The Board of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority held its inaugural meeting under the Chairmanship of His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan. Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority was announced on February 9, 2012 under a law issued by the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in his capacity as Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

The Authority’s objective is to preserve, protect and manage the emirate’s cultural heritage and leverage it as the core driver of the emirate’s tourism development and promotion.

The Board named Mubarak Al Muhairi as Director General of the new authority. He comes to the post after seven years at Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

“The Board agreed that in Mubarak Al Muhairi the new authority has a proven leader who sets the tone of an organisation by example and has a wealth of experience in both the tourism and culture sectors,” said Sheikh Sultan.

The Board also authorised an audit of the assets and facilities of the former Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and Abu Dhabi Authority For Culture & Heritage ahead of the implementation of an integration action plan.

“We are looking to deliver a seamless transition into a unified body that will bring additional synergy to the delivery of enhanced product and services across a number of segments,” said Sheikh Sultan.

The Authority regulates the tourism sector, monitors its activity and promotes the destination through a wide range of activities aimed at attracting tourism investment to the emirate. It also develops policies, plans and programmes related to the preservation of heritage and culture, and implements them to protect archaeological sites and the development of museums. It also supports intellectual and artistic activities and cultural events and assists the protection, management and promotion of the emirate’s cultural heritage.

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority replaced the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and has absorbed all the assets and staff of the former organisations.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority is governed by a Board which is chaired by HE Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan and has Dr. Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazroui, Jassim Mohammed Al Darmaki and Brigadier General Omeir Muhammad Muhairi as its members.

Release Date: 01/23/2012Contact Information: David Deegan, 617-918-1017

(Boston—January 23, 2012) Janine Burke, Executive Director of the Warwick, RI Sewer Authority Treatment Plant was recently honored with a "2011 Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Excellence Award" by EPA.   
The EPA Regional Wastewater awards program recognizes municipal personnel in the wastewater field who have provided invaluable public service managing and operating wastewater treatment facilities throughout New England.   The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management was instrumental in Ms. Burke’s nomination.  
Ms. Burke has been the Executive Director of the Warwick Sewer Authority since 2008 and has been in the environmental field for over 20 years.  She has been a dedicated professional protecting the water quality and public health of Rhode Island’s citizens.  During the past two years, Ms. Burke, along with her entire wastewater treatment plant and collection system staff, has been instrumental in overseeing the recovery and complete rebuilding of the entire wastewater treatment plant that was devastated by the spring flood of 2010.
“The professionals operating these wastewater treatment plants, as well as the municipalities and the state environmental agencies that support them, are essential to keeping our environment healthy by protecting water quality.  They are devoted, often underappreciated, and demonstrate a high level of commitment under extreme situations.  I am proud to acknowledge Ms. Burke’s outstanding contributions to help protect public health and Rhode Island’s waterways for so many years and to give her the credit she deserves,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England Office.    
EPA’s New England office will formally acknowledge Ms. Burke’s outstanding contributions during the annual New England Water Environment Association Conference at the Boston Copley Marriott Hotel on January 25th.
 For more information: http://www.epa.gov/ne/topics/water/wwater.html and

http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/intnet.htm

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Editor’s note: Robert Whaples is professor of economics and chair of the Economics Department at Wake Forest University. He is the co-editor of the forthcoming, “The Handbook of Modern Economic History and The Handbook of Major Events in Economic History” (Routledge).

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Robert Whaples.

The Gambia is one of Africa's smallest countries and unlike many of its West African neighbours it has enjoyed long spells of stability since independence.

Consequently, the country relies on foreign aid to fill gaps in its balance of payments.

President Jammeh wants to turn The Gambia into an oil-producing state. He says this could usher in a "new future". However, the country has yet to strike crude oil.

Tourism is an important source of foreign exchange, as is the money sent home by Gambians living abroad. Most visitors are drawn to the resorts that occupy a stretch of the Atlantic coast.

In 1994 The Gambia's elected government was toppled in a military coup. The country returned to constitutional rule two years later when its military leader ran as a civilian and won a presidential election. But the credibility of the poll was questioned by a group of Commonwealth ministers.

A densely-populated country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is the only majority-Jewish state in the world.

Much of the history of the area since that time has been one of conflict between Israel on one side and Palestinians – represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation – and Israel's Arab neighbours, on the other. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced in the fighting in 1948, during which Israel's Arab neighbours came to the aid of the Palestinian Higher Council. Israel lost one percent of its population in the fighting, which ended in a series of uneasy armistices.

