In brief GULF TIMES published in QATAR since 1978 WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXIX No. 10813 May 9, 2018 Sha’baan 23, 1439 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals ‘Landmark’ 2016 deal to cut oil output led to global market stability: Al-Sada BUSINESS BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1 Dominant Duhail slam four goals against hosts Al Ain Zimbabwe president visits Education City Qatar Foundation vice chairperson and CEO HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani yesterday welcomed Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa to Education City. Mnangagwa, who is in Qatar on a state visit, was given a presentation highlighting QF’s different academic institutes, science and research centres, and community development initiatives. Later, the Zimbabwean delegation was taken to the open-air viewing platform on the eighth floor of QF HQ, where they were shown the infrastructure of Education City and discussed future plans of the Foundation. At the end of the visit, Mnangagwa signed the QF Visitor’s Book, and HE Sheikha Hind and the president exchanged gifts. Plans invited for developing West Bay North Beach O Ashghal offers QR300,000 prize for ‘Vision Competition’ T he Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced that it intends to develop the West Bay North Beach area in Doha, creating a “major viable, connected, sustainable and attractive waterfront destination of choice”. The project is expected to comple- ment the existing recreational, leisure and hospitality offering within the city and the wider Doha Municipality area. Accordingly, Ashghal is launching a competition to attract Qatar-reg- istered companies as well as interna- tional consultants and architects to “bring fresh ideas to develop the wa- terfront”, the authority has said in a notice on its website. The waterfront’s development will include key connections through West Bay North from City Center Doha, ex- isting hotels/residences, Doha Metro and the Corniche. Ashghal said participants are en- couraged to be genuine, creative and innovative in their approach. At the same time, the proposals must be re- alistic and achievable, with the aim of the development being operational within a four-year period. ‘Visioning master plan’ options, each supported with a 3-minute 3D animated fly-through and computer- generated imagery, will have to be sub- mitted by the participants. The winning submission for the ‘Vi- sion Competition’ will be awarded a prize of QR300,000, Ashghal said. The deadline for receiving entries is June 11, 12 noon (Doha time). Propos- als need to be submitted to the chair- man, Small Tender Committee, Public Works Authority-Tower (1), Ground Floor, PO Box 22188, Doha. Any participation received by Ashghal after the deadline for sub- mission may, at the sole discre- tion of the authority, be rejected as non-compliant and will remain unopened. No other documentation, includ- ing brochures about a company, ad- ditional information etc, should be included in the submission, other than that requested, Ashghal has specified. All inquiries should be directed to the manager of the Contracts Depart- ment of Ashghal at contracts@ash- ghal.gov.qa The relevant documents can be found at www.ashghal.gov.qa ‘Egypt hinders Qatar from joining League meetings’ QNA Doha A n official of the Qatar Media Cor- poration (QMC) has expressed deep regret over the failure of the Egyptian authorities to issue visas to the delegation of Qatar to participate in the meetings of the 91st Ordinary Session of the Standing Committee for Arab Information and the 49th Ordinary Session of the Council of Arab Minis- ters of Information. The meetings were scheduled to be held from May 7 to 9, at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo. Qatar Media Corporation’s Me- dia Consultant Abdulrahman Nasser al-Obaidan told Qatar News Agency (QNA) yesterday that QMC had com- pleted all the procedures required to obtain visas for the members of the delegation to participate in these meet- ings, but the corporation did not get any official response from the Egyptian authorities in this regard to date, and they were informed of the issuance of only one visa. Al-Obaidan, head of the Qatar delegation formed to take part in the meetings of the Committee and the Council, confirmed that although visa procedures had been initiated early to ensure participation, the ob- struction of Egyptian authorities in the issuance of visas, did not allow the delegation to attend either in the preparatory meeting of the Stand- ing Committee for Arab Information, which began on Monday or the minis- terial meeting scheduled for Wednes- day (today). He pointed out that the Egyptian authorities since the beginning of the unjust blockade are exerting a kind of intransigence in the issuance of visas to the delegations of Qatar, to participate in the meetings of the League of Arab States on the invitations received from the General Secretariat of the Arab League. The waterfront’s development will include key connections through West Bay North from City Center Doha, existing hotels/residences, Doha Metro and the Corniche. QP pushing ahead with expansion despite siege Reuters Doha S tate energy giant Qatar Petroleum (QP) will push ahead with its pro- duction expansion and foreign asset acquisition strategy to be on par with oil majors, despite a regional po- litical and economic embargo on Doha, its chief executive said. QP, which produces 4.8mn barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), aims to boost its output to 6.5mn boed in the next eight years, and is expanding its upstream business abroad, particularly in the United States, CEO Saad al-Kaa- bi told Reuters. Qatar is one of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ smallest producers but is also one of the most influential players in the glo- bal liquefied natural gas (LNG) market due to its annual production of 77mn tonnes. “We are in Mexico, we are in Brazil, we are contemplating investing in the US in many areas, in shale gas, in con- ventional oil. We are looking at many things,” al-Kaabi said in an interview at QP’s headquarters in Doha. “We are looking very critically at the United States because we have a posi- tion there. We have the Golden Pass that we are investing in,” he said. Qatar Petroleum is the majority owner of the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas, with ExxonMobil Corp and ConocoPhillips holding smaller stakes. Al-Kaabi said “depending on the project’s cost and feasibility” he ex- pects to take a final investment deci- sion on expanding the Golden Pass LNG by the end of the year. “I’m not in the business of infra- structure. I’m not going to have a liquefaction plant only. It has to be something that will be linked with an upstream business that we would buy in the US so we need to be naturally hedged,” he added. To maintain its dominance in the United States and Australia, QP is seek- ing to expand overseas through joint ventures with international companies. “We will always go with one of our international partners that we have business with here in Qatar,” al-Kaabi said. “Some of our partners want to di- vest, some of our partners want to ac- quire something together.” QP is focusing on other opportuni- ties in Mexico, Latin America, Africa and in the Mediterranean, he said. QP is also looking to enter Mozambique, where Exxon and Eni operate, he added. Al-Kaabi said the share of overseas upstream production will be “a good portion” in the long-term but it won’t compare to its share at home. “Our strategy says we are going to expand in upstream business with a lit- tle bit of downstream that will be con- nected to some other businesses that we are doing and a few one-off deals in petrochemicals,” he said. For Qatar, which is locked in a dispute with four Arab states, broadening its in- vestments outside the Middle East would cement its position as the world’s largest LNG supplier and help it to weather the boycott with its neighbours. In June last year, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, economic and transport ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing terrorism, a charge which Doha denies. In an apparent show of strength, a month later QP announced plans to raise LNG production capacity by 30% to 100mn tonnes per year. Qatar has lifted a self-imposed ban on the development of the North Field, the world’s biggest natural gas field, which it shares with Iran, in April last year and announced a new project to develop its southern section, increas- ing output in five to seven years. The announcement came at a time of an oversupply in the LNG market, but al-Kaabi said such a glut would disappear in 2021-2022 driven by the rising demand for gas amid the global move towards cleaner fuels and climate change concerns. To Page 4 Trump pulls out of Iran N-deal, to revive sanctions Reuters Washington P resident Donald Trump yes- terday pulled the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Iran in a step that will raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America’s European allies and bring uncertainty to global oil sup- plies. Trump, speaking in a televised ad- dress from the White House, said he would reimpose economic sanctions on Iran. “This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump said. “It didn’t bring calm. It didn’t bring peace. And it never will.” The 2015 deal, worked out by the United States, five other international powers and Iran, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country limit- ing its nuclear programme. The pact is seen by many in the West as a way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. But Trump complains that the agreement, the signature foreign pol- icy achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama, does not address Iran’s ballistic missile programme, its nucle- ar activities beyond 2025 nor its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria. He also said the agreement did not prevent Iran from cheating and con- tinuing to pursue nuclear weapons. “It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb un- der the decaying and rotten struc- ture of the current agreement,” he said. “The Iran deal is defective at its core.” Trump said he was willing to nego- tiate a new deal with Iran, but Tehran already has ruled that out and threat- ened unspecified retaliation if Wash- ington pulled out. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran will remain in the nu- clear deal without Washington. Iranian state television said Trump’s decision to withdraw was “illegal, il- legitimate and undermines interna- tional agreements.” To Page 10 ASIA | Diplomacy Pompeo to N Korea for Trump-Kim summit US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that Washington’s chief diplomat Mike Pompeo was en route to North Korea to prepare for a landmark nuclear summit, as a flurry of diplomacy with Pyongyang at the centre gathered pace. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to meet later this month or early in June for talks. “At this very moment, Secretary Pompeo is on his way to North Korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said in a televised address. Page 13 ASEAN | Politics Malaysians vote today in gripping election Malaysians vote today in a gripping election that pits Prime Minister Najib Razak against his one-time mentor, a 92-year-old former authoritarian leader, in one the country’s tightest ever polls. Najib is seeking to retain power at the head of a regime that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, but veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamed’s shock comeback has upended the election race. Angered by a scandal at state fund 1MDB that battered Malaysia’s international standing, Mahathir has teamed up with an alliance of parties that fiercely opposed him when he was in power. Trump displays a presidential memorandum after announcing his intent to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement at the White House.
Transcript
In brief
GULF TIMES
published in
QATAR
since 1978
WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXIX No. 10813
May 9, 2018Sha’baan 23, 1439 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
‘Landmark’ 2016 deal tocut oil output led to global market stability: Al-Sada
BUSINESSBUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1
Dominant Duhail slam four goals against hosts Al Ain
Zimbabwe president visits Education City
Qatar Foundation vice chairperson and CEO HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani yesterday welcomed Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa to Education City. Mnangagwa, who is in Qatar on a state visit, was given a presentation highlighting QF’s diff erent academic institutes, science and research centres, and community development initiatives. Later, the Zimbabwean delegation was taken to the open-air viewing platform on the eighth floor of QF HQ, where they were shown the infrastructure of Education City and discussed future plans of the Foundation. At the end of the visit, Mnangagwa signed the QF Visitor’s Book, and HE Sheikha Hind and the president exchanged gifts.
Plans invited for developing West Bay North Beach Ashghal off ers
QR300,000 prize for ‘Vision Competition’
The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced that it intends to develop the West Bay
North Beach area in Doha, creating a “major viable, connected, sustainable and attractive waterfront destination of choice”.
The project is expected to comple-ment the existing recreational, leisure and hospitality off ering within the city and the wider Doha Municipality area.
Accordingly, Ashghal is launching a competition to attract Qatar-reg-istered companies as well as interna-tional consultants and architects to “bring fresh ideas to develop the wa-terfront”, the authority has said in a notice on its website.
The waterfront’s development will include key connections through West Bay North from City Center Doha, ex-isting hotels/residences, Doha Metro
and the Corniche.Ashghal said participants are en-
couraged to be genuine, creative and innovative in their approach. At the same time, the proposals must be re-alistic and achievable, with the aim of the development being operational within a four-year period.
‘Visioning master plan’ options, each supported with a 3-minute 3D animated fl y-through and computer-generated imagery, will have to be sub-mitted by the participants.
The winning submission for the ‘Vi-sion Competition’ will be awarded a prize of QR300,000, Ashghal said.
The deadline for receiving entries is June 11, 12 noon (Doha time). Propos-als need to be submitted to the chair-man, Small Tender Committee, Public Works Authority-Tower (1), Ground Floor, PO Box 22188, Doha.
Any participation received by Ashghal after the deadline for sub-mission may, at the sole discre-tion of the authority, be rejected as non-compliant and will remain unopened.
No other documentation, includ-ing brochures about a company, ad-ditional information etc, should be included in the submission, other than that requested, Ashghal has specified.
All inquiries should be directed to the manager of the Contracts Depart-ment of Ashghal at [email protected]
The relevant documents can be found at www.ashghal.gov.qa
‘Egypt hinders Qatar from joining League meetings’QNADoha
An offi cial of the Qatar Media Cor-poration (QMC) has expressed deep regret over the failure of the
Egyptian authorities to issue visas to the delegation of Qatar to participate in the meetings of the 91st Ordinary Session of the Standing Committee for Arab Information and the 49th Ordinary Session of the Council of Arab Minis-ters of Information. The meetings were scheduled to be held from May 7 to 9, at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo.
Qatar Media Corporation’s Me-dia Consultant Abdulrahman Nasser al-Obaidan told Qatar News Agency (QNA) yesterday that QMC had com-pleted all the procedures required to obtain visas for the members of the delegation to participate in these meet-ings, but the corporation did not get any offi cial response from the Egyptian
authorities in this regard to date, and they were informed of the issuance of only one visa.
Al-Obaidan, head of the Qatar delegation formed to take part in the meetings of the Committee and the Council, confirmed that although visa procedures had been initiated early to ensure participation, the ob-struction of Egyptian authorities in the issuance of visas, did not allow the delegation to attend either in the preparatory meeting of the Stand-ing Committee for Arab Information, which began on Monday or the minis-terial meeting scheduled for Wednes-day (today).
He pointed out that the Egyptian authorities since the beginning of the unjust blockade are exerting a kind of intransigence in the issuance of visas to the delegations of Qatar, to participate in the meetings of the League of Arab States on the invitations received from the General Secretariat of the Arab League.
The waterfront’s development will include key connections through West Bay North from City Center Doha, existing hotels/residences, Doha Metro and the Corniche.
State energy giant Qatar Petroleum (QP) will push ahead with its pro-duction expansion and foreign
asset acquisition strategy to be on par with oil majors, despite a regional po-litical and economic embargo on Doha, its chief executive said.
QP, which produces 4.8mn barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), aims to boost its output to 6.5mn boed in the next eight years, and is expanding its upstream business abroad, particularly in the United States, CEO Saad al-Kaa-bi told Reuters.
Qatar is one of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ smallest producers but is also one of the most infl uential players in the glo-bal liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) market due to its annual production of 77mn tonnes.
“We are in Mexico, we are in Brazil, we are contemplating investing in the US in many areas, in shale gas, in con-ventional oil. We are looking at many things,” al-Kaabi said in an interview at QP’s headquarters in Doha.
“We are looking very critically at the United States because we have a posi-tion there. We have the Golden Pass that we are investing in,” he said.
Qatar Petroleum is the majority owner of the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas, with ExxonMobil Corp and ConocoPhillips holding smaller stakes.
Al-Kaabi said “depending on the project’s cost and feasibility” he ex-pects to take a fi nal investment deci-sion on expanding the Golden Pass LNG by the end of the year.
“I’m not in the business of infra-structure. I’m not going to have a liquefaction plant only. It has to be something that will be linked with an upstream business that we would buy in the US so we need to be naturally hedged,” he added.
To maintain its dominance in the United States and Australia, QP is seek-
ing to expand overseas through joint ventures with international companies.
“We will always go with one of our international partners that we have business with here in Qatar,” al-Kaabi said. “Some of our partners want to di-vest, some of our partners want to ac-quire something together.”
QP is focusing on other opportuni-ties in Mexico, Latin America, Africa and in the Mediterranean, he said. QP is also looking to enter Mozambique, where Exxon and Eni operate, he added.
Al-Kaabi said the share of overseas upstream production will be “a good portion” in the long-term but it won’t compare to its share at home.
“Our strategy says we are going to expand in upstream business with a lit-tle bit of downstream that will be con-nected to some other businesses that we are doing and a few one-off deals in petrochemicals,” he said.
For Qatar, which is locked in a dispute with four Arab states, broadening its in-vestments outside the Middle East would cement its position as the world’s largest LNG supplier and help it to weather the boycott with its neighbours.
In June last year, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, economic and transport ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing terrorism, a charge which Doha denies.
In an apparent show of strength, a month later QP announced plans to raise LNG production capacity by 30% to 100mn tonnes per year.
Qatar has lifted a self-imposed ban on the development of the North Field, the world’s biggest natural gas fi eld, which it shares with Iran, in April last year and announced a new project to develop its southern section, increas-ing output in fi ve to seven years.
The announcement came at a time of an oversupply in the LNG market, but al-Kaabi said such a glut would disappear in 2021-2022 driven by the rising demand for gas amid the global move towards cleaner fuels and climate change concerns. To Page 4
Trump pulls out of Iran N-deal, to revive sanctionsReutersWashington
President Donald Trump yes-terday pulled the United States out of an international nuclear
deal with Iran in a step that will raise the risk of confl ict in the Middle East, upset America’s European allies and bring uncertainty to global oil sup-plies.
Trump, speaking in a televised ad-dress from the White House, said he would reimpose economic sanctions on Iran.
“This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump said. “It didn’t bring calm. It didn’t bring peace. And it never will.”
The 2015 deal, worked out by the United States, fi ve other international powers and Iran, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country limit-
ing its nuclear programme. The pact is seen by many in the West as a way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
But Trump complains that the agreement, the signature foreign pol-icy achievement of his predecessor
Barack Obama, does not address Iran’s ballistic missile programme, its nucle-ar activities beyond 2025 nor its role in confl icts in Yemen and Syria.
He also said the agreement did not prevent Iran from cheating and con-tinuing to pursue nuclear weapons.
“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb un-der the decaying and rotten struc-ture of the current agreement,” he said. “The Iran deal is defective at its core.”
Trump said he was willing to nego-tiate a new deal with Iran, but Tehran already has ruled that out and threat-ened unspecifi ed retaliation if Wash-ington pulled out.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran will remain in the nu-clear deal without Washington.
Iranian state television said Trump’s decision to withdraw was “illegal, il-legitimate and undermines interna-tional agreements.” To Page 10
ASIA | Diplomacy
Pompeo to N Korea forTrump-Kim summitUS President Donald Trump announced yesterday that Washington’s chief diplomat Mike Pompeo was en route to North Korea to prepare for a landmark nuclear summit, as a flurry of diplomacy with Pyongyang at the centre gathered pace. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to meet later this month or early in June for talks. “At this very moment, Secretary Pompeo is on his way to North Korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said in a televised address. Page 13
ASEAN | Politics
Malaysians vote todayin gripping electionMalaysians vote today in a gripping election that pits Prime Minister Najib Razak against his one-time mentor, a 92-year-old former authoritarian leader, in one the country’s tightest ever polls. Najib is seeking to retain power at the head of a regime that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, but veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamed’s shock comeback has upended the election race. Angered by a scandal at state fund 1MDB that battered Malaysia’s international standing, Mahathir has teamed up with an alliance of parties that fiercely opposed him when he was in power.
Trump displays a presidential memorandum after announcing his intent to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement at the White House.
QATAR
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 20182
Advisory Council panel discusseshigh rent of shops
Attorney Generalmeets UN off icial
The Advisory Council’s Services and Public Utilities Committee held a meeting yesterday within the 46th Ordinary Session, chaired by its Rapporteur, Mohamed bin Mahdi al-Ahbabi. During the meeting, the committee continued the examination of the request for general discussion on the high rent of shops. HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi, Director of Urban Planning Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Eng. Abdulla bin Ahmed al-Karrani and Assistant Director of Building Permits Complex at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Eng. Khalid bin Joma al-Marzouqi attended the meeting. They presented the view of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment on the request for a general discussion on the increase in rent of shops.They also answered the related queries of the members of the committee. The committee decided to complete the discussion during its next meeting.
HE the Attorney General Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri met Tegegnework Gettu, UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in New York yesterday. During the meeting, they discussed ways of strengthening co-operation in the field of training and technical support to the least developed African countries and the establishment of a co-operation base with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Centre. Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri also met Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Chairman of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee. They discussed ways and mechanisms to combat terrorism in the light of developments in the region.
HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti held a meeting with German ambassador Hans-Udo Muzel in Doha yesterday. The meeting discussed co-operation between Qatar and Germany in the fields of transportation and communications and means of further enhancing them.
Minister holds talks with German envoy Civic ministry plan to ensure hygiene during Ramadan
The Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment (MME) has announced a
comprehensive plan to maintain hygiene and cleanliness in the country during the holy month of Ramadan, focusing on com-mercial streets, entertainment areas, the Corniche area, the central market, and the slaugh-terhouse.
The ministry noted that it has developed special plans and pro-grammes to address issues such as temporary closures of some streets, traffi c congestion and dumping of personal waste in the streets and public squares.
Director of public hygiene programme at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Safar Mubarak al-Shafi , an-nounced the preparations for the holy month of Ramadan, pointing out that the ministry would deploy suffi cient num-bers of waste containers and ad-ditional vehicles to clear the ex-pected excess quantity of waste.
Al-Shafi added that suffi cient numbers of containers would be placed at commercial streets, entertainment areas and the Corniche area, besides the cen-tral market and the slaughter-house to clear the large amounts of waste.
He added that authorities would ensure provision of waste containers in all localities and waste would be lifted daily by the ministry through out the holy month, calling on the pub-lic to adhere to the use of garbage bags and throwing waste in the
allocated containers.He pointed out that the min-
istry’s work schedule would take into account the rights of Muslim workers and drivers to worship. Work would cease dur-
ing Iftar until the completion of Tarawih prayers. Also, the ministry would allocate work-ing hours to Muslim staff in the evening so as to avoid fi eld work during the day.
QNADoha
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) will deploy sufficient numbers of waste containers and additional vehicles to clear the expected excess quantity of waste.
Interior Ministry celebrates Arab Traffi c Week 2018
The Ministry of Interior (MoI), represented in General Directorate of
Traffi c, celebrated Arab Traf-fi c Week 2018, under the slogan “Following the Rules, Refl ects your Awareness”.
On the occasion the ministry organised a two-day awareness exhibition with the participation of a number of bodies concerned with the traffi c aff airs.
The exhibition aimed at rais-ing the awareness about the traf-fi c rules and regulations of all road users, and enhancing traffi c culture among the various seg-ments of society.
The Director of the Traffi c Awareness Department at the General Directorate of Traffi c,
Colonel Mohamed Radi al-Hajri, said that the department is cel-ebrating this occasion with the aim of sending traffi c awareness messages and educating road users on the traffi c rules and reg-ulations that must be followed.
He pointed out that the Gener-al Directorate of Traffi c has called for a number of traffi c related en-tities such as Qatar Red Crescent, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar University’s Studies Cen-tre and a number of Ministry of Interior departments which en-hances the concept of traffi c cul-ture, and strengthens the support
elements for all road users.He pointed out that the focus
is on awareness of the road us-ers, because the main objective is the preservation of life and property, adding that the de-partment also focuses on edu-cating young people.
He added that in spite of re-cent decline in numbers of deaths from traffi c accidents, most of fatalities have been in the youth category.
Al-Hajri referred to the devel-opment of emergency services saying: “There has been a clear decline in the number of deaths, which indicates the quality of am-bulance and rescue operations.”
He further stressed the seri-ousness of the Ministry of Inte-rior and its partners to achieve the goals of the Traffi c Plan for 2018-2022, aimed at reducing the number of deaths.
QNADoha
The ministry organised a two-day awareness exhibition with the participation of a number of bodies concerned with the traffi c aff airs
QATAR3Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Qatari-Turkish Flower Gardens Forum begins
The Qatari-Turkish Flower Gardens Forum, organ-ised by the Ministry of
Municipality and the Environ-ment, opened here yesterday with the participation of more than 50 companies from Qatar and Turkey engaged in the pro-duction of trees and decorative fl owers.
Speaking on the occasion, HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Ab-dullah al-Rumaihi said that the Ministry encourages initiatives which refl ect the good relation-ship between the two friendly countries, noting that the forum will refl ect positively on both
sides in terms of exchange of ex-pertise and agricultural technol-ogy used by both parties.
He referred to the Ministry’s interest in the work of greening and aff orestation in line with the Qatar 2030 vision, launched by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The Minister pointed out that Qatar had made signifi cant progress in the fi eld of environ-mental development, especially forestry and greening in all re-gions of the country, and the use of agricultural technology in Qa-tar to improve the genes of trees to adapt to the desert climate.
He hoped that this forum would be a good start in the fi eld of environmental development.
For his part, ambassador of Turkey to Qatar, Fikret Ozer, ex-
pressed his admiration for the progress witnessed by Qatar in the fi eld of agriculture despite the harsh climate. He noted that agricultural technology in the country was able to overcome the obstacles and start with the plan of environmental develop-ment especially with regard to the production of fl owers, trees, aff orestation and greening.
The ambassador pointed out that the presence of Turkish companies would participate in greening and landscaping for the 2022 World Cup to be hosted by Qatar.
Mohamed Ali al-Khouri, the head of the organising commit-tee of the Qatari-Turkish Flower Gardens Forum, said that the event will continue until Thurs-day, during which the Turkish
delegation will visit the cen-tral plantation nursery to learn about agriculture and produc-tion technology in the country.
He added that the Public Parks department had succeeded in us-ing the agricultural technology to ensure the adaptation of plants to the climate in Qatar through programmes, plans and research to modify the genes of trees and fl owers to adapt to the climate. He pointed out that the production of the central nursery annually amounted to 2.600mn seedlings, including 600,000 of diff erent types of trees.
Al-Khouri stressed that fo-rum will have positive results for both sides, especially in the agreements and co-operation between the Qatari-Turkish companies.
QNADoha
HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi at the inauguration of the Qatari-Turkish Flower Gardens Forum.
QRCS marks World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day
Qatar Red Crescent So-ciety (QRCS) marked yesterday the World Red
Cross and Red Crescent Day.QRCS is joining a global cel-
ebration of the work and bravery of Red Crescent volunteers, and the diverse humanitarian serv-ices they off er in communities everywhere, the QRCS said in a press release.
“Our volunteers live in the communities they support, from the smallest and most remote villages to the largest cities,” said Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi,
Secretary-General of QRCS. “Our services are tailored for
local needs and delivered in local languages”.
“Today is when the Interna-tional Red Cross and Red Cres-cent Movement come together to thank our volunteers who give their time and their expertise here in Qatar, and all over the world,” he added.
QRCS reaches out to more than 7mn people every year, with a diverse range of services tailored to local needs.
From emergency relief, healthcare, food, water, and shelter to disaster resilience and livelihood, it helps people to prepare for, cope with, and re-
cover from crises.Every year, around the world,
the Movement supports more than 160mn people aff ected by confl ict, natural disasters, and other emergencies, through its network of around 14mn volun-teers and 450,000 staff .
Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers are as diverse as the life-saving services they provide through 190 National Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socie-ties (IFRC). This local action is supported by the global reach of IFRC, ICRC, as well as partner-ships with sister National Socie-
ties across the world.Al-Hammadi said: “Whatever
you are living through — a natu-ral disaster, a health crisis, the eff ects of confl ict or violence — we are here to support you”.
World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated every 8 May — the birthday of the Movement’s founder Henry Dunant.
It recognises the bravery and dedication of volunteers and staff members around the world.
2018 is the 190th anniversary of Dunant’s birth, mirroring the 190 National Societies providing humanitarian support in com-munities large and small every day.
QNADoha
QRCS personnel bringing smiles to the faces of needy children.
Qatar Career Develop-ment Centre (QCDC) has opened registra-
tion for participation in the 5th session of the summer camp, which is organised for students of secondary school from July 1 to 12, at the student centre of Education City.
The camp aims to pro-vide a stimulating and edu-cational experience to help students make decisions about their educational and professional choices.
It includes a variety of activities, educational pro-grammes and interactive training workshops to pro-vide participants with a range of practical skills that
will help them plan their academic and professional careers in the future.
The camp contributes to the use of guidance work-shops and enables students to use the QCDC’s career guidance system, which in-cludes many diverse units, innovative components, psychometric and personal-ity analysis tools that help them identify the most ap-propriate academic and pro-fessional paths in line with the future needs of the State.
A full day will be devoted to training students on a range of life skills that aim at preparing and refi ning their personalities before uni-versity, through a number of lectures that include: “Preparing for the Univer-sity”, “How to prepare your
CV” and “How to introduce yourself to Community “, as well as a range of practical skills that students need to rely on themselves, and per-haps travel for study abroad.
This year’s camp pro-gramme is also witnessing the participation of the stu-dents in a number of lead-ing institutions in Qatar in order to identify the nature of the professions in these institutions and to fi nd out their skills and abilities with
these professions.Giving them the opportu-
nity to discover real profes-sional life to know the labour market in the country.
Head of Professional Pro-grammes and Services at QCDC Saad Abdullah al-Kharji said that the summer camp is unique and provides students with access to vari-ous areas of the labour market.
The camp also adds a value to the students because of its direct work experience, which
prepares a generation capable of moving the Qatari labour market towards prosperity.
The fi nal day of the camp will include a programme about universities, such as Education City, Qatar Uni-versity and others.
Representatives of these universities will be hosted to provide a profi le of the uni-versities, to review informa-tion about the departments and majors available, and the conditions of admission.
QATAR
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 20184
QP pushing ahead with expansion
Third Doha International Blind Conference concludes
From Page 1
QP has selected Japan’s Chiyoda Corp for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the onshore fa-cilities of the North Field ex-pansion project and awarded McDermott a contract for the off shore engineering work, al-Kaabi said.
“Stay tuned,” al-Kaabi said, when asked if QP’s an-nouncement that the award to Chiyoda included a pre-investment for a fourth train as had been announced. If QP decided to build a fourth train, that could mean possibly ex-panding gas production be-yond 100mn tonnes per year.
Al-Kaabi said QP will
award the engineering, pro-curement, and construction (EPC) contract for the fi rst LNG train by the end of next year, with its start-up set for the end of 2023.
QP is in talks with interna-tional oil companies for the new expansion project. Oil companies operating in Qa-tar now include Exxon, Total and Royal Dutch Shell.
QP will make a decision on the foreign partners by the end of 2018, al-Kaabi said.
“There are some new companies that have come and put forward some pro-posals ... but I don’t see the face of what we are doing and the companies that we have changing much.”
The Third Doha International Blind Conference “Blind women are partners in building and development of society” concluded yesterday. The recommendations of the conference called on the Arab governments to work on activating the legislation and international conventions related to blind women, ensure their full civil rights, launch their creative potential and ensure their dignity and freedom.
President-elect of Paraguay Mario Abdo Benitez met HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi in Asuncion yesterday. The Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs congratulated Mario Abdo Benitez, who will take off ice on August 15. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and ways of boosting them, in addition to issues of common concern.
Minister al-Muraikhi meets Paraguay’s president-elect
QCDC opens registration for summer campQNADoha
MEC symposium aims at empowering consumers
The Ministry of Econ-omy and Commerce (MEC) has organised
a scientific symposium on consumer protection in co-operation with the Col-lege of Law of Qatar Uni-versity.
The symposium, which was attended by a number of experts, academics and legal consultants, aimed at em-powering the consumer by providing him with knowl-edge and skills to become a conscious consumer, aware of and using his rights and responsibilities and an ac-tive participant in defend-ing consumer issues and spreading awareness in the community.
In his remarks, HE the Assistant Undersecretary for Consumer Aff airs of the MEC Sheikh Jassim bin Ja-bor al-Thani said that the symposium comes within the framework of the close co-operation between the ministry and Qatar Univer-sity.
