In brief

TUESDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10616

October 24, 2017Safar 4, 1439 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals GULF TIMES

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SPORT | Page 1

Xavi excited about facing Al Rayyan in ‘Qatar Classico’

QATAR | Diplomacy

Sudanese presidentstarts Doha visitSudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in D2oha yesterday for an off icial visit to Qatar.He and his accompanying delegation were welcomed upon arrival at Hamad International Airport by HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, Qatar’s ambassador to Sudan Rashid Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi and Sudan’s ambassador to Qatar Fatah al-Rahman Ali Mohamed Omar. Page 3

QATAR | Visit

Sri Lankan presidentarrives in Doha todaySri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will arrive in Doha this evening on an off icial visit to Qatar. His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will meet the Sri Lankan president on Thursday at the Emir Diwan where they will hold talks on bilateral relations and ways to promote them.

QATAR | Offi cial

Law on real estateleasing amendedHis Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday issued Law No 19 of 2017 amending some provisions of Law No 4 of 2008 on real estate leasing. Under the provisions of this law, leases shall be concluded in writing. Page 2

QATAR | Defence

Military attache offi ceHQ opens in WashingtonThe Ministry of Defence opened yesterday the new headquarters of Qatar’s military attache off ice in Washington, DC. In a press statement, the Directorate of Defence Communication at the ministry said it is a new approach to defence relations with the US. It further strengthens co-operation and integration between the Qatari armed forces and its US counterpart. Page 2

UNITED NATION | Aid

Donors pledge $340mnfor Rohingya refugeesA United Nations-supported humanitarian conference yesterday raised more than $340mn to fund critical relief programmes for Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, the UN said. According to the UN News Center, the exodus, which began in late August, continues unabated, making the crisis the fastest growing refugee emergency in the world today. Pages 10, 21

Litterbugs facestiff penaltiesunder new law

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara yesterday with HE the Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

Everette E Dennis, dean and CEO of NU-Q welcoming the gathering.

Ronaldo adjudged best player at FIFA awardsReutersLondon

Real Madrid’s Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best soccer player in the

world for the second year running at FIFA’s The Best awards gala yesterday.

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner won a La Liga and Champions League double with the Madrid club this year, striking twice against Juventus in the European Cup fi nal to help Real become the fi rst team to retain the trophy in its current format.

Barcelona’s Argentina forward Li-onel Messi, who has won the Ballon d’or fi ve times, and Paris St Germain’s Brazil forward Neymar were runners up for the award voted for by national team coaches and captains plus the media and fans.

The Best FIFA Men’s Player award and the Ballon d’or, which is voted for

only by the media, are now separate awards.

Real Madrid’s French coach Zined-ine Zidane won the manager of the year trophy for his part in the club’s success.

Five Real players were named in the best XI of the year, with Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos joining ronaldo, while Messi, Neymar, Gianluigi Buff on (Juventus), Dani Alves (PSG), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan) and Andres Iniesta (Barce-lona) were also selected.

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud won the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year, which was the Frenchman’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace, and Buff on was declared best goal-keeper.

The Netherlands’ Lieke Martens won best female player of the year, while the Dutch women’s national team coach Sarina Weigman was voted best man-ager after the team’s triumph at Euro 2017.

Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo (left) poses with Real Madrid’s French coach Zinedine Zidane after winning the player and coach of the year award respectively at The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony in London yesterday.

By Joseph VargheseStaff reporter

The challenges in covering the Gulf crisis, the role of social media during the crisis, the issue of fake

news as well as the trust in local media were some of the topics discussed yes-terday at the Qatar Media Industries Forum on ‘International Media and the Blockade’ organised by Northwestern University in Qatar ( NU-Q).

Everette E Dennis, dean and CEO of NU-Q, welcomed the gathering that included a number of distinguished guests, including HE Sheikh Thani bin Hamad al-Thani. Mohamed al-Jaidah, a prominent Qatari entrepreneur; Storer H Rowley, director of media relations, global marketing and communication, NU-Q; many other prominent Qataris, faculty and staff from NU-Q as well as

a large number of general public were present at the event.

The panellists at the session were Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka, editor-in-chief of Gulf Times; Borzou Daragahi, Middle East correspond-ent for BuzzFeed News; and Vivienne Walt, foreign correspondent for Time Magazine. The session was moderated by Banu Akdenizli, associate professor at NU-Q.

Towards the end of the panel discus-sion, Rob Wood director of strategic partnerships at NU-Q, presented the fi ndings of a survey in the US, UK and UAE regarding the terms used about the crisis until the end of September. A repeat session of the panel was held at NU-Q where a large number of students participated and interacted with the panellists. “Media should build bridges and put people together instead of re-porting bad news. To Page 24

NU-Q forum debates Gulf crisis, fake news

Qatar FM holds talkswith Turkish leadersQNAAnkara

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Qatar’s For-eign Minister HE Sheikh Mo-

hamed in Abdulrahman al-Thani in Ankara yesterday.

At the outset of the meeting, the for-eign minister conveyed the greetings of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the Turkish president as well as his wishes of more progress and prosperity to the Turkish people.

The Turkish president urged the for-eign minister to convey his greetings to the Emir, wishing him good health and happiness and Qatari people further progress and prosperity.

During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and means to pro-mote them in addition to a range of is-sues of common concern.

The third session of the Supreme Strategic Committee at the ministerial level between Qatar and Turkey was also held in Ankara yesterday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Qa-tar’s foreign minister and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

During the meeting, the Qatari min-ister discussed with his Turkish coun-terpart the relations between the two brotherly countries in various fi elds, and reviewed the outcome of the meet-ing of senior offi cials of the Supreme

Strategic Committee between the two countries, which was held in Doha on September 28, 2017. The two sides also exchanged views on the latest regional and international developments.

At the outset of the meeting, Sheikh Mohamed extended thanks and grati-tude to Turkey for its supportive stance on the Kuwaiti mediation and rejection of the siege on Qatar, stressing Qatar’s belief in the necessity of dialogue to re-solve the Gulf crisis.

The foreign minister commended the success of the Turkish Government in hosting the second session of the Supreme Strategic Committee, which resulted in the signing of 14 bilateral agreements and memorandums of un-derstanding.

The Turkish foreign minister said his country is exerting intensive eff orts, and continues its diplomatic eff orts and meetings with the parties to the Gulf crisis in order to resolve the issue as soon as possible, praising Qatar’s positive attitude in this regard.

He noted that the relations between the two brotherly countries are devel-oping in various fi elds, stressing the importance of maintaining high level of relations through deepening the exist-ing co-operation.

Sheikh Mohamed also met with Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat al-Bayrak.

The meeting reviewed the means of co-operation in various fi elds, espe-cially in energy and industry. Page 2

Turkey eyesstronger tradeties with QatarTrade and economic relations between Qatar and Turkey are expected to flourish further with the opening of a new land route for Turkish exports and the establishment of Turkish manufacturing facilities in Qatar.Turkish ambassador Fikret Ozer told reporters yesterday that a tripartite agreement is in the works to export Turkish goods to Qatar via a new land route in Iran.Since Turkish exports reach Qatar by way of cargo ships, Ozer said a land route through Iran would help increase Qatar-Turkey trade volume, which, in 2016, stood at about $750mn. Page 2

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday issued a law on pub-

lic hygiene that prohibits littering in public spaces and lays down stringent penalties for off enders.

Fines of up to QR25,000 and maxi-mum jail terms of six months await those who violate Law No 18 of 2017 on public hygiene.

The new legislation, which replaces Law No 8 of 1974 on public hygiene, bans littering and dumping of waste in any sort of public space such as streets, passageways, parks, gardens, beaches or empty plots of land, etc.

Also, throwing rubbish in the com-mon areas of private buildings is pro-hibited and owners and residents of such buildings should keep the facades, corridors, roofs, parking areas and ad-jacent pavements clean and clear of any garbage.

A maximum jail term of six months and a fi ne of up to QR25,000, or either, will be imposed on those who dispose of solid or liquid refuse or garbage in undesignated areas. Also, dump-ing garbage in public and common areas entails a penalty of a maximum six months in jail and a fi ne of up to QR10,000, or either. Besides, the viola-tor has to take necessary action within the designated period set by the local municipality. Otherwise, the munici-pality would remove it and charge the off ender for the same.

Spitting in all public areas and on beaches is also banned under this law, which also prohibits urinating and defecating in public spaces not desig-nated for such purposes. The penalty for such violations is a maximum fi ne of QR10,000.

It is not permitted to occupy public streets, roads, parking lots, passage-ways, pavements and yards with aban-doned vehicles and equipment, as well as fi xed or temporary construction, without a licence from the municipal-ity concerned. This entails a maximum fi ne of QR25,000.

The municipality concerned may impound such equipment/vehicles, the law states. If the owner does not come forward within six months from the date of seizure to reclaim them and pay the fi nes, the municipality would have the right - after notifying the violator - to put them up for a public auction to collect the due sum in addition to the accumulated administrative costs. The remaining part of the sale proceeds will be given to the owner.

Further, the law states that it is not allowed to let animals or birds move around unsupervised in public areas and on roads. Also, animals and birds for trade cannot be kept in residen-tial buildings that do not have the ap-propriate licence. A person keeping animals and birds for non-commercial purposes should take care of their hy-giene and avoid any odours, remove

their excreta and dispose of it in desig-nated areas. The penalty for any viola-tions in such cases is a maximum fi ne of QR10,000.

Similarly, the owners of shops selling birds and animals should abide by the regulations of the Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment and dispose of their excreta in the appropriate place and manner.

The occupants of houses, buildings, offi ces, commercial and industrial out-lets should keep their garbage in special containers until disposal within the designated areas in accordance with the regulations. The penalty is a fi ne of up to QR10,000.

The law also stipulates that the mu-nicipality concerned undertakes all public cleaning works within its juris-diction. It can also recycle or treat the collected garbage to benefi t from it.

According to the new law, the ve-hicles used for transporting garbage should be properly covered to prevent any spillage. The penalty is a fi ne of up to QR10,000.

The owners of buildings with no pub-lic sewage network, have to create an appropriate means of sewage in accord-ance with the standards set by the mu-nicipality concerned. In case of a vio-lation, the municipality will undertake such works and charge the owner the cost and an additional 25% of it. Failing to abide by this provision entails a maxi-mum fi ne of QR25,000. To Page 2

Fines of up to QR25,000 for public hygiene violations

QATAR

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 20172

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani issued the following decrees yesterday: 1. Decree No 71 of 2017, ratifying a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of Qatar and the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of Serbia on establishing political consultations on issues of common interest, which was signed in Belgrade on January 30, 2017.2. Decree No 72 of 2017, ratifying an agreement on the cancellation of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, private and off icial passports between the governments of Qatar and Colombia, which was signed in Bogota on July 27, 2016.3. Decree No 73 of 2017, ratifying a memorandum of understanding on co-operating in the field of transportation between the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Qatar and Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, which was signed in Baku on March 8, 2016.4. Decree No 74 of 2017, ratifying a co-operation agreement in the law field between the Ministry of Justice of Qatar and Ministry of Justice of Tajikistan, which was signed in Doha on February 6, 2017.5. Decree No 75 of 2017, ratifying a co-operation agreement in the field of medical sciences and healthcare between the governments of Qatar and Poland, which was signed in Warsaw on May 5, 2017. 6. Decree No 76 of 2017, ratifying on a memorandum of understanding on co-operating in the field of biodiversity conservation and wildlife conservation between the Ministry of Municipality and Environment of Qatar and State Committee of Turkmenistan for Environmental Protection and Land Resources, which was signed in Doha on March 15, 2017. The decrees will have have the force of law in line with Article 68 of the constitution.

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has issued the followinginstruments of ratification:1. Approving the ratification of the Statute of the Islamic Organisation for Food Security.2. Endorsing a draft MoU on co-operation in the field of environment and its preservation between the governments of Qatar and Oman signed in Muscat on 2/6/2016.3. Approving the ratification of a memorandum of understanding on co-operation in the field of agriculture between the governments of Qatar and Uganda signed in Doha on 19/4/2017.

Emir issuesdecrees

Instruments ofratification

Law on real

estate leasing amended

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani yester-

day issued Law No. 19 of 2017 amending some provisions of Law No. 4 of 2008 on real estate leasing.

Under the provisions of this law, leases shall be concluded in writing. The contract shall include the name of the lessor, the tenant, their nationalities, addresses, legal representative, duration of the lease, amount of the rent and payment means and the purpose of the lease in addi-tion to all agreed terms.

The lessor must register the lease contract with the registra-tion offi ce of the property leases within 60 days from the date of its conclusion. The offi ce will receive a fee for each property rental registration transaction equivalent to 0.5% of the annual rental value of each unit, with a minimum of QR250 and maxi-mum of QR2,500.

For contracts in force at the date of issuance of this law, the law sets a period of three months for the lessors to adjust their situation. The Minister of Mu-nicipality and Environment may extend them for a similar period.

The law sets a fi ne of not more than QR10,000 on anyone who violates its provisions.

QNADoha

New land route via Iran to boost trade betweenQatar, Turkey

Turkey hopes to boost its exports to Qatar, through a new land route in Iran,

Turkey’s ambassador to Qatar Fikret Ozer said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters during an inauguration ceremony at the Turkish Hospital, Ozer said trade volume between Qatar and Turkey is expected to increase further once the new route is opened.

“We are trying to facilitate the transportation of goods between Turkey and Qatar. Normally, we are bringing our products by sea because there is no land route between Qatar and Turkey.

“But now there is co-oper-ation between Qatar, Iran, and Turkey so there will be a new route between these countries. In due time, we will announce the agreement, which will be signed by the relevant minis-ters,” Ozer pointed out.

Speaking on Qatar-Turkey relations, Ozer emphasised that political relations between Qatar

and Turkey “are on very excel-lent levels.”

“Similarly, the relation-ship between Turkey’s Presi-dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani are also excellent,” he further stressed.

He said trade volume between Qatar and Turkey in 2016 stood at “approximately $750mn.” The volume is expected to in-crease after Turkey started ex-porting more of its products since the economic embargo imposed against Qatar in June, he added.

“Our large-scale exports to Qatar amounted to $500mn and the remaining balance ($250mn) was what we imported from Qa-

tar, particularly petrochemical products.

“Trade volume between our countries increased dramatically in 2017 due to the unjust siege imposed on Qatar. Since then, Turkey exported a wide range of products to Qatar, includ-ing food stuff and construction materials,” the ambassador ex-plained.

In August this year, state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) re-ported that Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci has announced a tripartite agree-ment between Ankara, Doha, and Tehran on the transfer of goods from Turkey via Iran.

“The verbal agreement will become an offi cial agreement within days,” the minister was quoted as saying.

QNA also reported that Zey-bekci, in a statement to Turk-ish Anadolu Agency, said he had recently met with Qa-tar’s Minister of Economy and Commerce HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani, and reached a verbal agreement on the transport of goods by road from Turkey to Iranian ports, and then trans-porting the trucks through Ro-Ro (Roll-on/roll-off) ships to Qatar. He pointed out that a verbal agreement has also been reached with Iran, and that the agreement was expected to be transformed into a written text in the coming days.”

By Peter AlagosBusiness Reporter

New land route through Iran will facilitate the transportation of goods between Turkey and Qatar

Trade volume between Qatar and Turkey is expected to increase further once the new route is opened

Turkish ambassador Fikret Ozer.

Turkish fi rms to build facilities in Qatar: envoyBy Peter AlagosBusiness Reporter

Plans are in the pipeline for the establishment of Turk-ish manufacturing facilities

in Qatar to help in the production of more locally-made products, Turkey’s ambassador to Qatar Fikret Ozer said yesterday.

The ambassador pointed out that “as Turkey’s contribution to Qatar,” the Turkish compa-nies will be involved in direct production to help Qatari com-panies make their own products.

Ozer said a delegation com-posed of major furniture manu-facturing companies from Tur-key’s Kayseri province visited Qatar earlier this month to seek investment opportunities and potential partnerships with Qa-tari companies.

Yakup Deveci, the chairman of Kayseri Furniture Industrialists’ Association (Kaymos), told Gulf Times during the visit that “as a

business and government poli-cy,” Qatar is “a priority country” for Turkey.

“We want to establish our presence in the Qatari market not only for our own businesses but as a show of support for Qa-tar’s business community,” De-veci said.

Aside from the furniture in-dustry, the ambassador also said Turkey “wants to make contri-butions to Qatar in the fi eld of medicine.”

“Some Turkish companies in this sector will be visiting Qatar from December 10 to 14 and we are looking forward to forge part-nerships in the fi eld of medicine through meetings and dialogue with relevant authorities and or-ganisations,” said Ozer, who also expects the visit to contribute to the increase of trade volume be-tween the two countries.

Ozer noted that Qatar’s Min-ister of Health HE Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari is expected to visit Turkey “soon” to meet

with her Turkish counterpart “to discuss areas of co-operation in the fi elds of medicine.”

“Turkey is a very attractive country in the fi eld of medicine and medical tourism, and we are targeting regional countries seeking surgery and treatment, which is why we are looking for new co-operation areas, similar to the Turkish Hospital in Doha,” the ambassador told Gulf Times.

He also said Turkey is also ex-pecting its tourism industry to fl ourish from the infl ux of medi-cal tourists. “Because aside from getting medical treatment, the patients will also get to travel and see the scenic spots around the country,” he said.

He added: We are construct-ing a new airport in Istanbul, which is poised as one of the big-gest in the region, and this will trigger the further development and strengthening of relations between our countries through Qatar Airways and Turkish Air-lines.”

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Qatar Air Marshal Ghanim bin Shaheen al-Ghanim and Qatar’s ambassador to the US Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad al-Thani at the new headquarters of the Qatari military attache’s off ice in Washington DC yesterday.

New HQ of Defence Attache’s office in US

Local farm produce to go on sale from Oct 26

Locally produced agricul-tural products will go on sale at the Al Mezrouah,

Al Khor/Al Dhakira and Al Wakrah yards from Thursday October 26.

Some 80 Qatari farms from the three areas will be partici-pating in the sixth season of the Qatari Agricultural Product yards (2017/2018) .

The Ministry of Municipal-ity and Environment aims to improve local marketing of Qa-tari agricultural products and provide fresh national prod-ucts at prices lower than those in the market.

The yards operate on Thurs-days, Fridays, and Saturdays from 7am to 5pm. The live-stock market and animal feed stores will continue to operate throughout the week during the same hours.

A wide variety of locally produced vegetables, includ-ing high quality agricultural crops and organic vegetables, will be on sale. They are quite popular due to their high qual-ity and low prices.

Other local agricultural products such as honey, fat, milk, eggs and fi sh will also be on sale this season at the yards at much lower prices than their counterparts in the market.

Some of the participating

farms also off er a wide variety of fresh fruits at reasonable prices.

In the coming days, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment is preparing for the construction of three new yards for Qatari agricul-

tural products in Al Ruwais, Al Sheehaniya, and Al Sailiya. The new yards will witness the par-ticipation of 50 Qatari farms, bringing the total number of farms participating in all the yards to 130.

Some 80 Qatari farms from the three areas will be participating in the vegetable yard.

QFFD brings

aid to S America

disaster victims

Qatar Fund for Develop-ment (QFFD) has pro-vided support to victims

of natural disasters and cyclones that hit South America and the Caribbean.

The Fund said in a statement yesterday that it is committed to providing support and relief to victims of these disasters. The re-lief eff orts focus on urgent meas-ures to mitigate the eff ects of nat-ural disasters that hit those areas.

The statement pointed out that the urgent measures pro-vided by the QFFD focuses on the implementation of projects

and programmes targeting the most aff ected groups, stressing that this support will contribute to helping families aff ected by hurricanes and disasters, and to the reconstruction of the dam-age caused by hurricanes.

QNADoha

HE the Minister of Foreign Aff airs Sheikh Mohamed in Abdulrahman al-Thani and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu chairing the third session of the Qatar-Turkey Supreme Strategic Committee in Ankara yesterday.

FM chairs Qatar-Turkey strategic committee meeting

Litterbugs face stiff penaltiesFrom Page 1

Also, the owners of such buildings have to clear the sewage tanks as soon as they are full. In case of a violation, the municipality will carry out does the job and charge the owner the cost and an additional 25% of it.

The owners of abandoned build-ings or empty plots of land should keep them clean and set up a fence around them if the municipality deems it necessary. In the event of a violation, the municipality will do the job and charge the owner the cost along with an additional 25%. The penalty for off enders is a maxi-mum fi ne of QR25,000.

HE the Minister of Municipal-ity and Environment shall issue the necessary decisions to implement the stipulations of this law. The law is to be implemented and published in the Offi cial Gazette. The Cabinet had given its nod to the draft law on public hygiene in May this year.

QATAR3Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Qatari-Sudanese ties – years of co-operation and excellenceSudanese President Omar

Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir started yesterday a visit to

Qatar in the framework of the distinguished relations between the two countries and the inter-est of the leadership in the two countries to further develop relations in all fi elds.

The visit comes days after the lifting of the US economic sanc-tions on Sudan, where Qatar was one of the fi rst countries to wel-come the decision of the United States to lift economic sanctions on Khartoum, whereas the Qa-tari Foreign Ministry expressed hope that this resolution will promote development, peace, and stability in Sudan.

The Qatari-Sudanese rela-tions have undergone several stages over the past 45 years. Diplomatic representation in both countries has played a pivotal role in advancing broth-erly relations between the two countries and contributed to the broad understanding of the leaders of both countries and their sponsorship and guidance for the development of political relations.

During the past years, thanks to the interest of the leader-ship of the two countries, the Qatari-Sudanese relations have witnessed great steps to support and enhance bilateral co-oper-ation in the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian fi elds and witnessed many mutual visits between the offi cials of the two countries on an ongoing ba-sis to discuss enhancing mutual co-operation in various fi elds.

In this context, assistant to the Sudan president, Major

General Abdulrahman al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, stressed, during his visit to Doha last March, the strong relations between his country and Qatar and the tre-mendous co-operation between them in all fi elds.

He described the bilateral relations as distinguished, praising Qatar’s great role in achieving peace in Darfur and in enhancing security and stabil-ity in the region, stressing that Qatar is one of the countries that honour Arabs in all fi elds in which they participate.

The Sudanese government praised through Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs Obaidullah Mohammed Obaid-ullah, the great role played by the Qatari leadership to achieve sta-bility in Sudan through regional and international forums, which was characterised by the great support that enabled Sudan to face the external challenges and overcome the diffi culties and obstacles it faced.

Obaidullah said that the gov-ernment and the people of Su-dan preserve in their memory the strong Qatari positions sup-porting their country, which was a fundamental reason and a ma-jor positive turning point to pre-serve and defend the Sudanese international rights.

Hence, the Qatari-Sudanese relations are profound, com-plementary and have been con-fi rmed by Qatar’s remarkable positions towards Sudan and its issues. These relations were re-fl ected by the co-ordination in international and regional fo-rums, mutual visits, as well as Qatar’s interest in issues related

Sudan President Field Marshal Omar al-Bashir arrived yesterday in Doha for an off icial visit to Qatar. The Sudanese president and the accompanying delegation were welcomed upon arrival at Hamad International Airport by HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, Qatar’s ambassador to Sudan Rashid Abdul-rahman al-Nuaimi and Sudan’s ambassador to Qatar Fatah al-Rahman Ali Mohammed Omar.

to Sudan’s stability, peace and development, in particular, the Qatari initiative on the Darfur is-sue, which was culminated in the signing of the Darfur Peace Agree-ment in Doha and the subsequent reconstruction and develop-ment projects through the Qatar Development Initiative in Darfur.

Economically, Qatari invest-ments in Sudan represent a large proportion of foreign investment in Sudan, through Qatari insti-tutions such as Qatar National Bank (QNB), Diar Real Estate Investment, Widam, Hassad Food Company, Barwa Real Es-tate Group and Qatar Mining, in addition to Silatech, Education Above All and Qatar Museums

projects as well as Qatar Charity, Qatar Red Crescent, the fi ve Dar-fur projects and the UN Develop-ment Fund for Darfur projects.

The current Qatari investment in Sudan amounts to more than $2bn and is expected to rise with the introduction of new sectors such as Qatar Mining Company (QM) which will invest more than $1bn in its fi eld.

Hassad Food’s agriculture project is the most prominent, where the company will contrib-ute to the cultivation of 260,000 acres in the River Nile state. The company is also implementing an electricity project in the area with a value of more than $200mn where many phases have been

completed. Whereas Widam Food which focuses on the fi eld of live red meat and butchery and ex-ports it to Qatar and other Gulf states and now seeks to extend its investments to include poultry and other types of meat.

In addition, Qatar National Bank (QNB), which is consid-ered one of the most distin-guished and profi table banks, with 14 branches in Sudanese cities, whereas QM is investing in seven mining blocks, considered to be among the most promising blocks in the fi eld of exporting gold and other minerals.

On the other hand, Qatari Diar is implementing the biggest con-struction project in Khartoum,

the major project costs billions of dollars and will contribute to changing the image of Khar-toum. The project integrates 5-star hotels, educational and medical institutions and a large mosque.

Within the framework of the Qatar-Sudan Archaeologi-cal Project in the River Nile and Northern states, Qatar provided more than $50mn to the archae-ological missions working there since its launch in 2012. The re-sults revealed the success of Qa-tar’s eff orts represented in Qatar Museums with regards to pro-viding support and the conser-vation of Sudanese archaeologi-cal sites, by running researches, excavation and restoration works using the latest technological media. Qatar Museums also fa-cilitated the transport of Suda-nese to the archaeological sites and developing the skills of Su-danese academic institutions

and refi ning their expertise.In the humanitarian fi eld, Qa-

tar Fund for Development (QFFD) signed, last August, a number of Qatari developmental projects worth $70mn in Khartoum, as part of Qatar’s initiative for the development of Darfur. The ini-tiative will implement compre-hensive projects in villages and complexes of voluntary return in the fi ve Darfur states, with two projects per state. The projects consist of a model complex with multi services and programmes to support bread winning for vol-untary returnees and the host-ing communities to enable them economically. The project will also build peace, social harmony, support projects and utilities of public interest, provide a suitable provision for voluntary returnees. This project is considered one of the most prominent projects fi nanced by QFFD.

There are 300,000 people who will benefi t from this sup-port which will run for fi ve years. Each service complex includes two primary and secondary schools for boys and girls, medi-cal centre, mosque, 15 residences for the complex employees, wa-ter station, corridors and green areas. All complex units will be supplied with solar energy and QFFD will manage the centre for three years before gradu-ally handing it over to the local community committees after training and rehabilitating them in co-operation with the offi cial authorities such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Health and the state wa-ter and environmental sanitation authority. (QNA)

‘Talks to focus on bilateral relations’Sudanese Foreign Minister

Ibrahim Ghandour hailed the

brotherly relations between Qa-

tar and Sudan in various fields.

He said that the off icial visit of

President Omar Hassan Ahmed

al-Bashir to Doha, falls within

this framework.

In remarks to Qatar News

Agency (QNA), Ghandour said

that the talks between His High-

ness the Emir Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad al-Thani and the

Sudanese president will focus

on the bilateral relations and

ways to strengthen them.

Ashghal launches campaign for precautions before rainy season

The Public Works Author-ity (Ashghal) has launched an awareness campaign on the

precautions to be followed in the rainy season. The objective is to educate cit-izens and residents through a bilingual short video and posters.

The video includes precautionary guidelines that can be implemented to protect diff erent buildings, prop-erties and homes prior to rain and other important procedures to be followed during rainfall to avoid damage caused by accumulated water in some places.

The awareness campaign is divided into two parts, namely precaution-ary procedures before and during the rains. The prior actions include protection of buildings in general, in which the main points include the as-sessment of glass ceilings’ condition, examining the roof insulation layer, and maintenance of the damaged ones, in addition to checking windows’ rub-ber joints and changing them in case of corrosion.

Precautionary steps also include the inspection of all air-conditioning and electricity outlets and maintenance of

damaged ones to ensure that rainwa-ter does not enter the building through them.

Ashghal has also recommended that rainwater drainage systems be period-ically inspected and the lifting pumps to be ready in the basements before the rainy season. This is in addition to ensuring there are barriers preventing rainwater from entering through the doors, especially if the building is at the same level as the street.

This is in addition to the installation and repair of waterproofi ng and insu-lation layers to ensure that rainwater does not leak into the ground fl oors and the basement.

The video and posters also address some warnings, such as opening man-holes during rains, which could en-danger the lives of others and cause sewerage to clog.

The awareness materials also draw attention to the need for motorists to adhere to traffi c guidelines and reduce speed during the rain, and be care-ful while driving through tunnels and bridges, in addition to avoiding the use of roads or tunnels not meant for vehicular traffi c.

A poster as part of the precautionary campaign.

QNL joins Digital Library Federation

Qatar National Li-brary (QNL) has become an offi cial

sustaining member of the Digital Library Federation (DLF), a global organisa-tion comprising 185 in-stitutions committed to building and improving digital librarianship. The invitation-only member-ship comes in recognition of QNL’s ongoing com-mitment to digital preser-vation of Arab heritage and culture.

Membership of DLF will enable QNL to work with the world’s top libraries to share best practices, im-plement innovative library strategies, and strengthen the library culture locally.

Dr Sohair Wastawy, ex-ecutive director of QNL, said, “As steward of Qa-tar’s national heritage, QNL promotes research and in-sight into the region’s cul-

ture and history. By joining the DLF we are supporting researchers to better un-derstand the Arabian Gulf, as well as working with in-stitutions around the world to strengthen digital

libraries.”Bethany Nowviskie, di-

rector of the DLF, said, “We are delighted to welcome Qatar National Library as our newest member. The DLF community will ben-efi t immensely from in-tellectual and technical exchange with experts at QNL, and joint projects like the Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME) will provide an opportunity for meaningful collaboration in service to our common goals.”

The invitation to join the DLF is an acknowl-edgement of QNL’s com-mitment to digitising its extensive collections and

making them available worldwide through Qatar Digital Library (QDL). The QDL enables research-ers, academics, and us-ers worldwide to access QNL’s collection of his-torical archives, photo-graphs, sound recordings, and manuscripts relating to the people, politics, and customs of the Arabian Gulf. Anyone with a spe-cifi c interest in the region can uncover insights into its customs, ancient trade history, and Islamic schol-arship through the free worldwide portal.

