Tag Archives: lifestyle
Mohammed asks ministers to face challenges boldly
Mohammed asks ministers to face challenges boldly Staff Reporter / 16 September 2013 His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has issued a bold challenge to all cabinet ministers. “I asked all of them to achieve the first place globally in an area or a competitiveness indicator of their choice over a period of one year,” Shaikh Mohammed said in a Tweet about Sunday’s cabinet meeting, during which he echoed President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s call to double efforts to upgrade government performance, policies and procedures. Shaikh Mohammed in talks with Lt-Gen Shaikh Saif bin Zayed during the Cabinet meeting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. — Wam Shaikh Mohammed also tweeted his confidence in the country’s ministers to fulfil the directives to make the UAE a competitive global powerhouse. “Life is boring without challenges, and I fully trust in my team’s ability to meet their challenge and lead us to global excellence.” The meeting at the Presidential Palace came peppered with challenges for Cabinet members. “Each of you should set a priority for his ministry to achieve the first position.” Shaikh Mohammed also congratulated students on the commencement of the new academic year. “Pursuing education is the core of our culture and a national duty for all Emiratis.” He reiterated that the government has been exerting utmost efforts to promote education saying the government wanted education based on innovation and creativity. “The education that will bring up future leaders in all walks of life to follow up the course outlined by the founding fathers.” The Vice-President said education was a passport to the future, where the UAE will be an important player in a global knowledge-based economy. The Cabinet session was attended by Lt.-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs. The Council of Ministers approved a draft federal law on the amendment of some provisions of the civil procedures law of 1992. The bill aims to achieve justice and required balance between adversaries through several new provisions, such as the introduction of a case management system, enabling the filing of cases at the office of case management or registering them electronically. The new provisions also include the granting of opponents rights to appeal before the court that issued the judgment. The Cabinet also endorsed the Federal Government unified guide for financial procedures in order to streamline all financial operations of the Federal Government based on current financial laws and protection of public funds from risks. It approved the issuance of a federal law in order to eliminate the use of banned substances in horse racing and equestrian and agreed to recall the Federal National Council (FNC) to convene its third session of the 15th legislative chapter. It agreed to the request of the FNC to discuss a topic on protection of the community from drugs. Cabinet also approved the recommendations from the Financial and Economic Committee on the amendment of the federal budget for the 2013 fiscal year. The total requests for financial allocations made by nine federal institutions are more than Dh705.7 million. It also approved the restructuring of the Board of Trustees of The National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia). Regarding international agreements, the Cabinet approved three agreements for air transport with Finland, Uruguay and Niger and approved the second contribution of the UAE to the International Monetary Fund’s Trust Fund for Growth and Reduction of Poverty. -news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Malayalees celebrate Thiruvonam today
Malayalees celebrate Thiruvonam today Staff Reporter / 16 September 2013 Expatriates from Kerala, who form the largest group of Indians in the UAE, are celebrating their most important festival, Thiruvonam, today. Thiruvonam is the main day of the 10-day harvest festival of Onam that is celebrated by people of all religions in the south Indian state known as ‘God’s Own Country’. Onam marks the mythological homecoming of King Mahabali, during whose reign Kerala was believed to have witnessed its golden era. People of Kerala welcome the king in a symbolic way by arranging flower carpets and with traditional dances and games so as to show they are as content as people in his time. The expatriate Malayalee community’s Onam celebrations also include floral decorations done on the ground called pookkalam as well as life-sized statues of elephants, traditional drum beats, dances and games and more importantly, mass vegetarian feasts called Onasadya . Though it is custom to make the traditional vegetarian feast at home, thousands are having their Onasadya from restaurants since Thiruvonam falls on a working day here this year. Several Malayalees are also taking a day off from work to celebrate the day with family and friends. For those who could not do so, it is going to be an evening of celebrations. Malayalees in the UAE, irrespective of their religions, will continue to celebrate Thiruvonam during the weekends over the coming months, often clubbing their Eid get-together with it. Cultural processions with traditional art forms and dances, pookkalam competitions and mass vegetarian feasts where thousands sit together to have Onasadya served on banana leaves are part of their celebrations. The Onasadya usually features more than a dozen dishes and traditional sweets. Malayalees are particular about buying fresh vegetables that come from India for this meal. Hence, thousands of tonnes of vegetables and fruits are imported from Kerala to the Gulf countries for Onam celebrations. Like in the past, the last-minute purchase of fresh items used for the sadya saw huge demand for these items in the Fruit and Vegetable Market at Al Aweer and several supermarkets and hypermarkets in Dubai this weekend. While families and groups of bachelors prepare the feast at homes, thousands of Malayalees depend on hotels and restaurants for their Onam meals. Several office-goers have geared up to order Onasadya from their favourite outlets today. According to the Dubai Municipality, about 40 per cent of the food establishments