DUBAI// A 22-year-old female student attacked a taxi driver who tried to stop her smoking a cigarette in his cab, a court has heard.
Prosecutors said that the Saudi defendant BA, hailed the taxi at 6.30am on August 14 and took the front seat, while her two sisters sat in the back.
The Pakistani taxi driver ZK, 28, testified that he picked up the girls near the Burj Khalifa who asked to be taken to Abu Dhabi.
“On the way the defendant started smoking, I told her it was not allowed but she did not listen, a moment later, the girl in the back started smoking too,” said the driver.
The driver pulled over onto a service road on Sheikh Zayed Road and informed the girls that he would not resume the journey because they were breaking rules.
“She slapped me when I said that, so I called police right away,” noted the driver who denied assaulting any of the girls.
The defendant claimed she asked him for his permission to smoke but instead of refusing politely, he started screaming loudly at her and waving his hand in front of her face.
“He was speaking in a very provocative way and waving his hand in my face so I caught his hand after he pulled over then I scratched him in the hand, after which he bit me,” said the defendant.
Police arrived and took them all to the station, where the girl was found to have consumed alcohol.
The charges of assault for the student and the taxi driver were not referred to prosecutors.
She was, however, referred to the Court of Misdemeanours to face a charge of consuming alcohol without a licence. She confessed and was fined Dh1,000.
salamir@thenational.ae
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
