Obama unveils actions to curb gun violence

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Wiping away tears, Obama recalled the Sandy Hook primary school shooting in 2012 where 20 children and six adults were killed.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled some executive measures on gun control, including expanding background checks and calling for "a sense of urgency" about gun violence.
Obama on Tuesday presented a series of executive orders to help prevent some 30,000 people from getting shot to death every year.
His executive actions, without Congress' approval, widen background checks on potential gun buyers, the BBC reported.
Wiping away tears, Obama recalled the Sandy Hook primary school shooting in 2012 where 20 children and six adults were killed.

Muslim world facing grave dangers: Sartaj Aziz

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National interest will be given priority in context of the diplomatic row in the Middle East, he said.

Islamabad: Pakistan is concerned over recent tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran that spiralled after the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said in a policy statement he read before the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The Muslim world faces grave dangers in the situation that has arisen in wake of the Saudi-Iran standoff, Sartaj said.
He expressed concern that terrorists can use the diplomatic crisis in the Middle East to their advantage.
The statement follows criticism from opposition parties which lashed out at the government in the National Assembly for not coming up with a clear stance on the situation in the region because of the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran and called for a parliamentary briefing on the issue.
Leader of the Opposition Khurshid Shah while commenting on Sartaj's statement regretted that the government has adopted a weak stance. He said Pakistan could play a proactive role and mobilise the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to resolve the escalating crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In his statement, Sartaj maintained that Pakistan will continue to play its role to ease tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia and it advocates unity among the Muslim countries.
He said the National Assembly would be given an in-camera briefing on the Saudi-Iran tensions.
National interest will be given priority in context of the diplomatic row in the Middle East, he said.
Pakistan disapproved on Monday a mob attack on Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran, which sparked a diplomatic crisis between Iran and Arab countries, Dawn newspaper reported.
In response to rumours that Pakistan was also exploring options about downgrading its diplomatic relations with Iran, Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said, "I will not comment on rumours and speculations."
There have been protests in Pakistan against the execution of the Shia cleric. But the Foreign Office has avoided commenting on the development that led to escalation of tensions between the two rivals.
Pakistan is an ally of Saudi Arabia and the two countries share close economic and defence ties. A scheduled January 18 trip by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to Tehran, according to a diplomatic source, has become uncertain following the tiff between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"He knew he was leaving us", father of 4-yr-old

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Family outing ends in tragedy as four-year-old boy is killed.

It was almost as if four-year-old Abdullah Mohammed knew he was going to die as he and his family set out on a drive to Al Dhaid from Abu Dhabi to enjoy the pleasant weather on Sunday.
"My little one was very happy about the trip and it was like he knew he was going to leave us; he kept hugging and kissing me," said his father, Mohammed Salim, 37.
The family outing turned into a disaster for Salim, an Indian, after his four-year-old died in a rain-related traffic accident. Another eight-year-old son is battling for life, while six other family members - including a toddler - were discharged after being treated for minor injuries.
Their car flipped after Salim lost control on a rain-clogged road. The victims were rushed to Al Qasimi hospital. At the time of filing this report, preparations were under way to move Salim's eight-year-old son to Zayed Military hospital for a surgery.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Salim, who was born in Abu Dhabi and speaks Arabic fluently, said: "Since the school was closed for the holidays, my children and wife were pushing me to go to Al Dhaid to enjoy the weather."
Salim's children - Ahmed Mansad, 12; Mohammed Ameen, 10; Mohammed Saeed, 8; Mahmoud Mohammed, 6; and Abdullah Mohammed - prepared their bags with balls, skating shoes and toys, said the distressed father.
"Their mother, Fatima Alawi prepared food and snacks for the whole family," said Salim.
"We started our journey from Abu Dhabi at 10am. The weather was beautiful and it was raining. As we passed intersection 9 in Al Dhaid, our car passed through a large puddle and I lost control over it."
Due to the sudden bump, Abdullah was flung out of the car and landed five metres away. He died on the spot.
"I thought he would be fine, but came to know later that he passed away. But I thank God as my other children and wife are fine.
"It was a shocking news for my wife and she hasn't stopped crying since receiving the news. I pray to God to save my other son, Saeed. I request everyone to pray for him. I don't want to lose another son," said Salim, as he broke into tears.
The funeral of little Abdullah will be held in Abu Dhabi.

Emirates offers special rates - for limited time

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All-inclusive economy class fares from Dubai to Middle East and Asian destinations start at Dh615 to Muscat, Dh935 to Karachi, Dh1,025 to Mumbai, Dh2,205 to Manila and Dh2,245 to Kuala Lumpur.

