A major step in QF Stadium's progress - Gulf Times

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GULF TIMES

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QATAR

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TUESDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10203

September 6, 2016Dhul-Hijja 4, 1437 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

BUSINESS |

QSE committed to promoting sustainability, transparency in SSE initiative

SPORT | Page 1

Qatar looking to bounce back against Uzbekistan

QATAR

REGION

ARAB WORLD

INTERNATIONAL

COMMENT

BUSINESS

CLASSIFIED

SPORTS

22, 23

1–8, 12–16

9–12

1–12

2-4, 24

5

6

8–21

INDEX

A net capacity of 40,000 spectators

QF Stadium is located within the Hamad Bin Khalifa Sports Complex (HBKSC) located at the western area of the Education City South campus. The stadium will have a net capacity of 40,000 spectators, which will be reduced to a net capacity of 25,000 seats aft er the tournament to fulfi l Education City’s own legacy needs for world-class multipurpose sports facilities.“Qatar Foundation and its surrounding precinct is one of the best examples

of how the venues will benefi t Qatar’s residents long aft er the tournament, with world-class sporting facilities available for all, promoting healthy living and wellness to all,” said engineer Yasir al-Jamal, Technical Department Offi ce vice-chairman, SC.In addition to football, the stadium will be able to stage leisure and entertainment events such as concerts and performances with diff erent pitch and seating confi gurations for various other sports.

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday met with outgoing Singaporean ambassador Wong Kok Bonn at his Emiri Diwan Off ice yesterday. The Emir wished the ambassador every success in his future assignments and for the bilateral relations further progress and prosperity. The ambassador expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Emir and to off icials in the state for the co-operation he received which contributed to the success of his mission.

Emir meets outgoing Singaporean envoy

A majorstep in QFStadium’sprogressJ&P Qatar WLL, Conspel Qatar WLL, J& P-Avax S.A. and J&P (Overseas) Ltd have been awarded the contract as a joint-venture

The Supreme Committee for De-livery & Legacy (SC) has an-nounced the main contractor for

Qatar Foundation (QF) Stadium, located in Education City.

J&P Qatar WLL, Conspel Qatar WLL, J& P-Avax S.A. and J&P (Overseas) Ltd have been awarded the contract as a joint-venture (JV).

Scheduled for completion by the end of 2019, the stadium will host fi xtures up to the quarter-fi nal stage during the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament.

“Over the next four years we will be working closely with our new partners to ensure we deliver an outstanding, legacy-orientated stadium at Education City that will serve the community long after the last ball is kicked,” said Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general, SC.

The project is being delivered in con-junction with Astad Project Manage-ment, a wholly-owned Qatari company, which looks after project and construc-tion management and construction su-pervision.

“This signing demonstrates the progress being made as we head towards 2022, with fi ve stadiums sites now at main construction stage,” explained en-gineer Hilal al-Kuwari, Technical Deliv-ery Offi ce chairman, SC.

“The next 12 months will be crucial for the tournament’s progression as we prepare another three sites for works, with the SC and its partners managing eight live construction sites by mid-2017,” he observed.

G C Christofi des, CEO of Joannou & Paraskevaides (Overseas) Ltd, who spoke on behalf of all of those involved in the joint-venture, claimed that QF Stadium will be one of Qatar’s most stunning World Cup venues.

The most recent work completed by the CCC/TCC JV in July 2016 included further bulk excavation works of a total volume of 650,000 cu m to formation level, and implementation of a dewater-ing system for the next main-package contractor.

By the end of 2016, the main-works

contractor will be fully mobilised on site, progressing with the schematic design, fi nishing the foundation works and securing a substantial portion of the structural steel for the super structure.

Earlier this year, during preliminary works, QF Stadium construction team unearthed samples of “Dukhan rock” dating back approximately 20mn to 30mn years during an excavation of 1.37mn cu m.

“As we dug down deeper on site, we came across interesting and distinct colour bandings on the rock forma-tions,” recalled Eid al-Qahtani, project manager, SC.

“We discovered that the rocks in question originated under water, form-ing a layer known as the middle-Eocene epoch. This is a remarkable fi nd for a stadium construction site, as usually this type of rock is only found in deeper tunnelling works, conducted by the likes of Qatar Rail,” Qahtani added.

Revealed in a ceremony in 2014, QF Stadium design is inspired by complex ge-ometrical patterns designed to pay tribute to traditional Islamic architecture.

QF Stadium will become the focal point for Education City’s sporting fa-cilities, as part of the foundation’s mis-sion to community development.

QF’s Education City is home to eight branch campuses of some of the world’s most prestigious universities, as well as home-grown educational establish-ments, student accommodation and research and development companies.

QF was founded in 1995 by HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, with a class of around 30 for Qatar Academy’s fi rst year. It is estimated Education City’s community will grow to 50,000 by 2022.

An aerial view of QF Stadium: architect’s impression.

Off icials signing the agreement for QF Stadium’s main contractor award.

Qatargas signs new sale andpurchase deal with CentricaQatargas, the largest producer of

liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) in the world with an annual pro-

duction capacity of 42mn tonnes per annum (MTPA), has entered into a new sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Centrica, the largest supplier of gas to households in the UK.

In accordance with the SPA, Qatar-gas will deliver up to 2MTPA of LNG to Centrica - a leading international energy and services company, supply-ing approximately 28mn customer ac-counts mainly in the UK, Ireland and North America - until 2023.

The LNG will be supplied from Qa-targas 4, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum or QP (70%) and Shell (30%), with a production capacity of 7.8MTPA.

Qatargas-chartered Q-Flex and Q-Max LNG vessels will deliver the LNG to the Isle of Grain Terminal, in the UK.

“We are delighted to extend our strong relationship with Centrica and the UK. This agreement underscores Qatargas’ reputation as a safe and reli-able supplier of LNG,” Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, QP president and chief execu-tive, and chairman of Qatargas, said.

This agreement, according to him, has the potential to positively con-tribute to the UK’s energy security for years to come.

“Qatargas is pleased to lengthen our existing partnership with Centri-ca – a partnership which dates back to 2011. This new agreement reinforces Qatargas’ commitment to building a

strong relationship with customers, and our position as the leading sup-plier of LNG to the UK,” Khalid bin Khalifa al-Thani, chief executive, Qa-targas, said.

Qatargas has initially entered into a three-year contract with Centrica to supply LNG from June 2011. The company then inked a further four-and- a-half- year contract, with the latest fi ve-year contract extending the agreement until December 2023.

“Centrica continues to grow its LNG portfolio, further developing its pres-ence in the global LNG market. I am very pleased that our long-standing supply relationship with the world’s biggest LNG producer will continue,” according to Iain Conn, Centrica chief executive.

Saad Sherida al-Kaabi: QP president and chief executive

Qatar’s LNG reach Isle of Grain

QATAR | Diplomacy

Emir receives messagefrom Indian premierHH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday received a written message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pertaining to relations between the two countries and means of developing them. HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was handed the message as he met with Indian Minister of State for External Aff airsV K Singh, currently on a visit to Doha. Page 3

ARAB WORLD | Event

Celebrationin DarfurHH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani is to participate in the celebration of completing the implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, in response to an the invitation of President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir. The celebration will take place in Darfur tomorrow.

QATAR | Summit

Saudi-Russia joint statement welcomedQatar yesterday welcomed the results of a meeting held between Saudi Arabia and Russia on the sidelines of the G20 summit to discuss oil production and prices. The two countries released a joint statement after the meeting and said they would co-operate to contain the excess volatility in the oil market. Business Page 1

TURKEY | Plan

Erdogan proposes Syria no-fl y zoneTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he proposed, to the US and Russia, the setting up of a no-fly zone in northern Syria, after Ankara-backed fighters pushed the Islamic State group from the border area. “We are working for this region to be declared no-fly zone,” he said at the G20 meeting in China.

WORLD | Weather

Climate change spellsviolent typhoonsChina, Taiwan, Japan and the Koreas will experience more violent typhoons under climate change, said researchers yesterday, presenting evidence for a recent rise in storm intensity caused by ocean warming.

AFGHANISTAN | Violence

Third blast aft er 24 die in Kabul carnageA third massive explosion shook central Kabul late yesterday, hours after a Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and left 91 others wounded, in another day of carnage in the Afghan capital. Authorities said they were trying to pin down the location of the third blast. Page 19

G20 warns against slide into protectionismAFPHangzhou, China

The world’s leading economies spoke out against a return to protectionism and defended the

unfashionable concepts of free trade and globalisation yesterday, warning the listless global economy needs an urgent reboot.

The G20 summit took place in China as rising populist sentiment puts them under pressure to sidestep diffi cult

commitments, and with a stumbling push for a Syria ceasefi re and Asia’s territorial disputes intruding on the agenda.

“We have agreed... to support the multilateral trade system and oppose protectionism,” said China’s President Xi Jinping after hosting the gathering in the scenic eastern city of Hangzhou.

“G20 leaders all agreed that the risks and challenges facing the world economy make it crucial to maintain a peaceful and stable international envi-ronment.”

At the end of the tightly choreo-graphed talks, held in an imposing hall in a largely deserted city, Xi produced resolutions on combating industrial overcapacity and boosting interna-tional cooperation on corporate taxa-tion.

Leaders also turned to the global refugee and migrant crisis, the White House said, calling for “global eff orts in addressing the root causes and eff ects”, including providing support for refu-gees and their host countries.

EU President Donald Tusk said in

Hangzhou at the weekend that Europe was “close to limits” on its ability to accept more refugees and urged the broader international community not to shirk its responsibilities.

Syria, the source of many of those migrants, was one of the geopolitical is-sues that swirled around the gathering.

The US and Russia tried and failed to strike a deal on stemming the vio-lence in the disastrous fi ve-year con-fl ict, even as a string of bomb attacks hit across the country, underlining the urgency of the task.

2 Gulf TimesTuesday, September 6, 2016

QATAR

Experts set toattend diabetesleadershipforum in DohaThe Ministry of Pub-

lic Health (MoPH) and partners of Action on

Diabetes (AoD), will host Qa-tar’s fi rst International Diabe-tes Leadership Forum on Sep-tember 26 and 27.

Held under the patron-age of HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa al-Thani, dozens of world-leading experts will convene in Doha.

The forum will address the challenge of combating diabetes in Qatar and bring together lead-ing diabetes experts and aca-demics, patient organisations, healthcare professionals and NGOs from around the world with leaders from the healthcare sector, policy makers, and gov-ernment offi cials from Qatar and the other GCC countries.

The forum organised by MoPH and AoD partners – Ha-mad Medical Corp, Primary Healthcare Corp, Qatar Diabe-tes Association, Novo Nordisk and Maersk Oil Qatar, in col-laboration with its sponsors – World Diabetes Foundation, International Diabetes Federa-tion and Qatar Airways, aims to confront the major health chal-lenges presented by diabetes.

The forum is also supported by the Qatar Metabolic Insti-tute which is a multi-institu-tional collaboration on meta-bolic diseases and in particular diabetes.

The two-day forum will confi rm the urgency of the

need to act, spelling out the steps to meet the challenges in a holistic and co-ordinated manner and encouraging local partners to play their part in defeating them.

HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, said: “The forum presents a unique opportunity for leaders in our country from both the government and pri-vate sectors to come together to discuss the huge challenge presented by diabetes to our society. A total of 16.7% of the Qatari population is estimated to suff er from the disease.

If we are to signifi cantly re-duce this number, it is criti-cal that all parties from across diff erent sectors work together in a cohesive and co-ordinated manner to turn our National Diabetes Strategy into reality.”

Al-Kuwari also stressed the eagerness of the Ministry of Public Health to make use of the best local and international practises to guarantee the suc-cessful implementation of the National Diabetes Strategy and the ambitious health pro-grammes associated with it.

“We are expecting extremely engaging discussions during the forum around the execu-tion of the National Strategy plans with input from key dia-betes experts from across the globe.”

“We hope that the event will highlight the weight of the health, economic, fi nancial and social burden of diabetes on

the political agenda, empha-sise the size of the issue and establish a co-ordinated ap-proach to tackling the disease,” she added.

The event will build a frame-work for cross sector public-private and public-public partnerships crucial to success in tackling diabetes and will draw on international experts’ experience to ensure the suc-cessful implementation of the National Diabetes Strategy.

It will also explore the most eff ective model for bringing together ministers and vari-ous organisations interested in tackling diabetes by discuss-ing how to co-ordinate activity and ensuring support for the implementation of the strat-egy.

The participants will collab-orate on developing a road map for the successful roll out of the strategy to tackle the issue of diabetes in Qatar that was developed by the National Dia-betes Committee and launched last year.

Through a series of work-shops, plenary sessions, and partnership meetings, they will share ideas, inspiration and ex-perience to shape plans for ac-tionable implementation of the strategy in the coming year.

The Diabetes Leadership Fo-rum will build on lessons from previous leadership forums held in New York (2007), Mos-cow (2008), Beijing (2009), Mena (Dubai 2010), Copenha-gen (2012) and Istanbul (2013).

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Economic Aff airs and Investment, chaired the Council’s third meeting for 2016 held at the Emiri Diwan yesterday morning.HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani, Vice-President of the Council, attended the meeting along with HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani the Council’s Executive Member and members of the Council.HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi, the Council’s Secretary-General, told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the meeting discussed topics on the agenda and took appropriate decisions.The Council also reviewed a follow-up item up of its previous resolutions and procedures being implemented, he added.The agenda also included the last developments with respect to energy and investment aff airs, he said.

Minister conveyscondolences toUzbek leader

HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali conveyed the condolences of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to Acting President of Uzbekistan, Nigmatilla Yuldashev, as well as the government and the Uzbek people on the death of President Islam Karimov.

Emir chairs meeting of investmentcouncil

Dusty windslikely today

Strong winds, dusty condi-tions and low visibility are expected in the country

today, the Qatar Met department has said.

Off shore areas, too, are likely to see strong winds and high seas in the early hours today, accord-ing to the weather report.

Northwesterly winds blow-ing at a speed of 12-22 knots are expected in inshore areas today, which may go up to 30 knots in some places at times and decrease by the evening. In off shore areas, northwesterly winds will blow at a speed of 10-20 knots and reach 26 knots towards the north.

The sea level may go up to 8ft.Visibility, meanwhile, may

drop to 3km or less in some plac-es at times.

The detailed forecast for in-shore areas today also says it will be hazy in some places at fi rst, followed by a hot day.

Sheehaniya, Batna and Turay-na recorded the highest tempera-ture in the country yesterday at 44C, followed by 43C in Al Rayy-an, Karana and Ghuwairiyah.

In the capital, the mercury level reached a high of 42C in the Doha airport area and 41C in the Qatar University area.

The maximum temperature today is expected to be 42C in Doha, Mesaieed and Wakrah.

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani met in Doha yesterday with Afghan National Security Director Mohamed Masoom Stanekzai, and his accompanying delegation. Talks dealt with a number of issues of mutual interest.

PM meets Afghan security chief

HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada met yesterday with Japan’s State Minister for Foreign Aff airs Kentaro Sonoura. During the meeting, they discussed ways of further promoting bilateral relations and partnership between the two countries. Japan is Qatar’s largest importer of hydrocarbons, while Chubu Electric Power Company of Japan is the largest importer of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatargas.

Sada meets Japan’s minister

HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti (above) and HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi (below) yesterday met French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl. Talks during the two meetings dealt with a number of issues of common interest between the two countries.

Qatar-French ties reviewed

Medical college welcomes 10 new faculty membersThe College of Medicine

(CMED) at Qatar Uni-versity (QU) conducted a

two-day orientation event for 10 new faculty members.

The new faculty members including Qataris, come from medical schools in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Qatar, UAE and UK.

Faculty onboarding sessions aimed to give new faculty the opportunity to learn more about QU Health Cluster, to meet their colleagues, and to get introduced to various aspects related to CMED including external out-look, teaching philosophy as well as research programmes.

The event attracted all 10 new faculty members in addition to seven clinical faculty (members of healthcare organisations in Qatar which have a clinical fac-ulty affi liation with the College) as well as a number of new fac-ulty from other colleges from the Cluster (Pharmacy and Health Sciences).

QU VP for Medical Education

and CMED dean Prof Egon Toft said: “The faculty are at the core of everything we do. A company may be valued by its products, premises, profi t, fi nancial capi-tal, etc., but in higher education, our value is refl ected by what happens in the brains of our faculty members and the teach-ing and research that result. We as administrators are here to serve you. Our work revolves around yours, not the other way around.”

On Sunday, faculty members attended a number of sessions on QU Health Cluster and its re-

search agenda, groups and plat-forms; external outreach and identity; education technology; and QU Library.

They were given an oppor-tunity to visit the Biomedical Research Centre and CMED re-search laboratories that aim to provide progressive and cutting-edge research on health-related issues.

A university-level academic orientation for new faculty (Ya Hala) was organised yesterday to initiate the new comers into QU’s work environment and to provide them with valuable in-

formation about QU’s vision, strategy, programmes, and the numerous resources that will support them to continuously enhance the quality of their work as well as their life in Qa-tar.

A workshop on faculty de-velopment “Learning, Teach-ing, and Assessment” will also be organised today to introduce faculty to various aspects related to the curriculum and academics life at CMED.

In addition, this activity will allow faculty to network within their new collegial environment from day one of joining the med-ical college.

The workshop will engage faculty in the curriculum de-sign and structure, and will help them recognise the diff erent learning and teaching strategies used at CMED, understand the students’ assessment system, and receive information on vari-ous aspects related to govern-ance and academic committees at CMED.

Prof Egon Toft addressing the faculty.

Avoid overeating during Eid festivities: doctor

With Eid al-Adha fes-tivities starting next week, Hamad Medi-

cal Corp (HMC) has cautioned people against over indulging in food and drink to prevent stomach upsets and intestinal disorders.

“Unfortunately, many peo-ple tend to overload their bod-ies with large amounts of un-healthy food and soft drinks during Eid celebrations. As a result, we often notice a spike in the number of patients seek-ing emergency treatment for gastric issues such as nausea, vomiting, stomach upset and indigestion at Hamad General Hospital’s Emergency Depart-ment,” said Dr Saad al-Nuaimi, senior consultant, Emergency Medicine, HMC.

“Although some people feel it is impolite not to accept sweets or meals which may be off ered while visiting a relative, friend

or neighbour during Eid, it is important to consume food and drinks in moderation so one can enjoy the festivities rather than spending it in an emergency room,” Dr al-Nuaimi added.

“Overindulging can also lead to rapid weight gain, which can in turn cause obesity, a leading cause of Type 2 diabetes, hy-pertension and back pain.”

To prevent avoidable ill health during the Eid celebra-tions and holidays, Dr al-Nuai-mi has advised people to eat healthy food in moderation and avoid soft drinks.

The physician has also cau-tioned not to skip breakfast, as this will just lead to overeating during the day and keep people hydrated throughout the day.

Dr al-Nuaimi suggested that people should choose healthy options with small portions of low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, veg-

etables, whole grains and lean meats as well as avoiding salty foods and sugary and/or caf-feinated drinks.

People also have to avoid heavy fatty foods, which can cause gastrointestinal dis-turbances.When using oil to prepare food, use only a small amount of olive oil or other polyunsaturated fats.They are also advised to avoid refi ned carbohydrates and sugar such as white bread, white rice, sweets and pastries which can cause blood sugar surges and weight gain.

According to the doctor, the main meal should be balanced with larger portions of vegeta-bles, fruits and complex carbo-hydrates, such as beans, lentils, whole grain bread and oats.

Similarly, food items should be stored properly in the refrigerator or as directed on the food label.

QATAR3Gulf Times

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Qatar and France ink pacts for training in health, education

Qatar and France have signed three agreements for the train-ing of Qatar-based experts

in the fi elds of health and education during the ‘3rd Investment Majiles’, organised yesterday by the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA), in co-operation with the French em-bassy.

Letters of intent were signed be-tween Qatar University president Dr Hassan al-Derham and Dassault Avia-tion vice president Herve Estubier, and the Ministry of Public Health’s general secretary assistant for Health Aff airs Offi ce Dr Salih al-Marri, Sanofi country chair and general manager Jean-Paul Scheuer, and French ambassador Eric Chevallier.

An agreement on training con-vention was signed between Alstom Transport CEO GCC Cluster Thi-Mai Tran and HEC Paris in Qatar dean M Laoucine Kerbache. The three agree-ments were signed in the presence of French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl and QBA chair-man Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Tha-ni.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Chevallier said that all of the agreements are centred on education, “aimed at training people from Qatar.”

He said Dassault Aviation will sup-port training and training costs of engi-neers from Qatar University, while Sa-nofi , the Ministry of Public Health, and the French embassy will develop a cur-riculum for doctors and health workers in Qatar on infectious diseases, in co-operation with Institut Pasteur.

Alstom Transport will sup-port students and curriculum within HEC Paris in Qatar, “aimed at supporting and developing education.”

He said the training by Sanofi and Alstom Transport will be conducted

in Qatar, while training with Dassault Aviation will be “partly held” in Qatar and in France.

“The agreements involve three im-portant French companies, which are contributing to the human resources development within Qatar under the national vision 2030; and we believe that it is a very strong element of our relationship,” Chevallier said.

QBA board member Sheikh Ha-mad bin Faisal al-Thani said in a speech that the event aims to in-troduce new business opportuni-ties and strategies for attracting for-eign investment to France. He also noted that the meeting will “further strengthen” bilateral economic ties between Qatar and France.

“This visit comes in line with the will of both business communities to develop mutual business relations, and the recently launched Qadran initia-

tive is a great example. Also, this initi-ative aims at providing a platform and a think tank to businessmen from both France and Qatar to exchange ideas and expose business and economic oppor-tunities in their respective markets.

“The support of both our public sectors has paved the way for this co-operation. The mutual agreements and memorandum of understanding have contributed to the fl ow of Qatari investments towards France, which currently represents more than €20bn. Also, France comes in the fi fth position among exporters to Qatar, where the volume of trade reached €2bn in 2015,” Sheikh Hamad said.

Chevallier added: “For the moment, the most important investments from Qatar are in the real estate and hotels, mainly in Paris or the southern part of France. The idea is to diversify invest-ments.

By Peter AlagosBusiness Reporter

By Ayman AdlyStaff Reporter

Off icials from Alstom Transport and HEC Paris in Qatar sign the agreement while (standing, from left) French ambassador Eric Chevallier, French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl, and QBA chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani look on. PICTURE: Nasar T K

Qatar investments in France stands at $22bn, says French minister

France is currently the second destination for public and private Qatari investments, which amounts to more than $22bn, French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl has said.Speaking at the ‘3rd Investment Majiles’, organised yesterday by the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA), in co-operation with the French embassy in Doha, Fekl described as “impressive” the economic ties between Qatar and France, which he said “have increased quickly.”“Over the last five years, our bilateral trade has doubled; 120 French companies are currently working in Qatar and 5,000 French citizens live in your country,” he said.Citing the joint investment fund established in 2014 between Qatar Holding and CDC International Capital, Fekl said the partnership aims to channel investments to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France.“An important share of these innovations has been coming from SMEs that are keen to develop partnerships with Qatari companies, and I encourage the private sector of our two countries to work in that direction.The minister also said Qatar could play a role in France’s national objective to welcome 100mn tourists by 2020. As many as 85mn tourists were welcomed in France last year.

Katara set to host Eid fest

Katara - the Cultural Village is all set to host annual Eid al-Adha festival. The four-day

event will include several shows and activities on the Katara espla-nade, designed to attract specta-tors from Qatar and the region.

The extravaganza will feature a spectacular show inspired by Sin-bad, the fi ctional sailor and hero from One Thousand and One Nights story. The show will be performed three times on Eid, starting 7pm. The second performance will be at 8:15pm. Both the fi rst and second shows will witness giving away ‘Ei-deya’, a gift usually given to kids as they celebrate Eid. The third show is scheduled at 9:30pm and will be fol-lowed by dazzling fi reworks marking

the end of the daily Eid programme with brilliant showers of colourful lights on Katara Beach at 10:15pm.

Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulai-ti, general manager, Katara, said, “Katara continues to off er its local and foreign audiences and visitors the best recreational and cultural programmes and experiences. The Cultural Village has an estab-lished reputation as a renowned hub and fun house”.

The show will also include sev-eral other fun displays such as aerobatics, loops, rolls, and other feats of spectacular fl ying. The Sinbad show will conclude with his ship reaching the beach of Doha, where a new fun journey to search for the Pearl Island begins.

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday received a written message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pertaining to relations between the two countries and means of developing them. HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was handed the message as he met yesterday with Indian Minister of State for External Aff airs V K Singh, currently on a visit to Doha. HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi also met with Singh. A number of ranking off icials at the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs attended the meeting.

Message from Indian PM

Workshop on human traff icking kicks off in Amman todayA regional training workshop on the role of national human rights institutions in the fight against human traff icking will kick off in Amman today.The workshop is being organised by the Doha-based UN Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre

for South-West Asia and the Arab region, in co-operation with the Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions in Doha and the National Centre for Human Rights in Jordan.Human rights off icial and acting director of the UN

Training Centre in Doha, Mu’ayyad Mehyar, said that the training workshop will provide a forum for discussion and dialogue between national human rights institutions in the Arab region to identify, exchange and promote good practices to protect the rights

of victims of human traff icking of both genders and identify protection gaps.He added that the workshop will promote a common understanding of the participants who represent the national human rights institutions.

Ooredoo launches Hala Nepal keyOoredoo has launched the Hala Nepal key, which will enable customers to make all calls to Nepal at 20Dhs per minute. The Nepal key enables all subscribers to call any network in Nepal, including Nepal

Telecom and Ncell, for 20Dhs per minute. Without a subscription to the key, Ooredoo customers calling Nepal would be charged at the standard rate of 99Dhs per minute. The Hala Nepal key costs

QR1 a week, and can be activated by sending the SMS ‘NK’ to 121 or by dialling *121#, as well as via the Ooredoo App. The Nepal key will renew automatically every week.

QDA launches fi lms to raise diabetes awareness among schoolchildren

Qatar Diabetes Associa-tion (QDA), in collabo-ration with Oryx GTL,

has launched a series of 12 animated fi lms in English and Arabic for schoolchildren on the subject of diabetes.

The short educational videos will serve as a tool for both children and adults to raise awareness about dia-betes and provide an insight into how to deal with the disease in specifi c ways.

The fi lms will be circu-lated in schools to high-light the needs of diabetic students, ensuring that they benefi t from the same educational experiences their fellow students enjoy in order to achieve success

academically and socially. The fi lms will also be cir-

culated via social networks and cinemas for all members of the community.

Dr Abdullah al-Hamaq, executive director, QDA, said: “QDA believes in the impor-tance of ensuring the rights of all children suff ering from di-abetes. We work with schools as this represents a formative stage of life where children are in continuous and close care; to this end, the association

launched the ‘Rights of the Diabetic Student’ initiative in 2005.

Dr Abdulaziz Ali al-Saadi, director of health and safety at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, stressed that the newly introduced department of health and safety at the ministry would make sure that children with diabetes got the necessary due care.

Eye on school canteens: There are plans to strictly

monitor school canteens to ensure that only healthy meals are provided to stu-dents and special care is af-forded to those with diabetes.

Dr al-Saadi said a survey conducted last year across all schools in Qatar – both pub-lic and private – revealed that there were around 680 stu-dents suff ering from Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, out of an estimated 260,000 students.

“This is a very high rate. The reasonable rate should be within 10 for every 100,000 students, mean-ing that we should not have more than 26 students with diabetes in our schools.”

To address such concerns, he added, there are plans to increase physical activi-ties in schools and instruct children on how to develop healthy eating habits.

Representatives of entities involved in the diabetes initiative. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Centre for Environmental and Municipal Studies to be set upHE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi yesterday issued a ministerial decision establishing the Centre for Environmental and Municipal Studies at the ministry.The centre will prepare ministry’s staff to undertake diff erent types of environmental and municipal work and help in developing their scientific and practical capabilities.The centre also aims at enhancing inspectors’ capabilities and skills for the exercise of judicial tasks. It will also organise rehabilitative and educational sessions for the new staff , develop scientific research in the field of municipal and environmental work, hold seminars, meetings and workshops and issue periodicals in the field of municipal and environmental work.The decision stipulates that the centre will be managed by a director, who will be assigned by the minister and assisted by an advisory body, which includes members to be selected by the director after the approval of the minister.


QATAR

QR16mnaccess roadto treatmentplant opensThe QR16mn access road to

the Umm Birkah Package Treatment Plant (PTP),

has been opened for traffi c.The project aims at providing

a direct link between the PTP and the main road from Al Khor to Ras Laff an Industrial City through the 2km road, having two lanes in each direction.

The road has entrances con-necting it to Ras Laff an main road, and ends with a rounda-bout with three exits serving the treatment plant gates.

The project also included constructing six concrete tun-nels to protect Qatar Petro-leum’s gas pipes in the area and three tunnels for storm water pipes, in addition to road pave-ment works.

Street lighting, signage and all safety requirement were done as

part of the project in addition to telecommunications and Kah-ramaa connections and prepar-ing designated areas for future public services.

Ashghal implemented the Umm Birkah PTP project - with a capacity of 10,000 cu m per day - as part of its plan to stop sew-age transportation with tankers to the liquid waste lagoon facility at Al Karaana completely.

The plan also included con-struction of infrastructure to receive sewage tankers at the ex-isting and new treatment plants besides sewage from areas that were not connected to sewers until the completion of drainage projects in these areas.

The treated water from the Umm Birkah plant will help in irrigation purposes for the Al Rakia fodder farm.

A section of the new road to the Umm Birkah treatment plant.

A Suriyani food festival has been inaugurated at Palm Grove Restaurant by Indian Business and Professional Network president K M Varghese in the presence of Palm Grove’s chef Binoy and manager Roby Joseph. The traditional Suriyani dishes are popular in Kottayam and Ernakulam districts of the south Indian state of Kerala. The dishes include pidi – chicken curry, chicken piralan, appam – stew, chicken thoran, erachi roast, erachi – kaya curry, and erachi puttu. The festival ends along with Ona Sadhya on September 14. The special dishes are available daily from 6pm to 10pm at Palm Grove’s B Ring road (near Capital Police Station Signal) outlet and the New Indian Supermarket outlet on Airport Road.

