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Tony Blair's sister-in-law confirms conversion to Islam - Oct 2010

Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British prime minister and Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair, has converted to Islam following a visit to Iran.

The 43-year-old Booth, half sister of Cherie Blair, said she is now a “proud member” of the Muslim community, after having what she described as a “holy experience” during a visit to the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.

She said that when she was in Iran, "I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy."

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday after a multi-faith Global Peace and Unity Event in London, Booth said: "What I wanted to share with you today is that I am Lauren Booth and I am a Muslim.

"I always felt that the Ummah (Muslim community) is a very loving, peaceful place and I am proud to be a member of it.

Booth said she now wears a hijab when she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque whenever she can.

‘I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,’ she said of the religion.

Booth, who works for the English language Iranian news channel Press TV, has been a vocal critic of her brother-in-law, accusing him of bias towards Israel in his role as Middle East peace envoy.

She said she hoped her conversion would change his presumptions about Islam.

In an open letter in the newspaper Morning Star last month, she wrote: "Personally I've never understood this fear of 'political Islam'.

"It seems to me that religious people should always be educated on world events rather than kept in ignorance. Like, say, Midwest Christian Zionists in the US."

Booth was refused entry to Israel and Egypt after travelling from Cyprus to Gaza on an activist ship which was protesting the blockade of Palestinian territory.

Haramain High Speed Rail Project, Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Government has taken a decision to implement a railway project linking the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah. The HHR will be a high speed electrified passenger line, primarily designed to provide a fast, comfortable, reliable and safe mode of transport. The overall objective of the Government is to implement the HHR project as a public funded project.

The important features of the Project given below are based on preliminary estimations and are subject to revision on more detailed analysis and design:

The HHR will be a high speed (360 km/h design speed) electrified passenger double line between Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah.
Makkah Central Station near the 3rd Ring Road.
Jeddah Central Station will be located on the Haramain Road, the railway aligment will use the median of the Haramain road and the Station in KAIA will be a terminus station.
Madinah will have only one passenger station.
Station will also be required in the King Abdullah Economic City and a station may be required for the Hajj Terminal at Jeddah Airport.

makkah_madinah_rail_map.gif (34453 bytes)

The rail track is expected to cut down the amount of time taken to travel between Mecca and Madinah to two hours. It will also shorten the travel time between Jeddah and Mecca to half an hour. Once completed, the project will provide passengers with a view of the monumental architecture of Mecca and Madinah as they travel across the cities.

The rail project will be executed in two phases; Phase I started in 2009. The $1.8bn contract for Phase I was awarded in March 2009 to the Al Rajhi Alliance. The Alliance is a consortium of Chinese and Saudi companies China Railway Engineering and Alstom Transport.

In April 2009, $38m worth of design contracts for four of the five train stations were awarded to a joint venture between Foster & Partners and Buro Happold. The JV will build the train stations in Mecca, Madinah, Jeddah and King Abdul Aziz International Airport.

In February 2010, a $96m contract to supervise the project was awarded to Dar Al-Handasa consultants and a $24m contract to manage the system was signed by Scott Wilson.

Scott Wilson will provide administrative consultative services to aid the Saudi Railway Organization in developing the tenders and evaluating the financial and technical offers. Scott Wilson will receive the offers related to the second phase in the first quarter of 2010.

Tickets for the Makkah Metro (also known as Mashair Metro) will be distributed during October, more than a month before Haj, chairman of the Haj and Umrah committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sa'ad Jameel Al Qurashi said.
"The tickets will be evenly distributed among Mutawifeen [Haj service providers] and during the next pilgrimage the Metro is expected to transport about 130,000 pilgrims representing about 35 per cent of its total capacity," Al Qurashi said.

Al Qurashi said only pilgrims from within Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf countries would be able to use the Metro initially.

He added that 12 out of the train's 20 cars would be operated for a start. The 12 cars would together carry 3,000 passengers on each trip, he said adding that, when in full swing, the Metro would carry about 72,000 passengers per trip.

"The actual price of tickets has not been decided yet but it is expected to be around 90 Saudi riyals [Dh87.9]," he said.

Al Qurashi said the Metro would be fully operational during the Haj season of 2011 and transport about 500,000 pilgrims by then, a number that would rise to about two million in 2012. "The time of the journey from Arafat to Muzdalifa and Mina is about seven minutes. About 75 per cent of the passengers will be seated and the remaining will be standing," he said.

Record time

The total cost of the project is 6.7 billion riyals. A Chinese company is currently implementing the project using more than 50,000 workers, engineers and technicians. The tracks, stretching a distance of 18.1km, have been elevated to nearly 8 and 10 metres in some areas so as not to obstruct road traffic or the movement of pedestrians between the holy sites of Arafat, Muzdalifa and Mina.

The residents of Makkah may use the Metro to throw stones at Satan.

Al Qurashi said the Chinese company executed the project in record time. "The Department of Holy Sites Projects in the Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs is keen to implement all development projects in time so as to benefit the guests of God," he said.

The Chinese Railways Company signed a $144-million (Dh528.7-million) contract with the French company Talis to build the operation and communications systems. The train will run automatically and does not need a driver.

The Al Rajhi Alliance, Al Arab Construction Company and Mohammad Ali Al Swailem (Masco) have been contracted to do the civil works for the project.

Talis and the Bin Laden Group for Contracting last April signed a $453-million with the Saudi government to build a railway line linking the northern and southern regions of the kingdom by 2012. Saudi Arabia currently has 850km of railroads linking Riyadh with Dammam in the east.

An additional 950km of rail tracks will be added to link Jeddah, in the western region, with Riyadh and another 115-km-long track will link Dammam with the industrial city of Jubail.

The kingdom has also started executing a 1,300-km railway line that begins in the northwestern part of the country and will cut through Al Jouf, Hail and Qasim to connect Riyadh. Authorities are also considering the establishment of a railway line in the southern region in addition to the GCC railway project.