N. Bush's foreign business deals draw spotlight Role of president's brother in transactions detailed in documents tied to divorce Full Report Expert Stresses Need To Rebuild Structures Differently Syria Introduces Resolution On Middle East WMD-Free Zone Saddam Threatens to Expose American President Full Report UAE Ministry of Information and Fujairah Police conduct first-ever raid in Fujairah
MTC-VODAFONE PARTNERS WITH INTERNATIONAL TURNKEY SYSTEMS FOR BAHRAIN OPERATIONS
Reiterates ITS continuous support and commitment to MTC-Vodafone's operational expansionBahrain, December 29, 2003: - Leading mobile service provider, MTC-Vodafone has appointed International Turnkey Systems, the established solutions provider in Middle East and Africa, as IT solutions partner for its services in Bahrain.
ITS is to provide MTC-Vodafone with comprehensive and state-of-the-art integrated solutions designed to support the mobile service provider's current operations and ultimately its 3G network services to be commercially launched in Bahrain in early 2004. ITS will also provide facilities management services for MTC-Vodafone's IT infrastructure operations.
"MTC-Vodafone has always been committed to delivering best of breed value-added services to its subscribers. This has been continued through teaming up with ITS," said Mr. Khalid Al Farkh, Chief Operating Officer for MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain)."ITS with its proven expertise and experience in handling complex integrations ensured that the aggressive launch deadline of our network operations in Bahrain was met successfully.
"This has only reaffirmed our belief that we can continue to leverage on the cutting-edge capabilities of ITS to address the growing market challenges in the telecom sector in the region."
Advanced ITS integrated solutions such as its billing and customer care system, mediation and provisioning software, IP based multi-channel contact centre, e-business and portal solution, interconnect and collection-recovery systems featured heavily in the partnership.
"We have executed several successful turnkey projects for MTC-Vodafone in Kuwait and we are pleased that this has translated into it awarding us the prestigious contract of implementing total turnkey solutions for the commencement of its services in Bahrain," said Mr. Khaled Faraj Al-Saeid, ITS General Manager.Under its licence obligations, MTC-Vodafone is committed to delivering 95 percent geographic coverage from day one for 2G (GSM), EDGE and 3G technologies, voice services and various data service such as SMS, MMS, WAP, push/pull information service and location based services.
"ITS's commitment to its aggressive targets and deadlines are unmatched in the industry," said Mr. Khalid Muhtadi, Chief Operations Officer for IT, Billing and Customers Services, MTC-Vodafone Bahrain. "We relied on ITS for integrating the latest technologies including mobile data, MMS and 3G with our business support systems and our call centre.
"Through flexibility, technical competence, and dedication they met the challenge and delivered seamlessly integrated solutions.
"Based on our success in the implementation phase we intend to expand our partnership with ITS to cover future solutions and outsourcing critical IT operations to them in order to focus on our strategic and commercial competencies."
Commenting on the collaborative relationship with MTC-Vodafone, Dr. Costas G. Constantinidis, ITS Senior Marketing Manager said: "It has been our privilege to partner with a cellular operator like MTC-Vodafone which is at the forefront of delivering advanced wireless services to its customers."We look forward to providing MTC-Vodafone with early to market solutions as ever before, which will enable it to retain its position of leadership in mobile communications."
MTC-Vodafone comes as a result of a strategic agreement between the Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), a GCC regional company originating in Kuwait and Vodafone, a UK based global telecom company. MTC-Vodafone has been chosen by Bahrain's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to develop its 2nd GSM service.
Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) was founded in 1983 and is perhaps one of the oldest mobile service providers in the world. MTC has a reputation for pioneering new services in the Middle East and constantly seeks to forge partnerships with key global companies to bring the best products and services to the region. MTC is considered to be a very successful, customer focused and ambitious company and has aspirations that fit with the Vodafone strategy for global customer services. Vodafone is keen to provide all of its customers' access to the best services available, whether they are on their home network or roaming.
