Free bus scheme for 18 year olds to kick in on Sunday, Transport Malta announces

maltatoday : "Youths born in 1999 will be able to travel by bus for free for a year starting from the date they turn 18, in a scheme that will kick in on New Year’s Day."

Why all the bombing in Iraq? #Kirkuk oil priced $2/bbl at well-head

Dr Ashti:Even at low oil prices, #Kurdistan is attractive. CAPEX is reasonable&operating costs are very low, 2$ per barrel produced #KIOG16

— The Oil & Gas Year (@TOGYnews) December 6, 2016

UAE - cars are constant headache - where to park?

The National: "SHARJAH // Residents are unhappy with a decision to end free afternoon parking in the city.

Sharjah City Council members last week agreed to end free parking between 1pm and 5pm in an attempt to curb abuse from motorists taking advantage of it, especially near marketplaces."

History of British meddling in MENA to steal resources - #waronislam

Herein lies the entire strategy against the Muslim world pic.twitter.com/hTJkEiZYmZ

— أحمد الدمشقي (@dimashqee) November 11, 2016

Free public transport for 18-year-olds

timesofmalta.com: "The Finance Minister also announced that all 18-year-olds will be eligible for free public transport for a year. The assistance cannot exceed €312 per person. "

Oman transport: Public network only solution to traffic jams in Muscat

Times Of Oman: "An efficient public transportation system can also cut down on the number of road accidents and deaths. In the last five years, an average of 5,210 accidents per year occurred on an annual basis, causing an average road fatality of 450. It will also ease the amount of fuel consumed locally, reduce maintenance of the highways and the government will save money on the construction of new roads."

Malta Public Transport offers free bus rides to vulnerable job-seekers

MaltaToday.com.mt : "ulnerable job-seekers can now make use of free public transport, after Malta Public Transport signed an agreement with the Malta Association of Supported Employment, offering participants of the Positive Supported Employment Programme (PSEP) free credit on their tallinja bus cards so they can attend training sessions and job interviews."

US Undercounts Civilian Death Toll in Iraq and Syria by 95%

teleSUR English: "The United States-led coalition that is bombing Iraq and Syria may be underreporting the civilian toll of that war by as much as 95 percent, according to a new report released Friday by the monitoring group Airwars."

KRG-Iran pipeline talks gain momentum

Iraq Oil Report: "Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is conducting detailed technical planning with Iran that could lead to the construction of the autonomous region's second oil export pipeline."It's serious. Very serious. We've had several meetings in the past, and will continue to have meetings," said Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Taha Zangana, who has led the KRG's technical delegation. "The technical part of pre-engineering is almost – almost – in place."If the project moves forwar..."

Can Saudi still fool Muslims?

You can't be a Killer of Muslims without being rewarded by the "Amir al-Mu'minin" King of #SaudiArabia pic.twitter.com/08d7Y5qFNC

— F. (@7layers_) April 10, 2016

Did the West fake an entire attack on al-Qaeda for an oil pipeline?

The Canary: "So al-Qaeda graciously paved the way for the West to bomb a path through Yemen for the Saudi-Western Hadramawt pipeline plan."

While Muslims are being starved to death

Meanwhile, in the Emirates...pic.twitter.com/L7WGalpEKi

— Coffee & News (@ThatCoffeeTho) June 6, 2016

Dubai pursues ambitious public transport targets

Oxford Business Group: "There are signs that the authority’s campaign is working. Public transport as a share of all travel in Dubai rose from 6% in 2006 to around 15% last year, the RTA said, putting the emirate on track to meet a target of 20% by 2020. The emirate is looking to boost the contribution further to 30% by 2030."

People abandoning luxury cars in Dubai

Car Keys: "Pictures of the cars, including that £1 million Enzo, have sparked fury on social media, with many assuming that the hyper-wealthy citizens of Dubai are so rich and so numb to the value of the things that they own that they simply leave the car when they’re bored and get another.

However, in truth one of the primary reasons that so many expensive luxury cars end up abandoned is due to Dubai’s struggle in the face of the effects of the global financial crisis, along with plunging oil prices."

Former head of MI6 praises Islamic State governance

independent.co.uk : "Isis offers those living under its rule better governance in some respects than they received from the state before it took over. Corruption is far less prevalent, and justice, albeit brutal, is swift and more evenly applied. "

Terrorists behind Mosul University attack may have been trained in USA

Coalition airstrike on the University of #Mosul captured live on camera. Where's the world?pic.twitter.com/iJrX3uMlKW

— Maghrebi (@MaghrebiHD) March 22, 2016

Over 1,000 medically unfit drivers suspended

Khaleej Times: "Over 1,200 drivers have been suspended by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) after launch of the 'No Worries' initiative. However, the initiative has contributed to reducing heavy vehicle accidents rate by as much as 40 per cent."

This should give you an idea of how fare-free public transport could save lives and money. The problem is not unfit drivers, or distracted drives, or buzzed drivers. The problem is drivers.

