Lebanon: Black box of Ethiopian jet located

February 6, 2010

Beirut: Search crews have located the black box under parts of the tail of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last month, Lebanon's transportation minister said on Saturday.

The Boeing 737 crashed January 25 minutes after takeoff from Beirut in a fierce thunderstorm. All 90 people on board died.

Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said the black box has been located at a depth of 150 feet (45 metres) off the coastal village of Naameh just south of Beirut airport.

"Its location has been determined and efforts are under way to find the best means to retrieve it," he told The Associated Press.

Aridi said earlier that "significant parts" of the back end of plane had been found on Saturday. He said Lebanese army divers and search teams were photographing the segments before their retrieval.

The black box is usually located in the rear of a plane, the area most likely to survive a crash intact.

Aridi cautioned, however, that retrieving the black box and flight data recorder, which are critical to determining the cause of the crash, was a "very complicated" and delicate operation that needs time.

Fifteen bodies have been recovered from the sea since the crash. No new bodies were found on Saturday.

Search efforts were suspended earlier this week because of a storm and resumed in earnest on Friday.

Meanwhile, at Beirut's government hospital on Saturday, health officials handed over to relatives the remains of one of the victims, 3-year-old Mohammad Kreik.

His family had earlier refused to take Kreik's body for burial until the body of his father, who was also on the plane, was found.

Kreik was to be buried later on Saturday in his south Lebanon hometown of Aita Al Shaab.

UAE Unveils 2021 National Charter

6 February 2010,

Abu Dhabi - The Cabinet has approved a historic National Charter that aims to transform the UAE into “one of the best countries in the world by 2021”, when the country will be celebrating the golden jubilee anniversary of the formation of the Union.

The UAE National Historic Charter for year 2021 was announced on Saturday after the conclusion of the marathon Cabinet sessions held at Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort, according to a report released by the official news agency Wam.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who gave out the details of the charter also made it clear that there would be no Cabinet reshuffle at the moment, as “the performances of ministers determine that.”

The National Charter contains four important components.

Shaikh Mohammed declared that the charter was aimed at making a land of ambitious and confident people, who stick to their heritage, and ensure that the UAE remains a strong union with common destiny.

One important component of the charter will be to usher in a competitive economy led by UAE nationals characterised with innovation and knowledge. The charter also sets the goal of ensuring a high quality of life endowed with sustainable environment in the UAE.

Specifying the details of the four important components of the charter, Shaikh Mohammed said the first component referred to “the UAE nationals with ambition and high sense of responsibility, who are capable of drawing future with confidence and participate effectively in a sustainable socio-economic environment based on stability, solidarity, moderate Islamic values and original national heritage.”

On strong union, he said “it is a strong union with a common destiny that protects Emiratis and advocates balanced development to make the UAE an effective power”.

The  National Charter’s economic vision envisages development of a knowledge-based economy that will be diverse and flexible. It will be led by skilled professional Emiratis.

The other major component of the National Charter talks about “prosperous UAE nationals who enjoy a long life, good health, quality education and other distinguished services provided by the government”, the Wam report said quoting Shaikh Mohammed.

Pointing out that the charter embodies UAE’s future vision until 2021, Shaikh Mohammed said “The union proceeds in the footsteps of the founding fathers in the light of their strong determination and extrapolation. The UAE nationals are now reaping the fruits of our speedy economic growth.”

The Vice President who announced the charter in the presence of Lt. General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Affairs Minister, warned that  “an ambitious nation cannot rely on the past or current achievements, but looks forward to scoring more achievements through striving hard and vigilance to overcome challenges.”

Hamas backtracks on missile apology

(AP) 6 February 2010,

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Hamas government in Gaza distanced itself Saturday from a statement it made earlier this week in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks.

The zigzag reflects the Islamic militants’ conflicting objectives.

Hamas, which seized Gaza by force in 2007, is trying to reach out to the West in hopes of winning recognition and getting Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza. However, Hamas is also reluctant to discard its violent ideology for fear of losing credibility at home.

The apology for the rockets was part of the Hamas government’s response to a U.N. report that alleged both Hamas and Israel committed war crimes during Israel’s three-week Gaza offensive last winter.

The U.N. investigators, headed by jurist Richard Goldstone, accused Hamas of firing rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians. The U.N. report also said Israel used disproportionate force and deliberately targeted civilians. Some 1,400 Gazans were killed, among them hundreds of civilians, as well as 13 Israelis.