In addition to curating the QDL, QNL, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, is a founding partner of the DLME, a collaborative ef-fort that aspires to create a sustainable digital envi-ronment for the cultural

heritage of the Middle East and North Africa region. With both initiatives, and now through DLF member-ship, QNL promotes digital stewardship through re-search data management and preservation services. This will encourage co-operation between digital library practitioners and other sectors.

As part of the Council on Library and Information Resources, DLF supports research, learning, and social justice through the design and application of digital library technologies.

As a DLF member, QNL will work with other mem-bers of the federation on the development of com-munity-driven frameworks for policy advocacy, profes-sional standards, ethics, is-sues of representation and diversity, labour, inclusion, and other matters.

QATAR

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 20174

Fire Station: Artist in Residence starts fi lm partnership with Al Jazeera DocumentaryInnovative collaboration provides a platform to showcase film-making talent to the local community

Qatar Museum’s (QM) Fire Sta-tion and Al Jazeera Documen-tary have forged “an innovative

and fi lm-based” partnership that will provide a series of short documentaries over the next eight months.

A total of 15 fi lms — running between 30 minutes and one hour in length and related to art and culture — will be screened from October to May 2018 at the 100-seat cinema at the Fire Station.

Entry is free.The partnership aims to raise aware-

ness and appreciation for art and cul-ture amongst the local community, as well as provide platforms to showcase and celebrate both established and less well-known creative talents.

“As a centre for creative exchange, this partnership with Al Jazeera Docu-mentary perfectly fi ts with our mission to inspire an indigenous culture of crea-tivity and innovation in Qatar,” Fire Sta-tion director Khalifa al-Obaidly said in a statement.

“We hope this eclectic mix of fi lms will attract and interest the widest pos-sible audience and build new apprecia-tion for both established and less well-known artistic fi gures.

“We are fully committed to provid-ing a dynamic and varied programme of events and activities such as these to inspire, educate and inform the local community.”

Some of the highlights of these docu-

mentary series include Colour Maker, an exploration of artist Hassan al-Sharq’s journey from early childhood and humble beginnings in the small village of Zawyet Sultan in Al Minya, Egypt.

The film traces his success in es-tablishing himself as a globally cel-ebrated artist and celebrates his talent for showcasing landmarks from Egypt and the Arab world in striking paint-ings now exhibited in several of the

largest museums around the world.Another fi lm is the Fourth Age, a

documentary that provides an insight into the experiences of a group of eld-erly people who discovered their artis-tic talents later in life, following retire-ment.

It captures the experiences of a group of individuals from Lebanon and Mo-rocco who defy common perceptions and prejudices towards old age through the strength of their determination to succeed in their chosen fi eld.

Meanwhile, We Are Still Together follows the lives of Palestinian artists, the late Ismail Shammout and his wife Tamam al-Ahkal, who both created art depicting more than 50 years of the Palestinian experience since the Nakba (mass eviction) of 1948.

The fi lm features an in-depth exami-nation of the artists’ work, the direction of their paintings, and how each infl u-enced the other.

The collaboration between the Fire Station and Al Jazeera Documentary is the latest example of the rich and di-verse programmes of events and activi-ties organised by the Fire Station.

Such partnership highlights the Fire Station’s growing importance as a cul-tural destination with a range of facili-ties and attractions for the local com-munity including an art supply shop, restaurant, café, and gallery space.

A still from a film.

Qatar signs broadcast rights treaty

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) has announced Qatar’s ac-

cession to the Rome Convention on the Protection of Perform-ers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations (1961), with eff ect from Septem-ber 23.

The convention includes the protection of the intellectual property rights of broadcast-ers from any infringement. This includes the right to wireless transmission and live broadcast of television performances to the public; the right to re-broadcast via another broadcasting or-ganisation, as well as the right to broadcast audio, sound or images to the public; the right of fi xation and reproduction of performanc-es and the authorisation of others to these rights, and the protection of broadcasting organisations authorised by the State to operate and maintain a main headquar-ters on its territory.

“The accession of Qatar to the Rome Convention marks another milestone in the coun-try’s successful journey in the fi eld of intellectual property rights protection, in which Qatar ranks fi rst in the Arab world for the eighth consecutive year and 20th worldwide,” the MEC said in a statement.

Further, the statement that the accession of Qatar to this and other international conventions and treaties related to the pro-tection of intellectual property rights also aims at protecting the rights of legitimate copyright owners due to the important commercial and economic re-percussions of intellectual prop-erty rights in terms of promoting economic growth and develop-ment to accomplish Qatar Na-tional Vision 2030.

Qatar has previously acceded to a number of international con-ventions for the protection of copyright and related rights, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artis-tic Works, the fi rst international convention to protect the rights of authors, performers and produc-ers of phonograms, as well as the WIPO Copyright Treaty And the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Performances and Phonograms.

The Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961) is characterised by provi-sions to protect broadcasting or-ganisations.

Honda model recalled over safety fears

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in collaboration with Doha

Marketing Services Company (Domasco), has announced the recall of Honda CRF 450 RGED models of 2015-2016 because the transmission gear might break.

The MEC said the recall cam-paign comes within the frame-work of its ongoing eff orts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on ve-hicles’ defects and repair them.

The MEC said that it will co-ordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will communicate with customers to ensure that the nec-essary repairs are carried out.

The MEC has urged all cus-tomers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud De-partment through the following channels: Call centre: 16001, e-mail: info@mec.gov.qa, Twit-ter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar

Rush for winter camping sites

The first day of winter camping registration on Sunday saw a considerable turnout of Qataris, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment announced yesterday.A total of 1,250 camp locations, out of the available 2,418, were booked until 9pm on Sunday. Besides, 450 individuals paid the security deposit as well. Nine camp locations were completely booked. Around 22,000 users logged onto the e-registration website.

‘Technology to enhance experience of 2022 fans’

Qatar is set to utilise the most cutting-edge technology to provide the best experience for

football fans at the FIFA 2022 World Cup, digital technology expert Nauman Gul told Qatar Urdu Radio’s live show Haqeeqat yesterday.

“Qatar is working to provide the best virtual experience for people even in-side the stadiums. There are many ways in which broadcast cameras can be used and there is a lot of work going on en-hancing the virtual experience for foot-ball fans,” he explained.

“Qatar will ensure that spectators benefi t from technical advantages that football fans have never witnessed in-side stadiums before,” he added.

Haqeeqat, which aims to engage and interact with the large South Asian ex-patriate community in Qatar, is a joint venture of the Gulf Times and Qatar Media Corp Urdu Radio.

It is broadcast from Sunday to Thurs-day on FM107.

The show is hosted by Saif-ur-Reh-man.

Log on to Qatar Urdu Radio on Face-book and ‘@QatarUrduRadio’ on Twit-ter for feedback and comments about the show.

Nauman Gul was a guest on Qatar Urdu Radio’s live show Haqeeqat yesterday.

QatarDebate conducts workshop for Diplomatic Institute staff ers

QatarDebate Center (QD), a mem-ber of Qatar Foundation (QF), has held a training workshop for

Diplomatic Institute employees.The workshop included both theo-

retical and practical lectures on debate skills in order to develop a comprehen-sive view among the participants on various issues that raised on platforms both within and outside the country.

The workshop had some 30 partici-pants, according to a press statement.

Khalid al-Khulaifi , international aff airs researcher and former Arabic and English debater, praised the im-portance of debate for a diplomat who needs to build a clear argument to con-vince others.

He also stressed the need to build an argument properly and rationally, noting that debate is a key aspect of one’s daily lifestyle and helps form the basis of deal-ing with various groups in society.

Sheikh Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani, international aff airs researcher, said the outcome of the training workshop is crucial, especially for diplomats, who offi cially represent a country abroad at an embassy or an organisation.

The debate is a step towards a better and more successful future.

Constructive debates on tricky is-sues and dealing with them in a sci-entifi c way, based on clear criteria, provide satisfactory solutions, it was observed.

The training workshop was present-ed by QatarDebate instructor Nazar Mukhtar over four consecutive days.

Further, the statement notes that the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs is striving to provide training based on high aca-demic standards for employees across all fi elds in order to raise effi ciency in the management and follow-up of for-eign aff airs.

The training workshop in progress.

Healthcare quality improvement conference scheduled for March

Hamad Medical Corp (HMC) and the Institute for Health-care Improvement (IHI)

have announced the 6th Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare from March 23-25, 2018, with nearly 3,000 participants.

“This forum is now a platform in Qatar and the region for knowledge exchange on a wide variety of top-ics for all healthcare professionals,” said Dr Ron Wyatt, chief quality of-fi cer of HMC and Middle East Fo-rum chair.

“From the science of improve-ment topics for those with advanced quality improvement knowledge to introductory sessions for indi-viduals who are starting on their improvement journey, we have something for anyone interested in

making a real diff erence to patient care,” he explained.

Delegates will be able to exchange real-world learnings, highlight suc-cesses and challenge themselves to learn about important topics de-signed to provide practical and ev-idence-based learning that will help develop their healthcare knowledge as well as patient care.

Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, deputy chief medical offi cer at HMC and Middle East Forum co-chair noted, “It is an amazing opportunity for such a large group of healthcare professionals to convene over three days, share knowledge and then take back to their organisations evi-dence-based solutions that can help tackle some of the biggest challeng-es facing healthcare systems today.”

This year’s conference theme is “Building a Culture of Safety” and centres on facilitating a multi-dis-ciplinary approach to delivering and improving healthcare.

The 2018 programme will see the alignment of sessions according to key topics such as Patient experi-ence; Joy at work; Improvement science; Patient safety and Leader-ship.

The programme will feature lead-ing international healthcare experts with a proven track record in quality improvement.

Additional guest speakers, in-teractive workshops, lectures, and plenary sessions will enhance the activities designed to promote pro-fessional networking and knowl-edge sharing.Dr Ron Wyatt Dr Abdullatif al-Khal

QATAR5Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Lecture on combating corruptionThe inaugural session of the International Anti-Corruption

Masterclass Series (IACMA) will be held in Doha this evening under the patronage of the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption

Center (ROLACC) and in co-operation with the University of Sussex.The main lecture, titled ‘The United Nations Convention

Against Corruption Implementation Review Mechanism’, will be delivered by Dimitri Vlassis, chief, Corruption and Economic Crime Branch, United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime (Vi-enna), and secretary of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The introduction will be given by Dr Dimitris Ziouvas, convener of IACMA, reader in Criminal Law and Compliance, University of Sussex.

Dr Ziouvas will also discuss the mission of IACMA in empower-ing responsible leaders, the statement notes. The lecture will give participants an opportunity to meet international law experts and fi nd out more about the LLM programme in Corruption, Law and Governance. The LLM’s professors and current students will be available for questions with regard to modules, scholarships, en-try requirements and career prospects.

The session will be held at Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Con-vention Hotel, Al Rayyan hall, from 5.30pm today.

Safari ‘Cook & Win Recipe Contest’ participants with the judging panel, comprising World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS)-certified chefs from Qatar Culinary Profes-sionals, and Safari Bakery manager Jeff ry Tomson at Safari Mall, Abu Hamour.

Culinary contest!

Ooredoo and Aldar partnership witnesses surge in demandOne month since the

launch of a new partner-ship between Ooredoo

Mobile Money and Aldar Ex-change, the telecommunications provider has reported huge de-mand for the service in Qatar.

Since its launch, over QR1mn remittance transactions have been made to thousands of banks in 11 countries, Ooredoo said in a statement.

Using Ooredoo Mobile Money and Aldar, customers can send money directly from their mo-bile phones by using the Ooredoo Money wallet (mWallet) service to any bank account in selected international countries, includ-ing India, Bangladesh, Indone-sia, Jordan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

The transactions are secure and reliable and can be made via the ‘Ooredoo Money’ iOS and Android application, or USSD (*140#) service menu.

Ooredoo said some of the main reasons for the new serv-ice’s popularity are due to Aldar’s competitive fee and exchange rates, as well as the time-saving ability to send money directly from a mobile phone 24/7.

New customers can register for free by visiting any Ooredoo Shop or by dialling *140# and entering their QID number or through the free Ooredoo Money App.

After registration, custom-ers can create their own four digit secured mPIN code to access their mobile wallet se-curely.

Ooredoo urges customers to keep their mPIN code safe at all the times and never share it with anyone.

Once registered, custom-ers can begin to deposit money into their Mobile Wallet via over 200+ Ooredoo’s Self-Service Machines, through any Ooredoo Shop, or even transfer funds to their mWallet from bank ac-counts in Qatar.

For more information about transferring money through

Ooredoo Mobile Money, visit http://www.ooredoo.qa/aldar

Double points in Jumbo Electronics promo

Ooredoo has announced that its

loyalty programme, Nojoom, has

partnered with Jumbo Electronics

for a special promotion.

Any Nojoom member who is of

Indian nationality will be able to

take advantage of the promo-

tion, and eligible members will

earn double Nojoom Points when

purchasing anything at Jumbo

until November 10, Ooredoo has

said in a press statement.

During the promotion, Mem-

bers will earn two Nojoom Points

for every QR6 spent at Jumbo

Electronics.

Jumbo Electronics off ers “in-

novative, world-class electronics,

communication and digital solu-

tions”, with 16 branches available

in locations such as Al Nasser, City

Center, Salwa Road and Airport

Road, among others, the state-

ment adds.

Every Ooredoo customer with

a Qatar ID can enrol into Nojoom,

and redemptions can be made

following Nojoom’s redemption

channels by logging into their

account at www.ooredoo.qa/

nojoom or by downloading the

Ooredoo App.

Turkish Hospital gets QLM VIP lounge

Q Life & Medical Insurance Com-pany (QLM) inaugurated yes-terday Al Safa VIP lounge for its

premier customers at the Turkish Hos-pital along C-Ring road in Doha.

The lounge provides ‘fi rst-of-its-kind service’ and exclusive end-to-end experience to QLM’s VIP customers, Qatar’s health and life insurer an-nounced in a statement.

With the Al Safa lounge service, all formalities and requirements of QLM’s premier customers will be attended by a hostess.

As another value added service, VIP customers will not have to wait or face

any delays in the pre-approval process thus ensuring a seamless and hassle-free experience.

The Al Safa Lounge was inaugurated by Turkish ambassador Fikret Ozer, in the presence of Ahmad M Zebeib, senior manager — Life & Medical, and other senior offi cials.

Speaking during the inauguration, the ambassador said: “We have wit-nessed high levels of co-operation and growth between Qatar and Turkey and going forward, we expect the ties to grow deeper.

QLM’s latest service off ering testi-fi es this growing partnership.”

Zebeib said: “This is yet another pioneering feat for QLM.

As innovation is increasingly be-coming an urgent necessity and not an option, we at QLM have ensured to embed this credo in all our areas of business – right from our products to our services.”

Turkish hospital chairman and CEO Dr Volcan added: “The Al Safa Lounge demonstrates the deep ties we share with our medical provider, QLM, and also brings to the fore our common interest of promoting inno-vative ways of spreading healthcare and wellness.”

Turkish ambassador Fikret Ozer formally inaugurates the QLM Al Safa VIP lounge at the Turkish Hospital yesterday as Ahmad M Zebeib, senior manager — Life & Medical, and other senior off icials look on. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

Conference on district cooling, heating

A fi rst-of-its-kind conference in the Middle East and North African region on District Cooling and Heating will begin today under the auspices of HE the Minister of Energy and

Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada at Ritz-Carlton Doha.The two-day event is held in association with the Qatar Tour-

ism Authority (QTA). It is being organised by Marafeq Qatar, in as-sociation with the Qatar General Electricity & Water Corp (Kah-ramaa) and Euroheat & Power. Delegates from several European organisations, decision-makers and entrepreneurs are expected to participate in the conference.

The event will also feature the 5th Global District Energy Climate Awards Ceremony, honouring the fi ve best companies and projects all over the globe which have adopted innovative technologies in the conservation of energy used in cooling and heating systems. Ma-rafaq Qatar CEO Ahmed al-Ammari said the conference is a clear evidence for Qatar’s fi rm belief in the signifi cance of environmental conservation and the prevention of pollution of any type.

The conference will include sessions on various issues concern-ing district cooling and heating, namely the best practices and benchmarks in the fi eld, markets and customer awareness, unifi ca-tion of standards, quality control, resource usage effi ciency set in the Montreal protocol, and the common challenges facing opera-tion and maintenance processes. Along with the conference, there will be an exhibition for entrepreneurs and business delegates. Sev-eral local and global companies will participate in the exhibition.

New drug for chronic weight management

Qatar has some of the highest levels of metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes

mellitus in the region” Dr Abdulla al-Hamaq, executive director of Qa-tar Diabetes Association (QDA) has said.

“With the high prevalence of these diseases, it is very likely that our popu-lation will suff er from a variety of com-plications caused by them,” he said at an event hosted by Novo Nordisk to

introduce Saxenda (liraglutide 3mg), a new medication for chronic weight management.

“We support innovation in the med-ical sector that helps treat these issues in our society,” he added.

According to World Health Organi-sation, around 72.2% of adults in Qatar are currently overweight with 34% liv-ing with obesity.

Many of these people suff er from weight-related comorbidities such as

type 2 diabetes and high blood pres-sure, along with emotional distress and anxiety often associated with this disease.

“Signifi cant clinical benefi ts and improvements in comorbidities can be seen with a weight reduction of 5% to 10% of body weight,” said Dr Stephen Atkin, Professor Of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and consult-ant endocrinologist at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha.

REGION/ARAB WORLD

Gulf TimesTuesday, October 24, 20176

IS ‘executed’ 116 in Syria townAFP Beirut

The Islamic State group ex-ecuted dozens of civilians this month in the Syrian

desert, a monitor said yesterday, in a gruesome massacre as the militants see their “caliphate” collapse.

The extremist group last week lost its key Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, the latest in a string of setbacks for the militants who are facing multiple off ensives in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said IS fi ghters mas-sacred more than 100 people in the desert town of Al-Qaryatain this month before they lost it to regime forces.

“IS has over a period of 20

days executed at least 116 ci-vilians in reprisal killings, ac-cusing them of collaboration with regime forces,” Observa-tory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Regime forces retook Al-Qar-yatain, which lies in the central Homs province, on Saturday, three weeks after the militants had seized control of it.

State news agency SANA published yesterday footage from inside the town, showing a ransacked and partially burnt hospital, and roads with rubble strewn across them.

Homs governor Talal Bara-zai greeted residents, thanking them for their “steadfastness”, and pledging to stand by them, as dozens of people queued to receive aid being distributed by the Syrian Arab Red Cres-cent.

IS fi rst occupied the town

in 2015 and lost it to Russian-backed Syrian forces last year.

“After the regime retook it (on

Saturday), the town’s residents found the bodies on the streets. They had been shot dead or ex-

ecuted with knives,” Abdel Rah-man said.

“Most of the IS fi ghters who attacked the town a month ago were sleeper cells...They are from the town, know the town’s residents and who is for or against the regime,” he said.

The majority of those killed were executed in the last two days before IS lost the town again, he added.

The regime seized back Al-Qaryatain on Saturday after more than 200 militants with-drew overnight, pulling back into the vast desert region that stretches all the way to the Iraqi border.

Al-Qaryatain was a symbol of religious coexistence before Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, with some 900 Chris-tians among its population of 30,000.

But it was ravaged by IS dur-

ing the group’s eight-month-long occupation of the town in 2015-16, with its Christian sites including a fi fth-century church reduced to rubble.

At the peak of its power in 2014, IS’ self-styled “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq was approxi-mately the size of Britain.

But it has suff ered a string of major setbacks in recent months, including the loss in July of its most important Iraqi stronghold, the city of Mosul.

Last week, it also lost its fore-most Syrian bastion, the city of Raqqa, after a campaign of more than four months led by the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Demo-cratic Forces, a US-backed mi-litia.

The militant group is now mostly confi ned to the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor in the country’s east, along the border with Iraq.

IS holds around 40% of the province, which was once almost completely in its hands, and fac-es two separate off ensives, in-cluding by the SDF.

The US-backed militia is fi ghting the group mostly on the eastern side of the Euphra-tes River that slices diagonally across the province.

On Sunday, SDF fi ghters seized one of the country’s larg-est oilfi elds from the group.

Syria’s regime is conducting a separate, Russian-backed of-fensive in the province, largely on the western bank of the river.

In September, the off ensive ended an IS siege of nearly three years on government-held parts of the provincial capital Deir Ez-zor city.

The group now holds just 8% of the city, according to the Ob-servatory.

A Syrian father and his son who suff er from severe leg injuries following shelling in the rebel held areas around Damascus, are seen in their house in the Eastern Ghouta town of Hamouria, yesterday.

Iran’s regional status has never been stronger: RouhaniAFP Tehran

President Hassan Rouhani said yester-day Iran’s position in

the Middle East had never been stronger but that the regime was at risk unless infi ghting between politi-cal factions was curbed.

“The greatness of the nation of Iran in the region is more than at any other time,” Rouhani said in a speech in Tehran, carried by the state broadcaster.

“In Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, northern Africa, in the Gulf region — where can action be taken without Iran?”

Rouhani did not directly respond to comments on Sunday by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who called on Iran-backed mi-litias fi ghting militants in Iraq to “go home”.

But despite its powerful position in the region, Rou-hani said Iran’s regime was under threat from fi erce in-fi ghting between conserva-tives and moderates at home.

“We should not think that damaging one part of the system will strengthen the other part. No, the whole system will col-lapse,” he said.

There has been renewed criticism from hardlin-ers over the nuclear deal Rouhani’s administration signed with world powers.

On Sunday, state televi-sion read out in its entirety a letter by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khame-nei from 2015 in which he warned against trusting the United States and other signatories to the deal.

Although the accord was explicitly endorsed by the supreme leader, hardliners have consistently lambast-ed Rouhani for going too far in his eff orts to rebuild ties with the West.

Those criticisms have become more pointed in recent days as US President Donald Trump has thrown the nuclear deal’s future into doubt, calling for re-newed sanctions to rein in Iran’s build-up of infl u-ence, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

But Rouhani said his US counterpart was failing in his eff orts to undermine the deal.

“Every day (Trump) says this agreement is the worst deal in history. As he put it, it is shameful for America. But still he hasn’t been able to do anything with this agreement,” Rouhani said.

A picture taken yesterday shows men fishing in the Gulf waters off the coast of Kuwait City as a cargo ship cruises in the background.

Fishing activity

Nine killed after militant attack in YemenAFPAden

Four Yemeni soldiers and fi ve assailants were killed in an Al Qaeda attack on a military

base in the southern province of Abyan yesterday, a security source said.

A car rigged with explosives

carrying five Al Qaeda militants pulled up to a military base in the district of Mudiya in Abyan, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Four men wearing explosive belts ran out of the car towards the base, but were all shot dead before they could blow themselves up, the source said.

The vehicle then exploded out-

side the base, killing the driver and four soldiers from a UAE-backed contingent in the Yemeni army.

Nine soldiers were also wound-ed. Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch claimed responsibility for the at-tack.

In a statement published online, it said its fighters had detonated a car bomb in front of the base then stormed inside.

Bahrain has temporarily freed a fe-male activist who has accused her government of torture in deten-tion, rights groups said yesterday. Ebtisam al-Saegh was released late on Sunday pending her trial on “terrorism” charges, Amnesty International and the Bahrain Institute for Human Rights (BIRD) said. Two other activists, were also released until their trials on similar charges, BIRD said. London-based Amnesty International confirmed the charges against Saegh had not been dropped. Bahrain’s justice ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Saegh was detained in July after retweeting a series of posts critical of Bahrain’s king and its security agency and charged later the same month with “terrorism”. Her detention prompted warnings from rights groups she was at risk of torture.

Dubai’s ruler has pardoned a British man a day after he was sentenced to three months in jail for touching another man at a bar, a legal advo-cacy group said yesterday. Jamie Harron, an electrician working in Afghanistan, was convicted for pub-lic indecency after being accused of touching a German man’s behind in a bar. Harron, 27, denied the charges and said he brushed past the man by accident. “By special order of the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Jamie Har-ron has been freed,” said Detained in Dubai, a group that assists foreigners facing legal problems.

Bahrain temporarily frees female activist

Briton pardoned over touch

RIGHTS

LEGAL

ARAB WORLD7Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

New school off ers ‘salvation’ for Syrian girls in LebanonReuters Bar Elias, Lebanon

A new girls’ school for Syrian refugees in Leba-non’s poor Bekaa region

is aiming to give girls from conservative backgrounds the chance at a formal education.

Gaining access to education in general is diffi cult for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, but for girls from socially conserva-tive families who disapprove of mixed schools, it is even harder.

Zahra al-Ayed, 14, and her sister Batoul, 17, were from a village in Syria’s northern Idlib province where women were expected to marry young.

But the experience of fl eeing war and living in harsh poverty woke her parents to the life-changing importance of educa-tion, the girls’ mother Mirdiyeh al-Ayed said.

“My eldest daughter tells me

that she will not marry until af-ter she fi nishes her education. She even wants to travel abroad and learn,” she said.

Human Rights Watch organi-sation said in its latest report in April that more than half a mil-lion refugee children are out of school in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.In Lebanon, interna-tional donors paid for 200,000 public school spaces for Syrian children in 2015-2016, accord-ing to the HRW report, but only 149,000 children actually en-rolled.

Lebanese and international non-governmental organisa-tions have been striving to fi ll the gap, and to eliminate the legal, fi nancial and language barriers preventing refugee children from getting their edu-cation.

For the al-Ayed family, used to Syria’s system of gender segregation after the age of 12, one big barrier to enrolling the girls was the lack of single-sex

schools in Lebanon that ac-cept refugees. The new school that Zahra will attend is in Bar Elias in the Bekaa valley and was opened on Thursday by the Kayany Foundation, a Lebanese charity.

It educates 160 Syrian girls aged from 14-18 who have missed school for several years.

Those who manage to pass the Lebanese system’s eighth grade exams — usually taken at the age of 14 or 15 — can join the local Lebanese public school in Bar Elias, which Batoul al-Ayed has done.

The Kayany Foundation school teaches the offi cial Leb-anese curriculum, which in-cludes science, mathematics, Arabic and English, in addition to vocational skills.

The school, built from col-ourful pre-fabricated class-rooms, is its seventh in the Bekaa valley, where the majority of the Syrian refugee communi-ties are located in Lebanon. It

was meant to address the Syrian parents’ concerns about send-ing their teenage daughters to schools for both girls and boys.

All its teachers are women and it provides transportation for students between home and school. “Education is salvation for the refugee girls,” said Nora Jumblatt, head of the Kayany Foundation, at the opening cer-emony. Funding for the school was secured for this year from international charity Save the Children and the United Na-tions Women For Peace Asso-ciation, according to Kayany offi cials.

“I have a dream to become a pharmacist,” Rama, 19, who is preparing to apply for the eight grade exams at Kayany school said. In normal times, Rama would already have been apply-ing for university at that age.

“I still want to go back to Syr-ia and fulfi ll my dream there, in Damascus University,” she added.

Syrian refugee girls sit inside a classroom at a school for refugee girls, built by the Lebanese non-profit Kayany Foundation in Bar Elias town, in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon.

Iraq govt rejects US call for paramilitary units to cease operationsReuters Baghdad

The Iraqi government dismissed a call from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for Iranian-backed para-

military units that helped Baghdad defeat Islamic State and capture the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk to end operations in Iraq.

The paramilitary units have been ex-panding their reach to northern Iraq, sup-porting government forces which seized the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk one week ago in a lightning advance in retaliation for a ref-erendum on independence.

Iraqi forces are deploying tanks and ar-tillery just south of a Kurdish-operated oil pipeline that crosses into Turkey, a Kurdish security offi cial said, the latest in a series of Iranian-backed operations against the Kurds.

Speaking after a meeting on Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Tillerson said it was time for the Iraqi Popular Mobilisa-tion forces and their Iranian advisers to “go home”. Washington is concerned Iran will use its expanded presence in Iraq and in Syria to expand its infl uence in the region.

But Abadi showed unwillingness to meet Tillerson’s demand.

“No party has the right to interfere in Ira-qi matters,” a statement from his offi ce read.

It did not cite the prime minister himself but a “source” close to him.

The international battle against Islamic State fi ghters in northern Iraq since 2014 saw the United States and Iran eff ectively fi ghting on the same side, with both sup-porting the Iraqi government against the militants.

Washington has 5,000 troops in Iraq, and provided air support, training and weap-ons to Iraqi government forces, even as Iran armed, trained and advised the para-militaries which often fought alongside the army. But the latest twist in the Iraq con-fl ict, pitting the central government against the Kurds, is trickier for US policymakers.

Washington still supports the central government but has also been allied to the Kurds for decades.

Iran exhibited its sway over Baghdad’s

policies during tensions over a referendum last month in which the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region voted to secede from Iraq against Baghdad’s wishes, Kurdish offi cials say. Baghdad responded to the vote by seiz-ing the oil city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds see as the heart of any future homeland.

Major-General Qassem Soleimani, com-mander of foreign operations for Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, repeatedly warned Kurdish leaders to withdraw from Kirkuk or face an onslaught by Iraqi forces and allied Iranian-backed fi ghters, Kurdish offi cials briefed on the meetings said.

The offi ce of Abadi, said the paramilitary forces were under the authority of the Iraqi government.

“Popular Mobilisation are Iraqi patriots,” it said in the statement.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif also rejected Tillerson’s statement.

The paramilitaries could not go home because “they are at home” already, he was quoted as saying by the state news agency

IRNA.Abadi has asserted his authority with the defeat of Islamic State in Mosul and the Iraqi army’s sweep through Kirkuk and oth-er areas which were held by the Kurds.

The buildup at the Kurdish oil export pipeline is taking place northwest of Mo-sul, an offi cial from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) security council said.

The loss of Kirkuk dealt a major blow to the Kurds, who had been steadily build-ing an autonomous region in northern Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, who oppressed them for decades.

“We are concerned about continued mil-itary build-up of Iraqi forces and Popular Mobilisation Forces towards the Kurdistan Region,” said the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) in a statement.

Elections for Iraq’s Kurdistan region’s presidency and parliament set for Nov 1 will be delayed because political parties failed to present candidates, the head of the elec-toral commission Hendrean Mohamed told Reuters.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad.

