shameen Khartoum, September 07: A failure to provide full oil production figures in Sudan threatens a fragile north-south peace deal, the advocacy and investigative group Global Witness warned in a report on Monday.
The London-based organisation said there were “serious questions” about the fair sharing of oil revenues — since oil is drilled in the south but controlled and sold only by former civil war enemies in the north.
Abu Dhabi, September 07: Authorities have broken up a crime ring accused of circulating fraudulent Dh1 million currency notes, the UAE Central Bank said on Sunday.
Dubai, September 07: An H1N1 patient in Dubai who has completely recovered says the message of “precaution not panic” should be spread among the public.
Sathya (name changed on request), works with a television company in Dubai Media City and was treated for H1N1 in August. Though he had worked for a few hours after the infection started, none of his colleagues, including his roommates, contracted the virus.
Dubai, September 07: The Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) has become one of the most important Quran Awards across the world, according to Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, Deputy Commander-in-chief of the Dubai Police.
“The Dubai Police is one of the main departments sponsoring the activities of the DIHQA from its early sessions,” Al Mazina said. “The award pays attention to all memorisers of the Holy Quran all over the world. It also honours an Islamic personality every year, let alone other Quran institutions,” he added.
Dubai, September 07: To believe in God and do good deeds are man’s highway to peace of mind, according to a renowned Keralite scholar.
Dubai, September 07: Emaar Properties is celebrating the Holy Month of Ramadan this year with community Iftars in its tents, being held for the third year in a row.
Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, UAE, Emaar Properties, said that nearly 60,000 meals are likely to be served this year to a cross-section of people including office-goers, workers. General public is expected to participate in the Iftars held daily.
Abu Dhabi, September 07: Looking to strengthen the national identity and sentiments towards the nation and its leadership, the Minister of Education Humaid Al Qattami, issued a circular last Tuesday that all government and private schools must raise the UAE flag and play the national anthem during the daily morning assembly or before the start of the school day.
Ajman, September 07: Ajman Municipality warned LPG cylinder distribution companies against exploiting the rise in demand for fuel during the holy month of Ramadan by increasing the selling price of the gas cylinders, following a large number of complaints from public.
Mohamed Ali Al Marzouki, Director of the License Department at Ajman Municipality and Planning Directorate, said the errant companies will have to pay a hefty fine of Dh100,000 if found violating the price fixed by the municipality,
Abu Dhabi, September 07: The UAE will spare no effort to offer adequate support and assistance needed to make the mission of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) a success after the selection of Abu Dhabi as home to the world organisation, the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, affirmed on Sunday.
The President pledged to support IRENA’s future strategy, mission and plans.
London, September 07: British government has released a man it considers a top dangerous terrorist suspect from virtual house arrest, possibly to avoid disclosing secret evidence against him, a report said on Monday.
The unnamed man has been closely monitored and his movements severely restricted since 2006 because of his alleged links with Islamic terrorists, although he has never been charged, the Times said.
Cape Canaveral, September 07: The astronauts aboard the linked space shuttle and space station are nearly finished packing up a moving van for return to Earth in a few days.
The Italian-built van — essentially a giant cylinder — flew up aboard Discovery with seven tons of space station supplies and equipment. It will come back filled with a ton of trash, surplus gear and completed science experiments.
The astronauts will place the van back aboard Discovery on Monday night, just in time for Tuesday’s shuttle undocking.
Washington, September 07: The United States expanded its role as the world’s leading weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals, The New York Times reported late on Sunday.
Citing a new congressional study, the newspaper said the United States signed weapons agreements valued at 37.8 billion dollars last year, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global arms bazaar.
The figure marked a significant increase from US arms sales of 25.4 billion dollars the year before, the paper noted.
Kinshasa, September 07: African leaders will step up calls on Monday for an end to Western sanctions against Zimbabwe and urge South Africa to plead Harare’s cause within the Group of 20 rich and developing nations, officials said.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries would also press Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to end a row over a power-sharing pact that was holding up vital foreign aid, said the officials.
