Puntland administration lifts ban on BBC reporters
Bolero.net's secure electronic document exchange system to accelerate Kingdom's e-commerce initiatives
January 29, 2003
JACKY'S MAKES AN IMPACT WITH BLAZE SAHARAjet AT DUBAI SIGN SHOW
Dubai: Jacky's Gulf FZE, the official distributors for Blaze Technologies from Holland, announced the sale of the first Blaze SAHARAjet in the United Arab Emirates to Impact Advertising in Dubai. The deal was concluded during the Sign & Graphic Imaging Exhibition held at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
The SAHARAjet is a 3.2 metre wide digital printing system designed specifically for Middle East and African markets. It is designed to print for applications such as outdoor billboards, vehicle graphics, shop signs, POP displays, bridge graphics, exhibition graphics - wherever superwide format prints are required.
The on-going Dubai Shopping Festival provides current examples of how the SAHARAjet could be used, said Ashish Panjabi, General Manager, Jacky's Gulf FZE. "With the boom in outdoor advertising throughout this region, a greater portion of media budgets have been kept aside for the outdoor advertising market. With the support of Dubai Municipality, we have seen many new applications for digital printing. A prime example of this is the use of outdoor media for the Dubai Shopping Festival this year."
Jacky's became distributors for the Netherlands-based Blaze Technologies BV two years ago, and now represents the company throughout the GCC, Iran, Yemen and Pakistan. Among the products it distributes for the company is the high-performance, 5.0 metre superwide format, six-colour digital printer Blaze XLjet - which made its GCC debut at Sign & Graphics Imaging 2002. The SAHARAjet was introduced into the Blaze product line-up at Jacky's at the recently-concluded Sign & Graphics show.
The sale coincides with Blaze Technologies' recent announcement of the opening of a regional office in Dubai. Blaze Technologies is also, in collaboration with Jacky's Gulf FZE, to open a demonstration and training centre in Jebel Ali. The centre will become the demonstration and training base for customers from the entire Middle East, Africa and Pakistan. Customers formerly traveled to Europe for a first-hand view and experience of the machines' applications. The centre is expected to open by March this year.
Jacky's Gulf FZE is part of the Jacky's Group of Companies, which is involved primarily in retail, mail order, distribution and e-commerce sales. The Group has direct operations in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and agents across the world.
The Group was established in 1970 in Hong Kong as a mail order business targeted towards the tax and duty-free community. Today, the company still serves this customer base from their mail order distribution bases in Hong Kong and Dubai. The customer base spans over 130 countries and includes diplomats and embassies, UN officials and organisations, non-government organisations and some of the finest duty-free outlets in the world.
Jacky's Gulf FZE is a leader in the retail and wholesale sales of electronics, digital printing equipment, commodities, home appliances, IT equipment and office automation products in Dubai and other parts of the world. The company has locations in the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The current customer base is spread out over 130 countries and still growing.
Blaze Technologies BV is a leader in manufacturing and production of wide format digital printing systems. Using the latest in piezo-inkjet technologies, the company has successfully penetrated various Middle Eastern and North African markets since its inception in 1998. Headquartered in Holland, the company's main manufacturing facilities is strategically located close to the borders of Holland, Belgium and Germany.
. (Keralamonitor.com)Tanzania : British High Commissioner denies media reports on safety
DAR ES SALAAM, 29 January (IRIN) - The British High Commissioner to Tanzania, Richard Clarke, has denied Tanzanian media reports which suggested he had contradicted British foreign office advice on travel to Zanzibar.
Clarke said the media had misinterpreted comments he had made during a visit to the island. On 15 January, the British foreign office issued a warning that Tanzania, including Zanzibar and Pemba Islands, was one of a number of countries in the region where there may be an increased terrorist threat. Tanzanian Radio had quoted Clarke as saying the situation on the islands was "one of peace and stability" and was "safe" for tourists.
