Tag Archives: windows
Gas explosion near Doha shopping mall kills 4
Gas explosion near Doha shopping mall kills 9 (Reuters) / 27 February 2014 Nine people were killed when gas canisters exploded in a Turkish restaurant in the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday, the official news agency of the Gulf Arab state reported. Photo courtesy: @mariam_j_d via Twitter Thirty-two were wounded, three of them critically, the agency added. “The explosion that happened today at Istanbul restaurant next to a petrol station resulted in the death of nine people,” the agency said, citing ambulance sources. Qatar’s prime minister, Shaikh Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani, confirmed there had been an explosion in remarks to state television. “Some deaths occurred that were announced, and there will be a press conference through the Ministry of Interior to give more information about the incident,” said Shaikh Abdullah, who is also interior minister. Asked if security regulations would be tightened up after the incident, he replied that “safety precautions are all there and the precautions for civil defence are there”. Photographs purporting to show the aftermath of the incident posted on social media showed chunks of masonry and cars apparently crumpled by the explosion lying outside the restaurant in a northwestern district of the city. A fire burned inside the building. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the images. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Al Jadaf, Creek Metro stations to open on March 1
Al Jadaf, Creek Metro stations to open on March 1 Lily B. Libo-on / 27 February 2014 The Al Jadaf and Creek stations of Dubai Metro’s Green Line will open on Saturday, March 1. The Al Jadaf Metro station ready for operation. — Supplied photo The opening of these two final stations, which are located at the end of the Green Line track, will complete the operation of all the Dubai Metro stations and serve existing and under-construction projects, including the Culture Village and Sama Al Jadaf. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said these two stations will also serve the Dubai Festival City through a marine transit service linking with the Creek station. “Al Wasl Club will also be linked with Al Jadaf Station through a bus route to be operated when matches are held. The RTA has provided 100 parking slots at Al Jadaf stations and a bus route for passengers of the two new stations.” Al Jadaf and Creek stations are elevated metro stations where the concourse and platform are on the upper level of the elevated metro track. Each station extends 132 metres in length and 29 metres in width, and has a capacity to handle 11,000 passengers per hour per direction. The two stations are equipped with escalators and lifts. Al Tayer said that these two stations will contribute significantly to expediting the development tempo in the neighbourhood, and accordingly the ridership will pick up gradually as per the foreseeable inputs. Some 2,100 riders at Al Jadaf Station and another 1,400 more passengers at Creek station are expected to use the Metro initially, and these numbers are poised to double with the opening of property development projects in the area, many of which are nearing completion. “Through the Dubai Metro operator Serco Co., the RTA has completed all arrangements related to the operation of the two stations by carrying out technical test runs of the Dubai Metro, including testing the communication systems, automatic operation systems, power feed system and the air-conditioning system. It has also finalised the appointment of 16 employees, who have been deployed at the site to man the two metro stations after undergoing intense training exposures on delivering customers service, implementing regulations drawn up by the RTA to protect the facilities, and enforcing the rules against offenders,” said Al Tayer. RTA has also coordinated with the Transport Security Department to deploy security personnel at the two stations to ensure the security and safety of the metro riders. Teams of emergency services — Civil Defence, Ambulance and Rescue — made field visits to the two stations to ensure safety. lily@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Shaikh Mohammed to unveil plaques of five-star centres
Shaikh Mohammed to unveil plaques of five-star centres (Wam) / 26 February 2014 Vice-President says diligent work teams deserve praise and appreciation while unveiling five-star plate at Traffic and Licensing Centre in Fujairah. Federal government customer service centres serve as the real ground of competition among public service providers to deliver world-class services to the local community, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has said, and added the new Star Rating Initiative, which he launched on Monday, will generate true leaders who deserve “our thanks and commendation”. All federal government customer service centres will abide by the Star Rating Initiative. Intended to bring about a quantum leap in the efficiency of government services as per global standards, the system rates public service centres with a number of stars (from two to seven) by placing a special plate at the entrance of each federal customer service centre. Shaikh Mohammed inaugurated Phase 1 of the evaluation and classification of 75 government service centres according to the new Star Rating Initiative on Monday. Three centres obtained the 5-star rating, and Shaikh Mohammed unveiled the first plate at the Customer Service Centre of the Ministry of Justice, Abu Dhabi. Thirty-three centres received a 4-star rating and 39 centres received a 3-star rating. The evaluation and classification process will continue to cover all federal customer service centres by the end of 2014. Shaikh Mohammed made his remarks during a visit to the Traffic and Licensing Centre in Fujairah on Tuesday to unveil a five-star plate which the centre obtained. Shaikh Mohammed pledged to unveil the five-star plaque of the centres himself, saying that diligent work teams deserve praise and appreciation. The Vice-President took a tour of the traffic centre, which is run by 173 employee and provides 77 government services to 110,000 people. Last year, the centre processed 200,000 transactions. During his tour, Shaikh Mohammed thanked the employees for their continuous dedication and diligence to improve public services and promised to revisit them in case they add more stars. In a speech on the occasion, Shaikh Mohammed said, “Direct dealing with the customers carries both tremendous challenges and opportunities at the same time and the true leader is one who succeeds on the ground and who can achieve the highest rate of customer satisfaction. This applies to all — from the head of the government to the junior employee — because the criteria of real success in government work are to serve public interest and create opportunities for them to achieve happiness for themselves and their families.” The UAE is the first country in the world to adopt this rating system for government service centres based on a comprehensive operational framework that emulates the standards applied in hotels, banks and aviation companies. The project is part of the Emirates Government Service Excellence Programme and is managed by the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs. It embodies the practical steps to develop government services according to the international standards and rate all federal customer service centres based on the development of services and responding to customers’ requests. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs; Musabbah Rashid Al Fattan, Director-General of the Dubai Ruler’s Court; Khalifa Saeed Suleiman, Director-General of Dubai Protocol Department; and Brigadier Ahmed Mohammed Ghanem, Commander-in-Chief of Fujairah Police. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
