Volume 24 | Number 7917 | 2 RiyalsSunday 9 June 2019 | 6 Shawwal 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

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BUSINESS | 13 SPORT | 20

Portugal, Netherlands faceoff in Nations League final

G20 finance chiefs to warn of

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Amir sends condolences to Kuwait’s Amir, PMQNA /DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent two cables of condolences to the Amir of the State of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, and Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah on the death of the mother of the Prime Minister.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday two cables of con-dolences to the Amir of the State of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, and Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah on the death of the mother of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent similar cables to the Amir of Kuwait and Kuwait Prime Minister.

HMC urges public to take part in survey on dementiaFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

The general public has been encouraged to take part in the world’s largest survey on attitudes around dementia by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) on

social media. Qatar is partici-pating in the survey led by Alzhe-imer’s Disease International (ADI) and invited the public to share their thoughts and knowledge.

The survey seeks feedback from four key groups including general public, health and care

professionals, people living with dementia and carers of such people, in an attempt to create the world’s biggest survey on attitudes around dementia. The questions are predominantly multiple choice and the survey is fully anonymous, accessible and available both

online and offline in multiple lan-guages, including Arabic.

The survey, which is cur-rently available on the ADI website (www.alz.co.uk/research/world-report-2019), will form the basis of ADI’s World Alzheimer Report 2019, to be

released during World Alzheimer Month in September. The survey will be open until June 14.

The Qatar National Dementia Plan (2018-2022) has been implemented in Qatar to improve the quality of dementia care in the country. �P2

Cargo movement registers huge rise at ports in MaySACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Ports in Qatar have registered strong growth in cargo movement in May, driven by sharp rise in the number ships coming to Qatari waters. A total of 373 vessels called at Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port last month, compared to 279 vessels in April this year, reflecting a significant, month-on-month

increase of around 34 percent.These ports handled 46,691

tonnes of general cargo in May against 39,635 tonnes of general cargo in April, showing an increase of 18 percent.

Similar rising trend was visible in building materials cat-egories as these ports handled 46,173 tonnes of building mate-rials during last month, com-pared to 35,715 tonnes in the pre-vious month, registering a strong rise of around 30 percent.

These ports handled 115,039 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU), 78,490 livestock heads

and 5,328 vehicles in May. A total of 110,209 livestock

were handled during April this

year, compared to 62,053 live-stock in March, showing an increase of 78 percent. �P2

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Exclusive summer offers for QM Culture Pass membersTHE PENINSULA DOHA

In partnership with the Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC), Qatar Museums (QM) has announced discounts on various activities and initi-atives included under the “Summer in Qatar” programme, which will be available to members of QM’s Culture

Pass. Members of Culture Pass Plus and Culture Pass Family will enjoy exclusive discounts on entry passes at a range of edutainment and theme parks across Qatar. These include Entertainment City, Trimoo Parks, KidzMondo Doha, Megapolis, Minipolis, Go Fun, Circusland, Power Loads, Bounce, Kidzania, and more.

In addition, members can avail of

discounts on family friendly enter-tainment offered by Summer in Qatar partners. Shows include the Smurfs Live (July 18-20), Hello Kitty (July 25-27) and the Blue Man Group (August 14-17). Adults can also enjoy discounts on the Bollywood Music Festival (June 21) Doha Comedy Festival (July 11-12), Marshmello concert (July 25), South Indian International Movie Awards

(August 15) and Kadhim Al Saher concert (August 16-17). The Culture Pass allows individuals to experience the best of Qatar’s art, heritage and culture. QM will offer tours around Qatar’s archaeological sites, public art displays and curator-led tours around various exhibitions, in addition to art talks and more than 40 educational workshops by QM’s Department of Education.

Sealine Beach, A Murwab Resort gets new general managerTHE PENINSULA / DOHA

Murwab Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Tarek Nour (pictured) as the new General Manager of Sealine Beach, A Murwab Resort.

He will assume his new responsibilities in addition to being the General Manager of Simaisma, A Murwab Resort, which under-lines the group’s plan to support progress and development. Mean-while, Sealine Beach, A Murwab Resort launched its bundle of offers for both the Eid Al Fitr and the summer season to facilitate its guests and visitors to relish upscale level of services which reflects the essence of Qatari hospitality.

He joined Murwab Hotel Group in 2016 as General Manager, Simaisma, a Murwab Resort, after a long career stretching over 20 years in the hospitality industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Tourism and Travel Services Man-agement from the Institute of Hotels & Tourism Studies in year 1999. Nour embarked on his pro-fessional career starting as Guest Service Agent to subsequently reach senior management posi-tions in many hotels and resorts around the globe. Meanwhile, Sealine Beach, a Murwab Resort

has also announced the launch of a bouquet of exceptional Eid Al Fitr offers. Furthermore, Sealine Beach, a Murwab Resort has revealed its summer offers for citizens and res-idents along with all visitors coming from Kuwait and Oman. The resort offers 40 percent dis-count on the best available rates on the resort’s various room types. Guest will also avail a fourth night free when paying for three con-secutive nights stay including com-plimentary daily breakfast for 2 adults and 2 kids. Guest will also benefit from a free balance of QR125 which can be redeemed in any of the resorts Food & Beverage outlets. It offers transportation service from and to HIA for guests from Kuwait and Oman, with 24hrs check-in service (subject to availability.

Qatar highlights role of education for protection of children at UN session QNA NEW YORK

The Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar and other states organised a high-level session to launch a roadmap for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to address the issue of children recruitment and exploitation by terrorist and violent extremism groups.

At the initiative of Qatar’s dele-gation to the UN, along with the per-manent delegations of Japan, Belgium, Nigeria and Canada in addition to the UNODC, a high-level session was held for the launch of the UNODC Roadmap for action to address the children recruitment and exploited by terrorist and violent extremism groups.

Held under the theme “Protecting our Future: priority for all” at United Nations Headquarters in New York, The session focused on strengthening prevention and developing strategies to protect and respect the full rights of

children as victims of terrorism and violent extremism, regardless of their alleged involvement in the commission of crimes.

In a statement, the Permanent Rep-resentative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations H E Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed Al Thani said that discussions during the session were a continuation of the discussions that had begun in 2015 during a meeting between UNODC and Columbia University to exchange ideas on the prevention and rehabilitation of children and young people affected by violent extremism and their integration into their societies.

The State of Qatar plays a key role in promoting education for justice and the culture of the rule of law, Her Excellency said referring to the Doha hosting of the conference on criminal justice in 2015. She noted Qatar’s support for the UNODC in the imple-mentation of the Doha Declaration.

She pointed that the

Doha Declaration focused on the role of education that targets children and young people as an important element to enable them to play an active role in protecting them by recognising and defending their rights. This is necessary to create a framework to protect the children’s environment, she said.

H E Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed Al Thani expressed the pride of the State of Qatar as an advocate and strong supporter not only of the UNODC but also of many United Nations agencies, programmes and initiatives focusing on children and young people, referring in this context, to the agreement signed by the State of Qatar in September with the Office of the Special Representative of the Sec-retary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to establish and fund a centre for children and armed conflict in Doha.

She noted that the centre will promote knowledge and develop skills related to the protection of young

victims of armed conflict in the region, in addition to serving as a documen-tation centre.

The session focused on several points, including the emphasis on that children recruited by terrorist and violent extremism groups are victims of armed conflicts. It also called for the importance of providing mechanisms for prevention and protection, stressing the importance of developing pro-grammes for the rehabilitation and integration of children and youth in their communities.

The session also highlighted chal-lenges faced by Member States in dealing with children recruited by terrorist and violent extremism groups, underlining the importance of providing political support to Member States suffering from the phenomenon of child recruitment, stressing the importance of strength-ening cooperation at the national, regional and international levels among Member States.

FM 107 organises ‘Eid Milan 2019’

Participants gesture during the ‘Eid Milan 2019’ organised by FM 107 Urdu Radio, affiliated to Qatar Media Corporation, on Doha Corniche on June 4. Ubed Tahirr, Faiza Jameel and RJ Nazia Ahmad met many FM 107 fans and supporters and greeted them on the auspicious occasion of Eid. Saif-ur-Rahman, Director, was present.

Qatar elected Vice-Chair of UN Economic and Financial CommitteeQNA / NEW YORK

The United Nations General Assembly elected Second Secretary at the Permanent Delegation of Qatar to the UN, Ahmed bin Saif Al Kuwari, as Vice-Chairman of the UN Economic and Financial Committee of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which will begin in September.

The UN General Assembly also elected Second Secretary at the Permanent Del-egation of Qatar to the UN, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani as Rap-porteur of UN Legal Committee. Electing Qatar in these important UN committees comes as a recognition of its status in the UN and the international community, and for its great contributions and active role in the work of the international organisation.

Eid charm gives Wakrah Souq added exuberance

Wakrah Souq has got added exuberance with various activities and fireworks held as part of the Eid celebrations. Here is a click of visitors at the Wakrah Souq yesterday. RIGHT: Fire works in full swing at Wakrah Souq. PICS: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

Cargo movement registers huge rise at ports in May

FROM PAGE 1Hamad Port dominated in the cargo

movement in the country as it occupied substantial share in total cargo handling in May. The port, which is one of the largest ports in the region, received 125 ships last month. It handled 111,837 TEU containers last month, and 36,007 tonnes of break bulk cargo, Qterminals said in a tweet yesterday. Qterminals was set up by Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) to manage the port.

Hamad Port handled 30,211 heads of cattle and 5,269 vehicles last month. Opening of Hamad Port has played a key role in breaking the blockade as it ensured normal supply goods in the country.

Hamad Port has been designed in a way that makes it expandable.

Qatar’s maritime sector has fared well so far this year which was confirmed in the quarterly cargo movement. The ports handled 110,938 tonnes of building mate-rials during the first quarter of this year, showing a growth of 37 percent, compared to the same quarter last year.

The ports received 321,345 containers during the first quarter of 2019, registering 3 percent increase over the same period of 2018. The number of cruise passengers also surged as Doha Port witnessed the arrival of 89,188 passengers during the quarter, showing a massive growth of 99 percent compared to the first quarter of last year.

The ports handled 17,141 units of vehicles while 227,554 tonnes of general cargo during the first quarter. The ports handled 235,053 livestock during the quarter. A total of 958 ships called at these ports during the first quarter of 2019.

HMC urges public to take part in survey on dementiaFROM PAGE 1

The plan sets out seven action areas addressing sections of dementia care which will have an impact on improving the quality of care, in line with the Qatar National Health Strategy (2018-2022). The action areas focus on making dementia a public health priority by encouraging dementia awareness and support, improving dementia diagnosis, treatment, care and support, promoting risk reduction, developing information systems for dementia, developing support for carers and supporting research and innovation into the disease. Dr Hanadi Al Hamad, National Lead for ‘Healthy Ageing’ NHS 2018-2022 priority population, and Chairperson of

Geriatrics and Long Term Care Department at HMC earlier, said, “The Qatar National Dementia Plan was born out of the recog-nition that, unless addressed, the human and economic costs related to the condition will rise at an accelerated pace, highlighting the need to keep dementia as a public health pri-ority in the country.”

According to the United Nations, around 50 million people have dementia in the world. In Qatar, more than 4,400 people over 60 years of age may have dementia. This figure is expected to rise ten-fold to more than 41,000 people by 2050 if no cure or improved prevention takes in place. In 2017, HMC has recorded at least 900 dementia diagnosis.

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PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum34oC 46oC

HIGH TIDE 07:48–21:32 LOW TIDE 4:34 – 15:07

Hot daytime with slight dust at some

places.

03SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019 HOME

QA celebrates opening of FIFA Women’s World CupTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways, the Official Partner and Official Airline of FIFA, played a full part in the much-anticipated celebrations at last night’s kick-off of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.

Included among the many activities supported by the airline ahead of the first fixture between host France and Korea Republic, was a specially designed Qatar Airways stand in the FIFA Fan Experience in Paris, Lyon and Nice. Spectators and supporters of all ages were invited to take part in a virtual goalkeeper competition and were given the opportunity to see some of the finest football free-stylers on the planet to the soundtrack of an amazing group of world-class drummers.

Celebrating the tournament’s kick off were four lucky winners of Qatar Airways’ social media contest, ran in partnership with the FIFA Fan Match, where the prize was Business Class flights and match tickets for the spectacular opening ceremony.

Also present at the opening ceremony was Jessica, a 17 year old female Brazilian footballer, whose journey from a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris is an inspiring story of hope. Not only did she

attend the Opening Match but also Qatar Airways will fly her to Doha to visit ASPIRE and the Women’s Football Association. The airline will be filming this amazing story and releasing it on its social media channels.

The Opening Match also marks the launch of the 360 Fan Cam that offers a chance to win Business Class flights and match tickets to the Quarter Finals.

Commenting on the airline’s com-mitment to the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, Qatar Airways Chief Exec-utive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is honoured to be supporting this incredible tournament. Women’s football grows from strength to strength and we are proud to have played a small part in

that development by being the Official Partner and Official Airline of FIFA. We are totally committed to supporting the

women’s game and I invite all the fans who are travelling to France to join us in celebrating the skill and perseverance

shown by these incredible sports stars. As an airline, we believe in the power of sports to unite people, and we look forward to bringing fans together in France over the next month to witness the most exciting event in the 2019 calendar of women’s sports.”

In May the airline issued a new mar-keting campaign film supporting the com-petition, capturing the excitement of fans all over the world who will be watching the tournament as well as the thousands travelling to France to cheer their national team.

The innovative film features a mother telling her daughter a wonderful bedtime story. It is a flight of imagination, in which she describes an amazing new land where women’s football reigns, where players rule and fans from many nations gather to cheer.

By the film’s end, we realise that mother and daughter are in fact onboard a Qatar Airways aircraft flying to the very destination she has been describing: a magical land, where the story of women’s football comes alive.

