Middle East

Abu Dhabi, Feb 23: The education regulatory body in Abu Dhabi has framed a new guideline that will revise public school teacher pay scales based on their performance. This, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) explains, will be gradually introduced in public schools, and could be a model that the private schools in the emirate could emulate. “The new School Organisation Structure will impact all

Dubai, Feb 16: William ‘Bill’ Duff, who served as Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s trusted financial expert during the early development of the emirate, passed away on Friday at his residence in Jumeirah. He was 92. Duff died of natural causes at 4.30pm on Friday. He is survived by his wife, Irenka, two daughters, Diana and Sheila, and four grandchildren. “The good thing was he passed away

Riyadh, Feb 15: Oliver Twist asked for more and did not get any soup. For most of the GCC states, it is a question of taking far too much and not eating it. According to the Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a third of the food produced globally is wasted and this costs the global economy $750 billion annually, a figure higher than the GDP of several developed countries. The GCC

Abu Dhabi, Feb 14: The Ministry of Interior’s Child Protection Center launched the “Hemayati” Mobile Application to improve the safety and protection services available for children. This application comes as a response to directions set by the Higher Leadership. It allows parents to know the whereabouts of their children, and determine times of arrival and departure of children to and from school

Jeddah, Feb 10: Authorities in the Kingdom are set to implement new rules to give the right “treatment” to employees who have been misusing the provision of medical leave by producing bogus sick leave certificates in collusion with some medical practitioners. What is more, doctors indulging in such unethical practices will be seen as the bigger partner in the crime, attracting harsher penalties

Sana’a, Feb 9: The father of an eight-year-old Yemeni girl who has recently started crying stones has urged philanthropists to help him treating his daughter from her baffling condition. Mohammad Saleh Al Jaharani, said that the eyes of his daughter, Saadia, began producing stones 14 days ago and has spent thousands of Yemeni Rials on visits to local doctors. “I once spent YR50,000 (Dh870) a day

Dammam, Feb 5: The head of the Board of Senior Ulema has received a letter from women activists asking him that women should be allowed to drive, Al-Hayat daily reported. A source, who preferred to remain unidentified, said the letter was received by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh’s office. It is not known whether the letter was referred to the board itself. He pointed out that the

Dubai, Feb 3: The UAE Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it had summoned Fares Al Nuaimi, Qatar’s ambassador to the UAE, to protest its inaction on stopping a cleric from continuing to insult the UAE. Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, expressed the UAE Government’s “extreme resentment” over Yousuf Al Qaradawi’s statement against the UAE that was aired on Qatari state

Riyadh, Feb 2: The radical change in labor laws in the Kingdom has created many difficulties for industrialists, according to the head of the national industrial committee at the Saudi Council of Chambers. Saad Al-Mejil told an Arabic language daily that labor laws had been in use for the past 30 to 40 years, but industrialists were surprised by the many new requirements of different government

Dubai, Jan 28: Emirates passengers could be next in line to avail of the American pre-clearance customs procedures in the UAE following the opening of a post in Abu Dhabi last week. Passengers began using the region’s first United States pre-clearance customs checkpoint at Abu Dhabi International on January 24. The post, manned by US customs officials, enables passengers to skip long queues on