2015, ജൂൺ 26, വെള്ളിയാഴ്‌ച

General Mohammed gives Dh3 million to students for buying books

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General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s grant is aimed at encouraging students to buy books and enrich their knowledge through more reading.

General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Tuesday gave directives to grant Dh3 million for children, youth and school and university students to enable them to buy books at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) which begins today.

General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s grant is aimed at encouraging students to buy books and enrich their knowledge through more reading.

Juma Al Qubaisi, ADIBF Director and Executive Director of the National Library, a division of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), said the initiative of General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed reflects the interest of the leadership in providing students with all facilities in order to enable them to obtain knowledge from books and valuable publications as the fair will put more than half a million titles covering all disciplines and sciences and providing a platform for intercultural interaction.

The TCA Abu Dhabi will give out the vouchers to students of public and private schools and universities during the 24th edition of the fair at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (ADNEC). Running till May 5, the ADIBF is being organised by the TCA Abu Dhabi under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

(Khaleej Times)

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait to abide by UN blacklisting of citizens

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Two of the blacklisted men were Saudis wanted by Riyadh for links to militants, while two others were Kuwaitis, including a prominent cleric accused of links to Nusra Front..

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed to comply with a United Nations resolution aimed at stopping financing for Islamist militant groups in Syria and Iraq after four of their nationals were named among a group blacklisted by the international body.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday intended to weaken the Islamic State - an Al Qaeda splinter group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate - and Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Nusra Front.

Riyadh this year declared the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front terrorist organisations, imposing prison terms for giving them moral or material support, and has mobilised its clerics to preach against private donations to militants.

The Islamic State has long been blacklisted by the Security Council, while Nusra Front was added earlier this year. Both groups are designated under the UN Al Qaeda sanctions regime.

Gulf media said that two of the blacklisted men were Saudis wanted by Riyadh for links to militants, while two others were Kuwaitis, including Sheikh Hajjaj bin Fahd Al Ajmi, a prominent cleric accused of links to Syria’s Al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front.

“Kuwait will abide by the UN Resolution 2170 and implement all its terms,” Kuwait’s UN ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al Otaibi said in a statement carried by state news agency KUNA on Saturday.

Under Friday’s resolution, the six people will be subject to an international travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. It asks UN experts - charged with monitoring violations of the council’s Al Qaeda sanctions regime - to report in 90 days on the threat posed by Islamic State and Nusra Front, and on details of their recruitment and funding.

The London-based Asharq Al Awsat said the two Saudis, Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim Al Charekh and Abdelrahman Mouhamad Zafir al Jahani, were on two lists of wanted militants issued in 2009 and in 2011.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors casualties in fighting in Syria, has said that Charekh was killed near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in March. Jahani was believed to be at large somewhere outside Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Al Mualami, also said Riyadh was “committed to implementation” of the resolution.

Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have recently tightened laws aimed at preventing citizens from involvement in foreign conflicts and instructed mosque preachers to abide by government policies during their sermons.

The Kuwaiti government last month ordered non-governmental public welfare associations to refrain from involvement in politics and shut down branches of some associations.

In Saudi Arabia, Muslim Sharia courts have issued a series of verdicts jailing people for going to fight abroad or collecting funds for militants.

(REUTERS)

Netanyahu says undeterred by Hamas warnings in talks

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The Palestinian demand for a Gaza sea port and reconstruction of an airport destroyed in previous conflicts with Israel has been a stumbling block.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday any deal on Gaza’s future at truce talks in Cairo must be contingent on Israel’s security needs, cautioning Hamas against carrying out its threat of a long war if Palestinian demands are not met.

With a five-day ceasefire due to expire late on Monday, negotiators were to reconvene in the Egyptian capital to seek an end to five weeks of hostilities that have killed more than 2,000 people.

Both sides say gaps remain in reaching a long-term deal that would keep the peace between Israel and militant groups in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, and open the way for reconstruction aid to reach the battered enclave.

Hamas wants Israeli and Egyptian blockades of the Gaza Strip lifted, as well as the establishment of a seaport and airport, as part of any enduring halt to violence.

