Tag Archives: entertainment
Government customers urged to avoid cars tomorrow
Government customers urged to avoid cars tomorrow Staff Reporter / 18 February 2014 Parking lots at Dubai Municipality Headquarters to be closed as 64 entities sign up for Car Free Day. Customers of entities participating in tomorrow’s Car Free Day initiative have also been requested to avoid using cars when they visit these departments. Commuters travelling on a Metro train on Car Free Day in Dubai on February 13 last year. — KT file photo As many as 64 government and private departments, ministries and companies are taking part in the 5th edition of Dubai Municipality’s Car Free Day drive. A few schools and universities have also signed up to participate. The Dubai Municipality launched the initiative in 2010 to protect the environment by promoting the use of public transport, especially the Metro and buses, which in turn, reduces road congestion. All parking lots at the Municipality’s headquarters, clinic, pest control section, veterinary section and so on would be shut throughout the day. However, the municipality centres detached to the headquarters are exempted from this, though the employees would ditch their cars to work. Meanwhile the Corporate Marketing and Relations Department of Dubai Municipality announced that the number of people registered online for the green initiative has reached approximately 4,000. Mohammed Al Noori, Director of Corporate Marketing and Relations Department said in a statement: “Civic Body, in collaboration with all major government departments and private companies in the emirate of Dubai, is proud to achieve this level of public awareness supporting the government of Dubai to accomplish its strategic goals in the preservation of environment for a better future. “We expect more people to register on the last day before the event. Our total target of this year was 7,000 to participate in the event. As long as the online registration itself reached 4000, we have great hope to exceed our expectation,” Al Noori said. ‘It’s worth mentioning that the residents of Dubai are well aware of their duty towards the initiatives launched by government departments especially the initiatives of civic body with the aim of achieving its vision to create an excellent city that provides essence of success and comfort of sustainable living,’ he said. “We need to change the attitude of people who are not much aware of the importance of such green initiatives. I am sure majority of the people can do something to spread the great message behind this event through their contacts so as to get the maximum result,” he added. Yousif Murad Salmeen, head of Media Section at Dubai Municipality said the Municipality was fully prepared to mark the event in a sophisticated way. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of the Dubai Municipality, along with top officials of major government organisations will ride the metro from Etisalat Metro station at 7.30am and will reach to Union station at 7.45am, followed by the inauguration of the huge exhibition of green initiatives and eco-friendly equipment at the car parking area of Dubai Municipality headquarters, Salmeen said. “At 8am, a group of around 100 DM employees will conduct a bicycle rally from Deira City Centre to the DM main building to make a difference in the road culture of the city,” he said. “In addition, there would be a variety of traditional art performances and folk dances alongside the event. Hundred sport bicycles will be distributed to winners from the participants who registered online,” he added. sajila@khaleejtimes.com The participants The participants of this year’s Car Free Day include mainly the Ministry of Environment and Water; Ministry of Public Works; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development; Ministry of Social Affairs; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Economy; Land Department; Etisalat; Dubai Police; GDRFA; DCCI; RTA; Dubai Properties Group; Department of Economic Development; Financial Audit Department; Dubai Mall; Al Bayan; DHA; Dubai Educational Zone; Mohammed bin Rashid Housing; Dubai Healthcare City; Dubai Civil Aviation; American University of Dubai; University of Wollongong Dubai; Emirates Foundation for Cooling Systems; DMI; Dubai Arts and Culture; Al Serkal Group; Radisson Blu Hotel; Public Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare; Department of Finance; Dubai Customs; Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities; Shaikh Zayed Housing Foundation; Awqaf; Minors Affairs Foundation; Dubai Ambulance Services; Civil Defence; Dubai Police Academy; Dubai Courts; Dubai International Financial Centre; UAE Red Crescent Authority; Emirates Transport; Dubai Government School; University of Dubai; Mohammed bin Rashid School; Umm Suqeim School; Institute of Applied Technology; Holiday Inn; Dubai Sports Council; Al-Ahly; Al Wasl; UAE Football Association; Dubai Sports City; and Al Futtaim. 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Fire destroys 12 warehouses in Sharjah Industrial Area
