ARAB GAZETTE - Weekly Newspaper - Founded by Chairman and Editor : Alauddin Saeed .

Sabah Oil Palm Planters Have Not Ignored Forest Conservation -- Minister

Posted by مؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK | Sunday, 31 March 2019 | Posted in environment

ARAB GAZETTE - KINABATANGAN (Sabah),(Bernama)..

Oil palm planters in Sabah, the country’s second largest cultivator of the commodity, have not ignored their responsibilities in wildlife and forest conservation, says Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok Suh Sim. The minister said her visit to the state found that many people are unaware of the conservation efforts by oil palm planters here, including anti-palm campaigners from other countries. “This is good news (the conversation efforts), but many are unaware that our palm industry has taken many steps towards forest conservation. “This information will help my ministry fight for Malaysia’s palm industry, especially in revealing these efforts to the leaders of other countries, including those in Europe,” she told reporters after officiating the launch of the state’s Plant a Million Trees programme at the Pin Supu Forest Reserve here Saturday. Kok said she welcomed the commitment given by palm industry players in Sabah towards forest conservation, such as those of Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd which manages the 2,500-hectare Sungai Pin Conservation Area, near here. She also praised all state leaders who had agreed to limit the growth of oil palm plantation areas in their respective states, including Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal, who announced on October 2018 that Sabah would not allow expansions into permanent forest reserves. “We are not limiting the palm industry, but there are ways for us to plant sustainably. Therefore, we need to diversify our planting,” she added. Touching on the Plant a Million Trees programme, Kok hoped Sabah can plant 100,000 trees from forest species annually for the next decade. (photoBERNAMA).

Ho Chi Minh City Int’l Travel Expo to take place in September

Posted by مؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK | | Posted in tourism

ARAB GAZETTE - Hanoi,(VNA)..

The 15th edition of the Ho Chi Minh City International Travel Expo, the largest of its kind in the Mekong sub-region, will take place at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in Vietnam’s largest city from September 5-7. Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi on March 28, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Tourism Promotion Centre Le Truong Hien Hoa said that the organising board set a target of attracting over 350 exhibitors, a year-on-year rise of 40 percent. The expo is expected to draw 250 foreign buyers from outbound travel agents in over 40 nations and territories, especially the four key regions of Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, North America and Europe, to create a breakthrough in tourism promotion during 2019-2020. It is also hoped to attract around 35,000 visitors, up 25 percent year-on-year. The expo will include trading activities at booths to introduce destinations and tourism products of Vietnam and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and talks between sellers and foreign buyers and visitors. A seminar on cruise tourism, a tourism start-up forum and a photo exhibition will be held within the framework of the event. The expo was first organised in 2005 with a goal of promoting tourism products and services in the Mekong sub-region and Asia. It has been supported by Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia; the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos; the Ministry of Hotels & Tourism of Myanmar; and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand.

Fantastic Sound of Korea musical performance on April 2

Posted by مؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK | | Posted in entertainment

ARAB GAZETTE - Manama,(BNA)..

“Fantastic Sounds of Korea”, a concert by the all-female fusion Korean classical music group QUEEN, will take place at the Cultural Hall on April 2, the Korean embassy in Bahrain has announced. This event is co-organized by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) and the embassy and Korea Foundation (KF) as part of the Spring of Culture 2019. The “Fantastic Sounds of Korea” performance follows the successful cooperation of hosting the Sookmyung Gayageum Orchestra in March last year. QUEEN paints “a splendid audio-visual feast with its blend of the traditional and contemporary, using Korean traditional instruments such as the Gayageum, Daegeum, and Janggu along with the electronic violin to perform an opening and closing tribute to the Bahraini song, classical folk Korean pieces and modern pop covers accompanied by traditional costumes and choreography,” the embassy said.

Trump bars door to refugees, visitors from seven mainly Muslim nations

Posted by مؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK | | Posted in humanistic

Trump bars door to refugees, visitors from seven mainly Muslim nations

ARAB GAZETTE - WASHINGTON/CAIRO

Five Iraqi passengers and one Yemeni were barred from boarding an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to New York on Saturday after President Donald Trump halted the entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, sources at Cairo airport said.

The passengers, arriving in transit to Cairo airport, were stopped and re-directed to flights headed for their home countries despite holding valid visas, the sources said.

Trump on Friday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries, saying the moves would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.

He said his most sweeping use of his presidential powers since taking office a week ago, barring travelers from the seven nations for at least 90 days, would give his administration time to develop more stringent screening procedures for refugees, immigrants and visitors.

"I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don't want them here," Trump said earlier on Friday at the Pentagon.

"We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people," he said.

The bans, though temporary, took effect immediately, causing havoc and confusion for would-be travelers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Besides Cairo it was not immediately clear whether other airports of countries listed by Trump had swiftly implemented the ban. Arab officials of the listed countries would not comment on the matter.

The order seeks to prioritize refugees fleeing religious persecution, a move Trump separately said was aimed at helping Christians in Syria. That led some legal experts to question whether the order was constitutional.

