New International Airport forGoa Government of India has accorded ‘in principle’ approval for construction of an airport of international standards at Mopa in Goa. Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviationsaid in the Rajya Sabha .The State Government of Goa has submitted detailed techno-economic feasibility study report with the help of Airport-De-Paris and IATA/Stup Consultants Pvt. Limited (India).Government has constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister of Goa to look into all aspects relating to the construction of new airport at Mopa. August 2006 - Charity begins from here.... An Earnest Appeal to Save a Precious Life KOTTAYAM - Rajesh Lal, a brilliant scholar of the School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, who is pursuing the M.Phil programme in the SIRP, is struggling to save his life. Rajesh Lal is blind and presently suffering from a very serious kidney disease. It has been diagnosed by the doctors of Medical College, Kottayam that both of his kidneys have failed. At the moment, he is under periodic dialysis. The doctors have recommended that an urgent kidney transplantation may save his life. The medical expenditure for kidney transplantation and the post-transplantation medication is estimated to be around Rs. 6 lakhs. Rajesh Lal will have to undergo treatment for 3-4 years, as post-transplantation medication and dialysis. He belongs to a very poor family with no financial backing for treatment and clinical investigations. His father, who was the only earning member of the family, is now bed-ridden with a chronic illness. His mother is a housewife and presently looking after him in the hospital. At this critical juncture, they find it very difficult to meet the expenditure of transplantation and treatment recommended by the doctors. Rajesh Lal being a brilliant student and the only son of his parents, he deserves all possible help from the society. A forum has been constituted in Mahatma Gandhi University (Rajesh Lal Medical Assistance Forum) to mobilise as much resources as possible from all well-wishers and those who have compassion for such suffering people. We must be kind enough to offer as much financial support as we can to conduct the kidney transplantation so that his precious life may be saved. Money orders/cheques /drafts can be sent to the following Account (by Dr.K.M.Seethi) Patron and Convener, Rajesh Lal Medical Assistance Forum, Mahatma Gandhi University, Account No. 6701578438-8 State Bank of Travancore Mahatma Gandhi University Branch (70669), Priyadarshini Hills P.O., Kottayam, Kerala-686 560, India or to The Director, School of International Relations and Politics Mahatma Gandhi University, Priyadarshini Hills P.O., Kottayam, Kerala-686560, India "Good deeds must be respected, even if it is done by a man who is dishonest," Bernard Shaw. Middle East Chandrika Report by Ahmed P Sharief Seven Days report by VM Sathish helps Stranded Kerala Woman.. Woman in Crisis Comes forward to Help Nabeesa...based on Report in Seven Days.... Help Pours in for Malayali Woman Stranded in the Desert Hut for Two Years SHARJAH - For a change, Middle East Chandrika, the official mouthpiece of Muslim League Kerala from Dubai decided not to carry any League leaders picture on the front page top of the paper on May 14. Chandrika always carries front page photos of Muslim League leaders like E.Ahmed or Kunjalikutty but the 14th May edition had a different story by Ahmed P.Sharief, the Editor in Chief.. Haunted for long by the media for the party leaders alleged role in sex scandals that tarnished the League image, especially among the woman electorate of Kerala, Middle East Chandrika had a different story of a Malayali woman who is stranded in the Arabian desert, without anyone to offer a helping hand, let alone a drop of water to quell her thirst in the torching Summer.. .Sharief, the Editor in Chief kept aside all his busy schedules and assignments and drove al lthe way to Shabia Fala in the Sharjah- Fujiarah road. His mission was not to meet any League or KMCC leaders or a visiting Kerala politician, but to meet someone special.. Nabeesa...She had no visitors room to welcome the journalist or an air conditioned room or a glass of water to treat the journalist...and her name is Nabeesa. For the last two years, the unemployed former housemaid who has spent 17 years in the UAE has been living in partial poverty near a bedoin colony Shabia Al Fala near sixth interchange of the Sharjah -Fujiarah route. She survives with the alms given by the bedoin families and the grocery and cafeteria owners in the neighbourhood of Shabia Falai as she cannot go for full scale begging, which is anned in the UAE. (photo: Nabeesa 47, by Ahmed P.Sharief) There will not be any other Keralite woman living in such utter conditions, says Ahmed P. Sharief, Editor Middle East Chandrika who spotted her first at her desert dwelling. After the Middle East Chandrika edited by Ahmed Sharief carried a front page story about the pathetic living conditions of the ageing Malayali lady, many people have come forward expressing their willingness to help her. "A lot of individuals and institutions have come forward to help the Malayali lady," says Sharief. Leading English Daily, 7-Days too followed up the story. "This is one of the good stories that I could do after becoming the Editor in Chief of Middle East Chandrika. "Even