Published June 2nd, 2011 – 15:18 GMTPress Release

Etihad Guest, the award-winning loyalty programme from Etihad Airways, has announced a new partnership with Abu Dhabi’s unique boutique property One to One Hotel – the Village. The new partnership allows Etihad Guest members to earn Etihad Guest Miles each time they stay at the hotel.

Located just off Al Salam Street, a quiet area in the heart of Abu Dhabi, One to One Hotel – the Village is a unique boutique resort designed in the style of a Bedouin village. All rooms are equipped with flat-screen satellite TV and free internet access. Each accommodation building features a private rooftop pool.  

Guests can also make use of an in-house spa, a well-equipped gym, a sauna and a massage room.   

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Our award winning Etihad Guest programme continues to grow, allowing us to extend greater benefits to our fast growing member base. We are delighted to add One to One Hotel – the Village as an opportunity for our members to earn miles and benefit from our wide selection of rewards, ranging from free flights and upgrades to thousands of other products, services and money-can’t-buy experiences.”

Jawad Saade, One to One Hotel – The Village Executive Assistant Manager, added: “We are delighted by the Etihad Guest Miles partnership venture. With this new partnership we will look to boost our sales during the course of the year as well as provide extra value to our customers.”

Etihad Guest members will earn one mile per US dollar spent during their stay.

Etihad currently serves 67 destinations in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. Launched in August 2006, the award-winning Etihad Guest programme now has more than 45 international accrual partners and hundreds of redemption partners world-wide.

Originally Published On: www1.albawaba.com – Original Article Here

A man arrested after a three-hour siege at a bank in Watford was not carrying a "viable" bomb, say police.

Officers were called to the Co-op bank in Market Street at 1020 BST.

The man, 23, was arrested by armed police after a stand-off which led to a large area of the town centre being sealed off.

At about 1345 BST Hertfordshire Police said officers had "successfully secured" the man's arrest. They said it was not a viable explosive device.

Det Supt Michael Hanlon said: "We would like to reassure the public that there is no suggestion at all that this was linked in any way to terrorist activity."

Earlier, police had said "an explosive device of some kind – as yet we don't know what this is – has been removed from this individual".

Ch Insp Mike Pryce, of Hertfordshire Police, told a press conference that army bomb disposal experts had been at the scene.

He thanked the public and media for their help during the siege.

"The suspect has been arrested and will be taken to police custody for interview," he said.

The force said it had been supported by specialist firearms experts in the military in making the arrest.

Witnesses described police marksmen aiming their guns at the bank.

Earlier, Pat Sullivan, who works at a local damp-proofing firm, said police closed the main roads around the bank and the ring road, causing traffic to back up.

She said: "I've forced my way through the barriers to get in.

"There's so many people out there – the police, police cars, fire engines, press and, I guess, bomb disposal teams.

"There's groups of people out there just standing and waiting, the community is just wondering what's happening really. You can't walk out there because it's all cordoned off.

"The traffic's nose-to-tail because the police have closed most of the roads."

Hertfordshire Police said in a statement: "Safety of members of the public was paramount and a cordon was put in place and people were evacuated from nearby premises.

"There will be police activity in the town centre for a while to come. Understandably this caused concern within the community and we would like to thank members of the public for their co-operation in this matter."

Describing the scene earlier, the owner of a tailoring business in Market Street said he saw three police marksmen aiming their weapons at the bank.

He said: "There are three of them and they are about 30ft (10m) away from the bank on the opposite side of the road.

"There's a lot of police around, pulling people back from the bank, and a few helicopters flying overhead.

"People are saying that the man in the bank has got a bomb strapped to himself and, as far as we know, all the hostages have been set free.

"A lady came out of the bank this morning and she was very distressed. I don't know if she was a staff member, I think she might have been a customer."

He said local people and business owners in the street had been told by police to stay indoors until the incident was resolved.

As the siege developed, James Glisson, who was in a nearby mobile phone shop, said he saw "military-looking" officers and dogs at the scene.

Another eyewitness close to the scene told the BBC that police were using megaphones to speak to whoever was inside the bank.

Hertfordshire Police reported that officers were first called to reports of a man threatening to harm members of staff at the bank.

A few hours later police had said they had been "able to establish that this individual is on his own and no members of the public are at direct risk".