Throughout the competition there will be Qatar Airways-sponsored activities taking place across France as well as the UK and Germany giving supporters the chance to share the excitement.

Qatar Airways crew at the event.

Celebrating the tournament’s kick off were four lucky winners of Qatar Airways’ social media contest, ran in partnership with the FIFA Fan Match, where the prize was Business Class flights and match tickets for the spectacular opening ceremony.

The Torch Doha restaurants bag FACT Dining AwardsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Torch Doha, the most iconic hotel in Qatar, took home two sought-after titles for its Tea Garden and Flying Carpet restau-rants during this year’s FACT Dining Awards. Flying Carpet was awarded as “Favourite All-Day Dining Restaurant in Doha”, while it received Tea Garden award as “Best Tea Room in Doha 2019”, winning for a second year in a row in the same category.

The FACT Awards brand is recognised regionally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. The FACT Dining Awards recognises excellence in the food and beverage industry, with winners awarded based on

both public vote and critics’ opinion. Each category is given two awards, the Best and the Favourite. The latter is the result of a popular choice decided through online voting, and the former is the critic’s choice decided by an independent panel of food bloggers, the FACT edi-torial team and industry experts in Doha. This year 38,000 unique online votes were cast by the public in Doha.

The Torch Doha is a true beacon of Qatari hospitality. Unique facilities, attention to detail, impeccable service and unsurpassed design have culmi-nated in more than 90 Awards, starting with just 4 at the beginning of the hotel’s operation in 2012. During the years, the Awards have

rapidly increased, with 19 for 2017, 26 for 2018 and already 7 for 2019 awarding season. Location, service, design, hospitality, outlets, performance, are just some of the Awarded areas and due to its remarkable reviews, The Torch Doha is constantly one of the two best properties in the city for 6 years in a row.

Tea Garden is one of the most beautiful tea lounges in Doha located on the 21st floor with an amazing view of Aspire Park and Doha skyline. With its hanging garden, comfortable lounge chairs and relaxing design, our guests can enjoy some of the very best brews in style. Tea Garden stands out from the competition because of its unique interior, sophisticated list of exceptional tea

and a delicious matching menu. Uninterrupted stunning views of the city complete the setting, promising a unique experience to each guest.

Flying Carpet is ideally located inside the hotel, easily accessible from all floors. Abundant natural light and a spacious outside area compliment the impressive interior of the outlet. Upon entering the restaurant, the guest finds himself surrounded by

carpets both on the walls and hang from the ceiling. The restaurant comes to life due to special lights and the plethora of actual Arabic carpets above the dining tables. Flying Carpet has a gold history of 6 International Awards, both for the unique experience it offers, as well as its service and menu.

Sherif Sabry, General Manager of The Torch Doha said, “We are extremely delighted to win in these categories for our outlets in these

prestigious Awards. Over the years we have received excellent reviews and feedback for the culinary experience we offer at our signature restaurants. Our teams have given special attention to detail not only in menu creation, but also in excelling at the service, and I would like to thank our chefs and service staff for their contri-bution in adding another brick to Tea Garden’s and Flying Carpet’s wall of fame with these awards.”

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Vodafone and ESL launch world’s first international 5G mobile eSports contestTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Vodafone and ESL, the world’s largest eSports company, have launched the Vodafone 5G ESL Mobile Open – a mobile gaming tournament with the first Grand Final in competitive interna-tional eSports to be played live over a 5G network.

The Vodafone 5G ESL Mobile Open is open to players from 17 countries where Vodafone is present, including Qatar. The competition features the popular online mobile game: arcade racer Asphalt 9: Legends.

Online qualifiers for Asphalt 9: Legends will take place in a series of eight separate week-long cups scheduled from June 10 to September 1, 2019. Quali-fication will be based on ‘fastest time wins’, with four qualifying cup events open for players using either iOS or Android devices. The best players from each weekly cup will qualify to participate in the Grand Final at Milan Games Week on 28 Sep-tember 2019.

The Grand Finals will be contested live only on Voda-fone’s 5G network, providing a major showcase of Vodafone’s high-speed, real-time 5G network for gaming.

There is a total prize fund of €165,000 for all placing Vodafone 5G ESL Mobile One live finalists, including a top prize of €14,000 for the winning Asphalt 9: Legends player.

Vodafone Qatar’s Chief Operating Officer Diego Cam-beros said, “The Vodafone 5G ESL Mobile Open is the perfect opportunity to show millions of gaming fans the potential of Vodafone’s real-time 5G

network with low latency and ultra-high speeds enabling players to reach new levels of gaming performance on mobile devices anywhere. Interest and participation in eSports is growing exponentially and Qatar is no exception with 1.5 million gamers. Vodafone Qatar’s 5G network is rapidly being deployed so we’re excited for Qatar’s gamers to start enjoying the 5G experience.”

Players can sign up for online qualifiers via the official website which will also provide more information about the tournament, leader boards, highlights and commentator clips, videos and on-the-ground coverage and schedules for ESL One and gamescom.

Since switching on its 5G network in August last year and receiving the spectrum license

to operate 5G commercially, Vodafone Qatar has already deployed 5G in dozens of loca-tions across the country including Al Waab, Abu Hamour, Al Azizya, Al Mamoura, Al Rayyan, Katara Cultural Village, Salwa Road, Souq Waqif and Umm Salal Muhammed.

The Company has also marked several 5G milestones- recently Vodafone Qatar became the first in the region to make highly anticipated 5G smart-phones available to its cus-tomers. In April this year, it made 5G technology commercially available to its customers with the launch of — Vodafone GigaHome- the latest innovation in home Internet solutions. Vodafone Qatar was also the first to make a live local and interna-tional 5G calls using a 5G handset in the region.

The Vodafone 5G ESL Mobile Open is open to players from 17 countries where Vodafone is present, including Qatar.

BFQ to organise ‘Partners of Bangladesh’ awards in DohaTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Bangladesh Forum Qatar (BFQ) will organise a Corporate Award Night to recognise local Qatari entrepreneurs and business organisations as “Partners of Bangladesh” in Doha as part of the 1st anniversary celebration of its journey since inception in 2018.

The programme will be hosted in a local hotel with a view to recognising the contributions of Qatari organisations and indi-viduals in 5 different categories.

Ashud Ahmed, Ambassador of People’s Republic of Bang-ladesh, will grace the event as the main speaker to be followed by presentations by BFQ members on achievements of BFQ and Qatar-Bangladesh opportunities at present and in future. Iftekhar Ahmad, President of BFQ & Ali Bin Ali Group CFO, said the award was dedicated to recog-nising the organisations as a grat-itude to their contribution.”

Shahed Ahmed, a founding member and senior corporate banker at QNB, said, “This award is one of a kind in the history of Bangladeshi community in Doha to recognise Qatari companies’ contribution to Bangladeshi res-idents/employees in Doha and overall Bangladesh economy.” BFQ is a Qatar Financial Centre-registered business forum formed by Bangladeshi profes-sionals and business people of diversified background working in Qatar. The forum was launched in 2018 and so far has arranged foreign direct investment related seminars and social responsibility initiatives.

MoPH marks World Food Safety DayTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar joined the world in commemorating the World Food Safety Day recently, organ-ising several awareness activ-ities. The Department of Food Safety and Environmental Health at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) organised competitions for school students and many awareness drives at public places such as malls and hospitals.

The first-ever World Food Safety Day, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018, was celebrated on June 7 this year under the theme ‘Food Safety, everyone’s business.’ WHO, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is pleased to facil-itate member states’ effort to cel-ebrate the World Food Safety Day this year and in coming years.

In Qatar, MoPH held a drawing and painting competition for school students on the topic of food safety with an aim to create awareness among students. Other awareness activities were

also held and pamphlets with information on food safety were distributed to visitors at the Hamad General Hospital, Villagio Mall, Qatar Mall and Doha Fes-tival Mall. Educational messages related to the World Food Safety Day were posted on social media including Facebook and Twitter.

With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne dis-eases annually — almost 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food — food safety is an increasing threat to human health. Children under 5 years of age carry 40% of the foodborne disease burden with 125,000 deaths every year.

Food safety is key to achieving several UN Sustainable Devel-opment Goals and is a shared responsibility between govern-ments, producers and consumers. Everybody has a role to play, from farm to table, to ensure the food we consume is safe and will not cause damages to our health. Through the World Food Safety Day, WHO pursues its efforts to mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of foodborne diseases globally.

An MoPH official giving information to visitors on food safety.

04 SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Goalkeeper turned rebel fighter dies in northwest SyriaAFP BEIRUT

A Syrian goalkeeper turned rebel fighter who starred in an award-winning documentary died yesterday of wounds sustained fighting regime forces in northwestern Syria, his faction and a war monitor said.

Abdel-Basset Al Sarout, 27, was a goalkeeper from the central city of Homs, who became its most popular singer of protest songs after the Syrian uprising broke out in March 2011.

Sarout starred in the docu-mentary “Return to Homs” by Syrian director Talal Derki, which tracked his evolution from protest leader to fighter, and won a top prize at the Sun-dance film festival in 2014.

Jameel Al Saleh, the com-mander of the rebel faction Jaish Al Izza, announced Sarout’s death in a message on Twitter, describing him as a “martyr”. The message was accompanied by a video

showing Sarout singing “We will be back, Homs”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sarout was wounded in clashes in the northern Hama countryside in the night of Thursday to Friday while fighting in the ranks of Jaish Al Izza.

“He died of his wounds yes-terday,” the head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

Sarout was evacuated from Homs in 2014 under a sur-render deal with the regime to end a two-year siege of its his-torical centre, according to the Observatory. His father and four of his siblings were killed during bombardment and clashes in Homs, it said.

Yesterday, Syrian activists and opposition figures took to Twitter to mourn the loss of the footballer turned fighter. “The goalkeeper of freedom, the icon of Homs, the bard of the squares, the unforgettable sound of the Syrian revolution has been martyred,” researcher

and opposition supporter Ahmad Abazeed said. Hadi Al Bahra, a member of the oppo-sition Syrian Negotiations Com-mission, posted: “Sarout will

remain alive.” “He died hoping to realise the dreams of Syrians,” he added. Sarout was wounded in the push to take the village of Tal Maleh from

regime forces, the Observatory said. The village lies on the southwestern edge of the Idlib region, which is dominated by an alliance led by Syria’s former

Al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS).

Almost half of the region’s three million residents have been displaced from other parts of the war-torn country, including after deals to return government control to those areas. Late on Thursday, HTS and rebel allies launched a counterattack against gov-ernment forces in the north of Hama province, after weeks of deadly regime bombardment on the Idlib region.

More than 100 fighters have since been killed, according to the Observatory.

The Idlib region is supposed to be protected by a months-old buffer zone deal, but the regime and its Russian ally have ramped up air strikes and rocket fire on the area since late April. More than 300 civilians have been killed in that bom-bardment, according to the Observatory, and the United Nations says the violence has forced 270,000 people to flee their homes.

A child watches as a local artist works on a mural painting showing the Syrian rebel fighter Abdel-Basset Al Sarout in the town of Binnish in the militant-held northern Idlib province yesterday.

A family watches the sunrise on the beach in Kuwait City on the last day of the Eid Al Fitr’s long weekend, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, yesterday.

Welcome back

As violence rages, Cameroon govt in denial: HRWREUTERS PARIS

Prospects for talks between authorities and separatist move-ments to end escalating violence in Cameroon’s English-speaking region are slim, a senior human rights official said, dismissing assertions by both sides to be open to dialogue.

A separatist insurgency broke out in 2017 following a government crackdown on peaceful protests in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest, which complain of being marginalised by the

French-speaking majority. Prime Minister Joseph Ngute has said the government would be willing to talk to the rebels, but would not consider their demand for secession — a position hardline separatists have said they will never accept. Eleven movements representing Anglophone Cam-eroon, including the main armed factions, last month said they were willing to enter mediated discussions with the state.

But almost daily violence from both sides has intensified, forcing thousands of civilians to seek refuge in Cameroon’s French-speaking regions and

neighbouring countries. “There is no desire for dialogue... The abuses are coming from both sides and the civilians are finding themselves in the middle,” Ilaria Allegrozzi, Senior Central Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch, told reporters in Paris.

“The position of the gov-ernment is an almost complete denial... and there is total impunity for the violence.” Alle-grozzi said separatists were not in denial of the scale of the crisis, but of human rights abuses by their fighters. The oil, cocoa and timber-producing nation was among western Africa’s most

settled until a few years ago.But the United Nations esti-

mates that, since 2017, about 1,800 people have been killed and more than 530,000 dis-placed with 1.3 million in need. Authorities have promised to act over accusations of rights viola-tions by security personnel.

Allegrozzi, who was refused entry to the country in May over her research, said divisions amons armed separatist groups could be an obstacle to form a platform to negotiate, an element the government was using to its advantage. She cited an Interna-tional Crisis Group report putting

the number of separatists fighters at about 2,000-4,000 fighters and there was evidence that they were acquiring more sophisticated weaponry.

The crisis has tended to slip beneath the international radar given President Paul Biya’s close cooperation with Western states in the fight against Islamist mil-itant group Boko Haram in West and central Africa.

But the United States has become increasingly critical of the government and the sepa-ratist crisis was discussed for the first time at the UN Security Council last month.

Turkey determined to protect the rights Turkish CypriotsANATOLIA ANKARA

T u r k e y s t r e s s e d i t s commitment to protecting the rights of Turkish Cypriots in the Eastern Mediterranean after the Greek Cypriot adminis-tration said it had signed contracts with major energy industry players.

“Greek Cypriots are in vio-lation of the rights of Turkish Cypriots, who have an equal say on the natural resources of the island,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement. Aksoy said the so-called contracts between the Greek Cypriot administration and global energy companies are unacceptable since they ignored the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ rightful share of offshore resources.

