Tag Archives: georgia
Arab ministers avoid rifts at meeting before summit
Arab ministers avoid rifts at meeting before summit (AFP) / 24 March 2014 Rifts between Qatar and the three other Gulf states as well as Egypt were expected to be tackled during the ministerial meeting and also at the two-day summit starting on Tuesday Arab League foreign ministers said they agreed on the draft resolutions on Sunday for a summit in Kuwait this week, despite deep rifts among member states. Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister Mongi Hamdi speaks with his Qatari counterpart Shaikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa during the opening session of the Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting in preparation for the Arab Summit in Kuwait City on Sunday. UAE Minister of State Dr Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber also seen in the picture. — AFP “There was no tension whatsoever in the meeting. Host country Kuwait in fact has smoothed relations,” Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said at the end of the one-day meeting. “The subject of the … withdrawal of ambassadors was never mentioned at all,” he said. “There were no controversial issues or problems, and the atmosphere was very positive,” he said, declining to answer if efforts will be made to heal the rifts. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have recalled their ambassadors from fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member Qatar in protest at Doha’s perceived support for the Muslim Brotherhood, branded a terrorist organisation by Cairo and Riyadh. Rifts between Qatar and the three other Gulf states as well as Egypt were expected to be tackled during the ministerial meeting and also at the two-day summit starting on Tuesday. Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, however, said: “Not all issues are discussed in the meeting hall. Some issues are debated on the sidelines behind the scenes.” Arab League assistant secretary-general for political affairs Fadhel Jawad has said the Arab leaders will hold a special session during the summit in a bid to sort out their differences. Morocco’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Salahuddin Mezwar, said the ministers discussed efforts to combat international terrorism and ways to limit its impact on Arab countries. But he said Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood or whether to approve a new inter-Arab counter-terrorism pact were not discussed at the meeting. Zebari said all draft resolutions were unanimously approved by Arab foreign ministers. A draft resolution on the Syrian conflict, which entered its fourth year last week, urges the UN Security Council to shoulder its responsibility after the failure of Geneva peace talks between the regime and the opposition. The leader of Syria’s opposition National Coalition, Ahmad Al Jarba, has been invited to address the Arab summit. But Syria’s seat in the Arab League remains vacant although the last annual summit, held in Doha, granted the seat to the opposition. The Arab League said the opposition still needs to meet some legal procedures to take up the seat. On the Palestinian issue, the ministers called on Arab states to provide $100 million in financial aid to the Palestinian Authority every month and rejected recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. The ministers approved the basic charter of a Bahrain-based Arab human rights tribunal and recommended that the next summit be held in Egypt. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Ruthless India whip West Indies in World Twenty20
Ruthless India whip West Indies in World Twenty20 (AFP) / 24 March 2014 India now need one more win from their remaining two matches against Australia and hosts Bangladesh to advance to the semi-finals. India’s spinners wreaked havoc on the West Indies batting to rout the defending champions by seven wickets in the World Twenty20 Super-10 group two match in Dhaka on Sunday. The West Indies, sent in to bat, managed only 129-7 as leg-spinner Amit Mishra claimed two for 18 in four overs, Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up one. India strolled past the modest target with two deliveries to spare as Virat Kohli made 54 off 41 balls and Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten on a fluent 62. The pair put on 106 for the second wicket after left-hander Shikhar Dhawan was trapped leg-before by spinner Samuel Badree off the fifth ball of the innings. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men, who beat arch-rivals Pakistan on Friday, now need one more win from their remaining two matches against Australia and hosts Bangladesh to advance to the semi-finals. The bowlers kept the normally free-stroking West Indies batsmen in check, allowing them just 74 runs by the 15th over for the loss of four wickets. The hard-hitting Chris Gayle, dropped before he had scored and then again on 19, made a 33-ball 34 with two sixes and a four before he was run out in the 13th over. Mishra had Marlon Samuels stumped by Dhoni and claimed Dwayne Bravo leg-before off successive balls in the 15th over to open up the lower order. Lendl Simmons, who was caught off a Jadeja no-ball in the 18th over, celebrated the let-off by smashing the next ball for a six. Simmons made 27 off 22 balls as Jadeja conceded three sixes in the final over. Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan bounced back from their loss to India to defeat Australia by 16 runs. Two teams from the group will advance to the semi-finals. The other group comprises Sri Lanka, South Africa, England, New Zealand and the Netherlands. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Kids go for professional networking websites
