Excerpts:Getting 'up' in Dubai.US/Lebanon military relationship.Hamas angles
takeover.Financial assistance from governmeent.Warning to Syria against move
into Lebanon. King, Peres discuss peace.Organizing to fight maritime piracy
October 07, 2008

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 7 Oct.'08:Now, a km-high tower in Dubai!
DUBAI: Even as the Burj Dubai, touted to become the world's tallest building
nears completion, plans have been announced for a new kilometer-high tower
in this West Asian metropolis.
Master developer Nakheel, a subsidiary of the Dubai government's investment
company Dubai Holding, unveiled its Nakheel Harbor and Tower at a launch
function here late on 6 Oct.. ...The project, inspired by Islamic design and
geometry, will be located at the upcoming New Dubai development area near
Jebel Ali, the world's largest manmade port south of here, the state-run
Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.. . .
To be built at a cost of 140 billion dirhams ($38.12 billion), the tower's
construction will reportedly take 10 years. The new development will cover
an area of more than 270 hectares and become home to more than 55,000
people, a workplace for 45,000 more and attract millions of visitors each
year.
It will include 250,000 square meters of hotels and hospitality space,
100,000 square meters of retail space and huge expanses of green spaces
including canal walks, parks and landscaping.

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 7 Oct.'08:"Washington and Beirut set up joint
military panel"
By Hussein Abdallah,Daily Star staff
EXCERPTS:BEIRUT: Lebanon and the United States set up a joint commission on
Monday(6 Oct.) charged with organizing their bilateral military
relationship. The commission was set up after a meeting on Monday between
Defense Minister Elias Murr and US Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs Mary Beth Long, who arrived in Beirut late on
Sunday(5 Oct.).
In a related development, a joint statement by the Lebanese Armed Forces
(LAF) and the US Embassy said that Beirut and Washington had signed three
military contracts worth $63 million in US grants to the LAF.
The grants are aimed at providing the LAF with secure communications,
ammunition and infantry weapons. . . .

+++JORDAN TIMES 7 Oct.'08:"Hamas will not recognise Abbas after term
ends",Agencies

EXCERPTS:Hamas members of parliament said on Monday that they will not
recognise Mahmoud Abbas as president after January 8, a move that could
sharpen the internal divisions plaguing the Palestinians.
"The legal term of President Abbas ends on January 8 and Abu Mazen [Abbas]
will not remain president for a single minute after this date," Hamas
parliamentary leader Ahmed Bahar told AFP.
"On October 8, President Abbas must order the Central Committee for
Elections to prepare for the next presidential election, which must take
place on January 9," he added, following a meeting of the Hamas
parliamentary bloc.
The Islamist movement has had no contacts with Abbas since it drove his
forces from Gaza in a week of bloody fighting in June 2007 but the movement
still recognises him as the head of the Palestinian Authority.
When asked if Hamas would put forward a candidate to stand against Abbas,
Bahar said: "All possibilities are under discussion." Hamas won
parliamentary elections in 2006 but has never fielded a presidential
candidate.
The Palestinian constitution says presidential elections must be held every
four years, which Hamas interprets to mean that Abbas' term expires in 2009,
since he was elected in January 2005.
Under their interpretation, if Abbas does not step down, the speaker of
parliament, Hamas MP Aziz Dweik, would become acting president. Since Dweik
is currently in an Israeli jail, Bahar would serve in his place.
Abbas' supporters, however, cite a different provision of the constitution
which says that presidential and parliamentary elections should be held
together, which would extend Abbas' term to January 2010.. . .

+++JORDAN TIMES 7 Oct.'08:"Gov't to disburse cash assistance"
QUOTE:"financial assistance to those who deserve it"
AMMAN (JT) - Households where per capita annual income is less than JD1,000
($1,404)
will receive cash assistance in the winter to be able to purchase kerosene
and other fuel for heating and cooking, the government said on MondayOct.6).
...His Majesty King Abdullah said he directed the government to link civil
and military service salaries to theinflation rate.During the first eight
months of this year, inflation stood at 14.9 per cent
compared to 5.6 per cent during the same period last year.... the measures
seek to enhance the Social Safety Net and ensure that financial assistance
goes to those who deserve it.

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 4 Oct.'08:"Major powers warn against any Syrian
move into Lebanon:Bombings, border deployment have raised suspicions"By
Hussein Abdallah
EXCERPTS:BEIRUT: French, Russian, and American officials were quoted by the
Beirut press on Thursday(2 Oct.) as rejecting any form of Syrian military
intervention in Lebanon following Syria's recent deployment of 10,000
soldiers on the border between the two countries. Damascus has sought to
explain the deployment as a means of countering smuggling, but a number of
Lebanese politicians have accused Syria of wanting to send its army to
Lebanon under the pretext of fighting Islamist extremists in the North.
An-Nahar newspaper quoted an official US source Friday as saying that US
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch had told
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem that the United States totally
rejected any Syrian military intervention in Lebanon.
The source said Welch made it clear to Moallem that recent bombings in
Damascus and Tripoli should not be used to justify any kind of military
intervention in Lebanon.
. . .In a related development, former MP Fares Soueid of the anti-Syrian
March 14 Forces said on Friday that French authorities have recently assured
a delegation from the March 14 Forces that Syria would not be given the
green light to return to Lebanon. . . .Meanwhile, a Russian official was
quoted as telling the local Al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Friday(3 Oct.) said
that Moscow was also against any form of foreign intervention in Lebanon.
The paper added that Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Sultanov stressed in
a meeting with Iran's ambassador to Russia, Golam Reza Ansari, Moscow's
complete commitment to stability in Lebanon.

+++JORDAN TIMES 5 Oct.'08:"King, Peres discuss peace"
FULL TEXT:AMMAN (Petra) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Friday received a
telephone call from Israeli President Shimon Peres. They discussed efforts
to push forward the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis.
King Abdullah stressed the need for continued efforts to reach a final
solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in accordance with the
two-state solution.

+++JORDAN TIMES 5 Oct.'08:"Developed countries push back vs.
pirates",Associated Press
DEAUVILLE (AP) - Armed pirates aboard fast-moving skiffs have increasingly
turned the shipping lanes off Somalia into a lucrative hunting grounds:
Commandeering vessels large and small and leaving the world's maritime
powers frustrated about how to stop the seafaring bandits.
Now, however, momentum is growing for coordinated international action to
back up the sharp response after the stunning seizure late last month of a
Ukrainian cargo ship laden with tanks and heavy weaponry - as the pirates
quickly found themselves encircled by US warships and receiving only silence
to their demands for millions of dollars in ransom.
It could be a sign of a more aggressive and unified front in the one of the
world's most important shipping lanes.
Several European Union countries are planning to launch an anti-piracy
patrol, and Russia announced Friday(3 Oct.) it would cooperate with the West
on fighting the pirates. US warships, meanwhile, are being diverted from
counterterrorism duties to respond to the seafaring bandits.America and some
of its allies already have 10 warships in the area . . . eight EU
countries have volunteered to take part in an anti-piracy operation off
Somalia that could get a formal go-ahead next month.. . .We are seeing
ships being attacked every few days. We have never seen this kind of numbers
before,". . .the pirates have reaped up to $30 million in ransoms this
year alone, and there's the risk that some may end up in the hands of terror
groups.
. . .Some say shipping companies must do more - mainly by keeping a better
lookout for small boats nearby. The IMB recommends round-the-clock radar
watches and use of a tool called Secure Ship - a "non-lethal, electrifying
fence" that sends out a 9,000-volt pulse to repel potential intruders.
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA