BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 24

Clay King Nadal wins 11th French Open title

QFBA appoints Dr Al Horr

as CEO

Volume 23 | Number 7554 | 2 RiyalsMonday 11 June 2018 | 26 Ramadan I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

RAMADAN TIMINGTodays Iftar: 6:27 pm

Tomorrow’s Imsak: 03:04 am

WOQOD to have 88 fuel stations by year-endMOHAMMAD SHOEB

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Fuel (WOQOD), the main distributor of petroleum products in the country, announced to have 30 new petrol stations by the end of this year, taking the total number of fuel stations to 88, a top official of the company unveiled yesterday.

The company earlier announced to make huge investment this year as part of its long-term growth strategy, and expanding its operations in Qatar. To achieve that ambi-tious target, WOQOD investing QR634m this year in developing new projects, with special focus in opening more fuel stations across the country.

“We want to reach from 58 to 88 petrol stations by the end of this year. Those are not just plans, but signed contracts with developers who are imple-menting them on the ground. If you go around, you will get to see being developed in different parts of the country,” Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi, Chief Executive Officer of WOQOD told The Peninsula on the side-lines of the company’s Extraor-dinary General Assembly (EGM)

meeting yesterday. Asked about company’s

plans to expand outside Qatar, including Oman and Kuwait, Al Muhannadi said that currently WOQOD is focusing to invest in Qatar to enhance its services for customer satisfaction.

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Qatar, Oman sign MoU to boost education tiesDOHA: Qatar and Oman have signed a MoU on enhancing and developing cooperation in the fields of science, higher education and technology.

→FULL REPORT ON PAGE 3

Kahramaa opens third power substation for metro projectSANAULLAH ATAULLAH

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has opened third power substation at a cost of about QR100m to supply elec-tricity to Gold Line of Doha Metro of Qatar Rail at Al Waab.

“After a year of unjust siege imposed on Qatar, we are cele-brating the completion of third out of five power substations which are being built by Kah-ramaa for Qatar Rail,” said Kah-ramaa President, Eng Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari.

He said that Kahramaa is able to expand the service if needed in future for rail projects, adding that Kahramaa is com-mitted to complete the projects

on given time. “The project ‘Al Waab City Metro Substation’ with the capacity of 132/33 KV is one of the five substations which are being implemented by Kahramaa for Qatar Rail to supply Doha Metro at a total cost of QR700m,” said Ahmad Al Kuwari, Head of the Projects Section at Kahramaa.

Al Kuwari was speaking with media persons on the side-lines of the inaugural ceremony of the new substation.

He said that first substation for Qatar Rail was opened at Ras Abu Fantas in July 2017 and second substation at Lusail was commissioned in March 2018.

“Next substation, the fourth one will be opened soon at west of Doha and fifth substation with car parking facilities is expected

to be operational in mid 2019,” said Al Kuwari.

Kahramaa is proud to supply power to Doha Metro as per its requirement as Kahramaa is a main partner in the develop-mental projects taking place in the country, said Eng. Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari.

“Doha Metro stations were given priority in awarding projects, it was one of the chal-lenges for Kahramaa which was implemented at highest standards successfully,” said Al Kuwari.

He said that the power sub-stations for Doha Metro are equipped with special tech-nology to ensure power supply in any emergency situation.

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Russia 2018: Last stop before Qatar’s showpieceQNA

DOHA: Eight years on after Qatar was awarded the hosting rights of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the first Arab country to get such an honour, different state bodies, led by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), continue to work to ensure organ-ising a historic championship through stadia and infrastructure projects and drawing plans and strategies to overcome obstacles

and achieve success.As part of its efforts to

provide a unique experience to fans in 2022, SC has been organ-ising a monitoring programme since 2010 that started with the South Africa finals and con-tinued in Brazil finals in 2014, EURO 2016 and the Russia finals, which kick off in a few days, before the State of Qatar goes through the same experience in four years’ time.

SC and its partners at the

Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Min-istry of Municipality and Envi-ronment, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Kahramaa, Ashghal, Qatar Real, Qatar Tourism Authority, Qatar Foundation, Qatar Football Association, Qatar Stars League, Qatar Olympic Committee, Aspire Zone, Qatar Museums and Doha Film Institute.

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Additional petrol stations by the end of 2018

Current number of petrol stations

30

58

02 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018HOME

MoU signed to boost Qatar, Iraq media ties THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Chairman of Qatar Media Corporation Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani met yesterday with Chairman of the Iraqi Media Network Mujahid Abu Hail and his accompanying delegation, currently visiting Doha.

The meeting was attended by CEO of Qatar Media Corpo-ration Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani.

The meeting discussed the media relations between the two countries. The two sides signed a Memorandum of Under-standing for cooperation in the field of media. The MoU includes the exchange of experiences,

information and media resources, training the staff of the Iraqi Media Network in the professional and technical fields, and developing the media content industry.

The two sides underlined

their keenness on strengthening and developing the cooperation between Qatar Media Corpo-ration and the Iraqi Media Network through activating the provisions of the MoU in order to achieves common interests.

The Chairman of Qatar Media Corporation, Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, and the Chairman of the Iraqi Media Network, Mujahid Abu Hail, with a memento during the signing of MoU.

QNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratu-lations to the President of the

Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior

Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent similar messages respectively to the President and Prime Minister of the Portu-guese Republic, Antonio Costa.

Amir greets President of PortugalMME ensures food safety & readies parks for Eid Al FitrTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Munic-ipality and Environment (MME) has intensified efforts to ready public parks to receive visitors during Eid Al Fitr. The public parks will be open for public from 8am to 12 midnight.

The Public Park Section at Al Shamal Municipality has cleaned out all facilities at park. The cleanliness section will clean and spray pesticides at prayers ground, garbage bins at fish market, slaughterhouses and new market.

The departments concerned intensified their preparations for the Eid Al Fitr, through inspection campaigns and tours on food facilities as well as maintaining public parks to receive the public during Eid.

Doha Municipality has set up a team of inspectors and veter-inarians to inspect shops selling sweets, nuts and other items to ensure the safety and to check animals in slaughterhouses on daily basis. The team will also inspect vegetables and fruits in the central market, refrigerators

and warehouses in the indus-trial zone in order to ensure the highest levels of food safety.

Al Shamal Municipality, has taken the necessary prepara-tions for the comprehensive cleaning of all parks, such as playgrounds, corridors, water coolers, lighting poles and beyond.

Al Wakrah Municipality also carried out inspection on food establishments before and during the holy month of Ramadan. The campaigns were carried out on three periods; morning on the fish market and

some of the institutions that are active during daytime, while the evening and night periods focused of restaurants, coffee shops and juice stalls. The inspection campaigns will con-tinue during the Eid.

Al Sheehaniya Municipality has implemented a plan to prepare for the Eid Al Fitr, through several activities, including landscaping, and pre-paring playgrounds, hygiene of gardens, and monitoring of gardens to ensure the safety and security of visitors and the pres-ervation of public property.

Russia 2018: Last stop before Qatar’s showpieceCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The monitoring programme comprises 180 persons who visit different host cities, some of whom are part of the local organising committee and the FIFA teams.

SC Assistant Secretary General Nasser Al Khater said the programme aims to benefit from the experiments of host nations in order to learn from their experiences and knowledge to the State of Qatar and develop the capacities of

Qatari cadres who will partic-ipate in hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup or those who work in the sporting sector and event organization in general.

Speaking to QNA, Al Khater said that the Qatari delegation will learn about the different aspects of organising the World Cup in Russia, starting with operations at the stadiums, organizing transportation, security, entry and exit, fan movement, and facility and hotel management.

As the host nation of the next

World Cup in 2022, Qatar will be present in Russia through a pavilion to promote the different tourism and cultural sites in Qatar and the experiences that await the visitors in four years.

In addition, a World Cup memorabilia museum will be held in one of the biggest shopping malls in Moscow. The museum will include prominent historic memorabilia that belong to Qatari engineer and car-toonist Mohamed Abdullatif in addition to some of the collect-ibles of former Al Rayyan player

Ali Al Ali, who is also president of former footballers ’ committee.

Al Khater said the pavilion aims to market Qatar as the hosting country and an interna-tional destination for sports and tourism, in addition to intro-ducing the Qatari culture to visitors.

He added that the success of the monitoring program in Russia will play a vital role in benefiting from the experiences of the hosting country in order to ensure a historical event that

takes place for the first time in the region and Arab world.

The Qatari delegation at the Russia World Cup has three dif-ferent tasks; the first task is con-cerned with monitoring and aims to learn about the work progress at host cities including transportation, roads and security. The second task includes an awareness and services operation for fans in order to promote and introduce the Qatar World Cup through small outlets in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg and

give the public an idea about Doha and an overview of what the 2022 World Cup has to offer.

The third task is responsible for the activities taking place on the sidelines of the World Cup, most prominently the pavilion that aims to provide the audience with Qatar’s touristic and cultural destinations, in addition to the World Cup finals’ museum, which will be held in one of the famous hotels in Mos-cow’s Red Square in cooperation with the Qatari artist Mohamed Abdullatif.

Preparation under way Al Shahaniya Park to welcome visitors.

03MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 HOME

GU-Q students travel to Greece to understand Syrian refugee crisis THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Twelve students of Geor-getown University in Qatar (GU-Q) recently travelled to Greece to volunteer and improve their understanding of the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.

They were there as a part of the University’s Community Engagement Programme, a vol-unteer and community-based learning opportunity that helps students develop an under-standing of the world as an inter-dependent system and increases their global awareness, said a statement.

This year’s programme, held under the theme “Refugees: Edu-cation in Crisis”, saw students spend 30 hours volunteering with Education Above All to assist with

data collection, monitoring, eval-uation, and research for the Together Project.

Through workshops both before and during the trip, stu-dents were briefed on the state of refugees in the Greek island and the impact of the ongoing civil war in Syria. They were then able to meet with local community members to gather their own understanding of how Greece is dealing with the humanitarian effects of the conflict.

“We pick up themes every year that are in line with Qatar’s vision,” explained Uday Rosario, Assistant Director for student pro-grammes at GU-Q. “Every year we look at different case studies that are interesting to our students and tie in to what they study in the classroom. We decided on

Greece because of the current refugee crisis and the interesting case study it presented to our stu-dents. The island of Lesvos has dealt with the refugee crisis through community engagement as well as innovative humani-tarian practices.”

The trip exposed students to all sides of the political spectrum, introducing them to a variety of civil society organisations dealing with the crisis and helping them develop an understanding of human interaction in the field.

They also did volunteer work including preparing campsites and storage warehouses and cre-ating shaded areas for the summer, in addition to assisting with Ramadan food distribution for the first few days of the holy month.

The students of Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) in Greece as part of their visit there to volunteer and improve understanding of the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.

Ecuador’s FM meets Qatar’s envoy The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ecuador, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, and Deputy Foreign Minister, Rolando Suarez, have met with Qatar’s Ambassador to Ecuador, Hassan bin Ibrahim Al Malki, on the occasion of the end of his tenure in the country. During the meeting they discussed bilateral relations and ways of supporting and developing them, in addition to a number of issues of common concern.

MEC notifies shops to modify status in commercial licensesTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) has notified 19 shops to modify their status in the commercial licenses and records, during a surprise inspection campaign carried out on a number of shops in a shopping mall in Muraikh area.

MEC launched a number of awareness programs during Ramadan, under the slogan “Less than Duty” to promote consumer culture, define his rights and duties and support him to plan properly and benefit from the virtues of this

holy month. MEC has urged all traders and shop owners to abide by the rules and regula-tions of practicing commercial activities and urged them to learn about the laws and regu-lations governing the conduct of commercial activities by vis-iting the website of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce www.mec.gov.qa so as not to be subject to legal liability and violation.

The ministry also urged all citizens and residents to report violations or irregularities related to registration and com-mercial licenses through its communication channels.

Qatar-Oman MoU to boost cooperationTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar and Oman has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on enhancing and developing coop-eration in the fields of science, higher education and tech-nology.

Under-Secretary of the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi signed the MoU along with Ambassador of the Sul-tanate of Oman to Doha, Najeeb bin Yahya Al Balushi, QNA reported.

The signing of the MoU stems from the excellent rela-tions between two countries , and their keenness to promote and develop cooperation in the fields of science and higher edu-cation on the basis of the prin-ciple of mutual interest and to achieve the goals and objectives of common concern.

According to the MoU, the two parties encourage cooper-ation in the fields of exchange of experiences in the transfer of science, knowledge and modern technology as well as conducting joint scientific research and exchanging visits between higher education officials, members of academic entities, lecturers, researchers and stu-dents at higher education institutions.

The cooperation includes training of researchers and joint

organization of exhibitions, sem-inars and scientific forums, in addition to ensuring equal and effective protection of intel-lectual property rights in accordance with the legislation of both parties and international treaties that they are parties to.

Under the MoU, the two parties shall prioritize cooper-ation in the field of quality improvement in higher edu-cation, advanced educational programs and the use of modern technology in higher education.

In accordance with their respective procedures, the two parties shall encourage the

enrollment of students of the other party into their own rec-ommended higher education institutions in accordance with the capacity of these institutions and meeting the admission requirements for the courses offered.

The two parties shall also encourage the exchange of information on all diplomas and degrees issued by institutions of higher education in both coun-tries in order to accredit these diplomas and degrees based on the rules of mutual academic accreditation and in accordance with the laws and regulations in both countries.

Speaking at the signing cer-emony, Dr. Al Nuaimi expressed his delight at signing the MoU, praising in this regard the lasting relations with Oman in all fields. He added that the signing of the MoU reaffirms that the relations between the two countries will see a greater development in the coming phase, and that the agreement will be a good start for both parties, stressing the importance of cooperation in the fields of scientific research and other relevant fields.

Dr. Al Nuaimi noted that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education is committed to put its scientific and research capa-bilities and expertise in the dif-ferent fields at the disposal of Omani entities to benefit from them. He also said that the min-istry is also pleased to benefit from their expertise in the areas covered by the MoU. For his part, Al Balushi said that the MoU includes many articles that are in the interest of both countries, especially enhancing cooper-ation in science, higher edu-cation and technology, and forging a new relationship in the field of education.

The ambassador noted that the MoU would be a good start to open other areas of cooper-ation for the benefit of the two countries, stressing the impor-tance of activating the provisions of the memorandum and turning them into reality.

Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi (right), Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to Doha, Najeeb bin Yahya Al Balushi, sign the MoU.

Kahramaa opens 3rd power substation for Metro projectCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The sub power station of Al Waab, is part of the 12th phase of the electric transmission network expansion project in Qatar.

“Kahramaa is following global stander of safety and security measures at its all operation as 816,000 man-hours without a lost time injury (LTI) during the implementation of the project of Al Waab City Metro Sub-station,” said Ahmad Al Kuwari, Head of the Projects Section at Kahramaa. He said that the work continued for 30 months.

He said that Kahramaa gives top priority to the welfare of workers to improve their living condition consid-ering them partners of development.

WOQOD to have 88 fuel stations by year-endCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The shareholders of WOQOD approved all the items on the agenda of the meeting, including the Board of Directors’ proposal to amend Article 9-1 of the company Articles of Asso-ciations to raise the non-Qatari ownership to 49 percent of the company share capital and to raise the limits of ownership to the one shareholder to 1 percent.

The EGM, which was pre-sided over by Ahmed Saif Al Sulaiti, Chairman of the Board of Directors of WOQOD, was held at the company’s head-quarters in West Bay.

Al Muhannadi (the CEO of WOQOD) indicated that this

amendment came in order to give effect to the instructions of Qatar Petroleum to its listed affiliate companies, and also to address the request of Qatar Stock Exchange to undertake the said amendments with the purpose of enhancing the investment attractiveness of Qatari companies, after classi-fication of Qatar was raised by MSCI and a number of interna-tional indexing agencies to the level of emerging markets, thus becoming the largest emerging market in the region. The amended Article 9-1 of WOQOD Articles of Associations reads as follows: ”Except for the owner of the privileged share, Shafallah Center and the State of Qatar (as

defined in Qatar Financial Market Authority Decision No. 1 of 2016), the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Com-munity Development, The Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar Holding Company, no natural or legal person may at any time - directly or indirectly - hold shares in the Company in excess of 1 percent of the issued cap-ital. Subject to the provisions of the above paragraph, non-Qataris may hold a total per-centage of the capital of the Company not exceeding 49 percent of the issued capital in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 9 of 2014 regulating the investment of foreign capital in economic activity”.

Eng. Ahmed Ali Al Kuwari (third left); Ahmad Al Kuwari, Head of the Projects Section at Kahramaa; with other officials during the inauguration of Kahramaa Al Waab station yesterday.PIC: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

Ahmed Saif Al Sulaiti (second right), Chairman of the Board of Directors of WOQOD; Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi (right), CEO of WOQOD and other board members at company’s Extraordinary General Assembly (EGM) meeting held at its headquarters yesterday.

04 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018HOME

Commercial Bank shares Iftar with elderly at Ehsan THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Commercial Bank has organised an Iftar in honour of the elderly residents of the Empowerment and Elderly Care Centre (Ehsan).

The Iftar was held as part of Commercial Bank’s series of CSR initiatives focusing on the Qatari community during the holy month of Ramadan and to coincide with the United Nations’ annual Global Day of Parents.

A team from Commercial Bank team visited the residents

at Ehsan and shared an Iftar buffet with them in an atmos-phere of solidarity and hap-piness that comes with the breaking of the fast.

Commercial Bank Group CEO, Joseph Abraham, said: “Our Iftar with Ehsan is a gesture of solidarity, appreci-ation and respect for the older generation who have done so much for Qatar. The United Nations’ Global Day of Parents provides an opportunity to thank all parents for their selfless commitment to children and this Iftar was our way of

marking this occasion and keeping with an important social value during Ramadan.”

Seeking to provide a safe, stable life for Qatar’s elderly cit-izens by offering them healthcare, social and psycho-logical services, Ehsan provides home-based care and raises public awareness, especially amongst families, about embracing the elderly. Ehsan strives to develop an integrated care system that includes the home, the hospital and the nursing home to support the elderly.

The elderly residents of the Empowerment and Elderly Care Centre with the staff of Commercial Bank during the Iftar.

The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa gets 100 participants for community race THE PENINSULA

DOHA: In celebration of Global Running Day, The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa in collaboration with Liz McColgan, the renowned Olympic athlete and founder of Doha Athletic Club, organised a community race event for children and young adults.

Global Running Day is an opportunity for people around the world to celebrate the joys of running. The idea behind it is to empower the well-being of the community and to participate in activities whether a solo walk, a long run with friends or even a game of tag with kids.

The community “night to time your best” event took place at Al Sadd Club and gathered around 100 participants which consists of children and young adults from 5 to 17 years old

along with adults from different nationalities.

During the event, all partic-ipants received a Westin pack lunch bags that contains fresh juices and nutritious snacks to promote healthy eating habits. Additionally, the winners were given medals, certificates and Hotel vouchers in order to rec-ognise their participation and commitment towards a healthy lifestyle.

Commenting on the event, Gianrico Esposito, General Manager of The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa, said: “As a leader wellness brand in hospitality, we strive to share our passion for sports and inspire others to get moving.” He added: “ we strive to spread well-being activities among the community because it is part our global initiative, and we are committed to being part of the country’s vision for a

healthier nation.” From her side, Liz McColgan

Ex Olympic athlete and founder of Doha Athletic club, said: “Ath-letic Zones are pleased to collab-orate with The Westin Hotel to present the “night to time your best” evening of athletics to cel-ebrate National Global Running Day. She added: “This com-munity event encourages fam-ilies to exercise together and also set standards so that in the future they can assess their devel-opment. As founder of Doha Athletic Club, this event gives our members an opportunity to compete and improve their per-sonal bests.”

The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa has organised an internal activation for its associates on the June 6 where participants from all the departments have joined in a 5K run at Aspire Zone.

And to empower the

wellbeing of their guests, the hotel is running a competition for their gym members for a

whole month to encourage them to track their running progress, at the end of the competition, the

winner will get a complimentary one month membership and a weekend stay.

The winners of the community race, which was organised by The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, with their certificates and medals.

Ooredoo team visits EhsanTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ooredoo volunteers visited the Center for Elderly Care and Empowerment (Ehsan) yesterday to connect with some of the residents supported by the organisation.

The volunteers, which were there as part of the #Ramadan-WithOoredoo CSR campaign, sat and spoke with residents,

distributed gifts and thanked the staff for their hard work and dedication.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Ooredoo Director of PR and Corporate Communications, said: “Our visit aims to help encourage people to think of others during the Holy Month of Ramadan. Our volunteers spent just a few hours with the staff and residents of Ehsan but

helped bring joy to their lives during this time. Ooredoo would like to thank all the Center for Elderly Care and Empowerment (Ehsan) staff for their hard work, not just during Ramadan, but throughout the year.”

For more details on Oore-doo’s Ramadan offers and CSR events follow the #Ramadan-WithOoredoo on Ooredoo’s social media.

The officials of Ooredoo and Ehsan pose during the visit.

Qatar Airways to launch Qsuite on Canberra & Sydney flights THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Airways announced yesterday that its award-winning Business Class experience, Qsuite, will be available on flights to and from Canberra, its newest Australian destination, via Sydney, from July 1, 2018.

The announcement comes less than six months after the airline launched its Canberra route in February 2018. The Doha to Canberra flight makes one stop in Sydney, bringing Sydney res-idents a second daily service to and from the Qatari hub.

The route will be initially be served by Qsuite up to four times a week, with daily Qsuite service to commence on August 1, 2018.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Since its launch, Qsuite has received tremendous attention globally, and we are delighted to introduce this revolutionary product on our Canberra and Sydney routes. With Qsuite, we have truly redefined business

and luxury travel, and we are certain that the highly-adaptable and personalised product will be a much-welcome addition for Australian travellers.

“Qatar Airways now offers 4,376 seats daily to and from our five Australian gateways, pro-viding Australians with the most technologically-advanced fleet of air-craft in the skies today, and demonstrating the importance of the market to our network. As

we continue to grow in Australia, we are glad to also be contrib-uting to the market by providing greater consumer choice with our award-winning cab-ins and services, and increased accessi-bility to global markets for busi-nesses with our robust global network of more than 150 destinations”.

The reigning Skytrax ‘Airline of the Year’ has strengthened its presence in Australia in recent years. Along with the intro-duction of Qsuite on the Can-berra-Sydney route, passengers travelling with Qatar Airways to and from any of its other four Australian gateways can enjoy flying on its state-of-the-art modern fleet, consisting of the iconic A380s to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth; while south Australians benefit from the air-line’s A350 daily service to Adelaide.

Since the launch of services to Australia in 2009, Qatar Airways has carried more than three million passengers on its flights to Australia, supporting its

AUD40bn international tourism industry. These services have also helped connect Australian exporters to the world via belly-cargo capacity, enabling trade between Australia and the State of Qatar valued at AUD947m in 2016-17.

Patented by Qatar Airways, Qsuite features the industry’s

first-ever double bed available in Business Class, as well as private cabins for up to four people with privacy panels that stow away, allowing passengers in adjoining seats to create their own private room, a first of its kind in the industry. Adjustable panels and movable TV monitors on the centre four seats allow

colleagues, friends or families travelling together to transform their space into a private suite, allowing them to work, dine and socialise together. These new features provide the ultimate customisable travel experience that enables passengers to create an environment that suits their own unique needs.

Passengers at Qatar Airways’ award-winning Business Class experience, Qsuite.

The announcement comes less than six months after the airline launched its Canberra route in February 2018. The Doha to Canberra flight makes one stop in Sydney, bringing Sydney residents a second daily service to and from the Qatari hub.

MEC recalls Dodge Ram models of 2009, 2011-15THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ministry of Economy and Commerce announced the recall of Dodge Ram models of 2009 and 2011-2015 over defective brake transmission shift interlock

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, in collaboration with United Cars Almana, dealer of Dodge vehicles in Qatar, has

announced the recall of Dodge Ram models of 2009 and 2011-2015 over defective brake trans-mission shift interlock.

The ministry said the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs.

The Ministry said that it will coordinate with the dealer to

follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will com-municate with customers to ensure that the necessary repairs are carried out.

The Ministry has urged all customers to report any viola-tions to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department, which processes complaints, inquires and suggestions.

05MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 HOME

MEC educates public on organ donationTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in cooperation with Hamad Medical Corporation, yesterday organised a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation in a bid to motivate and encourage employees to donate.

The campaign is part of the Ministry’s community

outreach programme and reflects its humanitarian values in line with a strategic plan to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030, which focuses on citizens as pillars for sustainable human development.

The campaign aims to educate the public on the importance of organ donation and its contribution to saving the lives of thousands of patients. The campaign

provides potential donors with necessary information on registration procedures.

Participants of the cam-paign welcomed the initiative and were aware of the impor-tance of donating organs, especially since this human-itarian action may contribute to saving the lives of patients and relieving their suffering while instilling the values of cooperation and solidarity in society.A man signs a paper expressing his willingness to donate organ at the campaign by the MEC.

QNL expo highlights importance of gardens in Islam AMNA PERVAIZ RAO

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar National Library (QNL) yesterday opened a three-month long “The Gardens of Al Andalus Exhibition” under the patronage of H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Chair-person of the Board of Trustees, QNL.

The exhibition is created by the Islamic Culture Foundation of Madrid (FUNCI) and it high-lights the importance of gardens in Islam and displays the plants, tools, and gardening methods used by Muslims in Andalusia.

The exhibition was brought to Qatar by the Qur’anic Botanic Garden after it has been success-fully exhibited in various coun-tries in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf.

The exhibition is part of FUNCI’s ‘Med-O-Med, Cultural Landscapes of the Mediterranean and the Middle East’ network.

Al Andalus generally refers to the area of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Muslims from the 8th century to the 15th century, which gave its name to the modern region of Andalusia in southern Spain.

In conjunction with the exhi-bition, the Library has uncovered

various manuscripts, photo-graphs, and rare books related to the topic.

The exhibition will display multiple scale models depicting the most significant gardens of Al Andalus, as well as numerous olfactory devices, which allow one to sample some of the botanical species, used at the time.

The exhibition has recreated a series of 3-metre-tall towers displaying botanic species, his-torical drawings, and the ancient botanical sheets that reference Al Andalus’ gardens, orchards, and properties.

The towers evoke the wind towers common in the tradi-tional architecture of the Arabian Peninsula, which were used to

naturally cool and ventilate buildings. The models represent the different types of Andalusian gardens, as well as water mills.

Talking to The Peninsula during the opening of the exhi-bition, Ines Elexpuru, Director of communications at FUNCI, said: “Islam is not only what you see in media, it’s something that comprises medication, relaxation and peacefulness through dif-ferent mediums. One of the mediums is nature. We are a platform spanning 23 countries which aim at the preservation of the region’s natural and cultural heritage, as well as development and education. This exhibition speaks of its own history and splendour through its gardens which include, open, multicul-tural spaces in which the scien-tific influences and the land-scapes of East and West came together over the centuries.”

“Gardens and the natural world are an important part of Islam, and the gardens of Anda-lusia represent a unique blend of Arabic and European cultures. This exhibition explores the botanical, architectural, scien-tific, spiritual, and artistic aspects of these gardens to present a holistic view of these important cultural and historical creations,”

said Dr. Sohair Wastawy, Exec-utive Director, QNL.

Ada Romero Sanchez, Special Collection and Exhibitions

Coordinator at QNL, said: “This exhi-b i t i o n presents the library’s vis-itors with an opportunity to learn about the Islamic civilisation’s

unique approach to preserving nature. The design and content of the exhibition also allow vis-itors to learn about the historical

interconnections between Spain, Qatar, and the wider Muslim world. We invite everyone to visit the exhibition and also make use of the Library’s wealth of other resources.”

President of FUNCI, Dr. Cherif Abderrahman Jah, said: “Al Andalus was a veritable lab-oratory for the study and dissem-ination of the Islamic sciences, inspired by the Holy Qur’an, and one of the greatest examples of peaceful co-existence between cultures.”`

The exhibition will display multiple scale models depicting the most significant gardens of Al Andalus, as well as numerous olfactory devices, which allow one to sample some of the botanical species, used at the time.

