Tag Archives: careers
Dubai’s liveability score rises
Dubai’s liveability score rises Ahmed Shaaban / 30 August 2013 While cities around the globe compete in providing the best living conditions, Dubai came third among the top ten in terms of improved liveability scores over the last five years. Ranking 77 out of 140 cities worldwide, the overall rating of the emirate touched 74.2 on a scale of 100, according to the latest findings of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking. Assessing liveability has a broad range of uses, from benchmarking perceptions of development levels to assigning a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages. Expecting a brighter future for Dubai, Roua Ramadan, a pharmacist from Egypt, said this was normal for the every developing emirate. “Since I have arrived here in Dubai in 2005, I can closely see exceptional and fast developments in every nook and corner.” Echoing the same, Wafaa Mohammed, a teacher, also from Egypt, said it had always been a dream for her to live and work in Dubai to enjoy a more stable, safe, and secure society with better and varied services. “Believe me, most of the services I and my family members enjoy here are not available in my home country.” Sharief Al Wakeel, a Syrian accountant, said protests made the world less liveable, and people felt more unsafe. “Wish the whole world would be an oasis for safety, security, welfare and prosperity as is the case in Dubai.” “The prudent leadership of the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, has created a leader in each and every Emirati national who has become more loyal and loving to his/her country, and take the responsibility in protecting and keeping up such progress,” said Wael Safwat, a businessman from Morocco. The rating, part of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, quantifies the possible challenges to an individual’s lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Each is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: Stability, Healthcare, Culture and Environment, Education, and Infrastructure. Each factor in each city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. For qualitative indicators, a rating is based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors. The relative performance of a number of external data points is associated with quantitative indicators. Melbourne is ranked the most liveable city for the third year running in the year-on-year survey, followed by Vienna and Vancouver. Jon Copestake, editor of the survey, said the past five years had seen global liveability slip by 0.6 per cent, led by a 1.3 per cent fall in the score for stability and safety. “The Arab Spring has been most influential in pushing down global liveability, but unrest in Europe and China have also contributed whereas the ongoing civil war in Syria has made Damascus the least liveable city in the ranking.” While the threat of terror had a defining influence on liveability in the last decade, we could clearly see that civil unrest already had a significant impact on liveability in this decade, he added. ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Attacks kill at least 74 in Iraq, many more hurt
Attacks kill at least 74 in Iraq, many more hurt (AP) / 29 August 2013 A coordinated wave of bombings tore through Shia areas in and around the Iraqi capital early on Wednesday, part of a wave of bloodshed that killed at least 74 people and wounded many more, officials said. The blasts, which came in quick succession, mainly targeted residents out shopping and on their way to work. In addition to the bombings, the death toll included seven family members killed when gunmen raided their home and shot them as they slept. Insurgents deployed explosives-laden cars, suicide bombers and other bombs and targeted parking lots, outdoor markets and restaurants in predominantly Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad, according to officials. A military convoy was also hit south of the capital. Security forces sealed off the bomb scenes as ambulances raced to pick up the wounded. The twisted wreckage of cars littered the pavement while cleaners and shop owners brushed away the debris. At one restaurant, the floor was stained with blood, and dishes were scattered on plastic tables. The northern neighbourhood of Kazimiyah, home to a prominent, gold-domed Shia shrine, was the worst hit. Two bombs went off in a parking lot, followed by a suicide car bomber who struck onlookers who had gathered at the scene. Police said 10 people were killed and 27 wounded in that attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the day’s attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda. The Shia family shot dead at home were found in the largely Sunni town of Latifiyah, about 30km south of Baghdad. Three children, aged eight to 12, were killed along with their parents and two uncles in that attack, according to police. Authorities said they had previously fled the town after being threatened, and returned only three weeks ago. Many of the day’s blasts targeted morning shoppers. Among them was a parked car bomb that detonated in a commercial area in the northern Shaab neighbourhood of Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 25. More parked car bombs went off in outdoor markets in the sprawling slum of Sadr City, where five were killed and 20 were wounded. Similar attacks hit the northeastern neighbourhood of Shula, killing three and wounding nine; the southeastern Jisr Diyala in an outdoor market, killing eight and wounding 22; and the eastern New Baghdad area, killing three and wounding 12. Blasts also hit the neighbourhoods of Bayaa, Jamila, Hurriyah and Saydiyah, claiming a total of 12 lives. In Mahmoudiyah, about 30km south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a restaurant, killing five and wounding 25. And in Madain, about 25km southeast of Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck a passing military patrol, killing four soldiers and wounding six others. Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures, which included more than 180 wounded. Continue reading
GCC single tourist visa likely from next year
GCC single tourist visa likely from next year Staff Reporter / 26 August 2013 A senior official at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said the six member states are currently working on setting up an automatic system for exchanging information online, to facilitate enforcing a single tourist visa system. Abdullah Al Shobaili, Assistant Undersecretary at the GCC for Economic affairs, told Saudi-based daily Al Hayat that an agreement between the AGCC countries requires enforcement of different technical elements, especially the presence of an automatic system that links the member countries, a matter involving several entities at the government machineries in every country. “The issue had been discussed at the joint meeting between the Tourist Cooperation Committee in the AGCC and the GCC Tourist counterpart in the AGCC Chambers of commerce and industry, which was held in Fujairah last year,” he said, noting that, the meeting had been subjected to extensive study. He, however, a unified GCC law on combating trade fraud and a statute for the protection of consumers are near to completion. The two laws aim at protecting the parties concerned in the whole manufacturing process- producers, consumers, distributors, importers, exporters and the economic environment in general. Meanwhile, security sources disclosed that the draft bill of issuing the GCC single tourist visa, which is similar to the European single one (Schengen Visitor Visa), is subject to the completion of some technical procedures and is expected to commence in mid-2014. The sources said the draft bill would be the most comprehensive in the field of security cooperation among the GCC states, as it will create a unified GCC security enquiry and information that issues a GCC visa without reservation as per a code suitable for use in the GCC states. The system will enable the visitor with a GCC visit visa from entering all GCC countries. Moreover, it is connected with the blacklists which contain names and fingerprints of persons banned from entry to each and every member country. -news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
