“May 13, 2011, was the ‘darkest’ day of my life. When Assistant Justice Minster Assem al-Gohary, for illicit gains affairs, brought an order to arrest me, I took an overdose of sleeping pills and wanted to commit suicide as I could not imagine what for and how to live,” Suzanne Thabit was quoted as saying by EGYnews. She said that she was miraculously saved. “And then, my husband got in touch with somebody who was in power in Egypt, I think somebody from world politicians and managed to keep me near him in hospital for the time of my detention,” Suzanne said. Mubarak’s lawyer Farid al-Dib managed to solve the issue of her arrest.

“It was exactly him who advised to write a waiver of all my property to Egyptian government. And then was May 17, and I was released without any charges,” the wife of the former president said. Suzanne Mubarak also revealed many incidents about the final days of Mubarak’s presidency. “USA, Saudi Arabia, United Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait offered husband and all family members political asylum at the beginning of February 2011. But when he resigned on February 11, these offers were immediately called off,” the former first lady said. She said it was her elder son, Alaa and not the younger Gamal who assisted his father in making the last fateful decisions.

“On February 1, during a telephone conversation with Barack Obama, my husband agreed to resign but said he did not want to make personal announcement. He also asked for written guarantees that nothing happen with him and his family. These guarantees were given by a special envoy from the US ,” Suzanne said. The memoirs of the former Egyptian first lady, which speaks about politics, personal experiences, love of jewellery and art, will soon be published by Scottish publisher Canongate Books. Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11 after 18 days of mass public protest, which left more than 800 people dead and several thousands wounded. He now faces charges of corruption, abuse of power and authorising the shooting of protesters during the uprising.

In July 2011, the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, had announced that the Welsh Government would consider pursuing a ban on smoking in cars carrying children if children’s exposure to second-hand smoke in cars does not start to fall within the next three years.

The First Minister said, “Wales was the first UK country to vote in favour of a ban on smoking in public places and if necessary we will not shy away from considering legislation to further protect children from second-hand smoke.

“A ban on smoking in cars carrying children will be considered later in this five-year term of Government if smoking levels do not reduce as a result of the campaign. We have commissioned research to measure levels of smoking in cars and public attitudes towards it, which will be revisited throughout the campaign to evaluate its success.”

Launching the campaign, the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Tony Jewell, said,”Exposure to these chemicals puts children at risk from a range of conditions, including sudden infant death syndrome and asthma. There is robust evidence that the level of toxic chemicals is very high in cars, even with a window open.”

The announcement follow a review of smartphone manufacturing operations that Nokia announced last September and aim to increase the company’s competitiveness in the diverse global mobile device market.

Nokia said that the device assembly from the named three factories are planned to be transferred to Nokia factories in Asia, where the majority of component suppliers are based.

“With the planned changes, our factories at Komarom, Reynosa and Salo will continue to play an important role serving our smartphone customers. They give us a unique ability to both provide customization and be more responsive to customer needs,” said Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice president, Markets.

“Shifting device assembly to Asia is targeted at improving our time to market. By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive,” said Savander. “We recognize the planned changes are difficult for our employees and we are committed to supporting our personnel and their
local communities during the transition.”

Since the manufacturing and the amount of work carried out at the sites in Komarom, Reynosa and Salo are expected to decrease substantially, the changes are anticipated to impact approximately 4,000 employees in total.

Personnel reductions are planned to be phased through the end of 2012. Nokia release said that it will offer a comprehensive locally-tailored support program, including financial support and assistance with local re-employment.

The Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, said “The Foreign Secretary announced in his recent review of arms exports that there were no fundamental flaws with the export licensing system. We share this view. However, the review did identify some areas where our system could be further strengthened, so I am pleased that we are able to work closely together to bring about these changes.”

The Foreign Secretary William Hague said “The suspension mechanism will allow for the immediate suspension of pending licence applications to countries experiencing a sharp deterioration in security or stability. This will mean that licences pending approval will be ‘paused’ for a defined period. The Government will notify exporters, Parliament and the media when this has happened. ”

The transparency proposal includes inserting a provision into open export licences requiring the exporter to report periodically on transactions. British Government will then publish this information.

Since these licences are made in confidence, so the British Govt will try to find a way to publish such details by which it can be made public while protecting any sensitive material. UK will appoint an independent person to scrutinize the Export Control Organisation’s licensing process. The role of this independent auditor would be to confirm that the process is being followed correctly and report on their work at regular intervals.

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.

