7 Dubai - Daily News from Dubai to the world

DUBAI - The public prosecution on Thursday charged Briton Mark Arnold with having murdered his 36-year-old ex-girlfriend, South African Kerry Winter, eight months ago. 

A date for the beginning of trial is to be set soon. Khalifa Rashid bin Demas, head of the Technical Office of the Dubai’s Attorney-General, said the referral to the court followed extensive and thorough investigation, under the supervision of Sami Al Shamsi, Bur Dubai Chief Prosecutor. “The defendant admitted to assaulting the victim with a baseball bat at the entrance to her villa (in Al Barsha). He threw her body into the sea after he felt convinced she was dead. He also admitted to putting weights on the body before dumping it,” Demas said.

The case dates back to August 20 last year, when the defendant is alleged to have had a heated argument with the victim, following which he assaulted her and forced her into a car.

It is believed he used his boat to get rid of the body in the sea. However, the marine units failed to find the body. In fact, the body has not been found to date. Therefore, the charges proceed from Arnold’s confession.

The Criminal Laboratory reports showed samples of the victim’s blood in the crime scene and in her car, evidence Arnold is said to have attempted to hide after the incident.

The senior prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Ahmed Essa al Adhab, earlier told Khaleej Times that he charged 42-year-old Arnold with premeditated murder and submitted the case along with the findings to the Technical Office. The latter referred the case again to a senior prosecutor for further investigation.

Defence lawyer Youssef Hammad said, “The Public Prosecution might frame the charge as it deems proper. We will refrain for the time being from revealing our defence arguments.”

Briton Charged with Kerry’s Murder to go on Trial Soon

According to Al Adhab, the investigation took a long time because the Briton was not cooperative with the interrogators, which made their job difficult.

“Once he said that he dumped Kerry’s body in a desert area somewhere on the Al Ain Road. At other times, he said he put it in a bag and threw it in the sea. Sniffer dogs and the marines could not find the body even though they combed the land and sea areas up to Ras al Khaimah.”

The Court of Appeal reduced recently the jail sentence on Arnold to one month on the charge of endangering the life of others. (That was in the absence of either a body or confession.)

The Briton’s appeal was against a two-month jail sentence earlier sentenced pronounced by the Court of Misdemeanor for the same charge. He remains in police detention since August 25.

The Briton had pleaded not guilty to the charge of endangering the life of others. He claimed he did not mean to kill or harm a Lebanese man he chased with a baseball bat on August 20, 2008. The Lebanese in question is one of Winter’s neighbours in the Al Barsha area.

It is reported that Arnold intimidated the neighbour after he saw him punching and assaulting Winter. The threat incident happened the same night Winter was killed. Winter was last seen on the night of August 20.

Emirates Airline today announced it will introduce its double decker A380 aircraft on its Bangkok and Toronto routes.

Effective 1st June 2009, the aircraft will debut in Canada while the new Thai route extends the aircraft’s presence in Asia after the successful launch of the A380 on Sydney and Auckland in February.

“We are extremely pleased to announce the introduction of the A380 for our Toronto and Bangkok services. Our Toronto route has had consistently high demand since the thrice weekly service was launched two years ago. The A380 will allow Emirates to address some of the unmet need in Toronto while on Bangkok, the A380 will help support the Thai government ’s new tourism initiatives, ” said Emirates President Tim Clark.

The change on both services will provide a capacity increase of about 30% for each route.

The new aircraft routes also offer strengthened support for popular transit markets- with the A380 now servicing London Heathrow, UK tourists travelling to/from Thailand can enjoy a seamless A380 experience while for Canada, the change means increased access to Dubai and the Gulf region.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority board of Directors announced today the introduction of a comprehensive system to regulate school tuition fees for the academic year 2009-2010.

The system integrates both Dubai’s economic and social inputs, guarantees educational quality in schools, and creates a balance among all education stakeholders while defining their expected commitments.

There are 144 private schools in Dubai, and approximately 85% of Dubai’s schoolchildren are educated in private schools. The new system links a school’s performance when it is inspected by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) with the range within which it will be allowed to increase its fees.

Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of DSIB, said: “The Inspection Bureau is currently carrying out inspections of both private and public schools; to date, 140 schools have been inspected out of 189 schools, and the remaining is expected to be concluded by the third week of April. Moreover, Indian and Pakistani schools, whose academic years run differently from other curricula schools, will be inspected during the academic year 2009-2010.” She added: “DSIB will conclude all the inspections of private schools in Dubai by March 30, excluding 25 private schools that follow the Indian and Pakistani curriculum and six Iranian schools. Furthermore, based on the current inspections, we will report all the results which provide public commentary on school quality in Dubai by May 17, 2009.

”The report is expected, based on the preliminary inspections, to include the majority of schools within the “acceptable” and “good” categories; due to the decrease in the number of schools classified as unsatisfactory and outstanding. Jameela highlighted that DSIB’s focus is the quality of education in private as well as public schools in Dubai, for it increases the awareness among parents and also identifies the necessary development requirements within Dubai’s educational environment which has a diverse curricula.

“Our objective at DSIB is to raise educational standards and provide comprehensive information about education in Dubai in addition to formulating the required vision to develop a strong educational policy that satisfies Dubai’s Strategic Plan 2015.” There are seven key criteria to assess the performance of private and public schools; these include the overall performance of the school, attainment, students’ progress, personal and social development, teaching and learning, curriculum and school leadership. DSIB, being an independent inspection agency within KHDA, aims to encourage self-monitoring systems among schools and achieve the necessary improvements required to enhance educational quality.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, aims to increase its passenger numbers in 2009 by 15 per cent to a total of seven million.

The airline will expand its global flight network to 55 destinations during the year as well as grow its fleet to more than 50 aircraft. Etihad flew six million passengers in 2008 to 50 routes with a fleet of 42 aircraft.

A total of 900 weekly Etihad flights will operate this summer, a 20 per cent rise on the 750 weekly flights which operated during the same season in 2008.

Eleven new passenger aircraft are set to join Etihad’s fleet in 2009 which will enable Etihad to launch new services to Melbourne, Istanbul, Athens, Larnaca and Chicago, as well as increase frequencies on many existing routes across its network of international destinations.

The additional aircraft will increase Etihad’s seat capacity by 18 per cent and cargo capacity by 12 per cent to 3.5 million tonnes.

Currently Etihad has a fleet of 44 narrow and wide-body aircraft which will rise to 52, with one aircraft retiring recently from the current fleet, by the end of 2009. The new additions consist of two Airbus A330-200s, one A330-300, two A340-600s, five A320-200s and one Boeing 777-300ER.

Etihad achieved more than US$2.5 billion in revenues in 2008 and is targeting US$3 billion in 2009, an increase of 20 per cent.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “The aviation industry is facing its toughest challenge for many years as a result of the current global economic crisis but Etihad Airways will seek to continue its expansion plans during 2009 in a measured, considered and controlled manner.

“The new aircraft arrivals will boost our fleet by a quarter and allow us to launch flights to five new destinations as well as build depth and frequency into our existing network.

“We have an excellent award-winning product in all three aircraft cabins, and will target an average seat factor of 77 per cent, to help us achieve our ambitious plans to fly seven million passengers during the year.

“Although we will watch our costs very carefully we will not cut back on customer service nor will we compromise whatsoever on safety, the absolute bedrock of our business.” Etihad has a workforce of 7,300 and plans to recruit a further 1,000 employees during the year, bringing total staff numbers to 8,500, an increase of 15 per cent.

Flight deck crew numbers will grow by 65 during 2009. In addition, 25 trainee pilots are expected to graduate from the airline’s Emirati and international cadet pilot programmes, bringing the total number of pilots to 840 by the end of the year. This will represent an increase in pilots of 11 per cent. Furthermore, nearly 100 new cadet pilots will start training with Etihad during the year.

Etihad currently has 2,900 cabin crew members in its ranks and the airline plans to recruit an additional 200 people during 2009, bringing the total number of crew to 3,100 by the end of the year, an increase of 10 per cent.