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

An "unfortunate error" meant maths students were set a question that was impossible to answer in an AS-level exam.

"Many people are worried that the mistake made by the examining board will severely affect the mark and grade they achieve in the paper. For many this was a final exam and will most likely influence final grades and university admission."

Dozens of other students have messaged the BBC News website to voice their anger and fears about their grades.

Aron De Vos, 17, from St Albans, said: "I spent a good 15 minutes trying to answer that question. I was getting very frustrated about why I couldn't get the answer.

"I want to retake that exam. I can't believe how much time was wasted on a question where we were only able to get zero marks."

OCR has said it deeply regrets the "unfortunate error" and says it has a range of procedures in place to ensure candidates are not disadvantaged.

A spokeswoman said: "We very much regret that there was a mistake… and that our quality assurance procedures failed to identify this error.

"Because we have been alerted to this so early, we are able to take this error into account when marking the paper. We will also take it into account when setting the grade boundaries. We have sent a letter to all schools and colleges explaining in more detail what we shall do.

"We do apologise again that this has happened."

The exam body says it is not going to discount the question from the marking, because that might disadvantage candidates who spent a lot of time trying to answer it.

Students will be awarded points for their attempts to work out the question and measures are also in place which are designed to recognise that other candidates may have discovered the error quickly, OCR says.

OCR released full details of the error – on paper "Decision Mathematics 1" – as follows:

BBC News website readers have been sending in their comments and experiences, a selection of which can be read below:

I did the D1 exam and I remember doing this thinking, "there goes eight marks". The exam was hard enough without an 'impossible' question making it even harder. And, it did stress me and many of my classmates out, even if it was just one question. We came out trying to be as optimistic with our expected results. Sultan Ijaz, Carshalton, Surrey

My son is in his last year of sixth form and has taken this exam. He needs an A in it to get his place at Nottingham for a Pure Maths degree. The question severley affected the whole of his exam, not only did he spend 40 minutes trying to answer that one question, but he also subsequently ran out of time leaving questions unanswered. He cannot retake as he needs his results this summer or faces an extra £21,000 in tuition fees. This could definitley cost my son his uni place. Victoria Malone, Caddington, Bedfordshire

I took this paper last Thursday. This particular question was worth eight marks which is over 10% of the paper. I just thought it was very hard rather than being impossible. Given the choice I would prefer to retake the paper. John Wheal, Colchester

Having spent a long time on this question I resorted to crossing out all of my working out. The amount of time I spent meant I wasn't able to answer the rest of the exam paper to the best of my ability. The only logical option I could see for OCR is to put out another exam paper quickly or my application to university will be extremely hindered due to this being 33% of my A-Level grade. It's ridiculous, how can the highest marked question on the paper not be double/triple checked? Tom, Scunthorpe

I'm a student who sat this exam and I spent ages on this very question, continually getting the right answer (but not the one they stated). I'm annoyed and yet grimly satisfied to be proven right, but that won't get back the time I wasted trying it again and again, which certainly compromised my efforts on the rest of the paper. Curtis, Caldicot

I took the exam and it was horrible. I needed to get a high mark to meet my Cambridge offer but that question put me off so badly that I'm not sure if I have made it. You expect examining boards not to make such mistakes, on which your future relies upon, but on this occasion they have failed. Anand, Ashby

It was a terrible exam, and I regretfully, burst into tears after the exam in front of my maths teacher. After learning that the exam board had made such a careless mistake, a mistake that would affect the lives of thousands of students, you can understand our frustration, anger and disappointment. I feel it is within the best interests of the students that we are able to sit a new Decision Mathematics 1 exam to recitfy the foolish mistakes of OCR. Kalpita, York

This is a disgrace. My daughter realised there was a mistake and moved on, so didn't put a lot of working into the question. I honestly don't believe that a statistical approach to marking this question does anything than assure that the results distribution matches an average of previous results. It does nothing to reassure an individual they weren't disadvantaged over another student sitting a different board's exam or module who also needs the same grade to get to university. Ian McGregor, Horsham

Can't see what the fuss is all about. The question is worth eight points from a potential 72. Don't re-run the test, ignore the question and mark the paper out of 64. It's basic maths, not rocket science, although some people do like making life needlessly difficult. Dave, Bridgend

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here