During the war, Gaza militants fired some 800 rockets and mortar shells into Israel, killing three Israeli civilians and wounding about 80. The attacks forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis to seek protection in bomb shelters.

Hamas wrote to the U.N. that its primitive rockets were not intended to hit civilians, but often strayed from their course. Hamas said the rockets were meant to defend Gazans against Israeli military strikes, but also maintained that the Palestinians have a right to resist Israeli occupation.

“We apologize for any harm that might have come to Israeli civilians,” the Hamas government wrote.

On Saturday, the government claimed the response to the U.N. was misinterpreted.

“The report that was submitted regarding the Goldstone report does not include any apologies and what took place was an incorrect interpretation of some of its wording,” the government said in a statement.

The government did not attempt to explain the contradiction and Hamas officials declined comment.

Hamas likely came under domestic pressure after news of the apology became public, said Gaza analyst Naji Sharrab. “They are addressing two different audiences,” Sharrab said of Hamas.

Hamas militants have maintained an informal truce with Israel since the war ended in January 2009, but smaller Palestinian groups continue to sporadically fire salvos.

Israel rejected Hamas’ initial apology. Human rights researchers said most of the rockets fired from Gaza hit civilian areas in Israel, suggesting Hamas deliberately targeted civilians.

Hamas and Israel handed over their reports to the U.N. last week, after the U.N. General Assembly urged both sides in November to investigate their actions during the Gaza war.

Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the war crimes allegations.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refused to pass judgment on the reports, saying “no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned.”

The U.N. chief was criticized by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, which said he sidestepped his responsibility by avoiding judgment.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza said neither Israel nor Hamas made a sufficient effort to investigate the allegations. The group said the U.N. Security Council should now refer the matter to the international criminal court.

Arab Realty Conference Begins Today in Oman

7 February 2010

MUSCAT — The first ever pan-Arab real estate investment conference which begins here today will discuss about future opportunities for Arab and international businessmen in the region, post the global economic crisis.

The three-day conference under the theme ‘Investment and Security in the Sultanate of Oman’ is being organised by the Arab Union for Real Estate Development in the sultanate in collaboration and co-ordination with the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).

An important aim of this conference is to prepare the Arab Unified Investment Manual to advise investors about the facilities and guarantees provided to them in the Arab World.

The conference will explore new horizons for business and investments; Arab-international partnerships in the Arab world and the Sultanate and the need for developing and designing real estate projects that meet the needs of the citizens and expatriates in the Arab world and promoting investment activity. The conference will also discuss a number of topics, such as, encouraging investment in the sultanate under the theme “investment and security in the Sultanate of Oman and business opportunities available in Sudan, Egypt 
and Iraq.

The conference attracts speakers from the Sultanate, other GCC and Arab countries as well as experts and specialists from economic and financial institutions. On the sidelines of the conference, there will be an exhibition in which banks, companies and real estate developers from the Arab region, Europe, India, Pakistan, Turkey, China and other countries will take part.

The conference will also deliberate on the role of the Arab league in eliminating obstacles before Arab investors and the possibility of building an Arab-International economic bloc in the Arab world.

Mohammed Al Zubair, advisor, Economic Planning Affairs, to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said will preside over the conference.

Kuwait will not be used to launch attacks on any country, says Speaker

February 5, 2010

Manama: Kuwait's National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al Khorafi said that Kuwait would not allow the use of its territories to launch attacks on other countries, Kuwaiti media reported on Friday.

“I have not been informed or even heard of this request,” Al Khorafi answered when asked about Western reports claiming that the US has requested Kuwait that it would use its territories as launch pad to attack other countries.

However, Al Khorafi said that US anti-missile Patriot batteries have been stationed in Kuwait since the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and are there for purely defensive purposes.

A Kuwait test of the batteries one month ago was “part of the regular and normal procedures, not due to the latest developments in the region,” US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah K. Jones reportedly told the Kuwaiti daily Arab Times.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Kuwait, as well as a cooperation defense agreement that goes back to around 20 years. It is only natural that we regularly discuss our defensive systems as a whole,” Jones said.

“There are no emergencies behind the exercises we conducted about a month ago on the Patriot batteries that are here in Kuwait and which Kuwait is operating effectively,” Jones said.

In Washington, Bahrain's foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa defended his country's right to protect itself and insisted that Iran should not see the missile shield deployment as a measure to attack any country.

During a press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, Shaikh Khalid on Wednesday said that the protections measures have been in place for decades, but are now being improved, without seeking to threaten anyone.