QC holds Iftar programmes at Asian, African universitiesTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Charity (QC) organised an Iftar programme for students in many Asian and African universities including Mogadishu University in Somalia , International University of Africa in Sudan, University of Moratuwa and University of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

QC office in Somalia organised a collective Iftar pro-gramme at the Mogadishu Uni-versity for 200 students spon-sored by Qatar Charity in the country. The programme was attended by Mohammed Adam Khairou, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs of Somalia, who expressed his pleasure in participating with students in the programme. He also lauded

the significant role of Qatar Charity in student’s care.

QC’s Iftar was also attended by the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Abdul Shakur Hassan Al Faqih, who under-lined the importance of the col-lective Iftar and the merit of holy Ramadan. Also, the Pres-ident of the Mogadishu Uni-versity, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Mursal and many scholars have participated in the collective Iftar programme.

QC office in Sudan has also organised collective Iftars for 7,800 students at the African International University, one of the largest universities in Sudan, with about 15,000 students from more than 80 countries of Africa, Asia and Europe.

The students expressed their pleasure in attending QC Iftars

and thanked the people of Qatar. Also Mohamed Abdel Mawarouf Mohamed, Assistant Director of Resource Man-agement at the International University of Africa, expressed his gratitude to Qatar Charity and Qatari People for organising Iftars at the university. It is worth mentioning here that Qatar Charity provides food support to the university students.

Qatar Charity organised two Iftars at two universities of Sri Lanka. The first Iftar was organised for 250 students at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Moratuwa, whereas the second Iftar was held at the Faculty of Law at the University of Colombo and attended by 550 students in addition to lecturers and non-Muslim students.

Students, staff and others at the Iftar programme organised by Qatar Charity at a university.

The visitors at “The Gardens of Al Andalus Exhibition”, organised by Qatar National Library, take a look at various displays. BELOW: A display at the expo. PICS: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

06 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018HOME / MIDDLE EAST

Over 850,000 Vodafone’s ‘Shukran gifts’ distributedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Vodafone Qatar has helped thousands of people thank their loved ones throughout the holy month of Ramadan as part of the Company’s “Shukran” campaign. Meaning thank you in Arabic, the campaign aimed to spread positivity throughout this special month in a bid to encourage the country to show their appre-ciation for everything and everyone in their lives.

To say “Shukran” to their loyal customers and to spread the spirit of unity and appre-ciation, Vodafone Qatar gave all their customers the oppor-tunity to gift up to 100 MB of free data every day and with every recharge. More than 850,000 “Shukran gifts” have been sent to date which is a total of 83 terabits that Vodafone Qatar’s world class network has supported.

By the end of Ramadan, it is expected that the number of “Shukran gifts” sent by Vodafone’s customers will have exceed 1 million sent via Vodafone Qatar’s MyVo-dafone App.

Moreover, the Shukran mentions online in English and Arabic have exceeded 30,000.

As part of their corporate social responsibility activities that the Company is doing throughout the holy month, Vodafone helped 400 people call their loved ones for free via a specially designed “Shukran” Vodafone phone booth, equipped with a Vodafone powered mobile phone. Shoppers at Safari Mall, Plaza Mall and Al Khor Mall, got the opportunity to show thanks for the family and friends in their lives, many of whom had not been in touch for long periods of time.

Diego Camberos, Chief Operating Officer, Vodafone Qatar said: “We’re delighted by the reaction to our Ramadan Shukran campaign. The outpour of thanks and appreciation by people for all the blessings in their life has been overwhelming and we’re proud that our world-class network supported this.”

Ooredoo and Microsoft partner for hybrid cloudTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ooredoo announced yesterday a major partnership with Microsoft to enable Ooredoo to be the first telecom provider in the Gulf to provide Microsoft Azure stack hybrid cloud, which will enable Qatar’s digital business growth and nationwide digital transformation.

Azure Stack is an extension of the Microsoft Azure Cloud, thereby enabling a truly consistent hybrid cloud platform that removes com-plexity and helps organisations maximise investments across cloud and on-premises environments.

Azure stack enables cloud functionality at Ooredoo’s local in–country data centres, giving customers the power of the cloud, scalability and control of their data available within Qatar. This part-nership will drive innovation and digital transformation by using Azure stack hybrid cloud to enable Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics across Qatar.

On the Microsoft Azure platform, Ooredoo will offer its customers a wide range of cloud-based solutions hosted out of its world-class Tier 3 certified Qatar Data Centre. Customers will be able to choose from Infrastructure as a Service solutions, such as backup and disaster recovery, data centre modernisation and

Platform as a Service solutions, such as mobile and web applications.

Ooredoo’s business customers will receive the biggest benefit from a hybrid cloud approach: hosting back-end application data in-country on Ooredoo’s Qatar Data Centre private cloud and hosting front-end application fea-tures on Microsoft Azure’s global Hybrid cloud.

Yousef Abdulla Al Kubaisi, Chief Operating Officer – Ooredoo Qatar, said: “Providing the Microsoft Azure Stack Hybrid cloud is a clear statement of Oore-doo’s commitment to Qatar’s digital transformation. We will provide our business customers with the most advanced hybrid cloud solutions that can optimise costs, flexibility and agility for scaling up as businesses expand, and free up staff to focus on innovation.”

Lana Khalaf, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar, said: “We have seen tremendous cus-tomer and partner excitement about the new opportunities that Microsoft Azure Stack can bring for organisations in the country. Our ‘One Azure Ecosystem’ approach helps extend invest-ments to Azure stack and unlock

new possibilities for hybrid cloud environments to drive inno-vation — anywhere. Microsoft Qatar’s partnership with Ooredoo is a cornerstone in our mission to empower organisa-tions in Qatar and drive digital transformation by making the most out of Azure Cloud services, based on their dynamic business

and regulatory needs”.Business customers can lev-

erage the Ooredoo Advantage, making Ooredoo “Best for Business”, thanks to its breadth and depth of talent, best fixed and mobile networks, broadest portfolio of ICT services and solutions, and trusted partner for 60 years.

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, Chief Business Officer of Ooredoo; Yousef Abdulla Al Kubaisi, Chief Operating Officer – Ooredoo Qatar; with Lana Khalaf, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar; and Frida Kleimert Knibbs, MEA Director Communication Service Providers at the event.

New Porsche showroom officially inaugurated

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: A new Porsche Centre Doha showroom was officially inaugurated by Al Boraq Automo-biles Co. w.l.l during an exclusive event where a line-up of sports cars showcasing the brand’s evolution were on display.

Attended by customers and enthusiasts, the occasion signified the public opening of the brand’s new home in Qatar, whilst also commemorating the 70th anni-

versary of Porsche sports cars.Forming part of the first Sports

Car Together Day global calendar of events, Porsche Centre Doha’s showroom opening highlighted the past, present and future of the Stuttgart-based manufacturer. The 8th of June 1948 marks the date on which the first Porsche vehicle, the 356 “No.1” was registered for road-use. Seven decades on and the brand has become renowned for producing high performance, emotional sports cars that have

proven popular with customers and fans alike.

In continuation of the brand’s success story, Porsche Centre Doha’s new showroom offers a unique purchase environment. Featuring interactive displays, a Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur customisation area, a Heritage Wall displaying the Stuttgart-based manufacturer’s rich history and a Carrera café. Located at Medina Centrale, The Pearl, Porsche Centre Doha’s new

showroom covers 1,000 sqm. The facility features a 14-car

display space, configuration screens that help customers vis-ualise their purchase, a hand-over lounge with interactive touch screens that enhance the expe-rience of collecting a newly pur-chased Porsche, as well as a driving simulator for young enthusiasts.

Speaking during the inaugu-ration, Salman Jassem Al Darwish, Chairman and CEO of Porsche Centre Doha Al Boraq Automo-biles Co. w.l.l., said: “As the Porsche brand continues to evolve and grow, so does our offering in Qatar. This showroom is at the centre of one of Doha’s most established communities, bringing us even closer to our existing cus-tomers and offering enthusiasts access to learn more about a brand that for the last 70 years has

become synonymous with pro-ducing outstanding sports cars.”

“Our new showroom truly embodies Porsche’s principles of innovation, design and efficiency. It is the ideal place to come and get immersed in the world of exclusive sports cars made in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen,” he added.

Attending the launch event, Steffen Fleck, Network Devel-opment Director, Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE, added: “I would like to congratulate Salman Jassem Al Darwish and the Porsche Centre Doha team on launching this state-of-the-art facility. Throughout our 70 years of manufacturing sports cars showrooms like this have played a fundamental role in giving the public a go-to destination where they can see, feel and learn about what makes a Porsche special.”

ABOVE: The new showroom of Porsche Centre Doha. LEFT: The officials at the opening of the centre.

Iraqi ballot box storage site catches fireREUTERS

BAGHDAD: A storage site housing half of Baghdad’s ballot boxes from Iraq’s parliamentary election in May has caught fire, just days after parliament demanded a nationwide recount of votes, drawing calls for the election to be re-run.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said later the fire was confined to one of four warehouses at the site. State television said the ballot boxes were being moved to another location under heavy security.

Authorities did not say whether they believed the fire was deliberately set, but its timing undermined the results of an election whose validity was already in doubt. Fewer than 45 percent of voters cast a ballot, a record low, and allegations of

fraud began almost immediately after the vote.

Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, whose electoral alliance came third in the election, said on Tuesday that a government investigation had found serious violations and blamed Iraq’s independent elections com-mission for most of them.

Parliament mandated a full manual recount the next day. The Independent High Elections Commission had used elec-tronic vote- counting devices to tally the results. A recount could undermine nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States whose bloc won the largest number of seats in the election. One of Sadr’s top aides expressed concern that some parties were trying to sabotage the cleric’s victory.

Heavy clashes near Yemen’s Hodeidah as UN seeks ceasefireREUTERS

ADEN: Clashes between troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis intensified near Yemen’s Hodeidah over the weekend as the United Nations tries to negotiate a ceasefire to avert a possible assault on the main port city.

A military attack or siege on the Houthi-held western city, long a target in the war, could cost up to 250,000 lives, a senior UN humani-tarian official has warned. The Red Sea port is a lifeline for eight million Yemenis, handling most of the coun-try’s commercial imports and aid supplies.

Heavy fighting erupted in Al Durayhmi, a rural area where Emirati-led troops are now 10km south of Hodeidah, and in Bayt Al Faqih, 35km from the city. Coalition war-planes and warships launched strikes targeting the Houthis.

UN Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths has been holding talks with the Houthis to hand over control of the port to the United Nations.

Azure stack enables cloud functionality at Ooredoo’s local in–country data centres, giving customers the power of the cloud, scalability and control of their data available within Qatar.

Winners of The Peninsula & Malabar Gold & Diamonds Ramadan QuizRaju T Johny (fourth left), Deputy Branch Head, Malabar Gold & Daimonds, and Mohammed Salim Mohamed (third left), Acting Managing Editor, The Peninsula, with the winners of the third week of Malabar Gold and Diamonds Ramadan Quiz at The Peninsula office. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

07MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets the crowd during an election rally of ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in Kocaeli, Turkey, yesterday.

Erdogan greets crowd during an election rally

Kurd-Arab council ready for talks with Syria regimeAFP

QAMISHLI: The political arm of a powerful alliance of Syrian Kurd and Arab fighters announced yesterday it was ready for unconditional peace talks with the central government in Damascus.

The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) is linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed militia that holds much of the country’s north and east. Those areas are outside regime control, and most are managed by autonomous Kurdish-run administrations that the regime sees as a chal-lenge to its authority.

In a statement, the SDC said it was committed to resolving Syria’s deadly conflict through dialogue, and would not “hes-itate to agree to unconditional talks”. “It is positive to see com-ments about a summit for Syrians, to pave the way to start a new page,” it said.

Leading SDC member Hekmat Habib said that both the council and the SDF “are serious about opening the door to dialogue” with the gov-ernment. “With the SDF’s control of 30 percent of Syria, and the regime’s control of swathes of the country, these are the only two forces who can sit at the negotiating table and formulate a solution to the Syrian crisis,” he said.

The comments are the latest in a string of developments indicating an attempted rap-prochement between the regime and Kurdish authorities, in an effort to head off a clash.

Last month, Syrian Pres-ident Bashar Al Assad warned Kurdish forces he could use

force against them, if he was not able to take their territory through talks.

Several days later, a dele-gation from Syria’s tolerated domestic opposition made a rare visit to Qamishli, most of which is held by Kurdish forces linked to the SDF.

A Syrian Kurdish official said at the time that the dele-gation was trying to play a mediating role between local autonomous authorities and the regime.

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem subsequently said the government was informally talking to the Kurds but that negotiations had not yet started.

It was not immediately clear what kind of talks the SDC or the government have envi-sioned. Neither the SDC nor Kurdish bodies have ever been independently invited to take part in peace talks hosted by the United Nations.

Syria’s government has recaptured more than half of the country, and the SDF is the second most powerful force with just under a third of Syrian territory.

Much of the territory cur-rently under SDF control was captured during a US-backed military campaign against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syria: 17 civilians dead in Idlib regime bombingANATOLIA

ADHAM KAKU: At least 17 civilians were killed Sunday in raids launched by Syrian fighter jets on a hospital and on populated areas in the Idlib province.

According to an Anadolu Agency reporter, the regime warplanes targeted civilians in the cities of Banash, Taftanaz and Ariha, and the villages of Ram Hamdan and Bani Ezz.

The civil defense teams in Idlib reported that the regime targeted Al-Nour Children’s Hospital

in Taftnaz, killing five people, including three children.

The bombing over Taftanaz killed another eight civilians, while two others were killed in a raid on Ariha and two in Banash and Ram Hamdan.

The Civil Defense added that the competent teams transferred the wounded — the number was not specified — to medical centres close to the targeted areas. Idlib, which remains under opposition control, was designated as a “de-esca-lation zone” — in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden — in May of last year.

Syrians are seen with their belongings as they wait to return to Syria ahead of Eid Al Fitr at the Cilvegozu border gate at Reyhanli, in Hatay, Turkey, yesterday. Approximately 70,000 Syrians crossed Cilvegozu to reach their hometown.

Syrians waiting to return ahead of Eid Al Fitr

Suicide car bomb in Somalia hurts seven soldiersMOGADISHU: A suicide car bomb explosion at a military base in Somalia injured seven soldiers, a military official said, and Islamist group Al Sbabaab claimed responsi-bility for the attack.

Al Shabaab fights to topple Somalia’s western-backed central government and impose its a rule based on its own strict interpre-tation of Islam’s Shariah law.