Suriyani food festival begins at Palm Grove

Elan Media exclusive media representative for Mall of QatarElan Media has announced it has entered into a multi-year strategic partnership that makes it the exclusive media representative for the Mall of Qatar.Under the new partnership agreement, Elan Media will “manage and drive the full range of Mall of Qatar’s media portfolio while delivering a wealth of tailored creative advertising strategies”, according to a press statement.Elan Media is the media arm of Elan Group.As a part of its strategy, Elan Media will expand its portfolio of “high-value and high-impact” advertising assets and introduce “cutting-edge” digital advertising technology. It will also unveil two “new iconic” sites, the statement notes. Elan Media will create a personalised media mix across a spectrum of Mall of Qatar’s media channels. The idea behind this creative approach is to leverage the mall’s advertising with the “optimal reach and positioning that will resonate with visitors”. Rony Mourani, general manager for Mall of Qatar, said: “This initiative with Elan Media will not only elevate the advertising impact for our portfolio of

clients and tenants, but also further enhance the shopping and entertainment experience for our visitors and provide a rich media landscape for a wide array of businesses to showcase their products and services. “We are confident that the alliance with Elan Media will help drive our mandate

of being not just another shopping mall in Doha.” Jamie Ball, COO at Elan Media, noted: “This agreement with Mall of Qatar underscores the solid reputation and the trust that Elan Media has earned in the media and advertising industry by continuously delivering an excellent

service to our clients and partners. “In particular, the super-sized 72sqm digital screens and the digital pillars in the food court area will off er a spectacular creative experience. It is an exciting opportunity and we are looking forward to seeing the first advertisements running in the mall.”

Elan Media will manage and drive the full range of Mall of Qatar’s media portfolio.

REGION

Gulf Times Tuesday, September 6, 2016 5

Fighting in Yemenoil region kills 26AFPAden

At least 26 fi ghters were killed in clash-es yesterday between pro-govern-ment troops and rebels over control

of an oil-rich region east of the Yemeni capi-tal, military sources said.

“Pro-government forces launched a mili-tary operation today to retake Sarwah,” a loyalist military source said of the only part of Marib province still held by the rebels who have controlled nearby Sanaa since Septem-ber 2014.

Clashes and air raids by the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognised government “killed 16 rebels and

left dozens wounded”, the source said.Ten pro-government soldiers were killed

and 12 wounded in the fi ghting, he added.Loyalist forces recaptured hills overlook-

ing Sarwah, military sources said.Marib province has seen fi erce battles be-

tween forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Shia Houthi rebels and their allies.

If they controlled Marib, loyalist forces could advance from the east towards Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition which intervened in March last year against the Iran-backed rebels has forces based in Marib to support the loyalists.

It has intensifi ed operations since the suspension in early August of UN-brokered peace talks.

The United Arab Emirates, which plays a key role in coalition operations, said yes-terday one of its soldiers had been killed in Yemen, in an armed forces statement pub-lished by the offi cial WAM news agency.

The Yemeni government’s sabanew.net said the Emirati soldier was killed during the Marib operation.

Arab League chief backs Yemen’s legitimate govt

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-

Gheit has expressed full support for Yemen’s

legitimate government, led by President Abd-

Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and its eff orts to resume

the peace consultations under the auspices of

the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General

for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

In a statement issued yesterday, Aboul-Gheit

strongly criticised the stances of Houthi group

and ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh

and what they did by escalating the military

operations in Sanaa, Taiz and on the border

with Saudi Arabia. He said that the declaration

of Houthi group and Saleh of the formation

of the so-called “supreme political council”

is an escalatory step that would hamper the

eff orts made to establish the desired political

settlement in Yemen. He called on Houthi

group and Saleh to desist forthwith from

taking any escalation procedures, abide by

the cessation of hostilities and to respect the

agreed terms of reference of negotiations

which are represented by the GCC initiative

and its executive mechanisms, the outputs of

the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference and

the relevant Security Council resolutions.

UK, Iran name fi rst envoys in fi ve yearsAFPTehran

Iran and Britain appointed new ambassadors to each other’s countries yesterday

for the fi rst time since a mob ransacked the British embassy in Tehran in 2011.

Hamid Baeidinejad, 53, was named as Tehran’s envoy to London, ISNA state news agen-cy reported.

He played a crucial role in the negotiations with world powers

that led to last year’s nuclear ac-cord and the lifting of interna-tional sanctions.

Britain appointed Nicholas Hopton – the current charge d’aff airs in Tehran – as its fi rst ambassador to Iran since rela-tions were severed following the storming of the embassy by stu-dents in fi ve years ago.

“The upgrade in diplomatic relations gives us the opportu-nity to develop our discussions on a range of issues, including our consular cases about which I am deeply concerned,” British

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement, referring to the ongoing detention of dual nationals in Iran.

“I hope this will mark the start of more productive co-op-eration between our countries, enabling us to discuss more directly issues such as human rights and Iran’s role in the re-gion, as well as ongoing imple-mentation of the nuclear deal and the expansion of the trading relationship between both our countries,” said Johnson.

The 2011 attack on the embas-

sy saw a mob rampage for hours through the compound.

The incident followed a vote by lawmakers to expel Britain’s ambassador and reduce trade relations in retaliation for nu-clear-related sanctions, but the violence was later condemned by Iran’s supreme leader and other politicians.

The British embassy was reo-pened in August 2015, a month after the signing of the nuclear accord, during a visit by John-son’s predecessor Philip Ham-mond.

Al-Hoota cave reopens

A general view shows rock formations in the al-Hoota natural cave after it re-opened to the public for the first time in three years near the ancient city of Jizwa in Oman’s northern Dakhiliya region yesterday. The cave is 4.5km long, 500m of which is open to the public.

Dubai airport passenger traffi c hits recordReutersDubai

Passenger traffi c through Du-bai International Airport, the world’s busiest for inter-

national travel, jumped 14% from a year earlier to a monthly record of 7.62mn people in July, the airport’s operator said yesterday.

Growing tourism and trade

ties with the rest of the Mid-dle East, Asia and other regions of the world are fuelling traffi c growth at Dubai’s airport

July’s sharp rise was partly due to the timing of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which nor-mally reduces business travel in the region. Most of Ramadan oc-curred during June this year, but it extended into July last year.

During the fi rst seven months

of this year, passenger traffi c rose 7.0% to 48.12mn.

Freight handled by Dubai In-ternational shrank 1.2% in July to 203,153 tonnes, but in the fi rst seven months of 2016 it rose 3.2% to 1.49mn tonnes.

Only some of Dubai’s air freight passes through Dubai International as another facility, Dubai World Central, handles pure cargo operations.

Iran shuts800 shopsfor selling‘odd’ coatsAFPTehran

Iranian police said they had closed more than 800 clothes shops to

stop them selling “uncon-ventional” women’s coats, state media reported yes-terday.

A further 3,000 shops have been sent warnings, the Irna news agency reported.

A new fashion for women’s coats — known as “man-teaux” in Iran — with English phrases printed on the back had attracted the attention of the authorities, who passed new regulations in July.

The coats in question tend to have nonsensical phrases such as “Keep Calm I’m the Queen” written on them, but they also have short arms and no buttons in the front.

Under Iranian law, wom-en must wear a manteau, or similar item, that loosely covers the whole body from the neck down to the knee.


ARAB WORLD

Libya air academy turnedbase in battle against IS

Deadly blasts rock Syriaas US-Russia talks stall

UN-brokered Libyatalks begin in Tunis

Abbas acceptsRussia plan tomeet IsraeliPM: envoy

AFPMisrata, Libya

Yellow-and-blue fi ghter jets sit neatly lined up on the tarmac at the air force academy in Libya’s

Misrata, no longer awaiting students but orders for strikes against the Islamic State group.

The military college has been trans-formed into a major base in the battle against the militants since they gained ground in the country in the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising.

For a year and half its planes – fl own mainly by former instructors in their 40s and 50s – have been carrying out strikes against IS, and for several months they have been targeting what was their main stronghold in North Africa.

IS took over Sirte some 250km (150 miles) east of Misrata in June last year, sparking fears the militants would use the Mediterranean city as a launchpad for attacks in Europe.

Forces loyal to the UN-backed govern-ment this June fought their way into Sirte and have since pushed back IS fi ghters into one last district of the city.

At the air force academy in Misrata, two pilots board a fi ghter jet don their helmets and wait for the signal to fl y off on a reconnaissance mission of IS tar-gets.

“We know this terrorist organisation operates worldwide,” Brigadier-General

Rajab Abdaraheem says, referring to IS.“When I’m up in the air about to hit

an IS target, I feel like I’m defending my country and the world,” says the 57-year-old pilot who has been fl ying since he graduated in 1982.

Since it opened in 1975, more than 30 classes of around 1,000 trainee pilots have graduated from the academy.

The school trained offi cers from Libya and other countries in the Arab world until the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi .

The academy saw heavy fi ghting be-tween the rebels and fi ghters loyal to Gaddafi and was damaged in Nato strikes backing the opposition who retook the area.

The door of the main maintenance hangar at the academy is still peppered with bullet holes.

After 2011 “we renovated the facilities but when the situation in Libya didn’t stabilise the academy became a (military) base,” says Brigadier-General Abderah-man Mohamed.

Offi cers – most of whom had gradu-ated for the academy in the 1980s and 1990s – transformed the college’s train-ing aircraft into warplanes, equipping them with rockets and missiles, they say.

The aircraft date mainly from the Gaddafi era and include some two doz-en ageing jets including Russian-made MiG-23s, Yugoslav Soko G-2 Galebs and Czech L-39s, as well as helicopters.

AFPDamascus

Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed dozens in mainly govern-

ment-controlled areas of Syria yesterday, as Washington and Moscow failed to agree a deal to stem the violence.

The blasts killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens a day after IS lost the last stretch of the Syria-Turkey border un-der its control.

In China, where world pow-ers were gathered for the G20 meeting, US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin touted “produc-tive” talks and “some align-ment” on Syria.

But the two powers failed to produce an expected deal to ease the violence in Syria, where more than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half the population displaced since March 2011.

The latest carnage came in a wave of blasts, the deadliest of which was a double bombing in

the coastal province of Tartus, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The bombings hit the Arzuna bridge outside the provincial capital of Tartus city, killing at least 35 people and wounding 43, state media said.

Tartus has been largely spared the worst violence of Syria’s conflict since it began with anti-government pro-tests, and has become a refuge for many Syrians fleeing the fighting.

In the northeastern city of Hasakeh, mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, a bomber on a motorbike killed six members of the Kurdish security forces and two civilians.

In central Homs city, the tar-get was the Al-Zahraa neigh-bourhood, whose residents are mostly from the same Alawite sect as Assad and have regularly been targeted.

Four people were killed there in a car bombing that hit a checkpoint at the district’s en-trance.

State television broadcast im-ages of the aftermath, showing

rubble strewn on the streets and smoke rising from the charred remains of vehicles.

Another attack hit the Al-Sabura road west of the capi-tal Damascus, with state media saying one person was killed and three wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said that at-tack targeted a checkpoint and killed three people.

The IS-affi liated Amaq agen-cy carried a statement saying the militant group was behind a “string of simultaneous suicide attacks”.

Syria expert Thomas Pierret said the attacks were part of a new IS “strategy to ‘seduce’ rebels by demonstrating IS’s ca-pacity to strike the regime”.

“IS also wants to whip up sec-tarian tensions for its benefi t and is counting on more of these events to mobilise its supporters in these regions,” he said.

The latest violence came a day after Turkish forces and allied rebels seized the last part of the Turkish-Syrian border under IS control.

The operation — dubbed “Euphrates Shield” — pushed further into IS territory yester-day and captured another fi ve villages, the Observatory said.

Turkey began an operation in-side Syria on August 24, target-ing both IS and Syrian Kurdish forces that have been a key US partner in fi ghting the militant group in Syria.

The operation has put Wash-ington in an awkward position, with two key allies at times clashing.

A State Department spokes-man said yesterday Washing-ton’s envoy to the US-led coali-tion against IS was in Syria and Turkey last week for talks with Syrian Kurdish forces and Turk-ish offi cials.

Washington has urged Kurd-ish forces to honour a pledge to withdraw east of the Euphrates river to allay Turkish fears of a contiguous semi-autonomous Kurdish zone in Syria.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he was working with Russia and the US to have northern Syria declared a no-fl y zone, a propos-

al that has failed to materialise in the past.

Washington backs the upris-ing against Assad, but is working with his key ally Moscow on how to stem the bloodshed.

Hopes had been raised that a deal would be announced over the weekend, but US offi cials said it fl oundered after Russia backtracked.

Despite this, Obama said yes-terday a meeting with Putin on Syria had included “productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like”.

Putin said he felt there was “some alignment of positions and an understanding of what we could do to de-escalate the situation in Syria”.

He said a deal could be fi rmed up in the “coming days” but re-fused to elaborate, saying that US and Russian offi cials are still “working out some of our pre-liminary agreements”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counter-part Sergei Lavrov are expected to continue the talks in the com-ing days.

AFPTunis

Libyan politicians began yesterday two days of UN-brokered talks in

Tunis to discuss power strug-gles and militant threats that are undermining stability in the oil-rich country.

The members of the Liby-an Political Dialogue signed in December 2015 a political agreement that established the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

But nine months on, the GNA led by Fayez al-Sarraj is still struggling to fully

impose its legitimacy across the North African nation and facing rejection by Libya’s parliament.

The internationally recog-nised legislature has repeat-edly refused to give the GNA the vote of confi dence it needs in order to formally take offi ce.

On August 22, it again voted no confi dence in the GNA and gave a nine-member presi-dential council headed by Sar-raj a “fi nal chance” to propose a new cabinet.

Yesterday’s talks also come as forces loyal to the GNA were facing stiff resistance from Is-lamic State group holdouts in the coastal city of Sirte.

AFPRamallah, Palestinian Territories

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed on a Russian

proposal for him to meet Is-raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a new peace push, an offi cial said yesterday.

Netanyahu has said he is open to such a meeting to-gether with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the Palestinians have questioned Israel’s commit-ment to the initiative and disagreements have derailed previous attempts to arrange talks.

“We told the Russian side today that president Abbas accepted the Russian ini-tiative about the meeting of Abbas and Netanyahu with President Putin in Moscow,” said Abed al-Hafeez Nofal, the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow.

“But it is clear for us that the Israelis are evading the requirements of the meet-ing,” he told AFP by phone, without providing further details.

Abbas is currently travel-ling in Poland and his entou-rage could not immediately be reached for comment.

Netanyahu earlier yesterday discussed the proposal with Putin’s Middle East envoy Mikhail Bogdanov in Jerusa-lem.

They “discussed Presi-dent Putin’s proposal to host a face-to-face meeting be-tween the prime minister and president Abbas in Moscow,” Netanyahu’s offi ce said in a statement.

“The prime minister pre-sented Israel’s position that he is always ready to meet with president Abbas directly and without preconditions.

He is therefore reviewing the Russian president’s pro-posal and the timing of a pos-sible meeting.”

Bogdanov was expected in Ramallah for talks with Pales-tinian offi cials today.

The Palestinian ambas-sador also told Russian news agency Interfax that Bogdanov had met Abbas in Jordan three weeks ago and “received his agreement to participate in such a meeting”.

The ambassador said the Palestinian side “had planned for the meeting to take place on September 9.”

But he said the talks had been postponed indefi nitely “after Israel’s decision to take a pause and have a think about agreeing.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said recently Putin wanted to host an Is-raeli-Palestinian summit to revive peace talks.

Abbas’s offi ce has said pre-viously that the Palestinians are ready to participate in any peace initiative aimed at a “comprehensive and fair solu-tion”.

Syrians and security forces gathering at the site of a blast targeting the Arzuna bridge in a government-held area outside the Syrian city of Tartus. A string of bomb attacks hit across mostly government-controlled areas of Syria, killing several dozen people including at least 35 in President Bashar al-Assad’s coastal stronghold of Tartus.

Staff members of the Libyan Air Force next to fighter jets on the tarmac of the Air College, that was turned into an air base for jets targeting the positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Sirte as well as in the north-central and north-western Libya.

AFRICA

Gulf Times Tuesday, September 6, 20168

AFPLibreville

Gabon’s failed presiden-tial candidate Jean Ping yesterday called for a

general strike after days of vio-lence following incumbent Ali Bongo’s disputed re-election, saying an economic blockage would “topple the tyrant”.

But the centre of the capital Libreville was its usual bustling self yesterday, despite Ping’s appeal for a massive work stop-page.

After being shuttered for days over the post-election violence, banks and shops were re-opened in the seaside city and taxis were returning to the streets.

Many shops however off ered only limited provisions as the unrest had stalled deliveries.

Post-election chaos has claimed at least seven lives in the oil-rich central African na-tion, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967.

Bongo’s rival Ping, a veteran diplomat who has held a top

African Union job and served as foreign minister, has already vowed to challenge the result.

“We cannot accept that our people will be killed like animals without reacting,” Ping said on Facebook.”I propose to cease all activity and begin a general strike.

“We must use all means of re-sistance to topple this tyrant and believe me, he is on the verge of falling,” Ping added.

Bongo was declared victori-ous by a razor-thin margin of just under 6,000 votes, but Ping has insisted the vote was rigged and on Friday claimed victory for himself.

He is calling for a recount — something the Gabonese au-thorities have so far refused to do.

Yesterday, the internet was accessible after a fi ve-day blackout but social media net-works remained blocked, ac-cording to AFP journalists in the capital Libreville.

Meanwhile, speculation mounted that Ping could launch an appeal at the constitutional court for a recount.

However many of his sup-porters feel this is not a vi-

able option as they question the courts impartiality.

They say fraud was rampant, notably in the Bongo fi efdom of Haut-Ogooue in the east.

It is one of the country’s nine provinces and turnout there, according to offi cial fi gures, crossed 99% with 95% voting for the president.

The violence after the an-nouncement of the results on Wednesday has sparked inter-national concern with top dip-lomats calling for restraint as rights groups raised alarm over the use of excessive force.

At least seven people have died, according to an AFP count, and some 800 people have been arrested in the capital

UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke to both Bongo and Ping on Sun-day and “deplored the loss of life”, a UN statement said.

“He expressed concern about the continuing infl ammatory messages being disseminated and called for an immediate end to all acts of violence in the country,” it said.

Tensions remained high in the economic capital Port-Gentil.

A Total worker said there had

been gunshots heard in the city overnight.

“The refi nery remains closed.The teams working round-

the-clock are only there to en-sure security,” said an offi cial at Sogara, Gabon’s sole refi nery jointly owned by the govern-ment and a clutch of major in-ternational fi rms.

The troubles have also caused prices to rocket.

“Four chillies now cost 1,000 CFA francs ($1.6) against 200 to 300 CFA francs earlier,” said Andre, a resident from Lalala-a-gauche, a working class area in Libreville.

“Things will really start heat-ing up,” he said, echoing a wide-spread fear in the capital.

“This is the lull before the storm,” said a fruit and veg-etable wholesaler, speaking the central town of Lambarene.

The country had previously enjoyed relative political stabil-ity, mainly because former colo-nial power France helped Omar Bongo rule for 41 years.

After he died in June 2009, his son Ali won an election but opposition media claimed he had essentially been installed by France.

Gabon’s Ping calls for general strike to ‘topple tyrant’

AFP Lusaka

Zambia’s constitutional court yesterday threw out an attempt by the

defeated presidential candi-date to annul August’s election results, clearing the way for president Edgar Lungu’s inau-guration next week.

Hakainde Hichilema, who lost the election by 100,000 votes, alleged that the result was rigged and launched a le-gal bid to stop Lungu retaining power.

Zambia is known for its rela-tive stability, but the run-up to the vote was marked by clashes between supporters of Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF) and Hich-ilema’s United Party for Na-tional Development (UPND).

“There is no petition to be heard before this court,” said judge Annie Sitali, ruling that a 14-day deadline for the legal challenge had expired.

Hichilema had argued for an extension after legal argu-ments lasted until midnight on Friday.

He attended court yester-day, along with hundreds of supporters gathered outside.

“We wish to tell the nation that we have rejected the court ruling,” his UPND party said in statement later.

The offi cial results put Lun-gu narrowly ahead on 50.35% against 47.63% for Hichilema among a fi eld of nine candi-dates — just enough to avoid a second-round run-off .

Lungu, 59, will be sworn in on September 13, the govern-ment announced.

He fi rst took offi ce last year after beating Hichilema in a snap election, and has since faced falling prices for cop-per — the country’s key export

— soaring unemployment and infl ation rising to over 20%.

Following the election on August 11, Lungu told Zam-bians that the new government would tackle the country’s mounting problems.

“For the next fi ve years, it will be total work, there will be no honeymoon,” he told sup-porters at a rally shortly after the results were announced.

Zambia, in contrast to neighbours like Angola and Zimbabwe, has escaped war and serious upheaval in recent decades.

It last held a peaceful trans-fer of power to an opposition party in 2011 when Michael Sata took offi ce.

Sata died in 2014, and the 2015 election gave Lungu the right to fi nish Sata’s term.

Hichilema, 54, a wealthy businessman who was making his fi fth attempt at the presi-dency, said when he voted that he would only accept the elec-tion result if it was “free, fair and transparent”.

On the campaign trail, the British-educated economist emphasised his business cre-dentials as an asset to turning around the weakening econo-my.

Known as “HH”, he has ma-jor investments in ranching, property and healthcare in Zambia.

The country, a British col-ony until 1964, recorded GDP growth of 3.6% last year — its slowest rate since 1998.

Election day last month was peaceful, and there was little of the feared violence during the delayed vote count and subsequent court hearing.

Thomson Reuters FoundationLaikipia

Deep within the Mukogodo forest in central Kenya, a community of tra-ditional hunter gatherers are work-

ing with the government to help expand forests and crack down on illegal logging and poaching using ancient conservation techniques.

The Yiaaku are hailed a model of collab-oration with authorities, using traditional knowledge to take care of tree and plant cover while adopting new livelihoods such as keeping bees and livestock to protect animals from hunting.

Kenya Forest Services director, Emilio Mugo, said legislation to allow co-man-agement of forests was introduced nearly a decade ago but the Yiaaku is the fi rst suc-cessful community to do so, with hopes this approach can be replicated across Kenya.

“Where this community model is prac-ticed we have seen cases of illegal logging

reduce up to 50%,” Mugo told the Thom-son Reuters Foundation.

“Since we integrated the community’s indigenous knowledge model of conserv-ing forests into our forest policy..

there has been little friction or tensions with these forest dwellers.”

The Kenya Forest Management Act of 2007 aimed to integrate communities into forest management but also led to the ab-olition of long-standing traditions such as hunting and logging for charcoal to main-tain the forests and promote tourism.

It came ahead of Kenya setting a target to increase its forest cover to about 10% by 2030 from an estimated 7.2% according to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).

Yiaaku leaders say their approach to protecting the forest from illegal loggers and trophy hunters has not only helped defuse confl ict with neighbouring com-munities but eased past tensions with government authorities who want to en-sure forests and animals are protected to encourage tourism.

He said the community’s knowledge of

the forest meant they knew which trees had medicinal value and need conserva-tion, could foresee dry spells so water points could be conserved and used obser-vation of wildlife — such as bird migration patterns — to warn of drought or danger-ous weather events.

He said the Yiaaku, living northeast of Nairobi, also acted as fi re fi ghters during the hot season and monitored the health of seedlings and old trees.

“We don’t have to fi ght with the author-ities anymore as they have acknowledged our system as a powerful tool in protection and conservation of the forest biodiver-sity,” Simon Napei, a Yiaaku forest scout, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Every activity in the forest is decided by a council of elders.

During drought seasons a council of elders sits and decides where and when the

livestock should be grazed in the forest.”Children are trained and taught by their

elders to understand the value of individual trees for the overall health of the forest, he said, and every individual will plant more than 20 trees during each rainy season

“The community has strong cultural beliefs and taboos which are viewed as sa-cred,” he said.

“These taboos are a set of rules and regulations used to bring sanity within the community and anyone who breaks the rules brings a curse to the family.”

Mugo said the Yiaaku are now custo-dians of more than 74,000 acres of for-est land and their success has also earned them security and autonomy.

He said the government had saved “mil-lions of Kenyan shillings” previously spent on armed personnel to guard forests and reforesting programs, and the government now hopes to replicate this approach in 100 other gazetted forests.

“We are targeting communities that are well organized and have a common pur-pose of conserving forests,” he said.

Taboos and ancient traditions help community protect forests

AFP Johannesburg

Activists from rival factions of South Africa’s ruling ANC faced off in Johan-

nesburg yesterday, highlight-ing deep divisions in the party as pressure grows on president Jacob Zuma.

The ANC, which led the strug-gle to end apartheid, has been rocked by poor results in last month’s local election largely blamed on Zuma’s leadership and the country’s mounting econom-ic woes.

Police patrolled outside the ANC’s Luthuli House headquar-ters in central Johannesburg af-ter some party activists vowed to occupy the building in protest at how the party and the govern-ment are being run.

As about 40 anti-Zuma pro-testers gathered nearby, other ANC members loyal to the presi-dent pledged to defend the build-ing.

Among those backing Zuma were scores of camoufl age-wear-ing members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans associa-tion, the former armed wing of the ANC.

Gwede Mantashe, the ANC’s infl uential secretary general, ad-

dressed the crowd briefl y and received a petition from the anti-Zuma group.

He urged supporters not to re-sort to violence and to allow the protests “to fi zzle out”.

“Don’t try to beat them up...don’t give them publicity,” he

said.

“There should be no blood-shed.

You have defended the or-ganisation, you have defended Luthuli House.

I am appealing to you, com-rades.”

The march by the party’s own members was a rare protest ac-

tion against the leadership, but criticism of Zuma has been growing over the last year.

“We lost (control of some cit-ies in the local elections) because of the corruption of Jacob Zuma,” Mary Louw, one frustrated ANC member, told AFP.

“We need a leadership who

doesn’t promote corruption.”Zuma, 74, who was jailed on

Robben Island with Nelson Man-dela during apartheid, retains strong loyalty within the party especially in rural areas, but he could step down before the next presidential election in 2019.

“I’m here to defend my presi-dent.

Who’s got the proof that Zuma is corrupt? He’s my president until the end of his term,” Cecilia Lindiwe Ximba, a Zuma loyalist, told AFP.

“They have the right to dem-onstrate, but they only spread rumours.

They must wait until he fi n-ishes his term.”

An unemployment rate of 27% and GDP growth at zero % this year have added to Zuma’s trou-bles, as frustration builds among poor black communities seeing few improvements since white-minority rule fell in 1994.

In August’s municipal elec-tions, the ANC lost control of Jo-hannesburg, the country’s larg-est city and its economic centre, as well as the administrative capital Pretoria.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) now runs four major cities, including tourism hub and legislative capital Cape Town.

ANC factions face off in Jo’burg

South African ruling party African National Congress president and national executive committee supporters chase disgruntled members demonstrating outside ANC headquarter in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Poll case is rejected by court in Zambia

AFP Lagos

Nigeria has reported its third polio case in the northeastern state of

Borno, the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) said yes-terday, warning more cases could appear in a major health setback.

Two other polio cases were reported in August.

Nigeria was on track to be certifi ed free of the virus next year.

“A third child has been par-alyzed by wild poliovirus type one (WPV1) in Borno state,” WHO said in a statement.

“It’s all linked to the same outbreak,” WHO said, adding: “detection of new cases is not unexpected and can be antici-pated, particularly as disease surveillance is being strength-ened including by conducting retrospective case searches.”

The three cases appear to come from the same strain of the disease circulating in the northeast for years, said Stephanie Mucznik, spokes-person for Rotary Interna-tional, which is working with the Nigerian government to eradicate polio.

Mucznik said the latest case concerned a two-year-old boy suff ering from the onset of paralysis on August 6 in the Monguno area.

“Genetic sequencing of

the isolated viruses suggests they are most closely linked to WPV1 last detected in Borno in 2011, indicating the strain has been circulating without de-tection since that time,” Muc-znik said.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease which mainly af-fects young children and can result in permanent paralysis.

There is no cure and it can only be prevented through im-munisation.

Nigeria’s outbreak response, which includes a large immu-nisation campaign, is expected to continue until November and includes the neighbouring areas of Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Nigerian Health Minister Isaac Adewole warned in Au-gust that the aff ected areas “have had their health facili-ties destroyed by insurgents” and “accessibility was a barrier to service provision.”

Since taking up arms in 2009, Boko Haram Islam-ist militants have captured swathes of territory in the northeast, cutting off health services for millions of people.

In the past year, the Nigeri-an military has recorded a se-ries of successes against Boko Haram.

But the northeast has been devastated by the fi ghting, with the United Nations es-timating that this year seven million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Third polio case found in Nigeria state: WHO

“Where this community model is practiced we have seen cases of illegal logging reduce up to 50%”

Unrest in Ethiopia hits aid to childrenThomson Reuters FoundationNairobi

Political violence in Ethio-pia has delayed the distri-bution of aid to four mil-

lion people hit by drought and fl oods, including malnourished children, the UN said yesterday.

Protests over disputed provin-cial boundaries and allegations of rights violations have riven Ethiopia’s Amhara province and Oromiya province.

“The situation in Oromiya and Amhara has slowed down dis-patches of targeted supplemen-tary feeding commodities from the main warehouse in Nazareth, Oromiya,” the UN

Offi ce for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aff airs (OCHA) said in its latest update.

“The situation also aff ects dispatches and distributions in Afar, as a large proportion of the commodities allocated to the region are dispatched from the WFP (World Food Programme) warehouse in Kombolcha, Am-hara.”

Children under fi ve and preg-nant and nursing women with moderate acute malnutrition receive specialised nutritious foods for about six months, or until they return to health.

Those with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition were not aff ected, the UN said, as there were suffi cient stocks in health posts.

Gabon is facing civil unrest over the poll results

“We wish to tell the nation that we have rejected the court ruling”

AMERICAS9Gulf Times


Obama defends Kaepernick’s constitutional right to protestReutersHangzhou, China

President Barack Obama said yes-terday that San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick

was exercising his constitutional right by not standing during the national anthem, although it might be a “tough thing” to stomach for people in the military or law enforcement.

