Six UN rapporteurs Emir’s presence at camel race praised ......Apr 22, 2018 · based on reports...

BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 27Defiant Al Attiyah closes in on Manateq QCCR title

US roadshow heralds new phase in

Qatar-US partnership

Volume 23 | Number 7504 | 2 RiyalsSunday 22 April 2018 | 6 Sha’baan I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

Emir’s presence at camel race praisedQNA

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attended yesterday parts of the races dedi-cated to tribes members, in day eight of the annual festival for the sword of H H the Emir that were held at Al Shahaniya racetrack.

Yesterday’s competition was attended by a number of Their Excellencies Sheikhs, tribes members and fans. Meanwhile, Camel Race Organising Committee Chairman H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Faisal Al Thani reaffirmed yesterday that the attendance of H H the Emir of the four races, which are part of His Highness’ Arabian Camel Racing Festival is an honour to all participants.

The Organising Committee Chairman said in a statement that H H the Emir was always sup-portive of camel-racing sports. He also noted that the attendance of H H the Emir yesterday was a message of appreciation to tribes members who were competing yesterday. The Chairman of the Committee highlighted that H H the Emir was always keen on attending the competitions of tribes members. The Chairman said that the presence of H H the Emir injected enthusiasm into the organisers of the festival, notably the camel race committee, to maximise efforts so that the compe-tition would come out in the best possible fashion.

→CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

←Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani watching the camel race yesterday.

Qatar, EU discuss boosting ties furtherQNA

DOHA: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met here yesterday with the delegation of the Qatari-European Friendship Group led by Head of the Group, Ramona Manescu.

Discussions during the meeting dealt with relations and prospects for joint coop-eration between the State of Qatar and the European Union and means to strengthen them as well as coordination of positions towards regional and international issues.


Qatar concludes US economic tourDOHA: Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, has affirmed the success of the first stage of the economic tour of Qatar in the US, which included four US cities to strengthen joint cooperation, trade and investment part-nership with the US. →SEE ALSO PAGE 4

Six UN rapporteurs

press siege countries

to stop violationsQNA

NEW YORK: The United Nations said on its official website that six special rapporteurs of its Human Rights Council had sent official letters to the three block-ading countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — monitoring all viola-tions committed by each country, based on reports received by the UN from some relevant interna-tional organisations.

The six rapporteurs who addressed the blockading coun-tries were the Special Rap-porteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Special Rap-porteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, as well as the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, the Special Rapporteur on Contem-porary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education.

The special rapporteurs urged the three countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, in letters addressed to each of them, to take all measures to stop the

humanitarian violations they caused and to ensure prevention of their recurrence and to take all necessary steps to respect the rights of people affected by the current Gulf crisis.

According to the content of the six messages published by the UN on its website, the Special Rapporteurs were keen to include a detailed and accurate account in each country’s letter, supported by the figures and sta-tistics received by the UN on all violations of the rights of citizens and residents of the State of Qatar and the nationals of the countries concerned.


The special rapporteurs urged the blockading countries to take all measures to stop the humanitarian violations they caused and to ensure prevention of their recurrence and to take all necessary steps to respect the rights of people.

02 SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018HOME

QF and Ooredoo join hands to launch major initiativeTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chair-person and CEO of Qatar Foun-dation (QF), and Sheikh Sauod bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group, have signed a pioneering Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the two entities work together to benefit young people and communities around the world.

By leveraging their joint resources and talent, the two organisations will deliver major social impact by supporting development programmes for young people and offering work-shops and initiatives to drive youth enterprise in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. Together, they will deploy QF’s research and development resources and Ooredoo’s inter-national network of young con-sumers to develop original content and new digital experi-ences, with a particular focus on the next generation. There will be a specific focus on engaging and deploying young Qatari leaders aiming to make a global impact.

Sheikha Hind said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Ooredoo Group on a range of exciting initiatives through this agreement. Young people are the single most important investment in our future, and at Qatar Foun-dation we are committed to pro-viding our students with the

knowledge, confidence, and skills they need to grow as global cit-izens. Young people need to be engaged, equipped, and empowered, and this collabo-ration will serve as a platform to provide additional learning and internship opportunities, as well as real-world work experiences, to the men and women at Edu-cation City. This in turn will help create a highly competent and diverse workforce that is fully supported to serve the needs of our country and beyond.”

Ooredoo will offer intern-ships to QF students, providing appropriately qualified students with exciting opportunities in relevant departments. The entities will also champion a range of business and entrepre-neurship competitions, work-shops, and events driven or

initiated by young people. There will be arrangements made to provide the Ooredoo com-munity with access to QF insti-tutions to engage in volunteer opportunities, while encour-aging Education City students to actively participate.

Nasser Al Thani said, “This is a visionary collaboration that brings together two leading organisations to create new opportunities and new inspiration for communities around the world, and particularly for the next generation. Our part-nership with QF will give us access to data and studies, as well as conduct in-depth market research, that will enable us to better cater to our 160 million customers across our footprint.”

The MoU will also see rel-evant Ooredoo executive com-mittee members and other official

spokespeople partic-ipate in future speaking engagements across QF campuses and schools. The partnership will also allow for the pro-vision of support to better understand Ooredoo markets and customers, as well as leverage expertise to assist Ooredoo with policy development.

H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of QF, and Sheikh Sauod bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group, at the signing ceremony.

The dignitaries at the event.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, with the delegation of the Qatari-European Friendship Group led by the Head of the Group, Ramona Manescu.

FM meets Qatari-European Friendship Group

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of

Foreign Affairs briefed the delegation on devel-opments of the Gulf crisis and about Qatar’s efforts to combat extremism and terrorism, and reviewed ways to bolster the cooperation between the State of Qatar and the European Union to enhance security in the region and the world. He also briefed the European delegation on the measures taken by the State of Qatar to improve the condi-tions of employment with the International Labor Organization (ILO) testimony.

Qatari-European Friendship Group was launched at the European Parliament in October 2012. It includes European members from dif-ferent parties interested in the role of the State of Qatar and its foreign, developmental, educational and other policies. The main objective of the Group is to strengthen relations between the European Parliament, in particular, the European Union in general and the State of Qatar in various fields, to defend mutual interests and promote bilateral cooperation by organising meetings and mutual visits between the two sides.

Sierra Leone President arrivesPresident of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, arrived in Doha yesterday on an official visit to the country. The President and the accompanying delegation were welcomed upon arrival at Hamad International Airport by the Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti.

03SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 HOME


Focus on coordination in mental healthcareTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Highlighting the impor-tance of providing community-based mental health care and ensuring integration with other healthcare services, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) recently hosted its fourth Annual Symposium for Community Mental Health Services in Qatar, in the presence of Minister of Public Health, H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

The event, brought together around 200 mental health experts and key stakeholders from across the region.

Dr Al Kuwari said the annual symposium provides an important platform for stake-holders to discuss a number of topical issues, including the need to balance hospital-based mental health services with community-based services. She also high-lighted mental health and well-being as one of the priority areas of the National Health Strategy 2018-2022, noting its specific focus on encouraging people to speak openly about mental health conditions as part of removing the associated stigma and encouraging early treatment.

“Good mental health and

well-being for the people of Qatar, supported by integrated mental health services that provide access to the right care, at the right time, in the right place, is a key tenet of the Public Health Strategy. While substantial

investment has been made to provide accessible, effective, and high-quality community-based mental healthcare services, col-lectively we still have a significant task ahead of us. I am therefore delighted to see HMC, Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC), Sidra Medicine, Naufar, as well as other healthcare organizations actively participating in this event,” said Dr Al Kuwari.

Mahmoud Al Raisi, Chief of HMC’s Continuing Care Group, said as the main provider of spe-cialist mental healthcare in Qatar,

HMC is proud to take a key role in providing a platform for dia-logue among stakeholders, par-ticularly around the future devel-opment of integrated mental health services in Qatar.

Different segments of health professionals from both public and private sector providers, as well as patients and their fam-ilies, social service workers, and representatives of community-based organizations, attended the one-day event. It included pres-entations on community mental health services in Qatar, the ‘Better Together’ initiative, services available at Naufar and Sidra Medicine, and also featured a speaker from Ireland who detailed the modernization of mental health services in that country.

Dr Mohamed Ali Siddig Ahmed, Senior Consultant Psy-chiatrist and Clinical Director, Community Mental Health Services, emphasized the impor-tance of the symposium in fos-tering partnerships among organizations and individual stakeholders across Qatar as a strategy to successfully inte-grating community mental healthcare with primary and sec-ondary healthcare services.

Minister of Public Health, H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, at the fourth Annual Symposium for Community Mental Health Services in Qatar, held recently in Doha.

Defence Minister honoured

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs, H E Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, was honoured by the Air University, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery Alabama, United States, during his visit to the state of Montgomery. The visit came at the invitation from Air University. During the visit, a ceremony was held to honour some of the university graduates who held leadership positions in their countries.

The event, brought together around 200 mental health experts and key stakeholders from across the region.

Qatar concludes US roadshow; several pacts & MoUs signedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, has affirmed the success of the first stage of the economic tour of Qatar in the US, which included four US cities to strengthen joint cooperation, trade and investment part-nership with the US.

This came in a statement made by the Minister, on the occasion of the conclusion of the roadshow to the US yesterday in Raleigh, North Carolina, amid optimism about the positive results achieved on the economic, trade and investment level. “We have seen the success of the tour through

our meetings with officials, investors and corporate executives from the US, and through a meeting of Qatari businessmen and their American counterparts, who expressed their desire to cooperate with their Qatari counterparts in forging part-nerships for investment projects in the two countries,” the Minister said.

The Minister added the tour witnessed the signing of a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding between Qatari and US companies. The Minister said the US is one of the largest and most important trading partners of Qatar, where the volume of trade exchange between the two countries is about $6bn, and that the US is the first

source of imports in 2017, where Qatar has imported 16 percent of imports from US. During the tour, the Minister held several meetings with senior government officials, members of the US Congress, World Bank officials, the International Monetary Fund, businessmen and senior corporate executives, to expand economic, commercial and investment cooperation between the State of Qatar and the United States.

In addition to the bilateral meetings, the Minister attended a number of activ-ities accompanying the tour, which were aimed at boosting bilateral relations in the interests of both countries.

The Ministry of Economy and

Commerce organised four forums in the cities of Miami, Washington, DC, Char-leston and Raleigh in cooperation with Qatar Chamber, American Chamber of Commerce, Qatar Businessmen Associ-ation, Qatar- US Business Council and a number of US officials bodies.

The forums were aimed to promote and expand trade and economic relations between Qatar and the United States as well as to provide opportunities for com-munication between businessmen and enhancing cooperation between the private sector on both sides.

The tour included four cities in Miami, Florida, Washington DC, Columbia, Char-leston, South Carolina, and Raleigh, North

Carolina.More than 200 businessmen and

Qatari officials as well as 200 busi-nessmen and CEOs of major US com-panies participated in the economic forum. On the sidelines of these forums, a number of discussion sessions were held between business representatives from both sides with the aim of strengthening existing economic partnership ties in addition to organising dialogue sessions on a number of sectors, including part-nership and investment opportunities between the two sides, besides the food security, tourism, logistics projects, infra-structure and a number of other important and vital topics.


National Museum of Qatar gets new brand identity

DOHA: Qatar Museums (QM) yesterday unveiled a new brand identity for the iconic National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ).

The new brand and logo will be the centrepiece of an inno-vative digital media campaign designed to build maximum vis-ibility and awareness amongst the local population for the museum and all that it stands for.

The logo design combines three doorways evocative of the Old National Museum, and which signifies Qatar’s past, present and future – reflecting the museum’s central narrative and what it has come to symbolise.

The design has been developed by a team of brand and creative experts at QM over the past few months to do justice to the layers of meaning and sig-nificance that NMoQ, its content and programmes hold for the country and its people.

Through its striking colour, eye-catching form and unmis-takable design, the new brand makes a simple, adaptable and powerful visual statement about Qatar’s place in the world.

The new brand and logo will feature in an innovative digital promotional campaign launched by QM and running throughout April across digital and social media, in cinemas and television spots, as well as print adver-tising. Leading up to launch, a number of tell-tale ‘teaser’ posts on social media have appeared in the past few days to provide clues to its unveiling and to build excitement and anticipation amongst the public. To coincide with the new brand, QM is also launching an innovative mar-keting campaign that puts members of the local community at its heart. The organisation has signed up a series of individuals with interesting stories, back-grounds and personal

experiences about the National Museum and who embody Qatar’s past, present and future. This collection of individuals represents the “Voices” of NMoQ who, through their perspectives and personal connection with it, will help to tell the story of the museum, the country and its people.

A mixture of locals and expats, the “Voices” of NMoQ come from all corners of the community and represent its full diversity of back-grounds, histories and stories. Their involvement in the cam-paign will see them participate in a range of exciting opportunities,

varied and interesting and worth-while activities, events and engagements.

Sheikha Amna bint Abdulaziz bin Jassim Al Thani, Director of NMoQ, said: “This beautiful museum is a fitting cel-ebration of Qatar’s culture, pre-serving and reconnecting visitors and residents with the country’s traditions. It serves as the physical manifestation of Qatar’s proud identity, connecting the country’s history with its diverse and cosmopolitan present. Our new brand launch and accom-panying campaign are the perfect representation of its sig-nificance and the ideal platform for bringing it to the widest audience possible.”

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Jean Nouvel, the interlocking disc design was inspired by the desert rose. It evokes the life of the Qatari people between the desert and the sea.

QTA, Chinese firm in deal to boost Qatar tourismTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) with Qunar.com, a Chinese online travel information provider and search engine, to promote Qatar as a tourism destination in China.

Rashed AlQurese, Chief Marketing & Promotion Officer at QTA and Yongcan Son, Overseas Business Director at Qunar.com signed the MoU on the sidelines of the China Out-bound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM) which recently con-cluded in Beijing.

QTA’s signing with Qunar.com marks the second big deal QTA seals in Beijing this COTTM. It comes as part of a host of web-based promotions and marketing activities to complement QTA’s on-the-ground efforts in China.

QTA’s other web-based promotional activities in China included the launch of the des-tination e-learning tool, Tawashin Mandarin as well as going live with Qatar desti-nation promotion campaigns which have gone live on Sina Weibo and WeChat.

QTA has three represent-ative offices in China. Thanks to the promotional efforts spearheaded by the offices, as well as visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, which was introduced in August, supple-mented by daily Qatar Airways flights to six destinations in mainland China, Qatar has already significantly increased its share of Chinese tourists.

The first quarter of 2018 saw a 27% increase in Chinese visitor arrivals compared to the same period last year. Data analysis also shows that China is Qatar’s fastest growing source market.

Rashed AlQurese, Chief Marketing & Promotion Officer at QTA (right) and Yongcan Son, Overseas Business Director at Qunar.com at the MoU signing event in Beijing.

The new NMoQ_logo.

American Boy Scouts visit Al Udeid AirbaseThe Qatari Emiri Air Force, represented with its air transport unit in coordination with the US Air Force, hosted yesterday the Boy Scouts of America, one of the largest youth organisations in the US. The students participated in a scouting trip to Al Udeid Airbase. The trip included a visit to the air transport’s section, a visit to the automatic sensors and support sections for flights, and aircraft maintenance buildings. The visit aims to support family ties and highlight the role of the two forces in societal development by informing new generations of the role of the Armed Forces in society.

Qatar to take part in Hannover FairDOHA: The State of Qatar, represented by 15 entities in the public and private sectors, will participate in the Hannover Fair, which will start tomorrow in Hannover, Germany until April 27.

The Qatari entities will showcase the country’s leading initiatives, projects, services and products, and investment opportunities, and incentives available to investors and businessmen looking to invest Qatar’s in various sectors.

The Hannover Fair is one of the largest trading exhibi-tions in the world, attracting some of the biggest industrial companies in the world.

THE PENINSULA


‘Future’s Writers’ competition entry deadline set for April 26THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The deadline to submit stories for the “Future’s Writers” competition is April 26, 2018, said Qatar Charity.

“Future’s Writers” program launched by Qatar Charity to discover young talents by organ-ising short story writing com-petition for middle and high school students in Qatar.

On May 3, 2018, the com-mittees will meet with the qual-ified students at schools decided by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to discuss the content of their stories.

Then, the final results will be announced and the winners

will be honoured at the closing ceremony, Al Gharib said in a statement.

The “Future’s Writers” com-petition has gone through several stages, which include encouraging school students, both males and females, to write short stories, receiving 375 participations, then, organ-ising training workshops to improve qualified students’ writing skills.

The competition is held in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education, Qatar University, Barwa Bank, Qatari Forum For Authors, “Khair Jalees” Book

Club, and Dar Roza Publishing.Qatar University, in cooper-

ation with Qatar Charity, organised training workshops for the students to improve their writing skills.

This is the high sense of responsibility of both organisa-tions towards the society, Al Athba added.

Ali Al Gharib, Executive Director of QC’s Executive Man-agement for Local Operations, said judging committees are ready to receive the complete stories from the qualified stu-dents after they have attended the workshops on the basics and strategies of writing short stories.

The officials at a meeting.

WISH exhibition highlights difficulties in conflict zonesTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), an initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), is curating a photographic exhibition at the Education City Student Center that explores the complex health issues faced by communities living in perilous conditions due to conflict, and the work by healthcare profes-sionals to help them.

