

metering and it will be a part of a federal

level smart grid, which requires

a countrywide vision rather than a city-

wide vision.”

Bin Dalmook said that in such a setup,

the technology and solutions should be

free to share and affordable.

Dabboussi said, “There’re no argument

that this is a journey. As you embark on the

journey, you’re going to have bumps and

you’re going to have potholes. Some cars

are going to go very slowly and some cars

are going to be at high speed. But I have

no doubt in my mind that we will achieve

the vision of transforming the experience.

The government services across the UAE

are the most advanced in the world. But it’s

only the beginning.”

NOW OPEN IN MARINA MALL ABU DHABI

02 6652 551

Ground Level, Luxury Brands Area

999 ads.indd 9 1/24/15 2:22 PM

Untitled-30 10 2/23/15 5:47 PM

geT smarT and grow TogeTherTim Maycock is Director of Maycock Training

Ltd, an international consultancy firmThe all-pervasive smartphone does demand too much of our attention, but it’s also a powerful tool for participating in national progress

Nowadays we live, work, sleep, eat, breathe in a world

controlled by smart technology. When we stop and think

about how many minutes of our average day are spent

being influenced in some way by this modern phenomenon, it

really is quite staggering.

It seems that wherever we go in the city, we’re surrounded by

media, often for the sole purpose of advertising, of subliminally

persuading us to buy a certain product, to make a certain lifestyle

choice, to behave in a certain way. How much do we want all this

outside influence and how much is it taking over our lives as we

move deeper into the digital age?

Certainly, we’ve embraced this technology in recent years. Most

of us enjoy using our smartphones for talking,

texting, messaging, banking, listening to

music, taking photos…the list is endless. One

wonders how we ever managed before their

invention. The fact is, however, that on every

street corner, we see our fellow humans, who

once may have nodded “hello” and smiled a

greeting, now with heads down,

concentration fixed on that ubiquitous device.

And it’s not only phones, but smart TV, multimedia

broadcasting, the advent of automated telephone systems, virtual

chat, and so on.

When we make an appointment to visit the doctor or the dentist,

the receptionist hits a button on the computer and an instant text

reminder is generated, alerting the patient via smartphone on the

day before the appointment. Fantastic! So simple yet so useful.

Mostly, we think of the huge benefits that this new technology

can bring, but is there a dark side? Well, of course, we can be

persuaded to purchase things we don’t need, spend cash we don’t

have or cannot afford to repay. Access to such temptations is

much easier and less regulated than before.

And what about the business forces behind this new wave of

targetable information? The ability to reach such a large slice of

the population on a personal hand-held level is extremely powerful

in commercial terms, but also consider for a moment the potential

for governments to communicate directly with the people. In the

past, if governments have been perceived as elite, remote,

disconnected from the person in the street, here’s a golden

opportunity for everyone to have their say, for all to be involved,

for the government not just to govern the people, but to govern

through the people.

“Yes!” I hear you cry. “What we need is a smart government!” So

what does that really mean?

Research of IT business journals defines it thus: “Smart

government integrates information,

communication, and operational

technologies to planning, management, and

operations across multiple domains, process

areas, and jurisdictions to generate

sustainable public value.”

Oh well, that cleared that up then!

Seriously, though, what does it mean?

The pessimists amongst us, the “doom and

gloom” types will mutter and mumble darkly about “big brother

looking over our shoulders” and “the spy in the sky” and so on.

There are always those who view change as threatening. However,

the doubters should perhaps try to adopt a more a positive

approach and consider how we may benefit from more direct

connection to our government, to commerce, to trade, to the world

at our fingertips.

As long as it affords us the opportunity to enjoy closer

involvement in the way our lives are shaped, as long as it allows us

more ownership of our development, the chance to “buy in” to the

progress and growth of our countries, our cities, our communities,

then it can only be a good thing.

Let us enjoy it together; let’s get smart.

Here’s a golden opportunity for everyone to have their say, for all to be involved

coluMn

27999 security and safety for allseptember 2015

The views expressed by 999 columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministry of Interior


Security And Safety For AllSecurity And Safety For All tecHnology


The idea of using robots has

dominated the human imagination

since the early 20th century,

when the word “robot” emerged for

the first time, in a play called “Rossum’s

Universal Robots”, written by the Czech

dramatist Karel Čapek in 1920. The word

“robot” was derived from the old Slavic

word “robota”, meaning “forced labour”

or “servitude”.

In the play, also called R.U.R., the author

uses the word “roboti”, telling the story

of a company using the latest biology,

chemistry, and physiology to mass-

produce workers for its factory. Robots

are, indeed, being used now for assembly-

line work in factories, and for household

tasks, though domestic robots are still in

the nascent stages of commercial use.

In the UAE, robots have been

introduced in police work. Thinking of

a police robot immediately brings to

mind the film Robocop, in which a police

officer is turned into a crime-fighting

cyborg. The UAE police robots resemble

humans, though not closely as one sees

in sci-fi films.

The first version of the UAE police robot

appeared in Abu Dhabi in 2006. The

second version appeared the next year, at

the police exhibition held as a part of the

golden jubilee celebrations of Abu Dhabi

Police. The robot offered many services

to the attendees, taking them through

police awareness campaigns, browsing

the police website, enquiring about fines

and violations, as well as other e-services

offered by Abu Dhabi Police.

In October 2014, the Abu Dhabi Police

General Headquarters unveiled a robot

that detects explosives in confined spaces

such as aircraft interiors. It is equipped

with cutting-edge technologies, including

a mobile camera, to detect bombs under

vehicles, and it can connect with smart

cameras fastened on the heads of police

dogs to identify explosion survivors during

rescue operations. The robot can be

remote-controlled from a distance of

up to 700 metres indoors and 1,200

metres outdoors.

This robot is considered to be the first

of its kind all over the world regarding

the flexible movement in small spaces,

as its movement angle extends up to

50 degrees and it can climb the aircraft

stairs smoothly, supported by four

chained wheels.

In March this year, Mohammad

Sirajuddin, a student at Sharjah University,

designed a robot acting as a policeman in

dangerous places, such as during raids,

detecting the level of gas and smoke,

working on rough terrain, and trace criminal

movements. “This robot crystalises the

idea of an automated policeman that

leads security squads in dangerous

situations, transmitting to the squad an

accurate image of the place from inside,”

said Sirajuddin. The design is based on

a tank that can ascend and descend with

speed. The student said he created this

robot to minimise risks and fatalities during

dangerous missions. “It can also help

in rescuing survivors of fires and house

collapse, as it can trace their location.”

Traffic cop robots

In the Democratic Republic of Congo,

robots act as traffic policemen. These

traffic cop robots, installed in the country’s

capital Kinshasa, are impossible to ignore,

as they tower over the crowds with their

2.5-metre height, waving their arms to

direct traffic in tandem with the changing

colours of the traffic lights fitted on their

hands. Motorists who would normally

The first version of the UAE police robot appeared in Abu Dhabi, in 2006

Robocop is a realityAutomatons are now being developed to work in every field. In the UAE, they augment policing by helping with explosive detection and rescue operations

by hakem khairy

Security And Safety For AllSecurity And Safety For All


merrily jump red lights dare not defy the

robot policemen, especially as they are

also equipped with surveillance cameras

streaming traffic information to the police

control room. The giant aluminium robots

are solar-powered, built to withstand

the African heat, and they monitor traffic

day and night, making it easier to spot

traffic offenders who might otherwise go

undetected in the dark. The city people

are fascinated by these robots and have

welcomed their installation. Each robot

costs about $15,000 (Dh55,050).

Patrol robots

In the United States, humanoid robots

are being tested in California to conduct

patrols. Each one of these robots has five

feet and uses laser, scanners, cameras,

microphones, speakers, and sensors.

They are unarmed, but they alert police

control systems.

The people who have designed

these robots say that they can patrol

neighbourhoods to pre-empt crimes.

Some of the robots have already joined

a patrol in Silicon Valley. A robotics

company in Mountain View, California,

has reported that it is already using these

robots and patrolling teams of these

“night cops” can be formed by the end of

this year. It is hoped that the night cops—

acting as the eyes and ears of the police

control room—will eventually patrol malls

and offices, cutting crime by 50 per cent.

Security robots

The Brazilian government turned to

iRobot, an American corporation, to

procure more than 30 robots, of the model

named “PackBot”. These were allocated

to 12 Brazilian cities that hosted football

World Cup matches in 2014. The robots

helped with detecting suspicious objects.

The PackBot had shot to fame after the

2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan,

when it intervened in the Fukushima

Daiichi nuclear power plant. The plant

suffered a level 7 nuclear meltdown after

the tsunami; the radioactivity made it

dangerous for humans to try assessing

the damage, but the robot was immune.

The PackBot, which resembles a small

military tank with a camera mounted on

a foldable metal arm, has an automatic

steering system, can move at 9 miles per

hour, and has compacted fins for self-

rotation and surmounting the roughest

terrain, ruins, and stairs. Each 18-kg robot

has GPS, video image display, surveillance

mechanism, electronic compass, and

temperature sensors.

In Turkey, the security authorities use a

robot named “Kaplan”, specialised in bomb

testing and defusing. Similar in appearance

to PackBot, the Kaplan robot is sturdier and

is extensively used by anti-terrorism squads

and bomb-defusing teams.

People have designed robots that can patrol neighbourhoods to pre-empt crimes. Some have already joined a patrolin Silicon Valley



Multi-use robots

In addition to police and security work,

there are many jobs that may be done

by robots in the coming years. A study

by Oxford University says that robots will

soon be able to replace human workers in

more than 700 types of low-skill jobs. The

study predicts that 47 per cent of industrial

jobs in the US will be done through

robotics in the next two decades. The jobs

that robots are currently being designed

to do include:

Cleaning: Housekeeping is a tedious

but necessary chore. Now imagine if you

had a cleaner that could kill germs. Zinex,

an American company that provides

cleaning and disinfecting services, uses

a robot that releases light ultraviolet rays,

killing bacteria and moulds. This robot is

being used on a tentative basis in some

California hospitals.

Teaching: Adults in general may be

wary of robots, but some children in

Connecticut found that dealing with robots

in education was much easier than dealing

with real teachers. Aldebaran Robotics,

a French company, has developed

the humanoid “Nao” for educational

applications. Nao cannot replace human

teachers, but can act alongside them in

the near future.

Playing games: There are robots that

can play football and table tennis, though

nowhere nearly as well as humans. A team

of Japanese scientists has trained a robot

to play baseball, the popular American

game. The robot has been taught to throw

the ball and run across the track, but it will

be a while before the team at Ishikawa

Watanabe Laboratory, Tokyo University,

can unveil a sportsbot that can compete

with humans.

Nursing: Caring for patients can be

an emotionally draining and physically

tiring experience. Robots can help here,

especially when moving patients within

hospitals. The Singapore firm Abacus

Global Technology has revealed its robotic

bed, EPush, equipped with a special motor

and artificial intelligence to move smoothly

and adjust the speed.

Aiding sales: A robot salesman at the

store to help you with purchases? Why

not. A robot named Upshot is already

being tested in large-format stores to

help customers quickly find the products

they need. Upshot has the entire store

format saved in its memory, as well as

GPS for taking the customer to the right

spot without errors.

Working as a butler: Aloft Hotel in

Cupertino, California, has a service

robot called SaviOne, which functions

as a butler. It gently guides guests to

their rooms, and brings to them various

things that they need, much like a

human butler. It is expected to find use

in hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and

care homes.

Acting: It would be too much if our

favourite stars are elbowed out by

robots. Probably we’ll never come

to that, but a robot has bagged the

leading role already in a play. Repliee

S1 is an android that has appeared

on stage next to a human cast in an

adaptation of Franz Kafka’s surreal

classic, The Metamorphosis. Instead

of turning into a gigantic insect, as

Gregor Samsa did in the original, the

protagonist of this Japanese-French

production wakes up to find himself

metamorphosed into a robot.

Flying planes: There is a significant

amount of automation on modern aircraft,

including auto-pilot. But can a robot alone

fly a plane from A to B, handling takeoff

and landing? South Korea’s Advanced

Institute of Science and Technology has

developed a humanoid robot pilot called

“Pibot”, which has a head, two hands, and

two feet, to fly planes and helicopters on

dangerous missions.

Being your friend: You think only your

best friend can understand how you feel?

That might soon be “Pepper” the robot, built

by the Japanese company SoftBank. Small,

cute and humanoid, Pepper is designed to

read human emotions and recognise tones

of voice and facial expressions. Its mission is

to make people happy.

tecHnology

Robots will soon be able to replace human workers in 700 types of low-skill jobs

Dubai Festival City [email protected] | Abu Dhabi - Yas Island [email protected] Al Ain - Bawadi Mall [email protected] | www.IKEA.ae | www.al-futtaim.ae

©In

ter

IKEA

Sys

tem

s B.V

. 20

15

New Catalogue now in stores with 1,500 new products! Pick up your copy today!

Strategic Delivery

VisionTo safely, timely, consistently and successfully deliver capital projects through the implementation

of innovative engineering approaches in our delivery strategy.

MissionAgility ECC are committed to undertake all types of projects, deliver them on time, and offer

effective solutions. We implement strategy in our delivery to offer the finest quality in cost

estimation, site preparation, and construction implementation to clients. Agility ECC aims to

ensure the highest standards of service in the construction industry.

Core ValuesSafety – We are committed to establishing and maintaining safety standards across all of our offices

and on each of our projects ensuring that our employees and stakeholders experience a safe and

healthy environment.

Quality – We are committed to delivering the best quality in all aspects of our projects.

Accountability – We have established corporate governance practices to ensure clear lines of accountability

and well-defined performance management.

Commitment – We commit to deliver our projects safely, on time, and at the highest quality.

•

•

•

•

Untitled-1.indd 10 6/23/15 2:58 PMUntitled-1.indd 109 8/23/15 4:46 PM



Security And Safety For All digital age

Abu DhAbi lAw keepers AnD civil Defence leAD the wAy in using the most ADvAnceD systems for everything — from putting out fires to bringing Down wAnteD criminAls

by maha iSmail

FASTER, SMARTER,LEANER, MEANER




Acountry that is moving towards total

seamless connectivity and smart

solutions delivered via mobile apps

is, as you can imagine, no slouchier when

it comes to using cutting-edge technology

for its police work.

Under the directives of His Highness Lt

General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan,

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of

Interior, all the security agencies in the

country have incorporated state-of-the-art

devices into their functions.

In the field of public safety, the first phase

of the Smart Civil Defence Stations project

in Abu Dhabi, inaugurated by Sheikh Saif,

has already started with its key objective,

which is to establish performance

indicators to measure emergency

response time according to international

standards. The project is designed to

boost civil defence stations’ preparedness

and operational capabilities, maintaining

effective command over events from the

Operations Room, and ensuring speedy

arrival at the incident site.

This project is one of the strategic

standards, and allow senior officers to

monitor the stations via smartphones round

the clock.

automated defibrillators: In another

initiative to save lives by extending

help as quickly as possible, automatic

defibrillators (for cardiopulmonary

resuscitation) have been installed in

several places across the UAE.

The Emergency and Public Safety

Department at Abu Dhabi Police continues

installing these devices in police buildings,

and in the remaining shopping centres and

malls in Abu Dhabi. Popular public spaces

that have defibrillators include

the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the Emirates

Park Zoo in the Al Bahia and Al Shahama

initiatives implemented by the civil defence

sector, and will include in the first phase 23

stations in Abu Dhabi. In the second phase,

the project will be implemented across Al

Ain and the Western Region (Al Gharbia)

stations. And finally, stations in all cities

across the UAE will come under it.

remote control platform: The project

allows the General Directorate of Civil

Defence to run stations via specially

designed control platforms. As soon as the

Operations Room is notified of an accident,

the closest civil defence station in its area

of jurisdiction is informed (electronically)

through the system.

The Operations Room would then

sound the fire alarm siren; electronically

open bay doors; switch on the lights in the

passageways and parking areas; provide

civil defence members with information

and guidance on the accident location and

type through loudspeakers; and assess

the team’s deployment time, starting

from receiving the call to when the first

vehicle leaves the station. All of these

systems operate according to international

A) His Highness Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of Interior, launches the first phase of the Smart Civil Defense Stations project B) and reviews a device used in the smart library


A sophisticated database of every type of car helps rescuers when dealing with trapped persons

Staff from the Emergency and Public SafetyDepartment use the CRS programme Field policeman with a digital camera A policeman getting ready to use the Taser

neighbourhoods in Abu Dhabi.

