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Archive for January, 2012

Burma, also known as Myanmar, was long considered a pariah state, isolated from the rest of the world and with an appalling human rights record.

The generals who ran Burma stood accused of gross human rights abuses, including the forcible relocation of civilians and the widespread use of forced labour, including children.

The largest ethnic group is the Burman people, who are related to the Tibetans and the Chinese. Burman dominance over Karen, Shan, Rakhine, Mon, Chin, Kachin and other minorities has been the source of considerable ethnic tension and has fuelled intermittent separatist rebellions.

Military offensives against insurgents have uprooted many thousands of civilians. Ceasefire deals signed in late 2011 and early 2012 with rebels of the Karen and Shan ethnic groups suggested a new determination to end the long-running conflicts.

A largely rural, densely forested country, Burma is the world's largest exporter of teak and a principal source of jade, pearls, rubies and sapphires. It is endowed with extremely fertile soil and has important offshore oil and gas deposits. However, its people remain very poor.

The economy is one of the least developed in the world, and is suffering the effects of decades of stagnation, mismanagement, and isolation. Key industries have long been controlled by the military, and corruption is rife. The military has also been accused of large-scale trafficking in heroin, of which Burma is a major exporter.

Among others, the EU, United States and Canada have imposed economic sanctions on Burma. Of the major economies, only China, India and South Korea have invested in the country.

Burma is festooned with the symbols of Buddhism. Thousands of pagodas throng its ancient towns; these have been a focus for an increasingly important tourism industry.

But while tourism has been a magnet for foreign investment, its benefits have so far hardly touched the people.

CNN’s Vivian Kuo, Rich Porter, Jacqui Jeras and Darrell Calhoun contributed to this report.

Dubai: The Dubai World Central (DWC) airport handled 89,729 tonnes of air freight last year, its first full year of operations, Dubai Airports said yesterday.

Announcing 2011 traffic statistics, Dubai Airports said that cargo transit traffic constituted 32,989 tonnes or 37 per cent of volume.

DWC’s average monthly air cargo volumes totalled 7,477 tonnes compared to 795 tonnes per month in the first half of 2010.

The year saw 8,198 flights of which 3,609 (44 per cent) were commercial cargo flights, 4,548 (55.5 per cent) were test and training flights and 41 (0.5 per cent) were general aviation operations. During 2011, 36 airlines operated at DWC, predominantly as cargo charter operations.

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Four-year prison sentence after “secret trial”Felix Corley ("Forum 18 News Service," January 25, 2012)

Turkmenistan – Two months after his arrest, Jehovah’s Witness Vladimir Nuryllayev has been given a four-year prison term at a “secret trial” in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] on charges his community insists are fabricated. The court sentenced Nuryllayev on 18 January on charges of “spreading pornography”, a court official, who did not give her name, told Forum 18 News Service from Ashgabad on 24 January. “All this has been done because he is a Jehovah’s Witness,” fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18. “Vladimir is a highly moral and deeply devout person and has nothing to do with pornography.” Community members complain that the trial was held in secret, preventing them from attending to support Nuryllayev. An unverified report indicates that a Muslim may have been imprisoned on similar charges for distributing religious discs.

Forum 18 knows of seven other men serving sentences as religious prisoners of conscience, six of them Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors and one Protestant pastor. Former prisoners have testified that they were beaten and maltreated while in labour camp.

Four-year sentence

Judge Iskander Bekturdiyev of Ashgabad’s Azatlyk District Court sentenced Nuryllayev on 18 January under Criminal Code Article 164, Part 2, the court official told Forum 18. This Article punishes “production or distribution of pornographic items” more than once or by a group of people. The maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment.

The court official added that the written verdict has already been issued (something Forum 18 has been unable to verify) and that Nuryllayev has ten days in which to appeal if he chooses.

The court official could not say if Nuryllayev was present at the trial or not. He has been held at the detention centre at Yashlyk, 40 kms (25 miles) south-east of Ashgabad, since his arrest on 15 November 2011. Officials indicated after his trial that he is likely to remain there for a further two weeks or so before being transferred to a labour camp.

Religious literature confiscated, “fine”, beating and arrest

The 39-year-old Nuryllayev is a building worker who earns his living by renovating private homes. He lives in a small Ashgabad flat with his mother and other relatives.

Nuryllayev’s prosecution began after a conflict with a member of his family who lives in the same flat. The family member who does not share his faith reportedly went to the police in late September 2011 to tell them he is a Jehovah’s Witness and that he kept some religious literature in a cupboard in the flat. The local police officer then arrived and, going straight to the cupboard, confiscated the literature.

