NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE ; THE NATIONAL
Dubai bans illegal traders from fishmarket
DUBAI - MAR 03: The waters of the UAE provide rich pickings for Emirati fishermen. It is when they return to shore and have to sell their perishable catch to illegal vendors that their livelihoods begin to suffer.
However, new regulations at the country’s largest fish market, in Deira, are expected to change that.
Dubai’s civic authority said yesterday that illegal vendors would be banned from the market and the fish trade regulated. The day’s catch will now be auctioned by uniformed, licensed Emiratis.
The Dubai Fishermen’s Co-operative Association, which has about 600 members, all of them Emirati, will take charge of trade at Deira fish market to push out what they call “intruders”, who have been purchasing catches from fishermen in the very early hours when legitimate companies may not be around. The fishermen sell to them because they worry their catch will spoil if they wait too long to sell it.
“Presently, intruders have taken control of the market. The market is unorganised and the fishermen are not getting their rightful profits,” said Mohammed Julfar, assistant director general for corporate support at Dubai Municipality, which signed an agreement with the association yesterday.
Representatives from the fishing community said yesterday they lose 40 to 50 per cent of their revenues to “illegal traders”.
“Local men go to the sea for the catch each morning. While they have no problem in the fishing, they are losing out on the ground,” said Hamad al Rhoomy, the general manager of the Dubai Fisherman Co-operative Association.
Two babies abandoned in mosque
SHARJAH - MAR 03: Two baby boys were being cared for in hospital last night after they were found abandoned inside a mosque.
The babies, thought to be unrelated, were wrapped in blankets when they were discovered by the imam of the mosque in Industrial Area 4 before morning prayers.
Police said they had been there overnight. One was about five months and the other six weeks.
The babies were taken to Al Qassimi Hospital, where a spokesman said they were “in good health”.
They are the third and fourth recorded cases of abandoned babies in the Northern Emirates this year.
Last night, police were looking for their parents. If the parents, or guardians, were not found, the babies would be taken to Sharjah Care Centre, a police spokesman said.
Staff at the mosque where the babies were found declined to comment.
Last month, two babies were discovered abandoned in Ajman and Ras al Khaimah.
An intensive hunt was launched by Ajman Police to trace the parents of a three-month-old baby girl who was abandoned on a bench on the Corniche.
Officers arrested a man and a woman, both in their early 30s. They have been charged with adultery, and endangering the baby’s life. If convicted on both counts, the pair could be sentenced to one year in prison and fined Dh10,000 (US$2,700).
The woman, a Filipina, was said to have told police that she had abandoned her child after learning of the strict laws on giving birth out of wedlock.
Brig Ali Alwan, the director general of Ajman Police, said the woman told officers the baby’s Pakistani father wanted nothing to do with her or their child.
The man had confessed to being the father, according to police. An official from Ajman Public Prosecution said investigations were almost complete and the case would soon be brought before the court.
A girl about seven days old was found abandoned in a cardboard box outside the door of a mosque in Jazirat al Hamra, RAK.
Two babies were left in Sharjah mosques last year, one at Al Sahabah and the other at King Faisal.
The imam of King Faisal mosque, who did not want to be named, said two baby boys had been left at his mosque during his time there. It was often a decision taken by desperate parents, he said.
“The parents leave the babies here because they think the mosque charity will take care of it,” he said.
Camera network to keep the capital under observation
ABU DHABI - MAR 03: Security chiefs are to build a network of surveillance towers around the capital. The towers will be equipped with radar-enabled cameras linked to a central communications system to protect the emirate’s critical infrastructure assets.
The Dh33 million (US$121m) system was announced yesterday by Staff Col Ishaq al Beshir, the director of operations for the Critical National Infrastructure Authority (CNIA).
Installation will begin in April and is expected to take eight months.
The new cameras, bought from the American company ICx Technologies, will add to the CNIA’s already widespread network around Abu Dhabi, providing additional coverage and replacing some older units.
The announcement comes as Dubai Police have been earning widespread praise for the sophisticated surveillance techniques with which they tracked the suspected killers of the Hamas leader Mahmoud al Mabhouh, found dead in his hotel room in January.
Last month they revealed dramatic video footage of the hit squad arriving at Dubai International Airport, at various locations in the city including the hotel in which the assassination took place, and the gang’s departure just a few hours later.
Speaking at the International Security National Resilience conference at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Col al Beshir said: “CNIA always seeks out the most innovative and effective techniques and equipment in order to fulfil its mission of protecting Abu Dhabi’s critical infrastructure assets.”
He said the camera surveillance towers would cover all critical infrastructure. He did not specify the locations or the number of cameras.
Col al Beshir also announced yesterday a Dh4.5m system of thermal imaging cameras to be installed along the coast. It would detect a threat before it could enter the target area, he said.
“These deals were made to ensure that we are covering the whole area and that we are able to identify a threat before it occurs,” Col al Beshir said.
The coastal cameras, purchased from the Abu Dhabi-based company International Golden Group, are day-night vision thermal devices that can operate in all weather.
They are able to track the movements of ships within 15km of the shore.
“These report ship-size measurements and the target’s distance from shore in order to determine the amount of time needed to reach the vessel,” said Abdulla al Menhali, the head of the sensor section, communications and IT at the CNIA.
Col al Beshir said the entire Abu Dhabi coastline was a priority. “There are areas where there are radar but no cameras, and there are other areas where there are cameras but no radar,” he said.
The CNIA said future infrastructure would be designed to withstand changing weather conditions, such as the storms of the past two days.
The authority also announced a Dh6.7m deal to buy identity cards with laser engravings for CNIA staff. The cards are made by the German company GDM.