Major Hussein Ali, a Somali military officer told Reuters the attack took place at a military base just outside the town of Kismayu in Southern Somalia.

“We fired (at) the suicide car bomb before it entered the base. It exploded outside the base. Only seven Somali soldiers were injured,” Ali said.

Ex-governor throws hat in ring for Nigerian presidential voteAFP

LAGOS: Another high-profile candidate has announced he wants to stand in next year’s presidential election in Nigeria but held off declaring which party he would represent.

Donald Duke, a former gov-ernor of the southeastern state of Cross Rivers, said: “I’m running. I am sure many, many will join.” Duke is a respected politician who was in charge of Cross Rivers for eight years until 2007 and is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But he has been linked to a movement backed by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who has fiercely criticised

N i g e r i a ’ s i n c u m b e n t Muhammadu Buhari. Obasanjo said in January that Buhari, whose fitness to govern has been questioned after he spent months in London last year being treated for an undisclosed illness, needed a “deserved rest”.

Buhari, who like Obasanjo previously headed a military government, had shown a poor grasp of the economy, foreign policy and Nigeria’s complex internal politics, he added.

Another former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida has equally implied Buhari should step aside instead of seeking a second, four-year term, saying “analogue” leaders should make way for “digital” rulers.

At 56, Duke is so far the youngest declared candidate, just behind the outgoing Ekiti state governor Ayodele Fayose, also of the PDP.

Another PDP presidential hopeful, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, is 71, while Buhari, who looks likely to win the All Progressives Congress ticket unopposed, is 75.

Nigeria recently lowered age limits for political candidates to reflect changing demographics in Africa’s most populous nation and usher in younger leaders.

Duke said: “It’s ridiculous to have a leadership with people of 75 or above in a country where the age average is 21 or 22 years old.

Cameroon soldier killed in English speaking regionYAOUNDÉ: A soldier was killed in an attack in Cameroon’s restive English-speaking Northwest Region.

The soldier was “ambushed” while on patrol with another service member, who was not harmed, near the town of Furu-Awa in the Menchum department, a regional source said.

Violence occurs almost daily in the Northwest and Southwest Regions between government forces and English-speaking separatists, who are fighting for greater autonomy. For years, resentment built among anglophones, who make up about a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 22 million, fos-tered by perceived marginal-isation at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

The SDC said it’s committed to resolving Syria’s deadly conflict through dialogue, and would not “hesitate to agree to unconditional talks”.

Many children grew up witnes-sing three Israeli offensives — 2008 to 2009, 2012 and 2014 — that devastated the strip. At least 68 percent of children say they have difficulties sleeping, and 78 percent consider the single biggest source of fear for them was the sound of warplanes.

08 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018VIEWS

Save the Children: Gaza children on brink of mental health crisis

A generation of children in the besieged Gaza Strip are on the brink of a mental health crisis, a children

rights group said.“A whole generation of children

in Gaza is balancing on a knife edge where one more shock could have devastating life-long consequences,” Marcia Brophy, a senior health adviser at Save the Children, said in a statement on Sunday.

Save the Children, which sur-veyed 150 young adolescents, with a median age of 14, and 150 caregivers living in the coastal enclave, found that 95 percent of children inter-viewed displayed symptoms such as feelings of depression, hyperactivity, a preference for being alone, and aggression.

Many children grew up wit-nessing three Israeli offensives — 2008 to 2009, 2012 and 2014 — that devastated the strip. Furthermore, the 11-year Egyptian-Israeli blockade has severely curtailed the quality of life in Gaza, where youth unem-ployment now is at 60 percent and poverty levels increased from 30 to 50 percent.

At least 68 percent of children say they have difficulties sleeping,

and 78 percent consider the single biggest source of fear for them was the sound of warplanes.

Yet the research also shows that these children revealed strands of resilience, with 80 percent saying they could openly talk about their problems to their families and friends, and 90 percent saying they felt supported by their parents.

Brophy said that while most of the children tied their security to the presence of their families, the breakdown

of that family security is “one of the key triggers for mental health

issues among children in conflict”.‘Address the root cause: the

blockade’Jennifer Moorehead, Save the

Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory, told Al Jazeera that in light of the meagre resources that afflict the Gaza Strip, the world has a responsibility to relieve the suffering of the children there.

“The international community have to get themselves involved [and] invest their resources and their time to address the root cause of this, which is the block-ade,” Moorehead said, adding that this reality is preventing any kind of developments from taking place, leaving children “trapped without the support services they need”.

“The international community needs to step up its assistance and introduce more mental health and psycho-social support into schools, extracurricular activities and homes,” she said.

“Only by doing this immediate step, as well as focusing on ending the blockade and finding a durable and just solution, will children have a more hopeful future.”

The United States vetoed a Kuwait-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution calling for the protection of Palestinian civilians.

At least 120 Palestinians, including 14 children, have been killed and more than 13,000 wounded by Israeli forces during weeks-long peaceful protests in the Gaza Strip near the fence with Israel. Save the Children’s research took place prior to the protests.

‘This fear grips me and a lot of children’

One young adolescent inter-viewed in the report, who is only known as 15-year-old Samar, said that she always fears whether she will be the target of the next missile attack.

“This fear grips me and a lot of children,” Samar said. “Sometimes during the day, I would think about the nightmares I had the whole time.”

“The blockade, the air attacks, and the war all affect my dreams, ambitions and personality. I fear what the future holds.”

This current situation, Moorehead said, where children have been caught in a cycle of depri-vation, was not sustainable.

“It’s not an option that these kids are going to continue to grow up in this kind of environment,” she added, describing the future as one of “no horizon and no opportunity”.

“Kids deserve better than what they are getting now.”

AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAYI really feel confident”

about the unprecedented encounter between

a sitting American president and a member

of the family dynasty that has maintained iron-fist control over

one of the world’s most reclusive countries for

three generations.

Donald Trump US President

Afghan ceasefire a ‘stepping stone’ to peace talks

A successful ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban starting

next week could help lay the groundwork for talks to end the nearly 17-year war, ana-lysts said, but warned a peace deal was still a long way off.

After previous efforts to end the conflict stalled, the Taliban’s surprise decision to suspend fighting for the first time could be a “stepping stone” in the pro-tracted process, a Western analyst in Kabul told on the condition of anonymity.

The Taliban said its fighters would stop attacking Afghan security forces for the first three days of Eid, the holiday capping the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in a move largely welcomed by war-weary Afghans.

The announcement came two days after the Afghan government’s own unexpected decision to halt hostilities against the mili-tants for a week.

“This mutual ceasefire, if successful, can possibly inspire or encourage future,

more substantial steps towards peacemaking,” Borhan Osman, a senior analyst with the Interna-tional Crisis Group, told.

“Fighting has been the integral feature that has characterised the Taliban since the movement was born. A break from it, although very brief, repre-sents an important departure from its modus operandi.”

The Western analyst said a move by both sides to respect the ceasefire — which is not guaranteed — would send a signal that “we can do this”. It would also show that the Taliban lead-ership is able to control its fighters.

The ceasefire could help build trust between the gov-ernment and the Taliban, and provide “a very good stepping stone for further interaction”, the analyst told.

President Ashraf Ghani’s ceasefire declaration came on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan’s top clerics branding suicide attacks “haram”, or forbidden.

It also followed the Pen-tagon’s announcement that senior Taliban officials had

been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a pos-sible ceasefire.

Afghan political analyst Haroon Mir said the Tali-ban’s reciprocal, albeit shorter, ceasefire was “pos-itive” for the Afghan people, but he cautioned that significant hurdles to peace remained. “The question now is, is the US willing to accept negotia-tions with the Taliban?” Mir said.

Before Ghani’s peace talks offer to the Taliban in February, which the group ignored, the militants had issued a letter calling on the United States to negotiate directly with them. Wash-ington refused.

Despite the ceasefire, fighting on the battlefield is likely to continue.

Both sides have vowed to retaliate if attacked and the Taliban’s ceasefire does not extend to US-led Nato forces. US Forces said they would step up the fight against the Islamic State group during the ceasefire.

There also are concerns that the Taliban’s brutal arm the Haqqani Network, sus-pected of being behind

many of the recent attacks in Kabul claimed by IS, could launch more assaults on behalf of the rival group.

“It’s a wait and watch,” a foreign diplomat in Kabul told AFP.

“I don’t think the Haqqani Network will be on board (with the ceasefire). I wouldn’t be surprised if some incidents happen and are claimed by Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Hours before Saturday’s announcement, Taliban mil-itants launched two separate assaults on Afghan security forces in the western province of Herat and the northern province of Kunduz, killing at least 36 soldiers and police, officials said. The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on an Afghan military base in the southern province of Kandahar.

One Western diplomat said he was “cautiously pos-itive” about the Taliban announcement. “My sense is we have invested far more wishful thinking into this than we are likely to see,” he said, adding the group tradi-tionally wind down attacks over Eid.

Many observers consider SECC as being a “war committee” rather than focussing on development and well-being of citizens.

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

UAE, Saudi dismantling GCC

Parallel to the GCC summit held on December 5, 2017 in Kuwait, and six months after severing ties and imposing siege on Qatar by three members of the

organization, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia announced formation of a new military and trade part-nership different from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The new military and economic committee was named as Saudi-Emirati Coordination Council (SECC).

Last week, the two countries announced, in what termed as a ‘historic initiative to boost bilateral strategic ties’, signing of 20 memoranda of understanding for more than 60 joint projects to be implemented over the next five years in dif-ferent sectors including security and military.

According to the two countries the “council’s vision aims to promote the two countries” global stature in areas of economy, human development, and political, security and military integration..”. Officials described the initiative as “exceptional Arab model of cooperation for two largest Arab economies, forming the two most modern armed forces”.

Regardless of whether the step is initiative or manoeuvre, it has raised a number of questions. First about its timing,

as the announcement of the for-mation of the new council coin-cided with the GCC summit in Kuwait, and the signing of the above mentioned agreements coincided with completion of one year of unjust siege on Qatar.

Another question is whether these two countries had already decided to hammer the last nail on the coffin for the GCC which represents aspirations of the Gulf citizens to form unified Gulf and to present an Arab model for regional organization similar to the European Union.

This is because four members of the GCC organisation have been excluded from the mem-bership of this council and its military, political and devel-opment schemes. Why Bahrain - the closest ally to these two countries - has been excluded, and also why Kuwait and Oman were not considered for the membership?

Many observers consider SECC as being a “war com-mittee” rather than focussing on development and well-being of citizens. The two States are the most enthusiastic to see Western countries launching war against Iran as well applying pressure on Qatar after the failure of their attempts to lobby against Qatar through siege.

Meanwhile, some other observers have seen the move as UAE’s shrewd step to prevent Saudi Arabia from getting support from its long-time allies within the GCC as the step has isolated Saudi from its supporters in the Gulf.

Considering many major differences between the two countries (Saudi and Emirates), in which other member States of GCC supported Saudi stance such as the incident of UAE’s decision to pull out of the GCC Monetary Union after members agreed to make Riaydh headquarter of the Monetary Union instead of choosing Dubai.

Shortly thereafter the Saudis effectively closed a major land border crossing and later denied UAE citizens to enter on ID cards (a GCC norm) and the move was considered by the Emirates as evidence of Kingdom’s imposing attitude toward smaller Gulf states.

AFP

Any reduction in US force levels in Northeast Asia will be seen as a relative retreat by the US. This is one of China’s key strategic objectives,” said a former senior US military commander in Asia. With no US forces in Korea, “the US-Japan alliance really stands alone in Northeast Asia.”

09MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 OPINION

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Italy’s populist new govt could increasestress on EU unity

Abe tries to keep Japan on Trump’s radar ahead of Singapore summit

THE JAPAN NEWS

TIM KELLY & NOBUHIRO KUBO

REUTERS

Italy’s new government is founded on populism and loudly objects to some European Union policies. This

new administration could jolt the EU’s unity.

Political turmoil that had rumbled on since March’s general election has finally been resolved with the launch of a coalition gov-ernment. The left-leaning 5-Star Movement, which was founded only several years ago, and the League, which champions far-right causes, have formed what might be called an alliance of oil and water.

Giuseppe Conte, a legal scholar and a political novice, has been appointed prime minister. In a policy speech, Conte said, “If pop-ulism means the ruling class listens to the needs of the people ... these political forces deserve” that label. He called for shattering the existing way of doing politics.

With regard to the EU, Conte announced his intention of demanding a review of the fiscal discipline the bloc has imposed on member states and its policy on accepting refugees. This can be said to be a start that will inspire anxiety about Italy’s cooperation with the EU.

Behind the government’s

hard-line stance is rising anti-EU sentiment among Italian citizens. According to a public opinion survey, only 39 percent of Italians felt positively about their nation being an EU member. This was the lowest percentage seen in any of the 28 EU member countries.

Due to the 2011 financial crisis, Italy was forced to adopt austerity policies and structural reforms led by the EU. “Reform fatigue” among citizens and the surge in illegal immigrants undoubtedly laid the foundations for the big gains made by populist parties and for anti-EU policies.

It is problematic that the new government has drawn up pork-barrel policies with inadequate financial foundation, such as major income tax cuts and guar-anteeing a minimum wage. Fiscal reconstruction, which was finally starting to produce good results, could get shunted back to square one. Such policies could even breach EU rules on fiscal discipline.

Italy’s ratio of government debt to gross domestic product stands at about 130 percent, the second-highest ratio in the EU after Greece. Financial markets believe a potential crisis could be lurking in Italy and are very closely watching devel-opments there.

Extreme caution is needed to ensure this does

not develop into a financial and economic crisis across Europe. The new Italian government should also listen to the views of the EU and markets, and not hesitate to amend its populist policies.

Italy is the eurozone’s third-largest economy. Since the European Economic Community was launched in 1958, Italy has been part of the core group of nations promoting regional integration. Germany and France, which have spearheaded this integration, must seriously face up to the situation that has created a euroskeptic administration in Italy.

It appears EU policies that did not consider each nation’s indi-vidual circumstances and exces-sively focused on fiscal discipline might have been a factor that sparked this backlash against the bloc.

EU leaders will hold a summit meeting late this month. The leaders will need to deepen their discussions on growth promotion policies intended to rectify economic dispar-ities in the region.