Israel has developed from an agrarian state run along collectivist lines into a hi-tech economy in the past 60 years. It has absorbed Jewish immigrants from Europe, the rest of the Middle East, North America and, most recently, the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia along the way.

Its political life has nonetheless been dominated by the conflict with its Arab neighbours, including full-scale regional wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973, and many smaller-scale conflicts including the 1956 invasion of Egypt and the Lebanon wars of 1982 and 2006.

Relations with the Palestinians have been the key factor in foreign and security policy. The Palestinians in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank are home to nearly 500,000 people and are deemed to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation. However, after the militant Islamic group Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel intensified its economic blockade of the Strip. At the end of 2008 it launched a major military assault on Gaza to halt cross-border rocket attacks.

In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, after years of an uprising known as the intifada, that a peace process began with the Palestinians. Despite the handover of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, a final agreement has yet to be reached.

The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.

Release Date: 01/30/2012Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov

ATLANTA – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will enter into an agreement with Meharry Medical College to support campus greening and sustainability. As part of the agreement, EPA will commit to enhance the university’s environmental policy and science curricula and offer opportunities for students interested in environmental careers.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be signed during a ceremony at Meharry.

WHO: Gwen Keyes Fleming, Regional Administrator, EPA Region 4;
Dr. Wayne J. Riley, President, Meharry Medical College

WHAT: EPA and Meharry Medical College Sign MOU on Campus Greening and Environmental Careers

WHEN: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. CST

WHERE: Meharry Medical College

S.S. Kresge Learning Resources Building
Royal Conference Room
Nashville, TN

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Henry Tang, the man tipped to be Hong Kong's next chief executive, has blamed his wife amid a scandal over a basement built illegally in their home.

The structure under the swimming pool reportedly includes an entertainment suite, a jacuzzi and wine cellar.

The 59-year-old said he would not quit the leadership race despite public criticism.

Hong Kong's next leader, who replaces Donald Tsang, will be chosen by a 1,200-member committee on 25 March.

The seemingly minor scandal has set off a media frenzy rare even for Hong Kong's free-wheeling press, reports the BBC's Juliana Liu.

On Thursday, journalists and protesters besieged Mr Tang's home in the Kowloon district. Cameramen brought cranes to see into the premises while angry citizens gathered outside.

Mr Tang had denied the existence of the basement structure – which violates building regulations – saying that it was just ''a hole in the ground to store things in''.

Local newspapers then published plans of the 200 sq m space, dubbed an ''underground palace'' by one tabloid. In land-scarce Hong Kong, many live in flats a quarter of that size.

The wine cellar became a focal point for public anger as Mr Tang, heir to a textile fortune, is well-known to be a wine lover.

He told reporters at a press conference that he had not handled the matter swiftly.

"I apologise to all Hong Kong people," he said. "It was my wife's idea and I knew they were illegal.''

He has denied trying to cover up the matter, saying he was only trying to protect his wife.

"I ask the people of Hong Kong to give me a chance to serve the people," he said.

The son of a Shanghai businessman, Mr Tang is said to be Beijing's favoured candidate for Hong Kong's top civil servant job.

The USA is the world's foremost economic and military power, with global interests and an unmatched global reach.

The original people of north America, who made up several distinct groups of native Americans, went into decline with the arrival of settlers and now constitute a minority of the population.

The early settlers came predominantly from the British Isles. Large numbers of black Africans were taken as slaves to work the plantations of the Americas, while millions of Europeans in search of political freedom and economic opportunity constituted a third stage of immigration.

Today, Asians from the Pacific rim and Hispanics from the southern Americas are among those seeking what their predecessors wanted – the promise of prosperity and freedom which remains one of the defining hallmarks of "the American dream".

Despite relative prosperity in recent years, the gap between rich and poor remains a major challenge. More than 30 million Americans live below the official poverty line, with a disproportionate percentage of these being African-Americans and Hispanics.

Furthermore, the global financial crisis of 2008 has left the US facing its most challenging set of economic circumstances since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 had a momentous impact as the country continued to re-define its role as the world's only superpower.

In October 2001 the US led a military campaign in Afghanistan which unseated the Taleban regime. However, the man thought to have inspired the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden escaped the operation and eluded the US until 2011, when killed in a US special forces operation in Pakistan.

In March 2003 Washington initiated military action in Iraq which led to the toppling of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

US foreign policy has often mixed the idealism of its "mission" to spread democracy with the pursuit of national self-interest.

Given America's leading role on the international stage, its foreign policy aims and actions are likely to remain the subject of heated debate and criticism, as well as praise.