Bengalis discriminated against in Pakistan.

PAKISTAN: Unofficial healthcare discrimination against Bengalis

Photo: Sumaira Jajja/IRIN

KARACHI, 7 April 2010 (IRIN) – All housemaid Shehr Bano needed to survive the late stages of Hepatitis B was good palliative care. But despite having an official Pakistani national identity card (NIC), her Bengali origin and meagre income meant she could not get treatment and she died in August 2009.

Her husband and children are all Hepatitis positive but have no means of getting treatment and continue doing their day-to-day odd jobs.

Accounts of Bengali Pakistanis being turned away from public hospitals and clinics are common. It is not officially condoned by any means, but rather an underlying prejudice against this ethnic group by some health workers, experts say.

“A lot of it has to do with the mindset of people in power and that is what trickles down,” Muhammad Kamran, a community worker in Karachi, said.

“After 1971, when Bangladesh was created, a lot of Bengalis left [Pakistan] for the new country [Bangladesh] but came back again in the 80s due to better opportunities, and many of them managed to get the Pakistani NICs.”

Rights groups say there are around three million Bengalis in Pakistan (a small, but significant proportion of Pakistan’s estimated 172 million population) most of whom live in Karachi, and they are the poorest segment of Pakistani society. Some are hindered by their status as aliens in the country, but many others who hold official documentation still face marginalization when it comes to public services.

“The same NIC and CNIC [computerized national identity cards] are used when the elections are held and no one questions if a Bengali speaking person is a Pakistani or not then. However, when it comes to treating the Bengalis as Pakistani citizens, there are always hurdles,” Kamran said.

Language and identity

Asma, who prefers to give just her first name, is another poor Bengali who was denied treatment at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), the same place Bano was turned away from. Asma was diagnosed with Hepatitis C positive in a public health clinic in her Karachi neighbourhood of Khuda Ki Basti and referred to CHK in mid-2009 under the province’s Hepatitis Prevention and Control Program (HPCP).

“They wanted to see a computerized NIC. I don’t have a CNIC because I have been refused by theNational Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) personnel time after time. They keep on telling us to prove our citizenship. I was born here and do have a NIC; what more proof do I need give them?” she asked.

“One of the doctors was kind enough to tell me that I should get a certificate from the area councillor that I am Pakistani. However, the councillor demanded an amount of money that I couldn’t give. So no CNIC, no treatment!”

Kamran noted that much of the discrimination levelled against Bengalis is because of their accent or inability to communicate effectively with the rest of the population.

The late Shehr Bano and her daughter in Karachi. Bano died of Hepatitis B in August 2009
“As compared to Afghans, who speak Pushto and are often taken as Pakistanis, Bengali speakers are easy to spot,” he said. “Also, most Bengali women are unable to comprehend what the doctors or officials are telling them. It would be helpful if there is a Bengali translator deputed at public health care facilities as well as other government offices in order to make it easy for them to understand.”

Discrimination denied

Abdul Majeed Chutto, programme manager for HPCP in Sindh Province, told IRIN the programme treats each and every citizen as equal, and there is no bias on the basis of language or ethnicity.

“All Pakistanis are eligible for treatment under the hepatitis control programme. As far as the question of being a `valid’ citizen is concerned, we do ask the patients to provide a copy of their NIC or CNIC so as to ascertain which area they reside in and then we refer them to a public facility there,” he said.

“However, at the end of the day, it’s our aim to treat the maximum number of people and I stand by my word when I say we do so without any discrimination.”

Jamal (not his real name), who works at the Lyari General Hospital in Karachi, confirmed there was no official policy of discrimination against Bengalis but that it happened frequently nonetheless.

“We have a lot of Bengalis coming here for treatment. However, they are often sidelined by the doctors and even insulted by the locals. It’s just something that has been ingrained into our minds that these people are traitors and our enemies. I have seen a Bengali man die as the doctor was busy attending a personal phone call. All the doctor had to say was `this is God’s will’. Being poor and being a Bengali doesn’t do anyone any favours.”

Source irinnews.org

Comment: The Bangladeshi government or Bangladeshi consulate in Karachi has to this date not raised any complaint over this rampant discrimination against the Bengali population of Karachi which is estimated to be between 1-3 million people.

The email for the consulate in Karachi is: info@bddhc-karachi.org

The website for the Bangladeshi foreign ministry is http://www.mofa.gov.bd

The Ansar Burney trust also supports the right of abused people in Pakistan, their email is contact@ansarburney.org

Malaysia to improve economic links with the US.

