Dubai opens 'world's highest' restaurant

Restaurant located 422 metres up in sky on 122nd floor of Burj Khalifa can host over 210 guests.

Middle East Online

Welcome to 'At.mosphere' DUBAI - Dubai opened on Sunday a restaurant 422 metres (1,350 feet) up in the sky on the 122nd floor of the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, its developers said. Atmosphere in Dubai's 828-metre (2,716.5-feet) building is "one of the finest luxury dining and lounge experiences in the world," said Emaar Hospitality Group, an arm of giant property developer Emaar. At two levels below the tower's observation deck, the "world's highest restaurant" can host "over 210 guests and features a spacious arrival lobby, a main dining floor, private dining rooms and display cooking stations." In addition to apartments, offices and Italian designer Giorgio Armani's signature hotel, the building has an observation deck on the 124th floor, open to visitors at an entrance fee of at least 100 dirhams (27 dollars) per adult. Emaar spent 1.5 billion dollars on the tower, named after United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan who came to the aid of Dubai, hit by the global financial crisis. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi extended a lifeline of 10 billion dollars, on top of the same amount from the UAE central bank, to bail out Dubai's heavily-indebted state firms in 2009.

HRW: Saudi Arabia suppresses rights of millions

Saudi Arabia accused of failing to protect rights of millions of women, foreign workers, Shiites.

Middle East Online

Reforms have so far been largely symbolic BRUSSELS - Saudi Arabia suppresses or fails to protect the rights of millions of women, foreign workers and Shiites, and reforms have so far been largely symbolic, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday. "Authorities continue to systematically suppress or fail to protect the rights of nine million Saudi women and girls, eight million foreign workers, and some two million Shiite citizens," HRW said in its annual report for 2010. And "each year, thousands of people receive unfair trials or are subject to arbitrary detention," said the report released in Brussels. It listed individual curbs on freedoms affecting residents, particularly on women, whose ability to work, marry, study or travel lies in the hands of male guardians. The group criticised the kingdom's failure to fulfill a 2009 pledge to the UN Human Rights Council to end the male guardianship system, saying human rights remained poor in Saudi Arabia. "Reforms to date have involved largely symbolic steps to improve the visibility of women and marginally expand freedom of expression," the New York-based group said. It cited one case of a court refusing to remove as guardian the father of a medical doctor in her 40s after her father refused to let her marry and had confiscated her income. The doctor now lives in a women’s shelter. Another woman, Sawsan Salim, was sentenced to 300 lashes and 18 months prison for appearing in court without a male guardian, it added. "The government has not yet set a minimum legal age for marriage, but in June issued new marriage contracts noting the bride’s age," the report said, adding that one newspaper reported a divorced father marrying off his daughter, 12, for 80,000 riyals (21,300 dollars) because his ex-wife had gained custody. "Asian embassies report thousands of complaints each year from domestic workers forced to work 15-20 hours a day, seven days a week, and denied their salaries," the report said. "Domestic workers frequently endure forced confinement, food deprivation and severe psychological, physical, and sexual abuse," HRW said, adding that 8.3 million migrant workers legally live in Saudi Arabia. Shiites in the kingdom are also a target of discrimination, it said. "Official discrimination against Shiites encompasses religious practices, education, and the justice system. Government officials exclude Shiites from certain public jobs and policy questions and publicly disparage their faith."

Lebanon's Hariri rejects 'consensual candidate'

Lebanese Future Movement rules out joining government led by Hezbollah-named candidate.

