Dubai, October 22: The Ministry of Environment and Water is working on the specifications of the biodegradable mixture to be used in manufacturing alternative plastic bags, according to a top official.
“The final specifics of the additives to be used in the new plastic mixture are expected to be laid down in 2010,” Dr Mariam Al Shenasi, Executive Director for Technical Affairs at the ministry, told Khaleej Times.
Dubai, October 22: The ‘Clean-up the World 2009’ initiative of the Dubai Municipality will take place next week to help reduce waste and raise public awareness, said a top municipal official.
Hassan Mohammed Makki, Director of the Waste Management Department at the municipality, said 22,000 volunteers will take part in a four-day clean-up campaign forming Dubai’s largest voluntary environmental initiative.
Abu Dhabi, October 22: His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the new website of the Federal National Council on Wednesday.
New York, October 22: The UAE has urged the United Nations to act upon the Goldstone Report on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and refer it to the International Criminal Court, reports Wam.
Expressing “total condemnation” of the crimes the report documents, Nasser Tahnoun Al Naqabi, member of the UAE delegation to the 64th session of the UN, called for the Israeli blockade of Gaza to be lifted.
He drew special attention, while addressing the Legal-Sixth Committee of the 64th session, to the report’s recommendation that the matter be referred to the international court.
Sharjah, October 22: The Sharjah Civil Defence said the six-member crew of the ageing Boeing 707 aircraft had died. Officials said their charred bodies were recovered.
This is the second mishap involving a Sudanese aircraft on the Sharjah-Khartoum route. Sudanese government officials told Khaleej Times on phone the Sudanese air fleet was outdated and US sanctions on the country made spare parts scarce.
Nairobi, October 22: The long day is boring in the heavily Somali-populated Easleigh settlement in the Kenya’s capital Nairobi, with women and youth sitting idle twiddling their fingers.
As Mohamed Hersi waits under an old verandah, he was once again reminiscing about his troubled home country Somalia and his desire to find a better life elsewhere.
“We believe we are a lost generation that is why we want to go out of this place,” Hersi (not his real name).
The spindly 22-year-old has been yearning to get respite from the daily trouble in his home country.
Cairo, October 22: Security guards thwarted an attempted hijacking Wednesday on an EgyptAir flight from Istanbul to Cairo by overpowering a man who threatened crew with a knife, a security official for the airline said.
A Sudanese man used a knife from the in-flight meal to threaten crew members and demanded that the flight be diverted to Jerusalem, the official said. Guards on the flight were able to detain the man and no one was hurt, he said.
The flight landed safely at Cairo airport, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not an official spokesman.
Kabul, October 22: Afghan authorities plan to close thousands of polling stations and hire new poll workers to discourage the fraud that tarnished the August presidential election and forced a runoff set for Nov. 7, U.N. officials said.
Parachinar, October 22: Soldiers fought for control of the Pakistani Taliban chief’s hometown as they pressed an offensive along the Afghan border, while intelligence officials said U.S. missiles hit territory controlled by another insurgent, threatening to undermine deals that keep some militants out of the battle.
Washington, October 22: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Wednesday of dire consequences from the spread of nuclear weapons, while a special U.S. panel asserted that the more worrisome and urgent threat is an attack on the United States or its allies by terrorists with biological weapons.
Washington, October 22: US Airways has agreed to compensate six imams it kicked off a domestic flight in 2006, a decision welcomed by a leading Muslim advocacy group as a “victory for justice” in one of the most infamous cases of what some call “flying while a Muslim”.
“A tentative settlement has been reached at last,” Ibrahim Hooper, the National Spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told IslamOnline.net on Wednesday, October 21.
Seoul, October 22: Multiple fires were raging in the northeast of North Korea recently, with a plume of smoke extending far out over the ocean, according to satellite photos seen Thursday.
Official media in the communist state has made no mention of the apparently massive wildfires.
The true-colour image captured by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Aqua satellite on October 15 showed the northeast skies covered by great plumes of smoke extending over the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
Washington, October 22: Authorities in American Samoa have raised the death toll from the tsunami late last month by two to 34, officials said Wednesday.
A 12-year-old girl and six-year-old boy previously classified as missing have been added to the toll, Homeland Security spokeswoman Betty Ah Soon said.
Although their bodies have not been found there is not now considered any hope of them having survived and their families have held memorials for them.
