Habib Toumi

Israel’s Ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, has been summoned to explain on Thursday the use of passports in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, an Israeli daily has reported.

The summoning seemed as part of the full investigation pledged on Wednesday by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown into the use of the forged passports by a hit squad that murdered Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh on January 20.

“We are looking into this at this very moment; we have got to carry out a full investigation into this. The British passport is an important document that has got to be held with care,” Brown said in a radio interview, according to Haaretz.

Brown said the British government would seek to accumulate evidence about “what actually happened” before making any official statements on the matter.

Anticipating wider diplomatic developments involving Tel Aviv, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said also on Wednesday that there was no proof Israel’s Mossad spy agency was behind the assassination.

Lieberman shrugged off any prospect of diplomatic problems with Britain over suspicions a Mossad team had used counterfeit British passports.

“I think Britain recognizes that Israel is a responsible country and that our security activity is conducted according to very clear, cautious and responsible rules of the game. Therefore we have no cause for concern,” he said. continue reading…

Chinese workers in Algeria - Echerouk

Egyptians top the Arab share in Algeria’s labour force, but their numbers pale in comparison with those of the Chinese who make up around half of the foreigners who are employed in Algeria, an Algerian official has said.

“The number of expatriates in Algeria has risen from 543 in 1999 to 45,000 in 2009. They are from 105 nationalities, but the Chinese make up around 45 per cent of the foreigners working in the country,” Said Adnen, head of integration services at the labour ministry said. “The total expatriate force is about 0.5 per cent of the total workforce which includes 10 million Algerians,” he told Echerouk daily. Egyptians represent 11 per cent of the foreign labour community, followed by Italians with four per cent. Americans, Canadians and Filipinos do not exceed three per cent of the total, Said Adnen said.

Slightly more than half of the expatriates work in the construction sector whereas the service sector employs 3.6 per cent of the foreigners. According to the Algerian official, 23 per cent of the foreigners have university degrees. Some 50 companies and 35,000 people from China are currently involved in one of Algeria’s most important makeovers, building 60,000 new homes, a shopping mall, hotels, an airport and a 745-mile highway among a series of high-profile projects worth $20 billion. continue reading…

LMRA officials briefing diplomats - LMRA

Bahrain’s labour market regulatory authority (LMRA) said that embassies and consulates should be actively engaged in addressing the issue of their nationals staying illegally in the country.
“Diplomatic and consular sections should promote awareness among their citizens to comply with the regulations and to leave Bahrain when their residence or work permits expire,” an LMRA official told diplomats from several Arab and Asian countries. “The representations also need to encourage their citizens to approach their offices as a first step to facilitate their deportation process,” the official said at the meeting attended by representatives from India, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordon, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Tunisia, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Iran, Germany, Japan and Malaysia. continue reading…

Abdelaziz Belkhadem - Echerouk

The rotation of the post of Arab League secretary general among the member countries is “a perfectly sensible” move that should be adopted by the Arab states, a senior Algerian official said.

“The nature of regional and international organizations comprised of several national members is to rotate posts,” Abdelaziz Belkhadem, the personal representative of the Algerian president, said. “This is a matter of logic and common sense. All Arab states should discuss it. If there is a consensus that the Secretary General should be an Egyptian national, so be it. However, if the member states agree on rotating the post among them, then the agreement should be implemented. Either way, we should ensure that logic and law prevail over tradition,” Belkhadem told Algerian daily Echerouk on Tuesday. continue reading…

Foggy conditions persist in Bahrain

Bahrain traffic police have appealed for drivers to use “extreme caution” after one young man was killed in a spate of car accidents in and around Manama due to foggy conditions in the morning hours.

According to police reports, 37 accidents happened between 6 am and 9.30am as a result of the dense fog that enveloped Bahrain on Tuesday morning. The Bahraini youth died as his car hit a lamppost in the posh Seef area while the highway to King Fahad Causeway, Bahrain’s terrestrial link with Saudi Arabia, had an 11-car pile up and other minor accidents.

“Lack of visibility coupled with recklessness on the part of drivers who failed to maintain safe distances have caused the accidents,” a traffic officer said in a statement. “Drivers have to increase safe distances behind other vehicles for better visibility and to avail of sufficient time to brake. They must reduce speed at junctions, roundabouts and traffic lights and ensure the front windows offer good visibility.” continue reading…