Three Palestinians found after going missing from tunnelAFP Gaza City

Three Palestinians who went missing from a tun-nel between Egypt and

the Gaza Strip in mysterious circumstances yesterday have been located, authorities in the Hamas-run territory said, after indications they had been kid-napped.

“The three Palestinian workers who disappeared this morning on the Palestinian-Egyptian border have been found and returned safely,” Ha-mas interior ministry spokes-man Iyad al-Bozom said in a statement, providing no fur-ther details.

A security source said “the

three were kidnapped by mis-take by gunmen probably be-longing to an extremist group but were returned because they were not the target.”

The three men are currently under investigation at the in-terior ministry in Gaza, the source said.

One witness said earlier that a group of masked gunmen snatched the three and took them across the border into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The account of the witness, who spoke on condition of an-onymity, was not confirmed by authorities.

Egyptian security forces have been fighting a branch of the Islamic State group in the Sinai, and the extremists have recently stepped up their

attacks. In August, a suicide bomber killed a Hamas guard along Gaza’s border with Egypt in what was described as a rare attack against the Palestinian group.

In 2015, gunmen seized four Hamas members from a bus bound for Cairo from the Gaza Strip in the Sinai near the bor-der. Egypt has cracked down on tunnels crossing from Gaza into the Sinai, and Hamas has agreed to improve security along the border.

The Gaza Strip has been un-der an Israeli blockade for more than a decade, while Egypt has also kept its border with the Palestinian enclave largely closed in recent years. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008.

Police arrest 51 Palestinians in raid

Israeli police raided a Palestin-

ian neighbourhood in annexed

east Jerusalem overnight and

arrested 51 people accused

of violent protests against

security forces, authorities said

yesterday.

The 51 Palestinian suspects

from Issawiya were arrested for

participating in throwing stones

and firebombs at security

forces, a police statement said.

They were expected to appear

in court later in the day.

Palestinian youths in parts of

east Jerusalem regularly clash

with Israeli security forces

during protests against Israel’s

occupation. Police had raided

Issawiya along with a number

of other Palestinian neighbour-

hoods in east Jerusalem three

months ago, when tensions

rose and clashes erupted after

Israel placed metal detectors

at the entrance to a Jerusalem

holy site. The metal detectors

were put in place after a deadly

shooting in which gunmen

emerged from the holy site and

killed two police off icers.

Since then, the situation in

Issawiya and other Palestinian

areas has largely been calm.

EU off ers 106mn euroassistance for SudanAFP Khartoum

The European Com-mission yesterday an-nounced a 106mn euro

($124mn) aid package for Su-dan, saying around 4.8mn people needed urgent humani-tarian assistance in the African country.

The new aid comes at a time when United Nations aid agencies are facing an acute shortage of funds from global donors to meet relief needs in Sudan. The package was an-nounced as EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, was on a visit to Sudan, including to confl ict-hit areas of Darfur.

“Here in Sudan the humani-tarian situation continues to be critical,” Stylianides said in a statement issued by the Eu-ropean Commission.

“Millions have been dis-

placed for many, many years in Darfur,” he said, adding that the new EU funding will also assist refugees from South Sudan since a confl ict erupted in their country in December 2013.Of the total 106mn euros, 46mn will address humanitar-ian needs like food, nutrition, health, protection, shelter, education, water and sanita-tion, the European Commis-sion said.

The remaining 60mn euros are to be channelled through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, to support dis-placed people, migrants and host communities.

The United Nations aid agencies have been facing an acute shortage of funds in 2017 to meet humanitarian needs of millions of people in Sudan. The UN agencies had appealed for $804mn in aid for Sudan for 2017, but as of end Septem-ber only 38% of that had been raised, the United Nations says.

Egypt kills suspected militants smuggling arms from Libya

AFPCairo

Egyptian warplanes killed suspected militants and destroyed eight vehi-

cles they were using to smuggle weapons into the country from neighbouring Libya, the military said yesterday.

Army spokesman Tamer el-Rifai said in a statement that the air strikes on the western border were part of operations to track down “terrorists” who killed 16 policemen in a shootout in the region last week.

Thirteen other policemen

were wounded in clashes with militants during Friday’s at-tack on the road between Cairo and the oasis of Bahariya in the Western Desert, said the de-fence ministry. Security forces were sent to the area southwest of Cairo acting on information that militants there were “hid-ing, training, and preparing to carry out terrorist operations”, according to the ministry.

The air force said its war-planes raided the border area, “foiling a new infi ltration at-tempt” and destroying eight ve-hicles that were carrying “large quantities of weapons, ammuni-tion and explosive material”.

A military statement said those travelling inside the vehicles were killed during the operation, with-out specifying how many.Since the army in 2013 removed elected president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, extremist groups have stepped up attacks on the military and police in Egypt.

Security forces are fi ghting the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State (IS) group, which has in-creased its attacks in the north of the Sinai peninsula more than 500kms away from the latest vio-lence.

Authorities have repeat-edly said that militants active in Egypt were trained in Libya.

The air forces struck militant targets in Libya in May, hours after IS claimed responsibility for an attack that targeted Cop-tic Christians on their way to a monastery south of Cairo.

In February 2015, the air force also raided militant positions in Libya after IS posted a video on the Internet of the gruesome be-heading on a Libyan beach of 21 Christians, all but one of them from Egypt.

Libya has been rocked by cha-os since the 2011 fall and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi , with rival administra-tions, and militias, vying for power.

Kurds issue arrest warrants for 11 as tensions brewAFP Arbil

Iraqi Kurdish authorities said yesterday they had issued arrest warrants for 11 Iraqis

including leaders in a powerful paramilitary group, in an appar-ent tit-for-tat move after Bagh-dad took similar measures.

The moves come amid brew-ing tensions between Baghdad and the Kurds, who last month held an independence vote in de-fi ance of the federal government.

The prosecution in the au-tonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan said in a statement it had issued the warrants for 11 people and asked a court in re-

gional capital Arbil to take legal steps to pursue the matter.

Among those targeted is Qais al-Khazali, founder and leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a militia that is one of the main compo-nents of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group.The power-ful Hashed, also called Popular Mobilisation Forces, has been a key player in the fi ght against the Islamic State group in Iraq alongside federal forces.

Last week, they also took part in an operation by government forces that retook Kurdish-held areas outside the autonomous region in northern Iraq.

Also facing an arrest warrant issued by the Kurds are Rayan al-Kaldani, the head of a Chris-

tian militia that fi ghts in the ranks of the Hashed, and law-maker Hanan al-Fatlawi. It was not immediately clear why they were wanted.Tensions have been high between Arbil and Baghdad since the Kurds organised an in-dependence vote on September 25, which Iraq’s supreme court deemed unconstitutional.

Since then, Baghdad courts have issued several arrest war-rants for Kurdish leaders on several charges.

On Sunday, an Iraqi anti-corruption task force said it had issued a warrant for the ar-rest of Babaker Zebari, a Kurd and former Iraqi army chief of staff , over misappropriation of public funds.

AFRICA

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 20178

Almost half of the 1.5mn people displaced by an insurrection in central Democratic Republic of Congo since last year have returned home as violence has waned in recent months, the United Nations said yesterday. Fighting in central Congo’s Kasai region between government forces and militia fighters demanding their withdrawal from the region has killed up to 5,000 people since August of last year. For now, the situation in Kasai appears to be improving. The UN Off ice for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Aff airs (OCHA) said in a report that 710,000 people had returned to their homes in Kasai, while 762,000 remain displaced.

Togo’s leader Faure Gnassingbe should resign immediately and the African Union and West African regional bloc ECOWAS should persuade him to step down if he does not, Gambia’s Foreign Minister Ousainou Darboe has said. Darboe’s comments are an early sign that opinion is shifting against Gnassingbe who took power in 2005 on the death of his father who had ruled since 1967. Togo is enduring a political crisis in which at least 10 people have been killed in protests since August. “I think the African Union and ECOWAS should engage Togo and persuade the president to step down,” Darboe told Reuters, adding that other countries need to step in.

Wealthy Benin businessman and failed presidential candidate Sebastien Ajavon is under investigation over an allegedly fraudulent export deal, a judicial source said yesterday. The source said Ajavon is alleged to have committed “forgery of off icial records, complicity in forgery of off icial records, falsification and fraud”. The alleged off ences date back to 2009 and could see him jailed if charged and convicted, the source added. Ajavon, who is known in Benin as “the chicken king”, made his fortune in the agricultural feeds business. Ajavon’s spokesman said the businessman preferred to let proceedings in court run their course and not to engage in a “media trial”.

Namibia recorded fewer cases of rhino and elephant poaching this year compared to recent years, the southern African nation’s minister of environment and tourism said yesterday. Namibia has one of the largest black rhino populations in the world but is under threat from the lucrative market in rhino horn. So far this year, 27 rhinos were poached compared to 60 last year and 95 in 2015, environment and tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta told reporters. Twenty elephants have been poached since January compared to 101 in 2016 and 49 a year before. “More resources have been allocated to fight poaching,” Shifeta said.

Black rhinos graze at a farm outside Klerksdorp, South Africa.

Half of Congo’s 1.5mn displaced have returned

Gambian minister urges Togo president to resign

Benin’s ‘chicken king’ snared in fraud probe

Rhino, elephant poaching declines in Namibia

CIVIL STRIFE DIPLOMACYINVESTIGATION CONSERVATION

14 killed in Nigeria bombingAFPMaiduguri

Fourteen people have now died in the latest suicide bomb at-tack in northeast Nigeria, an

offi cial said yesterday, calling for greater protection for those made homeless by Boko Haram.

Three bombers, all of them women, detonated their explo-sives near the sprawling Muna Garage camp on the outskirts of the Borno state capital, Maid-uguri, on Sunday evening.

The blasts came after warn-ings of a build-up of militants outside the strategic city, which has been the epicentre in the eight years of violence.

Ahmed Satomi, from the Bor-no state emergency management agency, told AFP the death toll had risen since Sunday evening.

“So far, we have 14 people killed and 18 injured in the triple suicide bombings last night,” he said.

But he said the Muna Garage site, which in the last 18 months has developed from an infor-mal settlement into a vast camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), was “vulnerable”.

Odinga sister to be charged with incitement to violenceReutersNairobi

Kenyan authorities will charge the sister of opposition leader Raila Odinga with incitement to

violence after opposition supporters at-tacked offi cials from the election board last week, the chief prosecutor’s offi ce said yesterday.

Odinga has pulled out of the re-run of an election he was due to contest on Thursday against President Uhuru Ken-yatta, saying problems with the election board meant the vote would not be fair.

He has called for protests and a boy-cott and on Sunday said on Twitter there would be “no election”.

“We resume our picketing at IEBC (election board) offi ces countrywide on Tuesday and Wednesday. We maintain that there will be no election on Thurs-day,” he said, without giving details.

Kenya is East Africa’s richest econ-omy and a trade and transport gateway as well as a hub for diplomacy and se-curity, so instability there quickly sends ripples through the rest of the region.

Last week Odinga’s supporters dis-rupted a training session for election offi cials in the western city of Kisumu, which is his political stronghold.

They attacked election staff and de-stroyed tents and polling material, wit-nesses said.

Ruth Odinga, who is the opposition leader’s sister and a former deputy gover-nor of Kisumu county, was present at the protest, according to Reuters witnesses.

Prosecutors instructed police to ar-rest her, opposition Senator Fred Outa and others.

Supporters greet Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta (front centre) and Deputy-President William Ruto (rear right) during a political rally in Nairobi yesterday.

African leaders pledge to stamp out child marriageBy Nellie Peyton, Reuters Dakar

African political leaders, activ-ists, and local chiefs yesterday joined forces to commit to end-

ing child marriage in West and Cen-tral Africa, the region with the highest child marriage rate in the world.

More than a third of girls in the re-gion are married under the age of 18, with the rate over 50% in six countries and up to 76% in Niger.

Driven by factors including pov-erty, insecurity and religious tradi-tion, marrying off girls once they reach puberty or even before is a deeply en-grained social custom in much of West and Central Africa.

The practice hampers global ef-forts to reduce poverty and population growth and has negative impacts on women’s and children’s health, educa-

tional achievements, and earnings, the World Bank has said.

The conference in Senegal’s capital Dakar, which included government, civil society, and religious representa-tives from 27 countries, was the fi rst gathering of its kind to address child marriage in the region.

“What we need to end child marriage is a movement,” Francoise Moudouthe of advocacy group Girls Not Brides told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the sidelines of the conference.

“We hope this will be solidifi ed in the region with this meeting.”

World leaders have pledged to end child marriage by 2030 under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but at current rates it will take over 100 years to end it in West and Central Africa, the UN children’s agency (Unicef) said yesterday.

Although the rate of child marriage has declined from 50% to 39% across

the region since 1990, population growth means that the number of child brides is still increasing, said Andrew Brooks, Unicef’s regional head of child protection.

“I think the fact that they came is a sign that they’re ready to do some-thing,” said Brooks of the local and na-tional leaders present.

Other activists said they hoped the meeting would result in concrete na-tional action plans and would pressure countries to enact and enforce laws against child marriage.

“We have heard your heartfelt cry,” said Senegal’s prime minister, Mo-hamed Dionne, to campaigners, who chanted “No to child marriage” as he took the stage.

“The problem is how to move from vision to action,” said Dionne. “Beyond the legal framework, what we need today is collective engagement in the search for solutions.”

Sierra Leone to auction multi-million diamond to benefit poor

Sierra Leone hopes to raise millions of dol-

lars for development projects by auctioning

a huge uncut diamond, believed to be one of

the world’s largest, in New York in December.

It will be the government’s second at-

tempt to sell the 709-carat gem, known as

the ‘Peace Diamond’, after it rejected the

highest bid of $7.8mn at an initial auction in

New York in May.

Over half of the proceeds from the sale

will be used to fund clean water, electric-

ity, education and health projects in Sierra

Leone, and particularly in the village of Ko-

ryardu, in the Kono region in eastern Sierra

Leone, where the diamond was discovered.

“There’s a reason God gave these dia-

monds to the poorest people in the world

and made the richest people want them.

This is Tikun Olam (Hebrew for correct-

ing the world), this is making the world a

better place,” Martin Rapaport, chairman

of Rapaport Group, a network of diamond

companies which will manage the auction,

told Reuters.

The diamond, which the auctioneers

described as the 14th largest in the world,

was unearthed in Koryardu in March by a

Christian pastor who gave it to the govern-

ment.

Diamonds fuelled a decade-long civil war

in Sierra Leone, ending in 2002, in which

rebels forced civilians to mine the stones

and bought weapons with the proceeds,

leading to the term ‘blood diamonds’.

A 709-carat diamond, found in Sierra Leone and known as the ‘Peace Diamond’, being displayed during a tour ahead of its auction, at Israel’s Diamond Exchange, in Ramat Gan, Israel.

She will be charged with incitement, destruction of property, obstructing election offi cers and trespassing in an electoral centre, according to a letter that the director of public prosecution’s offi ce posted online.

“The suspects should immediately be charged,” the letter said.

Neither Ruth Odinga nor Outa could immediately be contacted for com-ment.

The arrests could anger Odinga’s supporters and escalate tension over an election season that has divided the country and led to the deaths of at least 37 people since the fi rst election was held on August 8, including four in the last two weeks.

Odinga says the election board had made insuffi cient reforms to prevent a repeat of the same mistakes that marred the previous presidential polls on Au-gust 8.

But the election board said it had ad-dressed many of his complaints.

Kenyatta won that election but the Supreme Court nullifi ed the result, say-ing there had been procedural irregu-larities and a repeat must be held.

The election board and Kenyatta

say the poll will be held regardless of whether Odinga participates.

Eighteen European countries, the European Union and the United States yesterday issued a joint statement call-ing on political leaders to talk to each other and pursue any protests peace-fully.

“It would be a profoundly undemo-cratic act to try to interfere — through intimidation or violence — with an election held under Kenya’s constitu-tion,” said British High Commissioner Nic Hailey.

US ambassador Bob Godec said he was still holding out hope for a last minute deal that might persuade Od-inga to take part in the polls.

“I continue to hope even now, there will be a last minute agreement....that would unite the people of Kenya,” he said.

The prolonged political uncertainty has helped blunt growth in the east African powerhouse and is partly re-sponsible for the government trimming its annual growth forecast for this year from 5.9% to 5.5%. Last week, the cen-tral bank governor told Reuters it would be revised even lower.

AMERICAS9Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the cockpit of a C-17 aircraft on the way to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Tillerson paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan to discuss Wash-ington’s new strategy with President Ashraf Ghani, the US embassy said.

Surprise visit

Trump call made me cry even worse: widowReutersWashington

The widow of a US Army sergeant killed in Niger this month said yesterday that President Donald

Trump had “made me cry even worse” in a condolence telephone call when he said her husband “knew what he signed up for”.

Myeshia Johnson’s comments in an ABC interview, her fi rst to the media about the call from Trump, fuelled a controversy that has raged for a week over how the president has handled con-soling relatives of slain service members.

After the interview aired, Trump again defended himself, saying in a Twitter post that his conversation with Johnson had been “very respectful”.

In the “Good Morning America” in-terview, Johnson also said she has been told little about how her husband, Ser-geant La David T Johnson, was killed and has not been allowed to see his body.

La David Johnson was one of four US Army special forces soldiers killed dur-ing an October 4 ambush in the West African nation.

Last week, a member of the US House of Representatives and friend of John-son’s family, Frederica Wilson, said she listened to the call on speakerphone in a car as she rode with them to receive the late sergeant’s body at a Miami airport, and that Trump had upset the relatives.

That drew a rebuke from the presi-dent, who dubbed Wilson “wacky” and

denied her account. “I didn’t say what that congresswoman said,” Trump told reporters last week. “I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who...sounded like a lovely woman”.

In yesterday’s interview, Myeshia Johnson said, “The president said that he (her husband) knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway...And it made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he couldn’t re-member my husband’s name”.

In his tweet after the interview aired, Trump said, “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Ser-geant La David Johnson, and spoke his

name from beginning, without hesita-tion!”

Johnson said the military has told her little about what happened to her hus-band and his comrades in Niger, where about 800 US troops are engaged in counter-terrorism operations against an affi liate of the Islamic State militant group.

She also said she was upset she has not been allowed to see his body.”I don’t know what’s in that box,” said of the coffi n.”It could be empty for all I know.”

Johnson said she did not say anything during the call with the president, add-ing that afterward, she was “very upset

and hurt. It made me cry even worse”. Asked what she might now tell Trump, she said she had “nothing to say to him”.

Republican US Senator John McCain, a veteran who spent more than fi ve years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam and who chairs the Senate Armed Serv-ices Committee, said yesterday that lawmakers want answers about the am-bush in Niger.

“We should not be fi ghting about a brave American who lost his life serving his country. That should not be a topic in America today,” he told ABC’s The View programme, adding that his committee needed more information about the in-cident.

“Unless you learn the lessons, then you’re going to repeat them,” he said.

In separate interviews on Sunday, Re-publican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer both said they backed McCain’s eff orts to get more details, and that they had not been aware that the United States had so many military personnel in Niger.

US forces do not have a direct combat role in Niger, but they help its army with intelligence and reconnaissance in the government’s eff orts to target violent extremist groups.

The current controversy erupted after Trump said a week ago that some of his predecessors as president “didn’t do an-ything” to console the relatives of fallen soldiers. He did not back up the claim and it was shown to be false.

The acrimony generated around his call with Johnson echoed a controversy last year during the presidential cam-paign, when Trump sparred with Khizr Khan and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004.

Myeshia Johnson receives at the graveside service for La David Johnson in Hollywood, Florida.

ReutersFort Bragg

Sentencing proceedings are scheduled to determine the fate of US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who could face life in pris-

on after pleading guilty to deserting his duties in Afghanistan in June 2009 and endangering the lives of fellow troops.

The hearing at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg is expected to include testimony from soldiers in-jured in the dangerous search for Bergdahl, who walked off his combat outpost in Paktika prov-ince to report what he said were “critical prob-lems” in his chain of command.

The 31-year-old Idaho native was quickly captured by the Taliban and spent the next fi ve years suff ering torture, abuse and neglect in captivity.

A Taliban prisoner swap that won his re-lease in 2014, organised by the administration of then-Democratic president Barack Obama, was criticised by people in the military and by Republicans.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Re-publican Donald Trump called Bergdahl “a no-good traitor who should have been executed”.

Former Army Corporal Jonathan Morita said in a phone interview on Sunday that he may tes-tify this week before Army Judge Colonel Jeff ery Nance about his injuries, including one to his hand during a 2009 search operation.

Morita said he believed Bergdahl should be dishonourably discharged and sentenced to as much as life in prison.

“A fair sentence, I hope, for his actions and what it created,” Morita said.

Navy SEAL Senior Chief James Hatch, shot in the leg during an attempted rescue, is also expected to speak at the hearing, his attorney, Buddy Rake, told KPHO-TV last week. Rake could not be reached on Sunday.

Bergdahl pleaded guilty on October 16 to de-sertion and misbehaviour before the enemy, with the latter off ence carrying a possible life sentence.

He entered a “naked plea”, meaning he does not have an agreement about the sentencing terms with prosecutors.

While the Army will focus on the damage caused by Bergdahl’s actions, his attorneys are likely to present expert testimony about his suf-fering in captivity in hopes of securing a more lenient sentence, military law experts said.

“He will try to show that he was impris-oned under harsh conditions and was sub-jected to severe punishment,” said Richard Rosen, a professor at Texas Tech University’s law school.

Bergdahl, who testifi ed in court that he tried to escape his captors 15 times, admitted wrongdoing but said he never intended to put anyone at risk.

“At the time, I had no thoughts that anyone would come searching for me,” said Bergdahl, who remains on active duty in a clerical job at

a San Antonio base.President Donald Trump’s critical state-

ments about US Army Sergeant Bowe Berg-dahl have hurt the soldier’s chances of getting fair treatment in the desertion case that could send him to prison for life.

Bergdahl’s lead attorney, Eugene Fidell, ar-gued that the 31-year-old Idaho native should be spared prison time because the Republican president has unlawfully infl uenced the pro-ceedings.

“His statements clearly called for Sergeant Bergdahl to be severely punished,” Fidell said in court at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg.

His sentencing proceedings were due to get underway yesterday but were postponed until Wednesday due to a family emergency for a law-yer in the case. The one-hour hearing instead focused on Trump.

The Army judge in the case, Colonel Jeff ery Nance, has previously ruled the comments by the then-candidate were “disturbing” but re-fused to dismiss the case. Yesterday, Fidell played a video of Trump’s October16 press conference in the White House’s Rose Garden,

where a reporter asked whether the president thought his prior comments had hurt Bergdahl’s ability to receive a fair trial.

Trump said he could not comment, then add-ed, “but I think people have heard my comments in the past”.

Major Justin Oshana, a prosecutor in the case, said Trump’s remarks should not be taken as evidence that he has the same atti-tude about Bergdahl now as during the cam-paign.

The judge said when he denied the motion to dismiss in February, he believed the pub-lic would see Trump’s earlier statements as campaign rhetoric. The context changed once Trump was sworn in as president and com-mander in chief of the US military, he said.

He called the prosecutor’s argument about the latest statement “a strained interpretation”. Nance said it was more reasonable to believe Trump last week “was saying, ‘I can’t talk about this, but I think everybody knows what I think about Bowe Bergdahl’”.

The judge did not immediately rule on the motion.

Deserter Bowe Bergdahl facing life in prison

A Taliban prisoner swap that won his release in 2014, organised by the administration of then-Democratic president Barack Obama, was criticised by people in the military and by Republicans

Trudeau’s Liberals hitby ethicsscandalReutersOttawa

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s gov-ernment has been badly

shaken by a confl ict-of-inter-est controversy about his fi -nance minister, but the Liberal government’s upcoming fi scal update off ers an opportunity to reset the public focus on Can-ada’s strong economy, political observers say.

The government has been plagued all week about ques-tions about the fi nance min-ister, Bill Morneau, the mul-timillionaire former chief executive offi cer of human resources management fi rm Morneau Shepell. Some have questioned whether Morneau would be forced to resign.

The focus has been a rare stumble for Trudeau’s govern-ment, which marked two years in offi ce this month and has mostly manoeuvred its way out of political trouble partly because of Trudeau’s personal popularity and the youth-ful momentum of the Liberals after 10 years of Conservative rule.

“They’re politically very as-tute in a whole bunch of areas but in issues management and parliamentary management they seem to be ham-fi sted,” said Andrew Graham, profes-sor at the school of policy stud-ies at Queen’s University.

With Trudeau’s strong de-fence of Morneau, and the fi -nance minister likely to unveil a smaller budget defi cit in to-day’s fall fi scal update, Liber-als have a temporary chance to refocus on good news.

“Economic conditions are a bedrock of whether people feel good or bad about how politi-cians are performing, and the economy is doing very well for most people,” said Abacus Data pollster Bruce Anderson.

Morneau said on Thursday he will put his assets in a blind trust and divest stock in a pub-

licly traded family business. That comes after weeks of backlash over tax reform that has become a major obstacle for Trudeau’s government.

Opposition parties from both the political left and right have seized on the ethics scan-dal, trying to tie Trudeau’s team to what they say is an entitled Liberal Party that has previously faced corruption charges.

“The opposition has changed the focus from substance to ethics, and they won’t let that go that easily,” said Genevieve Tellier, a political professor at the University of Ottawa.

But Tellier said Trudeau’s decision to fi ll his cabinet with political rookies — including Morneau — rather than turning to the old Liberal guard, could limit the ability of the op-position to land many ethical punches. Moreover, Morneau is respected by markets.

“I think the prime minister would be very cautious about changing his fi nance minis-ter....(Morneau) presents a reassuring image, he doesn’t scare the markets,” Tellier said.

Ipsos Public Aff airs pollster Darrell Bricker put it more bluntly: “They really don’t have a choice but to tough it out and hope some event will transpire to distract the hy-enas.”

The expected budget im-provement in Tuesday’s fall fi scal update could also give Morneau the leeway to woo voters with more spending or debt reduction.

“The way the numbers are playing out, they are in a fairly favourable fi scal position,” said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.

Morneau spokesman Dan Lauzon said the fi nance min-ister has no plans to change his strategy, and would keep focus on fi scal stimulus matters: “He is in this for the long run, and he won’t let distractions get in the way.”

Firefighters still battling 10 wildfiresAbout 5,000 firefighters were still battling 10 wildfires in California yesterday and the authorities said they hope to have many of them fully contained in the next few days.The death toll remained at 42, meanwhile, from the deadliest blazes in the history of the sprawling western US state.The wildfires ignited on October 8 and as many as 11,000 firefighters — some from as far away as Australia — were involved at one point in battling move than two dozen large blazes.The California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (Cal Fire) said that only 10 active fires remained, “many of which are projected to be fully contained within the next few days”.Cal Fire warned, however, that there was “potential high fire activity” in southern California due to gusty winds and low humidity. Cal Fire said the wildfires had burned more than 245,000 acres, forced the evacuation of 100,000 people and destroyed an estimated 8,400 homes and businesses.The highest death toll was in wine-producing Sonoma County, where 22 people lost their lives.Entire neighbourhoods of Santa Rosa, population 175,000, the county seat of Sonoma, were razed to the ground. Forest fires are common in the western United States during the summer, but this year’s blazes in California are the deadliest series of fires to hit the state. The Griff ith Park fire in Los Angeles County in 1933 killed at least 29 people, and 25 people died in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire.

Johnson’s widow said the president struggled to remember her husband’s name

10 Gulf TimesTuesday, October 24, 2017

ASEAN

Nations pledge $340mn to Rohingya responseAFPGeneva

Nations have pledged $340mn to care for My-anmar’s Rohingya refu-

gees in Bangladesh, an “encour-aging” step in the response to the intensifying crisis, the UN said yesterday.

Many of the funds for the mi-nority Muslim group, who have

fl ed from violence in the north-ern part of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, were promised at a high-level conference in Geneva, co-hosted by the United Nations, the European Union and Kuwait.

The UN says it needs $434mn to provide support through Feb-ruary for the 900,000 Rohingya who have fl ed across the bor-der, as well as the 300,000 local Bangladeshis hosting the infl ux. “We’ve had an encouraging

morning,” the UN’s humanitar-ian chief, Mark Lowcock, told reporters. “We now have pledg-es of $340mn.”

Some of the money was promised in the run up to the conference and Lowcock said he expected more commitments in the coming days. A group of nations had also off ered $50mn of in-kind donations. Low-cock stressed the importance of countries actually delivering

the cash, with the UN having confronted unfulfi lled pledges in past crises. “Pledges are one

thing,” he told reporters. “It’s really important to us that the pledges are translated as soon as possible into contributions.”

With no apparent resolution to the crisis in sight, Lowcock noted that there may be a need to raise more funds again next year. The head of the Inter-national Organisation for Mi-gration, William Lacey Swing, called the wave of Rohingya fl eeing to Bangladesh “the fast-

est growing refugee crisis in the world.” “It is, in its own way, a nightmare,” he added.

Bangladesh’s government and the community in the Cox’s Bazar area on the Myan-mar border have been broadly praised for the response to Ro-hingya refugee infl ux, notably for keeping the border open. Rohingya refugees have headed for Bangladesh in huge numbers after a major army crackdown

on the community likened to ethnic cleansing by the UN. Rohingyas have been system-atically deprived of basic rights over decades in majority Bud-dhist Myanmar.

In the latest crackdown, Myanmar’s security forces have fi red indiscriminately on unarmed civilians, including children, and committed wide-spread sexual violence, accord-ing to UN investigators.

The UN says it needs $434mn to provide support through February for the 900,000 Rohingya who have fled across the border, as well as the 300,000 local Bangladeshis hosting the influx

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA11Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Indonesia asks why US blocked military chief’s travelReutersJakarta

Indonesia yesterday said it was still awaiting a detailed explanation why the United

States barred its military chief from travelling to the US, de-spite having a visa and an of-ficial invitation, although it had accepted an official apol-

ogy. On Saturday, armed forc-es commander General Gatot Nurmantyo was stopped from boarding an Emirates flight to the US, where he had been in-vited to attend a conference by the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, General Joseph F Dunford Jr.