Simultaneously, the department has

trained the staff in these places, whether

security officers or civilians, on how to

operate the devices. The defibrillator

is used when an individual shows

symptoms of a heart attack or circulatory

failure (ischemia). Symptoms include

fainting, irregular breathing, weak or

absent pulse, or absence of any signs of

circulatory activity.

smart rescue: The Emergency and

Public Safety Department at Abu Dhabi

Police has also introduced smart devices

in rescue missions for traffic accident

victims who are injured or trapped inside

vehicles, by utilising the CRS programme.

This includes a sophisticated database

of every type of car, and helps rescuers

when dealing with trapped persons,

preventing any aggravation of the trapped

person’s injury or any danger to the

rescuers themselves. This system has

been installed on iPads. Some of these

devices are for training, while some are

installed in rescue vehicles.

The programme tells the rescuer

about the hazardous areas of the

vehicle and specifies the rescue tools

needed for the operation, the strength

and quality of vehicle’s steel equipment,

and the presence of any high-voltage

electrical connections or automatic

seatbelt retractors.

Brigadier Eng Hussein Ahmed Al

Harithi, Director General of Central

Operations at Abu Dhabi Police, stated

that the force was the first in the

region to adopt smart tools like the

CRS programme in rescue operations,

minimising the risk that rescuers could

face when dealing with vehicles that run

on alternative energy, such as electricity,

natural gas, or solar power.

chest cameras: In fieldwork, Abu

Dhabi Police have provided personnel

with high-quality, chest-mounted digital

cameras. The cameras, placed next to

the officers’ personal identity cards, are

equipped with several technologies

that are the result of two years’ worth of

testing, experimentation, development,

and analysis. The cameras are designed to

promote the process of development and

modernisation.

Major General Omair Muhammad

Al Muhairi, Director General of Police

Operations at Abu Dhabi Police, said the

use of these cameras was part of the

efforts to make the most of all human

and technical capabilities. The cameras

photograph and document what happens

around the officers, letting them replay the

scenes later and use it for learning. These

videos can be used to design training

programmes as well.

Lt Colonel Yusuf Al Ahmad, Head of the

Field Photography Section at the General

Directorate of Police Operations, noted

that the cameras had been distributed to

police stations for use by the field patrols,

and that each camera could continuously

record for eight hours. Every police officer,

upon ending his or her shift, must hand the

camera over to the competent technical

unit for the recorded footage to be

uploaded to the servers.

Taser: The Abu Dhabi Police Security

Support Department’s patrol teams

have the Taser device (a weapon firing

barbs, causing temporary paralysis), used

worldwide by such patrols in accordance

with legal controls. This is in line with

the police strategy to deploy the best

technologies in combating crime.

Colonel Khaled Saeed Al Shamesi,

Head of the Security Support Department

at Abu Dhabi Police, explained that

the Taser electric shock weapon was

an advanced option to subdue wanted

criminals. It includes sophisticated

features such as a built-in warning

system, which delivers different levels

of discharges before the actual use. The

Taser gun is used in tactical situations

in case of resistance by a dangerous

criminal, or an attack on the public, or a

threat to the safety of police personnel.

Colonel Al Shamesi also noted that the

device left no negative side effects

and caused no harm to humans, and

that security officers gave a warning

to suspects, giving them a chance to

surrender before firing the Taser.

mobile data terminal: Lt Colonel Rashid

Al Dhaheri, Director of the Al Shabia Police

Station, said the station had the Mobile

Data Terminal (MDT), being used for the

first time in the UAE by the Abu Dhabi

Police General Headquarters.

The MDT was recently introduced at the

Al Shabia Police Station, and it efficiently

supports fieldwork. The terminal features

an interface that displays instant mapping

and information relevant to the task,

enabling the arrival of the police patrol

at an incident location in the shortest

possible time.

evidence-gathering technologies:

Regarding the latest devices used for

checking an incident site and gathering

evidence by the Crime Scene Department

at Abu Dhabi Police, Major Hussein Al

Junaibi said, “We have the specialised

digital age


State-of-the-art devices used in the library helped create an interactive environment

Al Shabia Police Station, Abu Dhabi

Drones on an aerial photography mission The smart children police patrol vehicle in a traffic awareness exhibition

Explanation of the defibrillator in a mall in Abu Dhabi

Major General OmairMuhammad Al Muhairi

Brigadier Eng Hussein Ahmed Al Harithi

Colonel Khaled SaeedAl Shamesi

Lt Colonel Rashid Al Dhaheri Major Hussein Al Junaibi

illumination devices, e.g. Alfaro Camera

360 degrees, criminal laser device, and

ultraviolet ray device. [We use the] ‘Sekar’

programme for detecting shoe prints and

tyre marks at crime scenes.”

drones: The Security Media Department,

at the General Secretariat of HH the

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of

Interior, has upgraded its remote-controlled

flying drones, which were put to use in

2010, so the machines can now capture full,

high-definition footage for media coverage.

The drone is a small unmanned aerial

vehicle that is remotely controlled. Using

its on-board camera, the drone captures

footage and still photographs of various

events from all angles. It can also receive

images and zoom in on them through a

special monitor.

smart library: The Ministry of Interior

has a “smart library” (www.smartlibrary.

ae), considered the first of its kind.

Colonel Mohammed Hamid bin Dalmouj

Al Dhaheri, Strategy and Performance

Development Director General at the

Ministry of Interior, said the state-of-the-art

devices used in the library helped create

an interactive, scientific environment.

For example, there is a hall of interactive

conferences that links the decision-maker

with the field innovation teams.

The library also has triple-screen

systems for reading, letting users review

the information and prepare reports at

the same time. Visitors to the library can

benefit from the hall of brainstorming

and the e-innovation laboratories,

equipped with touch devices and

screens, with easy downloading of

e-materials with one click.

simulator: Lt Colonel Rashid Al Dhaheri

said the Al Shabia Police Station has a

shooting field equipped with the most

advanced simulator, letting police staff train

as if in an actual field situation.

smart children patrol: The Al Ain

Traffic Department, under the Abu Dhabi

Police, has developed the “smart children

police patrol”, the brainchild of Senior

Warrant Officer Mohammed Rashid Al

Ghaithi and Policeman Abdullah Sultan Al

Nuaimi from the Public Relations Branch

of the department. The concept is a small

smart vehicle, equipped with a smart

screen, camera, iPad, and a walkie-talkie

device, and its body is decorated with

awareness stickers that are attractive to

children and convey information to them

easily, with the aim of sensitising them

to traffic rules.





brain developMent

A story A night



keeps young minds

brightEvEn with thE

unstoppablE tEch rEvolution and thE ubiquity of

scrEEns, thErE arE things that arE bEst

donE in good ol’ ways—likE rEading a bEdtimE storybook to

childrEn

by Perri klaSS, m.D.



A little more than a year ago, the

American Academy of Pediatrics

issued a policy statement saying

that all pediatric primary care

should include literacy promotion, starting

at birth.

That means pediatricians taking care of

infants and toddlers should routinely be

advising parents about how important it is

to read to even very young children. The

policy statement, which I wrote with Dr.

Pamela C. High, included a review of the

extensive research on the links between

growing up with books and reading aloud,

and later language development and

school success.

But while we know that reading

to a young child is associated with

good outcomes, there is only limited

understanding of what the mechanism

might be. Two new studies examine the

unexpectedly complex interactions that

happen when you put a small child on your

lap and open a picture book.

Last month, the journal Pediatrics

published a study that used functional

magnetic resonance imaging to study brain

activity in 3-to 5-year-old children as they

listened to age-appropriate stories. The

researchers found differences in brain

activation according to how much the

children had been read to at home.

Children whose parents reported

more reading at home and more books

in the home showed significantly greater

activation of brain areas in a region of

the left hemisphere called the parietal-

temporal-occipital association cortex.

This brain area is “a watershed region, all

about multisensory integration, integrating

sound and then visual stimulation,” said the

lead author, Dr. John S. Hutton, a clinical

research fellow at Cincinnati Children’s

Hospital Medical Center.

This region of the brain is known to be

very active when older children read to

themselves, but Dr. Hutton notes that it also

lights up when younger children are hearing

stories. What was especially novel was that

children who were exposed to more books

and home reading showed significantly

more activity in the areas of the brain that

process visual association, even though the

child was in the scanner just listening to a

story and could not see any pictures.

“When kids are hearing stories, they’re

imagining in their mind’s eye when they

hear the story,” said Dr. Hutton. “For

example, ‘The frog jumped over the log.’

I’ve seen a frog before, I’ve seen a log

before, what does that look like?”

The different levels of brain activation,

he said, suggest that children who have

brain developMent



more practice in developing those visual

images, as they look at picture books and

listen to stories, may develop skills that will

help them make images and stories out of

words later on.

“It helps them understand what things look

like, and may help them transition to books

without pictures,” he said. “It will help them

later be better readers because they’ve

developed that part of the brain that helps

them see what is going on in the story.”

Dr. Hutton speculated that the book

may also be stimulating creativity in a way

that cartoons and other screen-related

entertainments may not.

“When we show them a video of a story,

do we short circuit that process a little?” he

asked. “Are we taking that job away from

them? They’re not having to imagine the

story; it’s just being fed to them.”

We know that it is important that young

children hear language, and that they need

to hear it from people, not from screens.

Unfortunately, there are serious disparities

in how much language children hear —

most famously demonstrated in a Kansas

study that found poor children heard

millions fewer words by age 3.

But it turns out that reading to — and

with — young children may amplify the

language they hear more than just talking.

In August, Psychological Science reported

on researchers who studied the language

content of picture books. They put together

a selection from teacher recommendations,

Amazon best sellers, and other books that

parents are likely to be reading at bedtime.

In comparing the language in books to

the language used by parents talking to

their children, the researchers found that

the picture books contained more “unique

word types.”

“Books contain a more diverse set of

words than child-directed speech,” said the

lead author, Jessica Montag, an assistant

research psychologist at the University of

California, Riverside. “This would suggest

that children who are being read to by

caregivers are hearing vocabulary words

that kids who are not being read to are

probably not hearing.”

So reading picture books with young

children may mean that they hear more

words, while at the same time, their brains

practice creating the images associated

with those words — and with the more

complex sentences and rhymes that make

up even simple stories.

I have spent a great deal of my career

working with Reach Out and Read, which

works through medical providers to

encourage parents to enjoy books with

their infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

This year, our 5,600 program sites will give

away 6.8 million books (including many to

children in poverty), along with guidance

to more than 4.5 million children and their

parents. (The group also provided some

support to Dr. Hutton’s research.)

Studies of Reach Out and Read show

that participating parents read more and

children’s preschool vocabularies improve

when parents read more. But even as

someone who is already one of the choir,

I am fascinated by the ways that new

research is teasing out the complexity and

the underlying mechanisms of something

which can seem easy, natural and, well,

simple. When we bring books and reading

into checkups, we help parents interact

with their children and help children learn.

“I think that we’ve learned that early

reading is more than just a nice thing to

do with kids,” Dr. Hutton said. “It really

does have a very important role to play

in building brain networks that will serve

children long-term as they transition from

verbal to reading.”

And as every parent who has read a

bedtime story knows, this is all happening

in the context of face-time, of skin-to-

skin contact, of the hard-to-quantify but

essential mix of security and comfort and

ritual. It’s what makes toddlers demand

the same story over and over again, and

it’s the reason parents tear up (especially

those of us with adult children) when we

occasionally happen across a long-ago

bedtime book. /New York Times story

Books contain a more diverse set of words than child-directed speech

coluMn


road bullying can’T go onDr Theodore Karasik is a Gulf-based

Political and Social Analyst at Gulf States AnalyticsMore and more motorists are acting aggressively, causing distress and accidents. It is a situation that needs to be reversed

Road bullying, a more direct form of road rage, is legendary

in the UAE. Everyone talks about such incidents on social

media. With the world getting more hurried in terms of

appointments, deadlines, and the rush to meet friends, road

bullying is on the upswing. Some drivers hover just behind a car’s

rear end and start honking and flashing their lights dangerously.

How should drivers handle road bullies and tailgaters? And how

can drivers keep their cool?

Experts agree that traffic crowding on roads and highways is

one trigger for road bullying. The construction of new roads in

the UAE has not kept pace with the number of cars. The territorial

nature of humans, the impulse to react aggressively when

personal space is violated, certainly also plays a role. Finally,

the anonymity and security of having a

tonne of steel between us and the outside

world can embolden even usually timid

people, removing their inhibitions about

inappropriate behaviour.

Road bullying is an aggressive act against

another, the direct opposite of what should

be practised. A person becomes more

susceptible to emotional outbursts when

exposed to heightened situations, such

as unruly attitudes from other road users.

Rude gestures and shouting through windows can lead to moral

offences if the insults involve hand gestures or foul language.

The road bullying phenomenon is directly linked to a quick and

sudden case of psychiatric morbidity, where behaviour is random,

not personal. However, the result can be an accident leading to

injury or even death; at the very least, it is distressing for motorists.

What used to be a largely male problem has now crossed the

gender line. Both men and women behind the wheel, if running

late, are in no mood for courtesy.

There are tens of thousands of road bullying incidents, and legal

cases in all emirates are on the rise. The penalties range from fines

and jail time to even the death sentence, depending on the extent

and outcome of the offence.

What is the remedy? Listen to music to relax, or to local radio

to find out which routes to avoid. Try breathing deeply to remain

calm. Recognise that an aggressive driver is just unleashing his

or her anger on the rest of the world and not on you specifically.

Keep in mind that unless you are a police officer, it isn’t your job

to punish others for poor driving. Don’t give in to your emotions

by allowing another driver, someone you do not know and will

probably never see again, to dictate your mood and determine the

quality of your day. If you feel out of control, find a safe place to

pull over, stop, and unwind.

The government is helping in this

regard. Police are on a high alert for road

bullying. Dubai Police recently announced

that they would penalise tailgaters via

radars. Other emirates are following suit.

In the near future, drones may be used to

monitor roads. Road safety programmes

to educate drivers are being promoted

via websites and public messaging in

numerous languages.

Overall, people should give themselves enough time to

complete a journey, so as not to create the bullying attitude in the

first place. Knowing the state of your emotions before hitting the

road is key to reducing the risk. If your emotions are unbalanced

due to an argument, or worry over an appointment, then delay the

journey or take alternative transport. And always, watch out for

the other driver who may have “lost it”. Remember that defensive

driving is a practical solution. The UAE doesn’t need any more

road bullying statistics.

If you feel out of control, find a safe place to pull over, stop, and unwind





Myron K (name changed) calls it

road reality.

He drives a Jeep, model 2014,

completely built to, in his words, “own

the fast lane”. He wouldn’t think twice

about elbowing someone out. “If I can do

120kmph in the fast lane, then that’s what

I bought my Jeep for. Why should I not

do that?” he asks. “Realistically, if the car

in front of me is doing 80kmph in the fast

lane and won’t move, why must I not urge

him out of the way?”

The “urging” that Myron talks about is

what UAE residents and police authorities

refer to as “tailgating”. The driver doing

the tailgating will drive as close to the

vehicle in front as possible and begin

flashing his lights. If the driver in front

still does not give way, then the tailgater

will use the horn. If even that doesn’t

work, then the tailgater will switch lanes,

overtake, drive in front of the car he was

road safety

High-performance cameras on Sheikh Zayed Road target aggressive drivers

tailgating, and then suddenly slow down

for a second or two before speeding off,

causing much distress to the car behind.

Causing distress is something tailgaters

see as their right. Myron K, an expat who

has lived in the UAE for seven years, says,

“I don’t do it for fun, or because I’m bored,

but because I’m driving at a certain speed

and the fast lanes exist for that. I see it as

simply urging the driver in front to get out

of the way.”

As of July 2015, the UAE police do

not see tailgating as anything other than

urging the authorities to fine you.

Traffic Police in Dubai have installed

52 high-performance cameras on Sheikh

Zayed Road, targeting aggressive

drivers involved in speeding and

tailgating. The fine for not maintaining

a safe distance is Dh400 and four

black points. So serious is the tailgating

offence – it can completely disorient

the driver being harassed, leading to an

accident – that a “Keep a Safe Distance”

traffic campaign was conducted by the

police in July and August.

Patrols on Sheikh Mohammed

bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road

increased during the campaign and

police monitored tailgaters in unmarked

cars. Dubai’s Traffic Police chief Colonel

Saif Al Mazroui was quoted in the local

media as saying, “We chose to install

these cameras on Sheikh Zayed Road

because it’s a busy street and drivers

often commit serious offences, including

a hugE sEnsE of EntitlEmEnt, inability to undErstand thE consEquEncEs, or road ragE? tailgating is oftEn a combination of all thrEE, causing hundrEds of accidEnts and dozEns of dEaths and injuriEs in thE uaE.

nEw policE tEchnology targEts thE offEndErs

by ruPert jameSKeep yourdistance

september 2015





On a highway, the gap between two vehicles should be no less than two car lengths

road safety

not leaving enough space between cars.