In dozens of conversations, Jap-anese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has counselled President Donald Trump to avoid making

concessions to North Korea that could upset East Asia’s balance of power, including a military retreat from South Korea that would leave Tokyo alone on the front lines against China’s growing power.

“The big picture is that any with-drawal of US forces from the peninsula would benefit China,” said a source from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy circle.

“In 10 years, the US could be out of Korea and Taiwan could be like Hong Kong,” he added, asking not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Any outcome from Trump’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday that makes that scenario more likely may force Japan to accel-erate preparations to survive without US military power, sources familiar with the nation’s

security planning told Reuters.Already, Japan has reinforced

islands along the edge of the East China Sea, sought new regional allies, such as Australia and India, to balance China’s power and, more recently, made a diplomatic push to reduce tensions with Beijing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday restated that Washington wants “complete, veri-fiable and irreversible” denucleari-zation of the Korean Peninsula. But he added that the US would work to guarantee Pyongyang’s security if it abandoned a nuclear arsenal it says it built to deter US aggression.

The United States has 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. Japan hosts 50,000 US military personnel, including the biggest overseas concentration of US Marines, and an aircraft carrier strike group.

“Any reduction in US force levels in Northeast Asia will be seen as a relative retreat by the US. This is one of China’s key strategic objectives,” said a former senior US military commander in Asia. With no US forces in Korea, “the US-Japan

alliance really stands alone in Northeast Asia.”

Japanese leaders see the same dynamic unfolding, and it has been a key part of Abe’s message to the White House.

“A US military pull out from the Korean peninsula would create a power vacuum. The Pentagon understands this and Japan is also saying this to Trump,” a senior Jap-anese defence ministry official said.

China says its intentions are peaceful and rejects any suggestion it harbours territorial ambitions in Asia.

Japan, nonetheless, fears China’s growing strength. Its military is fed by annual defence spending increases that Tokyo, hemmed in by welfare spending to support a rapidly aging population, is unable to match.

Japan’s military outlays have grown for the past six years, and a policy paper discussed by ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers in May proposed Japan adopt a North Atlantic Treaty Organization-style commitment to spending 2 percent of GDP on defence.

Even at that level, however, Japan’s military budget would still only be about half of what China plans to spend in 2018.

“Unlike the 1930s, Japan cannot militarize and neither can it go nuclear. Japan has no option but to strengthen diplomacy,” said the source from Abe’s policy circle. “Abe is a realist.”

Abe’s diplomacy push included a meeting last month in Tokyo with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the first such visit to Japan since 2010. The two agreed to establish a security hotline to help defuse unexpected incidents.

Throughout, Abe has stuck close to Trump to keep him committed to pressing Kim on denuclearization.

Abe met Trump in Washington on Thursday, the 31st time the two leaders have spoken since Trump took office, more than twice as often as he talked with President Barack Obama during the whole of his second term.

“In the last 18 months, we really spent many hours to discuss this issue. We shall never repeat the past mistakes,” Abe said at a joint briefing with Trump following their

With regard to the EU, Conte announced his intention of demanding a review of the fiscal discipline the bloc has imposed on member states and its policy on accepting refugees. This can be said to be a start that will inspire anxiety about Italy’s cooperation with the EU.

latest tete-a-tete. Abe said sanc-tions on Pyongyang should not ease until it agrees to complete, verifiable and irreversible denu-clearization. Tokyo has also demanded that Kim reveal the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea to train its spies.

Japan will hold back economic assistance to North Korea, Abe has said, until all those issues are resolved. Trump, who has sug-gested he wants to drop the term “maximum pressure,” has focused more on trade.

“The Prime Minister and I have been working to expand our cooperation in a range of areas, including defence and commerce, which is what we discussed today,” he said.

The Japanese public is more pessimistic than their US counter-parts about the prospects of the summit, according to a survey conducted in May and June by Japanese think tank Genron and the University of Maryland. They gathered 1,000 responses in Japan and 1,215 in the United States.

Only 6.2 percent of Japanese respondents agreed that the talks would deliver significant progress on denuclearization, compared with 21.8 percent of Americans in the survey.

Whatever the outcome of Trump’s meeting with Kim on Tuesday, Abe will support Japan’s US ally, said Takahashi Kawakami, a professor at Tokyo’s Takushoku University.

“Abe can argue that denu-clearization talks will take more time,” said Kawakami. “It’s unlikely to hurt his public approval at home, and it will give Trump a bump.”

A file photo of US President Donald Trump with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC.

10 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018ASIA

SCO Summit: India says ‘no’ to Belt & Road projectIANS

BEIJING: India yesterday again said “no” to China’s Belt and Road project, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain merely shook hands on the final day of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao city.

India, which participated at the Chinese-led security bloc for the first time after being inducted into the grouping last year, did not figure in the list of rest of the member states endorsing Bei-jing’s Belt and Road initiative in the joint declaration.

Earlier in the day, Modi made it clear that New Delhi was all for connectivity projects but could not compromise its sover-eignty and territorial integrity.

India strongly opposes Bei-jing’s multi-billion dollar project, which aims to connect Asia with Europe through a network of roads, ports and sea lanes.

New Delhi’s objection is to the key artery of the project - the China-Pakistan Economic Cor-ridor (CPEC), which goes through the Kashmir held by Pakistan and claimed by India.

“We have again reached a stage where physical and digital connectivity is changing the def-inition of geography. Therefore, connectivity with our neigh-bourhood and in the SCO region is our priority,” Modi said.

“We welcome any new con-nectivity project, which is inclusive, sustainable and trans-parent, and respects a country’s sovereignty and regional integrity,” he said at one of the sessions at the Summit.

This is one of the contentious issues between India and China but both seem to have decided not to let it affect other aspects of bilateral ties.

Like India, Pakistan also became a member of the SCO in 2017 and attended the event for

the first time. “It was noted that the SCO had asserted itself as a unique, influential and authori-tative regional organization whose potential had grown remarkably following the accession of India and Pakistan,” the 17-page Qingdao declaration said.

With the inclusion of India and Pakistan, the grouping has expanded into an 8-member bloc. China, Russia, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are SCO’s other members.

Modi, who had bilaterals with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders, just had a handshake with the Pakistan head of state.

The ties between the two countries have plummeted fol-lowing terror attacks at Indian Army bases and continuing sep-aratist violence in Jammu and Kashmir for which New Delhi blames Islamabad.

Modi indirectly slammed Pakistan for fomenting trouble in Afghanistan.

“All parties in the region should respect the sentiment with which (Afghan) President Ghani has taken courageous

steps for peace,” Modi said at the restricted session of the summit on Sunday.

He said it was “our common responsibility to ensure causes that threaten Afghanistan’s sov-ereignty and security are not repeated”.

India and Afghanistan accuse Pakistan of plotting terror attacks in their countries.The bloc vowed to fight terrorism.

“The SCO’s coordinated

policy of waging an effective fight against challenges and threats to security remains unchanged. Practical interaction in this area will be facilitated by the adopted Programme of Cooperation between the SCO Member States in Opposing Ter-rorism, Separatism and Extremism for 2019-21.”

During the summit, Modi and Xi had a “substantive” meeting on Saturday. India struck major

deals like export of rice and Indian pharmaceutical products to China.

The bilateral trade target of $100bn by 2020 was another important announcement by both sides.

The Kyrgyz Republic will take over the Presidency of the organization. The next meeting of the Council of SCO Heads of State will be held in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2019.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping look on during the plenary ceremony of the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, in Qingdao in China’s Shandong province, yesterday.

Government opens lateral entry in top bureaucracyIANS

NEW DELHI: In an unprece-dented move, the Narendra Modi government has sanc-tioned lateral entry of private i n d i v i d u a l s i n t o t o p bureaucracy, arguing it would bring “fresh ideas and new approaches” to governance as also to augment the manpower.

However, the opposition rejected the government’s argument, calling the move a ploy to fill top bureaucracy with “people from the RSS, BJP and some select industrial houses”.

In an advertisement released yesterday, the gov-ernment invited applications for 10 Joint Secretary-level posts through lateral entry.

The Joint Secretary level posts are held by top civil servants who are inducted through a rigorous multi-level competitive exam conducted by the Union Public Service Com-mission (UPSC) and make their

way up to senior position after years of experience in the gov-ernment at lower levels.

“The government of India has decided to invite talented and motivated Indian nationals willing to contribute towards nation-building to join the government at the level of Joint Secretary,” said a notifi-cat ion issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.

The government notifi-cation said that candidates with expertise in specific areas of revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture, road transport and highways, shipping, envi-ronment and forests, new and renewable energy, civil avi-ation and commerce can apply for the posts.

While candidates from state governments as well as central or state public sector under-takings will be appointed on deputation, the candidates from private sector will be appointed

on contract basis, the notifi-cation said. Reacting to the development, Congress Spokes-person PL Punia told IANS: “This is just to sabotage the effi-ciently-running system and with a view to take people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some industrial houses so that they can directly influence the decision-making of the government.”

Punia, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer himself, said there was a time-tested efficient system of recruitment of IAS and officers in other services which was “foolproof”, and that the recruits were “brilliant minds” who are given training keeping in mind the government’s requirements.

He also pointed out that the advertisement said the positions were open for “Indian nationals”. Normally, it is open for Indian citizens.

“What do they mean by

‘nationals’? Why have they not mentioned ‘Indian citizens’ but ‘Indian nationals’. So, we will have to examine whether they have something else in mind, whether they want to include NRIs,” he said.

Asked if he suspected foul play, the Congress leader said: “Yes”.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Sec-retary Sitaram Yechury won-dered as to what were the Modi government’s real intentions behind the move.

“Why are time-tested UPSC and SSC being sought to be undermined? To fill IAS ranks with Sanghis and undermine reservation too, in the BJP’s last few months in office,” Yechury tweeted.

“BJP’s attempt to subvert Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBC reservations in the IAS is not the first. They have done the same for university professors as well, through similar devious methods. This,

when we need more affirmative action, not less,” he added.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant - an IAS officer himself -- welcomed the move, saying it was “long overdue”.

“NITI’s experience with lateral entry has been extremely good. They (candidates) bring in a vast number of fresh and vibrant ideas.

“This move in government was long overdue and I welcome it. (It) Will catalyse UPSC entrants to specialise. The government must also allow deputation of its officers to private sector as well,” Kant said in a tweet.

Joint Secretaries are placed at a crucial level of senior man-agement in the government and lead policy-making as well as implementation of various pro-grammes and schemes of the department assigned to them. They report to the Secretary or the Additional Secretary in the respective Ministries.

Pre-monsoon rainsCommuters ride on bikes along a road as heavy pre-monsoonal rains lash in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, yesterday.

Police arresting Indian smelter protesters based on evidence: State MinisterREUTERS

CHENNAI: Indian police are only arresting people involved in protests against a copper smelter owned by Vedanta Resources where there is vide-ographed evidence of them indulging in “anti-social” activ-ities, a senior state minister told Reuters.

More than 100 people have been arrested, some in early morning and late night raids, since police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in southern India, killing 13, and some res-idents have complained they are being unfairly targeted.

Many of those picked up in and around the port city of Thoothukudi have since been bailed, but the wave of arrests highlights the tensions that con-tinue to fester despite the Tamil Nadu state government’s order to permanently shut down the smelter, on environmental grounds, in the wake of the May 22 shootings.

“We have to take action against anti-social elements who indulged in violence and which has been captured on CCTV cameras,” D Jayakumar, a senior minister in the state, said.

“The police are not going to go to your house, or a normal person’s house,” he said. Family members and friends of three people who were arrested by the police in early morning raids told Reuters last week that they had not taken part in any violence.

State Minister Jayakumar also said there was no question of engaging with London-listed Vedanta on reopening the copper smelter, and added that the shutdown would not have an impact on investment in the state.

“Our stand is clear: the smelter will remain shut. An isolated incident like this is not going to hit investments in the state, as we have good infra-structure and provide attractive tax incentives,” Jayakumar said.

Tamil Nadu, home to more than 70 million people, is one of India’s most industrialised states. Companies including BMW, Daimler, Hyundai, Ford, Nissan and Renault have fac-tories in the state.

Vedanta told Reuters in a statement last month that the smelter shutdown would impact “prospective investor sentiments for investment in the state”, and would lead to a rise in local copper prices.

New Delhi’s objection is to the key artery of the project - the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which goes through the Kashmir held by Pakistan and claimed by India.

Nipah scare contained, says Kerala Health MinisterIANS

KOZHIKODE: The deadly Nipah virus that struck this Kerala district last month and claimed 16 lives in the state has been finally contained and the last of the two positive cases have fully recovered, said Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja yesterday.

The virus struck at Kozhikode which saw 13 people dying, while three deaths were reported from nearby Malappuram district, and more than 2,000 patients with fever was kept under close observation.

After presiding over a review meeting, she told media persons that the virus scare is finally over.

The district authorities, following the scare, had asked to wait for schools to reopen in the new academic year and now schools all set to open from Tuesday onwards while the ban of public functions also has been lifted.

The Kozhikode Medical College hospital, where a special Nipah ward was opened, is now seeing patients returning home, said an official.

BRPL’s newunmanned grid substation opensIANS

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday inaugurated BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) ’s new gr id substation in south Delhi, which will benefit around 3 lakh people and cater to the national capital’s constantly increasing power demand.

The state of art grid sub-station at Fatehpur Beri here, built at a cost of around Rs450m, is unmanned and equipped with the next gen-e r a t i o n d i s t r i b u t i o n technologies.

The 66/11 KV substation will increase the distribution capacity of the area by 50 MVA and improve the power supply in nearby areas.

15 arrested over latest Assam lynchingsAFP

NEW DELHI: Indian police have arrested 15 men after the latest in a spate of lynchings incited by rumours spread on WhatsApp of strangers abducting children, an officer said yesterday.

A mob in a mainly tribal area of the northeastern state of

Assam pulled two men out of their car on Friday night and beat them to death before police could arrive.

A video on YouTube shows the badly bruised and bleeding men pleading for their lives. The two friends, residents of Guwahati city in the state, were returning from a picnic spot.

“We have arrested 15 persons. We have also zeroed in on a couple of people who recorded and uploaded the video,” said senior state police official Mukesh Agrawal. The brutal killings trig-gered protests in Guwahati, where some 2,000 people gathered on the streets to demand justice for the victims.

11MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 ASIA

Pakistan’s caretaker

PM, ministers fail to

submit asset detailsINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: The federal and provincial caretaker govern-ments of Pakistan appear not to care about the law as the interim prime minister and chief ministers and members of their cabinet have so far ignored the legal requirement of submitting the statements of their assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Under the Elections Act 2017, it is mandatory for the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers as well as members of their cabinets to submit statements of their assets and liabilities to the ECP within three days of assuming office.

An ECP official said that the caretakers were required to submit statements of their assets and liabilities, and those of their spouses and children, depicting the position as on June 30.

Under Section 230 of the Elections Act, he said, the statements to be made on a specified form would be pub-lished in the official gazette.

Caretaker Prime Minister retired Justice Nasirul Mulk assumed office on June 1 and was required under the law to file the statement of assets and liabilities of his own, spouse and dependants by June 4, but he has not done so even after a lapse of around a week after the legal deadline.

Only one of six members of his cabinet had filed the statement of assets, the official said, adding that the legal requirement had not been met also by any of the caretaker chief ministers and members of their cabinets.

The law bars the caretaker government from taking major policy decisions, except on urgent matters, and restricts it to activities that are of routine, non-controversial and urgent nature, in public interest and

reversible by the future government.

The caretaker government is required to perform its func-tions to attend to day-to-day matters which are necessary to run government affairs.

The caretaker government is barred by the law from taking any decision or making a policy that may have effect or pre-empt the exercise of authority by the future elected government, entering into a major contract or undertaking if it is detrimental to public interest, entering into a major negotiation with a foreign country or international agency or signing or ratifying an international binding instrument, except in an exceptional case.

The caretaker government also has no powers to make promotions and major appointments of government officials, but is permitted to make acting or short-term appointments in public interest.

The caretakers will not transfer government officials unless it is considered expe-dient and that too after the ECP’s approval. The caretaker government will not attempt to influence general elections or cause to be done anything which may, in any manner, influence or adversely affect free and fair elections.

Meanwhile, the Election Rules, 2017, bar the caretaker prime minister from shuffling government officials without prior permission of the ECP.

Rule 170 of the Election Rules states: “The caretaker government may transfer or shuffle public officials, if con-sidered expedient, after the approval of the Commission. The directions of the Com-mission shall be complied with by the caretaker government and the compliance report shall be sent to the ECP immediately.”

Kyrgyzstan takes over SCO rotating presidency China’s president Xi Jinping (right) welcomes President of Kyrgyzstan, Sooronbay Ceenbekov ahead of a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Qingdao, China. The SCO members agreed that Kyrgyzstan will take over the rotating presidency of the organistaion after the 18th summit.

Details of assets of polls candidates will be kept secret: ECPINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday announced that the details of candidates intending to contest elections and their declared assets will not be made public, reported a private media outlet.

According to reports, the ECP said that parliamentarians

elected previously had opposed making the nomination papers and declaration of assets public and did not allow legislation in this regard.

The law provides voters with the right to raise objections on the candidates. The decision against disclosing the details would affect the transparency of the electoral process.

The ECP had published

online nomination papers of candidates in the last general elections back in 2013, but it won’t make them public this time.

Back in 2013, there was no law allowing the ECP to disclose candidates’ details, however, the authority made nomination papers public exercising its con-stitutional powers.

More than 500 contestants

from different political and reli-gious parties obtained nomi-nation papers on Thursday from the ECP Lahore chapter while some 30 candidates submitted their papers for the upcoming general elections.

In the first phase, the con-testants of different political and religious parties obtained or submitted their nomination papers.

Islamabad’s hospital to offer renal transplants for free from JulyINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) is all set to become the first government hospital in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to begin the otherwise costly kidney transplants free of charge.

According to medical spe-cialists, private hospitals charge a patient with renal failure from Rs2m to Rs2.4m for this surgical procedure along with admission and medical supplies to enable him or her to lead a normal life. Under the law, the patients seeking transplant can get kidneys from the immediate blood relations only.

The PIMS, the capital’s premier government hospital, used to transplant kidneys at a limited scale in the 90s but it got suspended due to the retirement of the transplant surgeon.Now, the hospital has planned to resume the renal transplant early next month.

“Initially, there will be two to three renal transplants and the number will grad-ually go up,” an insider said.

He also said the nephrol-ogists would prepare cases, while urologists would trans-plant kidneys into patients with renal failure with the help of veinologists and anaesthetists.

KP province’s interim govt to allocate funds for four monthsINTERNEWS

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Paki-stan’s caretaker government will allocate Rs198bn to meet the province’s development and current expenditure from July to October.

This was decided during a meeting chaired caretaker chief minister retired Justice Dost Mohammad Khan here on Friday. The participants agreed on the presentation of the administrative budget for the next four months before the interim cabinet after Eid Al Fitr holidays.

The chief minister has yet to name its cabinet’s members.

The last PTI-led government kept changing its mind about the unveiling of the next provincial budget at the fag-end of its five-year term before finally deciding about not to present it in light of a thin majority in the provincial assembly.

The caretaker chief minister also agreed on the grant of 10 per cent increase in pay and pension to the provincial government’s employees as announced by the federal government.

The expenditure estimates for the four months show that the finance department will earmark

Rs145bn for current expenditure, which is 10 per cent more than the current fiscal’s such allocations.

Of that, Rs83bn will go towards meeting salaries of the provincial government work-force, while non-salary com-ponent will add another Rs61bn.

The finance department has proposed to Rs53bn to meet development expenditure and of this Rs24bn would have been allocated for provincial com-ponent of the ADP, while Rs9.8bn would be allocated to districts governments all over the province and Rs18.9 in lieu of the foreign funded projects.

Give us an identity to stop Myanmar exodus: Award-winning Rohingya lawyerREUTERS

LONDON: Stateless Rohingya must be recognised as citizens of Myanmar and given identity documents so they can safely stay in the country instead of fleeing abroad like hundreds of thousands of members of their community, an award-winning lawyer said yesterday.

Kyaw Hla Aung (pictured), a Rohingya lawyer from Myanmar who was named the winner of the Aurora humani-tarian prize, has for decades fought for the rights of the world’s largest stateless minority.

Rohingya Muslims are denied

citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar where they numbered more than 1 million as of last year.

But about 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August after insurgent attacks triggered a response by the army.

“We belong on this land. This government is denying our citi-zenship,” Aung told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview from Armenia, where the award ceremony was held.

“We are citizens of Myanmar, so why have we become stateless?” added Aung, who spent 12 years in prison due to his work. “We cannot keep going

from our land to other countries.”

The Rohingya Project esti-mates there are 4 million Rohingya around the world, the majority living outside their ancestral land since Myanmar excluded them from the coun-try’s recognised ethnic groups in 1982, effectively rendering them stateless.

The United Nations refugee agency says the Rohingya are the biggest minority among an esti-mated 10 million people who are stateless, a status that deprives them of an identity, rights, and jobs.

The latest exodus of

Rohingya Muslims followed a crackdown last August by the military in the northwestern Rakhine state. Rohingya refugees reported killings, burnings, looting and rape, in response to militant attacks on security forces.

The UN and aid agencies have described Myanmar’s coun-teroffensive as ethnic cleansing, which the state denies.

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees by 2020, fol-lowed up by an agreement with the UN last month aimed at eventually allowing those in

Bangladesh to return safely and by choice.

Yet Aung said the lack of documents and citizenship for the Rohingya would hinder their ability to go home and resettle.

“How can these people produce their documents for the government? They are trying to do such things to call us stateless,” added Aung, who said he would give most of his $1.1m prize money to aid groups helping Rohingya refugees.

The Aurora prize runner-ups were Indian campaigner Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of the anti-trafficking charity Prajwala, and Héctor Tomás González Castillo,

a Franciscan friar in Mexico who provides shelter for migrants headed to the United States.

Former PM Abbasi to confront Imran Khan in pollsINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: After PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s announcement to contest election from NA 53 Islamabad, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi may confront him as the PML-N candidate, sources close to Abbasi said.

Abbasi is contesting election from his home constituency of NA 57, comprising Murree, Kotli Sattiyan and Kahuta. He won

this seat for six times in the past.But as no suitable local can-

didate is available for the PML-N in NA 53 against the PTI chief, the PML-N would field Abbasi.

However, a final decision is yet to be taken by the party lead-ership, the sources said.

There are a large number of Abbasis and other people belonging to Murree and Kotli Sattiyan settled in various sectors of Islamabad and its rural areas such as Bhara Kahu and Banigala

who could support Abbasi against the PTI chief.

Former MNA Syed Zafar Ali Shah, UC Phulgran chairman Raja Waqar Mumtaz, M Sajid Abbasi, a UC chairman and general sec-retary PML-N Islamabad city, are the PML-N aspirants for the ticket. Former minister CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry is reportedly supporting Waqar Mumtaz whereas another lobby in the PML-N is in favour of Sajid Abbasi.

Eid shoppingPakistani women look at jewellery at a stall ahead of Eid Al Fitr on the last week of the holy month of Ramadan in Lahore, yesterday

Authorities imposed tight security around the Singapore summit venue and the luxury hotels where the leaders were to stay — including installing extra pot plants outside Kim’s accommodation to obstruct reporters’ views.

12 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018ASIA / EUROPE

US President Donald Trump (left) is welcomed as he arrives yesterday in Singapore. RIGHT: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (left) in Singapore.

Trump, Kim arrive for US-North Korea summitAFP

SINGAPORE: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump arrived here yesterday for an unprecedented summit, with Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal at the top of the agenda and the US president calling it a “one-time shot” at peace.

Bringing the Korean War to a formal end 65 years after hos-tilities ceased will also be on the table at the first-ever meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting president of its “imperialist enemy”.

It is an extraordinary turna-round from the tensions of last year, when Kim accelerated his weapons programmes — earning the North more sets of UN Security Council sanctions — and the two men traded personal insults and threats of war.

But critics charge that the meeting risks being largely a triumph of style over substance. Kim arrived in Singapore on board an Air China 747 that according to flight tracking website Flightradar24 took off from Pyongyang in the morning ostensibly bound for Beijing, then changed its flight number in midair and headed south.

He was driven into the city centre in a stretch Mercedes-Benz limousine accompanied by a convoy of more than 20 vehicles, and later met Singa-porean Prime Minister Lee Hsien

Loong, thanking him for hosting the event. “If the summit becomes a success, the Singa-porean efforts will go down in history,” Kim said.

Trump landed in the evening after a long flight from Canada and the G7 meeting there, telling Singaporean officials who wel-comed him that he was feeling “very good” about the summit.

Authorities imposed tight security around the Singapore summit venue and the luxury hotels where the leaders were to stay — including installing extra pot plants outside Kim’s accommodation to obstruct reporters’ views. Washington is demanding the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the North, while Pyongyang has so far only made public pledges of its commitment to the denuclear-isation of the peninsula — a

term open to wide interpre-tation — while seeking security guarantees.

Former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage expected little progress on the key issue of defining denuclear-isation. “The success will be in the shutter clicks of the cameras,” he said. “They both get what they want.”

Trump insisted last week that the summit would “not be just a photo op”, saying it would help forge a “good relationship” that would lead to a “process” towards the “ultimate making of a deal”.

But as he embarked for Sin-gapore he changed his tune, calling it a “one-time shot” and adding he will know “within the first minute” whether an agreement will be possible.

“If I think it won’t happen, I’m not going to waste my time,” he said. He has also dangled the prospect of Kim Jong Un visiting Washington if the meeting goes well. But the value of the event — long sought by the North, and which Trump apparently impul-sively agreed to in March, reportedly without consulting his advisers — has been called into question.

“People call it a historic summit but... it is important to understand that this summit was available to any US president who wanted to do it and the point is no US president wanted

to do this, and for good reasons,” said Christopher Hill, a former lead US nuclear negotiator with North Korea.

The two countries have been at loggerheads for decades. The North invaded the South in 1950 and the ensuing war pitted US-led UN troops backing Seoul against Pyongyang’s forces which were aided by China. The conflict ended in an armistice which sealed the division of the peninsula.

Occasional provocations by the North have continued while Pyongyang has made increasing advances in its nuclear arsenal, which it says it needs to defend against the risk of a US invasion.

Last year it carried out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland, while Trump threatened the North with “fire and fury” and Kim dubbed him a “mentally deranged US dotard”.

But the South’s Winter Olympics in February were the catalyst for a flurry of diplomatic moves as South Korea’s dovish leader Moon Jae-in sought to bring the two sides together.

Kim has met twice with both Moon and Xi Jinping, the president of China, long the North’s most important ally. Pyongyang has taken some steps to show sincerity, returning three US detainees and blowing up the entrances to its nuclear test site.

Kim’s cat-and-mouse journey to SingaporeAFP

SINGAPORE: North Korea’s capacity for distraction and sleight of hand was on show yesterday as leader Kim Jong-Un flew to Singapore for his summit with US President Donald Trump. No fewer than three aircraft made their way to Singapore from Pyongyang airport, a facility that frequently sees fewer than three international flights a day.

One of them was the ageing Soviet-made Ilyushin-62 that is Kim’s personal jet — officially known as “Chammae-1”, or Goshawk-1, after the North’s national bird but perhaps more memorably dubbed “Air Force Un”. But while Singapore is well within its range, questions have been raised about its reliability and Kim, it turned out, was not on board. Instead he flew on an Air China Boeing 747. According to flight tracking website Flight-radar24, it took off using flight number CA122, a standard des-ignation for the airline’s route from Pyongyang to Beijing. In midair it changed its callsign to CA061 and headed south.

In Singapore, Kim was driven into the city-state in a convoy of more than 20 vehicles, including

an ambulance. Hundreds of Sin-gaporeans lined the streets to capture images of their own of his black Mercedes Benz stretch limousine with tinted windows.

Reporters and photographers packed the pavements outside the St Regis Hotel where Kim was to stay. Rooms at the establishment start at Sg$320 ($240) a night. On the 20th floor, the ostentatiously opulent 335-square metre Presi-dential Suite, where Kim was believed likely to stay, features rooms are “lined with gold, and accented with precious metals like brass, onyx and silver”.

It does not give prices but the list price of a similar facility in New York is $35,000 a night.

