Entertainment
Fine, black points for throwing out cigarette butts
Fine, black points for throwing out cigarette butts Amira Agarib / 25 August 2013 The Director of Dubai’s General Department of Traffic says he has personally given out Dh500 fines and four black points to people he has caught throwing cigarette butts out of their cars. Newly announced federal laws on tobacco control which will come into force next February will include traffic violations for smokers inside cars — but Dubai Police are slapping any driver caught throwing cigarette butts out of their car windows with a Dh500 fine and four black points. One of the new laws, announced several days ago, includes a ban preventing anyone from smoking while driving a private car if a child under the age of 12 is present, as well as restrictions on advertising, labelling and importing. The Director of General Department of Traffic, Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, said there was “no doubt” the new laws would limit the growing phenomenon of smoking, especially amongst young people. Since the percentage of smokers among children under the age of 15 reached 28 per cent in Abu Dhabi, it had become necessary for everyone to review the impact of the bad habit and refrain from harming others, he said. Maj-Gen. Al Zafin said that in addition to the Dubai Municipality, which penalises anyone who throws objects out of car windows onto the road with a Dh500 fine, the Dubai Police are also issuing penalties. He said he has even personally issued black points and fines several times. Maj-Gen. Al Zafin said that since smoking had a serious impact on health everyone should work to reduce the exposure of smoke to children. However, there were still many parents who both smoked in enclosed homes or cars. He said some parents were badly affecting their children when they smoked in their cars, especially in the summer when the high heat forced people to close car windows, which then allowed for the spread of toxic gas. In worst possible cases, this could lead to suffocation, especially for children who suffered from asthma or breathing difficulties, he said. – news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Gang extorts money with footage of sexual scenes
Gang extorts money with footage of sexual scenes 25 August 2013 UAE victims are among those ensnared by an international gang of cyber criminals who lure people into sharing sexually explicit video clips, before putting them online and demanding money for their removal. The Abu Dhabi Police are warning residents to be careful online, after they received a number of complaints from victims who were hoodwinked by the criminals, who pose as beautiful woman. Criminal Investigation Department Director Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Burasheed said the gang, who targeted the Arabian Gulf, had recently begun threatening victims in the country, who were using social networking sites, with the revealing recordings. They were made in response to sexual images of the women they were supposedly talking to, though Burasheed said the footage was just duplicated scenes and the women were not connected to the criminals. He said the victims told police they were blackmailed by that gang which extorted money from them by promising to remove the compromising video clips from a free video-sharing website on the Internet. The money was then to be transferred to offshore bank accounts. “Blackmailers target the youth, particularly males, and chat with them through PC chatting applications over social networking sites like Skype,” he noted, adding the gang used nicknames for the supposed women, dubbed voices and showed videos of exposed parts of their bodies. Burasheed called on Internet users not to trust strangers who they meet over the Internet or e-mails sent from suspicious websites. “Since these criminals are working from outside the country, it is difficult for the Abu Dhabi Police to locate them, but it is not impossible as Abu Dhabi Police address and pass the information to the security bodies at countries where such kind of crimes are known, so to locate the criminals and arrest them,” he said. news@khaleejtimes.com Men and women being targeted, says Al Dhahiri The head of organised crime at CID, Lt. Colonel Tahir Al Dhahiri, warned the cyber blackmailers were targeting women as well as men. He said an Arab woman in her 40s said she was lured into porn scenes by one of the gang members who posed as a famous, powerful man, who hoped to recruit her into a private company. It transpired the perpetrator had hacked the woman’s e-mail account. In another case, the gang drained the savings of a Gulf man who paid Dh10,000 so the blackmailers would take out the video clip in which he appeared in sexual scenes. Al Dhahiri said an Arab architect also lodged a complaint that he was lured by a gang and involved in porn scenes. The victim said he was a father with teenage children, but had got involved in such illicit activities because he was living alone as his wife was back home. Continue reading
Youth Spot: Breaking down the barriers
Youth Spot: Breaking down the barriers Dhanusha Gokulan / 25 August 2013 For someone who has not been to any country in the Middle East, clichés about the cultural workings of the place may be natural. Dubai, according to a handful of international students, is impressive, overwhelming, full of high-rises, and “slightly opulent”. Student delegates attending the HPAIR Asia Conference at the American University in Dubai.— KT photo by Mukesh Kamal However, three days into the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) being held here, 23-year-old Korean national Soyoung Lee said that the experience of being part of the five-day student-run conference, broke several of those prejudices that were previously formed in her mind. The Korea University student majoring in finance, was on her first visit to the Middle East. “You would assume that people here act differently or are generally biased one way or the other. You read about the political crises, the Arab Spring, and several other problems in the region. But being in Dubai sort of broke several prejudices that I had about the region in general. People here seem so much more casual,” said Lee. Jointly hosted by the American University in Dubai and Harvard University, this is the first time that the HPAIR is being held in the Middle East since its inception in 1992 in Taipei in Taiwan. Students at the American University in Dubai won the bid to host the conference, which opened on Thursday amidst a ceremony with almost 500 schools from 54 countries, last year. Prominent speakers shed light on the question of Asia’s increasing impact on the world. Together, they partake in dialogue bridging global perspectives through plenaries, seminars, and workshops by more than 150 speakers from the Middle East and other parts of the world. One of the biggest student-run conferences in the world, it has been previously hosted in cities such as Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai, Kuala Lampur, Sydney, Shanghai, Seoul, and Beijing. ‘Not a very challenging environment’ Apart from panel discussions and speaker sessions, a career fair was also hosted for the students on Saturday. Most students Khaleej Times caught up with said the inter-cultural atmosphere made the exchange of dialogue healthily challenging. However, they said they found Dubai overwhelming, slightly opulent, and far too fancy for their standards. Though some of the international delegates were really impressed with the high standards in Dubai, they said that they would not like to kick-start their career here. Lee, and Filipino national and De La Salle University student Meg Lindt Olea, 20, said Dubai did not provide a very challenging platform for their talents. “I might eventually come to Dubai looking for international prospects, but I would not look to start my career here,” said Lee. Hongjun Wang, the chief catalyst at the Singapore-based startup The Art of Taking Personal Responsibility (TAOTPR) and one of the speakers at the conference said: “I think part of my work is relevant to the region.” ‘Cultural Diversity, biggest asset’ Student executive directors of Harvard University and AUD said cultural exchange helped dispel cultural prejudices. “Students nowadays attend conferences all across the world. What the world needs…is a bridge between the East and West,” said AUD student organising committee executive director Krisha Mehta. The third year finance student said: “On a global platform we have a lot of talk about the Middle East going on, especially about the opportunities available and challenges being faced by the people here. There are a wide variety of topics and controversies prominent in the western media that we have tried to highlight here at the conference it self.” Harvard University student organising committee executive director Willy Hoang said involving youth in development dialogue was critical to “inclusive growth and sustainability”. “Me and my team, we felt that it was time that HPAIR itself identify Middle East as part of Asia. By bringing it here, it opened a lot of doors for discussions.” Abdul Basit Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME, the agency of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise sector, was a keynote speaker at the conference. “At Dubai SME we try to ensure youth participation in economic and social development through entrepreneurship promotion. We are particularly delighted to be part of HPAIR 2013 since it is being held in a region where a sizeable youth population is redefining growth strategies.” HPAIR 2013 also includes tours of Dubai, a career fair, university day, gala dinner, international night, and entertainment night. – dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