“The new cameras are high-

performance devices that can detect

vehicles that don’t leave enough distance

from other cars. They can record car

movements and film all such offences. We

started operating these cameras at the

beginning of July.

“These cameras have been deployed to

curb accidents and save lives. All drivers

are requested to leave a distance of at

least five metres from other cars. This is

not a big distance, nor will it delay drivers.

We consider it a safe distance.”

Lieutenant Colonel Homoud Saeed

Al Amiri, Director of Awareness and

Campaigns at the Dubai Traffic Police,

said that tailgating caused 26 deaths in

2014, and 11 deaths between January and

May 2015. The campaign for safe distance

included awareness drives in malls and

streets, with Dubai Police officers and

patrolmen addressing the public.

Abu Dhabi had launched a safe

distance campaign earlier this year, in

March, after a high count of accidents in

the previous year – 227 mishaps caused

by tailgating, with 22 dead and 16 severely

injured. Speaking on the subject, Abu

When tailgating is not tailgating

In non-traffic jam conditions, drivers

must leave a distance of at least

five metres between cars on roads

where the minimum speed limit

is 80kmph, according to Major

General Mohammed Saif Al Zafin,

Assistant Police Commander in Chief,

Operations, Dubai Police.

However, drivers caught tailgating

by new cameras deployed by the

police will not be fined during traffic

jams, the senior police officer has

been quoted as saying.

‘Back off Radio’ for taxis

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced an innovative step to

help reduce traffic accidents due to tailgating and protect the lives of taxi drivers

and other road users. The RTA, in partnership with Arabian Radio Network, has

created a device called “Back off Radio”, which will alert drivers when they’re too

close to the car in front of them.

Dr Yousif Al Ali, CEO of RTA’s Public Transport Agency, says, “‘Back off Radio’

collects real-time information that not only warns about tailgating but can also detect

speeding and aggressive driving, which can then be analysed to assist the RTA to

create safer roads.

“The initiative utilises a device that’s built into our taxis. Once the taxi reaches a

speed of 60kmph, sensors fitted to the front and rear of the car are activated. If the

taxi enters within the safety zone of the vehicle in front, a safety message will be

sent to the taxi’s speaker inside the car. Similarly, if a vehicle behind a taxi breaches

the safety zone, they will receive a message through their own radio. This safety

message will tell the driver to back away from the vehicle in front and to remember

to keep a safe distance, as it could be carrying a friend or loved one.”

Dhabi-based transport expert Glenn

Havinoviski says that on a highway with a

speed limit of 120kmph, the gap between

two vehicles should be no less than two

car lengths, or even more if the vehicle in

front is a lorry. The Abu Dhabi campaign

was called “Your Fate is Measured by Your

Distance” and it was on UAE Together’s



Understanding road rage

Clinical psychologist Dr Natasha

D’Cruz believes that road rage

is quite complex and initially

believed to be an extension of

underlying anger issues.

“However, new research

shows that even otherwise mild-

mannered individuals can have

road rage,” she says. “At its core, it

seems to be a need for control, to

stand up to other drivers who they

feel violate their space, or their

need for possession of their lane

or their part of the road. It’s almost

like a sense of entitlement, and

the person in front is encroaching

on that and, hence, has to be

taught a lesson on how not to.”

She feels that it could also be

a sense of being over-righteous,

where the individual believes it’s

up to him/her to right the wrongs

of people on the road. “So, if

someone is slower than they

ideally need to be, the person

feels it’s his duty to make that

right. Again, it’s about control and

power,” she explains.

It still does concern unchecked

anger and aggression. “It’s a lack

of empathy and low emotional

intelligence coupled with a sense

of entitlement that exacerbates

road rage,” says the psychologist.

“There might also be a little one-

upmanship in terms of vehicle size

that would add to the sense of

superiority and unchecked egos.”

Facebook and Twitter accounts. Indeed,

the gap between two vehicles could mean

the gap between life and death.

Wary victimsMohammed S, an Arab expat who has

lived in the UAE for most of his life, knows

how unsettling tailgating can be, having

been at the receiving end all too often. He

welcomes the advanced speed cameras,

but feels apprehensive that habitual

offenders might find a way to cheat the

cameras when in the fast lane.

“The tailgaters I’ve experienced are on

the offensive between speed cameras,”

he says. “They seem to know where the

cameras are and, in between, they’ll come

up behind you and begin to flash at you.”

Elizabeth Wilson speaks with some

shock of being tailgated, even in traffic, on

Sheikh Zayed Road. “It happens to me all

the time. If I was driving below 100kmph on

the freeway, I would understand, but people

tailgate on Sheikh Zayed Road, where

you’ll be caught by a radar immediately if

you speed up,” says the European expat.

“I would be driving at 120kmph and still be

tailgated. It happens even if there’s traffic

in front of me. It seems like people just

consider it a style of driving.”



Let there be peaceon the roads

interview



by maha iSmail

police use a combination of Widespread aWareness activities and stiff penalties to

deal With tailgating, one of the biggest threats to motorists in the uae

When some foolhardy driver

tries to hog the road, forcing

others out of the way by

tailgating, they are setting

the stage for an accident that could kill

people. Tailgating, a very common offence

in the UAE, accounted for 12.26 per cent of

accidents in the country in the first quarter

of this year, causing 22 fatalities and 16

severe injuries in Abu Dhabi alone.

According to figures released by the

Ministry of Interior (MoI), there were 151

accidents due to tailgating throughout the

country in the first three months of 2015.

And as per Abu Dhabi Police statistics,

there were 227 car accidents in 2014

because of the same reason, with 22

deaths and 12 severe injuries. The number

of violations registered in this regard last

year was 13,976 in Abu Dhabi.

The MoI, represented by both the Traffic

Co-ordination General Directorate and the

Traffic and Patrols Department at the Abu

Dhabi Police General Headquarters, has

organised events for awareness of the

dangers of tailgating, which means driving

too close to the vehicle in front of you with

the intention of forcing it to move aside,

and other types of traffic violations. These

events were conducted under the slogan

“Your Choice Determines Your Destiny”,

which was also the slogan of the 31st

Unified GCC Traffic Week, held under the

aegis of His Highness Lt General Sheikh

Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime

Minister and Minister of Interior.

As for the campaign details, goals, and

outcomes, Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al

Zaabi, Director General of Traffic Co-

ordination at the MoI, said that many such

events were organised under the 31st

Unified GCC Traffic Week and included

lectures, forums, and competitions for

different social strata, distribution of posters

and leaflets, and so on. Some 3,000

posters and 20,000 drawing booklets for

children were sent to the traffic and patrols

departments throughout the country, which

in turn gave them to the public. “These

awareness events are characterised by

their diversity and continuous renewal,”

said Al Zaabi. “They basically focus on

developing traffic awareness for both

adults and children through various

programmes and outdoor competitions.

There was complete co-ordination between

all the traffic and patrols departments in

the country in carrying out the sensitising

drive. The activities included receiving

delegations from traffic departments

all over the Gulf, who came to visit their

counterparts in the Emirates.”

Colonel Jamal Salem Al Ameri, Chief

of Public Relations at the Traffic and

Patrols Directorate, Abu Dhabi Police,

highlighted the event co-ordination efforts

interview

Facing traffic problems is a common responsibility – Al Zaabi

Traffic safety is a social and personal responsibility

event was organised through co-ordination

with the Emirates Car and Motorcycle

Racing Club in Umm Al Quwain, now

renamed Emirates Motorplex. A fleet of 150

motorbikes zipped through the different

emirates with the banner of the Traffic

Week, and the parade ended at Yas Mall,

Abu Dhabi.

Additionally, there was the mobile

awareness convoy, which started from Burj

Khalifa in Dubai, and was fronted by the

Traffic Education Patrol (Tathqeef) and the

Traffic Awareness Bus. The convoy visited

all the emirates, passing through popular

public areas and stopped by to deliver

traffic safety lectures focusing on motorist

awareness, traffic laws, keeping within

speed limits, putting on seatbelts, and not

using phones during driving.

The activities included: awareness

presentations at Burj Khalifa and major

shopping malls, workshops, lectures,

forums, public councils, educational

competitions, and a free painting studio.

Throughout the events, simulation videos

were played in order to improve drivers’

road behaviour. Awareness programmes

were broadcast on the media networks

and through social networking sites such

as Facebook and Twitter. The Traffic

Week was mentioned even in the sermon

delivered at the Jummah prayer held

during the event.

The 50,000 sensitising pamphlets had

messages designed for all segments of

society, as traffic safety is a social and

personal responsibility – this is the pitch

of the slogan “Your Choice Determines

Your Destiny”, which highlights the

significant role of personal responsibility

in minimising traffic accidents, aiming to

deter inconsiderate behaviour and obliging

driver to comply with road rules.

“The traffic awareness exhibition held

at Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi attracted a great

number of visitors, who flocked to the

educational traffic shows performed by

students,” said Al Ameri. “Visitors also

participated in educational competitions

that recreated real-life situations and

highlighted the psychological and material

impacts of traffic accidents. Performances

on traffic awareness were presented by

five schools: Al Taqadom School, Al Falah

Kindergarten, Aisha Umm – Al Mumineen

School, Maryam Bint Omran School, and Al

Dhabiania Private School. The performances

spanned music, poem recitations, and plays

inspired by the theme of traffic safety. These

activities were aimed at motivating students

Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al Zaabi, Director General of Traffic Co-ordination at the MoI

Colonel Jamal Salem Al Ameri, Chief of Public Relations at the Traffic and Patrols Directorate


between traffic and patrols departments in

the country, targeting the community as a

whole to establish a culture of respecting

traffic rules. This is an implementation of the

strategy adopted by the MoI, which aims to

make the roads safer and more secure.

Public events

Al Ameri stated that one of the most

prominent events during the GCC Traffic

Week was the motorbike parade. This


Traffic sensitising for drivers

Not leaving enough space raises the risk of collisions -Al Ketbi

The penalty for tailgaters caught by patrols are Dh400 and four traffic points

to further develop their creative ideas and

open new doors in the current efforts to

reduce traffic accidents.”

Dangers explained

Major Salem Ali Al Ketbi, Head of the

Training Section at the Traffic Institute in

Al Ain, belonging to the Abu Dhabi Police

General Headquarters, said deliberate

tailgating or even careless driving that

brought a vehicle too close to the one

in front were among the gravest traffic

offences in the UAE, especially in Abu

Dhabi, as they caused such a large number

of accidents.

Some reckless drivers, he said, harassed

other motorists in front of them, either by

driving too close to the vehicle in front,

or by continuously and abusively using

headlights and horns. These offenders

seem to forget that the harassment breaks

the concentration of the driver in front, and

could lead to a serious mishap.

“Not leaving enough space raises

the risk of collisions. The driver [who is

tailgating] may lose control of his own

vehicle, or may not be able to stop if the

car in front brakes abruptly because of the

tailgating or for some other reason, like

something happening on the road or poor

driving skills,” said Al Ketbi. Whatever the

reason, if the car in front brakes suddenly,

the vehicle behind can be saved only if

there is enough space in between, which is

not the case with tailgating.

As for the punishment, Al Ketbi said,

“Traffic patrols and traffic investigators on

internal and external roads monitor the

tailgaters, then stop them and register

violations against them, and finally apply

the penalty, which is a fine of Dh400 plus

four traffic points.”

Explaining why tailgaters behave like this

in the first place, the official said they acted

irresponsibly because of a defiant attitude

towards traffic rules, or sometimes because

they simply did not know that they were

being offensive, or also because of their

innate aggression.

Safety advice

Al Zaabi underscored that all concerned

departments and institutions must co-

operate with the community and traffic

patrols in the country, utilising all their

resources for curbing accidents and

minimising loss of lives and other

damage. “Facing traffic problems is a

common responsibility that calls for

concerted efforts,” he stressed, and

called upon vehicle drivers and road

users to comply with rules and systems to

spare themselves and others the grave

consequences of accidents.

Al Ameri urged all entities and

individuals to activate partnerships in

a manner that fulfilled the Abu Dhabi

Police’s vision of a safe community. He

also invited everyone to participate in the

sensitising events meant to create the

highest level of traffic safety in the UAE.

Al Ketbi highlighted the need for

tighter controls on tailgaters and reckless

drivers who distract other drivers and

deny them space. The authorities, he

warned, would relentlessly crack down

upon tailgaters to deter them. Saying

this, he appealed to drivers, particularly

young drivers, to pay full attention while

steering a vehicle and to refrain from

harassing others in any way whatsoever.

Thus, they would protect themselves and

other drivers, too.

Major Salem Ali Al Ketbi, Head of the Training Section at the Traffic Institute in Al Ain



Traffic awareness for school students


creaTing The perfecT balanceMaysa Rashed is a prominent UAE writer

interested in local affairs and a former member of the Federal National Council (FNC)

In the coming elections to the Federal National Council, the government can make space for both experience and fresh blood

This third election is notable for the rise of women and the youth

The month that just went by is usually relaxed for

UAE residents, as it falls in the third quarter of the

year, when schools are closed and people happily

travel. This year, August was a busy month because

of the immense momentum generated by the call to hold the

third parliamentary elections of the Federal National Council

(FNC). August 16 was the first day of registration of

candidates for the membership of the FNC.

The previous elections were held in 2006 and 2011, and

this third election is notable for the rise of women and the

youth in the electoral authorities throughout the country, a

fact that raises one’s expectations about the diversity of

disciplines in the FNC. This is an urgently needed step in this

Council – the main areas of its work include deliberation on

drafts of constitutional amendments; federal laws; the

balance sheet of the country; and giving

opinions on international agreements.

Therefore, the deliberations in the FNC

are diverse and also specialised. The

Council needs specialists in security,

education, economics, media, public

affairs, banking, and all other major

fields. The members need specialised

knowledge to study the draft laws given to them for voting.

They need to conduct detailed research, studies, and

comparisons before issuing any recommendations on these

draft laws.

Some sitting and former members of the Council are

running for this election, too, in order to enrich the FNC by

their significant experience and also to resume the review of

matters taken up earlier but not yet completed.

It is a constitutional right of sitting members or former

members of the FNC to run for the next elections. Moreover,

any work needs the experience of seasoned people.

Accordingly, the government can strike a great balance by

appointing half of the Council members and choosing the

sage, experienced members, and leaving the other half open

to ballots, giving an opportunity to new aspirants, particularly

women and the youth. Thus, the goals of the Political

Empowerment Programme, launched in 2005 by President

His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, would be

attained. The programme aims to further energise the role of

the FNC and increase its powers, a goal that needs a high

degree of political awareness and advanced capabilities in

parliamentary performance.

In the middle of October, the short list of candidates will be

declared, ushering in the toughest stage. This is the stage

that will show clearly how serious and able the candidates

are, and how viable and relevant their programmes are. The

powers of the FNC are still limited, never exceeding

amendments to some bills and draft

laws and giving recommendations; but

the new members, whether appointed

or elected, must work meticulously on

the bills to serve the best interests of the

people. A new member should be able

to ask questions to ministers and

discuss issues that greatly impact the

public. During the legislative session, the new members

need to show their connection to the people who voted for

them. This is the least they can do to honour the electoral

promises made during the campaign.

During the fourth quarter of the current year, the UAE will

witness an electoral parade in which all citizens will

participate, whether as candidates or voters. The

government expects that all citizens will vote in these

elections, seeing it as a national duty. It does not exclude any

citizen – a man or a woman, inside or outside the electoral

authority. We all must encourage ourselves to work for

ensuring the success of these elections.

Security And Safety For All coluMn



Security And Safety For All tips & trivia

by Shibani Paul

busy season is here, What With the neW school year and the most intensive financial period starting for businesses.

but getting organised is easy – and it Will loWer your stress levels by several notches

be the master

of your

mornIngs




be the master

of your

mornIngs



tips & trivia

september 2015

After a long summer holiday,

when you didn’t face the

morning rush of getting the

kids ready for school, isn’t

September all of a sudden so hectic?

Even if you don’t have children, you’ve

probably been happy through the summer

as morning traffic moved faster because

the schools were closed, and now that

has changed. For businesses, September

marks the beginning of the most intensive

financial period of the year, requiring an

early start to the day. Getting a grip on

your morning routine is essential for sailing

through the day. These little steps can help.