Aksoy said the energy com-panies cannot turn a blind eye to the rights and demands of Turks who are sharing the island with the Greeks.

“Therefore, unless the Greek side abandons its uni-lateral policies, Turkey will continue to protect its rights as well as the rights of Turkish

Cypriots in the Eastern Medi-terranean and won’t hesitate to take necessary steps in line with its principled stance,” said Aksoy. Aksoy recalled the words of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said earlier in the day that Turkey will not let anyone infringe on the rights of Turkish Cypriots.

Aksoy also said the Turkish drill ships Yavuz and Fatih will start drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean very soon. The Turkish-flagged drillship Fatih launched its off-shore drilling operations on May 3 in an area located 75

kilometers (around 41 nautical miles) off the western coast of the island. The area falls entirely within the Turkish continental shelf registered with the UN and under permit licenses that the Turkish gov-ernment granted to Turkish Petroleum in previous years.

Turkey wants to see energy as an incentive for a political resolution on the island and peace in the wider Mediter-ranean basin rather than a cat-alyst for further tensions.

In 1974, following a coup aimed at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one -- held with the participation of guar-antor countries Turkey, Greece and the U.K. -- ended in 2017 in Switzerland. Turkey’s first seismic vessel, the Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa, bought from Norway in 2013, has been con-ducting exploration in the Med-iterranean since April 2017.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy recalled the words of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said earlier in the day that Turkey will not let anyone infringe on the rights of Turkish Cypriots.

Hundreds of Tehran restaurants shut AFP TEHRAN

Iranian police have shut down 547 restaurants and cafes in Tehran for not observing “Islamic principles”, the capital’s police chief said yesterday.

“The owners of restaurants and cafes in which Islamic prin-ciples were not observed were confronted, and during this operation 547 businesses were closed and 11 offenders arrested,” Hossein Rahimi said, quoted on the police’s website.

Fars news agency said the operation was carried out over

the past 10 days. The infractions included “unconventional advertising in cyberspace, playing illegal music and debauchery”, Fars reported.

“Observing Islamic prin-ciples is... one of the police’s main missions and responsibil-ities,” the police chief said.

Also yesterday, the head of Tehran’s guidance court, which deals with “cultural crimes and social and moral corruption”, called on Tehran citizens to report cases of “immoral behaviour” by texting a desig-nated phone number.

“People would like to report

those breaking the norms but they don’t know how... We decided to accelerate dealing with instances of public immoral acts,” Mohammad Mehdi Haj-mohammadi told the judiciary’s Mizan Online.

Citizens can report instances of those removing their “hijab in cars”, “hosting mixed dance parties” or posting “immoral content on Instagram”, he said.

Under the Islamic dress code of Iran, where alcohol is banned, women can only show their face, hands and feet in public, and they are supposed to wear modest colours.

Iran sells oil through unconventional meansAFP / TEHRAN

Iran is keeping up oil sales through “unconventional” means to circumvent US sanc-tions, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in an interview published yesterday. “We have

unofficial or unconventional sales, all of which are secret, because if they are made known America would immediately stop them,” he said, quoted by the oil ministry’s SHANA news agency.

Zanganeh declined to give details on Iran’s oil exports,

saying he would not disclose figures until sanctions were lifted. In May 2018, Washington withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that granted Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its atomic programme.

US calls on Turkey for solution to existing issuesANATOLIA ANKARA

The US acting Secretary of Defence yesterday sent a letter to Turkish National Defence Minister Hulusi Akar on defence and security issues between the two countries, according to the National Defence Ministry.

In his letter, acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan expressed his expectation that a solution will be found to the existing problems between Turkey and the US as part of strategic partnership and to maintain comprehensive security cooperation.

The importance of con-tinuing negotiations between the two countries was also stated in the letter.

Tensions between the US and Turkey have reached a fever pitch in recent months with Turkey set to begin receiving the advanced S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile system which Washington said will jeopardise Turkey’s role in the US F-35 fighter jet programme and could trigger congressional sanctions.

Turkey, Canada sign MoU on economic, trade cooperationQNA TOKYO

Turkey and Canada signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday to strengthen relations in the fields of trade, industry, services and investment.

Turkey’s Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and her Canadian counterpart Jim Carr signed the Joint Economic and Trade Commission’s (JETCO) MoU at the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy in Tsukuba, Japan,

reported Anadulo news agency. “We believe that the agreement will contribute to increase com-mercial relations and investment between Turkey and Canada and pave the ways for business people,” Pekcan said. She went on to say that if the countries sign a free trade agreement it will be an important tool for reaching higher bilateral trade volume and creating legal basis for trade relations. For his part, Carr stressed their desire to improve trade relations and increase mutual investment.

05SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (right) meeting members of Sudan’s opposition alliance to mediate in its political crisis at the Ethiopian Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, on June 7, 2019.

Iran says new US sanctions show talks offer ‘hollow’AFP TEHRAN

Iran said yesterday that new US sanctions on its petrochemical industry show the hollowness of President Donald Trump’s claims to be open to fresh negotiations with Tehran.

“Only one week was needed for the US President’s claim that he was ready to negotiate with Iran to be proven hollow,”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

His statement came after the US Treasury announced new sanctions on Friday against Iran’s largest and most profitable pet-rochemicals group PGPIC.

Trump said on Thursday he would be willing to reopen talks as long as Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons. But Tehran ruled out talks until the United States is ready to “return to

normal.” Mousavi called the new sanctions another instance of “economic terrorism” and a con-tinuation of US “enmity” against Iran. “America’s maximum pressure policy is a failed policy tried numerous times before by the country’s previous presi-dents. This a wrong path and the US government can be sure that it will not achieve any of the goals set for this policy,” Mousavi added. Washington began

reimposing unilateral sanctions on Iran after Trump abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May last year. It reimposed a first set in August followed by a second in November.

On April 8, it designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a “foreign terrorist organisation”, paving the way for sanctions against their sources of funding.

Announcing the sanctions against PGPIC, US Treasury

Secretary Steven Mnuchin said they were intended as a “warning that we will continue to target holding groups and companies in the petrochemical sector and elsewhere that provide financial lifelines to the Islamic Revolu-tionary Guard Corp.” The PGPIC group holds 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity and is responsible for 50 percent of the its petro-chemical exports, Treasury said.

German FM in Iraq to address regional tensionsAP BAGHDAD

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas arrived in Iraq yesterday as part of a wider trip to the Middle East seeking to de-escalate tensions between Iran and the United States.

In a statement, Maas’s office said European nations must engage with the region at a time of heightened concern following recent US naval movements in the Persian Gulf.

“We cannot just call for dia-logue; we must conduct it - par-ticularly where differences appear unbridgeable and long-standing conflicts run deep. The danger that miscalculations, mis-understandings and provoca-tions in a very tense region could lead to unpredictable conse-quences is clear there,” his office said.

The German envoy was expected to meet with Iraq’s president, prime minister and foreign minister to discuss regional security and bilateral relations and investment, said Ahmed Mahjoub, a spokesman for Iraq’s Foreign Ministry.

Iraq is courting tens of bil-lions of dollars in foreign investment to rebuild its infra-structure and boost gas, oil, and electricity production, after 17 years of war.

In April, meeting with German Chancellor Angela

Merkel in Berlin, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said German industrial giant Siemens was favoured to win a significant portion of some $14bn worth of tenders to revamp the electricity sector.

Siemens already has con-tracts worth more than $700m to build a power station and implement other improvements to Iraq’s failing electricity grid.

Maas’s visit was not

announced ahead of time for security reasons.

The Foreign Minister is expected in Iran tomorrow. His office says Germany and Europe are determined to preserve the 2015 international nuclear accord with Iran, calling it a “key factor for stability and security in the region.”

The US withdrew from the accord last year and restored crippling sanctions on Iran.

International monitors say there is no evidence that Iran is in breach of its obligations. The sanctions have squeezed Iran’s economy, causing oil exports to crash and contributing to soaring inflation.

Last month the US dis-patched an aircraft carrier group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf to counter what it said were threatening moves by Iran.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas sits in the C-160 Transall military plane at the airport in Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday. Maas is visiting Iraq as part of his trip to the Middle East.

Turkey says 43 Kurdish militants “neutralised” in northern IraqREUTERS ISTANBUL

Turkey’s Defence Ministry said yesterday that a total of 43 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been “neutralised” as part of an operation Ankara launched in northern Iraq 13 days ago.

The Turkish military launched what it dubbed “Oper-ation Claw” in northern Iraq’s Hakurk region on June 27 with artillery and air strikes followed

by operations by commando brigades.

The PKK militant group is based in northern Iraq, notably in the Qandil region to the south of Hakurk. Ankara said the oper-ation aimed to destroy shelters and caves used by the PKK and “neutralise” its members - a term it commonly uses to refer to deaths, but also to those wounded or captured.

“43 PKK terrorists have been neutralised as part of Operation

Claw, which has continued suc-cessfully for 13 days in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq,” the Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

It said 53 mines and impro-vised explosive devices had been destroyed and 74 caves and shelters used by the PKK made unusable, adding that it had also seized weapons and ammunition belonging to the militants.

Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has said the operation would

continue in the region until “the last terrorist is neutralised”.

The PKK insurgency in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey began in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and United States. Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest in par-liament, has said such operations create crises and that tens of

similar operations in the past have not produced a solution.

Separately, two PKK members, one of whom was on Turkey’s wanted list, were “neu-tralised” in Turkey’s south-eastern Diyarbakir province, as well as five others in the eastern Tunceli province, the Interior Ministry said.

Another PKK member was arrested in Diyarbakir at a traffic checkpoint, the local gendar-merie said.

5 Palestinians arrested by Israeli police in JerusalemQNA OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Israeli police last night arrested five Palestinians, including a teenage girl, after raiding their homes in the neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabir in occupied Jerusalem, according to Wadi Hilweh Information Centre.

Israeli police forces raided Jabal al-Mukabir area, pro-voking clashes with local youth. The forces fired live bullets and rubber-coated rounds at the protesters, but there were no reports of injuries.

At least five Palestinians were arrested during the raid, including the girl who was identified as Aseel Ewesat.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces p r e v e n t e d P a l e s t i n i a n farmers from farming in their land near the village of Sebastia, to the north of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Mohammad Azem, head of the Sebastia municipality, told the Palestinian WAFA news agency that Israeli soldiers banned access of local farmers to their own land and threatened them of confis-cating their own agricultural machinery if they tried to access it again.

Israeli occupation forces and armed Jewish settlers repeatedly harass Palestinian farmers working on their land and usually chase them out of their land.

Armed settlers and sol-diers also prevent Palestinian shepherds from herding in the open pastures of the occupied West Bank in order to force them to abandon the area.

Nigeria court overturns ban on oppn TV, radio AFP LAGOS

A Nigerian radio and television station owned by an opposition politician resumed broad-casting yesterday after a court order temporarily overturned a ban imposed for alleged “inflammatory” content and unpaid licence fees.

The Federal High Court in the capital Abuja on Friday said African Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM radio should be allowed to operate until a ruling on their legal challenge to the ban.

The next court hearing is due on Thursday.

The National Broadcasting Commission said it had sus-pended the licence of the Daar Communications Plc, the owners of the two outfits, for breaching broadcast rules, not paying licence fees and “inflammatory, divisive, inciting broadcasts and media propaganda against the government.”

Daar Communications is owned by business tycoon Raymond Dokpesi, a prom-inent member of the Peoples Democratic Party..

Dokpesi said the ban was politically motivated and was ordered by the presidency and had warned that a “media and press clampdown is in the offing.” Dokpesi established RayPower FM as the pioneer private Radio in 1994 and AIT in 1998.

Reporters Without Borders places Nigeria in 119th place out of 180 on its World Press Freedom Index.

It says journalists are often threatened, subjected to physical violence, or denied access to information by gov-ernment officials, police, and sometimes the public itself.

Sudan protest group calls nationwide ‘civil disobedience’

Three members of an opposition delegation that met the Ethiopian PM on Friday have also been arrested, their aides said yesterday.

AFP KHARTOUM

A key protest group yesterday announced a nationwide “civil disobedience” campaign it said would run until Sudan’s ruling generals transfer power to a civilian government.

The call by the Sudanese Professionals Association, which first launched protests against longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir, came days after a bloody crackdown on demonstrators left dozens dead in Khartoum and crushed hopes for a swift dem-ocratic transition.

“The civil disobedience movement will begin Sunday and end only when a civilian gov-ernment announces itself in power on state television,” the SPA said in a statement.

“Disobedience is a peaceful act capable of bringing to its knees the most powerful weapons arsenal in the world.”

It was still unclear how the campaign would unfold on the streets, especially in Khartoum where all key roads and squares have been deserted since Mon-day’s crackdown.

Led by men in army fatigues, the raid on the weeks-long sit-in outside the army complex left at least 113 people dead, according to doctors close to the demonstrators.

The Health Ministry says 61 people died nationwide in the crackdown, 52 of them by “live ammunition” in Khartoum.

Witnesses say the assault was led by the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have their origins in the notorious Jan-jaweed militia, accused of abuses in the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2004.

The call for “civil disobe-dience” came a day after Ethi-opian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited Khartoum seeking to revive talks between the gen-erals and protest leaders on the country’s transition.

Sudan’s military council seized power in April after ousting Bashir on the back of months-long protests against his three-decade rule.

Since then, it has resisted calls from protesters and Western nations to transfer power to a civi l ian administration.

Several rounds of talks with the demonstrators finally broke down in mid-May.

In a bid to revive the nego-tiations, the Ethiopian premier held separate meetings with the two sides in Khartoum on Friday.

“The army, the people and political forces have to act with courage and responsibility by taking quick steps towards a democratic and consensual tran-sitional period,” Abiy said in a statement after the meetings.