Travellers, rejoice. Emirates airline is launching its global sale today. For a limited time, travellers can avail of special offers on business and economy class fares. Bookings can be made from today until January 18 for travel until November 18.
All-inclusive economy class fares from Dubai to Middle East and Asian destinations start at Dh615 to Muscat, Dh935 to Karachi, Dh1,025 to Mumbai, Dh2,205 to Manila and Dh2,245 to Kuala Lumpur.
Also read: Emirates, Etihad Airways among world's safest carriers
Also read: Ten best budget travel destinations of 2016
Economy class fares to European cities start at Dh2,625 to Munich, Barcelona at Dh2,815, Paris at Dh3,695 and fares to North and Central American cities like Los Angeles start at Dh4,945 and Panama City at Dh6,345.
"We know that many people have begun thinking about their travel plans and aspirations for 2016. We are pleased to add a little more inspiration and incentive to help turn those plans and dreams into reality," said Thierry Antinori, Emirates' executive vice-president and chief commercial officer.
See pictures: World's 20 safest airlines
"Our global destination network across six continents offers something for every traveller. We are combining that wide range of travel choices with special rates to offer would-be travellers an even more appealing value proposition."
- business@khaleejtimes.com

Amid falling flames of Address, they spent more than 20 hours

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The rescue team climbed the stairs up to 63 floors amid heavy smoke to ensure that no one is trapped

If it took only 20 minutes to evacuate the residents of The Address Hotel on that ill-fated night, the rescue team had to spend more than 20 hours at the fire scene. This includes, several officials who stayed back at the fire scene until the cooling work finished, giving proper guidance as well as leading them from the front.
Khaleej Times talked with a few top officials to know how they worked amid falling flames to rescue women, children and the elderly from the hotel.
Huge and medium flames from the falling debris fell on some of the rescuers including Major Ahmed Atiq Bu Rouqaiba, Acting Director of Rescue and Search Team of Operation Room of the Dubai Police, whose was injured.
Major-General Anas Al Matroushi, Director of Operations for Transport and Rescue of the Dubai Police, said that the evacuation process was an unforgettable humanitarian incident, as it involved number of children, women and elderly people.
He said that the rescue team had to calm them down until they got out of the hotel, which was engulfed by smoke and fire.
Interestingly, they had to wake up a woman who was in deep sleep, when the fire broke out and despite alarm bells ringing. She was the last person to rescue from the inferno.
He added that the Chairman of Disaster Committee Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina has spent more than 20 hours at the fire scene and he directed the entire operation.
"We expected him to leave in the morning, however, he continued until the cooling operation ensured that the site is safe."
Major Ahmed Atiq said: "I was on my annual leave and when I learnt about the fire and I headed to the fire scene to assist my colleagues and perform my national duty. While I was checking the building with Major General Anas Al Matroushi and Acting Director of Rescue Section Major Khaled Mohammed, huge explosion occurred and we saw three falling flames came towards us and the bigger one passed between me and Al Matroushi and the second passed over our heads and third one fell on my left hand, which needed a small surgery. Luckily, nothing fell on our head."
Khaled Mohammed said: "Our team climbed the stairs up to 63 floors amid heavy smoke to ensure that no one is trapped and the last person to evacuate was a woman who was sleeping when the fire erupted."
Al Matroushi attributed the successful rescue operation to coordinated work between the disaster and crisis teams and the drills carried out in high rise buildings, including the Burj Khalifa. He added that the rescuers and search team were at the site before the fire to ensure safety during the fire works planned for New Year's Eve. He said that the evacuation was done professionally, and they could finish the complicated job in minutes. Among the evacuees included 77 children, elderly, women and six people on wheel chairs. Al Matroushi said that they will consider the fire in the Address Hotel as a practical training.
Major Khaled said the Dubai Police and Civil Defense staff were so happy that the rescue team could help people get out of the burning hotel. He said: "Our role was to break into rooms, check whether someone is inside and then take them out down the stairs to get out of the fire. The exits at the hotel were designed in such a way that no smoke will enter there, which made the rescue work easier."
amira@khaleejtimes.com