Incorporated in 1981, International Turnkey Systems (ITS) is a leading IT solutions provider with an established presence in Middle East and North Africa. ITS offers innovative and fully integrated solutions for industries as diverse as banking and finance, telecommunications, retail, oil and gas and higher education. Committed to providing its clients with access to the best-of-breed technology, ITS chooses to partner with leading IT vendors and customize their offerings to suit the regional business requirements. With a resource pool of more than 650 employees based in 13 offices in the Middle East region, ITS is focused on enhancing the competitive position of its clients to meet the future challenges.
UAE Ministry of Information and Fujairah Police conduct first-ever raid in Fujairah as part of stringent measures to combat software piracy
Raid leads to seizure of 93 PCs uploaded with 185 copies of pirated software
December 27, 2003
The UAE Ministry of Information has intensified its campaign against resellers and companies using pirated software across the UAE. In the latest move, the Ministry in association with Fujairah Police conducted a raid against a company using pirated software.
The first-ever raid in the emirate of Fujairah led to the seizure of 93 PCs uploaded with 185 copies of pirates software and programmes, including AutoDesk Autocad Version 14, AutoDesk Autocad 14 Mechanical, Autocad 2000 and 2002, Visual Basic 6.0, Encarta 2000, Microsoft Project and Office 2000 Pro, Office 97 and Windows Millennium, '98, XP and 2000.
"Users and resellers must understand that they need to use original software in order to avoid legal action," said Scott Butler, CEO of Arabian Antipiracy Alliance (AAA). "The latest raid once demonstrates the determination of the UAE authorities in combating software piracy across the country. The UAE Ministry of Information's commitment to the protection on intellectual property rights is supported by the Ministry of Interior represented by the police headquarters in all emirates."
"The country-wide anti-piracy campaign demonstrates the UAE government's aggressiveness in giving top priority to intellectual property rights, in order to protect consumers and businesses from the negative effects of piracy," added Butler. "It is important that individuals and companies insist on authorized software in order to ensure a higher return on investment from the IT systems they have deployed."
Iranian Officials Say Earthquake Death Toll May Reach 50,000
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Iranian government officials have said the death toll from Friday's earthquake in southeastern Iran could reach 50,000, making it one of the most lethal natural disasters of recent times, Reuters reports today. As of this morning, 28,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves.
"If we consider that, on average, five people lived in each house we can say the death toll will reach 50,000," said a senior Interior Ministry official.
Friday's tremor in the ancient city of Bam, 600 miles southeast of Tehran, struck before dawn, killing people as they slept (Blair/Hafezi, Reuters, Dec. 30).
Today aid workers said they had shifted their operations from searching for survivors to treating the injured and homeless.
"We have gone out of the rescue phase and entered the humanitarian relief phase of the operation," said Ted Peran, coordinator of U.N. relief operations. "There's always hope of pulling more survivors out ... but the window of opportunity is closing rapidly."
By this morning the number of international rescuers had dropped to about 1,500 from 1,700, while new aid was arriving, including a U.S. military plane carrying 80 personnel and medical supplies (Matthew Pennington, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Dec. 30).
As of yesterday, UNICEF had sent to the region more than 45 tons of supplies worth $285,000 and an additional 72 emergency health kits to cover the needs of 10,000 people for up to three months. The United Nations estimates that the earthquake has injured 20,000 people and left 70,000 homeless.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has sent $140,000 worth of aid, including 1,000 tents, 10,000 blankets and 3,000 mattresses, while the U.N. Development Program and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have together contributed $190,000 for relief and coordination efforts.
Around 40 tons of high-energy biscuits were also expected to arrive in the region today sent by the World Food Program (U.N. release, Dec. 29).
Also today, six Gulf states — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman — pledged $400 million to help reconstruct Bam, site of the world's largest medieval mud fortress (Pennington, AP/Yahoo! News).
The Los Angeles Times reports that criticism is growing against the Iranian government for not preparing the country for earthquakes, which are common in the region.
Residents of Bam have been complaining about the government's slow response to the crisis, saying that relief supplies such as medicine and blankets are arriving slowly (Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 30).
