00:00Good day. Welcome to the Gulf News update for Wednesday, December the 18th. Here are
00:09the top stories at this hour. Companies of varying sizes were issued deadlines
00:13by the Dubai Health Authority to meet mandatory health insurance coverage laws starting next
00:18year. A new timetable offers deadlines for three categories of companies based upon the
00:23number of employees on their payroll. Companies with more than 1,000 employees, for example,
00:27must insure all of its workers by October 2014, while smaller companies will have until
00:33mid-2016 to meet the provision. India's lower House of Parliament has approved
00:38a key anti-graft bill that provides for setting up an independent ombudsman to investigate
00:43and prosecute government officials suspected of corruption. The Lokpal Bill was passed
00:48by the lower House of Parliament this morning. The bill has to be ratified by the Indian
00:53president before it becomes a law. The bill had been pending for more than 40 years,
00:57but the latest version was introduced after anti-graft activist Anna Hazare went on an
01:02indefinite fast in Delhi in 2011 in support of a strong anti-graft law.
01:08The West's policies on Iran and Syria are a dangerous gamble, and Saudi Arabia is prepared
01:13to act on its own to safeguard security in the region. That's according to a top Saudi
01:18diplomat. We believe that many of the West's policies
01:20on both Iran and Syria risk the stability and security of the Middle East, said Prince
01:26Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain.
01:32An Indian diplomat said she faced repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches
01:36following her arrest in New York City on visa fraud charges. In an email published in Indian
01:42media today, Devyani Kobragadi, India's deputy consul general in New York, said she was treated
01:47like a common criminal despite her incessant assertions of immunity. Rattled by the scale
01:52of the anger in India, the US State Department sought to calm tensions and said the arrest
01:57last Thursday shouldn't be allowed to damage bilateral relations.
02:02Business and Dubai World unit Istithmar World has sold its 50% stake in Miami Beach's landmark
02:08Fontainebleau Hotel back to South Florida developer Turnberry. Dubai World originally
02:13paid $375 million in 2008 for its 50% stake in the hotel.
02:20In sport, European champions Bayern Munich book their place in the Club World Cup final
02:24with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande in last night's semifinal
02:29in Morocco. Closer to home and more than 1,800 of the world's top young chess talents have
02:35descended on the UAE ahead of the World Youth Chess Championships. The event gets underway
02:40in L.A. today. And finally, the weather. Today's high across the country will be 27 degrees
02:45Celsius, dropping to 18 degrees at night. That's all for now. Thanks for watching and
02:49as always, you can get the latest news on gulfnews.com.
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