Who will pick up the bill for the North Koreans’ stay has been the subject of much speculation. Pyongyang has a history of trying to have others pay for its travel. A Seoul presidential spokesman said it was “not considering it at all at the moment”, while the US has insisted it will not foot the bill. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said his gov-ernment was spending around Sg$20m to host the summit, around half of it on security. He did not mention the North Koreans’ hotel bill.

Downpour in ManilaPeople cross a road during heavy rain caused by Typhoon Maliksi in Manila, yesterday.

Austrian Muslims flay mosque clampdownAFP

VIENNA: Austria’s main feder-ation of Muslim residents (IGGiOe) yesterday voiced its “indignation” after Vienna announced the closure of seven mosques and said it would expel Turkish-funded imams.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had on Saturday strongly criticised the move as anti-Islamic and promised a response and the Muslim feder-ation launched a broadside.

Vienna wants to “discredit the religious community,” the group’s president Ibrahim Olgun said. Olgun said the policy was not “appropriate to control political Islam” and “will lead ultimately to a weak-ening of structures within the Muslim community in Austria.” The Austrian government has not produced any “objective justification” for the closures, four of which apply to mosques in Vienna, he added.

Olgun also criticised the government for not informing the federation of the measures in advance and for unveiling them on the final Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.

“Solutions should be worked out together around a table rather than unilaterally on the backs of the Muslim minority,” said IGGiOe, which is to hold its own audit of

mosques and personnel affected by the policy before requesting a meeting with the ministry of culture.

Vienna announced on Friday that it will close the seven mosques, saying they breached 2015 guidelines requiring “a positive attitude towards the state and society”.

Several imams have been accused of preaching radical Islam. Vienna has thus called into question their future despite their being on the approved list of Turkish Islamic Union of Austria (Atib), the most powerful Turkish religious association in the country and linked to Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs Diyanet.

Up to 60 Atib-approved Imams and their families could be expelled, with Vienna saying they are financed by Ankara, contravening a ban on foreign finance of religious organisa-tions. Two imams have had pending requests for residence permit renewals turned down.

Atib denies there are radical imams working in the mosques concerned although the asso-ciation recognised some Turkish finance which it jus-tified saying this was a known fact and necessary to ensure adequate training. Around 360,000 people of Turkish origin live in Austria, including 117,000 Turkish nationals.

Swiss vote to block foreign-based betting sitesAFP

GENEVA: Swiss voters over-whelmingly approved yesterday blocking foreign-based betting sites in a high-stakes referendum on a new gambling law designed to prevent addiction, but which opponents said amounted to internet censorship.

A full 72.9 percent of voters came out in favour of the new gambling law, final results showed, also indicating that only about a third of eligible voters cast

their ballot. The vote spells a crushing defeat for the opponents who gathered the 50,000 signa-tures needed to put a law change to a referendum, warning the law’s internet restrictions pose a serious threat to liberties online.

The Swiss government says the Gambling Act, which has already been passed by both houses of parliament, updates legislation for the digital age, while raising protections against addiction. The law, which is set to take effect next year, will be

among the strictest in Europe, allowing only casinos and gaming companies certified in Swit-zerland to operate in the country, including on the internet.

It will enable Swiss com-panies for the first time to offer online gambling, but will basically block foreign-based companies from the market.

This aspect of the law in par-ticular spurred a coalition made up primarily of the youth wings of various political parties to launch the referendum.

Man arrested over Japan stabbing spreeAFP

TOKYO: A man was arrested in central Japan after stabbing one person to death and injuring two others aboard a bullet train on Saturday night, a rare violent assault in the Asian nation.

The suspect, identified as Ichiro Kojima, attacked the victims around 10pm (1300 GMT) aboard the shinkansen train which was travelling from Tokyo to a station in Osaka, police and news reports said.

Police officers stormed into the rail carriage and took the man into custody after the train, carrying some 880 pas-sengers, made an emergency stop at Odawara station.

Police arrested the 22-year-old unemployed suspect on suspicion of attempted murder. “A male passenger was sent to hospital and his death was confirmed later,” the spokesman said.

News reports said two women who appeared to be in their twenties were wounded.

The suspect told investi-gators that he felt “frustrated and wanted to kill someone”, public broadcaster NHK said, adding that he used at least two knives. Witnesses said passengers fled in panic, some of them in tears.

Germany’s generous refugee protection guarantees were raising serious questions, Baldauf said. “Who can understand that a rejected asylum seeker who has been tried several times for various violent crimes cannot be deported, but the same man manages to travel back to his home country in a cloak and dagger operation?” Baldauf said.

13MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 EUROPE

Women’s march in LondonWomen wear coloured clothes and march in a colour-coordinated way to show the suffragette colours of green, white and violet — standing for Give Women Votes — in the ‘Processions’ women’s march in London, Britain, yesterday.

Merkel’s conservatives eye tougher asylum rulesREUTERS

BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Mer-kel’s conservatives called yes-terday for stricter immigration rules and faster deportation of failed asylum seekers after a public outcry over a 14-year old German girl who was allegedly raped and killed by an Iraqi man.

Police in the Kurdistan region of Iraq said the 20-year-old suspect, identified by German authorities as Ali Bashar, had admitted to the murder of Susanna Feldman in Germany, where the case has stoked the immigration debate.

Iraqi authorities extradited Bashar on Saturday after Kurdish security forces had taken him into custody on Friday. He left Germany together with relatives earlier this month.

“The procedures and rules for asylum, refuge and inte-gration must be put under scrutiny,” Christian Baldauf, leader of Merkel’s conservatives in the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate, told Rheinpfalz am Sonntag newspaper.

Germany’s generous refugee protection guarantees were raising serious questions, Baldauf said. “Who can under-stand that a rejected asylum seeker who has been tried several times for various violent crimes cannot be deported, but the same man manages to travel back to his home country in a cloak and dagger operation?”

Baldauf said.The Iraqi suspect, who

arrived in Germany at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, was known to police because he had become violent with officials over his asylum status.

Bashar had previously been suspected in the rape of an 11-year-old girl at a refugee centre, although an investigation was inconclusive. His asylum request was rejected in December 2016.

Merkel’s decision to welcome more than one million refugees in 2015 has boosted support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party. The gov-ernment has put aside more than

€20bn ($23.5bn) to integrate asylum seekers and tackle the root causes of migration.

Baldauf said the state’s answer to the murder case should not be “chintzy pop-ulism” or a racist hate campaign. “It’s about speeding up investiga-tions and court decisions, reaching faster verdicts and finding ways of deporting perpe-trators and potential offenders without exceptions,” he said.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, pres-ident of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and former finance minister, said Germany had to correct its relatively gen-erous asylum rules.

“We must cut back parts of our German law, if we want to come to a common European asylum policy,” Schaeuble told Wirtschaftswoche magazine.

Schaeuble added he had already fought against “some exaggerations” in Germany’s asylum law when he was interior minister in the 1990s.

Feldman, a Jewish teenager from Mainz near Frankfurt, was found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area in Wiesbaden, near a refugee centre where the alleged attacker had lived, German police said.

An autopsy showed she had been the victim of a violent and sexual attack. Police said there was no evidence her religion had been a factor and the Central Council of Jews in Germany cautioned against attributing any anti-Semitic motive.

Brexit donor held undisclosed meetings with Russian envoy: ReportAFP

LONDON: A major Brexit campaign donor held two previ-ously undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador before and after the 2016 referendum and was offered a deal on six gold mines in Russia, The Sunday Times reported.

Arron Banks, the outspoken founder of the Leave.eu cam-paign, was introduced to London envoy Alexander Yakovenko by Alexander Udod, a “suspected Russian intelligence officer”, the report said.

Banks has also reportedly admitted that he handed over phone numbers for members of Donald Trump’s transition team

to Russian officials, after meeting with the US president-elect in November 2016 in New York.

Asked about the report at the G7 summit in Canada on Sat-urday, Prime Minister Theresa May said: “I am sure that if there are any allegations that need investigation the proper author-ities will do that.” Senior cabinet minister David Lidington told the BBC that the allegations were “serious” and should be looked into by the authorities.

The paper said the revela-tions raised “explosive questions about attempts by Russia to influence the referendum result” but Banks dismissed them as part of a “witch-hunt” against Brexit and Trump.

Banks, an insurance industry millionaire, has previously said he had “a six-hour boozy lunch” with Yakovenko at the Russian embassy on November 6, 2015.

Citing email correspondence, the Sunday Times said that meeting was set up by Udod and that he was one of 23 suspected Russian spies expelled by Britain following the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March.

The paper quoted Andy Wigmore, a close associate of Banks who was present at the meeting, as saying that they did not offer “any information to (the ambassador) or any Russian any details of our campaign”.

The report said Banks and

Wigmore met with Yakovenko again for a cup of tea on November 17 at a meeting that also included mining magnate Siman Pov-arenkin to discuss a deal involving six gold mines in Russia.

Banks, who is married to a Russian woman, then visited Russia in February 2016 at the height of the EU referendum campaign for what he said was “a family trip” that involved no meetings with Russian officials.

The paper said the Brexit campaigners subsequently invited Yakovenko and Udod to a drinks party in London’s Notting Hill hosted by Banks, and the Russian ambassador was also asked to attend their

results party in Westminster.Banks and Wigmore were

invited back to meet Yakovenko after they, and Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage, met with Trump in November 2016 shortly after his election. “The ambassador was obviously keen to know how our meeting (with Trump) went,” Wigmore said.

The Sunday Times report was based on emails passed to the paper by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who ghostwrote Banks’s memoir “The Bad Boys of Brexit” and is now writing a book on Russian attempts to influence British politics.

The paper said she came forward after she said her email accounts were hacked.

Basques form 202km human chainAFP

SAN SEBASTIAN: Around 175,000 people joined hands in a human chain stretching 202km yesterday across Spain’s Basque country to press demands for an independence vote in the northern region, organisers said.

Participants waved flags in Basque red, green and white as they took part in a chain stretching from the coastal

resort of San Sebastian to the region’s capital Vitoria, seat of the regional parliament, via business hub Bilbao.

The Gure Esku Dago (It’s in our hands) group organised logistics for the event which saw around 1,000 buses bring people in for the rally. “We have proved that we want to decide the political future of this country,” said Gure Esku Dago spokesman Angel Oiarbide as he addressed supporters in Vitoria on

self-determination for the Basque region.

Several pro-independence political groups and unions backed the initiative and figures from the local ruling Basque National Party joined the event.

This demonstrat ion “proves that we are facing active and lively people who want to make decisions in a democratic way,” said Basque regional parliament president, Bakartxo Tejeria.

Britain’s Prince Philip turns 97AFP

LONDON: Britain’s royal patriarch Prince Philip, turned 97 yesterday, his first birthday since retiring after a lifetime of public service.

Never one for a fuss — least of all over himself — Queen Eliz-abeth II’s husband has no plans for celebrations as he moves a step nearer to 100. “He will be spending it privately,” a Buck-ingham Palace spokeswoman said, without saying where.

The Duke of Edinburgh was absent as planned from his wife’s official birthday celebra-tions on Saturday, when other senior royals gathered to watch the Trooping of the Colour mil-itary parade in London.

He has kept a low profile since conducting his final solo public engagement in August, the last of 22,219 attended since the queen ascended to the throne in 1952. However, he did attend the wedding of his grandson Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at

Windsor Castle on May 19, despite undergoing a hip replacement on April 4.

Prince Philip was the patron, president or member of more than 780 organisations. He carried out 637 visits abroad on his own and gave almost 5,500 speeches. Since retiring, he has spent much of his time at Windsor, west of London, and at the queen’s private San-dringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England, with occa-sional visits to London.

‘Premature’ to divulge detail of Ukraine prisoner swap: PutinAFP

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that it was too early to discuss in detail a possible prisoner exchange with Ukraine, amid hopes for the release of film director Oleg Sentsov and others during the World Cup.

But the Kremlin leader indi-cated that backdoor negotiations were apparently underway, raising hopes for the release of dozens of prisoners including Sentsov, who is on a high-profile hunger strike at a high-security prison in Russia’s far north.

“It’s so far premature to say how this issue will be solved,” Putin told reporters at a summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao, adding he would not want to comment for now “so as not to violate anything here and not to disrupt anything.” Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poro-shenko discussed a possible exchange of prisoners in a rare phone call Saturday and agreed that officials from the two countries would visit their pris-oners “in the near future”.

Putin said Poroshenko ini-tiated the discussion.

Fears have grown in recent weeks that Sentsov, a 41-year-old Ukrainian director and author who is serving a 20-year prison sentence on terrorism charges in Russia, could die behind bars.

He went on hunger strike on May 14 to demand Russia release dozens of Ukrainian political prisoners, timing his protest to coincide with the month-long football extrava-ganza that begins on Thursday.

The father of two said he was ready to die in prison, drawing comparisons with Soviet-era dis-sident Anatoly Marchenko, who starved himself to death in prison in 1986 after he demanded Moscow release prisoners of conscience.

Sentsov, who has agreed to be administered a glucose drip, has already lost eight kilo-grammes and doctors have threatened to soon begin force-feeding him, his lawyer Dmitry Dinze has said.

In letter to rights activists released on Saturday, Sentsov said he felt “normal” and that he had recently been trans-ferred to the prison infirmary and given a separate room.

Italy holds migrant rescue shipAFP

ROME: Italian authorities held a migrant rescue boat for 12 hours after it brought more than 230 people to a port in south western Italy following a four-day ordeal on the high seas, an NGO said yesterday.

German NGO Sea-Watch said in a statement that their boat Sea-Watch 3 was held until gone midnight on Sat-urday after arriving at the port at Reggio Calabria with 232 people onboard.

Italian police questioned the boat captain for more than four hours, according to the NGO, and journalists travelling on the vessel were asked to hand over video footage of the rescue oper-ation, which took place on June 5.

“The political attacks against us are not only endan-gering us, but those in mar-itime distress,” the NGO tweeted. “After 12 hours stuck in port, without a compre-hensible reason given by the authorities, while there were 6 SAR-Cases on the Mediter-ranean Sea, we finally set sails to SAR.” SAR stands for search and rescue operations.

Sea-Watch said police also questioned some of the rescued migrants from the boat. After being processed by the authorities they are likely to end up in migrant reception centres.

The holding of the boat comes after Italy’s new anti-immigrant government pledged to slow down landings and speed up expul-sions of migrants illegally in the country.