Window For Malaysia To Punch Up Economic Links With The U.S.

From Tham Choy Lin

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Bernama) — Malaysian ambassador to the United States Datuk Seri Jamaludin Jarjis said the time has come for corporate Malaysia to re-engage with the United States following a shift for the better in ties between the two countries under the Obama admnistration.

Jamaludin, the member of parliament for Rompin who assumed the diplomatic post last July, said the US remains a vital world market even as interest continues to grow over China and India.

“We seem to underplay America and the Americans feel that we are not punching to our weight in terms of economy, promotion and tourism,” he told Malaysian media on Friday on the eve of the arrival of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak here for a week-long working visit.

Malaysian companies should tap American technology and innovation to drive the government’s vision of achieving a knowledege-based and high income economy outlined in the New Economic Model unveiled by Najib recently.

Jamaludin pointed to Malaysia having slid from being the top 10th trading partner once to the 18th place now.

“As a world market, America is very important. While before it was difficult for us to engage them but with this opening up in our relations, it opens a window to re-engage them.

“There are so many benefits to our future especially in the re-engineering of our economy and to create more jobs and opportunities,” he said.

Jamaludin asked Malaysian businessmen to look again at the world’s source of technology, venture capital and entrepreneurs.

“It is still America. When Malaysians come here, they say there is the security issue of shoes and belts but leave that aside, they are doing that for all, they are not selective,” Jamaludin stressed.

He said Malaysian companies can tap into American technology and do prototyping in Malaysia and do production both in the US and Malaysia for their regional markets.

The Prime Minister, who is visiting the US for the second time since he took office a year ago, will devote a greater part of his time here to meet American global brand chief executives, key government commerce officials, venture capitalists and fund managers.

Malaysia and Washington had failed to seal a free trade agreement under the previous Bush regime after eight rounds of talks.

Jamaludin said Washington top trade officials were now keen to meet the Prime Minister on the US proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership aimed at increasing economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacfic region.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to meet the chief executives of well-known companies such as Conoco Phillips, Intel, Motorola and Coca Cola which hit the headlines recently with their announcement it would build a new bottling plant in Malaysia with an investment of RM1 billion.

He will also meet executive members of the US-Asean Business Council and US Chamber of Commerce and top venture capitalists here.

The Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet World Bank president Robert Zoellick on Thursday before heading for New York.

The World Bank, in its economic monitor of Malaysia released in November, forecast Malaysia’s growth at 4.1 per cent this year on the back of its fundamental resilience.

In the Big Apple, Najib will have another roundtable with business captains organised by Goldman Sachs and also meet IBM president Samuel J.Palmisano.

Jamaludin said the meetings would give the Prime Minister the opportunity to give the business leaders a close-up of Malaysia’s New Economic Model that was unveiled recently to transform the country into a high income economy with quality growth.

Malaysia reported a higher than expected fourth quarter growth last year of 4.5 per cent and Bank Negara has forecast Gross Domestic Product to expand 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent this year.

Source: Bernama

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Turkey starts Arabic TV channel.

Turkey’s state-run Radio and TV Corp. (TRT) has launched a new TV channel broadcasting in Arabic.

TRT Director-General Ibrahim Sahin said Sunday that TRT’s new channel would enable Turkey and Arab countries to know each other directly and better.

Sahin said at a ceremony at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace marking the opening of the TRT Arabic that the TV channel would reach 350 million people throughout the Arab world through 3 satellites.

“The TRT Arabic will be on air for 24 hours a day. We will broadcast a range of programs from politics to sports, from movies to TV series. Istanbul-based channel will also broadcast live from Cairo, Beirut, Damascus and Ankara,” he added.

Turkish State Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said that they did a good job by opening Turkish state-run TRT Arabic Channel.

Speaking in Istanbul on Sunday regarding the opening of the TV channel, Arinc said, “we, as the peoples of the same geography, culture, history and belief, will be able to reach each other through TRT’s channel.”

Arinc said that they had been working on TRT Arabic for the last one year, adding that they would reach more than 300 million people through the channel.

TRT launched “TRT Arabic” on April 4 to meet demands of the Arabic speaking people in Turkey as well as concerns of Middle Eastern countries.

TRT Arabic also intends to reach the Arab world of 350 million people by addressing 22 Arab countries.

The channel will broadcast in Arabic round the clock, and feature women and children’s programs, floor shows, documentaries and news.

Most of the programmes will be presented by people from Arabic-speaking countries.

Three different satellites, Turksat 3A, Arapsat and Nilsat, will provide transmissions for the TRT Arabic.

Established on May 1, 1964, TRT Ankara Television started its first test-runs in 1968. TRT’s second channel TRT-2 went on air in 1986. TRT’s international channel TRT-INT started broadcasting in Europe in 1990. Last year, TRT began broadcasting in Kurdish.

Source: http://www.today.az

Turkey’s arrests of Kemalist army officers “historic”.

Turkey enters new territory in wake of army coup arrests

Date: 04 March 2010

By Sabrina Tavernise

THE detention of top military officers in Turkey last week was nothing less than historic. The military, long considered untouchable in Turkey, was pushed from its political pedestal with startling finality.
The moment, years in the making, was more whimper than bang. But now that it is here, it raises an existential question for this Nato member: what sort of country will Turkey be?

This question goes to the very heart of modern Turkey, a Muslim democracy whose military was a potent force in its political life for most of its 86-year history.

Not only has the military been politically defanged, but it has proved unable or unwilling to fight back. Dozens of officers were detained last week, and several senior ones were arrested. Top military leaders met and managed to produce only a brief statement, never mind a coup.

“What came out of that?” said Baskin Oran, professor of international relations at Ankara University. “A big nothing. This is finished. Turkey has crossed the border.”

“The old ideology is bankrupt, that much we know,” said Soli Ozel, professor of political science at Bilgi University. “But what are we going to be putting in its stead?”

Turkey is moving into uncharted territory, causing deep anxiety among millions of secular Turks who fear prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan – a former Islamist who won 47 per cent of the vote in the last election – will trample on their rights.

That worry deepened this week, when Turkish authorities made two more controversial arrests – of an active duty general and a state prosecutor who had investigated Islamic networks.

How Turkey resolves this identity crisis will reverberate beyond its borders. It has the second-largest army in Nato after America. It is strategically placed, with Russia to the north and the Middle East to the south. It is a candidate for membership in the European Union. Decades of growth have made it the seventh-largest economy in Europe.

Last week’s detentions and arrests capped a month of high political drama that began on 22 January, when a small liberal newspaper, Taraf, published what it said were military documents from a 2003 meeting describing preparations for a coup. The documents, said the paper, were in a suitcase and included diagrams of two Istanbul mosques that were to have small bombs go off in their courtyards, creating an emergency that would justify a military takeover. The military acknowledged a meeting took place, but denied plans for bombings or a coup. Even so, on Monday of last week, Turkish authorities began detaining officers and by the end of the week had more than 60 in custody, including two retired generals. “Now the army is pacified, eliminated as a power from the political scene,” said Haldun Solmazturk, also a retired general. “Now the military is touchable.”

That is a profound change. Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 by General Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who imposed radical change in language and custom on a largely illiterate, agrarian society. The military, together with the judiciary and state bureaucracy, wielded immense power, protecting Turkish democracy “as if the country was a perpetually immature child,” said Halil Berktay, history professor at Sabanci University.

“The military came to acquire a sense of, ‘this is our land, this is our Republic,” he said. It deposed elected governments four times, most recently in 1997.

That role began to change with the rise of Erdogan, a tough-talking mayor who represented a rising underclass of religious Turks. He was a confounding mix, from a background of political Islam, but with an agenda of bringing Turkey into the European Union, where his supporters do business.

Although he was despised by the secular establishment, his party, Justice and Development, won election victory in 2007.

The fact that the military has not responded to the arrests also reflects a leadership opposed to intervention. Army chief General Ilker Basbug has spoken out against military meddling and is believed to have had good relations with Erdogan.

But to Erdogan’s critics, the arrests look suspiciously like raw efforts to silence the opposition. And now that he has control over most of the levers of power – the presidency, the government bureaucracy and parliament – they worry that his impulses will be unchecked.

Yildiray Ogur, an editor at Taraf said today’s Turkey was a slow-motion version of the Soviet Union in 1991, when idols fell and people came out of the woodwork confessing secrets.

What comes next for Turkey?

Ankara University’s Oran, who backs Erdogan’s efforts to take the military out of politics, believes his Islamist, working-class party has grown comfortable, and is ready to transform. “It has become bourgeois,” Oran said. “They will always be Muslims, but they won’t be Islamists.”

Source: The Scotsman

UAE IT sector expected to grow to $4.7 billion.

UAE IT sector to grow from USD 3.2 billion in 2009 to USD 4.7 billion in 2013, driving demand for IT expertise

Posted: 04-03-2010 , 09:35 GMT

Dulsco has announced that it has witnessed a significant surge in demand for IT professionals in the UAE, reflecting the excellent growth potential of the IT sector, which according to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry is expected to grow from USD 3.2 billion in 2009 to around USD 4.7 billion in 2013.

Dulsco believes that the UAE government’s increased focus on attracting global IT firms and its efforts to promote e-governance and provide online services have been key factors in creating exciting employment opportunities in the IT sector. Moreover, the UAE has also been investing in telecommunication and IT infrastructure as well as human resource as part of a strategy to develop the UAE into a premier regional hub for IT, which will help expand the country’s economic base by tapping into a potential market of nearly two billion people in Asia and the Middle East.

Satnam Grover, Senior Manager, Contract Staffing, Dulsco HR Solutions, said: “We believe that the growth of the IT sector in the UAE is dependent on two things: infrastructure development and human resource development. However, expenditure on IT infrastructure has always been one of the priorities of the UAE Government and the private sector, so I believe it is time to focus on recruiting world-class IT expertise.”

“HR will certainly play an important role in the growth and development of the IT industry, which will in turn boost recruitment activities in the IT sector. Dulsco is committed to complement the ongoing trend in the job market by developing customised HR outsourcing and recruitment solutions that cater to the demands of the IT sector. we can provide organisations with IT manpower and knowledge resources without requiring our clients to take long-term staffing commitments, this gives us the competitive edge in the market,” Grover added.

Dulsco’s HR Outsourcing division provides long-term, short-term and temporary staffing options for any office environment, including IT professionals, data entry operators, finance and administration, front and back-office support, counter sales, call-centre agents,. Dulsco also offers payroll management designed to provide Clients an option to outsource their HR department as a process hence allowing them to concentrate on core business activites.

Source: Albawaba

Bangladeshi PM unveils ambitious digitalisation plan.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=128470

Telecoms plan unveiled
Fibre-optic network to connect unions; hospitals, schools to get computers, net facilities

Unb, Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday unveiled an ambitious digitisation plan for building Bangladesh as a country fully furnished with modern telecommunications system for faster delivery of services to the people.

Under the mega-scheme ‘Digital Bangladesh: Plan of Connecting People’, all Union Parishads will be linked with fibre-optic network, upazilas will also get Community e-Centre, and hospitals and schools get computer, web-cam and internet.

Already, 100 Union Parishads have been selected for giving fibre-optic cable connections while another 1,000 unions will be bound with the cross-country cable network soon.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Concept Paper on ‘Digital Bangladesh: Plan of Connecting People’ at a city hotel, the PM urged the country’s scientists, technological experts and engineers to turn Bangladesh self-sufficient in using technologies rather than depending on foreign countries and agencies.

Prime Minister’s son, eminent computer scientist Sajeeb Wazed Joy, presented the theme paper of the function presenting and suggesting the priority tasks to turn Bangladesh into a true digital country.

Pushing a button of a computer, the premier opened the technical part of the agenda, aimed at breaking the digital divide between the advanced world and a developing country like Bangladesh.

Hasina disclosed that Community e-Centre will be set up in all upazilas of the country. Already, five upazilas have got Community e-Centre and 128 upazilas computer labs.

She said in line with government’s commitment to provide quality health services to the mass people, the government will give computers, web-cam and internet facilities to all hospitals of the country.

Besides, e-centre for Rural Community will be set up at 8,500 post offices of the country to ensure proper management of the postal services.

Moreover, the government is making arrangement to provide videoconferencing facility between PM’s office and the cabinet division, deputy commissioners of 64 districts and 7 divisional headquarters.

The government is also constructing necessary infrastructures to set up Hi-tech Park in Gazipur and install country’s own satellite to strengthen local telecommunications system, she informed.

Hasina said it is not possible to implement all the development programmes by the government alone and urged all concerned to help the government turn Bangladesh into a digital, modern country by 2021.

“I strongly hope joint ventures under public-private partnerships will fulfil our dream of building a digital Bangladesh,” she said.

Hasina mentioned that the ICT Policy 2009 has already been approved and the ICT ACT 2009 formulated, which will expedite the country’s ICT industry’s growth and joint efforts of public and private sectors.

The PM said some 1,500 laptops have been distributed to various educational institutions while computer labs equipped with internet facilities will be set up gradually.

“Our children are working successfully in various international institutions. If they are given necessary facilities, they will make tremendous contribution to the effort for turning Bangladesh into a technology-based modern country,” she told.

Post and Telecommunications Ministry arranged the function with its Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju in the chair. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I Toure addressed the function as special guest.

Post and Telecommunications Secretary Sunil Kanti Bose and BTRC Chairman Maj Gen (rtd) Zia Ahmed also addressed the function.

Kosova leads Balkans in internet use.

Kosovo becomes Balkans leader in Internet usage

Tuesday, 02 March 2010

Post and Telecom of Kosovo, telecommunications companies KUJTESA and IPKO now have over half million Internet subscribers at home and its use in the country increased by 6 percent, compared with a year earlier making Kosovo the leader in the Balkans in Internet usage.  Chairman of the Board of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Ekrem Hoxha, said the expansion of Internet services for 2009 has been about 121 subscriptions or 7.05 percent per capita. “Expansion of Internet services for homes was 35 percent in 2009, while in the period August 2008 expansion of these services has been about 21. 6 percent “, Hoxha stressed. The spokesman of Post and Telecom of Kosovo (PTK), Menduh Abazi, has stated that PTK currently has over 35 thousand users of the Internet against 21 thousand who had in early 2009. “Every day more this number continues to mark the month-on-month increase, currently is about 800 to 900 new customers per month to connect to the Internet network of PTK”, he stressed the newspaper. But official spokesperson of IPKO telecommunications company, Alban Kastrati said that IPKO today has more than 230 thousand Internet subscribers in Kosovo. “With this broad range of modern telecommunication services, the IPKO company is positioning the  state of Kosovo as a modern country, where high rates of Internet expansion and usage remain strong social indicators,” Kastrati said. According to him, the Internet use has increased in Kosovo in extraordinary numbers, if you compare the numbers on an annual basis since 1999, when IPKO has started for the first time provide internet services in Kosovo. Another internet and cable provider, KUJTESA is belived to have another 100,000 internet and cable subscribers. Kosovo is listed ahead of many regional countries and in the European Union in the percentage of internet users.  In contrast, Europe now has 24 percent of Internet users in the world.

Kemalist draws Ataturk picture with human blood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCwRipa2Vfw&feature=player_embedded

A Kemalist draws a picture of Kemalist idol, Mustafa Kemal. The dictator who ruled Turkey 80 years ago and is revered by some radical Turkish secularists and nationalists.

Kemalists revering dictator Ataturk.

As part of the Turkish education system all Turkish children from a very young age are forced to learn about the life of Ataturk, and pictures of the former ruler are omnipresent in the country. Turkish liberals and progressives have been arguing for greater democracy in the country and the right to criticise as well as praise the controversial dictator. These moves are opposed by radical Kemalists and the military which has been involved in state-terrorism, burning of villages, torture including forcing captured Kurds to eat human excrement, drug smuggling.

The Turkish government have recently been acting against Kemalist army officers who planned to murder members of the government and carry out an illegal coup.

UAE awards $20 billion nuclear deal to South Koreans.

Koreans Pounce on UAE Tender

 

By Chris Gadomski, Managing Editor, Nuclear Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance

The United Arab Emirates took a bold step into the nuclear club with a $20 billion tender award to the Korean Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) for four APR1400 nuclear reactors with a toal capacity of 5.6 GW.

For a small country with 9 percent of global oil reserves, huge natural gas reserves and a rapidly growing demand for electricity, it was no surprise that the UAE concluded that nuclear energy represented an economic and environmentally sound leg of its future energy strategy. What was surprising was the award went to a Korean consortium that out-maneuvered both an Areva-led French and a GE-Hitachi consortium with a bid reportedly $16 billion lower.

