Egyptian swimmer, Omar Sayed Shaaban, 21, who has broken the record for the highest out-of-water jump while wearing a monofin, trains with his monofin at Cairo Stadium Swimming Pools, Egypt, March 20. Reuters
Egyptian swimmer, Omar Sayed Shaaban, 21, who has broken the record for the highest out-of-water jump while wearing a monofin, trains with his monofin at Cairo Stadium Swimming Pools, Egypt, March 20.Show more

Egyptian swimmer merges athleticism and grace



With regard to the report Like a fish (jumping) out of water: Egyptian record breaker shows how it's done (March 22): that was a stunning record by Omar Sayed Shaaban. Amazing to watch so much athleticism and grace come together, that too at the age of just 21. That particular move with the monofin is something I've never seen before. Many congratulations to him.

Humphrey B Macharia, Seattle, US

Residents relieved at crackdown on noisy vehicles

With reference to Haneen Dajani's story Dubai Police confiscate 1,097 cars for being too noisy (March 23): this is welcome news. There are some bikers and car drivers who do this just to disturb others and draw attention to themselves.

Danish Mehdi, Dubai

Many people have complained about this as hundreds of residents are disturbed every night when the D54 road in Dubai becomes a racetrack for motorbikes to reach top speeds.

Stefan Wieland, Dubai

Good job, Dubai Police. The only goal of a lot of these noisemakers is to show off their cars and bikes. Most of them have no manners on the road and I have come across many reckless and rude drivers. I'm thankful to the people who complained and that steps have been taken to curb the menace.

BT, Dubai

Peace in Yemen is long overdue

Regarding Joyce Karam's report Saudi Arabia announces political initiative to end war in Yemen (March 22): great news. A political solution will be ideal. This has been long overdue.

Musatapha Ahmad, Abu Dhabi

Shopping vouchers to incentivise vaccination?

With regard to Simon Rushton's article France backtracks to allow 'vaccinodromes' to speed up stuttering inoculation drive (March 24): supermarkets and shopping centres can also play a major role in fostering rapid vaccinations. Retailers can offer the jab to their customers at the premises. Shoppers who can show a certificate to prove they've been inoculated could perhaps even be entitled to a special discount for the next three months to incentivise people to get in line fast.

Rajendra Aneja, Dubai

Biden must end gun violence in the US

With reference to the report Gunman and 10 victims of Colorado mass shooting identified (March 23): The Biden administration must act immediately to end gun culture in the US. It's such a tragedy that time and again lives end this way. The present Biden administration is doing a good job of addressing the pandemic, neglected last year by the previous administration. They should do everything now to end this violence and permanently safeguard the interest of innocent civilians of America, migrants of various nations, students, workers.

K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India

Your rights as an employee

The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.

The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.

If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.

Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.

The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners