Dubai to launch metro with third of stations open

DUBAI : Dubai on Wednesday will open a metro network in a bid to cut dependency on cars and ease congestion, becoming the first city in the oil-rich Gulf to introduce rail as a commuting option.

Trains rolling out of stations will for the first time carry passengers along the Red Line, the first of two metro lines to open. A Green Line is scheduled to enter service in summer 2010.

But amid much media fanfare, travel on Wednesday evening is to be confined to dignitaries invited for the opening ceremony, while the service will be open to commuters from Thursday.

The city state has more than one million vehicles, with cars and buses accounting for 88 percent -- almost one car for every two inhabitants of a population estimated between 1.6 million and some two million, mostly foreigners.

But it remains to be seen whether motorists will be lured to leave their cars at home and hop onto the fancy air-conditioned blue trains, whose stations and connecting walkways are also temperature-controlled.

Petrol is subsidized in Dubai, as in the rest of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, while car loans were until recently easy to obtain, making the option of public transport less attractive.

And blazing sunshine and stifling humidity during a large part of the year in the southern Gulf desert country could make walking to and from stations uncomfortable.

But low-paid expatriate workers who are mostly South Asian and rely heavily on public buses will now have a faster alternative.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) says metro fares will be affordable for everyone. A trip from one end of the 52-kilometre (32-mile) Red Line to the other will cost 5.80 dirhams ($1.50).

Those who prefer not to ride on crowded carriages have the option of sitting on the wide leather seats of a "gold class" coach -- an unusual treat in a metro network -- at twice the price of standard tickets.

RTA says it made every effort to meet the deadline of the symbolic opening date of 09/09/09 for the Red Line since construction began in 2005, but only nine of its 29 stations will be opened on time.

Construction work remains visible at many of the incomplete stations of the mostly-elevated railroad that are set to open by February 2010, according to RTA.

It said on Monday that 90 percent of the work has been completed on the unfinished stations, pointing out that some were built to serve new neighborhoods which have yet to be completely developed.

Merkel defends role in Afghanistan

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has said she "deeply regrets" the loss of any innocent life in Afghanistan, but rejected criticism over a Nato airstrike ordered by a German commander that is believed to have killed scores of civilians.
Addressing the country's parliament in Berlin on Tuesday, Merkel also called for an agreement this year on how to transfer responsibility for security in the country to Afghan officials.
Her comments come days after widespread outrage over the Nato airstrike in Kunduz, a northern province, last Friday which killed 54 people, according to Afghan officials.
"Every innocent person killed in Afghanistan is one too many. Any innocent person killed or hurt, including through German actions, I deeply regret," Merkel said, and promised an "open" inquiry.
"We will not gloss over anything, but we will not accept any premature condemnation," she said.
"I refuse to tolerate that, either from Germany or from abroad."
'Big mistake'
Earlier on Tuesday, the Nato-led force in Afghanistan said it believed civilians were killed or injured in Friday's strike, after previously saying that civilians were only harmed.
General Stanley McChrystal, the head of international forces in the country, has ordered an investigation into the bombing.
The strike was reportedly ordered by a German commander after Taliban fighters hijacked two fuel trucks on a Nato supply route from Tajikstan.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, called the decision a major "error of judgment".
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, also called the airstrike a "big mistake", while Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, said it was a "very, very sad event".
Power transfer
But Merkel defended Germany's role in Afghanistan, where it has more than 4,200 troops stationed.
"No one should deceive himself: the consequences of not acting will be attributed to us just as much as the consequences of acting," she said.
"Everyone who calls for Germany to step aside from fighting international terrorism, particularly in Afghanistan, should consider that."
The chancellor said she had spoken to Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, about beginning a new era in the country.
"Now is the right moment, together with the new Afghanistan leadership, to set out at the end of this year how this transfer of responsibility will happen," she said.