The late December 2009 contract award has changed the picture of the global nuclear power industry in at least three ways:

• The UAE now appears destined to be the newest member of the nuclear club with the first reactor scheduled to come online in 2017. With this breaking of the ice, how soon will other Middle East nations follow? Regional neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have all expressed interest in nuclear reactors for peaceful electric power generation.
• Korea becomes the fifth nation following the U.S., France, Russia and Canada to export its nuclear technology. A government-owned utility, KEPCO is the world’s third largest nuclear energy business with an installed nuclear generation capacity of 17,716 MW. KEPCO operates 20 commercial nuclear power units as of 2009, with eight more units currently under construction and 10 more units planned to be built by 2030.
• Both the French and Russians hope to develop robust export markets for their technologies. With the Korean win based on price and a recognized perception that they can deliver complex infrastructure projects on time and on budget, will Asian vendors now dominate nuclear energy technology exports markets?

 

Demand Drives Nuclear Option

Analysis conducted by official UAE entities in early 2009 concluded that national annual peak demand for electricity is likely to rise to more than 40 GW by 2020, reflecting a cumulative annual growth rate of 9 percent from 2007 onward. These estimates have been recently revised downward to 33.5 GW by 2020, nevertheless representing an 81 percent increase from the 18.5 GW of installed capacity at the end of 2009.

As part of this evaluation, the UAE determined that known volumes of natural gas that could be made available to the nation’s electricity sector would be insufficient to meet future demand, providing adequate fuel for only 20,000 to 25,000 MW of power generation capacity by 2020.

Cost and Ability Win the Day

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. (ENEC) selected a team led by KEPCO to supply for $20 billion the full scope of works and services for the UAE Civil Nuclear Power Program for four APR1400 nuclear reactors, including engineering, procurement, construction (EPC), nuclear fuel and operations and maintenance support.

Other KEPCO subsidiaries and Korean partners will participate. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. will play a leading role as the EPC contractor. Korea Power Engineering Co. will provide the plant design and engineering service. Korea Nuclear Fuel Co. will provide the nuclear fuel and the Korea Plant Service and Engineering Co. will maintain the plants. Doosan Heavy Industries, Korea’s only company that specializes in power plants, will supply nuclear power systems components. Hyundai Engineering and Construction and Samsung C&T Corp. will also participate.

ENEC says that a high percentage of the $20 billion contract is covered under a fixed-price arrangement, with the first of the four units scheduled to begin providing electricity to the grid in 2017 followed by three additional units coming online by 2020. An additional $20 billion in orders is expected through ongoing participation in nuclear power plant operation support for 60 years after the completion of construction.

Other characteristics of the deal include performance incentives under which Korean investors will have an equity interest in the project to ensure that the necessary experience, technology and skills are available to achieve on-time and on-budget delivery and safe and reliable operation of the plants. The Koreans will also develop the human resource in the UAE through extensive training and education programs that will enable the UAE over time to develop the intellectual capacity to eventually staff a large part of the nuclear energy program with national talent. ENEC and KEPCO have also reportedly agreed to work on other business ventures in the utility and energy fields outside these nuclear plant projects.

The UAE tender, which was in the works for more than a year, was to have been awarded in Q3 2009. The Areva-led French consortium offering the 1600MW EPR was widely viewed as the leading contender to win the contract award, largely as a result of French geopolitical influence in the region, frequent visits to the UAE by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon, the perceived safety and operational advantages of the EPR and French investment in regional military bases. Ultimately, however, the competitiveness of the Korean offer, reportedly $16 billion less than the French offer, was the undoing of the other consortia.

Source: powergenworldwide.com

Kuala Lampur to lead in Malaysia’s disabled-friendly development.

KL To Become A Leader In Disabled-friendly City In Malaysia – Shahrizat

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) — Kuala Lumpur will become the leader in disabled-friendly development programmes in Malaysia through the enforcement and coordination of standard guidelines for infrastructure construction, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

She said she would table a proposal on the matter to the Cabinet soon to enable development in Kuala Lumpur to be emulated by other cities.

She said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) should become the pioneer in the programme to ensure that all infrastructures available in the city were made disabled-friendly.

“If DBKL can show the way, standardised disabled-friendly infrastructure in the city can be emulated by others. We are not a disabled-friendly country as compared to other countries,” she said after closing a conference on universal design and facilities for public transportation and buildings, here Tuesday.

She said among the factors which hampered disabled-friendly development in the country were weaknesses in enforcement by local authorities and the lack of guidelines in the construction of disabled-friendly infrastructure.

Shahrizat said her ministry had taken the first step to make the United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) a success by giving priority to two major issues concerning the disabled, namely accessibility and employment opportunity.

As such, she said the local authorities should also set up their own special units to monitor the issues concerning the disabled and, if possible, hire the disabled as their staff.

Source: Bernama