Set all home clocks half an hour ahead:

Supposing you get up at 6am daily, there’s

no point setting the alarm at 5:30am,

because you’ll just hit snooze and go back

to sleep. What needs to be done is setting

the alarm clock – and any other clock at

home – half an hour ahead of actual time,

so that you go to sleep early and get up

early. If it’s your mobile phone that sounds

the alarm, then set that half an hour ahead,

too – not all through the day, or you’ll

annoy people by calling them at the wrong

time. Reset the cell phone clock once

you’re back home, and then set it back

to the right time after reaching the office.

Reset the clock and then think about it as

the right time. If you look at 6am and think,

“Oh, it’s only 5.30am”, that’s not going to

help. When everyone at home follows this,

there’s a lot less panic – the children will

be ready for the school bus long before

it arrives, giving them a little while to step

out of the house and breathe fresh air for

a few minutes. Those of you without kids

can be out on the road before most other

motorists.

Get some helpful apps: Now what are

the chances that on some days you’ll

forget to do what we’ve suggested above?

Fairly high. Though it won’t be such a

big problem once your own body clock

adjusts itself to the new timings and you

automatically start waking up earlier.

Nevertheless, there’re plenty of apps to

help you remember things. One of the

best is Cozi, which has a neat, easy-to-

figure-out design, with to-do list options for

different family members. If you live on your

own, download a checklist app that tells

you what to do at night for a stress-free

morning. Go through the checklist, take out

everything you’ll need in the morning, and

keep them where you’ll easily find them

(best scarf/tie for the big client meeting,

check; grocery list, check; office and bank

papers, check; car keys, check). Every

minute spent in the morning rummaging for

things can seem like a lifetime; checklists

can be a lifesaver.

Do lunch after dinner: Many people prefer

taking lunch from home instead of buying

Download a checklist app that tells you what to do at night for a stress-free morning

from the school or office cafeteria. Save

time, especially on Mondays when there’s

inevitably more traffic on the roads, by

getting your lunch ready and refrigerated

the night before, to be simply put in the

bag before going out. Everything doesn’t

have to be made fresh in the morning; a

cold pasta salad can be left in the fridge

in a good, sealed container and eaten the

next day without any extra work. Fruit or

vegetable juice, too, can be made at night

and stored immediately in an airtight glass

container, such as a mason jar, in the fridge.

Drink in the morning or take to work. If

you’re not comfortable with that, chop up

the fruits at night, put them immediately

in an airtight container, leave in the fridge

overnight, make a smoothie the next

morning, and carry to work in an insulated

flask. For the best results, chill the flask

in the fridge overnight as well, so that the

smoothie stays cold longer the next day.

Drink right at night: Thinking of reaching

for a can of cola after dinner? Bad, bad

idea. Cola is never good for you, but

especially bad at night, as the caffeine

spike will disturb your sleep, and the

beverage being diuretic, you may even

have to make a trip to the loo shortly after

going to bed. Avoid any sugary drinks

around dinner time. Children, no matter

how much they whine, shouldn’t be given

aerated beverages or packaged juice

less than three hours before bedtime.

Instead, drink a glass of warm milk before

Cola is never good for you, but especially bad at night, as the caffeine spike will disturb your sleep

September is

celebrated in the

United States as

Self-Improvement

Month and Better

Breakfast Month.

Puts you on the right

track, doesn’t it?

bed – it works, exactly as traditional

wisdom suggests, though the jury is out

on the medical reasons for it. When you

sleep well at night, you’ll wake up on time

feeling invigorated. Flavour the milk with

something natural, like nutmeg powder,

to entice children. Unless there’s some

medical restriction on it, drink full fat.

The rich taste of milk comes from the fat

globules; the watery skimmed stuff just

isn’t the same. It’s natural fat, and it’s good

for your health. That diet cola and canned

juice are what do the real damage.

Give your car a weekend look-over: Your

car is your workhorse throughout the week,

so shouldn’t it get some TLC when you have

time to spare? Checking tyre inflation weekly

can avert a minor disaster when you’re

driving to a morning meeting. Listening

closely to your engine’s heartbeat can also

save precious time on a working day. A

weekly car care routine (including lights,

coolant, engine oil) keeps your car in tip-top

condition, saving time, money, and energy.



P.O.BOXNO: 4757ABU DHABI - U.A.E.

TTel : 02/5509788Fax : 02/5509688

Email: [email protected]

yorks A/C & Ref. Cont. LLC

PPRROOJJEECCTT NNAAMMEE :: SSHH.. HHAAMMDDAANN && SSHHKKAA SSHHAAMMZZAA

CCOONNSSUULLTTAANNTT :: DDAARR AALL AAMMAARRAA

MMAAIINN CCOONNTTRRAACCTTOORR :: SSEEIIDDCCOO GGEENN.. CCOONNTTGG..

CCLLIIEENNTT :: DD.. SS.. SS.. CC.. BB..

DDAATTEE OOFF CCOOMMPPLLEETTIIOONN :: 11999955

LLOOCCAATTIIOONN :: SSHH.. ZZAAYYEEDD TTHHEE SSEECCOONNDD SSTTRREEEETT..

- 19 -

PPRROOJJEECCTT NNAAMMEE :: MMAARRIIAAMM KKHHAALLIIFFAA AALL MMUUHHAAIIRRYY

CCOONNSSUULLTTAANNTT :: SSAASSCCOO

MMAAIINN CCOONNTTRRAACCTTOORR :: SSAAMMII AALL MMAANNSSOOOORRII GGEENN.. CCOONNTTGG..



LLOOCCAATTIIOONN :: OOLLDD AAIIRR PPOORRTT RROOAADD..

- 20 -

PROJECT : New 400/132kV Grid Station

at Ras Al Khaimah (Lot 1A) CONSULTANT : MOTT MACDONALD MAIN CONTRACTOR : TOSHIBA CORP. CLIENT : TRANSCO DATE OF COMPLETION : MARCH 2008 LOCATION : RAS AL KHAIMAH

- 28 -

PROJECT : 400/132/22kV Grid Station

at Saadiyat Island CONSULTANT : MOTT MACDONALD MAIN CONTRACTOR : SIEMENS CLIENT : TRANSCO DATE OF COMPLETION : MARCH 2008 LOCATION : ABU DHABI

- 27 -

PPRROOJJEECCTT NNAAMMEE :: HH.. EE MMOOHHDD BBIINN SSUURROOOORR AALL NNAAHHYYAANN

CCOONNSSUULLTTAANNTT :: IISSLLAAMMIICC AARRCCHHIITTEECCTT..

MMAAIINN CCOONNTTRRAACCTTOORR :: CC.. CC.. CC..



LLOOCCAATTIIOONN :: CCOORRNNIICCHHEE,, AABBUU DDHHAABBII..

- 13 -

��.indd 12 8/24/15 2:24 PM



coluMn

september 2015

leT all doors be open for all wishes

Ali Obaid is a veteran Emirati commentator and writer on local issues; he currently heads the

News Centre at Dubai Media Incorporated

It surprises us when our children declare widely varying ambitions simultaneously, but this is their day and age, and we must respect that


Have you ever approached one of your sons, trying

to estimate his future, discussing with him the

subject he’ll pick for higher studies and the

profession he might choose in life? And has he asked you

then if he could be a doctor and a footballer at the same

time, or an army officer and a movie star at the same time,

when he grew up?

This is exactly what happened to me—and I was

astonished when my sons asked me this question.

However, I managed to recover immediately and seriously

tried to understand my sons’ hesitation between medicine

and football, or between the military and acting,

particularly as the two occupations in each pair are

completely different, at least from the

perspective of my generation and

yours. But it doesn’t seem to be so

from the perspective of my sons and

yours. So, how can we address this

perplexity that sometimes influences

our children when deciding on their

future?

At first, I tried the reasoning that

perhaps my sons were trying to reconcile the wishes of

their parents with their own wishes for themselves. But I

immediately discovered that this hypothesis was baseless.

The mentality of our children is totally different from

ours—we belonged to a generation when children

respected their parents and tried to fulfil the parents’

wishes; our children belong to a generation when they do

respect their parents, but don’t feel obliged to go with the

parents’ wishes, and would much rather pursue their own

dreams. They have their own lifestyle and ways of

assessing their own abilities.

They undoubtedly put money at the top of the criteria

when choosing career paths. They also care about other

factors that they consider important, such as fame, for

example. We mustn’t forget that our children live in the

age of social media networks that can make anyone or

anything globally famous within minutes. Fame has

become a mania for many of them. The West has a norm

that fame brings money. This is not so in Oriental

communities, as we have many examples of famous

people in different fields who died penniless. However,

most of our children don’t know those stories, and stick to

their dreams of fame.

Meanwhile, we wish for them to be successful and

stable in life, even with less fame, or no fame at all. Our

mission, as parents, is to find common ground between

our point of view and theirs.

I remember, when we were at

primary school, if our teachers asked

us about the careers of our dreams,

the first answer was “doctor” or

“engineer”; some said “teacher” just

to please our own teachers. However,

when I now see my school mates,

very few have taken up those

professions, and many have degrees

in subjects that perhaps never crossed their minds when

they were young.

After a calm and objective talk with my sons, I

concluded that all doors are open for all wishes. What’s

the problem if a person works as a doctor and a footballer

at the same time, if he can manage it? Why not an army

officer and also an actor, if the rules allow it? And what’s

the problem if children drastically change these ambitions

when they grow up, if new careers emerge later?

Let your children think in ways that match their time.

Never forget that you bring them up for an era that’s not

yours, as Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb says. Your mission is to

put them on the right track. Neither you nor they will ever

regret it.

Our mission, as parents, is to find common ground between our point of view and theirs

P.O.BOXNO: 4757ABU DHABI - U.A.E.

TTel : 02/5509788Fax : 02/5509688


yorks A/C & Ref. Cont. LLC

PPRROOJJEECCTT NNAAMMEE :: SSHH.. HHAAMMDDAANN && SSHHKKAA SSHHAAMMZZAA

CCOONNSSUULLTTAANNTT :: DDAARR AALL AAMMAARRAA

MMAAIINN CCOONNTTRRAACCTTOORR :: SSEEIIDDCCOO GGEENN.. CCOONNTTGG..



LLOOCCAATTIIOONN :: SSHH.. ZZAAYYEEDD TTHHEE SSEECCOONNDD SSTTRREEEETT..

- 19 -

PPRROOJJEECCTT NNAAMMEE :: MMAARRIIAAMM KKHHAALLIIFFAA AALL MMUUHHAAIIRRYY

CCOONNSSUULLTTAANNTT :: SSAASSCCOO

MMAAIINN CCOONNTTRRAACCTTOORR :: SSAAMMII AALL MMAANNSSOOOORRII GGEENN.. CCOONNTTGG..



LLOOCCAATTIIOONN :: OOLLDD AAIIRR PPOORRTT RROOAADD..

- 20 -

PROJECT : New 400/132kV Grid Station

at Ras Al Khaimah (Lot 1A) CONSULTANT : MOTT MACDONALD MAIN CONTRACTOR : TOSHIBA CORP. CLIENT : TRANSCO DATE OF COMPLETION : MARCH 2008 LOCATION : RAS AL KHAIMAH

- 28 -

PROJECT : 400/132/22kV Grid Station

at Saadiyat Island CONSULTANT : MOTT MACDONALD MAIN CONTRACTOR : SIEMENS CLIENT : TRANSCO DATE OF COMPLETION : MARCH 2008 LOCATION : ABU DHABI

- 27 -

PPRROOJJEECCTT NNAAMMEE :: HH.. EE MMOOHHDD BBIINN SSUURROOOORR AALL NNAAHHYYAANN

CCOONNSSUULLTTAANNTT :: IISSLLAAMMIICC AARRCCHHIITTEECCTT..

MMAAIINN CCOONNTTRRAACCTTOORR :: CC.. CC.. CC..



LLOOCCAATTIIOONN :: CCOORRNNIICCHHEE,, AABBUU DDHHAABBII..

- 13 -

��.indd 12 8/24/15 2:24 PM

eco-friendly abu dHabi

The emiraTe’s vision of a susTainable fuTure is evidenT in iTs showpiece masdar ciTy and in The care iT Takes To proTecT

fragile zones of naTural beauTyby Sibani Paul



abu dHabi spotligHt

Anyone who knows anything

about Abu Dhabi can tell you

that it has got shiploads of

oil, but that it’s also noted for

its work in pro-environment measures,

including conservation and renewable

energy generation.

Masdar is the name that springs to mind

when talking about renewables and Abu

Dhabi. What’s happening there, and can

you, as a visitor, go and check it out? Yes,

you can. Masdar is open to the general

public, student groups, and corporate

delegations, and a visit can give you a

glimpse into the future.

The concept of “renewables” is not

limited to the cutting-edge technology

on display at Masdar. Any place in nature

where the impact of human activity is

limited or reversed is a showcase for

renewables, as natural wealth, when left

undisturbed, renews itself constantly.

Taking that into account, there’s much in

Abu Dhabi to interest someone who likes

the concept. The emirate has an eco-

friendly attitude, which is what matters the

most; what it hasn’t accomplished yet, it

will soon. Meanwhile, let’s stroll around

and visit those places that epitomise

renewables.

Masdar CityOne of the most important green energy

projects in the Middle East, and even in

the world, Masdar City is a 6km square of

marvellous planning, a blend of the best of

modern and traditional design features that

minimise our carbon footprint. At the heart

of it is the Masdar Institute, a pioneering



is a shared transport system, which many

cities struggling with congestion see as

the desirable future. You’re already in the

future.

The concrete used to create the ground

beneath your feet is made up of a slag

that’s a waste from iron production. The

use of the slag has cut 60 per cent of the

energy required for regular concrete, and

the finished product is much better suited

to the desert heat.

Most buildings around Masdar City

have futuristic, geometric outlines, partly

the result of placing solar panels on the

exterior surfaces. The Knowledge Centre

has an eye-catching curved roof with little

triangles jutting out from its entire surface.

These are photovoltaic cells.

However, many of the buildings in the

residential area have retained traditional

elements of Arab architecture, as they

contribute to natural cooling, such as the

glass-reinforced concrete balcony screens

that mimic the functions of the Arabic

mashrabiya lattice windows.

One of the most striking examples of this

old-new blend is the Masdar Wind Tower,

representative of the windcatcher, a very

common feature of desert architecture.

About 45 metres high, the tower functions

in the same way that windcatchers do,

capturing wind from the upper level and

directing it at the public square near the

tower base. But this being Masdar, the

tower is equipped with sensors that detect

the direction of the wind and control the

opening and closing of the shutters.

A fun thing to bring back from Masdar?

Your very own artwork. The digital

guest book is to be signed by using a

touchscreen. Based on this signature, the

software uses randomisation to create an

artwork that resembles an urban planning

map. The more carefully you sign your

name, the better your artwork. Afterwards,

it’s sent to you via e-mail. Au revoir!

Blue Flag beaches & marinasThese aren’t just any old places by

the sea. Beaches and marinas that are

recognised by Blue Flag meet the highest

environmental and safety standards. And

Abu Dhabi has several of them: Abu Dhabi

Corniche; Lagoon Beach; Phase 2 Beach;

Al Bandar Marina; Bateen; Bateen Ladies

Beach; Bateen Marina; Emirates Palace

Marina; Le Meridien Abu Dhabi; Saadiyat

Island; The Club Abu Dhabi; and Yas Island.

While getting this eco-label is voluntary,

a Blue Flag beach or marina gives a user

the assurance that the authorities in charge

have paid close attention to the following

criteria: environmental education and

information; water quality; environmental

management; and safety and services.

Under these four broad criteria are listed

various requirements, e.g. “No industrial,

waste-water or sewage-related discharges

should affect the beach area” (water

quality); or “Facilities for the separation

of recyclable waste materials should be

available at the beach” (environmental

management); or “An adequate number

of lifeguards and/or lifesaving equipment

must be available at the beach” (safety and

services).

A day out at one of these beaches or

marinas is guaranteed to give a best-in-

class experience. Every time you go back,

the place is as good as new.

research-oriented university specialising

in alternative energy sources. From trying

to grow biofuel in seawater to inventing

a device for minimising tap water waste,

Masdar is always at work for a greener

planet.

What to expect on a visit? Your first

introduction to Masdar City will be the

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) station,

where an on-demand PRT pod will pick

you up, run along a dedicated corridor,

and drop you at your destination, which

you can indicate on a touchscreen. This

Main photo features the Masdar Institute; (from left photo) the idyllic Sir Bani Yas Island; a building at Masdar; a part of Desert Islands(All photos in this section were provided by Abu Dhabi

Tourism and Culture Authority.)