The exhibition, titled ‘Healthcare in Conflict Settings: Mitigating Suffering, Offering Hope’, will run until April 30, with free entry.

A preview event will take place today from 5pm, which will be attended by Dr Mukesh Kapila, WISH Forum Chair and Professor of Global Health and Humanitarian Affairs at the Uni-versity of Manchester, and

exhibiting photographer Showkat Shafi, whose photo-graphs for Al Jazeera of the plight of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar feature in the exhibition.

The exhibition showcases the work of eight photographers working with organisations such as Qatar Red Crescent, Orbis, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and

Al Jazeera. Among the conflict settings featured are Syria, Yemen, Palestine, and Bangladesh.

Kuwaiti photographer Abdulrahman Al Terkait, who has contributed photos of the rehabilitation of amputee children in Syria to the WISH exhibition, said: “Through my pictures I try to convey the chal-lenges faced, but also the posi-tivity of the children I feature. I’m honoured to have been included in a photographic exhibition that explores such an important and emotive subject.”

WISH recently announced that healthcare in conflict set-tings is to be one of the core topics featured at WISH 2018, which takes place in Doha on November 13-14. A report will be produced ahead of the summit, and an event that brought experts together to discuss the problems faced when delivering healthcare in conflict zones was held earlier this month at the University of Oxford.A young Syrian orphan with his new prosthetic legs in 2017.

MoPH workshop on communication during crises, health emergenciesQNA

DOHA: The Ministry of Public Health, in cooperation with the World Health Organi-zation, is organising a training workshop on communication during crises and health emergencies.

The three-day workshop aims to enhance national capacity-building for response to any event that represents a public health emergency by focusing on the media and communication aspects in their various forms, while strengthening the coordination mechanisms between the Ministry of Public Health and its partners from other ministries and health care providers in the public sector Including the voluntary community and the academic sector.

The workshop, attended by a team of three World Health Organization experts, is aimed at about 40 participants from various relevant sectors as part of efforts to strengthen national capacities.

Training will include the development of a technical task force in the relevant sectors and support for the Strategic Plan for Alerting and Communicating during Crisis In general, and health in particular, in coop-eration with international health experts.

The exhibition — exploring the complex health issues faced by communities living in perilous conditions due to conflict, and the work by healthcare professionals to help them — showcases the work of eight photographers working with organisations such as Qatar Red Crescent, Orbis, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and Al Jazeera. Among the conflict settings featured are Syria, Yemen, Palestine, and Bangladesh.


QSRSN to celebrate the Arab Deaf WeekTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Society for Reha-bilitation of Special Needs (QSRSN) celebrates the Arab Deaf Week through organising a series of activities starting from today until Wednesday under the theme “Employing deaf and reducing unemployment”.

A number of institutions and entities working in the field of disability in the country, and a number of specialists, media pro-fessionals, lawyers, and doctors

will participate in event.The week-long programme

will be held at Radisson Blu Hotel

Doha, and will include a series of lectures and workshops con-ducted by experts to educate par-ticipants about sign language.

Among these lectures, one lecture is “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Law and the Qatari Legislation”, while another is about the basics of dealing with people with special needs.

Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani (pictured), Chairman of QSRSN said the Society is trying as much as possible to achieve the desired goals from this event

specially that this year the theme is very important which is ‘employing deaf and reducing unemployment’.

He stressed that work and access to a job is a fundamental right for persons with disabilities, including deaf people like ordinary people without prej-udice or discrimination, men-tioning that that international conventions and covenants on human rights guaranteed them this right either in work, edu-cation or health care.

2nd GREAT conference begins tomorrowRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The second Gulf Region Education Assistive Technology (GREAT) conference, which is being organised by Mada Assistive Technology Center, opens tomorrow at Marza Malaz Kempinski The Pearl-Doha, Mada has announced.

Under the patronage of the Ministry of Transport and Com-munications, the three-day first-of-its-kind conference in the region is expected to gather hun-dreds of experts, end users, frontline workers and innovators to promote initiative technol-ogies, best practices, implemen-tation strategies, research and education in the field of Assistive Technology (AT) and accessibility.

The conference will see 55 experts and professionals from around the world in 64 work-shops and sessions focusing on four main domains related to Inclusive Computer Technology (ICT) and AT namely education, independent living, E-accessi-bility and innovation.

Crucial topics will take the spotlight at the conference such as Power of Assistive Technology in Classrooms; E-Accessibility of Entertainment; Tools, Technol-ogies and Approaches in Training Elderly Healthcare Providers; The Role of AI in to Provide Inde-pendent Life for PWD; Best Practice in Inclusive Education; and Employment for People with Disabilities.

Among the speakers are Dr. Dena Al Thani, assistant pro-fessor, Information & Computing Technology, College of Science & Engineering at Hamad bin Khalifa University; Mohammed Hasan Al Jefairi, Qatari inventor, entrepreneur and author; Dr. Christopher Lee, executive

director of the AMAC Accessi-bility Research Center at the Uni-versity System of Georgia and Dr. Ahmed K. Elmagarmid, executive director of Qatar Computing Research Institute.

Running alongside the work-shops is an exhibition comprising interactive zones including Inno-vation Zone, which sheds light on the upcoming Arabic AT solu-tions that are developed in col-laboration with Mada; Innovation Theatre, a platform featuring selected innovative AT solutions and concepts; AT Exhibition Zone featuring the latest AT solu-tions from local and international exhibitors and Mada Zone, an interactive space showcasing the impact of initiatives imple-mented by Mada through Inter-national best practices and other projects allowing leaders and professionals to have dynamic discourses on how best to drive Qatar towards improving the lives of persons with disabilities.

The conference will con-cluded with an event-packed gala dinner during which the best e-accessibility sites in Qatar will be awarded for the first time. The best all-inclusive entity in Qatar in the digital and physical acces-sibility field will also be recog-nised jointly by Mada and Acces-sible Qatar (Sasol).

The gala event will also witness the graduation of more than 60 assistive technology super users this year. The inau-gural graduates are from Hamad Medical Corporation, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Shafallah Center.

Another highlight of the evening will be a cultural event featuring performance of inter-national artist Lorelai Mosnegut, a multi-talented girl born without arms who was Romania’s Got Talent winner last year.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Based on the reports reaching the

UN, the rapporteurs pointed out that as a result of the measures taken by the countries of the blockade, caused prej-udice to the most fundamental human rights of Qatari citizens and their cit-izens, in particular their right to movement and residence, family reuni-fication, education, employment, freedom of expression, health and the right to property.

The letters of the Special Rappor-teurs were keen to remind the block-ading countries of their international obligations and the need to respect the various international laws and charters they have signed, and for which they should abide by their membership of the international community.

At the same time, they warned that any person responsible for the violations monitored would be held accountable as a result of the blockade. They called upon the blockading countries, based on several observations that they had made to inform them of any additional information and any comments they might have regarding the charges against them and the measures taken to ensure non-dispersal of mixed families, to ensure their right to health, access to education without discrimination on any basis, as well as their compliance with international and regional instruments

in this context. They confirmed that replies they would receive from the Gov-ernments of the blockading countries would be publicized on the accusations against them of the violations they had committed in a report to be submitted to the Human Rights Council for consideration.

In their letter to Saudi Arabia, the Special Rapporteurs urged the Saudi government to provide them with infor-mation on the measures they have taken within their territories to ensure the right of Qatari citizens to practice their reli-gious rites without discrimination.

The Special Rapporteurs also enquired about the measures taken by the Kingdom to ensure the protection of the human rights of workers employed by Qatari nationals in their territories, without discrimination on any grounds. The content of the letters sent by the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council to the Governments of the siege coun-tries reflects the official report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which condemned the violations of the siege countries accusing them of taking unilateral and discrimi-natory measures against citizens and residents of the State of Qatar, which did not exclude even the citizens and residents of the siege countries themselves.

Camel race draws huge crowdCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

It also motivated owners and participants to compete and offer their best performances that reflect the attention paid by the wise leadership to the major Gulf heritage sport. For his part, Vice-Chairman of Camel Race Organising Committee Abdullah Al Kuwari said that the attendance of H H the Emir yes-terday for the tribes members’ competition is a clear indication of His Highness’ appreciation for them. He added that the Qatari camel-racing sport was developing with each passing day, thanks to the direc-tives and support of H H the Emir.

Qatar welcomes North Korea’s announcement to freeze N-testsQNA

DOHA: The State of Qatar welcomed the announcement by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to freeze nuclear tests, halt launch of missiles and close the nuclear test site in the north of the country.

In a statement today, the Foreign Ministry said that the Korean declaration is a step that will pave the way for defusing tension on the Korean Peninsula and achieve peace and stability in the region and the world at large.

The statement expressed Qatar’s hope that Pyongyang would follow its announcement by further steps leading to the denuclearisation of North Korea, while reaffirming its full respect for international obligations, all relevant UN Security Council reso-lutions and the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, helping to halt the nuclear arms race in the world.

Six UN rapporteurs press siege countries to stop violations


AZF signs agreement with Al Jazeera Media InstituteTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) has signed a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU) with Al Jazeera Media Institute (AMI) to nurture the talents of AZF’s staff by providing them with access to the latest media and management courses offered by the Institute.

The MoU was signed by Abdullah Nasser Al Naemi, Director General of Aspire Logistics and Mounir Al Daymi, Director of Al Jazeera Media Institute in the attendance of several senior officials from both organisations.

Under the agreement, the two parties will cooperate in a number of areas, most notably the training courses on AMI’s annual calendar and e-learning portal, as well as providing media consultations, seminars and joint workshops for AZF and all its member organization’s staff.

Commenting on this new partnership, Abdullah Nasser Al Naemi, Director General of Aspire Logistics, said: “After it was established in 1996 by the visionary leader, His Highness the Father Emir, the Al Jazeera Media Network (AMN) revolu-tionised broadcast media in the Arab world. Today, we are proud to partner with one of its affiliated entities, AMI, to provide high-quality training to

our staff and benefit from their extensive training programs in accordance with the best inter-national standards”.

Al Naemi added, “In an ever-changing world of media, we have to keep abreast of the latest trends and this requires solid career development plans for all our staff, in line with our strategic objective and ambi-tious vision to be the ‘the Ref-erence’ in sports excellence worldwide by 2020.”

Meanwhile, Mounir Al Daymi, Director of Al Jazeera Media Institute, said: “This agreement highlights the confi-dence of Qatar’s organisations in the capabilities and skills of AMN, especially AMI, for many

reasons including our unique curricula, trainers and the pro-fessional media environment that we provide to trainees.”

“We are delighted to partner with a global sports organisation such as AZF, espe-cially after it was named Best Arab Sports Organisation. It means a lot to AMI that AZF invests heavily in its human capital,” he added.

AMI has recently signed MoUs with several local and international organisations to develop their media cadres and promote a culture of sound pro-fessional media, which is in line with AZF’s professional standards and continuous pursuit of development.

Abdullah Nasser Al Naemi, Director-General of Aspire Logistics, and Mounir Al Daymi, Director of Al Jazeera Media Institute, at the ceremony.

Auto Class Cars celebrates launch of MG brand in QatarTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Auto Class Cars, the authorized distributor of MG cars in Qatar, has cele-brated last Wednesday the launch of the MG brand in Qatar at a special ceremony held at its new state-of-the-art showroom on Salwa Road.

The event was attended by Sheikh Nasser Bin Nawaf Al Thani, Deputy CEO - NBK Holding, Tom Lee, Managing Director of SAIC Motor Middle East, the parent company of MG Motor, as well as VIPs, guests and members of media.

The launch of the iconic British auto-motive brand comes hot on the heels of the initial new partnership agreement

that was signed by SAIC Motor and Auto Class.

Auto Class will introduce the new model line-up of sedans and SUVs that will go on sale in its state of the art showroom, providing an array of services for its customers.

During the ceremony, a line-up of three new 2018 MG cars were revealed, including the MG 360, ZS and RX5.

Sheikh Faleh Bin Nawaf Al Thani, Automotive Operations Director - NBK Holding said: “We are proud to offi-cially launch this partnership with SAIC Motors and MG in Qatar, to provide car enthusiasts with a wide range of reliable cars. It is our pleasure to

receive the first batch of customers who are keen to drive away a good car with distinctive features and affordable prices, in addition to services that reflect the values and principles of our company.”

Tom Lee, Managing Director for the Middle East. Commenting on the part-nership said, “Auto Class is the natural choice for us as a retail partner in Qatar; the automotive knowledge they possess, and quality and efficiency of the service they offer, is unrivalled. Together with Auto Class we are ded-icated to delivering the highest levels of customer satisfaction through our innovative product range and customer experience.”

Ihab El Feky – Group Automotive Director, NBK said: “Today we start a new era for MG in Qatar. With Auto Class, we are confident our customers will be closer to this brand and they will be able to feel its distinctive features, that makes MG their favorite choice. We thank our partners at MG and look forward to a prosperous collaboration in the coming years.”

The new MG ZS is now available in three high value trim levels - 1.5L STD, 1.5L COM and 1.5L LUX – the perfect option for buyers seeking a good-looking, well-equipped, well-built car at a sensible price.

The new MG RX5 will appeal to a

range of customers in Qatar, especially younger buyers looking for value for money in a stylish, technologically-advanced package that allows them to stand out from the crowd. Equipped with a 1.5T petrol engine and 7-speed auto-matic gearbox the MG RX5 is available as entry level standard or mid-range COM models.

The MG 360 is proud to offer the

largest interior space in its class. The super-long wheelbase gives a more comfortable and ergonomic driving experience, with plenty of room for both the driver and all the passengers.

The MG Cars are available on sale now at Auto Class Cars showroom located at Salwa Road. The showroom opens from Saturday to Thursday from 8am till 9pm.

Hussain Ahmad Al Siddiqi, (second left) Deputy CEO, NBK; Sheik Nasser bin Nawaf, (second right), Second Deputy CEO; Ihab El Feky (right), Automotive Director, NBK Holding; and Tom Lee (second left), Managing Director of MG Motors, on the launch of MG new models and opening of new showroom on Salwa Road on Thursday.PIC: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

The new showroom of Auto Class Cars at Salwa Road.PIC: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

Texas A&M at Qatar hosts Power Electronics and Engineering ConferenceTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: About 125 experts and practitioners in the fields of power electronics and engi-neering and the smart grid recently gathered in Doha for the 12th IEEE International Conference on Compatibility, Power Electronics and Power Engineering (CPE-POWERENG 2018).

CPE-POWERENG 2018 — the flagship conference of the Institute of Electrical and Elec-tronics Engineers (IEEE) Indus-trial Electronics Society — was organized by Texas A&M Uni-versity at Qatar and sponsored by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and OPAL-RT. Engineer Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari, President of the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), was honorary chair of the con-ference, which looked at the importance of power elec-tronics and renewable energy resources integration for the world, and explored the via-bility of these advanced technologies.

Dr Haitham Abu Rub, con-ference chair and chair of the Electrical and Computer Engi-neering Program at Texas A&M at Qatar, said the con-ference was a great oppor-tunity to promote Qatar and its high research and edu-cation activities.

“Well-known scientists and researchers from almost 25 countries had the chance to visit Qatar and to take part in the conference rich technical, industrial and social activities,” Abu Rub said.

Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, QNRF Executive Director, said, “Constructing a power grid that not only supports and strengthens economic growth, but also facilitates the devel-opment and deployment of renewable energy resources, represents an important tech-nological priority. Indeed, bringing Qatar’s conventional power grid into the era of smart grids is in line with the nation’s strategic orientation, as such a transformation will lead to higher energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions. QNRF has played a major role in sup-porting complex and multidis-ciplinary research fields addressed by this conference, and I call upon our research community in Qatar to reap the fruits of these research projects in order to achieve the goals and objectives of QNV 2030 and transform Qatar’s economy from carbon-based to knowledge-based.”

The conference brought together leading scientists, researchers and stakeholders from international and national research institutions, univer-sities and industry to exchange information on medium- to long-term research and the future challenges of power electronics, smart grid and renewable energies. Attendees engaged in discussions of ongoing and future research toward next-generation power electronics, renewable energy technologies and applications, which organizers said they hope would lead to research collaboration opportunities among participants.

Texas A&M University at Qatar hosted the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Compatibility, Power Electronics and Power Engineering in Doha recently.

Rodizio voted ‘Favourite Latin American Restaurant’THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Crowne Plaza Doha – the Business Park has announced that Rodizio has been voted “Favourite Latin American Restaurant” and Meesh Café won the ‘Best Café in Doha” at the recent Fact Dining Awards Doha 2018, a prestigious recognition to hotel’s commitment to deliver excel-lence in food quality and dining experience.

The annual FACT Dining Awards recognizes excellence in the food and hospitality industry with two awards handed out in each category: the BEST – decided by a group of independent industry experts, and top food and lifestyle bloggers; the favourite award is based purely on public opinion.

This year, Meesh Café won the Best Café in Doha as decided

by critic’s choice, and the Rodizio was awarded the “Favorite Latin American Res-taurant” for the second consec-utive year as decided by public online voting.

In this occasion, Christoph Travniczek, Hotel Manager, Crowne Plaza Doha – The Business Park commented:” The Fact Awards recognizes top industry restaurants which have shown par excellence hospitality and success in Doha’s growing food and beverage industry. We are delighted to have won these awards, and we would like to thank all our loyal guests for voting for us. Wining these awards is a true reflection of the hard work, dedication and passion of our culinary and service team who work tirelessly to ensure that we are delivering excellence to our guests.”

Rodizio is a unique

Brazilian dining concept where different meat cuts are pre-pared on live open flame grills in center of the restaurant and served on skewers to guests table by the Passadores who slice the various cuts onto each diner’s plate.

Meesh Café is the perfect place to relax, enjoy fresh coffee

and a selection of sandwiches, cakes and salads to eat in or take away. The place offers great ambiance with its wood interiors and warm natural lightning. It also has ample spaces and dif-ferent sections to accommodate group of friends, small business meetings, and even intimate talks.

Evaluation Department at EducationMinistry issuesannual reportDOHA: The Evaluation Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education issued the 13th annual report on education in the State of Qatar, including data and information for many important aspects of the country’s school education for the academic year 2017/2016, as well as selected comparative data covering the years 2015 to 2017.

Director of Schools Eval-uation Department Omar Abdulaziz Al Ne’ma said that the new edition provides a quantitative vision of the reality of education in Qatar and the latest data in this context, it includes accurate details of most of the educa-tional process and the infor-mation. It provides a good opportunity to analyze this information and then discuss it to make the right decisions in order to achieve the desired development of the education system to become a true supporter of sus-tainable development.

He called on all edu-cators, researchers and media professionals to view the report on the website of the Ministry of Education, and to make maximum use of it,.


QNB-Babyshop announce winners of ‘Expressions’ Season 3 contestTHE PENINSULA DOHA: QNB-Babyshop has announced the result of the 3rd season of ‘Expressions’ Kids

Drawing Competition.QNB-Babyshop Kids

Drawing competition “Expres-sions Season 3 “ the biggest drawing competition held in

Qatar, the event winners were announced in the function which was held in Al Asmakh Mall, Al Sadd on Friday 20th April’2018.

The event was judged by Pratibha Pai, Salwa Hamdy, Yolanda Mercado and Udaya Shankar. Winners were felici-tated by Santosh Pai , COO of Landmark Group Qatar, Yousef Jassim Fakhroo – Head of External Communication QNB and Abdullah Mohammad Arbabi - Senior officer CSR QNB.

Winners in age category 5-7 for Cartoon Character theme are Shamita Adiga (first), Viha Laljani (second) and Malek Eslam (third).

In category age 8-10 and

theme “I Love Qatar”, first prize was won by Bindiya Pramod, second and third prizes by Edrick Ryle Evangelista and Roukaya

Jendoubi respectively.In category of age between

11-14 under theme “Creating Wealth by Saving Money”,

Deserey Chuateco secured first prize, Nandana Bijukumar and Shreyee Bhowmick second and third prizes respectively.

Officials, judges and winners during the QNB-Babyshop drawing competition ‘Expressions’ held at Alasmakh Mall yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

Genesis G70 to arrive in Qatar in RamadanTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Genesis has officially launched its compact G70 luxury sedan in the Middle East, completing the ambitious brand’s core sedan line-up. The all-new Genesis G70 will be introduced in Qatar during Ramadan and will be available at Skyline Automotive, the official distribution partner of the brand in Qatar.

Engineered as a dynamic car with strong appeal to younger customers and more enthusiastic drivers, the G70 joins the flagship G90 large sedan and mid-sized G80 and G80 Sport, once again demonstrating the commitment to excellence and authenticity that underpins the world’s newest luxury auto brand.

The Genesis G70 is the latest representation of the brand’s rapidly evolving DNA, with its graceful and dynamic exterior styling, elegant and intuitively designed interior, and choice of two different powertrains: tur-bocharged 3.3-liter petrol V6 and 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol I4.

“Genesis has been very well received in the Middle East, and the Genesis G70 will be an exciting new chapter in our story,” said Altar Yilmaz, Genesis General Manager for the Africa and Middle East region. “For many of our potential customers, this is the Genesis they have

been waiting for.”With larger G80 and G90

models already growing a strong base of loyal customers, it is expected the compact model will add significantly to the brand’s appeal in the competitive Middle East luxury car market.

The all-new G70 showcases the future direction of the Genesis brand’s ‘Athletic Ele-gance’ design identity. This visual philosophy is represented in the exterior styling, capturing the essence of the Genesis DNA to bring to reality a superbly crafted sports sedan.

The long hood and short front overhang, elegant roofline and assertive multi-spoke alloy wheels combine to form a sleek, dynamic profile, subtly highlighted by chrome aero trim, hockey stick daylight opening and parabolic sidelines.

From the front and side, the prominent crest-type grille, character lines extending from the hood emblem, and pro-nounced air intakes, commu-nicate muscular performance. Two distinctive linear LED DRLs on each side of the large crest

grille foreshadow the future Genesis signature quad lamps.

The G70’s interior is con-figured to prioritize an excellent user experience, with superb fit and finish throughout. The interior packaging reflects sim-plicity, with an emphasis on genuine functionality instead of gimmickry. A horizontal layout brings a sense of stability, with intuitively laid out switchgear and a comfortable, assertive sport steering wheel.

The G70 offers two power-trains in the Middle East region – a 3.3-liter V6 petrol turbo and 2.0-liter I4 petrol turbo. The Lambda II 3.3-liter V6 turbo GDI engine is the heart of the enthu-siast-focused G70 Sport, with 370 ps and maximum torque of 52.0 kg.m (510 N.m) 0 to 100 km/h acceleration in 4.7 seconds, and a top speed of 270 km/h.

Genesis G70

QRCS to help victims of typhoon in PhilippinesTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has signed an executive agreement with the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to help the victims of Typhoon Vinta, which hit Mindanao, southern Philippines, in December 2017.

Under the two-month agreement, the partners will work together to provide emer-gency assistance to the affected families, at a total cost of $300,000.

The intervention covers shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene. About 740 shelter repair toolkits to be provided to

the families w h o s e houses were damaged and live in evac-u a t i o n centers. As p e r t h e agreement, the victims will get 200 hygiene kits.

Other activities include procurement of two water tanker trucks for water distri-bution in areas where the water system was damaged by severe flooding, providing chlorine tablets for water treatment.

Community-based training will be launched on Partici-patory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) to reduce the risk of waterborne and other hygiene-related diseases.

These projects are estimated

to benefit 1,500 families (9,000 individuals) in the provinces of Palawan (Balabac island) and Lanao del Norte.

QRCS’s mission in the Phil-ippines is coordinating with the local and international human-i t a r i a n o r g a n i z a t i o n s responding to the crisis.

QRCS was the first interna-tional humanitarian organi-zation to respond to the dis-aster, allocating $280,000 (QR1m) for early intervention. A humanitarian appeal was issued to raise $2m (QR 7.3m) for a 12-month relief pro-gramme. The plan is reaching out to more than 13 families (65,000 people).

Shelter building in Philippines.

QF holds annual National Programs and Heritage DayTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Foundation (QF) recently celebrated its National Programs and Heritage Day (NPHD) 2018 at the Education City Student Center. Over the course of the two-day event, students from QF schools showcased their school projects relating to the National Programs, which include Islamic Studies, Qatari History, Arabic Language, and Qatari Heritage – a program unique to QF schools.

The event, organized by Pre-University Education’s (PUE’s) Aca-demic Affairs, part of QF, brought together students from QF schools to deliver performances and research projects in line with PUE’s vision of ‘Leading Learning’.

Abeer Al Khalifa, Executive Director, Academic Affairs, PUE, said: “Through this event we hope to inspire our students to seek out knowledge, as doing so will enable them to grow and become active citizens within their communities. I encourage all students to find ways to promote and celebrate their heritage while exploring dif-ferent ways to best excel in education and learning.”

Participating schools included Qatar Academy Doha, Qatar Academy Al Khor, Qatar Academy Wakra, Qatar Academy Sidra, Qatar Academy Msheireb, Qatar Leadership Academy, and Awsaj Academy. Awards were presented for Best Theatrical Performance, Best Student Initiative, and Best School Initiative. Additionally, as part of the Al Munshid Competition, students recited poems to the audience, and the top three performances were honored.

PUE also welcomed representatives from a number of private and public organizations that took part in the NPHD 2018 activities.

ICC organises blood donation campaignTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Indian Cultural Centre under the aegis of Embassy of India conducted first ever Blood Donation Campaign at ICC premises in coordination with Blood Donation unit of Hamad Medical Corporation.

The campaign was well received by ICC and affiliated organizations members as well as Indian community members who lined up to donate blood and be part of the campaign.

This event was organised on April 20 from 2pm to 7pm at ICC premises, Abu Hamour. The Campaign was inaugurated by Hassan Chougule, Chairman Advisory Council of ICC in the Presence of Milan Arun, Pres-ident ICC and Managing Com-mittee Members.

Hassan Chougule

congratulated ICC for making arrangements in taking up this social cause of Blood Donation as first ever program in last 25 years and applauded the service to humanity by members, donors and MC members. Dr. Ranga Prasad Raju, Medical Director at Al Abeer Medical Center was the Guest of Honour.

Dr. Raju made a powerful presentation on “Blood donation awareness” and stressed the importance of blood donation to save life when in need.

Milan Arun thanked the donors for overwhelming response to ICC campaign with registration of over 200 enthusi-astic members of community and stressed that this is the best charity we could ever do. HMC official awarded certificate of appreci-ation to ICC for conducting the blood donation Drive.

Education Ministry and French Embassy officials meet studentsDOHA: Officials from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the French Embassy in Doha held Saturday an extensive meeting with Qatari 12th grade students wishing to continue their higher education in French universities.

The meeting focused on informing the students of the advantages, opportunities and

academic options offered by these universities, their require-ments and conditions and how to apply for them.

And other topics of interest to scholarship students. The Min-istry’s Moza Ali Al Mudahka said that such meetings and events emphasize the strong cooper-ation between Qatar and France in the educational fields, and

reflect the state’s vision of openness to civilizations and sci-entific and cultural exchange among nations. She urged the students to adhere to the noble Qatari values, the identity of their country and its reputation. She also urged them to maintain order and respect the law, thanking the parents of the stu-dents for their great role in

supporting their children and encouraging them to achieve the goals of the homeland.

For his part, French Ambas-sador to the State of Qatar Eric Chevallier hailed the deep bilateral ties in all fields, pointing out the high-quality possibilities and opportunities in French uni-versities of high quality in all disciplines.

Students at Qatar Foundation participate in the National Programs and Heritage Day 2018.

Qatar plans to organise 130 business events this year that will definitely boost its already well-established strategy of attracting more businesses and people to the country.

One of the most densely populated places on earth, Gaza is now barely habitable. Hunger is rampant. Water is undrinkable. Unemployment is close to 50 percent. Health-care is scanty at best. Electricity is available just two to four hours per day.

10 SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK [email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM [email protected]

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Qatar a rising star

Qatar’s high standing in the global arena was once again recognised and applauded when a recent report in South China Morning Post said that Qatar ranks “highly with planners as locations

for hosting business meetings and corporate events”.The report said that with the increase in visitors

from Asia in recent years, some of the global meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions (MICE) destinations have redirected their focus from the US and European markets to Asia for growth. Among them, Qatar in the Middle East and Austria in Europe have become more prominent with their improved tourism infrastructures and marketing efforts.

This is the testimony of Qatar’s efforts to achieve accomplishments irrespective of some hardships occurred after the unjust siege imposed on Qatar by some countries. The Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has pushed through the difficult times and implemented its agenda without any hurdles.

In Qatar, business events have seen an average annual growth rate of 36 percent over the past five years.

“Qatar is taking steady steps towards positioning the country as an attractive destination for business events in the region by capitalising on its easy access, growing event management services, and expanded exhi-bition capacity and transport network,” says Ahmed Al Obaidli, Director of Exhibitions, QTA, according to South China Morning Post.

QTA said it would organise 130 business events this year that will definitely boost its already well-established strategy of attracting more businesses and people to the country. It con-ducted about 120 events last year. According to the official esti-mates, the contribution of business events sector to the

nation’s gross domestic product is about 2.3 percent. It will add business to booming hotel industry and related hospitality sector in a big way.

It’s a well-known fact that Qatar has some of the most sophisticated convention and exhibition facilities around the world. The report highlighted the facilities of Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) and Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC). QNCC fea-tures a multipurpose 4,000-seat conference hall, 2,300-seat theatre, and three auditoria and a number of meeting spaces. The centre offers 40,000 sqm of column-free exhibition space over nine halls, which can provide seating for up to 10,000 delegates. Another jewel in the Qatar’s crown is DECC, located at the heart of Doha’s commercial district. Opened in 2015, it covers an area of 90,000 sqm to include five vast, pillarless halls, capable of seating over 34,000 visitors. Its 18-metre-high ceiling is the highest in the Middle East.

Qatar’s rich cultural and heritage sites and other tourist attractions also provide unique venues for business events.

The commendable and far-sighted decision of launching visa-free entry to some 80 nationalities and the announcement of offering several attractive stopover packages by Qatar Airways have also contributed in showcasing Qatar as a destination of attraction.

May will probably be an ugly month in Gaza

The violence in Gaza, in which 18 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli troops near the border, was the worst since the

war of 2014. But everything is in place for a significant escalation in coming weeks, particularly in mid-May.

A series of major tripwires are clus-tered tightly together: commemorations of the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding on May 14-15; mourning by Palestinians who regard the same event as their “catastrophe” and observe May 15 as “Nakba Day”; and the scheduled opening of a US Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, courtesy of the adminis-tration of President Donald Trump.

Things are likely to get worse because Palestinians increasingly feel they have nothing left to lose. The “March of Return” drew unprecedented crowds of up to 30,000 Palestinians from all parts of Gaza society. In a festive and surreal atmosphere, vendors sold ice cream to picnicking families as young men risked their lives by approaching the border.

Over 90 percent of Gaza’s almost 2 million people are refugees from what is now southern Israel. Unlike most other Palestinians, they are still geographically close to the towns and villages from which they were displaced in 1947-48.

Since its founding, Israel has had one primary response to Palestinians, armed or not, attempting to go home without per-mission. The Israeli mil-itary reit-erated that anyone approaching within 300 meters of the border would face a shoot-to-kill policy.

But things are so bad in

the wretched open-air prison of Gaza that the only surprise is that the death toll wasn’t even higher.

One of the most densely populated places on earth, Gaza is now barely hab-itable. Hunger is rampant. Water is undrinkable. Unemployment is close to 50 percent. Health-care is scanty at best. Electricity is available just two to four hours per day. The once-beautiful

seacoast is now a giant sewer. And there’s virtually no way in or out of the territory which, since a violent takeover in 2007 by the Islamist faction Hamas, has been under a lockdown by Israel.

For more than 10 years, the people of Gaza have been subjected to the misrule of Hamas, the heavily armed Muslim Brotherhood faction that exploits and intensifies their misery. Last summer, Hamas attempted to use a fic-tional “reconciliation” agreement with its Fatah rivals, who control the Pales-tinian Authority in the West Bank, to get out of this stranglehold. Hamas sought to get the Palestinian Authority to take up the burden of administration in Gaza, secure badly needed aid and recon-struction money, and, most importantly, win themselves a new foothold in the West Bank, where they have been frozen out since the Palestinian factions split in 2007.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made reconciliation contingent on Hamas disarming, which the militant group won’t consider. Hamas was left virtually without options.

Abbas, too, is badly adrift. He staked his entire career on negotiations with Israel, brokered by the US But that “peace process” has been frozen since the first term of President Barack Obama, and Israel is moving closer to annexing large chunks of the West Bank. Virtually no Palestinians believe anymore that Israel will ever agree to end the occupation and allow them to create their own state.

The Trump administration has rein-forced this conviction by abandoning Washington’s long-standing com-mitment to a two-state outcome, and has recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Abbas’s diplomatic strategy therefore now looks like the ultimate fiasco.

The last straw for Abbas came in March, when Hamas tried to assassinate his prime minister, Rami Hamdallah.

Enraged, Abbas has lashed out at all his antagonists in a recent series of unhinged speeches. He bitterly denounced Israel and castigated the

Trump administration, describing its peace efforts as “the slap of the century” and calling the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a “son of a dog.” He excoriated Hamas followers as terrorist “thugs and hooligans,” and said the only reason their operatives weren’t being killed all over the world in revenge is that he won’t sink to their murderous level.

Abbas announced a new series of harsh sanctions against Hamas and Gaza, and has been prodding Hamas and Israel toward another conflict, hoping to be the prime beneficiary as his two adversaries scorch each other while Washington scrambles to douse the flames.

With Hamas’s militancy and Abbas’s diplomacy both thoroughly discredited, Palestinian civilians are desperate for a new political dynamic. The recent “March of Return” protests originally promised that, but Hamas has thus far managed to hijack them. Yet if the protest movement leads to another war with Israel, the result could prove cata-strophic for Hamas’s political viability. And if widespread unrest spreads to the West Bank, that could fatally undermine the Palestinian Authority.

Both Palestinian Islamists and nationalists are out of options, out of ideas, and out of luck. The Palestinian public is out of patience and nearly out of hope. That’s a combustible formula.

