The Dubai police recently arrested two men for allegedly breaking into at least 30 houses and stealing about AED10 million worth of cash, jewellery, electronics and other valuable items within a month.

Colonel Khalil Ebarahim Al Mansouri, director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said the suspects from Tanzania allegedly broke into houses in Mirdiff, Jumeirah and Bur Dubai areas. All the robberies took place in the morning hours during the month of May.

Following the incident, Dubai police officials have asked residents to register for a free service helping to protect their homes. The program, called “080,” is available on the Dubai police website to all villa residents who are going away on short or long vacations. The police will send patrols every 24 hours to monitor such premises.

The same program has also deployed around 90 police patrols to monitor people in crowded areas to prevent crimes, reports Khaleej Times. According to the police, 200 people have participated in the program, and none has reported a theft.

Along with offering to patrol the police have also issued some basic guidelines to holiday goers, such as instructions to lock all doors and windows, keep valuables in a safe place, turn off lights and taps, and ask relatives to keep an eye on the house during any absence.

While the service offered by the Dubai police seems both easy and convenient for house owners in the city, renting your house during your vacation could be another way of keeping it safe from thieves. There are several websites where you can put up your house up for rent during your vacation, and, if they are interested, you can even swap houses with the renter. Temporarily, of course.

The website Vacation Rentals currently has two owners offering their houses in Dubai, and on VacationFRBO.com, six people have offered their homes for rent during their holidays.

A shortage of good jobs and the need to know someone senior in a company (wasta) are the main factors young Arabs most frequently mention as obstacles to getting a job in the region, according to a new survey.
The first Silatech-Gallup poll conducted among young Arabs across Middle East and North Africa found that 58 percent of respondents said they would be willing to relocate to find a suitable job.When asked whether knowing people in high positions is critical to getting a job, the majority of the respondents in all countries answered yes!

A lack of proper training, or lack of good jobs was another challenge mentioned by a sizeable number of youth in most regions, the paper added in its report on The Silatech Index: Voices of Young Arabs which is due to be unveiled later on Sunday.Respondents' satisfaction with efforts to increase the number of quality jobs was lowest in Iraq (10 percent), while it was highest in the UAE (69 percent), followed by Qatar (65 percent) and Kuwait (63 percent).

A relatively high proportion of young Arabs who are not currently business owners plan to start a business next year, the survey also showed. The survey findings were based on face-to-face interviews with young people, aged 15-29, in Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the UAE, and Yemen.

Source: ArabianBusiness.com, Sunday, 07 June 2009.