Israel, which launched its offensive on July 8 after a surge in cross-border Hamas rocket attacks, has shown scant interest in making sweeping concessions, and has called for the disarming of militant groups in the territory of 1.8 million people.

Netanyahu, in public remarks to his cabinet, said Hamas should not underestimate Israel’s resolve to battle on.

“Only if there is a clear response to our security needs will we agree to reach understandings,” he said.

“If Hamas thinks that through continued intermittent firing it will cause us to make concessions, it is mistaken. For as long as quiet does not return, Hamas will continue to absorb very harsh strikes.”

The Gaza offensive has had broad public support in Israel, where militants’ rockets, many of them intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, have disrupted everyday life but caused little damage and few casualties.

Commenting on Netanyahu’s remarks, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: “The only way to achieve security is to afford security to the Palestinians first and to lift the blockade and to agree to their demands.”

On Saturday, Osama Hamdan, the head of Hamas’s foreign affairs, said on Facebook: “Israel must accept the demands of the Palestinian people or face a long war.”

Egypt, which is mediating between the sides and, like Israel, views Hamas as a security threat, has given little detail on any progress in the talks.

“As of now, Israel has not agreed to any proposals,” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

The United Nations said 425,000 people in the Gaza Strip have been displaced by the war. The Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave says 1,980 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict.

On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and three civilians have been killed.

Egyptian and Palestinian sources have said that at the Cairo talks Israel had tentatively agreed to relax curbs on the movement of people and goods across the border, subject to certain conditions.

Israeli Communications Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said Israel was examining the Egyptian proposal as a whole and had yet to make any final decision.

“There are sections that are problematic as far as Israel is concerned,” Erdan said on Israel Radio, without elaborating.

The Palestinian demand for a Gaza sea port and reconstruction of an airport destroyed in previous conflicts with Israel has been a stumbling block, with Israel citing security reasons for opposing their operation.

Israel and Hamas have not met face-to-face in Cairo: Israel regards Hamas, which advocates its destruction, as a terrorist group. The Palestinian delegation includes representatives of Hamas and US-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, who brought his former Islamist rivals into a unity government in April.

(REUTERS)

World No Tobacco Day: 500 retailers in Dubai stop sale of tobacco for 24 hours..

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Anwar Ajaz (name changed), a 27-year-old Dubai resident, has tried every “tried and tested method” to kick the smoking habit. Several nicotine patches and anti-tobacco chewing gums later, Ajaz has concluded that he has just not reached a point where he wants to give up smoking completely.

“It’s like being in a self-damaging relationship with a cigarette,” laughed Ajaz.

It is not really a laughing matter, though. Cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer and tobacco smoke is a mix of more than 4,000 chemicals, of which 250 are toxic and at least 50 others are known to cause cancer.

“People who quit smoking have a lower risk of lung cancer, but their risk is higher than the risk of people who never smoked. However, it is important to note that quitting tobacco at any age can lower the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases,” said Dr Sami Mana, community medicine specialist at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).

On the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, about 500 retailers across Dubai stopped the sale of tobacco for 24 hours. The initiative that was spearheaded by the Dubai Municipality garnered a lot of public interest and, most importantly, raised awareness about the ill effects of smoking.

Ahmad Saeed Al Naqaz, public safety officer and campaign coordinator, told Khaleej Times: “I think the campaign is going really well. The whole point of the campaign is to raise awareness and I think we’ve successfully done that. Most retail outlets have stopped the sale of tobacco and ... DM officials are distributing brochures to people in these places as well.”

He said targeting major landmarks like Dubai Aquarium, The Dubai Mall, Vox Cinemas and Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates on a weekend helped because the footfall was higher.

“We have no numbers so far of the total number of cigarette packets that were not sold. From what I notice, people are genuinely interested ... Retail outlets did have some people coming and asking for cigarettes, but they were turned down.”

Several retail chains have taken a step forward and have completely stopped the sale of cigarettes at their outlets.