“If anyone thinks I won’t move a muscle while we have another summer of landings, landings and more landings, well that’s not what i’m going to do,” said new Interior Minster Matteo Salvini from the far-right League party on Saturday.

People take part in a human chain during a protest action to support the right to decide organized by “Gure esku dago” (It’s in our hands) in the northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian yesterday.

14 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018HOME

Financial stress is one factor that can lead to suicide and farm incomes have fallen around 50 percent since 2013 and revenues are expected in 2018 to come in at the lowest level since 2006.

15MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018 AMERICAS

US farm belt tries to head off another surge in suicidesAFP

NEW YORK: Responding to signs of rising despair in rural America over a farming downturn exacerbated by the current trade war fears, agri-cultural leaders are mobilising to try to prevent another suicide crisis.

Two high profile deaths in the past week, of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade, have shined a spotlight on the issue of depression and suicide in the United States, where the latest data show rates are rising, especially in rural states.

Farm industry officials are bolstering outreach and coun-seling programs throughout the American farm belt and calling for more action from Wash-ington. “Things are tough in the countryside,” said John Sorbello, a vegetable and nursery farmer in upstate New York and a director of the state’s farm bureau, an affiliate of the nation’s biggest farm group.

Dairy farmers are facing especially tough times, he said. “There’s nothing to do over the pricing of milk, they are worried about Nafta, about the surplus in dairy products all over the world,” Sorbello said.

The outreach push comes amid a big surge in suicides throughout the United States. The suicide rate rose nearly 30 percent between 1999 and 2016 — and in many states by more than that — according to a report this week from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report did not break out individual industries, but 2016 CDC data showed US farmers have five times the rate

of suicide as the broader population.

The US farm belt also has bad memories of the 1980s when a bruising industry downturn saw an explosion of agricultural workers taking their own lives.

“Farmers and ranchers already have the highest suicide rates of any occupation,” said Matt Perdue, of the National Farmers Union. Those who work in rural areas point to myriad factors, including com-modity price volatility, more extreme weather and wors-ening isolation as more young people leave for the cities.

And making matters worse, “About 60% of rural residents live in areas that suffer from a mental health professional shortage,” Perdue said.

The CDC study also pointed to research that suggests chronic exposure to pesticides “might affect the neurologic system and contribute to depressive symptoms.” Financial stress is one factor that can lead to suicide and farm incomes have fallen around 50 percent since 2013 and revenues are expected in 2018 to come in at the lowest level since 2006.

An anti-government demonstrator fires a home made mortar during clashes with riot police at a barricade in the town of Masaya, 35km from Managua.

Nicaragua violence rages as prospect of crisis talks hangs in limboAFP

MASAYA: Masaya, a city battling at the front lines of Nicaragua’s heated anti-government protests, once again became the scene of fierce street battles that a rights group said saw one man die of a bullet wound to the heart.

Firearm bursts rang out late on Saturday in the city home to 100,000 people, where riots that started midday grew increasingly violent as masked demonstrators wielding homemade mortars and slingshots fought to fend off armed security forces.

Alvaro Leiva, head of the Nicaraguan Association for the Protection of Human Rights (ANPDH), said at least one sex-agenarian had died after a bullet struck his heart. Leiva said the gunman was a sniper — implying a member of Ortega’s

security forces or government-backed vigilantes.

The mortal wound came hours after the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) had raised to 137 the death toll in the Central American country, where dem-onstrations demanding Pres-ident Daniel Ortega’s ouster have raged since April 18.

At least two people had died in violent protests overnight, the CENIDH said, one in the northern city of Jinotega and another in Managua.

Leiva said conditions were growing increasingly grave “because we are talking about crossfire, not tear gas or rubber bullets.” “The situation in this moment in Nicaragua is a crisis,” he said. “We are asking the world to pay attention to Masaya.” The city just outside of

the capital — known before for its tree-lined streets, traditional crafts and nearby volcano of the same name — has taken on the appearance of a war zone.

Demonstrators, many of them young men, huddled Sat-urday behind barricades con-structed from cobblestones, felled trees and sheet metal, the ground littered with broken glass and spikes to further guar-antee no cars would pass.

“We are fighting here because of the massacre of many people, the death of many children,” one protestor told AFP, saying he’s been actively demonstrating in Masaya for 15 days.

“We can say that between the government and the police, the police are supposed to protect the people,” he said. “They’re the ones who are shooting bullets at us.”

Polio makes comeback in Venezuela after decadesAFP

CARACAS: Polio has been reported in Venezuela, a crisis-wracked country where the disease had been eradicated decades ago, the Pan-American Health Organ-ization reports.

The organization said the child had no history of vacci-nation and lives in an under-immunized extremely impov-erished Delta Amacuro state.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling childhood disease caused by the poliovirus, and preventable through immu-nization. Doctor Jose Felix Oletta, a former Minister of Health, said the last case of acute poliomyelitis in Vene-zuela was reported in 1989.

“The virus especially affects people in conditions of malnutrition and unvacci-nated, as this case,” Oletta added and slammed health authorities in President Nicolas Maduro’s government for taking more than a month to notify the PAHO that it had identified the virus. Interna-tional health regulations require it to do so within 24 hours. Venezuela, devastated by economic and political crises, also accounted for 85 percent of cases of measles reported across Latin America and the Caribbean over the past year, the PAHO said.

Of the 11 countries that reported cases, Venezuela had the overwhelming majority of cases, but also 35 deaths since mid-2017, the international organization said. More spe-cifically, “there were eleven countries that reported 1,685 confirmed measles cases across the region,” of which 1,427 were in Venezuela, a PAHO report said.

16 MONDAY 11 JUNE 2018MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 14 AM

04. 43 AM

11. 33 AM

02. 56 PM

06. 27 PM

07. 57 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 01:45 – 15:45 LOW TIDE 08:45 – 21:45

Hot during the day with slight dust to

blowing dust at places at times.

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 35oC 44oC

Colour RunA paticipant covered in coloured powder reacts during the Colour Run in Kiev, Ukraine, yesterday.

South Korean hiker shares tale of survival in Australia bushAFP

SYDNEY: A young South Korean hiker lost in dense Australian bushland for six days without food and in near-freezing temperatures has spoken about how dreams of a warm bed and her parents kept her alive.

Joohee Han, a 25-year-old tourist, shared her improbable tale of survival after she fell into a deep ravine while taking photos from a mountaintop south of Cairns in northern Queensland state.

Rescuers had said her chances of staying alive in the rugged terrain, where temperatures dropped to nine degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit), had been “near zero”. She disappeared on June 1 after telling friends she was going to climb Mount Tyson, but was only reported missing on Wednesday with rescuers eventually finding her on Thursday.

Han told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she was knocked unconscious for several hours after falling, and woke up at night on the side of a steep slope. “I pretty much didn’t move from where I fell from because it was so steep. Even putting a foot wrong would’ve been instant death,” Han said.

“It still makes me teary thinking about that, thinking, ‘Am I going to die?’ But there was so much I still wanted to do, food I wanted to eat, and people I wanted to see again. “I thought of my parents so much.” Despite the fall of what she thought was about three-storeys high, Han only suffered a broken tooth, some bruises and cuts.

Thoughts of her family and food kept her going as she struggled with the cold each night, she added. “I just craved the stuff I normally ate, mee goreng, cereal, bananas,” Han said. “I thought so much about the things I wanted to do when I got out of here and stepped on solid ground, but then I’d get sad again because I knew I could only do those things if I stayed alive, they were things I couldn’t do if I died.” Han eventually was able to make it to a ledge near a waterfall, where she drank water and screamed for help until a nearby hiker heard her and alerted police.

“I didn’t realise how happy I could be just standing on the ground until then,” she added of her rescue.

Nurse survives deadly Australia snake biteAFP

SYDNEY: An Australian nurse has spoken about how he survived a bite from one of the world’s dead-liest snakes by using medical training to instruct his rescuers as he passed in and out of consciousness.

Christian Wright, 33, was bitten on his foot by a brown snake at the bottom of a gorge in a remote part of Karijini National Park some 1,400km north of Perth in Western Aus-tralia last month.

“I looked at my foot, there was no puncture marks. No blood, no swelling, no nothing,” Wright told commercial broadcaster Channel Seven on Saturday.

“I started losing my vision. I knew I was going to pass out.” The hospital midwife shouted to his friend Alex Chia, who caught him as he passed out. “His eyes were

rolling back in his head, he was shaking and sweating, and then he went totally limp and heavy,” Chia told The West Australian newspaper.

“We were down a deep gorge, 30 metres (100 feet) tall, there was no one in sight. The hardest part was being in front of his lifeless body.” A nearby Austrian couple heard their cries for help and called emergency services with their satellite phone as they tended to Wright’s leg using his own instructions.

“I was just coming and going. I started getting really agitated as the neurotoxins started getting to my head, I was writhing all over the place and yelling out from the pain in my head,” Wright told The West Australian. A ranger was the first to arrive at the scene, followed by paramedics and other rescuers.

But Wright’s ordeal was not yet over, with the ranger having to enlist the help of 20 nearby tourists to carry the nurse out of the challenging terrain on a stretcher while keeping his head above his legs.

It took more than an hour to carry him to an ambulance before he was driven to a hos-pital some 75 kilometres away and given anti-venom to counter the poison.

Brown snakes, whose bite is often painless, are known as nervous reptiles that strike with little hesitation. Deaths from bites are rare despite Australia being home to 20 of the world’s 25 most venomous snakes.

According to official estimates there are about 3,000 snakebite cases in Australia every year, with 300-500 needing anti-venom treatment. Only an average of two a year prove fatal.

Woman drowns playing treasure huntPRAGUE: A young woman drowned and a man is missing after they were caught inside Prague’s drain system by torrential rains while participating in a global GPS-based treasure hunt. They were among a group of four people “geocaching” -- using their smart-phone’s GPS to search for little treasures hidden all over the world -- when the rapidly rising water from the storm trapped them in the Czech capital’s under-ground drainage system on Saturday night.

Waking up neighbours: Indonesia’s Ramadan alarm clocksAFP

JAKARTA: Most of Jakarta is fast asleep at 2:00 am, but for Fajar Ramadin and his comrades it’s time to wake up the neigh-bourhood.

The motley group of children yell and bang on tambourines and drums as they roam the quiet streets of Indonesia’s capital on a mission to stir sleeping residents for a pre-dawn meal.

It is Ramadan and millions across the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation are abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking or sex during daylight hours. The morning meal, known as Suhoor, can be crucial to making it through until sunset without food or drink.

“Sahur! Sahur! Please wake up sir, madam!” hollers the 20-strong group of kids, aged seven to 15. It’s music to the ears of dozens of other children who stream out of their houses to join in, adding the thump of empty paint cans and water jugs to the ensemble.

“This tradition has been around for a long time -- every kid is happy to do it,” said 13-year-old Ramadin. “I like it because this not only entertains people, but also helps them

wake up for the pre-dawn meal.” Their entertainment value is probably a matter of debate.

But many of the kids are part of a Holy Quran study group run by the local mosque which has given its blessing to this midnight madness. Complaining would be futile. “They are indeed noisy, but it helps me wake up on time,” offers local resident Rosimah, who like many Indo-nesians goes by one name.

“We are used to it -- happens every year,” she added. Smartphone alarms and digital clocks have seen this wake-up tradition grad-ually decline over the years.

But it is still found across the sprawling Indonesian archi-pelago - especially in smaller communities -- which is home to about 260 million people. Nearly 90 percent are Muslim.

Most of the Jakarta group’s

members are known as local troublemakers so conscripting them into religious service is a win-win situation for the neigh-bourhood -- and the mosque.

“Many of these kids have dropped out of school. Some never even went to school. They are unemployed and became street children who cause trouble,” Alvanali Panji Prasetyo, an Islamic teacher and group leader, said.

Youth sing and bang on improvised drums as they walk around their neighbourhood to wake up residents for Sahur in Jakarta.

18th century Chinese moon flask sells for €4.1mAFP

MONTBAZON: A rare porcelain moon flask that belonged to the 18th century Chinese Emperor Qianlong has been sold for €4.1m ($4.8m) after a bidding war at an auction in France.

The blue, white and celadon flask — more than 200-years-old — was bought by a French woman who outbid 17 Chinese buyers during a sale that lasted about ten-minutes, according to auctioneers who described the buy as “historic and legendary”.

The final sale including fees totalled more than €5m — ten times the auction’s opening price of €500,000. Emperor Qianlong, one of the longest serving Chinese emperors who ruled for much of the 18th Century, was an avid art collector.

The round-shaped moon flask has eight Buddhist symbols in stylised lotus petals and bears the seal of the emperor. It was discovered by chance in April in a French castle during a valuation of antiques and its original owners remain anonymous.

The buyer, who bid over the

phone during the auction at Artigny chateau in Montbazon, central France, s expected to keep the flask at her apartment in Paris but it could potentially be loaned to a museum in future, the auctioneer said.

According to the auctioneer Philippe Rouillac, the flask was probably brought back from China by a French navy officer. Far East art specialist Alice Jos-saume said the flask is one of two flasks from Emperor Qianlong that exist. The other flask was sold for €1.8m at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2016.

Bollywood star Chopra apologises over ‘Quantico’ plotAFP

NEW DELHI: Bollywood superstar Priyanka Chopra apologised yesterday after a furore over a US TV series that showed her uncovering a terror plot hatched by Indian Hindu nationalists.

The episode of spy thriller “Quantico” showed Chopra’s character, an FBI agent named Alex Parrish,

thwarting the plan and noticing one of the terrorists wearing a Hindu rosary.

The terrorists had tried to frame Pakistanis for the attack planned ahead of a summit on Kashmir. The episode, aired on June 1, triggered outrage in India with many fans taking to social media to “shame” the Indian-born actress and calling her a “traitor”.

Chopra, a former Miss World, said

she was “a proud Indian and that will never change”. “I’m extremely saddened and sorry that some sentiments have been hurt by a recent episode of Quantico,” Chopra, 35, wrote on Twitter.

“That was not and would never be my intention. I sincerely apologise.” ABC Studios, the producers of the crime drama, have also offered an apology while defending Chopra who

is the lead actor of the show. “The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Pri-yanka Chopra, who didn’t create the show, nor does she write or direct it,” US media quoted the studio as saying.

Chopra, the first Indian to headline a US network series, is popular among Indian fans and feted for having made it in the Western entertainment industry.