Kaepernick sparked controversy last month when he remained seated through the traditional rendition of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ before a pre-season game, and has continued with what he says is a protest against racial injustice and police brutality.

Many Americans have denounced the gesture as a sign of disrespect to the fl ag, although he has drawn support from some people, including some fel-low players.

Speaking in China after a gather-ing of leaders of 20 leading economies, Obama said he did not doubt Kaeper-

nick’s sincerity in making the protest but acknowledged that it was diffi cult for some to swallow.

“I think there are a lot of ways you can do it as a general matter when it comes to the fl ag and the national an-them and the meaning that that holds for our men and women in uniform and those who’ve fought for us.

That is a tough thing for them to get past to then hear what his deeper con-cerns are,” Obama said.

Kaepernick, who led San Francisco to the 2013 Super Bowl but has since been demoted to backup, is the latest professional athlete to use his celebrity to call attention to the issue of the mis-treatment of minority groups by law enforcement.

Over the past two years, a series of police killings of African-Americans in cities across the country have triggered protests and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Despite the controversy, Obama said he would rather have engaged young people “trying to think through how

they can be part of our democratic process than people who are just sit-ting on the sidelines and not paying attention at all”. Obama, speaking at a news conference, said he had not been following the controversy closely, but added, “If nothing else what he’s done is he’s generated more conversation around some topics that need to be talked about.”

“Sometimes it’s messy, but it’s the way democracy works.”

In a gesture of solidarity with Kaepernick, American women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem at a Sunday match, calling it a deliberate move to support Kaepernick.

Some critics of the player say Kaepernick, 28, should be punished.

The National Football League has is-sued a statement saying it encourages players to stand during the anthem but does not require them to do so.

The 49ers have framed the issue in terms of the right of free expression enjoyed by all Americans.

Voyage to fi nal frontier goes on as Star Trek turns 50By Christian Fahrenbach, DPANew York

The mission “to boldly go where no man has gone be-fore” initially failed to im-

press the critics, but Star Trek, the enduring sci-fi series that made the crew of the Starship Enterprise fa-mous, turns 50 on Thursday.

“It won’t work,” Variety said of NBC’s new series at its launch on September 8, 1966.

The US broadcaster’s show “was an incredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities,” the influential magazine’s critic opined.

NBC pulled the series in February 1969 after 79 episodes, citing poor audience fi gures, but global interest in space soared after the fi rst moon landing in July that same year and further incarnations of Star Trek followed.

Over the years the original Star Trek series gathered fans by being aired internationally and through repeats in the United States.

The fi rst full-length feature fi lm followed in 1979, although its recep-tion by critics was at best lukewarm.

But today, after six television se-ries with more than 700 episodes and more than a dozen fi lms, Star Trek is a dazzling international suc-cess story with a cult following.

Its fans love the universe it con-jures up, optimistically revealing a better future society.

At the height of the Cold War, Captain James T Kirk operated in an atmosphere of trust with his Russian navigator Pavel Chekov.

Amid the racial tensions in the US

of the 1960s, African-American ac-tress Nichelle Nichols was given the role of Lieutenant Uhura, the com-munications offi cer.

The episode in which Kirk kissed Uhura was not broadcast in some southern states in the US.

“That was so funny,” Nichols said in an interview years later.

“I didn’t think of it as the fi rst inter-racial kiss. I just got the script, and I said Oh, wow, great! We’re go-ing to get a little romance in here!”

Japanese-American George Takei played Sulu, her colleague and the helmsman of the Enterprise at a time when wartime memories were still strong.

The series also took on topical is-sues, such as exploitation of the en-vironment and class diff erences.

Star Trek was set well in the fu-ture.

“But at its best it dealt with issues of the time,” William Shatner, who played Kirk, told the newspaper USA Today in an interview to mark the 50th anniversary.

He highlighted the way the series dealt with the idea of people, na-tions and planets working together.

Shatner was also fascinated by the technical aspects, saying they often accurately predicted later develop-ments. For example, the “commu-nicators” are clearly reminiscent of smartphones.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, which aired from 1987 to 1994, had devices like today’s tablets.

Being “transported” by being “beamed up” remains in the realm

of sci-fi , but the idea is scientifi cally based and may yet become reality.

Star Trek’s optimism could be seen as a counterbalance to the gloomier Star Wars that fi rst ap-peared in 1977.

Creator Gene Roddenbury had pacifi st leanings, his son Rod says in the “50 Years of Star Trek” docu-mentary recently broadcast on the History Channel.

As a bomber pilot in World War II and later policeman, Rodden-berry had seen the best and worst in humanity, “but I think that really helped shape his view of Star Trek in that better future,” he said.

Roddenberry, who died in 1991, had expressed the wish for his re-mains to be sent into space, and in 1997 some of his ashes were launched into orbit in one of the fi rst such funerals.

The years have taken their toll on the cast.

Leonard Nimoy — Mr Spock, the science offi cer on the Enterprise — died last year, while Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Chekov in later Star Trek fi lms, died in June.

But the “Trekkie” cult lives on.J J Abrams, the director who re-

booted the Star Trek fi lm franchise in 2009, is planning another one.

And a seventh series — Star Trek: Discovery — is due for an online streaming premiere in January.

But Shatner remains dissatisfi ed with his declamation of the famous opening words: “Space. The fi nal frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.”

“I never quite got it right for my ear. Good enough, I suppose, for the people listening. But I wish I could do that again,” he told USA Today.

Actor William Shatner speaks at the ‘Star Trek: Mission New York’ event at the Javits Center in New York City.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds a model of her new campaign plane at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York.

In plane sight

2 die as chopper crashes into Canada power lines

Two people died and another was in-jured Sunday after a helicopter col-lided with power lines in eastern

Canada, police said.The aircraft, which was carrying only

three people, crashed to the ground and then ultimately into a body of water, New Brunswick Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Corporal Dan Smith told AFP.

“The helicopter collided with some pow-er lines in what’s known as the Flatlands area of New Brunswick” in the province’s north near the border with Quebec, he said.

The crash, which occurred around 4pm local time (1900 GMT) in a mostly rural area sent the plane into the Restigouche River, according to public broadcaster CBC.

The lone survivor was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The RCMP did not provide information on the victims’ identities nor the helicop-ter’s origin and destination.

The accident, which occurred near the town of Campbellton, knocked out power to several thousand residences, Smith said.

The Transportation Safety Board of Can-ada announced that it is sending a team of investigators to the site.

Hermine spares East Coast

ReutersNew York

Atlantic storm Hermine, which has killed two peo-ple, lurked off the middle of

the US East Coast late on Sunday while threatening to regain hurri-cane strength, after having spared the region the brunt of its wind, rain and tidal surge.

Forecasters warned swimmers and boaters to avoid the risk of deadly surf churned up by the storm and stay out of treacherous waters during the Labor Day holi-day weekend, when many Ameri-cans celebrate the end of summer.

Hermine was still packing maxi-mum sustained surface winds of nearly 113kph late on Sunday, and forecasters said it could intensify slightly to reach hurricane strength again, before it starts to dwindle.

But for now, its strongest winds

were extending outward by about 370km, failing to reach US shores.

Hermine was forecast to bring up to 5cm of rain yesterday to southern New England, after having hit land in Florida on Friday, and churning up the southeastern seaboard.

Then it merged with a conven-tional weather front, to be reclas-sifi ed on Saturday as a post-trop-ical cyclone. But Hermine is not expected to make landfall again, said Robbie Berg, an offi cial of the National Hurricane Center.

A tropical storm warning re-mained in eff ect Sunday night from the Delaware and New Jersey shores north to New York’s Long Island and beyond to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island off Massachusetts, but was cancelled for New York City, which Berg said appeared largely out of harm’s way. Potential storm-surge inundation levels of no more than 30cm to 1m were expected in coastal areas.

University of Chicago weighs free speech vs crackdown on hecklersReuters New York

Disruption of a local prosecu-tor’s speech at the University of Chicago by hecklers un-

happy with her handling of a police shooting may have been the last straw for administrators at one of the coun-try’s most prestigious schools.

After years of tolerating dissent-ers who shouted down unpopular speakers on campus, the school is now considering a policy of meting out suspensions, expulsions or other punishment for those it sees as violat-ing free speech rights.

“I think the university is now sig-naling that we mean business here,” said Jerry Coyne, an ecology and evo-lution professor and an outspoken critic of dissident students who he says are acting “entitled.”

“What they’re basically saying is, ‘We have the right to harass anybody we don’t like,’” Coyne, who is not a member of the faculty committee, said about the disrupters.

University rules already bar inter-fering with campus activities, but fac-ulty and students said they could not recall them ever being enforced.

The panel is seeking ways to streamline a “cumbersome” student disciplinary system that dates back to the era of Vietnam War protests, ac-cording to a memo sent to faculty in June.

The aim is to protect “freedom of expression, inquiry and debate” from interference, the memo says.

The proposal is the latest volley in a

battle on US university campuses over what constitutes free speech in an ac-ademic environment.

When does a student have a right to heckle and shout down someone with an off ensive point of view? Should a school cancel a speech that generates too much controversy? Does a student have a right to be warned before at-tending an academic lecture that may prove upsetting?

On the last question, the Univer-sity of Chicago came out strongly last month in favour of giving faculty the right to decide if and when to warn students whenever lecture material might upset or off end some of them.

Students, for instance, have been known to object to lectures on novels containing scenes of sexual assault.

In August the dean of students, Jay Ellison, sent a letter to incoming stu-dents saying that such “trigger warn-ings” were strictly optional.

He vowed the university would not cancel a talk or presentation no matter how much controversy it generated or how strongly some students objected.

Some students defend their right to heckle speakers they consider morally objectionable.

They say that authority fi gures such as the prosecutor who spoke in Febru-ary at the University of Chicago, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alva-rez, have many opportunities to speak their minds.

Alvarez, who took more than a year to charge a white police offi cer who fa-tally shot a black teenager in 2014, has drawn harsh criticism in Chicago from Black Lives Matter supporters.

“In a world that is consistently si-

lencing black voices, I think it’s im-portant to make ourselves heard in a way that we cannot be ignored,” said Mary Blair, a University of Chicago sophomore who was part of the Alva-rez protest.

In March, Alvarez lost a primary election. Her offi ce did not respond to interview requests.

Located in the third-largest US city, the University of Chicago, which dates to 1890, is highly ranked academical-ly, lending its name to the “Chicago School” of economics.

President Barack Obama, who taught law there, has stood up for campuses hosting divisive speakers.

“If you disagree with somebody, bring them in and ask them tough questions,” Obama told Rutgers Uni-versity’s commencement in May.

He said students should not “shut your ears off because you’re too frag-ile.”

Rutgers in New Jersey is one of many US schools that have cancelled speeches in the face of protests in re-cent years.

In March, hecklers shut down an event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the Uni-versity of Illinois at Chicago.

At the University of Chicago, the chairman of the faculty committee, due to make recommendations by De-cember 15, said he is keeping an open mind about how to change the disci-plinary system.

“We’re not opposed to protest. We’re opposed to disruption,” said Randal Picker, a law professor. “These are university campuses; there should be a lot of activity on them.”

ASEAN

Gulf TimesTuesday, September 6, 201610

Protest threat as ex-UN chief heads to restive Myanmar stateAFPYangon

Buddhist hardliners threatened yesterday to stage protests against a visit by former UN

chief Kofi Annan to Myanmar’s strife-torn Rakhine state, where tens of thou-sands of stateless Rohingya Muslims languish in displacement camps.

Aung San Suu Kyi has asked Annan to head an advisory commission to

recommend how her government can narrow bitter sectarian divides in the western state.

Rakhine has suff ered deadly anti-Muslim violence since 2012 and the Rohingya question remains incendiary in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Their plight has also seen Suu Kyi’s reputation as a rights defender tar-nished.

Myanmar nationalists insist the million-strong group are illegal im-migrants from Bangladesh and refuse

to use the word “Rohingya”, instead la-belling them “Bengalis”.

Annan told reporters he intends to be impartial in his peace and reconcili-ation bid. But Rakhine activists object to the visit.“Rakhine affairs are local affairs. We acknowledge Kofi Annan and his reputation but we do not ac-cept his interference in our affairs,” said Aung Htay, one of the leaders of the protest group.

“We will protest tomorrow at Sit-twe airport. We respect Kofi Annan

personally but we do not think he knows Rakhine history.”

The envoy is expected to visit Ro-hingya camps and meet Rakhine community groups and officials.

But the region’s largest political group, the Arakan National Party, has already ruled out meeting the former UN secretary-general.

The Rohingya are denied citizen-ship in Myanmar and face severe re-strictions on their movements across Rakhine, as well as curbs in access to

health care and other basic services.More than 100,000 of the Muslim

group live in squalid displacement camps. Their treatment is seen as a black spot on Myanmar’s democratic progress since Suu Kyi’s elected gov-ernment took power in April.

Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, said yesterday Annan’s nine-member commission could help “heal the wounds” of sectarian conflict.

“We cannot ignore problems....ignoring problems will simply allow

them to get worse and worse,” she told reporters.

But for the first few months of her tenure in office Suu Kyi tried to avoid inflaming Buddhist nationalist sen-timent.

In June she ordered officials to re-fer to the group only as “Muslims of Rakhine State”.

But even that order sparked mass protests in Rakhine, with local Bud-dhists demanding the government call them “Bengalis”.

Malaysia abuzz as old foes Mahathir, Anwar join handsAFPKuala Lumpur

Bitter foes Mahathir Mo-hamed and his estranged protege Anwar Ibrahim

met for the fi rst time in 18 years yesterday, underscoring shift-ing political alliances caused by a corruption scandal plaguing Malaysia’s current leader.

Mahathir infl amed social me-dia with a show of support at a court appearance by Anwar, the former opposition leader jailed last year following a controver-sial sodomy conviction — the same charge Mahathir hurled at him in 1998.

The face-to-face encounter was the fi rst since their stormy 1998 rift, Anwar’s wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said on Face-book.

Images of the political heavy-weights smiling and shaking hands were shared widely on-line, highlighting the politi-cal fl ux caused by outrage over scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Najib is accused of involve-ment in looting billions of dol-lars in state money.

He denies the charge and has cracked down in response.

Mahathir, who imposed his will on Malaysia for 22 years as prime minister before retiring in 2003, has led calls for Najib’s arrest.Any potential rapproche-ment between the cagey Ma-hathir and the charismatic An-war — whose rivalry continues to reverberate in Malaysian poli-tics — could be a game-changer.

Anwar was heir apparent to Mahathir until he was sacked in 1998 by his boss over politi-cal diff erences, an episode that

deeply divided the country.Charged with sodomy and

corruption, Anwar was jailed six years, but emerged to revitalise the previously ineff ectual oppo-sition until he was jailed again in 2015 by Najib’s government.

Mahathir played down yester-day’s meeting.

“I don’t know about friends, but I know I talked to him,” Ma-hathir said, chuckling, when re-porters asked after the encounter

whether the two were friendly again.“I met him and had a long chat with him about what he was doing,” he added, while denying they had “made peace.”

Mahathir said he was merely showing support for a legal chal-lenge launched by Anwar against a draconian new security law rammed through last year by Najib. But the encounter quickly went viral in politics-obsessed Malaysia. “Now I think I have

seen everything,” Eric Paulsen of activist group Lawyers for Lib-erty said in tweeting an image of the handshake.

It remains to be seen whether a politically signifi cant detente can be achieved given the bag-gage between the two men.

The formidable opposition alliance that Anwar forged has crumbled amid infi ghting since his jailing. Najib, meanwhile, has tightened his grip on the coun-

try and used the powerful rul-ing coalition’s deep pockets and pervasive control to win recent by-elections. The next general election must be held by mid-2018.

However, leading independ-ent pollster Ibrahim Suffi an called the handshake “a big deal” and a potentially signifi cant sign that Mahathir was ready to link up with the opposition he once fi ercely battled.

Singapore expects Zika to spread as cases surpass 250AFPSingapore

The number of cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Singapore

reached 258 yesterday, with health authorities warning it is no longer contained in one part of the city-state and likely to spread further.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of Health and the National Environment Agency confi rmed 16 new cases, four of which were not linked to ex-isting cluster areas.

“Over time, we expect Zika cases to emerge in more ar-eas given the presence of the Aedes mosquitoes here,” the statement said.

Zika is spread by the Aedes mosquito, which also spreads dengue fever.

“MOH and the National En-vironment Agency (NEA) will therefore adjust our strategies to manage Zika in the same way that we deal with dengue.”

Despite having one of the highest standards of health-care in Asia, dengue is endem-ic in tropical Singapore which

sees high rainfall and humid weather, ideal mosquito-breeding conditions.

Most of the confi rmed Zika cases have been centred around the adjacent suburbs of Aljunied and Paya Lebar.

Many of those initially in-fected were foreign workers on a condominium construction project, whom health authori-ties say are more suspectible because they live and work in close proximity.

The health ministry also said yesterday it would no longer isolate patients because of its “limited eff ect”.

“As more cases emerge, there is evidence that there is transmission in the com-munity with the presence of infected mosquitoes,” said the health ministry.

Authorities are working to control the mosquito popula-tion, the ministry said, fumi-gating the aff ected areas and checking for breeding sites.

Those found with mosquito larvae in their homes can be fi ned up to Sg$5,000 ($3,700).

Zika virus has been detected in 67 countries and territories including hard-hit Brazil.

Seeking smoother summit, Asean to skirt mention of sea rulingReutersVientiane

Southeast Asian leaders are set to avoid references to a recent arbitration ruling

that undermined China’s claims to the South China Sea, after omitting it from a joint state-ment at a summit this week over which Beijing’s infl uence looms large.

A draft communique of the As-sociation of South East Asian Na-tions (Asean) seen by Reuters yes-terday listed eight points related to the South China Sea, but made no mention of a high-profi le July ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated Beijing’s territorial claims.

The decision to exclude ref-erence to the ruling represents a diplomatic victory for China, following Asean’s decision at its last meeting in July to turn down a US-backed proposal to include the landmark ruling in the text.

China refuses to recognise the case brought by the Philippines in 2013.

Its outrage over the verdict has created regional concerns that Beijing might take a tougher line in future disputes.

Soon after the ruling in The Hague, the Philippines lobbied strongly at an Asean foreign min-isters’ meeting for the verdict to be included in the text of the communique, only for Cambodia, a China ally, to oppose it.

Beijing publicly thanked Phnom Penh for its support.

China has been accused of pressuring some countries in the consensus-led, 10-nation bloc to stymie what it sees as unfavour-able proposals.

Asean does not include China, but leaders and senior repre-sentatives from China, the United States and other regional powers are attending the Laos summit.

Experts say that China’s ap-proach makes it harder for South-east Asian states to form a unifi ed front to counter Beijing’s assert-iveness over the strategic water-way.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte wants to negotiate with Beijing, and has pledged not to

rock the boat by discussing the ruling at this week’s Asean and East Asia Summits in Laos.

But a few days before the meet-ings, the outspoken leader vowed to make no concessions towards China over the ruling, and de-manded that Beijing explain why it had increased its boat presence around the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

Sek Wannamethee, a spokes-man for Thailand’s foreign min-istry, said it was unclear from Senior Offi cials Meetings (SOM) if Manila would bring its con-cerns about China to the Laos forum.

“There is no indication at the preparatory Asean SOM yet as to what, if anything, the Philip-pines would raise at the summit regarding the South China Sea,” Sek said.

The draft communique con-tained one new element on the South China Sea, welcoming the adoption of emergency hotlines and rules among Asean states and China to prevent military mis-haps, known as the Code for Un-planned Encounters at Sea.

Too costly for Indonesia to thoroughly test cases

Indonesia can not aff ord to thoroughly check for a possible Zika outbreak, a health ministry off icial said, as Southeast Asia’s most populous country must focus on fighting dengue, a poten-tially fatal virus also carried by mosquitoes.The World Health Organisa-tion (WHO) lists Indonesia among Asian countries with possible endemic transmission of, or evidence of, local Zika infections, but authorities in the sprawling nation of 250mn people have yet to report any recent infections.Both dengue and Zika are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is common across Southeast Asia.Neighbouring Singapore has

over the past week said it detected more than 240 Zika cases while Malaysia reported its first locally transmitted infection on Saturday.The Philippines confirmed on Monday its first case of Zika this year and said it was “highly likely” it had been lo-cally transmitted.“At the moment we cannot go out there and test everybody or every suspected case for Zika because it is too costly,” Muhamad Subuh, director general for disease preven-tion and control at Indonesia’s health ministry, told Reuters.“There are other priorities like dengue fever, which is more prevalent and more danger-ous, and we have to allocate our resources accordingly.”

Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed (centre left) meets with jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in a high court in Kuala Lumpur.

Fire investigators taken hostage, face death threatsAFPJakarta

Indonesian offi cials investigating forest fi res were taken hostage and threat-ened with death by a mob allegedly

linked to a palm oil company, prompt-ing activists yesterday to decry a law en-

forcement crisis. A seven-strong team on Sumatra island, which is afflicted with serious fires during the dry sea-son every year, were probing why blazes were burning out of control despite the government’s attempts to combat them.

But as they examined a plantation where a company called Andika Permata Sawit Lestari (APSL) was suspected

of using fires to illegally clear land, a 100-strong gang forced them to delete photos and then took them hostage.

They mob — suspected to be APSL employees — threatened to beat them, kill them and dump their bodies in a nearby river.

They were finally released unharmed after 12 hours when police intervened,

according to the environment ministry.The case highlights the difficulty

Indonesia faces in fighting fires that flare annually on Sumatra and the In-donesian part of Borneo.

The blazes are set to clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, shrouding Southeast Asia in toxic smog.

Security personnel at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane yesterday for the 28th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and related summit to be held from today until September 8.

AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA11Gulf Times


North Korea test-fi red three ballistic missiles into the sea yesterday,

South Korea said, in a new show of force as world leaders meet at the G20 summit in China.

The missiles were fi red into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North’s Hwangju county around 0300 GMT, a spokesman for Seoul’s defence ministry said.

The sabre-rattling follows the North’s submarine-launched ballistic missile test weeks ago.

“They are speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000km (620 miles) and were fi red without navigational warn-ing to Japan,” the spokesman said in a statement. “North Korea’s ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions, aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabili-ties during the G20 summit.”

The defence ministry in Tokyo said the three missiles are esti-mated to have fallen into Japan’s maritime Exclusive Economic Zone.

“The ministry expresses se-rious concern over the missile

launches as they pose a grave threat to Japan’s national secu-rity,” a ministry statement said.

The North’s latest tests sparked strong protests from senior Japanese and US offi cials.

The launches “are a grave se-curity provocation and can never be permitted”, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters in Tokyo. “We have lodged a strong protest against North Korea.”

A senior US administration offi cial at the G20 in Hangzhou also condemned the launches as a threat to its allies and to civilian air travel, and vowed diplomatic

action against the Pyongyang re-gime.

“Today’s reckless launches by North Korea pose threats to civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region,” the offi cial said.

Washington would try to “bol-ster international resolve to hold the DPRK (North Korea) ac-countable for its provocative ac-tions”.

Yesterday’s missile launches came hours after South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the summit in Hangzhou.

The relationship between

South Korea and China have been frosty since Seoul announced plans to deploy a US anti-missile system in July to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from the North.

During the summit, Xi reit-erated Beijing’s opposition to Seoul’s planned deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system, argu-ing that “mishandling” the issue could “intensify disputes” in the region, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Park labelled North Korea’s continued provocations as a “challenge” to Seoul-Beijing

ties, adding that security threats from Pyongyang were at an “un-precedented level”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.

North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defi ance of UN sanctions im-posed after its fourth nuclear test in January.

The most recent was a subma-rine-launched ballistic missile last month.

That missile, fi red from off the northeastern port of Sinpo, fl ew 500km (around 300 miles) towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles.

The country’s leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the “greatest success” and said it put the US mainland with-in striking range.

The launch was widely con-demned by the United States and other major powers but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea’s nuclear strike am-bitions.

A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile system would al-low deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “second-strike” capability in the event of an attack on the North’s military bases.

N Korea test-fi res three ballistic missiles: SeoulAFPSeoul

Several pro-independence candidates won seats in Hong Kong’s fi rst major

election since pro-democracy protests in 2014, prompting a robust warning from China that any independence would damage the city’s security and prosperity.

In comments carried by the offi cial Xinhua news agency, China’s Hong Kong and Macao Aff airs Offi ce said it “resolutely opposed” any form of independ-ence for Hong Kong, noting this would violate China’s constitu-tion.

The election of a new genera-tion of pro-democracy activists in a record turnout in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong on Sun-day underscores a deep divide in a city of more than 7mn people where tensions with Beijing are intensifying.

China bristles at open dissent, especially over sensitive matters such as demands for universal suff rage, and many in Hong Kong are increasingly concerned about what they see as Beijing’s med-dling in the city’s aff airs.

In the election, the pro-de-mocracy opposition also kept its crucial one-third veto bloc in the 70-seat Legislative Council over

major laws and public funding that has helped check China’s infl uence.

The vote, which ushered in a new crop of legislators includ-ing a 23-year-old former protest leader who vowed to “fi ght” the Chinese Communist Party, un-derscores growing frustration with how Beijing has handled its “special administrative region” and marks a signifi cant turning point.

The former British colony was handed back to China in 1997 under a “one country, two sys-tems” agreement that promised to maintain the global fi nancial hub’s freedoms and separate laws for at least 50 years, but gave ul-timate control to Beijing.

Beijing offi cials have repeat-edly warned Hong Kong not to stray too far.

Despite the disqualifi cation of six pro-democracy election can-didates from the election in July on the grounds that they backed independence, at least fi ve “lo-calists” and younger democratic newcomers won seats, including Nathan Law, one of the leaders of mass democracy protests in 2014.

Those protests posed one of the greatest challenges to Bei-jing’s rule in decades and were deemed illegal by the local gov-ernment in Hong Kong and the

central government in Beijing.Localists put the interests of

Hong Kong before those of Bei-jing.

“I’m quite shocked,” said Law. “We inherit some spirit from the movement and I hope that can continue in the future ... we still have to unite in order to have stronger power to fi ght the Chi-nese Communist Party.”

Sunday’s vote was the fi rst major election since the 2014 student-led “Umbrella Revolu-tion” protests that blocked roads for 79 days.

Since then, many disaff ected youngsters have decried what

they see as increasing Beijing interference stifl ing dissent and civil liberties, leading to a radi-calisation of the political scene and occasional violent protests.

Several veteran democrats lost their seats, as voters backed a new batch of younger candi-dates espousing self-determina-tion and a more confrontational stance with China.

“It’s a new era,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, a democratic law-maker who lost his seat after more than two decades in public offi ce.

“People want change, change meaning that they want new

faces ... but the price is a further fragmentation (of the democracy camp). Ideologically they’re talk-ing about independence and they want to assert themselves.”

Hong Kong Secretary for Con-stitutional Aff airs Raymond Tam said that the government would do its best to “bring them around to a more centrist position”.

“But it’s too early to say if this will be an issue,” he said.

Pro-establishment lawmak-ers like Elizabeth Quat said she hoped the issue of splitting from China wouldn’t enter the legis-lature or it could damage Hong Kong’s economic interests.

“Independence is not realistic at all,” she said. “Hopefully this will not be their main objective.”

Voters fl ocked to cast ballots in record numbers with some hav-ing to wait several hours after polls closed, leading to some de-lays in vote counting yesterday.

“Hong Kong is really chaotic now. I want to do something to help,” said 28-year-old Maicy Leung, who was in a snaking queue of several hundred. “It’s to help the next generation and to help myself.”

The Electoral Aff airs Commis-sion said 58% of an eligible 3.8mn voters had cast their ballot, up from 53% in 2012 and the highest legislative election turnout since 1997.

Anti-China activists win seats in HK voteReutersHong Kong

A half-Indian beauty queen with an elephant trainer’s licence was

crowned Miss Japan yesterday, striking a fresh blow for racial equality.

Priyanka Yoshikawa’s tear-ful victory comes a year after Ariana Miyamoto faced an ugly backlash for becoming the fi rst black woman to represent Ja-pan.

Social media lit up after Mi-yamoto’s trail-blazing triumph as critics complained that Miss Universe Japan should instead have been won by a “pure” Jap-anese rather than a “haafu” – the Japanese pronunciation for “half”, a word used to describe mixed race.

“Before Ariana, haafu girls couldn’t represent Japan,” Yoshikawa told AFP in an inter-view after her exotic Bollywood looks helped sweep her to the title. “That’s what I thought too. I didn’t doubt it or chal-lenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by show-ing me and showing all mixed girls the way.”

Yoshikawa, born in Tokyo to an Indian father and a Japanese mother, vowed to continue the fi ght against racial prejudice in homogenous Japan, where multiracial children make up just 2% of those born annually.

“I think it means we have to let it in,” said the 22-year-old when asked what it signifi ed for her and Miyamoto to break down cultural barriers. “We are Japanese. Yes, I’m half-Indian and people are asking me about my ‘purity’ – yes, my dad is Indian and I’m proud of it, I’m proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I’m not Japanese.”

Yoshikawa, like Miyamoto, was bullied because of her skin colour after returning to Japan aged 10 following three years in Sacramento and a further year in India.

“I know many people who are haafu and suff er,” said Yoshikawa, an avid kick-boxer whose politician great-grand-father once welcomed inde-pendence campaigner Mahat-ma Gandhi for a two-week stay

at their home in Kolkata.“We have problems, we’ve

been struggling and it hurts. When I came back to Ja-pan, everyone thought I was a germ,” she added. “Like if they touched me they would be touching something bad. But I’m thankful because that made me really strong.”

Yoshikawa, who speaks fl u-ent Japanese and English and towered over her rivals at 1.76m (5’ 9”), will contest for the Miss World crown in Washington this December.

“When I’m abroad, people never ask me what mix I am,” said Yoshikawa, who earned her elephant trainer’s licence to add spice to her resume. “As Miss Japan, hopefully I can help change perceptions so that it can be the same here too. The number of people with mixed race is only going to increase, so people have to accept it.”

Reaction to Yoshikawa’s vic-tory failed initially to trigger any real outrage, although pre-dictably some were unhappy.

“What’s the point of hold-ing a pageant like this now? Zero national characteristics,” grumbled one Twitter user, while another fumed: “It’s like we’re saying a pure Japanese face can’t be a winner.”