“The goal of producing these smart cards is to ensure the security of our employees’ ID cards and prevent cases of forgery or fake identities, especially since the CNIA is a national security body,” Col al Beshir said.
“This system was produced especially for the CNIA. There is no software similar to it in the world. We will also be adding more features to the cards in the future so they can serve as a multifunctional database.”
The CNIA has started implementing the ID card project.
UAE battered by storms once more
SHARJAH - MAR 03: With the engine of his 2005 Chevrolet still drying from the latest downpour, Ahmed Mohammed, a 25-year-old from Syria, rolled up the trousers of his tan suit, put on a pair of flip-flops and waded to work yesterday.
“In Syria when it rains the water goes into a ditch and you don’t ever see it again,” said the company manager for Al Marwan, a general-contracting company.
“In Sharjah, when it rains, it comes into your house, your business and everything. It’s a big problem.”
Just half of the company’s 2,500 employees showed up for work yesterday, one indication of how the emirate was nearly paralysed by heavy rains that battered the country for the second time in four days.
After Saturday night’s storms caused flooding, the Emirates were hit again early yesterday morning, with heavy rainfall lasting until about noon and snarling up morning commutes.
One person died and 32 more were injured in four morning accidents in Abu Dhabi, one involving two buses and a lorry, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
The heaviest rainfall was measured in Fujairah and Ras al Khaimah, where 61.02 millimetres fell on Masafi, which stretches across both emirates, from midnight Monday until 12.30pm yesterday.
In Abu Dhabi, 43.4mm of rain fell, with 22mm recorded in Dubai and 20mm in Sharjah.
Sharjah seemed to suffer the most, as was the case three days before.
Roads turned to rivers and car parks to lakes. At the National Paints roundabout in Sharjah, water levels rose above the wheels of cars in some spots before the road was partially closed, increasing pressure on the two remaining Dubai-Sharjah routes. Traffic was diverted to Kalba Road, which a witness described as “completely submerged”. Lorries created waves that washed over cars parked or abandoned at the side of the road.
Francis MM, 52, from India, held his dress shoes as he waded home from his job in a car parts shop.
“I’ve lived in Sharjah for two months and the water here is everywhere,” he said. “Before this I lived in Dubai and you never saw it flood like it floods here.”
The Roads and Transport Authority deployed more than 100 men and 22 water pumps to tackle flooded roads and divert traffic in Dubai and parts of Sharjah.
Hussain al Banna, an assistant in the RTA’s Emergency and Crises Team, said large tankers sent to help in Sharjah made 300 trips out, hauling a total of three million gallons of water. In Dubai, the team removed another 15 million gallons from the city’s roads.
Col Mohammed al Madhloom, the head of the Sharjah Police’s operations room, said that the sewage system had failed to absorb large amounts of water.
Sharjah Police, Sharjah Municipality and the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority were holding meetings into the afternoon yesterday to find a solution to the flooding problem.
At Sharjah International Airport, flooding caused congestion at the departure and arrival gates.
“If this can be the state at the airport, now just imagine what it is like in other parts of the emirate,” said Mohammed Ali, 35, from Egypt, there to pick up a friend.
Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi, the director of the Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation, said problems were confined and no flights had been cancelled. “There is still some little flooding at the entrance of the airport,” he said.
Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department drew up a contingency plan on Sunday to help clear up the first floods, cleaning drainage holes where most of the rain had gathered.
Meanwhile, the commute on roads off Sheikh Zayed Road slowed to a crawl.
“I’ve never seen traffic so slow,” said Ian Carr, 34 an architect from the UK. “I didn’t see any accidents on the way to work, but visibility was so bad, I could have passed some and wouldn’t have noticed.”
Schools remained open, with staff and pupils in Abu Dhabi coping with late buses, indoor recess and other “minor issues”.
“There were a few leaks here and there,” said Wayne MacInnis, the principal of Raha International School.
Despite the flooding and wind damage, the recent rains were part of a “cycle” that repeats itself every few years, according to a representative at the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology. “There is nothing out of the ordinary this year,” said one of the centre’s representatives.
The rains could give way to a shamal today. According to the duty forecaster at the Dubai Meteorological Office, hot, dry winds due in from the north-west could reach speeds up to 25 knots. The northern emirates, however, could still be susceptible to showers, said the forecaster.
‘Husband’ who fooled woman with forged marriage certificate is jailed
DUBAI - MAR 03: An Emirati businessman was sentenced to three years in jail for forgery and sexual assault, after a court concluded he duped a woman into believing she was legally married to him.
He was originally charged with living with a woman out of wedlock but the charges were elevated to sexual assault when it was revealed he had forged the marriage certificate.
HK, 32, and SA, 30, a woman from Uzbekistan, were arrested at the home they shared in January 2008 after he called police and told them she had stolen his collection of watches.
When police questioned SA, she produced a marriage certificate she believed was legitimate.
In fact, HK used a marriage certificate from a previous marriage in 2000, and changed the names and details on it.
Police charged them both with forging an official document and for having sex out of wedlock.
At a hearing in August, SA’s lawyer told that court his client had been defrauded and conned into sleeping with the man. Yusri Saad told the Criminal Court of First Instance his client had been under the impression since 2006 that she was married to HK. She had signed a document in Arabic, he said, which she cannot read, and believed it was a marriage certificate.
The lawyer argued that since his client was duped, the sex charge should be dropped because she did not agree to a sexual relationship outside of marriage.
HK’s lawyer, Nasser Hashim, countered by saying that the marriage was secret but not illegal.
SA was acquitted of all charges.