though a heavy electric line passes through the area, there is no electric light, fan or air conditioner in her mini apartment," Sharief wrote. "She has lived there against all odds because there is no other alternative. She lost her job in a textile shop run by Pakistani expatriates and her husband died years ago. She is in a debt trap after spending her life's saving for marrying her only daughter paying heavy dowry," the ME Chandrika report added. Mother of two sons who live in India, the lady could not go home for seven years. When the garment shop where she worked was closed two years back she had to leave her residence and found an alternative home. At nights she is scared to live alone in the isolated desert colony. The Muslim woman uses abandoned carpets from the neighbouring Bedouin families to cover her home and at nights she is scared. The Imam of an adjacent Mosque is the only ray of hope in the desert area as she lives far away from other residential pockets of the city. She cooks the alms given by the well wishers and visitors to the area. The grocery and cafeteria in the area too help her occasionally, but she cannot go and ask for food every day. Whenever she gets some money, she calls up India to speak to her two sons. Thanks to the ME Chandrika report, offers ranging from Dhs.5,000 are pouring in.. as a number of good Samaritans are willing to help her. She used to take water from a Bedoin family but they have stopped giving her water - may be due to serious water shortage in summer. The residents are not affluent like the rich Arabs of Dubai or Sharjah. People think that Nabeesa's home is cattle shed and that is the only reason why the Municipality officials have not removed it. Her sponsor is also not very rich to help her or take Nabeesa to the hospital when she falls sick. There is no health card to go to hospitals but she got a valid visa to live in UAE. However, it will expire in three months. She came to Sharjah eight years ago to work as housemaid. Having worked with two Arab families, her visa was changed to a garment shop in Shabia Fala run by Pakistani expatriates because the third family which employed her could not pay her salary. The shop owner was paying Dhs.500 for the shop and Dhs.300 for the house. She needs help to renew her visa, go home and return to Dubai and earn a livelihood to look after her children. Members of Kerala Muslim Cultural Center (KMCC), with broad base in Dubai and other Gulf countries have come forward to help the helpless lady. It is a major force in the Middle East on which Chandrika hope to fall back for moral and material support to grow in a tough newspaper market. By doing such stories, journalists can make a difference and fulfill the avowed mission to make it a different newspaper. Whatever is the medium, a true journalist can carry out his mission...and help the poor and downtrodden... P.Ahmed Sharief completed his school education from Kundamangalam High School Karanthoor and Chendamangalloore Islahia College, Calicut. Completed BA in Economics and first class MA (Arab language) from the Calicut University. He started journalism career as the editor of Gulf Voice Magazine in 1984 and later joined the Thiruvananthapuram bureau of Kalakaumudi as sub editor. Later he became the Calicut Bureau Chief and correspondent. During 1990-94 he became the Chief Reporter of Kalakaumudi, the first Malayalam daily from Mumbai. During the infamous communal riots in which thousands of people, especially Muslims, were butchered and his reports in Kalakaumudi, edited by Viju V.Nair attracted national attention. The Bombay riot reports were later published in the form of a 200 page book entitled - Bombay: Kalapathinte Dinangal (Dark Days of Bombay Riots). Another book Fathima in Malayalam deals with Islamic woman. The book Fathima compares the life of Fathima, daughter of Prophet Mohammed (Peace be Up On Him) with the modern Islamic woman. A good reader, he has also been the General Secretary of the Indian Media Forum, representing the Indian journalists in Dubai. He was also the Abu Dhabi Bureau Chief of Malayalam News, the first Malayalam Newspaper from Saudi Arabia. He has also received the K. Balakrishnan award for best journalist in 1987. During his twenty years of journalism career, he could meet and interview prominent leaders like the former Indian Prime Ministers like Morarjee Desai, V.P.Singh and Rajiv Gandhi. Sharad Pawar, Bal Thackaray, Kanshi Ram, E K Nayanar are the prominent state leaders interviewed by the journalist. Another prominent world leader that he interviewed includes Parwesh Musharaff, the Pakistan President. Air-India Express passengers to Muscat spend 16 hours at Kozhikode airport without flight Saddam Hussein faces possible death penalty BAGHDAD, 21 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - The ousted Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, went on trial on Monday for a second time on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. According to the prosecution, all the crimes were committed in the wake of Hussein’s 1987-88 alleged crackdown against ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq. The case against Hussein and six co-defendants is centred on the deaths of some 180,000 Kurds during this offensive, dubbed Operation Anfal (Arabic for ‘spoils of war’) by the Iraqi army. The operation was allegedly aimed at crushing Kurdish militias