Middle East Online

By Natacha Yazbeck - BEIRUT

'There is a candidate named Saad Hariri' Lebanon's acting Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday ruled out joining a government led by a Hezbollah-appointed candidate, his office said, as consultations on nominating a new premier were underway. "The (Hariri-led) Future Movement announces its refusal to participate in a government headed by a candidate named by the opposition," the statement said, referring to Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies. The statement came as former premier Najib Mikati was tipped as the top candidate for premiership after he secured the backing of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which brought down the government of its political rival Hariri earlier this month. Officials said the billionaire telecom tycoon was Hezbollah's favoured candidate given his position as a centrist politician who has good relations with the country's feuding parties. Mikati, a former premier, was elected to parliament in 2009 as an ally of Hariri. He is a major shareholder in South Africa's MTN Group and runs the French fashion line Faconnable. Mikati, 55, submitted his candidacy on Sunday saying he was coming forward in the hope of being a consensual candidate. But Hariri's Future Movement said there was no such thing as a "consensual candidate." "There is a candidate named Saad Hariri, and then there is another candidate nominated by the opposition," the statement said. "Those are the only two choices." In an apparent bid to reach out to Hariri, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said his party and its allies had no intention of excluding their political rivals from the new cabinet. "If our candidate is successful, we will ask him to form a government of national partnership in which all parties will participate," he said. But Hariri, who is running for a second term in office against Hezbollah's candidate, shot down any chances of forming a unity government. "What came before the parliamentary consultations are completely different from what will come afterwards," read the statement. President Michel Sleiman on Monday began two days of consultations with the country's 128 MPs, who will name their pick for premiership. Hezbollah on January 12 forced the collapse of Hariri's unity government when it pulled 11 ministers from the cabinet. The walkout capped a long-running dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a UN-backed probe into the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri. Hezbollah has said it expects the tribunal to indict members of the Shiite party in the murder and has warned of grave repercussions.

'Palestine Papers' stir fury over bowing to Israel

Hamas slams PA's secret 'cooperation with the occupation' on Jerusalem as Israel denies informing Abbas of Gaza war.

Middle East Online

By Hazel Ward - JERUSALEM

'Attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause' Palestinian offers of major concessions to Israel on Jerusalem and refugees laid out in documents leaked to the press, on Monday provoked an angry and defensive reaction from the Ramallah leadership. Details of the proposals, laid out during peace talks in 2008, emerged late on Sunday when Al-Jazeera began publishing the first of 1,600 confidential documents known as the "Palestine Papers." The Arab satellite news channel said the leaks cover more than 10 years of secret talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The documents, which were shared with British daily the Guardian, stirred surprise and anger among Palestinian officials, with chief negotiator Saeb Erakat dismissing them as "full of distortions." "We don't have anything to hide," Erakat said by telephone from Cairo on Monday, insisting the revelations had been "taken out of context and contain lies." "Al-Jazeera's information is full of distortions and fraud," he said. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who is currently in the Egyptian capital for talks with senior officials, insisted that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had shared every development in the peace process with the Arab world's leadership. "With everything we have done -- in terms of activities with the Israelis or the Americans -- we have given the Arabs details," Abbas said in remarks published by Palestinian news agency Wafa. "I don't know where Al-Jazeera got these secret things from, and there is nothing hidden from the Arab brothers," he added, adding that Arab nations were kept up to date through the 22-member Arab League based in Cairo. The leaks prompted a furious response from Gaza's Hamas rulers, who have long decried peace talks with Israel. Its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said they showed the PA's "ugly face" and "level of its cooperation with the occupation." They show "the level of the Fatah Authority's involvement in attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause, particularly on the issue of Jerusalem and refugees, and its involvement against the resistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip." Hailed by Al Jazeera as "the most important leak in the history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict," the files are purportedly the official minutes documented by Palestinian negotiators after meeting with the Israelis. According to the papers, the Palestinians offered to let Israel keep a raft of Jewish settlement neighbourhoods in annexed east Jerusalem as well as the Old City's Jewish Quarter and part of the Armenian Quarter. But Israel rejected the offer, saying it did not meet their demands, the papers show. Al-Jazeera said the concessions were made in June 2008 at talks between then secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Israel's then foreign minister Tzipi Livni, former Palestinian premier Ahmad Qorei, and Erakat. "We proposed that Israel annexes all settlements in Jerusalem except Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa)," the documents quote Qorei as saying. "This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition; we refused to do so in Camp David," he added, referring to the US-hosted 2000 Camp David peace talks attended by late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. But "the Israeli side refused to even place Jerusalem on the agenda, let alone offer the PA concessions in return for its historic offer," it said. Erakat was also said to have offered to accept the return of only 100,000 out of the Palestinians who fled at the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and their descendants, now numbering almost five million. The documents likewise show how PA leaders had been "privately tipped off" before Israel's 2008-2009 war against the Gaza Strip ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, the paper said. But Amos Gilad, the senior Israeli defence official said to have informed Abbas of the plan, on Monday denied having given any such warning. "This is an example of inaccuracy. No concrete warning concerning an offensive was given to the Palestinian Authority," Gilad, director of political-military affairs at the Defence Ministry, told Israeli public radio. "I didn't say anything to president Abbas that I hadn't said to the entire world: that we could not tolerate the resumption of rocket fire and other terrorist attacks against our territory," said Gilad. At the time of the invasion, Gilad served as a co-coordinator on Israeli activities in the Palestinian territories. "You could have just deduced that Israel would act. But no concrete information was given," he added. The report comes as world powers seek ways to haul Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after direct peace talks broke down last September in a dispute over Jewish settlements and occupied Jerusalem. Washington said it was reviewing the documents, with State Department spokesman Philip Crowley saying: "We cannot vouch for their veracity" in a Twitter post. The remaining papers are to be revealed by Al-Jazeera and the Guardian in daily stages. They reveal "the unyielding confidence of Israeli negotiators," according to the Guardian. The leaked documents were "drawn up by PA officials and lawyers working for the British-funded PLO negotiations support unit and include extensive verbatim transcripts of private meetings," it said. Many of them had been "independently authenticated by the Guardian and corroborated by former participants in the talks and intelligence and diplomatic sources."

