Residents across parts of the UAE can enjoy free parking during the upcoming Prophet Mohammed's birthday.
The Integrated Transport Centre in Abu Dhabi announced on Wednesday that parking will be free during the holiday from Friday until 7.59am on Saturday.
Surface parking will be free of charge, while parking spots at the Mussafah M-18 lorry car park will also be free.
The authority urged drivers to avoid parking in prohibited areas and blocking traffic movement.
It also urged motorists to park properly in the designated areas and avoid parking in residential areas from 9pm until 8am.
Darb tolls will also be waived on Friday, with charges to resume on Saturday during the regular peak hours between 7am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm.
Public bus services in Abu Dhabi will operate based on the usual schedule throughout the weekends and the official holidays.
Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has also confirmed it will be waiving parking fees in the emirate to mark the occasion.
"Except for the multi-level parking terminals, all public parking will be free on Friday 29 September 2023 and the parking fees will be reactivated on 30 September 2023," read a statement from the RTA on social media.
All customer happiness centres in the emirate will be closed during the holiday. The smart centres in Umm Ramool, Deira, Al Barsha, Al Kafaf and the RTA's head office will continue to operate however.
The Dubai Metro service will be running on both the red and green lines from 5am on Friday to 1am on Saturday morning.
Dubai Tram will run from 6am on Friday until 1am on Saturday. The city's bus network will start from 5am on Friday and run until 12.30am Saturday.
Sharjah City Municipality also announced on Wednesday that public parking across the city will be free on September 28.
However, the waived fees exclude designated parking spots with blue information signs.
The private and public sectors will have a holiday on Friday, September 29, to mark the Prophet Mohammed's birthday.
The announcement was made by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation last week.
Earlier, the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources confirmed that public sector workers would be granted a public holiday on the same day.
The Prophet Mohammed's birthday is typically a time for quiet reflection rather than celebration, with festivities scaled back.
Pupils and staff at private schools in Sharjah will also enjoy a longer weekend than most of the UAE, after Thursday was announced as a holiday to mark the occasion.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
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Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)
Man of the match Harry Kane
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
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Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
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Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
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Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
- One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
- One for Eastern Europe Group
Countries so far running:
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Director: Saeed Roustaee
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Rating: 4/5
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Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
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Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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