ABU DHABI: When American Stephen Perry lost his job at a bank in Dubai following the emirate’s debt crisis in 2009, he was lucky to be hired by one of neighboring Abu Dhabi’s government firms.
He didn’t move house, so it didn’t disrupt his wife’s job or the kids’ schooling, despite the daily 130-km commute each way. That was still better than the nearly 200 km he used to put up with in the United States, and he considered it a price worth paying to keep the liberal, cosmopolitan lifestyle in Dubai.
But now Perry is in a dilemma and might not be able to manage the commute after all.
Last September, Abu Dhabi, told state employees that if they lived outside its city limits they would not be eligible for housing allowance, which accounts for about a third of their salaries.
The government has said the new rule was aimed at cutting traffic and road accidents, a nod to the risk of commuting on the busy desert highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
But analysts and industry experts say the policy is designed to help absorb a glut of new high-end homes in Abu Dhabi and revive state developers such as bailed-out Aldar.
“Many new units have come up in Abu Dhabi, reaching the peak of its development cycle. The move is to create new demand and make sure the vacancy rates don’t reach high levels,” said Matthew Green, research head at property consultancy C.B. Richard Ellis in Dubai.
The Abu Dhabi government declined to comment on the rulings implications for the property market.
About 10,000 new houses are expected to hit the market by the end of the year, with a further 43,000 by the end of 2015.
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Abu Dhabi employees in a fix over losing Dubai life
Abu Dhabi employees in a fix over losing Dubai life
Trump demands role in choosing next Iran leader, Khamenei's son ‘unacceptable’
- US president tells Axios US would likely return to war within five years without a favorable leader in Iran
- Draws parallel with Venezuela where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated under threat of violence
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted he should have a role in picking Iran’s next supreme leader after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose son he said he found unacceptable.
“Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump told Axios in an interview, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after the United States ousted her boss, Nicolas Maduro.
Trump told the news outlet that the United States would likely return to war within five years without a favorable leader in Iran.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump was quoted saying by the news outlet.
It was unclear in what way Trump would be able to take a role in the Islamic republic’s selection of a new supreme leader, a decision made by an assembly of senior Shiite Muslim clerics mostly staunchly opposed to the United States. Trump was raised a Presbyterian.
But his remarks imply a willingness to work with someone from within the Islamic republic rather than seek to topple the government, which has been a sworn enemy of the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah.
The late shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has proposed that he return as a transitional figure before Iran drafts a new constitution as a secular democracy. Pahlavi earlier Thursday said that any new supreme leader within the Islamic republic would be illegitimate.
Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran since 1989 with hard-line policies that included repression at home and confrontation with neighboring countries, was killed Saturday in an Israeli strike as Israel and the United States opened war.
His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is considered one of the contenders to succeed his father, who was only the second supreme leader after revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In Venezuela, Trump ordered a deadly January 3 attack in which US forces snatched Maduro, a longtime US nemesis.
Rather than backing the opposition long championed by the United States, Trump has said he has been pleased by Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s vice president but has cooperated on key US demands, notably on benefiting oil companies.
She is doing so under Trump’s threat of violence if she does not do what he wants, particularly on access to natural resources.
“Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump told Axios in an interview, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after the United States ousted her boss, Nicolas Maduro.
Trump told the news outlet that the United States would likely return to war within five years without a favorable leader in Iran.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump was quoted saying by the news outlet.
It was unclear in what way Trump would be able to take a role in the Islamic republic’s selection of a new supreme leader, a decision made by an assembly of senior Shiite Muslim clerics mostly staunchly opposed to the United States. Trump was raised a Presbyterian.
But his remarks imply a willingness to work with someone from within the Islamic republic rather than seek to topple the government, which has been a sworn enemy of the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah.
The late shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has proposed that he return as a transitional figure before Iran drafts a new constitution as a secular democracy. Pahlavi earlier Thursday said that any new supreme leader within the Islamic republic would be illegitimate.
Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran since 1989 with hard-line policies that included repression at home and confrontation with neighboring countries, was killed Saturday in an Israeli strike as Israel and the United States opened war.
His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is considered one of the contenders to succeed his father, who was only the second supreme leader after revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In Venezuela, Trump ordered a deadly January 3 attack in which US forces snatched Maduro, a longtime US nemesis.
Rather than backing the opposition long championed by the United States, Trump has said he has been pleased by Rodriguez, who was Maduro’s vice president but has cooperated on key US demands, notably on benefiting oil companies.
She is doing so under Trump’s threat of violence if she does not do what he wants, particularly on access to natural resources.
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