On 18 October 2011, the officer ordered Nuryllayev to pay a “fine” of 375 Manats (773 Norwegian Kroner, 101 Euros or 132 US Dollars). Nuryllayev paid the fine the following day, hoping that this would end the case. Although the officer gave him a receipt, neither he nor the receipt indicated what the “fine” was for or what Article of the Code of Administrative Offences it was supposed to relate to.

Two officials who claimed to be from the hyakimlik (local administration) came to Nuryllayev’s flat in the evening of 20 October 2011, insisting that they needed to take away his notebook computer. Because they gave no reason or warrant for the seizure, Nuryllayev tried to cling on to it. However, after he wrote down the two officials’ names, they got angry and began to beat him, sources told Forum 18.

Nuryllayev’s mother, who is incapacitated after an accident, came into the room and saw the blood from her son’s injuries, triggering heart problems.

Police came to Nuryllayev’s home to arrest him on 15 November 2011, after which he was transferred to Yashlyk.

Fabricated accusations?

On 16 November 2011, the day after Nuryllayev’s arrest, the criminal case under Article 164, Part 2 was opened against him by Azatlyk District Police’s Investigation Department with the approval of the District Prosecutor. The investigation was led by Investigator Rejepmurat Kurbanov. The accusation against him was formally lodged on 19 November 2011.

Jehovah’s Witnesses allege that the prosecution assertion that Nuryllayev gave a disc containing pornographic material to two named individuals on two separate occasions in Ashgabad – near a market in September 2011 and in a park in October 2011 – was a fabrication. “Vladimir had never seen the two people before,” Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18. Moreover, they say the notebook computer was the only computer he had, and the disc drive on it had broken.

Investigator Kurbanov refused absolutely to discuss the way he had conducted the investigation or the Jehovah’s Witness claims that the accusation had been fabricated. “It’s good to hear from you,” he told Forum 18 from Ashgabad on 24 January. But he kept repeating “You must ask your questions of the court,” before putting the phone down.

The telephones of the Interior Ministry in Ashgabad were engaged or went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 24 January.

Muslim sentenced on similar charges?

In early January, as Nuryllayev was awaiting trial, an anonymous message to Radio Liberty’s Turkmen Service – seen by Forum 18 – claimed that an unnamed Muslim man had been imprisoned “last year” merely for distributing religious audio and video discs. The message said that officials had used the accusation of distributing pornography to imprison the Muslim. The message asked that the news be brought to the attention of international human rights organisations.

It remains impossible to verify the truth of the message.

Seydi’s seven religious prisoners of conscience

The seven other known religious prisoners of conscience are all being held at the general regime labour camp in the desert near Seydi in Lebap Region of eastern Turkmenistan.

The six imprisoned Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors are: Dovleyet Byashimov 18 months, Turkmenabad (formerly Charjew) Court, August 2010; Ahmet Hudaybergenov, 18 months, Turkmenabad Court, September 2010; Sunet Japbarov, 18 months, Turkmenabad Court, December 2010; Matkarim Aminov, 18 months, Dashoguz Court, December 2010; Dovran Matyakubov, 18 months, Dashoguz Court, December 2010; and Mahmud Hudaybergenov, 2 years, Dashoguz Court, August 2011 (see F18News 22 September 2011 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1616).

Turkmenistan has no alternative to military service, which is compulsory for all young men. All six are serving sentences under Article 219, Part 1 of the Criminal Code. This punishes refusal to serve in the armed forces in peacetime with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment. Turkmenistan has ignored international calls for conscientious objector prisoners to be freed and a civilian alternative service to be introduced (see F18News 29 April 2011 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1566).

The ninth known religious prisoner of conscience is Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev, who leads Light to the World Protestant Church in the town of Mary east of Ashgabad. Arrested in August 2010, he was given a four-year labour camp term in October 2010 with “forcible medical treatment” on charges of swindling. His community insist the charges were fabricated to punish him for his religious activity. He had tried in vain to register his church. In December 2010 he was transferred to the Seydi Labour Camp (see F18News 22 December 2010 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1525).

Nurliev’s friends have expressed renewed concern over his continued imprisonment. “So many prisoner amnesties, but he never comes out!” one told Forum 18 in frustration. Officials insisted to several of his friends in December 2011 that he would be freed in that month’s amnesty, but it did not happen.