A series of demonstrations in the coming weeks has already been scheduled in Gaza. But the mid-May commemorations, set against this backdrop of frustration and despair, look incredibly dangerous.

When an entire people, at almost every level of society and across the political and religious spectrum, seem to have concluded they have nothing to hope for and nothing to lose — that all their dreams will remain deferred for the foreseeable future — an explosion may be inevitable.

The writer is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

QUOTE OF THE DAYTurkey is aiming for a $1 trillion foreign

trade volume and a $2 trillion gross domestic

product. We need to double Turkey’s current growth in

order to reach our goals for 2023.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish President

Macron, Trump to dine at Mt Vernon, cradle of French-US amity

The Trumps, it seems, have not forgotten their intimate meal with the Macrons on

the second floor of the Eiffel Tower last July. They return the favour tomorrow, this time at an American landmark.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania have invited French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte for a private dinner at Mount Vernon, the lavish Virginia mansion of first president and founding father George Washington. It is also a symbol of the “special rela-tionship” between France and the United States.

Few details have emerged about the ren-dezvous. The site — a majestic 18th century colonial estate and one of America’s most visited homes — will close four hours early for a “private event.” In 1961, the

Kennedys and their guests arrived at Mount Vernon by presidential yacht. The state dinner in honor of Pakistan’s president was held on the east lawn, which offers an incomparable view of the Potomac River.

The iconic former plan-tation, just 15 miles (21 kil-ometers) from the capital Washington, welcomes more than a million visitors each year. “It’s a really special place where you can actually feel like you are walking in the footsteps of Washington (and) the leaders of the revolution,” Mount Vernon curator Susan Schoelwer told.

George Washington gradually expanded the property and the mansion over the 40 years he lived there. By the end of his life, his land exceeded 7,400 acres (3,000 hectares), and the house had grown to 21 rooms. As a working plan-tation, Mount Vernon had more than 300 slaves in

1799. In his will, Washington mandated that his slaves be freed upon his wife’s death.

An ‘adopted’ French son — George and Martha Washington in their day were consummate hosts, and Mount Vernon proved the ideal escape for visiting dignitaries. “The Wash-ingtons were famous for their hospitality and many of the visitors that they enter-tained during those years were visitors from France, the most famous of which was the marquis de Lafayette,” Schoelwer said.

The French hero of the American war of inde-pendence “became so close to Washington that he was like an adopted son,” she added. Imprisoned during the French revolution, Lafayette even sent his son, George Washington Lafayette, to take refuge in Mount Vernon. A prime symbol of friendship between the two allies hangs in the mansion’s central hall:

the key to the Bastille prison in Paris. The heavy wrought iron key was a gift from Lafayette to Washington shortly after the start of the French revolution, “on behalf of the people of France.” “Even though Washington never traveled to France, it was clearly an important part of his personal history, as well as the nation’s history,” the curator said.

Carole Elbaz, a French-woman living in the United States who came to enjoy a sunny outing at Mount Vernon, said: “We’ve heard about Lafayette. That’s what connects us to our history.” said. Macron may walk Monday in the footsteps of Lafayette, but he is far from the first.

President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing attended a formal ceremony here with pres-ident Gerald Ford in 1976 to mark America’s bicen-tennial, while President Nicolas Sarkozy was hosted by George W Bush in 2007.

REUTERS

HUSSEIN IBISH BLOOMBERG

11SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 OPINION

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A blessing in disguise forEthiopia’s Abiy Ahmed

Kim Jong-Un tests Trump with latest nuclear offer

YOHANNES GEDAMU AL JAZEERA

ERIC TALMADGE AP

On April 2, Abiy Ahmed, a young technocrat from the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO), part of

the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolu-tionary Democratic Front (EPRDF),was sworn in as Ethiopia’s new prime min-ister. Ahmed’s inauguration came amid much fanfare and raised expectations about the future of Ethiopia’s democracy. He is widely seen as a reformer who can take the necessary steps to calm a nation that has been engulfed in unprecedented levels of political unrest over the past three years.

But only a little over a week into his tenure, Ahmed’s reform agenda is already facing serious obstacles.

The state of emergency declared in Ethiopia in February, after the shock resignation of Ahmed’s predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, is still in place. This means that, in contrast to normal times, a council of military officers referred to as the “Command Post” is effectively in control of the state. As a result, the new prime minister’s hold on the state security apparatus is minimal, making it extremely hard for him to move forward with any reform agenda.

The state of emergency has already resulted in at least nine deaths, thou-sands of arrests and the displacement of tens of thousands of Ethiopians. And there is no sign that the Command Post is planning to ease its grip on the country anytime soon, having arrestedmany Ethiopians over the past two weeks, especially in the Oromia region. Amhara activists and scholars have also been arrested in the city of Bahir Dar, although they’ve been released since.

Since February, political dissidents and activists in Ethiopia, as well as many in the international community, have been calling for the state of emergency to be lifted. In his inaugural address, Ahmed made new commitments on the pro-motion of democracy, dialogue with the opposition and respect for citizens’ freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.

But, unfortunately, he failed to mention the need to lift the state of emer-gency that prevents the very reforms he called for from being implemented.

Many analysts believe that his reluc-tance to push for the lifting of the state of emergency is rooted in the internal dynamics of the EPRDF. Members of the establishment, who are naturally resistant to reform or reconciliation efforts, are still influential in the ruling coalition. Even though a reformist is now prime minister, the historical domi-nance of the Tigrayan People’s Liber-ation Front (TPLF) in the EPRDF is not yet waning.

Although there is still some cautious optimism regarding Ahmed’s tenure as prime minister, his perceived slowness in taking meaningful action against the oppressive practices of the regime in power is causing concern. Since he took office, the prime minister has started making constructive, promising engage-ments with the ever-weakened oppo-sition, but some observers complain that some of the most important voices within the opposition have not been invited to the discussion yet.

Yet, if Ahmed plays his cards right, all may still change for the better thanks to something that happened thousands of miles away, in the United States. On April 10, the US House of Representatives unani-mously adopted a resolution critical of Ethiopia’s government, titled “Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance in Ethiopia”.

Commonly referred to as HR-128, the resolution condemned “the killings of peaceful protesters and excessive use of force by Ethiopian security forces; the detention of journalists, students, activists, and political leaders; and the regime’s abuse of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to stifle political and civil dissent and jour-nalistic freedoms”.

In a statement issued by the foreign ministry on Wednesday, Ethiopia’s gov-ernment described the adoption of HR-128 as untimely, inappropriate and disrespectful of its sovereignty. “The move had failed to recognise concrete and positive steps being taken recently in the area of political reforms and deep-ening the democratic culture in the country,” the statement said.

How much say Ahmed had in articu-lating the govern-ment’s response remains unclear. But, despite the criticism it received from the Ethiopian

establishment, HR-128 is likely a blessing in disguise for Ethiopia’s new prime minister and his reform agenda.

After the House of Representatives’ unanimous approval of HR-128, if the US Senate also passes a similar bill (S-Res 168) and US President Donald Trump’s signature follows, this reso-lution is going to become the primary law guiding US foreign policy towards Ethiopia for a long time to come.

The US considers Ethiopia its most important ally in the volatile East African region. As a result, Ethiopia receives one of the largest security and humanitarian aid packages among sub-Saharan African countries. Any resolution or law about Ethiopia that the US government adopts would have considerable impact on the actions of the regime and the new prime minister’s reform agenda.

HR-128 places efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and end human rights abuses at the core of US’ relations with Ethiopia. It calls on the government of Ethiopia to “end the use of excessive force, release wrongfully imprisoned protesters, and improve transparency”.

The resolution also makes it clear that Ethiopia’s adopted proclamations, such as anti-terror laws that the regime utilises to stifle dissent and silence critics must be repealed.

Moreover, the resolution acknowl-edges Ethiopia’s further violations of its citizens’ rights that include the forced eviction and resettlement of Annuaks in Gambella, the arrest of journalists and the closing of over 200 civil society organisations, and calls for investiga-tions into the killing of protesters in the Oromia and Amhara regions. The doc-ument also expresses Congress’ disap-pointment with the absence of any “indication that anyone has been held to account for these abuses”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has finally broken his silence on what he plans to bring to the

table during his summits with the South Korean and US presidents, and it doesn’t have a whole lot to do with tossing out his hard-won nuclear arsenal.

Instead, Kim appears to be maneuvering toward his own big “get” — the chance to sit down with President Donald Trump on an essentially equal basis as the head of a nuclear-armed nation. The end of North Korea’s nuclear program, meanwhile, isn’t looking any closer than it was before.

Ending weeks of ominous silence from Pyongyang, Kim laid out the new strategy at a meeting Friday of his ruling party’s Central Committee that suspends underground nuclear tests andtest-launches of

intercontinental ballistic mis-siles. He also said the country’s nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, already believed to be essentially inoperable, will be closed and “dismantled.”

North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of denu-clearisation that bears no resem-blance to the American definition, vowing to keep pursuing nuclear development unless Washington offers ironclad guarantees of its security and removes its nearly 30,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula.

This time around, Kim seems to be more flexible than he had been previously regarding the troops. His latest statement also echoed Pyongyang’s hope for security assurances and for the day when the world will have no nuclear weapons.

But it also unapologetically stressed that his country is now a nuclear power, and the message between the lines is that the United States should simply accept that and treat him as an equal.

Kim praised his policy of developing nuclear weapons as a “miraculous” success.” A reso-lution passed by the committee afterward went on to explicitly state North Korea’s promise to be a responsible

nuclear power that would never use nuclear weapons “unless there are nuclear threats and nuclear provo-cations” against it.

Even so, the announcement, which also stressed Kim’s desire to turn his focus to economic devel-opment, played very well in world capitals.

Trump immediately took to Twitter to praise the announcement as “very good news for North Korea and the World.” Seoul and Beijing welcomed it. Japanese Prime Min-ister Shinzo Abe, a hard-liner on North Korea, tried to keep his response positive, though he stressed the need for vigilance to see what happens in the coming months.

For sure, Kim’s tone has changed.

Just last year, about the only messages coming out of Pyongyang were vitriolic threats of merciless retaliation and warnings of the gathering dark clouds of nuclear war. Now, Kim is claiming he can be more mag-nanimous because “a fresh climate of detente and peace is being created on the Korean Peninsula and the region and dramatic changes are being made in the international political landscape,” according to the North’s state-run media, which reported the announcement on Saturday.

There is also a lot of room for positive results to come from Kim’s summits with South Korean Pres-ident Moon Jae-in, set for next Friday, and Trump, expected in late May or early June.

The North and South may agree to allow more reunions for families that were divided by the 1950-53

Although there is still some cautious optimism regarding Ahmed’s tenure as prime minister, his perceived slowness in taking meaningful action against the oppressive practices of the regime in power is causing concern.

Korean War, and Kim is reportedly open to releasing three Americans now in North Korean custody.

Experts point out that this is still Kim’s opening gambit. It’s possible he may be willing to offer more concessions once the real talking begins.

Then again, maybe not. “Kim Jong-Un just said, in effect, that North Korea is an arrived nuclear power and he will give up nukes when the rest of the world does,” said Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate with the Mid-dlebury Institute of International Studies. “I sense that Kim Jong-Un’s commitment to denucleari-sation has been greatly oversold.”

The writer is AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief, has traveled to North Korea regularly since 2012. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @EricTalmadge

This time around, Kim seems to be more flexible than he had been previously regarding the troops. His latest statement also echoed Pyongyang’s hope for security assurances and for the day when the world will have no nuclear weapons.

12 SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Syrian rebels withdraw from eastern Qalamoun enclaveREUTERS

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels began withdrawing from an enclave northeast of Damascus yesterday and will go to northern Syria, state TV and a rebel official said, in a surrender agreement that marks another victory for Pres-ident Bashar Al Assad.

The withdrawal will restore state control over the eastern Qalamoun enclave, some 40km from Damascus.

Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, is seeking to wipe out the last few rebel enclaves near Damascus, building on momentum from the defeat of the insurgency in eastern Ghouta, which was the last major oppo-sition stronghold near the capital.

Russia said experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) went to the site of an alleged April 7 gas attack that led rebels to surrender the last town they held in eastern Ghouta, Douma.

France and the United States have accused Russia of obstructing access to the site, where medical relief agencies say dozens of people were killed. The OPCW mission arrived in Syria a week ago to investigate the incident.

Russia and Damascus say the alleged gas attack, which trig-gered Western missile strikes on Syria, was fabricated.

State TV said rebel fighters and their families would be transported from eastern Qalamoun to Idlib and Jarablus, a rebel-held territory at the border with Turkey, with 3,200 militants and their families expected to leave soon.

The spokesman for one of the rebel groups in eastern Qalamoun said the insurgents had agreed to the deal after intensified Russian shelling killed six people in areas near the town of Al Ruhaiba earlier this week.

“This made the Free (Syrian) Army factions sit at the negoti-ating table with the Russian side and an agreement was reached the most important articles of which are the surrender of heavy weapons and the departure of fighters to the north,” Said Seif of the Ahmad Abdo Martyr brigade said.

A first convoy of 10 buses had left Ruhaiba and was being searched in a nearby area before continuing to the north.

Meanwhile, the Syrian mil-itary and its allies pressed the bombardment of a besieged enclave south of Damascus.

State TV footage showed clouds of smoke rising from the Al Hajar Al Aswad district, part of an enclave including the

Palestinian Yarmouk camp that is held by Islamic State and other jihadist groups.

A commander in the regional military alliance that fights in support of Assad said jihadist positions were being targeted with all types of weapons. “Daesh positions are being targeted by Syrian army helicopters,” the commander added, using an

acronym for Islamic State. UNRWA, the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, has said it is deeply concerned about the fate of civilians including some 12,000 Pales-tinian refugees in Yarmouk and the surrounding areas.

“Displacement continues with people moving to the neigh-bouring area to escape fighting.

Some families are staying in Yarmouk, either because they cannot move due to the intensity of fighting or because they choose to remain,” UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said. “We don’t have any numbers on how many people have moved but the humanitarian situation of those in both Yarmouk and Yalda is intolerable.”

The withdrawal will restore state control over the eastern Qalamoun enclave, some 40km from Damascus.

Syrian rebel fighters evacuated from the town of Dumayr, east of the capital Damascus, greet friends on arrival in the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, yesterday.

15 militants dead in Mali operationAFP

BAMAKO: Fifteen militants have been killed in an anti-terrorist operation in central Mali, the Malian army said yesterday, adding that one soldier died and two others were injured.

The “terrorists” were “neutralised, their weapons recovered and their motor-bikes destroyed” during Fri-day’s mission in the Tina forest in the Mopti region, the army said. The army “suffered one death and two injuries”.

Mali has seen a resur-gence of violence in recent weeks. Last Sunday a UN base in the historic city of Tim-buktu was attacked by rocket fire and car bombs, killing one UN peacekeeper and wounding seven others.

Last month the UN Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) expressed “deep concern” over an increase in “serious violations and human rights abuses against civilians, including cases of summary execution” in the centre of the country, where militant groups are particularly active.

One dead and 17 injured in protests against electoral laws in MadagascarREUTERS

MADAGASCAR: One person was killed yesterday when Madagascar police fired tear gas at opposition demonstrators protesting against new electoral laws they say are designed to lock out their candidate from a presidential election due this year.

Olivat Rakoto, Director of the Joseph Ravoahangy Andri-anavalona Hospital in the city, said they had received 17 people with injuries from midday to 3pm. “One person came but we could do nothing for him when he arrived,” she said, referring to the dead person, one of the 17. Rakoto did not comment on

the nature of the injuries but some witnesses at the hospital said some injuries were caused by landing gas canisters. There was no immediate comment from the government or police.

Supporters of Marc Ravalo-manana, a former leader of the Indian Ocean island nation, say the new electoral laws are designed to prevent him running in the election. The opposition is also contending provisions on campaign financing and access to media in the laws.

Ravalomanana, who was deposed in a 2009 coup, has teamed up with the man who succeeded him, Andy Rajoelina, to oppose the laws pushed by P r e s i d e n t H e r y

Rajaonarimampianina.Hundreds of protesters

gathered in the centre of the capital early yesterday to protest against the laws which were enacted by parliament earlier this month, before police fired dozens of teargas canisters at the crowd.

One opposition lawmaker accused the government of attacking opposition MPs while carrying out their work and demanded the president’s res-ignation. “Hery Rajaonarimam-pianina has to resign, he attacks members of Parliament which are in the line of their duty,” said Paul Bert Rahasimanana who represents a constituency in the capital.

Police clash with protesters during an opposition demonstration against a draft electoral laws adopted by Madagascar’s National Assembly in Antananarivo, yesterday.

Iran vows ‘expected & unexpected’ moves if US exits nuclear dealREUTERS

DUBAI: Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said yesterday Iran’s atomic agency was ready with “expected and unex-pected” reactions if the United States pulls out of a multina-tional nuclear deal, as US Pres-ident Donald Trump has threatened to do.

“Our atomic energy organ-isation is fully prepared... for actions that they expect and actions they do not expect,” Rouhani said, without elabo-rating in a speech carried by state television, referring to a possible decision by Trump to leave the accord next month.

