Meanwhile, as per reports, the Maldivian police has taken control of the state broadcaster reports say. Soldiers used tear gas to break up a demonstration by supporters of an ex-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Police were said to be among the protesters. Sources of the President House said that the protest took place in a high security zone near army headquarters.

The President’s office had earlier released a statement saying the government has taken all necessary actions to stabilise the situation in Male, the capital of the Indian Ocean island chain. Yesterday, around 50 policemen stood down in favour of the protesters and refused to obey orders. Tensions escalated after the Maldives army arrested a senior judge last month, prompting bitter street protests.

It also would mark a stunning crash for Nasheed, a former human rights campaigner who defeated the countries longtime ruler in the country’s first multiparty election.

Dov Hoz Airport, commonly known as Sde Dov, is located in an urban area and it’s only 15 min drive from the center of Tel Aviv. The plan to close down the airport is due to its location in a very central part of Tel Aviv, on rather expensive land. It lies virtually on the beach, allows quick and easy access to the city center and to surrounding towns like Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Ramat Hasharon, Herzliya, Holon and Bat Yam.

The cabinet has also given a go ahead to establish a team chaired by Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker, and with the participation of the relevant ministries, to formulate an operative plan, including sources of financing, for the evacuation of the airport. The team is also mandated to locate alternative sites to which Dov Hoz’s civil aviation activities will be transferred.

The Tel Aviv base and the airport’s military activities will be evacuated afterward.

“The recent use of a product called ‘Black Salve’ in Australia has resulted in serious harm to the skin of three Australian consumers who used the product for various skin conditions including the treatment of a skin cancer,” the TGA statement said.

Black Salve, a topical paste, is corrosive and essentially burns off layers of the skin and surrounding normal tissue. It can destroy large parts of the skin and underlying tissue, and leave significant scarring. Worldwide, it is classified as an escharotic.

TGA is also investigating the supply of the product in Australia and is currently investigating complaints about advertising of Black Salve on certain Australian Internet sites.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has listed Cansema as one of the fake cancer drugs.

However, TGA has said that it has not formally assessed Black Salve.

“We sought to push ahead with development and spared no effort throughout our limited tenure … And I duly note the effort and attention the members of cabinet exerted at such a critical time of our homeland’s history,” the outgoing premier said.

Opposition had accused the prime minister of corruption and demanded his trial. The standoff led to mass protest rallies and an assault on the parliament building.

Kuwait’s Islamist-led opposition have won a landslide majority in Kuwait’s snap polls by securing 34 seats in the 50-member parliament. Sunni Islamists took 23 seats and the liberals could manage just two seats. Women seats were an absolute causality in the elections.

The Emir of Kuwait is set to meet with the leaders of the National Assembly in order to name the new Prime Minister.

As Arab Parliament Speaker Ali Al Deqbasi has called for expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from all Arab countries, Tunisia said it no longer recognized the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and had decided to expel the Syrian ambassador from Tunis. A Tunisian presidential spokesman on Saturday said that the decision came after a “bloody massacre” that began Friday in the central Syrian province of Homs, which killed 260 killed according to opposition activists. “Tunisia believes that this tragedy will not end, except if Bashar al-Assad”s regime gives up power to pave the way for a democratic transition that ensures security for the brotherly Syrian people,” the spokesman said.

World wide condemnation is pouring in as world leaders are getting increasingly critical of the Syrian Regime. US President Barack Obama strongly condemned what he called “the Syrian government’s unspeakable assault against the people of Homs.” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now,” said Whithouse statement. “He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately,” Obama’s statement added.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said “China now must comply by removing these export restrictions swiftly and furthermore, I expect China to bring its overall export regime – including for rare earths – in line with WTO rules.”

The EU Panel, along with US and Mexico had charged that the export duties and quotas imposed by China on various raw materials like various forms of: bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorus and zinc, are protectionist measures in breach of WTO rules and that China failed to justify them. WTO in particular upheld the finding that China has committed unconditionally in its Accession Protocol to the WTO not to levy export duties and that this commitment cannot be reduced by reverting to the general exceptions of the GATT.

As per EU panel narration, China applies export restrictions on key raw materials, some of which cannot be sourced outside China. Export restrictions create serious disadvantages for foreign producers by artificially increasing China’s export prices and driving up world prices. EU also contends that such restrictions artificially lower China’s domestic prices for the raw materials due to significant increases in domestic supply. This gives China’s domestic downstream industry significant competitive advantages and puts pressure on foreign producers to move their operations and technologies to China.

The restrictions increased manufacturing costs of European industry such as the chemical, steel and non-ferrous metal industries. This drove up the costs of downstream clients, ranging from producers of beverage cans, CDs, electronics, automotives, ceramics, refrigerators, batteries and medicines and many more.