“The army has to protect the security of the country and its people and political forces have to think about the future of the country.” But three members of an opposition delegation that met the Ethiopian premier were later arrested, their aides said yesterday.

Opposition politician Mohamed Esmat was detained Friday, while Ismail Jalab, a leader of the rebel Sudan Peo-ple’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), was taken from his home overnight.

“A group of armed men came in vehicles at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) and took away Ismail Jalab... without giving any reason,” one of his aides, Rashid

Anwar, said. He said SPLM-N spokesman Mubarak Ardol was also detained.

Esmat and Jalab are both leading members of the Alliance for Freedom and Change, an umbrella of opposition parties and some rebel groups.

The Alliance, of which the SPA is a key member, was the main organiser of mass protests since December that led to

Bashir’s ouster.The arrests threaten to

further complicate efforts to rec-oncile the protest movement and the generals.

Following Monday’s brutal crackdown, chances of a quick democratic transition appear remote as protest leaders now insist that talks with the generals can resume only under certain conditions.

06 SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019ASIA

Will build a new India, says Modi IANS GURUVAYOOR, KERALA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that with the overwhelming majority the BJP got in the Lok Sabha polls, he will build a new India.

He addressed a mammoth gathering in his first public rally after being re-elected and said he was going back with lots of hope and positivity to build a “new India”.

He opened his speech by saying that many might ask why he has come all the way to Kerala to thank the people in a state where the Bharatiya Janata Party did not even open its account. “We are a government which does not distinguish between those who voted for us and those who did not. We see all the 120 crore people of India as one and that’s the highlight of this new government,” Modi said amidst loud cheers.

“In the past five years the world saw India with hope and with this new mandate that the people gave us the world will be looking to us to see a new India.” On the recent Nipah virus out-break in the state, Modi said the country as well as the Union Ministry will support Kerala to deal with the situation.

“There is nothing to be worried about as we are all standing strongly with the Kerala government and we will give the full support and help that’s required,” he said.

He also pointed out that in the global tourism map, India

has become number three and as part of the Centre’s ongoing ‘Prasadh’ scheme, seven tourist places in Kerala have already been linked.

Earlier, Modi took to Twitter and said: “The Guruvayoor temple is divine and magnif-icent. Prayed at this iconic temple for the progress and prosperity of India.” He also posted images of his visit to the over 5,000-year-old shrine on the micro-blogging site.

After offering his prayers, Modi held a meeting with the officials of the temple along with Kerala Governor P Sathasivam, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleed-haran and State Devasom Min-ister Kadakampally Surendran.

Upon his arrival, the Prime Minister was given a traditional welcome. The entire top brass of the Kerala unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Rajya Sabha member and superstar Suresh Gopi, who unsuccessfully contested the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat in last month’s general elections, were present at the temple town.

Modi flew into Guruvayoor from Kochi earlier in the morning.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) stands next to Maldives’ President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during a welcome ceremony at Republic square in Maldive’s capital Male yesterday.

Modi in Maldives on first foreign tripIANS NEW DELHI

The Maldives government yesterday conferred on Prime Minister Narendra Modi its highest honour for foreign digni-taries — ‘Order of the Distin-guished Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen’. Modi received the award at a ceremony held at the President’s office in Male.

According to a statement, the award was a recognition of the many services Prime Minister Modi has performed to cement the longstanding, amicable ties between India and the Maldives, and for the assistance the Indian government continues to provide to the Maldives under Modi’s stewardship.

The award has earlier been given to Duke of Edinburgh Earl

Mountbatten in 1972, President of South Korea Chun Doo Hwan in 1984, Commonwealth sec-retary general Shridath Ramphal in 1989, Prince of Saudi Arabia Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2009 and President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas in 2013 among others. Modi arrived in Maldives earlier in the day, for his first foreign visit after his re-election.

Modi won Lok Sabha polls by lying: RahulIANS KALPETTA, KERALA

Congress President Rahul Gandhi said here yesterday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Lok Sabha elections by telling lies.

“Modi won the election by telling lies and spreading hatred. But we will deal with him with truth, love and affection,” Gandhi said while addressing a rally here in his parliamentary constituency of Wayanad, which he won with the highest ever margin recorded in Kerala.

He began his constituency tour by visiting the Wayanad Lok Sabha member’s office at the Collectorate office where he spoke to several people.

“My doors are open to all the people in Wayanad and it’s my responsibility to solve the issues of the people here,” he told the people.

Gandhi was seen inter-acting with the people who came to see his road show at Kalpetta.

He arrived in Wayanad on Friday to thank the electorate. Gandhi was to hold two more road shows yesterday.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds among the ‘Best Brands of 2019’THE PENINSULA DOHA

Malabar Gold & Diamonds, one of the largest jewellery retailers with a strong retail network of 250 outlets spread across the globe, has been recognised as the Best Brand by The Economic Times, said a statement.

ET Edge Senior Director Rishi Kapoor felicitated MP Ahammed, Chairman of Malabar Group in the presence of Asher O, Managing Director India Operations of Malabar Gold & Diamonds.

The Economic Times had conducted a detailed survey across 15 industries in 12 tier-1 & tier-2 cities amongst the demographics from the age of 21-50 years and had selected best 25 brands across various categories including BFSI, edu-cation, healthcare, FMCG, tech-nology, lifestyle, luxury and much more. On basis of the extensive survey, Malabar Gold & Diamonds was recognised as one of ‘The Economic Times Best Brands 2019’. Over the 25 years of operation, the company has developed a strong retail

presence in India, Middle East, Far East and USA with a network of 250 outlets across ten coun-tries. With an annual turnover of $4.51bn, the company today ranks among the top jewellery retailers globally.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds has always kept customer-first as the principal attitude in all its steps taken, and takes efforts at satisfying the discerning needs of its multinational and multi-cultural customers by incorpo-rating the diverse tastes in the splendid jewellery designs that they showcase.

Malabar Group Chairman MP Ahammed (centre) receiving ‘The Economic Times Best Brands 2019’ award by ET Edge Senior Director Rishi Kapoor (right). Malabar Gold & Diamonds India Operations Managing Director Asher O (left) was also present on the occasion.

Congress alleges Patanjali involved in Haryana land scamIANS NEW DELHI

The Congress yesterday alleged that the Patanjali group has acquired over 400 acres of land in the Aravalli region in Hary-ana’s Faridabad and demanded immediate inquiry into the matter.

Addressing a press con-ference here, Congress spokes-person Pawan Khera said: “A land scam worth crores of rupees has been unearthed in Kot village in Faridabad. Those involved include the Patanjali group owned by Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna.”

Khera said that 400 acres of land have been taken away from the villagers by one Praveen Kumar Sharma. “This land comes under the Aravalli mountain range which cannot be used for farming or any other purpose. It can only be used for forestation,” Khera said.

The Congress leader said that Praveen Kumar Sharma represented a company named Herbo Ved Gram Private Limited which was controlled by Acharya Balkrishna.

“Regulatory filings of 2016-17 show that Herbo Ved Gram was owned by Patanjali.

In 2017-18, 99 per cent of its shares were transferred to Acharya Balkrishna. This company has purchased land in Kot village as is mentioned in regulatory filings,” Khera said.

The Congress leader further said that one cannot purchase or sell land in that region or use the land for any commercial purpose.

“But it was done via power of attorney. Herbo Ved Gram’s revenue is Rs60,000 while it has spent Rs16.77 crore, out of which Rs15.50 crore was paid as advance for the land,” Khera said. He also claimed that there was another company named Verve Corp Pvt Ltd which was involved in the matter. “As per 2016-17 records, this company was owned by Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd and later it belonged to Acharya Balkrishna,” Khera said, adding that the company had two directors — Saroj Sharma and Krishanveer Sharma — who were the sister and brother-in-law of Praveen Kumar Sharma, respectively.

Khera said, “Krishanveer Sharma is the Managing Director of Sanskar TV and Aastha broad-casting network, both part of Ramdev’s television empire.”

Firefighters try to douse a fire that broke out at a chemical and a cloth warehouse on the banks of river Ganges in Kolkata, India, yesterday.

Monsoon hits Kerala coastIANS THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/

NEW DELHI

Monsoon hit the Kerala coast yesterday, after a delay of one week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.

The state’s coastal regions have been experiencing down-pours since early Saturday morning, which are set to intensify later in the evening, an IMD official said.

Meanwhile, Skymet Director Mahesh Palawat told IANS that the monsoon will hit Delhi-NCR by the first week of July.

According to IMD: “Condi-tions are favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into remaining parts of South Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep area and Kerala, some more parts of Tamil Nadu, Southwest, Southeast, East Central and Northeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of Central Arabian Sea and Westcentral Bay of Bengal during next 48 hours.”

During the last three days fairly widespread rainfall occurred over Lakshadweep area and parts of Kerala.

ACB raids sacked J&K Bank chief’s office, residenceIANS SRINAGAR

Within hours after the Jammu and Kashmir government sacked J&K Bank Chairman Parvez Ahmed, sleuths of state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) raided his office and residence in Srinagar yesterday.

Informed sources said simultaneous raids were on at Ahmed’s office located in the corporate headquarters of the Bank and his residence.

There was no official word on the reasons for Ahmed’s sacking or the grounds for the raids.

A government order issued yesterday said: “Parvez Ahmed shall cease to be Director on the Board of Directors of the Bank and consequently be no longer the chairman cum managing director of the board.

“R.K. Chhibber, is hereby nominated as the Director on the Board and may be further appointed as the Interim Chairman-cum-Managing Director.” The order addressed to the company secretary of the bank comes into effect immediately.

The state government owns 59 per cent shares of J&K Bank.

This is the only private sector bank designated as the Reserve Bank of India’s agent for banking business and carries out the banking business of the Central government besides collecting central taxes for CBDT.

The bank was incorporated in 1938 and is listed on the NSE and BSE.

On the recent Nipah virus outbreak in the state, Modi said the country as well as the Union Ministry will support Kerala to deal with the situation.

Fire at Kolkata chemical warehouse

Passenger security fee increasedIANS/NEW DELHI

Reeling already under high air fares after Jet Airways suspended operations, flyers would have to shell out Rs 20-112 more come July 1, with government raising passenger security fee (PSF) for both domestic and international travel.

As per the Civil Aviation Ministry order, domestic passengers would have to pay Rs150 each time they buy a ticket from Rs130 now.

The Aviation security fee for international passengers has been fixed at $4.85 or equivalent Indian Rupees per embarking passenger from $3.25 now.

07SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019 ASIA

Pakistan’s defence budget to remain unchanged next yearINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s defence budget during the next fiscal year will remain unchanged as compared to the outgoing fiscal year in rupee terms due to the country’s dire economic condition.

Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter on the eve of Eid Al Fitr to announce that the mil-itary had “voluntarily agreed” to cut its expenditures due to “critical financial situation”.

He noted the continuing “multiple security challenges” and pledged to spend the saved amount on development of the erstwhile tribal areas, which have been merged into Khyber P a k h t u n k h w a , a n d Balochistan.

Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, while talking to troops during a visit to the Line of Control on Eid day, said the armed forces were “foregoing routine increase in annual defence budget”.

The defence budget freeze will be for one year.

The original budgetary allo-cation for the outgoing fiscal year (2018-19) was Rs1.1 trillion. The allocation made up 21 per cent of last year’s original budget outlay and 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The actual expenditure incurred on defence this year will, however, be announced by the finance ministry while laying the budget for next year (2019-20) before the National Assembly on June 11.

The figure will, however, not give the complete picture of the defence budget as it will not

include Rs260bn for pension of retired soldiers, Rs45bn for security enhancement and undeclared allocations for major weapon procurements and stra-tegic programme. Although the budget figures will remain static, in reality it will mean lesser available money for the troops due to devaluation of the rupee and inflation; and hence it is being described as cut in defence expenditure.

Little details are officially available about the impact of the budget freeze that comes against the backdrop of the govern-ment’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $6bn bailout package.

The IMF, while announcing the staff-level agreement last month, said the forthcoming budget would aim for a primary deficit of 0.6pc of GDP. The primary deficit is expected to be little over 2pc during the out-going fiscal year ending on June 30. The IMF had said the reduction in deficit would be achieved through taxation measures, including elimination of exemptions, curtailment of special treatments and improvement in the tax administration.

It had, however, long been speculated by financial analysts that the government would be forced to cut all expenditures, including defence spending.

Military sources say there will be no arms procurement during the next fiscal year, expenditure on rations/TA and DA will be cut, overheads will be rationalised and there wouldn’t be pay raise for officers due to the freeze.

People are silhouetted as they visit Clifton beach during intense hot weather during Eid holidays in Karachi, Pakistan.

Four Pakistani soldiers killed in roadside blastREUTERS PESHAWAR

Four soldiers were killed and another four were wounded by a roadside bomb blast in a tribal area of northwestern Pakistan on Friday, in the latest attack in recent weeks in the North Waziristan region, officials said.

Security officials said the device was planted on a road in Khar Qamar, an area where security forces had recently

conducted a search operation following a previous roadside bomb attack.

The Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the movement, many of whose members are based across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistani forces have con-ducted a series of operations

against militant groups including the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan over recent years, although officials now say the area has largely been pacified.

Problems have continued, however, and security officials said at least 10 soldiers have been killed and 35 wounded over the past month in the Khar Qamar area, which has also seen growing tensions with local ethnic Pashtun activists from the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement

(PTM) group. There was no indi-cation of any direct link between Friday’s incident and recent clashes between security forces and PTM activists, in which at

least 13 local tribesman have been killed and some 30 wounded.

The military regards the PTM with deep suspicion, accusing it of being funded by foreign intel-ligence agencies, including those of India and Afghanistan.