Kids go for professional networking websites Dhanusha Gokulan / 23 March 2014 In August 2013, LinkedIn launched a push to recruit career-minded youngsters by lowering its minimum age requirements and targeted users as young as 13. Career-oriented, passionate, driven, well-networked, hard working … these are the kind of buzz words used in the ‘About Me’ description column of most professional networking websites like LinkedIn so that they can connect with a like-minded task force, or in the words of Zainab Zulfi: “… so that it helps my career.” Zulfi spends an average of one-two hours every few days on LinkedIn. She is an ‘all-star’ member on the networking website. Oh, and she is a 15-year-old student at a school in Dubai. Linkedin users Nearly three-quarters of the UAE’s high net worth individuals using social media are LinkedIn members and 92 per cent of them use the website several times a week. About 74 per cent of them access the site through a smartphone and 77 per cent through a tablet. Of all of the UAE’s high net worth individuals who use social media, 78 per cent will use them for at least one financial purpose. “You don’t need to be in your early 20s to be career-driven. I know a lot of parents think that students only chat and waste time on social networking websites, but so many students use it for professional reasons,” says Zainab. In August 2013, LinkedIn launched a push to recruit career-minded youngsters by lowering its minimum age requirements and targeted users as young as 13. The business-oriented social networking site registered a flood of users belonging to the age group of 14-19. Khaleej Times looks into the trend of students using professional networking websites like LinkedIn.com and Nabbesh.com to establish themselves as career-oriented youngsters. Why social media? After LinkedIn lowered the age limit to 13 across most countries, including the UAE and the rest of the Middle East, they rolled out their ‘University Pages’, which provided a new outlet for students, faculty and alumni to connect and share their insights. “Students today are ambitious and forward t hinking. Before they complete high school, they are already looking up universities, courses and weighing their career options,” said Ali Matar, head – Talent Solutions, LinkedIn Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Students, according to website owners, remain one of the fastest growing demographics on their portals. “They represent the future of the Mena region and are a priority for us at LinkedIn — in part because those (aged) between 15-24 represent 30 per cent of the population.” It comes as no surprise for most professional networking website owners that students as young as 15 are using these professional websites. “It is vital that our youth are educated at a young age about the significance of having a career and the necessary skills they need to acquire to get that first job,” said Rima Al Sheikh, co-founder and Techy Owl at Nabbesh.com. Nabbesh is a Dubai-based online skill market place aimed at the Mena region. “Social media has become an integral part of our youth, so it comes as no surprise that they are now using this channel to research firms and follow brands online, build opinions about certain brands and find information to better their career prospects. Furthermore, the race to find a job and the limited opportunities are becoming a challenge that the graduating class is facing, where the survival of the fittest is identified as the one who stands out the most,” Al Sheikh said. Social media, she said, is accessible through all connected devices at anytime and almost all youth have access to WiFi-enabled devices that connect them with companies and potential employers around the world. “For that very reason, solutions such as Nabbesh.com aim to be the online platform that provides these youth with exposure and connects them with virtual work opportunities from across the globe.” Biggest attraction Souief M, 17, a student, said: “Even though I am not very active on LinkedIn, I know it works wonders. I used it to get in touch with some university students in the UK and it worked out very well for me.” The biggest draw for younger members on LinkedIn remains University Pages. Loulou Khazen Baz, founder and Chief Owl at Nabbesh.com, said: “We currently have over 23,000 University Pages. Across the Mena region, our top universities are: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KSA), American University of Sharjah (UAE), American University of Beirut (Lebanon), University of Karachi (Pakistan) and Cairo University (Egypt).” Several private organisations are now hiring youngsters based on their user profiles on networking websites. “Everything that is online is prone to be looked upon by organisations. They look to hire talent — from high school party photos on Facebook to the type of hobbies and interests the person has. We know that on Nabbesh.com clients seek to hire people with 100 per cent profile completion — meaning each person has to include a photo, a biography, skills, work history, education and a sample of their work.” The type of work offered via Nabbesh.com is project-based, which means that the youth can potentially secure work on some projects that do not require a great deal of work experience. “For example, working on illustrations if they are talented artists, using their skills in photography, music and arts, blogging, social media, event planning, teaching fellow students a new language, or even dog walking. The idea is to start thinking about gaining experience, having the discipline to finish a task and get paid for it from an early age.” dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com How to do it > Complete your profile: Add your full name and a professional photo. Craft a strong summary that gives people a concise and memorable way to understand who you are in a professional context. > Show off your education and skills > Engage your network: Once you have your profile in place, don’t forget to engage with your network and actively participate in groups. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
