Tag Archives: cricket
Mohammed visits Dewa’s Sustainable Building
Mohammed visits Dewa’s Sustainable Building Staff Reporter / 10 September 2013 His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has made an inspection visit to Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (Dewa’s) Sustainable Building at Al Quoz, on Monday. Costing Dh75 million, the 340,000 square-feet Sustainable Building is the largest government building in the world, with a Platinum rating for green buildings from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the US Green Building Council institute. Accompanied by Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Mohammed toured the various sections of the building and listened to the detailed brief by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dewa Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer about the building’s components and specifications, the use of solar panels with capacity of 660kW for generating electricity power, its contribution to energy saving of about 66 per cent and water conservation by 48 per cent. Shaikh Mohammed, then, watched a documentary film on Dewa’s initiatives to achieve his vision for a green economy in the UAE and to reach sustainable development. He was also briefed about the electronic modes of payment whereby 60 per cent of customers are accessing it compared to 40 per cent of clients who are using the traditional method of payments. His Highness also familiarised himself with the various e-services rendered by Dewa to its clients at all levels and toured the different counters to assure himself of the facilities and procedures offered by the customer service office. Shaikh Mohammed also inspected the models, maps, charts, diagrams, tables of statistics and photos displayed at Dewa corridors. He was also briefed about Dewa’s initiatives and projects, most important of which is the expansion of M-Station for power generation and water desalination, with a production capacity of 2,060MW and 140MIGD at a cost of Dh10 billion. This station was established to make use of the most state-of-the-art technologies in the world. An additional operational investment of Dh1.2 billion has increased production capacity by 400MW and increased thermal efficiency to 90 per cent. According to Al Tayer, M-Station’s overall efficiency is 82.4 per cent with total fuel oil storage of 320,000 cubic metres. Moreover, Shaikh Mohammed was briefed about the Dh12-billion Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is being constructed at Seih Al Dahal in Dubai with a planned capacity of 1,000MW on final completion. The park will comprise a research and development centre, an educational institute, a museum of technology, exhibitions to help students in training and be aware of the components of this project, which is the first and largest one of its kind in the region. As part of its continuous efforts to diversify Dubai’s energy mix and to combine these sources to generate electricity, Dewa has issued a request for tenders for its new clean-coal power plant; using new sources to generate electricity. The Hassyan plant will be the first of its kind in the region to use clean-coal technology and the project will contribute significantly to alternate sources of energy, with total production capacity of 1,200MW to be carried out in two 600MW phases, with the first phase to be completed by 2020, and the second by 2021. The Vice-President was also briefed about the progress of the first phase of the integrated hydro-geological study to determine the location of groundwater basins and re-inject them with surplus drinking water to store and re-pump to its water networks to meet emergency needs. The study is expected to be completed at the end of this year. Continue reading
Nadal tops Djokovic for 13th major title
Nadal tops Djokovic for 13th major title (AP) / 10 September 2013 Hard to believe this is the same Rafael Nadal who was home during the U.S. Open a year ago, nursing a bad left knee. Hard to believe this is the guy sent packing in the first round of Wimbledon in June, losing against someone ranked 135 th . Looking fit as can be and maybe even better than ever, the No. 2-ranked Nadal pulled away from No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in a taut, tense U.S. Open final for his 13 th Grand Slam title. “Very, very emotional, no?” Nadal said during the on-court trophy presentation. “Probably only my team knows how much (this) means for me.” They started in sunlight and finished at night, a 3-hour, 21-minute miniseries of cliffhangers and plot twists and a pair of protagonists who inspired standing ovations in the middle of games. There was no quit in either of them, during points that lasted 15, 25, even more than 50 strokes. “Probably nobody brings my game to the limit like Novak,” said Nadal, who collected $3.6 million in prize money, including a $1 million bonus for results during the North American hard-court circuit. This was their 37 th match against each other, the most between any two men in the Open era, and Nadal has won 22. It also was their third head-to-head U.S. Open final in the last four years. Nadal beat Djokovic for the 2010 title, and Djokovic won their rematch in 2011. They know each other’s games so well, and play such similar hustle-to-every-ball styles, but in the end, it was Nadal who was superior. “He was too good. He definitely deserved to win this match today and this trophy,” Djokovic said. “Obviously disappointing to lose a match like this.” Nadal improved to 22-0 on hard courts and 60-3 overall in 2013 with nine titles, including at the French Open, which made him the first man with at least one Grand Slam trophy in nine consecutive seasons. The 27-year-old