Curfew imposed in four districts in Mosul to arrest outlaws

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A curfew was imposed in four districts in Mosul city, Nineveh, in search of criminals, a security source said on Tuesday.

“Federal police cordoned off the districts of al-Matahen, al-Yarmouk, al- Tenek and al-Yabsat and prevented residents from entering or leaving the districts,” the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Shafaq News.

Police forces launched a manhunt for criminals, who are wanted on terror charges, the source said, adding that the Iraqi Air Forces are taking part in the security campaign.

On Sunday, Iraqi troops confiscated huge amounts of weapons of Islamic State southwest of Mosul, a security source from Nineveh said.

“The weapons are estimated at 40 tons,” the source told Alghad Press. “The weapons were found buried under the ground in Ain al-Jahsh region southwest of Mosul.”

Despite declaring  victory over Islamic State in Mosul, the group’s former bastion in Iraq, observers say IS terrorists are believed to constitute a security threat even after its defeat at its main havens across Iraqi provinces.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared, in July, victory over IS militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign.

Government forces, backed by paramilitary troops and the US-led international coalition, have been fighting, since October 2016, the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

The war against IS has so far displaced at least five million people. Thousands others fled towards neighboring countries including Syria, Turkey and other European countries, since IS emerged to proclaim its self-styled “caliphate”.

 

Source  :  Iraqi News

19 people killed, 70 injured in bomb blast in Salahuddin

Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Nineteen people were killed and 70 others  were injured in a car bomb blast in Tuz Khurmatu region in Salahuddin province on Tuesday, according to a medical source.

A booby-trapped vehicle exploded near an overcrowded market at the Military District in Salahuddin province, a medical source told Al-Ghad Press on Tuesday, adding that the number of casualties is expected to rise.

Last week, Al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces], backed by Federal Police, repelled an attack by IS members near Salahuddin, a source told Baghdad Today.

“The attack targeted checkpoints for PMFs in al-Bu Eissa village, on borders between Salahuddin and located adjacent to Mutaibija,” the source said.

Salahuddin province was rocked by a wave of deadly suicide bombings this year.

US-backed Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from most of the cities it captured in 2014 and 2015. The militants also control parts of Syria.

Tuz Khurmatu was one of the areas disputed by Iraq and Kurdistan Region. Iraqi forces recaptured the area mid October as part of a government push to impose control over disputed territories in response to Kurdistan’s independence referendum held in September.

Iraq declared recently the end of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq with the recapture of the militants’ last stronghold: Anbar’s town of Rawa.

 

Source  :  Iraqi News

Abadi: victory over Islamic State to be declared after clearing desert

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said that his country has defeated Islamic State over the military level, but will declare final victory after desert areas are purged of militants.

In his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Abadi said “Daesh (Islamic State) has been crushed militarily”, adding that he will declare final victory over the group after “ending the purging operations in the desert”.

Last Friday, Iraqi forces recaptured Anbar’s western town of Rawa, the very last bastion under Islamic State control. But some runaway militants are thought to be at desert areas near the borders with Syria, and Iraqi commanders said recently they were aiming to impose control over the borderline.

Since October 2016, Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, launched a multi-phased offensive to retake territories Islamic State had occupied in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”. Since then, forces took back the group’s former capital, Mosul, the town of Tal Afar, Kirkuk’s Hawija, and Anbar’s Annah, Rawa and Qaim.

The war against IS has displaced nearly five million people, with tens of thousands of civilians and militants killed since the launch of the offensives to recapture occupied cities.

Source  :  Iraqi News

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Domestic airfares higher in November 2017 in Australia

Australia’s domestic airfares rose slightly in November, continuing their slow march higher in 2017, new figures show.

The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) monthly measure of airfares increased for both business class and best discount economy tickets in November.

The business class index was 94.7 index points in November, up from 94.2 index points a year earlier. The index has risen for the past three months.

Meanwhile, the best discount economy category rose to 62.8 index points, from 61.2 points in the prior corresponding period. The best discount index has increased for six out of the past eight months.