Panama, October 22: A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Panama’s Pacific coast on Wednesday with no victims or damage reported, the National Civil Protection System said.
The temblor struck at 8:03pm (0103 GMT), 194 kilometers (120 miles) south of the western city of David, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
It was felt in the Chiriqui, Bocas del Toro and Veragua provinces, said system director Arturo Alvarado.
The US Geological Survey also measured the earthquake at 6.1 magnitude and said it struck 410 kilometers (255 miles) southwest of Panama City.
Bratislava, October 22: NATO defense ministers will meet here Thursday to discuss the war in Afghanistan and the growing support for President Barack Obama’s plans for a new missile defense system in Europe.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the informal two-day meeting of defense ministers from the 28 NATO member countries will focus mainly on the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan. A runoff presidential election is set there for Nov. 7, and Obama is considering whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency has been making strides.
Washington, October 22: The United States will never have “normal, sanctions-free relations” with a nuclear-armed North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Wednesday as she demanded its full atomic disarmament.
In a speech about the US quest for a nuclear-free world, Clinton tackled suspicions that North Korea intends only to use negotiations with the United States and other powers to become a recognized atomic weapons state.
Hyderabad, October 22: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao Wednesday warned of a “civil war” if the government failed to stop implementation of Supreme Court order declaring Hyderabad a free zone for the matter of recruitment to police department.
The Supreme Court last week had delivered a judgment declaring Hyderabad a free zone in police recruitment, meaning that people of Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema regions can also be recruited in Hyderabad.
Mumbai, October 22: Counting of votes began Thursday morning at 267 centres across Maharashtra to elect a new 288-member assembly, officials said.
A total of 3,559 candidates, including 211 women, contested the Oct 13 elections. The first results are expected before noon, an official of the state election department said.
Some 40,000 police personnel provided security for the vote count at 36 centres in Mumbai.
Congress inching ahead in Maharashtra
October 22: When the team of Karthik Calling Karthik told Deepika Padukone that she needs to smoke for her role in the film, the actress was afraid of getting addicted to cigarettes. But thanks to Ritesh Sidhwani’s thinking, they shot for the scenes with organic cigarettes and the parts were done.
In the film, Deepika plays a modern girl who is a smoker and how Farhan gets her to leave smoking. Because Ritesh ordered nicotine-free cigarettes, the portions were shot properly. Since her character gives up smoking, the film carries a good message and won’t be promoting it.
–Agencies–
Islamabad, October 22: Gunmen shot and killed a Pakistani army brigadier and his driver in the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday as the military continued an offensive against Taliban targets, police said.
Rescurers search the site of the Sudanese cargo plane crash. —KT photo by M. Sajjad
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Baghdad, October 22: At least 10 people were killed and 28 injured in fresh violence across Iraq Wednesday, police told DPA.
In the contested, northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb killed journalist Orhan Hajran and injured television journalist Mohammed Abdallah as they returned to their house in the city, police said.
The attack came as lawmakers postponed until Sunday further debate on the country’s electoral law over a dispute on voter registration in the city.
Dhaka, October 22: A ruling party lawmaker escaped unhurt from a terrorist attack, which left at least 13 people injured in Bangladesh’s capital Wednesday, police said.
Unidentified attackers threw a powerful bomb just behind the car of Fazle Noor Taposh, an MP of the ruling Awami League party and one of the close relatives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, as he left his private office for the evening.
Mumbai, October 22: Comedy Circus is a pioneer in the unique reality-based comedy format with celebrities performing with professional stand-up comedian partners on a highly competitive stage. Television actors, who became household names for their highly emotional roles- perfect bahu, doting beta and some for their negative roles- simply shocked viewers with their hidden talent for comedy.
Washington, October 22: Viewing the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal as part of a broader strategic dialogue with New Delhi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the US wants India to be a “major player” in working out a new non-proliferation regime.
“The nuclear accord that I supported as a Senator, and the Obama administration supports it as a government, is embedded in a broader strategic dialogue with Indians,” she said in an address on non-proliferation issues at the US Institute of Peace think tank Wednesday.
Mumbai, October 22: Counting of votes began Thursday morning at 267 centres across Maharashtra to elect a new 288-member assembly, officials said.
A total of 3,559 candidates, including 211 women, contested the Oct 13 elections. The first results are expected before noon, an official of the state election department said.
Some 40,000 police personnel provided security for the vote count at 36 centres in Mumbai.
–IANS–