ISUZU UNVEILS NEW TRUCKS
Isuzu launched new heavy-duty trucks designed under the “The truck of the million kilometer” concept at a ceremony here on Tuesday night. “Isuzu’s new heavy duty trucks are aimed to meet growing demand for transport operations in the ongoing economic boom across Saudi Arabia,” Hesham Bakhashab of the Bakhashab Brothers Holding Co., said. “It is a happy augury that Isuzu continues to concentrate on the Saudi market for its trucks despite their mounting sales in Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and East Asia,” he said. Isuzu’s management executives said that the launch of the new trucks here was preceded by the “tremendous success” they had elsewhere in world markets. “We are pursuing the ‘Truck of the million kilometer’ strategy with a ‘SEE’ engineering philosophy, SEE meaning safety, economy and the environment,” he added. Isuzu has been successful in the Kingdom, especially in its light duty N series trucks. On show were Isuzu’s heavy-duty trucks of EXR and CYZ series, also called C&E series. EXR trucks are of 4 x 2 tractor head and CYZ trucks are 6 x 4 heavy-duty vehicles. Isuzu’s senior management executives explained that the C&E Series of heavy-duty trucks and tractor units had been designed under the “Tough and Harmonious” concept. The series offers the ultimate in durability, power and performance, and friendliness to work with the environment and the driver by using low-emission engines with utmost regard for safety and comfort. The result is a redefinition of what heavy-duty trucks should be. The C&E Series offers two basic variations that can be further configured to meet specific needs. Featuring rounded corners, aerodynamic styling and soft curves, the new C&E Series vehicles are a class by themselves. The overall cab and instrument panel have been designed to ensure that long hours behind the wheel does not result in driver fatigue.
MOBILY TO EXPAND NETWORK
Mobily is expanding the reach of its national fiber-optic network regionally and globally as part of a consortium that includes Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates and Etisalat Misr in Egypt, according to statements made by executives Tuesday. Dubbed the “E-Cable,” with “e” being short for “Etisalat, the part terrestrial and part submarine cable will be live and ready for use by the end of the second quarter of 2009. The cable itself is expected to cost $150 million and will run from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, across Saudi Arabia, passing through Jeddah, and through the Suez Canal and Alexandria in Egypt, by Italy in the Mediterranean and entering Europe through France. The cable itself will allow more and more gigabits of Internet and voice traffic to originate and terminate in the region translating into faster web browsing speeds and more cost effective international and regional calling rates in the long run. Each gigabit of Internet traffic can serve an estimated 128,000 users comfortably. “A large amount of traffic passes through the US for no real reason, other than that there is no regional Internet exchange,” said Khalid Al-Kaf, chief executive officer of Mobily. “We would like to change this and keep regional traffic in the region, thereby passing this benefit on to consumers in the form of much faster browsing speeds and more cost-effective rates for regional and international calling,” he said. For the most part, users in the Middle East browse sites located on servers in the United States on the one hand, as do other users around the world, as well as traffic between some Arab countries moving through the US, because of a lack of a regional Internet Exchange.
BMI TO LAUNCH NEW FLIGHT
From March 15. bmi will start its flight from Dammam to London Heathrow via Riyadh. Announcing bmi’s third destination yesterday at a press conference held here yesterday, Nigel Turner, chief executive officer of British Midlandplc, the parent company of bmi with a turnover of £905 million, said that the new service will attract a large number of business visitors from leading companies in the Eastern province. Around 6000 of the 28,000 Britons in the Kingdom are living in the east of the Kingdom , where the British Embassy has its Trade Office in Alkhobar. Turner said the airline will continue its three flights to London’s Heathrow Airport weekly from Riyadh and Jeddah. Milad El-Khoury, sales manager for bmi in Saudi Arabia, introduced Turner who joined the airlines in 1994 as finance director, was appointed as member of the British Midland Airways Ltd. in 1999. Highlighting the performance of the airline, Turner said that passenger figures were up by 67 percent for the Jeddah-London route, and by 13 percent for the Riyadh- London route. While in terms of revenue, they were up by 77 percent for the Jeddah-London route, and by 18 percent for the Riyadh-London sector.
PANASONIC SHOWCASES PRODUCTS
Panasonic, the leading global manufacturer of consumer electronics and home appliances, is displaying a wide range of its energy saving products and highlighting its initiatives aimed at reducing environmental impact during the manufacture of its advanced technology products, at the First World Future Energy Summit (WFES) that began on Monday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center. At the show, Panasonic is showcasing its various energy saving products including the Induction Heating (IH) cooking heater, air conditioners featuring e-ion Air Purification system, lead free plasma TV and bamboo speakers. Seiji Koyanagi, managing director, Panasonic marketing Middle East, said, “Panasonic has shown a long standing commitment to environment protection, and over the years we have invested substantial resources in manufacturing products that have minimal impact on the environment. The WFES is the perfect platform for us to demonstrate our latest range of energy saving products and our series of initiatives in this regard.” Panasonic recently renewed its commitment to climate change by adding ecological goals to its “GP3” three-year business plan that completes March 2010. As a manufacturing company, Panasonic is aiming to eliminate 300,000 tons of CO2 emissions over three years.
HOPE FOR CANCER PATIENT
Oncologists and international experts met in Dubai this weekend for a symposium to discuss the latest developments in the fight against cancer. Globally, cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality, and the incidence of some types of the disease — including lung and breast cancer — is rising within the Middle East, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Experts from across the region met for the event, bringing together new data and research about both the incidence of cancer and the new treatments that are being made available to treat patients. Data from the WHO discussed at the conference suggests that Arab nations are likely to suffer most from complications associated with cancer in the coming decade. In particular, the sessions examined cancer of kidney, as well as different cancers of the stomach. According to the WHO, kidney cancer is the tenth most common cause of cancer death for males and thirteenth for females. Professor Eric Raymond, Professor of Oncology, Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital and Stéphane Oudard, assistant professor of oncology at Georges Pompidou Hospital – both from Paris – presented new data at the symposium. Experts in their field and members of leading scientific committees, they have spent numerous years researching different cancer treatments. They were joined by regional experts Dr. Farid Khalifa, consultant oncologist and head of Oncology Dept, Dubai Health Authority, as well as Dr. Nabil Shams El-Din, consultant oncologist from Lebanon. “With the innovative treatments we now have at our disposal, patients have a greater chance of survival and a higher quality of life post-cancer, providing the disease is diagnosed early enough,” Dr. Farid Khalifa said.