Leaders of the group deny receiving any foreign funding and say the PTM is a non-violent grassroots movement dedicated only to defending the civil rights of ethnic Pashtuns in Pakistan.

Opposition flexes muscles for anti-Imran protestsINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

With all opposition parties flexing muscles for their already announced separate plans for holding anti-government protests after Eid, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has convened an important meeting of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) in Islamabad tomorrow to review “the coun-try’s overall political situation” and devise future strategy.

The meeting will be presided over jointly by Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari, according to an announcement made by the PPP’s central media office.

The meeting has acquired significance as it is being held only a day before the presen-tation of the first federal budget by the PTI-led coalition government.

This is after a long time that the PPP leaders will be meeting at the forum of the CEC as for the past many years it had been reduced to a ceremonial body.

The CEC meeting will be held on the day of the expiry of the bail granted to Zardari by the Islamabad High Court in the fake bank accounts case and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had already announced that it was ready to arrest the former president.

PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National

Assembly Shahbaz Sharif is also due to arrive in the country from London today and political ana-lysts believe that his arrival will help boost the morale of the opposition parties ahead of their planned protests.

The opposition parties are already charged up due to a number of recent events, including increase in prices of petroleum products, the govern-ment’s decision to file references against two senior judges of the superior courts, the arrest of two MNAs from the tribal areas and the leakage of controversial audio-video tapes of NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal. PPP secretary general Farhatullah Babar said the party leadership at the CEC meeting

would devise a plan to launch a “mass contact drive”.

He said the coming week seemed to be eventful as the government had already con-vened the National Assembly session on June 10 and the lawyers’ community was also planning protests against the government’s move to file ref-erences against the judges of the superior courts.

During Ramadan almost all opposition parties had announced their separate plans to hold anti-government protests after Eid over alleged poor eco-nomic policies of the rulers with particular reference to the recent decisions of the government to increase oil prices and power tariff.

Nawaz Sharif not allowed to meet family over EidINTERNEWS LAHORE

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has criticised the government for not allowing the family to meet Nawaz Sharif in jail even on the third day of Eid.

Condemning the denial of permission, PML-N spokes-person Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a statement that by adopting such tactics Prime Minister Imran Khan was “taking revenge for his (PM’s) incompetence and ineptness”.

She regretted that Khan didn’t let Sharif meet his mother and daughter on the Eid days, saying “such tactics won’t lessen your incompetence and ineptness”. The PML-N spokes-person said Sharif executed development projects worth billions of rupees but not a single rupee of corruption could be established against him. Aurangzeb also counted other achievements of Sharif-led PML-N government, including 11,000MW power generation and taking the GDP growth up to 5.8%. Meanwhile, Punjab government spokesperson Dr Shahbaz Gill said that the PML-N had been left with no issue other than Sharif’s health. He said “Mian Sahib is quite healthy and living a normal life in jail”.

Sri Lanka President sacks intelligence chief over Easter attacks probeAFP COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s President has sacked the national intelligence chief and will not cooperate with a parliamentary inves-tigation into security lapses before the Easter suicide bombings, officials said yesterday.

Maithripala Sirisena summoned an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday night to oppose a parlia-mentary select committee probe into the April 21 attacks that killed 258 people, including 45 foreigners, and wounded nearly 500.

Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis was sacked after testi-fying to the inquiry last week that the attacks could have been averted.

He also said the President had failed to hold regular security meetings to assess the threat from radicals who carried out the bombings on three hotels and three churches.

Sirisena’s office did not give a reason for the sacking. Halfway through the testimony, the live tel-ecast of the proceedings was stopped on the President’s orders, official sources said.

A ministerial source said Sirisena has refused to allow any police, mil-itary or intelligence personnel to testify before the committee.

The source added that the heated cabinet meeting ended “inconclu-sively” without taking a decision on whether to suspend the parliament probe.

Sirisena’s office did not comment on the meeting, but said the President had told senior police officers on Friday that he will not allow any serving officer to testify.

Sirisena’s defence secretary and police chief have suggested that the President, who is also Defence Min-ister, did not follow proper protocols in dealing with intelligence warnings about the Easter Sunday bombings.

Sirisena has repeatedly denied he was aware of an impending threat.

A local organisation and the Islamic State group claimed respon-sibility for the attacks. The country has been under a state of emergency since the bombings.

Sirisena said last week that he met

with the national police chief and his top brass 13 days before the attacks but no officer raised warnings passed on by India and based on information from a detained suspect.

The crisis erupted ahead of a visit to Sri Lanka by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.

The Indian premier is to make a brief stopover in Colombo on his return from an official visit to the Mal-dives yesterday.

The Sri Lankan government has admitted there were intelligence failures before the attacks.

Sirisena suspended police chief Pujith Jayasundara and dismissed his top defence official Hemasiri Fernando after the bombings.

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena attending a commissioning handover ceremony of a ship by US at the main port in Colombo, June 6, 2019.

The Pakistani Taliban, who are separate from the Afghan Taliban, have claimed responsibility for the attack in North Waziristan

Holiday rush at Karachi beach

The people demanded bread and more - civilian rule, freedom and dignity. And for the first few months, the people were winning, first pushing Al Bashir to step down and then forcing his successor, the TMC, into concession after concession.

ANITA SNOW AP

08 SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019VIEWS

Why the Sudanese people stand ‘alone’

In the early hours of June 3 and after five months of protest, the Sudanese security forces moved to break up a protest camp

outside the army’s headquarters in Khartoum using live ammunition and tear gas. Similar coordinated crack-downs occurred at sit-ins in other cities in the country.

According to the Central Com-mittee of Sudanese Doctors, by the end of the operation at least 100 people had been killed, many brutally beaten and injured, and some were raped. Dead bodies and some of the wounded were thrown in the Nile River. The Transitional Military Council (TMC) has disputed these numbers, putting the death toll at 40 while saying nothing about the alleged sexual assault.

Two days later, the UN Security Council debated the situation in Sudan and the possibility of targeted sanc-tions. Predictably, the drafted reso-lution failed to garner the necessary support and was vetoed by Russia and China. And while US and UK diplomats in Khartoum have been quick to condemn the attack on social media, the Sudanese people are countering these with pictures of these officials meeting with the alleged architect of

the June 3 massacre.

On June 6, the African Union announced that it was suspending Sudan from its ranks - a gesture with questionable impact as the TMC has shown more interest in courting financial backers in the Middle East than in speaking to diplomats in neighbouring Addis Ababa.

In the small hours of June 5, a friend who was able to access a sat-ellite phone in Khartoum sent me a solemn message that captured the mood among the Sudanese people: “We are alone.” Sudan has fallen into the yawning gap between interests and values in international diplomacy.

Multilateralism is founded on the stated - if not always shared - belief in common moral ideals and the objective of preserving peace. It is not that specific nations have not had interests in the past that they worked to protect. Rather, the dirge is for the apparent death of the consensus that

some actions are so offensive to the idea of being human that they trump any kind of unilateral interest. The suspended animation around the crisis in Sudan suggests that this consensus has unravelled even more than previ-ously feared.

It didn’t have to be like this. The events of June 3 in Sudan were a dark turn in what had to that point been a case study in effective civil disobe-dience and diffuse but coordinated political action in the face of one of the most entrenched military regimes in Africa.

The immediate trigger for the pro-tests was the bankruptcy of the Sudanese state. Unable to provide the largesse needed to pacify dissent, former president Omar Al Bashir’s regime raised taxes and prices on basic goods. The people demanded bread and more - civilian rule, freedom and dignity. And for the first few months, the people were winning, first pushing Al Bashir to step down and then forcing his successor, the TMC, into concession after concession.

Perhaps sensing this shift in power, the TMC turned to backers in the Gulf. Causation is difficult to prove, but the correlation is strong. The escalation in violence followed visits by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the TMC, and his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemeti, to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Sudan represents a significant if not major geopolitical interest for both regimes which are stuck in a jostle for regional influence with Iran, Qatar and Turkey. After whatever happened in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, al-Burhan and especially Hemeti returned to Sudan emboldened.

Meanwhile, the US is paralysed between its own disdain for multilat-eralism and an unwillingness to take the lead in preventing another potential war in another corner of the world. National Security Advisor John Bolton openly loathes the UN system, and the Trump administration has over the last three years made several cuts to its funding for the organisation.

Washington’s ties with Saudi Arabia also give pause. A report on a recent meeting between a high-ranking US diplomat based in Khartoum and senior State Department officials suggest that the

US might allow Saudi interests to prevail in Sudan.

By now the European Union has sacrificed its moral standing in Sudan over its interests in stemming migration from East Africa, having previously extended financial support for Al Bashir, which was allegedly mostly used to strengthen his security apparatus, and now appearing to tacitly support the TMC.

The AU, for its part, has at least taken a decisive step, although it must grapple with its recent history of shielding Al Bashir and Hemeti from international prosecution for com-mitting crimes in Darfur.

So, what can multilateral organisa-tions do about Sudan? Not a whole lot. Since 1997 Sudan has been subjected to a cocktail of sanctions that only served to tilt the balance of power towards the military at the expense of civilian politics. Intervention is also out of the question. After what hap-pened in Libya - which also had an oversized military and weak state institutions - there is substantial fear that outside military involvement could precipitate another civil war in Sudan and bring more chaos to the region.

Thus, the Sudanese people appear to have fallen victims to a debilitating crisis in multilateralism, where diplomacy has atrophied, while mili-tarism as a vehicle to achieve illusory stability has triumphed.

Those who are asking for the so-called international community to “do something” may not appreciate that the only “something” it has done in recent years was instigate forever wars, even though the promise of mul-tilateralism has precisely been to strengthen diplomatic levers and help avoid conflict.

The only way to salvage multilat-eralism is by making more room for values and less for interests. In an ideal world, the Sudanese people would be allowed to determine their own destiny without external interests tipping the scale in favour of power. In this less-than-ideal world, there needs to be renewed focus on what ordinary citizens demand rather than what regional players want. Until any multi-lateral institution finds the requisite moral courage to push for this, we are, indeed, alone.

NANJALA NYABOLA AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAYEveryone very excited

about the new deal with Mexico! Mexico

will try very hard, and if they do that,

this will be a very successful agreement

for both the United States and Mexico!

Donald Trump US President

US-China trade war sparks worries about rare earth minerals

Rising trade tensions between the US and China have sparked worries about the 17 exotic-sounding rare earth

minerals needed for high-tech products like robotics, drones and electric cars. China recently raised tariffs to 25% on rare earth exports to the US and has threatened to halt exports altogether after the Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese products and blacklisted tele-communications giant Huawei.

With names like europium, scandium and ytterbium, the bulk of rare earth minerals are extracted from mines in China, where lower wages and lax environmental standards make production cheaper and easier.

But trade experts say no one should panic over China’s threats to stop exporting the elements to the US

There is a US rare minerals mine in California. And Australia, Myanmar, Russia and India are also top pro-ducers of the somewhat obscure min-erals. Vietnam and Brazil both have huge rare earth reserves.

“The sky is not falling,” said Mary B. Teagarden, a China specialist, pro-fessor and associate dean at the Thun-derbird School of Global Management in Phoenix. “There are alternatives.”

Simon Lester, associate director of the center for trade policy studies at the Cato Institute think tank in Wash-ington, agreed. “Over the short term, it could be a big disruption, but com-panies that want to stay in business will find a way,” he said.

Although the US is among the world’s top 10 countries for rare earths production, it’s also a major importer of the minerals, looking to China for 80% of what it buys from other coun-tries, according to the US Geological Survey. China last year produced some 120,000 metric tons of rare earths, while the United States produced 15,000 metric tons.

The United States also depends on China to separate the minerals pulled from Mountain Pass Mine, the sole rare earths mine in the US, which was bought two years ago by the Chicago-based JHL Capital Group LLC . “We need to develop a US-based supply chain so there is no possibility we can be threatened,” said Ryan S. Corbett,

managing director of JHL Capital.The mine’s top products are neo-

dymium and praseodymium, or NdPr, two elements which are used together to make the lightweight magnets that help power electric cars and wind tur-bines and are found in electronics such as laptop hard drives.

Mountain Pass, located in San Ber-nardino County, California, was once top supplier of the world’s rare earth minerals, but China began taking over the market in the 1990s and the US mine stopped production in 2002.

Mountain Pass later restarted pro-duction only to close again amid a 2015 bankruptcy. Corbett said extraction resumed last year after JHL Capital purchased the site with QVT Financial LP of New York, which holds 30%, and Shenghe Resources Holding Co., Ltd. of China, a non-voting share-holder with 9.9%.

Since then, Mountain Pass has focused on achieving greater autonomy with a $1.7 billion sepa-ration system set to go online late next year that would allow it skip sending rare earths ore to China for that step. China could hurt itself in the long run by cutting off the US, specialists said.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI

osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Sudanese protesters set up a barricade on a street, demanding that the country’s Transitional Military Council hand over power to civilians, in Khartoum.

Sheikha Hind pointed out in her article that the “twenty-four months on from the start of this blockade, Qatar has not only survived, but demonstrated how the strategic choices our country made decades ago have given us the resilience and determination to keep moving forward and thrive for the good of our country – in the name of knowledge”.

Education — Qatar’s top priority

In an article appeared yesterday in the views page, H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, highlighted how the past two

years of blockade have prompted Qatar to think hard and give top priority to education.

The siege which marked its second year on June 5, at its first moments was shocking and made people concerns because of the sudden cut-off from some neighbouring Middle East because of the imposition of sea, land and air blockade.

During these two years, Qatar has made remarkable achievements in all fields, doubling efforts to implement mega and strategic projects many of which have been completed ahead of their schedule.

Despite the pain caused to family members, students and patients that disrupted their education or treatments in the blockading countries, the siege was great opportunity for Qatar and its people to discover their positional and talents under the wise leadership of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the right strategic choice the country made decades ago.

