Free Republic

A fellow countrywoman encouraged herAn Asian woman was arrested by Abu Dhabi Police officers while she was asking for handouts in front of a mosque. The woman, who entered the UAE on tourist visa, was sitting on the ground preying on people’s emotions and humanitarian spirit, seeking alms through mendicancy to provide for her daughter’s wedding expenses in her home country. “There is no place for beggars in our society,” said Colonel Dr. Rashid Mohammad Borshid, Acting Director of the Capital Police Directorate. He said that special teams had been set up to carry out extensive inspection campaigns to arrest...

Married to Muslim in Abu DhabiA woman who had stuck to her religion despite her marriage to a Muslim finally decided to convert to Islam while she was in hospital in Abu Dhabi having treatment for cancer. A day after she converted, the woman died. The woman had been bed-ridden in hospital for months before doctors told her husband that her case became incurable after cancer spread through several parts of her body. A day before her death, her husband called the Abu Dhabi judicial department and asked them to send a woman for his wife to perform her conversion...

Man hangs underwear on the door, rings the bell, then fleesAn Asian man living in Ras Al Khaimah had a weird habit that did not impress his neighours – hanging women’s underwear at their doors, ringing the bell and fleeing. As if he enjoyed doing it, the man kept annoying his neighbours until they decided to install a security camera to hunt the intruder. Policemen watching the film were surprised to see the man tiptoeing towards his neighbour’s house under the cover of night, hanging women’s underwear at their door and ringing the bell before running away. Police managed to...

No dog meat sold at Fujairah restaurant: officials Municipality vows to prosecute those behind the social network rumoursFujairah authorities have denied rumours floated on social networks that a local restaurant sold dog meat meals to consumers and other restaurants and vowed to prosecute those who are behind the report. Fujairah municipality Director Mohammed Al Afkham said the restaurant shown in the report is located in another country and that it is intended to hurt the UAE’s image. Quoted by local newspapers, he said the UAE carries out strict health standards when it comes to food imports and that all restaurants...

More stores to follow in the next few monthsHome-grown UAE-based fast food chain Just Falafel has opened its first US franchises in San Francisco, California, the company announced in a media statement on Thursday. As the first of 168 franchises to come in North America and Canada, the company said it has reached a major milestone in its international expansion with the new restaurant located in Fremont, close to Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company has signed new area franchise agreements with different partners in key locations including New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Texas and Los...

4 killed this year due to suddenly stopping on Dubai roadsFailure to refuel vehicles on time, as soon as the low fuel light in your vehicle goes on, can have fatal consequences, warned Dubai Police. According to Dubai Police statistics, four accidents due to vehicles suddenly stopping in the middle of the road or on the hard shoulder were reported in the first three months of this year, resulting in four deaths and injuring eight people. Statistics also show that 2013 witnessed three such accidents, which resulted in four deaths and two injuries. Major Ahmad Ateeq Al Ketbi, Director of...

Earthquake impact: UAE residents take to social networking sitesThe UAE’s National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology has issued a Seismic Risk Report in wake of the 5.1 earthquake near Qeshm, Iran, that was felt in parts of the UAE. The report states the alert level for the UAE has been turned on for now, with a warning that the level may be revised if necessary. The report states the earthquake occurred at 9.44am in the Southern Iran region, approximately 279km North East from Abu Dhabi, 156km North East from Dubai and 52km North West from Ash Sham. The epicentre of...

Germany spends the second most amount of money on lobbying in Washington by foreign governments. Only the United Arab Emirates splashed out more in 2013, according to research by a US foundation. The Sunlight Foundation has launched a tool called Foreign Influence Explorer, which analyzes spending by foreign bodies or their paid representatives reported to the US Department of Justice. The German government came second in the list, spending $12 million on lobbying in 2013. […] A German company was also the most active private foreign firm lobbying last year. Deutsche Telekom spent almost $12 million on lobbying US officials...

Ministry of Health warns public about fake doctorsThe Ministry of Health (MOH) has warned the public against practices of fake doctors who provide medical treatment without the approval of the authorities. “The society has foreseen some malpractices by a group of fake doctors, who are not licensed by the UAE health authorities, and claim that they have the ability to provide treatment for difficult cases. “Such claims are closer to magic and witchcraft,” said Amin Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health and Licensing at the MOH. Recently, inspectors of the ministry busted a fake chiropractor in the Northern Emirates...

An Abu Dhabi criminal court sentenced an Asian housemaid to stoning to death after she was found guilty of committing adultery while married. The maid had been rushed to hospital following abdominal pains and tests showed she was pregnant after sleeping with another man. Newspapers said the maid confessed in court that she committed adultery and the judge handed down the sentence on the basis of her confession in line with Islamic law. It was the first time in many years that a person was sentenced to stoning to death in such a case in the UAE. Judicial sources said...

Two Emirati wives suffering from serious illnesses set an example of love and sacrifice when they asked their husbands to marry again. Their husbands were equally loving and sacrificial and rejected their wives’ requests. The two separate cases have been handled by Dubai’s government family guidance centre which said it was struck by such mutual feelings. The first case involved a woman who is suffering from cancer and wanted her husband to have another wife after she felt she no longer can please her husband. “She came to us after she failed to persuade her husband to marry. She said...

(Reuters) - What began late last year as a routine new assignment for Pakistani sea captain Mirza Noman Baig ended in a dramatic night-time rescue as U.S. special forces seized the ship his family said he was forced to operate by Libyan rebels. ... Baig's family say the captain received direct orders from Saud Al Anazi, the head of ZAD Group, to stop near a rebel-held eastern Libyan port. Here, according to Baig's family and Libyan officials, armed men boarded and loaded the ship with oil. ... ZAD's Anazi denied involvement in any plan to help the rebels sell oil....

An Emirati driver who damaged his car by hitting a pavement in Sharjah told police it was not his fault and that the pavement lunged and hit his car. Astonished police men rushed to the accident site on Mlaiha road in the emirate after receiving a phone call from the 22-year-old driver claiming he was a victim of a pavement attack. “When the police men arrived, he told them that he was driving normally when the pavement changed direction, lunged at his car and hit it,” Banat Zayed website said. “Police recorded the accident and decided to send the man...

Dubai Customs intercepts shipmentDubai Customs inspectors at Cargo Village Customs Center last year seized 52 fake passports which were intended to be smuggled into the UAE. Hamid Rasheed, Director of Air Customs Centres Management at Dubai Customs, said "Parcels that contained personal and commercial items, as stated in their declarations, went through regular clearance procedures. “Customs inspectors became suspicious of their content after they had undergone the document analysis test. X-ray images indicated the presence of internationally significant official documents." He stressed the continued efforts of Dubai Customs to detect such crimes that jeopardise national security, in line with DC’s...

The national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways, which annually receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from the US government, has left one of America’s staunchest allies from its official travel-route map, according to a Monday report in the New York Post. […] The Emirati airline refuses to provide transport to Israeli passengers, as Israeli passport holders are not permitted entry into the country because the Gulf nation does not recognize the Jewish State. …

They pretended to give him a massage before tying him up and strangling himA Filipina and six Bangladeshi women joined hands to murder a private driver by strangling him to death in the eastern oasis town of Al Ain after he forced them to indulge in vice, a newspaper reported on Thursday. The unnamed driver had pretended he would give the seven girls a lift to Al Ain from another emirate to look for a job but he locked them up at his Al Ain apartment and started to pimp on them, the semi official daily Alittihad said. The girls...

The Baynunah Corvette Class Programme is one of the biggest warship construction programme implemented by the ADSB for the UAE Navy. The Abu Dhabi Ship Building Company (ADSB) has delivered Al Hili, the sixth and last of the Baynunah Corvette Class Programme, to the UAE Navy in a grand ceremony attended by Rear Admiral Ibrahim Al Musharrakh, Commander of the UAE Naval Forces, top navy officers and Khaled Al Maraikhi, Chief Operating Officer, ADSB, and Chief of Pakistani Naval Staff Admiral Asif Sandila. Baynunah Corvettes are a unique class of warship with multi-mission capabilities, including coastal patrol and surveillance, mine...

Arab Gulf States, which hold some 60 percent of the world’s known energy reserves, should introduce new legislation to cut domestic energy consumption in order to maintain supply obligations to international customers, the United Arab Emirates’ Energy Minister said. “Given the trend we’re observing with Gulf countries emerging as major energy consumers, it is clear that the region has entered a new era,” His Excellency Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei told the 150 delegates gathered at The 5th Gulf Intelligence U.A.E. Energy Forum, held in Abu Dhabi Monday under the theme Global Energy Outlook 2020. “It will now require new policies...

A Dutch soccer team is facing criticism for playing in Abu Dhabi despite the emirate’s refusal to let in the team’s Israeli defender. Two Dutch politicians and several media criticized the team, Vitesse of Arnhem, over the weekend for agreeing to play in Abu Dhabi despite the refusal Saturday to let Dan Mori into the country for matches against two German teams. Geert Wilders, leader of the rightist, pro-Israel Party for Freedom, on Sunday called the team cowardly on his Twitter account. “Vitesse shouldn’t have gone to the United Arab Emirates to protest the refusal to let Mori in. They...

Britain fails to seal multi-billion pound deal to sell 60 Eurofighter Typhoon jet fighters to the United Arab Emirates Defence group BAE's hopes of exporting its Typhoon fighter have been dealt a blow after the United Arab Emirates ended negotiations about buying the jet. The Gulf nation had been in talks over a multi-billion pound deal to buy 60 of the twin-engine supersonic fighters as it looks to upgrade its air force. "The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time," Britain's biggest defence company said in a statement as the market...