Nurliev’s wife Maya has been able to visit him in Seydi camp, his friends note. Each 30 days a 30-minute visit is allowed. A 24-hour visit is now possible more frequently. Such visits used to be allowed once every 60 days. In late 2011 this was changed to once every 45 days. However, the journey for Maya from their home in Mary to the camp takes nearly a full day on public transport.

The address of Seydi Labour Camp is:

Turkmenistan,

746222 Lebap vilayet,

Seydi,

uchr. LB-K/12

Another Jehovah’s Witness is still believed to be serving a suspended sentence under Article 219, Part 1: Denis Petrenko, given a two year suspended sentence in Ashgabad in April 2010. This required him to live under some restrictions at home and report regularly to the authorities (see F18News 29 April 2011 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1566).

Prison beatings

Three former religious prisoners of conscience – who all served their sentences at the Seydi camp – reveal that solitary confinement and beatings were routine treatment within the camp.

“The cell was cold. I could only sleep in a seated position and I was barely fed,” Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Sakhetmurad Annamamedov, who was freed from the Seydi camp in May 2011 at the end of his two-year sentence, testified. “A member of the Special Police Force (OMON) entered my cell on two occasions and beat me on the head and neck with his baton.”

Sakhetmurad’s brother, Mukhammedmurad Annamamedov endured similar treatment during his two years of imprisonment, which also ended in May 2011. “I spent six consecutive days in solitary confinement,” Jehovah’s Witnesses quoted him as testifying. “There was nothing in the cell, only bare concrete. Officers threatened that if I did not renounce my religion, they would put me in a much stricter prison regime.”

Shadurdy Ushotov, who was freed from the Seydi camp in July 2011 after completing a two-year sentence, sustained head injuries from a beating he received from an OMON officer. “I needed six stitches to close the wound,” Jehovah’s Witnesses quoted him as testifying.

Prisoners and their families have long noted the harsh conditions in the camp, where it is very hot in summer and freezing in winter. “It is set in the desert and is close to several chemical works,” the family of then Baptist prisoner of conscience Vyacheslav Kalataevsky told Forum 18 in 2007. “Of course conditions are not easy. It is like something from the Middle Ages” (see F18News 3 July 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=986).

United Nations’ criticism

Turkmen officials have repeatedly denied that anyone is punished for religious or political reasons. Speaking at the 18 November 2011 session in Geneva of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to consider Turkmenistan’s report, a member of the Turkmen delegation First Deputy Justice Minister Batyr Arniyazov “said that there were no political prisoners or politically motivated prosecutions in Turkmenistan”, according to the UN summary of the session (E/C.12/2011/SR.38). “All prisoners had been convicted of criminal offences. Due process was guaranteed and court proceedings were open to the public except in specific cases provided for under the law; all decisions were, however, made public.”

In its 2 December 2011 conclusions (E/C.12/TKM/CO/1), the Committee expressed concern that members of some religious groups in Turkmenistan “do not fully enjoy the right to cultural expression in the field of religion and that some religious confessions remain unregistered on account of undue registration criteria. The Committee is also concerned about the ban on worship in private homes and on the public wearing of religious garb, except by religious leaders, as contained in the 2003 Religion Law.”

The Committee urged Turkmenistan “to uphold the freedom of religion enshrined in the State party’s Constitution and respect the right of members of registered and unregistered religious groups to freely exercise their religion and culture.” It also called on the country to amend the Religion Law “to remove undue registration criteria pertaining to certain religious groups as well as various restrictions impacting negatively on the freedom of religion”.

Forum 18 was unable to find any official at the Justice Ministry in Ashgabad prepared to discuss the UN recommendations on 24 and 25 January. The telephone of Gurbanberdy Nursakhatov, Deputy Chair of the government’s Gengesh (Council) for Religious Affairs in Ashgabad, went unanswered each time Forum 18 called.

Border confiscations of religious literature and prayer mats

Meanwhile, members of a variety of religious communities complained to Forum 18 of continuing confiscation of religious literature individuals try to bring with them when returning to the country by air, land or sea. In 2010 and 2011, Forum 18 learnt of numerous cases when Muslim and Christian literature – including Korans and Bibles – was confiscated from Turkmens returning from abroad.

One Turkmen who had moved to Istanbul had her one religious book – a copy of the Koran – confiscated from her at Ashgabad airport in late 2010. In early 2011, a Protestant was strip-searched at the airport after one Bible was found in his luggage.

In August 2011, three Muslims who returning by bus from Iran on the road up to Serdar each had a Muslim prayer mat they had bought in Iran confiscated from them, eyewitnesses to the confiscation told Forum 18. The three had decided not to bring back copies of the Koran as they knew they too would have been confiscated.