Sheikha Hind pointed out in her article that the “twenty-four months on from the start of this blockade, Qatar has not

only survived, but demonstrated how the strategic choices our country made decades ago have given us the resilience and deter-mination to keep moving forward and thrive for the good of our country – in the name of knowledge”.

One of the significant achieve-ments was made in the field of education. Few weeks ago Qatar Foundation, which has students from more than 60 countries at its partner universities, cele-brated the graduation of 800 stu-dents, H E Sheikha Hind high-lighted. No single student has been forced to interrupt education by the Qatari authorities, at the time there were students who weren’t allowed by their home countries to return to Doha to complete their programs. With the past two years not only there were no stu-dents interrupted their education but rather the proportion of stu-dents from outside Qatar was become higher.

According to Her Excellency since the start of the blockade, two new institutions were opened, the Qatar National Library, and Sidra Medicine. As well the education city reinforced its “role as a regional hub of innovation

through the launch of the Arab Innovation Academy, hosted by QF member Qatar Science & Technology Park. Its second edition, launched in January this year, brought together 160 young innovators, as well as experts and investors, from more than 30 countries” H E highlighted.

So QF has created “opportunities for many curious young people, and Qatar’s investment in education has sent a message to the region and the world about how knowledge and innovation have no boundaries or constraints”.

Today estimated 4-5 million Burmese of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, that is, at the ratio of 1 in 10 persons, have left the country as largely migrant laborers to South East Asia’s middle-income countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Singapore.

09SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019 OPINION

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Diseases are killing our food, but don’t panic

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi is turning far-right

DAVID FICKLING BLOOMBERG

MAUNG ZARNI ANATOLIA

From reading the news you could be forgiven for thinking the plagues of Egypt have descended on the world’s

farms.African swine fever, a livestock

disease likened to Ebola, is cutting a swath through China’s 440 million-strong pig herd, and could lead to as

many as 200 million being culled. Hot on its heels is the fall armyworm, a crop pest that could spread across the whole of the country’s 130 million hectare crop belt within a year, eating up supplies of corn and sugar cane. Over in the US, the wettest 12 months on record have left farmers unable to plant corn and soybean crops. Is the specter of hunger about to return to the world?

Calm down.Look, for instance, at the

Bloomberg Agriculture Subindex, which tracks the prices of major farm commodities going back to 1960. A month ago it touched its lowest level since the early 1970s, having fallen about 14% in the past year.

There are fundamental reasons behind that. In cereals, the most crucial element of food supply, the world has spent five years building up a formidable surplus of 855 million metric tons, split roughly 3-5-2 between wheat, corn and rice. That stockpile is about 50% bigger than it was at the start of the decade, while consumption has risen by less than 20% to 2.28 billion tons.

This cushion means that we’re a long way from global shortages. Stocks-to-usage ratios are running around 30%; well above the low-teens that tend to predict higher prices. Even the stocks-to-disappear-ances ratio for major exporters (arguably a better predictor of price rises) is only marginally down from recent levels at 17.6%.

That’s because there’s a world of food production beyond the US and China. The yield, or output per hectare, of Russia’s wheat crop is forecast to be the second-highest on record this year. Productivity is also at record levels for India’s rice and wheat farmers and corn in Ukraine.

On top of that, some of the world’s food disasters this year could be com-plementary. Bad weather and trade wars are likely to put a dent in American exports of soybeans and corn-derived animal feed to China - but with all those hogs being culled, there’s likely to be a lot less demand for such products, anyway. Indeed, poor conditions for next year’s corn and soybean plantings is in one sense just what America’s farm belt needs,

given the near-record crops forecast this year for the former and a glut of the latter, which pushed prices to their lowest levels in a decade in May.

Many of the biggest risks to agri-culture now are political, rather than environmental. The US posted its biggest agricultural trade deficit on record in April, an extraordinarily rare outcome for a country that’s tradi-tionally one of the world’s biggest exporters. And the threat of swine fever and armyworm in China would diminish if the country wasn’t so ded-icated to using the appetites of its people as a trade-war bargaining chip.

To be sure, the world’s agricul-tural trade is always just a few terrible seasons away from disaster. Thanks to poverty, war and social breakdown in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, there were 821 million undernourished people in 2017, the highest level in nearly a decade. About three-quarters of that number live in the countries whose farms are most exposed to the increased variability of the world’s climate. And consumption of cereals, after running short of pro-duction for the best part of a decade, is now outpacing the volume of new crops coming in from the fields.

Still, with hefty stocks to fall back on, there’s no reason to think current conditions are any more dangerous than they’ve been in the past. While current events are a wake-up call about the fragility of our food security, our stomachs will be full for a good while yet.

The wire pictures from Budapest of a smiling Nobel Peace Laureate and Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San

Suu Kyi shaking hands with Viktor Orban, Hungary’s president, strikes fear down my spine.

That is, fear for my Muslim friends back home in Mandalay in particular and Myanmar’s Muslims in general, including the systematically perse-cuted Rohingya.

The two reportedly exchanged their unconcealed fear and loathing of Muslims and migrants.

In Suu Kyi’s Myanmar the military has very successfully misframed the country’s Rohingya people as illegal Bengali migrants from across the borders in Muslim Bangladesh. Myan-mar’s icon of democratic transition has become the killers’ echo-chamber wittingly.

In my 30 years of political activism and scholarship about my country’s affairs, I have learned to read well the deeply racialised Burmese society, politicized Buddhist Order and the ultra-nationalist Tat-madaw or the military. And I had for years supported the woman the coun-try’s Buddhist majority call, with undying affection, Mother Suu, and have very closely studied her words, deeds and even facial expressions over these last three decades.

I can tell that the pictures from Budapest weren’t simply about Myanmar state counsellor performing in accord with the diplomatic protocol of being polite to the host and looking pleasant for the camera. It was more like a meeting of two racist, xenophobic minds, which are typically indifferent to either the warnings of the Fascist his-tories of the two respective countries during the World War II, or the ugly facts on ground including the countries’ Islamophobic policies.

In a report by the Council of

Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Orban’s administration has been accused of spreading “xeno-phobic attitudes, fear and hatred” while Orban himself is emerging as a pivotal figure among European and North American far-right leaders and demagogues, from Trump’s former right hand Steve Bannon to former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.

In the case of Myanmar, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission officially accuses her civilian leadership of being involved in the ongoing genocide against Muslim Rohingya.

According to the Orban govern-ment’s statement following their meeting, Suu Kyi and Orban “high-lighted” “migration” and “the issue of co-existence with continuously growing Muslim populations” as the two “greatest challenges” to “South-East Asia and Europe”.

This is not the first-time when Myanmar’s state counsellor shared the limelight with a far-right leader and echoed unconcealed racist views about Muslims.

In September 2017, Suu Kyi shared the press podium with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Hindu fundamentalist, from where both leaders openly misframed Myanmar’s mass persecution of Rohingya as a state’s legitimate response to “terror” -- that is, “Muslim terror”. In her words: “I would like to thank India for taking a strong stand on the terror threat that Myanmar faced recently.”

I have noticed how the Burmese leader -- whom I supported so actively for my first 15 years of inter-national activism in the diaspora in the United States -- keeps on shifting her justifications for the anti-Muslim racism which has infested Myanmar’s public opinions, government policies -- and her own views.

As early as October 2013, on Brit-ain’s domestic flagship BBC Four -- Suu Kyi framed her own views of Muslims as a general Burmese popular perception.

Suu Kyi, then the country’s iconic opposition leader, said to the British interview host Mishal Husain, a British Muslim: “I think you will accept that there is a perception that the global Muslim power is very great. Certainly, this is a perception in many parts of the world -- and in our country too.”

Six years since her shocking interview, Myanmar’s Suu Kyi, now in power as state counsellor and foreign minister, has come out of her closet of Islamophobia, making a common cause with one of Europe’s certifiably far-right national leaders.

Her concerns about the growing immigration and the problem of the ever-growing Muslim population at home in Myanmar are not supported by facts.

In 2012, the then serving Minister of Immigration and former chief of police Brig. Khin Yi put the Rohingya population at about 1.33 million, a conservative estimate, subsequent to the two bouts of organized violence against Muslims in Rakhine state. Similarly, his boss ex-General and President Thein Sein also told the Voice of America Burmese Language Service in July the same year that “we discovered that the great majority of ‘Bengali’ [i.e. official racist reference to Rohingya] were born in our country after our independence.” These facts make it impossible to frame Rohingya as “immigrants” from the neighboring Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s pervasive, grinding poverty -- contrary to the misleading GDP statistics and mildly positive eco-nomic forecasts -- and decades of political repression by the country’s security forces, Myanmar’s brain-drain and the out-migration of Burmese continue unabated. Today estimated 4-5 million Burmese of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, that is, at the ratio of 1 in 10 persons, have left the country as largely migrant laborers to South East Asia’s middle-income countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Sin-gapore. After Syria, Myanmar is the world’s largest producer of refugees, the great majority of whom are Muslims.

Besides, Myanmar’s Muslim popu-lation of which the Rohingya are numerically the largest group -- out of a total of 16 groups -- is not growing. It is quite the opposite.

Seven years on, only about 0.33 million Rohingya remain in their country of origin -- with 120,000 of them in the barbed-wired internally displaced camps from where they are not allowed to leave.

According to the UN fact-finding mission, Myanmar obliterated roughly 400 Rohingya villages during the

Many of the biggest risks to agriculture now are political, rather than environmental. The US posted its biggest agricultural trade deficit on record in April.

Burmese military’s “security clearance operations” of 2017 and slaughtered thousands of Muslims including infants, children, women, men and elderly people. The actual death-toll may never be known, but the number of Rohingya slaughtered is certainly far greater than those Bosniaks massacred at Srebrenica in July 1995, which was judicially declared an act of genocide.

There is zero growth among Myanmar’s largest Muslim popu-lation within their own ancestral homeland of Rakhine. Quite the contrary, chronic waves of violent mass deportation via genocidal rape and slaughter and demolition and burning of Muslim villages since 1978 have more than halved the country’s largest pocket of Muslims - ethnically Rohingya - in Western Myanmar.

The remaining Rohingya Muslim population in Buthidaung township are in apartheid-like con-ditions, stricken with pervasive and constant fear of being slaughtered in the next round of Myanmar’s state-directed mass atrocities -- like the ones the world watched on Facebook and Twitter in 2017 -- or killed in the current crossfires between the (Buddhist) Arakan Army and Myanmar government troops.

Based on my first-hand profes-sional experience of running numerous sessions on racism sen-sitivity and awareness to groups of Myanmar’s opinion-makers including nuns, monks, journalists and rights activists, I have learned one sordid thing: facts do not puncture racism or change racist minds. Suu Kyi is no exception.

The author is a coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition.

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi reviews a guard of honour in Prague.

10 SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019ASIA / EUROPE

Philippines rejects call for UN rights council probeAFP MANILA

The Philippines yesterday rejected a call for an independent United Nations probe into Manila’s alleged human rights violations, describing it as inter-ference in the affairs of the Asian nation.

UN rights experts asked the UN Human Rights Council on Friday to look into the “stag-gering number of unlawful deaths and police killings in the

context of the so-called war on drugs, as well as killings of human rights defenders”.

President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a narcotics crackdown in which police have killed more than 5,300 suspected drug dealers and users since he

was elected three years ago.Rights groups said the actual

number of dead is at least three times higher.

“The latest call by 11 special rapporteurs of the United Nations for an international probe of the Philippines not only

is intellectually challenged but an outrageous interference on Philippine sovereignty,” Duterte spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

He accused the UN experts of “peddling a biased and abso-lutely false recital of facts, adul-terated with malicious imputa-tions against the constituted authorities”.

Panelo also said: “Those who have spoken against the cam-paign on illegal drugs and human rights record of this president

have been overwhelmingly rejected by the Filipino electorate.”

Last month’s midterm polls, held halfway into Duterte’s six-year term, saw his allies take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The 11 UN experts, who are independent and do not speak for the United Nations, include the special rapporteur on summary or extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard.

Callamard earned Duterte’s

ire when she called for a stop to the drug war killings in the year 2016.

The president’s drug war is his signature policy initiative and he defends it fiercely, especially from international critics and institutions which he says do not care about the Philippines.

Duterte government and pol-icy’s critics have alleged that the crackdown amounts to a war on the poor that feeds an under-current of impunity and law-lessness in the country.

Estonia & Vietnam among 5 elected to UN Security CouncilAFP UNITED NATIONS

Estonia, Niger, Tunisia, Vietnam and Saint Vincent and the Gren-adines were elected to the UN Security Council as the top UN body struggles to agree on how to confront global conflicts.

The five newcomers will join the council in January for a two-year stint, replacing Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kuwait, Poland and Peru.

The election comes at a time of diplomatic deadlock at the council, which has been unable to agree on a response to several crises, from Syria to Myanmar, Venezuela or Sudan.

Five countries — Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States — have a permanent seat on the 15-member council and enjoy veto power over any decisions.

The 10 other non-per-manent members are elected for two-year terms to serve on the United Nations’ most powerful body, tasked with addressing threats to international peace and security.

During a secret ballot at the General Assembly, Estonia squared off with Romania for the eastern European seat while Saint Vincent and the Gren-adines faced a last-minute chal-lenge from El Salvador for the Latin America seat.

The three other countries ran unopposed, having been selected as the candidate of their regional bloc.

Vietnam picked up 192 votes, Niger and Tunisia 191 votes each and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won 185 votes against six for El Salvador during the ballot in the 193-member assembly.

Estonia won a seat with 132 votes during a runoff with Romania, which picked up 58.

It will be the first time that Estonia, which made cyber-security its campaign plank, will serve on the council as will Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which has pledged to push for action on climate change.

UN expert Richard Gowan said the election of the five new members could exacerbate divisions.