As the Japanese government continues to push its “Cool Ja-pan” brand overseas to entice foreign tourists for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Yoshikawa promised to win over any doubters.

“There was a time as a kid when I was confused about my identity,” she admitted. “But I’ve lived in Japan so long now I feel Japanese.”

Half-Indian woman crowned Miss JapanBy Alastair Himmer, AFPTokyo

Priyanka Yoshikawa smiles after winning the Miss Japan title during the Miss World Japan 2016 Beauty Pageant in Tokyo yesterday.

China’s leader Xi Jinping and Japan’s Shinzo Abe sought to reset their

countries’ troubled relationship yesterday at their fi rst meeting in over a year, with the Japanese prime minister calling China an “important friend”.

The Asian giants have been at loggerheads over territorial disputes and historical animos-ity, but Xi said they should “put aside disruptions”, the offi cial news agency Xinhua said.

Their relationship was “trou-bled by complications at times”, it cited the Chinese president as saying, but they should seek to return to normal development for the sake of regional peace and stability.

For his part Abe described China as “an important friend of Japan’s since long ago”.

“We need to look at the big picture and work to improve re-lations,” he told reporters after the meeting.

The tone of the two leaders’ comments after a G20 summit in Hangzhou was a marked im-provement on the last time they met on Chinese soil, on the side-lines of an Asia-Pacifi c Econom-ic Co-operation (Apec) gathering in 2014, when they could barely conceal their mutual distaste.

The relationship between the two powers is crucial to Asian stability, and Abe said they were “both responsible for the re-gion’s peace and prosperity as well as the global economy”.

But they have a longstanding dispute over islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan, which knows them as Senkaku, and claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.

Just weeks before the sum-mit, hundreds of Chinese fi shing boats, accompanied by govern-ment ships, fl ooded into nearby waters, infuriating Tokyo and raising questions about Beijing’s intentions for the relationship.

In a substantive breakthrough, the leaders agreed that they would restart talks later this month on a deal to jointly devel-op resources in the region.

Japan and China agreed in June 2008 to co-operate over oil and gas resources in area, but nego-tiations stopped two years later amid rising tensions.

Meanwhile, Japan has weighed in on another Chinese territorial dispute in the South China Sea, where Beijing has built artifi cial islands capable of supporting military facilities.

Abe has vocally criticised China for rejecting a July ruling by an international tribunal that said its extensive claims to the strategically vital waters had no legal basis.

Yesterday’s rapprochement only went so far.

Xi told Abe that Japan should “exercise caution in its words and deeds” on the issue, Xinhua said.

And Abe reiterated his stance, saying: “Any dispute has to be solved peacefully and diplomati-cally under international law, not through power or intimidation.”

“Since we are neighbours, we have a variety of problems,” he said. “So therefore, it is impor-tant to have dialogue.”

The two agreed to accelerate talks on an air and sea commu-nications hotline between their defence ministries, he added.

Last week Japan’s defence ministry requested a record budget, including funds for an anti-ship missile system to de-fend the East China Sea islands.

China, Japan seek to improve ties as Xi, Abe meetAFPHangzhou, China

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks to the Japanese delegation led by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their meeting yesterday at the West Lake State House in Hangzhou.

An Australian teenager who planned a terror attack which involved

beheading a police offi cer and attaching explosives to a kanga-roo at commemorations of the World War I Anzac landings at Gallipoli was sentenced yester-day to 10 years in prison.

Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 19,

had planned to attack police at the Melbourne Anzac Day pa-rade on April 25, 2015, but his scheme was uncovered when police in Britain discovered phone messages between Besim and a 15-year-old British boy.

Victoria Supreme Court Jus-tice Michael Croucher said that Besim’s decision to plead guilty was a major factor in his deci-sion to impose a 10-year, rather than 15-year, sentence.

Croucher said that he had

sought in his ruling to balance the need to protect the com-munity from Besim’s “evil” and “terrifying” plans against the young man’s age, contrition and prospects of rehabilitation.

“I accept that Mr Besim’s youth and immaturity are sig-nifi cant mitigating factors. He was just 18 at the time of the off ending and is now only 19,” Croucher said, according to a transcript of the proceedings.

Australia, a staunch US ally,

has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown Islamist radicals since 2014 and authori-ties say they have thwarted a number of plots.

About 100 people have left Australia for Syria to fi ght alongside organisations such as Islamic State (IS) group, Aus-tralia’s Immigration Minister said this year.

There have been several “lone wolf” assaults in Australia, in-cluding a 2014 cafe siege in Syd-

ney that left two hostages and the gunman dead.

Besim’s sentence may have seemed harsh just a few years ago, but must now been under-stood in view of recent attacks in Europe and the US, said Greg Barton, a terrorism expert at Deakin University.

“It has to be seen in the con-text of realised and attempted low-fi , lone-wolf attacks in the last two years that are fairly un-precedented,” Barton said.

Australian teen gets 10 years for Anzac Day terror plotReutersSydney

A fi ssure has emerged among Australia’s sci-entists after two of them

accused other colleagues of publishing an authoritative re-port that toes the government line, consisting of “major fl aws”.

Last week, Australia’s Climate Change Authority published a report calling for the govern-ment to introduce an emissions trading scheme.

But two of the authority’s 10 scientists, David Karoly and Clive Hamilton, voiced dissent and released their own minority report yesterday, warning that the actions recommended in the

Authority report are inadequate to meet Australia’s international obligations.

They criticised the “major-ity report”, saying that the im-pression that Australia has until 2030 to implement measures to bring carbon emissions down is “untrue and dangerous” and it will further delay the need to re-duce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Given this, we felt we had no choice but to write our own re-port,” Hamilton said in a state-ment.

Hamilton said it was disap-pointing that the Authority’s report chose to frame its recom-mendations around what is seen to be politically possible rather than what needs to be done to protect the nation.

Climate change is too big and too important for the policy makers to be spooked by the fear campaigns, he said.

Climate Change Authority is an independent authority that reviews and advises the govern-ment on its climate change poli-cies.

It has no legislative or execu-tive power.

Report on climate change has top scientists dividedDPASydney

Ballot boxes for the Legislative Council election are seen at the central counting station in Hong Kong early yesterday.

BRITAIN


Foreign investors buyingup fl ats in suburbsLondon Evening StandardLondon

Wealthy foreign property investors are turning their at-

tention from central London to cheaper suburban locations to avoid paying heavy stamp duty bills, an investigation has found.

The trend, which follows a series of swingeing stamp duty hikes on expensive prop-erties since 2012, means cash-rich investors are increasingly in competition with first-time buyers in new develop-ments in outer London.

It has been accelerated by the slump in the value of the pound that followed the Brexit vote in June, which has made London property around 15% cheaper in dollar terms compared with a year ago.

Chinese investor Ada Yau, who has been looking at flats in the north-west London suburb of Colindale in Zone 4,

told BBC’s Inside Out London programme: “Brexit is not the end of the world. This coun-try has a stable and secure po-litical system. Yes it attracts foreign investors to come here — like me! Fifteen percent off, it’s like a sale... I’m going to invest in buying flats and rent them out.”

The current system of stamp duty means a purchas-er buying a £1.5mn apartment in Mayfair would have to pay more than £138,000, includ-ing a three percent stamp duty surcharge on buy-to-let properties. However, by spreading the same invest-ment on about six cheaper flats of £250,000 each, the bill is reduced to £60,000 — a saving of £78,000.

One first-time buyer, jun-ior doctor Tania Rahman, told of her frustration that she now has to compete with foreign investors. She said: “Brexit has just brought so much big hope for Brexiteers that property would become more affordable. Well it has

for one group — foreigners.”David Adams, managing

director of Mayfair agents John Taylor Estate, said that British buyers were using post-referendum uncertainty as a reason not to take the plunge and were in danger of missing out. He said: “The London sale is on to foreign-ers. It’s not on to the English — they continue to sit on their hands and say, ‘David, it’s not a good time to trade.’”

He said that of the enquiry calls received by the agency in the month after the June 23 referendum, 80% had foreign dialling codes for their point of contact.

Recent property surveys show prices in the most ex-pensive central London bor-oughs such as Kensington and Chelsea are tumbling — in large part because of the huge stamp duty burden — while those in more affordable lo-cal authority areas on the fringes of the capital, such as Waltham Forest, continue to surge by up to 20% a year.

Top school proximity‘lifts’ prices of homesAgenciesLondon

Parents in England are forking out thousands – and in some cases, hundreds of thou-

sands of pounds more for their homes in order to ensure their children are able to attend top per-forming state schools.

New research from Lloyds Bank shows that many are willing to pay an average of £53,000 extra to se-cure homes close to schools with the best academic outcomes.

The fi gure marks a 31% increase on last year.

Average house prices have now reached £366,744 in the catch-ment areas surrounding England’s top 30 state schools, compared to a general average of £313,318 elsewhere. The top performing schools are judged as those with the strongest GCSE results last year. Six of the top 30 schools ap-pear to have pushed house prices at least a whopping £150,000 above their county averages.

Homes near Beaconsfi eld High School in Buckinghamshire saw the biggest premium, with house selling for almost £630,000 –

171% above the county average house price of £367,191.

The Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet, London, came second on the list with a £429,506 premium on homes, followed by The Wil-liam Borlase’s Grammar School in Buckinghamshire (£220,082), The Tiffi n Girls’ School in Kingston upon Thames (£192,011) and Dr Challoner’s High School, also in Buckinghamshire (£168,308).

Andrew Mason, mortgage products director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Schools with the best exam performance are proving to be an increasingly strong draw for home-movers, as we’ve seen house prices rise sharply in loca-tions close to such schools.”

“Our analysis shows that since 2011 average house prices in areas with the best state schools have increased by £76,000, compared to a national increase of £42,145.”

“And seven of the areas covered in this survey have seen house prices rise by over £100,000 in the last fi ve years.”

“The popularity of areas close to high performing schools may mean that homes remain unaf-fordable for buyers on average earnings.”

A giant replica of 17th-century London was set ablaze on the Thames in the city to mark the 350th anniversary of the devastating Great Fire of London. The 1666 inferno destroyed most of the walled inner city dating back to Roman times — a bustling, congested maze of tightly-packed wooden houses. It forced London to rebuild anew from the ashes.

Great Fire Anniversary

Passengers suff ered delays after a hole was discovered in the main runway at Gatwick airport. Some flights were forced into holding patterns and others were diverted after it was closed as a “precautionary measure” at 7.40pm on Sunday. Gatwick’s second runway, a “stand-in” landing strip not usually used for public flights, was brought into operation as engineers worked to repair the damage. In June, scores of flights were delayed following a similar discovery. Eight aircraft were diverted to airports as far afield as Southampton and other flights were delayed. The main runway reopened before 11pm.

A woman was fighting for her life yesterday after a car she was travelling in smashed through a window at flats in north London. The woman, who is in her sixties, was a passenger in the car when it struck a tree and then careered into the flats in Gunner Drive, Enfield. The driver, a man in his eighties, also suff ered serious injuries and was taken to hospital in a critical condition. He was recovering and his injuries were no longer said to be life threatening. No one at the flats was injured but the building was evacuated while its safety was assessed by a structural engineer. Firefighters worked with London Ambulance crews and police to release the driver.

A motorist has been arrested after allegedly threatening to “knock out” BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine. Vine posted a video of a young woman ranting at him as he cycled through Kensington on his way home. The footage, showing a motorist screaming, “Get out of the road” before apparently kicking his bike, was viewed half a million times online. A Met spokeswoman said off icers from Kensington and Chelsea arrested a woman on Friday. She said: “The 22-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of common assault and a public order off ence. She has been bailed to return to police on a date in early September.”

A woman has been jailed after police found a Kalashnikov assault rifle and more than 400 rounds of ammunition hidden in her bedroom cupboard. Lynn Tetteh, 24, was sentenced to five years in prison after the AK47 was discovered wrapped inside a section of soil pipe in the locked bedroom of her Mitcham home. The receptionist pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition but denied knowing what was inside the package. Tetteh, a graduate in international travel and tourism, said her boyfriend had asked her to keep the package for him because he was moving house.

Morrisons, Britain’s fourth largest supermarket group, has announced another wave of price cuts, fuelling an already fierce industry price war. Like market leader Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, Morrisons is lowering prices to try to reverse the flow of shoppers turning to discounters Aldi and Lidl. All players are also having to deal with commodity-driven industry price deflation. The company, based in Bradford said it will this week reduce prices on nearly 130 cooked meat, fresh meat and poultry products by an average of 12%. Morrisons is unique among Britain’s major supermarkets in making half of all the own brand and fresh food it sells.

Hole in Gatwick runwaycauses flight delays

Woman ‘critical’ as car smashes into block of flats

Driver arrested for threatto ‘knock out’ BBC presenter

Receptionist jailed for AK47possession

Supermarket operator Morrisons cuts more prices

AVIATION ACCIDENTCRIME VERDICT DECISION

Trump’sgolf resortsued forbreach ofprivacyGuardian News and MediaLondon

Donald Trump’s golf resort near Aberdeen is being sued for breach of privacy

and damages by a rambler who was fi lmed without her consent on the course.

A lawyer acting for Rohan Beyts, a retired social worker and environmental activist, has ac-cused Trump’s staff of breaching the Data Protection Act by taking mobile phone footage of her in April as she allegedly relieved her-self behind a dune on the course.

Beyts’s lawyer, Mike Dailly, has accused Trump’s staff of illegally fi lming and retaining that foot-age, after the Guardian revealed last month that the resort had breached the UK’s strict laws on data protection and privacy.

Trump International Golf Course Scotland, which is wholly owned by the Republican presi-dential candidate, admitted it had failed to register with the infor-mation commissioner’s offi ce, the UK’s data protection regulator. This was despite operating at least nine CCTV cameras at the resort and holding records on thousands of guests, 95 employees and a large number of contractors and sup-pliers. The resort also breached offi cial guidelines on using CCTV by failing to display prominent signs warning visitors and guests at the course and its 19-bedroom boutique hotel that they were be-ing fi lmed.

In a statement, TIGCS said the failure to register with the com-missioner was a clerical error, and it had submitted its registration on August 10. Under Scotland’s wide-ranging laws that uphold public access to open land, Beyts and a friend had used a public footpath across the Trump course to walk past the clubhouse to reach a thick band of sand dunes and beach bordering the course.

As they came back from their walk, the pair say there were chal-lenged by resort staff and then photographed by a local newspa-per photographer.

Points-basedimmigrationsystem not feasible: MayGuardian News and MediaLondon

Downing Street has ruled out a points-based immi-gration system promised

by the offi cial Brexit campaign but insisted Theresa May would put forward a better way of con-trolling arrivals to the UK.

The prime minister was ac-cused of backsliding on prom-ises made by the Vote Leave campaign, after she cast doubt on the effectiveness of a system admitting people on the basis of their skills and refused to commit an extra £100mn to the NHS.

As former Ukip leader Ni-gel Farage suggested yesterday she was betraying Brexit vot-ers, No 10 issued a statement saying it would devise an im-migration system that gave the government more control than a points-based system.

A spokeswoman said: “One of the opportunities of Brexit is that we will be able to control the number of people coming to Britain from the EU. The precise way in which the government will control the movement of EU nationals to Britain after Brexit is yet to be determined. However, as the premier has said many times in the past, a points-based system will not work and is not an option.

“When Labour introduced a points-based immigration sys-tem, the numbers went straight up. In Australia, they have a points-based system, and they have higher immigration per capita than Britain. A points-based system would give for-

eign nationals the right to come to Britain if they meet certain criteria: an immigration system that works for Britain would ensure that the right to decide who comes to the country re-sides with the government.”

A points-based system of im-migration applying to migrants from across the world was first suggested by Ukip and quickly championed by the Leave cam-paign spearheaded by May’s Foreign Secretary, Boris John-son.

It would have seen equal ac-cess to the UK for citizens from across the globe based on cer-tain criteria such as skills and qualifications, without giving any special access to those from the EU.

Farage said: “May’s track record on immigration as home secretary was appalling and her comments rejecting an Austral-ian-style points system really worry me.

“There is already huge anxi-ety out there in the country regarding May’s reluctance to trigger Article 50. Her rejection of the type of migration system so many went out there and voted leave to see implemented indicates serious backsliding.”

Remain campaigners also seized on May’s comments as a sign that people who voted for Brexit had been misled.

Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP and chairman of the cam-paign group Vote Leave Watch, said: “Johnson and his Vote Leave colleagues spent the whole refer-endum campaign making impos-sible promises they knew they couldn’t keep. It’s now clear that very few of their pledges were

worth the paper they were writ-ten on.”

“May cannot be let off the hook either. After barely campaigning for Remain, our unelected prime minister now contemptuously dismisses policies like increas-ing spending on the NHS which people voted on in good faith and great numbers.”

No 10 sources insisted May was still intending to honour the essence of what people voted for by bringing in a system that will be more eff ective at curbing im-migration than the Vote Leave and Ukip idea.

Theoretically, this could in-clude a work permit or visa system, restrictions on entry to those with job offers, a quota system or an emergency brake.

However, the prime minister has given no more details about how this might be done and has not answered the crucial ques-tion of whether the government could give preferential access to citizens of the EU over those from the rest of the world.

The dilemma for May is that a number of EU states have indi-cated the UK will not get prefer-ential terms for trading without accepting at least a degree of free movement for EU citizens.

Carlo Calenda, an Italian eco-nomic development minister, told Bloomberg: “We cannot waste two years by negotiating with the UK how to maintain them inside without them want-ing to be inside. We cannot af-ford this paradox … The more they are going to regulate and limit the presence of EU citizens in the UK, the more we are going to limit the presence of UK goods into Europe.”

Pro-Brexit demonstrators, calling on the government to invoke Article 50 immediately, and urging them not to hold a second referendum, shout slogans and hold placards as they protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday.

13Gulf TimesTuesday, September 6, 2016

BRITAIN

Junior doctors suspendplanned strike in Sept

‘Sea monster’ fossilfreed from rock

3D images of Mary Roseskulls published online

Data revealsshock rise inhome attackson women

Guardian News and MediaLondon

Junior doctors have called off the fi rst of their planned se-ries of fi ve-day strikes after

growing alarm from senior doc-tors and NHS leaders that the action could endanger patients.

In a statement yesterday af-ternoon, Dr Ellen McCourt, the chair of the British Medical as-sociation’s junior doctors com-mittee, said that the doctors’ union was “suspending the in-dustrial action planned for the week of September 12”.

McCourt told Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, that he now had a month to stop the impo-sition of the new contract that

has sparked such anger among trainee medics in England over the last year. It is due to start being implemented from early October.

However, the BMA is still planning to stage three other fi ve-day- walkouts, in Octo-ber, November and December, if Hunt does not respond posi-tively.

However, it is unclear what will happen next after the de-partment of health’s initial reac-tion to the call-off did not indi-cate if Hunt would do what the BMA are urging him to do and suspend the planned imposition of the contract.

A department of health spokesman said only that: “The public will be relieved that the

BMA has decided to call off the fi rst phase of these unprec-edented strikes, so this is wel-come news. But if the BMA were really serious about patient safety, they would immediately cancel their remaining plans for industrial action which, as the GMC says, will only cause pa-tients to suff er.”

McCourt added that the BMA decided to call off next week’s planned action, which saw the BMA being heavily criticised by many medical groups including the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, to ensure that safety of care was maintained.

“Patient safety remains doc-tors’ primary concern. For the fi rst time in this dispute, NHS England have told us that a serv-

ice under such pressure can-not cope with the notice period for industrial action given,” she said. “We have also listened to the concerns of working doctors, patient groups and the public.”

It comes hours after the Gen-eral Medical Council, which regulates doctors, warned that “harm and suff ering to patients” would inevitably result from the action.

The walkouts were due to in-clude even life-or-death areas of care in hospitals such as A&E, surgery, intensive care and ma-ternity services. An estimated 125,000 planned operations were set to be cancelled as an-other consequence, leading to fears that patients would suff er pain and distress as hospitals

would take months to clear the backlog.

The BMA’s move may be a belated attempt to maintain the profession’s year-long unity over the new junior doctors’ contract, which shattered last week with many leading doctors criticising the intended strikes as disproportionate and likely to threaten patient safety. Jun-ior doctors may also be hoping to keep the public on their side in their bitter dispute with Hunt.

They continued to enjoy around 60% public backing despite the eight days of strikes they staged between January and May in pur-suit of their claim that the new contract for England’s 54,000 doctors below the level of consult-ant was unsafe and unfair.

AFPParis

A toothy, dolphin-like predator which prowled the oceans in

the Jurassic era, when dino-saurs roamed the Earth, has been uncovered in a Scottish museum where it lay buried for 50 years, scientists said yesterday.

First discovered in 1966, the fossil has at last been freed from its prehistor-ic sarcophagus to reveal a chunky, four-metre-long (13 feet) deep-sea killer — its pointed mouth bristling with hundreds of cone-shaped teeth.

“It is spectacular,” said pal-aeontologist Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, who helped expose the 170mn-year-old remains.

Dubbed the Storr Lochs Monster, the reptile belonged to the ichthyosaur fam-ily — scary-looking, finned hunters sometimes called sea dragons — that died out

shortly before the dinosaurs, to be replaced by dolphins and whales.

Encased in rock, this set of remains was found by an amateur on a beach on the Isle of Skye 50 years ago, and presented to the National Mu-seum of Scotland.

“For half a century the museum kept the fossil safe and secure, but there wasn’t the expertise to free it from the very dense rock that surrounded it, or the ex-pertise to study it,” Brusatte said. “But now we finally have that expertise... and have realised that this skel-eton is the most complete fossil of a sea reptile ever found in Scotland.

The fossil monster will go on display at the museum as the “crown jewel” of Scot-tish prehistory, the scientist added.

Earlier this year, researchers said prehistoric global warm-ing had wiped out the ich-thyosaurs after an impressive 157mn-year deep-sea reign. There had been several sub-species.

AFPLondon

British archaeologists yes-terday published detailed 3D models of skulls and

artefacts found on board king Henry VIII’s warship as part of a digital experiment designed to share knowledge of major historical fi nds.

One skull, reproduced in a fully interactive model, be-longed to a carpenter on board the Mary Rose, the fl agship of England’s navy when it sank in 1545 as heartbroken Henry VIII watched from the shore.

“An abscess in his upper jaw meant he could only chew on the right side,” said details on the website, www.virtualtu-dors.org.”He also had arthritis in his spine, ribs and left clavi-cle and a lesion across his right eyebrow which may be the re-sult of an old wound.”

Relics from the ship, includ-ing the carpenter’s tools, are also available for fellow ar-chaeologists and scientists to

study on the website following lengthy work by scientists at Swansea University in Wales.

The technique is known as photogrammetry, using high-resolution 2D photographs to produce detailed 3D models.

“This digital resource ena-bles researchers around the world to join the project and study virtual 3D reconstruc-tions,” said professor Cather-ine Fletcher.

“Once fully developed, this technology can be applied to many more historic objects, bringing them to an even wid-er community of researchers while preventing damage to the original remains and artefacts.”

The researchers captured 1,000 images of 10 skulls found on the ship to create naviga-ble online models, which they hope other researchers will an-alyse to eventually recreate full skeletons of some of the 500 men who perished.

The Mary Rose fought three wars with the French but mys-teriously keeled over and sank off Portsmouth on July 19, 1545,

while fi ghting off a French in-vasion fl eet.

After a six-year search, the leg-endary ship was defi nitively iden-tifi ed in 1971 and around a third of it was raised in 1982, watched live by millions on television.

The public can view a sample of the objects such as a mir-ror, rigging or a leather shoe on the Virtual Tudors website — a collaboration between Swan-sea University, the Mary Rose Trust and Oxford University.

Thousands of other artefacts are on display at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth on England’s south coast.

Alex Hildred, head of re-search and curator of human remains of the Mary Rose Trust said excavating the carpenter’s cabin was “like stepping into a deserted workshop”.

“Finding one of the car-penter’s second set of tools on the deck below allows us to look into the face of one of the most important members of the crew; and the ship comes alive,” he said, according to the Press Association.

London Evening StandardLondon

The full impact of the alarming toll of violence infl icted on women in

London emerged yesterday, as new fi gures showed that 25 murders and more than 1,600 rapes were committed by do-mestic abusers in a year.

The killings were among nearly 60,000 off ences in-volving violent domestic abuse recorded in the capital in the 12 months up to the end of March.

The tally from the Metro-politan police — including just over 6,000 incidents involving wounding or grievous bod-ily harm, and 17,676 crimes of “assault with injury” — rep-resents more than a quarter of all violent crimes committed in London.

A total of 2,198 sex off ences, including 1,640 rapes, were carried out by domestic abus-ers. Twenty-nine percent of rapes in the capital were do-mestic abuse off ences, high-lighting the threat posed to women from sexually violent partners.

The figures, obtained by the Standard under the Free-dom of Information Act, were compiled by the Met following the introduction of a new “flagging” system to identify domestic abuse crimes.

It was brought in because of concern that traditional crime recording methods were mak-ing it hard to assess the scale of domestic abuse and obscuring the root cause of a signifi cant area of off ending.

The Met, which has pre-viously promised to use Al Capone-style tactics to bring offenders to justice, yester-day insisted it was deter-

mined to protect victims and was continuing work to com-bat the crimes of domestic violence.

Others insisted, however, that more urgent action was needed.

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras and a former director of public prosecutions, said law enforcers were “working hard” to tackle the problem but “these fi gures are a shocking reminder of just how prevalent and persistent domestic abuse still is.

“The sheer number of rape and assault cases shows that domestic abuse must remain an absolute priority, not only for the police but for all of us. We all have a duty to speak out and redouble eff orts to pre-vent and respond to domestic abuse.

“The murder fi gures — a domestic abuse murder in London every other week — are equally shocking and re-quire robust analysis and re-sponse. The home should be a place of comfort and safety, not a place of violent risk and terrible abuse.”

Sir Keir said that although law enforcers and others were “working hard to improve their response to domestic abuse” the under-reporting of off ences meant that the true scale of the problem was even worse than offi cial fi gures indicated.

Yesterday’s new Met fi gures show that 19,365 crimes of common assault were infl icted on domestic abuse victims and 53 cases — in addition to the homicides — involved the use of an “off ensive weapon” such as a knife, gun or blunt instrument.

Domestic abusers were also responsible for 14,437 crimes of harassment, 2,217 off ences involving “other violence” and 259 kidnappings.

Olympic medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill drinks a smoothie during the country fair at Chatsworth House near Bakewell in Britain.

Well-earned break

Labour Party politician Keith Vaz speaks during a session of the House of Commons in central London yesterday. The Commons Standards watchdog is being urged to investigate Vaz over claims in the Sunday Mirror he paid for the services of male escorts.

Scandal threatens career

Re-electing Corbyn will be disastrous for Labour, warns SmithGuardian News and MediaLondon

Labour faces the “choice of a generation” in its forthcoming leadership

election, Owen Smith has said, warning members that re-elect-ing Jeremy Corbyn would see the party consigned to irrelevance and allow the Conservatives to rule without obstacle for dec-ades.

Those casting votes in the contest had a “crushing duty to think hard” about what they were doing, the challenger warned, arguing that Corbyn had failed to provide cred-ible opposition to Theresa May’s government.

“It’s a disastrous government we’ve got right now, and where are we in off ering really robust, serious and credible opposition to that?” he said. “I’ll tell you where we are – nowhere. And

Jeremy has to be held account-able for that as the leader of the party.”

Smith said Corbyn, the fa-vourite to win in the vote of party members, registered support-ers and trade union affi liates, was not on course to prevent the Conservatives potentially rul-ing for 20 more years. “You can-not mistake the mass rallies that Jeremy is gathering for the mass movement that we need to gath-er, the mass movement of 12mn

or 13mn people, voting Labour, in order to stop this happening,” he added.

For the speech in Lon-don, Smith’s team produced a mocked-up Conservative mani-festo for 2020, using ideas from the party and associated think-tanks to predict that if May’s government was not properly challenged it would roll back the state, cut taxes and benefi ts, sell off social housing, and introduce hundreds of grammar schools.

Featuring the Tory logo – prompting one Conservative MP to ask if permission had been sought – the mock manifesto was, Smith insisted, a credible picture of a Conservative pro-gramme “if they were wholly unfettered, both by coalition, or indeed by a substantive and credible opposition in the La-bour party”.

Smith said: “It’s an ugly vision of what Britain could become, without a Labour opposition.

And I’m not prepared to stand by and see another 18 years of the Tories, as we did in the 1980s. Britain would be unrecognisable at the end of that.”

The election, which will see the victor announced at the start of the Labour conference on September 24, was “a water-shed”, Smith said.

“There is an enormous choice, a choice of a genera-tion, a watershed for Labour – whether we move forward to

becoming once more ... looked at by the country as a cred-ible alternative to the Tories, or whether we recede into ir-relevance, being thought of as not able to take back the reins of power from the Tories,” he said.

Asked how he would respond if he lost the contest, Smith said he would continue to make the same arguments, predicting that the party risked new divisions if Corbyn won again.

EUROPE


Angry French truckers and farmers blocked the main routes in and out of the

port of Calais yesterday to call for the closure of the sprawling “Jungle” migrant camp.

Around 70 trucks mounted a “go-slow” on the A16 motorway – the main artery for freight and passengers heading for Britain either via the Channel Tunnel or on board ferries from the port.

Dozens of farmers on trac-tors joined up with the trucks, slowing traffi c to a crawl, while around 400 people staged a demonstration in the middle of the motorway.

Authorities said that despite long tailbacks at the start of the protest, a system of detours pre-vented widespread disruption.

But the demonstrators said they were digging in for the night.

“We’re not moving,” said Fre-deric Van Gansbeke, who rep-resents businesses and shop-owners in Calais. “We’re waiting for the government’s answers, especially on ... fi nancial help for businesses that are in trouble.”

The Jungle, a squalid camp of

makeshift tents and shelters, is home to some 7,000 migrants but charities say the number might be as high as 10,000 after an infl ux this summer.

Migrants from the camp sometimes use tree branches to create roadblocks to slow trucks heading for Britain, their desti-nation of choice.

When the trucks slow down, migrants try to clamber into the trailers to stow away aboard.

Drivers say migrants and peo-ple traffi cking gangs have at-tacked their vehicles with metal bars.

