SJC introduces new procedures to speed up delivery of justice

QNADOHA

THE Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has intro-duced new procedures to speed up delivery of judgement and to limit red tape in court.

The council has established a new authority in the framework of law no. 3 of 2019. The new authority will be chaired by one of the judges of the Court of Appeals, aided by a number of judg-es. It will also have a suitable number of police officers and personnel. Only the judge has the authority to settle any disputes.

The law states that government entities must present the documents required by the judge within a week. Under the new provision, a case

cannot be adjourned more than once for the same reason, with no adjournment lasting more than two weeks.

The council has also updated a new mecha-nism related to technology. The quorum for magistrate courts of first instances increased to not more than QR500,000, compared to QR30,000 in the previous version of the law. As for courts of first instance with a full bench, the quorum was hiked to QR500,000 compared to QR100,000 in the previous version of the law.

The SJC is currently working on the adop-tion of an electronic link for the implementa-tion of sentences, by linking the new depart-ment with the concerned government bodies to implement civil judgments.

Qatar unveils ‘Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor’ project

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QATARI youth continued to showcase their creations at the Young Qatari Designers (YQD) initiative at Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE).

The YQD initiative is a unique platform for the emerg-ing local talents. It features 12 talented designers this year, twice the number com-pared to earlier.

Ten Qatari women designers, who are part of the YQD initiative, as well as designers Mariam al Khalaf and Noora al Ansari, participated in the

charity auction held by DJWE on Sunday. The auction was moderated by Habib al Tamimi.

The auction, which was success-fully held for the second time, at-

tracted prominent dignitar-ies and businessmen. The

proceeds of this year’s auction will go to Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, a global movement founded in 2012 by

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, which contributes to human, social and economic development through quality education.

A total of 11 Qatari-de-signed creations were centre of attraction at the auction. The collections are diverse; each piece expresses styles with various influences, reflecting a mix of traditional and mod-ern designs with Eastern and Western influences. The col-lections also show the influ-ence of modern art for some, and national pride and Orien-tal femininity, for some other.

Jewellery and watches expo helps empower young Qatari innovators

MONDAYFEBRUARY 25, 2019

JUMADA AL-AKHIR 20, 1440VOL.12 NO. 4556 QR 2

The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani met HH Sheikh Nasser al Mohammad al Ahmad al Sabah, Representative of the Amir of Kuwait HH Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Jaber al Sabah at the Amiri Diwan on Sunday. At the outset of the meeting, Sheikh Nasser conveyed the greetings of the Amir of Kuwait to the Amir, expressing thanks for naming the corridor road project after His Highness. Sheikh Nasser also conveyed the wishes of HH the Amir of Kuwait of good health and happiness to the Amir and for continued progress and prosperity for the Qatari people. The Amir conveyed his greetings to the Amir of Kuwait, wishing him good health and further progress and prosperity to the Kuwaiti people. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations. Afterwards, the Amir held a luncheon banquet in honour of the Rep-resentative of HH the Amir of Kuwait and the accompanying delegation. The meeting and the banquet was attended by Personal Representative of the Amir HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, and Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani. (QNA)

A TRIBUTE TO KUWAIT AMIRAMIR MEETS KUWAIT AMIR’S REPRESENTATIVE

Corridor with first cable-stayed bridge, largest intersection to be ready by 2021

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

AS a token of appreciation for Kuwait’s constant sup-port to Qatar and upon the directives of the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, Qatar has named a 25km of road corridor pro-ject after the Amir of Kuwait HH Sheikh Sabah al Ahmed al Jaber al Sabah.

The ‘Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor’ project was inau-gurated by Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani, in the presence of HH Sheikh Nasser al Mohammad al Ah-mad al Sabah, Representa-tive of the Amir of Kuwait, in Doha on Sunday.

The launch of Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor coincides with the celebrations of Ku-wait’s National Day.

‘Sabah Al Ahmad Cor-ridor’ is the first in Qatar to be called ‘corridor’ instead of a road due to its impor-tance and specifications of its unique construction. The corridor is expected to be completed in 2021.

The new corridor road extends from Hamad In-ternational Airport to the Landmark intersection on Doha Expressway. It will involve the development of five main roads, bringing the total length of road construc-tion to 37 kilometers. Upon its completion at the end of 2021, the road will act as a new lung for Doha by

providing an alternative to February 22 Road.

A total of

17 intersections, 32 bridges, and 12 tunnels will be built as part of the pro-

ject. It will also have Qatar’s first-ever suspension bridge that will span 1,200 metres from Mesaimeer to Al Bustan Road. The project will also have the country’s longest bridge, covering a distance of 2.6 kilometers.

The corridor will provide easy access to some of Doha Metro stations such as the Economic Zone, Al Waab and Old Rayyan.

“Naming Sabah Al Ah-mad Corridor after the Amir of Kuwait is a token of appre-ciation for Kuwait’s constant support for Qatar, both polit-ically and economically. This is the least that Qatar could do to honour this bond,” Minister of Municipality and Environment HE Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al Subaie said.

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani inagurates the ‘Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor’ project in Doha on Sunday.

The new artery of Qatar’s road network will enhance north-south connectivity

It will double the vehicular capacity of Doha Expressway

The corridor will help reduce traffic on February 22 Street. It will reduce travel time by up to 70%

It will facilitate access to five 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums

Continued on page 20

Continued on page 20

DJWE showcases exhibits worth QR7.76 bn: GACJEWELLERY and watches worth over QR7.76 billion are being showcased at the 16th edi-tion of Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE) at the Doha Exhibition and Conven-tion Center (DECC), the General Authority of Customs (GAC) has revealed. The exhibition will conclude on Monday. The GAC said it provided all customs facilities to traders and exhibitors to ensure the fast entry of goods to the exhibition.

Qatar Air Force’s Mirage 2000s and US’s B-1B Lancer and F-15E Strike Eagle fly in formation as part of a joint defence exercise

Joint Dir Al-Jazeera exercise kicks off in Saudi Arabia (PG 4 )

MME launches new veterinary services (PG 2 )

The creations by young Qatari designers on display at Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition.

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Business 12‘Robust regulatory framework key to prevent cyber-attacks’

Sports 16Qatar draw Nigeria in U-20 World Cup

US-QATAR JOINT DEFENCE DRILL

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

INDIAN schools that invited applica-tions for evening classes have halted the admission process following instruc-tions from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in this regard.

According to the social media sites of the MES Indian School and the Ideal In-dian School, the schools have received in-structions from the ministry to suspend the admission process.

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, a source

at a leading Indian school said they have advised parents seeking admission of their wards to wait until further informa-tion from the ministry.

“The final decision is expected after a meeting with the ministry soon,” another school source said.

Considering the shortage of seats, the ministry had recently given consent to four Indian schools namely, MES Indian School, Ideal Indian School, Shanthini-kethan Indian School and Olive Interna-tional School to have second shifts in the next academic year.

Indian schools suspend admission to 2nd shift

Students and teachersshowcase their creative works at Haweyati expo

QNADOHA

STUDENTS and teachers from various schools across the country on Sunday pre-sented their works at a visual arts exhibition organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education under the title ‘Haweyati’ (My Identity).

Fawziya al Khater, as-sistant undersecretary at the ministry, stressed the impor-tance of the initiative and its impact on shaping the minds of young people. She praised the quality of the works pre-sented at the exhibition, say-ing such events reflect the ministry’s interest in promot-ing the visual arts.

Responding to a question by Qatar News Agency (QNA) on cooperation between the Ministry of Education and

Higher Education and Qatar Museums, Khater said the two sides have been working to-gether for a long time. Their cooperation has included host-ing workshops on the minis-try’s curricula as well as other extracurricular activities.

Students in grades 12 and 13 will have elective subjects that will include a variety of art subjects.

Nouf al Shibani, a student, told QNA that the exhibition allowed her the opportunity to nurture her talent and express herself uniquely.

While the total number of schools participated in the visual arts exhibition in 2017 was 79, with only nine private and international schools, the 2018 edition saw the partici-pation of 84 public schools as well as 19 private and interna-tional schools.

MME unveils new veterinary servicesQNA DOHA

THE Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has launched eight new services related to issuing veterinary health certificates for animals and birds through its website www.mme.gov.qa

The move comes as part of

the ministry’s automation pro-ject which includes the develop-ment of more than 300 electron-ic services in various sectors.

Last week, the ministry launched a service for regis-tration and documentation of property leases electronically, enabling the public to avail themselves of the service from any place and at any time.

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame met with Qatar’s Attorney-General and the Unit-ed Nations Advocate for the Prevention of Corruption HE Dr Ali bin Fetais al Marri in Kigali on Sunday. Dur-ing the meeting, they discussed a number of anti-corruption cooperation projects to strengthen the international effort to consolidate the rule of law in the African continent. The attorney-general also met Rwandan Foreign Minister Richard Sezi-bera and discussed the prospects for joint action in the rule of law and fight against corruption. (QNA)

Shura to attend meet on foreign terrorism threat

QNADOHA

THE Shura Council will participate in a regional conference in Luxor, Egypt, from February 25 to 28, titled ‘The role of parliamentarians in confront-ing the threat of foreign terrorists and related challenges’.

The conference, being coorganised by Inter-Parliamentary Union, Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union and the

United Nations, delas with countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

Member of Shura Council HE Dahlan Jaman al Hamad represents the council in the conference.

The conference will discuss the ‘Preventive role of parliamentar-ians and parliaments in countering extremist terrorism’ and ‘Trans-forming international resolutions or strategies into national legislation and laws’.

Panel opens registration for military officer candidates

QNA DOHA

THE Unified Standing Committee for the Selection of Candidates for Military Officers on Sunday an-nounced the opening of registration for high school graduates.

The registration, which will be open on Monday (today), will continue for one month to give enough time for completion of paperwork and other prerequi-sites for applying to the preferred college and selecting the future career and education path.

The committee made the announcement during an introductory workshop on Sunday for the academic ad-visors in public and private secondary schools.

The workshop aims to introduce the conditions of registration for high school graduates of the current and past school years on the committee’s website.

Rapporteur and Secretary of the Unified Standing Committee for the Selection of Candidates for Military Officers Dr Jabor Hamoud Jabor al Nuaimi explained the registration process and application mechanism on the committee’s website.

Qatar, Sudan discussboosting defence ties

QATAR and Sudan held a session of military talks in Khartoum on Sunday on the aspects of cooperation between the two countries. The session discussed hosting a number of training courses and joint military exercises in the two countries. The Qatari side at the talks was led by Chairman of the Colleges and Institutes Authority Major-General Hamad bin Ahmed al Nuaimi. (QNA)

Indian Embassy open house on February 28 AMBASSADOR of India to Qatar HE P Kumaran will hold the open house on Thursday (Febru-ary28) in the embassy premises from 3pm to 4pm to listen to and redress the urgent labour and consular issues of the Indian nationals in Qatar. (TNN)

RWANDAN PRESIDENT MEETS MARRI

02 Monday, February 25, 2019

Contact US: Qatar Tribune I EDITORIAL I Phone: 40002222 I ADMINISTRATION & MARKETING I Phone: 40002155, 40002122, Fax: 40002235 P.O. Box: 23493, Doha.

03Monday, February 25, 2019

Planted by students

Grown in Qatar’s schoolsPremium produce

in supermarkets

Harvest Day!Khayr Qatarna, an initiative of Sahtak Awalan, has begun harvesting

fresh fruit and vegetables grown in local schools. The harvest is

supplied to local supermarkets to help improve food security,

increase sustainability, and encourage healthy eating.

Over 70 firms to take part in QMED

CATHERINE W GICHUKIDOHA

QATAR International Medi-cal Devices & Healthcare Exhibition and conferences (QMED) showcasing the lat-est innovations, technologies, services and solutions will be held between March 25 and 27, at the Qatar National and Convention Center.

The three-day event being organised under the patron-age of the Ministry of Pub-lic Health (MoPH) will host more than 70 local and inter-national exhibitors.

Speaking at a press confer-ence to announce the sponsors of the event, MoPH Vice-Chair-

man of the Healthcare Commu-nications Committee Hammad Jassim al Hammar said that MoPH is always in the forefront to support the healthcare events and activities. He said this year QMED will coincide with the Middle East Forum on Qual-ity and Safety in Healthcare, an annual gathering of healthcare professionals in quality im-provement and patient safety.

QMED Manager Souhaila Abdulrahim said, “This year we are anticipating a wider partici-pation of over 70 international

and local companies.”The event, to be held in an

area of 5,000 square metres, will feature three conferences and workshops in which more than 700 doctors are expected to attend.Manager of Sogha Exhibition and Conferences Khalifa al Mohannadi said, “The event is widely welcomed by experts, suppliers as well as those specialising in healthcare sector worldwide. The experts are attending the meet to dis-cuss the latest developments, visions and trends prevail-

ing in the healthcare sector as well as highlighting the lat-est technical innovations and best practices aimed at devel-oping the level of healthcare services.”Mohannadi said the event would act as a platform to support the development of Qatar’s healthcare sector. It has attracted international par-ticipants from the US, the UK, China, Turkey and Poland.

Naufar Hospital Director of Psychiatry Dr Rehan Siddiquee said, “We are going to introduce the concept of addiction as a

disease and we are going to talk about treatment approaches, the latest treatment guidelines and the services offered at Nau-far not only from medical point of view but also psychosocial perspective.”Alfardan Group Chief Development Officer Fayad Khatib said Alfardan Medical is bringing in speakers who will talk on orthopaedic medicine, physical therapy and rehab, among others. They will also talk about medical tourism. “Medical Tourism is a sector that we all strive to improve in Qatar,” he said.

The event is being organ-ised by Sogha Conferences and Exhibitions Company and supported by Qatar National Tourism Council, Qatar Dia-betes Association and Qatar Chamber.The exhibition is sponsored by Alfardan Medi-cal with Northwestern Medi-cine, Naufar Hospital, Sharq Supply, Qatar Free Zone Au-thority, Qatar Red Crescent and Boom Waste Treatment.

Officials at a press conference to announce the sponsors of Qatar International Medical Devices & Health-care Exhibition. The conferences will be held between March 25 and 27.

250 experts take lesson in patient-centered careTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

AS many as 250 clinicians have completed a Compas-sionate Human Interactions workshop designed to rein-force patient-centered care principles and practices.

The four-day workshop or-ganised by HMC’s Center for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement (CPESE), was held in partnership with Planetree, the US-based global leader in person-centered care. The training is part of Planetree’s Person-Centered Care designa-tion; the only programme of its kind, the designation formally recognises an organisation’s ability to deliver excellence in person-centered care and is designed to connect healthcare professionals with the voices and perspectives of their pa-tients and their families.

Patient-centred care is de-fined as providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to,

individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensur-ing that patient values guide all clinical decisions.

Five units from across HMC were selected to pioneer the patient-centred care philosophy with staff from the Ambulatory Care Center, Communicable Disease Center, Enaya Special-ized Care Center, Home Health Care Service, and the Private

Nursing Service participating. Staff from HMC’s CPESE and Nesma’ak teams also took part in the workshop.

