NEWS FROM THE UAE
Source : The National
Date for smoking ban is delayed
ABU DHABI - FEB. 08: A national ban on smoking in public places will be delayed while it is decided which government bodies will be responsible for enforcing various parts of the legislation, health officials said yesterday.
Key players involved in drafting the anti-smoking regulations told The National that the public will be fully informed once the details have been worked out, which could take weeks or months.
Discussions between bodies such as the Ministry of Health, police and individual municipalities will lead to decisions on how and when parts of the law come into force.
The Ministry of Health revealed some details of the new law last month but said the full system of rules would be outlined in an appendix to be released later this year.
Dr Mahmoud Fikri, the ministry’s director of health legislation and policies, asked people to wait for clarification from the Government.
“There are many details to be finished,” he said. “Technical committees will be set up to establish exactly how the law will be implemented.”
Dr Wedad al Maidoor, the head of the National Tobacco Control Committee said: “We understand that some people might be confused, as it a very comprehensive law. We are going to plan awareness campaigns when we have done the appendix. We will know then what the public need to know.”
‘Terror’ hoax delays Dubai-bound flight
Mumbai - Feb 08:Two Emirates Airline passengers were detained in Mumbai after authorities received a telephone tip claiming the pair were terrorists.
The Indian man and his wife were among 356 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 777 bound for Dubai when the call was received, moments before the aircraft was scheduled to take off. Security procedures were activated and the take-off was aborted, an Emirates representative said.
The caller claimed the couple, thought to be in their 60s, were members of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba, which India blames for plotting and carrying out the Mumbai siege in 2008.
The flight, EK 505, was diverted to an isolated section of the airfield while authorities evacuated the aircraft. All passengers and luggage were removed and inspected.
The man and his wife, who is also Indian, were detained and questioned by police. The remaining passengers were allowed back onto the aircraft, which took off about four hours after its scheduled 9.55am departure time.
Brijesh Singh, the deputy commissioner of police in Mumbai, said the couple, who live in Mumbai and are employed as social workers, were travelling through Dubai to Manchester, in the United Kingdom.
“The two suspects were taken off the flight,” Mr Singh said. “There was nothing in the background of these suspects that would suggest any kind of terrorist activity.”
He said nothing dangerous was found among their luggage.
Police sources said initial inquiries suggested the incident may have been connected to a dispute involving the male passenger and an ongoing land deal.
Last month, India increased airport security and warned its domestic airlines about a possible hijack attempt after a tip from western intelligence services. The alert warned that flights could be targeted by Islamist groups aligned to al Qa’eda or Lashkar-i-Taiba.
New Delhi blames Lashkar-i-Taiba for plotting and carrying out the November 2008 siege in which 10 gunmen killed 166 people in India’s financial and entertainment capital.
Last August, an Indian businessman running behind schedule triggered a bomb scare at Delhi airport in his attempt to catch a flight.
The Mumbai airport, also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji International, is the country’s second largest air transport hub. Almost 25 million passengers moved through the airport’s four terminals during the past 12 months.
‘Black boxes’ fail in Sharjah crash
SHARJAH - FEB 08: The mystery of why a Sudan Airways plane crashed after takeoff from Sharjah’s airport in October, killing all six crew aboard, may never be solved because the two flight data recorders found in the wreckage were not working, officials said yesterday.
Without information from the so-called “black boxes”, the investigators may not be able to identify causes of the crash, a senior official from the investigation committee said.
The official had no information on why the black boxes – a voice recorder and a data recorder - were not operating.
He said the investigation was still ongoing, however, and a full report would be published. He did not indicate when the report would be ready.
“Plane crash investigations are usually long,” he said. “The process includes data collection. Then you make analysis and conclusions. Lastly, you make recommendations to prevent a recurrence of an accident on similar causes.”
The official said any issues regarding compensation to the families of the six victims, all Sudanese nationals, would be discussed after the report was released.
Abdul Wahab al Roumi, the director general of the Sharjah Civil Aviation Authority, said the decision of the federal General Civil Aviation Authority to ban the Khartoum-based cargo operator Azza Transport from flying in UAE airspace will stand until after the investigation.
“The authority attaches great importance to the aviation safety of this country,” he said. “We have applied similar procedures to past crashes.”
The Boeing 707 that crashed was leased by Sudan Airways from Azza Transport.
The aircraft was unable to gain altitude as it banked to the right after leaving the airport and had nearly flipped on its back before striking the ground and bursting into flames 1.2km from the airport, not far from a residential area.
Early speculation on the cause of the crash centred on engine failure, or an engine falling off the 40-year-old plane, but without information from the data recorders it may always be guesswork.