The EU, US and Mexico are now expected to request doption of the reports by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body within 30 days. China will then have to bring its measures in compliance with the rulings within a reasonable period of time.

Authorities say that the initial evidence showed three premises were offering short-term rental accommodation to pregnant Mainlanders. Two people were found to be breaching their conditions of stay and have been handed to Police. Operating an unlicensed guesthouse in Hong Kong warrants two years in jail and a $200,000 fine.

As per figures from Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, out of the 88,500 newborns in the region in 2010, more than 45 percent, or 40,000, were children of mainland mothers.

The issue is already a hot potato between the Island and the mainland. One Hong Kong-based Apple Daily had carried a full-page advertisement yesterday asking for ban on pregnant women from the mainland. “Do you want Hong Kong to pay USD 1,000,000 every 18 minutes to raise babies whose parents are not permanent residents here? “Hongkongers have had enough!” read the advertisement.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang has already unveiled a package of measures to curb the rise in pregnant Mainland women making last-minute deliveries in Hong Kong public hospitals.

The measures include working with Mainland authorities to hunt agents and vehicles bringing pregnant Mainland women to Hong Kong without an appointment; posting Healthcare personnel along with Immigration officers at boundary checkpoints, raiding unlicensed hostels and boosting inspections of public rental units and review the accident and emergency department fee for non-local mothers.

The island state is also set to review population policy, including topics such as cross-boundary children’s education, maternity care services and the aging population.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the ferry MV Rabaul Queen, with about 350 people on board, went down 16 kilometres off the coast of Finschhafen, which is about 80 kilometres from its final destination of Lae.

The authority’s Jo Mehan said eight rescue vessels were on the scene and 219 survivors had been taken aboard five of those vessels. Rescue co-ordinator Captain Nurur Rahman said said that several passengers were still unaccounted for. Captain Rahman said four merchant ships were diverted to the scene by Australian authorities to help with the rescue. Two helicopters from Lae had also joined the rescue operation.

The rescuers are scouring the area for further survivors, he said, adding the priority at the moment is to save lives. He said it was too early to say why the ferry went down.

Ferry operator Rabaul Shipping said it lost contact with the vessel early Thursday morning. AMSA put a call out for ships in the area to head to Finschhafen.

“We’ve sent three planes at this stage – one of them is already on scene, and that’s one of AMSA’s contracted dedicated search and rescue Dornier aircraft from Cairns,” AMSA spokeswoman Carly Lusk said.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the death toll could be very high. “There has been a boat go down in Papua New Guinea with, as we understand it, 350 people on board,” Gillard said. “This is obviously a major tragedy… There is likely to be a very high death toll,” she said.

Meanwhile, an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted New Britain region, Papua New Guinea Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 69.00 km, was initially determined to be at 6.6421 degrees south latitude and 149.8013 degrees east longitude.

The figures by the Dammam-based Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (APICORP), an affiliate of the 10-nation Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, showed Saudi Arabia remained the dominant energy investor in the region, with an estimated $141 billion during 2012-2016, the UAE daily (Emirates Business) reported Wednesday. “The current macroeconomic indicators and market trends have not invalidated our September review of MENA energy investment, which is mainly project-based,”

APICORP’s senior consultant Ali Aissaoui said in a new review of Arab energy investment requirements sent to Emirates 24/7. The study showed capital requirements remained at around $525 billion, adding that even if still 15% to 20% lower than potential, it is the highest since the onset of the downturn caused by the 2008 global financial crisis. It showed Saudi Arabia tops the ranking with $141 billion and that investment has mostly been generated by the state-owned Saudi Aramco and SABIC as domestic private investors have continued to struggle to attract capital. “Taking over from Iran, the UAE has become a distant second with nearly $76 billion worth of investment,” Aissaoui said. According to the report, tighter international sanctions, and the retreat of foreign companies, have ended up taking a toll on Iran’s energy investment, which now stands at $58 billion. (QNA)

Household spending in December also rose by an inflation-adjusted 0.5 percent from a year earlier, the first positive figure since a 0.5 percent increase in February 2011. Satoshi Osanai, economist at Daiwa Institute of Research, called the production data “solid”, noting the ministry’s survey of producers showed output was to rise 2.5 percent in January and another 1.2 percent in February.

The overall output figure has been volatile in recent years, with a 21.9 percent plunge in 2009 in the aftermath of the crisis sparked by the Lehman Brothers collapse, followed by a 16.4 percent year-on-year jump in 2010. The Japanese economy was hit by a series of blows in 2011, most prominently the March disaster that left more than 19,000 people dead and missing and triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The jobless rate edged up to 4.6 percent in December from 4.5 percent in the previous month, the ministry of internal affairs and communication said.