The drivers say despite the deployment of 2,100 offi cers around the port, the police are

overstretched and unable to se-cure the roads.

Nicolas Lotin, who runs a logistics company in nearby Boulogne-sur-Mer, said: “Every day, we have to wonder whether our working day will be ruined, whether a migrant will sneak under the truck’s canvas. If the goods are damaged, they have

to be immediately transported back to the home depot.”

“This demonstration is to shout loud and clear about how fed up road hauliers are,” said David Sagnard, head of the local branch of the National Federa-tion of Road Hauliers.

“What we’re calling for today are security measures so we can drive on the A16 motorway and on the port road in complete safety,” he added.

A banner attached to one of the trucks said: “We’re truck drivers, not people smugglers.”

The town’s mayor, Natacha Bouchart, who joined the pro-test wearing an “I love Calais” T-shirt, claims the Jungle may soon contain as many as 15,000 migrants within months unless it is razed.

Interior Minister Bernard Ca-zeneuve promised during a visit to the Jungle on Friday to close the camp down “as quickly as possible” but said it would be done in stages.

Disgruntled Calais residents want the authorities to set a date for the entire camp to be cleared.

Bars and restaurants in Calais – which is also the main gateway to France for millions of British holidaymakers – say that their trade has been severely hit by the

presence of the Jungle.“The government must de-

clare Calais an economic emer-gency zone,” read one banner at the demonstration.

The authorities have made re-peated eff orts to close the Jungle.

Earlier this year, authorities cleared shelters in parts of the site in a bid to persuade migrants to move into more permanent accommodation or camps else-where on France’s northern coast.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is bidding to secure the right-wing nomi-nation to win back the presi-dency next year, has called for Britain to take responsibility for the migrants over the Channel.

Last week France and Brit-ain pledged to work together to increase security at the port of Calais and to improve the hu-manitarian situation for the Jun-gle’s residents.

In an attempt to encour-age migrants to leave the Jun-gle, France is expected to create places for an additional 8,000 people in accommodation cen-tres around the country.

The population of the Jungle includes large numbers of Suda-nese, Afghan, Somali and Iraqi residents.

Farmers, truckers block roads over Calais ‘Jungle’AFPCalais

Harbour workers, truck drivers, farmers, storekeepers, and residents block a motorway as part of their protest against the migrant situation in Calais.

More than 1,000 people have been evacuated after a wildfi re fuelled

by intense heat roared through brush surrounding a popular tourist resort on Spain’s Costa Blanca, offi cials said yesterday.

Some 300 fi refi ghters backed 20 water-dropping aircraft were battling the blaze which broke out on Sunday near the Mediterranean resort of Javea, a local emergency services of-fi cial said.

Offi cials suspect the fi re was started deliberately.

Offi cials evacuated over 1,000 people late on Sunday from Javea and the resort of Benitatxell near Benidorm, popular with British and Ger-man tourists, due to the threat from the fl ames.

The evacuees were put up in schools.

Residents of Javea also of-fered to put up evacuees for the night and gave them food and water, Javea city council-lor Maria del Pilar Zamora told private television Antena 3.

Photos and videos posted on social media showed fl ames raging near built up areas.

Several homes were com-pletely destroyed by the fi re,

according to Antena 3.Among those who posted

photos of the blaze was BBC host Chris Stark who was on vacation in the area.

“This is crazy. I think my car and maybe my apartment is on fi re,” he Tweeted on Sunday.

He sent another tweet yes-terday, saying that he was safe.

Firefi ghters said the blaze was fuelled by scorching tem-peratures and low humidity levels.

Most of Spain faced an “ex-treme risk” of wildfi res yes-terday due to the heat, with temperatures over 40° Cel-sius (104° Fahrenheit) in some parts.

Spain routinely suff ers wild-fi res during the hot summer months but there have been fewer large blazes in 2016 than in recent years.

There were just 13 wildfi res that destroyed over 500 hec-tares (1,200 acres) of land be-tween January 1 and August 28, according to a tally kept by the agriculture ministry.

More than 1,000 fl eewildfi renear Spanish resortAFPMadrid

Smoke from forest fires rises into the air along the coastline near the Spanish resort of Javea, Valencia region, yesterday.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has slammed a New York Times article prompted by the

debate over the burqini (also spelled burkini) swimsuit in which French Muslim women complained of dis-crimination and even “persecution”.

The article, which appeared on Fri-day, painted an “unacceptable image of France because it is false”, Valls wrote in the French-language online edition of the Huffi ngton Post.

New York Times reporter Lillie Dremaux solicited the views of Eu-

ropean Muslim women on the bur-qini debate, distilling more than 1,000 comments for the article.

One respondent said that she was “afraid of having to wear a yellow cres-cent on my clothes one day, like the Star of David for Jews not so long ago”.

Another said: “French Muslim women would be justifi ed to request asylum in the United States ... given how many persecutions we are sub-jected to.”

Valls objected “with the greatest vigour ... that the journalist quotes women of the Muslim faith suggesting that their voices are muzzled, to depict France as oppressing them”.

The Socialist prime minister, who

came under fi re for saying last month that the burqini was “based notably on the enslavement of women”, reiterated his stance in the Huffi ngton Post piece.

Blasting foreign media for accus-ing secular France of seeking to “un-dermine Muslims’ freedom to practise their faith,” he said: “It is precisely for freedom that we are fi ghting.”

Valls saw an “incredible reversal” in comments that he said presented the burqini as “an instrument of women’s liberation”, citing one respondent who said her sister “could fi nally play with her children on the beach instead of sitting in the shadow”.

Another said “wearing the veil does not mean being enslaved by a man ...

it means reappropriating the body and femininity”.

These women’s assertions suggest “complete acceptance of male domi-nation”, Valls wrote.

“In France, we consider to the con-trary that ... women cannot be the subject of the slightest domination. And the idea that women should be re-moved from the public arena is indeed male domination,” he added.

Valls linked the promotion of the burqini to Islamist “proselytising”.

“It’s not an anodine swimming cos-tume. It’s a provocation (of) radical Is-lamism that is on the rise and wants to impose itself in the public arena,” Valls wrote.

He said the “great majority of Mus-lims ... do not recognise themselves in this proselytising minority that is ex-ploiting their religion”.

In France, which counts a population of 5mn Muslims, burqinis are extreme-ly rare and only a minority of Muslim women remain covered on beaches.

The prime minister said that France was “proud that Islam is the country’s second religion. Millions of citizens of the Muslim faith or culture respect their duties perfectly and fully enjoy their duties.”

The burqini debate came as France has been rocked by a string of deadly attacks claimed by Islamic State mili-tants.

NYT piece on burqinis is ‘unacceptable’: French PMAFPParis

Valls: France is ‘proud that Islam is the country’s second religion’.

Police rescue migrants hidden in minivanAFPMadrid

Spanish police freed four young African migrants found squeezed into a hid-

den compartment of a minivan with no ventilation at a bor-der crossing from Morocco into Spain and arrested the driver, they said yesterday.

The migrants – a woman from the Congo and three men from Guinea – were found on Sunday when police at the crossing be-tween Morocco and the Spanish territory of Melilla grew suspi-cious and searched the vehicle.

They were crammed inside a “hermetic false bottom with no ventilation” located below the front seats of the minivan, police said in a statement.

The woman began yelling in French: “Please, please, get me out of here. I’m scared. I don’t feel my legs and my feet are re-ally swollen!”

Firefi ghters had to use an electric saw and other tools to free the migrants who were all in “very poor physical shape” and in need of medical care.

Police said all four migrants, aged between 21 and 27, are now in good health.

Offi cers arrested the driver and only other occupant of the vehicle, a Moroccan man.

Temperatures on Sunday neared 30° Celsius (86° Fahren-heit) in Melilla, which has one of only two land borders between Africa and the European Union.

The other is at Ceuta, another Spanish territory nearly 400km (250 miles) away on the north coast of Africa.

This handout photo taken on Sunday and released yesterday by the Spanish authorities shows firefighters freeing migrants from a false bottom below the front seats of a vehicle in the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

A group of 50 Kurdish ac-tivists, including MPs, began yesterday a hunger

strike to protest the lack of news about the welfare of jailed Kurd-ish leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The protesters, wearing T-shirts with bearing Ocalan’s im-age, said they had received no update about him for several months.

“We haven’t received any ob-jective information about Oca-lan’s state of health and security,” said the group’s spokeswoman Sabahat Tuncel in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir in the southeast.

“We, as 50 volunteers, are be-ginning a hunger strike for an

unspecifi ed period of time until a meeting is secured between Mr Ocalan and his lawyers, his fam-ily or a political delegation.”

Ocalan, who heads the out-lawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which is blacklisted as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, is serving life for treason at an island prison near Istanbul.

Since the collapse in July 2015 of a fragile ceasefi re between the PKK and the Turkish state, he has not been permitted visits by law-yers or supporters.

“We joined this (hunger) strike voluntarily and will continue till the end,” Ferhat Encu, MP for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democrat-ic Party (HDP), told AFP.

He confi rmed that there was no scheduled end date for the protesters’ action.

Fellow HDP lawmaker Dilek Ocalan, a niece of the jailed PKK leader, said their protest should not be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

“It is the minimum demand

of people who call for peace and settlement,” she added.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag on Sunday dismissed claims there were any problems with Ocalan’s health or his security, in

a statement carried by state-run Anadolu news agency.

“On the subject of Abdullah Ocalan, the subject is constantly exploited by the separatist terror organisation (PKK) and the pub-lic receives false information,” he said.

“To mobilise the public and for their own objectives, they spread unfounded information about (his) health and safety,” he added.

The hunger strike comes as Turkey’s military steps up its campaign against PKK rebels in the southeast.

Turkish war jets on Sunday bombed PKK bases in northern Iraq, Anadolu reported, citing the army, and “neutralised 30 terrorists including those from the leadership cadres of the sepa-ratist organisation”, it added, re-ferring to the PKK.

Kurds in Turkey on hunger strike over OcalanAFPDiyarbakir

Pro-Kurdish politicians wearing t-shirts featuring Abdullah Ocalan gather to start a hunger strike in Diyarbakir to demand the right to visit the jailed PKK leader.

EUROPE15Gulf Times


German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged yesterday that her pro-

refugee policies led to her party’s state election rout on Sunday but said they would not be jetti-soned even though her Bavarian ally is clamouring for change.

In a rare, self-critical refl ec-tion over a state election defeat, Merkel insisted three times in the space of a four-minute state-ment in China that her decision to open the gate for refugees last year was right and would not be changed.

“I’m also responsible, obvi-ously,” Merkel said, breaking her rule against speaking on domes-tic issues while outside Germa-ny as she was on a visit to China. “But I believe the fundamen-tal decisions made in the past months are the right decisions.”

The poor showing of Merkel’s Christian Democratic (CDU) party in the Mecklenburg-Vor-pommern state vote has raised questions about her hopes of winning – or even running – for a fourth term in the 2017 general election.

Her refusal to change course on refugees deepened a split with the arch-conservative

Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the CDU.

After Sunday’s vote, CSU leaders quickly renewed an internecine battle with calls for limits on refugees.

Earlier yesterday CDU secre-tary general Peter Tauber said that Merkel’s government had already introduced a series of measures to reduce the refugee infl ux, integrate the 1.1mn mi-grants that arrived in 2015 and improve security in the country.

“It takes time for the meas-ures to work and to win back the trust that has been lost,” he

said during a press conference in Berlin.

The CDU suff ered one of its worst electoral defeats when it fell to third place in Mecklen-burg-Vorpommern behind the centre-left Social Democrats and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“I’m extremely dissatisfi ed with the election result,” she said, noting refugees had over-whelmed local issues in the rural northeastern state that has been her home district since 1990.

It was the fi rst time the CDU lost to a far-right party in a state election, winning a paltry 19%,

according to preliminary fi nal results.

The SPD won with 30.6% while the AfD scored a historic win over the CDU with 20.8%.

The AfD played on the pub-lic’s angst that refugees, some 70% of whom are Muslims, are overrunning Germany, siphon-ing away housing, resources and jobs from Germans.

Merkel rejected that argu-ment, saying no funds were tak-en away for refugees.

Fears of terrorism run high among AfD supporters after two refugees carried out Islamic State-inspired attacks in July.

“Everyone’s got a lot of think-ing to do about winning voters back, and that means fi rst of all

me, of course,” said Merkel, who has won the last three federal elections since 2005 but has had to delay her announcement of a run for a fourth term because of CSU opposition, according to Der Spiegel newsmagazine.

Her approval ratings fell 22 points to a fi ve-year low at 45% in the year since she opened the gates to more than 1mn refugees, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Af-ghanistan, drawn by Germany’s famed prosperity, order and sta-bility.

The CSU has been railing against Merkel’s steadfast op-position to putting limits on the number of refugees even though Germany took in more than the rest of Europe combined in 2015.

Incoming refugee numbers have dropped sharply this year.

There have been rumours that the powerful CSU leader, Bavar-ia state premier Horst Seehofer, is considering a run for chancel-lor in 2017 instead of supporting Merkel’s candidacy.

That threat had always been thwarted in the past by CDU warnings that it would then run its own campaign in Bavaria.

“We need a change of direc-tion in Berlin,” Bavarian state Finance Minister Markus Soeder told the Bild daily. “The voice of the people can’t be ignored any longer.”

CSU general secretary An-dreas Scheuer, Seehofer’s right-hand man, demanded that Mer-kel drop her opposition to limits on refugees. “It’s obvious who’s to blame for this election – not the CSU.”

Grumbling in CDU ranks is also growing as many fear a drubbing in next year’s federal election would cost it dozens of seats in parliament.

The CDU/CSU has slid some eight points to 33% in the last year, Infratest Dimap said last week.

“Peoples’ confi dence in the chancellor has been badly shak-en,” said Erika Steinbach, a CDU MP. “It’s hard to tell if that can be repaired by the election.”

Germany’s conservatives split over state poll ‘rout’Reuters/DPABerlin

CDU secretary general Peter Tauber speaks after the state elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern yesterday in Berlin.

Merkel: I’m also responsible, obviously ... but I believe the fundamental decisions made in the past months are the right decisions.

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft has fi nally spotted its tiny lander Philae, thought to

be lost forever, stuck in a ditch on the surface of a comet hur-tling through space, ground controllers said yesterday.

“THE SEARCH IS OVER! I’ve found @Philae2014!!” the Euro-pean Space Agency (ESA) tweet-ed on behalf of Rosetta, orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasi-menko at some 682mn kilome-tres (424mn miles) from Earth.

The agency released a photo of the washing machine-sized robot lab on the comet’s rough surface, one of its three legs thrust dramatically into the air.

This was the fi rst sighting of Philae since its rough landing in November 2014.

The image was captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Friday and down-loaded two days later – just

weeks before the offi cial end of the ground-breaking science mission to unravel the mysteries of life on Earth.

“With only a month left of the Rosetta mission, we are so happy to have fi nally imaged Philae and to see it in such amazing detail,” Cecilia Tubiana of the OSIRIS camera team, the fi rst person to see the images, said in a state-ment.

The Twitter page of Philae, its communications unit switched off in July, remained silent.

The 100kg (220-pound) probe touched down on comet 67P in November 2014, after a 10-year, 6.5bn kilometre (4bn-mile) journey piggybacking on Ro-setta.

Philae bounced several times after its harpoons failed to fi re, and ended up in a ditch shad-owed from the Sun’s battery-replenishing rays.

Until now, nobody knew ex-actly where.

The tiny lab managed to con-duct 60 hours of experiments

and send home data before run-ning out of power and entering standby mode on November 15, 2014.

“We were beginning to think that Philae would remain lost forever. It is incredible that we have captured this at the fi -nal hour,” said Rosetta mission manager Patrick Martin.

The photo was taken at a dis-tance of 2.7km from the surface of the comet, which is speed-ing away from the Sun at nearly 15km per second.

Rosetta is drawing closer to the comet for its own swansong.

On September 30, Rosetta will crashland and join Philae on the surface – their eternal resting place.

After it touches down, com-munications with the craft will be severed once and for all, clos-ing the historic mission.

The €1.3bn ($1.4bn) project was conceived to unravel the se-crets of comets – believed to be time capsules from the birth of the Solar System.

The comet-sniffi ng and -prodding exploits of Rosetta and Philae were closely followed around the world via cartoon recreations of the pioneering pair.

Philae, in particular, earned a loyal Twitter following.

In June 2015, as it drew closer to the Sun, some 30,000 people retweeted Philae’s unexpected reawakening: “Hello Earth! Can you hear me?”

After eight intermittent com-munications with ground con-trol, Philae fell forever silent in July 2015.

“Philae is at the foot of a cliff in an extremely rocky zone” of the comet, Rosetta project chief Philippe Gaudon of France’s CNES space agency told AFP, after examining the picture.

It is now clear that after bouncing, Philae landed the wrong-way up, “with one foot

well in the air and its antennas pointing ... groundwards”, he said.

That is why communicating with Philae had been so diffi cult.

“This wonderful news means that we now have the miss-ing ‘ground-truth’ information needed to put Philae’s three days of science into proper context, now that we know where that ground actually is,” said Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor.

Missing comet lander Philae spotted at lastAFPParis

This handout picture obtained from the European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday shows images of the landing craft Philae, viewed for the first time since its crash landing, captured by OSIRIS narrow-angle camera taken on September 2 from a distance of 2.7km.

France’s former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac went on trial yesterday for

stashing millions abroad while chasing tax cheats at home.

The 64-year-old former ris-ing star in the French Socialist Party faces charges of tax eva-sion and money laundering as well as under-declaring the val-ue of his fortune when he took up his post in 2012.

He and his ex-wife Patricia Menard – with whom he ran a lucrative hair transplant clinic – each face up to seven years in jail and €1mn ($1.1mn) in fi nes if convicted.

Also in the dock are their ad-visers, Swiss banker Francois Reyl and Dubai-based lawyer Philippe Houman.

The Reyl Bank of Geneva, which in 2009 allegedly helped Cahuzac move funds to Sin-gapore to avoid detection by French tax authorities, is also being tried.

The story of the fraud, car-ried out between 1992 and 2013, reads like a cross between a cheap airport novel and an inter-national fi nancial crime manual.

In one episode, Cahuzac, us-ing the codename “Birdie”, al-legedly received two cash pay-ments of €10,000 each on the streets of Paris.

Cahuzac initially denied the allegations, lodging a defama-tion suit against the Mediapart news website that broke the sto-ry in December 2012.

Footage of the minister lying

to parliament was repeated in an endless loop on French media after he confessed in April 2013 to holding a Swiss bank account.

He said he was “consumed by remorse”.

Cahuzac was immediately hounded by the media, telling a newspaper that he had to move “every two days” to escape the glare.

The scandal was the fi rst of a series that have tarnished the presidency of Francois Hol-lande, who had promised a squeaky-clean government after

succeeding Nicolas Sarkozy, the subject of several graft investi-gations, in 2012.

The aff air prompted Hol-lande to order his ministers to disclose their personal wealth, a fi rst in France, where personal fi nances are rarely discussed and the wealth of public offi cials had long been considered private.

Cahuzac’s lawyers in Febru-ary unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the case, arguing that their client had al-ready settled his debts with the tax authorities to the tune of

€2.3mn and should not be tried twice over the same matter.

The trial runs until September 15.

Former French minister on trial for tax fraudAFPParis

Cahuzac arriving at the court-room on the first day of his trial for tax fraud.

Paris plans to turn a stretch of highway on the right bank of the river Seine into

a pedestrian zone in an attempt to reduce pollution despite pro-tests from drivers.

Every Sunday and for much of the summer, Paris closes the Voie

Georges Pompidou between the Louvre museum and the Place de la Bastille area to motor traf-fi c, opening it to pedestrians and cyclists, but this year cars are not being allowed back as the city prepares to transform the area into a riverside park.

In heavy traffi c on the fi rst Monday of the new school year, many drivers and local business owners said the measure would

increase congestion, commuting time and pollution elsewhere.

“I’m a saleswoman, this is a hassle, it is just horrible,” French driver Corinne told Reuters at a traffi c light.

Others agreed. Italian wine merchant Gianluca De Simone, who crisscrosses Paris on his scooter everyday visiting restau-rants and bars, said that before closing off key arteries, the city

should improve buses and sub-ways and make better use of the river for transport.

His colleague Benoit, who sells French wine, said cycling is no alternative to driving.

“I carry 15 bottles of wine with me. How would I get up the hill at Montmartre? What about win-ter, what about rain?” he said.

Paris deputy mayor Christophe Najdovski dismissed the drivers’

arguments: “We want to pedes-trianise the right bank because we want to give this magnifi cent space, part of the Unesco World Heritage, back to Parisians.”

He said the highway, built in the 1960s, had brought motor traffi c to a place where there was none before.

The banks of the Seine from the Bir Hakeim bridge to the Ile Saint Louis were made a Unesco

World Heritage site in 1991.The right bank highway runs

past some of the capital’s main landmarks – the Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame and Paris city hall.

“It is essential for Paris to re-store its connection with the river, this river nourishes the city and we want to give this space another function than being a freeway,” Najdovski added.

In 2013, Paris banned traffi c

from the left bank highway be-tween the Musee d’Orsay and the Eiff el Tower.

The area is now a popular park with outdoor cafes and sports fa-cilities.

Najdovski said any impact on local traffi c would be temporary, as closing main routes in cities usually means traffi c just “evap-orates” as people change their behaviour.

Drivers fume as Paris turns right bank of Seine into car-free parkReutersParis

Friendship and death depicted in Syrian fi lm at Venice festival

AFPVenice

As a documentary on the Syrian confl ict, The War Show is highly personal,

capturing the lives of a group of youngsters from the uprising’s exhilarating fi rst protests to the unspeakable horrors that fol-lowed.

Most of the footage was shot by Syrian radio DJ Obaidah Zy-toon and her friends, and goes from early carefree days at the beach to sniper attacks and dis-appearances, ending with the deaths of several of the group.

When Zytoon fl ed Syria she took with her fi ve hard drives of footage shot between 2011 and 2013 and asked Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard to help her sort them, saying she was too traumatised to do it alone.

“They started fi lming even before the revolution started,” Dalsgaard told AFP during an interview at the Venice Film Fes-tival, where Zytoon was present for the screening but was still too deep in mourning to talk to jour-nalists.

“There was a certain weird power to this footage in its frag-mentary randomness, and it was very authentic because it was fi lmed by people who had an en-ergy together, a bond that was special,” he said.

The fi lm shows economics student Amal, architect Hous-sam, music-mad Rabea and law student Lulu with her poet boy-friend, Hisham – all dreaming of freedom and the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“What’s great about these people is they don’t fi t into any kind of label ... they like Islamic poetry from the 13th century, they like Lebanese hip-hop, and The Doors,” Dalsgaard said.

Hand-held cameras capture the voices of those descending onto the streets to protest, with one moving scene featuring a girl no older than 10 who refuses to cover her face and hide her iden-tity despite the risk of retalia-tion.

“I’m not demonstrating to be suff ocated. I’m demonstrating to breathe,” she says.

The documentary explores not only the dangers of fi lming in Syria but also the evolution of the confl ict from genuine skir-mishes to groups staging battles for their own ends.

“A lot of the rebels that took up weapons did so to protect demonstrators who were being attacked by the regime, so the Free Syrian Army started to de-velop as a protection of demon-strators,” Dalsgaard said. “Some of these rebels started to get funding by showing ‘we fi ght, and we fi ght under a certain po-litical label that fi ts an interna-tional donor that wants this sort of policy to be promoted’.

From Damascus to Zytoon’s hometown of Zabadani, and on to Homs, Qassab, Saraqeb, and Kafranbel, the friends fi nd towns under siege, families starving, children wounded and men with the scars of torture.

The fi lm’s fi nal chapter re-turns to the images of Syria fa-miliar to the world: the devasta-tion of cities, the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of people and boats carrying refugees to-wards the shores of Europe.

Zytoon fears the crisis is far from being over and both she and Dalsgaard hope the docu-mentary will shame European countries into doing more for those forced to fl ee.

Mayawati playing politics in name of Dalits: BJP

SC to hear Delhigovt’s plea on Sept 9

Modi to flag off Haryana’s golden jubilee celebrations

A woman off icer of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) fell from a train while trying to save her purse from a robber at a railway station in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, police said yesterday. Suman Dagar was travelling from Ajmer to Jabalpur in an AC three-tier compartment on Saturday. Near Ruthiyai Junction, Dagar collected her belongings and went to the door of the compartment, from which a youth was hanging. The youth tried to snatch her purse. While fighting off the robber, Dagar fell off the train and was injured, Guna police off icer R V S Parihar said yesterday. Dagar was unable to prevent the robber from fleeing with her purse. She sustained serious injuries on her hands and feet.

Former Australian batsman David Boon will meet Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow. The 55-year-old played for his country between 1984 and 1996, appearing in 107 Tests and 181 One-Dayers, scoring 7,422 runs and 5,964 runs, respectively. He was also Australia’s national selector for a decade from 2001 to 2011. Boon, who hails from the island state of Tasmania, is currently part of the Tasmanian Trade Commission and the brand ambassador for his state. He is arriving in Kerala to promote his state in India. According to a source, Boon is expected to call on other ministers and also industry captains from the state, and will do his best to attract students to Tasmania for higher studies.

Woman falls from train while fighting off robber

Boon to meet Kerala CM to promote Tasmania

COURAGEDIPLOMACY

The Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday hit back at Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of working only for corporates, and accused the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister of playing politics in the name of Dalits and said her party was synonymous with crime and corruption. “It seems that Mayawati is looking through the prism of money and is unable to see the development works of the Modi government. Mayawati knows that if she accepts this fact then the market rate of her party tickets, which she sells and earns money, will go down,” BJP leader Srikant Sharma said in a statement. “Not the welfare of Dalits but to earn money in the name of Dalits is her only agenda,” he added.

POLITICS JUDICIARY EVENT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the year-long celebrations of Haryana’s golden jubilee on November 1 from in Gurgaon, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said yesterday. He said on that day, the process to set up the Gurgaon Development Authority (GDA) would begin and Gurgaon would be developed as a Super Smart City for which a Rs5bn project would be implemented. Khattar said Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari would launch a project on that day to construct underpasses or flyovers at IFFCO Chowk to ease traffic congestion on the national highway 8 connecting Delhi and Gurgaon, Signature Tower and Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon.

The Supreme Court yesterday said it will hear the plea of the Delhi government challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision on the power and position of Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on September 9. The Kejriwal government had challenged the Delhi High Court verdict that the Lt Governor was the administrative head and had the final word in the governance of the national capital of Delhi. The bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice D Y Chandrachud set the date for hearing the plea that the Lt Governor was obliged to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers after senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam mentioned the matter for an early hearing yesterday.


INDIA16

Brexit not tohit trade ties,Modi tellsBritish PMTwo leaders meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou

AgenciesHangzhou

British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi

agreed yesterday to look at ways to retain strong trading links after Britain leaves the European Un-ion, a British offi cial said.

“The Indians said they wanted to look at how we could continue to have a strong trading relation-ship and there was agreement that as we prepare to leave the EU, we should be exploring what that looks like,” the offi cial said.

“Prime Minister Modi said that we had always been an important partner for India and nothing about leaving the European Union would change that.”

The two leaders were meet-ing on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

This was Modi’s fi rst bilateral with May, who succeeded David Cameron after he stepped down following the Brexit vote in June.

“PM underlined that even af-ter BREXIT, the UK remained as important a partner for India as before,” External Aff airs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told re-porters here.

The issue of terrorism also fi g-ured in the Modi-May meeting.

“PM said terrorism is the big-gest threat and danger to the world and knows no boundaries. Alluding to the UK PM’s previous stint as home secretary, he said she was well aware of the dan-gers of terrorism,” Swarup quoted Modi saying.

The leaders also discussed en-hancing counter-terrorism co-operation.

Modi told May that the meet-ing of the India-UK Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism had been very useful.

He called for greater collabora-tion in the area of cyber security and intelligence sharing.

May said she was keen to sup-port Modi’s vision for India and take forward the broader strategic partnership, including the deci-sions taken during Modi’s visit to the UK in November.

She also underlined the great importance the UK attached to the Indian diaspora in UK.

May sought Modi’s sugges-tions on further strengthening the partnership, particularly trade and investment ties with the UK.

He referred to the recent launch of the HSBC Corporate Rupee Bond on the London Stock Ex-change.

India, he said, also needed more

UK investment and participation in Make in India.

Modi also referred to the recent passage of the Goods and Serv-ices Tax (GST) Bill, which, he said, could further boost trade and in-vestment ties with the UK.

Modi said he was working on making it easy to do business with India.

May said she supported Modi’s reform agenda and the UK was keen to participate in Make in India, Smart Cities and the Skill India Programme among others.

The two leaders discussed fur-ther enhancement of the defence partnership, with Modi inviting British defence fi rms to take part in Make in India.

Modi also touched on UK’s visa policy.

“In particular he said that the new UK regulations could have negative impact on Indian work-ing professionals wishing to visit the UK for short term business visits” Swarup said.

Modi invited May to visit India.

Mumbaisoaks in GaneshfestivalIANSMumbai

Mumbai and rest of Ma-harashtra shifted into a festive gear with the ar-

rival at homes and public places of thousands of big, medium and small statues of the elephant-headed Ganesh for the 10-day-long annual Ganeshotsav yes-terday.

The festival, initiated in an open public format in 1892 by Mumbai’s Bhausaheb Laxman Javale alias Bhau Rangari, enters the 125th year.

It was popularised on a mass scale by freedom fi ghter Lok-manya Bal Gangadhar Tilak from 1893 onwards in Pune to unite the people against the British rule and in the struggle for In-dian Independence.

In less than a decade, it spread across the state in a big way and even other parts of the country where public Ganeshotsav cel-ebrations were held.

A century-and-a-quarter later, the festival has trans-formed into Maharashtra’s biggest, most opulent, glit-tering fi esta drawing millions of devotees and tourists, with the biggest celebrations held in Mumbai, Pune and the coastal Konkan region, where Ganesh has for generations been a reigning deity.

This year, more than 1,300 public organisations are hold-ing the ‘sarvajanik’ Ganeshotsav programmes, according to of-fi cial fi gures, besides hundreds of thousands of smaller and household celebrations across the state.