The 500 shops that stopped selling cigarettes and tobacco products from 12am Saturday to 12am Sunday belong to the major retail groups in Dubai — Emarat, Enoc and Eppco petrol stations, Hyper Panda, Al Safeer, News Center, Kadoli, Spinney’s, Waitrose, Carrefour, Zoom, Choithram, LuLu, Al Maya, Family, West Zone, J-Mart, Fresh Plus, Talal, Lifco, KM Trading, Baqer Mohebi, Shaklan, Sunrise, Galaxy, Wow Pinoy, Masco, Grand Mart, Megamart, Tabeer, City Corner, Thomson, Wafa Al Madina, Mars, EMart and Majelan Al Madina.

Healthy ways to quit

The DHA, in its weekly Twitter clinic, advocated the importance of smoking cessation on May 29.

In the session, smoking cessation specialists disseminated vital information with an aim to educate the community about the ill-effects of smoking and provide information about the DHA’s various smoking cessation programs. Dr Manal Taryam, CEO of Primary Healthcare Centre, said: “DHA is keen on curbing the menace of tobacco consumption in its community and therefore, in addition to regular awareness campaigns, we have dedicated smoking cessation clinics. This is in line with the Tobacco Free Dubai Project which was implemented in 2009 and the Dubai Health Strategy 2013-2025. Since the project was implemented in 2009, more than 30,000 people have benefited from the smoking cessation campaigns which the DHA has conducted across universities, schools, private and public sectors.”

(Khaleej Times)

2015, ജൂൺ 24, ബുധനാഴ്‌ച

RAW tried to sabotage Zimbabwe cricket team's Pak tour: minister

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RAW tried to sabotage Zimbabwe cricket team's Pak tour: minister

The home minister of Punjab province in Pakistan, Shuja Khanzada, on Wednesday alleged that the Indian spy and intelligence agency, RAW, had made attempts to ensure that the Zimbabwe cricket team did not tour the country in May.

He claimed in the Punjab assembly in Lahore that the Indian agency had attempted to sabotage the Zimbabwe cricket team's tour, which concluded successfully in late May, marking the first visit by a Test team to Pakistan in six years' time.

Khanzada alleged that India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials had sent a text to the Zimbabwe team manager when the squad landed in Dubai with threats that if their players went to Lahore, none of them would go back alive.

'We came to know about this when the team manager forwarded that message to us and we sent it to our security agencies. When they investigated the origin of the message it belonged to an RAW official,' the home minister claimed.

Zimbabwe played two T20 matches and three one-day internationals at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore with all the games drawing capacity crowd. The visiting team was given unprecedented security throughout the tour.

Even an incident during the second One-day International, when a suicide bomber allegedly blew himself up after he failed to penetrate the security ring around the Gaddafi stadium, didn't derail the tour.

Khanzada also alleged that the suicide blast was an attempt by RAW to sabotage the event.

'We foiled RAW's attempt to abandon Pakistan, Zimbabwe cricket series,' he claimed.

No Test team had toured Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver and injuring some of the visiting players.

Zimbabwe agreed to undertake the tour in May after the PCB gave them financial incentives, including $12,000 to each player, although the chairman of the board Shahayrar Khan rubbished media reports that it was a bribe to the Zimbabwe cricket board to undertake the tour.PTI

Delhi resident doctors call off their strike

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New Delhi : Over 20,000 resident doctors, who were on strike over a slew of reforms, late Tuesday called off their strike after a meeting with the union health ministry officials.

The doctors will resume their duties from Wednesday morning.

'We have called off the strike as we have been given proper time-frame within which the government will fulfil all our demands,' Pankaj Solanki, Presdent of the Federation Of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) told IANS.

FORDA is an association of doctors of 25 Delhi-based government hospitals.

Asked if the doctors would return back on strike if the demands were not fulfilled, Solanki said: 'This time we have been given proper time-frame and we are pretty sure that they will implement the demands as they would not want patients to suffer again.'

The meeting between the health ministry officials and FORDA representatives was chaired by Health Secretary B.P. Sharma.