It highlights the minis-try’s intention to maintain strong relations with educa-tional institutions in order to develop legal education and continuously enable the graduates of the College of Law to join the legal mar-ket and successfully engage them through training in various departments of the MEC in order to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030, he added.
On consumer protection, the assistant undersecre-tary for consumer aff airs stressed that the Qatari
legislation pays attention to regulating the work and af-fairs of traders and provides legal guarantees and eff ec-tive regulatory frameworks for consumer protection. He referred to the issuance of Law No 8 of 2008 on consumer protection which defi nes basic consumer rights.
He stressed that the con-sumer protection sector in the MEC is taking meas-ures to combat commercial fraud, spreading consumer awareness and enhancing the culture of competition in the business sector as one of the most important con-stants of the country’s eco-nomic policy.
For his part, Dean of the College of Law of Qatar University Dr Mohamed bin Abdul Aziz al-Khulaifi said in his speech that the symposium underlines the importance of co-operation
between the College of Law and the MEC and their in-terests in exchanging ex-periences and raising both parties performances ac-cording to the overall quality standards.
Al-Khulaifi pointed out that the College of Law has always been seeking to con-solidate the foundations of legal science in various
bodies, as well as seeking to graduate legal competencies capable of serving the com-munity, adding that it was the College’s duty to con-tinue communication with various sectors engaged in legal work in Qatar.
He noted the eff orts ex-erted by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, which is working to mod-ernise and develop econom-
ic and commercial activity in the country.
Al-Khulaifi added that the symposium, which wit-nesses the signing of a mem-orandum of understanding between the College of Law of the Qatar University and the Department of Legal Af-fairs at the MEC, addresses the most important issue of consumer protection law and discusses consumer rights and obligations.
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce represented by the Legal Aff airs De-partment signed a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar Univer-sity College of Law (LAWC) on co-operation in the re-search and training fi eld.
The MoU was signed by the ministry’s Director of Legal Aff airs Department Hilal bin Mohamed al-Khulaifi and Dean of LAWC Mohamed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi .
As per the MoU both sides will co-operate in the training and research fi elds, organise events such as training courses, seminars, panel discussions, confer-ences and others and will co-operate on launching initiatives and media cam-paigns and awareness pro-grammes that contribute to spreading and promoting the role of both sides.
In addition, the MoU will jointly publish books, journals and pamphlets and exchange studies and re-searches on related topics.
The symposium wit-nessed a discussion panel held by a number of exper-tise and academics from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and LAWC.
QNADoha
The Director of Legal Aff airs Department of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Hilal bin Mohamed al-Khulaifi, and Dean of LAWC Mohamed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi signing a memorandum of understanding.
HE the Assistant Undersecretary for Consumer Aff airs of the MEC Sheikh Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani.
Dean of the College of Law of Qatar University Dr Mohamed bin Abdul Aziz al-Khulaifi.
QATAR5Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Jumbo showcases Hitachi Power Tools at Project QatarJumbo Electromech, a total
solutions provider and the authorised distributor for
Hitachi Power Tools in Qatar, is showcasing a diverse range of Hitachi Power Tools at the 15th edition of Project Qatar. The Hitachi Power Tools range can be viewed at Stall G71 in Hall 3, Doha Exhibition and Conven-tion Centre, where Project Qa-tar is being held until tomorrow.
“With booming construc-tion work in Qatar and mul-tiple projects simultaneously in progress for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup, power tools requirement is rapidly on the rise as these tools provide convenience and a faster and effi cient way of achieving con-struction-related works.
Hitachi’s brushless motor and multi-volt technology em-ployed in their Power Tools en-sure that the tools perform at their optimum level for a long-er duration. Our products are backed by an effi cient ‘on-time
service’,” said C V Rappai, direc-tor and CEO of Video Home & Electronic Centre, Jumbo Elec-tromech.
Hitachi has manufacturing plants in Japan, Malaysia and China, and all tools come with a one-year warranty on all me-chanical parts.
A full-fl edged service centre located on Street 36, Industrial Area, with technically trained staff by Hitachi addresses any service needs, Jumbo Elec-tromech has said in a press statement. The experienced engineering team of Jumbo Electromech is capable of pro-viding pre-sales demonstra-tions for facilitating project ap-provals and after-sales service.
At Jumbo, it’s an “everyday endeavour in building a long-term relationship based on mu-tual trust resulting from meet-ing customers’ expectations”.
The statement also informed that with eff ect from October this year, Hitachi Koki Co Ltd
will change its brand from Hi-tachi to HiKOKI.
The Hitachi Power Tools range includes the following: for drilling and hammering, the range starts from 10mm drill up to 18mm impact drilling, while the 20mm to 50mm rotary Hammers range comes with three modes — hammer drill, normal drill and for chipping purpose. The range of demoli-tion hammers starts from 10 Joules to 55 Joules (5kg up to 32kg). Selected models come with UVP (User Vibration Pro-tection).
All the drilling and hammer-ing tools are available in a cord-less range and some cordless tools come with brushless mo-tors, considered zero mainte-nance machines.
For grinding and cutting met-als, tiles, concrete etc, the Hitachi grinder range starts from 100mm going up to 230mm with power ranging from 500W to 2,500W. Some machines come with a slide
switch while other have a paddle switch. The range also has the portable hand grinders and tile cutters with a range of 4” to 12” concrete cutter.
For cutting bigger diameter metals, Hitachi has 14” & 16” cut-off saw machines and an exclusive cut-off saw model with a three-phase motor with 2.2kw/3.7kw.
For wood and aluminium works, the range has circular saws from 7” to 9”, jigsaws and reciprocating saws from 65mm to 130mm, and electrical plan-ners and meter saws from 8” to 12” that come with a laser marker for accurate cutting.
For the automobile industry and general purpose tools, Hi-tachi has a full range of tools with various types of polishing machines, corded and cordless impact wrenches with brush-less motors, digital heat guns, variable speed corded and cord-less air blowers and high-pres-sure washers.
Hitachi Power Tools at Project Qatar.
Brighto Paints launches products in Project QatarBy Peter AlagosBusiness Reporter
Asian paint con-glomerate Brighto Paints has offi cially
launched its products at the opening of the four-day Project Qatar 2018, off er-ing world-class and high-quality paints to the Qatari market.
The launch ceremony was led by Brighto Paints mar-keting director Khawaja Zain Ejaz Sikka in the presence of Hamad Abdul Rahman al-Muftah, who represented Unique Trading Company chairman Abdul Rahman Mohamed al-Muftah, and Pakistan ambassador Shah-zad Ahmad, as well as other senior offi cials.
Brighto Paints operates cutting-edge manufactur-ing plants in Pakistan and the UAE, and has an active research and development division responsible for delivering advancements in all-weather oil and wa-ter-based paints, primers, emulsions, and specialised products such as putty, fi ll-ers, primers, wood fi nishes and textured fi nishes.
The company also retails painting technology such as automated applicators and associated products. Brighto Paints creates products that are inspired by nature. This extends to colour customi-sation, as well as the materi-als used.
The company is one of the leading manufactur-ers in Asia, off ering lead-free paint products and has won global awards. Major achievements include cus-tomisable automated ma-chines and associated prod-ucts. The launch event, held at Brighto Paints’ booth at Project Qatar, came in the wake of a signing ceremony held in February between Sikka and Unique Trading Company chairman Abdul Rahman Mohamed al-Muf-tah, making Unique Trad-ing the main distributor and exclusive agent of Brighto
Paints in Qatar. The com-pany has extensive local ca-pacity to support the part-nership, including dedicated warehousing, talented sales team, and strong relation-ships in Qatar.
During the signing cer-emony, Unique was rep-resented by general man-ager Imran Rafi qe and Business Development manager Abdul Ahad Khan, while Brighto Paints was represented by Coun-try Sales manager Aqueel Ahmed Khokar and Business Development head Moham-ed Bilal Mughal.
Al-Muftah said, “Qatar is in a very determined phase
of its development in terms of infrastructure projects, as well as in welcoming new investments, along with tal-ent from all over the world. This demands innovation and the ability to deliver value, durability and quality. Brighto Paints’ reputation and product diversity will position the brand well in this competitive landscape.”
According to Sikka, Brighto Paints is confi dent that Unique Trading “will be able to position the brand as a preferred partner in this development cycle.”
“Brighto Paints ap-proaches product develop-ment by using the latest
technologies and sourcing the best ecologically neutral materials wherever possi-ble. Our ethos is to provide aff ordable and responsible alternatives to the market.”
Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of Project Qatar yesterday, Sikka said: “We are bringing to Qatar a special product – ‘Brighto Stain Free’, a unique, eco-friendly paint that is capa-ble of repelling all types of stains.
Compared to oil-based paints, Brighto Stain Free is 100% water-based and is a low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint.
“Qatar off ers many op-portunities to foreign in-vestors and companies such as Brighto Paints, and we would like to participate in these opportunities.
After the economic blockade, the company had the chance to contribute to the Qatari economy by ad-dressing the needs of the lo-cal market.”
Rafi que added: “Majority of our products is already available in the country and the remaining products are on the way. Our products have been approved by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and had been given a third party cer-tifi cation through ACS.”
Sikka and Rafiqe are joined by Brighto Paints Business Development head Mohamed Bilal Mughal and brand manager Omar Obaid, and Unique Trading Company senior sales manager Abdul Ahad at Project Qatar 2018.
Brighto Paints marketing director Khawaja Zain Ejaz Sikka and Unique Trading Company chairman Abdul Rahman Mohamed al-Muftah shake hands after signing an agreement for the exclusive distribution of Brighto Paints in Qatar. Looking on is Unique Trading Company general manager Imran Rafiqe.
Qatar records steep hike in cruise arrivalsMore than 65,000 cruise
passengers and crew on board 22 cruise ships
arrived at Qatar’s shore this 2017/2018 cruise season, mark-ing a 39% increase compared to the previous season, Qatar Tour-ism Authority (QTA) has said.
The cruise season continued from October 2017 until April 2018, witnessing 14 mega-ships making calls and a number of maiden voyages into Doha, in-cluding MSC Splendida, Mein Schiff 5, Crystal Symphony, Eu-ropa 2 and Crystal Serenity.
Data gathered by QTA shows that 86% of passengers disem-barked and enjoyed Qatar’s vari-ous off erings, with 53% prefer-ring city tours, and 18% choosing desert safaris.
“Our strategy identifi es cruise tourism as a key contributor to the growth and development targets for the next fi ve years: not only does it have an immedi-ate impact on visitor arrivals and tourism spending, it is one of the most eff ective tools in promoting Qatar as a destination, turning each passenger who experiences Qatar into an ambassador among prospective travellers,” QTA act-ing chairman Hassan al-Ibrahim told the cruise season closing ceremony yesterday in Doha.
Members of the cruise tourism industry gathered to celebrate the close of the 2017/18 season, which ended last month with re-markable growth in the number of passengers, according to QTA.
“The cruise tourism sector, the growth of which is entirely de-pendent on the co-ordination of eff orts, is a model for the suc-cess that can be achieved if par-ties across various sectors, pub-lic and private, join hands,” he noted.
“Consolidating eff orts to-wards an enhanced visitor expe-rience is at the heart of The Next Chapter of the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2017-2023.”
QTA thanked representatives from across the cruise tourism value chain, including immigra-tion, port and customs offi cials;
tour guides and tour operators, providers of logistical support and operators of tourism land-marks for their role in facilitating seamless and memorable experi-ences for 65,000 passengers and crew.
Data gathered by QTA also shows that most visitors aboard cruise ships this season were Eu-ropean, with the largest portion being German (44% or 20,275 visitors).
Italian and British visitors formed the second and third largest groups respectively. In addition, more than 1,200 Bra-zilians came to Doha on board various cruise ships.
QTA also conducted visitor satisfaction surveys throughout the season, which showed that 94% of cruise visitors were sat-isfi ed with their overall visitor experience. The same percentage confi rmed they would recom-mend Qatar as a destination for family and friends.
Data also shows that most of the revenues from the 2017/18 season came from tour excursion revenues, while 29% came from visitors’ personal expenditure. QTA’s projections show contin-ued growth in the cruise tourism industry over the coming years. With the completion of the Doha Port redevelopment, and the as-sociated capacity increase which will allow the port to receive two mega-ships at once, Qatar is ex-pected to attract 500,000 cruise tourists by 2026.
QTA’s Hassan al-Ibrahim at the event yesterday. PICTURE: Jayan Orma
QATAR
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 20186
QU completes Guest Worker Welfare IndexThe Social and Economic Sur-
vey Research Institute (Sesri) at Qatar University (QU) re-
cently completed the fi rst-ever ef-fort to measure and track the wel-fare of blue-collar guest workers in Qatar.
The Guest Worker Welfare In-dex (GWWI) was initiated with a closed expert workshop con-vened at Sesri in January 2016 that brought together local and inter-national scholars, stakeholders and policymakers.
“The welfare of migrant labour-ers around the world has received signifi cant attention from the global media and scholarly community. In the Gulf, much of this attention has been directed towards Qatar, espe-cially since the announcement of the FIFA 2022 World Cup. However, much of the public discussion of the problems has not been based on un-biased, quantitative and qualitative measurements that can be gener-alised to the overall migrant labour population,” QU said in a statement.
The fi rst survey identifi ed many important areas of strength, as well as those in need of improvement, but additional data are needed to measure trends.
Reliable data are needed to prop-erly assess the issues surround-
ing worker welfare in aggregate to identify domains where welfare is lower or higher, and ultimately, to address those issues in most need of improvement, the statement notes.
The GWWI is based on results from a nationally-representative survey conducted with 1,015 blue-collar guest workers in Qatar, and which will be continued annually.
The largest group of respondents came from Nepal (34%), followed by India (26%), Bangladesh (19%), Pa-kistan (7%), Sri Lanka (5%), Egypt (4%), Philippines (1%), and other countries (4%). In terms of occupa-tion, more than three quarters of re-spondents (82%) were employed as
With this number of completed interviews, the maximum sampling error is +/- 3.4 percentage points. The survey was conducted during April 2017 and evaluated several aspects of working and living con-ditions of these workers, includ-ing safety and security at working sites and living compounds, human rights and labour rights, fi nance and remittances, as well as their treatment by employers.
By examining the responses from
the workers themselves, the goal is to have an objective and reli-able index that refl ects the actual conditions of workers in Qatar and which can measure changes in these conditions over time.
While the term ‘guest workers’ covers all foreign workers in Qatar, the GWWI focuses specifi cally on the welfare of blue-collar work-ers, defi ned as low-skilled indi-viduals living in labour camps and collective housing.
From the 2016 expert workshop, Sesri developed the questionnaire that served as the basis for the se-lection of the variables used in the Index. Then Sesri researchers uti-lised factor analysis to identify the most relevant variables from the observed data points which be-came the core dimensions of the index. This is the same method used to construct other notable in-dices such as consumer confi dence indices.
One of the main policy recom-mendations is to develop pro-grammes for workers so that they are more aware of their rights and have a fuller understanding of the information in their contracts. Go-ing forward, Sesri will conduct the GWWI survey annually, with the second wave scheduled this month.
Local and international scholars, stakeholders and policymakers at the workshop.
Community College and Teach for Qatar sign MoU
The Community College of Qatar (CCQ) and Teach
for Qatar (TFQ) signed yesterday a memoran-dum of understanding ( MoU) to establish a long-standing strategic part-nership and collaboration on areas related to educa-tion, research, and social development.
The MoU was signed by CCQ president Dr Ibrahim al-Naimi, and TFQ chief executive offi cer Nasser al-Jaber.
Dr al-Naimi said that the purpose of the MoU was to collaborate in ar-eas related to teaching, research, and social de-velopment which are very important in achieving the goals of developing future generations and will pave the way for Qatar National Vision 2030.
Al-Jaber, noted that the MoU will provide the alumni of CCQ with an av-enue to continue impact-ing students, now at a col-lege level, through tutoring opportunities. “As organi-sations committed to qual-ity education in Qatar, I also strongly believe there are many areas of collabo-ration that we are excited to explore in the coming
period,” added al-Jaber.The MoU, which will be
valid for a period of three years, includes setting a framework of co-operation between the two institu-tions by using each other’s experiences and resources to develop and support the educational process and to shed the light on their roles and existing opportunities and challenges.
According to the MoU, TFQ will have access to CCQ facilities for train-ing purposes, including the use of meeting rooms, theatres, classrooms and conference halls.
The MoU also enables CCQ faculty and staff to participate in events or-ganised by TFQ to provide insights to the challenges
and opportunities in the tertiary education system and the history, purpose, and role of the community college for Qatari students current and future life outcomes.
For Qatari TFQ fellows/alumni who have complet-ed a master’s degree from a recognised university, CCQ shall provide them with the opportunity to serve as guest lecturers in their fi eld of studies provided they receive an approval from the academic chair of the department. CCQ shall also provide oppor-tunities for employment to qualifi ed Qatari TFQ alumni who express inter-est in teaching or working at CCQ, if positions are available.
Dr Ibrahim al-Naimi and Nasser al-Jaber exchanging the MoU.
Activity toy Jungle Fun Ball Run recalled
The Ministry of Econ-omy and Commerce (MEC), in collaboration
with the Early Learning Cent-er, has announced the recall of the activity toy, Jungle Fun Ball Run, because it can sud-denly collapse during use.
The MEC said the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongo-ing eff orts to ensure that suppliers follow up on product defects and recall defective items in a bid to protect consumers.
The MEC has urged all cus-tomers to stop using the toy and to return it to the outlet.
The MEC has also urged all customers to report any violations to its Con-sumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud
Department through the following channels: Call centre: 16001, e-mail: [email protected], Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar
KidZania Doha to have QNL area
Qatar National Li-brary (QNL) and KidZania Doha,
the multi-award-winning edutainment concept, have announced that a QNL area will be established inside KidZania Doha in which children can practice working as librarians, bor-row books and read as pa-trons, and even make short stop-motion animations.
QNL’s decision to es-tablish an area inside Kid-Zania Doha aligns with the Library’s mission to create and sustain trusted edu-cational environments and to develop innovative pro-grammes for children us-ing technology and culture as key learning tools.
The establishment of a QNL area complements KidZania’s goal to ben-efi t from the expertise and skills of international and local institutions to realise its vision of providing a re-alistic and unique edutain-ment environment where children are inspired to learn through role-playing activities.
Dr Sohair Wastawy, ex-ecutive director, QNL, said: “QNL’s eff orts to strength-en the culture of reading and learning in Qatar go beyond the walls of the Li-brary, and this project is an example of how we work with other organisations to achieve this goal. We also want to inspire the next generation of librarians, and learning through play is an eff ective way of show-ing children what it means to be a librarian in today’s digital age.”
Ric Fearnett, governor of KidZania Doha, said: “The creation of the new QNL area demonstrates our ability to provide and share state-of-the-art digital resources of the rich histo-ry, heritage, and culture of Qatar, as well as reaching out to the younger genera-tion to promote reading in a fun environment.”
KidZania Doha, expected to open its doors in the last quarter of 2018, is located at Aspire Zone in Doha, with a footprint size of over 5,500sqm. It will provide a unique educational and entertainment experience, off ering 42 establishments where children aged be-tween 4-14 years will be able to role play ‘adult jobs’ in up to 60 pretend roles, learning a variety of val-ues including self-reliance, teamwork, honesty, in-tegrity, and giving back to society. The establishment will be able to accommo-date up to 1,000 children and approximately 250 em-ployees at any one time.
QNL’s Dr Wastawy and KidZania’s Fearnett announce the partnership between the organisations.
QATAR7Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tributes pour in for Gulf Times founding editorBrian Nicholls, the found-
ing editor of Gulf Times, passed away in his native
country the United Kingdom on May 5, family sources have said. He was 80.
Brian had not been keeping good health for over a year, “but sadly his condition worsened over the last couple of months and he died peacefully in pallia-tive care with the family round him,” his widow Dorothy said in a message.
Rich tributes have been paid to Nicholls by his former col-leagues, who have fondly re-membered him as a dedicated professional and a genuine and compassionate human being.
Brian had been a journalist for than 60 years, starting his career as a copy boy at the age of 15.
Besides working for several newspapers in the UK, he spent three months in India on a fel-lowship awarded to British jour-nalists by the Commonwealth Press Union.
Brian set up Gulf Times in 1978 and remained its editor for 12 years. He returned to the UK in 1990.
Remembering Brian, Gulf Times founding managing di-rector Yousuf Jassem al-Darwish said: “Besides being a remark-ably good and lively person, Brian Nicholls was a committed professional who wholeheart-
edly built the newspaper from the foundations laid down by its promoters.
“I selected him from the four or fi ve journalists who attended the interview held at a London hotel in 1978, and found him to be the best of all those who turned up for the interview. Brian was always friendly to his colleagues.”
He also lauded Brian’s com-mitment to protect Qatar’s in-terests, respect local sentiments as well as the feelings of the non-British expatriates.
“As editor, Brian was involved in all stages of production of the newspaper from its modest be-ginnings and guided it initially as a weekly before turning it into a full-fl edged daily newspaper.”
Gulf Times Production Editor Amjad Khan remembers Brian Nicholls for his profes-sionalism, superb editing skills as well as his sense of humour. “Brian was a master tabloid technician. We learned a lot from the way he handled stories. Tight subbing was his real forte.
He would strike off expressions and redundancies without of-fering a terser substitute, thus saving space and improving the sentence.”
Recalling his association with Brian, former Gulf Times pro-duction editor C P Ravindran said, “It was a wonderful ex-perience to work with a great editor like Brian Nicholls for whom journalism was a pas-sion. Yousuf Jassem Darwish, a leading Qatari businessman and a former Advisory Council member, and Nicholls were the driving forces behind the launch of Gulf Times, Qatar’s fi rst Eng-lish daily and one of the oldest in the region, in 1978. The paper’s current status and success owe a lot to the tireless work of these two people.
“It was Brian who recruited me in 1978 in New Delhi to join the initially small founding team and I consider it as a great honour. He was known for his sense of humour and quick wit. It was always a pleasure to work with him.”
Babu Mather, former news editor, said, “Brian was a won-derful person, a father fi gure besides being an aff ectionate friend and a thoroughbred edi-tor with a vision. Though a task-master, he never got angry. In the early struggling years, Brian was a picture of confi dence. He nur-
tured his young colleagues and encouraged them to aim high.
“Brian will always be re-membered by his friends and colleagues.”
T M Anantharaman, a former deputy news editor, said, “I am still in a state of shock to know that Brian Nicholls, my editor and mentor with whom I spent almost 12 years since 1978, is no more. Brian was always cheerful and full of good humour when dealing with the staff members. I was blessed to have had an editor like Brian Nicholls in my early years as a journalist. RIP Brian Nicholls ... we will certainly miss you.”
Arvind Nair, former reporter, said, “Brian was a perfect gen-tleman. I have never seen him shouting at anyone. He was very jovial and cracked jokes.
“As editor, he never sat on a high pedestal and looked down on us. He was one of us, worked with us, partied with us and went on picnics with us.
“Gulf Times is Brian’s baby. He developed it from scratch and gave it shape, size, smell and fl a-vour. It was not an easy task con-sidering that there was no news-paper culture in Qatar, a country of 1,65,000 people then.
“Brian, I consider it as my good fortune that I could work for you.”
Shanti Rodrigues, executive
Brian Nicholls (left) and Yousuf Jassem al-Darwish (right) are seen with Shanti Rodrigues, Arvind Nair, Babu Mather and some other colleagues during a function in the Gulf Times editorial department in 1990.
secretary, said, “Words don’t come easy when we lose some-one dear. Brian was the fi rst managing editor of Gulf Times with whom I was privileged to be closely associated as his secre-tary for 10 years from 1980-1990. During this tenure I saw Brian as professional and humane ... He was loved by all for his extremely kind nature and will be missed by us all at Gulf Times especially since he stayed in touch even af-ter his departure from Doha. To conclude my eulogy on a humor-ous note, the fi rst editor-in-chief and founder of Gulf Times, You-suf Jassem al-Darwish once said ‘Brian, you are all sugar with no salt ... you must have some salt too’.”
N Valentine, another col-league, said, “I will always re-
member Brian Nicholls as he was the one who interviewed, select-ed and brought me to Doha. I am deeply saddened by this news.
“My heartfelt and most sincere condolences to Dorothy and the entire family. May God give them the fortitude to bear this irrepa-rable loss and may the departed soul rest in peace.”
Joseph Valiyaveettil, produc-tion chief of Gulf Times since 1978, recalled that it was Brian Nicholls who selected him for the post. “Prior to joining Gulf Times, I did not have any experi-ence in a newspaper. It was Brian who taught me everything about newspaper production and what I am today is because of him. He was a role model and mentor. He was ready to do any task. That impressed me a lot.”
C K Krishnan, the most senior member of the production de-partment, who worked closely with Brian at the publication’s start in 1978, remembered the founding editor as an excep-tionally good human being who treated his colleagues with dignity and respect.”
Roney Misquitta, scanner op-erator, who joined Gulf Times in 1979, said, “It was Brian Nicholls who interviewed me in Mumbai. I had just fi nished my studies. Though I had no experience in the fi eld, he brought me to Qatar as an assistant bromide camera operator. Brian was a thorough gentleman, always smiling and ready to help and encourage eve-ryone. He was a great friend and had no airs at all that he was the editor.”
“As editor, Brian was involved in all stages of production of the newspaper from its modest beginnings and guided it initially as a weekly before turning it into a full-fl edged daily newspaper”
Chance of scattered light rain
The Qatar Met depart-ment has said there is a chance of scat-
tered light rain, which may become thundery at times, in the country from this evening until tomorrow evening. Strong winds are also likely.
The weather offi ce said in a report yesterday that the cloud cover (medium
and high) is expected to in-crease over the country in the above-mentioned peri-od due to the presence of an ‘upper-level low-pressure system’.
This will result in a pos-sibility of scattered light rain with a ‘risk of thun-dery cells in some areas’, which will be accompanied by strong winds, especially
off shore. Fresh to strong northwesterly winds are likely during this period while slight to blowing dust will bring down visibility to below 3km in some areas.
The sea state is expected to be unsuitable for marine activities, the Met depart-ment has said, urging peo-ple to be careful and follow latest updates through its
offi cial social media ac-counts.
Meantime, hot daytime conditions are again ex-pected today and the tem-perature in Doha will range from 30C to 43C. Yesterday, the city saw a maximum temperature of 39C, while a high of 44C was recorded in Sheehaniya, Karana and Jumayliyah.
HMC cautions against unsupervised medication changes during RamadanHamad Medical Cor-
poration (HMC) is advising patients
who take daily medication and plan to fast during Ra-madan to speak with their physician or pharmacists before making any changes to their medication.
According to Dr Moza al-Hail, HMC’s executive director of pharmacy, some patients need only a simple adjustment to their medi-cation schedule while oth-ers require a more complex solution.
“Patients with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, hyperten-sion, heart and kidney dis-eases, as well as conditions like epilepsy, require daily medication to eff ectively manage their condition and prevent complications. For many patients, we can make a simple adjustment so they can take their medi-cation between the evening meal of Iftar and the morn-ing meal of Suhoor. For medications taken multiple times during the day, rec-ommended strategies in-clude choosing long-acting formulations or changing dosing regimens to once or twice daily,” said Dr al-Hail.
Dr al-Hail added that
many medications pre-scribed for various con-ditions are available as immediate-release and sustained-release formula-tions. This means that these medications can be eff ec-tive in the body for longer periods of time. She also noted that many religious scholars agree that not all drug formulations are pro-hibited from use during fasting.
“We work with each pa-tient to fi nd the best solu-tion for their specifi c situa-
tion. Most medicines come in multiple forms, with a number of oral medications also available as injections, patches, suppositories, pessaries, and inhalers,” stated Dr al-Hail.
She cautioned that no matter how straightfor-ward an adjustment may seem, patients must con-sult their physician or pharmacist before making changes. She said unsuper-vised changes can render a medicine useless, and more signifi cantly can cause se-
rious health complications.“Each year we encounter
a number of patients who make changes to their med-ication regimes or even dis-continue use without con-sulting their doctor. Every patient is diff erent and will require a tailored treatment plan. Furthermore, patients should not rely on informa-tion provided by their fam-ily and friends,” said
Dr al-Hail. Dr al-Hail also noted
there are exceptions made for those who cannot safely fast, including the eld-erly and individuals who are chronically ill. She said in addition to providing advice about medication modifi cations, part of the pharmacist’s role is working with physicians to educate patients about when they need to break their fast.
Last year, Pharmacy De-partment organised a medi-cation awareness campaign for patients highlighting medication management during Ramadan. The cam-paign focused on educating patients who fast during Ramadan about the prop-er use of their prescribed medications. A similar campaign is being planned for this year.
Dr Moza al-Hail, executive director of pharmacy at HMC.
QATAR
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 20188
City College to start classes from Sept 2By Joseph VargheseStaff Reporter
City College will start its programmes in Qatar on September 2 with a High
National Certifi cate in Business and High National Diploma in six business specialisations.
“We are licensed by the Ministry of Education and Higher Educa-tion, Qatar and allowed to off er only these certifi cate and diploma programmes at the moment,” Dav-id Meaton, principal, City College told Gulf Times.
“The specialisations at the di-ploma level are: accountancy and fi nance; human resources man-agement; business management and leadership; entrepreneurship and small business development; marketing and human resources development,” explained Meaton.
The college caters to students who leave school and are not quite ready to start the business programme:
they can study for bridging courses, so they can top up their skills to enter the higher education programmes.
“The programme is for two years. They start with the certifi -cate programme fi rst year and in the second year, opt for any of the six topics for the diploma pro-gramme. Then, they can join the
University of Portsmouth, our partner. They can also join 750 universities worldwide and com-plete their bachelors programme in another year,” he said.
According to Meaton, the City College is also negotiating with a British University in Qatar to get their students admitted in Qatar
itself and has plans to approach other universities in the country in this regard.
“Our courses are rooted fi rmly in employability and business compe-tency ... they are tailored to the Qa-tar business world and, of course, to the global economy. So for ex-ample, our students spend time doing simulations and case studies with companies right here in Doha, and applying the insights they gain on our internationally recognised courses,” noted Meaton.
Principal Meaton noted that the college is targeting around 100 students in the inaugural year.
“To begin with, this year we are aiming at 100 students. We have the capacity for 250 students. However, the level of inquiry has been very high and we are hope-ful of meeting our target. I have visited several high schools and the response from the students is absolutely encouraging. There is high demand for this type of edu-cation,” continued Meaton.
The tuition fee for the pro-gramme is QR55,500 a year and can be paid in instalments.
The college yesterday held an open admission house for the pro-spective students.
The event was attended by Emma Schlesinger, global direc-tor of Middle East at University of Portsmouth in the UK.
The college is presently located at the Barwa Commercial Avenue.
“We are also planning to introduce more programmes such as comput-ing, travel and tourism and hospital-ity sport management and sport sci-ence. We are bringing in international staff and initially we will have about 15 faculty members and may get in more staff when the number of stu-dents increases,” added Meaton.
The programmes of the college are approved by the British Tech-nical Education Council, the Min-istry of Education and Higher Ed-ucation in Qatar and Portsmouth University is the partner university of the college.
David Meaton Emma Schlesinger
Al Jazeera named one of ‘most viewed media companies’
Al Jazeera has been named one of the Most Viewed Media Compa-nies for the second year in a row
by Tubular Labs, a company that tracks all video content cross-platform across all devices globally.
Al Jazeera was ranked 30th out of 10mn content creators and over 40,000 media and entertainment publishers globally tracked in 2017, according to a press state-ment issued by Al Jazeera Media Network.
Dima Khatib, managing drector of AJ+, received the award on behalf of Al Jazeera Media Network and reiter-ated the role of every team member in the network’s continuous success, saying: “I am proud of every member of the Al Jazeera family, who are the real winners of this award. Al Jazeera has succeeded in bringing its spirit, well-known ethical journalism and values to the digital arena and it has resonated clearly with audi-ences throughout the world.”
Tubular Labs annually announces its classifi cation of digital entities, plat-forms and infl uencers from across the world, categorised according to geogra-phy, category and genre.
Al Jazeera was ranked 30th out of 10mn content creators and over 40,000 media and entertainment publishers globally tracked in 2017.
Ooredoo Money customers get ‘recurring’ Shahry bill payment
Ooredoo announced yesterday that Ooredoo Money customers can now set-up Recurring Shahry Bill Pay-
ments via their Ooredoo Money Wallet.Thanks to the latest feature, new and ex-
isting Ooredoo Money customers will now be able to ensure their Shahry bill is paid monthly and on time from their Ooredoo Money Wallet account.
The new feature was designed to ensure all Ooredoo Shahry customers can conveniently and securely pay their bills and avoid serv-ice disruptions without the need to visit an Ooredoo Shop or pay monthly via an Ooredoo Self-Service Machine.
New and existing Ooredoo Money custom-ers simply have to log in to the Ooredoo Mon-
ey app or dial *140#, select ‘Payment’, then ‘Shahry Bill Payment’ and follow the simple instructions on screen.
Once registered for the service, custom-ers can choose to pay their full Shahry bill amount or a fi xed Shahry bill amount that will be paid automatically monthly.
The Ooredoo Money App is available via the Apple App Store and Google Play store and has seven language options: English, Arabic, Hin-di, Malayalam, Bengali, Tagalog and Nepali. For more information about Ooredoo Mobile Money visit http://www.ooredoo.qa/en/omm.
Tubular’s fi ndings are considered a key and reliable reference for research companies spe-cialised in media and digital marketing across the world.
Souq Waqif Boutique hotels by Tivoli woos Ramadan patron
Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels by Ti-voli has launched its exquisite of-fers for the holy month of Ramadan
through Iftars and Suhoors at Argan res-taurant at Al Jasra Boutique Hotel.
Among the attractions are the deli-cious Moroccan, oriental and interna-tional cuisines.
The Iftar buff et is from 6pm to 8pm, including live cooking stations and a wide selection of oriental and international sweets and desserts.
Suhoor buff et will kick off daily from 9pm to 2am.
Guests can also make family reserva-tions as well as group bookings.
In addition, Souq Waqif Boutique Ho-
tels by Tivoli has launched a ‘staycation’ off er starting May 15 to June 13 at very compelling rates and include either a set menu Iftar for two or a set menu Suhoor for two at Argan restaurant at Al Jasra Boutique Hotel.
Guests will also benefi t during their ‘staycation’ from a 20% discount on all spa services, complimentary room up-grade in addition to early check-in and late check-out.
Claude Rababy, general manager of Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels by Tivoli said: “We will provide the best hospitali-ty and the highest level of services during the holy month in a unique environment and a wonderful Ramadan atmosphere.”
Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels by Tivoli has launched exquisite offers for the holy month of Ramadan.
Qatar Duty Free ready to sponsor golf tournament
Qatar Duty Free (QDF) will be the sponsor and ex-clusive retail partner of the Tax Free World As-sociation (TFWA) Golf Tournament, taking place
at Cannes’ Royal Mougins Golf Club on September 30, it was announced yesterday. The TFWA Golf Tourna-ment, which began in 2006, is one of the most prestig-ious events on the leisure and social calendar as part of the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, which brings to-gether more than 3,000 duty free and travel retail brands and 500 international exhibitors, reaching over 2,000 key executives from major landlords and retailers.
QDF head Thabet Musleh, said: “Qatar Airways and Qatar Duty Free understand the power of sport in bringing people together, and are proud to be an exclusive partner of another prestigious global sporting event aligned with the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
TFWA president Erik Juul-Mortensen, said: “We thank our friends at Qatar Duty Free for their support, and we look forward to joining them and other colleagues from across the duty free and travel retail world on the greens at the Royal Mougins Golf Club in September.”
Prizes on off er to winners as part of the golf tournament include: $50,000 for the ‘Hole in One’, as well as inspir-ing golf prizes for the ‘Nearest-The-Pin’, ‘Longest Drive’, ‘Nearest-To-The-Water’ and ‘Fourball Team’ challenges.
One of the largest duty free retailers in the world, QDF boasts more than 90 boutiques and luxury, high-end stores, as well as more than 30 restaurants and cafés cov-ering an area of 40,000sqm at Hamad International Air-port (HIA) in Doha.
Winners of Ashghal’s excellence competition for students announced
Ashghal has announced the win-ners of the concrete excellence competition for students, held
in collaboration with the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Qatar Chap-ter. Mohamed Khairi Abdussalam and Khaled al-Sayed Adam from Qatar University (QU) were awarded with air tickets to Las Vegas for attending the ACI Conference.
Ashghal president Saad bin Ahmed al-Muhannadi, Quality and Safety De-partment manager Khaled al-Emadi and the supervising faculty members of the College of Engineering at QU were present at the event.
The competition was held in March at Ashghal’s Research and Develop-ment Center of the Quality and Safety Department. Seven teams of students from the College of Engineering at QU competed. Ashghal’s award to the winning students also aims to encour-age them to participate in the Interna-tional Concrete Excellence Award un-der the auspices of the ACI through its branch in Qatar.
Al-Muhannadi said, “Ashghal is always keen to improve the skills of youth and to involve them in its work because they are the most infl uential groups in the society. Ashghal sup-ports potential engineers and opens
options before them for practical ex-periments, including this option for testing the fi rst competition for excel-lence in concrete construction, which is held in collaboration with ACI Qa-tar.”
Al-Emadi felt such competitions enhanced students’ skills, boost their competitive spirit and encourage them to excel, as they increased the chances of co-operation between Ashghal and QU in implementing the MoU between both entities.
It also highlights the role of Qatar in international forums and fosters communication between the students of Qatar with their counterparts in the world, providing them with the
best international expertise through this workshop. He also urged the par-ticipation of competent companies in such community awareness activities that ensured great benefi t for the indi-vidual as well as the state.
As part of the competition, Ashghal president has launched a link named ‘Ashghal Certifi cation Programme’, which combines the works of two Ashghal departments – Quality and Safety Department and Information Systems Department. This link is an Ashghal initiative to provide interna-tional training to the technicians who work with Ashghal projects, including contractors, consultants or lab techni-cians.
Ashghal president Saad bin Ahmed al-Muhannadi honouring one of the winners.
graduate education celebrated a clean sweep of Qatari winners in all categories in the com-memorative 5th anniversary edition.
Abdulqader al-Khouzaam, and Shifa Shaikh, both MSc in Environmental Engineering from Qatar University (QU), were recognised in the Masters category.
Khalid al-Khoori, PhD in Sustainable Energy, Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), and Dhabia al-Mohannadi, PhD in Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University at Qatar (Ta-muq), were recognised in the top tier award section of PhD.
“I believe that my research addresses a problem that is not only important to Qa-tar, but globally where we are faced with ambitious emission reduction targets, depleting resources and increase of de-mand as the earth’s popula-tion continues to grow,” said al-Mohannadi.
Each year a distinguished group of celebrated global scholars are invited onto the International Selection Re-view Committee for the Oryx GTL Student Awards to judge all the nominees, and this year’s panel of experts were led by Dr Iain Macdonald, senior programme manager, Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Centre, Imperial Col-lege London.
The committee also included
Professor Mariam al-Maadeed, vice president for Research & Graduate Studies, QU; Dr Ce-sar O Malave, dean and COO, Tamuq; Marwan Khraisheh, senior research director, QEERI – HBKU, and Dr Abdul Sattar al-Taie, executive director, Qa-tar National Research Fund.
The Selection Committee members were recused from re-viewing any nominees submit-ted from their own academic institutions.
“Maximising Qatar’s post-graduate skills is vital to the country’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy
as per the National Vision 2030, which is the foundation principle as to why Oryx GTL is backing the Student Awards for the Advancement of Post-Graduate Education in Qatar,” said Mohamed al-Enazi, chief administration officer at Oryx GTL, and a member of the re-
view committee. This year’s four Qatar-based post-grad-uate students beat out global competition that included submissions from Imperial College London, University of Southern California, Herriot-Watt, Manchester University and HEC Paris.
Vodafone Qatar rolls out 1Gbps fi bre network in New Salata and Industrial Area
Vodafone Qatar has an-nounced further progress in accelerating Qatar to-
wards becoming one of the most connected and technologically advanced countries in the world by rolling out fi bre connectivity in New Salata and the Industrial Area, capable of handling speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (1Gbps).
Residents in New Salata and the Industrial Area will benefi t from Vodafone Qatar’s ultrafast network by accessing so called ‘triple play’ services.
Among these are very high-speed Internet, voice and mul-timedia content over IP, includ-ing high defi nition TV channels, premium content, video on de-mand, and home entertainment.
Businesses in both areas will also have access to a wide range of enterprise services, including smart solutions and new applica-tions such as smart security, asset tracking, and smart metering.
These technologies of the future will help the businesses operating in New Salata and the Industrial Area to optimise, au-tomate, and innovate.
Vodafone Qatar CEO Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim al-Thani said: “Vodafone Qatar is com-
mitted to developing a world-class telecommunications infra-structure in Qatar that delivers the benefi ts of sustainable and eff ective competition through increased choice, better value, better service, and innovation to consumers and businesses alike. The roll out of our ambi-tious fi xed line plans in loca-tions around the country will be instrumental in driving forward Qatar’s digital agenda.”
Vodafone Qatar recently an-nounced that it will roll out its fibre network in Lusail City and the Pearl-Qatar, building on fixed line services it currently provides in areas including West Bay and Barwa City, Me-saimeer.
In a sign of its ambitions and the enormous growth poten-tial that the business is pursu-ing, Vodafone Qatar expects to more than quadruple the number of homes and busi-nesses connected to its fibre network by 2020.
Drawing on the very best of the Vodafone brand globally, Vo-dafone Qatar is able to access the needed solutions and support needed to move Qatar towards becoming one of the most con-nected countries in the world.
The winners with off icials.
New lubricant launched at Elf dealer meet
Total Marketing Qatar (TMQ) and its Elf distributor, Arabian Supply Center (ASC), organised the Elf dealer meet-
ing in Doha recently. The meeting was attended by ASC offi cials
Hisham Hadid – CEO and Praveen Hubli – operations director, TMQ offi cials Thibaud de Lisle – managing director, Shakilur Rah-man – vice-president (Sales), and Ketan Kumar – general manager, and 140 partners from the ‘retail high street’ segment along with respective team members.
Total took an opportunity to launch Elf Perfo HDX 500 20W-50 in small packing. “Elf Perfo HDX 500 20W-50 has excellent oxidation resistance and anti-wear proper-ties, guaranteeing effi cient engine protection under normal and severe conditions,” a press statement noted, adding that the lubricant is “particularly recommended for heavy-duty diesel engines”.
A special promotion was also launched on
the occasion for retail customers, while key wholesalers were recognised and awarded during the meeting. Complementing the “excellent work” done by ASC, Rahman said: “Within a very short time, this partnership between ASC and Total has fi rmly positioned Elf lubricants as the top brand in Qatar.”
With its worldwide presence, Elf products “help customers improve the performance of their equipment and vehicles while signifi -
cantly reducing the environmental impact and running costs”.
With a reputation based on the principles of quality products and great customer service, with internationally leading brands such as Hi-tachi, Sandvik, Goodyear, SKF, ZF, Metso, Am-mann and more, ASC has “established itself as one of the largest distributors in Qatar for auto-motive spare parts, tyres, batteries, lubricants and heavy machinery”, the statement added.
Attendees at the dealer meeting.
Elan Urban showcases productsElan Urban is participating in the 15th edition of Project Qatar, the leading International Construc-tion Technology and Building Materials Exhibition, taking place at Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre until tomorrow (May 10).In line with Elan Urban’s mission to beautify cities, the company’s stand showcases a full range of products and services illustrating concepts and ideas already completed in the latest city beautifi-cation and infrastructure projects in Qatar. On this occasion, Elan Urban sealed three new internation-al partnerships with leading companies in order to provide local infrastructure projects with the bespoke and standard world class products and services. Elan Urban is teaming up with Metalogal-va, a Portuguese company specialised in outdoor street light columns and traff ic Truss Gantries; Sistem Reklam, a Turkish company specialised in street furniture and Bottega 7, an Italian company specialised in street furniture and poles. “Teaming up with Metalogalva, Sistem Reklam and Bottega 7 is bringing Elan Urban’s off ering to a whole new level, benefiting our customers in Qatar and in
the Middle East region,” commented Tariq al-Ham-madi, Elan Group chief support off icer. Bottega 7 is bringing the outcome of years of constant research and innovation on new processing techniques with the best of Italian manufacturing traditions. Specialised in the design and manufacture of metal structures, Metalogalva is rolling out its products in several fields of activity, including energy, telecommunications, roads and railways, renewable energies. Sistem Reklam is bringing its 25 years of experience in providing manufacturing, assembly and maintenance services for street furniture.
Elan Urban’s stand at Project Qatar.
Huawei’s P20 Pro smartphone unveiled
Huawei Consumer Business Group has introduced a new era of smart-phone photography with the launch
of the Huawei P20 Pro in Qatar, featuring a 40MP Leica Triple Camera with Master AI (Artifi cial Intelligence).
The phone is available in black, blue and twilight colours at leading showrooms in Qatar at QR2,999. Chinese ambassador Li Chen, several Huawei offi cials and Huawei phones’ offi cial Qatar distributor Intertec’s chief fi nancial offi cer George Thomas, and manager Ashraf NK were present at the launch event.
Bill Yu, general manager Middle East Multiple Country, Huawei, said, “Hua-wei P Series has always been a pioneer of smartphone photography and the Huawei P20 Pro is once again leading the way with the revolutionary Leica triple camera. Its advanced camera system powered by AI is designed to be exceptional in every way and deliver an unparalleled next-genera-tion smartphone photography experience. Huawei P20 Pro is already receiving rave reviews and accolades globally, and we are confi dent that it’s going to wow our Qatari consumers.”
To show off the P20 Pro’s mastery of pho-tography, and the beauty of Doha, guests were escorted to the helipad of the Shangri-la hotel on the 50th fl oor to have a hands on experience with the skyscape and night shot photography modes.
The event also had ‘Experience Stations’ providing innovative ways to consumers to compare their own device with Huawei P20 Pro. The Master AI photography zone allowed to test the AI-powered real-time scene and object recognition technology which automatically recognises more than 500 scenarios in 19 categories and selects photography modes such as a cat or green-ery. Once an object or a scene is identifi ed, Huawei P20 Pro will automatically adjust to give a result which looks close to profes-sional-photography.
Chinese ambassador Li Chen along with other off icials at the event. PICTURES: Nasar TK
Bill Yu giving a presentation about the Huawei P20 Pro.
REGION/ARAB WORLD
Gulf TimesWednesday, May 9, 201810
Berri says vote results will protect LebanonAFPMsaileh
Lebanon’s powerful parlia-ment speaker Nabih Berri said yesterday that the
general election’s results vindi-cated a formula in which both the army and the Hezbollah guarantee the country’s protec-tion.
Polls held on Sunday, the fi rst in nine years, saw Hezbollah’s al-lies in parliament garner enough seats to block any attempt by its political foes in parliament to make it disarm.
“The truth is that the results support the equation in Leba-non, we call it the golden equa-tion: the army, the people, the resistance,” Berri said in an in-terview at his residence in south Lebanon.
Often described as Leba-non’s shrewdest political player, 80-year-old Berri has held the position of speaker since 1992 and also heads the infl uential movement Amal.
According to provisional re-sults for Sunday’s vote, his party scored 16 seats out of parlia-ment’s 128, three more than its ally Hezbollah.
Unlike Amal and all other fac-tions, Hezbollah did not give up its weapons when the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990 and its arsenal has now grown to rival the national army’s.
The group’s weapons cache is the most divisive issue in Leba-nese politics, but Amal and other MPs allied to Hezbollah should be in a position to fend off any challenge in parliament.
Hezbollah and its allies argue the army is too weak to defend the country from Israel.
Its critics say Hezbollah is the main reason Israel would attack Lebanon.
Amal’s popularity among the community, dominant in areas near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, grew when the Jew-ish state invaded in 1982.
“We’re a country that Israel has occupied, and it remains on our land... It still has ambitions for our water, oil, gas, land,” he said.
A deadly confl ict between Is-rael and Hezbollah erupted in 2006 and fears of an even dead-lier and more devastating war have cast an abiding gloom over Lebanon. Hezbollah was born of an Amal splinter and the groups were rivals during the civil war.
Decades later, they fi nd them-selves politically aligned on most issues and have been repeatedly hailed as the winning “duo” af-ter Sunday’s vote.
One of the election’s strik-ing features was a disappoint-ing turnout of 49.2%, which Berri blamed on the electoral law passed last year and used for the fi rst time on Sunday.
“We know it from France and other countries — that propor-tionality is the best electoral sys-tem but it isn’t implemented in small electoral districts,” he said.
“Lebanon as a whole could be a district in Europe,” Berri said of his country, which has an elec-torate of around 3.7mn.
He said he had initially sup-ported the idea of a single na-tionwide district but that en-
suing consultations yielded a complex map of 15 districts, all diff erent in size and sectarian distribution.
“This took us away from the spirit of proportionality and made it so that the sectarian el-ement has a bigger impact than the proportionality element,” Berri said.
The reformed electoral law introduced an element of pro-portionality to replace the previ-ous, majoritarian system but its complexity and the opportunist alliances it generated appeared to put voters off .
Berri said reforming the elec-toral law again should be one of the priorities of the new cham-ber.
“As soon as we have a legisla-tive session, one of the fi rst tasks we should start with would be developing this electoral law so that all parts of Lebanese society are content with it,” he said.
Berri is widely expected to be handed a new mandate as speak-er, although he refused to com-ment on the issue.
Lebanon’s unique sectarian power-sharing arrangements provide for parliament to be split equally between various com-munities.
70 years after exodus, Palestinians dream of returnAFP Amari Refugee Camp
Thaer Sharkawi, 31, has never visited the place he calls home.
The Palestinian was born and raised in the Amari refu-gee camp in the occupied West Bank, but for him his house is 50 kilometres away in the town of Kafr Ana inside what is now Israel.
Kafr Ana hasn’t actually ex-isted for decades — demolished in the weeks after Sharkawi’s grandfather fl ed in 1948 — yet he knows there was a boys’ and girls’ school and can vividly pic-ture the orange groves his great-grandfather tended.
“I haven’t been there but I have heard about it,” he said. “I studied about it and read about it on the Internet.”
Sharkawi is one of around 5mn Palestinian refugees spread across Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank.
The majority of them are descendants of those who left during the 1948 “Nakba” — or catastrophe — when more than 700,000 were expelled or fl ed their homes in the war sur-rounding Israel’s creation.
Like Sharkawi, most have never seen their historic homes, many of which were destroyed by Israel.
Yet, as they mark seven dec-ades since that mass displace-
ment on May 15, Palestin-ian refugees are determined to maintain connections to the land they still want to return to.
Sharkawi sits with his father Nabil and grandmother Khadija, who at 85 remembers fl eeing her home as Israeli fi ghters ap-proached.
Nabil contrasts the open fi elds of his father’s former home to the cramped conditions they have lived in for 70 years in the Amari camp, but said he wasn’t worried the new genera-tion would lose the link to their historical homelands.
“There are (technological) developments now — there is Sheikh Google. They can open it and see ‘here was Kufr Ana’,” he said. “Google helps them to see the land that is theirs.”
But Ali, a 19-year-old also in Amari but whose grandparents came from Al-Na’ani, said he knew “nothing” about the vil-lage, also destroyed in 1948.
“My grandparents died when I was young and no one really talked about it.”
The so-called right of return for Palestinian refugees is one of the most diffi cult issues in the Israel-Palestinian confl ict.
Israel fl at out rejects it, saying allowing even a fraction of them to return would mean the end of it as a Jewish state.
But Palestinians see the issue as essential and refugees have passed on memories from gen-eration to generation.
They will rarely say they sim-ply come from Palestine, in-stead naming a village, town or even street.
In a fi eld, Bakar Fahmawi points his camera at an aban-doned Ottoman building, with rows of neat Israeli houses in the background.
“Here there was a market for all kinds of trade,” he says on the video, pointing his phone at an overgrown fi eld.
Every week for the past fi ve years Fahmawi, an Israeli citi-zen whose Palestinian fam-
ily remained inside the land that became Israel, has fi lmed an abandoned village or area and posted it on his Facebook page for Palestinians across the world to see.
“Those that left have heard about their country, but they have never seen it,” he said by phone.
“I do it so they don’t forget their country and for them to know they have a country, the most beautiful in the world.”
In Gaza, run by Hamas and hermetically sealed by Israel
and Egypt for years, the Internet is often the only way for them to see the outside world.
Since protests and clashes calling for the right to return began on March 30 along Gaza’s border, more than 50 Palestin-ians have been killed by Israeli fi re, mostly by snipers. No Is-raelis have been injured.
Israel accuses Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars in a decade, of using the protests as cover for violence, but Pales-tinians say protesters are being shot while posing no threat.
The Nakba commemoration is likely to bring fresh bloodshed in Gaza, with Israel determined to stop infi ltrations.
Shayma Abeed, 16, has known nothing but Gaza, yet she holds up the key to her grandfather’s house in Al-Jiyya, a town 19 kil-ometres north of the Palestinian enclave and which was emptied in 1948.
“(Grandad) used to love to tell us about Al-Jiyya, his friends, the farm work and our house that was warm in the winter and cool in summer,” she said.
Longtime Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during an interview in his home on Msaileh, south of the southern port city of Sidon, yesterday.
Trump abandons Iran nuclear dealFrom Page 1
Renewing sanctions would make it much harder for Iran to sell its oil abroad or use the international banking system.
Oil prices recouped some losses after Trump’s announcement, in a volatile ses-sion in which prices slumped as much as 4% earlier in the day.
Wall Street remained in negative territory while energy stocks cut earlier losses after Trump spoke.
Trump’s decision is a snub to European al-lies such as France, Britain and Germany who also are part of the Iran deal and tried hard to convince the US president to preserve it. The Europeans must now scramble to decide their own course of action with Tehran.
China and Russia also are signatories to the Iran deal.
Trump did not provide details of what he described as the “highest level of economic sanctions” that he is reimposing on Iran.
According to the US Treasury, sanctions re-lated to Iran’s energy, auto and fi nancial sectors will be reimposed in three and six months.
Iran’s growing military and political power in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq worries the United States, Israel and US Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia.
Minutes before Trump’s announcement, Israel said it had instructed local authorities in the Israeli-held Golan Heights to “unlock and ready (bomb) shelters” after identifying what the military described as “irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria.”
The military statement said its defence systems had been deployed “and IDF (Israel Defence Force) troops are on high alert for an attack.”
Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow was deeply disappointed by Trump’s de-cision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal, a move it called a blatant violation of inter-national law.
The EU is “determined to preserve” the Iran nuclear deal despite the US withdrawal, the bloc’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogh-erini said in Rome yesterday, pledging to “stay true” if Tehran stuck to its commitments.
The 2015 accord “is delivering on its goal which is guaranteeing that Iran doesn’t de-velop nuclear weapons, the European Union is determined to preserve it,” Mogherini said.
US-backed Kurdish fi ghters resume anti-IS ops: coalitionAFPWashington
A US-backed Kurdish-led alliance this week launched a new off en-
sive against holdouts from the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, an offi cial said yester-day.
Kurdish members of the Syrian Democratic Forces — made up of Kurds, Syrian Ar-abs and other groups — had quit the Middle Euphrates River Valley in February after Turkey sent troops into Syria and launched an operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) mili-tia in its Afrin enclave.
But the SDF last week an-nounced it was relaunching eff orts to clear IS from the few areas in Syria where they maintain a presence, includ-ing in the eastern oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor near the border with Iraq.
“This week, following an increase in coalition strikes against the fi nal ISIS control-
led areas in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces resumed off ensive operations to clear the fi nal ISIS held territory in eastern Syria,” British Army Major General Felix Gedney, a deputy commander of the US-led coalition fi ghting IS, told Pentagon reporters.
The fi rst phase of op-erations aims to secure the southeast portion of the Syria-Iraq border in co-ordi-nation with the Iraqi security forces, Gedney said. He did not say how many IS fi ghters remain, though noted that local militants are abandon-ing the fi ght, causing tension among those remaining.
“Observations from east-ern Syria suggest that morale among ISIS fi ghters is sink-ing,” Gedney said.
“Frictions are mounting between native- and foreign-born ISIS fi ghters as ISIS’s privileged leadership con-tinues to fl ee the area leaving fi ghters with dwindling re-sources and low morale. ISIS fi ghters continue to surren-der rather than face certain death.”
He added that more than 400 IS fi ghters are now in SDF custody. IS militants swept across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate” in areas they con-trolled.
Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold polls on Sept 30ReutersBaghdad
The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of north-ern Iraq, which voted
overwhelmingly in favour of in-dependence last year in a refer-endum rejected by Baghdad, will hold an election on Sept 30.
A Kurdistan Regional Govern-ment media offi cial said KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Bar-zani had approved the date.
The vote should elect both a parliament and a president for Kurdish regions which have gained self-rule in 1991, when a US-led coalition forced Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army to with-draw from them in the wake of his eight-month occupation of Kuwait.
A federal Iraqi election, which includes the Kurdistan region, is set to take place on Saturday and its results will give clues as to the importance of the diff erent Kurdish political parties.
Longtime Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani stepped down from the KRG presidency on Nov 1 after the independence referen-dum last September.
Opposition to the ruling Kurdish establishment, repre-sented by the Barzani and Ta-labani dynasties, has become more vocal over the past years, especially after the referendum.
The Iraqi government and other militias allied to Iran dis-lodged Kurdish forces from the oil region of Kirkuk in retalia-tion for the vote, curtailing the oil income of the KRG and lead-ing to an economic crisis in the region.
Syrians evacuated from rebel-held areas from central Homs province in a convoy of buses greet loved ones as they arrive at Abu al-Zandin checkpoint near Al-Bab in northern Syria, yesterday.
Russian helicopter crashes in Syria, killing both pilots
A Russian helicopter crashed
in Syria late on Monday killing
both pilots, Moscow’s defence
ministry said in a statement
carried by news agencies.
“A Russian Ka-52 helicopter
crashed while on a routine
flight over the eastern regions
of the Syrian Arab Republic.
Both pilots were killed,”
the statement said, quoted
by the TASS news agency.
It added that the incident
“may have been due to a
technical malfunction” and
that a rescue team recov-
ered the bodies.
A suicide bomber yesterday attacked a checkpoint in eastern Libya held by militiamen loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, killing at least two people including a civil-ian, a senior security off icial said.The attacker also killed a fighter from Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) when the ve-hicle they were driving exploded at a roadblock 90 kilometres east of Sirte, General al-Mabruk Sahban said. Sahban added that earlier in the day security services had detonated another car bomb discovered in the area.The attack on the checkpoint comes a day after Haftar an-nounced the start of an off ensive to “liberate” the city of Derna.
Nearly 100,000 migrants fled last year to Yemen, itself gripped by war and impending famine, to escape poverty and violence at home, the International Organisa-tion for Migration said yesterday. Some 7,000 migrants entered Yemen each month, with the total number of arrivals in 2017 reach-ing near 100,000, the IOM said. Fleeing violence and poverty in the Horn of Africa, and at the mercy of smugglers, they hope to ultimately reach the more prosperous Gulf countries. Yemen is bordered to the north by Saudi Arabia.
Suicide bomber kills at least two in east Libya
100,000 migrants ‘fled to war-torn Yemen in 2017’
UNREST
REFUGEES
Palestinian refugee Khadija Sharkawi (centre), 85-years-old, sits with her family members at her home in the Amari refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, yesterday.
AFRICA11Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday flew out of Nigeria, a source at the capital’s airport said, less than a day after Buhari announced he was heading to Britain for medical reasons. “I will be travelling to the United Kingdom tomorrow, to see my doctor, at his request,” Buhari said on Twitter late Monday, a move that stoked fresh doubts about his health less than a year before presidential polls. Buhari spent more than five months in London last year receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness. He gave no details about the reason for the latest trip, but said he planned to be back in the capital Abuja on Saturday.
The trial of a Danish man accused of killing his wife and three-year-old daughter in their upscale Lagos home was adjourned yesterday to next month, lawyers and court off icials told AFP. The magistrate court in Yaba in the city also ordered the continued detention of Peter Nielsen, 53, until June 28 when his proper trial at a high court for the April 5 alleged murder of Zainab, his wife and their daughter Petra, was to start. Zainab, a 37-year-old singer popularly known as Alizee, was a rising Nigerian star. “He was brought to court this morning but no plea was taken,” activist lawyer Christian Kolawole Love told AFP.
A Zimbabwean woman lost her arm after a crocodile attack whilst holidaying with her fiancé wedded days later in a hospital chapel, state media reported yesterday. Zanele Ndlovu-Fox exchanged vows with her husband Jamie Fox in a hospital chapel before 60 guests in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. A picture in The Herald showed Ndlovu-Fox decked out in her white wedding gown with her remaining upper right limb covered in white bandage. The lovers were canoeing along the Zambezi river, near the Victoria Falls, when they were attacked by a crocodile few days earlier. “The crocodile just jumped out of the water and bit a chunk of my arm,” Ndlovu-Fox told the newspaper.
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi will pay tribute to political rival and main opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama, who died last week, according to the programme for his memorial service today. Dhlakama who led Renamo for nearly 40 years, died unexpectedly at the age 65 last Thursday from an illness at his hideout base in the Gorongosa mountains in the centre of the country. The talismanic figure played a central role in Mozambique’s history after it gained independence from Portugal in 1975. He led Renamo, created in 1976, through a deadly civil war against the Marxist-inspired Frelimo government until the conflict ended in 1992.
