NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
This is the frozen north ... of the UAE
Snow settles on the Jebel Jais mountain in Ras al Khaimah yesterday. Courtesy of Ras al Khaimah government
RAS AL KHAIMAH - JAN - 25: Snow covered the Jebel Jais area for only the second time in recorded history yesterday.
So rare was the event that one lifelong resident said the local dialect had no word for it.
According to the RAK Government, temperatures on Jebel Jais dropped to -3°C on Friday night. On Saturday, the area had reached 1°C.
Major Saeed Rashid al Yamahi, a helicopter pilot and the manager of the Air Wing of RAK Police, said the snow covered an area of five kilometres and was 10cm deep.
“The sight up there this morning was totally unbelievable, with the snow-capped mountain and the entire area covered with fresh, dazzling white snow,” Major al Yamahi said.
“The snowfall started at 3pm Friday, and heavy snowing began at 8pm and continued till midnight, covering the entire area in a thick blanket of snow. Much of the snow was still there even when we flew back from the mountain this afternoon. It is still freezing cold up there and there are chances that it might snow again tonight.”
Aisha al Hebsy, a woman in her 50s who has lived in the mountains near Jebel Jais all her life, said snowfall in the area was so unheard of the local dialect does not even have a word for it. Hail is known as bared, which literally translates as cold. “Twenty years ago we had lots of hail,” said Ms al Hebsy. “Last night was like this. At four in the morning we came out and the ground was white.”
Jebel Jais was dusted in snow on Dec 28, 2004, the first snowfall in living memory for Ras al Khaimah residents.
“I had flown there in 2004 when it snowed, but this time it was much bigger and the snowing lasted longer as well,” said Major al Yamahi.
At the base of the mountains, residents also reported severe hail on Friday night. “We had hail. Last night was very cold, but there can only be snow on Jebel Jais because it’s the tallest,” said Fatima al Ali, 30, a resident of a village beneath the mountains.
In Ras al Khaimah City, 25km from Jebel Jais, sheet lightning and thunder shook houses.
Main roads from Qusaidat to Nakheel were still badly flooded on Saturday, while temperatures at the RAK International Airport fluctuated between 10 and 22°C.
M Varghese, an observer at the RAK Airport Meteorological Office, told of the storms that hit the emirate on Friday night.
“We had thunderstorms with rain for more than 12 hours and we had around 18mm rain,” Mr Varghese said. “The rain, along with the cold easterly winds and low-lying clouds, could have bought the temperatures further down on the mountains.”
Giorgio Alessio, a meteorologist at the Dubai meteorology office, said: “In thunderstorms, the rain comes down very rapidly from higher levels, and the rain that usually forms can reach the ground in some places as snow. In the next few days the weather regime is completely different and will return to normal for the season, with a maximum temperature of 23°C or 24°C.
“The night might cool down in the desert below 10°C. There is variability in the weather from year to year but it hasn’t shown a trend in getting colder or getting warmer.”
The RAK Government plans to transform the 1,740m Jebel Jais into the UAE’s first outdoor ski resort, using Australian technology that will allow tourists to ski in temperatures up to 35°C.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai also had heavy rain on Friday night.
Expats made redundant warned of perils involved in legal action
ABU DHABI - JAN 25: Expatriates who lose their jobs and who want to sue their former employers have been warned to proceed carefully.
The Ministry of Interior has told ex-employees that if they fail to adhere to proper legal procedures they could be fined or even deported.
It said that disgruntled workers must first take their complaint to the Ministry of Labour. If that fails to resolve the dispute, then they may file a lawsuit with the courts.
However, it stressed that in filing their legal complaint, they had to secure a letter from the court, which they then had to send to both the Department of Naturalisation and Residency and the Ministry of Labour.
The letter would confirm they have a legitimate case pending with the court and should be entitled to an extension of their residency visa.
Lt Col Rashid al Khadar, the head of the legal affairs department at the Ministry of Interior, said this would allow plaintiffs to remain in the country while awaiting a ruling on their case. Otherwise, they will be considered as being in the country illegally.
Lt Col al Khadar said a worker with a pending case against a former employer could obtain a six-month, temporary work permit from the Ministry of Labour, which could be extended until the court rendered a verdict.
He said if a labour case dragged on for several months, the Ministry of Interior could inform the court it did not object to the employee’s visa being transferred to a new sponsor.
“As long as they have genuine cases against their employers, they will have the full support of the ministry,” Lt Col al Khadar said.
Typical claims being filed against employers amid the global economic downturn include failure to pay salaries and gratuities, refusal to cancel labour and residence permits, and asking workers to say they had received end-of-service benefits when they had not.
Residency permits are linked to employment and foreign workers are given a month to leave the country when their residence and work permits are cancelled or expire.
“There are so many companies in financial trouble who have terminated the services of their employees without giving them their salaries and end-of-service benefits,” said Karunagappally Shamsudeen, an advocate at Al Kabban Advocates and Legal Consultants in Dubai.
“Other companies have been sending their workers on a long or extended leave. If they are outside the country for more than six months, they cannot re-enter the country unless they obtain the necessary approval from the immigration authorities.
“I am currently handling 150 labour cases and seven immigration cases. I have a client who has filed a case against his employer. He received a letter from the clinic, which had closed, that his services were no longer required.