Lowest haj numbers since 2004 (apart from 2009)

One of the significant restrictions on the religious freedom of Muslims is the severe state limitation on the number that can travel on the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrimage is an obligation for all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it at least once in their lifetime. On 29 November 2011, the government website reported the return to Turkmenistan after completing the haj of 186 pilgrims. This represents the lowest number of pilgrims since 2004, with the exception of 2009, when no pilgrims were allowed to travel.

The quota for the haj allocated by the Saudi Arabian authorities to Turkmenistan is believed to be about 5,000. Since the 1990s, the Turkmen government has tightly controlled its citizens’ participation, allowing no more than one state-sponsored aeroplane of pilgrims each year and banning pilgrims from travelling independently. Between 2005 and 2008, and again in 2010, only 188 people – including pilgrims and their government minders – were allowed to travel each time. In November 2009, the government abruptly cancelled the group’s departure, allegedly to prevent infection with the H1N1 virus (see F18News 22 September 2011 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1616).

IIR Middle East, a leading provider of specialist information and services for the academic and scientific, professional and commercial business communities, today announced a full line-up of high-profile speakers for the forthcoming Third Saudi Insurance Summit that takes place on 17-20 May 2009 at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel, Riyadh.

The Kingdom’s foremost summit for the insurance industry is expected to be attended by more than 300 key figures from the sector, including regulators and key decision makers.

The Summit will be opened with a keynote address by His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Al Jasser, Governor, SAMA and will feature timely speeches by, and panel discussions with, some of the industry’s most eminent experts.

During the first two days, the focus will be on the issues currently facing insurance industry stakeholders in Saudi Arabia, including how regulatory issues have affected the industry in recent years, the entry of new players into the increasingly competitive marketplace, and how the sector will develop in the future.

“The summit will feature key contributions from over 25 high-profile international and regional organisations including Malath, Salama, AIG Alico, Tawuniya, Medgulf, Bupa Middle East, Standard & Poor’s and many others,”

said Barth de Ridder, Divisional Director – Conferences and Training, IIR Middle East.

“The Third Saudi Insurance Summit is set to become THE place for the sharing and exchange of information and ideas that will shape the future of this thriving industry. In the midst of uncertain times, the Summit will also help promote confidence, raise standards and help all attendees understand both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The value of the Summit is further enhanced by the unparalleled direct access that delegates gain to key players in the Saudi insurance industry,” Barth added.

The interactive panel discussions will encourage frank and open exchange between members of the panel, allowing delegates to benefit from invaluable insights and the benefit of the featured speakers’ expertise.

They will cover topics such as the effects of the global financial crisis on the worldwide insurance market, the formation of a competitive Saudi insurance industry and if it is affected by the current economic conditions, corporate risk and internal insurance management, what the health of the Saudi health insurance market is and a review of the regional and local reinsurance and Takaful landscape amid a changing environment.

Dr. Saleh J. Malaikah, Chairman, Salama added, “With enormous untapped potential, the insurance market in Saudi Arabia continues to flourish and is poised for impressive growth in the coming years. Recent studies have shown that the KSA market for Sharia-compliment insurance will be worth $4bn in 2010, and forecast that the Islamic insurance (Takaful) market will grow five-fold over the next 10 years.”

“The Third Saudi Insurance Summit will provide timely opportunity for reflection, discussion and decision-making — helping all attending to take the insurance market forward in challenging but opportunity-filled times,” he added.

Story By: by NPR Staff

- General Motors CEO Daniel Akerson

He adds that he doesn’t believe it will be a long-term assist, and that the government will eventually sell its shares — about 26 percent of the company — when officials determine “their mission has been accomplished.”

Hybrid Capitalism

“Sometimes people stylize the image of how the economy works because we have never been a truly 100 percent, unadulterated capitalist system,” Akerson says. “Otherwise, your mother, as she aged in time … and could not produce, you don’t kick ‘em to the curb.”

Akerson says he believes the U.S. has a form of hybrid capitalism.

“There are times when government has a role, in my opinion, and there are times it should let the market ultimately determine winners and losers,” he says.

Akerson cites the real estate crisis of the late 1980s, when the government stepped in to stabilize the market and eventually withdrew. In the case of GM, he explains, to have let it go through a complete bankruptcy would have been disastrous.

“To have uncertainty surrounding a company of this size and this magnitude for a long period of time I think would have been just devastating, and probably have condemned it to the heap,” he says.