in Dubai are run by Malayalees. Most of these eateries are offering special Onasadya with up to 25 dishes. Some of them even fly in veteran cooks from Kerala to prepare their Onasadya which gets sold like hot cakes. One outlet has partnered with a popular radio station to host Onasadya aboard a dhow in Dubai Creek while another one is hosting a cooking contest in traditional Onam recipes. Santhosh Menon, general secretary of Akgma, a residential association of Malayalees in Al Khail, said they distributed Onam kits comprising some essential items to about 500 families during the weekend. Arabian Center in partnership with LuLu Hypermarket celebrated Onam in the cultural way by organising various activities like Kathakali, Shinkkarimelam, Puli Kali, Theyyam, Pookkalam Contest, Mohiniyattam, etc on Saturday. Many other shopping centres have Onam-themed counters and special discounts for the occasion. Readymade textile shops are also cashing in on the festival with some of them making special door delivery of Onam dresses to expatriates’ relatives back home. sajila@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
UAE calls for ‘unconditional’ release of hostages
UAE calls for ‘unconditional’ release of hostages Muaz Shabandri / 13 September 2013 A senior official from the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the international community to exert greater efforts in securing the release of fishermen and sailors held as captives by Somali pirates. “Until now, some fishermen and sailors are in custody of the pirates and we would like to send a message to release them unconditionally,” said Faris Al Mazroui, Assistant to the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs on Military and Security Affairs. Mohammed Sharaf and Faris Al Mazrouie of the UAE addressing the Press at the Countering Maritime Piracy conference at Dubai on Thursday. — KT photos by Shihab His comments came at the close of a high-level two-day conference on anti-maritime piracy hosted in Dubai. More than 750 delegates and 20 foreign ministers were in attendance as they exchanged ideas on improving international co-ordination to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. Recommendations > Call to review the High Risk Area by removing Red Sea from its scope and reverting to 65 degree East Longitude in the Arabian Sea. > Need to focus on maritime piracy and warn that any easing of security efforts at sea and capacity building on shore will likely see a resurgence of pirate attacks. Recent decline in pirate attacks is both fragile and reversible. > Public and private sector participants call international community’s attention to on-going grave humanitarian situation of seafarers still held in captivity in Somalia. > Progress made in implementing common standards for private security personnel on board merchant vessels is to be commended. Call to implement best management practices to protect crew, their assets and their customers’ cargo. > Enhancing regional capacity is crucial to ensure long-term sustainable response to piracy by allowing countries to control their own shores and patrol their own waters. > Main efforts for capacity building are to take place in Somalia, on land and on the coast. > Reiteration of support to federal government of Somalia to establish robust governance, working institutions and effective legal and security framework. > Timely disbursements of financial pledges will ensure much needed assistance of government of Somalia’s plans He added: “The international community has succeeded on many fronts as participants confirmed piracy attacks have reduced. We have to maintain this success and exert more efforts to help improve the security situation.” His views were supported by Mohammed Sharaf, Group Chief Executive Officer of DP World as he said: “While the gains are welcome, these may be reversible. It is our duty to keep the spotlight on captives and help economies suffering from piracy. We also need to highlight the need for long-term commitment.” The conference was opened by Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, with the President of Somalia, Hassan Shaikh Mohamud giving the keynote address. Other Government speakers at the conference included senior Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mozambique, the Philippines, the Seychelles, and the Comoros, alongside a number of Ministers from European countries. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DP World and Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) jointly hosted the forum. – muaz@khaleejtimes.com Indian govt voices concern on ‘private security’ near coastline The increasing number of private security staff on-board commercial vessels is not going down well with Indian authorities. A senior Indian government official voiced concerns on the presence of private armed personnel on vessels near the Indian coast, as the issue was raised at the anti-maritime piracy conference in Dubai. Dr T Kumar, Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India said: “We are concerned at the continued and increasing presence of privately contracted armed security personnel on commercial vessels moving close to the Indian Coast. We have consistently called for voluntary reporting of such information to our Maritime Response Coordination Centres.” Heading the Indian delegation at the forum, she also noted several false alarms had been raised in the recent past, causing wastage of Indian navies resources. “We firmly believe that due to the fact that no successful incident of piracy has taken place east of 65° for almost two years, the high risk area needs to be revised, as it unfairly harms our interest and leads to a waste of our naval resources who are responding to many false alarms due to the heightened alert,” she said. Indians constitute seven per cent of the world’s seafarers and more than 340 seafarers have been held captive at different points of time. Dr Kumar added: “Clearly, Indian seafarers have faced the major brunt of the piracy menace and as I speak today, eight Indian seafarers are still being held hostage by Somali pirates with one more listed as missing. We continue all efforts to have them freed expeditiously.” muaz@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