“I think we are going to see quite a strong anti-Western group in the council, which could lead to more fiery diplomacy and make it harder for the US and its allies to push their resolutions through New York,” said Gowan, UN director for the International Crisis Group.

“Vietnam and St Vincent seem likely to side with the Chinese and Russians on issues like Venezuela, as Indonesia and South Africa have already done this year.”

President Duterte’s Spokesman Salvador Panelo accused the UN experts of “peddling a biased and absolutely false recital of facts, adulterated with malicious imputations against the constituted authorities”.

Danube boat unlikely to be raised before TuesdayAP BUDAPEST

A sunken tour boat involved in a May 29 collision on the Danube River that killed at least 19 people is unlikely to be raised out of the water before Tuesday, Hungarian rescue officials said yesterday.

The sightseeing boat was carrying 33 South Koreans and a two-man Hungarian crew when it collided with a much larger cruise ship on the river in Budapest.

Seven South Koreans were rescued after the nighttime crash in heavy rain but eight of the passengers on the Hableany (Mermaid) and the boat’s captain are still missing.

Hungarian and South Korean divers and rescue members have been working for days to prepare the Hableany to be raised off the river floor.

A huge floating crane has been in place since Friday at the Margit Bridge site of the accident, near the Hungarian Parliament building.

Nandor Jasenszky, a spokesman for Hungary’s Counter Terrorism Center, which is coordinating search and recovery efforts, said there was “a serious chance” that four wire harnesses under the boat in preparation for the raising would be in place by after Monday’s Pentecost holiday.

“Installing the large har-nesses will begin (Sunday),”

Jasenszky said. “At what pace we can make progress depends greatly on how favourable the river floor’s conditions are for us.”

“We don’t believe we can do the lift on Pentecost on Monday,” he added. The tour boat is lying some 9 metres below the surface.

Jasenszky also said the Hab-leany’s windows and other openings facing the Danube’s current had been closed to prevent any bodies still inside the hull from coming out when the boat is raised.

The Danube’s high springtime water levels, its fast flow and near-zero underwater visibility have greatly hindered recovery efforts.

Crew moving a giant floating crane into place near a bridge on the Danube River to raise the wreck of a boat that capsized and sank last week, in Budapest, yesterday.

Four arrested in HK after bombs set off near policeAP HONG KONG

Hong Kong police announced yesterday they have arrested four men in connection with two apparent gasoline bomb attacks on law enforcement.

The arson cases occurred on Friday, first near a police vehicle and then by a police station, said the Hong Kong government.

In the early hours of Friday, officers inside a patrolling police vehicle spotted a man holding an ignited glass bottle that he then threw toward the car before fleeing. In the afternoon, a man threw an ignited glass bottle toward the wall of a police station. It landed on the ground and erupted into flames.

The police may still make more arrests, according to the Hong Kong government.

Call to scrap extradition bill in Hong KongStudents chain up themselves as they protest to demand authorities to scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Bulgaria opens probe into student for planning attackAFP SOFIA

Bulgarian prosecutors yesterday said they had opened a probe into a bomb attack being planned by a student from an elite high school who was inspired by IS militant group.

The student was “extremely intelligent” and lived in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second city, deputy prosecutor general Ivan Gueshev said, adding that this was the first investigation of its kind in the country.

“Several home-made explosive devices were found at his home, including a bomb made with pipes and electric wires (of a type) often used in the United States,” he said.

“Furthermore, 14.5kg of the explosive used in attacks in Belgium and France, were found in a plastic container sur-rounded by nails to cause maximum destruction,” he added.

Gueshev did not identify the explosive but said it was the same as the one used in a 2012 attack on Israeli tourists at the airport in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Burgas.

“This appears to be a classic case of the recruitment and radicalisation of a minor” on the Internet.”

The suspect had managed to make explosives from com-monly accessed materials and that too in the space of a week, the deputy prosecutor general added.

China to set up system to safeguard technology securityAFP BEIJING

China plans to establish a system to ensure “national security” in technology, state media reported yesterday amid an expanding trade war with the United States which has snared Chinese tech titan Huawei.

The powerful National Development and Reform Com-mission has been tasked with

establishing a list system to “more effectively forestall and defuse national security risks,” the Xinhua news agency said.

Xinhua did not elaborate or state whether the move was linked to the trade war but said “detailed measures will be unveiled in the near future”.

Washington and Beijing resumed their trade battle last month when trade talks in the US ended without a deal and US

President Donald Trump raised tariffs on $200bn in Chinese goods, which Beijing retaliated to with its own tariff hike on bil-lions worth US goods.

The trade war has stepped up in recent weeks with Washing-ton’s move to blacklist Huawei over national security concerns, threatening the firm’s global ambitions. The US Commerce Department placed Huawei on an “entity list” on grounds of

national security on May 16.“Based on what I know,

China is building a management mechanism to protect China’s key technologies,” Hu Xijin, the influential editor of the Chinese daily Global Times, said yes-terday on Twitter. “This is a major step to improve its system, and also a move to counter US crackdown. Once taking effect, some technology exports to the US will be subject to the control.”

Minor clashes break out on 30th weekend of French ‘yellow vests’ protestsREUTERS PARIS

Minor clashes broke out yesterday during the 30th consecutive weekend of “yellow vests” anti-government protests in France, although the numbers of demonstrators remained well below earlier peaks.

French television showed a handful of protesters throwing objects at police vans in Drancy, a suburban town near northern Paris, while police also used tear gas and water cannons on dem-onstrators in the southern city of Montpellier.

The city of Dijon, in central France, also witnessed violent clashes.

The local police force said some shops in the town centre had their windows broken, and added that a riot police officer there was also injured by a slab of paving stone.

The French government said 10,300 people demonstrated across the country, up from 9,500 last weekend.

Nevertheless, those numbers were well below the peaks seen in November and December, when an estimated 300,000 took to the streets on Saturdays in protests that often resulted in widespread violence and van-dalism in Paris.

The “yellow vests” protests, named after the bright jackets French drivers have to keep in their cars and which have been worn by demonstrators, began

in November after public anger against fuel tax rises.

Those were subsequently scrapped but the movement has since morphed into a broader anti-government protest.

The number of protesters has gradually fallen as a result of measures taken by President Emmanuel Macron to quell the public anger, such as tax cuts to boost consumers’ spending power.

However, some demon-strators yesterday said they would continue to protest over Macron’s policies.

Last Sunday, the AFP reported that Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had “no regrets” over the han-dling of the “yellow vest” pro-tests, even if stun grenades and rubber bullets cost some dem-onstrators a hand or an eye.

His comments came as a group of people who said they had been mutilated while taking part in the anti-government pro-tests marched in Paris.

“We have no regrets over the way that we have handled public order and public safety.”

“When there is an attack on the police and there is a propor-tionate response, yes there can be injuries. It’s not because a hand has been blown off, because an eye has been blinded, that the violence is illegal. I’m not apologising, I’m leaving it to the justice system of my country,” the minister added.

11SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019 EUROPE

Queen celebrates official birthdayAP LONDON

Queen Elizabeth II marked her official birthday yesterday with the annual Trooping the Colour parade, a traditional display of British pageantry at its very best.

About 1,400 soldiers in cer-emonial scarlet coats and bearskin hats marched past the queen in a ceremony on Horse Guards Parade in Westminster.

Royals taking part included Prince Charles, Prince William and his wife Kate, and Prince Harry and his wife Meghan —who appeared in her first public outing since giving birth to their son, Archie, to watch the birthday fly-past of military aircraft.

Baby Archie did not appear, but another young royal almost stole the queen’s limelight when

he made his debut on Buck-ingham Palace’s balcony. One-year-old Prince Louis, the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, waved frantically at the first of the hel-icopters in the show.

The queen marks her birthday twice a year — an official ceremony is always held in June, in hopes of holding the parade in good weather. Her actual birthday, on April 21, is usually celebrated with close family only.

Thousands of spectators lined the parade ground and gathered in nearby St. James’s park to watch the spectacle in sparkling sunshine. They then walked down the road leading to Buckingham Palace, gathering at the gates to honour the monarch ahead of the fly-past, the punctuation mark of

the annual event.It’s been a big week for the

monarch. Demonstrating the close link between the monarchy and the armed forces, she was the centre of ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the invasion of France that marked the beginning of the end of the Nazis.

But if the 93-year-old sov-ereign was tired, it didn’t show. She waved and smiled as she emerged on the balcony and the crowd roared.

The ceremony originated from traditional preparations for battle. The colours — or flags —were “trooped,” or carried down the lines of soldiers, so they could be seen and recognized in battle. The regimental flag being paraded this year is from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.

Rome toughens law on tourists’ misbehaviour AP ROME

Too much Dolce Vita can get you banned from Rome, where the mayor ushered in a permanent get-tough approach on impolite behaviour by tourists and those Romans who exploit them.

Exasperated by tourists who frolic in Rome’s public fountains, vandalise its monuments and treat its landmarks as their own personal living rooms, the city famous for its artistic heritage and easy-going lifestyle has had enough.

The Italian capital’s first populist mayor, Virginia Raggi, presented a law banning bad behaviour including eating or drinking or climbing on monu-ments, walking around partially unclothed and wading through fountains — the latter temptation made famous by Anita Ekberg, who danced in the city’s mag-nificent Baroque Trevi Fountain in Federico Fellini’s classic film immortalising Rome’s carefree spirit.

While many of the measures already existed in temporary form or were rarely enforced, a unanimous city council vote on Thursday night made them per-manent. And there’s a new twist: disobeying these rules means local authorities can exile the badly behaved from the city’s historic centre for 48 hours.

“The Rome city centre is an area protected by Unesco, so clearly our centre is our business ticket,” Raggi said in an interview in which she promised “zero tol-erance for those marring our city.”

Rome’s law joins a raft of

efforts by tourist-clogged cities around the world to regulate their behaviour or limit their numbers.

Florence last year issued an ordinance calling for fines as high as $575 for visitors who eat on sidewalks or in doorways at meal times near its landmark Uffizi Galleries. Venice in the past has banned tourists from eating in St. Mark’s Square unless they eating or drinking at the square’s pricey cafes.

Raggi, the highest profile mayor for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, boasted that for the first time since 1946, Rome had an “all-encompassing law,” ending decades of “tem-porary rules.”

“We don’t want people to take a bath, or ruin or dirty mon-uments anymore,” Raggi said from a terrace above her Capi-toline Hill office overlooking the ancient Roman Forum and Col-osseum and their steady streams of tourists.

Raggi wouldn’t talk politics. But this spring, Matteo Salvini, the fast-rising leader of the rival populist League Party, which is widely expected to go for the

Italian capital’s City Hall in the next local election, trashed her management, saying Rome had never been dirtier.

Earlier in the day, Raggi said she has started writing foreign ambassadors whose citizens had been caught behaving badly.

Still, Raggi insisted that Rome welcomes tourists but plans to approve higher fines for transgressors.

On Friday, the local police could be seen telling tourists near the Spanish Steps to put their shoes back on.

But the city faces an uphill battle. On the grand staircase that leads to the Michelangelo-designed square outside City Hall, tourists nibbled on snacks and fed sea gulls chunks of bread as a traffic officer strolled by at the bottom of the stairs.

Enjoying a sandwich with cheese, Irena Stojimanovski, from Serbia, said she hadn’t heard about the new law.

Watching Rome’s chaotic traffic whizz through central Piazza Venezia, the tourist praised the “beautiful monu-ments, nice and friendly people,” and pronounced the food to be fine.

Tourists are not the law’s only target. Ever inventive, some locals have taken to dressing up as centurions and aggressively demanding money from tourists who pose for selfies with them. Despite repeated ordinances banning the fake centurions from the Colosseum and other ancient monuments, the wily Romans have taken to whipping off their helmets and changing into street clothes kept handily nearby to avoid trouble with police.

‘Suspending parliament remains a Brexit option’REUTERS LONDON

Suspending parliament remains an option to ensure Britain leaves the European Union on October 31, former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said yesterday, rejecting criticism of the measure from other Conservative lead-ership candidates.

Raab, who draws support from the most pro-Brexit wing of the Conservative Party, has refused to rule out suspending parliament until the Brexit deadline, if needed to prevent

lawmakers from stopping a no-deal Brexit.

However, he said he thought it unlikely, as parliamentary rules would made it harder for lawmakers to continue to oppose a no-deal Brexit as they had under Prime Minister Theresa May, who formally resigned as Conservative Party leader on Friday.

“I think it is very unlikely that it would be necessary,” he said in an interview. “It is much more difficult this time for parliament to engage in the sort of guerrilla warfare sabotage of a

government that is resolved ... to leave by the end of October.”

Most lawmakers oppose leaving the EU without some kind of deal, and Britain’s Finance Minister Philip Hammond told US broadcaster CNBC yesterday that he thought the chance of a no-deal Brexit was “very small”.

However, there is significant pressure on leadership con-tenders from Conservative Party members to leave the EU by October 31, after the party suf-fered heavy losses in European Parliament elections when

voters deserted it in favour of the new Brexit Party led by veteran anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage.

The leading contender to succeed May, former foreign sec-retary Boris Johnson, has ruled out proroguing or suspending parliament, and environment minister Michael Gove has said he is open to a further delay if agreement could not be reached with Brussels.

Raab said he wanted to keep all constitutional options on the table in order to pressure the EU to agree a time limit

for a so-called ‘backstop’, that prevents border controls between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

“It’s a test of nerve here, and if candidates cannot stand up their resolve to lead us out by 31st October in a leadership contest, what chance do they have under the heat of the nego-tiations in Brussels?”

The EU has repeatedly refused to make any change to the withdrawal agreement it negotiated last year with May, which Britain’s parliament has voted down three times.