Clashes break out at Tunis anti-government protest

Police fires tear gas at anti-regime protesters as Tunisians vow to oust interim government.

Middle East Online

By Imed Lamloum and Mohamed Hasni - TUNIS

Make-or-break week for transition government Police fired tear gas at anti-government protesters throwing stones outside the Tunisian prime minister's office on Monday at the start of a make-or-break week for the transition government. Schools were also set to re-open on Monday but some stayed shut because of a strike called by teachers in protest against the government put in place following the end of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year rule. The General Union of Tunisian Workers, known under its French acronym as the UGTT, has refused to recognise the new government because it includes key figures from the ousted regime, including Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi. Many Tunisians feel the same way and have held daily protests since the government was announced last Monday, calling also for the destruction of Ben Ali's powerful RCD party, which has dominated Tunisia for decades. The prime minister, who has been in place since 1999, has refused to quit and says he will resign from politics but only after the north African state's first democratic elections since independence from France in 1956. He said the vote could be held within six months but has not set a date. The government has meanwhile unveiled unprecedented democratic reforms including allowing full media freedoms, releasing political prisoners and registering political parties that were banned under Ben Ali. The authoritarian ruler resigned and fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 under pressure from a wave of social protests that overcame a bloody crackdown in which his security forces killed dozens of people. The uprising against Ben Ali began after a 26-year-old fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, set fire to himself in a protest against police abuses in the impoverished central farming town of Sidi Bouzid. The Arab world's first popular revolt in recent history has inspired dissidents across the region and there have been several cases of copycat self-immolations in Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania and Morocco. There have also been calls for Tunisia-style protests in Sudan and Yemen. The United States has called on the embattled prime minister to move quickly to allow democratic freedoms and hold free elections, while governments around the world have said they support the aspirations of the Tunisian people. Many of the protesters outside Ghannouchi's offices had made their way to the capital from rural parts of Tunisia, staking out the building overnight in defiance of a curfew. Some of them demanded the resignation of the new government, holding up pictures of victims of Ben Ali, who have been hailed by the new government as "martyrs of the revolution". "We will stay here until the government resigns and runs away like Ben Ali," said Othmene, 22, a student. Although there were no reports of unrest through the night, the riot squad fired tear gas after stones were thrown on Monday morning. The government has imposed a curfew and a state of emergency banning any public assemblies, which the government has kept in place as it tries to re-impose order in the country following days of dramatic upheaval. The government has also said it plans to re-open schools and universities this week after they were shut on January 10 in the final days of Ben Ali's regime in a bid to stamp out the popular protest movement among the young. It has also moved against Ben Ali's relatives and loyalists. On Sunday, the TAP state news agency quoted an official saying three key Ben Ali allies including Senate president Abdallah Kallal were under house arrest. The head of the contry's leading private television station, Hannibal TV, was also arrested for "high treason" for plotting to bring back Ben Ali. The channel was briefly taken off the air and it later re-appeared with a new inscription under its logo reading: "Voice of the People". Officials said earlier 33 Ben Ali relatives had been arrested and the once all-powerful family's assets had been frozen pending an investigation.

Study proposes anti-discrimination court

Arabic Edition

Mon, 24/01/2011 - 11:24

Directed by Ahmed el-Lozy

• 1

A recent study proposes establishing an anti-discrimination court to review cases of discrimination, warning that the lack of equality among Egyptians is responsible for behavior that threatens the stability of society.

Dr. Saber Waheeb, head of the pediatric surgery department at Alexandria University, who proposed the study, said he will present it to parliament and send a detailed report to Minister of Justice Mamdouh Mar’ee.

