Kenya
Pakistan expats fret over slow quake relief
Pakistan expats fret over slow quake relief Nissar Hoath / 27 September 2013 UAE-based expatriates from the Pakistan province of Balochistan, which was devastated by a strong earthquake on September 24, have expressed their anger over delayed relief supplies to affected areas. Most of the people from the earthquake-affected areas who spoke to Khaleej Times were furious that no efforts or initiatives to launch relief campaigns are being taken by the Pakistan Embassy, community organisations and schools in the UAE. “Normally, whenever there is a natural disaster, the entire community rises up to send relief assistance and funds to the affected people. But this time the entire community, including Pakistani diplomatic missions, is sleeping,” said Haji Mohammed Saleem from Awaran, which was most affected area. He added that he and his relatives lost many family members and their properties, including domestic animals in the quake in the Labash and Malar villages of Awaran, which is about 300km from Karachi. A resident of Malar, Waheed Baloch, said even the electronic media of Pakistan is least bothered about the earthquake. “Of all the over-24 big TV channels, only one was on the ground and covering the pain of our people during grieving condition. Throughout these days since Tuesday, the channels were only running tickers about the quake and were busy highlighting the US visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and of other celebrities,” he said. According to him all the figures about casualties and property damages released by the media were wrong and far below. “The earthquake was so strong that it was felt even in remote areas of Western Balochistan in Iran and in India and caused an island to surface from the sea-bed in Gwadar. In Awaran alone, we have buried more than 300 people. But the media says only 400 people have died and another 400 injured. We have more 600 fatalities and over 1,000 injuries in addition to a number of villages being totally destroyed and thousands of people living under the open skies,” he added. Bashir Ahmed Al Balushi, an Omani originally from the Makkorran coast of Balochistan, was also furious about the delay in relief assistance. “Can you believe, only an army convoy with very little supply reached an affected area that too after 24 hours of the deadly quake and only 30 doctors and 300 blankets were despatched for the entire affected areas,” he added. Abdul Qadir Ismail, another expatriate resident, said he was shocked to see the silence of the Pakistani community in the region over this disaster. “A small incident in other areas of Pakistan sees the Pakistani community in the world rising to the occasion and sending relief assistance without loss of time. But this time I’m shocked that even the international community and charity organisations have not moved yet,” he said. He said one of his relatives in Labash, Awaran, Haji Yaqoub lost all his 10 family members, and his properties were also destroyed. “We don’t expect any support from the government of any other organisation. We here in the Gulf will send money to our people to help rebuild their houses and treat the injured. We will have our own relief fund formed by the Baloch community living here and elsewhere in the world as well as in Balochistan,” he added. — nissar@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
World Luxury Expo set to bedazzle Abu Dhabi
World Luxury Expo set to bedazzle Abu Dhabi Staff Reporter / 27 September 2013 Italian knight Rosmundo Giarletta’s sword is gold and gems with which he creates timeless classics that conquer his viewers. Now the goldsmith, knighted by Monaco’s Prince Rainier III for his creations to mark the royal family’s anniversary celebrations, will give the world Al-Noor, a one-of-a-kind medallion necklace that is said to be an artistic representation of the Muslim paradise. UAE residents will be the first to be able to admire this showstopper as the gold wedge necklace debuts, along with other masterpieces, at World Luxury Expo, Abu Dhabi, the third edition of the World Luxury Expo series. Kicking off at the dazzling Emirates Palace today, the three-day, by-invitation-only event will have as its main attraction a Rolls-Royce centrepiece, the ultimate statement in luxury and a celebration of timeless elegance and history. Abu Dhabi Motors will present a number of new bespoke Roll-Royce models — the Femas, Ruby and soon to arrive Goodwood. Other dazzlers include royal pots by the 300-year-old jewellery house, Mozafarian. To commemorate 2,500 years of the Persian Empire, the exquisite hand-crafted crystal casks, now part of a museum collection, were fashioned painstakingly in four years, inlaid with several thousand pieces of gold, diamonds, rubies and sapphires. Abbas Mozafarian says the Mozafarian style is all about heritage, evolving through years of knowledge and experience. Besides the Mozafarian creations, World Luxury Expo will also showcase fine art, hand-crafted time pieces and designer furniture. Besides, there will be fine dining for gourmets and private aviation and luxury travel for the adventurous. The other exhibitors include haute parfumier House of Sillage, which will debut a limited edition travel perfume. The set, a delicate set on