Two students from the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Arab Pakistan School cross 21st Street in Abu Dhabi after school hours.
Two students from the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Arab Pakistan School cross 21st Street in Abu Dhabi after school hours.

Fears over dangerous roads near schools



Groups of children darted across the busy, six-lane road while some chased each other around trees on the central reservation as motorists passing at speeds as high as 80kph nervously sounded their horns.

It was just after 1pm and classes had finished for the day at the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Arab-Pakistan School in the capital, unleashing a flood of youthful energy into the neighbourhood. Muhammad Munir, the head teacher, agreed that traffic around the school raised safety concerns. "Walking across the road, that is the biggest problem," he said. "I don't know what should be done. "I have been talking to the boys and girls but they are youth, they don't understand. My main concern is that people should cross from the proper places."

Farad Hijad, a 17-year-old Pakistani student at the school, said he felt the area was unsafe. "It is very difficult because this is a main road, it leads to a highway," he said. "They should build flyovers like in Dubai for the pedestrians." With safety regulations for school zones varying from emirate to emirate and measures differing in some cases from school to school, some principals and pupils are calling for stricter, uniform rules for motorists near schools.

Others, particularly in Dubai, say adequate traffic calming measures are already in place. One particular problem in Abu Dhabi is that its villa schools are tucked away on residential streets, and often not clearly marked for motorists. Many of them do not have people to help children cross busy streets. According to Abu Dhabi Police figures, 1,112 children were killed after being struck by a vehicle between 2001 and 2007. The statistics do not include details on how many were walking to or from school.

Authorities in the emirate say they are addressing the safety issues. A spokesman for the Abu Dhabi Education Council said it was working with the municipality, recommending ways to "improve traffic flow and road safety in areas surrounding our existing schools". Abu Dhabi Police said that after Eid it would be launching a back-to-school road safety campaign. Tom Matthews, projects director at Taaleem, the second-largest private school operator in the country, said traffic impact studies must be conducted before Dubai or Abu Dhabi municipalities approved new schools.

However, some principals thought more could be done to improve safety around existing schools. Mohamad Haris, principal at Al Noor Indian Islamic School in Abu Dhabi, said there were no road signs in the vicinity to warn motorists that they were entering a school zone. "We are facing so many troubles here because of traffic," he added. "Drivers are parking their cars in the middle of the road. "We have school buses and so many parents are coming with vehicles, it makes the chances of accidents high."

Cars were often left in the middle of the street for days at a time, making it difficult for school buses to get around. "We are very worried about that," he said, adding that speeding was sometimes a problem as well. "We want small humps. If the municipality would put those down it would be very good for us." Inbanathan C, principal of the Sunrise Indian School in Abu Dhabi, said he had similar problems.

"The parents can't park and walk their kids in." While Clive Pierrepont, director of communications and marketing at Taaleem, said none of its seven schools had any major problems, he pointed to other schools that, he said, "have been built in areas where it is patently obvious that safety has not been a concern in their sitting". The Oud Metha neighbourhood in Dubai was one example, he said. Traffic-calming measures in the capital appear to differ from one school zone to the next. On 25th Street near Salam Street, near a side street containing several schools, there is a prominent sign saying "school" in both Arabic and English, and a pictogram of an adult and child crossing the road.

There are also flashing lights near the pedestrian crossing and rumble strips before the crossing point. However, many vehicles still seem to be travelling at or above the speed limit of 60kph in that area. Down the road at Abu Dhabi Indian School, which is on 23rd Street, also near Salam Street, the only indication for approaching motorists that a school is in the area is a small white sign. The zebra-striped pedestrian crossing in front of the school has faded and is almost invisible.

By contrast, Neha Palshelkaa, whose two children attend Our Own English High School in Dubai, felt reassured by the road safety measures around the school. "I feel that my children are very safe here," she said. "First off, the security will absolutely not allow the children out of the gates without supervision. Secondly, the road bumps make sure that cars drive past slowly, so I don't worry at all."

Thanks to roundabouts, intersections, speed bumps, and congestion, cars never did much more than 30kph on the main road during school drop-off and pickup times. "In the UK, they are now putting models of children outside of schools in their uniforms," said Peter Daly, head teacher at the Dubai English Speaking College. "I think there is some very irresponsible driving around school areas." * The National

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Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
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Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
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When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

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Brief scoreline:

Manchester United 1

Mata 11'

Chelsea 1

Alonso 43'

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

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PROFILE BOX

Company name: Overwrite.ai

Founder: Ayman Alashkar

Started: Established in 2020

Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai

Sector: PropTech

Initial investment: Self-funded by founder

Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
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THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

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Asia Cup Qualifier

Venue: Kuala Lumpur

Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September

Fixtures:

Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore

Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman

Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal

Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore

Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu Sep 6: Final

 

Asia Cup

Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Schedule: Sep 15-28

Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

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Know your cyber adversaries

Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.

Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.

Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.

Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.

Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.

Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.

Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.

Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.

Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.

Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.

Notable Yas events in 2017/18

October 13-14 KartZone (complimentary trials)

December 14-16 The Gulf 12 Hours Endurance race

March 5 Yas Marina Circuit Karting Enduro event

March 8-9 UAE Rotax Max Challenge

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Business Insights
  • As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses. 
  • SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income. 
  • Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
The UN General Assembly President in quotes:

YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”

PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”

OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”

REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”

While you're here ...

Damien McElroy: What happens to Brexit?

Con Coughlin: Could the virus break the EU?

Andrea Matteo Fontana: Europe to emerge stronger

Business Insights
  • Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
  • The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
  • US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
THE LOWDOWN

Photograph

Rating: 4/5

Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies

Director: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

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