The study describes how Egyptians suffer from discrimination and negativity, which have accumulated over years until they have become behaviors that control society, such as corruption.

“Discrimination takes many forms in society, on the level of individuals and groups, represented by an absence of justice, equality and transparency. It can also be found in forms that citizens cannot feel,” said Waheeb.

Translated from the Arabic Edition.

Monday's papers: Alex bombing perpetrator announced, and Day of Loyalty vs Day of Anger

Noha El-Hennawy

Mon, 24/01/2011 - 10:31

Photographed by MENA

• 1

All newspapers on Monday, whether local or regional, state or privately-owned, highlight an announcement by Egypt’s Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly accusing the Palestinian “Army of Islam” of perpetrating last month’s bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria. While delivering a speech to commemorate Egypt's Police Day yesterday, Al-Adly put the blame on the Hamas offshoot for the bombing that targeted Copts leaving the New Year’s Eve mass, killing 24 people. The blast provoked dozens of demonstrations in which Copts accused the government of discriminating against them and not protecting churches well enough.

According to state-owned Al-Ahram, the police arrested one of the masterminds of the attacks, named Ahmed Lotfi Ibrahim Mohamed. The 26-year-old suspect confessed that he went to Gaza in 2008 to meet up with Army of Islam militants, who are believed to be inspired by Al-Qaeda. According to the paper, Army of Islam militants convinced Mohamed that targeting churches and Jewish temples is part of Jihad. In 2010, the Alexandrian young man was asked to determine certain Christian and Jewish houses of worship that could be targeted. In October 2010, the suspect contacted Palestinian militants via the internet, informing them of three possible targets in Alexandria, including two churches and one temple, adds Al-Ahram. While Palestinian militants asked Mohamed to prepare a bomb-laden car to be used in the attack, Mohamed recommended that a suicide bomber blow up himself instead, says Al-Ahram, quoting police sources.

President Hosni Mubarak congratulated the police apparatus for “succeeding” in discovering the details of the crime, according to Al-Ahram, expressing pride in the police while delivering a speech on the occasion of Police Day. The speech is headlined on Al-Ahram's front page, and the paper leads with an excerpt: “The era of guardianship has gone for good.” Mubarak's commentary comes in response to statements made by foreign countries and organizations urging Egypt to provide more security for Christians following the Alexandria bombing. “Egypt is being targeted and we reject interference from anyone,” Al-Ahram quotes the president as saying.

While Al-Ahram highlights the accusations against the radical Palestinian group, there is no mention of a response from the Army of Islam, which is highlighted in the privately-owned Al-Shorouk daily. The paper quotes a group spokesperson as denying the accusation and holding Israelis responsible for the bombing. A similar response came from the Gaza-based Hamas group, according to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. "Despite the bloody confrontations it has had with this organization [Army of Islam] that seeks to establish an Islamic dynasty in Gaza, Hamas denied the accusation leveled against the Army of Islam, contending that there is no presence of Al-Qaeda militants in Gaza and that the pistols of all Palestinian factions are only pointed toward the Zionist enemy,” says Al-Hayat. The Hamas source goes on to say: “The Zionist intelligence body stands behind all these crimes,” according to Al-Hayat.

It's not only Palestinian Islamists who have to defend themselves in today’s papers, but also the western-backed secular Palestinian Authority. On its front page, Al-Shorouk highlights the response of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the release of 1600 secret documents on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Last night, the Doha-based Al Jazeera satellite channel unveiled secret records of Palestinian-Israeli talks which show that the Palestinian Authority allegedly made substantial land concessions to the Israelis in East Jerusalem. Al-Shorouk quotes Abbas as saying: “We have no secrets or documents to hide.”

Away from terror updates and regional politics, Al-Shorouk’s front page announces that the ruling National Democratic Party seek to mobilize half a million of its young members under the slogan of “Day of Loyalty to President Mubarak.” This mobilization comes in response to the “Day of Anger” protests that opposition groups are planning for tomorrow. Inspired by the Tunisian uprising, cyber activists called on Egyptians to take to the streets tomorrow to call for the abolition of the state of emergency, the dismissal of the interior minister and the enforcement of a minimum wage. It is still to be seen whether Egyptians will emulate the Tunisian model tomorrow.

Egypt's papers:

Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt

Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size

Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run

Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run, close to the National Democratic Party's Policies Secretariat

Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned

Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned

Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party

Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party

Youm7: Weekly, privately owned

Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned