Sports
RTA could bring Dubai Metro expansion forward
Leaders at Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have confirmed that plans to expand the city's Metro network could be brought forward if the emirate's bid for the World Expo in 2020 is successful.The organisation is hoping to complete an AED 5 billion (£866 million) upgrade of the Red Line, but the project could be fast-tracked if the high-profile international event is staged in Dubai.Organisers of the city's bid have outlined potential sites to host the conference and it is likely to end up next to Dubai World Central Airport. If the showpiece is awarded to the sheikhdom, the RTA will be under pressure to provide Metro links between the airport and the rest of the region.Mattar Mohammad Al Tayer, chairman of the board and executive director of the RTA, said plans to expand the Red Line out towards the airport have been in place for some time, Gulf News reports.”As soon as the bid results are out and if we win – which we will Inshallah (God willing), we start the planning and development of the project,” he was quoted as saying.Dubai World Central has only been used to transport cargo to date, but the aviation facility is scheduled to launch passenger flights in October 2013.Conveniently, organisers of the World Expo 2020 are expected to announce the host city just one month later.Mr Al Tayer said the new-look Metro servive will also cover Jebel Ali, which is close to the Expo site, thus enabling even more people to travel to the venue.”We have already floated the tenders for the next stage of Etihad Rail's development. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2017, and that will bring additional traffic to the area,” he added.Earlier this week, the Bureau International des Expositions scrutinised each Expo 2020 bidder and confirmed that Dubai has moved on to the next stage of the process. Thailand's Ayutthaya has withdrawn from the competition, leaving just four contenders, including Izmir in Turkey, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Yekaterinburg in Russia and Dubai. Continue reading
Midday break rule from tomorrow
Midday break rule from tomorrow 13 June 2013 Labour Ministry assistant undersecretary for inspection affairs, Maher Hamad Al Obad, has underlined the keen interest of the government in providing all means of living for labourers, improving their conditions and maintaining their safety, which reflects on the stability of the labour market. He said this is made through adoption of initiatives and enactment of laws that maintain human rights, safeguarding their dignity and securing their requirements for a decent life for them, according to the tenets of Islam and the laws and norms issued by international organisations. Al Obad made the remarks at a speech at a reception held here on Thursday to mark the launch of the mandatory midday break rule for labourers which will come into force on Saturday. The noon work ban will run for three months. The break will be from 12.30pm until 3pm. Employers have been asked to provide shaded areas for their workers during the break time. In case a worker works for more than eight hours a day, the extra working hours will be treated as overtime, and he will be paid for it as per the provisions of the Federal Law No 8 of 1980 on regularising labour relations. The three-month midday break rule will end on September 15. Labourers must not work at all during the banned hours especially if he works in the open. Works which must continue non-stop for technical reasons are exempt from the ban, but employers are required to provide all facilities that cater to the health and safety of workers including first aid, re-hydration/electrolyte solutions and cold water. A list of worker exemptions will also be issued by the ministry. The rule makes it binding on the employers to publish, in a conspicuous place at the workplace, a schedule of the daily working hours as per the rules, and should be written in Arabic to facilitate being read and reviewed by the labour inspectors while conducting surveillance visits, and also in a language that is understood by the workers. It also calls for providing suitable protection facilities to protect workers from risks of occupational injuries and diseases, which might happen during working hours. Other measures include risks of fire which might result from using work tools and following all other methods of protection stipulated in the labour law and the executing ministerial decrees. Companies who break the midday break rule will face penalties. Offenders will have the classification of their firms downgraded by the ministry, and will be fined Dh15,000 for each offence. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
WB cuts global growth outlook
WB cuts global growth outlook (Bloomberg) / 13 June 2013 The World Bank cut its global growth forecast for this year after emerging markets from China to Brazil slowed more than projected, while budget cuts and slumping investor confidence deepened Europe’s contraction. The world economy will expand 2.2 per cent, less than a January forecast for 2.4 per cent growth and slower than last year’s 2.3 per cent, the bank said in a report released on Wednesday in Washington. It lowered its prediction for developing economies and sees the euro region’s gross domestic product shrinking 0.6 per cent. In contrast, forecasts were raised for the US and Japan, which was helped by fiscal and monetary stimulus. “Hard data so far this year point to a global economy that is slowly getting back on its feet,” the Washington-based lender said in its twice-yearly report. “However, the recovery remains hesitant and uneven.” Efforts by European policy makers to stem the region’s debt crisis have alleviated the main risk to global growth and financial-market stability, according to the lender. The bank now sees smaller threats, including lower commodity prices and the impact of unwinding unprecedented monetary stimulus in advanced economies including the US, the talk of which has sent currencies from India to Thailand lower and Mexican bond yields higher in recent weeks. Asian equities tumbled on Thursday, with the region’s benchmark index headed towards a correction, and the yen rose to the strongest in two months against the dollar after the World Bank cut its growth forecast amid concern central banks may pare monetary stimulus. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped as much as three per cent, erasing this year’s gains. Bond risk in Asia climbed, and emerging-market stocks slid to a nine-month low, led by Chinese and Thai shares. “In the short run, if the US becomes a little more attractive, there will be some marginal movement of money,” World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said in an interview on Wednesday. “I don’t think this is the kind of fluctuation that will last past two months or so.” The withdrawal of accommodative policy may have consequences in the longer run as interest rates in developing countries rise more than in their industrial counterparts, slowing investment and growth, according to the report. The Bank of Korea kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday after a surprise cut in May aimed at boosting an economy hit by a yen drop that gives Japanese companies an edge over Korean exporters. New Zealand’s central bank left its Official Cash Rate at 2.5 per cent and cut its growth forecast for the year through March 2014 to three per cent from 3.3 per cent. For next year, the World Bank said it expects three per cent growth worldwide, compared with a 3.1 per cent advance in its January forecast. The World Bank predicts the US will grow two per cent this year compared with a forecast in January for a 1.9 per cent expansion, though fiscal tightening is holding it back. The new forecast for the 17-country euro area compares with a 0.1 per cent contraction seen in January. Developing countries collectively were forecast by the World Bank to expand 5.1 per cent, less than the 5.5 per cent estimated in January. China’s growth outlook was cut to 7.7 per cent from 8.4 per cent, according to the World Bank’s report. The 6.1 per cent forecast for India was reduced to 5.7 per cent and Brazil’s was lowered to 2.9 per cent from 3.4 per cent. — Continue reading