Zambia has assessed its debt trajectory as part of a bid to court International Monetary Fund support after the Fund rejected the country’s debt management plans in February. The analysis provides a basis for fresh talks with the IMF on a possible financial assistance programme, the finance ministry said yesterday in a statement that gave no figures. Growth is expected to sustain 4% this year helped by its mining, agriculture and construction sectors. Zambia is Africa’s second-biggest copper producer but the government faces pressure to rein in spending, especially as it heads towards a 2021 presidential election.
Nigeria’s Buhari flies to UK to see doctor
Murder trial of Danish man adjourned in Lagos
Woman weds in hospital after crocodile attack
Mozambican leader to pay tribute to late rival Dhlakama
Zambia mulls debt trajectory, courts new IMF programme
AILING JUSTICENO LOSS FUNERAL FINANCE
Ebola kills 17 in Congo as outbreak is confi rmedReutersKinshasa
At least 17 people have died in an area of northwest-ern Democratic Republic
of Congo where health offi cials have now confi rmed an outbreak of Ebola, the health ministry said yesterday.
It is the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the central African nation, whose eastern Ebola river gave the deadly virus its name when it was discovered there in the 1970s, and comes less than a year after its last out-break which killed eight people.
“Our country is facing anoth-er epidemic of the Ebola virus, which constitutes an interna-tional public health emergency,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We still dispose of the well trained human resources that were able to rapidly control pre-vious epidemics,” it said.
Ebola is believed to be spread over long distances by bats, which can host the virus without dying, as it infects other animals it shares trees with such as mon-keys.
It often spreads to humans via infected bushmeat.
Before the outbreak was con-
fi rmed, local health offi cials re-ported 21 patients showing signs of haemorrhagic fever around the village of Ikoko Impenge, near the town of Bikoro.
Seventeen of those later died.Medical teams supported by
the World Health Organization and medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres were dispatched to the zone on Saturday and took fi ve samples from suspected ac-tive cases.
Two of those samples tested positive for the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, the ministry said.
“Since notifi cation of the cas-es on May 3, no deaths have been reported either among the hos-pitalised cases or the healthcare personnel,” the statement said.
After Congo’s last Ebola fl are-up, authorities there approved the use of a new experimental vaccine but in the end did not deploy it owing to logistical chal-lenges and the relatively minor nature of the outbreak.
The worst Ebola epidemic in history ended in West Africa just two years ago after killing more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it rolled through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Despite regular outbreaks eve-ry few years, death tolls in Congo have been signifi cantly lower.
“Our top priority is to get to Bikoro to work alongside the Government of the Democrat-ic Republic of the Congo and partners to reduce the loss of life and suffering related to this new Ebola virus disease out-break,” said Dr Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-Gen-eral, Emergency Preparedness and Response.
“Working with partners and responding early and in a co-or-dinated way will be vital to con-taining this deadly disease.”
Health experts credit an awareness of the disease among the population and local medi-cal staff ’s experience treating for past successes containing its spread.
Congo’s vast, remote geogra-phy also gives it an advantage, as outbreaks are often localised and relatively easy to isolate.
Ikoko Impenge and Bikoro, however, lie not far from the banks of the Congo River, an es-sential waterway for transport and commerce.
Further downstream the river fl ows past Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa and Brazzaville, capital of neigh-bouring Congo Republic — two cities with a combined popula-tion of over 12mn people.
In Rwanda, children urge royal
Meghan to keep helping poorReuters Kigali
As US actress Meghan Markle, a former ambas-sador for charity World
Vision, prepares to marry Prince Harry, children she met in Rwanda sent goodwill messages and urged her to keep helping the poor once she joins Britain’s royal family.
Markle visited Rwanda in 2016 with World Vision, which is expanding access to clean wa-ter in rural areas.
She toured the Gatsibo dis-trict, 100km northeast of Ki-gali, where a piped water project provides drinking water for more than 130 families.
At Kanyangese Primary School children who spoke to Reuters TV recalled Markle’s visit.
“Being part of a royal fam-ily is an exceptional thing. I en-courage and hope that she will make history and that she will continue helping poor people in the world,” said student Jean de Dieu Tuyishimire.
“I encourage her to spread the values that come with being a princess.”
Student Valentine Umugisha wished Markle happiness in her new family and said: “Not eve-
ryone gets to be a princess...congratulations.”
Markle ended her role with World Vision in order to “con-centrate on new royal duties”. In a statement on its website, the charity said: “Meghan car-ried out invaluable work during her two years as a Global Am-bassador for World Vision, and we’re thrilled about her upcom-ing marriage to Prince Harry on Saturday, May 19.”
Rwandan children jostle for water from a project supported by former Global Ambassador for World Vision, Meghan Markle, in Gatsibo district.
Cape Town mayor sacked by own partyAFPCape Town
The mayor of Cape Town, South Africa’s second larg-est city, was ousted by her
own party yesterday after her ad-ministration came under fi re over mismanagement and alleged cor-ruption.
“Patricia de Lille is no longer the mayor of Cape Town because she is no longer a member of the DA,” the deputy chairperson of the Demo-cratic Alliance’s federal executive, Natasha Mazzone, told AFP.
By being stripped of her Demo-cratic Alliance (DA) membership, South Africa’s largest opposition party, De Lille loses her seven-year-old position as mayor and on the city council as well.
The embattled De Lille vowed to legally contest her sacking.
She said she would be heading to court on Friday to challenge the clause invoked by the party to re-move her from offi ce.
“The clause is unconstitution-al” she told a media briefi ng in Cape Town, a few hours after the announcement of her removal.
The DA defended her axing by
invoking a so-called “account-ability clause.”
It allows that an executive of-fi ce-bearer who has lost the con-fi dence of his or her peers may be removed from offi ce.
Around 70% of the DA caucus had voted against the mayor in a motion of no confi dence in April.
De Lille slammed the party’s handling of the disciplinary pro-cedures, saying the clause was a quicker way for the DA to get rid of her than to go through “proper processes”.
Ian Neilson, the deputy mayor, will take over until the party’s
supreme decision-making body elects a new executive mayor.
Internal tensions over De Lille had been brewing in the DA for some time.
The mayor was criticised for her handling of Cape Town’s wa-ter crisis and over allegations of corruption and maladministra-tion, leading to two investigations that fl awed her conduct.
“Up till now all the allegations that have been put up against me are untested and there is no evi-dence,” De Lille said.
The party also decided to re-scind her membership over a radio
interview where De Lille indicated her intention to quit the DA as soon as she “had cleared her name”.
“One of the reasons why my people lost confi dence was be-cause I responded in the media. When I respond, because I have to protect my integrity, then I also got charged.” she said.
The DA is De Lille’s third politi-cal home.
She began her political career in 1989, serving in the Pan Africanist Congress before forming her own party, the Independent Demo-crats (ID) in 2003, which then merged into the DA in 2010.
Death toll rises to 71 in Nigeria militia, bandit encounterAFPLagos
The death toll from a bloody clash between armed bandits and militiamen over the weekend in northern Nigeria has risen to 71, a traditional ruler told AFP yesterday.
More bodies were recovered after bandits overran a local militia protecting the village of Gwaska in Kaduna state on Saturday, putting the spotlight on the increasing violence in West Africa’s largest economy ahead of presidential polls next year.
“The death toll now is 71 with more bodies being evacu-ated,” said the Emir of Birnin Gwari Malam Zubair Jibril Mai Gwari II. “We hope that the security measures being taken will curb the issue.”
In a statement on Monday, United Nations Secretary-Gen-eral António Guterres strongly condemned the attack, calling for those responsible to be “swiftly brought to justice”.
Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai visited Gwaska on Monday to denounce the “terrorism of bandits and criminals who have been tormenting us.”
The government established a new army battalion and the creation of a police area command to protect the area, accord-ing to Kaduna state spokesman Samuel Aruwan.
The weekend killings follow the deaths of 13 people in pro-longed clashes between cattle thieves and local civilian militia in the neighbouring state of Zamfara last week. The attacks underlined the diversity of security threats in Nigeria that persist because of an overstretched army and security forces.
Rural communities in Zamfara have for years been under siege from cattle rustlers and kidnapping gangs, who have raid-ed herding communities, killing, looting and burning homes.
To defend themselves, villages and herdsmen have formed vigilante groups, but they too are often accused of extra-ju-dicial killings, provoking a vicious cycle of retaliatory attacks.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been criticised for failing to curb the violence, which is becoming a key elec-tion issue in the upcoming 2019 election.
The military and police are fi ghting Boko Haram jihadists in the north and militants and pirates in the oil-rich south.
There is further insecurity in the country with a simmering separatist movement in the east as well as an escalating confl ict between herdsmen and farmers spanning the vast central region.
Agathon Rwasa, First Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Burundi, speaks during a campaign in Cibitoke province, Burundi. Campaigns for a referendum on constitutional amendments started on May 2 in Burundi with political parties holding rallies throughout the land-locked African country. The opposition coalition Burundians’ Hope, headed by Agathon Rwasa, began campaigning against the draft constitution in northern Burundi.
Political rallyZimbabwe off ers 10% wage hike to workers as elections approach
ReutersHarare
Zimbabwe will raise public-sector pay by 10% starting in July, a move likely to widen the budget defi cit as President
Emmerson Mnangagwa tries to curb strikes by public workers before elections expected later this year.
Mnangagwa, facing his fi rst presidential vote set for July, last week promised better conditions for government workers as he de-livered his ruling ZANU-PF party’s election manifesto.
The 75-year-old Mnangagwa is under pressure to revive Zimbabwe’s economy.
The country suff ers from a shortage of dollars that have curbed imports, a dilapi-dated infrastructure and an unemployment rate estimated to be as high as 80%.
Apex Council, the top body that repre-sents all government workers, said yesterday the government off ered to increase salaries and allowances for all its workers.
The off er followed strikes by doctors and nurses in March and April, the fi rst such action since Mnangagwa took over from 94-year-old Robert Mugabe, who resigned after a de facto army coup in November.
Mnangagwa has yet to set a date for elec-tions.
Teachers had threatened not to go to work yesterday when schools re-opened for a new term, but the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Associa-tion (ZIMTA) said it wanted to give talks a chance.
ZIMTA chief executive Sifi so Ndlovu said union leaders would meet to discuss the gov-ernment off er.
He said most teachers in Harare’s schools had reported for duty.
AMERICAS
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 201812
UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres takes part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Revolution Square in Havana. Guterres is in Cuba on an off icial visit and will take part in the inauguration of the 37th Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Norwegian police said yesterday they had closed an investigation into Donald Trump’s fake Nobel Peace Prize nomination after failing to identify the person behind it. The Norwegian Nobel Institute filed a police report earlier this year after receiving a seemingly fraudulent nomination of the US president for the prestigious prize. Suspicion mounted that the nomination was submitted by a person suspected of committing identity fraud to appear legitimate, as only a select group of individuals — including members of parliament and government, former laureates and some university professors — are entitled to propose names.
A student who shot dead four people and injured seven others at a home and a school in the remote Canadian indigenous community of La Loche was sentenced yesterday to life in prison. Under the terms of the concurrent sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for at least 10 years. The young man, who cannot be identified under Canadian law, was only 17 years old in January 2016 when he shot dead two teenage brothers at their home before going to a nearby school and shooting to death two teachers. Now 20, he pleaded guilty to the murders and attempted murders, and apologised yesterday in court for his actions.
A new law in the US state of Oklahoma allows churchgoers to use guns to respond to threats of violence, without the worry that they could face criminal or civil penalties. Governor Mary Fallin signed the bill into law Monday, which extends so-called “stand your ground” protections to places of worship. Those protections had previously applied to private property, allowing homeowners, for instance, to shoot threatening intruders without having to prove that deadly force was their last resort. The bill had been overwhelmingly approved by Oklahoma’s legislature in April. The law bars lawsuits or criminal charges against anyone who fires a shot in self-defence inside a church or any other place of worship.
The Peruvian Amazon lost nearly 2mn hectares of forest between 2001 and 2016, or more than 123,000 hectares a year, according to figures made public yesterday by the ministry of the environment. Agriculture, livestock raising, illegal logging, clandestine mining and drug traff icking were the main culprits, Cesar Calmet, the head of the ministry’s forest preservation program, told AFP. “Unless decisions are taken on the matter, forest loss could reach 300,000 to 400,000 hectares a year,” he warned. Satellite images show that deforestation continued apace in 2017, with 143,000 hectares of Amazon forest wiped from the map of Peru.
Trump’s Nobel ‘nomination’ to remain a mystery
Canada school shooter gets life behind bars
Oklahoma allows gun defence in churches
Peru Amazon undergoing fast deforestation: off icial
PAYING TRIBUTE CASE CLOSEDJUSTICE NEW LAW GREEN DREAM
Fissures spread from Hawaii volcano, endangering homesReutersPahoa, Hawaii
Emergency crews said yester-day they are poised to evacu-ate more people as fi ssures
kept spreading from Hawaii’s erupt-ing Kilauea volcano, fi ve days after it started exploding.
Around 1,700 people have already been ordered to leave their homes after lava crept into neighbourhoods and deadly volcanic gases belched up through cracks in the earth.
The evacuation zone could now grow as fi ssures are spreading into new areas on the eastern side of the Big Island, Hawaii Civic Defense Ad-ministrator Talmadge Magno told a
community meeting “If things get dicey, you got to get out,” he said. “If you live in the surrounding com-munities...be prepared. Evacuation could come at any time.”
Kilaueax has opened 12 volcanic vents since it started sending out fountains and rivers of lava last Thursday, offi cials said.
Lava was not fl owing from any of the vents on Monday.
Resident Heide Austin said she left her home just west of the cur-rent eruption zone after noticing small cracks appearing at the end of her driveway. One eruption near her home “sounded like a huge blowtorch going off ,” said the 77-year-old who lives alone. “That’s when I really got into a frenzy.” Lava engulfs a car in Puna, Hawaii in this still image obtained from social media video.
Brazil’s fi rst lady jumps in lake to rescue her dog
Brazil’s first lady Marcela Temer leapt fully clothed into a lake at the
presidential palace to rescue her pet dog — then got roasted on social
media.
The 34-year-old former beauty queen jumped into the lake after her
Jack Russell named Picoly went after some ducks but struggled to get
back out.
Although the drama occurred on April 22, it only became public this
week.
Brazilian media and Twitter wits mocked the first lady’s heroics, mak-
ing the incident a top trending topic late Monday.
Given that her husband Michel Temer is the most unpopular president
on record in Brazilian history, leftist blogger Leonardo Stoppa joked that
Marcela’s aim was not to save the dog but the duck.
“She despaired, because she saw one of Temer’s few voters,” he said
in a YouTube broadcast.
Michel Temer, who is more than four decades older than his wife
and embroiled in multiple corruption investigations, took another hit
from blogger Jose Simao, who tweeted: “Marcela’s dog tried to commit
suicide! It couldn’t put up with Temer!”
Referencing comparisons between Temer and vampires — a jibe that
took centre stage at this year’s Rio carnival — one tweeter said he wasn’t
surprised Marcela cared so much about animals.
“It’s obvious,” he wrote.”Because she married a BAT.”
AG latest to fall in #MeToo reckoningAFPNew York
New York state’s top pros-ecutor, a public defender of the #MeToo movement and
antagonist of Donald Trump, has become the latest public fi gure to re-sign over allegations of sexual mis-conduct.
Eric Schneiderman, a 63-year-old progressive Democrat serving a sec-ond elected term as state attorney general, resigned late on Monday hours after being accused of physi-cally assaulting four women.
It was a swift fall from power for the chief law enforcement offi cial in the state, an outspoken Trump op-ponent whose offi ce had launched multiple legal challenges against the Republican administration.
“Gotcha,” tweeted White House counsellor to the president, Kelly-anne Conway, although there was no immediate response from Trump.
“While these allegations are unre-lated to my professional conduct or the operations of the offi ce, they will eff ectively prevent me from lead-ing the offi ce’s work at this critical time,” Schneiderman said. “I there-fore resign my offi ce, eff ective at the close of business on May 8.”
Two of the women spoke to The New Yorker on the record, alleg-ing that Schneiderman repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, fre-quently in bed and never with their consent.
Both say they sought medical at-tention after having been slapped hard across the ear and face, and also choked, the magazine said.
The article was co-written by Ro-nan Farrow, who last month shared the Pulitzer Prize for public service with The New York Times for report-ing on the Harvey Weinstein scandal and sexual harassment.
The New Yorker said none of the women classifi ed the behavior as consensual.
“It wasn’t consensual. This wasn’t sexual playacting. This was abusive, demeaning, threatening behaviour,” Tanya Selvaratnam, a Harvard-ed-ucated author, actor and fi lm pro-ducer told the magazine.
The Sri Lanka-born woman said Schneiderman, whom she dated in 2016-17, called her “his ‘brown slave,’” spat at her and choked her.
“He was cutting off my ability to breathe,” she said, accusing Schnei-
derman of drinking heavily, taking sedatives and pressing her to drink too, saying “drink your bourbon, Turnip.”
Schneiderman, who had posi-tioned himself publicly as a defender of women’s rights, had inserted him-self into the downfall of disgraced movie mogul Weinstein, launching legal action against his former pro-duction company in February for failing to protect staff .
New York’s state Governor An-drew Cuomo, who is facing a left-fl ank challenge for a third term from progressive Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, was among those who demanded Schneiderman go.
“No one is above the law,” he said. “Given the damning pattern of
facts and corroboration laid out in the article, I do not believe it is pos-sible for Eric Schneiderman to con-tinue to serve.”
The Manhattan district attor-ney’s offi ce yesterday confi rmed it had opened an investigation — as ordered by Cuomo overnight — into the allegations against Schneider-man.
Ironically, until Monday, Schnei-derman was the one investigating the Manhattan district attorney, also at the behest of Cuomo, for failing to prosecute Weinstein for sexual mis-conduct in 2015.
A spokesman confi rmed that the New York police department had no complaints on fi le against the former attorney general.
Schneiderman initially denied as-saulting anyone or ever engaging in non-consensual sex, and his offi ce also released a statement from his ex-wife attesting to his “outstand-ing values.”
“In the privacy of intimate rela-tionships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity,” he said.
But hours later he was the latest powerful man to fall in the wake of the avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations from women that have poured forth since the Weinstein scandal broke late last year and ef-fectively ended the Hollywood mov-ie producer’s career.
Schneiderman “has made a career railing against this type of abuse. Yet apparently he intends to revictimise these courageous women who have come forward by pulling out that age-old sexist trope that they want-ed it,” said Debra Katz, a lawyer for another of the women.
Activists move a dummy made of recycled materials depicting Frankentein’s monster during a protest yesterday against the public policy on obesity in Mexico City.
Trimming the fat
Court refuses to free chimps from cagesReuters New York
The quest to free the chimpanzees Tommy and Kiko has reached
the end of the line.New York state’s highest
court yesterday rejected an ap-peal by the Nonhuman Rights Project seeking to move the animals to a sanctuary and end their confi nement in cages by private owners.
By a 5-0 vote, the Court of Appeals let stand a June 2017 ruling by an intermediate state appeals court in Manhattan that chimpanzees are not legal persons, and that it is up to leg-islators to decide what rights animals deserve.
The Nonhuman Rights Project believes chimpanzees are, like humans, entitled to bodily liberty, and it has for several years sought to per-suade courts to grant legal rights to the animals.
In a concurring opinion yes-terday, Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Fahey said the issue of whether animals are entitled to writs of habeas corpus to ob-tain freedom from detention touches on a “deep dilemma of
ethics and policy” that must be addressed.
Fahey said chimpanzees share at least 96% of their DNA with humans, and emi-nent primatologists have said the animals have advanced cognitive skills including the abilities to recognise them-selves, remember, plan, imi-tate, exercise self-control, and display compassion and humour.
“While it may be argu-able that a chimpanzee is not a ‘person,’ there is no doubt that it is not merely a thing,” Fahey wrote.
Steven Wise, a lawyer for the Nonhuman Rights Project, said his group planned another lawsuit in a couple of months on behalf of a diff erent animal he would not identify.
Fahey’s opinion “could be a historical turning point in the struggle to obtain legal rights for non-human animals in the United States,” Wise said in an interview.
The group also sued unsuc-cessfully to win freedom for two chimpanzees held by the State University of New York at Stony Brook. They moved on after the school stopped using them for research.
Democrats seek more records on Trump pick to head CIAAFPWashington
The top US Senate Intelligence Commit-tee Democrat urged President Donald Trump’s pick for CIA director on Mon-
day to declassify more records of her work as a top offi cial at the agency, including any possi-ble involvement in its interrogation program.
Charging a “lack of transparency,” Senator Mark Warner made the request two days before the panel holds a confi rmation hearing where Gina Haspel will face questioning about her history with the CIA program that used inter-rogation methods denounced as torture.
The CIA responded by saying it had sent more classifi ed documents to the Senate cov-ering her “actual and outstanding record,” be-ginning with her work for the agency’s Coun-ter-Terrorism Center after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
“We encourage every senator to take the time to read the entire set of documents,” CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said.
Trump on Monday defended his choice of Haspel after sources said she sought to with-draw her nomination because of the contro-versy over her role in the programme.
“My highly respected nominee for CIA Di-rector, Gina Haspel, has come under fi re be-cause she was too tough on Terrorists...Win Gina!” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.
Trump nominated Haspel, who would be the fi rst woman to lead the intelligence agen-cy, to succeed Mike Pompeo, who has become secretary of state.
Haspel met with Republican and Demo-cratic senators on Monday. She told reporters the sessions had been “great.”
In his letter to Haspel, which was seen by Reuters, Warner said the CIA had not released enough unclassifi ed information about “all of the leadership and supervisory positions you held at CIA headquarters.”
He said he was concerned the agency “has opened itself up to criticism” that it released only favorable information about her work, “while suppressing related items that could refl ect negatively.”
Another committee Democrat, Senator Martin Heinrich, also called for more trans-parency, saying: “She as the acting director is the person who can make that happen.”
None of the intelligence committee’s seven Democrats has publicly backed Haspel be-cause of concerns about her role in the now-defunct Rendition, Detention and Interroga-tion program former president George W Bush authorised after the September 11 attacks.
The votes of the committee’s eight Repub-licans, however, would be enough to send her nomination to the full Senate.
No committee Republican has publicly expressed opposition to her, although Sena-tor Susan Collins said she had a good meet-ing with Haspel but would decide whether to support her nomination after the hearing.
Democrats and human rights groups have also voiced concern that as chief of staff to Jose Rodriguez, then the CIA’s clandestine service chief, Haspel drafted a 2005 cable or-dering the destruction of interrogation vide-otapes.
ASIA/AUSTRALASIA13Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Excess baggage of history as S Korea’s Moon heads to JapanAFPSeoul
When Moon Jae-in heads to Japan today he will be the fi rst
South Korean leader to do so in more than six years, but while the neighbours are both market democracies and US allies facing similar threats, analysts say their relationship is mired in the past.
Moon will attend a trilateral meeting in Tokyo with Japanese and Chinese leaders and hold a separate summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Seoul and Tokyo face a com-mon threat from nuclear-armed North Korea, and have both been on the receiving end of Beijing’s economic muscle-fl exing in recent years. But despite their shared interests and outlooks,
similar diffi culties and extensive economic connections, their re-lations are marred by disputes over history and territory.
Koreans maintain a deep re-sentment over Japan’s colonial rule of the peninsula from 1910 to 1945 and its abuses, including the wartime sex slaves euphe-mistically known as “comfort women”, and say Tokyo has not expressed suffi cient remorse.
South Korean national iden-tity is rooted in the struggle for independence from Tokyo, and the history is prominent in edu-cation, monuments and culture. Sporting contests between the two are tense aff airs, and aside from North Korea, Japan almost always ranks as South Koreans’ most disliked country in opinion polls.
For its part Tokyo believes that all such issues were resolved
through a treaty to normalise re-lations in 1965, which included massive economic aid to develop the South, at the time still re-covering from the ravages of the Korean War. Moon himself told Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun news-paper in an interview published yesterday that he supported “future-oriented co-operation”, separate from the issues of his-tory. But at the same time, he said that “true reconciliation” was not possible unless a “sin-cere self-refl ection and an apol-ogy from the bottom of the heart must be conveyed to and re-ceived by the victims”.
Analysts say the two coun-tries should try to draw a line under the past in favour of “more diplomatic options”.
“Korea and Japan both face a lot of shared challenges – North Korea, an unpredictable United
States, an aggressive China, and the diffi culty of sustaining eco-nomic growth,” Mintaro Oba, a former US State Department of-fi cial, told AFP. “Co-operation between the two governments is both possible and critically im-portant.”
Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer in international relations at Troy University, added: “It is in the interest (of) both countries to resolve the issues.”
Koreans suff ered immense-ly under Japan’s colonial rule, Pinkston said, but Seoul now had a shared responsibility to resolve the issue with “some maturity and strength”. “Japan today is not the Japan in the 1930s,” he said. “That was then and this is now.”
But Seoul and Tokyo Japan still bicker over statues repre-senting a comfort woman in-
stalled by activists in front of the Japanese embassy in the South Korean capital and elsewhere. Most of the up to 200,000 Asian women historians say were forced into sex slavery for Japa-nese troops were Korean, and 28 are still alive in the South, eight of them living at the “House of Sharing” rest home outside Seoul. “We suff er unfairness and it makes us angry,” survivor Lee Ok-sun told AFP.
“Why are they not apologising? We must receive a formal apol-ogy and legal compensation. Only then will we be able to let it go.”
Japan has repeatedly ad-dressed its wartime atrocities, notably the 1993 Kono State-ment on the comfort women is-sue and a landmark apology by prime minister Tomiichi Mu-rayama in 1995. But remarks and actions by its own government
and politicians have fuelled South Korean distrust of Japan’s sincerity, notably the regular appearances by MPs at Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honours millions of Japa-nese war dead but also senior convicted war criminals. The nationalist Abe’s own grandfa-ther was arrested as a war crimes suspect but never charged, and a recent poll by Seoul’s Asan Insti-tute showed he was South Kore-ans’ least liked leader.
“Tokyo’s apologies have been perceived as too little, too late,” writes Jennifer Lind of Dart-mouth College in her book Sorry States: Apologies in Interna-tional Politics. “Even worse, its politicians repeatedly shock sur-vivors and the global community by denying past atrocities; its history textbooks whitewash its wartime crimes,” Lind added.
Park Geun-hye, Moon’s oust-ed predecessor, struck a deal in December 2015 with Tokyo un-der which Seoul promised not to raise the sex slaves issue again and Japan paid 1bn yen ($8.9mn) to a foundation dedicated to supporting the victims. But Tokyo fell short of taking legal responsibility under the agree-ment, which angered some sur-vivors. Moon has not formally torn up the deal, but has called it a “wrongful” solution and said the South would return the money.
Seoul needed to fi nd a deal with Tokyo that was acceptable to its own public, said Ha Jong-moon, professor of Japanese Studies at Hanshin University. But he added: “The gap is too huge between what South Korea needs and what Japan is willing to do.
Xi, Kim meet again ahead of Trump summitAFPBeijing
Chinese President Xi Jin-ping and Kim Jong-un met in China for the second
time in six weeks yesterday, sig-nalling their warming ties ahead of the North Korean leader’s ex-pected summit with US President Donald Trump. Shortly after the meeting was made public, Trump tweeted that he would speak to his “friend” Xi about North Korea later yesterday.
Kim’s trip to the northeastern port city of Dalian was his sec-ond visit to China since March, highlighting eff orts by the Cold War-era allies to mend relations that have chilled as Beijing has supported UN sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear activities. Beijing is keen to avoid being left out in the cold in a whirlwind of diplomacy that has led to Kim’s historic summit last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his expected meeting with Trump in June.
But Kim’s second trip abroad in such a short time— after hav-ing never left North Korea since coming to power in 2011 — shows that Beijing still has a central role to play in the diplomatic shuf-
fl e. “After the fi rst meeting be-tween me and Comrade Chair-man (Kim), both China-DPRK relations and the Korean penin-sula situation have made positive progress. I feel happy about it,”
Xi said, according to the offi cial Xinhua news agency.
North Korea’s offi cial KCNA news agency said Xi and Kim “ex-changed warm greetings, unable to hold back joy at meeting again”.
“The respected leader (Kim) also expressed pleasure at the bilateral ties that are enjoying a new heyday, and praised that the high-level exchanges and strate-gic communication between the two countries have reached an unprecedented level,” according to KCNA.
For his part, Trump tweeted that “the primary topics” of his discussion with Xi “will be Trade, where good things will happen, and North Korea, where relation-ships and trust are building.”
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi and Kim taking a seaside stroll and holding talks in a conference room with sev-eral offi cials, while Xinhua said the two leaders met on Monday and yesterday. Japanese media had earlier shown images of an airplane normally used by North Korean VIPs fl ying out of Dalian, fuelling speculation that Kim had been in town. Kim’s use of a plane shows that he did not inherit his
father’s fear of fl ying and suggests he could be willing to meet with Trump in a third country, with reports saying Singapore is a pos-sible destination.
Kim travelled to Beijing by train in March for his maiden offi -cial trip abroad and fi rst meeting with the Chinese president.
Xi said he was willing to meet Kim again, and backed North Ko-rea’s adherence to the denuclear-isation of the peninsula and the dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, Xinhua said. “China is willing to continue to work with all relevant parties and play an active role in comprehensively advancing the process of peaceful resolution of the peninsula issue through dialogue, and realising long-term peace and stability in the region,” Xi said.
The Chinese leader also voiced support for North Korea “shifting its strategic focus to economic construction”. Xinhua said Kim spoke “highly of Xi’s profound
vision and extraordinary wis-dom” and “expressed his grati-tude to China” for its contribu-tion to the denuclearisation and peace eff orts. At their summit last month in the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas, Kim and Moon agreed to pursue the com-plete denuclearisation of the pe-ninsula.
According to Xinhua, Kim told Xi there was no need for North Korea to be a nuclear state “as long as relevant parties abol-ish their hostile policies and re-move security threats against the DPRK”. Kim also expressed hope that the US and North Korea would take “phased and synchro-nous measures” to achieve denu-clearisation and peace, Xinhua said, signalling Pyongyang’s de-mands for a quid pro quo.
Trump said last week that he was not envisaging a drawdown of troops in South Korea for now — something the regime in Pyongyang has long wanted —but
he admitted it was a possibility in the longer term. North and South Korea have also agreed to hold talks with the United States, and possibly China, to reach a peace treaty by the end of the year. The Korean War, in which China fought on the North’s side, ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
China would likely want to be part of discussions on a peace treaty, worrying that the dip-lomatic thaw may lead to a deal between Pyongyang and Wash-ington that is not in its interests, according to experts. A divided Korea has played in Beijing’s fa-vour as the North serves as a buff er with the South, where US troops are stationed.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, meanwhile, will take part in a trilateral summit with Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo today, with the North Korean issue high on the agenda.