The fresh aroma of diff er-ent types of ‘modak’ - Ganesh’s favourite sweet preparation - wafts across streets and roads everywhere as the Ganesh mandals, sweetmeat shops and homes prepare it in abundant quantities to be distributed as ‘prasad’ among the devotees.

Chief Minister Devendra Fad-navis started the Ganeshotsav at ‘Varsha’, his offi cial bungalow, with an ‘aarti’ (an invocation) and his wife Amruta sang devo-tional songs in praise of Ganesh.

On the occasion, they prayed for the progress and welfare of the people of the state.

AAP leader vows to sue partyMLA over ‘baseless’ chargesIANSNew Delhi

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh yesterday vowed to fi le a defama-

tion case against a party legislator who accused him of “exploiting” women to promise ticket to con-test the Punjab assembly polls.

“The charges levelled by (Devinder) Sahrawat against me are baseless and malicious. I will fi le a defamation case against Sahrawat for spoiling my image,” Sanjay Singh told reporters here.

He said the allegation was a conspiracy by the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party (BJP) and the Akali Dal against him and the AAP in a bid to derail its campaign in Punjab.

“The BJP and Akalis are rattled by the AAP’s success in Punjab as they know we are getting over 100 seats there. The Delhi MLA is being used to defame me and the party,” he added.

In a letter to Delhi Chief Min-ister Arvind Kejriwal, Sehrawat

on Sunday said: “I saw disturb-ing reports about women being exploited in Punjab in return for ticket. The MLAs of Delhi are un-aware about what is being done by party representatives in Punjab.

“Now the situation is getting indefensible and disgraceful. Ac-tion needs to be taken to remove rotten elements,” Sehrawat said.

The AAP has emerged as a ma-jor player in Punjab, where elec-tions are due early next year.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court yes-terday extended the police cus-tody of sacked AAP minister San-deep Kumar, arrested on charges of rape, till September 8.

Kumar was arrested following a complaint by a woman who fi g-ured in a video clip with him in an objectionable position.

Special Judge Poonam Chaud-hary remanded Kumar in three-day police custody after he was presented in court on the expiry of his one-day police custody.

The former social welfare and women and child development minister was arrested on Satur-

day after the woman approached Sultanpuri police station in north Delhi with a complaint of sexual harassment against him.

A case was fi led and Kumar was booked under Sections 376 (pun-ishment for rape) and 328 (caus-ing hurt by means of poison, with intent to commit an off ence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

He was also charged under the Information Technology Act’s section 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of ma-terial containing sexually explicit act in electronic form).

The woman in her complaint alleged that she was sexually harassed by Kumar at his offi ce-cum-residence in Sultanpuri area where she had gone to get her ra-tion card made.

She alleged that Kumar off ered her soft drinks laced with seda-tives following which she failed to recall the exact sequence of events or how she had acted.

A Delhi police team on Sunday visited the house where the wom-an was allegedly raped.

Ashutosh accused of‘demeaning’ womenIANSNew Delhi

The National Commission for Women (NCW) yester-day summoned Aam Aad-

mi Party leader Ashutosh for “de-meaning” women through one of the articles he wrote in defence of sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar.

The commission has asked the journalist-turned-politician to appear before it on September 9.

“The NCW feels that the lan-guage of the article was derogato-ry and demeaning towards wom-en. He has portrayed the former minister’s act as something being done by many people, (and hence implying) what is the big deal about it. It is insulting towards women in general,” NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam said.

“It is trying to put blame away from a person who has been pri-ma facie found indulging in the worst crime of violence against women, although the whole truth of the matter is yet to come out as

police are investigating the mat-ter,” she said.

In his article published on NDTV website on September 1, Ashutosh said a public fi gure is entitled to their private space and they should not be chased there, suggesting that what Sandeep Kumar did in private should not be a matter of debate.

He said that tall public fi gures such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahat-ma Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes had rela-tions with more than one women but this aspect of their life was seldom discussed or held against them.

“Maybe these leaders were for-tunate as they didn’t live in the TV era; they were not caught on cam-era; no sting operation was done. Why the sex video of two consent-ing adults should grab headlines and why should it be debated on TV channels?” he asked.

“If it is a sin and a certifi cate for characterless-ness, then the role of all the above great leaders in history should also be re-assessed and re-evaluated.”

Congress activists led by Ajay Maken stage a demonstration against Aam Aadmi Party in New Delhi yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with his British counterpart Theresa May ahead of a meeting on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Hangzhou yesterday.

People celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai yesterday.

17Gulf TimesTuesday, September 6, 2016

INDIA

Govt response soughton triple talaq issueIANSNew Delhi

The Supreme Court yes-terday gave the central government four weeks’

time to fi le its response on the right of Muslim women relat-ing to divorce, including triple talaq, and maintenance.

A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice D Y Chan-drachud accepted the request of Solicitor General Ranjit Ku-mar, who sought time as the government has been asked by the top court to respond to a writ petition.

A bench of Chief Jus-tice Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar had said on June 29 that they “have to hear all of them and take a call to what ex-tent courts can interfere in the Muslim personal laws if courts fi nd they are in violation of the fundamental rights.”

The All India Muslim Per-sonal Law Board (AIMPLB)

had in its response on Septem-ber 2 defended both polygamy and triple talaq saying that courts have no jurisdiction to examine the issue as it relates to their religion based on the Qur’an and Shariah law.

A bench of Justice Anil R Dave and Justice Adarsh Ku-mar Goel had by their October 16, 2015 order issued notice to Attorney General Mukul Ro-hatgi Aand the National Legal Service Authority as it directed the separate listing of a peti-tion addressing the question of the rights of Muslim women.

The court is examining the question of gender discrimi-nation in Muslim personal law in the context of fundamental rights.

In the hearing on June 29, 2016, senior counsel Indira Jaisinh, appearing for two peti-tioners, had contended that the personal laws should be subject to the regime of the fundamen-tal rights and the court should address this question.

Release Cauvery water to TN, court orders KarnatakaIANSNew Delhi

The Supreme Court yester-day asked the Karnataka government to release

15,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water every day to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to meet the demands of the summer crop in the state.

A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit asked the Cauvery Supervisory Committee to look into Tamil Nadu’s plea seeking direction to Karnataka to release 35 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water to make up for the shortfall in the release of water for three months from June 1 to August 30.

The bench took note of the impact of non-availability of water for the summer crops and the plight of farmers.

The bench also said that Tamil Nadu in turn would proportion-ately give water to Puducherry

and gave Tamil Nadu three days’ time to approach the Superviso-ry Committee with its claim of 35 tmcft of water from Karnataka.

The court gave three days’ time to Karnataka to respond to the plea by Tamil Nadu, while asking the Cauvery Supervisory Committee to examine the mat-ter in four days and pass appro-priate directions.

Tamil Nadu has contended that even if it was to accept the Karnataka stand that due to defi -cient rainfall in the current year, the infl ow of water into four ma-jor reservoirs in the state was less, it could not have been more than 28%.

It also contended that apply-ing the formula as per the fi -nal order of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, the state was entitled to 68 tmcft of water at Billigundulu from June 1 to Au-gust 31.

The Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal’s fi nal order was passed on February 2, 2007 and on the

direction of the top court, pub-lished in offi cial Gazette on Feb-ruary 19, 2013.

The fi nal order by the tribunal has been challenged by Karna-taka and Kerala.

The bench was told that since it has received 33 tmcft of water only so far, Karnataka may be di-rected to release 35 tmcft.

Meanwhile farmers in Tamil Nadu hoped it was only an inter-im order and that the fi nal order will give suffi cient water.

“We are happy at the Supreme Court’s order. The total wa-ter release ordered for 10 days amounts to around 12 thousand mn cubic (tmc) of water. Only when 25 tmc water is released will there be storage at Mettur Dam for release,” S Ranganath-an, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, said.

He said it is possible for Kar-nataka to release 25 tmc of water so that it can cater to the need of crops till October.

‘One nation’ in South Asiaspreadingterror: PMIANSHangzhou, China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday called for global eff orts to eliminate

terrorism.

And as the G20 Summit ended, Modi met the leaders of Britain, Argen-

tina and Turkey.Addressing G20 leaders, Modi

urged them to “isolate and sanc-tion supporters of terrorism.”

At the two-day summit held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, India raised the is-sue of terrorism at various ses-sions.

Modi told Chinese President XI Jinping how the scourge of terrorism was aff ecting the re-gion.

“There are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy. One single nation in South Asia is spreading agents of terror in our region,” he said.

“For us a terrorist is a terror-ist,” Modi said. He was speak-ing during his intervention at the last session of the G20 Summit.

“India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism. Because anything less than that is not enough,” he said.

On the sidelines of the sum-mit, Modi met new British Prime Theresa May, Argentine Presi-dent Mauricio Macri and Turk-ish President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan.

Modi also met Argentina’s newly elected President Macri and invited him to visit In-dia, External Aff airs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

The Indian leader said he would personally take him to the birthplace of Mahatma Gan-dhi, for whom Macri has had high regards. Macri recalled his two previous visits to India, as a tourist and as a mayor.

Modi thanked Macri for Ar-gentina’s strong support for In-dia’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

“The two leaders agreed to ex-pand co-operation in areas such as agriculture, mining and hy-drocarbons,” Swarup said.

“The president invited Indian companies to participate in the exploration of gas reserves in Argentina. He also sought Indian collaboration in the area of food security.”

Speaking with the Turkish president, Modi raised the is-sue of India’s membership to the NSG. In June, Turkey had teamed up with a group of coun-tries to oppose India’s member-ship to the 48-member cartel.

Modi also raised the issues of black money and tax evasion at the summit, urging member countries to act against fi nancial corruption.

“Fighting corruption, black money and tax evasion were central to eff ective fi nancial gov-ernance.”

Modi urged the grouping to show full commitment to ac-tion against financial corrup-tion and said effective financial governance required action against the corrupt and elimi-nation of safe havens for eco-nomic offenders.

“We need to act to eliminate safe havens for economic of-fenders, track down and un-conditionally extradite money launderers and break down the web of complex internation-al regulations and excessive banking secrecy that hide the corrupt and their deeds,” Modi said.

Representing 85% of the world’s GDP, the G20 is com-posed of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ita-ly, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Ko-rea, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

Making his intervention in the discussion on ‘More Eff ective and Effi cient Global Economic and Financial Governance at the G-20 summit’, Modi called for further strengthening the global fi nancial safety net.

Home Minister speaks to Kashmir Governor N N Vohra as other members of the all-party delegation look on in Srinagar yesterday.

Kashmir forces to startusing chilli shells: SinghAgenciesSrinagar

Police and troops in Jam-mu and Kashmir will use chilli-based shells instead

of pellet guns to quell protests, federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh said yesterday, after hun-dreds of civilians sustained se-rious eye injuries in weeks of unrest.

The government has been coming under growing pressure over the level of casualties in Kashmir during protests against Indian rule since the death of Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani on July 8 in a gunbattle with soldiers.

More than 70 civilians have been killed and thousands in-jured in the worst violence to hit the state since 2010, with many sustaining inju-ries from metal pellets fired

from pump-action shotguns.Speaking on a visit to the

state capital Srinagar, Rajnath Singh said an expert panel had recommended the use of Pel-argonic Acid Vanillylamide (PAVA) shells as an alternative to the mainly lead-based pel-lets.

“The expert panel suggested the use of PAVA shells and I understand that no one can die from it,” Singh told reporters as fresh violence erupted in parts of the state.

“Since yesterday, 1,000 shells have already reached Kashmir,” he added.

Singh was leading an all-par-ty delegation.

PAVA, also called Noniva-mide, is present in chillis and is commonly used to make pepper spray.

The pellet guns are meant to minimise fatalities in pro-tests although the law gives the

armed forces a relatively free hand to use lethal force, espe-cially against suspected mili-tants.

The chilli compound, when fi red, is thought to cause severe irritation and temporarily im-mobilise the target.

But although they rarely re-sult in deaths, the birdshot from the pellets can often blind vic-tims if the fragments hit them in the eye.

Hospitals say they have treat-ed around 600 patients with eye injuries in the last two months, many of whom will never re-cover full vision.

Singh’s trip to Srinagar ap-peared to make little headway in resolving the crisis.

On Sunday, separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani turned delegation members away at the door of his home, where he is under house arrest.

Singh said India was “pained”

by the unrest in Kashmir, but lashed out at separatists for re-fusing to talk.

He said their conduct defi ed the spirit of “Kashmiriyat”.

The Home Minister, however, made it clear that MPs Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Jay Prakash Narayan and As-saduddin Owaisi went to meet the separatist leaders in their individual capacity and not as part of the all-party delegation that was on a two-day trip to Kashmir.

“Some members of the del-egation went to meet the Hur-riyat leaders. We had neither said ‘no’ nor ‘yes’ to their meetings. You know what hap-pened. They had gone there in their individual capacity,” he told reporters.

While other separatist lead-ers did meet them briefl y but refused to hold talks, hardliner Geelani shut his door on the

MPs even as they kept waiting outside his upscale Hyderpora residence for about 10 minutes.

This, Singh said, “was cer-tainly neither ‘Kashmiriyat’ nor ‘insaniyat’ (humane).

“If you do not want to talk is a diff erent thing. But what they did proves they have no faith in democracy.”

Authorities lifted a curfew in most parts of the state late last month, but schools, shops and many banks remain closed while residents struggle with a communications blackout.

Fresh clashes were report-ed at protests in large parts of Kashmir on Sunday, with sources putting the number of injured in three fi gures.

“We have not the actual count of the injured but it is certain that a considerable number of forces personnel are also among them,” a senior police offi cial said.

A school boy presents roses to his teacher during celebrations for Teacher’s Day at a school in Amritsar yesterday. September 5 is the birth anniversary of former president Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, an influential scholar in comparative religion and philosophy, and is celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India.

Teacher’s Day celebrated

Special agency needed to protect children from traffi ckers: MPReutersChennai

Decades of neglect of In-dian children’s rights have created a breeding

ground for children to be traf-fi cked and abused, a prominent lawmaker said yesterday, calling for a dedicated agency to detect and prosecute child traffi ckers.

Crime data released by the

government last week showed more than 40% of human traf-fi cking cases in 2015 involved children being bought, sold and exploited as modern day slaves.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who last year set up the campaign group the National Coalition to Protect our Children, said Indian society had long been in denial about child exploitation.

“With child rights and safety being left unregulated for decades,

we have created a fertile ground for their traffi cking and abuse,” said Chandrasekhar, a member of parliament from Bengaluru.

Government fi gures showed a 25% increase in cases of human traffi cking in India in 2015, with 43% of the 9,127 victims below the age of 18.

The crimes included induc-ing a young girl with the intent of sexual intercourse, buying or selling a girl for prostitution,

and keeping a child as a slave.“Children cannot speak for

themselves and neither can they organise themselves as an eff ec-tive group. They depend on adults to get them justice, and we are failing them,” Chandrasekhar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In a series of letters written to the government over the last year, Chandrasekhar has asked for a revision of the Protection of Children from Sexual Off ences

Act, clearer emphasis on child traffi cking in the proposed Anti-Traffi cking Bill and a child sexual off ender register across police stations in India.

“The depth and lack of sen-sitivity in government depart-ments is startling,” he said.

“The existing laws are not working. Reporting crimes un-der these acts, proper investiga-tions and evidence collection is also not happening.

A rethink is urgently required.”Chandrasekhar said poor

regulation of India’s orphanages and child-care homes had turned them into spaces for abuse and traffi cking. “A couple of years back, a young urban couple came to me seeking justice. Their three-year-old child had been raped in her school. They lived in a modern Indian metropolis but had no access to justice. That feeling of helplessness for care

givers and parents of victims has to change,” he said.

Justice eludes many children who are victims of these crimes.

Activists blame a slow judicial process and poor use of funds by Indian states.

“We need specialists who un-derstand the laws that promise our children safety. We also need child friendly courtrooms and offi cials who understand that the child is a unique victim.”

LATIN AMERICA


Mexico’s slavery survivors defy stigma on road to recoveryBy Anastasia Moloney, Reuters Mexico City

When her captives tied the chains around her waist a little looser than usual, Zun-

duri knew it was her chance to escape.Wriggling free, she dashed out of

the dry cleaning shop in Mexico City where she had been enslaved, beaten and starved for more than half a dec-ade.

“There is no part of my body without scars,” Zunduri told Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview from her home in Mexico’s capital, recall-ing an ordeal that shocked Mexicans as one of the worst slavery cases to come to light in the city.

“Doctors counted more than 600 scars on my body. A hot iron was put to my head. I ironed and ironed. I didn’t see the light of day. I didn’t know when the sun set or when it rose. I had to drink steam from the iron to get water.”

Since her dramatic escape last year, Zunduri has become an icon of resil-ience in a country where shame and stigma make many slavery survivors reluctant to go public.

And as her alleged tormentors await trial, her example has inspired others to speak out as they seek justice and try to rebuild their lives.

“I was an animal to them,” 24-year-old Zunduri said. “I want them to pay for everything I have had to suff er.”

Her fi ve alleged captors are the woman who owned the dry cleaners, plus the woman’s two daughters, hus-band and sister.

All are in prison facing charges of human traffi cking, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Their trial is set to be one of Mexi-co’s highest-profi le traffi cking cases, underlining the country’s status as a source, transit and destination coun-try for adults and children coerced into forced labour and sex work.

While Zunduri reported the crime to police and gave testimony, prosecutors and activists say thousands of slavery cases remain invisible as many victims don’t come forward due to fear of re-prisal from traffi ckers.

Nearly 380,000 people are trapped in modern slavery in Mexico, accord-ing to the 2016 Global Slavery Index by rights group Walk Free Foundation.

In Mexico, the most common form of human traffi cking involves women and girls forced into sex work, with indigenous people and migrants most vulnerable.

Men, women and children are also

exploited as forced labourers on farms, in factories and on building sites, ac-cording to the US State Department’s 2016 Traffi cking in Persons Report.

“In Mexico we still have people who are slaves in homes, especially chil-dren, who work in exchange for food, water and a bed,” said Rosi Orozco, who heads the Commission United Against Human Traffi cking, a Mexican non-governmental organisation.

She said the message Zunduri and other prominent survivors promote is that lives can be rebuilt after slavery.

“They are examples to the world that traffi cking survivors can successfully re-integrate back into society,” said Orozco, a former congresswoman who helped push through Mexico’s new and tougher anti-traffi cking law in 2012.

“It takes time for each survivor to take away the shame. But now they are not ashamed about what happened to them.”

For Zunduri, the goal is to raise awareness about the many diffi culties facing survivors who are often trauma-tised and vulnerable.

“It’s a long process for the physi-cal scars to heal and disappear. But the main scar is the one I have in my soul, in my heart, and in my mind,” said Zunduri, who has undergone psycho-logical therapy and plans to set up a bakery and learn English.

For Karla Jacinto, a Mexican survivor of sex traffi cking, life after slavery can give way to depression and despair.

When Jacinto was 12, she was lured from poverty and sexual abuse at home by a man posing as a car salesman who showered her with kind words and gifts.

The charming “dream man” became her boyfriend but later turned into her traffi cker and tormentor, Jacinto said in a telephone interview.

He forced her to work for four years as a child prostitute on streets and roadside motels in Mexico and threat-ened to harm her family if she refused or tried to escape.

“The fi rst time with a client was the hardest. I was 12. I had to close my eyes,” Jacinto, now 24, said.

“I was forced to be with on average 20 to 30 men a day. Around 43,000 men between the ages of 12 to 16.”

She said one man who became a reg-ular client helped her escape in 2008.

“At fi rst, I didn’t want to live any-more,” Jacinto said. “Some girls don’t escape. Some die, others commit sui-cide.”

It took two years of therapy before Jacinto could begin to think about moving on with her life.

“You need unconditional support from psychologists and your fam-ily, like I have with my mother, to get through this and move on,” said Jacin-to, who will start studying at university this year.

Her work as an anti-traffi cking ac-tivist brought her, together with Zun-duri, to the Vatican last year where they shared their experiences with Pope Francis.

“My message to others is that we can dream. We can survive,” Jacinto said.

“There are opportunities beyond the life we once knew. Living again is pos-sible.”

Both Jacinto and Zunduri hope their gradual recovery can encourage others to come forward and rebuild their lives as Mexico does more to tackle human traffi cking.

The number of federal and state investigations for traffi cking has in-creased across the country, rising to 665 in 2015 from 449 in 2014, accord-ing to the US State Department’s latest report.

Yet prosecutions for traffi cking re-main low in Mexico, as they do world-wide, in an industry the International Labour Organisation estimates is worth $150bn a year.

Few traffi cking victims get justice in Mexico.

Authorities convicted 86 traffi ckers last year — around 2% of cases.

That’s “a rate consistent with con-viction rates for other crimes in Mex-ico”, the US State Department’s 2016 report said.

Mexico’s conviction rate for human traffi cking is high though when com-pared to Latin American neighbours and other countries worldwide, Oro-zco said.

But support for traffi cking victims, especially outside of Mexico City, is limited, leaving many survivors vul-nerable to being traffi cked again.

In Mexico, there are no shelters for male traffi cking victims and most are only for underage girls, Orozco said.

She added that more needs to be done to provide long-term personal-ised care.

“There is no one model, no one re-sponse to help survivors. Every person is diff erent, and every person needs their own programme, their own per-sonalised help,” Orozco said.

Traffi cking victims can only stay in government-run refuges for a maxi-mum of six months.

“It’s inhumane and unfair to think that a person can recover and rehabili-tate in that space of time,” Orozco said. “The process takes years.”

Venezuela protesters releasedAFPCaracas

Venezuela has released all but one of dozens of protesters rounded up after an angry, pot-banging crowd report-

edly surrounded President Nicolas Maduro amid mass protests over the country’s crip-pling food shortages.

Of around 30 protesters detained, only one — apparently a journalist who released videos of the chaotic protests — remained in custody Saturday, Alfredo Romero of the NGO Venezuelan Justice Forum said on Twitter.

With tempers heating up over the woeful state of the economy, Maduro’s critics on Sunday pledged new mass demonstrations for the next two Wednesdays to build pres-sure for a recall vote, while a top socialist said no such referendum was possible before March.

The incidents Friday, in the Caribbean is-land resort city of Porlamar, came just a day after anti-Maduro critics had mobilised a vast march fi lling the streets of Caracas.

The embattled Maduro — whose state-led leftist government is fi ghting crippling shortages of everything from hard currency to food and toilet paper — had gone to Por-lamar to speak at the opening of a remod-elled public housing development.

But social media images appeared to show

an angry crowd surrounding Maduro, fol-lowing him down a street, banging pots and insulting him.

Dozens of protesters were swept up in an ensuing crackdown, reports said.

Information Minister Luis Marcano ac-cused local media of exaggerating the pro-test, tweeting that the pot-banging “re-fl ects what remains of the right (wing).”

Last Thursday, Maduro’s opponents claimed to have mobilised a mn demonstra-tors in Caracas in the biggest rally in dec-ades.

Jailed Maduro opponent Leopoldo Lopez said on Twitter that “the people made it known what they want...a recall vote, and change.”

The government, however, estimated that only 30,000 people attended.

Jesus Torrealba, executive secretary of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), on Sunday called for new mass pro-tests on the next two Wednesdays.

He told private television network Tel-even that protests would continue until the National Electoral Council (CNE) set a date and specifi ed conditions for collecting the four mn signatures needed for a recall ref-erendum.

Unless it does so soon, he said, the oppo-sition “will protest in an energetic manner throughout Venezuela.”

But Diosdado Cabello, a former National Assembly speaker and a leading socialist, vowed to “mobilise our people” against a recall.

He told Televen that “the recall does not have the slightest chance of being this year,” as the opposition demands, and would not occur before March.

Brazilians protest Temer ‘coup’AFPSao Paulo

Tens of thousands took to Bra-zilian streets Sunday to sup-port sacked leader Dilma

Rousseff and protest the new govern-ment of Michel Temer, who has taken power and downplayed the protests.

Demonstration organizers — who have rejected Temer’s ascendancy as a “coup” — said some 100,000 protesters fi lled the major artery

Paulista Avenue, many holding banners that read “Out with Te-mer!” and “Direct elections now!”

The Senate voted last Wednesday to convict Rousseff on charges of having illegally manipulated gov-ernment accounts, stripping her of her offi ce and replacing her with Temer, her bitter enemy and former vice president.

The protest ended with clashes between demonstrators and police, who fi red gas bombs, according to the news website G1.

Temer, who after being sworn in promptly travelled to China for the G20 summit, said the protests were done by “small groups and preda-tors.”

“These are small groups...I don’t have it numerically, but they are 40, 50, 100 people. It’s nothing more than that. Out of 204mn Brazilians, I don’t think it means much,” media outlets quoted Temer as saying.

The opposition dismissed the president’s fi gures.

“The coup president of Brazil said

that our demonstration would have 40 people. Here are those 40 people — we’re already almost 100,000 on Paulista Avenue,” said Guilherme Boulos, a member of one of the op-position groups that organised the protest.

The demonstration was held in the late afternoon so as not to in-terfere with the passing of the torch from the Paralympic Games, a Rio event due to start within three days — where another 2,000 people had demonstrated.

An anti-government demonstrator jumps over a coff in that represents a symbolic funeral of Brazil’s President Michel Temer during a protest in Sao Paulo.

ONE SMOKER.TWO PATIENTS.

TOBACCO KILLS

Issued in Public Interest by GULF TIMES

Last Thursday, Maduro’s opponents claimed to have mobilised a mn demonstrators in Caracas in the biggest rally in decades

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN19


Twin Taliban suicide blasts in Kabul kill 24, wound 91At least 24 people were

killed and 91 wounded yesterday in a Taliban

double bombing near the de-fence ministry in central Ka-bul during rush hour, the latest assault on the Afghan capital.

High-level offi cials, including an army general, were among those killed in the carnage, as the Taliban ramp up their na-tionwide off ensive against the US-backed government.

A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the fi rst explosion, in an assault appar-ently aimed at infl icting mass casualties as offi cials left the ministry after work.

“The fi rst explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. The second struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the vic-tims,” defence ministry spokes-man Mohammad Radmanish said.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfi gured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospi-tals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks.

Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the in-tensity of the fi rst blast on the bridge.

Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the at-

tack left 24 people dead and 91 others wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further.

The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival.

The interior ministry initially said the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers on foot. But offi cials later said the fi rst bomb was detonated remotely while the second was triggered by a suicide bomber.

Taliban spokesman Zabihul-lah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the fi rst attack, while police were targeted in the second.

President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the car-nage and off ered condolences to the families of the victims.

“The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fi ght the security and defence forces of the country,” Ghani said in a statement.

“That is why they are attack-ing highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people.”

The attack took place more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University of Af-ghanistan in Kabul, in a nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students.

Explosions and gunfi re rocked the campus in that at-tack, which came just weeks

AFPKabul

Policemen stand guard as a helicopter flies over the ministry of defence compound at the site of a twin suicide bombing in Kabul yesterday.

after two university professors – an American and an Australian – were kidnapped at gunpoint near the school.

Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group so far has publicly claimed responsi-bility for the abductions.

The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban es-calate nationwide attacks, un-derscoring the worsening secu-rity situation since Nato forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014.

Afghan forces backed by US

troops are seeking to head off a potential Taliban takeover of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern opium-rich province of Helmand.

The Taliban have also closed in on Kunduz – the northern city they briefl y seized last year

in their biggest military victory since the 2001 US invasion – leaving Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts.

But Nato coalition forces have insisted that neither Kunduz nor Lashkar Gah are at risk of falling to the insurgents.

Afghan airline grounded over debtsAfghanistan’s largest private airline has been forced to suspend operations after it failed to clear outstanding debt and taxes.The Afghan civil aviation authority ordered Safi Airways on Sunday to pay 1.15bn Afghani ($1.7mn) before it can regain permission to resume services and sell tickets.“The finance ministry decided to suspend Safi Airways activities in Afghanistan,” the Independent Directorate of Civil Aviation said. It added that authorities can also stop the company’s executives from travelling outside Afghanistan.The finance ministry has allowed the tax off ice to seek court approval to confiscate and sell Safi Airways property if it fails to meet the payment deadline.The airline, which was founded in 2006, currently flies three domestic and four international routes. It is the country’s second-largest airline after national carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines.Safi Airways transports many expatriates and benefits from the presence of non-governmental organisations, private security companies and other foreign entities in Afghanistan.Last year, the company said it was looking to add 10 to 20 planes in three to five years to expand business in Iran, Kuwait and Kazakhstan.The company was not immediately reachable for a comment.

Drop in terrorist attacks observed in Pakistan

There has been a marked reduction in terrorist attacks and deaths in

Pakistan in 2015, but terrorists seem to have become more le-thal as the ratio of deaths per attack has increased.

The statistics from a com-parative study of the US State Department’s country reports on terrorism for 2014 and 2015 also show a greater decrease in the number of people injured in these attacks.

The comparative study, re-leased recently, coincided with a debate in the National As-sembly in Islamabad this week on the law and order situation in the country.

The Interior Ministry shared the State Department’s statis-tics with parliament to prove that the ongoing operations against terrorists had helped improve the situation greatly.

According to the US State Department, there were a to-tal of 1,009 terrorist attacks in Pakistan in 2015, compared to 1,823 in 2014, which is a 45% decrease. The total deaths in the attacks 1,081 in 2015 com-pared to 1,761 in 2014 went down by 39%.

But in Afghanistan, the number of total attacks in 2015 increased by 127% between February (88 attacks) and May (200).

However, this trend is ob-

scured in the global statistics due to considerable decreases in the number of terrorist at-tacks in Iraq, Pakistan, Bangla-desh, Egypt and Nigeria during the fi rst six months of the year.

The statistics for Pakistan, however, also indicated that the terrorists became more le-thal in 2015 compared to the previous year. In 2015, there were 1.10 deaths per attack, compared to 0.99 in 2014.

The total number of peo-ple injured in terrorist attacks dropped by 53%, from 2,836 in 2014 to 1,325 in 2015. Injuries per attack also decreased from 1.61 in 2014 to 1.36 in 2015.

The most noticeable im-provement was in kidnapping and hostage-taking cases, which decreased to 269 in 2015 from 879 in 2014.

The US study also showed several signifi cant global trends.

