The Arab News (click here)
By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief
June 12, 2014
Jubail: Sultan al Sughair
Riyad: Arab News
Friday, June 13, 2014
June 12, 2014
Al Ain: Tropical Cyclone 02A (Nanauk) (click here) on Thursday changed its predicted course slightly towards the north, baffling forecasters about its track and intensity.
The cyclone, initially expected to make landfall in Oman between Ras Al Hadd and Ras Madrakah, has appeared to be tilted towards the Al Ashkharah, north of Masirah Island, and even further north towards the Ras Al Jinz in the north-east of the country, according to the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC)....
Jubail: Sultan al Sughair
The Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) (click here) announced on Thursday that another network has gone down, this time disrupting mobile and landline services in the Eastern Province. This follows on the heels of a fire at a facility in Khamis Mushayt on Sunday, which disrupted services in large parts of the Asir region, on the country's southwest coast. The company said its technicians in the Eastern Province had cut a double fiber optic cable that saw all mobile and landline services interrupted. Work is under way to restore services in the affected areas, it said....
Friday, June 13, 2014
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) (click here) has freed a woman from a person who had blackmailed her for 20 years.
Turki Al-Shulail, the spokesman of the Haia, said the agency solved the case in one week. He said the 30-year-old woman had been blackmailed from the time she was a child.
The situation had even prevented her from getting married because she was afraid the blackmailer would contact her husband, said Al-Shulail.
Al-Shulail said the Haia is taking measures to ensure people are protected from blackmailers. There has recently been an increase in cases involving men and women abusing each other. There have also been cases of women abusing their female friends, and men abusing men, he said. He said the law must be enforced, regardless of gender or age. He did not reveal any statistics about the extent of blackmail cases, but said all complaints are investigated before being passed on to branches for action....
Reuters
June 13, 2014
SAO PAULO: Brazilian police (click here) and protesters clashed on Thursday before the opening game of the World Cup and five people were injured although the country finally burst into life with flag-waving fans flooding into bars and street parties.
The tournament has been largely overshadowed so far by construction delays and months of political unrest with many Brazilians furious over $11 billion being spent to host the Cup in a country where hospitals and schools are often poor.
Throughout much of Brazil, though, the dour mood began to turn festive on Thursday. Thousands of local and foreign fans sang and danced in front of giant TV screens set up in downtown Sao Paulo ahead of the opener between Brazil and Croatia.
Crowds of Croatian fans were drinking beer by mid-morning and streets in the bohemian neighborhood of Vila Madalena were so packed with fans that it was hard to move....
The Jordan Times (click here)
Turki Al-Shulail, the spokesman of the Haia, said the agency solved the case in one week. He said the 30-year-old woman had been blackmailed from the time she was a child.
The situation had even prevented her from getting married because she was afraid the blackmailer would contact her husband, said Al-Shulail.
Al-Shulail said the Haia is taking measures to ensure people are protected from blackmailers. There has recently been an increase in cases involving men and women abusing each other. There have also been cases of women abusing their female friends, and men abusing men, he said. He said the law must be enforced, regardless of gender or age. He did not reveal any statistics about the extent of blackmail cases, but said all complaints are investigated before being passed on to branches for action....
June 13, 2014
SAO PAULO: Brazilian police (click here) and protesters clashed on Thursday before the opening game of the World Cup and five people were injured although the country finally burst into life with flag-waving fans flooding into bars and street parties.
The tournament has been largely overshadowed so far by construction delays and months of political unrest with many Brazilians furious over $11 billion being spent to host the Cup in a country where hospitals and schools are often poor.
Throughout much of Brazil, though, the dour mood began to turn festive on Thursday. Thousands of local and foreign fans sang and danced in front of giant TV screens set up in downtown Sao Paulo ahead of the opener between Brazil and Croatia.
Crowds of Croatian fans were drinking beer by mid-morning and streets in the bohemian neighborhood of Vila Madalena were so packed with fans that it was hard to move....
The Jordan Times (click here)
by JT | Jun 12, 2014 | 23:20
AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein (click here) has directed the concerned agencies to install large flat-screen TVs at all of the Kingdom’s youth centres to enable young people across the country to watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup matches, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Higher Youth Council President Sami Majali commended the Crown Prince’s gesture and his support for young Jordanians.
The World Cup, which kicked off on Thursday in Brazil and concludes on July 13, has its own special flavour for football fans in Jordan, bringing together people to watch matches and enjoy their atmosphere.
With the subscriptions unaffordable for many Jordanians, avid football fans were planning to watch their favourite team’s games at cafés and restaurants.
beIN Sports, formerly known as Al Jazeera Sports, has the exclusive right to broadcast the matches in the Middle East....
by Mohammad Ghazal | Jun 12, 2014
AMMAN — The government on Thursday (click here) said it will sign an agreement this month for the construction of the country’s first oil shale-fuelled power plant after agreeing with Enefit on the final details of the $2.1 billion project.
Jordan and the joint Estonian-Malaysian consortium agreed that the price per kilowatt hour that the government will buy from the plant will be levelised, ranging from a minimum of 78 fils per kilowatt hour to a maximum of 99 fils per kilowatt hour, Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed told The Jordan Times in an interview on Thursday.
Reaching a final agreement on the price paves the way for going ahead with the project after the consortium threatened in early May to abandon the project if no final agreement is sealed with the government by mid-June.
“The draft of the final agreement is now complete and was sent to the Cabinet for endorsement,” Hamed said, adding that the two sides will sign the power purchase agreement after the Council of Ministers approves the deal.