A North Korean Air Koryo airplane arrives at an airport in Dalian, Liaoning province, China, yesterday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet in Dalian, Liaoning province, China.
A woman gathers rose petals at a rose plantation in Anning, Yunnan province, China. Pastries made from edible rose are popular in the Chinese southwestern province of Yunnan, where flower plantations are plenty.
Field of rosesMalaysians in Singapore on a dash across strait to sway voteReutersMay 8
Many of the half a mil-lion Malaysians living and working in Singa-
pore crossed the strait into their homeland late yesterday to cast their votes in today’s national election, packing a busy cause-way in a chaotic but at times festive mood.
A vote called for the middle of the week made for diffi cult logistics for Malaysians living in the city-state neighbour, hav-ing to take days off from work to travel across what is normally one of the world’s busiest inter-national borders.
“Having the election on a Wednesday is very inconven-ient for Malaysians living in Singapore,” said Pang Sze Lu, 31, who works in the manufac-turing industry in Singapore, as she waited for a late-night train into Malaysia at the Woodlands checkpoint.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling Barisan Na-sional (BN) coalition is facing its toughest election yet, going up against former premier Ma-hathir Mohamad.
A survey by independent polling fi rm Merdeka Center
said BN had lost more ground in the lead-up to the polls, but it could still win enough par-liamentary seats to cling on to power. It said as many as 16% of Malaysia’s parliamentary seats are too close to call and that voter turnout would be a critical factor in determining the out-come in those districts.
Some civic groups fear the mid-week election was dis-couraging Malaysians in neigh-bouring Southeast Asian states to vote, as they are not entitled to cast ballots in absentia. But some were going the extra mile to vote like Arriane Chan, who began a 13-hour van ride from
Singapore’s Harbourfront ter-minal to Penang in Malaysia’s northwest to cast her fi rst ever vote, after missing the chance to book a fl ight home.
“I am feeling a little proud to be going home,” said the 24-year-old who works for a food caterer in Singapore. “I will fi nally be able to participate and change politics in Malaysia.”
Amid concerns about traffi c on the main crossing into Ma-laysia, online postings urged those including Singaporeans who do not need to travel on crucial business to avoid it in the hours running up to elec-tion day. Singapore authorities
denied social media posts which alleged that travellers heading for Malaysia were stranded at immigration checkpoints.
Some companies, includ-ing Swedish furniture store IKEA, public relations fi rm Gloo PR and marketing consultant IFoundries, are giving Malay-sian employees a paid day off . Founder of Gloo PR, Oo Gin Lee, who is Malaysian but a resi-dent of Singapore for 35 years, said he would not be voting this year, but wanted to give his Ma-laysian employees the chance. “Even though I have been living in Singapore since young, I am still a Malaysian and I want to let young people have a chance to vote,” he said. “It is just one day of work and it’s the right thing to do.”
Many Malaysian booked early fl ights back home, like Edward Pook, who fl ew Monday evening to Petaling Jaya. “Even though my area is an opposition strong-hold, I wanted to contribute to the win,” Pook, who is an analyst at Singapore’s DBS Bank said.
Others were forced to sit out the voting as it proved impos-sible to juggle the demands of work and travel arrangements home, even though additional fl ights were provided by budget carriers AirAsia and SilkAir.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves after special prayers a day before the 14th general election at a mosque in Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia.
Australia to spend A$300mn to upgrade airport
Australia announced plans in its annual budget yesterday to spend nearly A$300mn to upgrade airport security amid heightened fears of lone wolf terror attacks. Australia, a staunch ally of the United States, has been on high alert for several years for attacks by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East or their supporters. It has also foiled several planned attacks by radi-
calised locals, most notably in July 2017 when it arrested and charged several men who attempted to smuggle an explosive device onto a plane departing Sydney Airport. “These terrorist plots showed a very real and disturbing danger,” Australia’s Minister for Home Aff airs Peter Dutton said. The funds, al-located under the 2018/19 budget, will be used to install body scan-ners and advanced X-ray machines
at all major international airports and 64 regional facilities, Dutton said. The government also com-mitted nearly A$7mn to extend the employment of Australian security off icials at 19 overseas airports for another two years. Dutton said the off icials at unnamed international airports have stopped more than 1,000 people travelling to Australia on fraudulent documents over the past five years.
14 Gulf TimesWednesday, May 9, 2018
BRITAIN
Kids in care homes atrisk of traffi cking: MPThomson ReutersFoundation London
Thousands of children living in British care homes far from where
they were brought up are at heightened risk of being trafficked, experts said yes-terday, as figures showed in-creasing numbers are going missing.
The number of children re-moved from families and sent to live long distances away rose to almost 3,700 in 2017, up 64% from 2012, according to government data released by lawmaker Ann Coff ey.
The number going miss-ing hit almost 10,000 in 2017, more than double the 2015 fi g-ure, she said.
“Record numbers of chil-dren are being sent away to places where they are more vulnerable to exploitation,” said Coff ey, an MP with the opposition Labour Party who chairs a parliamentary group on runaway and missing chil-dren.
Anti-slavery groups warned that being far from their homes made such children easier prey for traffi ckers.
“Taking children far away from their home area — far from their support networks — can leave them in an iso-lated and vulnerable position,” said Chloe Setter of anti-child traffi cking organisation ECPAT UK.
Going missing from care put children at greater risk of physical abuse, grooming and sexual exploitation, said Har-riet Jackson, a spokeswoman from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
“Children go missing for many reasons including bul-lying, abuse or being unhappy about life at home or in care. Sometimes it can feel like their only option is to run away,” she said.
Local authorities often have little choice about where to place children as private care providers are expensive and care homes unevenly distrib-uted throughout the country, Coff ey said.
University removes PMportrait after protestGuardian News and MediaLondon
A row has broken out over a portrait of Theresa May which was removed from
the walls of her alma mater, the University of Oxford, after stu-dents and academics objected to her being included in a celebra-tion of female geographers.
The picture of the prime min-ister, who graduated from St Hugh’s College with a second class degree, was put up on the walls of the school of geography and the environment last week as part of an exhibition intended to inspire the next generation of female geographers.
Days later it was removed after members of the school objected to her inclusion without consul-tation and mounted the Twitter campaign #NotAllGeographers.
A counter-campaign then took off , #PutThePortraitBack, featuring reactions from Con-servative MPs, including the universities minister and fellow Oxford graduate Sam Gyimah,
who said May was an inspira-tion and the portrait should be rehung.
The university announced the picture would be reinstated, in-sisting it had not been removed to make any political point or ex-press solidarity with protesters.
“The portrait was being in-creasingly obscured by posters bearing mainly humorous satiri-cal messages,” a spokesman said. “It has now been taken down and will be re-displayed so it can be seen as intended.”
Downing Street said May’s views on the importance of the visibility of women in senior po-sitions were well known, point-ing to her speech to mark the centenary of women’s suff rage, where she said women should
not be intimidated from public roles by abuse.
No 10 declined to engage with the specifi c incident. “I haven’t discussed this with the PM and it will be a matter for the college,” her spokesman said.
NotAllGeographers lamented what they described as an as-sault on internal democracy.
The group told Cherwell, the university’s student newspaper: “Clearly at a time when there are issues with the Windrush scan-dal and the handling of Brexit (she is) a contentious fi gure in a department with many EU citi-zens and decolonial scholars.
“The main, and most basic, issue comes with the celebra-tion of a sitting prime minister. Should a department align itself with the power of the day, when there are those who actively challenge it?
“It is unprecedented to cel-ebrate state power in such a way (regardless of one’s political af-fi liation). For many geographers, the famous Doreen Massey being placed below her is also another kick in the teeth.”
Govt’s plans forfi xed Brexit datedefeated in House of LordsReutersLondon
The upper house of parlia-ment yesterday infl icted a new defeat on Prime Min-
ister Theresa May’s government, challenging her decision to fi x a date next year to leave the Euro-pean Union.
The House of Lords voted for an amendment to a draft law, removing a proposed fi xed time for a Brexit departure of 11pm on March 29 next year.
The government has already set the clock ticking on a two-year exit process that has so far failed to deliver a divorce deal and which was damaged by her gamble on a snap election which cost her party its majority in parliament.
Some lawmakers criticised the government’s plan to impose a specifi c date for Britain leaving the EU, saying it would create signifi cant diffi culties if negoti-ations with Brussels went down to the wire.
“It creates a rod for the UK negotiators’ backs, weakens any UK negotiating position, and adds unnecessary pressure to those in the executive trying to deliver Brexit in a coherent measured fashion,” said Arthur Wellesley, a Conservative member of the House of Lords,
who introduced the amend-ment.
“We should give ministers a bit more fl exibility to secure and obtain ratifi cation of the best possible deal which will do the least damage to the economy and the national interest.”
This is the 12th time in re-cent weeks that the government has been defeated in the House of Lords on the draft legisla-tion that will formally terminate Britain’s EU membership.
The vote can be overturned by the lower house, the House of Commons, but underscores the deep divisions over Brexit across parliament and could encourage lawmakers who hope to derail May’s plans to forge a new rela-tionship with the EU.
Earlier, opposition parties in the Lords and rebels in May’s Conservative Party voted in fa-vour of the amendment that means Britain should participate in EU agencies after leaving the bloc next year.
The government has pro-posed retaining membership of some EU agencies for medicine, chemicals and aviation while leaving others after Brexit.
Britain is likely to leave the EU police agency Europol and lose automatic membership to bod-ies like the European Maritime Safety Agency and the European Environment Agency.
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, laughs as he visits the Higher Institute for Agriculture in Lyon, France, yesterday.
Royal visit
Police hit by new claimsof forensics blundersGuardian News and MediaLondon
A new forensics scandal has hit the criminal jus-tice system with 33 cases
involving rapes and serious crimes being urgently reviewed to see if the convictions of those jailed are safe.
The new crisis revolves around a scientist with the Metropolitan police who has been suspended following con-cerns about their work.
Under review are 33 cases dating from 2012-17 including 21 rapes and sexual assaults and 12 cases involving other seri-
ous violence, drug off ences and burglary.
A Met police spokesperson said it was believed that the cases the scientist had worked on had resulted in convictions. A key question will be how cru-cial her work was in convincing juries of guilt.
The member of staff from Scotland Yard’s forensic serv-ices is alleged to have failed in carrying out tests and to have wrongly informed investigators about how her work was pro-gressing, police said.
The forensic scientist was suspended on March 26 as part of the investigation. It concerns forensic samples submitted as
part of criminal investigations being carried out by detectives.
The Met said: “We are ur-gently conducting a review to understand whether there is any risk to the criminal justice process and to take remedial ac-tion where necessary.”
Forensics are the cornerstone of the criminal justice system, crucial to investigators and the courts in determining guilt or innocence, and what to inves-tigate.
It is the latest instance of concern being raised about the integrity of forensics in the criminal justice system. In Eng-land and Wales 10,000 criminal cases are being reviewed after
it emerged last year that data at the Randox forensic labora-tory in Manchester may have been manipulated, resulting in the biggest recall of samples in British criminal justice history. The regulator said this year that falling standards of forensic sci-ence, including the outsourcing of work to unlicensed private labs, was making miscarriages of justice inevitable.
In the case involving the Met scientist, it is understood that analysis of some samples relat-ing to crimes was not carried out.
The urgent review will look at whether the forensic results worked on by the scientist can
still be relied upon. If not, the review will examine how impor-tant those forensic results were in securing any conviction.
The Met said: “All victims in the aff ected cases have been contacted, where it has been deemed appropriate to do so.
“In the case of the investi-gations into rape and sexual assaults, victims have been contacted by a sexual off ences investigative techniques offi cer.”
The case has been referred to the Forensic Science Regula-tor and the Crown Prosecution Service is also involved to help assess how signifi cant the fo-rensic evidence was in securing convictions.
Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Claire Perry, strokes Larry the 10 Downing Street cat in Downing Street in central London yesterday.
Pat for cat
Home Offi ce told of Windrush errors fi ve years ago: expertsGuardian News and MediaLondon
The Home Offi ce was re-peatedly warned that Windrush generation
residents had been wrongly classifi ed as being in the country illegally as long ago as 2013, ac-cording to immigration advice experts.
After Capita was awarded a
Home Offi ce contract in 2012 to help target around 174,000 mi-grants who had overstayed their visas, pro bono legal advisers said they began to be contacted by older, Caribbean-born in-dividuals concerned that they were receiving text messages and letters advising them to leave the country. The advisers contacted the Home Offi ce to tell them this group had been wrongly tar-geted.
The detail about the warnings given to the Home Offi ce under-mines the credibility of brief-ings the department gave to the media last month, claiming that until mid-April this year offi -cials had been convinced that only a handful of people were aff ected by the Windrush scan-dal.
The fact that a number of people were wrongly included in the database of people who
were probably in the country illegally that the Home Offi ce passed to Capita was widely re-ported at the time, and Capita blamed out-of-date Home Of-fi ce records for the errors. This week, however, the chief execu-tive of a large law centre said his staff quickly became aware that the Home Offi ce was wrongly targeting people who would now be recognised as Windrush resi-dents, and that they made de-
partmental staff aware of their concerns.
Case workers at the Refugee and Migrant Centre (RMC) in Wolverhampton said they saw hundreds of cases of individu-als who had wrongly received Capita letters telling them that they had no right to be in the UK. About half of the letters were sent to people who already had leave to remain, or who were in the process of regularising their
immigration status with the Home Offi ce.
Some people were sent text messages stating: “Our records show you may not have leave to remain in the UK”. Others re-ceived letters telling them: “If you do not have the right to re-main in the UK, you must make immediate arrangements to leave the United Kingdom.”
Arten Llazari, the RMC’s chief executive, said: “The Capita
2012 contract eff ectively out-sourced part of the creation of the hostile environment to the private sector. In the process many vulnerable citizens, most-ly of Caribbean descent, were harassed and repeatedly threat-ened with deportation.
“Charities and concerned MPs have been highlighting what is now known as the Wind-rush scandal to the Home Offi ce since at least 2013 to no avail.”
May orders more work on customs plans aft er jibe
Prime Minister Theresa May has told officials to do more work on
future EU customs arrangements after her foreign minister attacked
one of her Brexit proposals as “crazy”. Boris Johnson’s broadside
against what some say is May’s preferred option for ensuring Brit-
ain’s new border with the European Union is as frictionless as pos-
sible underlines the deep divisions over what post-Brexit ties should
look like. Brexit campaigners have criticised the customs partner-
ship and believed it had been shelved until Business Minister Greg
Clark again made the case for the proposal on Sunday. Johnson’s
words were seen as a reaction to that. “It’s totally untried and would
make it very, very difficult to do free trade deals,” Johnson said in an
interview published in the Daily Mail yesterday. “If you have the new
customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up
collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the UK frontier.”
“Clearly at a time when there are issues with the Windrush scandal and the handling of Brexit (she is) a contentious fi gure in a department with many EU citizens and decolonial scholars”
EUROPE15Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tens of thousands of Ar-menians poured on to the streets of the capital Yer-
evan yesterday to celebrate op-position leader Nikol Pashinyan’s election as prime minister.
Armenia’s parliament elected Pashinyan after he spearheaded weeks of mass protests against the ruling party, transforming the country’s political landscape.
A massive crowd in Yerevan’s central Republic Square sang the Armenian national anthem at a celebration rally following his election.
“From now on, nobody will violate the Armenian people’s rights and freedom!” Pashin-yan told the crowd, to shouts of “Nikol! Nikol!”
Groups of youths danced to folk music and drumrolls and many held Pashinyan portraits.
“I am so happy that what happened in Armenia in recent weeks was peaceful. It’s a great historic day,” Gohar Harutyun-yan, a 39-year-old fi nancier, told AFP.
“We understand that things can’t change overnight. But the most important thing has already been done,” said Ruzanna Sarg-syan, a 42-year-old economist.
Lawmakers voted 59 to 42 to approve Pashinyan for the job, after the ruling Republican Party came round to backing his pre-
miership bid on his second at-tempt.
The party had narrowly voted him down last week, plunging the Caucasus nation into its most serious political crisis in years.
The hugely popular Pashinyan had in recent weeks piled pres-sure on the Republican Party through an unprecedented cam-paign of civil disobedience, lead-ing to the shock resignation of veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian, a week after he shifted to the newly-empowered role of prime minister after serving as presi-dent.
Sarkisian had been president for a decade.
When he reached his term lim-it last month he was appointed prime minister.
Opposition politicians de-nounced the appointment as an unfair retention of power.
“My fi rst work after my elec-tion will be ensuring a normal life in the country,” Pashinyan said ahead of the vote. “There will be no corruption in Armenia. Ar-menia will once and for all turn the page of political persecu-tions.”
The 42-year-old added that Armenia’s relations with ally Russia will “remain a priority”.
“Military co-operation with Russia is an important factor in ensuring our country’s security,” he said, referring to a two-decade long confl ict his country is locked in with neighbouring Azerbaijan. “We will (also) be developing re-
lations with European countries and the United States, with Iran and Georgia, China and India.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Pashinyan in a statement released by the Kremlin yesterday.
The head of the ruling Repub-lican Party’s parliamentary fac-tion, Vagram Bagdasaryan, said his party backed Pashinyan to “ensure stability” in the country.
“We did not change our posi-tion. We are against Nikol Pash-inyan’s candidacy, but the most important thing for us is to en-sure stability in the country,” Bagdasaryan said ahead of the vote.
Pashinyan called for an end
to the protests after the Repub-licans – who have 58 MPs in the 105-seat legislature – promised to back him in the second at-tempt.
The former newspaper edi-tor also secured the support of two other major political parties – Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federa-tion (Dashnaktsutyun) – which nominated him for the post to-gether with his opposition Elk coalition.
Pashinyan was the only candi-date for the premiership.
Political analysts say Pashin-yan’s election is unlikely to put an end to the political crisis, as the ruling party retains a major-
ity in parliament and could well block his initiatives.
“Republicans still hold a ma-jority in parliament, so compli-cated days lie ahead,” said Mikael Zolyan, a political analyst at the Regional Studies Centre think tank in Yerevan.
Analyst Vigen Akopyan said snap elections looked certain.
Another analyst, Stepan Safa-ryan, said Armenia was now en-tering “an interesting period of disequilibrium”.
Pending elections “Pashinyan must manoeuvre between the will of the people and the parlia-mentary ruling party that he does not belong to and which cannot begin supporting him”, he said.
Pashinyan’s protest movement had accused Sarkisian of a bla-tant power grab.
In December 2015, contro-versial constitutional amend-ments initiated by Sarkisian were passed after a referendum that saw some 63% of the vot-ers backing the country’s trans-formation into a parliamentary republic with executive powers fully concentrated in the hands of a prime minister.
Council of Europe observers said the referendum was marred by allegations of large-scale vote-buying, multiple voting and other irregularities.
Critics accuse Sarkisian and his Republicans of corruption, being under the infl uence of powerful oligarchs, and of failing to tackle widespread poverty.
Leader of revolution elected Armenia PMAFP/DPAYerevan
Pashinyan waves to supporters in Yerevan’s Republic Square after being elected as prime minister.
A passenger bus caught fi re and exploded in the heart of Rome yesterday,
while another bus was gutted in the suburbs later in the day, highlighting the dire state of public transport in the Italian capital.
The twin blazes, both be-lieved to have been caused by mechanical problems, brought the number of Rome buses de-stroyed by fi re so far this year to 10.
Some 20 buses operated by local transport company Atac were burnt out in 2017.
The drivers of both buses in yesterday’s incidents managed to escape with their passengers unscathed, although a woman who worked in a nearby shop suff ered minor burns when one of the two vehicles exploded in central Rome.
The number 63 bus came to a halt near the Trevi Fountain, a popular tourist attraction, be-fore the fi re took hold.
Video showed fl ames shoot-ing into the sky and the facades of the two nearest buildings were left smeared with black soot.
Hours later a bus full of stu-dents caught fi re near a school in the southwestern suburb of Castel Porziano, the Il Mes-saggero newspaper reported, publishing a video clip of the incident.
“It’s not ISIS [Islamic State], it’s ATAC. Which is worse,” one Twitter user wrote, one of many who mockingly com-pared the extremist group to Rome’s beleaguered public transport company.
“ISIS ANNOUNCES A CHANGE OF NAME TO ATAC:
‘IT IS MUCH MORE TERRIFY-ING’,” Luca Bottura, a satirist who writes for La Repubblica daily, wrote on Twitter.
It is not the fi rst time that Romans have used this kind of black humour: A joke has long been doing the rounds about the city being impenetrable to Islamic State because of its infamous potholes and grid-locked traffi c.
Atac said that the fi rst bus that caught fi re was 15 years old and was “completely de-stroyed”.
An internal enquiry will in-vestigate the causes of the ac-cident, it added.
Politicians were quick to blame Mayor Virginia Raggi and her party, the anti-estab-lishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), for the series of fi res, saying that it showed they were incapable of governing Rome.
“Romans risk getting hurt every day with this 5-Star ad-ministration,” said Barbara Saltamartini, a member of the far-right League party. “These images are being seen around the world and they are the lat-est images of Raggi’s failure.”
M5S says it inherited a trans-port system that was mired in debt and dragged down by poor management and that it is working hard to overcome nu-merous long-standing prob-lems.
A former head of Atac said last year that the company was suff ocating under some €1.3bn ($1.54bn) of debts and should declare bankruptcy.
According to an internal Atac report, 36% of all the company’s buses are in ga-rages because they have broken down or are undergoing main-tenance, with the fi gure rising to 50% for the city’s creaking fl eet of trams.
Buses catch fi re in RomeReuters/DPARome
A firefighter sprays water over a burned bus in downtown Rome.
President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan has vowed he would step down if his people de-
cided it was “enough”, prompt-ing opponents to propel the word in Turkish to the top of world-wide Twitter trends.
Erdogan will on June 24 con-test a presidential election, seek-ing a new mandate to extend his 15 years in power which began when he became premier in 2003 and continued with his move to the presidency in 2014.
His ruling party is confi dent of victory in the polls but the coun-try remains highly polarised be-tween supporters of Erdogan and those who oppose him with equal passion.
Speaking to his party in An-kara, Erdogan said his foes “have just one care – to destroy Recep Tayyip Erdogan”.
“If one day our nation says ‘enough’, then we will move to the side,” he said, referring to himself in the fi rst person plural.
Erdogan said the Turkish peo-ple had until now always given the right response to those who sought to destroy him, recalling the failed 2016 coup against his rule.
Predicting victory in the elec-tion, he added: “God willing, I believe we will, together with
our nation, on June 24 once again give a well-deserved lesson to this team of destruction.”
Opponents rapidly seized on the word he had used in Turk-ish for “enough” – tamam – and turned it into the top Twit-ter trend not just in Turkey but around the world with over 450,000 tweets by the afternoon.
Some simply tweeted the word in bold letters with spaces – T A M A M – while others added slo-gans.
“Just please go now,” wrote one user.
Others just wrote the word TAMAM as many times as they could within Twitter’s charac-ter limit of 280, or made fancy
shapes with its letters.The word was also rapidly
seized upon by Erdogan’s rivals who will face him in the June 24 poll and seek to force a run-off .
“Time’s Up!” (in Turkish “Vakit TAMAM!”) tweeted Mu-harrem Ince, the candidate of the main secular opposition Repub-lican People’s Party (CHP).
“T A M A M,” tweeted Meral Aksener, the leader of the newly-formed nationalist party the Iyi (Good) Party.
“Enough, God Willing” (“T A M A M Insallah”), added Temel Karamollaoglu, leader of the conservative Saadet (Felicity) Party who is also to run against Erdogan.
Erdogan pledge to quit when ‘enough’ sparks Twitter trendAFPIstanbul
Erdogan: If one day our nation says ‘enough’, then I will move to the side.
Swedish police have granted a mosque per-mission to hold a weekly
call for prayer, triggering divi-sions among politicians and the public fi ve months ahead of elections in a country which has taken in waves of asylum seekers in recent years.
The police permit, which is valid for a year, has caused concern among some politi-cians that it will exacerbate cultural tensions, while others maintained a neutral stance of the September 9 general elec-tion.
“Call to prayer will not strengthen integration in (the southern city of Vaxjo), but it will rather risk pulling the city further apart,” city council Anna Tenje of the conserva-tive Moderates told TT news agency.
However, Sweden’s Social Democrats Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said that end-ing segregation goes hand in hand with tackling unemploy-ment and making sure schools and neighbourhoods have high standards.
“The entire society in Swe-den is built on having diff erent religions,” he told TT.
According to a poll con-ducted by the social research
company SIFO and published by the private broadcaster TV4 in March, 60% of respond-ents said they wanted to ban the Islamic call to prayer from mosques in Sweden.
The police said in their statement that the mosque in Vaxjo will be allowed to hold the Islamic call to prayer, the Adhan, every Friday for three minutes and 45 seconds.
Leader of the Christian Democrats Ebba Busch Thor, who contested the decision, said that “people shouldn’t have to hear it in their homes”.
The police said the volume of the mosque’s speakers was not allowed to exceed a certain level so as not to risk disturbing households nearby.
They added that the deci-sion was based on the nation’s public order laws and not on religion.
Vaxjo’s mosque is the coun-try’s third to be allowed to hold a call to prayer, following one in a Stockholm suburb and an-other in the nation’s southeast.
Avdi Islami, a spokesman for the Muslim community in Vaxjo, said that thousands of Muslims visit the mosque eve-ry year and likened the prayer calls to ringing church bells.
“We have a society in which we are diff erent ... it’s therefore better to think of the diff er-ences as making us stronger,” he told TT.
Swedish authoritiesallow mosque toissue call for prayerAFPStockholm
Germany has admitted that it needs to deal with domestic racism,
responding yesterday to sev-eral countries’ concerns about xenophobic and discrimina-tory attitudes in the country at a UN human rights review session.
“We know that we have to tackle racist positions and discriminatory views in vari-ous parts of our society,” the German government’s human rights representative, Baerbel Kofl er, said in Geneva.
The session that was devot-ed to Germany was part of the Universal Periodic Review of human rights that UN member countries undergo every fi ve years.
Berlin had already taken
countermeasures, Kofl er said.“Racist statements on the
Internet are being prosecuted more vigorously,” Kofl er said, adding that authorities can ban groups with anti-democratic and inhuman ideologies.
At the UN session, Austral-ia, Bahrain, Algeria and other countries lauded Germany for having taken in large numbers of refugees since 2015, and for implementing international human rights standards.
Other countries said they were worried about hate speech, attacks against for-eigners, and political parties that spread racist sentiments.
“Despite Germany’s eff orts, hate speech remains wide-spread,” an Egyptian envoy said.
Berlin should train police to fi ght racism and discrimina-tion, a Belgian representative recommended.
Germany admits it has racism problemDPAGeneva
Survivors of a November sea rescue operation by the Libyan coastguard
have fi led a lawsuit against Italy with the European Court of Human Rights, saying that Rome was ultimately respon-sible for Libyan “violent and reckless” actions.
Announced by human rights groups at a press confer-ence yesterday, the case was brought by 17 Nigerians who accuse Italy of violating their human rights through what they call the “subcontracting” of migrant rescue operations to Libya.
Both countries struck a con-troversial deal in February 2017 aimed at stemming the fl ow of people trying to cross the Med-iterranean in the hope of arriv-ing in Europe.
Lawyers prosecuting the case say they want the court to order Italy to pay “moral repa-rations” and end the agree-ment, which it says violates international law, as was ruled in 2012 for a similar deal struck between former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2008.
The agreement has been hailed as a success in Italy thanks to an over 80% drop
in arrivals so far in 2018 com-pared to the same period of last year, according to Interior Ministry fi gures.
However, the lawsuit argues that the Italian government was responsible both for the actions of the Libyan rescuers due to their fundamental help with logistics, and liable for the subsequent abuses in Libyan detention centres, which are well-documented.
Libya only has the capabil-ity to intercept migrant ships thanks to EU funding and sup-port from both the Italian coast guard in Rome and an Italian Navy ship located off the coast of Tripoli.
The lawsuit was fi led on Thursday and originates from a search-and-rescue opera-tion on November 6 involving NGO Sea Watch which saw the German charity tussle with a Libyan coast guard vessel for the migrants.
Sea Watch estimates “at least” 20 people died and claims the Libyan coastguard “beat and threatened” survi-vors as they pulled them out of the sea and off a stricken din-ghy, while some dived back into the sea in an eff ort to reach the Sea Watch boat.
Five bodies were recovered during the operation, which saw 59 people rescued and tak-en to Italy by Sea Watch and 47 returned to Libya.
Italy sued by migrant rescue survivorsAFPRome
53 children hospitalised in UkraineFifty-three children and two teachers were hospitalised with suspected poisoning yesterday after collapsing at a school in central Ukraine, according to local authorities.The exact cause has not yet been established, with tests for chlorine, ammonia and radioactivity returning negative results, the Ukrainian civil defence said.Eleven of the children are in intensive care following the incident, which occurred at a school in the city of Cherkasy during an event commemorating the end of World War II.Ambulances were also called to a school in the Dnipropetrovsk province of Ukraine after students complained of nausea during their own memorial event, according to local media reports.
EUROPE
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 201816
Dmitry Medvedev secured a fresh term as Russian prime minister yesterday,
as the lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly for Presi-dent Vladimir Putin’s long-term ally to retain his post.
“I am ready to do everything for the development of our coun-try,” Medvedev said ahead of the vote in the State Duma, which Putin also attended.
A total of 374 MPs backed his candidacy while 56 voted against.
The ruling United Russia party and the ultra-nationalist LDPR party backed Medvedev, while
the Communist and Just Russia parties opposed him.
The 52-year-old served a term as president from 2008 to 2012 before standing aside to become prime minister while Putin re-turned to the Kremlin.
Putin praised Medvedev in a speech ahead of the vote, saying that the prime minister “hardly needs any special introduction” after leading the government for the past six years.
“All that has been accom-plished in recent years creates a solid basis for moving forward,” Putin said, adding that he worked “thoroughly, professionally and honestly” during a “diffi cult” period for Russia.
“Despite all these diffi culties,
the government managed not just to solve extraordinary, emer-gency tasks” but also develop plans aimed at the “mid-term and long-term,” Putin said. “I think it’s extremely important to preserve continuity.”
Medvedev in turn thanked Pu-tin for his support and said his government would work towards fulfi lling new national targets announced by Putin following his inauguration for a fourth Kremlin term this week.
“We are able to be victorious both in war and peaceful times,” he told the Duma, a day before Russia celebrates World War II victory over the Nazis with a mil-itary parade on Red Square.