BP said that the decision follows 2011 review of BP’s LPG portfolio. The review decided that BP is not the natural owner long term of the LPG bottles and tank filling business. BP said that there is greater opportunities for other companies wanting to invest allowing BP to continue to focus its refining and marketing businesses where it has leading market positions it can sustain and grow in the long-term.

BP will not be looking at selling its autogas business in Europe and move it into the Fuels Value Chains, and maintain LPG wholesale outlets to support its refinery operations.

Commenting on the divestment, Tufan Erginbilgic, chief operating officer, Refining and Marketing said “BP intends to remain a key player in the European LPG autogas sector and through the Fuels Value Chains we will have a strategic fit with our forecourt fuels offer. We will also maintain LPG wholesale outlets where they support our refineries.”

The LPG bottles and tank filling activities will continue to be managed as a global business until sold. BP intends to sell the businesses as going concerns and expects significant market interest.

BP expects to complete any deal by the end of 2013, subject to regulatory and other approvals.

Tàpies was born in Barcelona in 1923 and showed artistic bent in his childhood. Spanish Civil War deeply disturbed him for lifetime. He began his career as a painter making copies in oils of works by van Gogh and Picasso. In 1945, he joined the University of Barcelona for law, only to drop out a year later and take up the brush full time. His influences included the artists Miró, Klee and Ernst as well as oriental art and existentialist philosophy.

His work employed a variety of materials like earth, newspaper, rope. and everyday items. He has worked in a variety of media including sculpture and lithography.

The legislation is different from the earlier attempts for increasing the fuel efficiency of the cars in US. US government is currently dolling out loans and subsidies for creation of sell high-mileage cars. The bill presents an alternative to reward a company, instead of paying up upfront to create something that may or may not be appealing to customers.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R—Calif.), the sponsor of the bill writes in his website “Looking at average fleet-wide fuel economy, the introduction of automobile transportation at 100 miles per gallon translates into the ability to travel nearly five times a given distance on a tank of gas. Current automobile gasoline consumption levels of 8.9 million barrels per day could ultimately be replaced by a fleet of NOPEC vehicles which would reduce consumption to about 1.8 million barrels a day. Assuming a constant relationship between reduced gasoline consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, commensurate reductions in the level of auto pollution could also result from this modest proposal.”

This is not a new idea. US based Progressive Insurance has been already been awarding prizes for a car with mileage greater than 100 MPGe. The other requirements are 4 passengers, 4 wheels, range exceeding 200 miles, 0-60 in less than 15 seconds, meeting Consumers Union dynamic safety standards and Tier 2 Bin 8 emissions. The contest is world wide.

Other than hybrids, no car company in US is close to getting this prize as all manufacturers are working to create alternative fuel cars.

This successful industrial scale-up project containing Solvay’s innovative specialty polymers and SolviCore’s membrane electrode assemblies brings PEM Fuel Cell technology to a new threshold. The Fuel Cell also increases SolVin’s brine electrolysis’ energy efficiency.

Fuel Cells convert the chemical energy from hydrogen into clean electricity through an electrochemical reaction with oxygen. The PEM Fuel Cell consists of a large number of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) made out of Solvay’s specialty polymer Aquivion PFSA membrane and ionomer and Umicore’s elyst catalyst. The MEAs were manufactured by SolviCore, a 50-50 joint venture of Solvay and Umicore, in its plant in Hanau, Germany. Dutch companies NedStack and MTSA have built the fuel cell using SolviCore’s assemblies.

Fuel Cells are increasingly considered an important clean power generation technology for a wide variety of applications such as busses, cars, ships, trucks, fork lifts, cogeneration and electricity generation devices. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells produce only electricity and water.

This technological leap was realized in cooperation with WaterstofNet, the coordinator of the Project Hydrogen Region Flanders – South Netherlands. This project aims at developing knowhow and projects about hydrogen applications in the region with a clear focus on sustainable hydrogen and early market applications, such as maritime, logistical and interurban applications, with maximum use of European technology.

The Project Hydrogen Region, with a total budget of EUR 14 million, was approved by the Interreg IV Program and is financed by the EU, the Flemish government, the Dutch government and the industry. Hydrogen Region financed Solvay’s project budget of over EUR 5 million by EUR 1.5 million. The 1 MW PEM Fuel Cell is the first milestone in the Project Hydrogen Region Flanders – South Netherlands and it is also used by WaterstofNet for research and test programs to endorse implementation of Fuel Cell technology in the region.

SolVin is a joint venture of Solvay (75%) and BASF (25%). It is a leader on the Vinyls (PVC) market in Europe and on the PVDC market worldwide.

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.