Tokyo, September 07: Top executives of Japan’s new ruling party were expected to sign off on their leader’s choices for key cabinet posts on Monday, a week after the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in a national election.
Japanese media have reported that Hirohisa Fujii, 77, would probably be chosen to return as finance minister in Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet — a role he held briefly in the early 1990s.
Seoul, September 07: South Korea protested to North Korea on Monday after its neighbour’s unannounced dam discharge created a flash flood that swept away six people south of the border.
Floodwater hit five campers and a fishermen early Sunday after the North released water into the Imjin River that crosses the frontier, briefly swelling it to twice its normal depth.
Jerusalem, September 06: Sweden’s Foreign Minister has abruptly cancelled a visit to Israel this week, an Israeli spokesman said on Sunday, amid a spat over a Swedish newspaper article that has escalated into a full-blown diplomatic feud between the two countries.
Washington, September 06: Former US president Jimmy Carter said on Sunday Palestinian leaders were “seriously considering” a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following a visit to the Middle East.
“A majority of the Palestinian leaders with whom we met are seriously considering acceptance of one state, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,” Carter wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post.
Caracas, September 06: In a sign of rising internal tensions, Venezuelan government and opposition supporters have taken to the streets of Caracas following worldwide protests against leftist President Hugo Chavez.
Leaders of the so-called ‘Democratic Alternative’, a coalition of opposition groups, headed a large demonstration on Saturday against a new education law approved last month.
Opponents say the law contains provisions intended to indoctrinate students and convert them into supporters of Chavez policies.
Seoul, September 06: The United States said on Sunday it would hold direct talks with North Korea but only in the context of the existing six-party framework, in response to Pyongyang’s renewed nuclear sabre-rattling.
US special representative on North Korea Stephen Bosworth has been in Seoul since Friday for talks with South Korean officials to discuss ways to press Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table.
Jerusalem, September 06: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon authorise hundreds of new homes to be built in the occupied West Bank despite US calls for a settlement freeze, a senior minister said on Sunday.
“The Prime Minister will announce in the coming days the construction of several hundred additional homes and public buildings,” Transport Minister Yisrael Katz, a close ally of the hawkish Premier, told public radio.
Netanyahu plans to authorise between 400 and 600 housing units, according to Israeli media.
Melbourne, September 06: Two Indian students have been charged for allegedly sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl as she slept on a train from Melbourne.
Sukhjinder Singh, 22, and Amarjit Singh, 28, are accused of attacking the girl in her seat as the train travelled through southern New South Wales, police said adding that the two have been refused bail.
The girl woke up as the men began to restrain her about 3 am on Wednesday on the Melbourne to Sydney train.
Jalandhar, September 06: Punjab Frontier of Border Security Force (BSF) is all set to deploy women constables at the highly sensitive Indo-Pak Border, as first batch of the Battalion would be deployed within a week.
“First batch of 178 women constables was recently passed out and accordingly an initial training was imparted to them and within a week they will be deployed on Indo-Pak border”, Himmat Singh, Inspector General (IG) of BSF told reporters in Jalandhar.
Islamabad, September 06: The Indian government has allowed expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh to visit Pakistan on September 26 to promote his book “Jinnah: India, Partition and Independence”, a media report said.
He will arrive in Karachi on September 26, before heading to the Pakistani capital the next day to attend a launching ceremony of the book at the Islamabad Press Club.
The former Indian external affairs minister was expelled from the BJP for praising Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah in his book “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence”.
Sydney, September 06: A body representing Indian students on Sunday called on the Australian government to take steps for the welfare of students stranded by closed private colleges and stop any kind of violence against them.
The Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) said that Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard should immediately stop “the spin on the state of affairs” within her portfolio of Education
as it was causing great despair to a large number of foreign students.
The organisation claimed Australian Council of Private Education and Training
New Delhi, September 06: The Supreme Court has held that higher courts can monitor the progress of investigation in criminal cases if it is found that influential persons are trying to impact the course of justice.
A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph rejected the argument of some accused persons in a criminal case that courts have no power to monitor investigations as it amounted to usurping the role of the investigating agencies.