Defending The Volt

Akerson tells Raz that the Chevrolet Volt electric car is an important part of GM’s strategy.

“This is a critical decade or two for the transportation industry because of social needs,” Akerson says. “Do we want to leave an environment, a planet that’s better than the one we inherited from the prior generations? I have children and grandchildren, and indeed I want that.”

Akerson adds that GM has been spending $7.5 billion a year on advanced engineering and research on advanced propulsion.

“We never abated on that,” Akerson says. “And it’s all in an effort to prepare for the future where you are propelling different forms of transportation and there’s no carbon footprint.”

The government’s recent investigation on whether the Volt’s battery could catch fire was closed and cleared GM, but Akerson concedes it has affected the firm’s image.

“It did have some collateral damage because it was a situation that ran on for 45-60 days, and [there was] a lot of negative press,” Akerson says.

But he stresses that throughout the investigation, GM maintained the highest safety ratings possible.

Overall, Akerson says he thinks GM is doing well. It has sold 2.5 million vehicles in the U.S., and 9 million internationally.

“We are a great exporter of technology, we have good diversified operations around the world, and indeed I think we are producing, designing, building and selling some of the world’s best vehicles,” Akerson says.

Primary storage in small and large companies alike is growing at up to 100% a year. And, according to IDC research, the amount of global digital data created and stored has increased over 3,000% worldwide in just three years. In addition, many multiple-site organisations consolidating data assets to create a less energy-intensive collection of assets that fit in a reduced physical space. Carrying costs associated with storing and managing all that data on disk or tape can be cut dramatically by deduplication.

If deduplication is such a cost effective data reduction technique, why doesn’t every IT organisation use it? Until recently, the cost of proprietary hardware deduplication products has priced large and small organisations out of consideration.

That same cost concern forced the relatively small percentage of organisations who could afford it to reserve it only for server data, despite the fact that workstation data frequently represents half of the entire data owned by an organisation.

However, the advent of software-only deduplication has substantially lowered the threshold for purchase, making it attractive to organisations of all sizes, and allowing workstation data to be deduplicated as well.

In this white paper, Acronis defines deduplication, details its benefits and makes a business case for using it in Windows and Linux environments.

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Students don’t show interest in exercise due to lack of motivation in classrooms. (AN photo)

By ARAB NEWS

Published: Jan 29, 2012 23:22
Updated: Jan 29, 2012 23:22

MAKKAH: Physical education and exercise are lacking greatly in private and government schools for boys. There are no morning exercise routines, nor is there any importance given to scheduled exercise classes. According to education specialists and social workers, as well as students, this is due to several reasons. They said the most important is the lack of communication and coordination between education authorities and those who are supposed to implement physical education in schools, usually the teaching bodies, who have allegedly shown a lack of interest in encouraging students to practice their athleticism in their schools.

The educational scene in Saudi Arabia had seen great changes in the last three decades with regard to physical education, especially when the late King Fahd was the minister of education. During his time there was a burst of interest in physical education and recognition of its importance. Gym kits were distributed to all school children, and there were strict instructions for carrying out morning exercise routines before the start of the school day, which at the time helped keep students fresh and alert, both physically and mentally.

However, gradually year after year, interest in school sports started waning, until physical education classes and sports activities were taken very lightly or practically abandoned, despite the Ministry of Education’s efforts to raise the standard and interest in exercise and sports. According to physical health experts in Saudi, a lack of proper exercise has caused considerable harm to school children’s health.

However, the Ministry of Education continues its efforts to renew interest in physical education and school sports by organizing sport competitions, especially football which most schoolboys prefer. However, they are also being encouraged to compete in other sports as well for far more reaching benefits.

Most sports specialists and professional sport observers, claim any advancement in sports and athletics in any progressive nation usually starts at school with young children. Indeed, sports scouts usually head hunt for talented athletes at schools, which in turn, eventually yield excellent results on an international scale. For example, China is a leader in this regard, since they start training children at a very young age in all types of sports and athletics. So much so, it is considered one of the most advanced countries in sports, and its teams have won many world and Olympic medals.

“There are other factors that have contributed to the decline of sports in schools. One of them is a lack of highly trained and qualified physical education instructors that are necessary in order to bring up a generation of sportsmen with the correct training. Most PE teachers employed by the Ministry of Education lack motivation and enthusiasm, do not implement the correct sports curriculum and thus make their students lose complete interest in sports, and P.E. lessons become periods for relaxation and socializing,” said Khalid, a physical education instructor at a government school.

