DUBAI // The Ministry of Social Affairs is opening another office in Abu Dhabi.
The office will be independent from the ministry’s main bureau in Abu Dhabi, the state news agency Wam reported, and will make obtaining benefits easier.
There are a reported 12,605 social benefit recipients in Abu Dhabi, with more than 3,000 of them in the city. Women make up 70 per cent of the cases.
The office will register applications for social benefits and ensure they meet the requirements. It will also follow up cases, take complaints about rejected applications and deliver ATM cards to those approved. There are 20 other such offices across the UAE.
Under UAE law, the ministry provides financial aid to divorcees, widows, the elderly, disabled and other needy people.
Only UAE citizens or the mothers of UAE citizens are eligible.
In May, an FNC report found the ministry was understaffed, had no central records of recipients and did not keep proper track of payments.
FNC member Sultan Al Sammahi (Fujairah) said the ministry had made some improvements and was awaiting Cabinet approval for more reforms. “The law needs to be amended and we intend to amend it,” the Minister for Social Affairs, Mariam Al Roumi, told the FNC at the time.
The ministry had not responded to questions about the benefits system or planned reforms.
vnereim@thenational.ae
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch
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Torque: 770Nm
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Top Speed: 340km/h
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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.
The years Ramadan fell in May
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
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The%20specs
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
