Arab Parliament reiterates UAE sovereignty over the three Islands occupied by Iran

Cairo - The Arab Parliament has reaffirmed the UAE's full sovereignty over the three Islands: The Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa, calling on Iran to settle the issue amicably through direct negotiations or the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It called for speeding up holding of first round of Arab-Iranian talks, which will address the issue of islands on the top of agenda. Ahmed Mohammed Al Jarwan, Head of the UAE Parliament Bureau delegation to the Arab Parliament meetings said in a statement that the issue of occupation of three UAE Islands by Iran has been included in the agenda of the Arab Parliament to settle it, adding that the UAE is keen to participate in all regional, international and special parliamentary sessions, among others, Arab Parliament. He called for parties to comply with the Palestinian Reconciliation Charter, speed up its implementation and set up a national reconciliatory government and complement work of committee to develop the Palestinian Liberation Movement. Al Jarwan also called on the Arab Parliament to seriously support the Palestinian struggle, especially over Jerusalem, through assertion of the right of Palestinian people to resist the occupation in all forms. On the Syrian issue, Al Jarwan said the Parliament supports the mission of Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the Arab League to settle the Syrian standoff peacefully. The Arab Parliament denounced the blasts and violence, which claimed the lives of innocent civilians, calling for making the mission of international observers a success. � Emirates News Agency, WAM

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S. Korean satellite successfully reaches earth orbit

KEPCO net loss dips 2.1 pct in Q1

South Korea's multipurpose satellite equipped with a high-resolution camera successfully reached the earth's orbit after blasting off from a Japanese space center, the government said Friday. The Arirang 3 satellite, which lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center south of Kyushu Island at 1:39 a.m. on Japan's H-IIA rocket has made contact with ground stations, indicating that it has entered a correct trajectory, the Ministry of Science and Technology said. The Troll and Svalbard satellite stations located in Antarctica and Norway, established initial contacts followed by signals being received by the Daejeon-based Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) at around 3:18 a.m., it said. The ministry said all of the satellite's solar panels have been deployed properly, allowing it to generate power.

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the country's biggest electricity producer, said Thursday that its first-quarter net losses shrank 2.1 percent from a year earlier due to better sales and lower interest payment outlays. Net losses reached 538.1 billion won (US$462.1 million) in the January-March period, compared with minus 549.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales jumped 23.2 percent to 13.3 trillion won over the cited period, while operating income losses stood at 105.3 billion won, a sharp 77.9 percent improvement from 475.7 billion won in the red in the first three months of 2011, it said. The state-run utility firm said marking up electricity prices last year helped reduce losses. It said that while fuel costs were high, they hurt the company's bottom line less than in the past.

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UAE-S.Korea joint Commission calls for activation of bilateral agreements

S. Koreans

Abu Dhabi, May 07th, 2012 (WAM) -- The third meeting of UAE-South Korea joint economic committee concluded in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi today with a call to activate all the bilateral agreements between them. The meeting, co-chaired by UAE minister of economy Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri and S.Korea's Minister of Strategy and Finance Jae Wan Bahk, renewed the resolution to further develop the relations into wider horizons in the coming phase.

The use of Internet banking in South Korea accelerated in the first quarter from three months earlier as more people conducted financial transactions online, the central bank said Thursday. Online banking transactions reached an average of 45.23 million per day in the January-March period, up 9.5 percent from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The first-quarter data also showed a daily average of 33.18 trillion won (US$28.43 billion) being sent online, a gain of 0.5 percent compared to the fourth quarter. The growth rate for transaction numbers in the cited three months quickened from 6.7 percent gains tallied for October-December, but the value of daily transactions decelerated from 3 percent.

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UAE launches social media campaign to host 2020 World Expo in Dubai

The UAE is enhancing its campaign to host the 2020 World Expo in Dubai, including launching new social media initiatives to generate increased community involvement in the UAE's bid to bring the Expo to the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia region for the first time in the event's 160-year history. On May 14,, the UAE launched an Expo 2020 Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DubaiExpo2020) and is inviting individuals from across the country and the globe to contribute to this dialogue about the UAE bid specifically and World Expos generally. As part of this conversation, the Expo 2020 Facebook page will be enriched on an ongoing basis with information, images and ideas that bring to life the theme of the UAE bid: "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.� An official Twitter account (@Dubaiexpo2020) has also been launched to support the online dialogue about World Expos and the UAE bid. These new initiatives have been introduced to coincide with the start of the 2012 International Expo in Yeosu, South Korea, which kicked off on May 12 and concludes on August 12. The UAE is hosting a national pavilion and a range of special events during this three-month International Expo that is expected to attract up to 8 million visitors.

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