In addition, students are not displaying any interest in exercise due to a lack of motivation in those classes. They do not wear gym uniform and they simply either sit it out or watch their few peers who actually do some physical activity, and they couldn’t care less about losing any marks on their report cards.

Muwafaq Al-Jamae, a sociologist and researcher, said the lack of a proper environment that encourages students to attend PE classes have contributed toward the regression of this important aspect of education, in addition to the fact most government schools are leased and therefore are not designed for sports activities or don’t have the large area needed. Some private schools, however, do show more initiative, give more attention to physical education and organize sport competitions and encourage students to participate.

Many students at all levels of education have expressed their concerns and urged the Ministry of Education to give priority to building more prototype schools that have already been built in some areas of the Kingdom, albeit in a limited number, which fulfill the necessary requirements for a proper learning environment including physical education. These model schools have large playgrounds and sports facilities, in addition to healthy meals on offer. They call on the ministry to refrain from leasing more pre-constructed buildings that are designed for housing and not for schools. This is in addition to adding more sports since the only one on offer is football, especially for those whose talents and interests lie in other more diverse sports such as swimming and basketball. This in turn, will increase interest in sports on a national level and produce more athletes to compete on an international level after leaving school.

One private school student from the sixth grade, Abdulrahman Al-Qurashi, said: “I very much enjoy sports at school, since it offers many types of activities that gives us a nice break from tedious lessons! I especially enjoy swimming. The school has a large swimming pool where I learned to swim with a specialized instructor hired especially by the school, and I am also learning karate.”

Another junior high school student, Abdul Aziz Al-Yahya, said: “The best thing is to have physical education lessons right after break time, usually in the middle of the school day, during which we eat proper and healthy food so that we are full of energy and we can go back to our lessons refreshed and ready to study.”

However, Abdul Aziz attends a government school and this ideal situation does not exist in his school, whereas one of his friends attends a school nearby that does offer healthy meals and proper areas for sports activities. He wishes his own school would follow suit as soon as possible.

Even in some private schools, there is no interest in daily exercise routines, as students take the opportunity to rest and socialize during P.E. classes. There is not enough motivation nor variation according to some private school students. They also called upon the Ministry of Education to organize sports competitions between schools, especially football matches, kingdom wide.

Al-Jamae also added that in the past sport scouts had gone to schools to discover talented athletes and recruit them, helping create the sports federations and teams in Saudi Arabia (mainly football). He said this is exactly what is needed today, so that a sport and athletic movement could be created that can compete on an international level. Sports are not only beneficial for youngsters’ physiques, promotes overall good health, and makes them into possible future professional athletes, but physical education is also crucial in developing their personalities, their sense of community and team play, which is part of Islamic teachings and heritage.

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Release Date: 12/20/2011Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Dec. 20, 2011) – This week the Rhode Island Army National Guard (RIARNG) has begun installation of a Corrosion Control Treatment System to comply with the requirements of the federal Lead and Copper Rule at its base located in Coventry, R.I.
This past October the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with the RIARNG to resolve violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act at its Coventry facility.  EPA entered into the AOC with the RIARNG due to the failure to install optimal corrosion control treatment and comply with the sampling requirements identified in the Lead and Copper Rule.  The failure to install optimal corrosion control treatment has caused the facility to exceed the action levels established under the Safe Drinking Water Act for lead and copper. 
The facility was operated by the Rhode Island Air National Guard during most of the time frame when the lead and copper action levels were exceeded and optimal corrosion control was required.  The RIARNG was quick to respond to EPA’s concerns and began implementing a plan to bring the facility into compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule.
The facility regularly serves a population of at least 25 of the same persons and during weekend reserve exercises the daily population served by the water system increases to approximately 50-100 individuals.
This case was referred to EPA in February 2011 when the Rhode Island Department of Health (RI DOH) requested that EPA take over the enforcement at the water system and help return the system to compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.  EPA issued the facility a Notice of Violation later that month.  EPA and RI DOH have worked closely together to pursue this enforcement action.
Under the AOC, the RIARNG has 90 days to install and construct a Corrosion Control Treatment System.  The facility will also need to continue to sample the drinking water for lead and copper and provide the EPA and the RI DOH with the lead and copper monitoring results until such time that the water system meets the lead and copper action levels during each of two consecutive six-month monitoring periods.
More information:
- Safe Drinking Water Act (http://water.epa.gov/drink/index.cfm)
- Lead and Copper Rule (http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/lcr/index.cfm)
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