Over 20,000 resident doctors from 25 government hospitals in the city went on an indefinite strike on Monday, demanding adequate stocks of life-saving drugs, security at work place, fixed duty hours and timely payment of their salaries.

The doctors had went on strike in February too after which the Delhi government had assured them of better working conditions.

US Agency Spied on French Presidents: WikiLeaks

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Paris: The United States National Security Agency spied on French presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, WikiLeaks said in a press statement published on Tuesday, citing top secret intelligence reports and technical documents.

The revelations were first reported in French daily Liberation and on news website Mediapart, which said the NSA spied on the presidents during a period of at least 2006 until May 2012, the month when Hollande took over from Sarkozy.

WikiLeaks said the documents derived from directly targeted NSA surveillance of the communications of Hollande (2012-present), Sarkozy (2007-2012) and Chirac (1995-2007), as well as French cabinet ministers and the French ambassador to the US.

The documents also contain the cell phone numbers of numerous officials in the Elysee presidential palace including the direct cell phone of the president, WikiLeaks said.

The documents include summaries of conversations between French government officials on the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis, and the relationship between the Hollande administration and the German government of Angela Merkel.

Former NSA employee Edward Snowden created an uproar in Germany after he revealed that Washington had carried out large-scale electronic espionage in Germany and claimed the NSA had bugged Merkel's phone.

'While the German disclosures focussed on the isolated fact that senior officials were targeted by US intelligence, WikiLeaks' publication today provides much greater insight into US spying on its allies,' WikiLeaks said.

This includes 'the actual content of intelligence products deriving from the intercepts, showing how the US spies on the phone calls of French leaders and ministers for political, economic and diplomatic intelligence'.

The French president's office was not immediately reachable for comment.

WikiLeaks said French readers could 'expect more timely and important revelations in the near future. Last week, WikiLeaks published more than 60,000 diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia and said on its website it would release half a million more in the coming weeks.
Reuters

2015, ജൂൺ 22, തിങ്കളാഴ്‌ച

Kerala Assembly ruckus: no moves yet to claim compensation

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Kottayam: The reply to an RTI application has revealed that the authorities concerned have failed to make any move to claim compensation for the damage of properties inside Kerala Assembly during the ruckus on budget day.

The documents received by the organization, NCPRI, from the office of the Speaker, the violence caused a loss of Rs 2, 20, 093 to the exchequer. However, the government has not initiated any moves to book those behind the incident.

According to the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 (PDPP), those damaging public property will invite imprisonment from 6 months up to 5 years and also penalty.

During such instances, bail could be granted only if the offenders deposit bail money equivalent to the cost of properties damaged. Though three months have passed after the incident, no action was taken to book those behind the incident or claim the compensation.

The NCPRI plans to move court against this.

Seven killed as Taliban attacks Afghan parliament

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Kabul: All seven Taliban militants who staged a spectacular attack on the Afghan parliament here on Monday were killed in a gun battle with security forces that also left 21 people wounded.

Kabul Police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told the media that all the seven attackers had been killed, including one who first exploded his explosive-laden car, enabling the others to enter the parliament compound.

'One of the attackers was killed in the blast and the remaining were killed by security forces,' Rahimi said.

He confirmed there were injured people but failed to give figures, saying investigation was on.

Afghan media outlet Tolo News reported 21 civilians, including five women and three children, were injured in the horrific incident.

The attack on the parliament began with a suicide car bomb attack and was followed by gun shots during which windowpanes of several buildings in the vicinity were smashed.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack, insisting they had inflicted heavy casualties on the lawmakers. Officials in Kabul rejected the statement.

The attack occurred as the Afghan president's nominee for the crucial post of defence minister was to be introduced in parliament.

'Several mujahideen have entered the parliament building, heavy fighting is on,' Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted earlier.

'The attack happened at a time when the defence minister was being introduced,' he added.

According to the media, some lawmakers were evacuated from the building while others remained holed up in the basement.

The Taliban has rebuffed requests from senior Afghan clerics to halt attacks during the fasting month of Ramadan as a surge in violence has sent civilian casualties soaring.

IANS