Monday, December 20, 2010

New Labor Law in United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi:  The new labor law that will come into effect on January 1, 2011 is to lessen the control of employers over employees and liberalize the labor market, a top government official told.

This clarified that the new law completely scraps the "no objection certificate" (NOC). The NOC requires before an employee can transfer his/her job in to a new employer as the current labor law stated.
The Labour Ministry would have the authority to allow workers to take up new jobs without the consent of former employers or the so-called NOC.

"Workers, skilled and unskilled, who end their job contracts legally and complete at least two years of service, will get a labour permit outright,".

Previously, these workers had to complete at least three years of service with their previous employers and had to obtain an NOC letter.

Professional and skilled workers in the first three categories according to the Uniform Gulf Occupational Classification would also be exempt from the six-month ban.

image source: google images
The government official added that the goal behind the ministry's new law was to bring the labour market's level on a par with that of Germany, Canada, the US and other Western countries, as well as cancelling the employers' monopoly of the labour market.

The new rules defined three cases in which the worker shall have the right to get a work permit without fulfilling the condition of working at least two years with the employer.

source: gulfnews


Sunday, December 19, 2010

New Banknotes of the Philippines

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has released the New Generation designs of Philippine banknotes from P20 (twenty)pesos till P1000 (one thousand) pesos including the new 500 peso bill with both Ninoy and Cory.

Here are the New Generations Philippines Bank Note:


20 Peso Banknote

50 Peso Banknote

100 Peso Banknote

200 Peso Banknote
500 Peso Banknote

                                    1000 Peso Banknote

The New Generation Currency Program of the Philippines
03.26.2010 (source Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas)
In response to growing public interest in the program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to launch new designs for our money, we have prepared the following primer. 

1. Why is the BSP changing the designs of our money?
As a matter of practice, central banks regularly change the designs of their money - whether coins or banknotes - to guard against counterfeiters. By making it very difficult and costly for counterfeiters to produce exact copies of our money, we protect the integrity of our currency against criminals. 
2. How will BSP prevent the spread of counterfeit or fake money? 
The BSP is upgrading the security features in all of our banknotes to make it easier for the public to detect fake money. The BSP will mount a nationwide information campaign to educate our people on how to tell genuine banknotes from counterfeits.  
3. When will  the  new currency be distributed ?
The BSP will start distributing the initial batch of new banknotes in December 2010. New coins will be introduced starting 2012. 
4. What denominations are covered by the new designs? 
All of our six banknote denominations will have new designs: 20-piso, 50-piso, 100-piso, 200-piso, 500-piso, and 1,000- piso. At the same time, all of our coin denominations will have new designs: 1-sentimo, 5-sentimo, 10-sentimo, 25-sentimo, 1-piso, 5-piso, and 10-piso.         
5.  What will be the size of the new banknotes?
The size of the new banknotes will be the same as the present currency. 
6. What will happen to the existing currency in circulation?
The present banknotes will remain in circulation and will continue to be accepted as legal tender for at least three more years. Based on previous currency retirement or demonetization program of the BSP, this will give enough time for the public to make a full transition to our new generation currency. A separate schedule will be followed for coins. Appropriate announcements will be released before and after the introduction of our new banknotes and coins to guide the public and ensure a smooth transition to our new currency. 
7. How does the BSP select new designs and security features for our currency?
The BSP has a Numismatic Committee that initiates new design studies and proposes upgraded security features for consideration by its Monetary Board. Once a selection is made, the Monetary Board sends the proposed new designs for the approval of the President of the Philippines.       
8.   What are the design elements of our new banknotes?    
Our new banknotes pay tribute to Filipinos who played significant roles at various moments of our nation’s history. World heritage sites and iconic natural wonders of the Philippines are also proudly highlighted.          
9. What are the designs elements of our new coins? 
The new coins will feature our national symbols.    
10. What are the considerations in the selection of security features for our new currency? 
The BSP did research and benchmarking on security features that are available from global suppliers and are being used by other central banks. The security features range from level 1 to level 4 or from highly visible to hidden security elements that can be detected only by sophisticated equipment. The layered security features are as follows: 
Level I :  Security features which can be easily recognized by the public without use of special instrument. These are the “look", "feel", "tilt” elements in the notes such as watermark, security thread, security fibers, and others.  
Level II: Security features recognizable by professional cash handlers/bank tellers with the use of magnifying lens or ultraviolet light. Examples are fluorescent features and security fibers, microprinting. 
Level III:  The hidden or covert security features reserved for the use of the Bangko Sentral. 
Level IV: Forensic security features for the use of law enforcers in testifying whether a banknote is genuine or counterfeit. Forensic features are detectable at specialized laboratories. 
11. Is it costly to change currency designs and security features? 
There are additional but relatively minimal costs involved in changing the design and upgrading the security features of our money. To the BSP, the benefits far outweigh the upfront incremental costs involved in shifting to the new designs and to abaca-reinforced paper that will incorporate the new embedded security features.
12. Who will produce our new currency?       
In accordance with global practice, the preparation of the metal plates and dies for the production of money is done by highly specialized groups called “originators” who will print the first batch of our new currency. For this, an international competitive bidding will be conducted.
After this, the BSP will start printing our new currency using these origination materials. The BSP is also buying new equipment that will increase its printing capacity to meet the demands of our growing population and economy.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Pay Pal Freezes WikiLeaks donations and Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks site

 

PayPal statement regarding WikiLeaks

December 3, 2010
PayPal has permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy, which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity. We’ve notified the account holder of this action.
Source Paypal.

Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks site

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has stopped hosting WikiLeaks' website, which posted thousands of classified U.S. government documents this week, the Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman said on Wednesday.
The move comes after Senator Joe Lieberman's staff made inquiries to Amazon on Tuesday as news reports surfaced that WikiLeaks had hired the Internet giant to host the website loaded with secret government documents on the Amazon servers because hackers had targeted the WikiLeaks site.
"I wish that Amazon had taken this action earlier based on WikiLeaks' previous publication of classified material," Lieberman, an independent, said in a statement.
"I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them," he added.

source Yahoo news

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

UAE residency visa, labour card validity cut to two years

Dubai: A new decision has been approved to reduce the life of the labour card for all workers and employees in the private sector, to two years from the current three, officials confirmed on Tuesday.


A senior official at the Labour Ministry told  the rule will be implemented in January 2011. "As the labour card will be for only two years, naturally the residency visa will also be for two years," the official explained.
According to a statement by Humaid Bin Deemas, Acting Director-General of the Ministry of Labour, carried by WAM, "The UAE Cabinet has reduced the validity of labour cards of all categories of people who work in private sector from three years to two years in a bid to regulate the labour market."

The Cabinet decision aims to unify the labour card validity for all work categories to be similar to that of drivers, domestic helpers and other similar categories who are given only two-year labour cards and residence visas by the Department of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, while other professions currently get three-year labour cards and three-year residence visa.

Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Minhali, Assistant Undersecretary at the ministry's Naturalisation and Residency Affairs department told, the change in the validity of the labour card will impact the expiry date of the residence visa issued to expatriates.


"When we get an application for a residence visa we look at the validity of the labour card issued by the Ministry of Labour; if it is for two years then we will issue a two-year residence visa," he explained.

source: GulfNews.com

PayPal Its Free Sign-up Now!!!

Sign up for PayPal and start accepting credit card payments instantly.