LONDON // Emirati students living in London and their parents have dismissed fears that the city is exceptionally dangerous.
But they warn compatriots to better blend in with locals and alter their behaviour, especially after two attacks in the city this month on Emiratis.
Many UAE nationals have taken to social media to express their concerns about London's violent crime.
Student S A, 20, said the brutality of the robberies was shocking but she did not think there was any plot to attack Emiratis.
“London is a big city and big cities are dangerous,” she said. “I think that both situations happened because [the victims] were targetable.
“When you live here long enough, you understand not to dress a certain way and that makes you less of a tempting option for robbers.
“East London, where I live, is dangerous but it’s largely populated by students and young people.
“Because of that robbers don’t go to that area, because they won’t get as much as they would in one of the posher areas.”
In the early hours of Tuesday Ali Al Tamimi, his wife and their guest, all Emiratis, were attacked after seven armed men beat down the door of their rented flat in Paddington.
At one stage the wife, 47, was ordered to sit down while one of the bandits put a gun to her head and another pointed his knife at her.
Mr Al Tamimi, 51, suffered minor injuries that did not require treatment after several attempts to stab him. One of the intruders ordered Mr Al Tamimi to be shot after he removed the mask of another.
Police said cash of more than Dh17,000, two passports, handbags and a bank card were stolen, but that the crime was not racially motivated.
On April 6, three Emirati sisters were attacked in their hotel room in Marble Arch.
Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, lost her left eye and now has only 5 per cent of her brain function. Her sister, Ohoud, 34, suffered two skull fractures, a broken left arm and a fractured cheekbone. Fatima, 31, has a fractured skull and a ruptured left eardrum.
Three men have been charged with the crime and will reappear in court in July.
S A said avoiding crime was a matter of not being conspicuous.
“Our parents and people back home are more worried than we are,” she said. “You learn to live and to be careful, and you know how not to attract unwanted attention.”
R R, an Emirati whose daughter is at university in London, said that parents must teach their children about how to conduct themselves when living and travelling abroad.
“Education starts with the parents,” she said. “I’ve been telling my kids since they were little not to dress up or stand out and this is not just specifically for London, this is for everywhere around the world.
“But when we are in London, she knows … to dress like [British people] and not like us – jeans and flip-flops and when you walk around, keep your eyes straight ahead and be careful.”
From her experiences, R R said many people from the Gulf perhaps acted without enough due concern when travelling abroad.
“Let’s go into the lifestyle of some Gulf citizens when they go to London,” she said. “They always go to extremes and show off.
“She is either getting revenge on her husband by spending all his money or she’s competing with her friends. It’s about time we stopped that.”
But R R said many of her friends are concerned that two families from the UAE should have been attacked within such a short time.
“We are asking, ‘Why Emiratis?’ We have a fear that someone is focusing on us to harm Emiratis,” she said.
“That’s a big question for us.”
nalwasmi@thenational.ae
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
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Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
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Engine 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo, AWD
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Gearbox Nine-speed auto
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
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Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
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- 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
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