Etihad launches daily non-stop flights from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne in Australia. The route will be flown by an Airbus A340-600, configured to carry 292 passengers and 15 tonnes of cargo. The addition of Melbourne, which joins Sydney and Brisbane, will mean that Etihad will offer for sale nearly 5,700 seats a week into Australia.

The introduction of flights in June to Istanbul, Athens and Larnaca, as well as increases in frequency to Brussels, Geneva, Milan and Moscow, means that Etihad will offer its customers a choice of 98 weekly flights into 14 European countries.

Etihad will also strengthen its North American network later this year with the launch of flights to Chicago’s O’Hare airport on 2 September, which will become a daily non-stop operation from 1 October. Chicago joins Etihad’s established North American routes to New York and Toronto and boosts capacity to the continent by 35 per cent.

The airline’s Middle Eastern network will be strengthened further from 29 March, with Abu Dhabi to Amman services increasing from 10 to 14 flights per week. Services to Beirut will also increase to two flights a day from the current 11 flights per week and Doha will receive a boost from three to four flights a day.

Etihad’s flights from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur will increase from six flights a week to daily beginning on 29 March.

The opening of the new Terminal 3 at Abu Dhabi airport will continue to enhance the experience for Etihad Airways customers and allow the airline to expand and meet its future growth projections.

Mr Hogan added: “The transfer of Etihad flights to Terminal 3 is supported by our significant investment in passenger facilities, such as state-of-the-art premium lounges and improved check-in areas for premium and economy passengers.” In addition to improvements to Abu Dhabi airport, the emirate will also host its first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2009. In addition to its role as title sponsor for the 1 November race Etihad will fly many of the drivers, teams and equipment to the UAE’s capital city.

Mr Hogan concluded: “This year will be a tough one for everyone in the airline industry but because of Etihad’s investment in its product, fleet and home-base airport as well as the development in Abu Dhabi - we are confident that we can continue our impressive growth.”

H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, attended today at the Emirates Palace the award-giving ceremony of the third edition of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the presence of a crowd of men of letter, intellectuals, cultural personalities, and medipersons.

The function was also attended by HE Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Dr. Mughir Al Khaili, Director General of Abu Dhabi Education Council, Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Director General of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, a number of officials and Arab and foreign diplomats.

In his welcoming address, Rashed Al Oraimi, Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, said :”The Zayed Book Award is, in the first place, a message of peace, love and appreciation of the achievements of the human mind, the great miracle of the Creator.

”The Award is part of the role Abu Dhabi believes it should assume humanly and culturally in lifting the Arab World from the staus quo that is under our aspirations - as peoples and governments - to what should be today,”he said.

Sheikh Hamed Al Oraimi then honoured the winners of the award.

Dr. Sa’ad Abdulaziz Maslouh, Professor of Linguistics, won the translation award for his book “Translation Theory: Contemporary Trends”.

Egyptian novelist Gamal Al Ghitani won the the Award for best Work in Literature. Al Ghitani’s winning novel “Ran” is a work that ventures into Egypt’s ancient history in an effort to revive the myths and stories through the use of sophist parables. The novel is the 6th volume of Dafater Al- Tadween (Arabic for books) and encompasses the spiritual journey of the writer paralleled with an actual travel he assumes from the Pyramid Plateau to the Southern parts of Egypt.

Dr. Baqer Salman Al Najjar of Bahrain and Dr. Yousef Waglesi, of Algeria were winners of the Award in two categories, the best contribution to the Development of the Country and the Best Young Author respectively.

Al Najjar won the award for his book “The Strenuous Democracy in the Arabian Gulf” and Waglesi for his book “The intricacy of terminology in the new Arab discourse.” The award, which was established in memory of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, has been running for three years with nine categories: Literature, Children’s Literature, Translation, Young Author, Fine Arts, Publishing ‘&’ Distribution, Cultural Personality of the Year, Development of the Country, and Best Technology in Culture. The Award is an independent cultural award established under the patronage and support of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.

However, the Children’s Literature Prize was withheld.