The deal reached between Iran, the United States and five other world powers put curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Trump has called the agreement one of the worst deals ever negotiated. In January he sent an ultimatum to Britain, France and Germany, saying they must agree to fix what the United States sees as the deal’s flaws or he would refuse to extend the critical US sanctions relief that it entails.

US disarmament ambas-sador, Robert Wood, said on Thursday Washington had been having “intense” discussions with European allies ahead of the May 12 deadline, when US sanctions against Iran will resume unless Trump issues new waivers to suspend them.

Iran has said it will stick to

the accord as long as the other parties respect it, but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out.

“Iran has several options if the United States leaves the nuclear deal. Tehran’s reaction to America’s withdrawal of the deal will be unpleasant,” Iranian state TV quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying in New York.

Rouhani said his gov-ernment intended to prevent instability in the foreign exchange market after a pos-sible Washington exit from the nuclear accord when the central bank this month slapped controls on markets.

“This was a preventative blow against any American decision on May 12. They fully hoped to... cause chaos in the (foreign exchange) market. I promise to the people that the plot of the enemy has been thwarted, and whether or not the nuclear deal remains in effect, we will have no problem,” Rowhani said.

On April 9, Iran moved to formally unify the country’s official and open market exchange rates and banned money changing outside of banks, after its currency, the rial, plunged to an all-time low on concerns over a return of crippling sanctions.

Rowhani criticised moves by his powerful hardline oppo-nents to restrict access to social media.

Tunisia reopens consulate in Libyan capital

REUTERS

TRIPOLI: Tunisia has reopened its consulate in the Libyan capital, the Libya Foreign Ministry said yesterday, the latest mission to return to Tripoli.

Most embassies left Tripoli in 2014 when heavy fighting broke out between rival factions and few came back when a UN-backed administration took office in 2016.The Tunisian consulate resumed work after talks between the two countries, the Libyan foreign ministry said. The Tunisian foreign ministry declined to comment, but a diplomatic source confirmed the move.

Tunisian had closed its mission 2015 after ten staff were kidnapped.

In recent weeks some Western embassies have sent diplomats for longer stays to Tripoli as security has improved, although few stay full time on the ground. The Italian and Turkish embassies as well as the UN mission are among the few open.

Security challenges loom over Buhari’s re-election bidAFP

KANO: Muhammadu Buhari’s (pictured) pledge to end Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency in northeast Nigeria played a large part in his 2015 presidential election victory.

With elections approaching next year and Buhari,75, having declared his intention to seek a second, four-year term, the extent to which he has done that is coming under increasing scrutiny.

But as Africa’s most populous nation gears up for months of hard campaigning before the vote in February 2019, the former military ruler is not just facing questions about Boko Haram. In recent months there

has been a resurgence of clashes between farmers and nomadic herders — and a heavily politi-cised reaction — which could have an impact on polling.

Ryan Cummings, Africa analyst at the Signal Risk con-sultancy in South Africa, noted the violence “now accounts for more civilian casualties than the Boko Haram insurgency and may continue to do so in the foreseeable future”.

Elsewhere, criminal violence and kidnappings for ransom in some northern states have increased, while tensions persist from pro-Biafran separatists in the southeast.

In the 12 months before the last election, Boko Haram fighters ran riot across northeast

Nigeria, capturing swathes of territory with the military seem-ingly unable to respond.

Buhari, who headed a mil-itary government in the 1980s, was seen as a better bet to end the violence, which has killed at least 20,000 since 2009. He has

achieved that to an extent but persistent attacks have undermined his repeated assertion that the militants have been vir-tually defeated.

“It is fair to say that Pres-ident Buhari has failed in

delivering on his promise to defeat Boko Haram within his first term,” said Cummings.

The group recently gave a clear indication of the threat it still poses by abducting 112 schoolgirls from Dapchi in Yobe state in almost a carbon copy of

the Chibok kidnapping in 2014.Buhari secured massive

support across the mainly Muslim north in 2015. That looks unlikely to change significantly in 2019.

In the north’s biggest city and most populous state, Kano — a key election prize because of its size — people said Buhari had their vote for weakening Boko Haram. But they warned he needed to take action against security threats elsewhere.

“That is where he is going to face his toughest challenge,” said Abdulhadi Ahmad, a garment trader. Buhari has been criticised for failing to stop the violence, which according to some esti-mates has killed more than 2,000 since the start of this year.

13SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 ASIA

Indian Cabinet okays death penalty for abusers of kidsIANS

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet yesterday approved an ordi-nance that provides for death penalty to those convicted of raping a child below the age of 12 and life term for raping a girl below age of 16.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, approved at cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeks to provide effective deterrence against rape and instil a sense of security among women, particularly young girls in the country.

The government also decided to put in place a number of measures for speedy investi-gation and trial of rape cases including a two month time limit for investigation, two months for completion of trial and six months for disposal of appeals.

There will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years.

The Cabinet also decided to strengthen investigation and prosecution including setting up fast track courts, and special forensic labs in each state besides

maintaining a national database of sexual offenders.

The ordinance came in the wake of a nation-wide outrage over rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, and other instances in different parts of the country including rape of a nine-year-old girl in Surat.

Sources said the government has taken a serious note of the rape incidents in the country and has decided on a comprehensive response to deal with the situ-ation, with the ordinance approved in view of urgency and seriousness of the issue.

The ordinance seeks to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act by stringent provisions in case of rape of children and minors.

It provides that punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years will be minimum 20 years imprisonment or imprisonment for rest of life or with death.

Punishment for gang rape of a girl under 16 years of age will invariably be imprisonment for rest of life of the convict.

In case of gang rape of a girl below 12 years, punishment will be imprisonment for rest of life or death sentence.

The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous impris-onment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.

In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which shall mean imprisonment till that person’s natural life.

The ordinance also provides that court has to give notice of 15 days to Public Prosecutor and the representative of the victim before deciding bail applications

in case of rape of a girl under 16 years of age.

The Cabinet also approved a number of important measures in order to give effect to the legal provisions and to improve the capacity of criminal justice system to deal with rape cases.

As part of strengthening the courts and prosecution, new Fast Track Courts will be set up in consultation with states and union territories and high courts. New posts of public prosecutors

will be created besides setting up related infrastructure in consul-tation with the states.

There will be dedicated man-power for investigation of rape cases in a time-bound manner. Police Stations and hospitals will be provided with special forensic kits for rape cases.

Special forensic labs will be set up in each state and union territory to deal exclusively with rape cases.

The measures will form part

of a new mission mode project to be launched within three months.

As part of measures to strengthen the national database, the National Crime Records Bureau will maintain a national database and profile of sexual offenders, and this will be regu-larly shared with states and union territories for tracking, monitoring and investigation, including verification of ante-cedents by police.

Swati Maliwal (centre, left), Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, speaks to the media during her hunger strike demanding the immediate implementation of a stringent law to punish convicted abusers, in New Delhi, yesterday.

Sushma Swaraj arrives in Beijing on four-day visit

IANS

BEIJING: India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived yesterday in Beijing on a four-day China visit where she will hold crucial bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ministerial-level meeting.

The one-on-one meet with Wang today will be the key highlight of Sushma Swaraj’s visit in which she will discuss a range of issues and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s China trip in June to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Summit.

She will meet a more powerful Wang who in March was promoted to China’s top diplomatic post of State Councillor. Their last meeting was in December on the side-lines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers meet.

Sushma Swaraj will attend the SCO foreign min-isterial-level meeting on April 24 and leave for Mongolia.

After the 73-day military stand-off at Doklam in 2017, China and India have tried to mend their ties.

The two countries have a host of issues that plague their relationship. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) irks India as its planned route cuts through the disputed Kashmir held by Islamabad and claimed by New Delhi.

Yashwant Sinha quits BJP saying democracy in dangerREUTERS

MUMBAI: One of India’s best known politicians, former finance and foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, quit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party was undermining democratic insti-tutions.

Sinha, who served as a min-ister in the first BJP-led govern-ments headed by Atal Bihari Vaj-payee in the late 1990s and early

2000s, has frequently spoken out over how the Hindu nation-alist party has evolved since then.

“Democracy in India is in grave danger,” Sinha said, announcing his decision to quit at a meeting of a new political action group attended by several opposition politicians in Patna, the capital of the northern state of Bihar.

“From today, my relationship with BJP is over. I’m severing my ties with the party,” Sinha said.

“I’m not going to be a member of any other political party,” he said, adding, “My friends and I will lead a movement to save democracy in India.” Sinha delivered his broadside as Modi prepares to lead the BJP into a general election due by next year, with high hopes of securing a second term.

Aged 80 and no longer active in electoral politics, Sinha has criticised the Modi government on a range of issues, most

recently through an open letter published earlier this week.

In that letter, Sinha urged the prime minister to speak and act more forcefully on vital issues, including recent horrific rapes that have reflected badly on the BJP.

In one case party members had appeared to support the Hindu men accused of raping an eight-year-old Muslim girl, and in another case in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh a BJP law-maker is alleged to have raped a teenager.

Sinha also said that India’s religious minorities had become alienated, and the weakest sec-tions of society, the scheduled castes and tribes had been “exposed to atrocities as never before” and the guarantees given to them in the constitution were threatened.

Sinha, whose son is a junior minister for aviation, derided the government for making “tall claims” over India’s status as the world’s fastest growing major economy.

A competitor falls into a stream in the middle of a paddy field while playing a pillow fight game as a part of Sinhala, Hindu and Tamil New Year celebrations, in Bandaragama, Sri Lanka, yesterday.

Revelry in Sri Lanka

Fresh nomination for Bengal civic polls on April 23IANS

KOLKATA: The West Bengal State Election Commission, after meeting with various political parties and representatives of the state government, selected April 23 as the extended day for filing nominations for the coming Panchayat polls, a senior official said yesterday.

The meeting was convened following a Calcutta High Court order to the SEC to make a fresh announcement extending the deadline for filing of nomina-tions in consultation with the state government and other important stakeholders and finalise a new election schedule for the Panchayat polls.

However, the BJP boycotted the meeting.

“Today, there was a meeting regarding the extension of the nomination deadline. Monday (April 23) would be the day for filing fresh nominations. The notice has not been issued yet. It might be issued by the SEC later,” Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for Panchayat and Rural Development Saurabh Kumar Das told the media persons here.

He said there were no dis-cussions regarding fresh polling date.

Earlier in day, representa-tives of various political parties met State Election Commis-sioner Amarendra Kumar Singh and discussed their demands for the Panchayat polling process.

“We do not want the election

to happen during too much heat or in the rainy season. We do not want the election to happen in the month of Ramadan either. It should be completed as soon as possible. However, we do not have any objection if one day of polling falls inside the month of Ramadan,” ruling Trinamool Congress’ Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said after meeting the SEC.

The BJP alleged that the state government is putting pressure on the SEC to conduct the entire polling in one day.

It also boycotted the all-party meeting, accusing the SEC of not allowing more than two of their party members.

“We have submitted a copy of this complaint letter to the Commissioner stating that matter is now subjudice. The Registrar of the High Court has been intimated. So the SEC cannot fix any date about the polling process without talking to us,” BJP leader Mukul Roy said, adding since the BJP is the main petitioner in this case, the SEC won’t be able to fix any date for the polling process without discussions with them as that would be contempt of the high court order.

“BJP is a major stakeholder in this case. Our office had a word with the State Election Commissioner today (Saturday) morning and informed that five of our members would come to attend the meeting. But he said only two of us will be allowed.

Myanmar evicts family of officer who testified on entrapmentAP

YANGON: Myanmar police yesterday evicted the family of a police officer who had testified a day earlier that he and others were ordered to entrap two Reuters reporters facing charges that could get them up to 14 years in prison, the officer’s wife said.

The reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained since December 12 on charges of violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The two helped cover the crisis in

Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where a brutal counterinsurgency operation last year drove about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh.

Police Captain Moe Yan Naing told a court on Friday that his superior had arranged for two policemen to meet the reporters at a restaurant and hand over documents described as “important secret papers” in order to entrap them.

Yesterday, Moe Yan Naing’s wife, Daw Tuu, said she and her daughter were ordered to move out of their police housing in the

capital, Naypyitaw.“A police officer called us

this morning and said we have to move out of the housing immediately and that’s the order from the superior,” Daw Tuu said, sobbing.

Moe Yan Naing said he and other colleagues who had been interviewed earlier by Wa Lone about their activities in Rakhine had been interrogated under the direction of Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko of the 8th Security Police Battalion.

The police department’s action against Moe Yan Naing’s

family caused an outcry in Myanmar.

“This is an outrageous move,” said Robert Sann Aung, a human rights lawyer. “This is to give an example to other police in the country to keep silent from telling the truth.”

The court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January. The defendants’ lawyers have asked the court to drop the case against the pair, saying prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to support the case, but the judge denied the motion.

The government also decided to put in place a number of measures for speedy investigation and trial of rape cases including a two month time limit for investigation, two months for completion of trial and six months for disposal of appeals.

14 SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018ASIA

Terrorism fatalities down by 40% in Pakistan: US reportINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: Terrorism fatal-ities in Pakistan decreased by almost 40 percent between 2016 and 2017, says a US State Department report released yesterday.

The department’s annual country report on human rights notes that at the end of October 2017, terrorism fatalities in Pakistan stood at 1,084, in com-parison with 1,803 fatalities in the full year 2016.

The data, collected for the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), indicated a 39.878 per cent decrease, which would have improved further if data for the last two months of 2017 were also included.

The US report points out that terrorist violence and human rights abuses by non-state actors contributed to human rights problems in the country.

“The military sustained sig-nificant campaigns against mil-itant and terrorist groups. Never-theless, violence, abuse, and social and religious intolerance by mil-itant organisations and other non-state actors, both local and foreign, contributed to a culture of lawlessness in some parts of the country,” the report adds.

This was more obvious in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and the Fed-erally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The State Department report also highlights the issue of forced disappearances in Pakistan, noting that in 2017, “there were kidnappings and forced disap-pearances of persons from

various backgrounds in nearly all areas of the country. Some police and security forces reportedly held prisoners incom-municado and refused to disclose their location”.

The report mentions disap-pearance of MQM workers in Karachi and of nationalists in interior Sindh, Balochistan and KP.

The report also alleges that dozens of political workers and activists were kidnapped, tor-tured and killed in all these places.

The US State Department notes that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappear-ances received 4,608 missing person cases. The commission claimed to have closed 3,076 of those cases, while 1,532 remained open.

Data from the commission showed the number of persons

reported missing was highest in KP (751 missing), followed by Punjab (245 missing), Balo-chistan (98 missing), Sindh (50 missing), Fata (48 missing), the Islamabad Capital Territory (45 missing), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) (14 missing), and Gilgit-Baltistan (five missing).

The most significant human rights issues identified in the report include extrajudicial and targeted killings, disappear-ances, torture, lack of rule of law and frequent mob violence and vigilante justice with limited accountability.

Additional problems iden-tified in the report are arbitrary detention, lengthy pre-trial detention, a lack of judicial inde-pendence in the lower courts, governmental infringement on citizens’ privacy rights, har-assment of journalists and high-profile attacks against journalists and media organisations.

Government restrictions on freedom of assembly, freedom of movement and freedom of religion and discrimination against reli-gious minorities, and sectarian violence have also continued.

Corruption within the gov-ernment and police, lack of criminal investigations or accountability for cases related to rape, violence-based on gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, sexual har-assment, so-called honour crimes, and female genital muti-lation/cutting remain problems.

Child labour resulting in fre-quent exposure to violence and human trafficking, including forced and bonded labour, has also persisted.

Activists wearing shark costumes take part in a protest against the use of shark’s fins in food in Hong Kong yesterday. About 50 activists took part in the protest.

Bid to conserve shark population

Foreign Ministry told to settle Indian pilgrim’s nationality issue quicklyINTERNEWS

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) yesterday told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan to take no more than three days to decide the appli-cations for visa extension and nationality of an Indian Sikh woman who married a Pakistani man after converting to Islam.

Kiran Bala, whose Muslim name is Amina, had travelled to Lahore from Delhi on a visa to attend religious rituals at the Gurudwara Punja Sahib.

Here, she married Muhammad Azam who she had

become friends with on Facebook.Her counsel, Advocate Ijaz

Ahmad Khan, told the court that she had moved two applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan nationality and extension in her visa, which is set to expire on April 21.

The Sikh woman came to Pakistan on a religious visa to marry a Muslim man

He said the petitioner was ready for due verification to acquire Pakistani citizenship.

The counsel argued that Article 15 of the Universal Dec-laration of Human Rights entitled everyone to a nationality and

also granted the right to change their nationality.

He said the petitioner, during her visit to Pakistan, had married Azam and was now looking to exercise her right to seek the nationality of her husband’s country and an extension in her visa. The lawyer asked the court to order the Ministry to decide the applications as early as possible and to not take any coercive measures against her or her husband.

Justice Jawad Hassan dis-posed of the petition and directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to decide the petitioner’s applications within three days.

Govt making efforts to introduce 5G by 2020INTERNEWS

I S L A M A B A D : T h e government of Pakistan is making efforts to introduce 5G technology in Pakistan by 2020 in order to bring it at par with developed econ-omies in terms of techno-logical advancements, said Minister of State for Infor-mation Technology Anusha Rehman yesterday.