Despite having played a rela-
tively marginal role in the post in recent years, Medvedev won popular notoriety with an ill-judged throwaway phrase to an elderly woman complaining about her low pension in 2016 that “there’s no money, but you hang in there”.
Last year, he was accused of massive corruption by opposi-tion politician Alexei Navalny in a YouTube video that has been viewed more than 27mn times.
Navalny’s supporters, many of them teenagers, responded to the claims that Medvedev controls a luxury property empire by hold-ing large-scale opposition pro-tests across Russia.
Medvedev served as president from 2008 to 2012 when Putin
had served the maximum two consecutive terms permitted by the Russian constitution.
Putin then returned as presi-dent in 2012 while Medvedev became prime minister in a deal that the men said they had long agreed, disappointing those who had seen Medvedev as a more lib-eral fi gure and prompting mass street protests.
The pair fi rst met in their na-tive city of Saint Petersburg where they were colleagues in the mayor’s offi ce in the 1990s.
Putin, 65, is now set to serve until 2024 and is on course to be-come the longest-serving Rus-sian leader since Joseph Stalin.
He won March polls with more than 76% of the vote.
Medvedev had been expected to retain his post despite rumours regularly surfacing that he is on the way out.
“Dmitry Medvedev has held on,” Vedomosti business daily headlined its front page yester-day, while saying that “Putin’s
new promises will mainly be car-ried out by an old government”.
RBK daily called Medvedev a “premier for stability”, quoting sources in the Kremlin and the government as saying that he is the only person whom Putin trusts.
Medvedev secures fresh term as PMAFPMoscow
Putin and Medvedev at the State Duma in Moscow yesterday.The Russian parliament has voted to back a new mandate for Medvedev as prime minister.
The most political Cannes fi lm festival in years opened yesterday with fe-
male stars vowing to protest on the red carpet against industry sexism, two top directors barred from attending, and bans hang-ing over some movies.
With Hollywood still reel-ing from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and Cannes under fi re for its dearth of women direc-tors, jury members Cate Blan-chett, Ava DuVernay and Kristen Stewart said that they would join other actresses and female fi lm-makers on Saturday in a protest in support of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
Blanchett, who heads the jury, did not hide her unhappiness that only three of the 21 directors in the running for the top Palme d’Or prize are women.
“There are many women on the jury but I wish there were more in competition,” she told French radio yesterday.
The star hammered the mes-sage home with her wardrobe, wearing a suit earlier in the day – like four of the fi ve female jury members - before donning a long black Giorgio Armani Prive gown for the opening ceremony, which she had already worn to the Golden Globes in 2014 to strike a blow against throwaway consumerism.
Cannes’s patchy record on fe-male directors, and Saturday’s red carpet protest, may generate the most heat in a festival packed
with political hot potatoes – even if the launch of the new Star Wars spin-off , Solo, should lighten the mix.
Yet with no fewer than a doz-en fi lms with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) themes, and others tackling child abuse, male prostitution and an eye-watering DIY sex change, it has all the makings of a vintage year for scandal and controversy in Cannes.
A new documentary about the singer Whitney Houston by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald reportedly includes a devastat-ing revelation about the demons that dogged her short tragic life.
While Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam is fi ghting in the French courts to have his disaster-plagued The Man Who Killed Don Quixote shown, the fi rst Kenyan movie to be selected for the world’s top festival, Rafi ki, has already been banned in its homeland for daring to depict a lesbian romance.
Tehran has refused to lift a travel ban on the dissident Ira-nian master Jafar Panahi, whose Three Faces is in the running for the Palme d’Or.
Appeals to bail Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, under house ar-rest in Moscow on embezzle-ment charges his allies claim are political, have also fallen on deaf ears.
Blanchett said their fi lms would be judged on their artistic merits, not their political pedi-gree.
“This is not the Nobel Peace prize – it’s the Palme d’Or,” she said.
However, she called it a “ter-rible situation that two fi lm-makers will more than likely not be here with us when their fi lms are going to be screened”.
Serious doubts also hang over whether Gilliam’s Pythonesque movie will be allowed to close the festival after it became em-broiled in a bitter legal battle over who owns the rights.
Judges in Paris will decide to-day whether the fi lm, which Gil-liam has laboured on for nearly two decades, can be shown.
Long before Weinstein was accused of attacking four wom-en at the festival, Cannes had been under fi re for its “problem with women”.
Women have been stopped on the red carpet in previous years for not wearing high heels, and its dress code has been con-demned as sexist.
However, the Weinstein scan-dal has given its critics further ammunition, with screenwriter Kate Muir of Women and Hol-lywood lacerating the festival as “a two-week celebration of male
brains and female beauty”.Blanchett noted the industry’s
frequent reduction of women to ornaments and sidekicks was only slowly changing.
“Being attractive doesn’t pre-clude being intelligent,” she said.
While admitting that Cannes “will never be the same again” after the Weinstein scandal, Fremaux said that he is against quotas.
Instead he put Blanchett – one of the fi rst to call out Weinstein – at the head a majority-female jury alongside another of his ac-cusers, French “Bond” actress Lea Seydoux.
But Fremaux’s surprise deci-sion to lift the festival’s seven-year ban on Danish director Lars von Trier has stoked feminist ire.
The ageing provocateur has been accused of sexual harass-ment by the singer Bjork, and his production company has been hit by multiple similar claims.
He denies the allegations.Von Trier sparked outrage
during a 2011 Cannes press con-ference by saying that he was a
Nazi who understood Hitler and sympathised “with him a little bit”.
Pointedly Fremaux has not risked giving von Trier a press conference this time around for his new serial killer fl ick, The House That Jack Built with Uma Thurman and Matt Dillon.
There was no such worry at the opening ceremony, with vet-
eran US director Martin Scors-ese declaring the festival open alongside Blanchett, in an unu-sual gesture of equality in the post-Weinstein world.
The ceremony was followed by the premiere of Oscar-win-ning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s fi lm, Everybody Knows, starring Penelope Cruz and Javi-er Bardem.
Cannes festival opens with scandal, protests and bansAFPCannes
Clockwise from above: Dutch model Romee Strijd, German model Barbera Meier, Cannes jury member and French actress Ley Seydoux, and French singer Shy’m pose on the red carpet as they arrive for the film festival’s opening ceremony and the screening of the film Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben) in Cannes.
US director Martin Scorsese with Australian actress and president of the jury Cate Blanchett on stage during the opening ceremony of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Bosnia will hold presiden-tial and parliamentary elections on October 7,
even though rival ethnic lead-ers have yet to agree on voting rules for the upper house of the Bosniak-Croat Federation’s par-liament.
Nearly 3.4mn voters will choose Croat, Serb and Bos-niak members of the tripartite presidency and lawmakers for parliament’s lower house, plus
regional leaders and assemblies, the Central Election Commis-sion (CIK) said yesterday.
But CIK chief Irena Hadzi-abdic warned: “We are entering the election period without clear regulations on how to carry out elections and contrary to the in-ternational principles.”
Days after the European Un-ion said Bosnia risked sliding into a constitutional crisis, she said Federation institutions could cease to operate unless a solution to the dispute over vot-ing rules is found.
“Unless we ... reach a solu-
tion within a legal time-frame, we are facing a major problem,” Hadziabdic told a news confer-ence.
The Balkan country has been governed along ethnic lines since a 1995 peace deal ended a four-year-long war that claimed 100,000 lives.
The accords split Bosnia into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, which are linked via a weak central govern-ment.
Christian Croat and Muslim Bosniak political parties are cur-
rently deadlocked over amend-ments to the law on voting for the upper house of parliament of their joint Federation.
Responding to an appeal by Croat nationalists, Bosnia’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that candidates elected to the upper house should come from main parties that draw the support of most of their respec-tive ethnic kin.
Croat parties have since pro-posed new, ethnically-based electoral districts where people would vote only for their own community’s representatives at
all levels of governance includ-ing the presidency.
They say they want to prevent Muslim Bosniaks, the majority group in the Federation, from bringing about the election of Croats of a civic, non-nation-alist persuasion they see as not serving the best interests of Bos-nian Croats.
But Bosniak parties oppose their proposals, fearing they could be a manoeuvre to forge a separatist Croat entity remi-niscent of Bosnia’s devastating 1992-95 war.
Western envoys have been
mediating talks between the parties but no breakthrough has been made.
The EU last week warned Bos-nian leaders not to hold the elec-tion results “hostage to party interests”.
Bosnian Serb, Bosnian Croat and Muslim Bosniak leaders have heated up nationalist rhet-oric recently, launching election campaigns unusually early and halting reforms needed for Bos-nia to progress towards mem-bership of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).
Bosnia calls October 7 election with voting rules still in disputeReutersSarajevo
Singer dies just days after making comebackAFPBrussels
Popular Belgian singer Maurane has died at the age of 57, just days after
returning to the stage follow-ing an absence of more than two years, prompting an outpouring of emotion from the French-speaking music world.
Maurane, real name Claudine Luypaerts, was found dead at home in Brussels around 8pm (1800 GMT) on Monday, accord-ing to the Belgian federal pros-ecutor’s offi ce.
It said it had begun an investi-gation but that foul play was not suspected.
Maurane shot to fame in the late 1980s in the sci-fi rock op-era Starmania and had a string of French-language hits before putting her career on hold in 2015 because of problems with her vocal cords, according to Belgian news agency Belga.
She announced a return to performing last week and took to the stage at an open-air festival in Brussels at the weekend, sing-ing hits by legendary mournful Belgian crooner Jacques Brel.
“A true artist left us tonight – Maurane, an extraordinary singer, an inspiring voice, an endearing character,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted.
French musician Catherine Lara told Europe 1 radio that she was “devastated” by the death of her friend of 40 years, saying she had seemed tired when they last met three weeks ago.
“But she talked about the fu-ture, she told me she was pre-paring an album of Jacques Brel songs, that she was singing again,” Lara said.
Maurane released 11 albums in a recording career that began in 1980 and had been preparing to tour next year after the new Brel album which was due in the au-tumn to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his death.
“On the album front, things are going well, with 14 fi rst takes recorded ... a fi rst single should be out in the summer,” Maurane wrote on Facebook just days be-fore her death.
A spokesman for the pros-ecutor’s offi ce told AFP that they were waiting for an initial report on the death before deciding whether an autopsy was needed.
“There was no intervention by a third party,” the spokesman said, ruling out any criminal in-volvement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi squared off
in Karnataka yesterday attacking each other with Modi accusing her and her son Rahul of destroy-ing Congress to save the “dynasty” while she said “only speeches do not fi ll empty stomachs”.
The two leaders took on each other when they addressed elec-tion rallies in this district within hours, raising political tempera-tures in what is perceived as a close fi ght.
It was Sonia Gandhi’s fi rst elec-tion rally in about two years and only one in Karnataka and her presence underscored the sig-nifi cance the party attaches to the electoral verdict in the May 12 election. The face-off came in the district associated with Ba-saveshwara, a 12th century social reformer and philosopher who founded the Lingayat religious order. Both the parties are making hard eff orts to woo the numerical-ly-signifi cant community.
Modi, who addressed a rally in the afternoon, made a sharp attack at Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi saying that the party was being destroyed to save a dynasty.
Sonia Gandhi, who addressed a rally in the evening, accused Modi of making wrong statements and using freedom fi ghters like pawns of chess for his political interests.
She said Modi may be a good speaker but speeches alone cannot solve problems of the people.
Modi targeted the ruling Sid-daramaiah government, saying
there was not even a single minis-ter “who has not faced allegations of corruption.”
Referring to the Congress gov-ernment’s move to grant minority community status to the Lingayat community, Modi accused it of trying to gain votes by seeking to divide communities.
“This Congress government is dividing communities, castes, voters... divide and rule, pit one against the other. They want to save their chair,” Modi said.
He claimed the Congress was spreading lies on the issue of women’s security and said that a daughter is a daughter irrespective of the community she belongs to.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi, he said Congress was in such a posi-tion that their leaders did not have faith in their leader.”
Modi said he had on Monday watched an interview of a Con-gress leader who said that the son (Congress president Rahul Gan-dhi) “will not be able to do any-thing”.
“If you bring the mother (Sonia) to Karnataka and she does some-
thing, then maybe the deposits can be saved. This is what Congress leaders have started speaking,” he said.
Sonia Gandhi said that Modi speaks “wrong wherever he goes.”
“He takes liberty with history, uses our freedom fi ghters like pawns of chess for his political interests. Does it behove a prime minister. Have you seen a prime minister earlier who resorts to empty talk but stays quiet on real issues,” Sonia asked.
She accused the Modi govern-ment of not fulfi lling its prom-ises. “Which promise has been fulfi lled. What has Modi done for the farmers, what has he done for employment to youth, what did he do for the middle class. Modi what did you do for security of women, children, backward classes, Dalits and minorities,” she demanded.
She accused him of being intol-erant and discriminating against Karnataka.
She said Modi was proud of his oratory skills and she agreed that he was “a big orator and gives speeches like an actor.”
Row over church nodfor basilica adoptionIANSPanaji
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) yesterday questioned Goa’s infl uential Roman Catholic
Church’s U-turn on the proposed adoption of the 17th century Ba-silica of Bom Jesus by a private company under the central gov-ernment’s ‘Monument Mitra’ scheme.
Goa Archives and Archaeology Minister Vijay Sardesai, who had earlier said that the state govern-ment was not consulted by the central tourism authority which shortlisted the private companies for the ‘adopt a heritage’ scheme, on Monday met representatives of the Goa church along with other government offi cials, after which the church offi cials agreed to off er the heritage church for adoption.
The Basilica of Bom Jesus is one of Goa’s most iconic churches. The AAP in Goa sought to know the reason behind the overnight U-turn.
AAP convenor for Goa, Elvis Gomes yesterday said the Church representatives should explain to the people of Goa the exact nature
of the scheme and the reasons why the church, after initial criticism of the adoption scheme, overnight agreed to participate in the ‘adopt a heritage’ scheme.
“Church representatives who have agreed, should fi rst explain to the people the exact nature of the scheme and how benefi cial it is to the church in particular and the people in general,” Gomes said.
Controversy erupted in Goa last week, after two companies, name-ly Drishti Marine and V-Resorts, were shortlisted for participation in the ‘Monument Mitra’ scheme, which is aimed at developing monuments and heritage sites with the help of private participa-tion for fi ve years.
Drishti Marine is set to adopt key heritage areas like the Old Goa Church complex, Aguada, Cabo de Rama and Chapora fort, a light-house and Morjim beach, famous for Olive Ridley turtle nesting sites.
V-Resorts will be adopting the Basilica of Bom Jesus church, a 17th century structure.
The opposition as well as mi-nority leaders had criticised the state government for “mortgag-ing” Goa’s heritage without taking the church into confi dence.
Amidst a massive show of strength, Shiv Sena can-didate Srinivas C Vanga
yesterday fi led his nomination for the by-election to the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency, virtually hijacking the seat from its fuming ally Bharatiya Janata Party.
The May 28 by-poll was ne-cessitated after the death of sit-ting BJP MP Chintaman Vanga on January 30, who was the party’s face and strongman in the pre-dominantly tribal district bor-dering Gujarat.
Yesterday afternoon, Chinta-man’s son Srinivas, accompanied by several Shiv Sena ministers and other leaders, arrived in an procession with thousands car-rying posters and banners of par-ty chief Uddhav Thackeray, to fi le his candidature.
The development came five days after the Vanga family met Thackeray in Mumbai and de-cided to join the Shiv Sena after accusing the BJP of “ignoring”
them after the MP’s death.A rattled BJP leadership at-
tempted to mollify the Vangas with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday publicly appealing to them to reconsider their decision.
Denying the family’s allegations, he also declared that the BJP had virtually fi nalised giving a party ticket to a member of the Vanga family, but his pleas were ignored.
Over the next couple of days, several BJP state ministers, legis-lators and party leaders rushed to Palghar to convince the Vanga fam-ily to return to the party fold, but by Monday evening, the Shiv Sena fi -nally cleared Srinivas Vanga’s name as its candidate for the bypoll.
This is the fi rst time that the Shiv Sena has practically “snatched” a seat from its ally
BJP’s quota even as the two par-ties are in alliance, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra. In the past the BJP-Shiv Sena contested the 2014 Lok Sabha together, but fought the 2014 assembly separately after a poll-eve collapse of the alliance.
The severed alliance was re-sumed a couple of months after the Fadnavis-led BJP minority government took oath with the Sena walking over from the Op-position benches to become a ruling coalition partner.
While the BJP has not yet of-fi cially declared its nominee for Palghar, a new dimension was added when the Bahujan Vi-kas Aghadi (BVA) yesterday an-nounced it will contest the seat, as also the Congress.
Launching a veiled attack on Shiv Sena, the BVA said that in Palghar, only three parties are natural contestants for the seat - the BVA, BJP and Congress, “and the people will not tolerate any outsider (Shiv Sena) in the elec-tion, though the late Vanga had earned great respect for his work and clean image here”.
The BJP legislator from Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is an accused in the Unnao gang-rape case and the subsequent death of the victim’s father in police custody, was yesterday shifted to Sitapur Jail, an off icial said. The rape victim had petitioned before the Allahabad High Court to shift the ruling party MLA out of Unnao as she was feeling threatened. Shashi Singh, who is a co-accused in the rape case that took place in Bangarmau in 2017 and allegedly took the victim to Sengar, has also been sent to Sitapur jail. Atul Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party legislator’s brother, and four other co-accused are still lodged in Unnao jail.
A newly-married woman in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district got her husband killed for her lover, police said yesterday. Yamaka Sankar Rao, who married his maternal cousin Saraswathi just 10 days ago, was murdered on Monday. Within 24 hours, police cracked the case with the arrest of Saraswathi, who plotted the murder to live with a man she befriended on Facebook. The man has also been arrested. The incident took place near Totapalli village. The police investigation revealed that Saraswathi was not happy with the marriage as she had an aff air with Siva, with whom she came in contact through Facebook last year while pursuing a graduation degree in Visakhapatnam.
Upset that authorities were not realising the seriousness of the situation, the Supreme Court yesterday said the critical decline in groundwater level in Delhi could lead to a “water war” for every drop. The court was shocked at the level of groundwater “over exploitation” in the capital and said the level had declined to “very critical” stage. After perusing a report filed by the Central Ground Water Board on depletion of groundwater in Delhi, the court said even the area around President’s Estate has very low groundwater level. Except central Delhi and some parts of west Delhi the groundwater level in the rest of Delhi was over exploited, the court observed.
Protesting members of Joint Action Committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations-Government Employees’ Organisations (JACTTO-GEO) were yesterday taken into custody in Chennai police said. Their demands include reverting to the old pension scheme, payment of arrears and rectification of anomalies in the recommendations made by the pay commission. The protesters were taken into custody when they tried to take out a march towards the state secretariat. Earlier, the police had arrested key members of JACTTO-GEO as a measure to prevent the protest. Traff ic flow was aff ected on the arterial Anna Salai and Kamarajar Salai owing to the protests.
The Central Bureau of Investigation yesterday arrested three persons on charge of promising NEET (UG) 2018 exam candidates of admissions in medical and dental courses in government and private colleges. The agency also raided residential and office premises of the accused at Khurja in Uttar Pradesh, Ludhiana and Delhi and seized documents, including original educational certificates, admit cards of prospective NEET candidates, rubber stamps of educational institutions and several filled-up cheques for amounts ranging from Rs1mn to Rs3.5mn. The arrested persons were sent to CBI custody till Friday.
Unnao rape accused BJPlegislator shifted to new jail
Woman gets husbandkilled for Facebook friend
Fall in Delhi groundwaterlevel ‘can lead to water war’
Government staff , teachers stage protest in Chennai
Three arrested in NEET-UGexam cheating case
LAW AND ORDER CRIMEWARNING CRACKDOWN CRIME
Biggestcity gasdistributionauctionlaunched
IANSNew Delhi
In a major step towards usher-ing in a clean gas-based econ-omy, the government yester-
day launched its biggest auction of city gas distribution (CGD) net-works, off ering permits for selling compressed and piped natural gas (CNG and PNG) in 86 geographi-cal areas.
Awards from the 9th CGD li-censing round would help bring gas coverage to 174 districts in 22 states and Union Territories, cov-ering 29% of the country’s area and 24% of the population, said Union Petroleum Minister Dhar-mendra Pradhan launching the bidding round here.
According to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), which organised a road-show here to promote the auction, the ninth bid round is expected to attract investment of Rs700bn.
“This is the biggest step so far in CGD expansion, towards rais-ing the gas share in the country’s energy mix from 6.2% to 15% in a few years,” Pradhan said.
So far, existing 91 geographi-cal areas have been awarded to companies like Indraprastha Gas, GAIL Gas and Gujarat Gas, which cover 11% of area and 19% of the population.
The existing CGD networks are concentrated in the northern and western regions of the country.
“With this, the regulator is also acting as a facilitator for the CGD network,” Pradhan said referring to the role of the PNGRB.
Changes have been made to the bidding conditions to fa-cilitate greater return from the exercise. For instance, CGD net-works have been granted status of utilities by the Union labour ministry.
Under the changed param-eters, maximum weightage of 50% has been given to the number of piped gas connec-tions proposed in eight years from the date of authorisation, as against 30% earlier.
Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor poses with her husband, businessman Anand Ahuja after their traditional marriage ceremony in Mumbai yesterday.
Newlyweds
Congress leader and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrives at the venue of a party rally ahead of Karnataka polls in Vijayapura yesterday.
“This is the fi rst time that the Shiv Sena has practically “snatched” a seat from its ally BJP’s quota even as the two parties are in alliance, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra”
I could be PM after 2019 elections, says Rahul
In a statement that is bound to ruff le the feathers in the opposition, Congress president Rahul Gandhi yesterday said he would become the prime minister if the Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be the prime minister again. “Well that depends... that depends on how well the Congress does. I mean...
the Congress, if it’s the biggest party, yes,” he said in reply to a question at an interaction with eminent citizens here. This is the second time Rahul Gandhi has expressed his readiness to be the prime minister if the Congress gets a majority in next year’s Lok Sabha polls. In September last year, speaking to students in Berkley, he had said that he was “absolutely ready” to be the prime minister.
INDIA
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 201818
Chennai touristkilling inKashmir draws condemnationIANSSrinagar
The body of a 22-year old tourist from Chennai killed by stone pelters
here was fl own home yesterday as Kashmiris cutting across the political spectrum continued to condemn the cowardly act.
The grieving parents and sister of the slain R Thirumani, whose vehicle was among many at-tacked on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road on Monday, accompanied the body on an Indigo fl ight, an offi cial of the tourism depart-ment said.
Thirumani was hit on the fore-head and nose when the stone pelters targeted several vehicles with rocks during protests called against the Sunday killings of fi ve militants and six civilians in Shopian district.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti yesterday reiterated her condemnation of the tourist’s killing.
“I have no words strong enough to condemn this tragic incident or even condole with the family,” she said in a state-ment.
She described the incident as a blot on the cultural value system of Kashmir and an attempt to bulldoze its economy.
The chief minister, who went to meet the tourist’s family at the hospital immediately after the killing, had said on Monday: “My head hangs in shame.”
Her predecessor and Na-tional Conference leader Omar Abdullah said: “We have killed a tourist by throwing stones at the vehicle he was travelling in. Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone pelters and their methods.”
Senior separatist leader Mir-waiz Umar Farooq said: “Deeply saddened by the news of the death of a tourist due to stone pelting. I condemn such hooli-ganism and rowdiness.
“It is totally against our ethos of treating tourists as respected guests and brings a bad name to the people’s movement.”
The common man in the val-ley is no less shocked. Those who earn from tourism are particu-larly shocked.
“What have we proved by do-ing this? We claim to be the most hospitable society and here we have a guest killed in stone pelt-ing,” said Zahoor Ahmad, 33, a taxi operator.
“What crime had the tourist committed? His only crime was that he trusted his life with us,” Ahmad added.
“What message are we sending out? Those who tar-geted the tourists cannot be fighting for the rights of Kashmiris. The incident has deeply shocked us all,” said Nazir Ahmad, a hotel owner in north Kashmir’s Sonamarg tourist resort.
“How can anyone claim to be fi ghting for human rights by vio-lating the rights of others? The guilty need to be exposed,” said Bashir Ahmad, a university em-ployee here.
Some locals who too con-demned the attack added that all innocent killings, including those of Kashmiris, also needed to be denounced.
“Nobody will support an at-tack on an innocent tourist. At the same time, there must be unequivocal condemnation of killings of innocent Kashmiris as well”, said Mehrajuddin, a fruit seller in Srinagar.
Stone pelting has become a part of street protests in the Kashmir Valley, particularly in Srinagar, the urban hub of a separatist movement that has claimed thousands of lives since 1989.
As security personnel advance to disperse mobs, bands of young men attack them with stones and then disappear into narrow lanes.
Last week, a school bus came under attack in Shopian, badly injuring a young boy.
Chief justice impeachmentrow grows with new claimsIANSNew Delhi
In a tactical retreat, two Con-gress MPs yesterday with-drew their petition chal-
lenging Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu’s rejection of an impeachment motion against Supreme Court chief justice Di-pak Misra after the court refused to give details of the administra-tive order that led to setting up of a constitutional bench to hear the matter.
Appearing for the MPs, sen-ior counsel Kapil Sibal withdrew the petition after the fi ve-judge constitution bench headed by justice A K Sikri asked him to ar-gue the main matter challenging
Naidu’s order on merits while expressing its refusal to disclose details on the constitution of the bench.
“We wanted to know who passed the order that our peti-tion would be heard by a fi ve-judge bench. Normally, refer-ence to such a bench is made by a judicial order. But there is no judicial order here. So who passed the order”, Sibal, one of the signatories to the impeach-ment motion, told reporters af-ter withdrawing the petition.
While Sibal wanted a copy of the order to challenge it on the grounds that the matter could be referred to a constitution bench only by a judicial order and not by an administrative order, jus-tice Adarsh Kumar Goel, part
of the bench, asked if there was a bar on directly referring the matter to a fi ve-judge bench by the latter process.
The bench, also compris-ing justice S A Bobde, justice N V Ramana and justice Arun Mishra, reminded Sibal at the outset of the hearing that he had said he had no personal agenda and was for upholding the dig-nity of the court.
“Will the dignity of the court be jeopardised if you give me that (administrative) order (con-stituting fi ve-judge bench). It is not a secret document under the National Security Act,” Sibal countered.
Attorney general K K Venugopal, appearing for the Rajya Sabha chairman, said the
chief justice had discretionary powers on the administrative side to allocate any matter to any bench of whatever strength.
Sibal later told the media that Supreme Court rules do not al-low the chief justice to pass an administrative order to refer a matter to a fi ve-judge bench on the grounds that a “substantial question of law as to the inter-pretation of the constitution arises in the case”.
The constitution bench ex-cludes the fi ve senior-most judges of the apex court – four of whom had raised their voice against chief justice Misra – and was formed late on Monday to hear the plea today.
“If such an order has been passed by the chief justice, al-
though the petition pertains to his own impeachment, then we should be given a copy of the order, as we are entitled to it, so that we can study it,” he said.
On Monday, Rajya Sabha members Pratap Singh Bajwa and Amee Yajnik had moved the top court alleging chairman Naidu’s rejection in April of the notice of motion seeking the re-moval of chief justice Misra was politically motivated.
On April 20, members from seven opposition parties led by the Congress submitted a no-tice to chairman Naidu to initi-ate impeachment proceedings against chief justice Misra on fi ve counts of “misbehaviour”. Naidu rejected the notice three days later.
Kerala parties protestover political killingsBy Ashraf PadannaThiruvananthapuram
Police in Kerala yesterday arrested and released on bail former home minister
Ramesh Chennithala and other Congress leaders for protesting over the “political and custody murders.”
Chennithala, who is the fl oor leader of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the state assem-bly, led the picketing outside the secretariat. Those held included Dr Shashi Tharoor, president of the All India Professionals Con-gress. Tharoor stressed that there were extensive human rights vio-lations taking place in the state.
“Our protest was mainly against police brutality and cus-tody deaths under the LDF (Left Democratic Front) government,” Tharoor later tweeted.
The Congress-led UDF staged protests before all the district headquarters, saying the state had turned into killing fi elds of the CPM and BJP.
Two men belonging to the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM that leads the LDF and Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party had lost their lives on Monday in the latest of a series of political killings.
Pinarayi, the village of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and the surrounding areas have turned into the epicentre of po-litical killings with Pinarayi itself witnessing three murders since the chief minister assumed of-fi ce.
Condemning the killings, Vi-jayan, who directly controls the forces, said he had instructed his police chief, Loknath Behera, to maintain law and order.
The two killings were in the federally-administered former French colony of Mahe, which is now part of Pondicherry state.
“We’ll give necessary support to Pondicherry police (to arrest the killers), if needed,” he told re-porters here.
Kannippoyil Babu, 47, a CPM local committee member and former municipal councillor, was the fi rst man to die, apparently in
the act of revenge for an earlier killing.
Suspected CPM activists then retaliated by killing a tuk-tuk driver identifi ed as BJP worker, Shaimod, 36, also in Mahe.
“What ideology is it that en-courages them to take a human life?” asked Vijayan’s predeces-sor Oommen Chandy while pick-eting in Kottayam.
“The politics of hate has no place in a democracy. You should listen to the wailing mothers and sisters whose tears never dry and lay down your arms.”
Meanwhile Kannur district in Kerala witnessed a shutdown over the renewed political vio-lence.
All shops and business es-tablishments remained closed. Vehicles, however, were allowed to ply. Extra police force was de-ployed.
State BJP President Kum-manam Rajasekharan blamed the murders on the home hepart-ment headed by Vijayan whose police, he said, were “unable to do anything to avoid such inci-dents”.
Court raps govt forCauvery order delayIANSNew Delhi
Telling the Centre that it was in “sheer contempt”, the Supreme Court yester-
day directed the secretary, water resources ministry, to be person-ally present in the court on May 14 along with the scheme for the implementation of the Cauvery Tribunal Award.
The bench of chief justice Dipak Misra, justice A M Khanwilkar and justice D Y Chandrachud directed the presence of the top water re-sources offi cial as attorney general K K Venugopal sought six days’ time for the Karnataka election to be over before the government takes a decision.
“You (Centre) are in sheer con-tempt of the court,” the CJI told Venugopal.
The attorney general said the draft scheme for the implemen-tation of the Cauvery award was before the Cabinet and the meet-ing has not taken place as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers were busy campaigning in Karnataka, where assembly elec-tions are slated to be held on May 12.
He sought six days for fi ling the scheme but senior counsel Shek-har Naphade, appearing for Tamil Nadu, asked why it cannot be fi led tomorrow or on Friday.
After Venugopal said that offi c-ers who instruct (on the matter) do not work on Saturdays and Sundays, Naphade retorted: “We are servants for 24 hours, 365 days”, an obvious reference to the statement by a top functionary of the government.