an 18K yellow gold cylinder and embellished with 665 gemstones, costs Dh433,000. The price includes 7.5ml of the perfume as well as the elegance of the container. Italian luxury brand The S&S Stefano Company comes with the backing of Alessandro Martorana, stylist and head of an Italian tailor firm, who has turned to it to promote his tailor-made clothing and accessories in the Middle East. Doettling will present bespoke German superior safes, Four Seasons Ramesh Gallery some of the largest jewelled carpets, and Doha-based Kashperia one of the world’s most expensive headscarves. After the Abu Dhabi edition winds up Sunday, World Luxury Expo will move to Doha in November and then to Saudi Arabia in 2014, creating an annual signature series of events in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. The series has steadily gained momentum in this part of the world, having already concluded two recent expos: the inaugural event at Burj Al Arab, Dubai in January and the second in Riyadh in February.— news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Iran sees deal in year in historic US talks
Iran sees deal in year in historic US talks (AFP) / 27 September 2013 Iran said on Thursday it hoped to seal a deal on its nuclear program within a year as its foreign minister held historic talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry shook hands and met briefly one-on-one with a smiling Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of the United Nations in one of the foes’ highest-level encounters since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The top US diplomat pulled his Iranian counterpart aside saying “shall we talk for a few moments” after a meeting between Iran and six world powers that aimed to revive long-stalled negotiations over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, a US official said. They met alone with no note-takers for about 30 minutes. The US-educated Zarif, tapped by new moderate President Hassan Rohani to lead the nuclear dossier, said the talks agreed to “jumpstart” work on a deal and “move towards finalising it, hopefully, within a year’s time.” “I thought I was too ambitious, bordering on naivete, but I saw that some of my colleagues were even more ambitious and wanted to move faster,” Zarif told a think tank forum as he joined Rohani on one of a slew of appearances during his week in New York. Kerry said he and his counterparts from the great powers contact group found Zarif’s 20-minute presentation “very different in tone, and very different in the vision that he held out with respect to the possibilities in the future.” Nuclear talks will resume on October 15 and 16 in Geneva, boosting hopes Iran will bring tangible proposals to the table on how to move forward as the West seeks to rein in its atomic programme. It was an extraordinary contact between the two countries that have had no diplomatic relations since 1980, when Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held hostages for 444 days after the revolution that toppled the pro-Western shah. It is the first time that ministers of the two countries have sat together at talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but Western officials fear could be a covert grab for an atomic bomb. Rohani swept to power in June elections on promises to ease the nuclear-related tensions with the West, which have led to tough sanctions that have caused severe economic pain in Iran. Rouhani, a moderate cleric who replaced the firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Iran was committed to negotiate in “good faith.” “We are fully prepared to seriously engage in the process toward a negotiated and mutually agreeable settlement and do so in good faith and with a business-like mind,” Rohani told the think tank forum. Kerry pledged to remain cautious, saying “there’s a lot of work to be done” with plenty of questions still remaining about Iran’s nuclear program. “Needless to say one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn’t answer those questions yet,” Kerry said. But speaking separately to CBS News, Kerry said Iranian hopes for a quick deal — and relief of sanctions — were possible. Asked about Rouhani’s earlier statement that a deal could take place in six months, Kerry said: “It’s possible to have a deal sooner than that depending on how forthcoming and clear Iran is prepared to be.” In an address to a UN conference on disarmament, Rohani called on Israel to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel is widely believed to have a nuclear program but does not acknowledge it. “As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination,” Rohani said. A State Department official, meanwhile, cautioned that it was early days yet and the “devil is in the details.” Zarif made a “thoughtful presentation” which laid out “their desire to come to an agreement fully implemented within a year’s time,” the official said. Until the teams get “down to work at an expert level to know … what they are willing to do in concrete terms, we have a good atmosphere, but we don’t have a result yet,” the official added. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton organised the talks with Zarif, which involved the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — as well as Germany. Continue reading