The total number of terror-ist attacks in 2015 decreased by 13% around the globe and total deaths due to terrorist attacks decreased by 14%, compared to 2014.

“This was largely due to fewer attacks and deaths in Pa-kistan, Iraq and Nigeria. This represents the fi rst decline in total terrorist attacks and deaths worldwide since 2012,” the State Department noted.

In several countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, the Philippines, Syria and Tur-key, terrorist attacks and total deaths increased in 2015.

Although terrorist attacks took place in 92 countries in 2015, more than 55% of all attacks took place in fi ve countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria. And 74% of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in fi ve countries: Iraq, Af-ghanistan, Nigeria, Syria and Pakistan.

While the militant Islamic State (IS) group was responsi-ble for 31% fewer terrorist at-tacks in Iraq, the number of at-tacks carried out by IS in Syria increased by 39%.

The geographic reach of at-tacks by IS and its affi liates expanded as several exist-ing terrorist groups pledged allegiance to IS.

In addition to Boko Haram in West Africa, the most active of these IS branches were lo-cated in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

The number of attacks in which victims were kidnapped or taken hostage declined in 2015; however, the number of kidnap victims and hostages increased. This was prima-rily due to an increase in the number of attacks involving exceptionally large numbers of victims.

In 2015, a total of 11,774 ter-rorist attacks occurred world-wide, resulting in more than 28,300 total deaths and more than 35,300 people injured. In addition, more than 12,100 people were kidnapped or taken hostage.

InternewsIslamabad

A trader, left, uses a file tool to shape horns of a goat as other man holds the animal before putting it up for sale at a makeshift cattle market ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival in Karachi yesterday.

Preparing goat for sale

Relief funds set up for rights violation victimsThe Ministry of Human Rights in Pakistan has set up four separate funds to help victims of torture and assault, and to prepare a database of human rights violations in Pakistan.Initially, an amount of Rs150mn has been set aside for Human Rights Relief Fund; Human Rights Revolving Fund; Women in Distress and Detention Fund; and Diyat, Arsh and Daman Fund.A helpline has already been set up under the Human Rights Relief Fund.The ministry provides legal aid to victims of human rights violations under this fund. Human Rights Revolving Fund aims to provide financial help to victims of torture and other crimes.The funds also aim to improve DNA testing and forensic science laboratories for better investigation in sexual assault cases. Under the Women in Distress and Detention Fund, women prisoners would be provided medical facilities.The fund will also help in rehabilitating women prisoners.The ministry would arrange payment of diyat and fines of prisoners who are languishing in jail due to non-payment of diyat and fines.Victims of domestic violence will also be provided legal and financial aid under the relief fund.

Political deadlock delays passage of women bills

Deepening political tur-moil in Pakistan has ef-fectively kept two pro-

women bills on the backburner.A special parliamentary panel

unanimously passed the anti-honour killing and anti-rape bills on July 21, paving the way for the proposed legislation to be adopted during the joint session.

Law and Justice Minister Zahid

Hamid told media persons that both bills were scheduled to be presented in the joint sitting of parliament in the fi rst week of Au-gust. But the political logjam over the Panama Papers seems to have overshadowed everything else.

The prime minister’s daugh-ter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, had also tweeted back then that the two pro-women bills would soon be passed by parliament.

Earlier, the proposed laws Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, 2015, and the Anti-Rape

Laws (Criminal Laws Amend-ment) Bill, 2015 had lapsed as they could not be passed by the National Assembly within the stipulated timeframe of 90 days.

About the undue delay in call-ing the joint session of parliament, Senator Farhatullah Babar said, “The government is not serious about leg-islating on important issues.”

Babar maintained that it was a matter of deep concern that the government is obsessed with protecting the prime minister from the fallout of the Panama

Leaks and it is ignoring its basic responsibility.”

These two bills had been origi-nally presented in the Senate in January 2014 by a former senator Sughra Imam as a private member bills. However, they could not be presented during the joint sitting of parliament in April this year, in the face of opposition from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

However, the government constitut-ed a special body – Committee of Joint Sittings Bills – to speed up legislation on the long-delayed process.

InternewsIslamabad

Teachers reluctant to use interactive smart boards

Around 70% of the 600 in-teractive smart boards in-stalled in the government

schools at a cost of Rs260mn ($2.476mn) are not being used by teachers, mainly because of their lack of interest and computer profi ciency, according to sources.

They said that the Elemen-tary and Secondary Education

Department had installed 600 interactive smart boards in the government high and higher secondary schools in Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa during last two years ago to teach the students with the help of audio-visuals tools.

The interactive smart board (ISB) is an advanced teaching tool, which is very useful in teach-ing biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics through au-diovisuals with the help of already installed software, they said.

The education department is set to install ISBs in 500 more schools in the ongoing fi nan-cial year, the sources said, not-ing that even the famous private schools had not provided this facility to their students.

After installation of ISBs the education department provides one day training to two teachers from each school on how to op-erate these boards, they said. Be-ing not familiar with the infor-mation technology, the sources

said that the teachers were not taking interest in the training.

They said that the lack of inter-est was stated to be fi ve to six hours training at a stretch. The teachers picked very little from the training as everything was new for them.

Like cellular phones sets, they said, the ISB’s commands would be learned by more usage and in-volvement. Instead of imparting their lectures through ISBs the teachers prefer the traditional method of loudly reading a topic

from the textbooks and some-time using the black boards.

They teachers using ISBs are very happy, saying these boards are a very eff ective teaching tool.

“If possible the government should install ISBs in each class-room because the teacher can eas-ily make the students understand about any complicated topic,” said a teacher of the Government Higher Secondary School City No. 1.

He said that only one ISB had been installed at the computer lab

of his school. The 10 sections of class 9th and 10th had been using it, the teacher said. So a timetable has been made to give chance to each section to use ISB, he said.

The teacher said that the ISB was very helpful for students in clearing their concepts of diff er-ent topics. “The teachers are not required to draw diagrams on the blackboard or display the charts for teaching purposes as everything is installed in the ISB,” he said.

He said that teachers needed

to be provided refresher train-ing courses about how to oper-ate ISB, adding it had made the teaching process easy and con-vincing by doing away with the traditional teaching methods.

A senior offi cial of E and SE Department said that the de-partment had planned to arrange refresher training for the teach-ers, as they were not much in-terested in the previous training when ISBs were introduced for the fi rst time.

InternewsPeshawar

PHILIPPINES


Obama throws planned meeting with Duterte into doubtReutersHangzhou, China/Vientiane

US President Barack Obama said yesterday he was considering wheth-

er or not to meet his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, as planned, amid alarm over the latter’s campaign against ille-gal drugs in which thousands of people have died.

Earlier in the day, the plain-talking Duterte had told report-ers he would swear at Obama if he tried to question him about extra-judicial killings, using a Filipino expletive to describe the US president.

Speaking at a G20 meeting in China, and before travelling to Laos for a summit where he was due to hold talks with Duterte, Obama said he had asked his team to fi nd out if “constructive, productive conversations” were possible.

“Obviously the Filipino peo-ple are some of our closest friends and allies and the Philip-pines is a treaty ally of ours. But I always want to make sure that if I’m having a meeting that it’s actually productive and we’re getting something done,” he told reporters in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.

“I’m going to make an assess-ment...What is certainly true is that the issues of how we ap-proach fi ghting crime and drug traffi cking is a serious one for all of us, and we’ve got to do it the right way.”

Earlier, Duterte made it clear he would not be lectured on hu-man rights by Obama, adding that “plenty will be killed” be-fore the end of a crackdown that has led to the deaths of about 2,400 people since he became president two months ago.

“I am a president of a sov-ereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony,” Duterte told reporters before setting off for Laos, when asked about his planned meeting with Obama.

“Who is he to confront me? As a matter of fact, America has one too many to answer for,” he said. “Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killings.”

Asked after arriving in the Laos capital of Vientiane wheth-er the meeting would go ahead, Duterte replied: “Maybe, if I feel good. I don’t want to quarrel with him.

He’s the most powerful presi-dent...on the planet.”

Duterte added that he did not believe the subject of extrajudi-cial killings should be raised at such a summit.

“It is rude.” The former crime-busting mayor of south-ern Davao city won the presi-dency in May promising to sup-press crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers.

While his campaign has won popular support, the killings have alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the United States, a former colonial power and a close Phil-ippine ally, and the United Na-tions.

The frank public exchanges threaten to overshadow the As-sociation of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and East Asia Summits in Laos from today to Thursday.

There the 10-member Asean will meet leaders of other re-gional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States.

The Philippines has been a key US ally in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, where Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusa-tions, and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5tn of trade moves annually.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philip-pines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

An arbitration court in The Hague invalidated China’s vast territorial claims to the water-way after a case was brought by the Philippines, though Beijing

refuses to recognise that July ruling.

Since then, the Philippines has sent mixed signals to China.

Duterte said last month he expected all Asean members to support the arbitration court’s ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos.

Yesterday, he showed no signs of backing down in his anti-drug campaign.

“Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets.

Until the (last) drug manufac-turer is killed we will continue,” he said.

Police say about 900 of those killed died in police operations, and the rest were “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists say is a euphe-mism for vigilante and extraju-dicial killings.

Duterte earlier lambasted the United Nations after it criti-cised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Laos.

In response to a bombing last week that killed 14 people in Du-terte’s hometown, his govern-ment on Monday signed a decla-ration of a “state of lawlessness”, a term that has left many Filipi-nos concerned that it might be draconian and open to abuse by security forces.

The government, however, has been keen to allay fears the obscure order might impinge on civil liberties.

Offi cials have repeatedly said the declaration simply allows the armed forces to support police operations, such as at check-points.

Tourists off er candles and prayers at the memorial site for the victims of Friday night’s explosion in a market in Davao city yesterday.

Paying tribute to blast victims

Beijing denies building on artifi cial island after Manila concernAFPBeijing

China yesterday denied it had begun building an artifi cial island at a

South China Sea fl ashpoint and cautioned the Philippines not to “hype up” their maritime dispute.

Philippine President Ro-drigo Duterte said Friday he had received an “unsettling” intelligence report showing China had sent barges to the contested Scarborough Shoal and had appeared to begin construction in the area for the first time.

Duterte has said he intends

to ask Beijing — possibly at a regional summit in Laos this week — if they are reclaiming the shoal despite an interna-tional court ruling rejecting most of China’s claims in the resource-rich area.

On Sunday Philippine De-fence Secretary Delfin Loren-zana said a Philippine air force plane saw four Chinese coastguard ships, two barge-like vessels and two suspected troop ships near the shoal on Saturday.

“The Chinese side has maintained the patrol by coastguard vessels in relevant waters and there have also been some fishing boats for fishing operations in the rel-

evant waters and the situation have always been like that, and has not changed,” said Hua Chunying, a Chinese for-eign ministry spokeswoman.

Hua, at a regular briefing yesterday, cautioned the Phil-ippines not to “hype up” the situation. The shoal, which is just 230 kilometres from the main Philippine island of Lu-zon, has long been a bone of contention. China took con-trol of it in 2012 after a stand-off with the Philippine navy.

A UN-backed tribunal ruled in July that China’s claims to almost all of the South China Sea had no legal basis and its construction of artificial is-lands in disputed waters was

illegal. China has sought to bolster its claims by building a network of artificial islands capable of supporting military operations.

Its massive land reclama-tion has prompted criticism from the US and claimant countries, with Washington warning it endangers freedom of navigation in international waters.

The United States has warned of “actions” if Beijing extends its military expansion to Scarborough Shoal.

Apart from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have partial claims to the sea, through which over $5tn in annual trade passes.

US President Barack Obama has called a planned meeting with Rodrigo Duterte into question after the Philippine leader launched a tirade against him.

Govt eyes 14% defence budget rise to secure seas, fight rebelsThe Philippines is proposing a 14% increase in defence spending next year to buy new ships and aircraft to boost its fight against militants and enhance maritime security in the disputed South China Sea. According to internal documents seen by Reuters yester-day, about 130bn pesos ($2.8bn) or 96 % of the proposed defence budget, would go to the armed forces.The push to beef up military spending reflects regional concern about China’s maritime assertiveness and the new government’s de-termination to crush the entrenched and lucrative network of the Is-lamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels behind a spree of kidnappings.Some 25bn pesos would go to a modernisation programme, the Department of National Defence said in the documents, including the acquisition of two surveillance planes and six close-air support planes to fight Abu Sayyaf.The rebels, who have their stronghold in two southern islands in the Muslim-majority south, are holding more than 20 hostages of

five nationalities. Abu Sayyaf has this year beheaded two Canadian hostages and President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to “destroy” the group.The government believes it was behind Friday’s bombing in Davao city that killed 14 people.The government has proposed a 3.35tn pesos national budget for next year, which the bicameral legislature is expected to approve before the end of the year.A senior defence off icial told Reuters 2017 would be the second year in a row that the government is spending 25bn pesos for the mod-ernisation plan, which is slated to cost 82bn over a five-year period.The country is set to award contracts for two frigates for navy and three radar systems for the air force, which are designed to improve monitoring in the South China Sea.Part of the funds will go to instalments to pay for 12 Korean-made FA-50 jets, two of which arrived last year.

As bodies pile up, many fear to talk about president’s warReutersManila

The body of 22-year-old pedicab driver Eric Sison lies in a coffi n in a Manila slum with a chick

pacing across his casket, placed there in keeping with a local tradition to symbolically peck at the conscience of his killers.

Cellphone video footage circulating on social media purports to capture the moment Sison was killed last month when, according to local offi cials, po-lice were looking for drug pushers in the Pasay township of the Philippines’ capital. A voice on the video, recorded by a neighbour according to newspaper reports, can be heard shouting “Don’t do it, I’ll surrender!”. Then there is the sound of gunfi re.

A poster near the coffi n, which lies beside a stinking canal cut between ram-shackle homes, demands “Justice for Eric Quintinita Sison”. A handpainted sign reads: “Overkill — Justice 4 Eric.”

These are rare tokens of protest against a surge of killings unleashed since Rodrigo Duterte became presi-dent of the Philippines just over two months ago and pledged to wage war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction to methamphetamine.

Very little stands in the way of his campaign.

Last week, the number of people killed since July 1 reached 2,400: about 900 died in police operations, and the rest are “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extraju-dicial killings.

Duterte’s offi ce did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. But he told a news confer-ence yesterday that “plenty will be killed” in his campaign. “Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue,” Duterte told reporters before leaving for a regional summit in Laos.

Reuters interviews reveal that the police’s Internal Aff airs Service (IAS) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) are so overwhelmed by the kill-ings that they can investigate only a fraction, and there is scant hope of es-tablishing many as unlawful because witnesses are too terrifi ed to come for-ward.

Meanwhile, the immense popular-ity of Duterte’s crusade and a climate of fear it has engendered have severely restrained dissent from civil society.

Hardly anyone turned up at candle-light vigils in Manila recently to protest against extrajudicial killings. Even as

the death toll rose, a July poll by Pulse Asia put Duterte’s approval rating at 91%.

Anxious reminders by the Catholic Church of the commandment ‘thou shalt not kill’ make few headlines in the predominantly Catholic country, with newspapers preferring to carry breath-less accounts of the latest slayings.

Duterte has delivered withering at-tacks on his chief critic, Senator Leila de Lima, accusing her of dealing in drugs herself and having an aff air with her driver. “It’s only the president who can stop this,” de Lima told Reuters last week, deploring what she described as

the “madness” that led in one case to a fi ve-year-old girl being shot in the head. “How many more of these cases of collateral damage are we willing to bear before we can really start scream-ing about it?” she asked.

As for critics abroad, Duterte pours scorn on them in language larded with curses.

He lambasted the United Nations after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a summit in Laos this week.

Duterte has also made it clear he will take no lecture on human rights from

Obama, when in the United States he alleged “black people are being shot even if they are already lying down”.

Duterte may intensify the crack-down after 14 people were killed on Fri-day in a bomb attack at a market in his hometown, Davao. Police blamed the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State-linked group Duterte has vowed to destroy, but his war on the drug trade is mak-ing enemies elsewhere and the attack quickened rumours of a plot to kill him.

Duterte has declared a nationwide “state of lawlessness” after the blast that authorises troops to reinforce the police with checkpoints and patrols.

He has managed with remarkable speed to nationalise a model for fi ght-ing crime that he pioneered as mayor of Davao for 22 years.

Across the country now, lists of sus-pected drug pushers are being provid-ed to police by neighbourhood chiefs, adding to a sense of fear and distrust across communities.

Politicians of all hues have gone qui-et, and a Senate enquiry led by de Lima only has the power to propose legisla-tion. Chief Superintendent Leo Angelo Leuterio, who heads the IAS, says it is his offi ce’s responsibility to investigate every discharge of fi rearms involving police.

But with only about 170 investiga-

tors nationwide, the IAS is able to deal with just 30% of the roughly 30 cases coming in every day.

“Our resources are breaking at the seams,” said Leuterio.

The IAS chief is supposed to be a ci-vilian to ensure its independence but Leuterio is a policeman who spent 13 years of his career in Duterte’s home-town, Davao. He says he is unbiased and has a track record of dismissing hundreds of offi cers for misconduct.

The CHR, for its part, is looking at just 259 of the 2,000-plus killings since July 1. The commission says its biggest obstacle is that witnesses are hard to fi nd. One person who did come forward is Harrah Kazuo, whose hus-band and father-in-law were severely beaten and shot dead in a police sta-tion, according to a CHR report.

She told Reuters that when the po-lice entered their home without a war-rant they even removed her toddler’s underwear to search for drugs.

Police have declined comment on what happened in the home, but two offi cers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the case.

Kazuo has been taken into witness protection by the CHR.

She is a rare protesting voice in an environment where many are fearful.

Police officers distribute leaflets to residents during a house-to-house campaign on illegal drugs at an affluent neighbourhood in Manila.

SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL21


Participants hold placards during a rally on the occasion of the National Anti-Human Traff icking Day in Kathmandu yesterday. The day is celebrated yearly to bring the awareness of stopping and preventing human traff icking. Human rights activists, civil society members, government off icials, students and police personnel marched in the rally through the streets.

Marking anti-human trafficking day

WHO certifi es Lanka as Malaria-free nationThe World Health Organi-

sation has certifi ed Sri Lanka as a Malaria-free

nation on having eliminated the life threatening disease, a statement said.

“Sri Lanka’s achievement is truly remarkable. In the mid-20th century it was among the most Malaria-aff ected coun-tries, but now it is Malaria-free. This is testament to the cour-age and vision of its leaders and signifi es the great leaps that

can be made when targeted ac-tion is taken,” said the WHO statement.

According to WHO, after Ma-laria cases soared in the 1970s and 80s, the country’s anti-Ma-laria campaign in the 1990s ad-justed its strategy to intensively target the parasite in addition to targeting the mosquitoes.

Sri Lanka is the second coun-try in the WHO Southeast Asia region to eliminate Malaria after Maldives.

“The change in strategy was unorthodox, but highly eff ec-tive. Mobile Malaria clinics in high transmission areas meant

that prompt and eff ective treat-ment could reduce the parasite reservoir and the possibility of further transmission,” said the statement.

“By 2006, the country record-ed less than 1,000 cases of Ma-laria per year, and since October 2012, the indigenous cases were down to zero. For the past three-and-a-half years, no locally transmitted cases have been re-corded.”

The announcement of Sri Lanka’s victory over Malaria was made on Monday at the WHO Southeast Asia region’s annual regional committee meeting in

the presence of health ministers and senior offi cials from all the 11 member states.

India accounts for 70% of Malaria cases and 69% Malaria deaths in the Southeast Asian region countries. At least 1.13mn cases were reported in the coun-try last year.

The health ministry had launched the National Frame-work for Malaria Elimination in February this year, with a view to eradicating the mosquito-borne disease from India by 2030.

The objectives of the frame-work include eradication of Ma-

laria from all low-and moder-ately-endemic states and union territories by 2022 and reduction in the disease cases to less than one per 1,000 population in eve-ry part of India by 2024.

Preventing re-transmission of Malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and maintain-ing Malaria-free status of the country by 2030 are its other objectives.

Dengue and Chikungunya are the other mosquito-borne dis-eases prevalent in India, with Delhi alone witnessing over 400 cases of Dengue and Chikun-gunya each.

IANSColombo

Five held over attack on Lanka envoy in Malaysia

Malaysian police said yesterday they have arrested fi ve people

after a group of protesters as-saulted the Sri Lankan ambas-sador at Kuala Lumpur Inter-national Airport.

Malaysian authorities said the attack on high commissioner (ambassa-dor) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar on Sunday left him with minor injuries, but they have so far given no details on the iden-tities or background of the attackers.

“Five people have been ar-rested and we are investigat-ing the motive for the attack,” Abdul Samah Mat, police chief of Selangor state, said.

In Colombo, Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary Esala Weerakoon summoned Ma-laysia’s top envoy, Wan Za-idi Wan Abdullah, and de-manded adequate security for Colombo’s diplomatic mission.

The foreign ministry ex-pressed “disappointment that the Malaysian authori-ties had failed to provide necessary protection” de-spite warnings of a possible threat.

Almost 100 ethnic Indian protesters had gathered in Kuala Lumpur last week to ral-

ly against former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was attending an interna-tional conference, local media reported.

Rajapakse ordered the bloody military assault which ended Sri Lanka’s war with Tamil separatist guerrillas in 2009.

International rights groups have said up to 40,000 civil-ians may have been killed in the fi nal off ensive, a charge denied by Colombo.

Sympathisers of the Tamil victims in the almost three-decade long civil war burnt an effi gy of Ra-japakse during the protests in Malaysia.

Police have warned local In-dian groups not to show sup-port for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) them-selves.

“I want to warn these groups which support the LTTE that it is a group that is banned by the United Nations,” national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by The Star yesterday.

More than 2mn of multi-ethnic Malaysia’s 31mn people are ethnic Indians.

Most are descendants of la-bourers brought from ethnic Tamil areas of southern India by Malaysia’s former British colonial masters.

AFPKuala Lumpur/Colombo

Bangladesh police arrest four women militants

At least four women ter-rorists of the outlawed militant outfi t Jamaat-

ul-Mujahideen were arrested yesterday in Bangladesh, weeks after similar arrests were made as part of nationwide crack-down following the country’s worst terror attack on an up-scale cafe in Dhaka, a media report said.

“We carried out the pre-dawn raid acting on a secret tip off ... It was a rented house from where these women were conducting drives in recruit-ing other women in the name of preaching Islam,” Sirajganj’s district police superintendent Miraz Uddin Ahmed said.

Police also seized a large quantity of bomb-making ma-terials, six improvised bombs, nine Jihadi books, four grenade shells and electrical equipment from the den, he said.

All the four arrested women are married and aged between 18 and 30. They are being ques-tioned by police ahead of subse-quent legal procedures.

Earlier on August 16, elite an-ti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three women students of a private university and a woman intern at the Dha-ka Medical College Hospital for their alleged links with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB), blamed for the terror attack on an up-scale cafe in Dhaka that killed 22 people, including an Indian girl.

JMB is known for its ideologi-cal inclination to ISIS.

This is the third such major incident of arresting women militants since July when seven women JMB activists, three of them members of its suicide squad, were arrested from Tan-gail.

Security agencies have ar-rested dozens of JMB militants with offi cials calling some of them as masterminds of the outfi t as a nationwide anti-mil-itant security clampdown is un-derway since the July 1 attack.

Police call the arrested op-eratives as neo-JMB activists because of their inclination to-wards the Islamic State terrorist group, which initially claimed the cafe attack. But authorities have denied presence of ISIS in Bangladesh.

AgenciesDhaka

Dhaka set to carry out study on overseas employment markets

In view of dwindling job market in the Gulf coun-tries, Bangladesh is now set

to diversify destinations of the country’s job-seekers. As part of the move, the country is now set to conduct a comprehensive study on 50 overseas job mar-kets for the fi rst time to assess the job demand and explore newer markets.

The study will be conducted under the supervision of Bu-reau of Manpower, Employ-ment and Training (BMET) from November 2016 to April 2017.

The research will mainly as-sess trade qualifi cations and capabilities of the overseas employment markets as well as project future demands for Bangladeshi manpower, BMET director Nurul Islam told newsmen in Dhaka yesterday.

Based on the study recom-mendations, the government will take initiatives to improve manpower training to avail of more and more overseas jobs, Islam said.

The BMET has recently in-vited tenders from fi rms for the

study, which will also be a mar-ket research paradigm for car-rying out studies in the future.

Abdur Rauf, joint secretary, Expatriates’ Welfare and Over-sees Employment Ministry, told newsmen that the study will focus on expansion of the existing key markets and ex-ploration of newer ones.

The demand for Bangladeshi workers will be assessed in some 50 markets, particularly the existing big ones in the Middle East and Europe, he said.

Rauf said it will be the fi rst comprehensive study on over-seas job markets which will help boost the manpower ex-port. Previous studies only fo-cused on partial scenario of the manpower export markets.

Bangladesh is now export-ing manpower to 161 countries, while the number of Bangla-deshi workers in many markets other than the Middle East is very few.

According to the BMET sta-tistics, Bangladesh exported 483,955 workers till August 29 this year. Of them, the highest 130,370 went to Oman, while 83,098 to Qatar and 68,127 to Saudi Arabia.

Besides, 43,806 Bangladeshi workers went to Bahrain, 37,407

to Singapore, 34,533 to Malay-sia, 18,889 to Kuwait, 15,449 to Jordan, 9,827 to Lebanon, 4,772 to the UAE, 3,859 to Iraq, 3,308 to Brunei, 3,257 to Mauritius and 1,301 to South Korea.

BMET offi cials forecast that Bangladesh will be able to export more than 700,000 workers in 2016, up from some 556,000 in 2015.

Since 1976, more than 10mn Bangladeshi workers went abroad taking BMET clearance. Of them, the highest 875,000 workers went abroad in 2008, while the second high-est 832,000 in 2007. But the number of migrated workers came down at 475,000 in 2009 and 390,000 in 2010.

Bangladesh sent abroad 568,000 workers in 2011, 608,000 in 2012, while 409,000 in 2013 and 426,000 in 2014.

In 2015, Bangladeshi expa-triates sent $15.27bn remit-tance, which were only $5.48bn in 2006 and $1bn in 1993.

In the seven months till July this year, Bangladesh received $8.45bn in remittances. The highest $1,632mn remittance infl ow was from Saudi Arabia, while $1,568mn from the UAE and $1,258mn from the USA.

By Mizan RahmanDhaka

Landslides claim 7 lives across Nepal

At least seven people were killed in landslides trig-gered by torrential rains

across Nepal over the past 24 hours, media reports said.

Four people, including three members of a family, were bur-ied to death in separate land-slide incidents in Taplejung municipality on Friday night. Dozens of cattle, goats and sheep were killed in the dis-aster. At least 75 families have been displaced.

Bimala Magar, 28, and her sons Manoj, 9, and Lalit, 7, died when a massive landslide bur-ied their house in Taplejung-2, police said. The victims were sleeping when the disaster oc-curred.

Security personnel and lo-cals pulled the bodies from the debris on Saturday morning. Locals had informed police about the incident after they heard the cries of children from the buried house. The eff orts of security personnel to rescue them alive, however, were not successful.

Similarly, Dil Kumari Palungwa died after a land-slide swept away her house in Taplejung-8. The victim’s sister Krishna Kumari, who sustained serious injuries, is receiving treatment at the dis-trict hospital, police said.

According to chief district offi cer Chakrapani Pandey, 42 families of ward No. 7 have been displaced. The displaced people are taking shelter at a local school. Displaced fami-lies from Suketar, Bejambu and

Khodambu have taken refuge at their relatives’ houses.

“It rained throughout Fri-day night. Had the villagers not moved to safer places on time, there could have been more casualties,” said Nirmala Bhat-tarai, a local teacher. The dis-trict received 137mm of rain on Friday night. Transportation services have come to a halt along the Taplejung stretch on Mechi Highway.

On Saturday, a couple was buried to death in a landslide at Kulung-9 in Bhojpur. Bharat Rai, 58, and his wife Rammani, 54, died when the landslide buried their house, police said.

In Myagdi, a landslide claimed the life of an elderly person. Om Prasad Bhattach-an, 72, died when the landslide buried a shed in Devisthan-5 on Saturday.

AgenciesKathmandu

Sri Lanka’s Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake, third right, feeds fruits to an elephant after an event at a Buddhist temple near Colombo yesterday.

Jumbo treat

Delegation from IIT in Bangladesh to meet studentsA delegation from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) is in Bangladesh to meet high school and university students as part of the Indian high commission’s eff orts to provide an opportunity for Bangladeshi students to pursue engineering at the premier engineering institutes.The delegation is on a visit to Bangladesh from September 4-7. They are interacting with interested students in Dhaka on September 4 and 5 and will be

in Chittagong on September 6 and 7.The primary objective of the visit is to make students in Bangladesh aware about the IITs and provide them a clear idea about admissions.The delegation will also survey and prepare the ground for holding Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), which is planned to be conducted in Bangladesh as well from 2017.

They met higher secondary students at DPS-STS School in Uttara, and final year engineering students at the Dhaka University campus on Sunday. Yesterday, the delegation was to meet final year engineering students at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).The delegation will meet the higher secondary students at Aga Khan School in Uttara, and interact with interested students

in Chittagong on September 6 and 7, the high commission said.The IIT delegation would address two groups of students separately – Group A for students in Class 11 and 12, set to appear for the JEE, and Group B for students in final year of engineering target audience for (GATE) 2017.The JEE (Advanced) 2017 will be conducted in the month of May 2017 and GATE 2017 in the first and second weekends of February.

Raghuram Rajan was the poster boy of the Indian fi nancial establishment before he fell out with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for reasons not yet clearly established or explained.

Now, as the 53-year-old hands over the reins of the Reserve Bank of India to new Governor Urjit Patel, who functioned as his deputy, he has issued a stark warning to the government on its keenness to further lower interest rates.

The 53-year-old Rajan, who predicted the global fi nancial crisis of 2008 and was Chief Economist with the International Monetary Fund between 2003 and 2006, is credited with getting the Indian economy back on track after being appointed as the RBI Governor in 2013.

With the rupee threatening to go into a free fall and infl ation seemingly galloping at an alarming rate – it was a whopping 9.8% in September 2013 – it was a stellar move by then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s UPA government to appoint him at the helm of the RBI.