US accuses Iran of conducting rocket test near warships

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Iranian naval vessels conducted rocket tests last week near US warships and commercial traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the American military said Wednesday, causing new tension between the two nations after a landmark nuclear deal.
The vital strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is the route for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea, is crucial for ships taking part in the war against the Daesh group in Iraq and Syria. In the past, Iran has threatened to block the strait, which lies at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf.
While the United States has complained previously about other Iranian war games and maneuvers there, Saturday’s incident comes after a series of weapons tests and other moves by the Islamic Republic following the nuclear deal.
Iranian media and officials did not immediately discuss the tests Wednesday.
Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement that Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval vessels fired “several unguided rockets” about 1,370 meters from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS Bulkeley destroyer and a French frigate, the FS Provence. Raines said commercial sea traffic also was nearby, though the missiles weren’t fired in the direction of any ships.
Raines said the Iranian vessels announced over maritime radio that they’d carry out a live fire exercise only 23 minutes beforehand.
Iran’s “actions were highly provocative,” Raines said. “Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law.”
A French military official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to publicly named, confirmed the rocket fire took place Saturday. However, the official said the French military did not consider it to be a threatening event as the rocket fire clearly wasn’t directed toward the Western fleet.
The French frigate is now escorting the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is launching airstrikes against the Daesh group.
NBC News first reported news of the Iranian rocket fire.
The Strait of Hormuz is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman. Ships traversing the chokepoint have even less room to maneuver. The shipping lane in either direction is only 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) wide, with a 2-mile (3.22-kilometer) buffer zone between them.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Gulf. It conducts anti-piracy patrols in the greater Gulf and serves as a regional counterbalance to Iran.
While the US didn’t retaliate to Saturday’s rocket test, the Strait of Hormuz has been the scene of a battle between the two countries’ navies. On April 18, 1988, the US attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sunk or damaged six of its vessels, including two naval frigates, in Operation Praying Mantis. That came after the near-sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine.
A few months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard. The shoot-down of the jet came shortly after the US vessel reported coming under fire from Iranian speedboats.
Saturday’s rocket fire comes after Iran and world powers led by the US agreed to a landmark nuclear deal to limit the Islamic Republic’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. While heralded by moderates in Iran, hard-liners have criticized the deal.
In the time since, Iran has conducted missile tests criticized by the US, as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base. Iran also sank a replica of a US aircraft carrier in February near the strait. It seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and later released it in May after earlier surrounding US-flagged cargo ship transiting the strait

Dearth of talent hampers Modi's plan to revamp cabinet

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NEW DELHI: After a drubbing in a state poll in November, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to overhaul his cabinet to weed out underperformers and improve his government’s image. Problem is, several sources said, he can’t find the right replacements.
As New Delhi buzzes with speculation about changes in several ministries, senior members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a close aide to Modi said some changes could come early next year but the talent pool was too shallow to engineer a major revamp.
Pressure is mounting on Modi to revive his party’s fortunes. Nearly two years after he swept to power on a promise of jobs and growth, the shine is coming off — reforms to revive investment have withered and the economy is stuttering. Rural distress has grown after two successive droughts.
“The challenge is to identify the right candidates who can deliver fast-paced reforms and policies in their work sphere,” the prime minister’s aide said.
Articulate and suave, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been considered for the defense portfolio, another high-profile role that is crucial to Modi’s geopolitical ambitions and plans to boost Indian industry. But there was no one to take Jaitley’s place in finance, the sources said.
A spokesman for Modi declined to comment.
An official in Jaitley’s office said they didn’t have any knowledge of a possible reshuffle.
Modi tends to keep such decisions close to his chest, and the sources said the final decision lay with the prime minister. They added that he has yet to make up his mind on the changes, and that nothing has been confirmed.
Another close aide to the prime minister dismissed talk of a reshuffle as speculation, saying it had no basis.

Dearth of talent
The problem with the government’s search for talent is that Modi’s Hindu nationalist administration is loath to tap people who are associated with other ideologies, such as liberals or the left.
At the same time, the right-wing intelligentsia has not developed after decades of rule by the centrist Congress party, under which liberal institutions flourished.
“Compared to the Congress, we have a smaller talent pool and less exposure, but it’s only a matter of time that we expand our base,” BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said.
He said Modi has “embarked on the process of fine-tuning the government machinery and also send a concrete signal that inefficiency will be checked.”
BJP’s defeat in Bihar state polls earlier this year led to calls from within the party and the Hindu group that is its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to remove ministers and party officials who failed to deliver.
Although a general election is not due until 2019, the government’s fortunes will depend on upcoming provincial polls, including an election in bellwether Uttar Pradesh state in 2017.
Top RSS and BJP leaders are expected to meet in New Delhi in the second week of January, where these issues are likely to be discussed.
A revamp is also expected to send the message that Modi will not tolerate remarks by ministers that fan intolerance against India’s non-Hindu minorities.
Junior ministers Giriraj Singh and Niranjan Jyoti could be removed after they made public remarks construed as anti-minority, the sources said. Singh’s and Jyoti’s offices said they have no information about Modi’s reshuffle plans.
Some ministers are also looking for a change. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked to be moved to a portfolio with a more domestic focus, the sources said.
Swaraj’s office said they will not comment about her plans.
Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari was offered additional charge of the agriculture ministry, but he declined saying he already had too big a job, the sources said.
A source in Gadkari’s office declined to comment, calling it a “hypothetical question.”
Modi is looking to the RSS and may go further afield in southern and northeastern states to find new, lesser-known faces to bring to his government, his aide said. That would also give his cabinet a more pan-India feel, the aide said. 
(Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj in New Delhi)