E-vehicles of Masdar City



abu dHabi spotligHt

Desert Islands A little over six years ago, Abu Dhabi

announced one of its biggest eco-tourism

initiatives. At a cost of Dh11.5 billion, the

emirate would create several nature

reserves across eight islands. By the year

2017, they’re expected to pull in a million

visitors annually. These being nature

preserves, there wouldn’t be much point if

the visitors left a huge carbon footprint. So

the Desert Islands project plan included the

use of renewable energy, recycling, and

detailed waste management. Solar panels

and wind turbines would generate much of

the electricity.

The project has transformed what Forbes

magazine called an “inhospitable stretch of

land off the coast of Abu Dhabi”. The most

famous of these nature reserves is on Sir

Bani Yas Island, where the various activity

options can keep one happily occupied

for a week. The breeding programme of

the Arabian onyx on this island – it started

from the time of the late Sheikh Zayed bin

Sultan Al Nahyan – has been a resounding

success, and various other species have

greatly benefited, too, giving the island its

nickname, the “Arabian Ark”. What Sheikh

Zayed had started as per his vision of the

“greening of the desert” is being carried

forward by renewables technology, letting

us experience the magnificence of this

eco-zone without harming it.

Saadiyat IslandFamily time at the Abu Dhabi Corniche

Abu Dhabi Corniche

“Greening of the desert”, Sir Bani Yas Island We take immense pride and great pleasure in extendingour sincerest congratulations and best wishes to

and to His Highness Sheikh

Mohamed bin Zayed Al NahyanCrown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces

and Their Highnesses Members of the Supreme Council and Rulers of the UAE

and to all the people of the UAE

On the occasion of Eid Al Adha May Allah return it upon us all with

goodness and blessings


Mohammed bin Rashid Al MaktoumVice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

His Highness Sheikh

Khalifa bin Zayed Al NahyanPresident of the UAE


We take immense pride and great pleasure in extendingour sincerest congratulations and best wishes to


Mohamed bin Zayed Al NahyanCrown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces

and Their Highnesses Members of the Supreme Council and Rulers of the UAE

and to all the people of the UAE

On the occasion of Eid Al Adha May Allah return it upon us all with

goodness and blessings


Mohammed bin Rashid Al MaktoumVice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

His Highness Sheikh

Khalifa bin Zayed Al NahyanPresident of the UAE


P.O. Box: 127162, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Tel: +971 2 5515737 | Fax: +971 2 5515736


Website: www.paradises-mep.com

��.indd 15 8/25/15 2:17 PMUntitled-1.indd 140 8/25/15 2:46 PM

Security And Safety For AllcoluMn

I have deceived myself, thinking that I am in control of

everything, not caring for anything. I listened only to myself

and heard only my voice. I ignored her, blocked my ears,

and locked my mind behind walls of pride. As she loved me, I

thought she has become completely under my control, that

she will move and think as I want. I forgot, or simply ignored

the fact that every human being has their own capabilities,

which may outweigh my own.

I didn’t imagine the loss I was going to face as an

inevitable result of my actions. The loss wasn’t in terms

of money or property. It was much more, the loss of a

heart that has loved me one day and I returned the

love. I thought I could freeze such feelings so they

don’t change. There were indications that told me

that I am going in the wrong direction, but as usual, I

ignored them and went on in my spite and obstinacy.

My beloved lady was very patient with me and

warned me in her most tender way. I didn’t notice or

feel that her feelings had started to dry up. In fact, I

used to ignore all this, though a clear red light started

to blink, foreshadowing the impending catastrophe,

which was the only result under such circumstances.

Her heart was a haven when I am lost, a garment when

I feel cold, a vessel for my feelings, a balsam for my wounds,

and a sun whenever my sky is cloudy. But when I became cruel,

love turned to alienation, happiness to misery. I found myself alone

even when surrounded by people, melancholic though I put on a

smile, grieving at the heart of a woman that I failed to keep; a heart

that I have lost forever; a heart that I wouldn’t find like it anywhere

in the world.

That Arabian mare has loved me, but I haven’t been up to

her genuineness; haven’t appreciated her real value. I used to

feel very upset when people look at her when we are together.

Their looks used to focus on her while I feel extremely nervous

and stressed. Still, I didn’t notice the balance. I used to ignore

everything and think that I am the best.

My nervousness and stress started to grow till the moment of

a laTe regreT

Dr Samar Al-Shamsi is an internationally respected artist who is renowned for her commissioned portraits of high profile individuals, including the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, US President Barack Obama and others.

People have a tendency to overlook life’s treasures and often, it is when they are gone that we realise their value, the void they leave, the vast emptiness


But when I became cruel, love turned to alienation, happiness to misery

clash between us. I found myself getting smaller and pettier. I

lost her forever. Her love has turned into hatred evident in her

eyes. My heart started to burn; to the extent that I thought that the

people around me may even smell it. I left my life behind and went

away, emptiness all around me, talking to myself when my tongue

couldn’t talk to anybody.

As for her, she went out for good. She stood high before all

challenges, gaining more fame and recognition to become a

star known by everyone in the world. Whenever I see her, with

people surrounding her, everyone waits for a word or a look

from her, grievance kills me and I feel not only the taste of loss

but of defeat. This star used to light my life till I lost her with

unprecedented stupidity. Now I see her even on the walls around

me, or drawn out there in the streets. I even started to see her in

my dreams. Here I know the meaning of late regret.

P.O. Box: 127162, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Tel: +971 2 5515737 | Fax: +971 2 5515736


Website: www.paradises-mep.com


Security And Safety For All criMe and punisHMent


A jobless South Asian man surfaced

in his home country, surprising

his family, but it turned out to

be much more than just an

unplanned break – he was on the run after

killing his wife and disposing of her body. Bad

luck, he hadn’t run far enough.

Altaf, 40, lived in a shared accommodation

in the Al Hamriya area in Dubai. His brother

Ali was also a resident of Dubai. When Altaf

paid a sudden visit to his family in his home

country, Ali, who was already vacationing

The body in The bag

man flEEs country, lEaving his daughtEr in nEighbour’s carE, and his wifE’s corpsE in a dEsErtEd placE

there at the time, was extremely surprised

because Altaf hadn’t said anything about

coming home.

Upon questioning by his family, Altaf

quickly spilled the beans. Ali later said to

the investigators, “He confessed to me that

he had killed his wife. He said that he was

drunk and a fight broke out between them,

when he stabbed her, and then got rid of

the body. He didn’t give me any further

details about the crime.”

Altaf and his murdered wife, Naseema,

had a 10-year-old daughter named Shazia. Ali

asked about his niece, and was told that she

had been left with a family friend in Dubai.

This child, said Ali, had been conceived

before the two began living as husband and

wife. Investigations revealed afterwards that

the marriage hadn’t been properly registered.

Whatever the legal status, Altaf and

Naseema did live as a married couple, but

it wasn’t a happy life. Ali testified that there

were frequent quarrels and physical violence

between his brother and sister-in-law.

by eman abDullah

It was evident that the killer had taken the victim by surprise

Shazia stayed with the family for 23 days,

until the crime was discovered and the victim

identified. DNA tests proved that the victim

was the child’s biological mother.

As the investigation progressed, the police

found out through a friend that Altaf didn’t

have any marriage proof or daughter’s birth

certificate. All he could produce was a hand-

written marriage document, when he wanted

this friend, Hassan, to make some travel

documents for his family.

Searching Altaf’s accommodation, the

police found a pillow cover that had the same

design as the bedsheet in which Naseema’s

body was wrapped. Shazia’s DNA was found

on the bedsheet and the scarf used in tying

the plastic bag. Also found were plastic bags

similar to the one used for hiding the body.

Altaf was eventually arrested, though it’s

not known if he was extradited or returned

himself. DNA tests proved that he was

Shazia’s father.

During interrogation, Altaf claimed that his

wife had committed suicide and that he left

her to bleed until she died. “My wife returned

home drunk at 1:15am,” he said, a claim

that contradicted the forensic finding. “She

started questioning me about relationships

with women. As I denied any relationship, she

went into a rage, entered the kitchen, and

grabbed a knife, wanting to kill our daughter. I

pushed her away from the girl, so [Naseema]

stabbed herself. I didn’t seek medical help,

because I was scared of being accused of

killing her. She died after 20 minutes. I went

to the nearby supermarket and bought a

sack in which I put her body. I carried the

body to my car and drove to Ras Al Khaimah,

and hid it between trees in a deserted

area.” He said he had thrown the knife into a

garbage bin in his neighbourhood.

Though Altaf denied killing his wife, Ali

insisted that he had confessed to the crime,

and that the confession was made in the

presence of other family members. All

witnesses stated that the couple often had

rows and fights.

The accused was charged with pre-

meditated murder. Altaf stuck to his claim

that it was a suicide. He was, however,

found guilty as charged, especially as the

claim of Naseema being drunk was untrue

and because the wound couldn’t have

been made by a woman stabbing herself.

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance

gave Altaf a life term, and the verdict was

upheld by the Court of Appeal.



Meanwhile, two days after Altaf fled the

UAE, Ras Al Khaimah Police found a body

in a large sack, hidden between trees in

a deserted area. The body had started

decomposing. The corpse was of a woman,

wrapped in a bedsheet, then put in a grey

plastic bag that was tied with a pink scarf.

A forensic team arrived on the scene

and declared it to be the body of an Asian

woman, aged between 30 and 40. The victim

had a 5cm-long wound in her belly; it was

15cm deep, cutting right through the body

and touching the spine. The woman had died

of severe internal and external bleeding, as

the stab sliced through major blood vessels.

The murder weapon was very likely a large

kitchen knife. There were also bruises on her

back that could have been caused by a fall

after being stabbed.

As the stab wound was so deep, the

investigators concluded that the woman

did not commit suicide. Someone else had

stabbed the victim, though there were no

defensive wounds on her arms and palms.

It was evident that the killer had taken her

by surprise, so that she didn’t have time to

react. The forensic tests also showed that

the victim was not under the influence of

alcohol when she died.

After following leads, she was identified

as Naseema, who lived in a shared

accommodation in Dubai with her husband

Altaf and daughter Shazia. The police

discovered that Altaf had left the UAE two

days before Naseema’s body was found.

The shared accommodation co-tenant

Mirza, an investor by profession, told the

cops that Altaf came to his room and asked

him and his wife to keep Shazia with them for

10 days as he wanted to travel to his home

country. Asked for the reason behind this

sudden trip, Altaf said he wanted to get new

passports issued for his wife and daughter.

Mirza testified that Altaf was close to a

collapse and was weeping when he handed

his daughter over to the co-tenant family. For

the next two days, Altaf kept visiting them,

before leaving.

Mirza wanted to know why Altaf was so

morose. Altaf claimed that his wife Naseema

had left the house and stolen his money,

leaving him broke.

Over these 10 days, when he was away

from Dubai, Altaf would call up and talk to

Shazia. After 10 days, Altaf still hadn’t returned

– he explained to Mirza, when asked, that his

son, who was in Pakistan, was sick. Altaf also

told Mirza that Naseema should return soon,

and then Shazia could be handed over to her

mother, and in case Naseema’s sister came to

ask about her niece, Shazia could be handed

over to the aunt as well.

All this was corroborated by Mirza’s son,

who lived in the same accommodation.


criMe and punisHMent Security And Safety For All


that adagE quitE litErally camE truE for two fraudstErs, who siphonEd monEy off a bank through bogus loan applications

crIme doesn’t pay by eman abDullah

Using forged documents, Shahbaz opened accounts in the names of the fake employees

Two South Asians, one of them

a bank employee, decided to

siphon money off that bank by

opening bogus accounts and

applying for personal loans.

It was Nashat, 32, who came up with

the idea, and he plotted the fraud with his

banker friend Shahbaz, 42. They hatched

quite a complicated scheme and acted like

hardened criminals – the bogus accounts

were opened with a whole bunch of forged

documents.

Nashat supplied his friend with

photocopies of forged UAE passports

in the names of women. Along with the

photocopies, Nashat gave his friend forged

salary certificates to prove that the “clients”

were his employees working for four

companies in Umm Al Quwain and a fifth

company in Ras Al Khaimah. Photocopies

of five bogus companies’ trade licences

were also supplied as loan documents.

Using these forged documents, Shahbaz

opened accounts in the names of the fake

employees. Then the two managed to

apply for personal loans in the names of

the fictitious clients. It was Shahbaz who

filled out the applications and signed on

them as “clients” before approving and

processing them.

After the loans were deposited by

the bank in the bogus accounts, Nashat

issued cheques to encash the money.

The cheques were issued in his name, in

Shahbaz’s name, as well as in the names

of other people, all on different dates. They

spaced everything out carefully, carrying

out the whole fraud over two years, so that

no one would notice anything.

The bank, however, noticed something

amiss, and suspicion fell on Shahbaz, a

relationship manager, as he was the one

who had processed the loans. Questioned

by the bank authorities, he buckled

under pressure, admitting everything,

including his friendship with Nashat and

the latter’s role in the fraud. Now the police

investigators were called in.

As various bank employees were

interrogated regarding the suspected

fraud, one staff member named Rahim

said, “We found out that Dh6.5 million was

released by the bank as loans that were

encashed by cheques. The cheques were

issued in the names of Nashat, who was

apparently the ‘employer’ of the ‘clients’

[who took loans] and in the names of other

people as well.”

The Criminal Investigation Department

found that the passport photocopies

submitted to the bank belonged to Emirati

women whose real names were different

from those on the photocopies.

The bank’s branch manager, Amal, 27,

told investigators that she remembered

receiving two phone calls from two women,

who claimed that they were clients of the

bank and sought loans. “The first caller

told me that her manager was seeking a

september 2015


said the branch manager.

An Arab legal affairs employee at the

bank told investigators that Shahbaz was

responsible for checking the identity of

those who applied for loans. He was also

to get their accredited signatures before

approving any loan. “We discovered

that five loans had been endorsed for

bogus clients and that Shahbaz was the

employee who approved and processed

the transactions. We also found that

Nashat, the so-called ‘employer’ of the

loan applicants, was the one who had

submitted salary certificates, attesting that

the applicants were his employees in his

companies in Umm Al Quwain and Ras

Al Khaimah. It was found that Nashat and

Shahbaz had withdrawn the loans through

cheques,” she said.

The trade licences, upon checking

loan from the bank. I never met the caller,

although I asked her to come to the bank to

discuss how to help her manager. However,

the caller said she couldn’t come personally

for some reason. Then she communicated

with our employee Shahbaz. I later learned

that he had approved and processed a loan

for her manager,” said Amal. The branch

manager endorsed this loan based on

photocopies that Shahbaz had stamped as

‘certified copies’.

“The other ‘bank client’ who called

me introduced herself as Reem. She

claimed to be a student and also asked

for a loan. After that, I went on leave and,

as I resumed work, I came to know that

Shahbaz had approved a loan for her.

Later, I found that the loan given to Reem

had been cashed against cheques issued

in the name of Nashat and another man,”

by the police, were found to be equally

fictitious, as confirmed by the Umm

Al Quwain Department for Economic

Development and the Ras Al Khaimah

Investment Authority.

The police Criminal Laboratory reported

that the signatures on the loan applications

were forged by Shahbaz himself. It was

also reported that the cheques against

which the loans were cashed were written

by his accomplice Nashat.

The Dubai Criminal Court of First

Instance sentenced each of the two

accused to three years in jail, to be

deported afterwards. The court also

ordered the two to jointly pay Dh21,000 in

temporary compensation to the bank. The

verdict entitled the bank to proceed with

lodging a civic case against the convicts.

The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence.

september 2015


HistorySecurity And Safety For All


For a while, beFore the rise oF the oil economy, the emirates were sustained by the treasure ripped out oF oysters. it was a complex

trade network that stretched From the GulF to iran and india, brinGinG in people even From kenya

by Dr Faleh hanzal

Emiratis are a socially, culturally coherent group

Sociologists define “society” as a

coalition of the people who live

in a country. These people are

affected at first by their natural

environment and, as a result, they form the

social organisation and social system in a

manner that suits the environment. So, the

social system is the status quo that results

from the congregation of people with

common interests. Such a social system

determines for people their thoughts,

moralities, traditions, and needs. The more

people are promoted within the hierarchy of

this system, the more they feel new needs

and tendencies that get mixed together,

changing some old traditions. In short, it is

all about a process of mutual effect between

the social system and its people.

