Our correspondents

Istabsir: Life in the UAE observed

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Today's paper

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Business focus

Five myths about how to create employment

The temptation may be great in the US to seek quick fixes for stubborn high unemployment, but the jobs challenge is a marathon.

Oasis

Pearl fishing

In a monthly series, The National photographer Galen Clarke shoots landmarks of the UAE using a polar panoramic technique.

Button makes the breakthrough

Property law gives landlords power to evict tenants and raise rents

Tenants lose automatic right to renew leases for five years with five per cent ceiling.

Biden in West Bank to salvage peace talks

Settlements dominate US vice president's agenda with Palestinian leaders as indirect talks with Israel thrown into doubt.

Sunni leader Sheikh Tantawi dies at 81

Grand Imam of Al Azhar mosque in Egypt suffers a heart attack at Riyadh Airport

‘Model school’ principals spell out their problems

More regulation and better hiring process needed in model schools, principals tell Minister of Education.

Fatal accident echoes deadly fog pile-up

Two years after Fog Tuesday, when four died in a 200-car pile-up, poor visibility claims more victims.

Woman gives kidney to husband

An Indian man has received a kidney from his wife though she was not a compatible donor, in first surgery of its kind in UAE.

UAE

FNC members ask for new elections

FNC members are concerned the Government has not yet announced plans to hold elections when the partially elected body’s term runs out early next year.

Mother's death is tragic wake-up call for drivers

Female motorist apparently distracted by child sitting in the front seat of her car is warning to parents to properly restrain young passengers.

Newborns to be screened for hereditary disorders

Babies in the emirate are to be tested for genetic disorders within two days of birth.

World

Yemeni protesters killed in clashes with police

Three south Yemeni independence activists are killed and five wounded when demonstrations in southern towns sparked clashes with police.

Israel and Syria ‘to renew talks’ says Turkey

Ankara says it is close to bringing Israel and Syria together again, more than a year after the breakdown of indirect peace talks.

Lebanese border security body ‘intimidated top lawyer’

Interior ministry forced to step in as human rights groups say recent actions by General Security are escalating conflict with advocates of Iraqi refugees.

Business

Google chief says Web future is ‘limitless’

In a keynote speech at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit yesterday, Eric Schmidt responded to concerns about who controls all the data the internet giant has accumulated.

Hotel group to create 33,000 jobs

The Intercontinental is aiming to hire 33,000 employees to work at the 46 hotels it plans to open in the Middle East and Africa in the next three years.

Optimism returns to local bourses

Most investors are hoping a conclusion to the Dubai World restructuring will lift regional markets, providing a long-awaited opportunity to recoup their losses.

Michael Young: As Israel and the Palestinian Authority prepare to resume indirect talks, through American mediation, some are insisting that the Islamist movement Hamas must be brought into the process.

Knowledge can’t be developed if it isn’t protected

Muhammad Ayish: If you were lucky enough to make it to the 20th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) that concluded early this week, you surely found the event’s organisation and turnout impressive.

Sometimes, attraction just stares you in the face

Rym Ghazal: Single in the city At dinner last night there were two cute guys, one cute couple, and one annoyingly beautiful woman (that everyone in the room stared at).

Sport

Australia clinch the series

Another batting failure see hosts New Zealand lose a curtailed fourth ODI match and concede the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.

Rooney denies Beckham glory

Rooney scored a goal in each half to take his tally for the season to 30 as Manchester United win 4-0 and cruise into the quarter-finals.

Madrid suffer embarrasing defeat

The Spanish giants' dreams of a Champions League final at their Bernabeu home were crushed by Lyon after 1-1 draw sends them out on aggregate.

Arts

Old Masters out in force at European Fine Art Fair

Ahead of The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, David D’Arcy describes the market for art this year and the pieces to look out for.

Screen teams: winning actor-director double acts

As Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio work together again in Shutter Island, we look at other successful actor-director partnerships.

For cinema, there's no time like the past

With a John Hughes script heading to the screen and a slew of remakes in the works, we my be in the midst of a 1980s revival.

Life

Banana futures in Karnataka

A small Indian village is benefiting from a project to preserve local crafts and jobs.

The spice is right: how herbs aid health

Antioxidant-rich kitchen staples such as cinnamon, thyme and peppermint may well be the new superfoods, as their immunity-boosting properties and ability to improve health and well-being are revealed.

The next final frontier for William Shatner

The former Star Trek actor William Shatner is boldly going into social networking.

Video

Review

Into the Saudi enigma

Robert Lacey’s breezy new account of contemporary Saudi Arabia may not become a reference for serious students of the region, Robert Vitalis writes, but it marks a slight improvement on the decades of cliches that have defined a complex nation.

Pakistan’s new paranoia

The big ideaThe hardline philosophies of the charismatic TV host Zaid Hamid have permeated the grassroots political life of Pakistan, writes Manan Ahmed.

Israel’s search for ‘Good Arabs’

Rajah Shehadeh finds innumerable echoes of the present in a new history of Israel's coercive relations with its Palestinian citizens.

Magazine

The Dubai Creek harbour masters

Making deals and moving goods around the world is a multibillion-dirham business at Dubai Creek. But it’s the men loading the dhows who work the hardest and risk the most.

Helen Mirren: queen of the screen

With a fourth Oscar nomination for her role as Tolstoy’s wife, Helen Mirren talks to M about her childhood, career and the image she can’t shake off.

A friendship explored: Wilfred Thesiger remembered

Feature After an awkward first meeting, Alexander Maitland became the confidant of the great explorer Wilfred Thesiger. Talking to M, he remembers his ‘good chum’.

Weekender

When nature plays rough

A strong earthquake rocked Chile, killing at least 800 people and triggering a possibility of a tsunami while storms battered the UAE causing flooding and hardships.