and clearing all Kurds from the northern region along the border with Iran. Hussein had accused the Kurds of helping Iran in its war with Iraq [September 1980 to August 1988]. Many Kurdish villages were razed to the ground and countless young men disappeared, according to the prosecution. "This case is completely different from the previous one in which there was just one charge: crimes against humanity,” said Tarik Harb, a Baghdad-based legal expert. "Today [in this trial], there are three charges [against Hussein and his co-defendants]: genocide, which is defined as crimes against a group of people for their ethnic, religious or nationality backgrounds; crimes against humanity, which are the systematic targeting of civilians; and war crimes, which include all acts that contravene the Geneva Conventions," Harb said. When asked to enter a plea on the three charges, Hussein, who faces a possible death penalty, replied by saying, "That would require volumes of books." The judge then ordered a plea of not-guilty to be recorded on his behalf. Other defendants include Ali Hassan al-Majid, Hussein's cousin, who allegedly led Operation Anfal as secretary of the then ruling Ba’ath Party's northern bureau. His role earned him the nickname ‘Chemical Ali’ because of the use of poisonous gas in the campaign. Also on trial is Sabir al-Douri, a former director of military intelligence; Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, who was head of the Iraqi army's 1st Corps, which was responsible for the Anfal military operation; and Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, then the Mosul governor. The two other defendants are Hussein Rashid Mohammed, who was deputy director of operations for the Iraqi military, and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, then head of military intelligence's eastern regional office. The trial began as Hussein and six other co-defendants await verdicts, due on 16 October, from an earlier trial for their alleged involvement in the killings of more than 148 Shi’ite Muslims from Dujail, a small village 60km north of Baghdad. This was revenge for an alleged assassination attempt on Hussein in the town in 1982. Belhasa launches Driving Instructor Training Programme August , 2006Belhasa Driving Center (BDC), one of the premier driving institutes in the UAE, has announced the launch of the Driving Instructor Training Programme (DITP), the Middle East?s first of its kind programme that aims to further enhance the skills of driving instructors in the region through a comprehensive and scientifically-designed training course. The DITP is open to driving instructors from all over the Middle East, who upon successfully completing the course, will be certified as a Belhasa Approved Driving Instructor (BADI). All tutors providing training to the driving instructors as part of the DITP have been trained as per the UK Government system on the ?Train the Trainer? course. Another factor that is expected to contribute to the success of the DITP is that the programme is supervised by Adam Kechil, Director of Training at BDC, who is a renowned expert on driver training and road safety. Saif Ahmed Belhasa, Chairman and Managing Director, BDC, said, ?Over the years, Belhasa Driving Center has set new standards for driver training in the region with our highly experienced instructors and through our scientific approach to training. Now we have moved a step higher by introducing the region?s first training programme designed for driving instructors. As this specialised programme is open to instructors from within the UAE and rest of the region as well, we are anticipating a major demand for this in the coming months.? ?The overriding goal of introducing such a programme is to reduce the number of accidents on our roads and improve road safety by enhancing the standard of driving by means of fine tuning the training techniques of driving instructors. All the instructors for the DITP have undergone the highest level of training as per international standards and are guided by Adam Kechil who is an acclaimed authority on driver training and road safety,? he added. In order to incorporate global best practices in driver training, Belhasa Driving Center has associated itself with several international associations such as London?s Driving Instructors Association International, which offers consultation and feedback on driver instructor standards. ?We are glad to be the first driving center in the region to introduce such a comprehensive program for driving instructors. What sets us apart from the rest is our fundamental approach to driver training and our ability to effectively leverage international best practices in training and road safety. I am certain that the DITP will be a resounding success, the signs of which are already evident from the response it is generating,? said Adam Kechil Dip DI, M inst MTD, Director of Training & Head of Road Safety, BDC. With its state-of-the-art facilities and range of services, Belhasa Driving Center is today much more than a driving institute. BDC recently opened its new office and vehicle testing center in Al Wasl Club, which serves as a one-stop-destination for customers applying for driving licenses, as it provides services including registration, eye test, training and testing, issuance of learning permit and driving license, transportation and issuance of international driving licence.