Clarke said the British government had not issued a travel ban to its citizens wishing to visit Zanzibar, but that it was carrying out its duty to warn them of possible dangers. "In the light of the global situation it is the prime duty of the government to safeguard its citizens abroad and that is what we are doing," he told IRIN. "We are not banning or asking our citizens not to travel. The fact that I was there is proof of that."
"They [the Tanzanian media] equated the fact that I had said there was no travel ban as it being safe to travel. I was not going over to declare that it was safe to travel - when we have credible information, we have a duty to pass it on to our citizens." The Australian and the US governments have also warned their citizens to be extremely cautious if visiting Tanzania, especially Zanzibar. Clarke, who was in Zanzibar for the launch of the Zanzibari Association of Women Politicians, said the British government recognised the collateral effect of travel warnings. "I wanted to see first hand the situation on Zanzibar and I was struck by the immediate economic impact of the travel advisories." "The difficulty is that while we are conscious of the impact of these travel bans, our first duty is to our citizens," he said. "Given what has happened recently to British citizens, especially in Bali, if we get credible information we have to put it in the public domain."
"As development partners, however, we are not just there when the sun shines - we will stick by the government."Local tourist operators have expressed outrage at the travel warnings, which they say were issued without due consideration to their potential effect on tourism. January to March is normally the peak tourist season for Zanzibar and hotel owners say there have been cancellations. Zanzibar's Minister for Trade and Tourism, Mohamed Aboud, said no information had been found to substantiate the warnings of possible terrorist attacks. "We think Zanzibar is just as safe as other European states because this is now a global problem - we need to fight collectively against the terrorists," he told IRIN.
Sharon Re-Elected; Palestinians Skeptical Of Peace Prospects
Israeli voters yesterday overwhelmingly endorsed the hardline policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party, marking the worst-ever defeat for the Labor party, which campaigned on a promise of ending the country's occupation of Palestinian territories and initiating immediate peace talks with the Palestinians, the London Guardian reports.
Despite what appeared to be the country's lowest-ever voter turnout, Sharon's decisive re-election is likely to push Israel to the right, the Guardian reports, as his party seeks coalition support from right-wing religious parties opposed to withdrawing Jewish settlements from the occupied territories and exchanging land for peace with the Palestinians (Chris McGreal, London Guardian, Jan. 29).
According to Israeli Radio, the latest data from electoral authorities suggested that Likud won 37 of the Knesset's 120 seats to Labor's 19. The ultra-orthodox Shas party, a traditional ally of Likud, won 10 seats, while the left-wing Meretz, a traditional ally of Labor, won only five seats, causing its leader, Yossi Sarid, to resign. Meanwhile, the centrist and secular Shinui party took a surprise 15 seats, while the remaining seats were taken by smaller parties on both sides of the political spectrum (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29).
A possible coalition, according to the Jerusalem Post, could include Likud, Labor and Shinui (Calev Ben-David, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29). Yet Shinui leader Tommy Lapid said his party would not join a government that includes ultra-orthodox parties, while Labor leader Amram Mitzna asserted that his party was "not interested" in joining Sharon's government again, despite the support of the Israeli public for such a national unity government.
In his victory speech last night, Sharon pledged that the fight against "terror organizations" would continue, while he also held out the possibility of peace.
"The battle against the terror organizations has not ended, and it is claiming victims every day," he said, noting the threat Iraq allegedly poses to Israel and the country's serious economic problems. Sharon said voters had backed the idea that he will deliver a "victory over terrorism" and a "real opening for peace."
"I say to all parties, the differences between us are dwarfed by the murderous hatred of the terror organizations," he said. "Israel needs unity," he added (Peter Herman, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 29).
Editorials Say Israelis Support Palestinian State, End To Conflict
The Jerusalem Post in an editorial today says that by re-electing Sharon, Israelis have "chosen a middle road: unilateral withdrawal, no; conditional Palestinian state, yes." The conditions for Palestinian statehood, it says, go beyond the Oslo-accord requirement that such a state be demilitarized, and include "a new post-September 11 requirement: It must not be a dictatorship that needs enmity with Israel to stay in power."