“We conveyed that we still await clarification, an expla-nation why this happened,” In-

donesian Foreign Minister Ret-no Marsudi told reporters after meeting the deputy US ambas-sador in Jakarta yesterday.

“There is a sense of urgency to this that we have conveyed to them,” she said, adding that US officials were “trying to co-ordinate with relevant author-ities in the US to find out what really happened.”

The US embassy in Jakarta

was not immediately available for comment. On Sunday, In-donesian military spokesman Wuryanto said the airline had told Nurmantyo the US Cus-toms and Border Protection agency would not allow him to enter US territory.

Some Indonesians reacted indignantly to the incident, putting up banners around the capital calling for the US am-

bassador to be expelled and for Americans to be “sent home”.

Former Indonesian ambas-sador to the United States Dino Patti Djalal called for a strong-er government reaction.

“The government should not be asking for a clarification, but rather conveying a protest to the US side,” he said on so-cial network Twitter.

Marsudi said she had been

assured that whatever the is-sue was, it had been resolved and the Indonesian military chief was now free to travel to the US.

It was not immediately clear whether Nurmantyo would at-tend the conference as sched-uled on October 23-24.

Nurmantyo has frequently courted controversy in Indo-nesia over his actions and what

analysts perceive to be his po-litical ambitions. He promotes the notion that Indonesia is besieged by “proxy wars” in-volving foreign states and even a renewed communist threat.

This month, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the armed forces should stay out of politics and ensure their loyal-ty was only to the state and the government.

Japan’s Abe to push pacifi st constitution reform after poll winReutersTokyo

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, buoyed by a huge election win for lawmakers who fa-

vour revising Japan’s post-war, pacifi st constitution, signalled a push towards his long-held goal yesterday but will need to con-vince a divided public to succeed.

Parties in favour of amend-ing the US-drafted charter won nearly 80% of the seats in Sun-day’s lower house election, me-dia counts showed.

That left the small, new Con-stitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) as the biggest group opposed to Abe’s proposed changes.

Formed by liberal members of the Democratic Party, which im-

ploded before the election and no longer exists in the lower house, the CDPJ won 55 seats, a fi nal count by public broadcaster NHK shows. That is a fraction of the ruling bloc’s two-thirds majority of 313 seats in the 465-member chamber.

Abe said he wanted to get other parties on board, including Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s new conservative Party of Hope, and was not insisting on a target of changing the constitution by 2020 that he fl oated this year. “We won a two-thirds majority as the ruling bloc, but it is nec-essary to strive to form a wide-ranging agreement among the ruling bloc and opposition (to re-vise the constitution),” Abe told a news conference yesterday.

“And then we aim to win the understanding of the people,

so that we can gain a majority in a referendum,” Abe said. He stopped short of claiming to have won a mandate for amending the constitution in Sunday’s elec-tion.

Amending the charter’s paci-fi st Article 9 would be hugely symbolic for Japan. Support-ers see it as the foundation of post-war democracy but many conservatives view it as a humili-ating imposition after Japan’s defeat in 1945.

It would also be a victory for Abe, whose conservative agenda of restoring traditional values, stressing obligations to the state over individual rights and loos-ening constraints on the military, centres on revising the constitu-tion. “Mr. Abe is trying to create a legacy. His fi rst legacy project was to get the economy out of

defl ation,” said Jesper Koll, head of equities fund WisdomTree Japan. “The second legacy is to change the constitution,” he said. “You can debate whether he has a mandate but what will make or break him ... is the constitutional issue.”

Any revision of the constitu-tion requires support from two-thirds of the members of both chambers of parliament and a majority in a public referendum, with no minimum quorum. “I think that debate in parliament will begin,” said Zentaro Kamei, a senior researcher at think tank PHP Institute and a former law-maker of Abe’s Liberal Demo-cratic Party (LDP). “But the rea-son given for this snap election was Abe’s proposal to change what sales tax hike revenues would be used for. If he starts

talking about the constitution, people will say, ‘You didn’t ask me that’,” Kamei said.

Abe proposed last May adding a clause to Article 9 to legitimise Japan’s Self-Defence Force. Read literally, Article 9 bans a standing military but has been interpreted to allow armed forces exclusively for self defence. Parliament en-acted laws in 2015 allowing Japan to exercise collective self-de-fence, or aid allies under attack,

based on a reinterpretation of the constitution rather than a formal revision. Critics, including CDPJ leader Yukio Edano, say those laws violate the constitution.

The LDP’s junior partner, the Komeito, is cautious about re-vising Article 9, perhaps even more so after signs that some of its dovish supporters had voted for the CDPJ. It also believes the biggest opposition party should agree with the proposed changes.

Opinion polls show the public is divided on Abe’s proposal. An NHK survey before the election showed 32% in favour, 21% op-posed, and 39% unsure.

Media exit polls showed that, despite the LDP’s big win, 51% of voters do not trust the prime minister, a hangover from sus-pected cronyism scandals that eroded his support this year and a potential risk in case of a refer-endum.

Japan’s Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe attends a press conference at the party headquarters in Tokyo yesterday, a day after Japan’s general election.

Mount Agung volcano spews steam and smoke into the air as seen from Bangli on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali yesterday. Thou-sands of residents who fled a rumbling volcano on the island of Bali are refusing to leave evacuation centres after being told to return to their homes outside of the immediate danger zone.

Still smoking

Beijing garment industry resists Congress lockdownAFPBeijing

As China’s Communist Par-ty congress got under way, nervous garment factory

owners were on high alert, run-ning lookouts to evade inspec-tors as they continued to produce coats, jackets and button-down shirts in defi ance of offi cial or-ders to close.

Chinese authorities have taken extraordinary measures to pre-vent any disturbance — includ-ing pollution — from marring the week-long, twice-a-decade meeting as businesses ranging from bars to factories were shut down. Apparel producers were ordered to suspend work for the month out of fi re safety con-cerns, but in Dahongmen, one of

Beijing’s last clothing manufac-turing hubs, some factory owners simply took their work under-ground. “I can’t possibly stop for a month, so I can only choose to secretly keep on working,” fac-tory owner Yue Fang told AFP as half a dozen tailors churned out cotton-padded coats.

Yue is one of some 200 small factory owners based in Dahong-men, some 25km from the Great Hall of the People, where the party’s top leaders are meeting to hand general secretary Xi Jinping a second term when the congress ends today.

Each factory had staff keeping an eye out for inspectors weeks be-fore the meeting kicked off , Yue re-called. “I didn’t even dare set foot in my factory — I just stood watch in the wind and rain” for plain-clothes offi cials and police, she

said, attaching tags to a mountain of fur-trimmed corduroy jackets in her workshop. “It’s been like World War II or something here,” she said.

“As soon as the ‘devils’ en-ter the village, you quickly pull down the shutters and put out the lights. The whole town goes black and you won’t fi nd a soul on the streets,” she said, using a wartime slur for Japanese invad-ers to refer to Communist Party inspectors. But her business was raided a few days ago when she dropped her guard.

“They gave no explanations — just swept through like bandits and took any clothes they saw,” she said.

Zhang Jie, a 26-year-old fac-tory owner from Hubei province, decided to give his fi ve employees time off rather than risk reprisals.

“As long as they don’t like the look of you, they’ll fi nd some infrac-tion. It’s pretty terrifying,” he said. In Dahongmen’s muddy, unpaved streets, garment industry work-ers lounged on damp sofas next to laundry hanging out to dry in the smoggy air, killing time. “We play cards, or talk about who made more money,” said a 16-year-old button-hole maker surnamed Chen.

Elsewhere, a few other gar-ment makers were also still op-erating on the sly. In the nearby Daxing district, Yu Lizhan said over the sound of shears searing through silk that her company continued to cut clothes but had ceased manufacturing opera-tions, creating a backlog.

“There’s nothing we can do. If they’ve made a decision at the top, you can only follow along down

below,” Yu said as a handful of workers sliced reams of fabric.

Liu Zhixin, security guard at a Daxing clothing warehouse com-pound, said the inspections were not purely gratuitous, given the frequency of factory fi res in the country.

“They’re after these smaller companies that are messier, more chaotic, and may not have the proper licensing,” he said. At a neighbouring warehouse, a lo-gistics manager surnamed Chen said packages could only be sent during certain hours each day due to heightened security, slow-ing business.

It was also impossible during the congress to send any package to Tibet or Xinjiang — both pri-marily ethnic minority regions in the far west where Chinese au-thorities fear threats to their rule.

AC/DC producer and Australian music pioneer George Young dies

Australian music pioneer George Young, a driving force behind AC/DC which was front-ed by his brothers Angus and Malcolm, has died aged 70, the band and his publishing house said yesterday. Young shot to fame in the 1960s as a member of Sydney-based The Easybeats and became an established songwriter, penning classics like Love is in the Air and Friday on my Mind with long-time collabo-rator Harry Vanda. But he was best known for his behind-the-scenes work helping create one of the biggest rock acts in the world, co-producing many AC/DC albums including Let There Be Rock, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, and High Voltage. “It is with pain in our heart that we have to announce the passing of our beloved brother and mentor George Young,” the band said in a statement. “Without his help and guidance there would not have been an AC/DC.

“As a musician, songwriter, pro-ducer, adviser and much, much more, you could not ask for a more dedicated and profes-sional man.” George was a teenager when he emigrated from Scotland to Australia with his brothers and was the first to win acclaim as a guitarist for the extremely popular The Easybeats. After the band broke up, Young and Vanda concentrated on writing and producing pop and rock songs for other artists under the umbrella of Albert Productions. “George was a pioneer who, with close friends Harry Vanda and Ted Albert, created a new sound for the Australian music indus-try,” said Albert chief executive David Albert. “He will be missed.” Fellow Glaswegian and Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes also paid tribute, tweeting: “George Young RIP. What a huge loss for music. A great songwrit-er, producer and a great human being.”

Cambodian PM says opposition party will be dissolvedReutersPhnom Penh

Cambodian Prime Min-ister Hun Sen said yes-terday it was “a fact”

that the main opposition party would be dissolved as he spoke on the anniversary of the peace agreement that established multiparty democracy.

More than 50 rights groups called on the countries that signed the Paris Peace Agree-ments in 1991 to reconvene urgently because of the threat to democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

Hun Sen’s government has asked the supreme court to dissolve the Cambodia Na-tional Rescue Party (CNRP) after its leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested on September 3 and charged with treason. The court has yet to rule on wheth-er the CNRP will be dissolved.

“Because they didn’t re-spect the Paris Peace Agree-ment, the political party will be dissolved in the future, this is a fact,” Hun Sen said at a ceremony marking the con-struction of a new bridge in Phnom Penh.

Dissolving the party would eliminate the challenge to him prolonging more than 32 years in power in next year’s elec-tion, but Western donors have criticised the move and called for the release of Kem Sokha.

Hun Sen accused the Unit-ed Nations of failing to bring peace despite organising the fi rst election in 1993 and said guerrilla fi ghting had only ended because of his own ne-gotiations with leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge.

Hun Sen’s critics accuse him of trying to turn the coun-try into a one-party state for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

Volcanic eruption showers Solomons’ villages with ash

Residents in the Solomon Islands’

southeast were warned to stay

indoors yesterday to avoid

showers of ash from a volcanic

eruption.

Off icials said a lack of scientific

equipment made it diff icult to

monitor the situation on Tinakula

island, which lies just north of

Vanuatu where 11,000 people

were evacuated last month

following an eruption on Ambae

island.

While the Vanuatu government

decided on Friday that the

situation on Ambae had settled

and people could return home,

Solomon Islands off icials said

they had no indication how long

the eruption on Tinakula would

continue.

Although Tinakula is uninhab-

ited, about 10,600 people live

on the neighbouring Santa Cruz

islands.

“Authorities do not have a scien-

tific way to monitor the situation

and determine when it will end,”

the Solomon Islands Broadcast-

ing Corporation (SIBC) quoted

National Disaster Management

Off ice director Loti Yates as

saying.

Yates said ashfall on nearby

communities and the impact

on air travel were the main

concerns. An aviation warning

has been issued for the Santa

Cruz Islands.

12 Gulf TimesTuesday, October 24, 2017

BRITAIN

Biggestanti-terroroperationsshake-upplanned

Poor market conditions force home owner to cut sale price by halfThe owners of a four-bedroom house in north London have halved the asking price for their home from £2mn after receiving no off ers in almost two years.Jonas Hall and his wife wiped £995,000 off the price for their home in upmarket Winchmore Hill in seven reductions as they have failed to sell in London’s struggling housing market.The extreme price cut is among growing numbers of properties with reducing asking prices in

the capital. Two months ago the Standard revealed that a mansion in Clerkenwell has had its priced halved from £8mn to £4mn after four years on the market.Uncertainty over Brexit, concern about an imminent rise in interest rates and high stamp duty rates have all hit confidence in the London property market over the past year.Some 37% of homes on sale in London last month had their prices cut since the “For Sale”

board went up, compared with 32% in March.The Halls’ Tudor-style four-bedroom home in Griff ins Close has had no off ers after being advertised for 22 months with the online estate agency eMoov. It was originally listed at £1.995mn in January 2016.Hall told The Sunday Times: “The initial price was based on what was happening a few years ago. Many of the people who have come to view it are investors.

A lot of the families who might have bought this house are now struggling with mortgage aff ordability and high stamp duty.” The property last sold for £440,000 in 2001.A falling market could be positive for first-time homeowners who have been priced off the ladder by surging prices, with the average deposit in London hitting £100,000 last year. Only 12% of homes sold in the capital this year went to first-time

owners, the lowest proportion since 2000, according to data from Hometrack.Peter Mackie, senior partner at buying agency Property Vision, said: “Parts of the market have a bit further to fall, but first-timers will welcome more aff ordable prices and any measures announced in next month’s Budget, such as a stamp-duty cut.“Purchasers are out there for anything that’s good, and the current state of play is a failure of

politics, rather than economics.”KPMG Economics said uncertainty around Brexit and rising interest rates could trigger further falls, but that property prices would pick up by 2019.and by 2021 London will once again become the driving force of the British housing market.According to estate agency Aston Chase there have been 50 sales above the £10mn mark this year in London, worth a total of £727mn. Of these 15 were for over £15mn.

‘Importantprogress’ madeat EU’s Brexitsummit: May

London Evening StandardLondon

MI5 and police are to carry out the big-gest shake-up of their

counter-terrorism operations since the 7/7 London bombings in a new attempt to protect the public from further terror at-tacks.

The main aim of the over-haul will be to fi nd better ways of identifying when known extremists classed as “former subjects of interest” because they are thought to pose no im-minent threat suddenly decide to carry out attacks.

These will include changes to improve the detection of “trig-ger” activities — such as fi nan-cial transactions, meetings or social media exchanges, and purchases of items that could be used in an attack — which could indicate a switch to murderous intent.

Measures to improve the way that police and security service officers work together to assess the risks posed by Right-wing extremists are also expected.

The changes follow reviews by both police and MI5 of what they knew about those who carried out this year’s terror attacks in London and Man-chester. They are understood to have concluded that there was extensive intelligence available before both the Manchester and London Bridge attacks and that potential misjudgements were made in relation to both inci-dents.

Some of the findings are ex-pected to be published by the government later this year, although some of the conclu-sions will remain confidential because they relate to tech-niques, intelligence, and work-ing methods that remain vital for future counter-terrorism efforts.

The reviews were first an-nounced by Theresa May fol-lowing the London Bridge murders in June, when she said she “recognised people’s concerns” that opportunities to stop those killings and the earlier attacks might have been missed.

Whitehall sources empha-sise that there remains strong confi dence in the ability of MI5 and police and that their exist-ing methods have foiled a large number of attacks.

AgenciesLondon

Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday said “important progress” on Brexit was

made at last week’s EU summit. The premier said she had a “de-gree of confi dence” of making enough progress by December to begin trade talks.

She also said there would be no “physical infrastructure” on the border in Northern Ireland.

May said she expected a vote in parliament on the fi nal Brexit deal to take place before the Eu-ropean parliament gets to vote on the agreement.

“We have said that there will be a vote on the deal in this House and we expect that to be a vote that will take place before the Eu-ropean parliament votes on the deal,” May told parliament.

Earlier, reacting to a question on a suggestion that there may have been foreign interference in the Brexit vote, May’s spokes-man said Britain’s democracy is one of the most secure in the world and will remain so.

Opposition lawmaker Ben Bradshaw last week urged the government to look into re-ports by advocacy group Open Democracy suggesting that the origin of some Brexit campaign funds was unclear.

Bradshaw said in parliament the issue should be investigated “given the widespread concern over foreign and particularly

Russian interference in Western democracies”.

At a regular briefi ng with re-porters, May’s spokesman was asked if the prime minister was concerned about the reports. “I am not aware of those concerns,” he said.

“More broadly, as we’ve al-ways said, the UK democratic system is amongst one of the most secure in the world and will continue to be so.”

Open Democracy, which de-scribes itself as an independent media platform aiming to chal-lenge power and encourage de-bate, had raised questions about a large donation to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which is now prop-ping up the minority Conserva-tive government.

Open Democracy said the origin of the money, which was spent on campaigning for Brexit, was unknown.

The DUP, who was earlier re-ported to have said the funds came from “an organisation in England that wants to see the union (between the UK’s con-stituent parts) kept”, did not im-mediately respond to requests for comment.

Open Democracy also pub-lished a report into the fi nances of Arron Banks, a businessman who was one of the main fi nan-cial backers of the Brexit cause.

It called for greater clarity on the source of Banks’ fortune.

In a statement, Banks dis-missed Open Democracy’s re-port without addressing it in detail.

Prince Harry visits the Brockholes Nature Reserve in Preston, Lancashire, yesterday.

Royal visit

Off icers searching for missing RAF airman Corrie Mckeague have resumed their examination of a landfill site. Mckeague disappeared on a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suff olk, in September 2016, when CCTV showed him entering a bin loading bay. Suff olk Police called off a 20-week search for his body at the landfill in Milton, near Cambridge, in July. The force has embarked on an “extended search” which is expected to last four to six weeks. Off icers will concentrate on an area next to the original search site which police say is “the next most likely area” where Mckeague’s remains may be. Mckeague, who was 23 when he went missing, was last seen September 24, 2016.

Police have released video images of two suspects wanted in connection with a “needless and violent” assault on a “peacemaker” who tried to break up an argument between rival groups. The 23-year-old victim was stabbed and beaten after being chased into a newsagent near King’s Cross. Police say he became involved in a row with the two suspects after he tried to calm an argument between them and a group in Grays Inn Road. The men chased the victim into the store. One hit him with a glass tube while the second stabbed him in the chest. The victim was taken to an east London hospital where he was treated for a broken rib and a laceration to his lung. He has since been discharged.

Princess Beatrice has said the Queen and the Duchess of York are her two role models — and that her mother is “misunderstood”. The 29-year-old eldest daughter of the Duke of York and his ex-wife lives and works in New York. She told Hello! magazine her family in Britain give her strength and inspiration. Beatrice, who is seventh in line for the throne, said: “I have two role models, my mother and my grandmother. They are both formidable women.” Her mother Sarah faced controversies throughout her marriage and following her divorce. Beatrice described her as s “probably one of the most misunderstood women in the world”.

A husband and wife debt management duo paid for luxury hotels and cars by deceiving more than 4,000 customers who lost in excess of £6mn, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said yesterday. The watchdog said it banned Adrian and Christine Whitehurst from any involvement in regulated financial services activity. The two were former directors of now-dissolved debt management firm First Step Finance. Their lawyer had no immediate comment. The ban is the strongest action the FCA can take. The FCA has also referred the Whitehursts to the City of London Police, who are considering the matter, the watchdog said. City of London police had no immediate comment.

A man was stabbed repeatedly outside a primary school and found bleeding on the ground, police have said. He was found in the Tower Road area of St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, with multiple stab wounds. A witness who lives near the scene said he overheard paramedics say the victim had been stabbed five times. The witness said the attack happened outside Christ Church Primary School. South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said crews had taken a man to hospital after a serious assault outside the school. A spokesman for Secamb said the attack was not on school premises. The school’s calendar says it is currently closed for half term.

Landfill search for missingairman resumes

Police hunt attackers who stabbed ‘peacemaker’

My inspirational mother ismisunderstood: Beatrice

Couple who conned debtors banned by FCA

Man ‘stabbed fivetimes’ outside school

PEOPLE LAW AND ORDERCOMMENT DECISION CRIME

Senior EU officials deny Brexit dinner reportEU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and his senior aides vehemently denied a German newspaper report saying a “tortured” Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded with him for help in stalled Brexit negotiations at a dinner in Brussels last week. German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) said that May “begged” Juncker for help in the negotiations, warning Europeans of the immense political risk she had taken domestically in backing away from a hard Brexit and asking

for a two-year transition period. The article, which did not cite sources, said May appeared “tortured,” “fearful” and “discouraged” at a dinner with Juncker just days ahead of an EU summit in which EU leaders handed May a small victory by agreeing to start preparations for the next stage of negotiations. Juncker told the BBC he was “shocked” by what appeared in the FAZ, insisting that “nothing is true” in it. “It was a good meeting. She was neither tired nor defeated,” Juncker said.

Chicken farms, hotels ‘among 200 slavery cases being probed’Britain’s anti-slavery body has opened more than 200 investigations into human trafficking over the past five months underscoring the true scale of the crime, with cases reported from farms to hotels, it said yesterday. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) said it has probed cases involving poultry farms, car washes, food processing plants, hotels, fast food restaurants and other businesses since it was given new police-style powers in May. At least 13,000 people are estimated to be victims of modern slavery in Britain, but police say that figure is just the tip of an iceberg, with numbers rising countrywide. “The levels of exploitation and the levels of people in slavery are probably higher than initial estimates,” Ian Waterfield, GLAA’s director of operations said. The agency expected the number of investigations to reach 600 by May next year, said Waterfield. Despite the extent of the crime, one in five people in Britain has never heard of modern slavery, and two-thirds do not know how to spot it, according to a recent poll. Potential signs of slavery include looking unkempt, scared or working without proper clothing, the GLAA said last month as it launched a campaign to help the public identify trafficking.

BRITAIN13Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Appeal for witnesses aswoman held for murder Guardian News and MediaLondon

The solicitor represent-ing a woman charged with the murder of her

18-month-old son has appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Gemma Procter, 23, was yesterday charged after the death of her son, Elliot, at a block of flats in Bradford on Saturday.

Procter appeared at Brad-ford magistrates court yester-day morning, where her solic-itor said she denied the charge of murder.

In an unusual move, district judge Michael Fanning lifted the normal reporting restric-tions so that Sajad Chaudhury, representing Procter, could call for witnesses to come for-ward.

At a hearing, Chaudhury said: “Clearly, it’s a horrific and traumatic incident for all people involved and the de-fendant’s family is in court supporting her.

“The incident happened around 5pm. It’s very impor-tant for any witnesses to come forward who have any CCTV or any video footage on their phones or who have seen any-thing in terms of behaviour from anyone in the days lead-ing up to the incident.

“There were incidents in the days leading up to and on the day of the incident.”

Chaudhury did not specify what incidents he was refer-ring to but said: “People may have thought them insignifi-cant but, for us, they may be significant.”

Police were called to New-castle House near the city centre at about 5.10pm on Sat-urday after reports that a child had fallen from a sixth-floor window. Despite attempts to save the toddler, police said it was quickly apparent he had died.

The flats where Elliot died were part of a large block with a high turnover of residents, Chaudhury said, which was why he wanted publicity to

make as many residents as possible aware.

In court yesterday morning, Procter spoke to confirm her personal details and that she understood the charge.

She also acknowledged her family at the back of the court.

One man shouted: “Love you, babe” and Procter said the same back as she was led from the dock after the short hearing during which she ap-peared clearly to be upset.

Procter was remanded in custody and will appear again before Bradford crown court tomorrow.

West Yorkshire police said inquiries into the incident were ongoing.

Detective superintendent Nick Wallen, who is lead-ing the investigation, said on Sunday: “Specially trained of-ficers are working to support the child’s family members and those who witnessed what took place. It is no exaggera-tion to say that those who wit-nessed this incident will have been deeply traumatised.”

Wife sought inhunt for fraudsterLondon Evening StandardLondon

Police hunting an alleged fraudster believed to be on the run in Europe have

released details of his family in an attempt to fi nd him. Mark Acklom, 44, was named among the 10 most wanted UK fugitives living in Spain, last October.

He allegedly posed as a wealthy Swiss banker and MI6 agent to con divorcee Carolyn Woods out of £850,000. He dis-appeared in 2012.

Avon and Somerset police have now released a photograph of his wife.

Offi cers said Maria Yolanda Ros Rodriguez, 47, was likely to be with her husband and may be assisting him, although she was not the subject of a European Arrest Warrant.

Police want to hear from Brit-ish expats with children in a pri-vate international school abroad who may have noticed the re-cent arrival of a family from Spain, with daughters aged six and eight. They said Maria Ro-driguez may be using the aliases

Yolanda Ross, Maria Long or Mary Moss, and may be teach-ing or attending yoga classes.

Detective inspector Adam Bunting said: “We believe he’ll be with his wife Maria Rodrigu-ez and their two young daugh-ters, who we know up until last year’s appeal were enrolled in El Limonar International School in the Murcia area of Spain. In the days following the appeal he removed his children from the school and, together with his wife, he disappeared.”

Detective inspector Bunting added: “We also have informa-tion linking him to Dublin and Italy, but he could be anywhere in Europe. It’s possible he may have travelled outside the EU.”

Woods, who runs a boutique in Gloucestershire, said Acklom promised to marry her during a year-long romance, during which he duped her into lending him her life savings.

Acklom, who uses the name Marc Ros Rodriguez and other aliases, is the subject of a Eu-ropean arrest warrant and is on the Crimestoppers and National Crime Agency’s Most Wanted lists.

Students from St Andrews University are covered in foam as they take part in the traditional ‘Raisin Weekend’ in the Lower College Lawn, at St Andrews in Scotland yesterday. The weekend, which began on Sunday, involves rituals for new students, culminating in a foam fight yesterday.

Foam fight

Universal creditbehind risingrent arrears,warn councilsGuardian News and MediaLondon

The universal credit system is pushing poor tenants deeper into rent arrears

and sending food bank referrals soaring, according to a study by two councils that have been guinea pigs for the new regime.

Southwark and Croydon coun-cils in south London warned that without rapid changes the new system could have a devastat-ing eff ect across the country as it is rolled out over the next few months, warning that arrears could reach “many hundreds of millions of pounds” and that ten-ants could face severe hardship. One food bank reported an in-crease in referrals of 97%.

The fi ndings emerge amid re-ports that the government is con-sidering changes to cut the mini-mum six-week waiting period universal credit claimants must wait before they receive a fi rst payment.

Ministers have been warned that the widespread evidence of hardship caused to many tenants by the 42-day wait risks turning the fl agship welfare policy into a “new poll tax”.

The report examined rent ac-counts for 775 social housing ten-ants in the two boroughs who had moved on to universal credit be-tween August and October 2016, comparing them with 249 rent accounts held by tenants who moved on to the older housing benefi t system during the same period.

The study found that 36% of those moving on to universal credit failed to pay rent at all in the fi rst week, and on average ac-crued arrears for each of the next 11 weeks. At this point arrears sta-bilised but were not fully paid off . At the end of the study period 406 of the 775 households on universal credit were in a worse fi nancial position that at the start. On aver-age, each universal credit tenant ran up arrears at a rate of 60p per

day. Total arrears for this group rose by £89,000 over the period.

Southwark said that although just 12% of its social housing ten-ants were on universal credit, they have collectively built up £5.8mn in rent arrears. The average uni-versal credit household was £1,178 in arrears, compared with £8 in credit for the average council rent account across the borough.

The study found that by week 20 tenants in receipt of univer-sal credit were on average £156 in arrears, while those on housing benefi ts were in credit. Universal credit tenants were far more likely than housing benefi t claimants to fail to pay the full rent owed – more than a third underpaid rent by 75%.

The study found that long de-lays for universal credit payments was a key cause of stress, anxi-ety and depression for claimants. There was a common perception among claimants that the system was infl exible and challenging to navigate. Those tenants used to being paid weekly or fortnightly found it particularly diffi cult to move to a system of monthly pay-ments.

“Participants in this research almost universally have experi-enced fi nancial hardship as a re-sult of transitioning onto univer-sal credit, notably as a result of the signifi cant delays to payment,” the study says.

Universal credit problems have also stretched local hard-ship services. As well as the local Pecan food bank reporting a 97% increase in referrals in the fi rst three months of the year, South-wark council’s emergency support scheme handed out 34% more food parcels over the same period.

Fiona Colley, Southwark’s Cab-inet member for fi nance, mod-ernisation and performance, said: “This report’s stark evidence is why we need to lead this debate; I implore the government to listen to how this is aff ecting the poorest and most vulnerable people in our borough, and the potential eff ects reverberating nationally.”

London introduces vehicle pollution levyGuardian News and MediaLondon

Drivers of the most pol-luting vehicles must from now on pay a daily

charge of up to £21.50 to drive in to central London. Starting yesterday, people driving old-er, more polluting petrol and diesel vehicles are liable for the £10 T-charge, on top of the congestion charge of £11.50, which has been in place since 2003.

The charge has been intro-duced in an effort to improve

air quality in the capital, where legal pollution limits are regu-larly exceeded.

The mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he wanted to prepare London-ers for the ultra-low emission zone being introduced in April 2019.

“As mayor, I am determined to take urgent action to help clean up London’s lethal air. The shameful scale of the pub-lic health crisis London faces, with thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution, must be addressed,” he said.

“Today marks a major mile-stone in this journey with the

introduction of the T-charge to encourage motorists to ditch polluting, harmful vehicles.

“London now has the world’s toughest emissions standard with older, more polluting ve-hicles paying up to £21.50 a day to drive in the centre of the city. This is the time to stand up and join the battle to clear the toxic air we are forced to breathe.”

The charge came into effect at 7am yesterday. It is appli-cable to pre-Euro 4 vehicles in the zone, which covers all of central London to the south of King’s Cross station, to the

east of Hyde Park, west of the Tower of London and north of Elephant and Castle.

Pre-Euro 4 vehicles are typi-cally those registered before 2006, but Transport for Lon-don suggests that anyone who has a vehicle registered before 2008 check if it is liable for the charge.