Fire destroys 12 warehouses in Sharjah Industrial Area Afkar Abdullah / 18 February 2014 Residents of nearby buildings and labour accommodations evacuated. Firefighters from Sharjah, Ajman, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain are currently fighting massive fire erupted at 9pm at more than 12 warehouses at Sharjah Industrial Area No 13. Fire at the warehouses in the Sharjah Industrial Area 13 on Monday night. – KT photos by M. Sajjad The warehouses were storing clothes, aluminium, glass, furniture and different types of flammable materials. The flames are spreading fast and smoke billowed up the sky because of strong wind and the quantity of flammable materials kept in the warehouses. No casualties have been reported till the time of filing this report but the fire might have caused huge loss, according to a police official. The police cordoned off the area and closed the road to help the firefighters carry out their duty. The police also evacuated the tenants and workers from nearby buildings and labour accommodations for safety. A Civil Defence official said that the firefighters are trying hard to control the fire and prevent it from spreading to nearby premises and other warehouses in the same compound. A source in the civil defence team said it may take long hours to put out the fire considering the speed of the wind and the intensity of the fire. Once the fire is extinguished, experts will start cooling operations, said the source. According to an eyewitness a number of warehouses in the compound have been completely destroyed by the fire. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Public school admissions in Abu Dhabi begin on February 23
Public school admissions in Abu Dhabi begin on February 23 Olivia Olarte-Ulherr / 18 February 2014 Expatriate students can register starting March 16 while admission age for Kindergarten students raised. Registration for the 2014-2015 academic year for the new Emirati students in public schools across the emirate will begin on February 23 and will continue till March 20. Expatriate students will have a week to register from March 16 to 20. Mohammad Salem Al Dhaheri, executive director of school operations at the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), has urged parents to enrol their children as early as possible in order not to miss the deadline. “Missing the deadline will cause a lot of problems for the parents,” he said, noting that awarding of spaces will be based on first-come-first-serve basis,” he said. Online registration This year, registration has been made easier with the new online system adopted by the Adec. “We have introduced new features like using the Emirates ID to capture all information automatically. This will minimise the time spent by the school and the number of documents required to register a student,” said Walid Nsouli, senior information and communications technology (ICT) advisor at the council. With the Emirates ID card reader, registration of new students takes about three to five minutes compared to the old registration process of typing all information and scanning documents, which takes between 28 and 32 minutes. “For KG to Grade 5, we don’t need any documents to be scanned, but for the higher grades (Grades 6-12) we need their last grade report card,” Nsouli explained. Admission age In keeping with the new Ministry of Education guidelines, Adec clarified that the admission age for Kindergarten 1 (KG1) at public schools is four years old as of December 31 of the admission year. It will be five for KG2 and six up to eight years for Grade 1. The entry level for kindergarten previously was 3.6 years for KG1 and 5.6 years for Grade 1 by October 1 of the admission year. “They changed the new admission age to four years for KG1; the child should be four years old by December 31,” said Thuraya Khalifa Al Salmi, student administration manager from Adec. This is the new guideline in the UAE and takes effect during the 2014 to 2015 academic year,” she added. Waiting list Another system introduced to parents this year is the waiting list e-registration service. Parents who can’t find a place for their child can log on to Adec website www.adec.ac.ae and choose a school according to their area of residence. “This will minimise the parents coming to our regional offices and they will be informed which school they can go,” Nsouli explained, noting that the new system was introduced to avoid frustration among parents. He said this will also allow Adec to manage the distribution of students especially in new settlement areas. There are currently 126,000 students enrolled in 262 public schools across the emirate. Students who are eligible to register at Adec schools include Emirati children, GCC nationals, holders of presidential decrees, diplomatic missions’ children, children of expatriates (according to the applicable laws) and orphans sponsored by UAE nationals. olivia@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