Dr Susan Frampton, Plan-etree International president, said the workshop aims at helping healthcare staff learn concrete ways to express com-passion so that patients and families feel not only cared for, but also cared about.

“Person-centred care is based on the premise that quality care is not only the right care delivered at the right time, but also care delivered with attitudes of compassion,” said Dr Frampton.

“So many trainings for healthcare professionals focus on building the skills neces-sary to carry out specific tasks. Planetree’s Compassionate

Human Interactions work-shop focuses on how these tasks should be carried out – with attitudes of caring and compassion – and showcases practical strategies for doing so,” added Dr Frampton.

According to Nasser al Naimi, deputy chief of quality, Center for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement, and di-rector of the Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute (HHQI), the training is being provided to healthcare staff as part of ongo-ing efforts to enhance HMC’s ability to provide a positive pa-tient experience while strength-ening its existing culture of em-pathy and compassion.

“Twenty certified facilita-tors will conduct Compassion-ate Human Interactions train-ing for other HMC staff. There will be another batch of Com-passionate Human Interactions training in the future to cover other HMC facilities, all aimed at ensuring the best possible patient experience,” said Naimi.

Two hundred and fifty clinicians at HMC have completed a Compassionate Human Interactions workshop designed to reinforce patient-centered care principles and practices.

PHCC extends Screen for Life Program for schools

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

THE Primary Health Care Cor-poration (PHCC) has received tremendous response over the years in its pursuit to spread awareness among people of the timely screening of breast and bowel cancer through ‘Screen for Life’ programme.

In taking the bandwagon further, Screen for Life has ex-tended its initiatives to schools to enhance the awareness of the importance of early detec-tion of breast and bowel cancer in Qatar.

The Screen for Life team recently conducted lectures at Qatar Secondary School and Al Quds School for teachers and parents to educate them on the benefits of the timely screening of cancer, and on preventive ways to deal with it. The programme also ar-ranged for a screening day at Doha College, where mammo-gram screening was offered onboard the Mobile Screening Unit which is convenient for ladies at their workplace.

Dr Shaikha Abu Shaikha, manager of Screening Pro-grammes at PHCC, said: “At PHCC, it has been our prime objective to reach out to a larger audience and help make Qatar one of the healthiest countries in the world. In con-tinuation to all our endeavors, this time we extended our fa-cility to schools and colleges because we believe that these institutions are the real change agents of the society and have the potential to transform the health scenario of Qatar.

“Our association with the leading schools in this regard has been extremely fruitful.

Parents as well as teachers as-sociated with these institutes received the programme with great enthusiasm and positive approach. In the future as well, we hope that such associa-tions come forward in driving change and help us achieve our mission sooner.”

PHCC has endeavoured to make sure the breast and bowel cancer screening awareness is spread in Qatar and has suc-ceeded in holding many events and initiatives around this pro-gramme through lectures to private and public sector, mall activations and mobile unit for mammogram screening.

Medical devices and healthcare expo, conference next month

It has been our prime objective to reach out to a larger audience and help make Qatar one of the healthiest countries in the world. We extended our facility to schools and colleges because we believe that these institutions are the real change agents of the society and have the potential to transform the health scenario of Qatar

Dr Shaikha Abu Shaikha, manager of Screening Programmes at PHCC

QC launches e-link between QC GATEand Thomson Reuters’ World Check

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QATAR Charity (QC) has launched an e-link process between QC GATE system and the World-Check system, one of Thomson Reuters’ sys-tems specialised in informa-tion management and inter-national databases.

The launch of the mecha-nism comes as part of QC’s efforts to continuously apply the best practices and boost its adherence to internationally-recognised standards in the field of humanitarian and de-velopment work.

The measure was launched at a press conference held in the presence of Mohammed Ali al Ghamdi, chief governance offic-er at QC, Mohammed al Yazidi, executive director of Informa-tion Technology Department at QC, Saleh Ali al Khaldi, director of the Legal Affairs Unit at the Regulatory Authority for Chari-table Activities (RACA), and Ahmed Hafez, country manager for Qatar at Thomson Reuters.

The E-link process, which does not require any human intervention and is character-ised by the strictest standards of compliance, is the first of its kind in the Arab world.

The World-Check system

unifies international databases and links them to the World Check systems. This contrib-utes to minimising risks, in ad-dition to increasing the efficien-cy and accuracy of decisions. It also facilitates the process of verification of partners to achieve a high level of transpar-ency and accountability.

This step comes in line with the RACA’s goal to de-velop charity organisations and learn from the best experiences worldwide.

QC is the first charitable or-ganisation in the Middle East to apply this system in the hu-manitarian field in order to improve its performance and achieve the highest standards of transparency. This will enable

QC to reach the largest number of beneficiaries and perform its humanitarian mission effective-ly and accurately.

This system is one of the innovative solutions used by QC to enhance the capabilities and mechanisms of its work carried out globally through its field offices. QC has 27 field offices and implements pro-jects in 70 countries.

QC recently introduced the governance sector within its ad-ministrative and organisational structure and adopted a set of policies that govern its work.

Mohammed Ali al Ghamdi said, “Qatar Charity is one of the first organisations to uti-lise electronic techniques in the field of donation tracking,

systems and mobile Apps. This aims to reduce cost, in-crease efficiency and minimise human errors.”

Saleh Ali al Khaldi said, “RACA pays special attention to systems that facilitate diligence measures to protect charita-ble work and the reputation of Qatari charitable organisations around the world according to international norms and stand-ards.” He added that charitable and humanitarian organisa-tions and donor institutions in Qatar are working alongside UN humanitarian agencies and the world’s leading NNGOs.

Mohammed al Yazidi re-viewed QC’s use of technol-ogy at all stages of work. He pointed out to the qualitative leap achieved by QC in the use of technology inits various ac-tivities, including collection systems, project management, donor reports, sponsorship sys-tem and financial system, in ad-dition to mobile applications.

He also noted that the sys-tem would have an additional value in terms of saving time, accuracy of information, re-duction of cost, minimisation of human error and quick de-livery, indicating that the use of the World-check system is one of the best ways to choose partners for QC.

W Doha hosts exclusive exhibition by ‘Young Picasso’ Humaidhan

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

W Doha Hotel & Residences, the first luxury lifestyle hotel in Qatar, is hosting an exclusive art collection titled ‘Past to Present’ by a young, talented Kuwaiti artist Hamad al Humaidhan at ART29.

The gallery comprises 28 paintings that take art lovers and enthusiasts through a mov-ing journey of the young artist’s perception of life. The open-ing reception for the show was held on February 23 and the exhibition will remain open to the public until March 30, from 10am to 10pm daily.

‘Past to Present’ is a com-pilation of Hamad’s work throughout the years from 2014 until the present. Each painting illustrates a particular story and when put all together, the collection inevitably de-picts the developments made throughout Hamad’s life jour-ney. Dubbed by critics early in his career as ‘Young Picasso’, the 19-year-old developed his recent collection to narrate the inspiring tale of his life as de-picted through vibrant strokes of colour and movement.

Commenting on his latest exhibition, Humaidhan said: “I am excited to display my latest work at ART29, here in Qatar. Painting provides me with a platform to inspire and express my emotions. I hope, visitors will take the time to appreciate the colours, the positive vibes,

and most importantly, living in the present moment while tak-ing it all in.”

Heavily influenced by his father at a young age, most of Hamad’s inspiration came from either watching his father paint or browsing one of his father’s many art books. Greatly in-spired, Hamad started attend-ing museums, galleries, exhi-bitions and historic buildings – turning his hobby into a newly full-blown passion. By coinci-dence, the young artist adopted a Picasso cubist style of paint-ing, not having ever previously seen any of Picasso’s works.

He paints his world with youthful emotions — vivid and emotional. Currently armed with long list of accomplish-ments, Hamad was commis-sioned to create a birthday card in celebration of the 180th An-niversary of Covent Garden market in London, generating

interest from members of the media around the world.

General Manager of W Doha, Wassim Daaje, said, “I would like to invite every-one in the local community as well as visitors to the hotel to experience the work of this young genius at ART29. Young talent coupled with such pas-sion is quite rare and we are proud to encourage the youth of Qatar as well as the region to express themselves through their art. ART29 will always be a creative platform for talent and inspiring artists to come together and motivate one another to keep chasing after their dreams and goals.”

Art 29 is an exciting plat-form that presents the works of up and coming local, regional and international artists. It provides them with a space to showcase their work and aspi-rations to the community.

Officials at a press conference to launch the e-link process between QC GATE system and the World-Check system.

The exhibition will remain open to the public until March 30, from 10am to 10pm daily.

QATARI FORCES PARTICIPATE IN LAUNCH OF JOINT ISLAND EXERCISE SHIELD 10The Qatari Armed Forces took part in the launch of the Joint Island Exercise Shield 10. The exer-cise aims to enhance joint cooperation and exchange of experi-ences among the GCC forces to raise the level of train-ing for all the joint armed forces. (TNN)

The World-Check system helps minimise risks, increase efficiency and achieve a high level of transparency and accountability

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QPO serves as ‘cultural ambassador’ of Qatar: Meister

AILYN AGONIADOHA

QATAR Philharmonic Orches-tra (QPO) contributes to the development of the local music scene and plays the role of a cul-tural ambassador of Qatar, QPO Executive Director Kurt Meister has said.

The Orchestra will mark its 10th anniversary with a special concert to be staged at the Al Mayassa Theatre of Qatar Na-tional Convention Centre on February 26.

In an interview with Qatar Tribune, Meister said, after performing about 620 concerts,

including 133 violin concertos and 121 piano concertos over the course of 10 years, QPO has grown tremendously gaining more confidence and experi-ence with every performance and engagement -- local and international.

“QPO was formed to serve

as a bridge between Western and Arabic cultures and make way for Arabic instruments to combine with Western classic instruments. When we started in 2008, there were not a lot of events happening locally,” he said.

“The Orchestra has grown

gradually over the years. The group is more experienced and more confident on stage. We know a lot of musical pieces and composition because normally we don’t repeat a programmer. We have been receiving more support from Qatar Foundation of which we are thankful. Cul-

ture is a mirror of a country. We are glad that now we are asked to go out and be ambassadors of Qatar,” Meister added.

Talking about the high-lights of QPO’s 10-year mile-stone, Meister referred to their first tour in Washington and succeeding performances

in some of the world’s best concert venues.

He also recalled receiving good reviews such as during their performance in London before 6,000 people about four years ago.

The QPO executive director also stressed the influence of QPO on young musicians in the country through their various programmes, including school contests, family concerts as well as how they reach out to music students through the Qatar Music Academy.

“When we have young solo-ists, they can see how the QPO musicians work and are able to reach their dreams through proper discipline and motiva-tion. I think it is a good example of how QPO inspires young peo-ple,” he said.

QPO started with 101

musicians. To date, it has 95 members coming from dif-ferent countries.

Meister said around 80 percent of the current mem-bers have been with the Or-chestra since the beginning and so during their highly-anticipated anniversary con-cert, the group will take their audience down memory lane as they try to repeat the pro-gramme they have performed in 2008, including Marcel Khalife’s Arabian Concerto.

Looking ahead, Meister said he hopes to see QPO not only performing on more important platforms but also having their own concert hall.

According to him, having a place QPO can call its home will not only benefit the orchestra but would also be a good legacy to Qatar.

Kurt Meister, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra Executive Director.

QPO to celebrate 10-year milestone with concert

Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra has 95 members coming from different countries.

Ooredoo’s 5G-enabled aerial taxi lands at Mobile World Congress

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKBARCELONA, SPAIN

OOREDOO is demonstrat-ing how 5G can revolutionise transport with the world’s first 5G-enabled self-driving 5G-connected aerial taxi landing at its booth at Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC19).

MWC19 is being held in Barcelona from February 25 to 28 under the theme of ‘Intel-ligent Connectivity’ and is ex-pected to attract some 107,000 professionals from over 200 countries and territories.

The aerial taxi, which is on display at Ooredoo’s booth – complete with a Vir-tual Reality experience that simulates flying over Qatar’s capital Doha – is just one ex-ample of how 5G is poised to help bring about a complete transformation of society.

Ooredoo is also offering live demonstrations of how the

technology can enable innova-tive services, including child location monitoring, stadium security using drones and in-telligent connected apps to

assist visitors at mega events such as the upcoming football tournament in Qatar in 2022.

Over the past year, Oore-doo launched the world’s first

commercial 5G network in Qatar and trialled the first in-ternational 5G call in the Arab World.

Now, Ooredoo has more than 100 live 5G sites in Qa-tar, has done 5G tests and tri-als in Indonesia, Kuwait and Maldives, and has set up a 5G Technology Centre Myanmar.

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo, said: “We took an early global lead in 5G technology when we were the world’s first communi-cations company to launch commercially-ready 5G in 2018. In this year’s Mobile World Congress, we’re an-ticipating great interest in our 5G demos, particularly the self-driving 5G connected Aerial Taxi at our pavilion, where users can sit inside the taxi and experience the thrill of flying over Doha in Virtual Reality.

Visitors can experience the power of 5G by taking a VR ‘flight’ over Doha in the aerial taxi

The aerial taxi is just one example of how 5G is poised to help bring about a complete transformation of society.

MURAIKHI RECEIVES CREDENTIALS OF SLOVAK ENVOY: Minister of State for Foreign Affairs HE Sultan bin Saad al Muraikhi received on Sunday copies of the credentials of the non-resident Ambassa-dor of the Slovak Republic to Qatar HE Igor Hajdusek. Muraikhi wished the ambassador success in his mission, assuring him of all support to promote bilateral relations between the two friendly countries in all fields. The ceremony was attended by a number of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (QNA)

MME to mark World Environment DayQATAR will observe World Environment Day, which falls on February 26 every year, on Tuesday under the slogan ‘Our Environment is Our Future’.

The Ministry of Mu-nicipality and Environment (MME) will organise a three-day event to mark the occa-

sion, during which various departments of the ministry will host a series of activities, including educational and awareness competitions, as well as recycling workshops.

The celebration comes as part of the country’s keenness to protect the environment to achieve comprehensive and

sustainable development for the present and future gen-erations of the country as one of the cornerstones of Qatar National Vision 2030.

The MME has invited the public to participate in the events, which will be held at the Cultural Village Founda-tion - Katara. (QNA)

Nation 05Monday, February 25, 2019

Nation06 Monday, February 25, 2019

Your Health First’s ‘Harvest Day’ promotes self-sufficiencyTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

YOUR Health First held its first ‘Harvest Day’ event to celebrate a large crop of fresh fruit and vegetables grown in Qatar under the Khayr Qa-tarna initiative, which boosts self-sufficiency and encour-ages healthy eating.

