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Sunday, December 4, 2016
Excerpts: China builds 'Titanic' for Theme Park.Fateh picks party officials.Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project December 04, 2016

Excerpts: China builds 'Titanic' for Theme Park.Fateh picks party
officials.Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project December 04, 2016

+++SOURCE:Naharnet(Lebanon)4 Dec.’15:”Dec.’16:”Theme Park toRaise the
Titanic with Wi-Fi”.by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:China builds’Titanic” for Theme Park
FULL TEXT:Construction of the world's first full-size replica of the Titanic
has begun in China, state media reported Thursday, where it is expected to
enjoy smoother sailing as a lakeside tourist draw than its namesake.

The 269-metre (883-foot) long, 28-metre wide ship will be docked permanently
on a reservoir in a rural area of Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news
agency cited a senior executive of the shipbuilder as saying.

It will feature an interior reproducing some of the grandeur of the original
including a ballroom, theatre, swimming pool and first-class cabins, with
the addition of wifi, said Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group's deputy
general manager Wang Weiling.

The supposedly unsinkable ocean liner, which struck an iceberg and went down
in the north Atlantic in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people, is a subject
of immense fascination for many in China.

Interest became particularly intense after the 1997 movie starring Kate
Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, which was hugely popular in China. Director
James Cameron had a 90 percent scale replica vessel built for filming
purposes.

The new ship will be the centrepiece of a theme park hundreds of kilometres
(miles) from China's coast bankrolled by Chinese energy company Seven Star
Energy Investment Group.

The company first announced plans for the 1 billion yuan ($150 million)
project in 2014.

The ship's design is based on the original, and construction will involve
assistance from US and British designers and technicians, Xinhua said.

AFP was unable to immediately reach the companies involved.

Flamboyant Australian tycoon Clive Palmer in 2013 unveiled plans to build a
replica of the Titanic that could actually take to sea and would seek to
complete the original ship's doomed Atlantic crossing, but that project has
reportedly run aground amid funding difficulties.

Domestic tourism is booming in China, promoted by the government as a way of
fuelling consumer-driven growth rather than its decades-old model of
investment and industry.

Theme parks are being built in the country faster than anywhere else in the
world, with more than 300 projects reportedly funded in recent years.

+++SOURCE:”Jordan Times 4 Dec.’16:”Fateh picks party officials amid talk of
Abbas succession”,by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Fateh picks party officials.

RAMALLAH — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fateh Party on Saturday held
a vote for members of its ruling bodies that could give clues to a possible
successor to the ageing leader.

Fateh, the oldest Palestinian party, is holding its first congress in seven
years at a time when Abbas is seeking to quell dissent in the face of
internal rivalries.

The 81-year-old has not publicly designated a successor, and the vote will
be an indicator of the strengths and weaknesses of the various factions in
Fateh.

Casting his ballot on Saturday afternoon, Abbas called the polling
"democratic and transparent".

According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Palestinians are dissatisfied with
Abbas and want him to resign.

The congress comes with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at a
standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.

The 1,400 delegates voted at Abbas’ Ramallah headquarters in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank and also in the Gaza Strip where several dozen
were stranded after Israel refused them passage through its territory to
Ramallah.

They are to choose 18 members of the party’s Central Committee, its highest
body. Abbas will appoint another four.

The congress will also elect 80 members of the Fateh Revolutionary Council —
the party’s parliament. Another 40 council members are directly appointed.

“After the counting of votes during the evening the results should be
announced at the concluding session on Sunday,” Congress Spokesman Mahmoud
Abu Al Hija said.

Founded in 1959, Fateh is the backbone of the Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO) which the international community considers the
representative of all Palestinians.

Analysts say the party’s rival factions include supporters of Abbas’
longtime rival Mohammed Dahlan, currently in exile in the United Arab
Emirates.

Abbas was elected president in 2005 for what should have been a four-year
term.

But there have been no elections since then, and with his hold on power
drawing increasing internal dissent, observers say he is seeking to ready a
successor.

Social networks and some local news media during the week published names of
candidates in the vote who they say have prior approval from Abbas and were
therefore guaranteed election even before polling began.

Abu Al Hija denied the allegations.

At the opening session on Tuesday, members re-elected Abbas as party head by
consensus.

Observers see the reduced number of delegates eligible to vote — down from
more than 2,000 in 2009 — as part of a move to exclude Dahlan supporters.

Dimitri Diliani, elected to the Fateh Revolutionary Council in 2009, has
said he was not invited to the congress like dozens of others because “we
bring a different voice”.

He said a planned press conference at a refugee camp near Ramallah on
Tuesday with those recently dismissed from the party had been called off
after threats “from the security services”, including death threats.