Low-income groups won’t be hit by new power tariff 

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RIYADH: People with limited incomes will not have to pay extra charges for water and electricity as they have not been included in the new amendments in this regard, Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen has clarified.
“The new tariffs are aimed at those segments of society who extensively consume water and electricity,” the minister was quoted as saying by local media on Tuesday.
The amendments in this regard were approved by the Saudi Cabinet recently.
“For example, 250 liters of water consumption per day will cost SR92 per month with the new tariff, and this is reasonable. We sincerely hope that with the new prices, people will start conserving water,” he said.
The minister urged the citizens to start making behavioral adjustments such as checking if there are leakage problems and start rationalyzing the volume of consumption.
The minister said an awareness campaign on rationalyzing the consumption of water and electricity, and on the installation of equipment to rationalize the use of water and how to reduce electricity consumption will be launched before the actual enforcement of the adjusted tariff next month.
Al-Hussayen said: “About 87 percent of the water and electricity bills issued this year will not be affected by the new price; only 13 percent of the total will feel the change.” 
He asserted that low and medium incomes will not be affected by the rise in costs as 52 percent of households will not pay more than one riyal a day for water consumptions, or SR30 a month.
Commenting on the fee increase, he said that 90 percent of households will pay an additional of not more than SR5 a month. “It is a known fact that Saudi Arabia ranks third worldwide in terms of water consumption,” he said.
He said: “As Muslims, we are commanded by our religion and our Holy Qur’an and Hadith to rationalize in all expenses; otherwise, how could we work hard and ask God to grant us with his blessings and waste it uselessly?”

50,000 workers hurt at work in 9 months 

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RIYADH: As many as 50,000 workers, including 300 Saudis, have sustained work-related injuries in the past nine months this year, a recent report issued by the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has stated.
The report said non-Saudis represent 95 percent of the total injuries. The injuries were not confined to males only, as 533 or 0.299 of them are women.
GOSI said that the total compensation paid by the foundation since 1974 until last year, was SR114 billion, of which a large amount went to the Eastern regions (by 44.8 percent), while damages amounted to SR53.5 billion.
Meanwhile, local and international reports reveal that Saudi women now comprise 400,000 of the workforce in Saudi Arabia.
Referring to on-the-job injuries, a source at the Research and Studies Department at GOSI said that they occurred during the first nine months of 2015. The construction industry accounted for over 17 percent of the injuries, followed by trade activity (9,690) and manufacturing (7,420).
Among the other sectors, 301 injuries occurred in the field of agriculture and fishing. Referring to the statistics, the source said that most of these injuries happened in the Makkah region (20,877 cases), followed by the Eastern region (12,768 cases), while the Riyadh region reported 11,986 injuries.
The lowest rate was reported from the Northern Border with 25 cases, the report said.
The report shows most of those injured are aged between 25 and 29. They form the highest rate who suffered from the risk of work-related injuries (12,467 cases) cases followed those in 30 and 34 years category (10,789), while 7,179 were between 35 and 39. The report also revealed that 80 of the injured workers are aged 15 to 19 during in the same period.
The number of work-related injuries during the past 10 years stood at 803,000 cases involving professions ranging from business managers and technicians to technical and engineering professions among others, the report added.

Bahraini pilot survives jet crash in Jazan

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RIYADH: A Bahraini pilot who was flying for the Arab coalition battling Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen has survived a plane crash caused by a technical failure, the Saudi military said.
A military statement carried by Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the F-16 jet crashed on Wednesday in the Saudi region of Jazan.
The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government has been battling the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, since March. The United Nations says the civil war in the Arab world’s poorest country has killed more than 5,800 people since then.
Bahrain announced Tuesday that three of its soldiers were killed and others were wounded along Saudi Arabia’s southern border, without elaborating. Cross-border fire from the conflict has killed soldiers and civilians there in the past.