Dignitaries from Qatar Foundation (QF), the Minis-try of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Municipality and Environ-ment (MME), ExxonMobil Qatar and Occidental Petro-leum of Qatar Ltd were pre-sent at the Harvest Day event at Amna bint Wahab Prepara-tory School for Girls to see students bringing in a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Harvests at nine other schools participating in Khayr Qatarna yielded plenti-ful crops of fruit and vegeta-bles including strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, colored peppers, red cabbage and green beans. All the crops have been grant-ed the status of ‘Premium Products’ - an indication of their freshness and quality - by the MME.

All of the produce has been grown in large-scale cli-mate-controlled greenhouses installed at the schools by Your Health First as part of the Khayr Qatarna initiative, which was launched in 2018 to help make a positive contribu-tion to Qatar’s self-sufficiency. The initiative also teaches stu-dents valuable lessons about healthy eating, agriculture, environmental awareness and sustainability issues.

Students are also learn-ing about key business opera-tions, such as logistics, com-merce and economics, helping the younger generation gain the knowledge required to

achieve the goals of Qatar Na-tional Vision 2030. Harvest Day will now be held each year to celebrate the bringing in of the crop.

Your Health First, which is the flagship public health campaign of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), initially installed large-scale greenhouses at three second-ary schools as part of Khayr Qatarna’s pilot programme. Khayr Qatarna has proven such a success that the project was expanded and there are

now a total of 10 greenhouses in operation at 10 schools. Khayr Qatarna itself grew out of Your Health First’s extreme-ly popular Project Greenhouse initiative, which saw smaller greenhouses installed at more than 130 elementary schools all over Qatar.

The fruits and vegetables grown in the greenhouses are distributed with Khayr Qatar-na branding to the community through local supermarkets and also among the school students’ families and their

communities. All proceeds from sales are reinvested in the project to allow for further expansion.

Fawzia Abdulaziz al Khat-er, assistant undersecretary for educational affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said the initiative of Sahtak Awalan -- Your Health First -- embod-ies the effective partnership between the Ministry of Edu-cation and Higher Education and state institutions.

Khater noted that intro-

ducing students to the impor-tance of agriculture and the principles of sound nutrition and healthy food is one of the priorities of education, in ad-dition to raising awareness among students of the impor-tance of eating fresh vegeta-bles for better health.

Dr Faleh bin Nasser al Thani, assistant undersecre-tary for agriculture affairs & fisheries resources, said: “We are pleased to participate in the first Harvest Day of Khayr Qatarna in Qatari schools,

which is a confirmation of the seriousness of the work of this project and its importance.”

Buthaina Ali al Nuaimi, president, Pre-University Education at QF, said: “It is wonderful to see how much the Khayr Qatarna initia-tive has grown since it was launched last year. Food secu-rity is a key priority for Qatar, and we at Qatar Foundation are delighted to support this program – along with other key local entities – and its aim of educating young people

about the importance of self-sufficiency and healthy eating. Ultimately, this is a collective investment in a sustainable future for Qatar.”

“We’re pleased to sup-port our partner Your Health First’s Harvest Day - an ex-citing and fun event, which provides our youth with price-less learning experiences and promotes healthy eating,” said Alistair Routledge, president and general manager for Exx-onMobil Qatar.

Andrew H Kershaw, presi-dent and general manager of Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd., said: “Oxy is honoured to support Khayr Qatarna and the wider Sahtak Awalan cam-paign. Not only are we encour-aging our communities to eat healthier, but we are also pro-viding our children with valu-able lessons about agriculture and the environment and we are supporting Qatar toward sustainability.”

Nadya Mohd Sultan La-rem, principal of Amna bint Wahab Preparatory School for Girls, said: “The Project Greenhouse initiative and its expansion into schools across Qatar has contributed to fa-miliarising students with the values of food self-sufficiency and independence in food production.”

Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q, said: “Harvest Day is a remarkable moment, marking the culmination of a great deal of hard work and effort by all involved in grow-ing the crops. We are hon-oured that so many people attended today to celebrate our inaugural Harvest Day, and I want to extend my most sincere thanks to all of our students, teachers and our partners for supporting this extremely worthwhile cam-paign and making the success of Khayr Qatarna possible.”

Andrew H Kershaw, president and general manager of Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd, Dominic Genetti, V-P and joint manager at ExxonMobil Qatar, Dr Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q, Dr Faleh bin Nasser al Thani, assistant undersecretary for Agriculture Affairs & Fisheries Resources, Saleh AlMana, V-P and director of Public and Government Affairs at ExxonMobil Qatar at the ‘Harvest Day’ event.

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

SIDRA Medicine will host Qatar’s first perinatal mental health symposium on March 2 in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Primary Healthcare Corpo-ration (PHCC).

The event will serve as a platform to contribute to the development of a peri-natal model of care sensitive to the social, cultural and geographical needs of Qa-tar. Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) refers to the emotion-al and psychological well-being of parents during the period of conception to 12 months after a baby is born.

The conference is be-ing hosted in line with Qa-tar’s Mental Health Strat-egy 2018-2022, and Mental Health and Wellbeing 5 year Action Plan, which have rec-ognised perinatal mental health as a key work stream.

Participants will have an opportunity to learn from in-ternational and local speak-ers. The symposium will also provide a forum for commu-nity input regarding the de-velopment of perinatal men-tal health services in Qatar.

Dr Felice Watt, division chief of Perinatal Mental Health at Sidra Medicine and conference chair, said: “Approximately one in 10

women experience signifi-cant depression and/or anxi-ety during pregnancy and/or in the first year of their baby’s life. Good perinatal mental health enables and empowers parents to observe and respond to their babies needs so that they can form secure emotional bonds,

develop cognitively, and to learn to regulate and soothe emotions. We are pleased to bring this important topic to the fore – for discussion and engagement with our part-ners and the community.”

The symposium is open to healthcare providers in-terested in the mental health and well-being of pregnant and postpartum women, their infants and families, and to community members who may have experienced or supported those experiencing challenges to their emotional wellbeing during this period.

Seats are limited, and registration can be done at https://www.sidra.org/events-calendar/event-details/?event=6475.

Sidra Medicine to host Qatar’s first perinatal mental health conference

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AS part of its commitment to providing global engagement to the new generation and to be the change agents, Educa-tion Above All (EAA) Founda-tion delegation, comprising 12 students, took part in the 23rd Session of the Youth As-sembly in New York recently.

Sponsored by Qatar Fi-nancial Center (QFC), mem-bers of EAA youth delegation were able to showcase their capabilities to the global au-dience under the theme, ‘Em-powering Youth for Global Development’.

Throughout history, young people have played cru-cial roles in leading national and global movements that changed the world, despite the numerous challenges they face, such as age discrimina-tion, under-representation, lack of resources and unem-ployment.

This conference addressed these gaps and worked to-wards fostering the inclusion of youth across all social and regional groups in tackling and solving global challenges.

Dana al Mohannadi, stu-dent from Al Khor Interna-tional School, said: “I am very privileged to have the oppor-tunity to participate in the 23rd session of the Youth As-sembly at the United Nations as a Youth Delegate. It was a truly transformative experi-ence. The Youth Assembly is

a forum where youth leaders can learn innovative strate-

gies and fresh approaches to enrich their work in achieving

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

She added: “I would like to thank EAA and QFC for providing this incredibly rich experience that helped me grow professionally in several ways. The knowledge, con-nections and inspiration that come from attending events like this could not be more valuable.

“The Youth Assembly not only provided me a platform as a youth to engage with the UN and other key play-ers in sustainable develop-ment, but was also an oppor-tunity to make new friends, meet with various collabora-tors, mentors and partners. These events help to keep us grounded while exploring new possibilities.”

The Youth Assembly continued FAF’s legacy of youth empowerment by once again serving as a platform to strengthen and mobilise youth with the skills and op-portunities needed to be agents of impactful change.

The conference connected the world’s foremost young talent in the fields of sustain-able development and social entrepreneurship, together with leading professionals and practitioners in various fields. Through discussions, skill-building workshops, networking sessions and ideation challenges, youth delegates gained the relevant knowledge, resources and op-portunities they need to take action and build projects of their own.

EAA promotes youth empowerment at 23rd Session of The Youth Assembly

The conference connected the world’s foremost young talent in the fields of sustainable development and social entrepreneurship, together with leading professionals and practitioners in various fields.

12 students were able to showcase their capabilities to the global audience under the theme ‘Empowering Youth for Global Development’ The symposium will be held on March 2

Over 100 high school students experience engineering life at TAMU-QTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

MORE than 100 senior high school students from across Qa-tar got a taste of life as an engi-neering student at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q) when the branch campus host-ed its annual Experience Texas A&M University day.

Professors talked with pro-spective students about what it means to be an engineer and gave information about the

four degrees the branch cam-pus offers - chemical engineer-ing, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and

petroleum engineering. Current students shared

their personal experiences, including how they adjusted to the demands of college life during which students are ex-pected to become independent learners responsible for their own decisions.

The application deadline for freshman admission to Texas A&M at Qatar is March 1. The Office of Admissions is open from Sunday to Thurs-day from 8am to 4pm.

Professors talked about what it means to be an engineer and gave infor-mation about the four degrees the campus offers - chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering.

Dr Felice Watt

Students shared their per-sonal experiences, including how they adjusted to the demands of college life dur-ing which students are expected to become inde-pendent learners responsi-ble for their own decisions

Zero Latency brings virtual reality gaming entertainment to Doha

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

ZERO Latency, a pioneer and global leader in warehouse scale, free-roam and multi-player virtual reality gaming, has opened a new venue in Tawar Mall, Doha. With more than 350,000 visitors globally, Zero Latency is bringing the next generation of virtual real-ity entertainment to the Mid-dle East, with the region’s first launching in Doha.

Zero Latency’s concept is deeply immersive, offering visitors a video gaming expe-rience enhanced with world leading free-roam virtual re-ality. Equipped with virtual reality headsets, headphones, military-styled backpacks and state-of-the-art controllers, players move freely around an empty space: but what they see and hear is a hyper realis-tic, virtually-generated world, where all their movements are replicated in game.

Players can talk, strategise and banter with their mates in games designed for groups of friends, parties, families or in-dividual gamers.

Doran Davies, CEO of Zero Latency in the Middle East, said: “There is nothing in the world that compares to

our experience right now and our new venue in Doha will sit at the intersection of social gaming, virtual reality and ad-vanced technology.

“Our ‘Next Generation VR Gaming Center’ will of-fer Doha residents the perfect space for friends and family to experience virtual reality en-tertainment and games like never before.”

Zero Latency offers a range of free-roam virtual reality games featuring heart racing zombie attacks, galaxy space missions and family fun ad-ventures, all playable inside BOUNCE.

Engineerium is the per-fect game for first-timers and virtual reality experimenters. Engineerium is an avatar-like, fantasy world that combines platform and maze challenges.

Zombie Survival offers an unbeatable experience for thrill seekers where players are bunkered in a fort and surrounded by masses of zombies. The challenge here is to survive till the rescue team comes. And then there’s Singularity, where you and your friends investigate a se-cret military space station taking on killer robots and rogue drones to regain con-trol of the installation.

Zero Latency offers a range of free-roam virtual reality games featur-ing heart racing zombie attacks, galaxy space missions and family fun adventures, all playable inside BOUNCE.

Marathon contest at QNL promotes creative writingTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

ESTABLISHED local authors shared tips with attendees on how best to bring one’s ideas to the page as aspiring authors attended a 72-hour-long writ-ing contest at Qatar National Library (QNL).

The event was held in col-laboration with Tomoh for Voluntary Work Management, a non-profit initiative promot-ing volunteerism among youth in Qatar.

At the workshop, the partic-ipants drafted six manuscripts. A judging panel comprising sen-ior local authors announced the

winning group of Ayesha Ayet Hajjaj, Mohammed Shabrawi, Abdul Jabbar Fares and Iman al Azzabi, whose manuscript,

Shaa’a Bainahum (Spreading Rumours), fully met the compe-tition’s criteria.

The manuscript highlighted

the opportunities and challeng-es created by social media and the internet, and the ways to best use these technologies.

The winning group will receive support from fellow authors and Lusail Publishing and Distribution, a local pub-lishing house, in order to turn their winning manuscript into a published book.

“Today, we took our first steps to become future writ-ers and I am delighted that we were announced as the winners of this competition. This event gave us a chance to show our creativity and meet some of the best authors from Qatar,” said Abdul Jabbar Fares, a member

of the winning team. “The library provided the

best venue for the competition. The participants received great support from both the library and the Tomoh team. We are looking forward to publishing the manuscript and producing great writers in the future,” said Wala Ahmed, consultant to the winning team.

The other five manuscripts produced during the three-day creative writing practice includ-ed From Seed to Bloom, Qatari Heritage: A Concourse of Mo-dernity and Authenticity, Giv-ing a Hand, How to Cope With Psychological Stress, and Four Entrepreneurial Minds.

Aspiring authors at a 72-hour-long writing contest at QNL.

HBKU’s CIS lectures explore Muslim identity and autonomy

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

MUSLIM identity, diversity and Islamic political thought were issues in focus as the Col-lege of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) hosted a series of talks by prominent academics from international institutions dur-ing the month of February.

Challenges raised by the diversity of religious and cul-tural identities in Western societies were explored by Dr Mona Siddiqui, professor of Islamic and inter-religious studies at the University of Ed-inburgh, in her talk ‘Exploring Religion in Europe: The Lim-its of Law and Pluralism’.

Dr Siddiqui opined that while pluralism is often regard-ed as a positive development, it can present unique challenges for secular communities.

The lecture explored how religious communities, while diverse, are often accused of

demanding legal exceptional-ism, which requires Muslims to challenge the oversimplified view of Shari’a law on which this is based.

Shari’a and Sovereignty in Christian-Muslim Debates was a key theological debate tackled by Dr Joshua Ralston, lecturer in Muslim-Christian relations at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr Ralston examined the re-lationship between Shari’a and

political sovereignty, a debate which is the subject of frequent critique by Christian theologi-ans and secular theorists.

The lecture provided a broader framework to explore the question beyond the con-fines of fierce secularism or state-centric Shari’a.

Commenting on the lec-tures, Dr Joseph Lumbard, who leads the Distinguished Lecturer Series at CIS, said:

“CIS’s interests lie in explor-ing and better understanding topics that affect Muslims and their communities at large. The Distinguished Lecturer Se-ries was initiated to encourage scholars from all around the world to engage, consider and present their thoughts within the college, which continues to position itself as a focal point for contemporary Islamic stud-ies and as a nurturer of modern

Islamic discourse.”Continuing on the theme of

identity and Muslim autonomy, Dr Salman Sayyid, renowned scholar and author of Recalling the Caliphate, was invited by the CIS Student Council to shed light on constructing a Muslim identity in a postcolonial world.

Dr Sayyid discussed the themes explored in his book, which investigates the obstacles that inhibit Muslim demands for autonomy in a postcolonial world and the larger decolonial project that revolves around Critical Muslim Studies.

In response to the success-ful workshops and public lec-ture delivered by Dr Sayyid, Nagat Emara, vice-president of the Student Council and student of the Master of Arts in Islamic Studies programme, said: “CIS has granted us price-less opportunities to organise thought-provoking panel dis-cussions, seminars and read-ing circles, which have helped widen our scope.”