The newspaper calls it "a good idea" that Sharon reportedly plans to draft his own "road map" for a Palestinian state, separate from that drafted by the Quartet of parties working on Middle East peace -- the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia. "It will demonstrate to Israelis, Palestinians and the world that Jerusalem has a plan to end not just the current war, but the Arab-Israeli conflict in general" (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29).
An editorial in Ha'aretz today says that while votes were split among various parties yesterday, public opinion polls show that the majority of Israelis "hopes for an end to the conflict with the Palestinians and agrees to pay the territorial and symbolic price necessary" (Ha'aretz, Jan. 29).
According to the Baltimore Sun, the election results have appeared to doom any attempt to restart peace negotiations as long as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remains the head of the Palestinian Authority. Senior Palestinian officials characterized Likud's victory as a defeat for Israelis and Palestinians.
"This is a heavy blow to a peaceful settlement," said Palestinian Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo. "Israelis have committed a historical mistake which they and the Palestinians will regret," he added (Herman, Baltimore Sun).
Another senior Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, expressed even more pessimism about any future coalition in Israel. "I think all indications are that things will get worse," he said. "I don't see any sign of reviving hope or reviving the peace process" (McGreal, London Guardian).
Palestinian Factions Reach Pact To Form Power-Sharing Coalition
Representatives from 12 Palestinian political factions meeting in Cairo agreed this week to a plan to share power in a coalition to run the Palestinian Authority, Knight Ridder News Service reports.
The pact brings together Arafat's Fatah faction and its radical rivals, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who only recently rejected a proposal backed by Fatah to end all attacks on Israeli civilians. Both radical groups are considered terrorist organizations by the United States and Israel.
While there is no blueprint yet for the proposed coalition, people with ties to the factions were already hailing it as a breakthrough that could heal internal Palestinian tensions. "It will be a united leadership of our country, rather than leadership by one unemployed leader," said Abdel Qader Yassin, in a reference to Arafat (Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, Knight Ridder/Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 28).
Violence Continues In Region
Meanwhile, violence in the region continued yesterday, leaving nine Palestinians dead (Herman, Baltimore Sun). In the West Bank town of Jenin, an Agence France-Presse reporter was shot and wounded yesterday by Israeli soldiers despite being clearly identified as a member of the press (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 28). In Gaza City, the reason behind an explosion that left several Palestinians dead and about a dozen more wounded is under dispute. The Israelis insist that the explosion, which destroyed a house belonging to a member of Hamas, was caused by a "working accident by Palestinian terrorists," but Hamas claimed that the explosion was caused by a nearby Israeli helicopter that allegedly fired missiles (Frank Bruni, New York Times, Jan. 28).
Christian Aid Warns Of Human Catastrophe In Palestinian Areas
The British charity organization Christian Aid released a report today warning that 75 percent of Palestinians are now living in poverty, accusing Israel of violating international humanitarian norms in the occupied territories and calling on the United States and the United Kingdom to put pressure on Israel to observe relevant international conventions (German Krylov, ITAR-Tass, Jan. 29). The report also condemns all attacks on civilians in the region, calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territories and for international monitors to oversee the process.
"The Palestinians are currently living in a state of extreme, worsening poverty and fear for their future," said William Bell, the report's author, noting that the continuing occupation is the primary reason for the destruction of the Palestinian economy. "The international community must either find the political will to tackle the situation, or witness a further descent into abject poverty, despair and hopelessness -- a potent mix that will blight the lives of millions of people for years to come" (Christian Aid release, Jan. 27).
UNESCO Promoting Peace InitiativesUNESCO is joining forces with other international organizations to promote peace and justice in the region, Portuguese News Network reports. According to the news service, a special team, including senior U.N. officials, is being created to attempt to foster reconstruction and reconciliation in the area. UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura said in a declaration about UNESCO's work in the Middle East that the U.N. agency is intent on providing support to measures that especially target cultural and educational initiatives (PNN/Jornaldigital.com, Jan. 29, UN Wire translation).