The previous congress in 2009 brought into the ruling bodies veterans of the
Palestinian security services such as Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub and the hugely
popular Marwan Barghouthi, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli
prison.

This year Barghouthi is standing again, as is Rajoub who, as head of the
Palestinian Football Association, is active on the international stage.

So too is Saeb Erekat, Abbas’s number two in the PLO hierarchy.

Dahlan and his backers have been thrown out of Fateh.

Abbas told the congress on Wednesday he remained committed to dialogue with
Israel but that it would not come at the expense of Palestinian principles.

“We are saying to the Israeli people that we want peace that conforms to
international resolutions, but it is your government who does not,” he said.

Israel must “recognise that settlements are illegal”, he said, adding that
“our hand will remain extended for peace”.

That policy enjoys consensus support in Fateh, which renounced violence
several years ago. The rival Hamas Islamist movement which controls the Gaza
Strip follows a policy of armed conflict with Israel

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 4 Dec.’16:”Donors pledge around $400 million for
Red-Dead project”.by Hana Namrouqa
SUBJECT:Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project(Red-Dead)
FULL TEXT:AMMAN — The government has raised approximately $400 million from
donor countries and agencies to finance the first phase of the Red Sea-Dead
Sea Water Conveyance Project (Red-Dead), a government official said on
Saturday[3 Dec].

The funds were contributed during a high-profile conference, which was held
on Thursday[2 Dec] at the shores of the Dead Sea, in the form of grants,
very easy loans and in-kind assistance, the official at the Ministry of
Water and Irrigation said.

"In addition to the already raised funds, several other donor countries and
international agencies and institutions showed interest in this mega water
project and revealed that they are studying the possibility and the
mechanism of financing it," the official told The Jordan Times over the
phone.

The US embassy announced on Friday[[2Dec] in a statement to the press that
the US intends to contribute $100 million to the Red-Dead project.

US Ambassador to Jordan Alice G. Wells said in a statement e-mailed to The
Jordan Times on Friday[2 Dec] [that the Red-Dead project will not only bring
new water supplies, but it is also a novel approach to halting the decline
of the Dead Sea, adding that it is an extraordinary cultural heritage site
that attracts millions annually and is also an important resource for
industry.

“Our support for Red-Dead reflects the recognition that while it is
essential for Jordan, the United States, and other partners to focus on
water management, we must simultaneously pursue technologies that help us
increase water supply,” Wells said in the statement.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Water Ministry indicated on Saturday[3
Dec] that in addition to the $100 million contributed by the US, the EU has
pledged a grant worth 40 million euros and a very easy loan of 120 million
euros through the European Investment Bank and the French Development
Agency.

Also during the donor conference, Japan has announced that it will provide
the project with pumps and equipment worth $20 million, while Italy
announced that it will extend a grant worth 2 million euros and a very easy
loan worth 50 million euros and Spain will support the project with an easy
loan worth 50 million euros, according to the ministry’s statement.

In the statement, the ministry indicated that construction on the project’s
first phase, which costs $1.1 billion, is slated for early 2018 and is
scheduled to end in 2020.

Authorities have already shortlisted five consortiums out of 17 that have
shown interest in implementing the first stage on a build, operate and
transfer basis.

Under the first phase, a total of 300 million cubic metres (mcm) of water
will be pumped each year. Eventually, up to 2 billion cubic metres of
seawater will be transferred from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea annually under
the Red-Dead project, according to the ministry.

A total of 85-100mcm of water will be desalinated every year, while the
seawater will be pumped out from an intake located in the north of the Gulf
of Aqaba.

In addition, a conveyor will be extended to transfer desalinated water as
well as a pipeline to dump the brine into the Dead Sea to stop its constant
decline, estimated at one metre every year.

The Kingdom will receive an additional 50mcm of water from the Lake Tiberias
Reservoir annually to be added to its share from the desalination station to
provide Aqaba with water, according to the ministry.

The Red-Dead project’s main components are a seawater intake structure; an
intake pump station; a seawater pipeline; a desalination plant with a
capacity of 65-85mcm per year; a desalination brine conveyance pipeline; two
lifting pump stations; hydropower plants; and discharge facilities at the
Dead Sea.

Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israel and Palestine
in December 2013 to implement the first phase of the Red-Dead project.

Palestine will receive 30mcm of freshwater to cover its water deficit,
according to the MoU, while Israel will buy its share of 50mcm of
desalinated water from the project at cost value and sell Jordan the same
amount of water in the northern Jordan Valley at a cost of JD0.27 per cubic
metre.
==============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

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