17 Jun, 2015

Thanyapura Sets US$10 Million Investment To Boost “Sports Hub Of Asia” Status

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PHUKET, THAILAND – Asia’s leading world-class sports training and coaching facility, Thanyapura Phuket, is to invest an additional 300 million baht (about US$10 million) in an expansion plan that will significantly further strengthen its status as the leading “Sports Hub of Asia”. To be scaled over five years, the investment will see the spectacular 23-hectare […]

16 Jun, 2015

Air Astana signs up for 7 A320/321neo aircraft to boost Asia, Europe routes

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Paris (Air Astana media release) June 16, 2015 — Air Astana, the Kazakh flag carrier, signed a deal at the Paris Airshow today for seven Airbus A320neo family aircraft, comprising two A320neo, one A321neo and four A321neo Long range(LR). The new aircraft will be acquired on operating leases basis from Air Lease Corporation of Los Angeles, USA.  One A320neo is scheduled for delivery […]

16 Jun, 2015

UFI seminar mulls the future role of exhibitions in the marketing mix

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Paris/Istanbul – 16 June 2015: The UFI Open Seminar in Europe, which opened today, is bringing together industry leaders from across Europe and around the globe. Nearly 180 exhibition professionals from 34 countries have joined the three day seminar in Istanbul to discuss the future of exhibitions as media in the marketing mix. The Open […]

16 Jun, 2015

Global Travel & Tourism now an “Unstoppable Force” – UNWTO chief

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Madrid, 16 June 2015 — The global travel & tourism industry is now an “unstoppable force”, generating not just visitor numbers and economic growth but also representing “an effective solution for many of the world’s greatest challenges,” says UN World Tourism Organisation Secretary-General Taleb Rifai in the newly-released UNWTO Annual Report for 2014. The 88-page […]

16 Jun, 2015

Etihad Airways’ Nine-Point Proposal to Revamp Europe’s Aviation Policy

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Abu Dhabi, 16 June 2015 (Etihad Airways media release) – Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has urged the European Commission to embrace “bold, exciting and world-leading reforms” as part of the Strategic Aviation Package to overhaul Europe’s air transport industry. In a detailed submission to the Commission, the airline advocates […]

16 Jun, 2015

Garuda Indonesia signs Letter of Intent for 30 A350 XWB Aircraft

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Jakarta, (Airbus media release) June 16, 2015 – Garuda Indonesia has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Airbus for the purchase of 30 A350 XWB aircraft. Garuda Indonesia plans to use the A350 XWB to develop its medium and long haul network, with the aircraft offering the ability to fly non-stop from Jakarta or […]

16 Jun, 2015

HK Int’l Airport and SITA to Trial “Beacons” for Better Passenger Experience

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HONG KONG, 16 June 2015 (SITA media release) – Hong Kong International Airport is leading the way in Asia Pacific with trials of beacons to provide key information directly to passengers’ mobile devices, to further improve their journey through the airport. SITA Lab, the technology research team for global IT provider SITA, has installed more […]

15 Jun, 2015

The Evil That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Israel’s Apartheid – Truthdig

For the most part, in the mainstream U.S. press at least, the decorum that forbids use of the A-word remains in place. Yet increasingly, as Israel continues to colonize the West Bank with settlers, and its army ensures their dominion over the lands they occupy, adhering to the A-word ban requires shielding one’s eyes, or, […]

15 Jun, 2015

Manathai Hotels & Resorts expands global sales network with Australian office

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BANGKOK, THAILAND: 15 June, 2015 – Leading independent boutique Thai hospitality brand, MANATHAI Hotels & Resorts, has opened an office in Australia as it eyes the country’s potential as a key feeder market into its burgeoning portfolio of hotels and resorts in Thailand. The Sydney based operation will be headed by Belinda Montgomery who has […]

15 Jun, 2015

Muslim Scientist becomes First Female President of Mauritius

Compiled by Imtiaz Muqbil & Sana Shamsi

A compilation of progressive, positive, inspiring and motivating events and developments in the world of Islam for the week ending 15 June 2015 (28 Sha’baan 1436). Pls click on any of the headlines below to go to the story. ============ A WORD FROM MY SPONSORS: TOURISM MALAYSIA MALAYSIA TO CELEBRATE A YEAR OF GREAT FESTIVALS […]

14 Jun, 2015

Malaysia’s all-girl ensemble charms New York | GulfNews.com

The contrast in weather could not have been more glaring for the 69 members of the all-girls ensemble who had recently arrived from Malaysia to perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York: from the tropical heat and sunshine that are characteristics of the Southeast Asian nation to the blizzard that was pounding New York […]

14 Jun, 2015

PressTV – Israel to dump refuse on Palestine lands

Israel has decided to seize some 202 acres of privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank to make a new dumping grounds for its illegal settlements. The lands belong to around 140 Palestinian families from Rammoun and Deir Dibwan near Ramallah, the International Middle East Media Center reported on Sunday. The targeted area contains […]

14 Jun, 2015

Pankaj Mishra: Modi should learn from the Chinese their deliberate rejection of self-promotion – The Hindu

Fortunately, India is too diverse a place for any Modi to flourish. A truly authoritarian leader like Suharto won’t be able to flourish for long in India. Sixty five years of deeply flawed democratic processes have nevertheless created an India where someone like Mr. Modi can enjoy only limited successes. And he still seems to […]

13 Jun, 2015

Oil-price drop opens door for Iran to upgrade tourism sector

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Tehran, June 12, IRNA / Iran International Magazine commentary – The fall in oil prices has occurred at different junctures in Iranian history and every time with the falling oil prices, pundits and statesmen have argued that utmost advantage should be taken from the opportunities created as a result. In other words, many executives and […]

13 Jun, 2015

China UnionPay Chairman: Global Card issuance tops 5 billion

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SHANGHAI, China, June 11, 2015 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– The cumulative number of UnionPay cards issued globally has exceeded 5 billion and UnionPay has become Chinese residents’ preferred payment brand, Ge Huayong, Chairman of China UnionPay, said at the opening ceremony of 2015 Shanghai City Campaign in Milano on June 10. Ge said secure, convenient, preferential and innovative […]

12 Jun, 2015

Personal Info, Healthcare Data Among Most Exposed Documents Within Cloud Apps – Report

Imtiaz Muqbil

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jun, 09 2015 – (ACN Newswire) – Elastica (www.elastica.net), the leader in Data Science Powered(TM) Cloud Application Security, today released its Q2 2015 Shadow Data Report, providing a data-science powered analysis of hundreds of millions of enterprise files stored and shared within leading enterprise cloud applications. Highlighted in the report are key […]

11 Jun, 2015

Australian National Archives records the lifetime horrors of war

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Canberra, Australian Government media release, 10 June 2015 – For many Anzacs, the horrors of war didn’t end when they returned home. Ongoing health problems – both physical and mental – often meant unemployment, disability, pain and, if things became unbearable, suicide. The intimate details of such difficulties are preserved in more than 600,000 World War I […]

11 Jun, 2015

Jews, Muslims Join Hands At Salaam Shalom Kitchen To Serve Nottingham’s Needy

Muslims and Jews in the United Kingdom have teamed up to work toward a common goal — eradicating hunger in their city of Nottingham. The Salaam Shalom Kitchen, or SaSh, is a project of the Nottingham Liberal Synagogue and Himmah, an Islamic social justice group. Members of the two worship centers are joining forces on […]

11 Jun, 2015

ITUC Global Rights Index names world’s ten worst countries for workers

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Brussels, 10 June 2015 (ITUC OnLine): The Gulf States are among the world’s worst countries for workers’ rights, while workers under European austerity measures endured the starkest deterioration of standards, according to the 2015 Global Rights Index. The ITUC rights index ranks 141 countries against 97 internationally recognised indicators to assess where workers’ rights are […]

11 Jun, 2015

Gulf Expat Workers Sent Home $100 Billion in 2014

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KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait, June 10 (NNN-KUNA) – Foreigners working in the energy-rich Arab states of the Gulf sent more than $100 billion in remittances to their home countries last year, an economic report showed. The figure was twice as high as remittances in 2010, an indication of strong growth, the head of economic research at […]

11 Jun, 2015

‘Quit India’: Movement to make people leave country gathers pace – Hindustan Times

The trend of asking people opposed to the politics of the NDA to leave India was probably kicked off by senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh in April last year. He had blatantly asked people “opposed to Modi” to go to Pakistan since they would have no place in India. Last month, minister of state for […]

11 Jun, 2015

Israel bars UN Human Rights Rapporteur, an Indonesian, entry to Palestine

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RAMALLAH, June 9, 2015 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, in a press statement Tuesday, condemned Israel decision to deny the United Nations Rapporteur on human rights, Makarim Wibisono, entry into the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT). Describing it as a continuation of the numerous Israeli violations against the Palestinian people, the ministry said this decision […]

10 Jun, 2015

RAND Corp Report Puts Multi-Billion $ Value on Israel-Palestine Peace and Tourism

Imtiaz Muqbil

Travel & tourism would be a major beneficiary of peace between Israel and Palestine, contributing a projected $760 million increase in GDP for Palestine and $1.1 billion for Israel over a ten-year 2015-2024 period, according to a study release on June 8 by the RAND Corporation, a prominent U.S. think tank. The study says that […]