The UAE society, like other societies,

was affected, too, by its geographical

environment. This is called the ecology

(the way living beings interact with the

environment and adapt). Accordingly,

the UAE society is divided into two main

segments, i.e. the community that lives

near the coast, and the community that

lives far from the coast.

The old Emirati community is marked by

more homogeneity than other communities

the

– due to various factors, including religion

and politics, Emiratis are a socially and

culturally coherent group. Nevertheless,

the natural environment did create small

sections within this group.

Within the two main segments

mentioned above, there were sub-

segments. Among the people who lived

near the coast, there were:

A. People whose economy depended

upon diving for pearls and then selling

them. This social segment lived alongside

the coast, from Abu Dhabi to the beginning

of the mountainous area in Ras Al Khaimah.

So, this society overlooked the waters of

the Gulf, and also included the islands.

B. People whose economy did not

depend upon pearl-diving. This society

lived alongside the Al Shamilia coast, which

included the emirate of Fujairah and the

two towns of Kalba’a and Khor Fakkan,

which now belong to Sharjah. This is also

the coast that overlooks the Gulf of Oman

and the Arabian Sea.

Among the people who lived in the non-

coastal environment, there were:

A. Bedouins who lived in mahadher

(oases) particularly Liwa (the centre of

Al Dhafra area within Abu Dhabi). These

people adapted to the desert life, where

the economy was very simple, mainly

based on raising camels and some small

agricultural activities around water wells.

B. Agriculturists who inhabited areas with

abundant freshwater, making a living from

farming, palms, and vegetables. The people

of this society were mainly farmers and hired

labourers called baidar (salaried farmer).

These areas included Al Ain city, Al Dhaid

city, some neighbourhoods of Sharjah, and

the coastal plain of Al Shamilia.

C. Mountainous people who lived in the

highlands of Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

The people of these mountains descended

from some old tribes, e.g. Al Shohooh, Al

Dhohouris, Al Heboos, and Al Naqbi. The

majority of them were farmers, and some

worked in trade.

Now let us look at the community on

the coast that relied upon pearl-diving, as

this was the most active community from

pearL-dIvIngaxIsof

The pearl trade led to complementary maritime industries

Security And Safety For All History


the commercial point of view. There are

three main areas to be explored here –

the pearl economy; pearls and social life;

collapse of the pearl trade and the rise of

the oil economy.

As the pearl trade was the most

commercially viable activity in the region,

other industries relied on it for funding and

other resources. Briefly, the pearl trade

community became the central axis of the

financial and political system in the emirates.

Within the pearl trade community, there

were two economic strata. One was Al

Tawaweesh (which means ‘the pearl

traders’ in the diving jargon of the Gulf;

singular ‘tawwash’), who were privileged

and affluent, owning the diving boats,

funding the diving process, and taking the

yield according to agreed percentages.

The second group was the workers on the

diving boats, whose hierarchy from top to

bottom was: the pilot (Nokhza), the sailors

(Al Jazwa/ Gazwa), and the divers (Al Ghais,

Al Seeb, Al Razeef, Al Waleed, Al Tappap,

and Al Nahham, and other jargon names).

When a diving trip was over, the boat

returned loaded with the yield to the Al

Tawwash. After the pearl was sold in the

market, the revenue was divided among

the boat owner and the boat crew as per

a pre-determined ratio, through a process

called kalata, which began with deducting

the tiskam or gadmyya, meaning the

advance given to the boat crew by the

owner before the diving trip. After this, the

cost of food was deducted, and the net

revenue was shared.

As for the selling, it took place according

to a nominal scale called go, which was

based on different and complicated scaling

calculations, such as the Bombay Scale

and the Basra Scale. The pearls were

bought by Al Safafeer, or traders travelling

across the Arabian Gulf on ships; they

were mainly from India or Iran. Another

group of traders also buying the pearls was

called Banyan, Indian traders who owned

shops in the Banyan Market, a place of

many commercial transactions, including

currency exchange.

The most famous currencies of that

time were the rupee (Indian) and the

touman (Iranian). There was also a period

when the currency in use was the Riyal

of Maria Tereza. Finally, the Indian rupee

became the common currency in the

Banyan Market. Moreover, the paisa (which

now equals 1/100 rupee) spread and was

used as a symbol for money in general.

Accordingly, the Banyan Market became

the main link between the emirates and the

outside world, particularly Bombay in India.

The business done at this market – full

of dynamism and competition – was one

of the most important sources of national

income at that time.

The pearl trade led to complementary

maritime industries, such as galfata, which

means ship-building. There was Al Gallaf,

or the carpenter who built ships, and Al

Yaddaf, or the person who undertook ship

maintenance. Other jobs and industries

included making sails, ropes, reels, fishing

nets, and other maritime fittings and tools.

This boom in the pearl economy made the

local traders hire extra workers from Africa.

This generation of African workers living in

the Gulf was called Al Banayes (singular Al

Binbasi), which is the Arabic derivation from

Mombasa, the famous Kenyan port. They

made up the main labour force in sailing

and diving, and their society had its own

strata and culture.

Besides the commercial transactions

taking place in the Banyan Market, other

economic activities went on in the shops

of the so-called Freij Al Ajam, which

means the quarter of non-Arabs, people

descended from different parts of Persia.

The majority of them lived on the shores



of what is now Dubai Creek; no other

emirate had as many people and as much

activity from these non-Arabs. A third type

of buying-selling space was occupied by Al

Hawag, or the itinerant seller.

A few other professions were limited

to sectors reliant on palm fronds, smithy

works, and simple crafts. These were

common in Freij Al Baharna, which means

the quarter of Bahrainis.

Then there was Al Moutawaa’a, who

was an imam, a mentor for children, and

a medicine man as well. Judges were

named by the ruler, who also appointed Al

Matarzyya, or bodyguards-cum-policemen.

These different economic activities

created names and titles for people who

worked on sea and on land. They also

provided a base for trading currencies.

However, the minority that owned

the capital were not capitalists as we

understand it, because they did not have

the ability to develop projects.

What was the role of the ruler in relation

to the economy, and what was the link

between economy and policy? The answer

is: the ruler had no significant influence

on steering and enhancing the economic

activity; if he intervened, it was usually to

direct the available economic resources

towards the fulfilment of common needs.

The income of the emirate was the

money going into the ruler’s own coffer,

with taxes playing the principal role, taken

from alms (zakat), tithes on crops, and

the tax imposed on the pearl-diving yield.

Due to the vulnerable economic condition

of the people, the first two sources of

taxation made little contribution to the

treasury, so it was the pearl-diving tax,

called Al Traz, that was the main source

of public revenue.

It’s the kind of situation someone from a traditional family might understand – controlling mother trying to put as much distance between her son and her daughter-in-law as possible. Perfectly ordinary, the stuff that television dramas are made of. What followed was quite out of the ordinary. The son, Daryn Gailey, was mentally impaired, a fact that hadn’t stopped him from dating and marrying Amanda Hendrick, who herself had bipolar disorder. They had a baby, a girl named Charley. All this was thoroughly disapproved of by Sylvia Marie Majewska – a possible reason could be that she didn’t trust the union of two

Weird Weapons

Who: ana trujillo Where: texas, uSWhen: June 2013

Who: Sylvia Marie MajewskaWhere: Michigan, uSWhen: december 2014

She said that she was forced to kill her boyfriend, Alf Stefan Andersson, in self-defence, as he chased her and knocked her down, but there wasn’t any injury on her body to back up this claim. On the other hand, the boyfriend was dead, with defensive wounds on his hands and wrists, as if he had been trying to block an attack. Ana Trujillo, who became infamous as the “stiletto killer”, had hit him in the face with a



criMe Mysteries

september 2015

mentally disabled people and the welfare of any children they had or would have in the future. After going to court to get them divorced, Majewska one day went over the edge, when Daryn didn’t return the baby to Amanda after a visit. She took a boxcutter knife – the sort with a flat, retractable blade with a plastic handle, used for cutting duct tape or cardboard boxes and similar things – and went to the son’s room while he was asleep. The mother first slit his throat with the knife, then beat the granddaughter to death, and finally tried to kill herself. It was a failed suicide. Majewska was hospitalised and then jailed, and then charged with murder. The authorities said that she may have acted in the belief that her son and his baby would be better off dead.

sharp, five-inch heel about 25 times. On the basis of this evidence, Trujillo was convicted of the murder of Andersson, and sentenced to life; had her lawyer proved it was a crime committed in violent passion, the sentence might have been just two years. In a confused testimony, Trujillo said, “I never meant to hurt him.” She, in her own words, hadn’t realised how Andersson had been injured by the high heel, until she reached for him and found her hands full of blood.

it isn’t just strangE rEasons for which pEoplE kill – or try to kill; somEtimEs thEir wEapon of choicE can bE Equally bizarrE. from a shoE to a gaming consolE, anything that can hurt has bEEn usEd in physical attacks

It wasn’t to do with religion, but the coincidence is striking – Karen Walsh killed her very old neighbour Maire Rankin on Christmas day with a crucifix owned by the victim. Walsh had turned up at Rankin’s house already drunk and carrying a bottle of vodka. The older woman berated her, telling her to quit drinking and go home to her son. At this, Walsh flew into a rage and attacked the frail Rankin. What was really sly – it went

Who: darrius JohnsonWhere: florida, uSWhen: february 2013

Who: Karen WalshWhere: northern irelandWhen: december 2008

Crazed by the need to sacrifice someone with the Zodiac sign Taurus, Darrius Johnson, aka DJ, killed his girlfriend Monica Gooden with various weapons, including an Xbox gaming console. He himself became injured in the scuffle, which is what got him caught. After the deed, Johnson went out and was walking down the street with visible injuries that drew the attention of the police. He was taken to receive treatment, with the police acting under the belief that Johnson had been hurt during a burglary. He himself gave away the game, saying that he had fought with his girlfriend. Asked where she was, he said, “She’s in heaven. I think I killed her.” Gooden had been stabbed several times – with knives and a bloodied, broken gaming console found near her. Johnson said he had to kill her as she had control over his spirit. The tragic part: his girlfriend’s sun sign wasn’t even Taurus.



against her during the trial – was that she sexually assaulted the old woman to deflect any police suspicion. Walsh was handed a stiff 20-year jail term, though she kept protesting her innocence, saying she went to Rankin’s house only to wish her “Merry Christmas” and had drunk just a small amount of vodka. Defence tried to argue that someone else had entered Rankin’s house and tried to resuscitate her, which is when the injuries occurred. The judge dismissed the theory.



HealtH news

Bionic eye restores sightWITH A TINY IMPLANT, OCTOGENARIAN REGAINS HIS CENTRAL VISION, THE WORLD’S FIRST SUCH SUCCESSFUL OPERATION

september 2015

THE bionic eye implant, a device that

captures images of external objects and

sends the information directly to the brain,

has been used for the first time in the

world on a patient with dry-age-related

macular degeneration, considered to be

the most common cause of sight loss in

the developed world.

The patient, 80-year-old Ray Flynn,

was operated upon at the Manchester

Royal Eye Hospital. His retinal implant

receives images from a miniature video

camera worn on his glasses; the images

are then converted into electrical pulses

and transmitted wirelessly to electrodes

attached to the retina; the electrodes

then stimulate the retina’s remaining cells,

which send the information to the brain.

It’s not a complete restoration of vision,

but within weeks of the operation, Flynn can

see enough to recognise outlines of people,

doorways, and other objects. He hopes

that the implant will help him get back to

something like a normal life, where he can

do his own shopping, gardening, etc.

The Argus II implant, manufactured by

the US firm Second Sight, has earlier been

used on patients blinded by a rare genetic

carry your papers, aBu DhaBi police tell Ms sufferers

THE symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), a

disorder of the nervous system, can disrupt

the communication between the brain and

the body, making one appear intoxicated.

To prevent any misunderstanding, Abu

Dhabi Police have urged people with MS

to carry personal medical documents and

family contacts at all times.

The appeal to the public comes after a

recent report about a 30-year-old Jordanian

man, who has been an MS sufferer for a

decade. His judgment impaired, he has

tried running away from home, and has

been arrested and put through a blood test

because of his unsteady gait that made him

appear drunk. He is now locked up at home,

cared for by his parents.

Abu Dhabi Police said in a recent statement

that they were keen to take “the moral and

humanitarian aspects into account when

dealing with the public in efforts to boost

trust and maintain stability.” They added

that anyone stopped for unusual behaviour

was first stopped and their documents

checked for any medical condition. Carrying

documentation would aid the police in

catching con artists pretending to suffer from

MS and help those really afflicted.

condition known as retinitis pigmentosa.

Flynn had lost his central vision, the

ability to see anything directly in front of the

eye – when looking at something, say, a

menu card, the person sees a blurred white

area in the middle, while the edges are

somewhat clear or at least recognisable.

Putting in the implant was a complicated

operation, of four hours’ duration. Two

weeks after the procedure, Flynn could

see – even with his eyes closed – the

pattern of horizontal, vertical, and

diagonal lines on a computer screen. The

implant and the electrodes bypassed

the barrier of the closed eyelid, directly

communicating with the brain. He was

elated after the test.

Four more patients will be given the

implant at no cost as part of a clinical trial in

the UK, saving them something like a king’s

ransom – the Argus II implant and treatment

cost goes well above $100,000 (Dh376,000).

The final cost depends on the country of

treatment and the patient’s requirements.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

P.O. Box : 3105 Fax : +971 2 626 6220 Phone : +971 2 626 6288

Email Address : [email protected]

www.terracotta.ae

GeneralTransportation

Foodstuff Properties Business Setup

We are empowered with market experience since 1986.

Our clients and our people are our main concern.

We strive to deliver projects in line with agreed timetables and budgets.

We are supported by specialized and professional team able to administer and execute multiple projects and services.

We are flexible and easy to do business with.

We provide our clients with tailor-made services.

International Employment Services


Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

P.O. Box : 3105 Fax : +971 2 626 6220 Phone : +971 2 626 6288

Email Address : [email protected]

www.terracotta.ae

GeneralTransportation

Foodstuff Properties Business Setup

We are empowered with market experience since 1986.

Our clients and our people are our main concern.

We strive to deliver projects in line with agreed timetables and budgets.

We are supported by specialized and professional team able to administer and execute multiple projects and services.

We are flexible and easy to do business with.

We provide our clients with tailor-made services.

International Employment Services




HealtH news

THE “Westernisation” of the world’s diet

is a terrible health trend, as an increased

consumption of meat, plus calories and

preservatives from packaged food, trigger

health problems from an early age, when

combined with a lifestyle from which most

hard labour has been taken out.

“[There’s a] nutrition transition occurring

around the world,” said David Tilman,

professor of ecology at the University of

Minnesota, US, whose recent study looked

at how people ate around the world and how

that affected their health. “People around

the world, as incomes go up, choose more

Drop that Burger

calories and meat in their diet,” said Tilman.

“We have a whole new group of people

who are malnourished because they eat

foods that are no good for them, that have

no nutritional benefit.” These people aren’t

starving; there are just eating so badly that

the body becomes disease-riddled.

A lot of the excess calories come from

processed food items. “[These] have low

nutritional value. Diets low in fruit and

vegetables have a strong negative health

impact,” said Tilman.

Ian Myles, of the US National Institute of

Allergy and Infectious Diseases, defines

“a modern Western diet” as this: “The

biggest features [of a Western diet] are

overconsumption of over-refined sugars,

highly refined and saturated fats, animal

protein, and a reduced intake of plant-

based fibres.”

The Western diet, prevalent in cities, is

inextricably linked with fast food. Regular

consumption of such food, over time,

damages the immune system. Some of

the substances used in processed foods

are mistaken for bacteria by the immune

system, which then gets ready to fight these

substances. While it’s busy doing all this, the

real bacteria can invade the body. “It throws

off the way your body responds ... and by

the time you recognise it, it will have gotten

worse,” said Myles.

Processed foods also harm the gut

microbes that are the “good guys”, important

for digestion and general well-being. Worse

still, the Western diet has been implicated in a

heightened risk of colon and prostate cancer.


Food intolerance in the UAE

AS the UAE undergoes extremely rapid urbanisation, the dietary habits here

have changed equally fast over the past couple of decades. With too many

unfamiliar items coming into the kitchen, the body isn’t able to recognise many of

them. That’s the reason behind the rising number of people with food intolerance in

the country.

“Poor immunity, caused by picky eating and genetically modified foods, may be the

biggest drivers for the exponential increase in food intolerance,” said Stephanie Karl,

a clinical nutritionist. When the body is intolerant to some foods, it releases antibodies

to fight the food, causing a host of problems such as irritable bowel syndrome,

asthma, obesity, and hyperactivity.

Medical experts in the country have advised that young children should take a food

intolerance test if they have some mystifying health problem that just wouldn’t go

away. A test costs Dh1,500-2,000.

KIOSKS I ATM I AROUND THE CORNER

THE WAY THE WORLD MOVESMONEY

©2015 WESTERN UNION HOLDINGS, INC. All rights reserved.

Millions of customers worldwide trust us to transfer their money to over 200 countries and territories in more than 130 currencies.

Find your nearest agent location at: www.westernunion.ae or call 800 4851


poor sleeper? Beware of the Big c

Don’t think sugar can’t hurt if you’re sliM

As if it wasn’t bad enough that people

with poor sleep patterns can develop a

range of problems – from weight gain

to cardiac conditions – new research

indicates that disturbed sleep may stress

the body enough to cause cancer. Lab

tests on mice prove this “unequivocally”,

according to a study published in the

journal Current Biology.

Sugary drinks, including aerated

beverages, are a staple of many countries,

including those in the Middle East. People

with normal weight tend to think that it

won’t hurt them to have some regularly;

self-control is supposed to be only for fat

people. Not true.

Even the slim ‘n’ chic are at risk of

developing Type 2 diabetes if they have

a sugary drink habit, according to new

research published in the British Medical

Journal. The conclusion resulted from the

analysis of 17 studies by a University of

Cambridge team.

They found patterns that suggest that

regardless of weight, regular consumption

of sugary drinks would put one at risk

of diabetes. Dr Fumiaki Imamura, a lead

researcher, told the BBC, “Our study

suggests that if everyone reduces

soft sugary drinks, everyone gets

the benefit.”

Dr Alasdair Rankin, director of research

at the charity Diabetes UK, said that this

was yet another piece of evidence that

sugary drinks were bad for health, but he

suggested further studies into the pattern.

“It does not provide strong evidence about

whether this is because of the calories [the

drinks] contain, or if there is something else

going on in the body that is leading to an

increase in risk.”

The new findings buttress previous

research that said women with a family

history of breast cancer were at greater

risk of developing the disease if they

worked irregular shifts.

Data cited in the published article

indicated that the lab mice with disturbed

sleep patterns gained 20 per cent more

weight than mice with normal sleep

hours, though the two groups ate the

same amount of food.

In the study, mice prone to developing

breast cancer had their day-night cycle

delayed by 12 hours every week for a

year; the tumours that would normally

appear after 50 weeks began to appear

eight weeks earlier. This points to the

importance of maintaining the body’s

diurnal rhythm: waking up with daylight,

and going to sleep after dark. The

report said: “This is the first study that

unequivocally shows a link between

chronic light-dark inversions and breast

cancer development.”

However, scientists have warned

that more research is necessary to

establish the connection between poor

sleep pattern and cancer in humans, as

a number of other factors – nutrition,

social class, living environment etc

– also influence the development of

diseases in humans. Nevertheless,

some researchers ‘guesstimated’

that people, especially women, could

develop cancer about five years earlier

with poor sleep, judging by the lab

findings. “If you had a situation where

a family is at risk for breast cancer, I

would certainly advise those people not

to work as a flight attendant or to do

shift work,” said one of the researchers,

Gijsbetus van der Horst, from the

Erasmus University Medical Centre, in

the Netherlands.



Take a peek aT The newesT musT-have high-Tech elecTronic devices



gadgets

september 2015

Magic sphereNokia may have slipped out of the smartphone radar after its takeover by you-know-who, but the company still has a few nifty tricks up its sleeve. One of them is the Nokia Ozo. The virtual reality video camera is a sphere with a handle at the back, so that it can be mounted on a tripod. Its eight synchronised global shutter image sensors and eight integrated microphones can shoot stereoscopic 3D video, with software for real-time viewing and playback without the need to pre-assemble the image. If you own a VR headset, such as Oculus Rift, this is a worthy companion. Coming soon.

https://ozo.nokia.comPrice: TBA

sMart little stickHere’s a memory stick that works fine with Wi-Fi, so that you can transfer files from any device even without a USB port. This eliminates a number of tedious steps when storing documents from a phone or tablet without a port. The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick lets you transfer files, videos, and music easily from any device to which the stick connects via an app. You can even share all the files with multiple devices—even if a device is in a different room—as long as all of them are in the Wi-Fi range. With capacities of 16 GB to 128 GB, and the ability to support a single stream for 4.5 hours on full charge, this is a good addition to your gadget stable.

www.sandisk.com Price: $29-99 (Dh107-364)

FreedoM FroM data thievesYou must be happy using free public Wi-Fi, which gives you a chance to conduct business—e-mail, shopping, banking transactions—at airport lounges and coffee shops. In the meanwhile, someone using the same network is being evil enough to access all your information via eavesdropping malware. The Keezel Online Freedom Device promises to come between you and the data thieves. It creates a shield between your devices and the Internet, creating encrypted connections via the network of different VPN (virtual private network) providers. If you’re in a country where certain websites or services are blocked (e.g. Twitter in China), you can choose a different country through Keezel—without physically being there, of course—in order to access those services.

www.indiegogo.com (pre-order)Price: $80+ (Dh294+)



turn a new pageWe love solar chargers, and many of them are plain fantastic, but Solar Paper scores over the others in its sheer lightness and thinness—you can slip it between the pages of your diary or book and put it into your jacket pocket. The charger is 0.15-inch thin and weighs 4 ounces, or about 115 grams. It claims to be able to charge the iPhone 6 in just 2.5 hours. A bigger device like a tablet can be powered, if necessary, by connecting multiple charging panels with their magnetic hinge design.

www.kickstarter.com (pre-order)$70+ (Dh257+)

the anti-sMartphoneFor those of you feeling rebellious about the obsession with apps, camera, and other aspects of using a smartphone, here’s a cool alternative. Created by British industrial designer Jasper Morrison, the Punkt MP 01 Phone is the anti-smartphone—a tool for making calls and texting minus any of the frills. It has useful features like a 2-inch LCD display protected by Gorilla Glass and built-in noise cancellation for clear sound. Bluetooth allows for hands-free communication. Without all the extra things weighing it down, the battery life is very good. The angled back plate makes it easy to hold.

www.punkt.chPrice: $300 (Dh1,102)

watch it anywhereA tiny projector that has very good resolution and also a decent degree of brightness? You got it. The UO Smart Beam Laser Projector has both 720p resolution and 60 lumes of brightness in a cube just 2.2 inches square, plus a retro look to give it personality. Its advanced laser diode and LCOS tech project images up to 150 inches in size. The projector accepts wireless and HDMI input, and has a battery life of up to two hours, long enough for a movie or a presentation.

www.uobeam.com

Price: $420 (Dh1,543)



booksSecurity And Safety For All

a controversial modern classic, thrillers of the moment, and the help you need to be successful every day, everywhere – all in bookstores

a disturbing legacyTitle: Go Set a Watchman

Author: Harper Lee

Price: $27.99 (Dh103) (Hardcover)

Publisher: Harper

Assuming you weren’t in the midnight

release queue or didn’t join the frenzied

crowd emptying the bookshelves

later, you haven’t yet found out what

happened to Atticus Finch, that upright

man of the law in To Kill a Mockingbird.

The greatest gripe against this book – it

was published in extremely controversial

circumstances – is that the older Atticus

is a bit of a racist, thus destroying the

legacy of Mockingbird. Since Harper

Lee never wanted to have this book

published, and apparently wrote it

before Mockingbird, this is more a

prequel than a sequel. It’s best to read

Watchman on its own merit, even

though the story is indeed a sequel,

centred round the grown up ‘Scout’,

the tomboyish daughter of Finch, now

called by her given name, Jean Louise.

At the age of 26, she returns to her

home county in Alabama from New York

City, at a time of civil rights agitations

and political upheaval in the south of

America. Upon her homecoming, Jean

Louise learns some disturbing things

about her family, the town, and the

people closest to her, throwing her own

values and assumptions into doubt. This

is, essentially, a story of attaining real

adulthood.

An iconic beauty from the British

royal family (rings a bell?), estranged

from her husband and disliked by her

mother-in-law, the Queen of England,

is assassinated on her luxury yacht. To

find the killer, British intelligence turns

to the spy Gabriel Allon. The suspect

is Eamon Quinn, a master bomb-

maker and mercenary. Quinn is as

hard to catch as a shadow, but Allon

has help from a British ex-commando

turned professional assassin. In

following the trail, Allon faces some

old enemies of his own, people who

have wanted to see him dead for a

long time. Filled with glamour, action,

and pace, this is one of the thrillers of

the moment.

Title: The English

Spy

Author: Daniel Silva

Price: $27.99

(Dh103) (Hardcover)

Publisher: Harper

the name’s not bond

This novel in the Sisterhood

series is yet another riveting

tale of how organised woman power can tighten

the screws on abusive men. The Sisterhood,

founded by Myra Rutledge and Annie de Silva, has

for years supported an underground network run

by former Supreme Court Justice Pearl Barnes to

help women escape abusive relationships. When

two of Pearl’s clients fail to report for their weekly

check-in, the Sisterhood and its allies begin a

search for French model Amalie Laurent and

her one-time maid, Rosalee Muno. Amalie was a

battered wife, viciously abused by her influential

estranged husband, Lincoln Moss, a distant cousin

of the President of the United States and one of

his closest advisers. For years, Moss got away with

his crime, thanks to his political power, but now

he is up against the Sisterhood, and he has never

seen anything like it.

Title: In Plain Sight

Author: Fern Michaels

Price: $7.99 (Dh29.35)

(Paperback)

Publisher: Zebra

(reissue edition)

don’t mess with women

The author, who is the co-founder of the Stanford d.school (design

school), introduces the power of design thinking to help you achieve

goals. As Roth puts it, achievement is a muscle—the more you flex

it, the stronger it gets, and the more you continue to achieve. He

applies insights from design thinking, leading readers through a

series of discussions, stories, recommendations, and exercises, all

of which help change our life’s experiences. Some of the guiding

principles are: excuses are self-defeating; believe you are a doer and

achiever and you’ll become one; build resilience by reinforcing what

you do rather than what you accomplish; learn to ignore distractions

that prevent you from achieving your goals; and become open to

learning from your own experience and from those around you.

get it right, and repeat

Title: The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and

Take Command of Your Life

Author: Bernard Roth


Publisher: Harper Business

september 2015




Former Navy SEAL Scott Harvath, now a

counterterrorism operative, takes on what’s

perhaps his deadliest mission so far. It involves

one of the most powerful organisations in the

world, with a secret committee whose members

can’t be touched by anybody. It soon becomes

a high drama of intrigue and espionage, with

tentacles across the globe.

Title: Code of Conduct

Author: Brad Thor


Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books

tough guy cometh

Thanks to art, no matter what the season, you can have the freshest flowers around you.

As a creative gardener, make the most exotic blooms you can think of, in a variety of media.

The seven different flower projects in the book teach basic design elements, carving

flower stamps, cutting stencils, etc. You’ll learn to create several types of flower shapes and

get tips and advice from established artists noted for their unique floral styles.

Motivational speaker and bestselling

author Ron Clark is in a good position

to talk about success. This guidebook

is aimed at those in managerial /

team leader positions. Team work is

important everywhere, but it can appear

tedious and difficult because of the

ineptitude or defiance of some team

members. The metaphor goes thus:

imagine a company as a bus filled with

people who either help or hinder a

team’s ability to move it forward—there

are drivers (who steer the organisation),

runners (who consistently go above

and beyond for the good of the

organisation), joggers (who do their jobs

without pushing themselves), walkers

(who are just getting pulled along), and

riders (who hinder success and drag

the team down). The best team leader

can recognise who is what, how to get

them working together, and when to

throw out the riders.

a smooth ride

Title: Move Your Bus: An Extraordinary

New Approach to Accelerating

Success in Work and Life

Author: Ron Clark

Price: $20 (Dh73.50) (Hardcover)

Publisher: Touchstone

Exhausting attempts to tame an ill-behaved child can poison family life. Parents

and children can’t constantly be at war, but how to bring it to an end? The

author, a child psychologist, shares a ground-breaking 10-day programme to

help parents understand their child’s behaviour and bring peace back to the

household. Parents will learn how to face new challenges, including defiance

resulting from excessive technology use.

Title: 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child: The

Breakthrough Program for Overcoming

Your Child’s Difficult Behavior

Author: Jeffrey Bernstein

Price: $16.99 (Dh62.40) (Paperback)

Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books

(Second Edition)

more peace at home

flowers in any season Title: Painted Blossoms: Creating

Expressive Flower Art with Mixed

Media

Author: Carrie Schmitt

Price: $24.99 (Dh92) (Paperback)

Publisher: North Light Books

september 2015



Movies

The hoTTesT new inTernaTional movie releases coming soon To a cinema near you

THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED

DirecTor: camille DelamarresTarring: : eD skrein, loan chabanol, raDivoje bukvic, anaTole Taubman, TaTiana Pajkovicmovie TyPe: acTion, aDvenTure, rebooT

Game of Thrones pretty boy Ed Skrein has very big shoes to fill, taking on Jason Statham’s cult role as “the transporter”. Whereas Statham looked like he could smash a small truck with his fist, Skrein has a narrow-eyed stare to convey menace. In this reboot, Frank Martin (Skrein) is a former special-ops guy who has decided to live a less risky life as a transporter of classified packages. When his father paid him a visit in the south of France, the idyllic weekend

THE VISIT MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALSDirecTor: m. nighT shyamalansTarring: kaThryn hahn, eD oxenboulD, benjamin kanes, PeTer mcrobbie, olivia Dejonge movie TyPe: horror, Thriller

DirecTor: wes ballsTarring: aiDan gillen, Dylan o’brien, Thomas sangsTer, kaya scoDelario, ki hong lee, giancarlo esPosiTomovie TyPe: FanTasy, Teen, Drama, sequel

Shyamalan has had many ups and downs after his mind-boggling breakout film, The Sixth Sense. While The Village was very well received, everything after that has been somewhat tame, including the Will Smith-starrer After Earth, which had great promise. Does he still have it in him? The director returns with a low-key cast in The Visit, in which a brother and sister discover something disturbing during a trip to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm. The elderly couple appear to be involved in something strange, and the children are not sure if they can ever return home.

To recap: the original story of Maze Runner had a bunch of amnesiac teens trying to survive against lethal creatures called Grievers, who come out of the maze located right next to the glade where the teens live. It turns out that all this is an experiment by the godlike Creators. In this sequel, Thomas (O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organisation known as WCKD, to which the Creators belong. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces.

september 2015

was disrupted by femme fatale Anna (Chabanol) and her seductive sidekicks. The group wanted Frank to join the bank heist of the century. With his expertise of covert operations, knowledge of fast cars, and fast driving, Frank was deemed an asset, as he must outrun a sinister Russian kingpin. From the producers of Lucy and Taken, Transporter Refueled introduces the franchise to the new generation of thrill-seekers.

EVERESTDirecTor: balTasar kormákursTarring: josh brolin, jason clarke, john hawkes, sam worThingTon, michael kelly, keira knighTley, robin wrighT, jake gyllenhaal movie TyPe: aDvenTure, Thriller, True sTory

Conquering the Everest is the dream of any mountaineer; but nature isn’t always kind to such puny human aspirations. The film tells of the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions, challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest

THE INTERN HERODirecTor: nancy meyerssTarring: roberT De niro, anne haThawaymovie TyPe: comeDy

DirecTor: nikhil aDvanisTarring: sooraj Pancholi, aThiya sheTTy, Tigmanshu Dhulia, sharaD kelkarmovie TyPe: acTion, Drama, romance

Ben Whittaker (De Niro) is an elderly widower who has got tired of retirement. He wants to get back to a job, and lands an unusual one – internship for a fashion website, run by Jules Ostin (Hathaway). Coming from the director of What Women Want and Something’s Gotta Give, this could well be one of the most charming films of the year. De Niro’s comedic work has been as remarkable as his dramatic roles, and Hathaway brings a certain sweetness to all her roles.

A launchpad for two star kids – the son of Aditya Pancholi and the daughter of Sunil Shetty – this is a remake of the 1983 megahit directed by Subhash Ghai. Street boy Sooraj (Pancholi) falls in love with Radha (Shetty), the daughter of a police chief. It’s a most unlikely romance, and the lovers face barriers – but none that they can’t overcome.