The total daily levy can be reduced by £1 if drivers register to pay the congestion charge automatically. People living within the zone and driving cars covered by the new charge are eligible to pay as little as £11.05 a day in total for the two.

Speaking to Sky News yes-terday morning, Khan said the T-charge would cost about £7mn a year, which he said was a “price worth paying”. He added that the ultra-low emis-sion zone, once introduced, would make money that would then be ring-fenced for clean air initiatives.

And he defended the plan against claims it would do little to solve the problem because relatively few vehicles are cov-ered by it, saying it was part of series of measures, including the forthcoming introduction of the ultra-low emission zone.

Sadiq Khan launched the T-charge from a central London nursery using a “pollution room” with filters and plants to protect pupils. The mayor joined children at UcL day nursery, off a Bloomsbury main road, which checks pollution levels daily and keeps pupils in the room when they peak.

‘Health tourists’ to be charged upfront for NHS careGuardian News and MediaLondon

Migrants and visitors to the UK not eligi-ble for free healthcare

will from now on be charged upfront for the cost of their treatment, as rules come into force that also extend charging to community health services

and charities that receive NHS funding. The system, designed to counter “health tourism”, requires medical staff to estab-lish whether patients are eligi-ble for state-funded healthcare before providing treatment. If they are not, patients must pay an upfront charge that is cur-rently set at 150% of the cost to providers.

But critics – including a

former chief executive of the NHS, a range of civil society groups and hundreds of doctors who recently signed a letter to the health secretary – say the new rules, in force from yester-day, will deter ill people from seeking life-saving treatment, and patients with infectious diseases could pass undetected.

There is also confusion over how the rules should be applied,

with a survey of NHS profes-sionals showing that eight in 10 were unable to make the crucial distinction between the eligi-bility of refugees, asylum seek-ers and those whose application for asylum had been rejected.

There are fears that an identi-fi cation-checking scheme cur-rently under pilot at 20 NHS trusts will be extended across the country, raising the pros-

pect of a future where patients must attend hospital with their passports and driving licences to guarantee receiving treatment they are entitled to. While hospi-tals have had a charging regime in place for some time, patients not covered by the NHS have, until now, been sent a bill for the cost of their care after treatment.

The department of health says many such bills have gone unpaid

after trusts lost touch with pa-tients who had left the country or otherwise disappeared.

According to the rules laid out in the National Health Serv-ice (charges to overseas visitors) (amendment) regulations 2017, a piece of secondary legislation that passed parliament with no debate, all organisations re-ceiving NHS funding must now charge ineligible patients before

they are treated. The charging regime will also be extended to services such as health visit-ing, school nursing, community midwifery, community mental health services, termination of pregnancy services, district nursing, support groups, ad-vocacy services, and specialist services for homeless people and asylum seekers, according to Doctors of the World.

EUROPE

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 201714

The 28 European Union states failed to agree in a fi rst round of talks yes-

terday on reforming the bloc’s labour rules that poorer coun-tries value but French President Emmanuel Macron dismisses as undercutting his workers.

The case pits wealthier coun-tries against poorer peers keen to preserve current rules that allow their citizens to work else-where in the bloc for salaries higher than they would get at home but still lower than the lo-cal labour force.

Macron has put reforming the so-called posting of workers di-rective high on the EU’s agenda and is backed by Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, among others.

“It’s about fairness on the la-bour market,” the EU’s top jobs offi cial, Marianne Thyssen, said on arriving for labour ministers’ talks. “I am all in favour of free-dom of movement but it must be organised in a fair way ... the in-ternal market is based on rules, it’s not a jungle.”

There was no agreement after the fi rst session during which nearly all EU states spoke on the matter.

Offi cials and diplomats said,

however, the bloc’s current chair Estonia will off er more compro-mise proposals later in the day to try get a deal.

One key point of contention is keeping international road transport covered under any new posting rules, as sought by Berlin and Paris among others.

Spain, Ireland, Portugal and several states on the EU’s eastern fl ank want that exempted and subject to a separate law.

In the latter group, Poland is the biggest exporter of cheap la-bour force in the EU.

While one camp says that easy access for cheap workers to their markets is weighing on salaries and undermining the

labour market, the other says that tightening rules amounts to protectionism and weakens competition.

Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and other eastern-ers say they should be allowed to compete with lower wages to catch up with the wealthier west after decades of communist ma-laise.

Diff erences must yet be bridged on the length of the transition time between agree-ment on reform and its taking eff ect.

Options on the table range from two to fi ve years.

Another nut the ministers will try to crack during a further de-

bate in the afternoon covers the maximum period for sending workers abroad under posting rules before they fall subject to the host country’s labour legis-lation.

Ministers rejected Estonia’s proposal to set it at 20 months, an eff ort to fi nd common ground between countries seeking at least 24 months and others opt-ing for a 12-month cap.

Other themes still remain-ing open include exact remu-neration rules for the posting of workers, which is profi table for companies because of existing the wage gap in the EU.

While the estimated 2mn posted workers only make up a

tiny fraction of the bloc’s work-force, the issue has become politically sensitive, driving a wedge between the richer states at the centre and their poorer peers on the peripheries.

For Macron, the reform is seen as crucial to convince his voters of a need for diffi cult economic reforms at home by showing he stands up for their interests in the EU.

There was no formal vote yes-terday but, should there not be too many objections to another proposal expected from Estonia, the ministers may give the green light to opening negotiations on the reform with the European Parliament.

EU states fail to agree on reform of labour rulesReutersBrussels

A Russian journalist was in a “serious condition” after an unknown as-

sailant forced his way yesterday into the offi ces of a radio sta-tion critical of the Kremlin and stabbed her in the neck.

Tatyana Felgengauer, a 32-year-old presenter for Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy), was attacked after the suspect en-tered the radio station’s build-ing in central Moscow and blinded the security guard with a spray, editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov said.

“He then came with a knife and stabbed Tanya,” Venediktov told reporters.

“There was a lot of blood and she was in shock,” the editor said, adding that the attacker, who was overpowered by a se-curity guard, had appeared to be aiming at her. “He knew where he was going and he

knew who he was going to. We are all shocked.”

Ida Sharapova, another em-ployee at the radio station, said that the suspect grabbed Fel-gengauer before he stabbed her.

“At fi rst I thought he knew her,” she told reporters.

The Investigative Com-mittee, which probes seri-ous crimes, said it has opened a criminal case against a 48-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder.

Citing preliminary infor-mation, Moscow police said that the attacker was driven by “personal animosity” and that he was a “citizen of a foreign country”.

Venediktov said he was told “there was no threat to life but she is in a serious condi-tion”, adding that Felgengauer had been able to get out of the building on her own two feet. “We are waiting to fi nd out what will happen after an op-eration.”

He also said that two more

people had been hurt: the se-curity guard downstairs who had the substance thrown at his face and another guard upstairs who was able to pin the attacker down.

Radio station employee Vit-aly Ruvinsky posted on Twitter a photo of the dishevelled man dressed in a black jacket and trousers seated in a chair.

Police offi cer Yury Titov said the suspect tried to hide in the building after he stabbed the journalist but was found by the security guards.

Venediktov said the man had a drawing of the offi ce plan.

“He had a plan of the offi ce with names of rooms in Eng-lish, I saw it with my own eyes,” he added.

Guard Aleksandr Usachyov, who had overpowered the man, also said the man appeared to be targeting Felgengauer.

“I grabbed his knife and pinned him to the fl oor,” he said.

Felgengauer is one of the

radio station’s deputy editors and a long-time presenter of a morning news programme.

She is also actively involved in opposition rallies and has thousands of followers on her public Facebook page.

The Echo of Moscow radio has been the mouthpiece of the country’s liberal opposition since the Soviet era, with its ed-itorial policy frequently putting it on political thin ice.

The media outlet was found-ed during the perestroika era as the Soviet Union’s fi rst in-dependent radio, going on air for the fi rst time on August 22, 1990.

Since then the Echo of Mos-cow has come a long way, be-coming one of the top-cited

media in Russia and by far the most popular talk radio station, with broadcasting in many of the country’s regions.

It is majority owned by Gazprom Media, the media arm of Russian natural gas giant Gazprom.

Russia has a disturbing record of attacks on journal-ists, with 58 killed since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Threats made against jour-nalists often go unaddressed and attacks are not investi-gated.

Another Echo of Moscow presenter Yulia Latynina this year left Russia after a series of attacks on her car and resi-dence.

Russian journalist in ‘serious’ condition after knife attackAFPMoscow

A cameraman records a photograph showing the employees of Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, including anchor Tatyana Felgengauer (right, in red).

Over a dozen human rights groups and aid organi-sations wrote to Greek

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday, urging him to end the “containment” of asylum seekers in island camps.

More than 13,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis fl ee-ing years of war, are living in fi ve camps on Greek islands close to Turkey, government fi gures show.

Four of those camps are hold-ing two to three times as many people as they were designed for.

Those who arrive on Greek is-lands following a European deal with Turkey last year to stem the fl ow are forbidden from travel-ling to mainland until their asy-lum applications are processed, and those who do not qualify are deported.

Applications have piled up and rulings can take weeks.

A recent sharp rise in arrivals has piled additional misery on overcrowded facilities.

The 19 signatories, which in-clude Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Inter-national Rescue Committee, and Oxfam, said that the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Kos, Chios and Leros had been “transformed into places of indefi nite confi ne-ment”.

“We urge you to put an end to the ongoing ‘containment policy’ of trapping asylum seekers on the islands ... and to immediately transfer asylum seekers to the mainland and meet their protec-tion needs,” they wrote.

They described conditions as “abysmal” and said many asylum-seekers lacked access to adequate and timely procedures and protection.

Some have been on the islands for 19 months.

“Reception conditions are deteriorating, and gaps in basic services, especially medical, are increasing,” they wrote.

Thousands of people, includ-ing young children, are crammed into tents with only a cloth sepa-rating one family from another, the groups said, and conditions were particularly harsh for preg-nant women.

Nearly 23,000 people have ar-rived in Greece this year, a frac-tion compared to the nearly 1mn who arrived in 2015, but state-run camps are struggling to cope with the numbers.

As an emergency measure, the government has said it plans to move about 2,000 people from Samos and Lesbos to the main-land.

In recent weeks, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its research showed a mental health emergency was unfolding in migrant camps on the islands, fuelled by poor living conditions, neglect and violence.

The United Nations refugee agency called on Greece to speed up preparations at those camps, saying they were ill-prepared for winter.

NGOs urge Tsipras to end island‘containment’ of asylum-seekersReutersAthens

An Afghan boy holds up a notice during the occupation on Sunday of the main square of Mytilene town on the island of Lesbos. The Afghan refugees were demanding that they be transferred to the Greek mainland from the island’s Moria refugee camp.

A German far-right mili-tant belonging to the shadowy “Citizens of

the Reich” movement was sen-tenced to life in prison yesterday for killing a policeman during a dawn raid on his house.

Wolfgang Plan, 50, was con-victed by the regional court in the southern city of Nuremberg of murder in a case that sparked a nationwide crackdown on rad-ical right-wing groups.

Plan, who referred to himself exclusively in the third person during the trial, smiled as he en-tered the courtroom wearing a dark suit.

He sat impassively as the pre-siding judge read out the verdict.

During the trial, which started in August, he denied intending to kill the 32-year-old offi cer. He also denied membership of the so-called Reichsbuerger (Citi-zens of the Reich).

The movement includes con-spiracy theorists and gun enthu-siasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Plan had told the court through his lawyer that he thought he was under attack when his house was stormed in the “amateurish” raid in Octo-ber 2016, and had no idea he was fi ring at police.

One police offi cer was criti-cally injured and later died of his wounds, while two others were injured in the confrontation in the town of Georgensgmuend.

As a result, Plan was also con-victed on two counts of attempt-ed murder.

His defence attorneys had called for a verdict of man-

slaughter, with a signifi cantly milder prison sentence.

Prosecutors argued that Plan, a hunter who once ran a martial arts school, fi red 11 shots “with the intention of causing as many deadly injuries as possible”.

The raid was aimed at seiz-ing Plan’s arsenal of about 30 weapons after his permits were rescinded following an assess-ment that he was psychologi-cally “unsound”.

He had previously refused to pay taxes and handed in his of-fi cial identity card.

Reichsbuerger followers gen-

erally believe in the continued existence of the pre-war Ger-man Reich or empire as it stood under the Nazis, and several groups have declared their own states.

They typically deny the au-thority of police and other state institutions.

News agency DPA said Plan had established a pseudo-state on his property, drawing “bor-ders” around it with yellow lines and hanging a sign reading “My word is law here”.

Bavaria state interior minis-ter Joachim Herrmann said the

court had handed down a “tough sentence that is appropriate for the brutality of the crime”.

Long dismissed as malcon-tents and oddballs, the Reichs-buerger are seen as a growing threat after a string of incidents.

Since Plan’s arrest, police have carried out a series of raids against suspected Reichsbuerg-er militants, seizing arms and making several arrests.

Security services believe some 15,000 people in Germany iden-tify as Reichsbuerger, some 900 of whom are known far-right extremists.

German far-right militant imprisoned for life for police murderAFPNuremberg

Austria’s Kurz says he needs time on coalitionReutersVienna

Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz said yesterday that he

needs more time to decide which party he will hold coalition talks with but did nothing to dampen expectations that he will turn to the far-right.

Kurz’s People’s Party (OeVP) won last week’s parliamentary election with 31.5% of the vote, well short of a majority, which means it needs a partner to form a stable government.

He had been expected to an-nounce which party he would be inviting to coalition talks yester-day after spending the weekend talking with the leaders of par-ties entering parliament.

“It has yet to be decided with whom we want to start nego-tiations. I will clarify that in the coming hours or days,” Kurz said after meeting President Alexan-der Van der Bellen.

“There are certain issues that I would like to discuss again in-formally or clear up before I start negotiations,” he told reporters.

European leaders have ex-pressed guarded concern about the possible return to power of the Freedom Party (FPOe), which was founded in the 1950s by ex-Nazis and was last in gov-ernment more than a decade ago.

Kurz, who is just 31, has main-tained that any future govern-ment will be pro-European.

But he campaigned on an anti-immigration platform that was very similar to the FPOe’s, after Europe’s migration crisis left many voters feeling Austria was being overrun.

Only two parties – the Social Democrats (SPOe), who came second in the election, and the FPOe, which came third – have enough seats to give Kurz a ma-jority if they join his coalition.

Kurz forced last week’s elec-tion when he called an end to the current coalition with the SPOe after he took over as OeVP leader.

Youth injures seven with axe

A teenager with known psychological problems has injured five women and two men with an axe in a small town in Switzerland, police said.The rampage started on Sunday evening in Flums when the 17-year-old Latvian national approached a couple and their eight-month old baby from behind, according to a police press conference in nearby St Gallen.The youth severely injured the man with the axe.The woman was slightly injured, while the child fell out of its pram.When witnesses rushed to the scene to help the victims, the teenager injured them and drove away in their car.He soon caused an accident and fled on foot.At a petrol station, he attacked further drivers before police were able to detain him.

Army discharged 18 for extremism

The German army has discharged 18 service personnel because of right-wing extremism and 391 others are currently being investigated, a spokesman for the defence ministry said yesterday.The 18 people fired from the Bundeswehr between 2012 and 2016 include soldiers and others employees, the spokesman said.The other people being investigated by the military intelligence service MAD could face disciplinary measures, be fired from the army and even face criminal prosecution, he added.Revelations in May that Franco A, an army off icer stationed in France, was allegedly able to plan a terrorist attack with the aim of blaming it on a refugee alias he created have raised questions about right-wing extremism in the German armed forces.

Plane evacuated due to smoke

A passenger plane operated by Scandinavian airline SAS was evacuated yesterday at Sweden’s Gothenburg airport after smoke was detected in the cabin.All 83 passengers were able to leave the plane safely.No injuries were reported and there was no fire onboard, SAS spokesman Fredrik Henriksson told DPA, citing an inspection by firefighters.The evacuation took place shortly after the plane had left the gate at Landvetter airport, near the west coast city of Gothenburg.The SAS flight with four crew members on board was en route to the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

Wildfire destroys 2,000 hectares

A wildfire tearing through the French island of Corsica has destroyed 2,000 hectares of forest, but no longer poses a threat to villages in the area, emergency services said.The fire, which erupted on Sunday in the north of the Mediterranean island, was still raging yesterday, as scores of firefighters battled to put out the flames.

EUROPE15Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Catalan separatists have threatened “mass civil disobedience” against the

Spanish government if it fulfi ls its vow to depose the region’s se-cessionist leader to stifl e his drive for independence.

Firefi ghters, teachers and stu-dents weighed into the dispute, warning of strikes and protests, at the start of a crucial week in Spain’s deepest political crisis in decades.

Madrid has said that it will suspend the powers of the semi-autonomous region, where separatist leaders held a banned independence referendum on October 1.

Catalonia’s separatist parties announced that they would hold a full session on Thursday to de-cide their response.

That could be an opportunity for the region to follow through on threats to declare unilat-eral independence from Spain, a prospect that has raised fears of unrest.

The Senate is set to suspend the territory’s limited self-rule in a meeting expected on Friday.

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont will be out of a job as soon as this weekend.

“He will no longer be able to

sign anything, he will no longer be able to take decisions, he will no longer receive a salary,” she told radio Onda Cero.

The far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), which backs Puigdemont’s coalition, said that Madrid’s post-referendum clampdown was the “biggest as-sault” against the Catalan people since the dictatorship of Fran-cisco Franco.

Franco – who ruled from 1939 until 1975 – suppressed Cata-lonia’s autonomy, language and culture.

“This assault will receive a response in the form of massive civil disobedience,” the CUP, a key regional power broker, said in a statement.

Lluis Corominas, spokesman of the “Together for Yes” rul-ing coalition, meanwhile urged a “peaceful and democratic de-fence of Catalan institutions”.

He branded the Spanish re-sponse to the independence drive “a case of unprecedented insti-tutional violence”.

Catalan fi refi ghters hinted that they may off er resistance in the dispute by refusing to obey or-ders from national authorities.

“It depends on what they ask us to do. If there is a road that is blocked and they send us to un-block it, maybe we won’t go,” said a spokesman for a fi refi ghter as-sociation associated to the sepa-ratist movement.

Teachers called a protest

march for Thursday, and stu-dents said they will go on strike from that day.

Half a million angry separa-tists took to the streets of Bar-celona on Saturday after Rajoy announced that he would replace Puigdemont and his executive.

To do so, Madrid will use pre-viously untested constitutional powers to stop Catalonia break-ing away.

Under Article 155 of the 1978 Spanish constitution, Madrid could take control of the Catalan police force and replace the heads of its public broadcaster.

Political analysts warn that Madrid faces a serious struggle in practical terms to impose control

over the region, especially if civil servants refuse to obey orders from central authorities.

Xavier Arbos Marin, a consti-tutional law professor at the Uni-versity of Barcelona, raised the prospect of the government try-ing to “take them out by force”.

Until now, Catalonia control-led its own policing, education and healthcare, but discontent has grown in recent years of eco-nomic crisis.

Separatists are demanding greater control for the region over its fi nances.

The region of 7.5mn people is protective of its culture, language and autonomy, though polls in-dicate its inhabitants are divided

on whether to break away from Spain.

Puigdemont says 90% of those who voted in the referendum backed a split from Spain, but turnout was estimated at 43%.

Anti-independence Catalans, who argue the region is stronger as part of a united Spain, stayed away.

The Senate is set to approve the fi nal course of action by the end of the week.

Spanish Prime Minister Mari-ano Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party holds a majority in the up-per house.

Under the constitutional procedure, elections for a new Catalan parliament must be held within six months.

A newspaper poll suggested that secessionist parties may jointly win a majority once again.

There is debate among experts over whether the government’s actions are even legal, however, the law expert Arbos Marin said.

The crisis has rattled a Euro-pean Union already grappling with Brexit.

Two of Italy’s wealthiest northern regions, Veneto and Lombardy, voted overwhelm-ingly in favour of greater auton-omy in non-binding referenda on Sunday.

Organisers said they were seeking greater autonomy and to reduce their regions’ tax con-tributions to Rome rather than looking to secede.

Catalan separatists vow disobedienceAFPBarcelona

This picture taken yesterday shows the front pages of Spanish satirical newspapers ElJueves and Mongolia depicting Prime Minister Rajoy.

Two of Italy’s wealthiest regions were drawing up plans yesterday to claw

back power and money from Rome after a victory for auton-omy campaigners that could deepen divisions in Europe.

More than 95% of voters who fl ocked to the polls in the northern regions of Veneto and Lombardy, home to Venice and Milan respectively, supported a mandate to negotiate a better deal with the Italian capital.

Turnout was higher than expected in the referendums held on Sunday, and the results should not be underestimated in the context of the crisis cre-ated by Catalonia’s push for in-dependence, analysts warned.

Voter participation was 57% in Veneto and almost 39% in Lombardy.

Both regions are run by the Northern League (LN) party, which was once openly seces-sionist but has lately shifted its focus to run on an anti-euro ticket in the hope of expanding its infl uence into the south.

The consultative votes are only the beginning of a proc-ess which could eventually lead to powers being devolved from Rome.

The leaders of the two re-gions, which contribute up to 30% of Italy’s GDP, will now embark on negotiations with the central government on the devolution of powers and tax revenues.

Once the terms are agreed, they will need a green light from parliament in a process that could take up to a year.

Veneto leader Luca Zaia said that the regional coun-cil, which met yesterday, was aiming to get Rome to agree it could keep 90% of taxes levied, rather than handing them over to a capital it has long accused of waste.

“More than 5mn people vot-ed for change. We all want less waste, fewer taxes, less bu-reaucracy, fewer state and EU

constraints, more effi ciency, more employment and more security,” said LN head Matteo Salvini.

“We have given the whole of Europe a lesson in democ-racy. We have chosen the legal, peaceful, constitutional path,” he said in reference to the Catalogna vote, which clashed with Spain’s constitution.

Salvini said the party was committed to winning greater autonomy for all regions up and down the country.

The anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), which is currently leading voter in-tention polls for next year’s national elections, was quick to insist that the result was “a citizen victory, certain not a Northern League one”.

Secessionist sentiment in Veneto and Lombardy is re-stricted to fringe groups but analysts see the autonomy drive as refl ecting the same cocktail of issues and pressures that resulted in Scotland’s nar-rowly-defeated independence vote, Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and the Catalan crisis.

“Lombardy is not Catalonia, nor indeed is Veneto, but the revival of the autonomist fl ame here takes place in a Europe which tends towards fragmen-tation and closing in on itself,” Italian political commentator Stefano Folli said.

Economist Lorenzo Codog-no, a former senior offi cial in the fi nance ministry, said the “Yes” victory would likely “add to the sense of uneasiness in Europe”.

“Following the populist wave, now Europe has also to face a nationalist/regionalist wave, which somewhat over-laps with the populist one, and makes European integration even more diffi cult,” he added.

And Folli evoked the fear in Italy that the results, which “captured a growing divide between the North and South”, could aggravate deeply rooted antipathies that predate the country’s unifi cation in the 19th century.

Italian regions prepare plans for Rome challengeAFPRome

The headquarters of the Lombardy regional government is seen in downtown Milan.

Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators raided yes-terday the home and of-

fi ce of a powerful mayor at the centre of a politically charged embezzlement probe.

The National Anti-Corrup-tion Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said the searches were conduct-ed at the premises of Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov and his associates.

The Black Sea city’s authori-ties are suspected of pocketing money from contracts assigned for repairing a highway and awarding loans that vanished but were meant to help refurbish the local airport.

“Since detectives are also checking the possibility of the Odessa mayor’s involvement in these criminal off ences, the searches are being held at his home and offi ce,” NABU said in a statement.

The raids came nearly a week after the start of the fi rst sus-tained wave of anti-government protests in Kiev since Ukraine’s 2014 pro-EU revolution de-posed the Russia-backed re-gime of Viktor Yanukovych.

The anti-corruption rallies are currently being spearheaded by Mikheil Saakashvili – the former Georgian president who became the regional governor of Odessa in February 2015.

Saakashvili quickly accused

Trukhanov of being one of Odessa’s corruption kingpins and promised to deal with him quickly.

But he soon became frustrat-ed about his inability to tackle graft in the region and resigned last year.

Saakashvili went on to accuse President Petro Poroshenko of knowing about the criminal ac-tivity and covering it up in order to protect his political friends.

Poroshenko dismisses the charge and accuses Saakashvili of trying further to destabilise the crisis-torn country.

But the Ukrainian leader ap-peared to bow to a major pro-tester demand on Friday by promising to set up a special anti-corruption court by the end of the year.

Saakashvili said yesterday that he intended to keep the protests running until deputies

return from a recess on Novem-ber 7 and address other out-standing demands.

The former Georgian now leads his own Ukrainian politi-cal party that hopes to grab seats from the president’s increasing-ly unpopular one in polls set for autumn 2019.

Some political analysts said the rallies appeared to be having an eff ect on Poroshenko’s think-ing and pushing him into mak-ing a decision he had avoided since his election in May 2015.

The raids in Odessa “could be seen a step made by the au-thorities to appease Saakashvi-li”, Kiev political analyst Vadym Karasyov told AFP.

“But it could also be the au-thorities simply trying to tell Saakashvili that they can tackle regional corruption without his help,” Karasyov added.

Either line of thinking has helped NABU accelerate its fi ght against engrained government graft this year.

NABU this month detained a deputy defence minister and another top military offi cial for allegedly embezzling millions in state funding through an illegal oil-purchase scheme.

It has also launched a graft case against the now-deposed tax service chief Roman Nasirov in March.

But critics say prosecuting these offi cials will be diffi cult without the launch of the anti-corruption court promised by Poroshenko on Friday.

Ukrainian anti-graft offi cers raid Odessa mayor’s homeAFPKiev

Saakashvili (R) smiles during a performance by an activist wearing a mask depicting President Poroshenko during a rally on Sunday in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev.

Toxic fumes keep EU summit venue shut for another week

The building that houses EU summits, where toxic fumes forced EU leaders to switch venues last week, will be closed for a further week as investigators seek to resolve the problem.The fumes leaking from the drains have forced the Europa Building, also known as “The Egg”, to be evacuated twice this month, including before a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.The new building was opened in January amid controversy over its €321mn ($378mn) price tag.Staff and meetings will be temporarily transferred to the next door Justus Lipsius building until the issue is resolved.About 20 catering staff had to go to hospital on October 13 and an unspecified number tomorrow.An EU off icial said the Council and Belgian health and safety agencies believe the two incidents were due to the same source.

Slovakia’s prime minister, president and parliament speaker pledged yesterday

to keep to a pro-European path, a day after its Czech neighbours became the latest central Euro-pean ex-Communists to elect a populist taking a hard line on the EU.

Czech billionaire Andrej Ba-bis’s ANO party won the vote that punished traditional par-ties.

Babis said on Saturday that his party was pro-European

but he is cool to adopting the euro single currency and resists deeper integration in the EU.

With the election of Babis, the Czechs join the Poles and Hungarians in electing leaders who emphasise national inter-est and say they are sceptical of greater integration with Europe.

Far-right parties critical of Brussels have also scored suc-cesses in recent weeks in Austria and Germany, notably in Ger-many’s former Communist east.

“I never dared to comment on the domestic political situations in other countries, but I am glad that Slovakia has become a pro-European island in this region,”

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Rob-ert Fico said yesterday.

He said it was unintentional but apt timing that the pro-EU foreign policy declaration, which he backed along with President Andrej Kiska and parliament’s Speaker Andrej Danko, appeared on the morn-ing after the Czech vote.

In power for nine of the past 11 years, Fico has clashed with Brussels himself on many occa-sions.

But he also likes to boast that he increased Slovakia’s clout by bringing it into the eurozone in 2009 when its richer Czech neighbour kept its currency.

In recent months, since the election of Emmanuel Macron in France gave a boost to pro-Europeans across the bloc, he has embraced the EU more ar-dently, saying he aims to steer into a “core” Europe, even if neighbours want to stay on the fringes.

Fico, too, is battling a rise in anti-EU sentiment in his coun-try of 5.4mn.

But Slovakia, with a small economy driven by exports of cars and electronics to other EU states, has more to lose from al-ienating Brussels than its bigger and more self-suffi cient neigh-bours.

‘Slovakia a pro-European island in its region’ReutersBratislava

Czech election websites were hacked, but vote unaff ected: statistics off iceThe websites used for presentation of the Czech Republic’s election results were hacked on Saturday afternoon, the Czech Statistical Off ice (CSU) said on Sunday, adding that the vote count was not aff ected.Czechs voted on Friday and Saturday in the parliamentary election, with the results then shown on two websites that CSU maintains with an outside provider.“During the processing (of the vote), there was a targeted DDoS attack aimed at the infrastructure of the O2 company used for elections,” CSU said on its website. “As a result, servers volby.cz and volbyhned.cz had been temporarily partly inaccessible. The attack did not in any way aff ect either the infrastructure used for the transmission of election results to the CSU headquarters or the independent data processing.”DDoS stands for distributed denial of service, which is an attack that occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system, usually one or more Web servers.In the last similar case, in January, the Czech foreign ministry said that hackers had breached dozens of its e-mail accounts in an attack resembling one against the US Democratic Party that the former Obama administration blamed on Russia.

Minority govt not ‘realistic’: Czech poll winnerReutersLany, Czech Republic

Czech billionaire Andrej Babis, the runaway win-ner of last weekend’s par-

liamentary election, said yes-terday that he wanted to form a governing coalition with a stable partner, and a minority govern-ment was an unrealistic plan.

Babis’s search for government partners is running into trouble.

He faces fraud charges – which he denies – that have led other parties to rule out working with him, even though his ANO party got 29.6% of the vote, nearly tri-ple its closest competitor.

The anti-establishment party scored at polls with pledges to clean up corruption and bring a businessman’s touch to govern-ance, winning over voters who shunned mainstream parties.

Babis’s popularity has grown during his time in the current centre-left government, which has been marked by fast eco-nomic growth, a balanced budg-et, falling unemployment and rising wages.

Babis said after talks with President Milos Zeman at a presidential chateau yesterday that the president would ask him next week to begin leading talks on forming a new cabinet.

Traditionally, the president asks the leader of the winning party to lead talks before formal-ly appointing a prime minister.

Babis told reporters that he preferred having as few parties as possible in the next govern-ment.