The agreement will be for 30 years, with the option of being extended to 40 years, according to the minister, who noted that the plant will have a 470-megawatt capacity....
by Gaelle Sundelin | Jun 12, 2014 | 23:21
AMMAN — Jordan has great potential to develop its film industry (click here) in spite of the obstacles, Institut Français Director Charles-Henri Gros said ahead of Saturday’s opening of the 20th Franco-Arab Film Festival in Amman.
Although US blockbusters are still the predominant box office champions in the country, Gros told The Jordan Times on Thursday that an increasing number of foreign films were shot in the Kingdom, attracted by its many natural settings and carrying great potential for local talents.
“There are thousands of jobs connected to the cinema industry and it is important for young Jordanians to take this opportunity and show international productions that they can rely on local staff,” he added.
Although Jordanian cinema has a promising future, a survey led by the institute in October 2013 found that despite the growing audience attending the Franco-Arab Film Festival, attitudes towards cultural activities — especially cinema — remained timid, with less than half the respondents seeing a career in the field as being “respectable”.
Only one in 10 respondents said they would be willing to let their children engage in activities related to the film industry although 80 per cent of the entire survey sample said they believe that artistic activities are an asset for Jordan, a result that consolidated the Institut Français’ belief in its mission to promote film culture, according to Gros....
Reuters | Jun 12, 2014
Hours after ethnic Kurdish forces (click here) took advantage of the chaos to take control of the oil hub of Kirkuk as the forces of the Shiite-led government abandoned their posts, Obama was asked if he might order drone strikes or other action to halt the insurgency that has seized much of northern Iraq this week.
“I don’t rule anything out,” he told reporters, saying he was looking at all options to help the elected leaders who took full control of Iraq when the US occupation ended in 2011.
He added that the United States had an interest in denying a foothold to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and that Washington was prepared to take military action when its national security interests are threatened.
Vice President Joe Biden spoke to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki by telephone. The White House signalled on Wednesday that it was looking to strengthen Iraqi forces rather than meet what one US official said were past Iraqi requests for air strikes.
With voters wary of renewing costly military entanglements of the past decade, Obama already last year stepped back (Congress ruled out air strikes and at the time Senator McCain had no idea who he was proposing to arm.) from launching air strikes in Syria, where ISIL is also active. Fears of violence spreading may increase pressure for international action, however. The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said international powers “must deal with the situation”
In Mosul, Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant staged a parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from a collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since ISIL fighters drove out of the desert and overran the northern metropolis....
So far the only people owning any of this mess is the Neocon Press.
The Gulf News (click here)
June 13, 2014
AFP
So far the only people owning any of this mess is the Neocon Press.
The Gulf News (click here)
June 13, 2014
AFP
Sao Paulo: Brazil (click here) rode a wave of national fervour to launch the World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Croatia on Thursday as an opening day which began with violent clashes gave way to an outpouring of joy.
Barcelona superstar Neymar scored in each half as Brazil recovered from conceding an early Marcelo own goal to set up a win before hordes of golden-shirted fans at the 61,600 Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo.
Chelsea midfielder Oscar put the seal on the win with a late strike from distance to trigger delirium.
The host nation’s Group A victory was greeted by an explosion of fireworks across Sao Paulo, a sharp contrast to several hours earlier when riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse angry protests....
By Gulf News
12 June 2014
An Egyptian court (click here) has acquitted a former interior minister who served under Hosni Mubarak of corruption, three years after he was sentenced to 12 years in jail by another court.
A cassation court had ordered the retrial of Habib al-Adly, who had been convicted of money-laundering and illicitly enriching himself.
The charges of which he was acquitted on Thursday were linked to the sale of land owned by him. Adly was acccused of tasking police officials with finding a buyer who would pay the highest possible price.
However, the disgraced ex-minister, who ran Mubarak's security services for more than a decade before a popular uprising overthrew the strongman in 2011, will remain in detention.
In February, a court upheld a three-year jail sentence handed to Adly for taking advantage of his position and forcing police conscripts to work on his private property.
He was also sentenced to life in prison along with Mubarak in 2012 over the kilings of protesters in the 2011 uprising, but a court later overturned the verdict on technical grounds. Adly and Mubarak are now being retried along with six police commanders.
I have stated for years the USA military was Maliki's personal militia. I was right. Iraq is going to have to figure this out for itself. We are not fighting Maliki's personal war on Sunnis. Nor should we be supplying him with killing machines his military can't hold on to.
The current ISIS is holding a parade on USA Humvees. I think it was Mosul. We evacuated Vietman when it fell, too.
Published 20:00 June 11, 2014
The Chaos of Al Maliki’s term as Iraqi Prime Minister since 2006 (click here) has been largely a matter for Iraqis to regret, as his increasingly sectarian style of patronage has favoured his own Shiite sect to the serious detriment of Sunnis in particular and the several non-Arab minorities who are an integral part of Iraq in general. His dictatorial style is exemplified by the way in which he concentrated power in his own hands. In the last cabinet, he was prime minister and acting interior minister, acting defence minister and acting national security minister.
Unfortunately, he was not able to deliver on these many roles and the disaster that was waiting to happen unfolded this week when the radical Islamist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) walked in and captured most of government-controlled Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, as well as Samarra, having successfully held Fallujah since January against feeble Iraqi government efforts to dislodge them from this flashpoint city close to Baghdad. About 500,000 have now fled Mosul....