There was a sharp fall in the restricted economy index, which dropped to 55.8 points in November, compared with 79.8 points in the same month a year ago.

The BITRE report attributed the huge movement in the index to some fare changes at Jetstar.

“The main contributor to this decrease was a sharp fall in Jetstar fares, coinciding with changes to the fare restrictions on their Starter fare with Max product,” the BITRE report said.

Prior to this change, the restricted economy category was at its highest level since June 2011, when Virgin Australia and Jetstar introduced simplified fare structures that brought down the cost of so-called flexible tickets.

The BITRE air fare series is a price index of the lowest available fare in each fare class, weighted over selected routes.

 

Source  :  Australian Aviation

Queensland aerospace student scholarships awarded

Queensland’s Aerospace Industry Education Awards has handed out $25,000 worth of scholarships to support students keen to work in aviation and aerospace once they leave school.

The scholarships were presented at Parliament House in Brisbane on Tuesday.

There are 17 schools that are part of the Gateway to Industry Schools program for aerospace. The program, now in its 13th year, enables schools to work with aerospace industry partners, local aerospace entities, training institutions and universities to create opportunities for students to get into Queensland’s aerospace industry.

“By encouraging partnerships between Aerospace industries and schools, we are creating an environment that nurtures the talent of Queensland school students while creating pathways for a well-trained and skilled workforce.” Queensland Department of Education and Training assistant director-general for quality and performance Steven Koch said in a statement.

There is also a category for teachers, with Kelly Breen from Indooroopilly State High School taking out the 2017 Teacher Excellence Award and earning a trip to “Space Camp” in the United States.

The full list of scholarships recipients is as follows:

• Year 10 GE Aviation Aerospace Award (sponsored by GE Aviation) – Simoné Audie (Mueller College) and Jordan Barr (Iona College)
• AYAA Future Aerospace Leader Award (sponsored by Australian Youth Aerospace Association) – Jack Lord (Oakey State High School) and Emma Sanjurjo (Indooroopilly State High School)
• Year 11 BAC Aerospace Studies Award (sponsored by Brisbane Airport Corporation) – Jonah Jacobson (Indooroopilly State High School)
• Year 11 Qantas Quest Award (sponsored by Qantas Airways) – Chantal Kander (Mueller College)
• Year 12 Airways Aviation Aerospace Studies Award (sponsored by Airways Aviation) – Finn Morris (Aviation High School)
• Aeroskills Scholarship Award (sponsored by Boeing Defence Australia) – Clark Co (Calamvale Community College)
• Female Aerospace Student Award (sponsored by Boeing Defence Australia) – Prakhya Sharma (Indooroopilly State High School)
• The Honourable Company of Air Pilots Award (sponsored by The Honourable Company of Air Pilots) – Chantal Kander (Mueller College) and Molly Amorous (Aviation High School)
• TAE Aerospace Young Innovators Award (sponsored by TAE Aerospace) – Ben Chambers (Mueller College)
• The Royal Aeronautical Society Award (sponsored by Royal Aeronautical Society) – Rowan McNab (Atherton State High School)
• Spirit of Boeing Award (sponsored by Boeing Defence Australia) – Nicholas Vardenga (Iona College)
• Teacher Excellence Award (sponsorsed by Boeing Defence Australia, Brisbane Airport Corporation, GE Aviation and Virgin Australia) – Kelly Breen (Indooroopilly State High School)

Source  :  Australian Aviation

Qantas to operate Los Angeles to Melbourne biofuel flight

Qantas says its will power a Boeing 787-9 flight between Melbourne and Los Angeles with a type of biojet in early 2018 as part of efforts to support local production of seed crops necessary to produce sustainable aviation biofuels.

The airline said the biofuel for the flight would be made from a type of mustard seed called carinata, with Qantas partnering with Canada-based Agrisoma Biosciences help grow the seed at a commercial scale in Australia.

