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Infrared cameras catch motorists unawares
Infrared cameras catch motorists unawares Staff Reporter / 27 August 2013 Traffic signals using infrared surveillance cameras are catching unaware errant motorists jumping red lights and speeding through amber lights in the country’s Capital. The cameras, which function using a hi-tech system, uses infrared beams without a flash to capture road violators. Due to the number of drivers being caught out by the cameras, the Traffic and Patrols Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police have called on motorists to reduce speeds when approaching road signals in order to avoid risking their life and the lives of other road users. The infrared–run surveillance cameras also monitor and capture the wrong use of vehicular traffic lanes, motor vehicles stopping on pedestrian crossings, and motorists committing illegal turns in the road. Director of the Directorate Brigadier Hussein Ahmed Al Harithi, warned of jumping red signals, and added that people on their mobile phones often commit the violation. “Such mistakes often result in material losses and human casualties”, he said, noting that, priority is given to traffic travelling in other directions when the red light is on. He said the surveillance system on road junctions in Abu Dhabi, which had been enforced by the Directorate since the beginning of 2012, is an integrated project and aims to improve traffic safety at the junctions. Accordingly, he said for five years, surveillance cameras have been installed on more than 150 road intersections in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region. “The vehicular traffic surveillance system is one of the modern systems which conducts a continuous evaluation to the engineering condition of the road junctions and their impact on traffic safety as well as the occurrence of road accidents”, he said, and is linked to the Directorate’s reports system, SMS and convertible message systems. The surveillance cameras span more than five lanes in each direction of the road, and has several functions including reading all number plates, identifying the number of vehicles on the road, noting the average speed limit, and identifying the number and directions of the pedestrians while traffic signals turn green and red. The Directorate is making huge efforts to curb traffic accidents, and has intensified traffic awareness through the Abu Dhabi Traffic Programme called “Together”, on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Brotherhood allies seek truce
Brotherhood allies seek truce (AP) / 26 August 2013 Two of Egypt’s former militant groups are offering an initiative to halt the country’s political violence, in which supporters of the ousted Islamist president will stop street protests if the military-backed government stops its crackdown on them, the groups’ leaders said on Monday. An Egyptian woman waits for her breakfast on a street fast food restaurant in Suleiman Gohar market in Dokki district in Cairo, Egypt, on Monday. -AP The initiative led by Egypt’s Gamaa Islamiya and Islamic Jihad movements, which waged an insurgency in the 1990s, aims to bring dialogue between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which toppled President Mohammed Mursi hails. Mursi was overthrown by the military on July 3 after millions took to the street demanding that he step down. Mursi’s allies had previously insisted that he be restored to power as starting point for any talks, but Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Abu Samra told The Associated Press that negotiations had no “red lines.” The groups do not speak for the Brotherhood, but the initiative is a new sign of flexibility from the pro-Mursi alliance of mostly Islamist groups. It comes as the Islamists’ protest campaign wanes and numbers at their formerly massive rallies dwindle. Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders and organisers have been arrested in the crackdown. Egypt’s worst bout of violence in its 2 ½ years of turmoil was set off when security forces backed by snipers and armoured vehicles moved in to break up two sprawling pro-Mursi protest camps on August 14. More than 1,000 people were killed in the raids and other violence over the next several days, mostly Mursi supporters. “We are paving the way for talks,” Abu Samra said over the phone. “We can’t hold talks while we are at the points of swords in the midst of killings and crackdowns.” He said the groups were “extending their hands” to avoid a bloodier confrontation with the military. He said that the Islamists will stop demonstrations so long as the military halts its crackdown and stops defaming the Brotherhood in mosques and in the media. Asked if Islamist groups would accept talks without demanding Mursi’s reinstatement, he said, “Blood is more valuable than the seat of power.” Top Muslim Brotherhood negotiator Amr Darrag said that the group is open for talks but after “confidence-building measures.” However, he added, “the other side didn’t show a single gesture or any sign that it is ready for dialogue. It only talks about it but no action.” It was not immediately possible to reach the interim president’s political advisers for comment. Egypt’s Interim Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi had earlier told reporters that security measures will not be enough on their own and that Egypt “must go down the political path” to work out a democratic transition through reconciliation. However, he ruled out talks with anyone who had committed acts of violence. Continue reading
UN inspectors reach Syria gas victims
UN inspectors reach Syria gas victims (Reuters) / 26 August 2013 UN chemical weapons inspectors in Syria met and took samples from victims of an apparent poison gas attack in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus on Monday after the UN team survived a gun attack on its convoy. A Syrian doctor told Reuters from the town of Mouadamiya that investigators from the United Nations had crossed the frontline from the centre of the capital, which remains under the control of President Bashar Al Assad’s forces. The UN said the shooting crippled one vehicle but mentioned no injuries. With Western powers considering military strikes, despite vocal opposition from Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies, any evidence to support rebel claims that government forces fired gas-laden rockets five days ago that killed hundreds of civilians will be a key element in arguments for peace or war. “I am with the team now,” the doctor who uses the name Abu Karam told Reuters by telephone from rebel-held Mouadamiya. “We are in the Rawda mosque and they are meeting with the wounded. Our medics and the inspectors are talking to the patients and taking samples from the victims now.” Another opposition activist said a large crowd was growing of people eager to air their grievances to the UN team. There was a plan for the experts also to take samples from corpses. Syrian state television blamed rebel “terrorists” for the shooting, which briefly halted the convoy but failed to stop the inspectors from crossing the front line. The opposition blamed it on pro-Assad militiamen. Any delay diminishes whatever evidence the experts might recover. With speculation mounting that Nato powers might fire cruise missiles to satisfy calls for action to protect Syrian civilians, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said any operation would be coordinated with allies. British Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a holiday to chair a top level security meeting. “The United States is looking at all options regarding the situation in Syria. We’re working with our allies and the international community,” Hagel told a news conference. “We are analysing the intelligence. And we will get the facts. And if there is any action taken, it will be in concert with the international community and within the framework of legal justification.” Hagel plans discussions with his British and French counterparts, a senior US official said. The French foreign minister said on Monday that Russian and Chinese vetoes in the UN Security Council may make it hard to get a UN agreement to satisfy international law. The UN said in a statement that gunmen shot at the first vehicle in the team’s six-car convoy, damaging it to the point that the team had to stop to find a replacement car. “The first vehicle of the Chemical Weapons Investigation Team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area,” it said. “It has to be stressed again that all sides need to extend their cooperation so that the team can safely carry out their important work.” The team of chemical weapons experts wearing blue UN body armour left a Damascus hotel where they have been based for over a week, accompanied by a car of Syrian security personnel, as well as an ambulance. At least two mortar bombs struck the area of central Damascus on Monday. Syrian state media said the mortar bombs were locally made and fired by “terrorists”. SANA state news agency said three people were wounded. Assad said accusations that his forces used chemical weapons were politically motivated and warned the United States against intervening in his country. “Would any state use chemicals or any other weapons of mass destruction in a place where its own forces are concentrated? That would go against elementary logic. So accusations of this kind are entirely political,” he told the Russian newspaper Izvestia in an interview. “Failure awaits the United States as in all previous wars it has unleashed, starting with Vietnam and up to the present day.” In Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China supported an independent and objective investigation by UN experts into allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and urged a cautious response and a political resolution to the crisis. The experts’ mandate is to find out whether chemical weapons were used, not to assign blame, but the evidence they collect, for example about the missile used, can provide a strong indication about the identity of the party responsible. Continue reading