“A single-colour government is not realistic ... we want to ne-gotiate a coalition government,” Babis told reporters. “We of course prefer a stable partner in government for the whole term.”

ANO will control 78 seats in the 200-member lower house.

Babis said a link with the elec-tion runner-up, the centre-right Civic Democrat party, made sense based on seats in the lower house – together, the two would have a majority.

The party, though, has so far refused to co-operate.

In other options, more part-ners would be needed.

IANSKolkata

Leaders and workers of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party yes-

terday protested against the den-gue outbreak and criticised the Trinamool Congress government for alleged lack of infrastructure to tackle the disease which, they claimed, had led to over 1,000 deaths.

The protesters demanded that Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee’s government make public the actual number of deaths due to the disease in the state.

The protesters marched to the Swasthya Bhawan headquarters here, broke through the police barricades and rallied in front of the Health Department build-ing to demand that offi cials hand over records of the actual number

of people aff ected by dengue in West Bengal.

Some activists of the party’s Mahila Morcha put up mosquito nets on the streets and registered their protest while sitting inside.

Accusing the chief minister of trying to “mislead” the people, BJP state Mahila Morcha presi-dent Locket Chatterjee said the Trinamool Congress govern-ment should immediately ensure proper treatment of the aff ected and give compensation to the families of those dead.

“It is unthinkable that a chief minister is doing politics and trying to misguide people on a serious issue. As per our infor-mation, more than 1,000 persons have died of dengue in Bengal while the offi cial fi gure is 38,” Chatterjee said.

“Doctors and testing labora-tories have been pressed to sup-press dengue cases, due to which

a lot of people are not getting proper treatment. There should be no hiding of facts on medi-cal reports,” the BJP leader de-manded.

“Rs2 lakh is given to families of those who die in hooch tragedies. Why not something for dengue victims as well? The chief min-ister should consider some com-pensation in the form of jobs or fi nancial assistance for families of those who die of dengue,” she added.

State government reports say more than 30 people have died due to mosquito-borne disease, while over 14,500 have been af-fected.

The Kolkata Municipal Cor-poration, however, claimed it has been eff ectively able to control the spread of the disease and al-leged a “deliberate attempt” at misinformation about its tack-ling dengue.

BJP protests over dengue outbreak in W Bengal

By Ashraf PadannaThiruvanathapuram

Students and youth activ-ists protesting against the death of a schoolgirl

clashed with police in Kerala’s Kollam yesterday.

Gouri Meghna, 15, a Class X student, jumped from the third fl oor of a building of the Trinity Lyceum School on Friday after-noon and she died in a hospital early yesterday.

Her parents have alleged physical and mental harassment by teachers drove her to suicide, following which the police fi led a case against two teachers, who are now absconding.

Activists of the pro-govern-ment Students Federation of India (SFI) and the opposition Kerala Students Union took out separate marches to the school and clashed with the police.

Police caned the protesters

and fi red teargas shells and threw grenades to disperse them as the crowd turned violent.

Reporters also hurt as the pro-testers pelted the police with stones. The school was closed for the day anticipating protests.

The KSU has called for a “shutdown” for educational in-stitutions across the district to-day.

The girl suff ered injuries in the head and backbones, and the police could not record her state-ment. They booked her class teacher Crescent and Sindhu, the teacher of Class VIII where her sister studies, on charges of abetment.

The police had recorded state-ments of her father Prasanna Kumar, teachers and classmates. The school authorities have since sacked the two teachers.

Kollam West sub-inspector Nisamudheen said the girl died at 2.15am after showing slight improvement the previous day.

Protests over student’ssuicide turn violent

Note ban, GST may impact wedding season services

SC rejects bail plea of Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra

Troubled by moneylender, family attempts suicide

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam yesterday told the Election Commission to delete all bogus voters from the electoral rolls of R K Nagar Assembly constituency before holding by-elections there later this year. DMK MP R S Bharathi met Rajesh Lakhoni, Chief Electoral Off icer of Tamil Nadu, and submitted a petition. The seat fell vacant after the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa last year. The DMK said the atmosphere in the constituency should also be conducive to holding of free and fair election. “Despite repeated requests being made by our party to delete the bogus votes, the Election Commission of India has not done its duty so far, which has resulted in loss of confidence and neutrality in the Election Commission of India. We hope that such dereliction of duty would not occur hereafter,” the petition notes.

Uttar Pradesh is committed to promoting religious tourism in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said yesterday after visiting the Kamadgiri temple at Chitrakoot. On the second day of his visit to Chitrakoot, Adityanath took many by surprise when he decided to walk the entire 5km stretch around the temple. Later he went to meet religious leaders from the Nirmohi Akhada on the banks of Mandakini. Refusing to take a seat specially kept for him, Adityanath sat on the floor. The religious leaders handed over a memorandum to the chief minister, who said all their demands would be accepted by the government. He said Mandakini was a holy river and eff orts would be made to ensure it was kept pollution free. He said the area would be a ‘no power cut zone’ and would get 24x7 electric supply.

Remove bogus voters from electoral rolls: DMK

UP to promote religious tourism, says Adityanath

POLITICSOFFICIAL

Demonetisation, along with recently introduced Goods and Service Tax (GST), may impact the business of upcoming wedding season by 10-15%, industry chamber Assocham said yesterday. Services like marriage garden/marriage hall booking, tent booking, confectionery services and photography are expected to get impacted. At present the Indian wedding industry is about Rs1tn and is growing at 25 to 30% annually. The estimated cost of a wedding with no expenses spared could be between Rs300,000 to Rs80mn. “It is being estimated that the average cost of many wedding services like shopping, tent booking, food services, etc, is higher due to GST. The GST rate on most of these services is from 18 to 28%. Before GST, most of the wedding service businesses were using unregistered bills on which they didn’t have to pay any tax,” the chamber said.

BUSINESS JUDICIARY TRAGEDY

Unable to bear the harassment by a moneylender, a man along with his wife and two children set themselves ablaze at the Tirunelvelli Collectorate off ice yesterday. They were admitted to hospital with severe burns. The family was unable to bear the pressure of the moneylender, the brother of Isaki Muthu, who attempted self-immolation, told reporters. According to police, Muthu had borrowed around Rs140,000 from the loan shark at high interest rate. Despite paying back Rs200,000 the moneylender was pressing for more and threatened the borrower. Muthu had earlier petitioned the police and District Collector to save his family from the moneylender, but it went in vain. Tirunelveli is around 650km from Chennai. Reacting to the incident, Pattali Makkal Katchi leader Anbumani Ramadoss said during the past seven years 823 people have committed suicide due to moneylenders.

The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the bail petition of Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra and asked the real estate major to deposit Rs10bn to prove the company’s bona fides. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud also suggested that the partially complete flats of the real estate major spread over its 64 projects across the country be auctioned. The suggestion came after senior lawyer Ranjit Kumar said the company could sell the flats to raise money to refund flat buyers. Amicus curiae Pawanshri Agrawal told the court that Rs18.65bn was needed to pay the flat buyers who want refunds. Ranjit Kumar urged the court to grant Chandra bail for four to five weeks, adding he would during this period submit plans for raising the money for refunding the flat buyers.

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 2017

INDIA16

Congress, AAPdemand probeinto Gujaratbribery claimIANSNew Delhi

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party yesterday demanded a court-mon-

itored investigation into allega-tions by a Patidar leader from north Gujarat that he was off ered Rs10mn to join the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party in election-bound Gujarat.

Narendra Patel of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) led by Hardik Patel claimed on yesterday that the BJP, the ruling party in Gujarat, had attempted to buy his political loyalty for Rs10mn and even paid Rs1mn in advance.

The bribery allegations were “very serious” and Narendra Pa-tel had accused Gujarat BJP pres-ident Jitubhai Vaghani of being the culprit, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.

“It calls for a reaction from Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and BJP president (Amit Shah). It calls for registration of an FIR against the Gujarat BJP lead-ers. It calls for investigation under the supervision of a Gu-jarat High Court Judge. If this is not checked, the sanctity of the Gujarat election process will be questioned in times to come,” Tewari said.

The Congress leader said it was incumbent on Modi to in-vestigate the allegations as these were being made against his own party leaders.

The former federal minister also claimed that it was the third case in the last 24 hours and is indicative of the “ignorance, ar-rogance, and frustration” within the BJP.

Tewari also accused the BJP of trying to “break” the people-led movements opposed to the par-ty’s rule in Gujarat.

“Why is the BJP trying to co-erce, lure, bribe leaders of this movement and trying to break it? Isn’t it a clear sign of their frus-tration? Isn’t it a clear manifes-tation of their demoralisation?” he asked.

Tewari said Patel leader Nikhil Sawani quit the BJP within days of joining it.

He said “allegations of brib-ery” were also made by Congress legislators during the Rajya Sab-ha elections earlier this year.

“The Congress MLAs in Gu-jarat were coerced, and attempts to bribe them were made. Every instrumentality of the state and central governments was misused by the BJP-led union government. The Income Tax Department, Enforcement Di-rectorate, and God knows which other agency was tasked to raid a resort where the MLAs were staying in order to protect them-selves.”

Tewari said truth however pre-vailed in the end and the BJP lost the Rajya Sabha polls.

The Congress leader also criti-cised Modi for saying in Gujarat on Sunday that the central gov-ernment would not give a single rupee to any state opposed to ‘vi-kas’ or development.

“The prime minister has in-sulted 6.5 crore Gujaratis by hinting that he will give money only to those states which vote for Modi’s development.

“But the public money is not anyone’s private property and such threats constitute an assault on the Centre-State relations and federalism,” the Congress leader said.

He said: “Modi has unleashed the most direct attack on feder-alism by threatening the Gujarat people if they don’t vote for the BJP.”

The AAP meanwhile said it did

not trust the Gujarat government and the Central Bureau of Inves-tigation and felt that only a Su-preme Court-monitored probe could prove who gave directions to Vaghani to off er money to Narendra Patel.

“This shows that the BJP will do anything to win in Gujarat and this is the real face of the BJP,” AAP leader Ashutosh said.

He said even AAP leader Di-nesh Mohania was off ered Rs40mn in 2014 by the BJP, but no case was registered despite a complaint by his party.

In other developments, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram questioned the prime minister’s version of the Gujarat Rajya Sab-ha election in which the BJP lost to the Congress, saying there was no recount in the poll.

“In Gujarat RS elections, Con-gress complained to EC before counting began. There was only one count, no recount. Ask EC,” Chidambaram said in a tweet.

“If citizens cannot question the EC, please tell us who can? And what should citizens do, pray to the EC?”

He was reacting to Modi’s at-tack on the opposition over the poll commission not announcing a schedule for Gujarat assembly polls.

The prime minister referred to the Rajya Sabha biennial elec-tion in August in which Congress leader Ahmed Patel defeated BJP’s Balwant Sinh Rajput.

“These are the same people who, when they saw the result of the counting and realised that they had lost, ran to the Election Commission to plead for a recount. The EC consid-ered their plea and allowed a recount. Such people, who won an election because of the EC, have no moral right to question the EC.”

Rahul calls GST ‘GabbarSingh Tax’, says Modi is anti-poor

IANSGandhinagar

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi yesterday mounted a scathing at-

tack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming the GST ‘Gab-bar Singh Tax’ that has hit hard the country already nursing the wounds of demonetisation.

Gandhi was speaking at a massive rally in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar where OBC leader Alpesh Thakore joined the Con-gress.

The gathering was a veritable show of strength of the Thakore community, which forms a ma-jor chunk of the Other Backward Classes. Thakore has a state-wide hold over the community. His move to join the Congress would be a morale booster for the party looking for a victory in Gujarat after 22 long years.

Gandhi said Modi imposed demonetisation last year on a personal whim, pushing millions of people into distress. And if this was not enough, he intro-duced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a tearing hurry.

“The GST was brought by the Congress, but there was a ceiling of 18% and did not have fi ve slabs like the present one. We request-ed the government to go slow, but they just would not listen.”

He called the Modi govern-ment anti-poor and said it was working against the interests of the common people.

Welcoming the trinity of Al-pesh Thakore, Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani, who are lead-ing agitations in Gujarat, Gan-dhi began his speech with ‘Jay Mataji, Jay Sardar and Jay Bhim’. The three terms are popularly used as community greetings of the Kshatriyas, Patels and Dalits respectively.

He asked: “Why is it that al-most all the communities in Gu-jarat are agitating, for the fi rst time? It is because since 22 years of the BJP rule, the government has not done anything for them, but worked only for a handful of industrialists.

“The people are tormented by Narendra Modi and they will no longer remain silent. They will speak out.”

BJP workers participate in a protest rally against West Bengal government over the spread of dengue, in Kolkata yesterday.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi stands on the stage with Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Alpesh Thakore during the ‘Navsarjan Gujarat Janadesh’ rally in Gandhinagar, yesterday.

17Gulf TimesTuesday, October 24, 2017

INDIA

Punjab CM slamsCanadian politicianIANSChandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh yes-terday condemned Can-

ada’s New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh for his remarks on “self-determina-tion” for Punjab and said the Canadian authorities should take serious note of such dis-ruptive elements trying to spread discord in India.

The chief minister said Jag-meet Singh “was obviously totally disconnected from the ground realities in India, where Sikhs hold a place of pride with their excellent achievements in every fi eld”.

He accused Jagmeet Singh of trying to destabilise Punjab by creating strife with his “ill-conceived and confrontational remarks”.

Jagmeet Singh, in a state-ment, had said that he consid-ers self-determination to be a “basic right” in places such as

Punjab, Catalonia and Quebec.“This was clearly designed

to spread trouble in Punjab. My government will not allow any such attempt to succeed at any cost,” Amarinder Singh said in a statement.

“At a time when Punjab was working on a holistic devel-opment and revival agenda, Jagmeet was trying to whip up negative passions among the Sikh community. The newly-elected NDP leader would not succeed in his ne-farious designs as the people of Punjab wanted peace and stability,” the chief minister declared.

Expressing a sense of pride at the contribution of the Sikh community worldwide, Singh said: “Sikhs were known for their extraordinary accom-plishments and for bringing accolades not only to India but to whichever country they were settled in. A handful of destructive elements could not undermine the achievements of the Sikhs.”

Activist challenges newRajasthan ordinanceIANSJaipur

A Jaipur-based activist yes-terday fi led a writ petition in the Rajasthan High

Court against the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordi-nance, 2017, calling it unconsti-tutional.

“Bhagwat Gour, in his petition has noted that the ordinance is vi-olative of Article 14, 19 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India and is further arbitrary and mala fi de,” Gour’s lawyer A K Jain said.

Article 14 of the Constitution provides for equality before law, while Article 19 deals with pro-tection of certain rights regard-ing freedom of speech etc. and Article 21 provides for protection of life and personal liberty.

“The operation of ordinance is prejudicial to the exercise of fundamental rights of the peti-tioner and takes away or abridg-es the fundamental rights of the

petitioner of fair investigation as well as equality. Fair investi-gation is a part of fundamental right to life,” the petitioner said.

The hearing will be held on October 27. In the morning, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s gov-ernment tabled the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill in the assembly.

The bill was introduced by Home Minister Gulab Chand Ka-taria among uproarious scenes as the main opposition Congress walked out from the assembly. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party lead-er Ghanshyam Tiwari also walked out in protest against the bill.

In September the Rajasthan government through an ordi-nance, Criminal Laws (Rajas-than Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, made amendments in the Criminal Procedure code, 1973 and Indian Penal Code, 1980, in order to restrain courts from or-dering an investigation against a person, who is or was a judge or magistrate or a public servant,

for any act done by them during discharge of their offi cial duties.

Besides, no investigation can be conducted by any probe agen-cy against the persons specifi ed without there being any pros-ecution sanction.

The sanctioning authority will have to take its decision within 180 days from the date of the re-ceipt of proposal. The ordinance also provides that in the absence of a decision within the stipu-lated time the sanction will be deemed to have been granted.

The ordinance also states that no one shall print or pub-lish or publicise in any manner the name, address, photographs, family details or any other partic-ulars which may lead to disclosure of identity of a judge or magistrate or a public servant against whom proceedings are pending, until the sanction has been deemed to have been issued. Any contra-vention of the provisions will be punished with imprisonment up to two years and also fi ne.

Afghan leader,Tillerson arrivein Delhi todayIANSNew Delhi

The spurt in violence in Af-ghanistan, including an attack on an army base in

Kandahar, and redevelopment eff orts in the war-torn country will fi nd focus as Afghan Presi-dent Ashraf Ghani arrives here on a daylong visit today, co-inciding with the arrival of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who fl ies in from Islamabad.

Ghani’s visit also comes close on the heels of Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s visit to Kabul on October 16 where he met the Afghan leadership, as a Quadrilateral Co-ordination Group (QCG) meeting was un-derway in Muscat between the US, China, Pakistan and Afghan-istan to discuss revival of peace talks with the Taliban.

The visit of the Afghan presi-dent also comes as Ghani issued a directive on Sunday banning Pakistani trucks from entering his country.

The Afghan Transport Minis-try said that Pakistani trucks will only be allowed up to the Afghan border crossing where they will have to offl oad their goods and transfer them to Afghan trucks, according to Tolo News.

Pakistani trucks were earlier allowed to cross into Afghani-stan at Torkham and Spin Boldak borders and would then transport their goods through the borders to other Central Asian countries.

“The Afghanistan and Paki-stan Trade Agreement (APTA) has expired. Before this Pakistan did not allow Afghan trucks to enter its territory. So we do the same and after this Pakistani trucks will be unloaded at bor-ders and Afghan trucks will carry the goods to Hairatan and Shir Khan ports,” a transport minis-try spokesman said.

Afghanistan has witnessed a bloody past week, with sui-cide attacks that have killed more than 150 people. Taliban suicide bombers attacked an Af-ghan National Army post in the southwestern province of Kan-dahar last week, in which 43 sol-

diers were killed and nine were wounded. In an attack on a Shia mosque in Kabul 54 people were killed and 55 injured, besides other attacks.

Tillerson, arriving on his maiden visit to India, had an-nounced last week that Wash-ington wants to dramatically deepen ties with New Delhi.

US President Donald Trump in August had outlined Washing-ton’s reworked strategy on Af-ghanistan, which included a defi -nite role for India for stabilising the violence-wracked country.

While India has said that it will not deploy Indian armed forces in Afghanistan, New Delhi has maintained that its redevel-opment eff orts in Afghanistan will continue.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Aff airs said that Presi-dent Ghani, during his working visit, will meet his Indian coun-terpart, Ram Nath Kovind and hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The visit will build upon the recent high level bilateral ex-changes between the two coun-tries, including the recent visits of Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Ex-ecutive of Afghanistan on Sep-tember 27-29, and that of the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Salahuddin Rabbani on Septem-ber 10-11 to India for the meet-ing of the bilateral Strategic Partnership Council which was co-chaired by External Aff airs Minister Sushma Swaraj,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Both sides will have the op-portunity to review the entire gamut of multifaceted bilateral strategic partnership, including the New Development Partner-ship; hold consultations and co-ordinate on furthering the shared objective of promoting peace, se-curity, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan and eff orts to com-bat the menace of terrorism; and discuss regional and global issues of mutual interest,” it added.

During the second Strategic Partnership Council meeting on September 11, making use of the fresh $1bn announced by Modi, India and Afghanistan launched a New Development Partnership.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti addresses a press conference in Srinagar where she welcomed the central government’s move to hold talks with all stakeholders in the state. Also seen is Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

Government to launchtalks on Kashmir issueAgenciesNew Delhi

India yesterday appointed a special representative to pursue talks in Jammu

and Kashmir aimed at easing a decades-long confl ict that has claimed thousands of lives.

It is the fi rst such initiative taken by Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi to address tensions in the state since his Bharatiya Ja-nata Party took power in 2014.

Dineshwar Sharma, a former chief of the Intelligence Bureau with experience of insurgencies in India’s northeast, has been named special envoy to open talks with Kashmir’s various factions.

“As a representative of gov-ernment of India,...Sharma will initiate a sustained interaction and dialogue to understand le-gitimate aspirations of the peo-ple of Kashmir,” Home Minister

Rajnath Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

Similar eff orts in the past to resolve the intractable confl ict have failed.

For decades rebel groups have fought soldiers deployed in the northern state in a bloody insurgency, demanding inde-pendence or a merger with Pa-kistan.

There is no suggestion Paki-stan will be involved in this lat-est eff ort at peace in Kashmir.

The government has so far shunned talks with Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Asked if Sharma would talk to the separatists, Singh said he would be free to “talk to who-ever he wants to”.

Singh said the move was to carry forward the “the convic-tion and consistency” in the government’s Kashmir policy.

He said Modi had talked to all political parties on what could

be done to fi nd a solution to the Kashmir problem.

“People told us that the dia-logue process should be started. We are doing this,” Singh said.

In July, the National Inves-tigation Agency arrested seven Hurriyat members on charges of receiving funds from Paki-stan-based militant groups to wage attacks. The Hurriyat is an umbrella group of political and religious groups fi ghting for Kashmir’s secession from India.

Critics have accused India – which maintains a standing force of half a million soldiers in Kashmir – of extending an olive branch while refusing to loosen its grip on the state.

The army this year launched “Operation All-out” to hunt in-surgents fi ghting against Indian rule in the state.

At least 166 militants and 59 security personnel have died so far this year.

Modi – whose government

has not engaged with separa-tists since 2014 – struck a con-ciliatory note in August, saying the state needed a healing touch “not bullets and abuses”.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the move say-ing “dialogue is a necessity of the hour and the only way to go forward”.

She hoped that all the stake-holders including the separa-tists would come forward with a positive response to the devel-opment.

Asked whether the appoint-ment of the interlocutor would have a bearing on the NIA in-vestigations underway against the separatists, the chief minis-ter said: “Security is a separate issue and the political process is a separate issue.”

Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and an outspoken gov-ernment critic, too welcomed the initiative but reserved judg-

ment until talks had begun.“One can’t get everything, so

for now we’ll take what we can get,” he posted on his Twitter account.

“More important than the person is the mandate and ab-sence of pre-conditions.”

However the Hurriyat Con-ferences did not react immedi-ately.

Senior Congress leader and former fi nance and home min-ister P Chidambaram, who had also announced a similar exercise in 2010, said the gov-ernment has admitted that its “muscular approach” has failed in the state.

“From no-talks to talks-with-all-stakeholders is a ma-jor victory for those who had strongly argued for a political solution in Jammu and Kash-mir. With the appointment of an interlocutor, I hope the gov-ernment has fi nally admitted muscular approach has failed.”

Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot leads a demonstration against the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill that was tabled in the assembly, in Jaipur yesterday.

Why should we wear patriotism on our sleeves, SC asks govtIANSNew Delhi

The Supreme Court yes-terday asked the central government to review a

decision on the playing of na-tional anthem in public places, including cinema halls and asked “why should we wear patriotism on our sleeves?”

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud

said it might modify the wording of its November 2016 order on the issue so that cinemas “may” – instead of “shall” – play the national anthem before the start of movies.

The court said that while tak-ing a fresh decision on the mat-ter, the government will not be infl uenced by its 2016 order where playing of the national anthem in theatres was made mandatory.

On November 30 last year, the Supreme Court ordered that the

national anthem must be played in cinemas before the start of a movie to instil a feeling of “con-stitutional patriotism” and a sense of “committed patriotism and nationalism”.

The court at that time made it mandatory for all those in the cinemas to stand up as a sign of respect when the anthem is played. Later, in December, the court modifi ed its order to say that handicapped people need not stand up.

Yesterday, Attorney General K

K Venugopal, appearing for the government, said India was a diverse country and the national anthem needed to be played in cinema halls to bring in a feeling of uniformity.

The bench responded: “Not singing the national anthem in movie halls is not a sign of being anti-national.”

The court’s order yesterday came on a plea that sought the recall of its November 30 order.

Asking why the top court should take the burden of pass-

ing an order extending the man-datory playing or singing of the national anthem in public places, the bench said the Flag Code was not exhaustive and the government could pass orders to regulate it.

“People go to cinema halls for unadulterated entertainment. Why should we wear patriot-ism on our sleeves? These are all matters of entertainment. The Flag Code is not exhaustive. You can pass executive orders to regulate it. Why should the

court take the burden of passing the order?” Justice Chandrachud observed and told the attorney general that what the court was being asked to do could be done by the government.

Justice Chandrachud said: “People wear shorts and go to cinema. Can you say this is dis-respect to the national anthem? Where do we draw a line on mor-al policing? Why should you as-sume that everyone who doesn’t stand up for the national anthem is not patriotic?”

The strong observations came as Venugopal referred to religious, racial, regional and other forms of diversity in the country.

He said it was necessary to have a unifying force that can be brought about by playing the na-tional anthem.

Senior lawyer Chandra Uday Singh, appearing for a fi lm soci-ety seeking recall of the Novem-ber 30 order, asked why the na-tional anthem cannot be played on railway platforms as well.

LATIN AMERICA

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 201718

Argentina’s incumbent Macri wins crucial mid-term pollAFPBuenos Aires

Argentina’s President Mau-ricio Macri’s centre-right coalition swept crucial

midterm elections yesterday and emerged with a strengthened hand to carry through pro-mar-ket economic reforms, accord-ing to nearly completed count results.

Ex-president Cristina Kirch-ner took a seat in the Senate, marking a return to the political stage she dominated for 12 years before stepping down in 2015, and guaranteeing herself parlia-mentary immunity from a string of corruption charges.

“We did not win as a party; what won was the certainty that we can change history, and build with love,” a triumphant Macri told cheering supporters in Bue-nos Aires.

“An Argentine with desire has no limits, we are unstoppable,” he said.

Kirchner said her new centre-left Unidad Ciudadana, or “Citi-zen’s Unity” party, had distin-guished itself in the vote as the only alternative to Macri’s gov-ernment.

“We must be proud of this result. Unidad Ciudadana has emerged as the strongest op-position to this government,” an ebullient Kirchner told her sup-porters.

“Nothing ended right here. This is where everything starts,” she said.

Macri’s Cambiemos, or “Let’s Change,” won in 13 of Argentina’s 23 provinces, as well as in the capital Buenos Aires, according to almost completed counts early yesterday.

Sunday’s vote, with an of-fi cial turnout of 78%, was widely seen as a referendum on Macri after two years in of-fi ce, in which he was seeking a mandate to further overhaul of

an ailing G20 economy.Macri has so far managed to

push through a painful reform programme with the help of al-lies, despite having only 87 seats in the 257-seat lower house of Congress and 15 of 72 senate seats.

Argentina’s TN television pro-jected Cambiemos to gain 21 seats to take their representation in Congress to 108, which would be enough to deprive the opposition of a two-thirds majority to block Macri’s reforms, though still fall well short of an overall majority. The opposition Peronist bloc was set to remain static at 145.

“Peronism has suff ered a fall in the vote,” according to analyst Mariel Fornoni.

And “a Macri victory means populism is out and the econom-ic direction is going to be kept in place”, said political scientist

Rosendo Fraga with New Major-ity consultancy. “Now, it’s all about (the runup to) Macri’s re-election in 2019.”

Aside from Buenos Aires prov-ince and city, Cambiemos candi-dates also polled strongly across the other major electoral centres — Cordoba, Mendoza and Santa Fe.

Half of the Congress seats and a third of the Senate’s were being contested in Sunday’s vote.

Kirchner’s campaign pitch has been to promise to “put the brakes on” Macri’s cuts in tariff s on agricultural exports, defi cit spending and loosening of labour laws.

Macri appealed to voters to “not return to the past,” attack-ing his predecessor’s populist policies.

“I voted for the government candidates. I’m far from being

convinced but I voted Macri in 2015. The most important thing is that Kirchner doesn’t come back,” said teacher Sergio Peroti, 48, after voting in a school in the capital.

Macri’s Cambiemos is an alli-ance of parties of the right, cen-tre-right and social democrats of the historic Radical Civic Union.

Despite not having a legislative majority, Macri has been able to get laws passed by striking deals with Kirchner’s enemies in the Peronist movement and with governors who depend on federal funds to fi nance their budgets.

Another ex-president, Carlos Menem, won a third term in the Senate at the age of 87, giving himself another four years of im-munity despite being convicted for illegally trading weapons to Ecuador and Croatia.

Macri’s fi rst year in offi ce was

marked by a 30% devaluation of the national currency and a 2.3% contraction of the economy.

But the economy has begun to recover, posting 1.6% growth in the fi rst half of the year.

Yet growth remains below the levels reached before 2010 under the back-to-back husband-and-wife governments of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, in power from 2003 to 2015.

Macri has gained support for his economic reforms from the United States, the European Un-ion and international lending in-stitutions.

He was showered with praise at a recent forum of Argentine business leaders. Macri is an engineer by profession from a wealthy family that founded a business empire.

His launching pad into politics was his chairmanship of the Boca

Juniors football club, which won numerous local and international titles under his leadership.

Kirchner, on the other hand, is a former militant in the most combative Peronist factions dur-ing the diffi cult 1970s, when the country was run by a repressive military dictatorship.

She has been prosecuted for alleged corruption in offi ce, but she insists she is the victim of political persecution.

Macri pledged yesterday to press ahead with an austerity drive in Latin America’s third-largest economy.

Macri told a news conference at his Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires he would target the large budget defi cit and infl ation in the remaining two years of his mandate.

He said his government was “in a stage of permanent reform-

ism” that will lead Argentina to progress.”It’s what people voted for yesterday,” he said.

“As long as Argentina has a fi s-cal defi cit, it will continue to take on debt, but we have to reduce the defi cit to lower infl ation,” Macri said.

He said he would set up a meeting with governors “as soon as possible” to discuss his targets.

“We have a lot of reforms to do.There is much further to go, so

I hope that the governors play a very important role, the guilds, the Congress and the Justice De-partment because we all have to be committed,” he said.

Argentina has been battling infl ation of well over 20% for the past decade.

Macri has managed to halt the spiral since his election in 2015, though infl ation this year is al-ready running at 17%.

Argentina’s former president and Buenos Aires senatorial candidate for the Unidad Ciudadana Party, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri dances as he celebrates at their campaign headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

People jump off a bridge, which has a height of 30 metres, in Hortolandia, Brazil. According to organisers, 245 people were attempting set a new world record for “rope jumping”, in which people, tied to a safety cord, jump off a bridge.

