The president of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has declared that women should occupy half the seats in the UAE’s Federal National Council after next year’s election. While the Chairperson and Speaker of the FNC, Dr. Amal Al Qubaisi, and seven other members of the FNC are women, the Presidential Decree by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan calls for greater representation of Emirati women in the FNC.

In a statement on Twitter, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, backed the statements made by the UAE’s President, stating that “Women are half of our society: they should be represented as such”. The move will place the UAE amongst the nations with highest female representation in their national assemblies, exceeding figures in the UK and USA.

The move to increase female employment in top jobs in the government, diplomatic service, judiciary and in the overall labor market comes in a bid to ensure that concerns of the community are adequately addressed in the FNC. The aim is to integrate Emirati women into the country’s political, cultural and socioeconomic developments.

A total of 6,320 abandoned vehicles were seized by Sharjah Municipality in the Emirate of Sharjah throughout the first eight months of this year, stated Saeed Bu Rahaima, the Director of Inspection Operations at the Sharjah Municipality, to Khaleej Times.

The move comes in a bid to maintain the aesthetic beauty of Sharjah and to monitor all negative phenomena in the city. Parking tickets of 1,000 AED are placed on cars parked in unauthorized areas, and one of 500 AED is levied on cars found to be distorting the image of the city. Bu Rahaima stated that these fines are doubled for repeat offences, and an additional fee of 150 AED is added for any payment delay longer than a month, followed by 50 AED fines for every subsequent month that the car stays unmoved.

Bu Rahaima explained that vehicles are never seized without warning, and that a grace period of 24 to 72 hours is typically allowed. Sharjah Municipality has already auctioned 4800 cars that had been confiscated for longer than six months, and a further 14924 owners were warned, while 9226 had received fines for traffic violations.

A 7-year-old Arab girl fell to her death from her family’s fifth floor apartment in a residential area of Sharjah last Friday, prompting investigations into the circumstances that led to her fall.

Police arrived on the scene in less than five minutes, but the girl later passed away at the Al Qassimi Hospital due to the injuries she sustained.

The incident occurred in the Al Musallah area of Sharjah, and has led to calls for tighter safety regulations protecting children in apartment buildings. The police are investigating the cause of her death and will provide final results once the investigation is completed.