"Two children from my family, 12 and 13 years old, survived the earthquake, but they died from exposure while out on the street sometime on Friday night," a woman said. "Half of my family is still under the debris. We buried 14 family members yesterday. Writers and poets should try to find a word bigger than 'disaster'" (Blair/Hafezi, Reuters).
Expert Stresses Need To Rebuild Structures Differently
Brian Tucker, founder and president of the nonprofit GeoHazards International, which seeks to improve global earthquake safety measures, writes in today's Washington Post that changes can be made to prevent the high death toll seen in Iran and other poor countries in recent earthquakes. "This is accomplished through risk assessment, public education and awareness, building-code enforcement, training of masons and engineers, emergency-preparedness planning, and retrofitting of buildings and infrastructure," he writes.
"When thoughts turn from rescuing the survivors of the earthquake to rebuilding Bam, some significant fraction of the available resources, both human and fiscal, should be directed to training local masons in how to build earthquake-resistant structures," Tucker adds. "Too often in the past, well-meaning organizations, in their hurry to provide shelter against severe weather conditions, have built what are essentially rowhouses of concrete boxes. Sometimes these houses are not used by the local people, who sooner or later build again in the traditional, earthquake-vulnerable way."
"This is the time to train a new generation of masons on how to do things right," Tucker writes. "This should be a requirement of all reconstruction projects funded by regional banks or national and international aid organizations" (Brian Tucker, Washington Post, Dec. 30).
Expert Stresses Need To Rebuild Structures Differently
Brian Tucker, founder and president of the nonprofit GeoHazards International, which seeks to improve global earthquake safety measures, writes in today's Washington Post that changes can be made to prevent the high death toll seen in Iran and other poor countries in recent earthquakes. "This is accomplished through risk assessment, public education and awareness, building-code enforcement, training of masons and engineers, emergency-preparedness planning, and retrofitting of buildings and infrastructure," he writes.
"When thoughts turn from rescuing the survivors of the earthquake to rebuilding Bam, some significant fraction of the available resources, both human and fiscal, should be directed to training local masons in how to build earthquake-resistant structures," Tucker adds. "Too often in the past, well-meaning organizations, in their hurry to provide shelter against severe weather conditions, have built what are essentially rowhouses of concrete boxes. Sometimes these houses are not used by the local people, who sooner or later build again in the traditional, earthquake-vulnerable way."
"This is the time to train a new generation of masons on how to do things right," Tucker writes. "This should be a requirement of all reconstruction projects funded by regional banks or national and international aid organizations" (Brian Tucker, Washington Post, Dec. 30).
Syria Introduces Resolution On Middle East WMD-Free Zone
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
By Jim Wurst
U.N. WireUNITED NATIONS — With three days left of its term on the Security Council, Syria yesterday introduced a draft resolution calling on countries of the Middle East to create a region free of weapons of mass destruction.
Syrian Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said a Middle East WMD-free zone "should be at the top of the agenda of the international community." He added, "This is a very crucial issue in the Middle East, and I think once we achieve it, we shall have a further step in solving … complicated problems in a very sensitive region."
With inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iran and Libya determining the nuclear weapons capabilities of those countries, Mekdad said, "Recent interest shown by members of the Security Council … encouraged us to come to the council before we leave to put the issue [forward]."
The draft "emphasizes" the role of the council "in adopting a global approach to countering the spread of all [WMD] in the countries of the Middle East without exception" and calls on the states in the region to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions. Some Arab states, including Syria, are not parties to all of the latter three conventions, but Israel is the only country in the region outside of the NPT. "It is applicable to everybody, but in fact Israel is the real [issue], whether we like it or not, because Israel has all these kinds of weapons," said Mekdad.
The draft cites previous council and General Assembly resolutions and unanimous decisions from the review conferences of the NPT in 1995 and 2000 calling for negotiations for creating a Middle East zone free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The draft also asks Secretary General Kofi Annan to submit a report within one month upon implementation of the resolution.
Neither Mekdad nor Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, the current president of the council, said whether they expected the council to take up the draft again before the end of the year.