Lectures and the CIS Student Council take a closer look at contemporary challenges in constructing a Muslim identity

Participants at a lecture hosted by the College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

Nation 07Monday, February 25, 2019

HALF the trouble with tariffs is they are so darn tempting to the populist crowd. The other half is the math never works

out in the end. But here we go again. The Commerce Department has now delivered a report to the White House that auto indus-try officials worry President Trump will use as a pretext to slap up to 25 percent tariffs on imported cars and car parts. The reason he might cite will be national security.

If this sounds familiar, it should. It mirrors the administration’s justification last year for tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump’s mantra is that auto tariffs would shield the US economy from foreign com-petitors, saving jobs and enhancing nation-al security.

Statistics show the opposite. Trade wars kill jobs and drive up costs to consumers, who are the engine behind US economic growth. The auto industry is a massive con-tributor to the US economy. A tariff war should be the last thing that the president should be considering.

The US auto industry can’t be walled off without throttling growth. The US auto industry is made up of domestic compa-nies, foreign manufacturers with US plants and sophisticated supply chains that span national borders. Foreign parts comprise more than 40 percent of the average cars produced in the United States.

This diverse supply chain increases effi-ciency and lowers production costs. And the ability of auto makers to tamp down such costs makes the companies more profitable and cars more affordable.

This is why the president’s belief that trade wars are easy to win is so misguided. Tariffs prompt companies to lay off work-

ers, move development and production offshore and pass their significantly higher costs to consumers. And this isn’t economic theory; It’s economic reality.

According to the National Automo-bile Dealers Association, tariffs would add as much as $2,270 to the cost of US-built cars and $6,875 to the cost of imported cars and trucks. The Center for Automotive Research estimates that 1.3 million fewer cars will be sold in the United States due to higher retail prices.

Another overlooked area is the impact of tariffs on foreign investment in the United States. BMW’s plant in South Carolina em-ploys more workers than its plant in Bavaria. This is an investment that tariffs might force the company to reconsider. Toyota’s grow-ing stake in Texas, visible to almost all of us in this area, is another example of the bene-fits of free trade. The ability to move product seamlessly across North America is a major reason behind Toyota’s headquarters and production investments in Texas. Such rela-tionships strengthen our economy and pro-vide American workers with paychecks that ripple through and support local economies.

The auto industry generates billions of dollars for the US economy and employs tens of thousands of skilled workers in all fifty states. At least 45 states, including Texas, have more than 10,000 auto-related jobs. A 25 percent tariff on imported motor vehicles and parts — and the inevitable re-taliation — could put at risk at least one mil-lion jobs between now and 2021, warns the Trade Partnership Worldwide, an interna-tional trade and economic consulting firm.

Our message to Trump’s tariff “help.” No thanks.

Pitfalls Of Trump’s Auto Tariffs

The US economy is strong now, but President Trump’s tariff strategy threatens the nation’s economic health

(Tribune News Service )

ON September 13, 1959, a day that we can pretty much guarantee was clear and sunny on the moon, the Soviet Union

crash-landed its Luna 2 spacecraft in a re-gion east of what is known to Earthlings as the Mare Serenitatis. A decade later, the US landed the first human beings on the moon in the Mare Tranquillitatis. The Soviets left the wreckage of their unmanned craft where it landed, but the Apollo 11 Lunar Module known as the Eagle — after 21.5 hours on the surface of the moon and walks by astro-nauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — re-connected with Apollo 11 so the astronauts could return home, leaving behind a US flag, a plaque and human boot prints, which remain, incongruously enough, visible in the lunar dust nearly half a century later.

Now, there’s an effort underway to ex-tend the designations and protections of the United Nations’ World Heritage sites to these two historic moon locations and other locations in space that represent significant advances in humankind’s explorations.

As National Public Radio reported on Thursday, the nonprofit space historical preservation organisation For All Moon-kind is trying to find countries to spon-sor a UN declaration that would create a mechanism for designating and protecting locations significant to space explorations,

beginning with the landing sites of the Luna 2 and the Eagle. Under international treaties, no country has a right to make any territorial claims in space. But presumably the UN, speaking on behalf of the entire planet, could attempt to set some rules for the treatment of these two historic locations and others.

Admittedly, the protection of some de-tritus and dusty footprints 238,000 miles from UN headquarters at Turtle Bay should not be that organisation’s top priority. On the other hand, what’s the harm in trying? In 1969, Apollo 12’s lunar lander inadvert-ently sandblasted the unmanned Surveyor III craft that had landed on the moon two years earlier. And future missions could — inadvertently or intentionally — damage more significant landing sites. If the Moon-kind folks are concerned for the future, the UN is the appropriate place for a discussion on how such sites should be weighed for his-toric significance and then protected.

More moon shots are being contem-plated. China recently landed an explorer on the dark side of the moon, and it has joined the US, Russia and Japan in con-templating future manned missions. As we look to the future of space exploration, there’s no harm — and perhaps some value — in protecting the past.

A World Heritage Site On The Moon?

(Tribune News Service)

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

PRINTED AT ALI BIN ALI PRINTING PRESS

HAMAD BIN SUHAIM AL THANI CHAIRMANADEL ALI BIN ALI MANAGING DIRECTORDR HASSAN MOHAMMED AL ANSARI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Opinion

Cambodia Could Win A War On Plastics

CAMBODIA faces a monumental plastic problem, which is a subset of a problem with recycling in general. By one estimate, from 2015, urban-living Cambodians each use about

2,000 plastic bags annually, 10 times more than Europeans or Chinese, while 10 mil-lion plastic bags are used just in Phnom Penh alone each day. A recent photo-essay depicts the literal and figurative mess.

What the government has done, so far, is paltry at best and indifferent at worst. Following the example of other countries, a regulation passed by the Ministry of En-vironment last year means that customers now have to pay $0.10 for a bag. But this is only really applied in a handful of ex-pensive supermarkets, where most people don’t shop at.

Recycling – at least collection – is cur-rently monetised in Cambodia, but not at every stage. Come nightfall, hundreds of ragged, rubbish collectors, pulling wagons, roam the streets looking for trash to sell for recycling in what amounts to a mini-econ-omy, though a heavily unregulated and un-

fair one. Many collectors are homeless and the poorest in society. Rare is one with any decent safety equipment, a concern given they are riffling around in trash barehand-ed. Children, accompanying their parents, work throughout the night.

Twenty kilogrammes of plastic bottles are sold for about $1.50, I am told, while the same weight of metals like soda cans and canned tins more profitable. A kilogramme of tin goes for about $0.50 and a kilo of cop-per for roughly $3. But most collectors can-not expect to receive more than a few dol-lars for a whole night’s work, the only real source of income available to them.

Cambodia’s official unemployment rate (just 0.2 percent) masks the fact that much of the economy depends on “grey-market” labour such as this. Even the mid-dlemen who buy the waste from the collec-tors, and in turn sell it to large processing firms in Vietnam or Thailand, don’t re-ceive much more from their ventures. One new recycling venture in Battambang, for example, buys a kilo of plastic bags from rubbish collectors for $0.12 and sells them to traders in Thailand and Vietnam for $0.25 a kilo. Though that venture, a non-profit, has rightly received its fair share of

applause, even its owner noted that he is “running a small-scale operation” and can-not deal with the problem single-handedly.

There are some obvious solutions. The government could simply create a new recycling department, employ the cur-rent scavengers for a decent salary and put some money into building recycling plants in Cambodia, meaning that valu-

able waste isn’t shipped abroad and profits stay at home. As of now, the Cambodian government has shown a preference for other methods such as to contract out such messy work, with the refuse collection firm Cintri taking care of most public waste.

If that may seem like too Utopian an idea, the private sector or a non-profit firm could also take control of the situation as

well. One could see a situation where firms could hire the collectors as employees with a regular salary and streamline operations so as to make exporting the recyclable waste to Vietnam or Thailand that much cheaper, and therefore more profitable.

There are more basic steps that could be considered as well. For instance, restau-rants, cafe, offices and households could receive a small sum to sort out their waste in different piles to give them a financial incentive to recycle. Even a small amount could help encourage recycling and also speed up the process of trash sorting by incentivising separation of waste before-hand. As of now, this practice is far from the norm in Cambodia.

Of course, these are just a few simple suggestions that could help Cambodia get serious about confronting its mounting plastics problem, and there are many more that could be contemplated. But it is high time that the country think comprehensive-ly about how to incentivise a truly whole-of-society approach that involves people at every stage in the process, from the consumer to collector and recycling firm. Nothing short of this will do in order for the country to win its war against plastics.

DAVID HUTT TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

There are obvious solutions, and many more that could be contemplated to help the country combat its mounting plastics problem

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THE OPINION AND ANALYSIS PAGES ARE THE AUTHORS’ OWN. QATAR TRIBUNE BEARS NO RESPONSIBILITY.

WHILE the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam will demonstrate the degree of the

North Korean leader’s commitment to denuclearisation, a more practical meas-ure is needed to bring this process closer to reality.

Thus far, both Pyongyang and Wash-ington have been unable to bridge their differences about the pace and even the scope of denuclearisation, with the former repeatedly asking for a sanctions relief, and the latter pushing for more concrete actions that limit further development of North Korea’s nuclear programme.

It is time to consider a multi-step process that facilitates denuclearisation and brings much-needed peace to the Korean Peninsula. This approach would require the simultaneous consolidation of the peace system and the denucleari-sation process.

The first step would see the declaration of the end of the Korean War between the two Koreas and the United States. In ex-change, North Korea would permanently dismantle and destroy plutonium and ura-nium enrichment facilities at Yongbyon based on a mutually-agreed time frame. This reciprocal step would help further reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula and also bind North Korea more firmly to the denuclearisation process.

Pending progress in the dismantle-ment of these facilities, Washington would establish a liaison office in Pyongyang and permit the resumption of Kaesong indus-trial complex and Mount Kumgangtours. These actions would signal to North Korea that only by fulfilling concrete denucleari-sation measures will the North Korean leader be able to achieve the dream of eco-nomic rejuvenation of his country.

Moreover, the United States could use its diplomatic presence in Pyongyang to monitor the pace of denuclearisation and to obtain a better understanding of the North Korean leadership’s decision-making process by maintaining direct communication channels.

The second step will see the continued implementation of the denuclearisation process, involving inspection rounds and dismantlement of remaining nuclear-related facilities in North Korea. Further-more, to sustain the momentum for diplo-macy and to prevent sudden escalation of security tensions on the Korean Penin-sula, high-level talks between North Ko-rea and the United States would be held periodically, with each meeting reviewing progress on the denuclearisation front.

To ensure that relevant stakehold-ers’ conflicting geostrategies in Northeast Asia do not derail the denuclearisation process and the establishment of a viable

peace system, the two Koreas, China, and the United States would link up with Ja-pan and Russia to convene a regional se-curity forum.

This annual international platform would cover security issues that are relat-ed to denuclearisation and the peace sys-tem. Already, such a multilateral mecha-nism has been floated by South Korea, suggesting convening such a diplomatic mechanism could be in demand among diplomatic circles.

At the final stage, North Korea will complete its denuclearisation, and af-ter UN weapons inspectors verify this, the United States will lift any remaining sanctions against North Korea. More im-portantly, China, the two Koreas, and the United States will sign the peace treaty, and North Korea and the US will normal-ise their bilateral ties, upgrading the afore-mentioned liaison office to a full embassy.

Full diplomatic relations between Pyongyang and Washington will en-

compass other incentives such as North Korea’s accession to international or-ganisations like as the World Bank and removal of any remaining barriers for foreign investment.

Sceptics may consider this three-step process as too idealistic, if not downright delusional. There’s some merit to that, but only by pursuing such a dual-track approach faithfully can we ever hope to brighten the prospects of denuclearisa-tion and establish a permanent peace sys-tem on the Korean Peninsula.

After all, as the normalisation of the US-Vietnam relations has attested, over-coming decades-long mistrust and hos-tilities between the former adversaries takes plenty of patience and step-by-step confidence-building measures. Indeed, recent comments from Trump suggest that the US president has recognised that denuclearising North Korea will be a long-term, complicated process, requir-ing delicate diplomacy.

(Sangpil Jin is a historian who specialises in modern Korean history, imperial history and

international history of modern and contemporary East Asia. His publications appeared in various

journals and currently he is work-ing on a book manuscript about

the geopolitics of the Korean Pen-insula and neutrality of Korea.)

Course Correction: A Way Forward For North Korea Denuclearisation

SANGPIL JIN TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Only by pursuing a dual-track approach faithfully can we ever hope to brighten the prospects of denuclearisation and establish a

permanent peace system on the Korean Peninsula

Full diplomatic relations between Pyongyang and Washington will encompass other incentives such as North Korea’s accession to interna-tional organisations like the World Bank and removal of any remaining barriers to foreign investment

It is high time the country thought comprehensively about how to incentivise a truly whole-of-society approach that involves people at every stage in the process, from the consumer to collector and recycling firms

08 Monday, February 25, 2019

NOTED Indian activist Daya Bai who works for the uplift of tribal com-

munities in the country has voiced her concern over the Indian top court’s recent or-der to relocate tribes with special packages and made a plea to let them live in their age-long forest settlements amid familiar surroundings in order to preserve their cul-tural identity and way of life.

She was speaking to the media during her debut visit to Doha to attend the con-cluding ceremony of ‘Heal the Heart, Heal the world’, a cam-paign organised by Indian ex-patriate forum, Focus Qatar and its women’s wing Focus Ladies in Doha recently.

“The tribal communities in India have their own cul-ture and tradition that need

to be protected. I suspect the move to evacuate tribal people from their ancestral forest lands is aimed at pro-moting the vested interests of Indian corporate sector,” Daya Bai said.

Daya Bai, winner of Vani-tha Woman of the Year award, urged the new generation to reclaim human values vanish-ing in the march of modern

materialistic culture and sup-port vulnerable people and marginalised tribal and back-ward communities in India.

She also referred to the Endosulfan tragedy (the worst pesticide disaster) which occurred in Kasaragod district of Kerala and called for justice for the victims.

“The government of the day should not delay provid-

ing relief to the victims, and I will carry on the fight for justice to all those affected by the disaster until the gov-ernment comes up with a concrete plan to help the vic-tims,” Daya Bai said.

The press conference was attended by Ladies Focus office-bearers Harija Husain, Asmina Nazir, Fardina Sheril and Jazeela Nasar.

INDIAN photographer Firos Syed, a ubiquitous presence at awards ceremonies, won

the first position in a photog-raphy competition organised in connection with Kahraman Beads exhibition in Doha re-cently.

Firos won the award for his entry that captures in his frame a customer examin-ing a bead carefully through a magnifying glass. Firos’s snapshot was selected for the award from among a total of 60 entries submitted by tal-ented photographers in Doha.

Muhamed Jajeeb and Khalid Ahmed were nomi-nated for second and third position respectively in the competition.