The big jump Forest fi res stoke record loss in world tree cover – monitorReutersOslo

Forest fi res in Brazil and Indonesia contributed to a record loss in global

tree cover in 2016, equivalent to the size of New Zealand, that could accelerate defor-estation blamed for climate change, an independent for-est monitoring network said yesterday.

Man-made global warming increased the risks of wild-fi res by adding to extreme heat and droughts in some regions, according to Global Forest Watch (GFW). This year, California and Portugal have been among places suf-fering deadly blazes.

The combination of forest fi res with land use change and climate change could speed destruction in areas like the Amazon and contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the gases that contrib-ute to global warming, the re-port said.

Worldwide, global tree cover losses rose 51% in 2016 from the previous year to 297,000 square kilometres, according to data from the University of Maryland com-piled by Global Forest Watch (GFW).

That was a record high for GFW records stretching back to 2000, and contrasted with some other satellite measure-ments that indicated a slow-down in the pace of forest clearances to make way for farms, cities and roads.

“We saw quite a dramatic spike in 2016,” said Mikaela Weisse, research analyst at the USthink-tank World Re-

sources Institute which over-sees GFW. “That seems to be related to forest fi res in coun-tries including Brazil, Indo-nesia and Portugal.”

GFW measures loss of tree cover and does not estimate net changes in forests to take account of re-growth and new plantings.

By contrast, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisa-tion, using diff erent meth-ods, says the net global rate of deforestation has slowed by more than 50% in the last 25 years.

GFW said Brazil’s Ama-zon region lost 37,000 square kilometres of tree cover in calendar 2016, al-most three times more than in 2015.

That contrasts with offi cial Brazilian data showing that deforestation in the Amazon fell 16% in August 2016 to July 2017 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Brazil said it was the fi rst decline in three years.

Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama said 2016 was the ninth-worst year for for-est fi res since monitoring be-gan in 1998.

“The dry climate and low humidity made man-made fi res gain larger dimension,” Ibama said in an e-mail.

Weisse said GFW data often detected smaller-scale losses in tree cover, including in lay-ers beneath the forest canopy, while the Brazilian data was better at recording clearances of large blocks of forest.

GFW said Indonesia lost almost 1mn hectares of tree cover in 2016, probably the delayed result of a severe fi re season in 2015.

JBS does not know if it is on slave labour listReutersSao Paulo

The world’s largest meatpacker JBS SA said yesterday it does not know if its unit JBS Aves Ltda is on a gov-

ernment list of employers that use slave labour in Brazil, after a local media outlet alleged the unit was included in the ros-ter.

JBS said JBS Aves, which operates in the state of Santa Catarina, has not been notifi ed so far of any decision to include the company on such a list.

“The company and all of its brands do not condone this type of practice and en-force rigid controls when hiring service providers and suppliers,” the statement said.

JBS said it has been a signee, since 2007, of an agreement to eradicate slave

labour in Brazil.The list of companies accused of us-

ing slave labour was disclosed by a Globo television show on Sunday night and is available for download on Globo’s web-site.

Press representatives at the Labour Ministry did not comment on the au-thenticity of the Globo list, which was dated October 10 and featured more than 100 companies and individuals, includ-

ing JBS Aves Ltda, according to a copy on Globo’s website.

The latest offi cial government list of companies allegedly involved in slave labour is dated July 27, the ministry said. JBS Aves is not on it.

JBS has been embroiled in scandal after the Batista brothers, who own the com-pany, confessed in a plea deal to paying bribes to scores of politicians to advance their own business interests.

Though without a majority, Macri has won a mandate for economic reform

PAKISTAN19Gulf Times

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

In a rare gesture, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi yesterday took a test-flight of T-129, Turkish attack helicopter and appreciated it as an “impressive and good machine.” Talking to media after the test-flight, the prime minister said Turkish defence production industry was one of the best in the world and second to none. He lauded the Turkish aviation industry as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for such achievements in the defence production. To a question about Pakistan’s plan of purchasing T-129 helicopters, Prime Minister Abbasi said, “Our army is evaluating the helicopter, and we are negotiating the contract and terms.”

The Foresight Lab, a research body, has launched a research study which says that the next 10 years appear to be promising for Pakistan. The Pakistan State of the Future Index (PK-SOFI) is a 10-year future index composed of 30 variables that indicate if the future is getting better or worse, said a press release. It shows 30-year trends of improvement and decline. The statement quoted Puruesh Chaudhary, founder, Foresight Lab and founding president AGAHI Foundation, as saying: “With this national study, Pakistan leads the region in future research in public space. This is where this nation is winning.”

A special committee of the provincial government of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province yesterday finalised the draft of rules for the first-ever mechanism for registration of Hindu community marriages in Sindh. Formulated in line with the Sindh Hindus Marriage Act, 2016, the set of regulations were finalised during a meeting chaired by the chief minister’s special assistant on minorities’ aff airs, Dr Khatu Mal Jeewan. The draft would now be discussed in the Sindh Cabinet’s next meeting, scheduled for October 26, which will be presided over by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

The Punjab province government is presenting the Punjab Medical Supplies Authority Bill 2017 in the current session of the Punjab Assembly under the express directions of the chief minister. The aim of the authority is to procure drugs and medical equipment and supply them to the public health facilities in the province. “We had sought final approval for the proposed draft law but the chief minister has ordered its presentation in the current session of the assembly for early passage of the law. According to the draft law, the authority will procure quality drugs and equipment at competitive rates for the health facilities.

A mass marriage ceremony of 30 couples from diff erent parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir was organised by a charity organisation in the Daultala town of Gujar Khan in Rawalpindi district on Sunday. Tahira Aurangzeb, MPA Tahseen Fawad, MNA Raja Jawaid Ikhlas and other political figures attended the ceremony. Sheikh Sajid, a UAE-based businessman and the president of Suleman Foundation, endowed household dowry and bore other expenses of the couples. He announced that next year he would extend the facility to 50 deserving families. People from diff erent walks of life hailed the services of the foundation.

Pakistan may acquire Turkish attack helicopter

Next 10 years to be promising for Pakistan

Rules for registration of Hindu marriages finalised

Medical supplies bill to be put before assembly

30 couples married in masswedding in Rawalpindi

DEFENCE ECONOMYCOMMUNITY HEALTHCARE COMMUNITY

US, Pakistanre-engage in crucial talksThe United States and Paki-

stan deepen their engage-ment with talks between

both civil and military offi cials as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Mah-mood Hayat arrives in the US capital to attend an international conference on counterterrorism.

In Islamabad, Pakistan will host US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today for the fourth round of talks aimed at rebuild-ing ties between the two coun-tries which, until recently, were close allies in the war against terrorism.

In December, Islamabad will host yet another visitor, Defence Secretary James Mattis to review the reconciliation process that be-gan with a meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Ab-basi and US Vice-President Mike Pence in New York last month.

The decision to push forward the reconciliation process was taken at that meeting and led to Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif’s visit to Washington two weeks ago.

Asif not only met his counter-part — Secretary Tillerson — but also held in-depth talks with National Security Adviser Gen HR McMaster.

The third round of talks was held in Islamabad when an in-teragency US delegation visited the Pakistani capital with details of the new US strategy for South Asia announced by President Donald Trump on August 21.

On a separate platform, the United States invited Gen Hayat to Washington to attend the conference on counterterrorism, creating yet another opportunity for talks, now between defence offi cials of the two countries.

US policymakers believe that direct talks with Pakistani de-

fence offi cials are necessary to address their main concern: seeking Pakistan’s assistance in the fi ght against militants along the Pak-Afghan border.

This will also be the focus of defence secretary’s talks in Is-lamabad, when he visits the city in December.

Mattis told a Congressional panel early this month that the United States was re-engaging Pakistan to support its eff orts to win the Afghan war.

“I would like to think we will be successful,” but that the Unit-ed States “has an enormously powerful number of options” if the talks fail, he said.

Laurel Miller, a former US special representative for Af-ghanistan and Pakistan says the US and Pakistan need to engage in a transaction of interests, in-stead of each being overly fo-cused on persuading the other that its interests are the ones that need to dominate the con-versation.

Robin Raphel, a former US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, reminds both that the entire debate about US-Pa-kistan relations “has gotten far too emotional”.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, argues that the US needs to counter China’s grow-ing infl uence with India’s help to prevent Beijing from rebuilding its relationship with Islamabad.

Vikram Singh, the former US deputy assistant secretary of defence, claims that the clash of interests in Afghanistan will also prevent the United States and Pakistan from restoring

their alliance.The four former policymak-

ers gathered at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) this week to re-view a relationship that is seen in Washington as important and intriguing.

The review precedes US Sec-retary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to South Asia.

USIP, a Congress-funded fed-eral institution, initiated the di-alogue that probed how the new US strategy for South Asia that President Donald Trump an-nounced on Aug 21, was seen in Islamabad and New Delhi.

“Both sides in the relationship are too focused on trying to per-suade the other side on the need for the correctness of their point of view,” says Miller.

She believes that the US wants Pakistan to see risks and oppor-tunities in Afghanistan.

And the Pakistanis want to persuade the US to recognise the necessity of looking at the prob-lems of the region through a his-torical and an India-centric lens.

Laurel warns that both argu-ments — Pakistan’s historical perspective and the US “here and now” approach would fail to remove the tensions that have strained their relationship.

Instead, she urges the US to see not only what are the ways to pressure Pakistan to take its concerns more seriously but also to make it clearer what’s on off er for Pakistan.

“And I don’t mean carrots in the sense of fi nancial assistance. I mean, what the US is prepared to do in terms of its strategy in the region and its vision of the relationship to attract the Paki-stanis to something that can be of mutual benefi t,” she says.

“And Pakistanis need to ar-ticulate what they are prepared to do and not do. And what’s it that’s on off er from their per-spective that could appeal to American interests.”

InternewsIslamabad

“Both sides in the relationship are too focused on trying to persuade the other side on the need for the correctness of their point of view”

A Pakistani beekeeper wearing protective gear checks a honeycomb at a bee farm in Peshawar yesterday. There are around 300,000 honeybee colonies being maintained in Pakistan producing 7,500 tonnes of honey annually, according to the latest honey production statistics released by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council.

Humming with activity

Finance minister appears before anti-graft court

Increase in economic activity brings winds of change in Pakistan

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar appeared before an ac-countability court in Is-

lamabad for the seventh time yesterday as his trial resumed in a reference fi led by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The NAB prosecution pre-sented two new witnesses against the minister yesterday.

The fi rst witness, Abdul Reh-man Gondal, branch manager of a private bank’s parliament branch, completed his state-ment and was cross-examined by Dar’s counsel Khawaja Haris.

Gondal provided details of the account held by Dar in the bank. He informed the court that NAB had summoned him along with relevant documents on August 16 and he submitted the requi-site record concerning Dar to NAB’s investigating offi cer.

Gondal said he had provided bank statements of Dar ranging from March 25, 2005 to August 16, 2017 to NAB. The bank trans-action details provided by the witness were made part of case record by the court.

The court directed to him ap-pear in the next hearing with ad-ditional record.

The second witness, Masood Ghani, the operations manager in a private bank, later gave his testimony regarding Dar’s bank account.

During his cross-examina-tion, Khawaja Haris pointed out that the verifi ed copies of bank

documents presented by Ghani are diff erent from the originals submitted to NAB. The court then asked the witness to ap-pear in the next hearing with the original documents.

During the hearing, the judge observed that the objective of recording statements of various bank offi cials is to gather the ac-cused’s bank data and compare it with his declared assets to ascer-tain the wrongdoing, if any.

Yesterday’s hearing saw senior counsel Haris and NAB Special Prosecutor Imran Shafiq exchange hot words af-ter the defence counsel asked the prosecution witnesses some technical questions. The NAB prosecutor accused Haris of creating a “hostile atmos-phere”, while the counsel sug-gested that the prosecutor go and talk to media if he wanted to “make the headlines”.

NAB authorities informed the

court during the hearing that they have frozen Dar’s assets af-ter fi ling a reference against him. They submitted an application seeking the court’s endorsement of the move. The application will be taken up at a later hearing.

The court has summoned two additional witnesses, Faisal Shahzad and Mohamed Azeem, also from the banking sectors, for the next hearing. The hearing was subsequently adjourned till October 30.

Last Wednesday, the court had adjourned the hearing of the graft cases until October 23 after Dar’s senior counsel left the country in a rush earlier the same day.

In the preceding hearing of the case, Haris had cross-ques-tioned Al-Baraka Islamic Bank’s Assistant Vice-President Tariq Javed — the prosecution’s third witness.

The court had indicted Dar

last month in a NAB reference pertaining to his owning assets “beyond his known sources of income”.

On July 28, a fi ve-member Supreme Court bench had or-dered NAB to fi le three refer-ences against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and one against Dar, on petitions fi led by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Imran Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

In its reference against the fi -nance minister, NAB has alleged that “the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependants of an approximate amount of Rs831.678mn (approx)”.

The reference alleged that the assets were “disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for”.

With the increase in economic activity, the need for energy has

increased and a balance between energy sustainability and eco-nomic growth is the need of the day in Pakistan.

The exploitation of appropriate energy sources, keeping in view future energy need, is the key to-

wards energy sustainability.With the increase in utilisa-

tion of conventional energy sources such as coal, gas and hy-dro for power generation, clean energy resources which do not pollute the environment should be utilised.

Power generation from wind is one such resource which is not only environmentally friendly but which also replenishes with time and thus is virtually inex-haustible.

Amongst others, Climate Change is one of the biggest glo-bal challenges.

The uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels for power generation is one of the main reasons behind the phenomenon.

Contrary to this, wind power generation does not pose any danger to the environment.

Not only is wind energy en-vironmentally friendly, it is also not aff ected by any external fac-tors and geo-political scenarios

as it is an indigenous resource.With no use of imported fuel,

the variation in global prices of fuel does not impact wind power generation thus providing stabil-ity in electricity prices as well as energy security for the country.

The price of wind power gen-eration has also seen a steady de-cline in the last few years due to a decrease in costs and advance-ments in wind power technology.

Wind energy has achieved grid parity in many parts of the

world and is now considered an economical and viable source of power generation.

This decrease in tariff s for wind energy is evident from the Upfront Tariff s determined by Nepra from time to time.

It is envisaged that this trend of decline in wind energy prices will continue making it more economical.

The exploitation of alternative and renewable sources of energy has been a prime focus of the current government.

While new corridors with wind energy potential are being identifi ed through surveys and wind mapping, the development of wind power projects is simul-taneously being undertaken.

In order to assess the poten-tial of wind power generation in Pakistan, the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has carried out satellite based wind mapping of Pakistan with the assistance of National Renew-able Energy Laboratories of US.

In the recent past AEDB, with the assistance of the World Bank, has installed wind masts in diff erent parts of the country in order to gather ground based bankable wind data.

AgenciesIslamabad

AgenciesIslamabad

Sharjeel Memon arrested by NAB

A team from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took former Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon into custody yesterday after the Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected his bail plea in a corruption case pertaining to the award of advertisements at ‘exorbitant rates’ through the abuse of his power.NAB off icials also arrested 11 co-accused in the case who had been accompanying Memon in the court. Out of the 11, five had handed over themselves to NAB off icials whereas the remaining seven were arrested along with Memon. One accused in the case had been granted extension in his bail.Memon will be produced before an accountability

court today, NAB off icials said, adding that they would seek 14-day remand of the accused.Following the rejection of his bail plea, Memon had holed up for hours in a courtroom to avoid arrest as his team explored their options, but could not stave off the inevitable for long. During this period, in an apparent show of solidarity, several PPP ministers visited Memon in the court, DawnNews reported. To avoid any ‘untoward incident’, a large number of law enforcement agencies personnel had beefed up the security around the court.As soon as Memon exited the building, surrounded by his lawyers, he was nabbed by representatives of the accountability bureau and whisked away.

Grand Democratic Alliance to get registered

The Grand Democratic Al-liance (GDA) has decided to get their alliance reg-

istered with the Election Com-mission of Pakistan and contest next year’s National Assembly and provincial assembly elec-tions with full force.

The decision was taken at a GDA meeting which was held at

the Kingri House here yesterday with PML-F president Pir Pa-gara in the chair.

The meeting also announced that it would hold a public meet-ing in Sukkur on Nov 26 to ap-prise the people of the poor gov-ernance of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.

It also demanded strict ac-countability for Zardari’s party than PML-N and highlighted the need for controlling corrupt bureaucracy in Sindh which was

extending full support to the PPP.

The GDA, which comprises Pakistan Muslim League-Func-tional, National Peoples Party, Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Sindh National Front, People’s Party (Workers) and some other like-minded political groups, decided to get the alliance registered with the Election Commission.

It also decided to form a steer-ing committee headed by Pir Pa-gara.

InternewsKarachi

The uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels for power generation is one of the main reasons behind the phenomenon

PHILIPPINES

Gulf TimesTuesday, October 24, 201720

Five-month battle with IS militants ‘ends in Marawi’AFP Clark, Philippines

A fi ve-month battle against Islamic State supporters in the south-

ern Philippines that claimed more than 1,100 lives has ended following a fi nal battle inside a religious place, defence chiefs said yesterday.

The conclusion of the con-fl ict ended immediate fears that IS would establish a Southeast Asian base in the southern city of Marawi.

But concerns remained about its longer-term intentions and capabilities for the region.

“We now announce the termi-nation of all combat operations in Marawi,” Defence Secretary Delfi n Lorenzana told reporters on the sidelines of a regional se-curity meeting in Clark, a north-ern Philippine city.

“There are no more militants inside Marawi city.”

Hundreds of local and foreign gunmen who had pledged alle-giance to IS rampaged through Marawi, on May 23.

They then took over parts of the city using civilians as hu-man shields.

An ensuing US-backed mili-tary campaign claimed the lives of at least 920 militants, 165 soldiers and 47 civilians, ac-cording to the military.

More than 400,000 residents were displaced as near-daily air strikes and intense ground

combat left large parts of the city in ruins.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte travelled to Marawi on Tuesday last week and declared the city had been “liberated”, a day after the Southeast Asian leader for IS, a Filipino militant named Isnilon Hapilon, was shot dead there.

However the continued fi ght-ing in subsequent days raised questions over whether the city was indeed free of militants.

“The presence of the Maute-ISIS was confi ned to two build-

ings,” armed forces chief Gen-eral Eduardo Ano told reporters yesterday as he explained the situation in Marawi following Duterte’s liberation proclama-tion.

“That is where the last fi ght-ing occurred and that is the place where we rescued (an) ad-ditional 20 hostages.

“In that fi ghting, we gave the chance for these militants and terrorists to surrender. But they fought to the last breath so we had no choice.”

The bodies of 42 militants

were recovered after the fi nal battle, including two women and fi ve foreigners, according to Ano, who spoke at the same briefi ng as Lorenzana in Clark.

Hapilon, who was on the US government’s list of most want-ed terrorists, was killed along with one of group’s other lead-ers, Omarkhayam Maute, ac-cording to the military.

The militants had been able to defy the relentless bomb-ing raids that destroyed entire neighbourhoods by shelter-ing in basements and travelling

through tunnels, according to the military.

The military had also said its opponents hid inside religious places, and that soldiers had been ordered not to bomb or fi re artillery at such buildings.

The Philippines’ Muslim mi-nority regards the southern Phil-ippines as its ancestral homeland.

Rebels have been battling in the south since the 1970s for in-dependence or autonomy, with that confl ict claiming at least 120,000 lives.

The nation’s biggest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front, is in talks with the government to end the rebel-lion, and its leaders regularly denounce IS.

But there are more extreme groups with no interest in peace, some of which were originally part of the MILF.

Hapilon and Maute led small armed groups that declared their allegiance to IS in recent years, and they formed an al-liance aimed at taking over Marawi and establishing a re-gional caliphate for the Middle East-based militants. Duterte imposed martial law across the southern third of the Philip-pines immediately after the Marawi fi ghting erupted, saying it was needed to contain

IS’ infl uence spreading throughout the region.

When asked yesterday whether marital law would be lifted, Lorenzana said a decision had not yet been made.

Flame rises as damaged buildings are seen after government troops cleared the area from pro-Islamic State militant groups inside a war-torn area in Marawi city, southern Philippines yesterday.

The Philippine flag is held by a soldier after government troops cleared the area from pro-Islamic State militant groups inside a war-torn area in Bangolo town.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (left) with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Eduardo Ano, answers questions during a press conference in Clark, east of Manila yesterday.

Mattis praises govt for success

US Defence Secretary James

Mattis yesterday praised the

Philippines for its successes in

battling Islamic State supporters,

as he began an Asian trip aimed

at reaff irming American support

for regional allies. Mattis echoed

Philippine President Rodrigo

Duterte’s statement last week

that Filipino forces had “liberated”

the southern city of Marawi,

after five months of bitter urban

fighting that had claimed more

than 1,000 lives, even though

battles have continued. “One of

the first things I’m going to do

when I get there is commend the

Philippine military for liberating

Marawi from the terrorists,” Mattis

told reporters on the flight to

the Philippines, according to an

off icial transcript. “It was a very

tough fight as you know in south-

ern Mindanao (the local region).

And I think the Philippine military

sends a very strong message to

the terrorists.” Mattis flew to the

Philippines to attend a meeting

hosted by Southeast Asian

defence ministers at the former

American military base of Clark,

two hours’ drive north of Manila.

The Philippines is a former

American colony and the two

nations are bound by a mutual

defence treaty. But relations have

soured under Duterte as he has

sought to build closer ties with

China and Russia.

Asean ministers call for co-operation on regional securityDPAManila

Defence ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)

have expressed “grave concerns over the escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula” and underscored the need for co-operation to combat terrorism following a meeting yesterday in the Philippines.

The ministers of the 10-member group agreed to establish a working group to develop guidelines on air en-counters between military air-craft and adopted a concept paper on guidelines on mari-time encounters to help pre-vent untoward incidents in the South China Sea due to miscal-culation, according to a joint statement.

“The joint declaration being signed embodies the collec-tive sense of the Asean defence ministers on the regional secu-rity environment,”

said Philippine Defence Sec-retary Delfi n Lorenzana, who chaired the meeting.

“More importantly, it con-

tains the ministers’ shared thrust and specifi c undertak-ings to address the security challenges facing the region as well as the practical measures to promote co-operation,” Loren-zana said.

The ministers urged the denuclearisation of the Ko-rean Peninsula amid the recent

launching and testing by North Korea of intercontinental bal-listic missiles.

They urged nations involved in the issue to exercise self-re-straint and to resume dialogue to reduce tension and maintain peace and stability in the region.

The ministers “strongly urged” North Korea “to imme-

diately comply” with its obliga-tions contained in UN Security Council resolutions.

The ministers reaffi rmed the importance of “maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and over-fl ight above the South China Sea.”

China claims almost the en-

tire sea lane, while Asean na-tions the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia claim parts of the sea.

Taiwan is also a claimant. The ministers pointed out impor-tance to pursue peaceful resolu-tions of disputes in accordance with international law, includ-ing the 1982 United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). They called for the adoption of a code of conduct in the sea lane to reduce and man-age tension.

During the meeting, Loren-zana announced the end of conflict between government forces and militants in Marawi City.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Defence Ministers (from left): Brunei’s Minister of Energy and Industry Haji Mohamed Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Cambodia’s Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, Indonesia’s Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, Lao PDR’s Defence Minister Chansamone Chanyalath, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein, Philippines’ Defence Secretary and Chairman of the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting Delfin Lorenzana, Myanmar’s Defence Minister Sein Win, Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Thailand’s Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Vietnam’s Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich and Asean Secretary General Le Luong Minh link arms during the 11th Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) opening ceremony in Clark, east of Manila yesterday.

Abaya faces graft charges over MRT-3 deal

By Ma. Reina Leanne TolentinoManila Times

Former transportation sec-retary Joseph Emilio Abaya and several others are fac-

ing a graft complaint before the Offi ce of the Ombudsman in connection with the P3.8bn contract for the maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3).

In the complaint fi led yester-day, Undersecretary for Legal Aff airs and Procurement Reinier Paul Yebra of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) accused Abaya and the others of violat-ing the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act when they entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) with maintenance fi rm Bu-san Universal Rail Inc. (BURI).

This was despite the absence of a “valid JVA executed between the parties forming the JV (joint venture), contrary to the provi-sions of RA 9184 and its RIRR,” the complaint stated, referring to Republic Act 9184 or the Gov-ernment Procurement Reform Act and its revised implement-ing rules and regulations.

The complaint also alleged that Buri was undercapitalised and did not join any public bid-ding.

The contract, for the MRT-3 maintenance, 43 LRVs or light rail vehicles, general overhaul, and total replacement of the sig-nalling system, was signed be-tween the Transport department and the MRT3 and the Busan JV on January 7, 2016.

Busan JV refers to the Busan Transportation Corp, Edison Development and Construction, Tramat Mercantile, Inc, TMI-Corp Inc and Castan, Inc. Joint Venture.

“Worse, the public respond-ents allowed the implementation of the contract between DOTC and the Busan JV by BURI, which is not only a totally diff erent en-tity, but a newly formed corpo-ration lacking the required years of experience of at least fi fteen (15) years of continuous experi-ence from the submission of of-fer in the maintenance of railway system,” the DoTr alleged.

Sen. Grace Poe, who led Sen-ate inquiries into the MRT-3 deal, said the complaint had solid basis. “It is high time that the axe falls where it should. The Senate investigation alone has proved that the award to BURI (Busan Universal Rail Inc.) was anomalous,” she said.

“I thus expect that the Om-budsman will fi nd probable cause and fi le the appropriate charges with the Sandiganbayan against the culprits soon,” said Poe, head of the Senate Com-mittee on Public Services.

This should deliver a “stern warning” and reminder that public offi cials past and present will have to be made accountable for their misfeasance and mal-feasance in offi ce in due time,” she said.

Four alleged members of a gun-for-hire group, including their mastermind and his minor live-in partner, were killed while three oth-ers escaped during an encounter with policemen here before dawn yesterday, Manila Times reported from Cavite City. Police Off icer 2 Julius Llave, off icer-on-case, identi-fied the slain suspect as Airon Alvarez Cruz, 26, alleged leader of Airon Cruz Group; his live-in partner Charlie Jean Dimapilis, 15, reportedly three months pregnant; and three other unidentified gunmen.The policemen were responding to a call from a concerned resident who reported indiscriminate firing coming from the safehouse of Cruz on Lopez Jaena Street, Barangay 30 Caridad, when they were met by a volley of gunfire about five metres away from their target, triggering a fire fight. The ensuing gunbattle resulted in the death of the suspects while three other armed suspects es-caped during the shootout.Police said Cruz, also known as “Toyo” and “Praning,” has been involved in illegal activities, includ-ing drugs and gun-for-hire sorties. He was recently released from jail for the killing of a tricycle driver in September.

Four criminal group suspects killed in clash

LAW & ORDER

SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL21

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Rohingya refugees must go home, says BangladeshBangladesh called on My-

anmar yesterday to al-low nearly 1mn Rohingya

Muslim refugees to return home under safe conditions, saying that the burden had become “untenable” on its territory.

About 600,000 people have crossed the border since August 25 when Rohingya insurgent at-tacks on security posts were met by a counter-off ensive by the Myanmar army in Rakhine state which the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.

“This is an untenable situation,” Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told a UN pledging conference. “Despite claims to the contrary, violence in Rakhine state has not stopped. Thousands still enter on a daily basis.”

Vital humanitarian aid must continue, Ahsan said, adding: “It is of paramount importance that Myanmar delivers on its

recent promises and works to-wards safe, dignifi ed, voluntary return of its nationals back to their homes in Myanmar.”

Bangladesh’s interior minister was in Yangon yesterday for talks to fi nd a “durable solution”, he said.

But Myanmar continued to issue “propaganda projecting Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, Ahsan said, adding: “This blatant denial of the ethnic identity of Rohingyas remains a stumbling block.”

Myanmar considers the Ro-hingya to be stateless, although they trace their presence in the country back generations.

Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, later told journalists that the two countries had begun talks on “repatriation”.

Conducive conditions have to be “recreated” in Rakhine, he said. “This must include a solution to the question of citi-zenship, or rather lack thereof for the Rohingya community,” Grandi said.

Khaled al-Jarallah, deputy for-

eign minister of Kuwait, called on Myanmar authorities to “cease the practice of stripping the Ro-hingya minority of their right of citizenship, which as a result deprives them of the right to property and employment”.

Jordan’s Queen Rania vis-ited Rohingya refugee camps on Monday and called for a stronger response from the international community to the plight of the Rohingya who fl ed to Bangla-desh to escape “systematic per-secution” in Myanmar.

“One has to ask, why is the plight of this Muslim minority group being ignored? Why has the systematic prosecution been al-lowed to play out for so long?” she asked after touring the camps.

The United Nations has ap-pealed for $434mn to provide life-saving aid to 1.2mn people for six months.

“We need more money to keep pace with intensifying needs. This is not an isolated crisis, it is the latest round in a dec-ades-long cycle of persecution, violence and displacement,”

ReutersGeneva

Activist accused of rallying refugees detained

An activist accused of campaigning in refugee camps for the uncondi-

tional return of displaced Ro-hingya to Myanmar has been arrested in Bangladesh, police said.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fl ed to Bangladesh since August 25.

Only accredited charities are allowed to operate in the sensi-tive border region and Bang-ladesh has heavily curtailed access to the vast camps.

Mahbubul Alam Minar was detained more than a week ago but police only confi rmed late Sunday he was being held on suspicion of erecting banners list-ing Rohingya demands in English and Bengali.

An investigation has been opened into Minar, who has links to Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh, deputy police chief in the Cox’s Bazar border district Afrozul Haq Tutul said.

Bangladesh authorities are wary of Islamist groups - most notably the armed Arakan Ro-hingya Salvation Army fi ght-ing for the stateless minority - gaining a foothold in the vast refugee camps.

Police believe Minar acted alone in hanging the banners, which claim to represent the previously-unknown Com-mittee on Rohingya Rights Establishment, and broad-casting his eff orts on social media.

The banners called for all dis-placed Rohingya to be granted safe passage back to Myanmar, compensation for their de-stroyed homes and return of seized land.

They also demanded My-anmar’s westernmost Rakhine state adopt the Rohingya name Arakan, and that Muslims there are granted full religious free-dom, rights to education and a separate judiciary.