This is why US so desperate to manage Kurdish nationalism - oil.

rudaw : "In other oil-related news the Kurds have consolidated their control over Kirkuk’s oil by agreeing to sell oil pumped from Kirkuk province. One of the so-called disputed territories that came under complete Kurdish control after the Iraqi Army fled Islamic States’ advance across Northern Iraq in the summer of 2014.

Kirkuk crude is exported along with oil pumped from the rest of the Kurdistan Region through the Kirkuk to Ceyhan oil pipeline. Kirkuk’s governor Najmaldin Karim told Bloomberg on Wednesday that $10 million per month made from the sale of this crude will be placed in a bank account for his province.

However exports remain halted for the time being following the sabotage of part of that pipeline in the troubled southeastern Turkey last February 17."

US-backed thugs terrorize people in Syria

Syria Direct: "Residents are reportedly heading south, deeper into IS-controlled areas, rather than north, east or west into territory currently controlled by the Kurdish-majority SDF because they say they are afraid of arrests, expulsions and revenge killings, Abdullah al-Ahmad, an activist in Al-Hasakah city, told Syria Direct on Monday.

“The crimes that civilians witnessed the Kurdish militias commit in neighboring villages, such as expelling them [from their homes], along with arrests, killings and pillaging, is driving them toward IS despite people’s hatred of them,” said al-Ahmad."

Car-Free Day in Dubai: Thousands of commuters leave cars behind

GulfNews.com: "Emirati Aisha Hajji, an employee at a government department, said she takes the metro a lot to work. “When the weather is good, I take the metro to work as there is a metro station near my home. The trip is comfortable and I do not have to get stuck in traffic, and it also allows me to walk, which helps me burn some calories on my way to work,” she said."

Thousands expected to participate in Dubai annual Car-Free Day

The National: "Indian Sanjeet Patel, 38, said that if the campaign were expanded it could encourage more people.

“If they had some kind of offer where they had a car-free month or fortnight and made public transport cheaper, then you could get more people hooked that way,” Mr Patel said.

“For many people, myself included, we are stuck in old habits about using cars to go everywhere. But by having a longer campaign it would be more in the public eye and people would know about the alternatives."

Saudi journalist: "buying cars not smart"

Arab News: "And Saudi cities urgently need decent, clean and air-conditioned buses that anyone, local or foreign, can use to get around. As our cities continue growing at breakneck speed, we will have larger and larger traffic jams. Encouraging people to keep buying more and more cars is not the smart way forward. The public must have the option to choose between taking a bus, metro, taxi or their own cars to get around."

Dubai hopes to have 1,000 companies take part in Car Free Day

The National: "Over the past six years, Car Free Days have saved an estimated 140 tonnes of carbon emissions. Alya Al Harmoudi, the municipality’s director of the environment, said the estimates were based on the readings of air-quality measuring instruments that record the levels of carbon emissions and noise before, during and after February 21.

An estimated 147,000 litres of fuel were saved in the six events, she said."

People protest corruption in KRG

NRT English: "The global slump in oil prices, fight against the Islamic State (IS) and influx of Syrian refugees and displaced Iraqis have added more pressure on the KRG’s economy without resolution.

As a result, Kurdish officials have repeatedly said the government does not have enough money to pay for basic services and salaries for employees and for Peshmerga on the frontlines in the war against IS.

On Wednesday (Jan. 20), the Wusha newspaper reported that Kurdish authorities seized some $250 million dollars belonging to an oil businesswoman and the wife of the Kurdistan Region’s current Minister of Natural Resources. This report raised suspicion of corruption within the oil revenues within the KRG, although the government denied the seizure of assets. Lawmakers and advocates called for increased transparency in the KRG oil revenues, including monitoring reports requested on a monthly basis."

This is the Pentagon's new strategy to defeat ISIS

militarytimes: "Meanwhile, Iraqi leaders have begun imposing restrictions on the size and scope of the U.S. military force in their country. Factions within Baghdad’s Shiite-led government are influenced by neighboring Iran and thus oppose expanding the American military mission there. "Iraq is proving to be a lot trickier than we thought," said Michael Knights, a military expert with the the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "You’ve always got the risk that you can unbalance the government if you do too much. ... We've learned that it can be a lot simpler operating in an environment where you have no sovereign government [like Syria] than to operate in a place where you’ve got one, like in Iraq."

The new battle plan has many potential pitfalls, of course. And there are no clear plans for ousting ISIS militants from their strongholds in Syria west of the Euphrates River, where several rebel factions are fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been buoyed by Russian military forces that have established an air base along the Mediterranean coast. For the U.S. and its allies, Russia's presence and activity in the region only further complicates an already convoluted pocket of Syria’s five-year-old civil war.

This campaign will take years to execute, officials say. But it is underway, both operationally and politically. Carter's recent trip to the region, which included stops here in Irbil, Baghdad and Turkey, set things in motion."



'via Blog this'

How Zionism helped create the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Mondoweiss: "However, one must go back to the 1920’s to fully appreciate the origins of this informal and indirect alliance between Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity. "