Karzai closer to election victory

Latest results from the Afghanistan presidential election show President Hamid Karzai with 54.1% of the vote with 92% of polling stations declared.
.............
KABUL: The result pushes President Karzai over the 50% threshold needed to avoid a run-off with rival Abdullah Abdullah.

However, the UN-backed election complaints commission earlier ordered a number of recounts and audits of votes.

It warned that it had found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud".

US expands sales of arms: report

WASHINGTON — The United States expanded its role as the world?s leading weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals, The New York Times reported.
Citing a new congressional study, the newspaper said the United States signed weapons agreements valued at 37.8 billion dollars last year, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global arms bazaar.
The figure marked a significant increase from US arms sales of 25.4 billion dollars the year before, the paper noted.
Italy was a distant second, with 3.7 billion dollars in worldwide weapons sales in 2008, while Russia was third with 3.5 billion dollars in arms sales last year -- down considerably from the 10.8 billion in weapons deals signed by Moscow in 2007, the report pointed out.
The growth in weapons sales by the United States last year was particularly noticeable against worldwide trends, The Times said.
The value of global arms sales in 2008 was 55.2 billion dollars, a drop of 7.6 percent from 2007 and the lowest total for international weapons agreements since 2005, according to the report.
The increase in American weapons sales around the world "was attributable not only to major new orders from clients in the Near East and in Asia, but also to the continuation of significant equipment and support services contracts with a broad-based number of US clients globally," the paper quotes the study produced by the Congressional Research Service.

Abu Dhabi eyes Kuwaiti telco Zain stake: reports

Shareholders to sell stakes at two dinars
..................
KUWAIT: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is part of a group that is in talks to buy a 46 percent stake in Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain, newspaper reports said on Monday.
Zain's Chief Executive Saad al-Barrak confirmed to Reuters on Sunday that shareholders were in talks to sell a stake in the group, declining to give further details.
An Asian group was in the final stages of buying a 46 percent stake in Zain, Al Arabiya television reported on Sunday.
"Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund is a part of the deal with the Asian investors," Kuwaiti daily al-Anbaa said in an unsourced report on Monday.
If the deal goes through it would be worth 15 billion dollars, al-Rai newspaper said in its Monday edition.
Zain's biggest shareholders are Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), which owns 24.6 percent, and family-owned conglomerate Kharafi Group, which holds at least a 10.86 percent stake, according to the Kuwaiti bourse website.
Analysts estimate Kharafi owns about 20 percent in Zain through its units.
KIA will be keeping its stake in Zain, and will not be part of the deal, Anbaa reported.
ADIA concluds talks with Kharafi
In another unsourced report on Monday, daily Awan said that ADIA has concluded talks with the Kharafi Group, to sell 51 percent of Zain's shares to the authority.
Kharafi executives could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for ADIA could not be immediately reached for comment.
Al Arabiya television reported that shareholders -- among them the Kharafi Group -- had agreed to sell their stake in Zain at a price of around two dinars ($6.96) a share to an Asian group and that an official announcement was due shortly.
The offer of two dinars per share reported by Al Arabiya represents a 28 percent premium to Sunday's closing price of 1.56 dinars and values the stake at 3.93 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($13.68 billion), according to Reuters calculations.
Zain is the region's second-largest telco by market value and operates in 24 countries, including Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
Last week, Zain shareholders abolished decades-old restrictions on ownership to enable foreign investors to take up a majority stake in the emirate's oldest mobile operator.
The shareholders agreed at an extraordinary meeting to abolish two articles in the company's statute which prevented any local or foreign investor from owning a stake of more than five percent.
Zain, Kuwait's oldest mobile operator, has more than 65 million clients in 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Zain, in which the state owns a 24.6 percent stake, is one of three mobile operators in Kuwait, along with National Telecommunications Co (Wataniya) and Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA).
Qatar Telecom owns a majority stake in Wataniya while VIVA is run by the Saudi Telecom Co.