9 Jun, 2015

China, Russia to deepen “Red Tourism” cooperation

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BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) — China will strengthen cooperation and exchanges with Russia in making more tourism products, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) said Monday. Tourism authorities of the two countries have agreed to hold promotional activities between June 28 to July 1 in central China’s Xiangtan city, hometown of New China’s founder Mao […]

8 Jun, 2015

Iranian firm makes reverse osmosis desalination technology breakthrough

Compiled by Imtiaz Muqbil & Sana Shamsi

A compilation of progressive, positive, inspiring and motivating events and developments in the world of Islam for the week ending 08 June 2015 (21 Sha’baan 1436). Pls click on any of the headlines to go to the story. ============ A WORD FROM MY SPONSORS: TOURISM MALAYSIA MALAYSIA TO CELEBRATE A YEAR OF GREAT FESTIVALS 2015 […]

8 Jun, 2015

Human Rights Organizations Condemn Sheldon Adelson-Organized Anti-BDS Meeting

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By Mondoweiss Editors June 5, 2015  – As organizations committed to freedom, justice, and equality for all peoples in Palestine, Israel, and beyond, we believe the meeting that right-wing billionaire Sheldon Adelson is reportedly holding this weekend in Las Vegas to counter the grassroots boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement is the latest evidence of […]

8 Jun, 2015

Lecture by the President of India: “Tagore & Gandhi: Do They Have Contemporary Relevance for Global Peace?”

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New Delhi, President’s Secretariat, 03-June-2015 — The following is the full text of a public lecture by the President of India, Prof Pranab Mukherjee at Uppsala University, Sweden on the topic ‘Tagore & Gandhi: Do They Have Contemporary Relevance for Global Peace?’ Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellency Madam Margot Wallstrom, Foreign Minister of Sweden, Your […]

8 Jun, 2015

Jewish billionaires meet to muzzle growing US movement to boycott Israel – The Guardian

The American gambling magnate and major Republican party donor Sheldon Adelson is hosting a closed-door meeting of pro-Israel billionaires and activists at his Las Vegas casino this weekend, to combat the burgeoning movement on US university campuses to boycott the Jewish state. The gathering comes amid growing Israeli alarm at the rise of the decade-old […]

8 Jun, 2015

Tourism accelerating degradation of Boracay coral reefs – Manila Bulletin

Filipino and Japanese experts have warned of the continuous degradation of the Boracay ecosystem with the unabated commercial development and unmonitored snorkeling and diving activities as among the tourism-related activities in the island. Takahiro Morita, senior representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the Philippines, said the threat of degradation was primarily on […]

8 Jun, 2015

Before & After: Nepal’s heritage sites on shaky ground after devastating quake

Kathmandu, UN News Centre, 5 June 2015 – Against the backdrop of Nepal’s humming capital of Kathmandu, in a centre just off Durbar Square, it would be difficult to miss the elderly woman smiling warmly in a bright red sari. She is among those offering traditional, homespun goods, the cultural heritage of the country that […]

8 Jun, 2015

Senior-citizens travel booms in China

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BEIJING, (Agencies) 2015-06-08 – When Li Caohua retired in her late 50s, the doctor immediately joined millions of other Chinese seniors and hit the road to see more of her giant country. At the top of her destination list was tropical Hainan island in the south and the ancient villages around her home city of […]

8 Jun, 2015

China steps up fight against food waste via carrot-and-stick approach

By Zhang Xuan / Mike Peters

Beijing (China Daily), 2015-06-02 — As China’s ongoing Clean Your Plate campaign has gained momentum since it began in 2013, many managers of restaurants－especially buffets－say they have consistently been able to meet their goals of stopping food waste. But it hasn’t always been easy. Four guests at the Xiang Wei Qing buffet restaurant in Lanzhou, […]

6 Jun, 2015

UN invites world’s seven billion people to become agents of change on World Environment Day

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United Nations, (UN News Centre) 5 June 2015 – With many of the earth’s ecosystems nearing “critical tipping points,” the United Nations invited each of the seven billion people on the planet to mark this year’s World Environment Day by making one change towards a more responsible consumption of resources – “be it refusing to […]

5 Jun, 2015

Multinational companies face trust deficit, Trade Union Confederation warns G7

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Brussels, 4 June 2015 (ITUC OnLine):  Just one in five of people in western economies like France, Germany, the UK and the US agree that corporations can be trusted with their global workforce, according to a new poll commissioned by International Trade Union Confederation. The public opinion poll released on the eve of the G7 […]

4 Jun, 2015

Applications invited for Korean Culture and Language Immersion Program

Imtiaz Muqbil

The Tourism Promotion Organization for Asia Pacific Cities is seeking applications for participants in the Korean Culture and Language Immersion Program (K-CLIP 2015) to take place from 2 to 15 August at Pusan National University, Busan Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea. The main purpose of “K-CLIP 2015” is the enhancement of youth exchange and cultivation […]

