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PLUS WORK FEE FEARS 'PROVED WRONG' – 4 q WHAT'S ON ... AND WHERE – 17-18 s Smoke fills the sky as a fire burns in the lobby of the hotel. Flagship ...
WEDNESDAY, 3rd SEPTEMBER 2008

VOL XXXI NO. 167 (GGDN 024)

200 Fils/2 Riyals

Tycoon held over singer’s death

Gang stalking us

Rare Monroe find…

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TRAFFIC TASK FORCE!

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■ Smoke fills the sky as a fire burns in the lobby of the hotel

By NOOR TOORANI

MANAMA: Traffic trouble-

shooting squads will be out in force to combat massive congestion on Bahrain’s roads during Ramadan, police announced yesterday.

Police are expecting major jams, exacerbated by nationwide roadworks and government schools reopening next week. Extra police will be at every major junction, accompanied by technicians, to manually alter traffic lights, to ease backlogs in any given direction. Patrol vehicles will be out in force to keep drivers in check and deal with snarl-ups.

Community police are also being drafted in to monitor lesser junctions and for safety patrols outside schools. All heavy vehicles have been banned from main roads during the rush hours of 7:30am to 8:30am and from 1:30pm to 2:30pm, to ease DUBAI: A British couple appeared in a Dubai court yesterday congestion. accused of having sex on a beach. “We are expect“The trial has been adjourned to September 9 so as to hear the ing major traffic testimony of the policeman who witnessed the incident,” court jams in the mornofficial Mohsen Hassan said after Michelle Palmer, 36, and ings and the afterVince Acors, 34, appeared briefly before judge Hamad noons during this Abdullatif Abdulgawad. month, especially Palmer, a publishing executive who has been sacked from her next week when job, and Acors, a visitor to Dubai, were accused of having sex in a public place in the early hours of July 5 after drinking heavily. school starts again,” The pair, both of whom are free on bail, could be jailed and said the General fined if found guilty. A prison sentence would be followed by Directorate of deportation. Traffic’s traffic culEmbassy officials were in court yesterday. ture director Major At a first hearing on August 12, Palmer denied having sexual Moosa Al Dosari. intercourse with Acors, saying they were simply “kissing and

Beach sex hearing

hugging”. Acors also pleaded not guilty to having sex, but a prosecution official was quoted as saying that he initially admitted the offence before changing his story. Defence lawyer Hassan Matar said the results of a medical test on Palmer just hours after the incident showed “she had not engaged in recent sexual intercourse,” while the medical report for Acors was inconclusive.

PLUS

■ Acors

Full report – Page 5

Flagship hotel ablaze DUBAI: A fire broke out yesterday at the Atlantis hotel, the flagship resort on Dubai’s man-made Palm Jumeirah island. The cause of the blaze, at the large arched entrance to the hotel which is expected to open later this year, was not known. It was brought under control within hours. Rising up from the centre of Dubai’s first palm-shaped island, Atlantis is the brain child of Sol Kerzner and is the sister hotel of the Atlantis in the Bahamas. The hotel is set to open later this month and currently has no guests in it.

■ His Majesty pardons 136 MANAMA: His Majesty King Hamad issued a decree last night pardoning 136 prisoners, to mark the advent of Ramadan.

■ Jet makes emergency landing MUMBAI: An Iran Air flight with 271 people on

board made an emergency landing at Mumbai airport last night after the pilot detected a fire in one of the engines. All the passengers were safe, said an official. The pilot noticed the fire shortly after the Boeing 747-200 took off from Mumbai for Tehran. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

■ Iran expels Al Arabiya chief DUBAI: Iran has expelle the bureau chief of Al Arabiya television in Tehran after accusing the network of bias. An official at Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry said yesterday Hassan Fahs had had been declared “persona non grata” and would

Putin vows ‘calm’ response MOSCOW: Russia will react to Nato’s increased naval

presence in the Black Sea, but calmly and without hysteria, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday. Moscow has repeatedly voiced concern that Nato has too many ships in the Black Sea. Foreign Ministry official Andrei Nesterenko said that cur-

rently there are two US, one Polish, one Spanish and one German ship there. Putin, speaking in televised remarks during a trip to Uzbekistan, said “the reaction will be calm, without any hysteria... But of course, there will be an answer.” EU hailed over sanctions – Page 21

WORK FEE FEARS ‘PROVED WRONG’ – 4 ● WHAT’S ON ... AND WHERE – 17-18

have to leave as soon as possible after his visa was not extended. Al Arabiya carried a report last month about plans for an Egyptian film called Imam of Blood that would criticise Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

■ Surrender or die, militants told ALGIERS: Islamist militants carrying out attacks in Algeria should surrender immediately or be killed, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said yesterday. “We will fight them to the end. They have two choices: to surrender and take advantage of national reconciliation or be killed for the crimes they are committing,” Ouyahia said at the opening of the senate’s autumn session.

■ Cherie’s sister denied Gaza exit GAZA: Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, who arrived in Gaza with a boatload of activists protesting an Israeli blockade, said yesterday she was stuck there because both Israel and Egypt had denied her entry. Lauren Booth, sister of the former British prime minister’s wife Cherie, revealed her predicament as Blair visited the region to push for a peace deal. Booth was one of 44 foreign “Free Gaza” activists who set sail from Cyprus last month.