“The Rome city centre is an area protected by Unesco, so clearly our centre is our business ticket,” Rome’s Mayor Virginia Raggi said in an interview in which she promised “zero tolerance for those marring our city.”

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II taking part in the Trooping the Colour parade in central London, yesterday.

Nato’s largest Baltic exercise kicks off todayANATOLIA BRUSSELS

The US and 18 European coun-tries are preparing to perform “the largest naval exercise series in the Baltic Sea” for the 47th time.

The Baltic Operations Exercise (BALTOPS) will kick off today in Germany’s port city of Kiel. Around 8,600 US and European troops from 18 nations are taking part in the annual BALTOPS naval exercise, according to official website of Nato.

Participating troops come from Nato member countries Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, Spain, UK and US. Also, Sweden and Finland which are part of the EU but not Nato will participate in the exercise.

The 47th BALTOPS exercise involves maritime, air and land forces with some 50 subma-rines and 40 aircraft. It will run through June 21.

The training includes finding and destroying sea mines and submarines, air defence, and landing troops on shore.

Russia used to participate in the exercise but has not been invited since its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its con-tinuing destabilising of eastern Ukraine.

Poll: Merkel’s conservatives hit new low, piling pressure on coalitionREUTERS/BERLIN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives slumped to a record low and fell further behind the resurgent opposition Greens in a survey published yesterday, reflecting growing disillusionment with the ruling coalition.

Doubts are mounting that Merkel’s right-left alliance can last its full term until 2021, largely due to disarray within her Social Democrat (SPD) partners, and many experts now see increasing chances of a federal election next year.

The Forsa poll put the con-servative bloc on 24%, down two

points from a week ago.The Social Democrats (SPD)

remained stuck at their low of 12% — level with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) —a week after their leader quit because of a dismal performance in regional and European elec-tions. Many members want to quit government and rebuild in

opposition.The Greens, buoyed by

growing concern across Europe about climate change, which helped propel them to second place in European Parliament elections, remained the most popular party, on 27%.

“The Greens are benefiting from high voter mobilisation, the

self-destruction of the SPD and attempts by the conservatives to trump the Greens on climate pro-tection,” said Forsa chief Manfred Guellner.

If Merkel’s coalition col-lapses, Germany faces the pos-sibilities of a snap election, a minority government or an unwieldy alliance of three blocs.

Any of those scenarios would be likely to hasten the exit of Merkel, chancellor for almost 14 years, who has handed over the leadership of her Christian Dem-ocrats (CDU) to protege Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Merkel has said she will not stand again as chancellor of Europe’s biggest economy.

Detained Russian journalistin drugs case hospitalisedAFP MOSCOW

Police said yesterday that an investigative journalist facing drugs charges in a case supporters said is trumped-up has been taken to a Moscow hospital after he fell ill in custody.

Ivan Golunov, a reporter for Meduza independent news site who has been charged with attempted drug-dealing, “com-plained of feeling unwell,” Moscow police said in a statement. “As a result of examination by paramedics, the decision was taken to send the detainee to a medical facility for assessment.”

Golunov’s lawyer Pavel Chikov earlier wrote on Tel-egram that medics suspected

Golunov had broken ribs, bruising and concussion.

Golunov on Friday told a representative of Russia’s pres-idential rights council that he had been beaten while in custody, with police twice punching him in the head and standing on his chest.

The 36-year-old has inves-tigated high-level corruption among Moscow officials and Meduza said he had received a number of death threats. It believes he is being persecuted for his journalistic work.

Police detained Golunov on Thursday and said they found designer drug mephedrone and cocaine in his rucksack and flat, but supporters suggested they were planted.

Divers collecting plastic from the sea as part of a cleanup campaign of the Urdaibai estuary to mark World Oceans Day, at the port of the Basque village of Bermeo, in Spain, yesterday.

Cleanup drive

12 SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019AMERICAS

Trump touts deal with Mexico to avert tariffsAFP WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump touted yesterday his last-minute deal averting tariffs on Mexico, a plan economists warned would have been disastrous for both countries, saying the agreement will be a big success if America’s southern neighbour cracks down on illegal immigration as promised.

With Trump ready to slap five percent tariffs on all Mexican goods starting tomorrow, senior officials announced an agreement late Friday after three days of intense negotiations at the State Department.

Under the deal, Mexico agreed to expand its policy of taking back migrants from vio-lence-riven Guatemala, Hon-duras and El Salvador as the United States processes their asylum claims.

Mexico will also use its new National Guard nationwide to crack down on illegal migration, in particular along its southern border with Guatemala, a gateway for poor Central Amer-icans hoping to reach the US.

In turn, Mexico managed to avoid a proposal it had contin-ually rejected — that it process asylum claims on its own soil before migrants reach the United States.

“Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a

very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!” Trump tweeted early yesterday.

Later, he added: “Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!”

Trump announced the deal on Twitter shortly after returning from a trip to Europe.

For many, it was vintage Trump behaviour: trigger a crisis and let it simmer for a while, then declare it resolved and take credit.

In Mexico, some advocacy groups criticised the deal, saying Mexico would be militarising its border with Guatemala to detain innocent women and children when the real problem — grinding poverty and desperation fuelling the exodus north — goes unaddressed.

“I think deploying the National Guard on the border will change nothing. Borders are borders,” said Olguita Sanchez, who runs a shelter in southern Chiapas state. “People will keep leaving. This is not going to stop them.”

Trump, she insisted, “is pressing Mexico but he should be pressing the governments of Honduras and El Salvador, who do nothing for their people.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had planned to head to the border city of Tijuana to show solidarity ahead of the tariffs, said that his trip would now be to celebrate.

Trump, who ran for pres-ident pushing a tough line on immigration that included denouncing some undocu-mented Mexicans as criminals, had vowed to raise tariffs as high as 25 percent unless Mexico — which exports $350bn in goods each year to the United States —takes further action against migrants.

The tariffs would have clob-bered Mexico’s economy, which is integrated with the United States and Canada under the

North American Free Trade Agreement, with experts warning of a recession and the Fitch rating service already down-grading Mexico’s credit rating.

Economists also warned the tariffs would hurt US companies

that have set up complex supply chains across the borders with Mexico and Canada, leading to higher prices for US consumers for everything from tequila to refrigerators as importers pass along the cost of tariffs.

The tariffs also drew unu-sually strong opposition from Trump’s fellow Republicans, especially lawmakers from farm states who worried about losing their second largest international market.

US President Donald Trump waving to the press as he arrives following overseas travel at the White House in Washington, DC.

For many, it was vintage Trump behaviour: trigger a crisis and let it simmer for a while, then declare it resolved and take credit.

US House Speaker slams new immigration dealBLOOMBERG WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s deal with Mexico to get help on the border in exchange for with-drawing the threat of US import tariffs got a quick thumbs-down from Nancy Pelosi.

The House Speaker released a statement early yesterday

saying Trump had “undermined America’s preeminent lead-ership role in the world” by hanging the threat of tariffs over Mexico.

“We are deeply disappointed by the Administration’s expansion of its failed Remain-in-Mexico policy, which violates the rights of asylum seekers under US law and fails to

address the root causes of Central American migration,” Pelosi said. “Threats and temper tantrums are no way to nego-tiate foreign policy.”

The statement was Pelosi’s first comment since the pres-ident on Friday, while aboard Air Force One returning from Europe, called the California Democrat “a disgrace to herself

and her family” after she reportedly told fellow Demo-crats during a closed-door meeting earlier in the week that the president should be “in prison.”

Trump, while attending D-Day memorial events in Nor-mandy, France, called Pelosi a “disaster” and a “nasty, vin-dictive” person.

Two former Senators found dead in Oklahoma, ArkansasBLOOMBERG LITTLE ROCK

Two former Republican state senators were found dead in their respective homes in Oklahoma and Arkansas this week.

Jonathan Nichols, 53, who served in the Oklahoma Senate for 12 years, was discovered with fatal gunshot wounds in Norman on Wednesday. More than 400 miles to the east, former Arkansas state Senator Linda Collins-Smith was found dead at age 56 a day earlier in a pos-sible homicide, according to NBC affiliate KARK. Police said the cases are under investigation.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson expressed shock at Collins-Smith’s death.

The county sheriff’s office in Arkansas didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Norman police’s public infor-mation officer wasn’t available.

Nichols, who served as in the Oklahoma Senate from 2001 to 2013, was found with an apparent gunshot wound after his family called 911, broadcaster KFOR cited police as saying.

Collins-Smith switched from the Democrats to the Republican Party in 2011, was elected to the Arkansas Senate in 2014 and was defeated in last year’s Republican state primary.

Trump criticises Nasa’s new moon missionREUTERS WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump crit-icised Nasa for aiming to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024 and urged the space agency to focus instead on “much bigger” initiatives like going to Mars, undercutting his previous support for the lunar initiative.

“For all of the money we are spending, Nasa should NOT be talking about going to the Moon — We did that 50 years ago,” the president wrote on Twitter. “They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing,

including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!”

Trump’s statement appeared at odds with his administration’s recent push to return humans to the lunar surface by 2024 “by any means necessary,” five years sooner than the previous goal of 2028.

Nasa plans to build a space outpost in lunar orbit that can relay astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024, part of a broader initiative to use the moon as a staging ground for eventual missions to Mars.

Nasa administrator Jim Bri-denstine said Trump was only

reaffirming Nasa’s space plan.“As @POTUS said, @NASA is

using the Moon to send humans to Mars!,” he said in a tweet referring to the President of US.

The accelerated timetable to land humans on the moon by 2024 ran into early trouble when the Trump administration asked a skeptical Congress in May to increase Nasa’s 2020 budget proposal by $1.6bn as a “down payment” to accommodate the accelerated goal.

The accelerated timetable for going to the moon was a key rec-ommendation in March of the new National Space Council led

by Vice-President Mike Pence. Nasa’s website said the

Artemis programme would send “the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024 and develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2028.”

The Nasa website also pro-vided details on the space agency’s plans for making the moon a jumping off point for future missions to Mars and a place to test equipment and tech-nology for other forays out into the solar system.

The US is the only nation to land an astronaut on the moon but hasn’t performed the feat

since 1972. Nasa no longer has rockets capable of making the trip, and a new moon pro-gramme begun under President George W Bush was subse-quently canceled by President Barack Obama over cost concerns.

China plans to launch the Chang’e-5 probe to the moon later this year, with three more in the offing, Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of the China National Space Administration, said in January. At least two of them will land on the moon’s south pole and conduct research, he said.

Angelina Jolie urges international support for Venezuelan childrenREUTERS BOGOTA

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie yesterday urged the interna-tional community to provide more support to three South American countries with the most migrants from crisis-hit Venezuela, saying 20,000 Vene-zuelan children are at risk of being without basic citizenship rights.

Jolie spoke in Colombia as a special envoy for the Office of the United Nations High Com-missioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

She is on a two-day trip to meet Venezuelan migrants there and met with Colombian President Ivan Duque in Cartagena.

Four million Venezuelan ref-ugees and migrants have fled economic and humanitarian crisis in their homeland.

More than a million are living in Colombia, where the government and aid agencies have scrambled to provide housing, food and health care to an ever-growing influx of migrants arriving in already-poor and violent border regions.

“The president and I spoke

of the risk of statelessness for more than 20,000 Venezuelan children, his commitment to always helping children,” Academy Award-winner Jolie, 44, said at a press conference yesterday.

“We agreed on the urgent need for the international com-munity to give more support to Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, who are bearing the brunt of this crisis.”

Duque said he hoped the visit would alert the world to the seriousness of the migration crisis.

Special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie met with Colombia’s President Ivan Duque Marquez, in Cartagena, Colombia, yesterday.

Venezuela reopens border with ColombiaAP CUCUTA

Thousands crossed into Colombia yesterday to buy food and medicine after Venezuela’s Pres-ident Nicolás Maduro reopened a border that had been shut down for the past four months.

Long lines of Venezuelans stood at two international bridges near the city of Cúcuta waiting to have their documents checked by Colombian officials, with some carrying children on their shoulders. Venezuelan border guards dressed in green uniforms helped to control the crowd.

The South American nation’s socialist government ordered the borders with Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Brazil and Colombia closed in February as the oppo-sition tried to deliver food and medical supplies into the country.

Most of the aid was provided largely by the United States, a key ally of opposition leader Juan Guaidó who declared himself to be Venezuela’s rightful president in January. But Maduro dismissed the aid as an infringement on Venezuela’s sovereignty and prohibited it from entering.

In May, the government

reopened borders with Aruba and Brazil, but the Simon Bolivar International Bridge the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge with Colombia have remained closed up until now.

With the reopening, a flood of people seized on the oppor-tunity to enter into neighbouring Colombia and secure items that are all but unattainable in Venezuela.

The once-wealthy oil nation is now facing severe shortages of basic goods and hyperin-flation that is expected to surpass 10 million percent this year, according to a recent IMF estimate.

Ecuadorian leader denies extradition of NY man accused of Facebook fraud

REUTERS QUITO

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno has blocked the extra-dition to the United States of a New York man charged with trying to defraud Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg, a document stated.

Moreno wrote in the June 4 document that he was denying the extradition of Paul Ceglia, who spent nearly 3-1/2 years as a fugitive before being arrested in Ecuador last year, for human-itarian and reciprocity reasons.

An Ecuadorean court authorised the extradition of Ceglia, a wood pellet salesman from Wellsville in upstate New York, in November 2018.

“In an exercise of national sovereignty, attending to the principle of reciprocity in public international law and for humanitarian reasons ... I del-egate to you Minister to deny the extradition,” Moreno wrote to in the letter to his interior minister.

Ceglia claimed in a 2010 suit that Zuckerberg had, while a student at Harvard University, signed a contract giving him half of a planned social net-working website that later became Facebook. A US district judge dismissed Ceglia’s lawsuit after another judge said the contract was doctored.