4 Jun, 2015

Animals live by Mahatma Gandhi’s words, humans don’t, Zoo Director says

Imtiaz Muqbil

Sanya, Hainan Island — Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi is famous for his far-sighted dictum, “There is enough in this world for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.” While the human race is notorious for ignoring those insightful words, the animal world has it embedded into its DNA. In a wide-ranging interview at the […]

3 Jun, 2015

Top 10 uncivilized tourist behaviors revealed in Chinese survey

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Beijing, (chinadaily.com.cn) 2015-06-03 – Henan province’s tourism administration published a list of the “Top 10 uncivilized tourist behaviors” in a recent survey conducted among 173, 215 people. Among those surveyed, more than 158,000 people (91.72 percent) have encountered uncivilized behavior in tourists, 9,834 (5.68 percent) never have, and 4,514 of them did not know what […]

3 Jun, 2015

Russia to expand EU travel ban list if West increases sanctions

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MOSCOW, June 1 (Xinhua) — Moscow is ready to expand its travel ban list of European Union (EU) officials if the West increases its own blacklist of Russian officials, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday. Moscow will cancel its travel ban list as soon as the West does the same, said Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson […]

3 Jun, 2015

Israeli Army Blocks Construction of Four Bethlehem Homes

BETHLEHEM, June 2, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli army on Tuesday notified local residents of Um Salmouna, a village located to the south of Bethlehem, to stop the construction of four houses, according to local sources. The houses are owned by local Palestinian families, and each of the houses has an area of 200 square meters, […]

3 Jun, 2015

US Congress passes surveillance reform in vindication for Edward Snowden – The Guardian

The US Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would end the bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, the most significant surveillance reform for decades and a direct result of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations to the Guardian two years ago. Senators voted 67-32 to pass the USA Freedom Act, which overwhelmingly cleared […]

3 Jun, 2015

Boost tourism to realise people-centered ASEAN — Malaysian PM

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia June 2 (NNN-Bernama) — With ASEAN expected to generate a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$3 trillion (RM11 trillion) by 2017, there is a real opportunity to boost the travel industry and promote intra-region tourism, said Najib Tun Razak. The prime minister said this would enhance appreciation for the respective cultures […]

3 Jun, 2015

California man brutally beats 82-year-old Sikh he mistook for a Muslim – The Independent

An 82-year-old Sikh grandfather was brutally beaten with a steel pipe by a man who reportedly targeted him for looking like one of “those people”. Piara Singh was attacked outside his gurdwara in Fresno California where he was preparing free meals to give to the homeless. He suffered a punctured lung and head injuries and […]

3 Jun, 2015

Australian reports reveal how real estate deals are used for criminal money-laundering

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Canberra, (AUSTRAC media release / Travel Impact Newswire) 2 June 2015 – The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre AUSTRAC has released two new reports to help businesses identify money laundering methodologies used through real estate agents and lawyers. Although the reports are designed primarily to help Australian businesses beware of this criminal activity, they […]

1 Jun, 2015

Muslim Invents First Hi-Tech Prayer Mat

Compiled by Imtiaz Muqbil & Sana Shamsi

A compilation of progressive, positive, inspiring and motivating events and developments in the world of Islam for the week ending 01 June 2015 (14 Sha’baan 1436). Pls click on any of the headlines below to go to the story. ============ A WORD FROM MY SPONSORS: TOURISM MALAYSIA MALAYSIA TO CELEBRATE A YEAR OF GREAT FESTIVALS […]

1 Jun, 2015

China pinpoints Ten Key Sectors to drive economy until 2025

Imtiaz Muqbil

Beijing, (People’s Daily Online), May 22, 2015 – China’s State Council unveiled a national plan recently, dubbed “Made in China 2025”. It is the first 10-year action plan designed to transform China from a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power. Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, summarized the main […]

1 Jun, 2015

Concern for animal welfare spells end of Guangzhou’s dog meat restaurants

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Guangzhou, (chinadaily.com.cn), 2015-05-19 – Many dog meat restaurants are no longer to be found in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Guangzhou Daily reported on Monday. The number of shops offering the controversial meat has declined sharply, mainly due to tightened regulations concerning animal welfare. Guangzhou, where eating dog meat has long been a tradition, launched a campaign […]

1 Jun, 2015

Half of Chinese college students seek jobs in second-tier cities: Survey

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BEIJING (Xinhua), 2015-05-29 –– This year, more than 7.49 million students will graduate from college, and many have voiced concern about seeking employment in such a saturated, competitive market, a survey published Thursday said. The survey, by an organization under the Youth League Committee of Beijing, said graduate’s expected monthly salary this year was 5,510 […]