The attorney general justifi ed the Centre seeking more time say-ing it was a sensitive matter hav-ing a bearing on the law and order situation.
When Venugopal pointed out that the release of water was not within the authority of the Cauvery Management Board, Naphade was quick to point out that the people of Tamil Nadu will not get water, no matter what happens.
Noting that central govern-ment has not framed the scheme for implementing its February 16 judgment, the top court, in the last hearing on May 3, had observed that “... Karnataka will release wa-ter as per Tribunal award. You will release 4TMC of water. Please see how much water can be released by end of May.”Dr Shashi Tharoor in police custody in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.
A dust storm blankets Jaipur, Rajasthan, yesterday. The meteorological department warned that another spell of thunderstorm accompanied by squall was expected to hit several parts of the country. “Thunderstorm, dust storm and lightning strikes are possible over Punjab and Haryana. Uttar Pradesh is also expected to be aff ected,” the Met off ice warned.
Thunderstorm forecast
Packs of stray dogs have mauled six children to death in northern India in recent days, sparking panic among villagers and forcing authorities to deploy patrols and drones to capture the canines. The victims, aged between five to 12 years, were killed in and around Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh between Thursday and Saturday, with a 10-year-old boy being critically injured in the latest attack. “These ferocious dogs (which) roam in packs comprising seven to eight canines have been targeting children. At least 12 children were killed since November with the attacks peaking since the last week,” district police chief Anand Kulkarni said.
A woman was arrested for posing a bride, only to run away with gold, silver and cash after the wedding was solemnised, police said. Four of her accomplices were also held. The gang of five conned families into holding weddings, only to flee with gold, silver and cash soon after the marriage. According to the police, a complaint was lodged by one Biharilal against Riya alias Seema. In the complaint, he alleged his son Pawan was married to Riya on March 8. “Our relatives off ered jewellery to the bride and cash of Rs8,000,” said the complain-ant. However, the bride, on March 10, fled with the jewels and cash. The police yesterday arrested Riya, a Delhi resident as well as the others.
The Centre has approved the Delhi government’s amendment to law for increased punishment for employers not paying minimum wages to workers, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said yesterday. The Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Act, 2017, was passed by the Delhi Assembly on August 10, 2017. It got the president’s assent on April 23. The amend-ment, among others, ensures a punishment of three-year imprisonment or Rs50,000 fine, or both, to erring employers instead of jail term that could extend to six months or a fine that could extend to Rs500 or both earlier. “This will act as a strong deter-rent for employers who do not pay full minimum wages,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.
A teenager injured in clashes with security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian dis-trict on Sunday succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Srinagar yesterday. Hospital sources said 17-year-old Suhail Ahmad was admitted to the S M H S Hospital in Srinagar. The teenager was injured during clashes between protest-ers and security forces near Badigam village during a gunfight between security forces and militants on Sunday. With this, the number of civilians killed in the clashes with the security forces in south Kashmir areas on Sunday has risen to six. Five civilians and five militants were killed that day.
The central government yesterday accorded its ‘in-principle’ approval to the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment for setting up of the second international airport in the national capital region (NCR) at Jewar, Greater Noida. Besides, an in-principle site clearance to a greenfield international airport at Purander, Pune was also accorded. “Accepting the recommendations made by the steering com-mittee on greenfield airports, (minister for civil aviation) Suresh Prabhu yesterday accorded site clearance approval to the greenfield international airport at Purander, Pune and Noida international greenfield airport Uttar Pradesh,” the ministry of civil aviation said.
Panic as stray dogs maulsix children to death
‘Runaway’ bride heldwith gold and jewellery
Delhi amendment tominimum wage act cleared
Teenager injured inShopian clashes dies
New Noida internationalairport plan gets clearance
WILDLIFE OFFBEATLEGAL TRAGEDY AVIATION
PAKISTAN19Gulf Times
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) are wary
of carrying out election cam-paigns for the upcoming general elections after Sunday’s assassi-nation attempt on Interior Min-ister Ahsan Iqbal, but they say they will not let anything hold them back.
After the alleged attacker’s links with the Tehreek-e-Lab-baik Pakistan (TLP) were estab-lished, some PML-N lawmak-ers expressed concern yesterday that their party might not be
given a level playing fi eld in the elections if more of such inci-dents occurred.
They cited the situation in 2013, when the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Awami Na-tional Party (ANP) were targeted by the Taliban, depriving them of opportunity to campaign across the country.
“The same situation is being repeated in 2018 election. But the role of the Taliban may be played by someone else to deter the PML-N from campaigning,” said a PML-N member of the National Assembly (MNA) from Punjab.
He claimed that the PML-N leadership has been targeted
since the ouster of Nawaz Sharif from the offi ce of prime minis-ter.
“After the ink and shoe at-tacks on Khawaja Asif and Na-waz Sharif, respectively, the as-sassination attempt on Ahsan Iqbal shows the gravity of the situation.
“Like our leader (Nawaz) said, ‘everyone’ is targeting us and making an eff ort to stop us from returning to power,” the law-maker added.
Punjab Minorities Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu said: “The same environment (fear of Tali-ban) in which PPP and ANP con-tested the election in 2013 is be-ing created in 2018 polls for the
PML-N, but this time there is some other group.”
“We are being pushed against the wall. After the attack on Iqbal, we are receiving directives from deputy commissioners of respective districts to restrict our movements,” he said.
The minister admitted that such an environment would cre-ate diffi culties for the PML-N candidates to canvass in their constituencies.
“But we will keep fi ghting,” he added.
Member of the Punjab provin-cial assembly from Lahore, Ma-jid Zahoor, said that although it is quite an alarming situation for the party that the interior min-
ister was shot at during a rally in his hometown, “we will face it and go into elections with a brave heart”.
“We are being targeted by everyone, including some reli-gious extremists. But I want to tell other political parties that if the PML-N is targeted in the name of religion, the fi re will en-gulf others too,” he said, adding the PML-N would not leave the arena for others and is ready to face any kind of circumstances in the coming elections.
Zahoor further said all insti-tutions would have to play their role in curbing “this hatred”.
“I ask both the TLP and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
to stop fanning politics of ex-tremism. All stakeholders need to sit together after the attack on Iqbal and make sure that free and fair elections are held in a transparent manner and all po-litical parties are given a level-playing fi eld,” he said.
PML-N leader Muhammad Mehdi said: “It is not only our members who are worried, but the situation is equally alarming for other parties too.
“The extremist elements who blame us for changing a clause related to fi nality of Prophet-hood are also holding other par-ties responsible for it. Therefore, we need to take measures to-gether to stop hate speech.”
PML-N wary but defi ant after attack on ministerInternewsLahore
The gunman accused of shooting and wound-ing Pakistan’s interior
minister is a youth leader of a hardline religious group that sees its mission as enforcing death for blasphemers and rid-ding government of secular in-fl uence, police said in a report.
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was shot on Sunday as he was leaving a constituency meeting surrounded by sup-porters in Punjab province.
He is in hospital and out of danger but the attack has shaken the political establish-ment ahead of a general elec-tion expected in July.
The suspected gunman, ar-rested at the scene, is Abid Hussain, 21, a youth leader of the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik party (TLP), police said in an interrogation report seen by Reuters yesterday.
The party, known as Labaik, has made the emotive issue of blasphemy its rallying cry in a country where for years hard-line Islamists have vied for power with civilian politicians and a coup-prone military.
Hussain told police that he was inspired by the teachings of founders of the Labaik and joined a party blockade of the capital, Islamabad, in Novem-ber aimed at forcing out a gov-ernment minister they accused of blasphemy over a change to an oath-taking law.
According to police, Hus-sain said he had dreamt that Ali Hajveri, an 11th century Mus-lim preacher revered in South Asia, “ordered me to kill Ahsan Iqbal”.
Labaik has denied that Hus-sain is a member of the party.
“We have nothing to do with him,” spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi told Reuters.
But a founding member of Labaik, Pir Afzal Qadri, said that Iqbal and his Paki-stan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) party had invited trouble by committing blas-phemy when they changed an election law in a way some said weakened an oath declar-ing that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the last true prophet.
“They have done so much wrong,” Qadri said in a video message. “It is their fault, they themselves are responsible for this. These people are inviting attacks.”
Iqbal’s shooting has stoked
fears of a repeat of the pre-election Islamist violence that has blighted polls before, in-cluding the 2007 assassina-tion of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
It has also compounded un-ease about blasphemy.
Even accusations of blas-phemy can lead to mob killings and those convicted of blas-phemy face the death penalty, though no death sentences for it have been carried out.
Many clerics say that even to suggest change to the blas-phemy law is blasphemy.
In November, Labaik blocked a main road into the capital for several days over the small change to the elec-tion law.
The government explained the change as a clerical error and reversed it.
The minister responsible re-signed.
Hussain joined the protests determined to “send any blas-phemer to hell”, police said in their report.
Seven people were killed and 200 wounded when police tried to clear the blockade.
Qadri said that Iqbal, as in-terior minister, was responsi-ble for the attack on him as he had ordered the police action.
“It is regrettable that the whole world is making hue and cry just because he got one bullet, and not a single ar-rest has so far been made in the martyrdom of the seven peo-ple,” Qadri said.
Police said Hussain had cited the example of Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard of the governor of Punjab who gunned down the man he was meant to protect in 2011 over the governor’s call for reform of the blasphemy law.
Qadri, who was convicted of murder, sentenced to death and executed in 2016, has be-come a martyr for hardliners, and Labaik emerged out of a movement that lionised him.
Hussain bought a pistol sev-eral months ago and later got hold of bullets, police said.
Two days before the shoot-ing, he got a WhatsApp mes-sage from a resident of the town where Iqbal was shot, telling him that the minister was due.
Hours before the meeting, Hussain washed, put on smart clothes and went early to wait, police said.
“When Ahsan Iqbal came down from the stage and was encircled with party workers, Abid stood up and fi red.”
Gunman who shot Iqbal a youth leader of religious groupReutersIslamabad
For love and country
A couple takes a ‘wefie’ at the Pakistan National Monument in Islamabad.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regula-tory Authority (PSRA) has
requested the chief manager of the State Bank of Pakistan (Pe-shawar), to freeze the bank ac-counts of 22 private educational institutions for not implement-ing the fresh fee structure de-vised by it in light of Peshawar Higher Court’s directions.
The private schools have de-clined to implement the fee structure framed by the author-ity, a senior offi cial of the PSRA.
The decision to request the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to freeze the accounts of the pri-vate schools was made during a meeting chaired by PSRA man-aging director Syed Zaff ar Ali Shah and attended by director (operation) Yasir Hasan, direc-tor (administration) Hidayatul-lah, deputy directors Noor Alam Wazir, Rizwanullah and Sohail Aziz, and assistant director She-hbaz Khattak.
The request was made through a letter, which says that such schools have refused to imple-
ment the PSRA Regulations 2018, despite the judgment of the PHC issued on November 8, 2017.
“During the contempt hear-ing, the Peshawar Higher Court had directed to seal/freeze the bank accounts of the private schools, which are reluctant to act upon the directions of the court and KP-PSRA Regulations, 2018,” read the letter.
The regulator sought the SBP’s orders for scheduled banks to freeze the bank accounts of the private school systems in KP, un-til further notice.
On April 10, 2018, the PSRA directed all private educational institutions not to charge more than half of the tuition fee from second/third children of the same parents (kinship), in line with the judgment of the Pesha-war High Court.
It had also directed private schools not to charge the tuition fee during vacations.
It however said keeping in view of the expenditures like sal-aries, utility bills and rent etc, the management would be at liberty to charge a maximum of 50% of tuition fee in addition to the an-nual charges being made.
In light of the PHC decision,
the PSRA had also directed to in-crease annual fee only 3%.
When contacted, PSRA man-aging director Shah said that the authority had received hundreds of the complaints from parents against private schools over the non-implementation of the fee structure.
The PSRA managing director said that as the summer vacation would begin by the end of May, the authority has accelerated ef-forts to stop the private schools from charging full fee.
According to the letter, the private schools include Bloom-fi eld Hall School Peshawar, Bea-conhouse School System, the Racines School System, Forward Model School System, Roots Millennium School System, the City School System, the Smart School System, Peshawar Model School System, Qadim Lumi-naire school, Allied School Sys-tem, ILM School System, Iqra Rauzatul Atfal School System, Warsak Model School, Quaid-e-Azam Public School System, St Francis School, Frontier Children Academy, Pak-Turk Internation-al School and College, Sir Syed Public School, and the Educator School System.
KP private schools in troubleInternewsPeshawar
In a move apparently aimed at wooing voters and dis-gruntled politicians in
southern part of Pakistan’s Punjab province ahead of forthcoming polls, the provin-cial cabinet headed by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has decided in principle to revive the 20% public sector job quota for three southern divisions.
The Punjab government also plans to include residents of two underdeveloped districts of Sargodha division in the em-ployment quota initiative.
Offi cial sources say that there are many hitches in re-viving the job quota for three divisions of south Punjab – Multan, Bahawalpur, and DG Khan – besides the districts of Bhakkar and Mianwali.
After the formation of Ju-noobi Punjab Suba Mahaz (JPSM) led by member of the National Assembly (MNA) Khusro Bakhtiar that was also endorsed by the Pakistan Te-hreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in the party’s re-cent public meeting in Lahore, the Punjab government was seemingly pushed to take more initiatives for the welfare and betterment of those living in south of the province.
The 20% job quota was al-located for south Punjab resi-dents in the 1973 Constitution.
The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab gov-ernment suspended the quota in 1997. Since then the people from south Punjab had been competing for public sector jobs on open merit.
In the Constitution, the 20% job quota was given for 20 years as a “sunset clause” and was to expire automatically in 1993.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government, however, restored quota for another 20 years till 2013, but it was sus-pended in 1997.
Commenting on the move, an offi cial said that it would be very diffi cult for the govern-ment to legislate on the issue and revive the quota.
“There are many legal issues that may hinder such legisla-tion,” he said.
In a short meeting, the cabi-net also approved changing the name of the Punjab Coal Min-ing Company to “Punjab Min-eral Company’”.
On authorising the Punjab Halal Development Agency (PHDA) chairman to sign an Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) with Majelis Ulama Indonesia, the cabinet asked the agency to approach the federal government for fi nal approval as the issue fell in the centre’s jurisdiction.
The PHDA certifi es halal products in the province.
An agenda item regarding provision of subsidised wheat to the Azad Jammu and Kash-mir under the Extended Ram-zan Package, was withdrawn.
Addressing the cabinet, the chief minister said the PML-N government had taken unprec-edented steps for the develop-ment of southern region.
“Provision of 36% resources for 31% of the population is part of this commitment,” he said. “The massive develop-ment work in south Punjab would continue in future as well.”
Punjab revives 20% job quota for southInternewsLahore
New intelligence bureau chief
Dr Mohammad Suleman Khan, additional director general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), has been made chief of the civilian spy agency of the country.A notification issued by the Establishment Division yesterday stated that Suleman, an off icer of the Police Service of Pakistan, had been promoted from BPS-21 to 22.Suleman is the 40th chief of the IB – which is operationally under the prime minister and mainly responsible for countering insecurity within the country, which includes gathering information relating to cross-provincial crime and terrorism.Earlier, he was head of the premier intelligence agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where he was heavily engaged in counterterrorism operations, including tracing and breaking terrorist networks.Suleman’s predecessor Aftab Sultan, also from the police service, retired on April 3 after serving as IB head since June 7, 2013.The IB budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 is Rs5.09bn.
100 rail bridges fixed, renovated
Pakistan Railways has repaired and renovated around 100 railway bridges across the country during the last five years to meet modern standards and ensure the safety of train passengers.Pakistan Railways is inspecting the bridges on daily basis and making eff orts to rehabilitate the remaining bridges that are in poor condition as soon as possible, off icial in the ministry of railways said.There are 13,841 bridges – 532 major and 13,309 minor bridges – in the rail system.Most of the bridges were constructed well before partition, when the railway system was introduced in the subcontinent, the off icial said.To a question, he said that with dedicated inspections and regular maintenance, the bridges are generally in satisfactory condition.To another question, he said that Pakistan Railways has rehabilitated 789.34km of rail track by removing temporary speed restrictions and increasing speeds to ensuring sustainable train operation.The rehabilitation work was carried at 14 diff erent routes in four provinces, under various Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) projects, he added.
Chinese firm to provide clean drinking water to GwadarThe government of Baluchistan has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Chinese company to provide clean drinking water to the residents of Gwadar.Baluchistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and China’s Overseas Holding Company chief executive Zhang Baozang signed the MoU at a ceremony here on Monday.“The Chinese company will provide 300,000 gallons of water daily at a cost of 80 paisas a gallon. The acute scarcity of water in Gwadar will end soon.” Bizenjo said.“The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor provides us an opportunity to develop our deprived province and we should get benefits from multi-billion dollars Pak-China trade,” he said.
500 artists get cash allowance from KP governmentAfter approving stipends for mosque prayer leaders and minority religious leaders, the government of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has now decided to extend its benevolence to artists of the province.The KP government has started giving Rs30,000 as an award to around 500 artists and writers of the province.The programme, known as the “living human treasure award”, was announced for the second consecutive year.Artists who have done tremendous work in their respective fields will receive the award.A ceremony was held at the Nishtar Hall by the culture directorate, where Minister for Culture, Sports and Archaeology Mehmood Khan handed over the cheques.
Election Commission of Pakistan appoints returning off icersThe Election Commission of Pakistan has appointed district returning off icers (DROs), returning off icers (ROs), and assistant returning off icers (AROs) for the general elections.With a few exceptions, the respective district and session judges have been appointed as DROs.In some districts, DROs have been drawn from the administration due to non-availability of judicial off icers.Likewise, most of the ROs are from the subordinate judiciary.Meanwhile, the commission has convened a meeting presided over by the Chief Election Commissioner, retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza to discuss matters concerning the general elections.
PHILIPPINES
Gulf TimesWednesday, May 9, 201820
Protesters display banners to denounce the Philippines and United States ‘Balikatan’ (shoulder-to-shoulder) military field exercises during a protest in front of the US embassy in Metro Manila, yesterday.
Protest over military drills with US
Tourism secretary quits over confl ict of interest chargeBy Catherine S ValenteManila Times
Embattled Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo has resigned as head of the Department
of Tourism (DoT), but main-tained there was “no wrongdo-ing” amid a controversy over a P60mn advertising deal granted by her department to a television programme hosted by her broth-ers.
Teo’s resignation, which was announced by her lawyer Fer-dinand Topacio in a statement yesterday, came a day after she held a one-on-one talk with President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacanang.
In a statement, Topacio con-fi rmed that Teo had tendered her resignation before the start of Monday’s Cabinet meeting in Malacanang.
“Her letter was personally handed by her to Executive Sec-retary Salvador Medialdea in the afternoon. Late in the evening, after the Cabinet meeting was when she saw the president to talk to him in private,” Topacio said. “Her decision to leave her position was made after a long and deliberate refl ection and soul-searching with respect to the events that have transpired
the past few weeks,” he added.Contrary to initial reports,
Topacio said the president did not demand Teo’s resignation, and that “the decision to do so was purely of her own volition.”
“Secretary Teo reiterates that she has done no wrongdoing, and that all the dealings of the DoT went through all legal proc-esses, were above-board and done in good faith, and with total absence of malice,” Topacio said.
“Secretary Teo also says that she is honoured and privileged to have served as Secretary of Tourism under the Duterte ad-ministration, where she has done her level best to discharge her duty to promote tourism
both domestically and interna-tionally,” he added.
Topacio insisted there was nothing illegal with what Teo did, as DoT’s contract was with state-owned People’s Television (PTV) and it was the latter that decided to place the spots in Ben and Erwin Tulfo’s programme, “Kilos Pronto” under the Tul-fos’ Bitag Media Unlimited Inc (BMUI).
“DoT is not under investiga-tion by Commission on Audit (CoA),” according to Topacio.
In Malacanang, Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr con-fi rmed to reporters that Teo had submitted her resignation letter to Medialdea prior to the Cabi-
net meeting on Monday.“There was a resignation let-
ter (of Teo) that was submitted to the OES (Offi ce of the Executive Secretary) before the meeting with the president last night,” Roque said during a news con-ference.
In a separate text message, Roque confi rmed that Duterte had accepted Teo’s resignation.
Teo has been accused of cor-ruption over the advertising deal, which CoA red-fl agged for lack of proper documents.
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, who oversees PTV, where Bitag Media is a blocktimer, refused to com-ment on the matter.
“I have no comment on Sec-retary Teo’s resignation. Let us allow the proper procedure to proceed, which is basically for PTV to comply with CoA’s re-quirements,” Andanar said in a text message.
Teo’s resignation came de-spite Bitag’s announcement of its intent to return the P60mn that the DoT had paid to it.
Roque, a lawyer, said the re-turn of the payment, while a “good gesture,” was not enough to exonerate those involved in the transaction of charges.
“Well, the president is a law-yer and while the return of the
P60mn is a good gesture, based on the law, it will not lead to ex-oneration if there are possible violations. But of course there is still an ongoing investigation,” he said.
Roque said any investigation into the matter would be con-ducted by the Offi ce of the Om-budsman.
“We expect the speedy and transparent investigation of the Ombudsman,” the Palace offi cial added.
Ombudsman Conchita Car-pio-Morales confirmed that an investigation of the ad contract had begun.
“Yes, yes, we’ve already done that,” she told reporters.
The group #TindigPilipinas welcomed Teo’s resignation but said charges should be filed against her.
“It is not enough that he (president) fires his cabinet member or any administra-tion employee for the conven-ient reason of quelling public anger. Governance demands that cases be filed by the anti-corrupt commission that he formed against all the actors in this corrupt and nepotistic arrangement that was kept a secret, were it not for the brave souls of the Commission on Audit,” the group said.
Wanda Tulfo-Teo: courting controversy
‘All-Asian’ panel to investigatevaccineBy Catherine S ValenteManila Times
President Rodrigo Duterte will form a three-man, “all-Asian” panel of ex-
perts to investigate the con-troversial Dengvaxia vaccine, Malacanang said yesterday.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte made the decision during Monday’s Cab-inet meeting in Malacanang.
“The president after much discussion said that he will create a three-man panel of experts, all Asians, no West-erners and he will be bound by the fi ndings of these three-man expert panel on the issue of whether or not Dengvaxia ac-tually caused deaths,” he added.
In a news briefi ng, Roque said confl icting fi ndings of the Public Attorney’s Offi ce (PAO) and the University of the Phil-ippines-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) prompted Du-terte “to seek further advice” through the foreign panel of experts.
“The problem of the presi-dent is although there is a fi nd-ing of a PAO expert and there is a PGH panel of experts’ fi nd-ing, as a lawyer and a former prosecutor, he knows that ex-pert witnesses can cancel out each other’s testimonies,” he added.
“In eff ect, he said that with confl icting testimonies from the experts from the PAO and the PGH, he is constrained to
seek further advice from dis-interested parties,” Roque said.
According to him, the for-eign experts must have no ties with the Philippine govern-ment and the Dengvaxia man-ufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur.
“He (Duterte) requested that the panel of experts should be foreign, should have no links absolutely with the Philippine government… and of course must have no links with Sa-nofi ,” Roque said. “He will lis-ten to the report and opinion of the experts for us to move on from this issue. For now, the president is just waiting for a more transparent scientifi c fi nding that’s why he wanted to form the three-man panel of experts for us to know what we can do about this Dengvaxia controversy,” he added.
Dengvaxia maker Sanofi earlier hailed the vaccine as a breakthrough in combating dengue, which kills hundreds of people in the Philippines, mostly children, every year.
But the French company set off a panic when in November it said a new analysis showed that the vaccine could lead to more severe symptoms for people who had not been in-fected with the dengue virus.
In February, the Department of Health (DoH) confi rmed that of the 14 children who died of various causes some time af-ter receiving Dengvaxia, only three died of dengue, but none of the deaths could directly be attributed to the vaccine.
Govt resumes talks with communist rebels
DPAManila
Informal talks between Philippine government offi cials and communist
rebels have resumed in Eu-rope after President Rodrigo Duterte cancelled the talks in November last year, the gov-ernment confi rmed yesterday.
Presidential Peace Advisor Jesus Dureza said in a state-ment that Duterte had been briefed on Monday night that eff orts to resume peace nego-tiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) “are under way, with back-channel talks now taking place in Europe.”
“Our team is now in Europe and we are informed that there are initial positive results so far,” Dureza said. “We are doing
our best to meet the deadline set by the president about the resumption of talks within 60 days,” he added, referring to the cut-off date Duterte had set on April 4 after the House of Rep-resentatives approved a resolu-tion calling for resumption of the negotiations. Dureza said he and Labour Secretary Sil-vestre Bello III, a member of the governmental peace panel, had informed the president that his directives were being relayed “across the table.”
Duterte previously called off negotiations after accusing the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), of engaging continuously in vio-lent and hostile acts.
The justice department had earlier asked a Manila court to declare as terrorists the CPP, NPA and certain leftist individuals.
Duterte set to visit plateau for launch of researchBy Ralph VillanuevaManila Times
President Rodrigo Duterte will set foot in the Philip-pine (Benham) Rise next
week to send off 50 scientists who will conduct research in the area, Malacanang said yes-terday.
The Philippine Rise is an un-derwater plateau near Aurora province in Luzon, the coun-try’s biggest group of islands.
The president will be com-memorating last year’s renam-ing of Benham Rise to Philip-pine Rise by visiting the area on May 15-16.
The visit will coincide with the launch of a scientifi c re-search to be conducted by around 50 scientists, Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a news briefi ng.
“The event will be attended
by 50 scientists whom the pres-ident will be sending off as they start their scientifi c research in the Philippine Rise,” Roque added.
He said all 50 scientists are Filipinos.
President Rodrigo Duterte said on April 26 that he is plan-ning to set sail to the Philippine Rise to reiterate the claim of the Philippines to the disputed area.
In a speech during the 102nd Annual Communication of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Ma-sons in the Philippines in Davao City, Duterte announced that he will proceed to the Philip-pine Rise to make a statement that it is owned solely by the Philippines.
The seismically active pla-teau is also contested by China.
“Nobody owns this place (but us), including the conti-
nental shelf, the underground landmass that extends un-der the sea,” Duterte said in a speech during the gathering of the masons.
If need be, he added, he will go to war to defend the disputed underwater plateau.
“We are an independent na-tion… and there are so many ships doing explorations there,” the president said.
“And when this crucial ques-tion was asked of me, ‘What will you do if they also claim it?’ I said, ‘I will go to war.’ And I will go to war, believe me,” Du-terte added.
The United Nations in 2012 declared the Philippine Rise as an extension of the Philippines’ continental shelf.
This is not the first time that Duterte threatened to wage a war against any coun-try that will explore the Phil-ippine Rise.
“If anybody, any country for that matter, would say that they’d want to try and experiment there without our permission and, worse, begin exploration talks here at the Benham or Philippine Rise, I will not allow it, and it will mean war,” the president said in a speech on March 1.
Roque, however, said the strong words of Duterte were not directed at China.
Early this year, the Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs (DFA) granted a request of the Insti-tute of Oceanology of the Chi-nese Academy of Sciences for a marine scientific research in Eastern Luzon and Eastern Mindanao.
A similar request by French-based non-profit organisation Tara Expeditions was declined by the DFA, according to Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano.
Agency junks 20 contracts over defective housesBy Jing VillamenteManila Times
The National Housing Authority (NHA) has terminated 20 contracts with project developers while 33 other contractors
were also issued termination notices for their poor performance, particularly in projects in the provinces of Samar and Leyte that were hit by su-per Typhoon Yolanda nearly fi ve years ago.
The NHA is gearing up to fi le charges against its own people for negligence in accrediting and supervising housing projects with incomplete facilities that hampered their transfer to intend-ed benefi ciaries after the typhoon devastated the provinces in 2013.
In a news conference yesterday, NHA offi cials defended themselves by saying the projects were only inherited from the Aquino administration.
“The problems are irreversible and not easily (rectifi ed) with additional funds, which is now our dilemma, whether or not to infuse additional funds,” John-Christopher Mahamud, chief of staff of NFA General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr, said.
“This (contract termination) is sending mes-sages to the contractors to do their jobs properly. For the offi cials involved, it’s hard to pinpoint but (Escalada) has already reactivated a fact-
fi nding committee to determine the involvement of former offi cials and charge them if necessary,” Mahamud added.
Victor Barba, NHA head of operation, said the termination of the 20 contracts stemmed from the developers’ “poor performance” that re-sulted from fi elding unnecessary personnel and equipment and incurring spillage of over 15%, thus delaying the projects.
Among the contracts terminated were those of FJ Tiu and Associates & Development Corpora-tion, Richmark Construction, LSD Construction & Supplies, St Gerrad Construction Corporation Robig/Three W Builders Inc, Harley Construc-tion/Three W Builders, Eagle Rock Construc-tion & Dev’t Corp. (fi ve housing projects) and JC Tayag Builders Inc. (nine projects).
The contractors that had each been served with Notice of Termination were Primodial Con-struction Corp/EM Curerpo Inc, FFJJ Construc-tion, CB Tampengco Construction & Supply, Bumbaran Development Corp, Urban (UCC)/Kit Properties, Specifi ed Contractors & Developer, IPM Const. & Dev’t, Zephyr Construction, Edi-son Dev’t & Construction, St Gerrad Construc-tion, Victoria Dev’t & Construction Supply Corp, Hi-Tri Dev’t Corporation, Oscar R. Sarmiento Const., Eaglerock Const. & Dev’t Corp and MRRM Trading & Construction.
SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL21
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Two sentenced to death for professor’s murderTwo militants were sen-
tenced to be hanged for the murder of a Bangla-
desh university professor who was hacked to death with a ma-chete two years ago, a prosecutor said yesterday.
The killing was among a spate of attacks in the Muslim-major-ity country on secular activists, religious minorities and foreign-ers blamed by authorities on homegrown extremists.
Rezaul Karim Siddique, an
English literature professor and prominent secular activist, was killed near his home in Rajshahi city in April 2016.
One of the two ordered to be hanged yesterday was a student from Siddique’s de-partment at Rajshahi Univer-sity, Shariful Islam, who is currently on the run.
Islamic State claimed re-sponsibility for the murder but Bangladesh authorities blamed homegrown mili-tants accused of carrying out similar attacks.
Siddique was the fourth pro-fessor from Rajshahi Univer-
sity to be killed by Islamists in recent years.
Charges were pressed in 2016 against eight young men, in-cluding Siddique’s English literature student.
Prosecutor Entajul Haque said a fast track court in Ra-jshahi convicted fi ve of the eight defendants of murder, order-ing executions for two and life imprisonment for three others.
“The judge said the two will be hanged to death. The key con-vict is absconding and he was sentenced in absentia,” he said.