One group said it would announce a court challenge on Monday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the order targets Muslims because of their faith, contravening the U.S. Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

"President Trump has cloaked what is a discriminatory ban against nationals of Muslim countries under the banner of national security," said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Trump has long pledged to take this kind of action, making it a prominent feature of his campaign for the Nov. 8 election. But people who work with Muslim immigrants and refugees were scrambling to determine the scope of the order.

Even legal permanent residents - people with "green cards" allowing them to live and work in the United States - were being advised to consult immigration lawyers before traveling outside the country, or trying to return, according to Muslim Advocates, a civil rights group in Washington.

On Friday evening, Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said he had fielded about 100 queries from people anxious about the order, which he said he believed could affect traveling green card holders, students, people coming to the United States for medical care and others.

Wife of Venezuelan Opposition Leader to Maduro: 'Enough Already'

Posted by مؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK | Sunday, 24 March 2019 | Posted in politic

ARAB GAZETTE - LIMA, PERU, Reuters..

The wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido had a brief message for President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, following the arrest of her husband’s chief of staff this week: “Enough already.” In an interview with Reuters in Peru, where she met with Venezuelan immigrants before a trip to the United States, Fabiana Rosales said the arrest of Roberto Marrero on terrorism accusations on Thursday was a “farcical” attempt by Maduro to break the opposition’s morale. “We know what we’re up against. We know what kind of monster this dictatorship is,” said Rosales, a 26-year-old journalist and opposition activist who is considered Venezuela’s first lady by supporters. Venezuela plunged into a deep political crisis in January, when Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. He has been recognized by most Latin American and Western countries as Venezuela’s rightful leader. But Maduro retains control of state functions and the loyalty of the military top brass. A socialist, Maduro says Guaido is a puppet of the United States and is attempting to lead a coup against him to wrest control of the OPEC nation’s oil reserves. Asked if she had a message for Maduro, Rosales said, “Enough already.” Rosales said spies and pro-government armed groups known as “collectives” have long followed her and her husband, monitoring their movements and stalking their family members and friends. “I and my family members have received threats of being thrown in jail or killed,” she said. “But there’s something they’ve underestimated, and that’s that our ideals in this struggle won’t be broken,” she said. “If they thought they can break our morale by arresting Roberto Marrero, or that they could break him, they’re very mistaken.” Venezuela’s foreign ministry did not answer phone calls seeking comment outside regular working hours on Saturday. Venezuelan authorities have accused Marrero of planning attacks against political figures, and said an arms cache had been seized from his house. Guaido, 35, told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he was prepared for more people in his team to be arrested, but thought Maduro’s government had reached its final stage. Rosales said she thought Maduro was too fearful to have Guaido himself arrested. “I think the regime is thinking about it very carefully. I don’t think they would dare,” she said. “They’ve always been afraid of people who believe in freedom.” Rosales declined to comment on whom she planned to meet in the United States, but said she had confirmed visits to New York City and Miami. “We’ll see what happens in coming days. But I’m certain the freedom for Venezuela is getting closer and closer,” she said.

US Airlines Visit Boeing as FAA Awaits 737 Max Upgrades

Posted by مؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK | | Posted in economy

ARAB GAZETTE - CHICAGO / WASHINGTON, Reuters..

Teams from the three U.S. airlines that own 737 Max jets headed to Boeing Co.’s factory in Renton, Wash., to review a software upgrade on Saturday, as U.S. regulators prepared to receive and review the fixes in coming weeks. The factory visits indicated Boeing may be near completing a software patch for its newest 737 following a Lion Air crash that killed 189 people in Indonesia last October. This month, a second deadly crash involving an Ethiopian Airlines Max in Addis Ababa triggered the fleet’s worldwide grounding. Timing for when passenger flights will resume remained uncertain. Boeing has come under global scrutiny along with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency that must approve the software fix and new training. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines Co., the world’s largest operator of the Max, began parking its fleet at a facility in Victorville, Calif., at the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert, to wait out the global grounding. Southwest has 34 of the jets, United Airlines has 14 and American Airlines has 24. Acting Administrator Dan Elwell told lawmakers last week that the FAA expected Boeing would complete its upgrade as early as March 25, kicking off the approval process. An FAA spokesman said Saturday that the agency expects to receive the software fix early next week. A U.S. official briefed on the matter Saturday said the FAA had not yet signed off on the upgrade and training but the goal was to review them in coming weeks and approve them by April. It remained unclear whether the software upgrade, called “design changes” by the FAA, would resolve concerns stemming from the ongoing investigation into the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash, which killed all 157 on board. The U.S. official said planned changes included 15 minutes of training to help pilots deactivate the anti-stall system known as MCAS in the event of faulty sensor data or other issues. It also included some self-guided instruction, the official added. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American Airlines pilots, said it has been in talks with Boeing, the FAA and airlines to get the airplanes flying again as soon as possible with an acceptable level of safety. “Right now we’re in wait-and-see mode to see what Boeing comes up with,” said Capt. Jason Goldberg, spokesman for the APA, part of a delegation of airline safety experts and pilots set to test the upgrade. “We’re hopeful, but at the same time the process can’t be rushed.” Boeing said on Saturday that it was continuing to schedule meetings with all 737 Max operators. Southwest and United said they would also review documentation and training associated with Boeing’s updates on Saturday.