DUBAI // A pilot project that will link Ajman with Dubai using water taxis is expected to begin by the middle of next year. The announcement follows the signing of an agreement between Ajman Municipality and the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Specifics on the project to connect the two emirates, and how the plan will be implemented, will be announced soon, said Mohammed al Muhairi, the director of the municipality's planning and survey department.
The municipality has previously announced that the service would cost Dh30 million (US$8.2m) and begin with the launch of 10 air-conditioned boats that will ferry as many as 30 passengers each between 17 stations for a Dh10 fare. The department has submitted a request to the RTA to study the project. According to the RTA's marine agency, 10,884,007 passengers were transported during 621,082 trips on water buses, motorised and rowing abras in the emirate between the months of January and August.
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
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Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Towering concerns
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