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2DirecTor: gennDy TarTakovskysTarring: aDam sanDler, selena gomez, mel brooks, sTeve buscemi, anDy samberg, kevin james, keegan-michael key movie TyPe: comeDy, Family, animaTion, sequel

A family get-together brings centuries-old ancient vampire Vlad (Brooks) to town – along with some secrets and drama – to visit the estranged son he hasn’t seen in years. He turns everybody’s life upside

snowstorms ever encountered by mankind. Their mettle is tested by the harshest elements found on the planet – the climbers face nearly impossible obstacles, and their lifelong obsession becomes an extreme struggle for survival.

down, from Drac (Sandler), Mavis (Gomez) and Jonathan (Samberg) to hotel regulars such as Frankenstein aka Frank (James), Wayne Werewolf (Buscemi) and Murray the Mummy (Key). A cute family treat.




Security And Safety For All environMent

ElECTRoNIC ‘noise’, bombings in war,

and now drought. The latest trouble in the

lives of migratory birds is the severe water

shortage across California, a phenomenon

reaching dystopian proportions.

The Pacific flyway, almost 6,500km

long, is the path of the migratory birds,

running from Alaska to Patagonia (at the

southern end of South America) through

California. In good years, the stopovers in

the state offered vast swathes of freshly

melted snow and marshlands, full of food

for the birds. Now the Sierra Nevada

snowpack is gone and the state is reeling

under drought. The birds that arrived in

Central Valley, California, in July, had a

tough time surviving.

The flyway is used by millions of

migratory birds – ducks, geese, swans, the

arctic tern – coming south from Alaska,

Canada, and Siberia. The stopovers are

crucial for them to eat enough and recover

the energy depleted by flying. That food

supply is all but gone, as the wetlands

of California have dried up, taking away

insects, fish, and plants from the birds. In

the bitter climate, diseases strike, killing the

birds. Some of the native birds of California

have had to abandon their traditional

nesting sites in marshlands and move to

farmlands; they aren’t safe there as the

nests are destroyed during farming activity.

People have first ravaged the climate

and then laid claim to what little water is left

– a tragic development for the shore birds.

The seabirds are in trouble, too, as the krill

(small marine crustaceans that the bird feed

on) have moved deeper, with the ocean

water surface warming up. As a result,

many of the younger birds have died.

“The longer droughts are the worst. At

first, the energy deficits from too little food

affect the weaker or younger ones. In back-

to-back droughts, even the strong birds get

pushed to the limit,” said Blake Barbaree,

avian ecologist at Point Blue Conservation

Science, a research centre in Petaluma,

California, in a media interview.

CHANGING ClIMATE kIllING MIGRAToRy BIRDSlack of snow and vanishing wetlands in california leave the birds starving on the long avian highways

WASTAGE in the use of water for ablution

at mosques may be minimised by a new

device designed in the UAE. The device

has been developed by a student and

professor at the Masdar Institute, Abu

Dhabi. The inventors are Dr Ahmed Al

Jaberi, assistant professor of mechanical

and materials engineering, and Mohammed

Al Musharrekh. The pilot installation of the

device was carried out during Ramadan,

the month when mosques see greater than

usual attendance.

The device, which can be attached to

taps, can tell the tap users how much water

they’re using for ablution; as with many

Masdar design to save water in Mosques

such devices, this invention also depends

on the public willingness to pay attention to

the message being conveyed.

“These efforts reflect the UAE’s

commitment to sustainability, while

supporting the message of the Prophet

Muhammad, who said, ‘Do not waste water,

even if you perform your wudu (ablution)

on the banks of an abundantly flowing

river,’” said Al Musharrekh.

AS humans dig everywhere in their

search for more and more resources

to exploit, alarmed scientists have

called for the creation of international

nature preserves on the ocean floor.

Their alarm has been triggered by

attempts to mine under the sea. A

paper published in the journal Science

has asked the International Seabed

Authority, which awards mining

contracts in international waters,

to create no-go zones for mining

operations that would otherwise

devastate marine life.

CONCERNS OVER DEEP-SEA MINING

september 2015



Solar flight grounded by battery damage

THE lightweight plane Solar Impulse 2,

which started its journey from Abu Dhabi

and was supposed to return to the city

in August, after flying around the world,

has been grounded in Hawaii until about

April 2016.

The setback happened after the plane

finished its most difficult leg, a five-day

flight from Nagoya in Japan to Kapolei

in Hawaii. The overheated batteries got

badly damaged. The team of explorers

said that while the battery technology

was not at fault, they hadn’t been able

to correctly anticipate temperature

fluctuations in the regions that the plane

was flying through.

Solar Impulse 2 is powered by 17,000

photovoltaic cells placed on the top of

its wings and fuselage. These batteries

need sunny days to collect enough solar

power. It has a power backup of 10 hours

for cloudy weather, and the plane can also

fly through the night when the batteries are

properly charged.

Before the plane can take off again,

the damaged batteries need thorough

repair and better cooling options need to

be found. The next plan is for the aircraft

to fly from Hawaii to the US West Coast

and eventually return to Abu Dhabi. “The

adventure continues,” said pilot Bertrand

Piccard on Twitter.

Hasan Al Redaini, the 25-year-old Emirati

who’s on the Solar Impulse 2 team, said,

“What the plane did without a single drop

of fuel, crossing the Pacific, was historic in

so many ways and has paved the way for

future innovations and possibilities.”

TURTLES HATCH ON SAADIYAT ISLAND

SAADIyAT Beach recently celebrated

the hatching of 80 hawksbill turtles; the

babies then made their wobbly way to the

sea. The site is owned by the Tourism and

Development Investment Company (TDIC),

the master planner of tourism in Abu Dhabi.

The company took measures to protect the

nesting site, encouraging the turtles to lay

their eggs from March to June.

While the turtles were laying eggs,

the hotel nearest to the site, the Park

Hyatt Abu Dhabi, helped with the nesting

by minimising disturbance from guest

activities. Arabella Willing, the resident

marine biologist at the hotel, said in an

interview, “Watching the baby turtles hatch

from their nest and run to the sea is one of

the best experiences in the world. After the

nest inventory, we discovered that more

than 80 babies had hatched, which is more

than normal.”

The turtle egg gestation period is

50-70 days. The little hatchlings, after

emerging from their shells, start crawling

towards the sea. The current batch of 80

takes the total number of Saadiyat Beach

hatchlings to 1,100, a happy result of the

hawksbill conservation programme running

since 2010.

To protect the nesting turtles, the TDIC

had asked beach-goers to be very careful

not to disturb the nests, and also to report

any nests that they might spot by informing

the nearest beachfront property or the

Saadiyat Beach security.

september 2015

Security And Safety For All environMent


FISHING BAN RESPITE FoR ARCTIC WATERSCoMMERCIAl fishing, responsible for putting immense pressure

on the environment and for species extinction, has been restricted

in the waters near the North Pole.

Canada, US, Russia, Norway, and Denmark support an

agreement to prevent any large-scale fishing in the waters from

the Arctic ice melt, which should soon have fish populations.

That doesn’t mean the fish populations here will be permanently

safe. Permits may be given once “one or more international

mechanisms are in place to manage any such fishing in

accordance with recognised international standards,” a US

statement said.

Countries have been jockeying for position, laying claim to

pieces of the Arctic territory. The rapid North Pole ice loss is

proving to be disastrous for animals like the polar bear. The

environment remains extremely fragile, and the activist group

Greenpeace has expressed its desire to see a permanent

fishing ban here.

All the Americans you see snapping up the latest

models of this and that phone or tablet or home

appliances – they have the dubious distinction of

creating the world’s biggest pile of electronic waste.

According to a United Nations study, the US annually

produces a volume of e-junk that’s more than a million

tonnes ahead of China. Together, the two countries were

the biggest contributors to the 41.8 million tonnes of

e-waste generated around the world in 2014–consisting

of everything from electronic items like cell phones to

electrical appliances like hair dryers. The US share was

7.1 million tonnes; China followed with 6 million tonnes;

and they were followed by Japan, Germany, and India.

Only a fraction of this was recycled, even though

e-junk contains a lot of reusable material. Per the report

by the UN University, discarded materials, including

gold, silver, iron, and copper, were worth $52 billion

(Dh190.8bn).

The American fad of buying the “latest” has spread

across the world, with consumers in India and China

showing similar behaviour. The global frenzy to stay

ahead of peers by flashing the latest models of

everything has cost the planet dear, in terms of e-junk

and excessive resource extraction.

“Ninety-five per cent of all these electronics that we use

in the entire world go un-recycled,” said John Shegerian,

CEO of Electronic Recyclers International. Recycling would

not only reduce pressure on the environment, but would

also prevent toxic chemicals in the products from leaching

into the surrounding soil and water.

Where is the bulk of e-junk from? UN finds out

DICAPRIo PlEDGES $15M FoR GREEN CAUSES

HollyWooD superstar Leonardo

DiCaprio, a long-time supporter of

environmental causes, has pledged

$15 million (Dh55m) of his own money

in donations for several such causes.

The donations will be made through his

foundation, set up in 1998 right after his

megahit Titanic, and beneficiaries include groups like Amazon Watch,

Save the Elephants, Tree People, and the World Wildlife Fund.

“The destruction of our planet continues at a pace we can no

longer afford to ignore,” DiCaprio said in a statement. “We have

a responsibility to innovate a future where the habitability of our

planet does not come at the expense of those who inhabit it.” The

beneficiary groups were “working to solve humankind’s greatest

challenge,” he said.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation supports projects in at least

40 countries, and the actor was last year named a UN Messenger of

Peace, with a special focus on climate change.

september 2015

PLASTIC BAGSStart

NOW



Security And Safety For Allpuzzles

PUZZLES

mediumeasy

september 2015

Across

8 Lord who made 100 batting skilfully after call for quiet (8)9 Travelling model held in ‘igh esteem (2,4)10 Extreme type omitted milk stout perhaps (6)11 Australian bounder finds all are docked in court (8)12 Russian city king takes 21ac ñ no U-turn (4)13 Be content? I might be doubly shy as a result (4,6)14 Cloaked ruler dug up the coal (7)16 Ukrainian cavalryman needing a bag for his lettuce? (7)19 Tying the knot: somehow 10 twigged (7,3)21 Traditional tussle in Tokyo adds nothing to the total (4)22 People again on the other end of the line from Carlisle? (8)23 Unionist engaged in turning radio frequency band against Russian general (6)24 Just yours truly changing money with student (4,2)25 Burn with a little white lie to begin the thread (8)

Down

1 Ukrainian city zone has you thinking of maximising your resources initially (8)2 Take the barb from a foreign pirate (6) 3 Ardour fazes them to some extent (4)4 London location of a displaced Clwyd hospital (7)5 Like Rousseau’s savage initiate in an upper class vein? (5,5)6 Old World Sky supporter holds up ITN (8)7 Primitive golfer’s warning without a fuss (6)13 Mutually exchange a note on her (3,7) 15 Classic catcher here at home: they’re out! (2,3,3)17 In general maybe Greenham lady’s without puff (8)18 Pole with little back-up makes not a sausage (5,1,1)20 One splits Japanese currency for example without looking (6)21 Non-American academic workshop (6)23 Ox from Zambia beginning to break into Brussels (4)

SOLUTIONSFOR THE aUgUST ISSUE

www.alberichcrosswords.com

www.brainbashers.com

easy medium



horoScopeSecurity And Safety For All

september 2015

whaT The monThhas in sTore

Aries (March 21 – April 19)You’ll be in a dilemma this month over some pretty big life changes that would, of course, also impact your work situation. Instead of falling for some temptation that looks good for the short term, assess what you

truly aspire to, and whether the move will benefit you in the long term as well. Don’t let a moment’s weakness derail carefully laid out plans. At the same time, be flexible about plans and take an informed decision. Some close family member may cause unnecessary friction; ignore it.

Taurus (April 20 – May 21)Some of you will face money trouble. Rather than finding quick-fix solutions, you’ll need to introspect and see what’s causing this trouble in the first place. If you don’t, there will be a recurrence of the problem. The good news is that you may be able to profit from some property-related transaction if you take

stock of your assets and think hard about how to monetise them. The support of your spouse is crucial at this point, so don’t allow trivial issues to cause bitterness.

Gemini (May 22 – June 20)If you’re in a new relationship, be prepared for some cracks. Don’t write off your romance, though; these cracks are just a test of your patience. Money will most likely come to you very easily, but your investment skills need brushing up, or you’ll end up wasting much of what you earn, more so because you may lose

focus frequently during this period. Creativity will flow, making this a good time to pitch a new project, but to discuss the nuts and bolts, wait till you feel calmer.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)Bring back the communication in your marital life to rekindle past happiness, in case things have got a bit strained of late – the stars are aligned in your favour and honest efforts will pay off. Some additional family responsibilities may weigh you down for a bit; learn to say no firmly when you

need to. With things at home settled and relaxed, this is a good time to look for a job change, especially if you have a recent project triumph under your belt.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)Your health needs urgent attention; mainly, you need a disciplined fitness regime. This sun sign tends to be dismissive of other people’s views, but if you aren’t more receptive, there could be a serious health scare soon. Rein

in your usual tendency for drama and analyse advice rationally. Take part in activities that stimulate your mind. External factors won’t cause any problems in this period; what’s important is that you keep yourself in good shape mentally and physically. Move out of the comfort zone and learn a new skill.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)This is a good period for cultivating new professional acquaintances, and maybe even consider a change of career to move into a more fulfilling space. While the prospects are good for your social life, the money situation won’t be quite so bright. Don’t

let that drag you down, and definitely don’t be vocal about your resentment, as that’s guaranteed not to solve any problems. Instead, make yourself and your work more visible. If you’ve got any chronic health condition, take extra care this month.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)Professional demands will keep you nearly buried, but do make time to unwind, or you risk a burnout. There’s a possibility that you’ll be on a major project team, and this is your opportunity to shine, if you can put aside small differences with colleagues.

Be prepared to offer more than what’s asked of you, as this will lead to a very positive performance review. Money management needs some attention, but nothing significant as you’ll neither gain nor lose much during this period.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)This will be a slightly unsettling period for you – a slow pace at work juxtaposed with something chaotic on the home front. Your sense of humour will be handy at this time, as both the situations will make you feel restless. Seek out

friends who can lend a patient ear and perhaps offer good advice, too. Moving to a different city may seem extreme, but it’s a good idea for a fresh start. An independent venture alongside your regular work has great chances of success.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)It’s a happy period ahead for you – nothing special, but the general troubles that had been plaguing your days are all but gone, and a positive phase begins. Some major financial rewards are coming soon that will offset petty workplace problems.

What you need to ensure is that you make time for leisure activities, especially travel, to invigorate yourself. Revive a hobby that you may have put aside for a long time; it will be like turning back the clock and going beyond mere chores.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)Work hours will ease up, giving you the time to pursue other interests, or to explore professional areas more deeply. Relax and let the good things come to you; don’t fret about falling behind colleagues. When you utilise this

time for personal development, future success will no longer depend on just a job. Focusing on substantial investments will make you more disciplined about savings, and will also bring clarity to financial goals and income targets. Creative people should use online resources to raise their profile.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)Test the waters for becoming an independent professional, if you’ve been nursing that ambition, as the time is right. A very important aspect of family life will finally fall into the right track, giving you both relief and renewed energy to concentrate on purely personal passions.

Consider building up your savings, turn to your spiritual side, or embark on a solo trip – anything that you’ve been yearning for should be done now, as your life and career are at the crossroads, and time alone will help.

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)Minor disagreements at home could snowball into huge fights; be the first one to backtrack even if that injures your dignity. The tension won’t last long, so there’s no point letting it get out of control. Keep some money aside as unexpected bills could land on

your table. It’s important to be a team player in this phase as projects will come to you, but you’ll need help to execute them – therefore, forget about any game of upstaging rivals; a united front will serve you much better.


Zenith_HQ • Visual: U13_EP7 • Magazine: 999_magazine 01_06_2015 • Language: EnglishDoc size: 210 x 280 mm • Calitho #: 05-15-108940 • AOS #: ZEN_09436 • TS 19/05/2015

B O U T I Q U E S Z E N I T HD U B A I M A L L - T E L . + 9 71 4 3 3 9 8 10 4

T H E G AT E M A L L - T E L . + 9 74 4 4 0 7 714 9

B O U T I Q U E S Z E N I T H

EL PRIMEROI Chronomaster 1969

Tour Auto Edition

L E G E N D S A R E F O R E V E R

NEW ADS-8.indd 3 5/23/15 2:28 PM

IN THIS ISSUE: DODGE SalOn DanGERS, BEaT OFFICE POlITICS, FOOD SaFETY

ramadan AD.indd 11 6/23/14 4:28 PM

ads.indd 6 10/22/14 8:28 PM

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Documents

Transcript of AT YOUR FINGERTIPS