Syed has an excellent track record of capturing scenes and sights of sports, cultural life of communities

and images of heritage and has won awards in photog-raphy contests organised by Katara, the Cultural Village, Qatar Olympic & Sports Mu-seum and many other socio-cultural organisations. He has won 40 awards in local

and international photog-raphy contests organised by National Geography, Alja-zeera and Sony World. Firos is winner of many prestig-ious photography awards including ‘Quranic Circle’ category which beautifully portrayed a religious teacher teaching the Holy Quran to a couple of students attired in traditional clothes.

Reports by Santhosh Chandran For events and press releases email

qatar.editor@gmail.com or call (974) 4000 2222Indian Experience

09Monday, February 25, 2019

Sports extravaganza draws thousands of enthusiasts

The big sports show, which saw participation by 16 community teams in 16 items under four categories, was the largest such event organised to date by the expatriate Indian community in Qatar

PERFORMANCE of traditional Qatari and Indian danc-es and Zumba by children followed

by a breathtaking display of martial arts enlivened the two-day sports extravaganza - Ex-pats SportEv 2019-- organised by Indian socio-cultural or-ganization, Cultural Forum, in Doha recently. The event also featured a spectacular march past joined by over 1,000 par-ticipants from 16 teams tak-ing part in the sports jambo-ree.

The big sports show, which saw participation by 16 com-munity teams in 16 items un-der four categories, was the largest such event organised to date by the expatriate Indian community in Qatar.

Youth Forum won the overall championship in the fiercely contested sports com-petitions, with Calicut Sports

Club bagging the first runners-up position and Manjappada Qatar finishing as the second runners- up.

In the women’s category, Calicut Sports Club won the overall championship with Youth Forum and Qatar Kna-naya Cultural Association (QKCA) winning the first and second runners-up positions respectively.

Different individual cham-pionships were won by Mo-hammed Mahroof (Youth Fo-rum) in the Men’s 20-29 years category, Kannan Chemban (Youth Forum) in the Men’s above 30 years category, and Ajitha Sreevalsam (Youth Forum) in the Women’s cat-egory. The ‘most disciplined team’ trophy was won by Q-Team Tirur and the best team manager’s prize was bagged by Shaheer of SKEA-Qatar.

Over 3000 people thronged the venue at QSC to

witness the concluding and prize distribution ceremony. The visitors were treated to a captivating rendition of Qatari patriotic songs by the popular Qatari singer Ali Abdul Sattar.

The concluding ceremony was attended by Chief Com-munications Officer at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Ali Abdulla Al Khater, Head of Administration at Qatar Po-lice Sports Federation, Capt. Badi Jouhar Saeed Abdulla, President of Cultural Forum, Taj Aluva, Community Po-licing Officer at the Ministry of Interior, Ali Mohammed Saeed al Humaidi, Public Relations Manager at HMC, Ahmed Yousuf al Kuwari, Community Reachout office coordinator at MoI Faisal al Hudawi, AFC instructor at As-pire Academy, Ali Fuad, and Fathima Ruksana, captain of the Kerala Women’s Senior Volley-ball Team.

Olive International School students honoured for scientific projects

THE little scientists in the making from Olive In-ternational School bagged awards and secured certificates in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the success of Students Science

Congress held in Doha recently. Students whose scientific projects had quali-

fied for the junior category won laurels during the ceremony at Birla Public School. Master Moham-med Razeen and Anna Elsa Anish of Nuaija campus were honoured with mementoes for their amazing work under the guidance of Anupama Sajith.

Anupama was honoured for her contributions as school co-ordinator for Science India Forum Qa-tar activities, 2008.

Sheeba of Umsalal campus was also recognised for her contributions during the tenure of the pro-ject. The students came home with a sense of pride over their spirited performance, adding yet another feather to the school’s cap.

Indian activist champions cause of forest dwellers at women’s meet

Firos Syed

Firos’s winning image

Indian lensman wins photography contest

Firos has won 40 awards in local and international photography contests organised by National Geography, Aljazeera and Sony World. Firos is winner of many prestigious photography awards including ‘Quranic Circle’ category

A contemporary Indian dance organised by Indian embassy in Doha, recently. A group of 12 dancers from Dishaa Creative Dance Group performs at an India-Qatar Year of Culture 2019 event in Doha

India-Qatar Year of Culture 2019

NEWS IN BRIEF

MANILA: Philippine police have recovered 34 bricks of suspected cocaine in waters off a southern province, in the latest recovery of illegal drugs allegedly being smuggled into the country through the coast, a spokesman said Sunday. Two fishermen spotted the bricks floating in waters off Tandag City in Surigao del Sur, 828 kilometres south of Manila, on Saturday and immediately reported it to police, national police spokesman Bernard Banac said. Local police organised a team to fish the bricks out of the water, he added. The bricks had a dollar sign on them, similar to more than 60 blocks of cocaine recovered from 3 coastal areas in the east Philippines last week. (DPA)

Police recover bricks of suspected cocaine off Philippine coastCHENNAI, Feb 24 (IANS) A total of 174 passenger cars were gutted in a fire that engulfed a parking lot in Porur area here on Sunday afternoon, authorities said. The vehicles were parked near the Sri Ra-machandra Medical Centre, a Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services official said. “We got information at 2.05 p.m. and six fire tenders were sent to douse the flames. The fire has been extinguished,” District Officer P. Saravanan told IANS. Thirty two parked vehicles were saved from being gutted. The cause of the fire is not known. In a similar incident on Saturday, about 300 cars were gutted in a massive fire that broke out in the parking lot opposite Yelahanka air base in Karnataka. (IANS)

174 passenger cars gutted in Chennai parking lot fire

AFPGUWAHATI

AT least 58 more workers have died in northeastern In-dia after drinking toxic liquor, police said Sunday, taking the death toll from the latest mass alcohol poisoning beyond 150.

The deaths in Assam state came less than two weeks after tainted liquor killed around 100 people in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttara-khand. At least 200 others were still receiving treatment in hos-

pitals across Assam. “A total of 85 people have died in Golaghat district due to consumption (of toxic alcohol),” Dhiren Hazari-ka, deputy commissioner of the worst affected region, said.

“Another 100 are under-going treatment... The rush of new patients has (only) slowed down today after-noon,” he added.

Samir Sinha, Assam’s prin-cipal health secretary, said 71 deaths had been confirmed in neighbouring Jorhat district by Sunday afternoon.

Toxic alcohol deaths in India jump to 156; many critical

Expectations surge ahead of new US-Taliban talks from todayAFPKABUL

THE US and the Taliban are to meet for fresh talks Monday seeking an end to 17 years of grinding conflict in Afghani-stan, with the stakes ratcheting higher as the spring fighting season approaches.

Marathon talks held last month have stoked hopes of a breakthrough after the two sides walked away with a “draft framework” that included a Taliban commitment to pre-vent Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for international terror groups.

It was the most substantial engagement by Washington with the militants since US

forces ousted them from power in 2001. But there is still no ac-cord on a timetable for a US withdrawal or a ceasefire both major issues on which previous efforts have foundered.

This time Washington’s special envoy Zalmay Khal-ilzad, who has spearheaded the months-long effort, is expected to face an expanded Taliban ne-gotiating team headed by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s former deputy minister of foreign affairs.

Neither side has stated how long they expect the meetings to last or the details of what will be discussed.

Analysts say this round will likely see the Taliban push for the removal of its leaders from

a UN travel blacklist, matched with pressure from the US for the militants to open a dialogue with the Afghan government.

“Both sides are going into

this process with open minds and a sense of urgency as the weather gets warmer and fighting season draws closer,” Graeme Smith, a consultant based with International Crisis Group, said.

The Taliban have stead-fastly refused to negotiate with Kabul, whom they dismiss as “puppets”. They have also stat-ed that, without a withdrawal timetable, further progress is “impossible”.

US President Donald Trump’s apparent eagerness to end America’s longest war, the Afghan government’s fear of being sidelined, and the com-ing of spring all weigh on the process. “Eyes are on the Tali-ban to see if they are capable of

compromising,” said analyst Michael Semple.

“Can they come up with a sufficient compromise to agree to a formula for an intra-Afghan dialogue that absolutely in-volves the current Afghan gov-ernment?” Khalilzad, he added, “has stirred up the peace pro-cess in a way that nobody over the previous two decades had”.

The gathering momen-tum has spurred fresh peace demonstrations and cautious hope in Afghanistan. But there is also growing unease, with fears the government is being pushed aside and that progress which many Afghans have paid for with their lives could yet be undone if the US rushes for the exits.

DPANEW DELHI

INDIAN Premier Narendra Modi launched a multi-bil-lion-dollar scheme on Sunday aimed at providing income support to small and mar-ginalized farmers, in a move criticized by the opposition as an attempt to win votes ahead of elections.

The PM-Kisan (Prime Minister-Farmer) scheme with an annual outlay of 750 billion rupee (10.5 bil-lion dollars) is expected to benefit 120 million farmers holding cultivable land of up to two hectares.

A total of 6,000 rupees will be directly transferred to the beneficiaries’ bank ac-counts over the year in three instalments.

Modi transferred the first instalment to about 10 million farmers at a function in the northern city of Gorakhpur.

The main opposition Congress party leaders called it a “cash for votes” scheme ahead of the elections which are due by May.

Supporters say the fi-nancing is much needed in view of the difficulties expe-rienced by farmers.

Farmers have been hold-ing regular protests in India, demanding the government take measures to give them relief from debt amid cycles of drought and failed harvests.

Farmers have been de-manding a loan-waiver scheme and some of them told broad-caster NDTV that the sum was not enough, besides raising

questions about the implemen-tation of the scheme. Agricul-ture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 per cent of India’s 1.25 billion popu-lation. As estimated 12,602 farmers and farm labourers committed suicide in India in 2015 and 11,370 in 2016, ac-cording to official data.

Modi launches farmer finance scheme with eye on elections

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) speaks to the foreign delegates who participated in the Kumbh Mela festival, at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, in New Delhi, on Saturday. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj (2nd right) and State Foreign Minister VK Singh (1st right) are also in attendance. (AFP)

A total of RS6,000 will be directly transferred to beneficiaries’ bank accounts over the year in three instalments

TRIBUNE.COM.PKISLAMABAD

FOREIGN Minister Shah Me-hmood Qureshi on Sunday condemned India’s ongoing brutality in Kashmir and re-marked that “occupying forces can captivate people but can-not relinquish their drive for freedom”.

“Their desire for freedom is the message they’re giving through their struggle,” the foreign minister said while addressing a ceremony in Is-lamabad.

“The Bhartiya Janata Par-ty (BJP) should not resort to such frenzy for electioneer-ing,” FM Qureshi called out.

Recounting acts of terrorism by Indian troops, the minister commented that the Indian gov-ernment and security personnel have behaved like “silent spec-tators”, refusing to intervene in bringing violence to an end.

On war threats issued by the Indian government, Qureshi maintained that the spirit of Pakistanis shall not be marred by such ultimatums.

During the address, Qureshi indirectly signaled Indian Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi to take necessary

measures to defuse tensions between the two countries.

On February 23, three more youths were attacked in New Delhi and a journalist was beaten up in Pune. The series of onslaught remained unabated as Hindu hardlin-ers assaulted three Kashmiri youth in Nangloi area of the capital city.

Meanwhile, The Pakistani government has begun back-door contacts with India and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, who is currently in India, has met Indian Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Vankwani also met Minster of State for External Affairs General VK Singh, the four-star general who has also served as the Indian army chief.

“I have communicated a positive note to the Indian leaders and I hope there will now be a change in their be-haviour,” Vankwani said on Saturday while talking to The Express Tribune over telephone.

Vankwani said he encoun-tered Modi during an event and the Indian PM met him warmly. He said he told Modi that he had come with a posi-tive message and wanted to return with a positive mes-sage. He said later on Modi’s directive, Sushma Swaraj also held a 25-minute-long meet-ing with him.

“I told the Indian foreign minister that in Pakistan its captain’s [Prime Minister Im-ran Khan] government now; he is a Pathan and he does what he says. We assure you that no Pakistani institution is involved in Pulwama attack. If India provides evidence, we will facilitate the investiga-tion,” Vankwani said.

Indian ‘repression’ can’t diminish Kashmiris’ drive for freedom: Pakistan FM

Mayawati trashes PM-KISAN scheme as insult to farmersLUCKNOW: Hours after it was rolled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BSP chief Mayawati trashed the ambitious PM-KISAN scheme -- which aims at giving Rs 6,000 annually to small and marginal farmers -- as “inadequate and humiliating”. “Giving @ Rs 17 per day to few farmers just before Lok Sabha elections is pure hoodwinking,” the Bahujan Samaj Party leader tweeted. “The Rs 500 a month to poor farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi is an insult to the farmers. Farmers believe in their labour and want remunerative price of their produce but BJP mentality to give them little monetary help is atrocious and arrogant. BJP has failed to fulfil their promise,” she added. Launching the scheme earlier in the day, Modi said the opposition was rattled with the initiatives being announced by his government for farmers. (IANS)

Hundreds detained in escalating Kashmir crackdownSRINAGAR: Indian authorities have detained hundreds of sepa-ratist leaders and Muslim activ-ists in an escalating crackdown in disputed Kashmir with the region remaining on high alert following a suicide bomb attack.

Police said about 400 arrests had been made over the weekend in late-night raids aimed at weakening support for groups resisting Indian rule

in the Himalayan territory also claimed in full by Pakistan.

The sweeps follow the February 14 attack on an Indian convoy in Pulwama district which killed 40 soldiers and was claimed by Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Moham-med (JeM).

The attack has pushed India and Pakistan into a fresh round of sabre-rattling as

thousands of extra paramilitary troops are deployed to Kashmir. A senior police official, who requested anonymity to speak with the media, said most of those swept up in the raids were linked to “fundamentalist religious groups”.

“We don’t want militants to operate with high morale after the Pulwama attack. We are hitting at their support base with

urgency,” the officer said. “We want to starve the terrorists of their support network and finish them off like fish without water.” Separatist groups whose lead-ers were rounded up called for a general strike Sunday across Kashmir over what they called a “reign of repression”.

Helicopters and fighter jets flew low over the Kashmir Valley late Saturday, sparking panic as

residents rushed to shops to buy fuel and other essentials.

The government has is-sued urgent appeals to quell the panic in the region, where hundreds of paramilitary troops are patrolling the streets and manning additional roadblocks.

