FNC member Ahmed Al Amash during the FNC session in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath K / The National
FNC member Ahmed Al Amash during the FNC session in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath K / The National

FNC members encourage Emiratis to marry locals



ABU DHABI // FNC members have called for a higher committee to encourage Emiratis to marry other Emiratis and to support them from the moment they begin to think about marriage.

During a heated debate with Dr Maitha Al Shamsi, Minister of State and head of the Marriage Fund, member Ahmed Al Amash (RAK) demanded that more be done to support nationals. He also attacked the fund for not following through on its legal mandate.

At the start of the discussion, Dr Al Shamsi detailed extensively efforts made by the fund, which offers financial grants of Dh70,000 to those who marry other locals and meet certain requirements.

She named 40 programmes and workshops aimed at young couples, students and parents to help guarantee the success of a marriage, and to encourage national men to marry national women.

After her response, Mr Al Amash said the minister had failed to answer his question on “how the ministry worked to achieve the country’s social policy”.

He said this would not be achieved without tight family bonds, adding that as people move away from extended families and towards nuclear families the problem worsens.

“UAE families used to be stronger,” he said. “Relationships inside the family were better.”

He criticised the fund for giving grants after a marriage licence had already been drawn up. He said the agency should play a bigger role when couples consider marriage, and through the engagement and nikkah itself.

“Encourage them to marry locals,” he said. “Help them face their marriage obstacles.”

The rise in older unmarried women and the rise in divorces, he said, was due to local men marrying expatriates. Last year, he said, 3,000 local men married non-locals.

Dr Al Shamsi reminded Mr Al Amash that what he was asking for in greater family intervention was not the fund’s responsibility.

She said the fund had no way of knowing which families were preparing for marriage and could not intervene before being approached. “The fund cannot enter the homes of every local to ensure they marry a local, that they do not divorce,” she said. “All societies live this. These are normal society issues.”

She said encouraging locals to marry each other is one of the reasons for the grant. “We can’t knock on the door and say, ‘I am the one in charge of this family’,” she said. “I would like to reassure the member that we work towards what the law says and even more. The member must be aware of the limits of the marriage fund.”

She added that UAE society was found to be the happiest in the world due to the freedom given by the Government.

A majority of FNC members voted to raise a recommendation to the Government to form a higher committee to encourage Emirati marriages and to provide further support to those planning to wed.

osalem@thenational.ae

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

The Beach Bum

Director: Harmony Korine

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg

Two stars

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications

How does ToTok work?

The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store

To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.

The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.

Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.

 

Sui Dhaaga: Made in India

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Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav

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'Worse than a prison sentence'

Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.

“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.

“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.

“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.

“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.

“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”

Leaderboard

63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)

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A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
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  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
  • be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
  • have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
  • undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

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The Bio

Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959

Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.

He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses

Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas

His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s

Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business

He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery 

Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

Company profile

Company name: Suraasa

Started: 2018

Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker

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Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
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Favourite part of Dubai: Palm Jumeirah

 

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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

  • An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
  • A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
  • A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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