NEW YORK // Saudi Arabia has denied it was negotiating to move a controversial planned Islamic centre farther away from the site of the September 11 attacks in downtown Manhattan.
The New York Post had reported that King Abdullah was considering moving the Park 51 centre to Manhattan's West Village after angry protests against the centre dominated headlines in the United States earlier this year.
But a statement from the Saudi embassy in Washington said the kingdom had "no involvement, either directly or indirectly, with Park 51, formerly known as Cordoba House, in New York City, nor is it involved - in any way - in talks that may be taking placeto relocate the proposed community centre," the Dow Jones news agency reported. "The Government of Saudi Arabia considers this issue a domestic American matter," the e-mailed statement said.
Dudley Gaffin, a New York lawyer, claimed King Abdullah was in talks with officials about moving the centre to St Vincent's medical centre, which closed earlier this year and has become a matter of intense wrangling among New York property agents.
Mr Gaffin did not return requests for comment from The National.
Earlier this year, Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Sufi imam behind the planned Islamic centre, said a decision on whether it would remain as planned in lower Manhattan would depend on what was "best for everybody".
The imam said while he was very sensitive to the concerns held by families of al Qa'eda's victims who perished in the World Trade Center about two blocks away, moving the proposed centre would embolden extremists.
The centre's construction is being led by Sharif el-Gamal, a developer, but the project, slated to cost around $100 million (Dh367 million), is beset by financial difficulties.
sdevi@thenational.ae
FIXTURES
Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)
Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