Tens of thousands of peo-ple, mostly civilians, have been killed in 30 years of fighting in the restive region. (AFP)

Police officer, soldier and 3 militants killed in KashmirSRINAGAR: A senior police officer, an army soldier and three militants were killed on Sunday in a gunfight between security forces and holed-up militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district. State’s Governor Satya Pal Malik has expressed grief over the death of senior police officer in this gunfight. Police sources said Deputy Superinten-dent of Police Aman Thakur was killed after being shot in the head in Turigam village.“The officer sustained a bullet injury in his head during the encounter. He was shifted to a local hospital were doc-tors declared him dead,” a police officer said. “Three militants hiding in the village have been killed and searches are now on at the site. Firing exchanges have stopped,” he added. Civilians came out of their homes in a bid to disrupt the anti-militancy operations. (IANS)

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

At least one dead, 11 injured in powerful Balochistan blastQUETTA: At least one person was killed and 11 more injured in a bomb blast in Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan on Sunday. Initial reports suggest an explosives-laden motorcycle detonated in the city’s Mazdoor Chowk area. The powerful explosion left at least three of the 11 injured people in critical condition. Of-ficials have cordoned off the area for a search operation and they fear the casualty figure may rise. On February 13, four security per-sonnel were injured in a suicide bomb blast in Balochistan’s Mas-tung district. (TRIBUNE.COM.PK)

Philippine Muslim rebel leader faces struggle in new roleAFP

MANILA

MURAD Ebrahim’s life as the Philippines’ top Muslim rebel led him into fierce jungle com-bat and to meet with Osama bin Laden, but a very differ-ent challenge now awaits him: governing.

Murad has been tapped to lead the majority-Catholic na-tion’s brand new territory in the restive south where Mus-lims have won new powers and an influx of cash in a push for

peace. After decades as a rebel, Murad will need to become a bureaucrat and complete com-plex projects as chief minister of the body that will steer the new Bangsamoro region until elections in 2022.

“We also see the difficult challenge we will be facing ahead. To us, the struggle is not yet over,” the 70-year-old Mu-rad said. “This is only another level of the struggle.” Once a feared commander, Murad is chairman of the Moro Is-lamic Liberation Front (MILF)

which signed a landmark pact with the government in 2014 to end a separatist insurgency that killed some 150,000 peo-ple since the 1970s. The son

of an Islamic preacher, Murad was orphaned early on as he lost his mother when he was only one and his father at 13.

Murad will also have to deal with resentment from families of civilians and soldiers killed or affected by previous battles, according to Julkipli Wadi, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of the Philip-pines. “Murad should extend a hand of reconciliation even to (non-Muslims) so he would be able to extract himself from the past,” Wadi said.

MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim.

(File photo) Internally-displaced Afghan children look on in Kanda-har city, Uruzgan province.

All passengers safe after bid to hijack Dubai-bound B’desh plane; suspect heldCHITTAGONG, Bangladesh/Dhaka: The suspect in the at-tempted hijacking of a Biman bangladesh plane bound for Dubai has been arrested, police say.

The aircraft was en route to Dubai from Dhaka, with a stopover in the south-eastern bangladeshi city of Chatto-gram, when the incident took place.

The plane was surrounded by law enforcement at Chat-togram airport and all passengers have disembarked.

Chattogram police commissioner Mahbubur Rahman said the suspect had been injured by gunfire. Further details of the perpetrator’s identity and how he was wounded were not immediately available.

All passengers on board a Dubai-bound Bangladesh Bi-man plane are safe after Bangladeshi security forces foiled a hijack attempt by a lone suspect on Sunday, a senior air force official said.

“We have successfully rescued everyone,” said Air Vice Marshall Mofid, who goes by one name, after security forces stormed the plane and arrested a 25-year-old man for at-tempting to hijack flight BG147 which had taken off from the capital Dhaka. (AGENCIES)

Asia10 Monday, February 25, 2019

GAZA City: Thousands of protesters in the Gaza Strip Sunday called on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to resign after attempts to pressure his rival Hamas with financial cuts in the impoverished enclave. Leave!” yelled crowds made up mainly of supporters of Hamas and Mohammed Dahlan, an Abbas rival expelled from the president’s Fatah party and who now lives in exile. They called on the Palestinian Authority to pay the full salaries of public sector employees in Gaza, run by Hamas. (AFP)

Gaza protesters call on Palestinian leader to quit

NAGO: Voters on the Japanese island of Okinawa have rejected the reloca-tion of a controversial US military base, according to official results from a non-binding referendum Sunday. Some 72 percent voted against the move with 19 percent in favour from a 52 percent turnout, the local government said. Op-ponents of the relocation -- some 434,000 -- had turned out in sufficient numbers to meet the threshold required for Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to “respect” the result of the symbolic refer-endum, it said. (AFP)

Japan’s Okinawa votes against controversial US base move

News in brief

AFPLONDON

PRIME Minister Theresa May sparked outrage Sunday by suggesting parliament may not be able to vote on her Brexit deal until March 12, just days before Britain leaves the EU.

The decision increases the chances that MPs will move next week to delay Brexit be-yond March 29, to avoid a po-tentially disastrous situation where Britain exits with no agreement at all.

May had held out the pos-sibility of a vote this week, but said Sunday she was still dis-cussing with the EU possible amendments to the deal’s ar-rangements for the Irish bor-der.

“As we’re continuing with those talks, we won’t bring a meaningful vote to parliament this week,” she told reporters as she arrived at a summit of European and Arab leaders in Egypt.

“But that will happen by March 12. And we still have it within our grasp to leave the European Union with a deal on March 29.”

Since MPs rejected her withdrawal deal last month, May has sought to address their concerns about the text’s “backstop” arrange-ment, which is designed to keep the border with Ireland free flowing.

She is meeting with Eu-ropean Council chief Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the two-day summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, and her team will also return to Brussels on Tuesday.

But opposition politicians and pro-European MPs in London reacted with fury at what they believe is a deliber-ate strategy of delay.

Labour’s Brexit spokes-man Keir Starmer said her

move not to hold a vote this week was “the height of irre-sponsibility and an admission of failure”.

“Theresa May is recklessly running down the clock in a desperate attempt to force MPs to choose between her

deal and no deal,” he said.“Parliament cannot stand

by and allow this to happen.” May has refused to rule out leaving the EU with no deal, despite the risk of huge eco-nomic disruption on both sides of the Channel.

She says the only way to avoid this scenario is to support her deal -- but growing num-bers of MPs believe that Brexit should instead be delayed. Three of her cabinet ministers on Saturday warned in a news-paper article that if there was no breakthrough this week then the House of Commons would vote for a delay.

“Beyond the next few days, there simply will not be time to agree a deal and complete all the necessary legislation before March 29,” they wrote.

Fury as Britain’s May postpones Brexit deal vote

AFPWASHINGTON

AFTER giving up his idea for a huge military parade in Wash-ington, President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a July 4 “Salute to America” that he predicted would be “one of the biggest gatherings” in the city’s history.

“HOLD THE DATE” Trump said in one of a series of tweets early Sunday.

He said the event would be held at the Lincoln Memorial on the west end of the Nation-al Mall and would feature a “major fireworks display, en-

tertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!”

After witnessing the gran-deur of the Bastille Day pa-rade in Paris in 2017 in the company of President Em-manuel Macron, Trump had pressed for an equally impres-sive Veterans Day parade in Washington, with marching troops, convoys of armored vehicles and roaring over-flights by squadrons of elite fighter jets.

But his military advis-ers reportedly pushed back, particularly after an estimate surfaced that the event could cost taxpayers as much as $92

million. In retreating from his plan last August, Trump wrote on Twitter: “Maybe we

will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!” The Lincoln Memorial site was, in fact, the scene of one of the largest gatherings in the history of the US capi-tal–the celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

It drew an estimated 250,000 people, filling the Mall to overflowing from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.

Trump announces ‘one of biggest’ July 4 events

AFPABUJA

NIGERIA on Sunday awaited results from its presidential election, as civil society groups warned that disorganisation and violence may have under-mined the polls.

Results from Saturday’s vote were expected to trickle in to Abuja after being collated at the state and local levels.

Mahmood Yakubu, chair-man of the INEC election com-mission, will officially declare the outcome in the coming days. But both sides have al-ready claimed victory.

Buhari’s aide Bashir Ah-mad described the incoming results as “so overwhelming”. “PMB (President Muham-

madu Buhari) has been voted by majority and #Buhari-IsWinning!” he tweeted.

His main opponent’s me-dia team said INEC should “immediately announce re-sults as delivered from the polling units and declare the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the winner”.

Yakubu, however, told reporters: “Only the Inde-pendent National Electoral Commission can tally figures, announce results and declare winners.” - ‘Serious deteriora-tion’ -Whoever becomes the next leader of Africa’s most populous country and leading oil producer faces a daunt-ing to-do list, from tackling widespread insecurity and en-demic corruption to boosting

an economy recovering from months of recession.

INEC said it was “gener-ally satisfied” with the vote, even though polling stretched

into Saturday evening in ar-eas where voter card machines failed and materials were late arriving.

Some affected polling units

in six of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja even saw voting on Sunday.

A coalition of more than 70 civil society groups which monitoring the vote reported 16 deaths from election-linked violence in eight states. Others gave a higher toll.

Nigeria’s last election in 2015 was widely seen as the freest and fairest since the country returned to democ-racy in 1999 after decades of military rule.

But Idayat Hassan, of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in the capital Abuja, said this year’s bloodshed and malfunctions were a setback.

“This election was a seri-

ous deterioration from 2015,” she said. “What we now ex-pect from a credible, free and fair election was not there.” - Result snapshot -Despite both sides’ bullishness, it was difficult to assess from unof-ficial results announced at individual polling units who was in front.

But there were snapshots of each candidate’s perfor-mance: Abubakar, for exam-ple, failed to win the polling station where he voted in Yola, capital of his home state Ad-amawa.

Buhari personally cast a ballot in his hometown of Daura in the northwest state of Katsina, but lost the polling unit set up at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja.

Nigerians await vote result amid monitors’ concern

UK PM Theresa may.

May has sought to address MP’s concerns about text’s ‘backstop’ arrangement, which is made to keep bor-der with Ireland free flowing

A group of PDP Presidential candidate supporters react while votes for their party are counted at Shagari Primary School polling station in Yola, Adamawa State, on Saturday. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump.

Mine blast kills more than 20 civilians in central SyriaDAMASCUS: More than 20 civilians were killed Sunday in central Syria when a landmine left behind by militants exploded under a van, the state news agency SANA said.

The ordnance left behind by the Islamic State group in the town of Salamiyeh killed farmworkers who were heading to a region in the Hama province to pick truffles, SANA said, citing local police. It was the second such incident since February 8 when a landmine that had been planted by IS in rural Hama exploded killing seven civilians, SANA said.

IS had a presence in Hama’s countryside before the Syrian army drove the militants from the area in 2017.

Before withdrawing they had planted mines in the area and rigged buildings with explosives, a tactic they have used in other areas as well.

More than four years after IS overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and declared a “caliphate”, the militant group has lost one territory after another and are left with only a tiny patch in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border. (AFP)

Gulf / Middle East / World 11Monday, February 25, 2019

Exodus from last IS enclave overwhelms US-backed force“Our infrastructure can’t handle the mass influx”, says Kurdish foreign affairs official

AFPOMAR OIL FIELD, SYRIA

US-BACKED Syrian forces warned Sunday they were struggling to cope with an outpouring of foreigners from the Islamic State group’s im-ploding “caliphate”, urging governments to take respon-sibility for their citizens.

The Kurdish-led Syr-ian Democratic Forces have evacuated nearly 5,000 men, women and children from the militant bredoubt since Wednesday, moving closer to retaking the last sliver of ter-ritory under IS control.

“The numbers of foreign fighters and their relatives that we are holding is increas-ing drastically,” Kurdish for-eign affairs official Abdel Ka-rim Omar said. “Our current infrastructure can’t handle the mass influx”, he said.

Syria’s Kurds have re-peatedly called on foreign countries to repatriate their citizens, but most have been reluctant to allow battle-hardened militants and their relatives back home due to security concerns.

At the height of its rule, IS imposed its brutal interpre-tation of Islamic law across territory straddling Syria and Iraq that was roughly the size of the United Kingdom.

But more than four years after IS declared a cross-bor-der “caliphate”, the militants have lost all but a tiny patch of land in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.

After years of fighting IS,

Syria’s Kurds say they hold hundreds of suspected IS fighters and their relatives.

“As thousands of foreign-ers flee Daesh’s crumbling caliphate, the burden which is already too heavy for us to handle is getting even heavi-er,” SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said on Twitter late Satur-day, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

“This will remain as the biggest challenge awaiting us unless governments take ac-tion and fulfil their responsi-bilities for their citizens,” he said.

No evacuations were re-

ported from the enclave on Saturday, but the two batches of people that left on Wednes-day and Friday included Eu-ropeans, Iraqis and nationals

of former Soviet countries, according to the SDF. Around 46,000 people, including a large number of foreigners, have streamed out of IS’s shrinking territory since early December, according to the Syrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

While civilians are trucked north to Kurdish-run camps for the displaced, suspected militants are sent to SDF-controlled prisons.

Omar said SDF “detention centres can’t accommodate all the fighters” coming out of the last IS pocket. The evacuation

of men, women and children has put a strain on Kurdish-run camps for the displaced, especially the Al Hol camp, which now shelters more than 40,000 people.

“There is a lot of pres-sure on us, especially in Al Hol, where in addition to the relatives of IS fighters you have a large displaced popu-lation,” Omar said.

On Thursday, nearly 2,500 evacuees arrived at Al Hol, compounding already dire conditions inside the crammed settlement, the UN’s humanitarian coordi-nation office OCHA said.

Men suspected of being Islamic State (IS) fighters wait to be searched by members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after leaving the IS group’s last holdout of Baghouz, in Syria’s northern Deir Ezzor province, on Friday. (AFP)

As thousands of foreigners flee Daesh’s crumbling caliphate, the burden which is already too heavy for us to handle is getting even heavierMustefa Bali

Turkish President Erdogan lashes out at Sisi over Egypt executionsAFP

ISTANBUL

TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply criti-cised his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after the recent execution of nine peo-ple in Egypt, saying he refused to talk to “someone like him”.

“They killed nine young people recently. This is not something we can accept,”

Erdogan said Saturday in an interview with Turkish TV channels CNN-Turk and Ka-nal D, referring to the execu-tion Wednesday of nine men sentenced for the murder of the Egyptian prosecutor gen-eral in 2015.

“Of course, we are going to be told that it is a decision of the judiciary, but there, justice, elections, all that, are codswal-lop. There is an authoritarian

system, even totalitarian,” Er-dogan added.

“Now, I am answering those who wonder why Tayyip Erdogan does not speak to Sisi, because there are mediators who come here sometimes, but I will never talk to someone like him,” he said.

Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been virtually non-existent since the Egyp-tian military, then led by Sisi,

in 2013 ousted Islamist presi-dent Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Erdogan.

Morsi’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is outlawed in Egypt but members of the group have sought refuge in Turkey. Erdogan, who denounced Mor-si’s ouster, sometimes draws a parallel with the failed coup against himself in 2016.

The Turkish president also called for the release of Mus-

lim Brotherhood prisoners in Egypt.

“First of all, he should re-lease all those imprisoned with a general amnesty. As long as these people have not been released, we will not be able to talk with Sisi,” he said.

Erdogan also attacked Western countries which, according to him, “roll out the red carpet” for Sisi and turn a blind eye to the latest

executions in Egypt.“Where are the Western-

ers? Have you heard their voices?” he said.