Haque said all fi ve accused belong to the banned Jamayetul
Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which police said had no international links.
He said three of those found guilty had already been killed in police encounters in recent months.
Local police chief Hafi zur Rahman said authorities have launched a manhunt for Islam.
Immediately after the murder, the IS-linked Amaq news agency allegedly said the professor was killed for “calling to atheism”.
Family and friends said the professor had never spoken out against religion but he might have been targeted for his role
in leading music and literature groups in Rajshahi.
JMB is blamed for several deadly attacks in Bangladesh in the last fi ve years, including the July 2016 Dhaka cafe carnage.
Armed gunmen stormed a cafe in the capital’s diplomatic area and hacked or shot dead 22 people, including 18 foreigners.
Bangladeshi security forces have since launched a crack-down on extremist outfi ts, ar-resting hundreds of suspects and gunning down at least 80 accused Islamist militants.
Bangladesh executed three Islamists last year.
AFPDhaka
Top court to hear Zia’s bail plea today
The Bangladesh Su-preme Court yesterday deferred a hearing on
opposition leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s bail in a corruption case in which she is currently serving a fi ve-year sentence.
A four-member appellate division bench led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will resume the hearing of ar-guments from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lead-er’s side today, the Daily Star reported.
On February 8, a special court found Zia, who is also facing several other cases of corruption, violence and se-dition, guilty of embezzling $252,000 in foreign donations for the Zia Orphanage Trust.
She was granted a four month bail by the High Court on March 12. However, the apex court stayed the bail order following two peti-tions fi led by the Anti-Cor-ruption Commission and the government.
Anti-Corruption Commis-sion lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said Zia cannot be given bail “due to the gravity of the off ences she committed”.
BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other senior party leaders were present in the courtroom while party activists rallied around the Supreme Court complex prompting an extra security vigil in the neigh-bourhood as the hearing was underway.
Zia’s imprisonment shook the country’s political sce-nario ahead of the general elections in December this year. BNP, the main opposi-tion outside parliament, al-leged the trial was politically motivated to debar her from contesting elections, an al-legation denied by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.
Political analysts feared BNP was now exposed to a political wilderness after Zia’s conviction, which is likely to disqualify her for elec-tions unless she could obtain a diff erent direction from the Supreme Court.
IANSDhaka
BNP leader Khaleda Zia.
Bangladesh sees big boom in remittances
Millions of Bangla-deshis, living and working abroad, re-
mitted home over $12bn in the fi rst 10 months of the current 2017-18 fi scal year ending next month, a central bank offi cial said yesterday.
Quoting provisional data, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) of-fi cial told Xinhua that the fl ow of inward remittances surged about 18% year on year to $12,088mn in July-April peri-od of the current 2017-18 fi scal year (July 2017-June 2018).
The amount of remittance from over 10mn non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs), who are mostly employed in the Mid-dle East, stood at $1.33bn last month, up over 21.47% from that of the same period a year earlier, said the offi cial who preferred to be unnamed.
The fl ow of inward remit-tances in the fi scal year 2016-17 (July 2016-June 2017) fell about 14.47% to $12.77bn from the previous fi scal year.
Against this backdrop, Bangladesh has strengthened its eff orts to send more Bang-ladeshis abroad with overseas employment.
Bangladeshi Minister of Ex-patriates’ Welfare and Over-seas Employment Nurul Is-lam has announced that the country plans to send some 1.2mn Bangladeshis abroad with overseas employment this year.
The expectation comes after over 1mn Bangladeshis found overseas jobs in 2017.
Remittances, which account for around 11% of the coun-try’s GDP, mainly come from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singa-pore and South Korea, among others.
IANSDhaka
Sirisena urges end to power struggle
Sri Lanka’s president yes-terday appealed to his prime minister to end
a bitter power struggle and said the coalition government had failed to deliver promised reforms.
But Maithripala Sirisena suf-fered a new blow when 16 of his MPs joined the opposition.
Sirisena told parliament that the coalition partners should commit to a reform agenda to revive the island nation emerg-ing from a decades-long eth-nic war that claimed more than 100,000 lives.
“This is not a time for parties to engage in a power struggle,” Sirisena said after opening a new session of parliament.
“Although we formed a coali-tion government in August 2015, we still have not politically ma-tured to accept and work within this reality. Consensus govern-ment is still a foreign concept to us.”
He urged the government dominated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) to work towards ethnic reconciliation to rebuild the country.
Tamil rebels who fought for independence for the island’s ethnic minority were crushed
AFPColombo
President Maithripala Sirisena announces a policy statement during a ceremony for the new session of parliament in Colombo yesterday.
President Sirisena arrives ahead of a ceremony for the new session of parliament in Colombo yesterday.
in a military off ensive that ended in May 2009.
The military drive has sparked allegations that more than 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by government forces in the fi nal months of the war.
Sirisena said the government must address the causes of the ethnic confl ict and ensure a per-manent political solution so that the nation of 21mn people does not return to war.
His remarks came a day after he announced he will not retire at the end of his term in January 2020 despite a previous pledge. That pits him against Wick-remesinghe who also wants to contest the presidency.
Sirisena told a public rally in the former war zone of Batticaloa on Monday that he had unfi n-ished business and no longer in-tends to retire when his fi ve-year term fi nishes.
Relations between Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Wickremesinghe’s UNP have soured in recent months.
They blame each other for a humiliating defeat in February’s local council elections. Their row deepened when the UNP, sen-ior partner in the coalition, ac-cused Sirisena of supporting last month’s failed bid to impeach the prime minister.
There was no immediate UNP
response to Sirisena’s latest announcements.
However, as the president en-tered the parliament building yesterday, 16 of his SLFP law-makers formally defected to join opposition ranks as SLFP rebels.
The SLFP was previously split between Sirisena and former president Mahinda Rajapakse who still has wide support in the country and commands a majority of SLFP lawmakers.
Central bank calls for cheaper transport
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said yesterday that the government must explore
cheaper and faster options to tackle traffi c jams in the island country such as establishing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system and a light rail transit (LRT).
“Expeditious implementa-tion of eff ective and aff ordable traffi c management solutions is vital to curb numerous negative
externalities arising from traffi c congestion,” the Central Bank said in its annual report cited by Xinhua news agency.
Major improvements to both public and private bus transport services were essential to over-come traffi c congestion in urban areas and reduce productivity losses in the overall economy, the bank was quoted by the Sri Lankan media as saying.
The Central Bank noted that the increase in traffi c, mostly by low occupancy vehicles like cars, had been rapid, and resulted in heavy traffi c congestion, wast-ing time and fi nancial resources of the country while increasing pollution levels.
The total vehicle popula-tion in Sri Lanka has risen from 3,390,993 in 2008 to over 6mn in 2016. (IANS)
US award for young Bangladeshiactivist
The US State Department has presented Emerg-ing Young Leaders
Award to Bangladeshi youth, community development and woman rights activist Tanzil Ferdous along with nine other individuals.
The 24-year-old president of Volunteer for Bangladesh, Chittagong and senior pro-gramme assistant at UNHCR received the honour along with the other winners from US Assistant Secretary Marie Royce in a public ceremony at the department May 2.
Ferdous has organised suc-cessful events through her organisation and engaged hundreds of youths in volun-teerism. She believes such ef-forts will deter them from en-gaging in extremist activities.
She has also been active in working with Rohingya refu-gees in Bangladesh and has helped develop a safe space for 500 refugee children at the camps through JAAGO Foundation.
In a statement to the State Department, she said her goal
is to “empower adolescent girls and women, to bring them to leadership posi-tions through capacity build-ing and strengthening them to become the leaders of tomorrow”.
The Emerging Young Lead-ers Award and Exchange Programme recognises 10 youth leaders (18-24 years of age) around the world every year for their eff orts to enact positive social change.
The recipients of the Emerging Young Leaders Award are visiting the United States for a two-week pro-gramme to recognise and support their eff orts.
The honourees are visiting Washington, DC fi rst to meet with US government and non-government offi cials. They would then travel to Austin, Texas to engage in profes-sional meetings with their American counterparts before reconvening in Washington, DC to share project plans.
Once back home, the awar-dees will be able to apply for grants to support their work.
Tanzil Ferdous
AgenciesDhaka
Nepal puts a two-day ban on trekking in Annapurna circuit
Offi cials in Nepal have put a two-day prohibition on trekking along the
Thorong La Pass Trekking (An-napurna circuit) route ahead of Indian Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s two-day visit to the country, commencing on May 11.
The district administration offi ce of Manang and Mustang has proscribed trekking on the Manang-Thorong La and Mus-tang-Thorong La-Manang trek-king route on May 11 and 12. Dur-ing the two-day phase, helicopters
are barred from fl ying in the area, reported the Kathmandu Post.
Hundreds of tourists have paid fees to Annapurna conservation area project (ACAP) to embark on trekking along the circuit.
With this decision being im-plemented, it is highly likely that trekkers will fi nd themselves in a tight spot as a few of them have already be-gun it and a few of them are preparing to commence for the same.
“Trekkers who have already embarked on the trek will face problems. It the government’s decision and we have to abide by it,” the report quoted ACAP chief Binod Basnet, as saying.
Nepal’s Minister for Foreign Aff airs Pradeep Gyawali and In-dian ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri have visited Janakpur to study security and other issues ahead of Modi’s visit.
Modi will be given a civic re-ception at the Bahrabigaha’s Rangabhoomi ground.
Gywali said Modi’s visit will prove to be a milestone for Nepal’s development.
Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and Modi will jointly initiate two projects - the Ayod-hya bus service and the Ramay-ana circuit project - from the temple premises.
The Indian PM will be felici-tated on behalf of the Janakpur sub-metropolis authorities, Gyawali said.
The provincial government has announced a public holiday to coincide with Modi’s visit.
Chief Minister Lal Babu Raut of province number 2 said it was a matter of pride to welcome the Indian prime minister to Janak-pur and hence they were working on a war footing to make the visit a grand success.
Modi will also call on Nepal Presi-dent Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Vice President Nanda Kishor Pun and meet leaders of political parties.
The Indian prime minister will lay the foundation stone of Arun III hydroelectricity project in Sankhuwasabha district of east-ern Nepal, undertaken by India’s Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam, through videoconferencing.
The 900MW project is expect-ed to be completed in fi ve years. India will spend $1.5bn on it.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City will hold a civic reception for Modi, with Mayor Bidhya Sundar Sakya presenting an “artistic key” to Modi.
As many as 11,000 secu-rity personnel will be deployed during Modi’s Nepal visit.
Oil market equilibriumcalls for stable pricesand new investments
Lower-for-longer oil prices, global concerns over climate change, the rise of renewables and the prospect of peak oil demand are clouding the long-term investment outlook for the sector.
There’s now an emerging threat: The prospect of a widespread retreat from funding by multilateral lenders and investment from sovereign wealth funds, according to an S&P Global Plats report in January.
Norway’s SWF said in November it plans to drop oil and gas stocks from its $1tn fund to cut its exposure to the sector. In December, the World Bank said it will cease to fi nance upstream projects after 2019 to bring its lending in line with Paris climate agreement goals.
Oil’s recovery to almost $70 a barrel hasn’t been suffi cient to stimulate the return of enough investment in the sector, according to Saudi Arabia’s energy minister. Investment is still $1tn below the level it was before oil’s downturn in 2014, Khalid al-Falih said in a Bloomberg Television interview in March.
Just as the new momentum to the divestment from fossil fuels is gathering speed, so also the voice warning about a lack of spending on new projects is getting
louder. Infl uential fi gures from the International Energy Agency to the boss of oil major Total have warned a supply shortage could emerge early next decade after
a period of deep cuts in spending. Here’s one scenario: Under-investment could push
prices as high as $300 a barrel within a few years, says prominent hedge-fund manager Pierre Andurand.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with its allies such as Russia, is working to bring equilibrium to the market. The alliance seems determined to keep cutting production even after their campaign to rebalance world oil markets has all but eliminated surplus inventories.
Falling prices, for sure, aren’t a single-edged sword. Cheap oil can cut investments to develop new oil and gas fi elds. Through 2050, the value of potentially uneconomic projects by private oil companies would reach a mind-boggling $21tn, according to a 2014 report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
At the same time, the world’s appetite for oil is seen staying strong.
Opec’s in-house forecast is that demand for its oil is expected to increase by almost 400,000 bpd in 2018. Longer term, demand is projected to reach 111.1mn bpd by 2040. Opec’s heartland in the Middle East still holds the world’s most profi table fi elds to pump at about a third of the cost of US shale.
There are, of course, gainers and losers from the decline in global crude prices. But cheaper oil may not translate into a proportional growth boost for global economy as much as it’s generally hoped for.
True, few analysts realistically expect oil prices to return to the erstwhile $100-plus levels in the near future. But oil companies say global energy future envisages rising demand and population growth, making oil an important fuel for decades to come.
Despite the emergence of renewables, global energy security depends mainly on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. And the world is in need of a stable oil market with price equilibrium.
Cheap oil can cut investments to develop new oil and gas fi elds
Law regulating real estate brokerageGovernment bodies and major
stakeholders in the real estate industry in Qatar have praised the fl exibility shown by the
real estate market against the blockade. The market data for 2017 displayed a sizeable increase in the volume of real estate transactions “which could be between 8% and 12% increase in October and November last year respectively compared to corresponding months in 2016” as stated by a leading real estate brokerage company in Qatar. Government Offi cials have praised the role of economic and legal reform in bolstering the national economy, including the real estate sector, and have stated that “there is a high level of optimism in the growth of the real estate market in the years leading to the 2022 FIFA World Cup”.
The government reforms included (i) the introduction of the Law No 22 of 2017 Regulating Real Estate Brokerage (Law); (ii) approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of a draft law which expands the rights of non-Qataris to acquire real estate in Qatar, including land, buildings, residential units and detachment units in residential complexes; [note: this draft law has not entered into force at the time of drafting this article]; and (iii) the recent lifting of visa restrictions for the nationalities of some 40 countries with the result that the nationals of some 80 countries can now enter Qatar on a visa waiver.
This article identifi es the new changes introduced by the Law.
Enforcement of the Real Estate Brokerage Law
The Law which came into eff ect on 26 January 2018 repealed the Law No 13 of 2011 with respect to regulation of real estate brokerage (Old Law). Entities and/or individuals whose business is governed
by the Law are required to comply, before 26 July 2018. The Minister of Justice (Minister) may at his sole discretion issue a decision extending the period to comply with the new Law.
Amendments introduced in the Real Estate Brokerage Law
a) Regulatory Body Under the old law, the Ministry
of Economy and Commerce was the regulatory body responsible for monitoring real estate activities in Qatar, including the activities of real estate brokers. This authority has now been subsumed under the powers of the Ministry of Justice pursuant to the Law.
b) The Committee of Real Estate Brokers’ Aff airs
The law has introduced the Committee (Committee) of Real Estate Brokers’ Aff airs which did not previously exist under the Old Law. The responsibilities of the Committee include amongst other things, (i) considering the grievances fi led by parties against the decisions of the Ministry of Justice; (ii) considering complaints fi led by or against a real estate broker; and (iii) estimating real estate broker’s fees and commissions should a dispute arise.
c) Defi nition of Real Estate Brokerage
The law has expanded the defi nition of Real Estate Brokerage to include real estate promotions, auctions, administrative activities on behalf of third-parties and pricing in accordance with the regulations issued by the Minister to this eff ect.
d) Requirements of Real Estate Brokers
New requirements set out under the law require (i) individual real estate brokers to pass tests and training courses specifi ed by the Committee to
qualify as licensed real estate brokers; and (ii) real estate brokers to provide evidence that they have not worked for the Ministry of Justice or any other administrative department in other ministries which regulate real estate or urban planning unless three year period has expired after the end of their employment with such government entities. The manager of a real estate brokerage company is now required to satisfy all the conditions of an individual real estate broker, including the requirement to be a Qatari national.
e) Non-Qatari Real Estate Brokerage companies
The law states that foreign real estate brokerage companies may be licensed in accordance with new regulations issued by the Cabinet of Ministers. These regulations have not been issued at the date of this article.
f) Prohibited ActivitiesAs an additional requirement to the Old
Law, Article 14 of the Law provides that a real estate broker must put in place the following documents prior to undertaking any real estate brokerage activities:
(i) a written brokerage contract with its client indicating the parties, the details of the property, the brokerage conditions, the broker’s fees, the capacity of the person authorised to undertake the disposition of the property; and
(ii) a certifi ed copy of the title deed of the property; under the Old Law a copy of the title deed was suffi cient.
A broker may not undertake activities that fall outside the scope of real estate brokerage as defi ned under the Law, or activities that would create a confl ict of interest in terms of its duty as a real estate broker.
g) Real Estate Broker’s Remuneration
In addition, the Law has introduced a new provision which deals with the determination of the broker’s remuneration if the brokerage contract is silent. Article 17 of the Law states that the broker’s remuneration will be determined by the Committee on the basis of the normal custom, otherwise the fees shall be estimated based on the eff ort and time spent by the broker. The fees, however, may not exceed 1% of the contract value if the work calculation involves transfer of ownership or transfer of a right in rem, or a fee equal to 50% of a month’s rent if the work involves a lease.
h) Disciplinary actions The Committee may take disciplinary
action against the real estate broker if found in breach of the law. The disciplinary actions include:
1. warning;2. suspension of licence for a period
not exceeding six months; or3. permanent revocation of licence.The Committee may post the penalty
on the Ministry of Justice website if the licence has been suspended for a period not exceeding six months or has been permanently revoked.
i) Penalties Article 24 of the law raised the
penalty for undertaking brokerage activities without licence, or during the suspension of the licence, from QR20,000 to QR100,000, and added an additional penalty of imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months to the same violation. Non-Qataris involved in such violations will be deported from Qatar.
For further information on this/other legal matters, please contact David Salt ([email protected]) or Yousef Fakhoury ([email protected]).
09-05-2018
A real estate broker must put in place a written brokerage contract, indicating the parties, the details of the property, the brokerage conditions, the broker’s fees, etc with its client prior to undertaking any brokerage activities.
COMMENT
Gulf Times Wednesday, May 9, 2018 23
Printing body parts in hospital
Indian train off ers ticket to life-saving care
Denuclearisation means the US, tooBy Jeff rey D SachsNew York
There are two types of foreign policy: one based on the principle “might makes right,” and one based on the
international rule of law. The United States wants to have it both ways: to hold other countries accountable to international law while exempting itself. And nowhere is this truer than on the matter of nuclear weapons.
America’s approach is doomed to fail. Now, it’s time to hold all countries, including the US and other nuclear powers, accountable to the international rules of non-proliferation.
The US demands that North Korea adhere to the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and on that basis has encouraged the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on North Korea in pursuit of denuclearisation. Similarly, Israel calls for sanctions or even war against Iran to stop the country from developing a nuclear weapon in violation of the NPT. Yet the US brazenly violates the NPT, and Israel does worse: it has refused to sign the treaty and has claimed the right to a massive nuclear arsenal, acquired through subterfuge, that it refuses to acknowledge to this day.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed in 1968, with signatories agreeing to three key principles. First, nuclear-weapon states pledge not to transfer nuclear weapons or to assist non-nuclear states’ manufacture or acquisition of them, and non-nuclear states pledged not to receive or develop nuclear weapons. Second, all countries have the right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Third, and crucially, all parties
to the treaty, including the nuclear powers, agree to negotiate nuclear – and indeed general – disarmament. As the NPT’s Article VI puts it:
“Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on eff ective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and eff ective international control.”
The core purpose of the NPT is to reverse the nuclear arms race, not to perpetuate the nuclear monopoly of a few countries. Still less is it to perpetuate the regional nuclear monopoly of countries that have failed to sign the treaty, such as Israel, which now seems to believe that it can evade negotiations with the Palestinians because of its overwhelming military power. Such is the self-destructive hubris conjured by nuclear weapons.
Most of the international community – with the conspicuous exception of the existing nuclear powers and their military allies – reiterated the call for nuclear disarmament by adopting in 2017 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty calls on every nuclear-armed state to co-operate “for the purpose of verifying the irreversible elimination of its nuclear-weapon programme.” Whereas 122 countries voted for it, one voted against, one abstained, and 69, including the nuclear powers and Nato members, did not vote. As of last week, 58 countries had signed the treaty and eight had ratifi ed it.
The US demands that North Korea live up to its NPT obligations and denuclearise, and the Security Council agrees. Yet the brazenness with which the US demands not true denuclearisation, but rather its own
nuclear dominance, is stunning. The Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, published in February, calls for a massive modernisation of the US nuclear arsenal while paying no more than lip service to its NPT treaty obligations:
“Our commitment to the goals of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) remains
strong. Yet we must recognise that the current environment makes further progress toward nuclear arms reductions in the near term extremely challenging.…This review rests on a bedrock truth: nuclear weapons have and will continue to play a critical role in deterring nuclear attack and in preventing large-scale conventional
warfare between nuclear-armed states for the foreseeable future.”
In short, the US demands that only other countries denuclearise. Denuclearising itself would be “challenging” and would violate the “bedrock truth” that nuclear weapons serve US military needs.
Aside from America’s failure to abide by its NPT obligations, another
huge problem is that US military needs are not really about deterrence. The US is the major war-making entity in the world by far, fi ghting wars of choice in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere. Its military has repeatedly engaged in regime-change eff orts during the past half-century, wholly in violation of international law and the UN Charter, including two recent operations to overthrow leaders (Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi ) who had acceded to US demands to end their nuclear programmes.
We can put it this way: power corrupts, and nuclear power creates the illusion of omnipotence. Nuclear powers bluster and boss rather than negotiate. Some overthrow other countries’ governments at their whim, or at least aim to do so. The US and it nuclear allies have repeatedly arrogated to themselves the right to ignore the UN Security Council and the international rule of law, such as the illegal Nato attacks against Gaddafi ’s regime in Libya and the illegal military incursions by the US, Israel, the United Kingdom, and France in Syria in the eff ort to weaken or overthrow Bashar al-Assad.
By all means, let us urge a rapid and successful denuclearisation of North Korea; but let us also, with equal urgency, address the nuclear arsenal of the US and others. The world is not living under a Pax Americana. It is living in dread, with millions pushed into the vortex of war by an unrestrained and unhinged US military machine, and with billions living in the shadow of nuclear annihilation. – Project Syndicate
Jeff rey D Sachs, University professor at Columbia University, is Director of Columbia’s Centre for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Live issues
By Alwyn ScottNew York
Three-dimensional printers are letting doctors in Minnesota make simulated body parts in a hospital and a
Brooklyn startup create rocket engines designed to put satellites into orbit, executives said recently at an event hosted by General Electric Co.
The unusual locations for additive printing, highlighted at the fi rst such event GE has organised, showed how quickly the technology is moving beyond plastic prototypes to everyday industrial use.
Companies are now routinely printing titanium engine parts,
customising dashboards of high-end cars, turning out jewellery and eyeglass frames and developing rocket engines.
General Motors Company said it is working with design software company Autodesk Inc to make lightweight 3D-printed parts that could help GM add alternative-fuel vehicles to its product lineup.
GE, which makes metal 3D printers as well as parts, and has invested more than $3bn in the business, is promoting the technology to show its possibilities and spur broader use.
“People are in the very, very beginning stage of understanding the potential,” GE Chief Executive Offi cer John Flannery said at the event in New York.
At the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for example, doctors work directly with engineers to print medical devices tailored to patients, said radiologist Jonathan Morris.
“We’ve put manufacturing inside the hospital,” Morris said. The hospital does not make implants but can simulate body parts to help surgeons decide how to do an operation, or can make guides for cutting and drilling during surgery, he said.
Last year, the clinic printed 1,200 devices for about 700 patients, more than twice as many as the year before.
Launcher, a fi ve-person startup formed last year in Brooklyn, used 3D printers to make a small rocket
engine. It could not compete with big aerospace fi rms if it had to build engines from individual parts. “It is a matter of existence for us,” Chief Executive Max Haot said of printing technology.
GE expects to sell about 500 printers this year, generating about $500mn in revenue, more than double last year’s sales, said Jason Oliver, chief executive of GE Additive. About 15% of the sales are to GE, he said.
The division is part of GE Aviation, where it has been used to improve aircraft engines and reduce their cost. The business will become its own division after investment slows and revenue increases further. “That’s a couple of years away,” Oliver said. – Reuters
ReutersJalore, India
When the Lifeline Express rolled into the sleepy Indian town of Jalore, Bhagwana Ram Prajapat
was anxiously waiting to board.The 55-year-old has been
desperately looking for treatment for his grandson’s cleft-lip and the specially converted sky-blue, seven-coach train was the answer to his prayers.
“We had been waiting for the surgery ever since the child was born 18 months ago,” said Prajapat as his grandson was wheeled into the operating theatre onboard the hospital-train.
The Lifeline Express has been providing free treatment to the needy in deepest India for nearly three decades. It has helped more than 1mn people, treating ailments ranging from cataracts to cancer.
The train criss-crosses India, providing state-of-the-art medical care to those who would otherwise have to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest major hospital.
It spends about a month in a district before moving on to a new destination, fi lling a critical gap in India’s public health system.
“We were thinking we would have to travel everywhere and spend a lot of money. But it’s god’s blessing that this hospital came to us,” said Prajapat.
“I was worried how they are going to conduct the operation in a train. But when we came here and saw the facilities, there was no doubt.”
Government-run community health centres form the backbone of
rural healthcare in India. But a lack of infrastructure and doctors means 70% of its 1.25bn people have no easy access to treatment.
India is the fastest growing of the world’s major economies, but a Unicef report said some 1.2mn children died of preventable causes in India in 2015 before their fi fth birthday.
State-run hospitals are often stretched to breaking point and patients face long delays for even minor treatment and are forced to share beds.
So many Indians fl ock to private clinics even though a consultation can cost Rs1,000 ($15) — a huge sum for millions living on less than $2 a day.
The Lifeline Express took to the rails in 1991 to help patients in far-fl ung areas who need surgery for cataracts, polio and cleft palates.
In 2016, the train expanded its services to include screening and surgery for oral, breast and cervical cancer.
It has two operating theatres and about 20 staff . Many of the doctors work for free.
Mehak Sikka, the Lifeline Express medical offi cer, said she joined the hospital-on-wheels after seeing the pathetic conditions at health centres.
“I was traumatised to see the healthcare system — especially for women — that we have in the country,” said Sikka.
“In many places there were no gynaecologists. Having a gynaecologist is very important in any district hospital but the women didn’t have access to one.
“Women were contracting infections only because they were delivering kids outside hospitals.”
Sikka said the Lifeline Express did not just aim to treat and leave, but to educate local doctors and people about the right approach to healthcare.
“We also try to set the example
that this is how an operating theatre should look. We make sure a local doctor is there when the surgery is being conducted so that he can do the follow-ups later on.”
The Lifeline Express is run by Impact India foundation, a non-profi t that works with the government and is helped by the World Health Organisation and the UN children’s agency Unicef.
Since its launch, more than 130,000 operations have been carried out at 191 stops across the country, said Anil Darse, deputy project director of the hospital-train.
“It’s a unique concept of taking healthcare to the public,” he said.
The expected launch of another train this year will help more people like Prajapat.
“It’s beautiful reaching out to those who really need you,” said Sikka. “We need more such trains. Hopefully we will have one more this year.”
The US is the major war-making entity in the world by far. It possesses nearly half of the world’s nuclear arsenal.
WARNING
Inshore : NilOffshore : Expected strong wind and
high sea to the north at first
WEATHER
Inshore : Hot daytime with slight dust and some clouds
NU-Q Class of 2018 celebrate excellence on graduation dayNorthwestern University in
Qatar (NU-Q) has gradu-ated its largest class to
date, at a ceremony on Monday. The 61 graduates bring the total to 282 since the fi rst ceremony in 2012.
Visually challenged Fouad Has-san was the student speaker at the graduation ceremony. “When I told people that I was attend-ing Northwestern University to study fi lm and theatre, jaws would drop, eyes would roll, and an un-necessary pointed cough would follow to cover the confusion,” he recalled. Hassan said the confu-
sion was understandable since he is blind. His response four years ago, he told those gathered for the ceremony, is the same he gives to-day, “This is what I love, and this is what I will do.”
Hassan reminded his fellow graduates of all that they had ac-complished in their four years at Northwestern. “Our time at Northwestern pushed us to achieve higher goals and summon the courage to pursue tougher journeys. As media students, Northwestern has also taught us to pursue and tell the untold sto-ries, to connect and empathise
with one another, and more im-portantly, to fi ght for what we know is right,” Hassan said. Re-nowned fi lmmaker and journal-ist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the graduation speaker, explained how the power of storytelling contributes to the commanding role of communication in a global society. Recounting the outcome of her fi rst-ever investigative story on extreme bullying in Paki-stan, Obaid-Chinoy told the stu-dents what her father told her, “If you speak the truth, I will stand with you, and so will the world,” she said. After detailing a series of
additional lessons, the two-time Oscar winner summarised her advice to the class by saying that their journey of life is now begin-ning and they should “remember that stubborn dreams are worth pursuing; remember to stand up for yourself, to be relentless, to fi ght back, to have thick skin, to embrace failure, to apologise when you make mistakes, and to break bread with strangers.”
Northwestern president Mor-ton Schapiro, who has attended every NU-Q graduation, told graduates and their families how much NU-Q students have in-
spired him over the years. “You not only carry the Northwestern purple fl ag so proudly, you abso-lutely exemplify the best of what we can achieve,” he said, “you are an inspiring example for the uni-versity itself, and as you join more than 250,000 alumni worldwide and I am confi dent you will make your mark in the world too.”
NU-Q dean and CEO Everette E Dennis in introducing the class said, “Anyone who ever doubted the value of media and commu-nication witnessed its importance during the blockade of Qatar,” adding that, “this class began
their year with uncertainty, but they and Qatar have been resolute and resilient, and that has led us to this triumphal event today.
Over the last four years, the graduating class has demonstrat-ed academic and extracurricular excellence across all platforms and leaves here as educated and professionally competent women and men.”
A delegation of high-level rep-resentatives from Northwestern’s home campus in the US, includ-ing provost Jonathon A Holloway and members of NU-Q’s Joint Advisory Board, joined this year’s
graduating class in celebrating their academic successes.
Earlier in the day, president Schapiro hosted the annual awards ceremony where students receive special honours. At this year’s event, Zaki Hussein re-ceived the Dean’s Award while the Student Leadership Award was given to Jueun Choi. Individual honour for each of the academic programmes included Habiba Ab-bas, Liberal Arts Award; Ibtesaam Moosa, Communication Award; and Shageaa Naqvi, Journalism and Strategic Communication Award.
NU-Q’s Class of 2018 students celebrate the end of their undergraduate careers at their graduation ceremony.Fouad Hassan, the student speaker at NU-Q’s graduation ceremony, and dean Everette E Dennis perform the Northwestern Wildcat cheer.
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