Etihad launches cargo service to Baghdad

UAE: Etihad Crystal Cargo, a division of Etihad Airways, is to launch a twice weekly service from its hub at Abu Dhabi airport to Baghdad.
The service, which will begin on September 1, will operate every Tuesday and Thursday, with Etihad deploying one of its A300-600 freighters with a payload of 42 tonnes on the route.
Baghdad is Etihad's first cargo-only destination in the Middle East and this is the first time in its history that the airline has operated any service to Iraq.
Des Vertannes, executive vice president for cargo said: "We are very proud to launch Etihad's first services to Baghdad and assist in the country's reconstruction.
"Trade and business ties between the UAE and Iraq continue to grow and we look forward to building a strong customer base in the country, which is widely considered one of the region's fastest growing markets."
With its fleet of two Airbus A300-600 aircraft and an MD11, Etihad Crystal Cargo has 14 cargo freighter destinations including Frankfurt Haan, Mumbai, Lagos, Colombo and Milan.
The first flight to Baghdad operates on Tuesday, September 1.
It will operate every Tuesday and Thursday between Abu Dhabi and Baghdad.
Flight EY981 departs from Abu Dhabi at 6am and arrives in Baghdad at 7.15am.
The return flight, EY980, departs from Baghdad at 11.15am and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 2.30pm. All times are local.

Brown visits troops

Kabul: Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he pledged to speed up the training of Afghan security forces, the BBC and Sky News reported.
"I think we could get another 50,000 Afghan army personnel trained over the next year," Brown told the BBC from Helmand province, where the majority of Britain's approximately 9,000 troops in Afghanistan are based.
"Stepping that up means that the Afghans take more responsibility for their own affairs. They're backed up by partnering and mentoring done by the British forces."
Quicker training could require more British troops, and the BBC reported that Brown discussed this possibility with General Stanley McChrstyal, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, during his trip.
Brown also visited British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand province and thanked them for their efforts in fighting insurgents in the build-up to the presidential elections on Aug. 20.
A total of 207 British military personnel have died in operations in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

UAE seizes NKorea ship with arms bound for Iran

Shipment was falsely labeled "machine parts": report
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UNITED NATIONS: The United Arab Emirates seized a ship several weeks ago that was bound for Iran and carrying North Korean weapons in violation of a United Nations embargo, Western diplomats said on Friday.
"They (UAE) did seize the ship and it was carrying weapons from North Korea for Iran," a U.N. Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity, confirming a report in the Financial Times newspaper.
The diplomat said UAE government officials had informed the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee, which is responsible for implementing sanctions on Pyongyang.
" They (UAE) did seize the ship and it was carrying weapons from North Korea for Iran "
A U.N. Security Council diplomat"It is an issue that is being processed by the committee," said the source, who declined further comment on details on the weapons.
The UAE mission to the U.N. also declined comment on the case.
The Financial Times reported earlier Friday that the ship was seized "some weeks ago," and identified some of the armaments as basic weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.
The arms had been falsely labeled as "machine parts," the Times reported.
The new round of U.N. sanctions were approved unanimously on June 12, under resolution 1874, in response to North Korea's earlier nuclear weapons test and subsequent missile launches.
The resolution included financial sanctions designed to choke off revenue to the regime, and also called for beefed-up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea, and an expanded arms embargo.

Smoking to kill 6 million in 2010

WASHINGTON: Six million people worldwide will die from smoking-related illnesses next year, according to the annual Tobacco Atlas report from the American Cancer Society.
"Tobacco accounts for one out of every 10 deaths worldwide and will claim 5.5 million lives this year alone," the study said, predicting that current trends indicate that tobacco-related deaths could top 8 million annually by 2030.
"One hundred million people were killed by tobacco in the 20th century," the report said. "Unless effective measures are implemented to prevent young people from smoking and to help current smokers quit, tobacco will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century."
The Tobacco Atlas said that there are 1 billion male smokers worldwide and 250 million female smokers, and that tobacco kills one-third to one-half of those who smoke.