“On the other hand, when it comes to people impris-oned in our country (Turkey), they scream bloody murder.” Amnesty International con-demned the executions of the men, who it said were convicted in trials marred by torture allegations.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

QNA DOHA

QATAR Chamber (QC) on Sunday held two separate meetings with Australian and Italian delegations.

Qatar Chamber Chair-man HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani met with Vice President for Interna-tionalisation at Confedera-tion of Italian Industry (CII), Licia Mattioli, at the cham-ber’s venue.

The meeting was attend-ed by Ambassador of Italy to Qatar HH Pasquale Salzano.

During the meeting, they discussed the means of en-hancing cooperation and ways of strengthening eco-nomic and trade ties.

Sheikh Khalifa stressed the cooperation of both coun-tries in trade and investment fields.

He said there are a mul-titude of opportunities for cooperation between the two in industrial sector, noting that Qatar has witnessed an industrial boom, particularly

in food sector, which saw significant development over the past two years.

Sheikh Khalifa also high-lighted the opportunities for cooperation between both sides in hydro carbonic sec-tor, as Qatar currently fo-

cuses on industries of high technology that are available in Italian industry.

Meanwhile, QC’s meeting with the Australian delega-tion focused on enhancing cooperation in the agricul-tural and food products.

QC Vice Chairman Mo-hammed bin Ahmed bin Twar al Kuwari said the two countries have strong ties, and called on the business community to establish part-nerships and alliances that can boost their economic in-

terests. Australian Ambassador

to Qatar HE Axel Waben-horst said his government was keen on enhancing trade ties with Qatar, and con-sidered Doha an important trade partner.

He added that the strong cooperation between the two sides in food security and agricultural represents a good starting point for im-proving ties in other econom-ic fields.

He pointed out that the

two sides already have big in-vestments in the food prod-ucts and agriculture sectors, noting that meetings between business delegations focus on increasing partnerships and exploring further investment opportunities.

QC to enhance trade, economic ties with Italy, Australia

RAHUL PREETH DOHA

A robust regulatory frame-work, empowered human re-sources and collaborative ef-forts are critical in preventing havoc-wreaking cyber-attacks, according to a senior official of Qatar Computer Emergency Response Team (Q-CERT).

“Hope can’t be an effective strategy against cyber risks,” said Dana al Abdulla, Q-CERT’s Compliance and Data Protection Director, while addressing a forum on risk management at Bin Jelmood House in Msheireb Downtown Doha on Sunday.

The annul forum, which was in its seventh edition this time, was organised by Msheireb Properties (MP).

“If you are not targeted to-day, it doesn’t mean you won’t be,” Abdulla warned corpora-tions, urging them to identify and address vulnerabilities that can make a cyber attack possible.

She used the malware at-tack on AP Moeller-Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping container conglomerate, to drive home the point.

On June 27, 2017, Maersk came under one of the most devastating cyber-attacks in history. A malicious malware called NotPetya blanked out nearly 45,000 computers con-

nected to its IT network across the world, disrupting opera-tions of a company that has a ship docking at a port every 15 minutes. It took the shipping giant nearly $300 million and 10 days to get the systems back online.

Abdulla said QCERT, which is part of the Ministry of Transport and Commu-nication, has several checks in place to ensure readiness among companies in Qatar against potential cyber at-tacks.

National cyber drill is an example, she said. Being con-ducted every year for the last six years, the drills simulate an attack on companies to highlight vulnerabilities and enhance resilience.

Giving insights into the risks and opportunities stem-

ming from disruptive tech-nologies, Darshan Mehta, the managing director of Protiv-iti-Middle East, said: “Wher-eever there is a risk, there is an opportunity.” Samsung, he said, is a prime example of it. Known mostly for its cheap, knock-off phones and TVs, Samsung today is the largest smartphone maker, compet-ing and sometimes excelling

Apple — the company that brought disruption to the smartphone industry.

The forum also featured Simon Horst, a business risk manager of Capricorn Invest-ment.

The seventh edition of the Risk Management Forum was attended by entrepreneurs and experts from prominent Qatari companies. The 2019

edition took place under the theme “Managing Risk in the Information Age”.

This year’s forum ex-plored the role practitioners play in managing new and emerging risks, and oppor-tunities presented in today’s information age. The discus-sions shed light on other key points, including cyber-risk, social media risk, and the risk

presented by disruptive new technologies.

Acting CEO of Msheireb Properties Ali al Kuwari said, “When it comes to risk man-agement, the best cure is pre-vention and comprehensive planning. As Qatar moves towards a knowledge-based society, it is important to un-derstand the risks different industry sectors might face.

Msheireb Properties’ Risk Management Forum underscores need for cyber-resilience

Panellists at the seventh edition of the Risk Management Forum by Msheireb Properties in Doha on Sunday.

Robust regulatory framework key to prevent cyber-attacks, say experts

QNA DOHA

AL Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) held its annual general meeting (AGM) and the extraor-dinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders on Sunday.

At the AGM, the shareholders endorsed the financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. The bank made a net profit of QR608 million.

Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani al Thani, Chairman and Managing Director of al khaliji, presented the board of directors’ re-port on the bank’s activi-ties and financial posi-tion for the year ended December 31, 2018 and future plans.

During the meet-ing, the shareholders approved the board’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend equal to 7.5 percent of the share nominal value or QR0.75 per share.

At the EGM, the shareholders approved the split of nominal value of the shares from QR10 to QR1 per share and the relevant amendments to the Articles of Asso-ciation of the Company (AoA) mainly to comply with the requirements of the Qatar Financial Mar-kets Authority (QFMA).

al khaliji holds AGM, endorses 2018 results

QNA DOHA

THE Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA), in coopera-tion with Switzerland’s Inter-national Institute for Manage-ment Development (IMD), has begun a survey on global com-petitiveness.

The survey, which began in February, will run until March

this year, PSA said in a state-ment on Sunday.

The survey will assess the views of corporate executives and other businesses that affect Qatar’s ranking and global com-petitiveness. The results will be reflected in the 2019 World Competitiveness Ranking, due for release in June.

The rankings measure the

strengths and weaknesses of the Qatari economy based on economic performance, govern-

ment efficiency, business effi-ciency and infrastructure.

The results are then com-pared with the other countries’ position in the rankings.

PSA Chairman Dr Saleh bin Mohammed al Nabet said the World Competitiveness Rank-ing helps decision makers in identifying areas for business improvement and would thus increase Qatar’s competitive-ness.

He said it also provides im-portant information to potential investors and the people.

Qatar was ranked 14th out of 63 countries in the 2018 World Competitiveness Rank-ing compared to 17th in the pre-vious year (2017), indicating the strength of the Qatari economy and the feasibility of the ongoing reforms.

IMD prepares these rank-ings annually, evaluates and analyses how the countries par-ticipating in the report manage their overall economic efficiency and gives an indication of mac-roeconomic competitiveness or sub-sectors in each country.

PSA begins survey for 2019 world competitiveness rankingThe survey provides key information to potential investors: PSA chairman

Key survey The rankings measure the strengths and weaknesses of the Qatari economy based on economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure

The survey which began in February will run until March this year.

Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani meets Vice President CII and Ambassador of Italy to Qatar HH Pasquale Salzano, in Doha on Sunday.

Qatar Chamber Vice Chairman Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Twar al Kuwari and Australian Ambassador to Qatar HE Axel Wabenhorst at an event in Doha on Sunday.

QCERT, which is part of the Ministry of Transport and Communication, has several checks in place to ensure readiness among companies in Qatar against potential cyber attacksDana al Abdulla, Q-CERT’s Compliance and Data Protection Director

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2019

US markets may run out of gas over Brexit, China trade outcome PAGE 14

Huawei launches Huawei Mate X, 5G foldable phone PAGE 14

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Microsoft workers ask firm to drop $480 mn US army deal

REUTERSSAN FRANCISCO

SOME Microsoft Corp em-ployees on Friday demanded that the company cancel a $480 million hardware con-tract to supply the US Army, with 94 workers signing a pe-tition calling on the company to stop developing “any and all weapons technologies.”

The organising effort, de-scribed to Reuters by three Microsoft workers, offers the latest example in the last year of tech employees protesting cooperation with governments on emerging technologies.

Microsoft won a contract in November to supply the Army with at least 2,500 pro-totypes of augmented real-ity headsets, which digitally display contextual informa-tion in front of a user’s eyes. The government has said the devices would be used on the battlefield and in training

to improve soldiers “lethal-ity, mobility and situational awareness.”

In the petition to Microsoft executives, posted on Twitter, the workers said they “did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.” They called on the company to develop “a public-facing acceptable use policy” for its technology and an external review board to publicly enforce it.

Microsoft said in a state-ment that it always appreci-ates employee feedback. It also referred to an October blog post by its president, Brad Smith, in which he said the company remained com-mitted to assisting the mili-tary and would advocate for laws to ensure responsible use of new technologies.

The US Army did not pro-vide immediate comment.

Shares of Microsoft fell 7 cents to $110.90 after hours on Friday.

AFPBARCELONA

HUAWEI’S chairman on Sunday shrugged of the risk that President Don-ald Trump could issue an executive order banning the Chinese telecom giant, saying the company could succeed without the US market.

Guo Ping said such an order “is not necessary and should not be released” but if issued would have little impact on Huawei, which has become the leading supplier of the backbone equipment for wireless mo-bile networks worldwide.

“In 2018 Huawei had revenues of over 100 billion dollars. The share of US in this is really small. That means the US market can be ignored by us,” he told a press conference in Barce-lona on the eve of the Mo-bile World Congress trade fair.

Guo added that such a move would hurt some small telecoms operators in the United States that do use its equipment.

US officials suspect Shenzhen-based Huawei’s products could be used by Beijing to spy on Western governments and have al-ready severely restricted the company’s presence in the United States. Wash-ington considers the matter urgent as countries around the world prepare to roll out fifth-generation or 5G net-works that will bring near-instantaneous connectivity, vast data capacity and fu-turistic technologies such as self-driving cars.

The administration has been lobbying allies to block Huawei from build-ing 5G networks and Trump is reportedly mulling an executive order to stop the Chinese firm from selling advanced equipment in the United States.

Huawei strenuously de-nied its equipment could be used for espionage.

“We have never and we are not and we will never allow backdoors in our equipment and we will never allow anyone from any country to do that in

our equipment,” Guo said through an interpreter.

“Huawei needs to abide by Chinese laws and also by the laws outside China if we operate in those countries. Huawei will never, and dare not, and can not violate any rules and regulations in the countries where we oper-ate,” he added.

The United States did not represent the whole world and Huawei hoped each country would make decisions based on its own interests, Guo said.

Network operators seeking to quickly deploy the new wireless networks are in a bind as Huawei’s 5G equipment is seen as being considerable more advanced than that of its rivals such as Sweden’s Er-icsson or Finland’s NOKIA.

The company has 180,000 employees in 170 countries and counts 45 of the world’s biggest wireless carriers as customers.

Huawei shrugs off threat of US ban, says can survive without US market

Doha Bank honours 14 schools for environment-friendly initiatives

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

DOHA Bank recognised stu-dents and schools in Qatar that play an active role in address-ing environmental issues and implementing sustainable prac-tices during its annual ECO-Schools Programme Awards recently.

The awards were presented to 14 schools in Qatar across four categories at a glittering ceremony at Doha Bank’s head-quarters. The awards acknowl-edged the creativity and innova-tion of students in successfully completing their green projects as part of the ECO-Schools Pro-gramme, said a press release.

For the ‘Environmental Health’ category, the awards were presented to six schools, Al Ahnaf Bin Qais Independent School for the ‘Environmental Health, a Great Wealth’ project, Pakistan International School Qatar for the ‘Green House’ project, Shantiniketan Indian School for the ‘Save Greenery’

project, Doha Modern Indian School for the ‘Go Green and Save Nature’ project, Philip-pine International School Qatar - High School for the ‘Sustain-ability @PISQ’ project and Staf-ford Sri Lankan School Doha

for the ‘Keep the planet Clean, by going Green’ project.

The following four schools were recognised under the ‘Waste Management’ category, Doha British School for the ‘Bottle Cap Collection’ project,

Olive International School for ‘Working to Build Zero Waste Community’ project, Birla Pub-lic School for the ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ project and Phil-ippine International School Qatar - Elementary for the

‘Waste Management’ project. Similarly, under the ‘Water Management’ category, the awards were received by Gh-eras International School for the ‘GIS Water Conservation Programme’ project, Rajagiri Public School for the ‘Elixir of Life, The Future is Safe’ pro-ject, and DPS-Modern Indian School for the ‘DPS MIS Water Management’ project.

In addition, under the ‘Energy Saving’ category, Bhavan’s Public School was acknowledged for the ‘Save to-day survive tomorrow’ project.

Doha Bank CEO Dr R Seetharaman, said, “Doha Bank has been at the forefront of promoting environmental education among students and other sections of the society. The annual ECO-Schools Pro-gramme is a true testimony to our unrelenting resolve to en-courage schools to reduce the carbon footprint and empower students to contribute towards the well-being of the environ-ment.”

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QATAR National Bank (QNB), the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, recently held a graduation cer-emony for 139 employees who completed the Leadership De-velopment and Management Development Programmes.

These programmes were organised by the bank in col-laboration with the renowned international companies Franklin Covey and KPMG, said a press release.

The three-month Leader-ship and Management De-

velopment Programmes are designed to develop the lead-ership and management skills of their participants.

The courses are delivered using a blended approach that targets the development of the skills and traits necessary to enable participants to achieve their ambitions and career goals, the release said.

Part of the QNB’s talent management approach for its leaders is to develop the lead-ership and management com-petencies necessary to support its expansion and the rapid growth of its operations. “The programmes are part of this

talent management approach as well as the bank’s human capital strategy, which aims to consolidate the status of the QNB as the employer of choice in Qatar and across its inter-national footprint,” the press statement said.

“These programmes re-flect the importance that QNB attaches to its employees, as well as the great importance it places on the investment in Human Capital, which is an important pillar of its mission towards achieving Qatar Na-tional Vision 2030,” the state-ment added.

The development of staff

skills is considered one of the most important priorities for QNB group as the bank is con-stantly striving to enhance the performance of its employees.

QNB group’s presence through its subsidiaries and associate companies extends to more than 31 countries across three continents pro-viding a comprehensive range of advanced products and ser-vices.

The total number of em-ployees is more than 29,000 operating through more than 1,100 locations, with an ATM network of more than 4,400 machines, the bank said.

QNB holds graduation ceremony for leadership development programmes

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

DOHA Bank hosted a knowl-edge sharing session on theme ‘Strategic customer profitabil-ity through customer centricity’ recently.

The event was attended by Dr Bala V Balachandran, Professor of Accounting & Information Management, Northwestern University, US, according to a press release.

Dr R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, spoke about the fourth industrial revolution and the emerging digital trends.

