Arabtec founder Riad Kamal and the current chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi were not included on a list of 16 board nominees ahead of the company’s annual general meeting. Lauren Lancaster / The National
Arabtec founder Riad Kamal and the current chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi were not included on a list of 16 board nominees ahead of the company’s annual general meeting. Lauren Lancaster / The National
Arabtec founder Riad Kamal and the current chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi were not included on a list of 16 board nominees ahead of the company’s annual general meeting. Lauren Lancaster / The National
Arabtec founder Riad Kamal and the current chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi were not included on a list of 16 board nominees ahead of the company’s annual general meeting. Lauren Lancaster / The National

Arabtec founder Riad Kamal says he quit company’s board 18 months ago


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The Arabtec founder Riad Kamal claims he resigned from the Arabtec board 18 months ago despite still being listed on the company's website as a director.

In an email to The National, Mr Kamal, who founded Arabtec nearly 40 years ago, said that he had quit the company's board of directors a year and a half ago despite his move not being widely advertised.

Mr Kamal currently appears listed as a director on the company’s website. He is also listed as a director in the company’s full-year 2014 accounts, which were published last month.

Representatives of both the Dubai Financial Market, where Arabtec shares are listed, and market regulator, the Securities and Commodities Authority, said they were unaware of Mr Kamal's apparent earlier resignation.

Arabtec was not immediately able to comment.

The news comes after it emerged on Thursday that both Mr Kamal and the current Arabtec chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi were not included on a list of 16 board nominees ahead of the company's annual general meeting, due to take place on Thursday.

A board committee is tasked with choosing which names to pass forward for election.

In accordance with UAE company rules, Arabtec shareholders will elect a new board of directors from the nominees, and the board will later vote to elect a new chairman from among their number.

Mr Kamal resigned as chief executive in February 2013.

Arabtec’s shares closed a touch lower yesterday at Dh2.90.

Separately, Egypt’s housing minister, Moustafa Madbouly, said yesterday that a deal with Arabtec to build as many as 1 million affordable homes in the country would be finalised within two months.

This month, Arabtec said it had agreed terms to begin the 100,000 unit first phase of the US$40 billion project located to the east of Cairo.

lbarnard@thenational.ae

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TOUCH RULES

Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.

Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.

Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.

A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.

After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.

At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.

A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.

Company profile

Name:​ One Good Thing ​

Founders:​ Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke​

Based in:​ Dubai​​ 

Sector:​ e-commerce​

Size: 5​ employees

Stage: ​Looking for seed funding

Investors:​ ​Self-funded and seeking external investors

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Sole survivors
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  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow. 
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes). 

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Tips for used car buyers
  • Choose cars with GCC specifications
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In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

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Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

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.
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Seven tips from Emirates NBD

1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details

2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet

3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details

4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure

5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs  (one-time passwords) with third parties

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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

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Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km

yallacompare profile

Date of launch: 2014

Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer

Based: Media City, Dubai 

Sector: Financial services

Size: 120 employees

Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)