Speaking to participants of the first edition of the Huawei Mobile Pakistan Con-gress in Islamabad, which was titled ‘Enabling Future Together’, she said Pakistan has emerged as a leader in technology use.

“Other countries are studying Pakistan as a case on how it has progressed in the world of technology, whether it is the ICT girls pro-gramme or how 3G and 4G technologies have made people economically com-fortable,” she said.

She appreciated Huawei’s role in setting precedent for promoting technology in Pakistan by involving industry players and engaging the government in making this a reality.

She urged the company to look into the proposal of manufacturing technological items locally.

“We would love to see Huawei products with made in Pakistan labels,” she said.

She said such events help developing playing fields for all stakeholders and that cus-tomers get more information about products in the market.

The event featured dem-onstrations of highly cutting-edge, mobile enabled products and innovations in Pakistan today.

Islamabad to take stern action over moon-sighting issuesINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: Amid its failure to enact a law to provide legal and constitutional cover to the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, the government of Pakistan has decided to adopt strict attitude with Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai this year too so that the Shawwal crescent sighting does not become controversial in the country once again.

Pakistan has witnessed con-troversies during previous years

as two Eids were observed in the country mainly because the independent cleric Mufti Sha-habuddin Popalzai of Masjid Qasim Ali Khan in Peshawar dis-regarded the decisions of the committee and made separate announcements over sighting of the Shawwal moon.

However, with no time left for parliamentary proceedings, as the government cannot get the draft bill on the committee approved by both the houses of parliament, the Ministry of

Religious Affairs has decided to forward the matter to the Interior Ministry.

With term nearing end, govt unlikely to get draft bill on Ruet-i-Hilal Committee approved by both houses of parliament

“This is a matter of serious concern and we do not want to see that there are two Eids in any part of the country even after we are not in government,” said Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf.

“There are issues with one

or two persons only and they (Interior Ministry) will send Mufti Popalzai to Dubai again this year so that people can celebrate Eid together,” he added.

The government’s tenure ends on May 31 while Eid Al Fitr is expected in the mid of June. However, the Minister said that certain things were beyond party lines and whosoever formed the next government would adopt the same course of action.

Though the matter has been lingering for several years, the

government has failed to enact a law to provide legal and con-stitutional cover to the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs forwarded the draft law to the cabinet secretariat for approval in December 2017 but it has not been taken up by the latter yet.

Yousuf said a nine-member central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee was set up in 1974 under a res-olution passed by the National Assembly.

People play a game of giant chess at Hyde Park in Sydney, Australia, yesterday.

Chess game

China holds aircraft carrier drills in PacificAFP

BEIJING: China has carried out aircraft carrier drills in the Pacific, its navy said yesterday, ramping up tensions with Taiwan over its military exer-cises in the sensitive region.

Beijing’s sole aircraft carrier and two destroyer ships carried out “offensive and defensive drills to test their combat muscle” on Friday, China’s navy said on its official microblog site on Weibo.

The exercises took place in an area east of the Bashi Channel, which runs between Taiwan and the Philippines, it said.

China sees democratically-governed Taiwan as a renegade part of its territory to be brought back into the fold and has not ruled out reunification by force.

In Beijing’s latest military drills, photos showed J-15 fighters waiting to take off from the Liaoning aircraft carrier.

The Jinan and Changchun destroyer ships also partici-pated in the training.

Taiwan has accused China of “saber rattling” after Chinese bombers and spy planes flew around Taiwan on Thursday,

and the Chinese navy con-ducted live-fire drills off the Taiwan Strait a day earlier.

“China has deliberately manipulated (the exercise) to pressure and harass Taiwan in an attempt to spark tensions between the two sides and in the region,” Chiu Chui-cheng of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council told a regular briefing on Thursday.

“(We) will never bow down to any military threat and incentive.” Beijing has stepped up military patrols around Taiwan and used diplomatic pressure to isolate it interna-tionally since pro-inde-pendence President Tsai Ing-wen took office.

Chinese President Xi Jinping observed the navy’s largest-ever military display this month in the South China Sea, which involved 76 fighter jets and a flotilla of 48 warships and submarines.

Beijing has also been angered by Washington’s arms sales to Taipei, and China pro-tested last month after Pres-ident Donald Trump signed a bill allowing top-level US offi-cials to travel to Taiwan.

6 dead in Taliban attack on Afghan checkpointAP

KABUL: An Afghan official said that at least six local police were killed when a group of Taliban fighters attacked and overran their checkpoint in northern Sari Pul province.

Zabi Amani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said yesterday two other policemen were wounded in the late on Friday night attack.

Amani said reinforcements arrived and a sporadic gun battle is still underway in Sayad

district. He added that three Taliban fighters were killed and two others were wounded in the battle. Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban have increased their attacks in the province of late.

“The military sustained significant campaigns against militant and terrorist groups. Nevertheless, violence, abuse, and social and religious intolerance by militant organisations and other non-state actors, both local and foreign, contributed to a culture of lawlessness in some parts of the country,” the report adds.

15SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 ASIA

Kim vows to halt nuclear and missile testsAFP

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said he would halt nuclear tests and interconti-nental missile launches, in an announcement yesterday welcomed by US President Donald Trump ahead of a much-anticipated summit between the two men.

Pyongyang’s declaration, long sought by Washington, will be seen as a crucial step in the fast diplomatic dance on and around the Korean peninsula.

It comes less than a week before the North Korean leader meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula, ahead of the eagerly-awaited encounter with Trump himself.

But Kim gave no indication Pyongyang might be willing to give up its nuclear weapons, or the missiles with which it can reach the mainland United States. The North had success-fully developed its arsenal, including miniaturising war-heads to fit them on to missiles, Kim said, and so “no nuclear test and intermediate-range and inter-continental ballistic rocket

test-fire are necessary for the DPRK now”. As such the North’s nuclear testing site was no longer needed, he told the central com-mittee of the ruling Workers’ Party, according to the official KCNA news agency.

The party decided that nuclear blasts and ICBM launches will cease — the North has not carried any out since November — and the atomic test site at Punggye-ri will be dismantled to “transparently guarantee” the end of testing.

Within minutes of the report being issued, Trump tweeted: “This is very good news for North Korea and the World — big

progress! Look forward to our Summit.” Seoul too welcomed the announcement, calling it “meaningful progress” towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

But Kim offered no sign he might be willing to give up what he called the North’s “treasured sword”, saying its possession of nuclear weapons was “the firm guarantee by which our descendants can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world”. Pyongyang has made rapid technological progress in its weapons programmes under Kim, which has seen it subjected

to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union, South Korea and others.

Last year it carried out its sixth nuclear blast, while Kim and Trump traded threats of war and personal insults as tensions ramped up. Beijing said it believed the move would “help to promote the process of denu-clearisation and attempts to find a political settlement” on the peninsula. The EU welcomed Kim’s announcement as “a pos-itive, long sought-after step” on the path to complete denuclearisation.

It comes less than a week before the North Korean leader meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula, ahead of the eagerly-awaited encounter with Trump himself.

South Koreans sceptical of North’s promiseREUTERS

SEOUL: North Korea’s announcement of a halt in its nuclear and missile tests was met with scepticism by many South Koreans yesterday, highlighting political risk for the South’s pres-ident as he embarks on the latest push for peace on the peninsula.

In South Korea, which is still technically in a state of war with its unpredictable, isolated neighbour, many ordinary people expressed scepticism

about the sincerity of the announcement, and stressed the need for caution.

“A declaration is just a dec-laration,” student Kim Han-nuri, 23, said in downtown Seoul on a sunny spring morning.

“Unless there’s a change in its dictatorial system, I don’t think we can completely trust anything North Korea says as it isn’t a normal country... I don’t believe we can build normal dip-lomatic relations and our safety can’t be guaranteed.” South

Koreans have lived for decades under the threat of war with their hostile and now nuclear-armed neighbour.

They’ve also seen several earlier pushes for reconciliation that raised hopes of peace only to end in a return to acrimony.

Polls suggest South Koreans have become increasingly indif-ferent to the threat of war, with bigger concerns being more mundane issues like jobs and the pressures that have accom-panied South Korea’s rapid

development since the 1950s.Liberal politician Moon

Jae-in won a presidential election last year, promising a moderate approach to North Korea with the aim of reviving a “sunshine policy” of engagement.

But no one anticipated the speed with which relations have improved since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a con-ciliatory New Year’s address at the end of last year, following months of sharply rising tension over his weapons.

Yeo Young-ju, 44, said North Korea had developed nuclear bombs despite decades of efforts to engage it, and this time it should get no economic benefits until its promises were proven to be true. “This will be the third inter-Korean summit. North Korea looked as if it would denu-clearise during the two previous summits and then we were back to square one,” Yeo said.

“We need to verify if they indeed get rid of their nuclear material,” Yeo said.

A man watches a television news showing a file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, at a railway station in Seoul, yesterday.

Palestinian shot dead in MalaysiaREUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR: Two uniden-tified men shot dead a Pales-tinian man in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Malaysian and Pales-tinian authorities reported, and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister said the suspects were believed to be linked to a foreign intelligence service.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at the 35-year-old victim, killing him on the spot.

“Preliminary investigations found four gunshot wounds on the victim’s body. Two bullet slugs were found at the scene of the incident,” Mazlan said in a statement. When contacted, Mazlan declined to comment on reports that the victim was a member of the Palestinian group Hamas or had been targeted by hitmen.

“It’s too early to say, we are still investigating all aspects.” Palestine’s ambassador to Malaysia Anwar Al Agha later identified the victim as Pales-tinian Fadi Al Batsh, an

engineering lecturer, but declined to say if he was a member of Hamas. Witnesses at the scene had told him that the two suspects had “European features”, the ambassador said.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said the suspects were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.

He added the victim had links with foreign intelligence and was active in pro-Pales-tinian non-governmental organ-isations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.

The victim could have been seen as “a liability for a country that is an enemy of Palestine,” Zahid was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Hamas, which exercises de facto control over Gaza, said one of its members was “assassi-nated” in Malaysia but stopped short of accusing Israel’s secret service of carrying out the killing. A Hamas statement said Batsh was “assassinated at treacherous hands yesterday...

as he walked for the dawn prayers.” Batsh’s uncle Jamal Al Batsh, said he believed the killing was the work of Israel’s Mossad espionage service.

Officials in Israel declined to comment. When asked who he blamed, he replied: “The Israeli Mossad. The Israeli Mossad stood behind the assas-sination of educated people and intellectuals because Israel knows Palestine will be lib-erated by scientists. Therefore, they tracked this young edu-cated man.” Batsh was a lecturer at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, spe-cialising in power engineering, according to the university.

A Palestinian in Malaysia who knew Batsh said that the victim was also an imam at a mosque close to his residence.

In recent weeks, tensions have been running high at the Gaza-Israel border as Pales-tinians have ramped up protests demanding the right to return to their former homeland. Israel’s use of live fire has drawn international criticism but the Israeli government says it is pro-tecting its borders.

Malaysian forensic police collect evidence in the area where a Palestinian scientist was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

Japan PM Abe sends offering to war shrineAFP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine yesterday but has no plans to visit it to avoid tensions ahead of a three-way meeting with China and South Korea, officials and local media said.

Abe sent a sacred “masakaki” tree bearing his name to the shrine as it started a three-day spring festival, a shrine spokeswoman said.

On the eve of the festival, more than 70 lawmakers made a pilgrimage to the shrine, which China and South Korea see as a symbol of Tokyo’s past aggression. Kyodo News and other reports said Abe would not visit the shrine during the festival to avoid creating tension as he plans to host a tri-lateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in early May.

The conservative premier, who has been criticised for

what some see as a revisionist attitude to Japan’s wartime record, has sent ritual offerings to mark the shrine’s key events, including its commemoration of the end of World War II.

The shrine honours millions of Japanese war dead, but also senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes after World War II.

The site has for decades been a flashpoint for criticism by countries that suffered from Japan’s colonialism and aggression in the first half of the 20th century.

Abe visited in December 2013 to mark his first year in power, a move that sparked fury in Beijing and Seoul and earned a diplomatic rebuke from close ally the United States, which said it was “dis-appointed” by the action. He has since refrained from going.

Abe and other nationalists say Yasukuni is merely a place to remember fallen soldiers, and compare it with Arlington National Cemetery in the United States.

Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe (left), and his wife Akie attend a garden party in Tokyo, yesterday.

Cambodian man commits suicide live on FacebookREUTERS

P H N O M P E N H : A Cambodian man murdered his ex-wife and then jumped off a bridge in a suicide that he broadcast live on Facebook, police said, in the first such case reported in the country.

Facebook is the social media platform of choice for Cambodians. Nearly a third of the country’s 15.8 million people are Facebook users and the network is a major source of information, par-ticularly for young people.

Ra Chhay Rath, 21, killed his former wife at a school on Thursday then went to the nearby Tsubasa bridge, in Kandal province, and jumped into the Mekong river. Only the suicide was broadcast, police said.

“It has never happened before. It was the first case,” police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said, referring to the broadcast of the suicide.

“We are investigating to find out why he killed his ex-wife.” Police said the man’s body had not been found.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone had reported the video or asked for it to be taken down.

A spokesman for Facebook later said the company was “deeply sad-dened by this tragedy” and that it had removed the video.

“We don’t allow the pro-motion of violence or suicide on Facebook and have removed the video,” the spokesman said in an email.

“We want people to have a safe experience on Facebook and we work with organisations around the world to provide assistance for people in distress.” Last year, Facebook said it would expand its pattern recognition software after successful tests in the United States to detect users with suicidal intent.

Facebook has been embroiled in a number of content moderation contro-versies over recent years.

It has also been accused by human rights advocates of not doing enough to weed out hate messages while it faces questions in several countries about data privacy.

16 SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018EUROPE

Armenian oppn rejects call for talksAFP

YEREVAN: Armenia’s political crisis deepened yesterday as protest leader Nikol Pashinyan said he was only prepared to discuss the exit of the country’s newly elected prime minister, former president Serzh Sarksyan.

“We are only ready to discuss the conditions of his departure,” news agencies quoted Pashinyan as saying after Sarksyan called on the opposition to enter into talks with authorities.

“This won’t be a dialogue, as I already said, we do not want vendetta and we wish to secure the transfer of power to the people while avoiding shock as much as possible.”

The opposition lawmaker has led mass protests against Sarkisyan’s rule that started on April 13 in the capital Yerevan.

Earlier yesterday, Sarksyan sought a “political dialogue” with the protest leader.

“I am deeply concerned about the unfolding internal political events. In order to avoid irreversible consequences, I call on deputy Nikol Pashinyan to sit at the table of political dialogue and negotiation,” the 63-year-old leader said in a statement.

Opposition supporters denounce Sarksyan’s efforts to remain in power as prime min-ister after a decade serving as president.

At a 30,000 strong rally in Yerevan on Friday evening, Pashinyan laid out his demands

for the authorities. “First, Sarksyan resigns.

Second, parliament elects a new prime minister that represents the people. Third, it forms a temporary government. Fourth, they schedule parliamentary elections. We will enter negoti-ations around these demands,” he said, calling Sarksyan a “political corpse”.

“The whole world can see this is a people’s velvet revo-lution, which very soon will be victorious.”

A journalist reported oppo-sition supporters began blocking roads yesterday morning ahead of planned rallies in several dis-tricts of Yerevan. At least 11 people were detained, more than 230 people were arrested on Friday.

Armenian policemen remove a vehicle during a rally, in central Yerevan, yesterday.

Queen Elizabeth celebrates birthday with concertAFP

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II marked her 92nd birthday yesterday with traditional gun salutes and a Commonwealth-themed charity concert featuring Tom Jones, Kylie and Shaggy.

Horse-drawn guns fired 41 times in Hyde Park and 62 times at the Tower of London, while at Windsor Castle, the band played “Happy Birthday” during the changing of the guard.

In the evening, the monarch and her family were due to attend a concert with per-formers from around the Com-monwealth, the 53-nation grouping which held its summit in London this week.

Australia’s Kylie, Canadian pop chart-topper Shawn Mendes, South African all-male

choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo and US-Jamaican reggae star Shaggy were to join British stars including Jones, Craig David and Sting.

The queen usually cele-brates her birthday in private, saving the pomp for her official birthday in June.

The concert at the Royal Albert Hall will raise money for a new youth charity, The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.

The monarch’s grandson Prince Harry, who will marry US actress Meghan Markle at Windsor on May 19, is the trust’s new president and was due to give a speech at the concert.

The queen has been the symbolic head of the Common-wealth since her father king George VI’s death in 1952, but its leaders agreed on Friday that her son and heir Prince Charles

should succeed her. The summit was over-

shadowed by a row over Brit-ain’s treatment of Caribbean immigrants, while Charles himself also came under scrutiny.

A non-white writer, Anita Sethi, claimed he joked about whether she was really from the British city of Manchester when they met at a Commonwealth meeting this week.

Sethi — whose mother was born in Guyana — said Charles asked her where she was from and when she replied, said: “Well, you don’t look like it!” and laughed.