Bangladesh wants the Ro-hingya repatriated and has of-fered to stage a joint military push with Myanmar against the militants active in the border regions.

It has reinforced police checkpoints, deployed plain clothes offi cers and bolstered security in the camps to in-tercept any militants trying to mingle with civilians crossing the border.

“There is no way they can enter here,” Cox’s Bazar police chief Iqbal Hossain said.

AFPCox’s Bazar

Mark Lowcock, right, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Aff airs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator (OCHA), talks with Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh’s envoy at the UN, before the Pledging Conference for Rohingya Refugee Crisis at the UN in Geneva yesterday.

UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the talks.

An estimated 1,000-3,000 Rohingya still enter Bangladesh daily, William Lacy Swing, head of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. He called them: “these most rejected and

vulnerable people in the world.”Joanne Liu, president of the char-

ity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders, de-scribed them as “the walking dead”.

There are only 210 hospital beds for 1mn refugees, malnu-trition is on the rise and latrines

are lacking to prevent contami-nation, she said. “The camp is a time-bomb, ticking towards a full-blown health crisis.”

Lowcock said a total of $340mn had been pledged to date, but Grandi later put the fi gure at $335mn.

Dhaka is top priority among neighbours: Indian minister

Indian External Aff airs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday said that Bang-

ladesh gets priority among all of India’s neighbours and bi-lateral ties were moving ahead at a fast pace.

She also laid emphasis on investing in youth saying they are the future leaders of the two nations.

She was addressing a pro-gramme after the inauguration of the Chancery Complex of the Indian High Commission and 15 other projects in Bang-ladesh funded by India at a cost of 716.4mn taka, the Daily Star reported.

According to bdnews24.com, the projects cover sectors such as education, healthcare, IT, water supply and social welfare.

Eleven water treatment plants are being built in southern

Bhandaria Upazila in Pirojpur that will provide desalinated po-table drinking water to 150,000 citizens. Some 36 community clinics will also be built.

Those projects also include reconstruction of a temple which was destroyed by the in-vading Pakistani forces in 1971.

Bangladesh Foreign Min-ister Mahmood Ali, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim, Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain Man-ju, Prime Minister’s politi-

cal aff airs adviser H T Imam, Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and Indian High Com-missioner in Dhaka Harsh Var-dhan Shringla were present at yesterday’s event.

Swaraj, who arrived in Dha-ka on Sunday, held the fourth joint consultative commission meeting with her Bangladesh counterpart Mahmood Ali and reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties.

She left Dhaka later yesterday.

IANSDhaka

Opposition leader faces arrest warrant

A court in Dhaka has is-sued arrest warrants against senior opposi-

tion BNP leader Tarique Rah-man and two others on charges of treason.

Prosecutor Tapash Kumar Pal said the court yesterday

accepted the police charge-sheet in the case, bdnews24 reported.

Police fi led the case over ETV’s live telecast of Tarique’s speech at a programme in London on January 5, 2015.

Police fi led the case three days later and pressed treason charges against Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) senior vice chairman Tarique, then

ETV chairman Abdus Salam, former chief reporter Ma-hathir Faruqi and former sen-ior reporter Kanak Sarwar.

Salam is currently out on bail.

The court ordered the arrest of Faruqi and Sarwar yesterday and fi xed November 20 for the indictment hearing.

According to police, the suspects threatened the coun-

try’s sovereignty and tried to incite hatred against a legally constituted government by broadcasting and uttering false and fabricated informa-tion.

As per the case documents, the suspects had also tried to create a rift in the judiciary and internal confl icts within the army, border guards and police.

IANSDhaka

UN urges Lanka to start investigating war crimes

A United Nations expert warned yesterday that Sri Lanka must speed up

its own long-stalled investiga-tion into war crimes by troops or risk action by the international community.

Pablo de Greiff , the UN spe-cial rapporteur on the promo-tion of justice and reparation, said Sri Lanka had been slow to deliver on its promise of justice for atrocities during the island’s bloody 37-year civil war.

He said allegations of war crimes levelled last month against Sri Lanka’s then-am-bassador to Brazil, who was a general during the war era, un-derscored the risks faced by senior military offi cers past and present.

“As the recent case presented in Brazil against a former mem-ber of the armed forces demon-strates, accountability will be sought either here or abroad,” de Greiff said in Colombo yesterday.

The case in Brazil against re-tired general Jagath Jayasuriya was just the “tip of the iceberg”, de Greiff said.

He said Sri Lanka could ex-pect similar eff orts by foreign jurisdictions until it had tak-en steps to ensure a credible investigation of its own.

Jayasuriya left Brazil two days

after the International Truth and Justice Project, a South Af-rica-based rights group, fi led a case against the former general.

De Greiff criticised a public assurance given by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to troops that he would not allow “war heroes” to be prosecuted for alleged atrocities.

Sri Lankan forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009 after a brutal guerrilla war which claimed the lives of at least 100,000 people.

The military was accused of massacring up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians in their no-holds-barred off ensive.

Sri Lanka’s former regime refused to acknowledge the ci-vilian toll of its wartime cam-paign, drawing censure from the international community.

Sirisena’s government came to power in January 2015 prom-ising justice for war victims, but his administration has been ac-cused of dithering ever since.

Sirisena, unlike his predeces-sor Mahinda Rajapakse, agreed to investigate war crimes but has yet to take the necessary steps to do so.

De Greiff said the govern-ment’s pledge to pay reparations and prevent future atrocities was no substitute for accountability for past injustices.

He urged it to adopt a timeline for achieving this and encour-aged closer interaction with the UN human rights chief’s offi ce.

AFPColombo

UN Special Rapporteur on Transitional Justice Pablo de Greiff takes part in a press conference in Colombo yesterday.

Pilot revives crashed plane as Nepal capital’s fi rst aviation museum

A Turkish Airlines plane that crash landed at Kathmandu airport

two years ago will be welcom-ing ticket holders on board again - not for a fl ight but as the Nepali capital’s fi rst aviation museum.

The Airbus A330 was car-rying 224 passengers when it skidded off the runway at Kath-mandu’s airport in March 2015, coming to a stop with its nose buried in the grassy verge on the edge of the tarmac.

No one was hurt, but the crash shut Nepal’s only inter-national airport for four days as technicians struggled to move the plane.

It was eventually dragged to a disused corner of the airport where it sat rusting for two years - until pilot Bed Upreti had an idea.

“It is unfortunate that the air-craft (had) an accident and was grounded, but I saw a perfect opportunity,” Upreti said.

He bought the metal carcass and has invested $600,000 to

turn it into an aviation museum.Upreti’s fi rst task was moving

the 63m plane across the road from the airport to the muse-um’s lot - which proved harder than expected.

He previously brought an abandoned Fokker 100 - which is about half the size of an Air-bus A330 - and transported it 500km to Dhangadi in Nepal’s far west where he also set up a museum, though on a smaller scale that this one.

“Transporting that plane across districts was much eas-ier than relocating the Airbus metres away from the airport,” Upreti said.

Working only at night when the airport was closed, it took a team of engineers from Turkey six weeks to dismantle the plane into 10 pieces, before loading them onto trucks for the 500m journey across the road.

It took another two months to put all the pieces back together.

With all the seat stripped out of the belly of the plane, the new museum feels surprisingly spacious.

The business class section of the plane will feature a model of

the Wright Brothers’ fi rst air-craft - the fi rst machine to suc-cessfully take to the sky - and in the tail there will be a cafe.

More than 150 miniature dis-play planes will chart the his-tory of aviation as well as the story of Nepal’s fl ying industry.

Himalayan Nepal is heavily reliant on a network of domes-tic air routes to compensate

for its limited road network, though the country’s airlines have a poor safety record.

For many in the impoverished country, the airfares are also beyond their means.

“It (the museum) will give a chance to some Nepalis who might never fl y to step into a plane,” said engineering stu-dent Shyam Rauniyar, 22, who

was part of the team that put together the replica of the Wright Brother’s plane.

Upreti hopes that the mu-seum will inspire young minds to become pilots and engineers, and is confi dent that it will be a hit with visitors.

“Passers-by are already peeking to get a glimpse,” he said.

By Paavan Mathema, AFPKathmandu

Nepali pilot Bed Upreti walks from an airplane that has been converted into an aviation museum in Kathmandu.

Shortages of the technical and higher-level skills demanded by new technologies are partly responsible for the paradox of booming technology and slowing productivity growth in advanced economies

By Zia QureshiWashington, DC

The future of work is a hot topic nowadays. It has inspired a seemingly endless train of analyses,

commentaries, and conferences, and it featured prominently in last week’s annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. For good reason: new technologies – namely, digitisation, robotics, and artifi cial intelligence – have far-reaching implications for employment. But, contrary to how the story is often framed, a happy ending is possible.

The current debate often skews toward the melodramatic, foretelling a future in which machines drive humans out of work. According to some bleak estimates, 47% of jobs are at risk in the Unites States; 57% in the OECD countries; two thirds in developing economies; and half of all jobs globally (around 2bn).

But similarly dire predictions of large-scale job destruction and high technology-driven structural unemployment accompanied previous major episodes of automation, including by renowned economists. John Maynard Keynes off ered one; Wassily Leontief provided another. Neither materialised. Instead, technological change acted as a powerful driver of productivity and employment growth.

One key reason is that the technological innovations that destroy some existing jobs also create new ones. While new technologies reduce demand for low- to middle-skill workers in routine jobs, such as clerical work and repetitive production, they also raise demand for higher-skill workers in technical, creative, and managerial fi elds. A recent analysis estimates that new tasks and job titles explain about half of the recent employment growth in the US.

Given this, the evolution of work

should be viewed as a process of dynamic adjustment, not as a fundamentally destructive process that we should seek to slow. To erect barriers to innovation, such as taxes on robots, which some have proposed as a way to ease the pressure on workers, would be counterproductive. Instead, measures should focus on equipping workers with the higher-level skills that a changing labour market demands, and supporting workers during the adjustment process.

So far, education and training have been losing the race with technology. Shortages of the technical and higher-level skills demanded by new technologies are partly responsible for the paradox of booming technology and slowing productivity growth in advanced economies: skills shortages have constrained the diff usion of innovations. Imbalances between supply and demand have also fuelled income inequality, by increasing the wage premia that those with the right skills can command.

To address these shortcomings, education and training programmes must be revamped and expanded. As the old career path of “learn, work, retire” gives way to one of continuous learning – a process reinforced by the ageing of many economies’ workforces

– options for reskilling and lifelong education must be scaled up.

This will demand innovations in the content, delivery, and fi nancing of training, as well as new models for public-private partnerships. The potential of technology-enabled solutions must be harnessed, supported by a stronger foundation of digital literacy. At a time of rising inequality – in the US, for example, gaps in higher education attainment by family income level have widened – a strong commitment to improving access for the economically disadvantaged is also vital.

At the same time, countries must facilitate workers’ ability to change jobs through reforms to their labour markets and social safety nets. This means shifting the focus from backward-looking labour-market policies, which seek to protect workers in existing jobs, to future-oriented measures, such as innovative insurance mechanisms and active labour-market policies.

Moreover, social contracts based on formal long-term employer-employee relationships will need to be overhauled, with benefi ts such as retirement and healthcare made more portable and adapted to evolving work arrangements, including the expanding “gig” economy. Here, several proposals have already been put forward, including a universal

basic income, currently being piloted in Finland and some sub-national jurisdictions such as Ontario, Canada; a negative income tax; and various types of portable social security accounts that pool workers’ benefi ts.

On both of these fronts, France is setting a positive example. Early this year, the country launched a portable “personal activity account,” which enables workers to accrue rights to training across multiple jobs, rather than accumulating such rights only within a specifi c position or company. President Emmanuel Macron’s administration is now undertaking reforms to France’s stringent job protections, in order to boost labour-market fl exibility. Pursuing such initiatives simultaneously will enable France to capture reform synergies and ease the adjustment for workers.

Technological change will continue to pose momentous challenges to labour markets across economies, just as it has in the past. But, with smart, forward-looking policies, we can meet those challenges head on – and ensure that the future of work is a better job. – Project Syndicate

Zia Qureshi, a former director of development economics at the World Bank, is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Juergen Klopp’s spluttering Liverpool are copping a barrage of criticism after Sunday’s 4-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in what was the worst defensive display of the season by any top-tier side.

The normally assured German has seldom had to deal with such negativity in his two years at Anfi eld but with the club languishing in ninth place, 12 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, the pressure is cranking up.

Such is the rollercoaster of modern football that refl ections on Liverpool’s 7-0 trouncing of Maribor in the Champions League last week have been crowded out by talk of their defensive frailties.

The statistics are damning: Liverpool have conceded more goals — 16 in nine games — than in any campaign since 1964-65 and shipped more away from home than bottom side Crystal Palace.

Liverpool’s defensive problems have been well documented, with doubts regularly aired about keeper Simon Mignolet and whichever combination of defenders Klopp settles on.

Each of Sunday’s four goals stemmed from individual errors, some comically bad.

“The fi rst (goal) would not happen if I was on the pitch but I am in the middle of the technical area in my trainers,” said Klopp.

“It is unbelievably easy to defend, to close the space, we only have to clear the ball, shoe it, we don’t do it.”

Six months ago, Liverpool gave centre half Dejan Lovren a new four-year deal, reported to be worth 100,000 pounds ($132,000) a week. If you include the 20mn pounds they spent on buying him from Southampton, and his

wages to date, that represents a 50mn-pound investment in a player who on Sunday was so poor that he was substituted after 30 minutes.

Four of the back fi ve on show predated Klopp’s arrival, with Joel Matip, who arrived on a free from Schalke, his only signing. Andy Robertson, the one defender Klopp did pay money for, has seldom played since his 10mn-pound move from Hull City.

It all adds up to a confusing picture with supporters unsure whether to blame the inadequacies of individual players, Klopp’s inability to coach defending, or Michael Edwards, Liverpool’s sporting director, who is in charge of player recruitment.

Edwards is widely blamed for the botched attempt to sign Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk in the last transfer window, and Liverpool’s inability to identify alternative targets.

Yet up against them on Sunday was Davinson Sanchez, who Tottenham bought from Ajax for 40mn pounds and the Colombian looks precisely the sort of defender Liverpool need.

Klopp may yet return for Van Dijk in January although, with Southampton showing no more inclination to sell, the German may have to agree to look elsewhere or come up with a diff erent tactical plan.

His back line is not helped by a midfi eld pairing of Jordan Henderson and Emre Can who seldom shield in the way N’Golo Kante does at Chelsea, for example, while Klopp’s indecision over his best goalkeeper has added to the air of fragility.

In the short term the only answer lies on the training ground.

“We have to prove we are better defenders than we showed,” Klopp said. “I cannot fi x it here but we will fi x it. We have to work on it.”

The clock is certainly ticking for Liverpool.

The clock is ticking for Klopp and Liverpool

COMMENT

GULF TIMES

Liverpool have conceded more goals — 16 in nine games — than in any campaign since 1964-65

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 201722

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The not-so-dire future of work

Industry 4.0, Machine learning and artificial intelligence concept. Man in suit hand holding Ai chipsets and 3d rendering gears with flare light eff ect.

Gulf Times Tuesday, October 24, 2017 23

COMMENT

The EU is an association of nation-states, not regions. Although regions can play an important role within the EU, they cannot stand in as an alternative to member states

By Joschka FischerBerlin

Europe fi nally appears to have moved past its multi-year economic crisis, but it remains unsettled. For every reason for

optimism, there always seems to be a new cause for concern.

In June 2016, a slim majority of British voters chose nostalgia for the 19th-century past over whatever promise the twenty-fi rst century might have held. So they decided to jump off a cliff in the name of “sovereignty.” There is much evidence to suggest that a hard landing awaits the United Kingdom. A cynic might point out that it will take a properly functioning “sovereignty” to cushion the impact.

In Spain, the government of the autonomous region of Catalonia is now demanding sovereignty, too. But the current Spanish government is not prosecuting, imprisoning, torturing, and executing the people of Catalonia, as Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s dictatorship once did. Spain is a stable democracy and a member of the European Union, the eurozone, and Nato. For decades now, it has maintained the rule of law in accordance with a democratic constitution that was negotiated by all parties and regions, including Catalonia.

On October 1, the Catalan government held an independence

referendum in which less than half – some estimates say a third – of the region’s population participated. By the standards of the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the vote could never be accepted as “free and fair.” In addition to being illegal under the Spanish constitution, the referendum did not even have a voting register to determine who was entitled to participate.

Catalonia’s “alternative” referendum invited a clampdown from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government, which intervened to shut down polling stations and prevent people from casting ballots. This proved to be a political folly of the highest order, because images of the police swinging truncheons at unarmed Catalan protesters conferred a spurious legitimacy on the secessionists. No democracy can win in this kind of confl ict. And in the case of Spain, the crackdown conjured up images of the country’s 1936-1939 civil war – its deepest historical trauma to this day.

Were Catalonia actually to achieve independence, it would have to find a way forward without Spain or the EU. Spain, with the support of many other member states that worry about their own secessionist movements, would block any Catalan bid for EU or eurozone membership. And without membership in the European single market, Catalonia would face the grim prospect of rapid transformation from an economic powerhouse into an isolated and poor country.

But independence for Catalonia would pose a fundamental problem for Europe, too. For starters, no one wants a repeat of the breakup of Yugoslavia, for obvious reasons. But, more to the point, the EU cannot countenance the disintegration of member states,

because these states comprise the very foundation upon which it rests.

The EU is an association of nation-states, not regions. Although regions can play an important role within the EU, they cannot stand in as an alternative to member states. If Catalonia were to set a precedent of secession, encouraging other regions to follow suit, the EU would be thrown

into a deep, existential crisis. In fact, one could argue that nothing less than the EU’s future is at stake in Catalonia today.

Moreover, the original purpose of the EU was to overcome nation-states’ deficiencies by means of integration – the opposite of secession. It was meant to transcend the state system that had proved so

disastrous in the first half of the 20th century.

Consider Northern Ireland, which has turned out to be a perfect example of how integration within the EU can overcome national borders, bridge historical divides, and ensure peace and stability. Incidentally, the same could be said for Catalonia, which after all owes most of its economic success

to Spain’s accession to the EU in 1986.It would be historically absurd for

the EU’s member states to enter a phase of secession and disintegration in the 21st century. The sheer size of other global players – not least China, India, and the United States – has only made strong intercommunity relations and deeper European integration even more necessary.

One can only hope that reason will prevail, particularly in Barcelona, but also in Madrid. A democratic, intact Spain is too important to be jeopardised by disputes over the allocation of tax revenues among the country’s regions. There is no alternative but for both sides to abandon the trenches they have dug for themselves, come out to negotiate, and fi nd a mutually satisfactory solution that accords with the Spanish constitution, democratic principles, and the rule of law.

The experiences of Spain’s friends and allies could be helpful here. Germany, unlike Spain, is organised as a federation. Yet even in Germany, nothing is as cumbersome and diffi cult as the never-ending negotiations over fi scal transfers between the federal government and individual states – which is to say, between richer and poorer regions. But an agreement is always eventually reached, and it holds until another dispute arises, at which points negotiations begin anew.

To be sure, money is important. But it is not as important as Europeans’ shared commitment to liberty, democracy, and the rule of law. Europe’s prosperity depends on peace and stability, and peace and stability in Europe depend, fi rst and foremost, on whether Europeans will fi ght for these values. – Project Syndicate

Joschka Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader of the German Green Party for almost 20 years.

Europe’s attackers from within

Live issues

Does diabetes make a heart attack feel diff erent?

Ocean acidifi cation a threat to marine life

By Lisa Rapaport Reuters Health

People with diabetes may not always feel classic symptoms like acute chest pain when they have a heart attack, according

to a small study that off ers a potential explanation for why these episodes are more deadly for diabetics.

Researchers examined data from detailed interviews with 39 adults in the UK who had been diagnosed with diabetes and had also experienced a heart attack.

Most of the participants reported feeling some chest pain, but they often said it didn’t feel like they expected or that they didn’t think it was really a heart attack.

“Long term diabetes damages your heart in many ways (increased blocking of the heart’s blood vessels), but it also damages your nerves,” said study co-author Dr Melvyn Jones of University College London.

“So a bit like a diabetic might not feel the stubbing of their toe, they also feel less pain from damaged heart

muscle when the blood supply gets cut off , so they don’t get the classical crushing chest pain of a heart attack,” Jones said by e-mail.

People with diabetes are three times more likely to die from heart disease than the general population and possibly six times more likely to have a heart attack, Jones added.

All patients in the study received care at one of three hospitals in London, and they ranged in age from 40 to 90.

Most were male, and roughly half were white.

The majority had what’s known as type 2 diabetes, which is tied to ageing and obesity and happens when the body can’t properly use insulin to convert blood sugar into energy.

Four of them had type 1 diabetes, a lifelong condition that develops when the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone needed to allow blood sugar to enter cells.

Many of the participants described heart attack symptoms such as chest pain and discomfort.

However, many felt like their pain wasn’t severe enough to be a heart attack or didn’t consider the

discomfort they felt in their chest as similar to what they would expect with a heart attack.

This may have contributed to delays in seeking care, which are in turn associated with lower survival odds and a higher risk of complications and disability for people who do live through the event, researchers note in the journal BMJ Open.

The study was small, and it wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how diabetes might lead people to experience diff erent heart attack symptoms.

Still, it confi rms a longstanding belief that people with diabetes may be prone to atypical heart attack symptoms, said Dr Deepak Bhatt, executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Centre and a researcher at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

“Atypical means instead of the more classic chest pain or chest pressure, patients experience symptoms such as extreme fatigue or breathlessness, for example,” Bhatt, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail.

“The biology of the heart attack is the same,” Bhatt added. “But the thought is that patients with advanced diabetes may have a degree of nerve damage (neuropathy) and therefore may be less likely to experience the more common chest pain or chest pressure from a heart attack.”

Patients with diabetes should understand that they’re more likely to have a heart attack than other people, said Dr John Wilkins, a researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study.

“They should have regular follow-up with their physicians, keep their blood sugars well controlled, lead a heart-healthy lifestyle, avoid the development of cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and if they have risk factors they should make sure they are appropriately managed,” Wilkins said by e-mail.

“They should also be familiar with the symptoms that suggest that they might be having a heart attack or an impending heart attack and know how to respond if those symptoms develop,” Wilkins advised.

By Fiona HarveyLondon

If the outlook for marine life was already looking bleak – torrents of plastic that can suff ocate and starve fi sh, overfi shing, diverse

forms of human pollution that create dead zones, the eff ects of global warming which is bleaching coral reefs and threatening coldwater species – another threat is quietly adding to the toxic soup.

Ocean acidifi cation is progressing rapidly around the world, new research has found, and its combination with the other threats to marine life is proving deadly. Many organisms that could withstand a certain amount of acidifi cation are at risk of losing this adaptive ability owing to pollution from plastics, and the extra stress from global warming.

The conclusions come from an eight-year study into the eff ects of ocean acidifi cation which found the increasingly acid seas – a byproduct of burning fossil fuels – are becoming more hostile to vital marine life.

“Since ocean acidifi cation happens extremely fast compared to natural processes, only organisms with short generation times, such as micro-

organisms, are able to keep up,” the authors of the study Exploring Ocean Change: Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidifi cation found.

Marine life such as crustaceans and organisms that create calcifi ed shelters for themselves in the oceans were thought to be most at risk, because acid seas would hinder them forming shells. However, the research shows that while these are in danger, perhaps surprisingly, some – such as barnacles – are often unaff ected, while the damage from acidifi cation is also felt much higher up the food chain, into big food fi sh species.

Ocean acidifi cation can reduce the survival prospects of some species early in their lives, with knock-on eff ects. For instance, the scientists found that by the end of the century, the size of Atlantic cod in the Baltic and Barents Sea might be reduced to only a quarter of the size they are today, because of acidifi cation.

Peter Thomson, UN ambassador for the oceans and a diplomat from Fiji, which is hosting this year’s UN climate change conference in Bonn, urged people to think of the oceans in the same terms as they do the climate. “We are all aware of climate change, but we need to talk more about ocean change, and the eff ects of acidifi cation,

warming, plastic pollution, dead zones and so on,” he said. “The world must know that we have a plan to save the ocean. What is required over the next three years is concerted action.”

The eight-year study was carried out by the Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidifi cation group (known as Bioacid), a German network of researchers, with the support of the German government, and involved more than 250 scientists investigating how marine life is responding to acidifi cation, and examining research from around the world. The study was initiated well before governments signed a global agreement on climate change at Paris in 2015, and highlights how the Paris agreement to hold warming to no more than 2C may not be enough to prevent further acidifi cation of the world’s seas.

Governments will meet in Bonn in November to discuss the next steps on the road to fulfi lling the requirements of the Paris agreement, and the researchers are hoping to persuade attendees to take action on ocean acidifi cation as well.

Ocean acidifi cation is another eff ect of pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as the gas dissolves in seawater to produce weak carbonic acid. Since the industrial revolution,

the average pH of the ocean has been found to have fallen from 8.2 to 8.1, which may seem small but corresponds to an increase in acidity of about 26%. Measures to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere can help to slow down this process, but only measures that actively remove carbon already in the atmosphere will halt it, because of the huge stock of carbon already in the air from the burning of fossil fuels.

Worse still, the eff ects of acidifi cation can intensify the eff ects of global warming, in a dangerous feedback loop. The researchers pointed to a form of planktonic alga known as Emiliania huxleyi, which in laboratory experiments was able to adapt to some extent to counter the negative eff ects acidifi cation had upon it.

But in a fi eld experiment, the results were quite diff erent as the extra stresses present at sea meant it was not able to form the extensive blooms it naturally develops. As these blooms help to transport carbon dioxide from the surface to the deep ocean, and produce the gas dimethyl sulphide that can help suppress global warming, a downturn in this species “will therefore severely feed back on the climate system”. — Guardian News and Media

Catalan regional government president Carles Puigdemont signs a document about the independence of Catalonia at the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona on October 10. Puigdemont said he accepted the “mandate of the people” for the region to become “an independent republic,” but proposed suspending its immediate implementation to allow for dialogue.

Three-day forecast

TODAY

THURSDAY

High: 36 C

Low : 27 C

High: 34 C

Low: 26 C

Weather report

Around the region

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Weather todaySunnyP CloudySunnySunnySunnySunnySunnySunny

Around the world

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Max/min21/1225/2131/2513/1129/1919/1329/2632/2328/2421/1433/2533/2418/1432/2401/-334/1922/1718/1122/1619/0732/2626/1618/13

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Fishermen’s forecast

OFFSHORE DOHAWind: NW-N 03-12 KTWaves: 1-3 Feet

INSHORE DOHAWind: NW-NE 04-13 KTWaves: 1-2 Feet

High: 33 C

Low: 26 C

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Inshore: Hazy at places at first becomes hot daytime with some clouds.

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Max/min34/2733/2035/2535/2334/2632/2436/2124/12

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26/14

24 Gulf TimesTuesday, October 24, 2017

QATAR

Editor-in-chief of Gulf Times Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka highlights some of the important issues during the panel discussion.

‘Fake news, hacking triggered Gulf crisis’From Page 1

That is the need of the hour and it has been the case on sev-eral occasions worldwide. Such an attitude can bring an end to unwanted propaganda as well as fake news,” said one of the pan-ellists at the forum.

Opening the session, al-Mudahka said that the inter-national media houses covered the Gulf crisis fairly. “Most in-ternational media had the right editorials and details, but what really surprised me was the Ar-abic version of their channels.

For example, Sky News Ara-bic editorials and their cover-age of the Gulf crisis were very partial. Even after four months of blockade, they are presenting only one view. They never tried to collect the views of the Qatari side,” he said.

Al-Mudahka also pointed out that some channels like Al Jazeera followed an independent view and presented the views from all sides and were open-hearted while some other chan-nels were an embarrassment.

Walt noted: “Some of the reporting on the Gulf crisis seemed to be lacking focus as some of them were faced with confusion and even chaos about US President Donald Trump’s tweets about Qatar and the cri-sis. The crisis overshadowed the underlying issues and what it is all about.”

Daragahi was of the view that the international media had covered the crisis honour-ably and with great balance. He also attributed that the in-ternational media’s support for Qatar is in accordance with some international principles that are based on certain core values the Western journalists follow.

Al-Mudahka highlighted the fact that the whole crisis started with the issue of fake news. “The trigger of the whole crisis was the fake news spread by the blockading countries by hacking the Qatar News Agen-cy website. There was a fake news on food supply spread by blockading countries. Al Ara-biya reported that Qatar hired a person who deals with black magic. There were so many funny things.”

He also told that to counter the issue of fake news, a cartoon section has been started in Gulf Times.

“This is my humble way of fi ghting the fake news. However, it played to our benefi t. They are silly and people can easily un-derstand what is right and what is wrong. I am collecting all this

Borzou Daragahi, Middle East correspondent for BuzzFeed News speaking at the event. PICTURES: Ram ChandMohamed al-Jaidah, a Qatari entrepreneur, discussing a topic during the forum.

A section of the audience at the event.

Guests at the Qatar Media Industries Forum.

fake news to publish a book in future along with all the cartoons,” he added.

Walt noted that fake news is one of the most complex and urgent prob-lems, while Daragahi called it a satire. “This is a big problem and the technol-ogy platforms have to look into it carefully to tackle it. There’s a measure of responsibility that needs to be measured up to,” he highlighted.

As for the social me-dia’s role in the crisis, al-Mudahka pointed out that social media is a platform

to shape the ideas of the viewers.

He explained: “The social media army from the blockading countries spread a lot of hate speech which our community is not used to. Social media has been used to spread extremism. People from the blockading countries used several campaigns, including religion, against us in the crisis. We saw singers being used against Qatar.”

Walt said that social me-dia is an empowering factor in the recent years. “It has

been tremendously use-ful for exchange of views especially during the time when traditional media is losing revenues,” she said.

According to Daragahi, social media can be used as a tool for journalism but cannot be used as tool of information. “As a tool of information it is totally damaging. Social media can distort the happen-ings. It does more damage than any good for ordinary people as source of news. However it is a great tool for journalism,” he main-tained.

“The social media army from the blockading countries spread a lot of hate speech which our community is not used to”