“The Children’s Literature is a vital foundation in the development of the young generation and we take great responsibility in achieving the award’s objectives. The nominated works have not provided the necessary conditions to win the Prize,” said Al Oraimi in an earlier statement.

The Award Committee evaluated a total of 621 works across the nine award categories, representing submissions from more than 26 countries.

The award offers a total annual monetary award of AED 7 million ($1,906,000).

H.H. Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received today Moroccan minister responsible for UAE-Morocco Cooperation on Development of Government Sector Mohammed Abo.

The meeting reviewed ways of enhancing relations between the UAE and Morocco.

The Moroccan minister expressed his admiration at the UAE models on e-government and human resources management.

Sheikh Mohammed assured the Moroccan minister of the determination of the UAE leadership and government to provide all assistance to development in Morocco through possible expertise and creative government programmes.

– Dubai Press Club will hold the 8th annual Arab Media Forum on May 11 - 12, 2009 in Dubai under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

At the end of the two-day event, the Arab Journalism Award distribution will also take place.

Maryam Bin Fahad, Executive Director, Dubai Press Club, has said that the preparations for the forum are almost complete and expressed her satisfaction at the prominence that the forum has assumed over the years within the Arab world and outside.

Bin Fahad added: ‘The Forum will deal with important issues in a scientific and methodical fashion so that the views expressed at the event can be considered on par with recommendations that policy makers and media owners can take advantage of.’ The Forum will host more than 600 attendees and 50 speakers from among the most eminent thinkers, writers, media personalities, politicians and economists from within and outside the Arab world

Iraq needs to broaden prospect for reconciliation between various groups, a UAE peper editorialised today.

”The state of Iraq’s affairs should not go out of focus as its future would be determined, to some extent, by how its neighbours handle the problems and threats the country is facing today. Iraq will still need the support and assistance of the Arab world if it is to get back on track in its efforts in nation building,” wrote the Gulf News in its comment today.

”On a recent visit to Iraq, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa urged Iraqi decision makers to broaden their prospect for reconciliation between various groups and factions. “The Arab League is watching with interest the improvements in Iraq as it continues along a path towards stability. We hope the reconciliation process will continue and be enlarged as well. We consider reconciliation as the only firm basis on which to meet all threats and challenges”, said Mousa.

”Such a reconciliation is meant to be inclusive of all factions regardless of their leaning or position. But this approach is not important just because some outlawed parties are to be included,” the paper said.

”More important is that such a reconciliation between opposing groups would constitute the first step that would enable Iraq to move on towards the future, rather than constantly looking at the past,”it concluded.

 Dubai Press Club will hold the 8th annual Arab Media Forum on May 11 - 12, 2009 in Dubai under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

At the end of the two-day event, the Arab Journalism Award distribution will also take place.

Maryam Bin Fahad, Executive Director, Dubai Press Club, has said that the preparations for the forum are almost complete and expressed her satisfaction at the prominence that the forum has assumed over the years within the Arab world and outside.

Bin Fahad added: ‘The Forum will deal with important issues in a scientific and methodical fashion so that the views expressed at the event can be considered on par with recommendations that policy makers and media owners can take advantage of.’ The Forum will host more than 600 attendees and 50 speakers from among the most eminent thinkers, writers, media personalities, politicians and economists from within and outside the Arab world

UAE Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Al-Asri Saeed Al Dhahiri, has visited the UAE heritage village at the 24th edition of the Saudi Arabia National Heritage and Cultural Festival (Al-Janadiriya), which ended here last night.

Al-Dhahiri, who met with a number of officials of the festival, toured the UAE pavilion which houses the UAE national heritage village and an exhibition stand, showcasing UAE national heritage items and plastic arts.

The UAE Ambassador met with the commander of the Al-Janadiriya Camp, Major General Sa’ad bin Mutlaq Abu Thunain, who praised the UAE for its successful participation in the festival.

In a statement to WAM, Al-Dhahiri praised Saudi Arabia for its continuous efforts and for successfully holding the annual festival. He said the festival was a great honour and a source of great pride for all member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Arab and Islamic worlds.