Spaniard’s total of 13 major championships ranks third in the history of men’s tennis, behind only Roger Federer’s 17 and Pete Sampras’ 14. Nadal no longer wears the strips of white tape he once did to bolster his left knee, and the way he covered the court against Djokovic — switching from defense to offense in a blink — proved that while he says he still feels pain in that leg, he definitely does not have problems moving around. These are the same two who played the longest Grand Slam final in history, a nearly six-hour struggle that left both needing to sit in chairs during the ceremony after Djokovic’s victory at the 2012 Australian Open. This time, when it ended with a forehand into the net by Djokovic, Nadal dropped to his back on the court, saluted by an Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that included the Queen of Spain. Nadal was relentless from shot to shot, yes, and from point to point, too, but what might have been most impressive was the way he stayed steady when Djokovic recovered from a rough start and began asserting himself. Continue reading
Obama gears up for all-out push on Syria
Obama gears up for all-out push on Syria (AFP) / 9 September 2013 Washington deepened its diplomatic offensive at home and abroad on Sunday as President Barack Obama braced for a key week in his push to persuade skeptical Americans to back strikes against the Syrian regime. Lawmakers returning on Monday from their summer break are set to begin debate on whether to approve limited US military action in Syria, with a Senate vote possibly coming as early as Wednesday. Obama will blitz US networks on Monday evening before addressing the American people from the Oval Office on Tuesday aiming to lay out the case to deepen US involvement in a two-year-old war that has claimed more than 100,000 lives. President Bashar Al Assad was also to take to the US airwaves to deny he ordered a suspected chemical attack on his people last month, which has shocked the world and galvanised the Obama administration into preparing for its first military foray into the brutal conflict. In a rare interview with a US network, Assad insisted he was not behind the August 21 gas attack on a Damascus suburb, and issued a veiled warning to the American people not to become militarily involved in the rebellion against him that erupted in March 2011. The long-time Syrian leader warned that as his country prepares “as best we can” for US military action, there could be a bitter consequences. “There’s no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people,” he reportedly told CBS television, in the interview to be aired on Monday. Assad said he “had a message to the American people that it had not been a good experience for them to get involved in the Middle East in wars and conflicts.” He “suggested that there would be, among people that are aligned with him, some kind of retaliation if a strike was made,” veteran CBS correspondent Charlie Rose told CBS. After talks with Arab League leaders in Paris, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “All of us agree, not one dissenter, that Assad’s deplorable use of chemical weapons… crosses an international global red line.” Kerry, who was dispatched by Obama to shore up support abroad, said a number of Arab countries, were willing to sign a statement agreed by 12 of the G20 countries last week calling for a “strong” reaction to the alleged attack. Asked about Assad’s denial, Kerry told journalists traveling with him on his next stop in London that “the evidence speaks for itself.” “Today we discussed the possible and necessary measures that can be taken,” he said earlier, adding Saudi Arabia was among those who had signed on. While a resolution for a military strike is likely to pass the Senate controlled by Obama’s Democrats, according to a Washington Post survey some 224 of the current 433 members of the Republican dominated House were either “no” or “leaning no” on military action as of Friday. A large number, 184, were undecided, with just 25 backing a strike. A top White House official said on Sunday the Obama administration is planning “for every contingency” in case of any fallout from US military strikes. “We have to obviously be very careful and very targeted and very limited in our engagement so we do not get dragged into the middle of this. And then there’s obviously risk of reaction and retaliation against our friends,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said on CNN. He urged hesitant lawmakers to watch graphic videos released over the weekend, said to be of the August attack, showing corpses as well as dying people, including children, writhing in pain and apparently foaming at the mouth and vomiting. The Los Angeles Times reported meanwhile that the Pentagon was preparing for three days of attacks on Syria, longer than originally planned. War planners now aim to unleash a heavy barrage of missile strikes to be followed swiftly by additional attacks on targets that may have been missed or remain standing after the initial launch, the newspaper cited officials as saying. A US defense official said the scale and purpose of the operation against Syria has not changed in recent weeks, although US forces would adjust as needed. “We will continue to review our targeting and targeting options as the Syrian government adapts over time,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. On the ground, Syrian rebels, including the Al-Nusra Front, were said to have taken control of the historic Christian town of Maalula, north of Damascus. And an Italian journalist and a Belgian national who had both been kidnapped in early April were released and on a plane flying to Italy, the Italian government said. Continue reading