Of course, Dr Singh being an economist himself who is credited with liberalising the Indian economy when he was the fi nance minister between 1991 and 1996, knew full well that Rajan’s credentials were impeccable for the hot seat.

Soon enough, Dr Singh was vindicated when Rajan focused on curbing infl ation and succeeded in bringing it down to 3.78% by July 2015, the lowest in about 20 years.

However, despite his widely-acclaimed success, he was the target of some harsh personal remarks by Rajya Sabha MP and perpetual loose cannon Subramanian

Swamy, who insinuated that Rajan was not a committed Indian and his work was not driven by patriotism, but by some mysterious, dark agenda which would benefi t the country’s enemies.

Although Modi backed Rajan, it was too little too late, besides being somewhat half-hearted, and soon it was clear that a new RBI chief would have to be found.

India’s fi nance minister Arun Jaitley and others in the top echelons of the government are reportedly keen advocates of much lower interest rates, and it will be interesting to see how Patel deals with it. Will he follow the policy of his previous boss who was cautious with interest rate cuts, or would he be easily “persuaded” by the government to go for speedier cuts?

Rajan himself slashed interest rates to their lowest level since 2011 but angered some in the ruling BJP who wanted deeper and faster cuts intended to boost growth further.

In the US, Japan and several Western nations interest rates are kept low to keep the economy going, but the big question is can India aff ord to do so?

With millions of Indians relying solely on their bank savings to get by after retirement, unlike in the West where a strong social security system exists, regular interest rate cuts may not be the right answer to all of India’s fi nancial ills.

“Often when monetary policy is really easy, it (low interest rates) becomes the residual policy of choice,” Rajan told the New York Times, adding that “other instruments of policy” may be needed to encourage economic growth.

It is inevitable that the Modi government heed his advice. Otherwise, the BJP would be risking its political future by disregarding the concerns of its supporters, millions of whom are from the middle class with nothing more than their salaries and pensions to look forward to at the end of every month.

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BJP risks angering the middle class by going for deeper interest rate cuts

Even if the nightmare of a president Donald Trump is avoided, as appears increasingly likely, the United States can no longer be the world’s policeman

By Mark LeonardLondon

The most frightening periods in history have often been interregnums – moments between the death of one

king and the rise of the next. Disorder, war, and even disease can fl ood into the vacuum when, as Antonio Gramsci put it in his Prison Notebooks, “the old is dying and the new cannot be born.” The dislocation and confusion of 2016 do not rival the turmoil of the interwar period, when Gramsci wrote, but they are certainly symptoms of a new interregnum.

After the end of the Cold War, the world was held together by an American-policed security order and a European-inspired legal order. Now, however, both are fraying, and no candidates to replace them have yet emerged. Indeed, unlike in 1989, this is not a crisis of a single type of system. Countries as diff erent as Brazil, China and Russia are coming under heightened political and economic pressure.

Even if the nightmare of a president Donald Trump is avoided, as appears increasingly likely, the United States can no longer be the world’s policeman. Powers such as Russia, Iran, and China are probing US reactions in Ukraine, Syria, and the South China Sea. And US allies like Turkey, Poland, and Japan are forging independent and assertive foreign policies to make up for a US that

cannot and will not carry its previous burdens.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s declining cohesion is undermining its moral authority on the world stage. Many of the global institutions that refl ect European values and norms – from the World Trade Organisation and the International Criminal Court to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – are gridlocked.

Regionally, the three strands of the European order are unravelling: the US is seeking to reduce its investment in Nato, the EU is de-emphasising enlargement, and the chaos in the Middle East and Ukraine is making a mockery of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The rise – and rapprochement – of illiberal forces in Russia and Turkey mean that the EU is no longer the only pole of attraction in the region.

Worse, EU integration has gone into reverse, with member states seeking to insulate themselves from the outside world, rather than trying to export their shared values.

As a result, the biggest threats to free trade and the open society stem from domestic sources, not external enemies.

Even in Germany, which had long seemed immune to such pressures, the interior minister talks of banning burkas (a policy that would aff ect 300 people), while the vice-chancellor has declared the death of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US even before the body is cold.

The EU proved over the last few decades that it could be a force for globalisation – tearing down barriers between peoples and nations. But today its survival depends on showing that it can protect citizens from the very forces it has promoted.

Maintaining the four freedoms at the heart of the European project – the free movement of people, goods, capital, and services within Europe – will be possible only if EU governments have credible policies to protect the most vulnerable in their societies. That will mean improving protection of the EU’s external borders, compensating domestic losers from migration and free trade, and soothing public fears about terrorism.

The danger is that much of what the EU rightly pushed for during the good times could hasten its unravelling now, during the current interregnum. For example, given so much uncertainty about the future state of Europe and the world, debating enlargement or the TTIP seems pointless – or worse, because even opening such discussions is certain to play into the hands of Euroskeptics.

The EU needs to distinguish between core and peripheral priorities. For issues such as EU relations with Russia and Turkey (and these two countries’ relations with each other), member states need to agree on a policy that recognises the interests of all. But much greater fl exibility is advisable in other areas, including commitments to refugee re-allocation and eurozone rules, where excessive rigidity could cause European unity to buckle and snap.

In addition to preventing an alliance between Russia and Ankara, the EU should rethink its goals in its neighbourhood. Although the Balkan countries that are outside the EU will remain there for many years, they are in the European security space already,

and Europeans should be prepared to intervene militarily if outbreaks of violence recur.

Moreover, EU leaders should pursue a broader defi nition of peace than the absence of war, including political and social stability and preventing radicalisation in Bosnia and Kosovo.

For Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova, the goal should be to promote stable and predictable governments. For the next few years, the EU should view them as independent buff er states rather than as member-states-in-waiting. It will be particularly important not to set red lines that the EU is not willing to defend.

In the troubled Middle East, the EU cannot hope to be the central actor. But EU countries cannot protect their populations from instability if they are only spectators. Particularly in Syria and Libya, the EU needs to playing a more concerted role with regional powers – as well as with the US and Russia – to advance political processes that could help reduce violence, provide humanitarian aid, and stem the fl ow of refugees.

One of the EU’s main challenges is to defi ne success in a defensive era. During the heyday of enlargement, the goal was to deepen integration and broaden its reach across Europe. Now, however, success means preventing countries from leaving the EU or hollowing out its institutions.

History moves in cycles. The interregnum will eventually end and a new order will be born. What is certain is that the survivors and inheritors of the old order will write the rules of the new one. The EU’s goal, achievable only with fl exibility and courage, must be to remain a viable project – and thus be one of the authors.- Project Syndicate

Mark Leonard is director of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The EU’s goal must be to remain a viable project

Fertile times for Europe’s populist partiesBy Simon Sturedee AFP/Vienna

Alternative for Germany is not the only populist party enjoying electoral success. Across Europe,

these are fertile times for protest movements tapping into unease about immigration to attack a long-cosy political establishment.

The anti-immigration AfD scored a major symbolic victory on Sunday by relegating German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives into third place in elections in her home state.

The result means that the Islamophobic AfD, whose popularity has soared due to opposition to Merkel’s open-door refugee policy, is now represented in nine out of Germany’s 16 regional parliaments.

Its success has been replicated around Europe, with other anti-immigration populist parties stealing voters in their droves from the established centrist forces.

For Jean-Dominique Giulani, head of the Robert Schuman Foundation think-tank, anxiety in a Europe “looking for an identity” in a fast-changing world has been on the rise for a while.

But, Giulani told AFP, this phenomenon has been “inexorably boosted” by the arrival last year of

hundreds of thousands of migrants fl eeing violence in the Middle East.

“This is a reaction to the absence of credible European responses... to the issues that worry people, starting with the question of immigration,” he said.

The next evidence of this backlash could come on October 2 in Austria, if Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) – formerly of the Nazi-admiring Joerg Haider – wins a tight presidential election.

Next year could see further electoral upsets, not least with Germany set to hold general elections late in the year.

In France, reeling from a string of deadly extremist attacks, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National (FN) is on course to make a strong running for the presidency.

And the party of Dutch far-right

politician Geert Wilders, which has vowed to close all mosques and Islamic schools and ban the Qur’an, is leading polls ahead of parliamentary elections due in 2017.

But it’s not just immigration. Globalisation, austerity, stagnating incomes, as well as an increasingly unpopular European Union have boosted populist parties, on the left as well as the right, say experts.

In Italy, where the right-wing Northern League has long been strong, the Five Star Movement (M5S), founded by a comedian, is shaking up national politics, winning local elections in Rome by a landslide in June.

Elsewhere in southern Europe, it is groupings more of the left – Podemos in Spain, Syriza in Greece – that have made hay, tapping into anger about austerity cuts imposed during the eurozone debt crisis.

In Britain, the main opposition Labour party chose Jeremy Corbyn as leader in 2015, a hard-left campaigner whose beliefs placed him for decades on the fringes of the country’s politics.

Britain then voted to leave the European Union in June in a referendum driven in large part by worries about immigration, economic uncertainty and a perception that an out-of-touch Brussels elite was making the rules.

Since the surprise “Brexit” result, many populist fi gures – Le Pen,

Wilders, Hofer and Beppe Grillo of the M5S in Italy among them – have at least fl irted with the idea of their own EU plebiscite.

Anti-establishment parties have also jumped on mooted trade deals between the EU and Canada and the United States as evidence that the established parties are in cahoots with multinational corporations.

The International Monetary Fund’s Christine Lagarde conceded yesterday at a G20 meeting of world leaders in China that globalisation “has to benefi t all, not a few”, but said that the fruits of a connected world were severely undersold.

There was “a determination around the room to better identify the benefi ts of trade in order to respond to the easy populist backlash against globalisation,” she added as leaders at the summit grappled with the problem.

For Paul Schmidt at the Austrian Society for European Politics (OeGfE), the problem for Europe’s leaders is that many of the problems can only be solved by supranational action.

“But many voters reject this loss of sovereignty. It scares them,” Schmidt told AFP.

In addition, populist parties have found in social media, where issues can quickly “snowball dangerously”, a useful weapon with which to attack governments, he said.

Indian govt should heed Rajan’s advice on interest rate cuts

In the troubled Middle East, the EU cannot hope to be the central actor

Globalisation, austerity, stagnating incomes, as well as an increasingly unpopular EU have boosted populist parties

COMMENT

No matter how you slice it, China remains the world’s major growth engine

By Stephen S RoachNew Haven

Despite all the hand-wringing over the vaunted China slowdown, the Chinese economy remains the single

largest contributor to world GDP growth. For a global economy limping along at stall speed – and most likely unable to withstand a signifi cant shock without toppling into renewed recession – that contribution is all the more important.

A few numbers bear this out. If Chinese GDP growth reaches 6.7% in 2016 – in line with the government’s offi cial target and only slightly above the International Monetary Fund’s latest prediction (6.6%) – China would account for 1.2 percentage points of world GDP growth. With the IMF currently expecting only 3.1% global growth this year, China would contribute nearly 39% of the total.

That share dwarfs the contribution of other major economies. For example, while the United States is widely praised for a solid recovery, its GDP is expected to grow by just 2.2% in 2016 – enough to contribute just 0.3 percentage points to overall world GDP growth, or only about one-fourth of the contribution made by China.

A sclerotic European economy is expected to add a mere 0.2 percentage points to world growth, and Japan not even 0.1 percentage point. China’s contribution to global growth is, in fact, 50% larger than the combined 0.8-percentage-point contribution likely to be made by all of the so-called advanced economies.

Moreover, no developing economy comes close to China’s contribution to

global growth. India’s GDP is expected to grow by 7.4% this year, or 0.8 percentage points faster than China. But the Chinese economy accounts for fully 18% of world output (measured on a purchasing-power-parity basis) – more than double India’s 7.6% share. That means India’s contribution to global GDP growth is likely to be just 0.6 percentage points this year – only half the 1.2-percentage-point boost expected from China.

More broadly, China is expected to account for fully 73% of total growth of the so-called Brics grouping of large developing economies. The gains in India (7.4%) and South Africa (0.1%) are off set by ongoing recessions in Russia (-1.2%) and Brazil (-3.3%). Excluding China, Brics GDP growth is expected to be an anaemic 3.2% in 2016.

So, no matter how you slice it, China remains the world’s major growth engine. Yes, the Chinese economy has slowed signifi cantly from the 10% average annual growth recorded during the 1980-2011 period. But even after transitioning from the “old normal” to what the Chinese leadership has dubbed the “new normal,” global economic growth remains heavily dependent on China.

There are three key implications of a persistent China-centric global growth dynamic.

First, and most obvious, continued deceleration of Chinese growth would have a much greater impact on an otherwise weak global economy than would be the case if the world were growing at something closer to its longer-term trend of 3.6%. Excluding China, world GDP growth would be about 1.9% in 2016 – well below the 2.5% threshold commonly associated with global recessions.

The second implication, related to the fi rst, is that the widely feared economic “hard landing” for China would have a devastating global

impact. Every one-percentage-point decline in Chinese GDP growth knocks close to 0.2 percentage points directly off world GDP; including the spillover eff ects of foreign trade, the total global growth impact would be around 0.3 percentage points.

Defi ning a Chinese hard landing as a halving of the current 6.7% growth rate, the combined direct and indirect eff ects of such an outcome would consequently knock about one percentage point off overall global

growth. In such a scenario, there is no way the world could avoid another full-blown recession.

Finally (and more likely in my view), there are the global impacts of a successful rebalancing of the Chinese economy. The world stands to benefi t greatly if the components of China’s GDP continue to shift from manufacturing-led exports and investment to services and household consumption.

Under those circumstances,

Chinese domestic demand has the potential to become an increasingly important source of export-led growth for China’s major trading partners – provided, of course, that other countries are granted free and open access to rapidly expanding Chinese markets. A successful Chinese rebalancing scenario has the potential to jump-start global demand with a new and important source of aggregate demand – a powerful antidote to an otherwise sluggish

world. That possibility should not be ignored, as political pressures bear down on the global trade debate.

All in all, despite all the focus on the US, Europe, or Japan, China continues to hold the trump card in today’s weakened global economy. While a Chinese hard landing would be disastrous, a successful rebalancing would be an unqualifi ed boon. That could well make the prognosis for China the decisive factor for the global economic outlook.

While the latest monthly indicators show China’s economy stabilising at around the 6.7% growth rate recorded in the fi rst half of 2016, there can be no mistaking the headwinds looming in the second half of the year. In particular, the possibility of a further downshift in private-sector fi xed-asset investment could exacerbate ongoing pressures associated with deleveraging, persistently weak external demand, and a faltering property cycle.

But, unlike the major economies of the advanced world, where policy space is severely constrained, Chinese authorities have ample scope for accommodative moves that could shore up economic activity. And, unlike the major economies of the developed world, which constantly struggle with a tradeoff between short-term cyclical pressures and longer-term structural reforms, China is perfectly capable of addressing both sets of challenges simultaneously.

To the extent that the Chinese leadership is able to maintain such a multi-dimensional policy and reform focus, a weak and still vulnerable global economy can only benefi t. The world needs a successful China more than ever. - Project Syndicate,

Stephen S Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and a former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, is the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China

Global growth – still made in China

Live issues

Partially deaf worker doesn’t want to miss a beat

Qatar National Library resumes monthly events in September

By Marie G McIntyreTribune News Service

QUESTION: Despite repeatedly being told

that I’m a valuable employee, I sometimes feel that I’m not treated with respect. Because of a serious hearing loss, I wear hearing aids in both ears. Although my manager has installed adaptive equipment and adjusted my job duties, there are times when my special requirements are ignored.

Periodically, all employees are required to attend meetings where management provides updates on current business issues. I have been given a reserved seat near the podium so I can hear what’s being said. However, certain executives always walk out into the room to get closer to the audience.

When these speakers turn their back on me, they never try to talk louder or repeat the questions

being asked. As a result, I miss a lot of information. How should I address this?

ANSWER: Given the constant interaction at work, I can only imagine how often you must deal with aggravating communication issues. However, I’m fairly certain that this particular problem is a matter of forgetfulness, not disrespect. Unfortunately, disabilities that are out of sight can easily slip out of mind.

To some degree, failing to consider others’ circumstances is simply human nature. Even when people intend to be helpful, the reality is that everyone gets caught up in their own concerns. But since management has previously been responsive to your needs, I hope you can believe that they really do care.

Since your immediate boss may have little to do with company-wide meetings, consider having a talk with your human resources manager. Instead of complaining, explain your dilemma and suggest a reasonable solution.

For example: “I appreciate everything that’s been done to accommodate my hearing loss, but I do have one additional problem. In management meetings, I have diffi culty understanding the speakers when they walk away from the podium. Would it be possible to provide a microphone and ask them to repeat the questions?”

The HR manager should be glad to grant this simple request. But since the executives may still forget, be prepared to politely remind them to use the mic and repeat audience comments. Other attendees are quite likely to back you up, because wandering speakers can be hard for everyone to hear.

Unrealistic and selfish

Q: When I informed management that I was planning to take another job, they asked me to give three months notice.

I’m afraid this might put my new position in jeopardy, but I’ve worked here for many years and don’t want to seem disrespectful. What should I do?

A: Your employer is being completely unrealistic, not to mention extremely selfish. Expecting you to put a new job on hold for three months is utterly ridiculous. Since I know nothing about your work, I can’t recommend a specific notice period. But unless a job is very complex, two weeks is standard, and three weeks is generous. Had you met with some unfortunate circumstance, these people would have learned to manage without you. And since you’re leaving, that’s what they will need to do now.

Marie G McIntyre is a workplace coach and the author of Secrets to Winning at Offi ce Politics. Send in questions and get free coaching tips at http://www.youroffi cecoach.com, or follow her on Twitter @offi cecoach

QNADoha

Qatar National Library (QNL) resumes its monthly programmes in September with an array of workshops

and events aimed at developing students’ skills and encouraging a creative community.

As part of these activities, QNL, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), is resuming its monthly book discussions after the summer break with the book Living Correctly by Fahad al-Bshara. With a simple language and style, the book charts a meaningful set of ideas, thoughts and stories that promote positivity, optimism, trust and closeness to Allah in the face of life’s diffi culties.

In addition, QNL is organising a free, hands-on training sessions on the eff ective use of selected Health Online Resources that include: ProQuest Health Resources, Refworks, Emerald Insight, OVID medical database and SAGE. These health learning resource databases are available and accessible for all QNL users.

Furthermore, with poster presentations being such a highly-used communication tool for

students to display and discuss their research experience, QNL offers a free, hands-on training workshop on ‘Designing Research Posters’. This workshop focuses on how to design an effective research poster, and includes the poster design process, design elements, and the use of PowerPoint to help create student posters.

The library is also conducting a free workshop on ‘Writing Business E-Mails’ that aims to develop the

overall practices of business emails communication.

In addition, the library is also organising a Back to School programme where children and their families can participate in many exciting activities such as storytelling, crafts and songs and where children will have the opportunity to create their own backpack using simple materials.

To raise its international profi le, QNL will participate in The International Council on Archives

(ICA) Quadrennial Congress, in Seoul, South Korea. With the theme of ‘Archives, Harmony and Friendship’, the conference will include presentations on the topic of native peoples and their relationship both to their own records and archives and to the work of non-native communities in recordkeeping and archives management. The ICA brings together about 1,400 institutional members in 199 countries and territories.

This month also marked the return of the popular monthly “Research Skills Workshop”, which off ers essential research skills for a wide range of disciplines and subject areas. The workshop covers four modules: “Research Tool Kit”, “Search Strategies and Techniques”, “Citing Resources”, and “Writing Research Papers”.

Academics and professionals also benefi ted from a hands-on training workshop on ‘Designing Eff ective Presentations’ which focused on creating presentations that make an impact, covering presentation design elements and processes using PowerPoint and Prezi.

In line with QF’s mission to unlock human potential and create a progressive society, QNL aligns itself through these activities, with the objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030 through spreading knowledge and cultivating creativity for future generations.

A worker looking through the fence of a construction site that is decorated with pictures of the Great Wall at Badaling, north of Beijing.

Gulf Times Tuesday, September 6, 2016 23

Three-day forecast

TODAY

THURSDAY

High: 42 C

Low : 32 C

High: 41 C

Low: 29 C

Weather report

Around the region

Abu DhabiBaghdadDubaiKuwait CityManamaMuscatRiyadhTehran

Weather todaySunnySunnySunnyCloudyCloudySunnySunnySunny

Around the world

Athens BeirutBangkok BerlinCairoCape Town ColomboDhakaHong KongIstanbulJakartaKarachiLondonManilaMoscowNew DelhiNew York ParisSao PauloSeoulSingaporeSydney Tokyo Clear

Max/min31/2229/2432/2724/1134/2316/0929/2631/2729/2731/2232/2431/2726/1732/2618/0834/2632/2226/1423/1429/1932/2621/1133/25

Weather todayCloudyM SunnyT StormsSunnySunnyP CloudyS T StormsS T StormsT StormsM SunnyS ShowersP CloudyCloudyS T StormsP CloudyM SunnyP CloudyCloudyRainP CloudyT StormsSunny

Fishermen’s forecast

OFFSHORE DOHAWind: NW-N 10-20/26 KTWaves: 6-8 Feet

INSHORE DOHAWind: NW 05-15 KTWaves: 1-3/4 Feet

High: 40 C

Low: 32 C

WEDNESDAY

Strong wind and high seas at first

Sunny

Sunny

Max/min43/3141/2440/3146/3241/3434/2644/2834/22

Weather tomorrowSunnySunnySunnySunnyCloudySunnySunnySunny

Max/min44/3140/2443/3143/2940/3333/2643/27

Max/min29/2228/2332/2626/1434/2216/0929/2532/2729/2729/2132/2531/2727/1632/2617/1235/2632/2329/1523/1130/1931/2620/1231/25

Weather tomorrowP CloudySunnyT StormsM SunnySunnyP CloudyM CloudyT StormsT StormsP CloudyS T StormsM SunnyP CloudyS T StormsM CloudyM SunnyP CloudySunnyP CloudyP CloudyS T StormsM SunnyCloudy

33/21

QATAR


DFI-supported fi lms to get world premiere at Toronto festivalContinuing the interna-

tional recognition gained by fi lms supported by

Doha Film Institute (DFI), eight fi lms have been selected to screen at the upcoming 2016 To-ronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Seven grant recipients, along with The Salesman, will screen in key programming strands at the festival’s 41st edition, to be held from September 8 to 18.

In a statement, DFI stressed that “as part of its commitment to promoting fi lmmaking talents in Qatar and off ering them plat-forms to strengthen their under-standing of global cinema and foster international network-ing”, the institute will host two Qatari fi lmmakers — Hafi z Ali Abdulla and Meriem Mesraoua — at TIFF. They will participate in a series of targeted workshops, networking events and industry meetings.

Fatma al-Remaihi, CEO of DFIe, said: “The signifi cant showcase of eight fi lms support-ed by Doha Film Institute at TIFF 2016 is a matter of great pride for us. It underlines the qual-ity of our selection process that supports new and established voices from the Arab world and beyond.”

Two grant recipients mark their world premiere at TIFF: Blessed Benefi t (Jordan, Neth-erlands, Germany, UAE, Qa-tar/2016) by Mahmoud al-Massad and Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory (Pal-estine, France, Qatar/2016) by Mohanad Yaqubi.

In another fi rst, By the Time it Gets Dark (Thailand, Neth-erlands, France, Qatar/2016), directed by Anocha Suwicha-kornpong, has been chosen in the Wavelengths programme at TIFF, which celebrates dar-ing, visionary and autonomous voices that expand the notions of cinema. The fi lm had its world premiere at Locarno. Also at TIFF is another DFI grantee, White Sun (Nepal, Netherlands, US, Qatar/2016) by Deepak Rau-

niyar, a TIFF Talent Lab alum-nus.

Closely following their suc-cess at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where they premiered, four fi lms supported by DFI have made the cut at TIFF, too. These include The Salesman, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, which won top hon-ours at Cannes — including the Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards in the offi cial competi-tion section.

The Salesman is produced by Memento Films Production and Asghar Farhadi Production and co-produced by Arte France Cinema in association with Me-mento Films Distribution and DFI.

The other fi lms supported by DFI, which were screened at Cannes this year and are mak-

ing their North American debut, include Apprentice (Singapore, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Qatar/2016), directed by Junfeng Boo; Mimosas (Spain, Morocco, France, Qatar/2016) directed by Oliver Laxe, winner of the 2016 Nespresso Grand Prize awarded by the Jury of the Cannes Crit-ics Week and Divines (Morocco, France, Qatar/2016), the debut feature by Houda Benyamina that scooped the coveted Cam-era d’Or prize at Cannes this year along with a special men-tion from SACD for debut fi lm in the Directors’ Fortnight section.

Additionally, fi ve fi lms sup-ported by DFI are also being screened at the ongoing 73rd Venice Film Festival. These in-clude White Sun by Rauniyar screening in the Orizzonti sec-tion and The Last of Us (Tuni-

sia, UAE, Lebanon, Qatar/2016) by Ala Eddine Slim, selected to screen in the International Crit-ics’ Week segment. The other three grantee projects – Poi-sonous Roses (Egypt, France, Qatar/2016) by Fawzi Saleh, One of These Days (Lebanon, Qatar/2017) by Nadim Tabet and Ghost Hunting (Pales-tine, France, Switzerland, Qa-tar/2016) by Raed Andoni have been selected to screen as work in progress at the Final Cut in Venice.

The selection at TIFF follows the win by DFI-supported fi lms gaining top acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and Sara-jevo Film Festival. At Sarajevo, 15 fi lms supported by DFI, includ-ing several fi lms ‘Made in Qatar’ by local talents, were screened in August this year.

Qatar Airways receives ‘Best for Business’ accoladeQatar Airways (QA) has

once again been recog-nised as one of the lead-

ing airlines in the world in the recent Conde Nast Traveller ‘Readers Travel Awards’ held in London.

The airline was awarded the coveted ‘Best for Business’ ac-colade with readers highlighting QA’s industry leading on-board experience and premium loung-es.

Through its network of more than 150 destinations around the globe, QA connects leisure and business passengers with mini-mal transfer times in the Middle East.

QA provides passengers with an on-board level of comfort for which it is renowned the world over, inclusive of Wi-Fi, a fl ex-ible dine-on-demand service in Business Class and the travel advantages bestowed upon it as

part of the world’s largest global airline alliance, oneworld.

“Such an accolade is a direct refl ection of our passengers’ sat-isfaction in the service we pro-vide and we remain committed to providing the very best expe-rience to our guests throughout their journey,” QA Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker said.

He stressed that they continue to set the industry standard in airline travel with their modern fl eet, and extensive business and leisure destinations via the Hamad International Airport (HIA).

Contributing to the overall Business Class passenger expe-rience, the airline has in recent years introduced a number of enhancements, including the opening of the world’s largest Business Class lounge, Al Mour-jan, at HIA.

Part of these enhancements

include a complete revamp of the airline’s in-fl ight entertain-ment system, Oryx One, with more than 3,000 entertainment options – the most of any air-line, alongside newly-intro-duced Giorgio Armani amenity kits; new on-board menus and seamless transfers through HIA, one of the world’s newest airport gateways.

QA earlier announced plans to expand its network with new destinations launching this year, including the recent addition of Adelaide, Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Los Angeles, Marrakech, Pisa, Ras Al Khaimah, Sydney and Yerevan, and services soon to be launched to Windhoek, Helsinki, Krabi and Seychelles.

The airline is set to expand fur-ther in 2017, and will commence services to Auckland, which will be the world’s longest commercial fl ight; Lusaka; Skopje and Nice. Qatar Airways bags the ‘Best for Business’ award by Conde Nast Traveller readers.

Indian govt ‘exploring ways to link insurance schemes to protect expats’By Ramesh MathewStaff Reporter

The Indian government is exploring the possibil-ity of linking all insurance

schemes in such a way that the interests of millions of its expa-triates are safeguarded.

This was revealed by India’s Minister of State for External Aff airs Gen. V K Singh to Gulf Times yesterday when asked if the government had any plans to fl oat eff ective social secu-rity schemes for its expatriates on the lines of those in place in the Philippines for its overseas workers.

“Insurance companies are be-ing contacted over and again and they are also coming up with in-novative proposals from their side to help the expatriates,” he said.

The minister had earlier spo-ken at a reception jointly hosted in his honour by the Indian Cul-tural Centre, Indian Business Promotion Network and Indian Community Benevolent Fund.

Singh said his ministry has been working on the issue (of linking insurances) for more than six months and he is hope-ful that some eff ective solutions are found to meet the urgent requirements of expatriates at a later date.

Besides pensions for its ex-patriates, the Philippines has schemes for their housing and medical requirements, educa-tion for children and emergency and calamity loans, among oth-ers, as part of the country’s so-cial security system, it is learnt.

Singh called upon Indian com-munities abroad to bring to his at-tention expatriate-friendly social security schemes in other coun-tries if they were familiar with their nature and functioning.

In his address, Singh spoke of the Indian federal government’s resolve to help members of the diaspora wherever they were. He also urged the community members to help fellow Indians

in distress through any possible means.

While elaborating on some of the initiatives launched by the Indian government for the ben-efi t of Indians returning to their homeland in diff erent circum-stances, Singh told them to avail of schemes such as Startup In-dia, Stand-Up India and Mudra Yojana, each of which he said has opened the doors for an array of people-friendly loans for those wanting to excel in life.

Singh, who was actively in-volved in the evacuation of thousands of Indians, along with many others from more than 30 countries, from strife-torn Yemen in 2015, also appealed to

non-resident Indians to avoid spreading unsavoury informa-tion through social media and news channels at a time when the region’s economy had suf-fered owing to a fall in oil prices.

Speaking earlier, Indian am-bassador Sanjiv Arora expressed hope that the strong fundamen-tals of its economy would help Qatar occupy a prime position even in the wake of the ongoing economic downturn.

Singh, who was on a day-long visit to Qatar, also met HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mo-hamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi.

India’s Minister of State for External Aff airs V K Singh speaking in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Ram Chand

A view from White Sun by Deepak Rauniyar.A visual from Blessed Benefit by Mahmoud al-Massad.

By the Time it Gets Dark by Anocha Suwichakornpong.

A major step in QF Stadium's progress - Gulf Times

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