“We are constantly looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions across our operations but when it comes to using renewable jet fuel, until now, there has not been a locally grown option at the scale we need to power our fleet,” Qantas International chief executive Alison Webster said in a statement.

“Our work with Agrisoma will enable Australian farmers to start growing today for the country’s biofuel needs of the future. The trans-Pacific biofuel flight is a demonstration of what can be achieved locally.”

Webster said the longer-term aim was to grow 400,000 hectares of carinata, which could produce 200 million litters of biojet fuel annually.

Qantas said trials by The University of Queensland field in Queensland and South Australia earlier in 2017 “have demonstrated it should do very well in the Australian climate”.

Doctor Anthony van Herwaarden from The University of Queensland, who leads the seed crop trials with Agrisoma in Australia, said the trials would be expanded in 2018, with the process to scale-up to commercial production in the years ahead also set to begin.

Agrisoma chief executive Steve Fabijanski said carinata-based fuel produced at its USA, South American and European plants were “certified as producing fuels with more than 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions in comparison to standard petroleum based fuel”.

While Qantas said in its statement the 2018 flight would be the first biofuel flight between the US and Australia, its local rival Virgin Australia said in October its Boeing 777-300ER flights from Los Angeles to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney already used sustainable aviation fuel, or biojet, made from sustainable sources.

Qantas, and its low-cost-carrier unit Jetstar operated its first biofuel flight in 2012. The biofuel was made from used cooking oil.

The partnership with Agrisoma followed Qantas’s announcement in October it planned to purchase 30 million litres of the renewable fuel produced by US-based SG Preston, which would be used on its flights from Los Angeles to Australia from 2020.

The development of an aviation biofuel has progressed as the industry strived to meet carbon reduction targets.

In October 2016, an overwhelming majority of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) 191 member states agreed to the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

The landmark agreement has among its targets for the industry to achieve carbon neutral growth by 2020, and a 50 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, compared with 2005 levels.

ICAO has also come up with a CO2 emissions standard, where aircraft will have to meet a maximum fuel burn per flight kilometre baseline which must not be exceeded. The standard would apply to new aircraft designs from 2020, while new deliveries of current in-production aircraft models would be subject to the CO2 standard from 2023.

Further, the ICAO measure also recommended a cut-off date of 2028 for production aircraft that did not comply with the standard.

Moreover, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set a target of an average improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5 per cent per year from 2009 to 2020, as well as aspirations to build an aircraft that produced no emissions within 50 years.

Figures from IATA Showed air transport accounted for about two per cent of global man-made CO2 emissions. The figure has been relatively constant over the past 20 years and was not expected to increase beyond three per cent by 2050.

 

Source  :  Australian Aviation

All-women municipality branch in Madinah

MADINAH — The municipality in Madinah announced on Monday the opening of an all-women municipality branch.

Madinah Municipality Head Mohammad Al-Amry said the women-only municipality branch will have all services offered by the municipality including issuance of licenses for commercial activities and construction permits, inspection campaigns, investment opportunities and others.

“In compliance with the National Transformation Program 2020 and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, we worked on empowering women and facilitating our services for them. There are many qualified women to run the women branch,” said Al-Amry.

“An all-women municipality branch is a positive step for the empowerment of women,” said former Shoura Council member and adviser to the Minister of Labor and Social Development Hamdah Al-Enizi.

“We deserve equal employment opportunities and the current leadership is giving women more and more opportunities in the public sector which used to be male dominated. Women will be more involved in decision making and will have a direct impact on social and economic development,” said Al-Enizi.

Madinah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Businesswomen Committee head and businesswoman Ghadah Al-Qaidi said women’s role in the country’s development is essential.

“Having an all-women branch will facilitate the process of issuing licenses for women and their businesses,” said Al-Qaidi.

Madinah Volunteers brand ambassador Fadiyah Afifi said the decision will open up job opportunities for Saudi women. “We hope that women in the Kingdom will continue to gain more rights so they can have a strong positive impact on society,” said Afifi.

 

Source  :  Saudi Gazette