ABU DHABI // Crime-fighting in the capital is increasingly widening its scope with sophisticated closed-circuit television cameras. And while privacy is a concern, officials are focusing on their ability to deter lawbreakers.
As much as 90 per cent of Abu Dhabi island is expected to fall under the public eye within the next 18 months, according to security analysts.
Abu Dhabi Municipality already has 153 outdoor closed-circuit (CCTV) cameras in the city centre, with 83 at junctions feeding live footage to traffic and police authorities.
The rapid expansion of surveillance networks is expected to surpass even Dubai's systems by 2012.
The capital is mounting hundreds of new cameras along gateways into the city such as Airport Road, Muroor Road and Khaleej al Arabi Street. The new Al Salam expressway is also expected to be monitored.
"I expect nearly 100 per cent of the city is going to be covered soon, but it will be in phases," said Amr Mustafa, the accounts manager for City-Tec, one of the country's largest surveillance providers.
He estimated that roughly half of the capital's public spaces are covered by surveillance cameras. By comparison, he said, as much as 80 per cent of Dubai is being observed.
"But there's a project running now that I think will cover all of Abu Dhabi with CCTVs soon."
More than 30 of the new cameras line the central reservation along Muroor Road between 19th Street and Al Maqta Bridge.
An additional 44 cameras were spotted along Khaleej al Arabi between 19th Street and the bridge.
The monitoring equipment is also being set up on several side streets and roundabouts, with the poles staggered roughly every 100 metres between signals.
The municipality confirmed the new cameras are different from the existing CCTV system, and said they were not installed by the municipality. It was unclear who installed the additional cameras.
"In two years, I think we'll have at least maybe 2,500 more cameras covering all over, with most of them specialised cameras used for watching critical infrastructure areas," said Shihab Shaideen, the vice-president of strategic sales at Emirates Net Systems.
"You can see these posts coming up right now. They're like lampposts all over the city. Those posts are for CCTVs in the city centre, and they're focused on both sides of the roads. Some might have special zoom lenses for suspicious activity where the camera can actually zoom right into the car."
Such cameras in Dubai and parts of Abu Dhabi already have face recognition software, in which unique facial measurements of passersby can be scanned to identify people as well as bring up passport records, according to industry sources.
Rory Mallon, the regional managing director of the UAE's largest security solutions firm, G4S, has seen photographs of the new road cameras and said they appeared to be for monitoring rather than for speed detection.
"I can see - a mounted stand typical of what would be used to elevate cameras," he said.
"They may also be long-range 'fixed cameras' typically used in control rooms to establish how freely the traffic flow is at particular junctions or bottlenecks."
Dr Theodore Karasik, the director of research and development at the Institute for Near Eastern and Gulf Military Analysis, agreed that the new cameras resemble those used for street-level surveillance.
He noted that without CCTV footage, invaluable clues that Dubai authorities now possess about the January assassination of the Hamas commander Mahmoud al Mabhouh would not have been attainable. Using footage that captured Mr al Mabhouh's movements through a Dubai hotel, authorities were able to piece together the events leading up to his death.
"There's a lot of questions and issues surrounding CCTV now, and a lot of people are asking questions and want to know more about the presence of cameras and what's covered and what's not covered," Dr Karasik said.
"Anyone who commits a crime in Dubai should know full well that they will never get away without being seen."
Since the assassination, hotels in Abu Dhabi have scrambled to upgrade their CCTV systems to be in compliance with orders from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
"What happens is the Ministry of Interior can view any hotel camera from their control section at the [ministry] itself," said Mr Shaideen, "and what happens in the hotels will be sending the feed through a very high-end switch connecting to the ministry."
He said he expected Abu Dhabi's security systems to be as advanced as Dubai's in the coming months.
Le Méridien Hotel and the Sheraton Corniche were among the hotels that expanded their surveillance coverage recently.
"Dubai is ahead for the last three or four years, but Abu Dhabi's hotels are all installing [CCTV cameras] now," said Mahdi Mohammed, the Sheraton's head of security.
"Earlier last year, it was a decision made for all hotels to have CCTV cameras, and they'll be connected with the Ministry of Interior. We completed ours last month and now it's covered."
* with additional reporting by Marten Youssef
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
BeIN Sports currently has the rights to show
- Champions League
- English Premier League
- Spanish Primera Liga
- Italian, French and Scottish leagues
- Wimbledon and other tennis majors
- Formula One
- Rugby Union - Six Nations and European Cups
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
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The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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MATCH INFO
Mainz 0
RB Leipzig 5 (Werner 11', 48', 75', Poulsen 23', Sabitzer 36')
Man of the Match: Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
UAE's final round of matches
- Sep 1, 2016 Beat Japan 2-1 (away)
- Sep 6, 2016 Lost to Australia 1-0 (home)
- Oct 6, 2016 Beat Thailand 3-1 (home)
- Oct 11, 2016 Lost to Saudi Arabia 3-0 (away)
- Nov 15, 2016 Beat Iraq 2-0 (home)
- Mar 23, 2017 Lost to Japan 2-0 (home)
- Mar 28, 2017 Lost to Australia 2-0 (away)
- June 13, 2017 Drew 1-1 with Thailand (away)
- Aug 29, 2017 v Saudi Arabia (home)
- Sep 5, 2017 v Iraq (away)
TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
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Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (11.30pm)
Saturday Freiburg v Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund, Cologne v Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld v Mainz (6.30pm) Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig (9.30pm)
Sunday Werder Bremen v Stuttgart (6.30pm), Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (9pm)
Monday Hoffenheim v Augsburg (11.30pm)
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