“He is asking for his salary, gratuity and an additional three-month salary as compensation for arbitrary dismissal.”
Mr Shamsudeen warned that laid-off workers had to stay in the country to receive their end-of-service benefits, and said it would be difficult for employees to file a complaint once they had signed visa-cancellation forms, as the forms state they had received all their dues from the employer.
He said he had also handled several cases of employers filing false absconding reports and asking the Ministry of Labour to blacklist their workers.
Workers who have bank loans and credit card bills have to settle them before leaving the country, Mr Shamsudeen said, as employers normally notify the banks of contract terminations.
Under immigration laws, people holding expired or cancelled residence visas are fined Dh25 a day for the first six months.
The fine doubles for the next six months to Dh50 a day. They are Dh100 a day for those who have overstayed by more than a year.
People who have illegally stayed in the country after the expiry of their visit visas face a fine of Dh100 a day. But at any point they can be deported on a case-by-case basis.
Desert tour operators losing their campsites
DUBAI - Jan 25:Safari companies fear that Dubai’s decision to bulldoze unauthorised desert campsites will wreak havoc on their bottom line.
The municipality three months ago began bulldozing unlicensed campsites they claim are dirty to make the safaris cleaner and safer. It also asked the tour operators to uproot any unauthorised encampments.
The safari companies, however, say they have not received clear guidelines as to when they must vacate their camps. They also say an area the Government has designated for new campsites is too small.
“There is so much uncertainty. Everyone is looking over their shoulder to see a bulldozer on the horizon,” said Mark Miller, the general manager of Desert Rangers Tours and Activities. “There are still an awful lot of rumours flying around.”
Over the past year, desert tour guides began to receive word the Government was starting to enforce bylaws enacted in 2002 and 2006 that require operators to obtain permits for campsites and that they would have to move their operations to a designated area in Al Aweer, about 35km outside Dubai.
The area was populated with Bedouin camps until Emirates Road was built in the 1990s.
But Mr Miller, who has run a campsite for the past 12 years, said the available spaces in the area were quickly filled.
“Tour groups and those who have campsites have nowhere else to go,” he said. “We’ve received no clear guidelines.”
Mr Miller is now reluctant to book tour groups too far in advance.
“There’s not an awful lot of information coming out. We’re quite concerned for future tour groups because we don’t know if we’ll have a campsite to host them in.”
Mr Miller said the changes could also mean his customers do not have as good a time, since the camps in the Al Aweer could be too close to each other.
“People come to a campsite to get a true experience of the desert,” he said.
The bulldozing of campsites without permits began in November.
Mohammed Abdul Mannan, a spokesman for the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said they were all built on private land.
“They were doing it illegally. They’ve now been asked to go to the municipality who are putting all of the campsites in one place.”
The municipality and the tourism department will oversee the new campsites; they will also issue permits and fines.
Mr Mannan said the campsites were being moved so they could be better monitored after authorities received complaints about litter, unsafe driving and late closing times.
One of the most popular features of desert safaris is dune bashing, as drivers career across hilly terrain.
Mr Mannan said several tourists had died in recent years because drivers had not handled their vehicles safely.
Under the municipality’s bylaws, safari drivers are required to earn an advanced overland driving licence from the traffic police, have GPS systems in their vehicles and carry mobile phones.
There are about 50 companies sharing 28 campsites in Al Aweer, said Surya Singh, a former safari guide with North Tours.
While it will probably suit first-time visitors to Dubai, Mr Singh said those who were returning might notice a change from the “clean, golden sand” of the old areas and a flatter landscape.
“There will be a difference,” he said. “People who have come for the first time to Dubai won’t know the difference, but for repeat customers, that excitement will not be there.”
Healthcare jobs website opening
DUBAI - JAN - 25: The Middle East’s first website dedicated to advertising jobs in health care goes online this week.
The website, www.dothealthjobs.com, is to be launched during the Arab Health Congress, which starts on Monday at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
“Healthcare recruitment in the Middle East can be a complex process because the majority of positions are filled with medical professionals coming from outside the region,” said Amit Chopra, the website’s online sales manager.
“For the employer it allows human resources to review candidates themselves as opposed to going through an agent in a far-off country. For health professionals, it gives them direct access to specific jobs available that meet their skill set, and again, they can do this without going through a third party.”
Health services in the Middle East rely heavily on migrant workers, an issue that needs to be carefully managed to make sure they are protected, said Dr Mubashar Sheikh, the executive director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance.
“Ethical considerations and practices need to be undertaken by recruiting agencies to protect the rights of the health worker and to ensure this type of recruitment does not have adverse effects on the countries exporting health workers.”
He said the World Health Organisation was developing a global code of practice for the international recruitment of health care workers.
“With medical professionals trained in different parts of the world, the quality of health care is often varied,” said Brian de Francesca, chief executive of Tawam Hospital in Al Ain.
“Many patients feel that treatment at one hospital differs substantially from the treatment they would receive at another hospital.”
Recent changes to nursing regulations have seen long-serving nurses replaced in favour of more recently trained staff, many of whom come from India, the Philippines and other countries in South East Asia.
“World-class health care requires not only world-class buildings and equipment but world-class personnel,” Mr de Francesca said.