She wrote in The Guardian that she felt humiliated and angry, adding that “some people, including the prince, urgently need a history lesson about immigration”.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II

Teachers rally in Warsaw; seek wage hikesAFP

WARSAW: Several thousand teachers rallied in Warsaw yesterday demanding wage hikes a week after Poland’s right-wing government announced a raft of generous spending measures in other sectors ahead of local elec-tions this fall.

Public sector wages, especially in education and health care, have long been notoriously low in Poland, a 2004 EU member of 38 million people, where the average gross monthly salary is around $1,500.

“We’re fed up with the disregard for teachers, we’re fed up with pitiful teachers’ salaries,” Slawomir Broniarz, head of the ZNP Polish Teachers’ Union, said.

“The education minister says we earn 5,400 zloty, but that is over 2,000 zloty more than most of us actually receive,” he said.

The ZNP has rejected assurances by Education Min-ister Anna Zalewska that a series of wage hikes planned over 2018 - 2019 will meet their demands.

Facing a sharp slide in popularity ahead of local elec-tions, last week Poland’s gov-erning Law and Justice (PiS) party announced new welfare measures for the elderly and disabled as well as tax cuts for businesses on top of other ben-efits it already introduced.

Far-right activists block France-Italy border crossingAFP

NÉVACHE: Around 100 far-right activists yesterday tried to block a French alpine pass used by migrants in a bid to “ensure that no illegal immigrant can return to France”.

Members of the rightwing Generation Identity (GI) movement trudged through the snow up to Col de l’Echelle near the border with Italy where they plan to spend the night.

The pass is a “strategic point of passage for illegal immigrants” entering from Italy, GI spokesman Romain Espino, said, criti-cising what he called “a lack of courage of the public authorities”.

“With a little bit of will, we can control immigration and borders,” he added.

The group — mainly French but also including Italians, Hungarians, Danes, Aus-trians, English and Germans — plan to set up a “symbolic frontier” using plastic wire mesh.

Espino said the activists want “to explain to the potential migrants that it is inhumane to make those people crossing the Mediter-ranean or the snow-covered Alps believe that these routes are not risky”.

“They are not going to find El Dorado, it’s immoral. Those who pay for it are the French,” he added.

For the past year, the French Alps have experienced a sharp increase in arrivals of young people, mostly from Guinea and Ivory Coast.

According to authorities, 1,900 illegal immigrants were sent back to Italy in 2017 compared to 315 the previous year.

Migration remains a big issue along the French-Italian border, interior minister

Gerard Collomb said on Friday night, refer-encing some 50,000 people denied entry in 2017.

“We have decided to renew the border controls for six months,” he told lawmakers during a debate of the controversial asylum immigration bill which is branded “inhumane” by the left, but a “little law” by the right.

Activists erect a barrier during an operation titled “Mission Alpes” to control access of migrants using the Col de l’Echelle mountain pass, in Nevache, near Briancon, yesterday.

ICAN slams EU over silence on nuclear threatANATOLIA

GENEVA: The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) yesterday slammed European leaders for their silence over the nuclear threat posed by the US and Russia.

“We know what world war does to our continent. If there is a nuclear war between the US and Russia, it is going to be here in Europe,” Beatrice Fihn (pictured), ICAN executive director, said.

“European leaders can’t stay silent right now. They are very silent on this issue. They have to stand up against Trump, Putin and Kim and say: This is unacceptable,” said Fihn, whose group won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, referring to the US, Russian, and North Korean leaders.

Fihn also urged Israel to abolish its nuclear weapons for the sake of peace and security in the region.

“Israeli nuclear weapons should be disarmed,” Fihn said.

Noting the concerns over the Israeli nuclear threat as a risk to peace and security including Middle East, Fihn said: “The impact of using nuclear weapons would be dev-astating” and this possibility “is extremely concerning”.

Saying that the global situ-ation in the world now is more worrying than the Cold War era, Fihn said: “We are definitely heading towards very worrying times with threats. We have a sit-uation in the Koreas between the US and Russia and in the Middle East and Pakistan. It is very complex. It’s not like the Cold War where we had two blocs.”

“Having nuclear weapons in this very multipolar tense system is much more dan-gerous than it was during the

Cold War,” she said.About US President Donald

Trump’s statements that he would pull out from the nuclear deal with Tehran, she called them “very concerning. We would urge the US to stay in the Iran deal very strongly.”

“It would be a threat to peace and security in the region and internationally if that deal falls apart. It is very successful deal. Iran is complying with it. It is working. It needs to stay,” she added.

ICAN is a global civil society coalition of non-governmental organisations from over 100 countries working for the pro-hibition of nuclear weapons.

The group — with over 460 partner organisations — has been a driving force on coun-tries’ promises to eliminate nuclear weapons in line with UN accords.

The ICAN Executive Director, Beatrice Fihn, said: We know what world war does to our continent. If there is a nuclear war between the US and Russia, it is going to be here in Europe.

Macedonia optimistic on name deal with GreeceAFP

SKOPJE: Macedonia has never been closer to solving its 25-year name row with Greece, but even if it fails Skopje will continue to integrate with Europe, its premier said.

“I believe that we have never had better circumstances to find a complete solution that will last for centuries and will remain forever,” Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in an interview.

The long-running name dispute between Macedonia and EU-member Greece dates back to 1991 when Skopje declared independence fol-lowing the collapse of com-munist Yugoslavia.

Athens objects to Macedo-nia’s name because it has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions.

“If the dispute is not solved, the world will not end,” Zaev said.

“We will bring Europe here to Skopje (the capital). And we will push an European agenda one way or another.”

Because of the dispute, Mac-edonia was forced to join the United Nations under the name the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

UN mediated talks to settle the row have resumed since Zaev’s Social Democrats won elections last year, ousting the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party of Nikola Gruevski after more than ten years in power.

The negotiations have made

progress after Macedonia agreed in February to change the name of the capital’s Alex-ander the Great airport to Skopje International Airport, in a goodwill gesture to Greece.

Macedonia had also been accused of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered part of Greek culture, such as Alex-ander the Great. The motorway linking Macedonia with Greece was also renamed the Friendship Highway.

Zaev said he was “satisfied” that “a huge part of the issues” between Macedonia and Greece had been solved and that he was optimistic about a final deal.

He has previously said an agreement could be reached by the summer. However, the 43-year-old declined to go into details about the ongoing talks, saying “it could destroy the entire process”.

Earlier this week the European Commission recom-mended opening EU accession talks with Skopje, an EU can-didate since 2005, in a devel-opment Zaev described as “encouraging”.

“This is a message of open doors. That is very important for Macedonia,” he said, adding that more than 75 percent of Macedonians are in favour of the country’s integration into the EU and Nato. However, “that does not mean that we should not improve cooper-ation with other countries, including the Russian Feder-ation,” Zaev said.

17SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 EUROPE / AMERICAS

US building ‘visa wall’ after ballerina denied entry: RussiaAFP

MOSCOW: The Russian foreign ministry yesterday slammed the US for refusing an entry visa to a prima ballerina at the coun-try’s Bolshoi Theatre.

“It did not come to this even during the Cold War. On the con-trary, the arts, including ballet, always helped us to understand each other better,” the foreign ministry said.

“However, today influential forces in the US interested in

pressuring Russia as much as possible do not stop at anything,” it added.

The foreign ministry blamed the US for arts exchanges between the two countries being called off.

“They are trying to fence Americans off from Russians with a visa wall, making trips to the US for our citizens practically impossible,” the statement released recently said.

Russian agencies this week reported Olga Smirnova, a prime

ballerina at the Bolshoi, had been refused a US visa, weeks after a round of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions led to a reduction in embassy staff members.

Smirnova and another Bolshoi dancer, Jacopi Tissi, were due to perform at the Lincoln Center in New York on Monday, but were refused a work visa by the US Department of Immi-gration, the Ria Novosti news agency said.

Smirnova is a rising star at the world renowned ballet

company, who made her name in Russia with lead roles in ballets such as Swan Lake.

The US embassy in Moscow has been drastically reduced in strength since the diplomatic expulsions, the first of which were announced by Britain in mid-March.

They followed the poisoning in Britain of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia as well as accusations of Russian interference in last year’s US election.

The US consul in Russia, Lawrence Toby, said in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta news-paper on Thursday that the issuing of emergency visas to Russian athletes and pilots could no longer be guaranteed due to lack of staff.

According to the news-paper, the time required to secure a US visa in Moscow is currently 250 days and it is impossible to register for a new appointment before the end of the year.

Two German tourists dead in Peru bus crash AFP

LIMA: Two German tourists died and 12 other people were injured when their minibus fell into a ravine on an Andean road in southern Peru, police said yesterday.

The vehicle, which carried 12 German tourists along with their Peruvian driver and another Peruvian, fell about 20 metres while traveling from the city of Arequipa to the town of Chivay around 3:00pm.

The surviving 10 German tourists and their two Peruvian crewmembers were taken to hospital in Arequipa, a police official in Chivay said.

Chivay, home to about 6,500 inhabitants, is located more than 3,600km above sea level in the mountains of the Colca Valley, a popular tourist destination in the South American country.

Hours earlier, another accident occurred in the same region that left seven dead and 18 injured, after a pas-senger bus fell into a 60-metre ravine.

A separate bus plunge yes-terday, in the northern region of La Libertad, killed at least 11 people when it landed at the bottom of a 200-meter chasm, police said.

Peruvian authorities rec-ommend driving with extreme caution in the winding and narrow Andean routes. On January 2, 52 people died, while 45 were killed on February 21 — in both cases after passenger buses fell into ravines.

Mass aircraft inspections ordered after blastREUTERS

WASHINGTON: US and European airline regulators ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in a fatal Southwest Airlines engine blowout earlier this week, citing risks of a similar mishap.

The directives by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency for inspections of CFM-6-7B engines, made by CFM International, indicated rising concerns since a similar failure in 2016 of the same type of engine.

The engine explosion on Southwest Airlines flight 1380 on Tuesday was caused by a fan blade that broke off, the FAA said. The blast shattered a window, killing a passenger, in the first US passenger airline fatality since 2009.

“The unsafe condition,” the FAA said in the order, “is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same design.”

The inspections ordered are a sharp step-up from actions by both the European and US reg-ulators after a Southwest flight

in August 2016 made a safe emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida, after a fan blade sepa-rated from the same type of engine and debris ripped a hole above the left wing. The European agency had given air-lines nine months to check engines, while US regulators still were considering what to do.

Ultrasonic inspections on fan blades that have been used in more than 30,000 cycles, or in service for about 20 years, will be required in the next 20 days, the agencies said. A cycle includes one take-off and landing.

That order will affect about 680 engines globally, including about 350 in the United States, the FAA said. The engine that blew apart on Tuesday’s Southwest flight would have been affected, since the company said it had 40,000 cycles.

The coordinated 20-day measure partially resolves a gap

in previous responses to the 2016 accident by the world’s two largest and most influential avi-ation regulators, a person familiar with the discussions said and published documents show.

The FAA in August 2017 drafted an order giving airline up to 18 months to carry out checks, but it had not finalized the measure by the time of Tues-day’s fatal second accident.

The EASA had rejected a request by one airline to double the time allowed for checks to 18 months, matching the FAA’s roll-out, saying data did not justify that.

The divergence marked a rare difference of approach between the two agencies, espe-cially on one of the world’s most-used aviation products. CFM, which is jointly owned by General Electric Co and France’s Safran, produces the CFM56 engine in factories based both in the United States and in Europe.

“It happens that there are

disagreements about the right way to go in some cases, and this was one of them,” the source said.

On Tuesday, however, when news broke that a second failure had taken place involving the same model engine, aircraft and airline — this time killing a pas-senger who was partially pulled through a gaping hole next to her seat — the two agencies agreed to act quickly, the person said.

An FAA spokesman said the agency disputed that it had not agreed with European regulators on the response to the engine issue. An EASA spokesman declined to comment.

Several major airline officials said the order will primarily impact airlines with higher uti-lisation of aircraft covering shorter routes like Southwest.

Southwest, which had opposed efforts by the engine maker last year to shorten the FAA’s earlier proposed deadline,

on Friday said its maintenance programme meets or exceeds the new requirements.

United Continental Holdings said that it had begun inspections earlier after a recommendation from CFM. American Airlines said it does not have any CFM-6-7B engines with 30,000 cycles and would not be impacted by the 20-day order. Delta Air Lines said it had begun complying and did not expect any operational impact to customers

Approximately 14,000 CFM-6-7B engines are in operation.

CFM had initially recom-mended the inspections.

The European order requires that after the first inspection, air-lines should keep repeating the process every 3,000 cycles, which typically represents about two years in service. More than 150 have already been inspected.

Inspections recommended by the end of August will affect an additional 2,500 engines.

The directives by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency for inspections of CFM56-7B engines indicated rising concerns since a similar failure in 2016 of the same type of engine.

Student hurt in shooting at Florida high schoolAP

FORT LAUDERDALE: A gunman carrying a shotgun in a guitar case opened fire at a Florida high school, wounding one student as other students and teachers piled desks and cabinets against classroom doors to make barri-cades.

The 19-year-old suspect was later arrested and apologised as he was led away in handcuffs.

Yesterday’s shooting at Forest High School in Ocala hap-pened on a day planned for a national classroom walkout to protest gun violence. A 17-year-old boy was taken to a hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening wound to his ankle.

The suspect, Sky Bouche said “sorry,” followed by “It doesn’t matter anyway” to reporters as he was led from the school in handcuffs by several deputies.

Authorities said Bouche was a former student at the school.

“I didn’t shoot anyone,” he said to reporters. He ignored most of the other questions until

asked what he’d say to the shooting victim. That’s when he said, “sorry.”

The shooting comes just over two months after a gunman

killed 17 people and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Nikolas Cruz, 19, faces the death penalty if convicted in that Valentine’s Day shooting.

It also coincided with a nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence on the anni-versary of the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School. The Ocala school had planned its version of a walkout, students said.

Chris Oliver told the Ocala Star-Banner his 16-year-old son, a Forest student, told him the shooting happened near his classroom.

The boy told Oliver the shooter stood in a hallway and fired at a closed classroom door. The shooter then dropped the weapon, ran and tried to hide, the boy told his father.

Six American nations suspend membership in regional blocREUTERS

BRASILIA: Half of the nations belonging to Union of South American Nations (Unasur), a South American bloc set up a decade ago to counter US sway in the region, have decided to suspend their membership, a Brazilian official said.

The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay believe the bloc has been rud-derless under the current rotating presidency of Bolivia, according to a statement sent to Brazilian ministers.

Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni said the six were only pressuring for a quick turnover in presidency and stressed they were not abandoning Unasur. Bolivia will call an emergency meeting to solve disputes in the bloc, Hua-nacuni added in an interview with state media.

Unasur was created in 2008 when leftist populism advocated

by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was at its strongest in South America. But in recent years, the bloc has been para-lysed by divisions as center-right governments have risen to power in several countries.

“Unasur works by con-sensus but the differences between its members’ political and economic views are so great it can no longer operate,” said a Peruvian diplomat who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

Chavez and other leaders set up Unasur to create a regional economic and political union that ultimately struggled to gain momentum.

Unasur sought to bypass the Washington-based Organi-zation of American States (OAS), which leftists considered a tool for promoting US policy in Latin America.

Venezuela’s economic col-lapse and political turmoil post-Chavez has divided the region.

DiplomacyPrime Minister Theresa May (right) and Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gesture while planting an English oak tree in the grounds of the British Premier’s country residence, in Chequers near Ellesborough, northwest of London, yesterday.

Rare brown bear dies in Italy capture operationAFP

ROME: An Italian national park was investigating after a rare brown bear died during a capture operation carried out by biologists.

The Marsican bear is a crit-ically-endangered subspecies of the brown bear found in Italy’s Apennine mountains.

The authorised capture operation at Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise nature reserve in central Italy was carried out in order to fit radio collars and provide better monitoring.

But a male Marsican, cap-tured in a tube trap on Wednesday night, experienced “respiratory problems,” as he was sedated and died shortly afterwards, despite resusci-

tation attempts, the parks man-agement said.

It was reported in Italian media that the young bear was not even the intended object of the operation and that park staff were in fact trying to capture a different bear, Mario, who had been causing trouble in the area.

“It is the first time we have been faced with an anaesthetic emergency during a capture,” Antonio Carrara, president of the national park, said. “Although the protocol “reduces the risks for the bear to a minimum, it cannot be ruled out completely”.

“We are facing a very serious loss,” said WWF Italia, as it called for a review of capture protocols to ensure animal safety standards.

Marion County Police officers come out of Forest High School after a shooting, in Ocala, Florida, yesterday.

18 SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018AMERICAS

Barbara Bush laid to rest in TexasAP

HOUSTON: Four former presi-dents joined ambassadors, sports stars and hundreds of other mourners on a gray, rainy yesterday at the private funeral for former first lady Barbara Bush, filling the nation’s largest Episcopal church a day after more than 6,000 people paid their respects to the woman known by many as “America’s matriarch.”

Former President George H W Bush was helped into the cav-ernous sanctuary with a wheel-chair behind his sons, former President George W Bush and former Florida Gov Jeb Bush, and other Bush relatives to remember his wife of 73 years. Barbara Bush died at their home in Houston on Tuesday at age 92.

Seated near the front of the church, in the same pew, were two other former presidents — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — along with their wives and current First Lady Melania Trump.

