Sports
Cabinet nod for Haj, Umrah draft law
Cabinet nod for Haj, Umrah draft law (Wam) / 15 July 2013 His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has said that the Arab community in the UAE lives in unity, solidarity and tolerance during the holy month of Ramadan, the month of serenity, fraternity, social networking and hard work. Shaikh Mohammed made his remarks during the ordinary Cabinet meeting held at the Presidential Palace on Sunday evening. The session was attended by Lt-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs. The Council of Ministers approved during its session the issuance of a draft law regulating Haj and Umrah contracting work. The new resolution puts forward a unified national system to organise the Haj and Umrah journeys. It is applicable on the contractor as well as on Emirati and expatriate pilgrims. The draft law specifies the terms of reference of the Haj and Umrah administration, the competent licensing committee, and general conditions for practising the business and procedural aspects. It also includes the conditions for licencing and renewal thereof of Haj and Umrah mission organisers and measures to increase the number of authorised pilgrims for a contractor during the pilgrimage season, sanctions for violating the licence terms, the obligations of contractors, procedures for the transfer of pilgrims from one contractor to another, and other relevant procedures in this respect. It includes the imposition of clear sanctions and fines on Haj and Umrah contractors who are found negligent in providing the necessary services to pilgrims. The move aims to improve the services provided to pilgrims in the UAE. The Cabinet approved the request of the Federal National Council to discuss the general policy of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). It also approved the issuance of a federal law amending the federal law on renaming the National Centre for Documentation and Research, so that it will become “The National Archive”. The amendment aims to express the reality of the actual work and terms of reference assigned to the centre as the National Archive of the State. It also endorsed the restructuring of the Board of Directors of the National Centre for Statistics, under the chairmanship of Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimi, Minister of State. The Board of Directors includes representatives with competence and efficiency from all emirates. It also approved the appointment of Helal Saeed Al Marri, Director-General of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council for Tourism and Antiquities. Regarding the international conventions, the Cabinet approved a number of agreements between the UAE and Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka, in the area of legal and judicial cooperation. It also ratified a series of cooperation agreements in the field of air transport with Senegal, Ukraine and Algeria. The Cabinet also approved the ratification of the Convention with Belarus on the exemption of visas for holders of diplomatic passports. It also approved the appointment of 16 judges at different levels of the federal courts. Continue reading
Oil slick causes scare along Fujairah
Oil slick causes scare along Fujairah Salah Al Deberky (news@khaleejtimes.com) / 15 July 2013 The Environment Protection Department at the Fujairah Municipality is cleaning up the oil slick washed ashore which polluted the beaches of Mirbiah and Gadfa on Saturday. It appeared that the loading and unloading of a vessel off the Fujairah coast was behind the pollution. A heavy oil slick stretched nearly four kilometres along the two areas and a top official of the Fujairah Fishermen Association says it has gone even to a depth of one kilometre, making it a serious spill. A large portion of the slick, especially on the beaches, has been cleared. The Ministry of Environment and Water, on Sunday, sent specialised technicians to examine the pollution and clean up the beaches. The oil pollution brought fishing to a halt, and eyewitnesses said the pollution resulted in the piling up of a thick layer of oil tars stretching over four kilometres from Gadfa area to the fishing harbour in Mirbiah amid fears that the slick would hit the major water desalination plant in Gadfa adversely and, consequently, the water supply in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. “The oil spill which hit Mirbiah and Gadfa shores is one of the serious ones due to the thickness of the layer, which spread largely on water and in depth of more than a kilometre,“ said Mohammed Al Yateem, Secretary-General of Fujairah Fishermen Association. “A patch of the oil tar which deposited on the beaches of the two neighbourhoods caused a foul odour that inconvenienced the people,” he said. This type of pollution was detrimental to environment, and posed a threat to fisheries, especially the fish on the surface and not in the deep, for the oil spill covered the water surface and was about 20 centimetres thick, he said, adding that it was one of the rare kinds of pollution in these areas in a long time. Meanwhile, Abdullah Al Hantoobi, Deputy Director of the Fujairah Municipality, said the oil slick hit sea water and beaches of both Gadfa and Mirbiah and reached as far as the Fujairah Seaport, adversely affecting the fish production. Al Hantoobi, however, said Fujairah water desalination and power stations 1 and 2 were not affected by the spill, and that was assured and confirmed by the management of the stations when contacted. Water supplied to the stations was from deep sea, which was free of oil slick, he said. Oil slicks were caused by dumping of waste by oil tankers into the sea and in the UAE territorial waters illegally. The municipality, in coordination with the Fujairah Seaport, had already started cleaning up the oil slick. The beaches were being cleaned using earth moving machines. Continue reading
Maktoum reviews action plan for clothing initiative
Maktoum reviews action plan for clothing initiative 15 July 2013 Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, said on Saturday that the new charity campaign launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to provide one million deprived children around the world with proper clothing was a natural progression of the charity seed planted by the late founding fathers — Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Shaikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum — and is now being taken care of by the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Their Highnesses Rulers of Emirates. “The charity campaign is a true UAE contribution to bring smiles to the faces of one million children around the world at a time the world is plagued with wars, conflicts and disasters and the number of refugees and displaced persons are on the rise and millions of children are left without shelter to protect them from the scorching sun of summer and severe cold of winter,” Shaikh Maktoum said while chairing a meeting of the executive committee of Shaikh Mohammed’s initiative. Shaikh Maktoum noted that the humanitarian initiative was launched in sync with the spirit of mercy and giving to children and the poor that prevail during the holy month of Ramadan. The meeting discussed the mechanism in which Shaikh Mohammed’s initiative would be implemented to deliver its goals within the given time-frame. The campaign will last until Ramadan 19 to mark the Emirati Humanitarian Day, which commemorates Shaikh Zayed, Father of the Nation and Founder of the UAE who passed away on the 19 th day of Ramadan. — Wam Continue reading
