Iran invites Gulf states to tour nuclear power plant
Source: Arab News (Read full story)
Iran’s nuclear chief said Wednesday experts from Arab neighbors across the Gulf, concerned about the safety of Iran’s sole nuclear power plant, are welcome to visit the facility, IRNA reported. “We are ready for the visit of nuclear experts of … Gulf countries to Bushehr nuclear power plant,” Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying when asked how Tehran would tackle their worries. Gulf countries have often raised concern over Bushehr’s reliability and the risk of radioactive leaks in case of a major earthquake, as well as a possible military dimension to Iran’s nuclear drive. “We… again express our readiness, for consultation between our country’s experts and the experts from Persian Gulf countries, so that they can hold scientific and technical talks on the Bushehr power plant’s safety issues,” Salehi said. The nuclear chief also suggested establishing a regional nuclear cooperation body so that “all these doubts will be addressed scientifically.”
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Bahrain’s Heir, Opposition Leaders Discuss National Dialogue
Source: Naharnet (Read full story)
Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa met opposition leaders Wednesday in a bid revive a national dialogue that was suspended last week. The meeting focused on “ways to overcome the obstacles that have hindered the national dialogue,” designed to bring the country out of the current political crisis, the official news agency BNA reported. Prince Salman urged representatives of the political groups to “show seriousness, transparency and credibility” in order “strengthen the rule of law and institutions,” in the tiny Gulf kingdom, it said. BNA added without elaborating that “it was agreed on the main issues to be discussed under national dialogue in a coming stage.”
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Single air traffic management system in GCC ‘inevitable’
Source: The Peninsula (Read full story)
With the rapidly growing aviation industry in the GCC, a single air traffic management system in the region akin to Europe’s ‘Eurocontrol’ will soon become inevitable to mitigate risks due to increasing congestion in the airspace, Akber Al Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways, said yesterday. “I agree that there will be congestion in the way the airspace is (currently) managed. There will be a time, in our joint opinion, that there will have to be a single air traffic management system similar to Eurocontrol to monitor and operate a very congested airspace,” he added.
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Kuwaiti, Iraqi trade chambers seek furthering bilateral cooperation
Source: Kuwait News Agency (Read full story)
Deputy Chairman of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Khaled Al-Saqr stressed here Wednesday the need for the trade and investment cooperation between Kuwait and Iraq to be a very important strategic goal for both countries’ chambers. Al-Saqr said … this strategic objective requires that the business communities of the two countries to intensify their efforts to deepen mutual understanding to achieve their common interests. He added that since the beginning of trade relations between the two countries, Iraq had constituted a big market for Kuwait, due to the geographical proximity and the enormous potential and wealth owned by Iraq, noting that relations between the two countries have seen over the past years significant developments, most importantly the visit of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait to Baghdad in March 2012 for the first time in 22 years to participate in the Arab Summit.
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Palestinian entry Omar gets Oscar nomination
Source: The National (Read full story)
Oscar buzz stretched across the globe today as the Academy Awards nominations were announced from Beverly Hills, California. There was sure to have been jubilation in Nazareth this evening at the news Palestinian director Hany Abu-Asad’s entry Omar had earned a nomination for Best Foreign Film. The story of a young Palestinian who plans to shoot an Israeli soldier with two friends, only to be caught and convinced by an Israeli spy to inform on them, was filmed in Nazareth with a Palestinian crew and funding. Last year, Omar won a Cannes Special Jury Prize, and in December opened the Dubai International Film Festival, where it won two Muhr Awards.
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Jazan springs ancient surprise: 450,000-year-old cemetery
Source: Arab News (Read full story)
Remnants of an ancient civilization dating back 450,000 years, including a mass grave, have been found in the southern Jazan region, said Faisal Al-Tumaihi, an archaeologist at Jazan University. “A group of Saudi archaeologists discovered the site of an ancient civilization in Hasma,” he said. “The antiquities that have been found in the area included those dating back to the pre-historic period,” he added.
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