Flags were flown at

half-mast for the wife of the nation’s 41st president and mother of the nation’s 43rd as the service began at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, as the choir sang “My Country Tis of Thee.”

The church is adorned with sprays of yellow garden roses, yellow snap dragons, antique hydrangeas and other flowers.

Among the other roughly 1,500 guests were former Rep.

Gabby Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and professional golfer Phil Mick-elson, along with Karl Rove, and other former White House staff.

Many were seen embracing in the church before the service.

President Donald Trump isn’t attending to avoid security dis-ruptions and “out of respect for the Bush family and friends attending the service,” according to the White House. He released a statement yesterday saying his “thoughts and prayers” are “with the entire Bush family.”

A burial followed at the Bush Library at Texas A&M University, about 161km northwest of Houston. The burial site is in a gated plot surrounded by trees and near a creek where the cou-ple’s 3-year-old daughter, Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953, is buried.

The family has said Barbara Bush had selected son Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, to deliver a eulogy along with her longtime friend Susan Baker, wife of former Secretary of State James A Baker III, and historian

Jon Meacham, who wrote a 2015 biography of her husband.

The funeral programme shows that her grandchildren will also play prominent roles: her granddaughters will offer readings during the service and her grandsons will serve pallbearers.

On Friday, a total of 6,231 people stopped by the church to pay their respects. Many of the

women wore the former first lady’s favorite color, blue, and trademark pearls.

After seeing how many people had lined up to pay their respects to his wife, former President George H W Bush decided to attend — he sat at the front of the church in a wheelchair, offering his hand and smiled as people shook it, for about 15 minutes.

Barbara and George Bush

were married longer than any other presidential couple when she died.

One of just two first ladies to have a child elected president, Barbar was widely admired for her plainspoken style and her advocacy for causes including literacy and HIV awareness. She was known as the “Enforcer” in her family, the glue who kept the high-powered clan together.

The coffin of former first lady Barbara Bush is carried from St Martin’s Episcopal Church following her funeral service as her son, former president George W Bush, and family walk behind, in Houston, Texas, yesterday.

Senate panel unlikely to support Pompeo

After seeing how many people had lined up to pay their respects to his wife, former president George H W Bush decided to attend — he sat at the front of the church in a wheelchair, offering his hand and smiled as people shook it.

Chile offers to host Colombia, ELN rebels dialogueREUTERS

SANTIAGO: Chile’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday that it is willing to host the next meeting between the government of Colombia and rebel group ELN, after Ecuador earlier this week pulled support for the talks.

The sometimes-fraught, 14-month-old peace talks between Colombia and the ELN, a leftist rebel group founded in 1964, were re-started in Quito last month.

But violence by Colombian armed groups in Ecuador, including the recent kid-napping and killing of two journalists by former members FARC, prompted Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno to suspend its role as a guarantor country, an observer who guarantees the process is con-ducted objectively.

Chile’s Foreign Ministry said that it was willing to serve as the new venue in order to help Colombia reach a resolution to the conflict “as quickly as possible.”

Trump confident personal lawyer won’t ‘flip’ on himAP

WEST PALM BEACH: President Donald Trump said yesterday that he doesn’t expect Michael Cohen, his longtime personal lawyer and fixer, to “flip” as the government investigates Cohen’s business dealings.

Trump, in a series of tweets, accused The New York Times and one of its reporters of “going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his rela-tionship with me in the hope that he will ‘flip’” — a term that can mean cooperating with the gov-ernment in exchange for leniency.

“Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of

trouble,” even if “it means lying or making up stories,” Trump said, before adding: “Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!”

The FBI raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this month looking for evidence of fraud as they conduct a criminal investigation.

That included records related to payments Cohen made in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom allege having had sexual encounters with Trump, people familiar with the raid have said.

Prosecutors have said they’re

investigating Cohen’s personal business dealings but haven’t said what crime they believe he

may have committed. Cohen’s lawyers have called the raid an assault on attorney-client

privilege and Trump has said it was “an attack on our country.

In the tweets, sent shortly after arriving at one of his Florida golf courses, Trump per-sonally attacked New York Times reporter Maggie Hab-erman and accused the news-paper of using “non-existent ‘sources’” in a story about the relationship between Trump and Cohen, who has said he would “take a bullet” for his boss.

The Times responded on Twitter, defending Haberman and standing by the story.

Trump later deleted and reposted the tweets correcting the spelling of Haberman’s name.

Donald Trump (left) and Michael Cohen

Bazilian journalist faces trial over alleged IS linkAP

SAO PAULO: A journalist who gained the trust of a group of Brazilian sympa-thisers of the IS militant group will be tried for allegedly encouraging them to commit terrorist acts.

Prosecutor Rafael Brum Miron said O Globo TV editor Felipe Oliveira infiltrated the group in 2016 to obtain infor-mation for a story on its oper-ations and how it recruited sympathisers.

Miron said that while Oliveira did not take part in any attacks he did urge the group to commit “illicit acts” to convince it that he was on its side.

Promoting terrorist organisations is punishable with up to 15 years in jail.

Last year, the eight members of the group were jailed for plotting attacks and for using the internet to promote the IS group. None of the attacks took place.

Maduro pays visit to new Cuban leaderAFP

HAVANA: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived in Havana yesterday to meet with Cuba’s new president and ratify his struggling nation’s ties with one of its few remaining allies.

He acted quickly — just a day after decades of Castro rule ended and long time party loy-alist Miguel Diaz-Canel assumed power as president.

Cuba for years has been heavily dependent on cut-rate

Venezuelan oil in exchange for assistance in the form of Cuban doctors working in the oil-rich but economically troubled South American country.

Before leaving Caracas, Maduro said he would be making “a working visit, one of brotherhood, to give an embrace of solidarity and support” to Diaz-Canel.

“I come with lots of energy to keep working together,” Maduro said in arrival remarks after he was received by Foreign

Minister Bruno Rodriguez, local news reports said yesterday.

Maduro is seeking re-election on May 20 among voters grappling with hyper-inflation and shortages of food and medicine.

Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores and Cuban first lady Lis Cuesta were both in attendance.

Venezuela, Cuba’s key ally, in essence trades oil for Cuban doctors and technicians who work in public health in the South American country.

AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s secretary of State pick Mike Pompeo is likely to be rejected by a Senate panel after all its Democrats opposed his nomination, but he may still win final confirmation next week.

Senator Chris Coons yes-terday became the last Dem-ocrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to announce his position.

The panel has 11 Repub-licans and 10 Democrats.

With Republican Rand Paul joining all the Democrats in opposition, Pompeo is now expected to be reported unfa-vorably out of committee — a rare result — despite a full court press by the White House to get him across the line.

“I do not make this decision lightly or without reservations,” Coons said in a statement.

While he was convinced Pompeo, who currently heads the CIA, would help improve conditions for career profes-sionals at the State Department, “I remain concerned that Director Pompeo will not chal-lenge the president in critical moments.”

Coons said he worried that Pompeo “will embolden, rather than moderate or restrain, President Trump’s most bellig-erent and dangerous instincts.”

The committee’s Repub-lican chairman, Senator Bob

Corker, has scheduled tomorrow panel vote.

Regardless of the outcome, Corker is expected to report the nominee to the full Senate for a vote. The White House is eager to see a final vote next week, before Congress goes on a one-week recess.

Pompeo, a former con-gressman, has promised to “push back” against Russian aggression. And he made head-lines this week when it emerged that he secretly traveled to North Korea and met with leader Kim Jong-Un ahead of a planned Kim-Trump summit.

But Democrats have warned Pompeo could be excessively partisan, something Corker sought to knock back on Thursday.

“I realise my Democratic friends in many cases feel like that in supporting Pompeo, it’s a proxy for support of the Trump administration policies, which many of them abhor,” Corker said.

But he insisted there was no one in Washington “that has more current knowledge about the threats” today than Pompeo.

He still has a shot at confir-mation. Republicans hold 51 of the chamber’s 100 seats.

With Senator John McCain out indefinitely as he battles cancer, and Paul opposed, Pompeo would need support from just one Democrat if all other Republicans back the nominee.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (right) with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro during their meeting at the Revolution Palace, in Havana, Cuba, yesterday.

19SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 46 AM

05. 06 AM

11. 32 AM

03. 02 PM

06. 02 PM

07. 32 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 08:30 – 22:45 LOW TIDE 05:30 – 14:30

Slight dust to blowing dust at places and

partly cloudy to cloudy with chance of

scattered rain, thundery at places.

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 26oC 36oC

After air accidents, survivors grapple with flying againAP

DURBIN: Hundreds of hands grap-pling with oxygen masks. Flight attendants warning passengers to brace for impact. The plane hurtling towards the unforgiving ground.

Survivors of air accidents often proclaim that their survival was a miracle. But what follows is another kind of miracle: Many survivors manage to get past the horror and onto planes again.

How do they do it? It’s a question facing survivors of this week’s Southwest Airlines accident, which killed one woman who was sucked partway out of the plane after the engine exploded and shattered a window.

Authorities said 148 passengers walked away, underscoring an important point: Plane crashes are rare, but when they happen, people often survive them. Between 1983 and 2000, 95.7 percent of people involved in commercial airline acci-dents survived, according to gov-ernment data. In 2013, 304 of the 307 passengers survived an Asiana Air-lines crash in San Francisco. And the horrific 1989 crash of a United Air-lines flight in Sioux City, Iowa, had 185 survivors.

For guidance, survivors of Southwest Flight 1380 might look to those others who have survived air disasters. Some of them say it’s critical to get back in the air quickly;

they suggest counseling, prayer and even calming apps. But others never get over the fear.

Dave Sanderson was the last passenger to exit US Airways Flight 1549 after its emergency landing in the Hudson River in January 2009. He spent one night recovering from hypothermia at a New York hospital. The next day he had to make a decision: Could he fly back home to North Carolina? Sanderson steeled himself; flying was the fastest way home. When he arrived at the gate, the captain and first officer got off the plane, listened to his story and reassured him. A flight attendant cleared a row of seats for him.

“If you don’t get back immedi-ately, you may never get back on that plane,” said Sanderson, who now travels around the country giving inspirational speeches.

Sanderson makes it a habit to talk to the crew when he boards a plane. He also learns about the plane, including the exit strategy and what kind of doors it has.

Others lean on faith. Helen Young Hayes survived the crash of United Flight 232 in Sioux City, which killed 111 people. Hayes, a lifelong Catholic, closed her eyes and prayed as the plane went down; later, as she recovered from her burns, she thought a lot about why

her life was spared.Hayes started flying again about

two months after the crash, con-fident that God would hold her whatever the outcome of the flight. She has since flown more than 1 million miles.

“I would never have stepped on a plane again if I didn’t firmly believe I had been totally saved by a miracle,” said Hayes, who heads a Denver workforce development company that helps low-income people.

Hayes says survivors need to take time to heal. Their bodies will never forget, she says; every time she hits turbulence, she remembers what it felt like when the plane went down. But she also sees the crash as a gift that helped her find a higher purpose for her life.

Some survivors can’t bring them-selves to fly again. In 2008, drummer Travis Barker of the band Blink-182 was involved in a small plane crash that killed four of the six people aboard. Eight years later, when his band toured Europe, Barker was still unable to fly. He crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship.

Zilbert, a statistician, says he knows it’s unlikely that another plane he boards will ever experience a similar emergency. He and his mother even flew home after the accident.

“We just didn’t sit by the window, and they were fine flights,” he said.

Tips to surviveEACH DAY, more than 8 million people around the globe step aboard some 90,000 flights. They almost always land safely.

But in the rare chance of a crash, there are some things passengers can do to improve their odds of surviving. Here are some tips adapted from a British Airways safety awareness course.

-During the safety demonstration, count the number of rows to the nearest exit. Then count the number of rows to the second nearest exit, remembering that it might be behind you.

-Next, practice putting on and taking off your seatbelt to build muscle memory. Check where your life vest is and touch it.

-Learn the proper brace position: Bend forward as far as possible, keep your head down. Place your feet flat on the floor and slide them back. Your dominant hand goes on the back of your head. Protect that hand by placing the other hand over it. Do not interlock fingers. The goal is to ensure that the bones in the stronger hand aren’t broken so you can eventually unbuckle the seatbelt.

-Red lights always signal an exit because the color cuts through smoke the best.

-Once an evacuation order is given, seconds count. Move quickly to the nearest exit and jump down a slide. If you hesitate, the flight attendants will push you out.

-Always inflate life vests outside the plane. They can limit mobility in a tight space. Or, if water fills the cabin, pas-sengers with inflated vests can be pressed up against the ceiling, unable to swim down to the door.

This file pictures shows NTSB investigators on scene examining damage to the engine of the Southwest Airlines plane.

Rare bee offers hope of clean alternative to toxic chemicalsREUTERS

NEW YORK: When Veronica Harwood-Stevenson gambled her life savings on research into a rare species of bee, she had no way of knowing whether it would pay off. The 33-year-old New Zealander, a trained reproductive biologist, had a hunch that the cellophane-like substance in which the Hylaeus bee breeds its larvae could replace toxic chemicals used in plastics.

The idea, inspired by a chance reading of an academic paper while trying to dis-tract herself from a job in film distribution, set her on a completely new life path.

“The results were good,” Harwood-Ste-venson said. “I had just spent my life savings, so I was relieved.” After Harwood-Ste-venson chased around rugged bush to catch

specimens, tests revealed that as well as being waterproof, the bee’s nest lining was resistant to fire and certain acids, giving it a wide range of potential uses.

Plastics are commonly treated with chemicals to change their properties, water-proofing them in products from raingear to camping gear and making them fire-resistant for firefighters’ jackets and con-struction tarps. Dissecting the minute bee to extract its microscopic glands has allowed Humble Bee to chart a chemical pathway to replicate the precious nest lining. Extracting the genetic code behind the material, the company’s current focus, holds more promises as it would make it cheaper to manufacture and selling the material at a more competitive price, said Harwood-Stevenson.

Curtains down on 7th Senyar FestivalRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The seventh Senyar Festival, the longest edition of the traditional pearl diving and fishing competition, organised annually by Katara Cultural Village, concluded on a high note yesterday with a spectacular Al Gaffal ceremony at Katara beach.

A large number of people thronged the traditional ceremony, whose high-light was the awarding of winners of Lafah traditional fishing championship, the last category of the competitions at this year’s exciting festival.

With a stunning haul totaling 199.8kg of fish, Al Falah team was declared first place winner taking home QR400,000.

It was followed by Al Areeq catching a total of 192.4kg of fish and bagging QR300,000. In third place was Khor Al Udaid taking home QR200,000 with 186.4kg catch, in addition to QR100,000 more for winning the biggest fish competition after catching a monster kingfish weighing 30.8kg.

Twenty-seven teams competed at Lafah tradi t ional f i shing championship.

Yesterday also saw the very first traditional fishing competition for fam-ilies which saw a number of Qatari and expatriate families take part. The first three winners were Senyar, Tamim Al Majd and Al Barouth which were awarded QR10,000; QR8,000 and QR7,000 respectively.

Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti handed the awards to the winners at yesterday’s

closing ceremony.Aimed mainly at reviving Qatar’s

rich maritime heritage, the festival wit-nessed more than 1,000 participants in three categories namely traditional pearl diving competition, and Hadaq and Laffah traditional fishing championships.

The traditional pearl diving com-petition, which kicked off the festival, was an thrilling competition among 165 pearl divers aboard 15 dhows spending two days and nights in the middle of the sea.

Sixty-four teams comprising a total of 832 people set sail in wooden boats for the Hadaq traditional fishing cham-pionship, the second part of the festi-val’s championships.

Compared to the first six editions which would usually take place for a week, this year’s festival extended for nearly three weeks, running from April 4 to 21.

The organisers have expressed appreciation of the huge response from the participants including Qataris and expatriates as well as those from other GCC countries including Oman and

Kuwait.

Katara General Manager, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, awards the Al Falah team, first place winners of this year’s Lafah traditional fishing championship, at the conclusion of the seventh Senyar Festival at Katara beach yesterday.

Katara General Manager, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, with other officials, awards Khor Al Udaid team, who won the biggest fish competition after catching a 30.8kg kingfish.

Aimed mainly at reviving Qatar’s rich maritime heritage, the festival witnessed more than 1,000 participants in three categories namely traditional pearl diving competition, and Hadaq and Laffah traditional fishing championships.

Tiny fly blows bubbles to cool offAFP

PARIS: Humans sweat, dogs pant, cats lick their fur. Animals have adopted an interesting array of techniques for regu-lating body temperature through evaporation.

But for ingenuity, the Latrine blowfly may very well take the cake. To cool down, it blows bubbles with its stomach juices through its mouth, and then sucks them back in, scien-tists revealed on Thursday.

“As the fluid moves out, evaporation occurs which lowers the fluid temperature, the fly then moves the cooled droplet in, which cools off the body temperature of the fly,” explained Denis Andrade of the Sao Paulo State University in

Brazil, who co-authored a study in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. This “bubbling behaviour”, he said, appears to be “a very effective way for blowflies to promote evapo-rative cooling and, therefore, lower their body temperature.” The Latrine blowfly is a warm-weather insect best known for depositing its eggs on dead animals.

A blow fly during bubbling behaviour.


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