“The fourth industrial revo-lution combines technologies in innovative ways, reshaping the way people live, work and relate to one another. Industries are being redefined, the work space is undergoing changes, robot-ics and artificial intelligence are going to play an important role and the customer will be more empowered in the digital envi-ronment,” Seetharaman said.

“Banks need to manage the change by redefining their busi-ness models to deal with stake-holders such as customers, regulators and shareholders. Customers are information-centric and not location-centric. To adopt the digital changes you need to be quick. Realign-ment of resources will happen because of technological devel-opments,” he added.

“Qatar offers an e-com-merce market worth almost $1.5 billion in 2019. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is projected to record e-commerce sales growth of 21.4 percent to reach $28.5 billion in 2019.

“Qatar is first among Arab countries in terms of engage-ment with mobile services and applications. Qatar reached the highest score six on the GSMA

Global Mobile Engagement Index (GMEI). Doha Bank re-ceived the ISO 27001 accredi-tation which is a testament to commitment towards informa-tion security and data protec-tion.

“At Doha bank, it is of great importance to follow the best standards in maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of information assets and our focus has always been on continual improvement of people, process-es and technologies to ensure the robustness and resilience of our information management infra-structure in the face of changing consumer needs and the evolv-ing security risk landscape.” Seetharaman said.

“Doha Bank launched the first Qatar Exchange traded fund under the symbol ‘QETF’. Doha Bank and MasterCard launched suite of new contact-less debit cards. For the first

time, Doha Bank customers will also be able to carry out e-commerce transactions with the added security of Mas-tercard securecode and Qpay (Qatar Central Bank Payment gateway system) using their Mastercard debit cards,” the Doha Bank CEO said.

Speaking about other ini-tiatives of the bank Seethara-man said, “Doha Bank has also

launched a new Arabic Doha Sooq website with driver deliv-ery application.

“It launched Al Jana series 7 in 2018 aimed at long-term sav-ings, the Al Dana 2018 scheme, online banking loan for Doha Bank customers, WhatsApp chat service integrated with FB messenger and Hello Doha enhanced mobile banking app version 6.1.0 with several en-hancements as well as enhance-ment of services through our online and mobile platforms such debit and credit card acti-vation, e-statements and other such features.”

Dr Bala V Balachandran spoke on achieving strategic profitability through customer centricity.

“The 4th industrial revolu-tion has brought in a combi-nation of artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics (AIMLA). The new revolution

is morphing the business envi-ronment, resulting in changing workforce, new competitors, decreasing margins, global competition, changing technol-ogy, demanding customers and manufacturing/service excel-lence,” Balachandran said.

Balachandran also dis-cussed the levers to maximise profit by cost management and revenue management. He said an effective strategy lies in managing the variable cost as a percentage to increase or de-crease in sales prediction.

“The relentless pursuit to eliminate non-value added ac-tivities and optimise resource utilisation effectively and ef-ficiently is defined as cost management. For effective im-provement in profits, making cost as a core competency will help in defining the drivers to profitability,” Balachandran said.

Digital adoption key to changing biz dynamics: Doha Bank CEO

Dr Bala V Balachandran, Professor of Accounting & Information Management, Northwestern University, USA, addresses a knowledge-sharing session in Doha recently.

Balachandran, professor at a US varsity, speaks on profitability through customer centricity

13Monday, February 25, 2019

The annual ECO-Schools Programme Awards were presented to 14 schools in Qatar across four categories at a glittering ceremony at Doha Bank’s headquarters recently.

Qatar National Bank recently organised a graduation ceremony for 139 employees who completed the Leadership Development and Management Development Programmes.

Banks need to manage the change by redefining their business models to deal with stakeholders such as customers, regulators and shareholdersDoha Bank CEO Dr R Seetharaman

Huawei’s equipment

Huawei’s chairman has said the US move would hurt some small telecoms operators in US that do use its equipment

US officials suspect Shenzhen-based Huawei’s products could be used by Beijing to spy on Western governments

Huawei’s chairman Guo Ping.

Dr R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, spoke about the fourth indus-trial revolution and the emerging digital trends during the knowledge-sharing session in Doha recently.

Economy & Business

NEW YORK: Bayer AG is set to face a second US jury over alle-gations that its popular glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer, six months after the company’s share price was rocked by a $289 million verdict in California state court.A lawsuit by California resident Edwin Hardeman against the company was scheduled to begin on Monday in federal rather than state court. The trial is also a test case for a larger litigation. More than 760 of the 9,300 Roundup cases nation-wide are consolidated in the federal court in San Francisco that is hearing Hardeman’s case. Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup or glyphosate cause cancer, saying decades of independent studies have shown the world’s most widely used weed killer to be safe for human use and noting that regulators around the world have approved the product. (REUTERS)

Bayer faces second trial over alleged weed killer Roundup’s cancer risk

REUTERSBARCELONA

NOKIA does not expect the possible exclusion of Chi-nese companies on security grounds to delay the rollout of next-generation 5G services in European markets, CEO Ra-jeev Suri told Reuters.

Debate is raging in Eu-rope over whether to heed calls from Washington to bar China’s Huawei Technologies, even as big telecoms operators warn that such a move could set back the deployment of 5G by years.

Suri, however, down-played concerns that a re-duced field of vendors could

slow network upgrades. The real reasons for Europe’s growing 5G lag behind the United States are hold-ups in issuing spectrum to operators, as well as high auction costs in countries such as Italy, he said.

“I think you cannot say that you know the situation caused by some of this will delay 5G rollout or that oth-ers are not capable or ready to provide equipment. That would not be accurate,” Suri said on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress , the industry’s main annual gath-ering, in Barcelona.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has

lobbied European allies ag-gressively to shut out Hua-wei, saying the company is too closely tied to the Chinese government and its equip-ment could be vulnerable to cyber espionage.

Huawei strongly rejects those allegations and Chair-man Guo Ping, speaking in Barcelona, reiterated that it would never allow any coun-try to insert so-called back doors in its equipment.

Nokia, the second-biggest networks player behind Hua-wei, has warned of a weak start to 2019 but expects sales to recover and show growth in 2020 as 5G deployment accelerates.

5G would not be delayed by ban on Chinese suppliers, says Nokia

News in brief

REUTERSWASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump on Sunday raised hopes that the United States and China would settle their trade dispute ahead of a March 1 deadline as nego-tiators met to wrap up the latest round of talks.

The US president said in a tweet that the trade talks on Sat-urday were “very productive.”

Talks were extended through the weekend in a bid to iron out differences on changes to China’s treatment of state-owned enterprises, subsidies, forced technology transfers and cyber theft.

The two sides have had no agreement on an enforce-ment mechanism. Washington wanted a strong mechanism to ensure that Chinese reform

commitments were followed through to completion, while Beijing insisted upon what it called a “fair and objective” pro-cess.

On Sunday, top officials in-cludin g US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He arrived for talks at the Winder Building, which houses the headquar-ters of the United States Trade Representative, an hour later than usual. Both Mnuchin and Liu went inside without com-menting, with Liu smiling when asked if the two sides would have a deal by the end of the day.

Trump said on Friday there was a “good chance” a deal would emerge, and that he might extend the March 1 dead-line and move forward with a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Extending the deadline would mean putting on hold a scheduled increase in tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the United States.

An extension would hold

off a worsening of the trade war that has already disrupted com-merce worth hundreds of bil-lions of dollars of goods, slowed

global economic growth and roiled financial markets.

On Friday, Trump and Mnuchin said US and Chinese

officials had reached an agree-ment on currency issues, but did not give details. US officials have long argued that China’s yuan is

undervalued, giving it a trade advantage and partly offsetting US tariffs.

China has committed to buying an additional 10 million metric tonnes of US soybeans.

Reuters reported exclusively on Wednesday that both sides were drafting memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on cyber theft, intellectual prop-erty rights, services, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade, including subsidies. But Trump said he did not like MoUs be-cause they are short-term, and he wanted a long-term deal.

Trump said the biggest deci-sions could be reached when he meets with Xi, probably in Flor-ida next month, and that their talks may extend beyond trade to encompass Chinese telecom-munications companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp.

Trump raises hopes of trade deal on final day of US-China talks

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

HUAWEI Consumer Busi-ness Group (CBG) unveiled the world’s fastest 5G foldable phone, Huawei Mate X, rede-fining smartphone design with a foldable form factor at the Mobile World Congress 2019

Reflecting the innova-tive DNA of the Huawei Mate series, the Huawei Mate X features the Falcon Wing Me-chanical Hinge, 7nm multi-mode modem chipset Ba-long 5000, a high-capacity 4500mAh battery supporting the world’s fastest 55w Huawei SuperCharge and the brand new interstellar blue finish.

When folded, the device is a huge display smartphone with a 6.6-inch screen, and

when opened, it turns into a slim tablet with an 8-inch screen. The new multi-form factor revolutionizes both pro-ductivity and entertainment experiences on a mobile de-vice.

Richard Yu, CEO of Hua-wei CBG, said, “The Huawei-Mate X’s revolutionary form factor is achieved by Huawei’s relentless effort in R&D. It represents a voyage into the

uncharted. As a new breed of smartphones, Huawei Mate X combines 5G, foldable screen, AI and an all-new mode of in-terfacing to provide consum-ers with an unprecedented user experience. The Huawei Mate X will be the first key for consumers to open the door to 5G smart living.”

Falcon Wing Mechanical Hinge strikes a balance be-tween technology and aesthet-

ics. A result of Huawei’s bold testing with novel smartphone form factors, the 2-in-1 smart-phone and tablet Huawei Mate X features a high strength flex-ible OLED panel and a falcon wing mechanical hinge.

The 6.6-inch dual display panel equipped on the Hua-wei Mate X is a true fullview display. When unfolded, it transforms into an 8-inch tablet only 5.4mm thick. Im-ages are displayed with great clarity and detail, and the panel itself is safe, durable and features outstanding cooling performance. As light as it is appealing, the foldable smart-phone comes in a new inter-stellar blue that epitomises the beauty of technology and sets a higher bar for future smart-phones.

Huawei launches Huawei Mate X, 5G foldable phone

REUTERSNEW YORK

A return to fashion of growth stocks in 2019 helped lead the overall market out of a year-end shakeout, but another multi-year run of growth per-forming better than value may not be in the cards.

The S&P 500 has rallied nearly 18 percent since its De-cember 24 low. During that time the Russell 1000 Growth index has fared even better with a gain of almost 20 per-cent while the Russell 1000 Value index has lagged with a gain of about 17 percent.

That marks a reversal from the fourth quarter, when value outperformed as stocks nearly tumbled into bear market terri-tory, a trend some analysts feel will return as the market grap-ples with several major head-winds such as Brexit and trade negotiations.

Growth investors typically

search for companies that have higher profit growth and mar-gins, while value investors look for stocks that seem inexpen-sive.

Shortly after the S&P hit its most recent record on Septem-ber 20, thanks to the outper-formance by growth, especially technology stocks, the spread between the Russell 1000 growth and value indexes had surpassed the levels hit during the end of the dot-com era. The fourth quarter selloff helped that narrow but it began to widen again shortly before the new year.

“The valuation imbalance we have seen between growth and value in the largecap space ... when we have seen that in-flection point in the past there has been a very powerful long-term rally where value has outperformed growth and we think that is coming up,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity mar-ket strategist, at Federated In-

vestors, in New York.In a recent note to clients,

Morgan Stanley equity strate-gist Michael Wilson said that the stocks that got hit first and hardest during last year’s “roll-ing bear market” would lead the recovery this year and rally the hardest. That prediction

appears to be playing out as areas such as transportation, considered cyclical value, have been among the leaders to the upside this year.

Wilson anticipated the Federal Reserve will hold off raising interest rates further and that the global economy

would bottom in the first half. He favors value over growth, with a focus on cyclical over de-fensive stocks.

Value stocks also remain cheap relative to growth shares, with their widest for-ward price-to-earnings ratio spread in over a decade. And while investor worries about a recession, which helped fuel the fourth-quarter sell-off, have abated, a number of head-winds remain that could make value more attractive as market uncertainty rises.

“There are still a lot of headaches coming, whether it is Brexit, China - what is the (trade) package going to look like? - the legal stuff in Wash-ington,” said Steve DeSanctis, equity strategist at Jefferies in New York.

The Russell 1000 Value forward PE also sits right at its long-term average of about 13.8 while the Growth index is nearly 20, well above its his-

toric average of 17.5.One challenge, even though

value is relatively cheap, is that financials have a heavy weight-ing in value indexes and a Fed pause will make it harder for those firms to grow profits.

Even though, as of the last reconstitution of Russell index-es in June, the financial servic-es sector saw the most signifi-cant decrease in index weight in the largecap 1000 value index, it still was 29.1 percent. In the Russell 2000 Smallcap Value financials command a weighting of 40.5 percent.

“If value is going to work, it has to be financials,” said Mark Stoeckle, CEO at Adams Funds in Baltimore in an interview with Reuters.

“The one thing people were counting on in the first half of 2018 with the Fed was it was going to continue to raise rates, this (was) going to be good for banks – and not so much anymore.”

US markets may run out of gasover Brexit, China trade outcome

The New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P 500 has rallied 18% since its Dec 24 low as growth indexes have fared better than value stocks

India new e-commerce policy calls for data localisation, improved privacy safeguards

REUTERS NEW DELHI/MUMBAI

INDIA outlined a new draft policy for its burgeoning e-commerce sector on Saturday, focusing on data localization, improved privacy safeguards and measures to combat the sale of counterfeit products.

The proposed overhaul, which would likely increase operating costs for the sector, comes two months after the country modified regulations governing foreign direct invest-ment in e-commerce.

That forced retail giants Amazon.com Inc and Walmart-owned Flipkart to restructure their Indian operations, and the latest reforms spell further upheaval. “In the future, eco-nomic activity is likely to fol-low data,” the widely expected draft policy document said. “It is hence vital that we retain control of data to ensure job creation within India”.

The new rules call for the housing of more data centers and server farms locally, amid a broader push for data locali-zation by the South Asian na-tion, which is one of the world’s fastest-growing online mar-kets.

India’s central bank in 2018 forced payments provid-ers such as Mastercard and Visa Inc to store Indian users’ data locally.

“Steps will be taken to de-velop capacity for data storage

in India,” the draft e-commerce rules said. “A period of three years would be given to allow industry to adjust to the data storage requirement.”

Flipkart and Amazon said they were going through the draft rules and will share their inputs with the government.

The proposed rules also seek the creation of a “legal and technological framework” that can help impose restrictions on the cross-border flow of data generated by users, moves that may affect not just e-commerce platforms but also social media firms such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and rival Facebook Inc.

India also plans to mandate all e-commerce firms to pro-vide access to their data stored abroad whenever official re-quests are made. The rules, which come at a time New Delhi is working on a broader data privacy law, also forbid companies from sharing data stored abroad with other busi-nesses even with user consent.

Costly for firms The proposed overhaul

would likely increase operating costs for the e-commerce sector

The new rules call for the housing of more data centers and server farms locally

(File photo) US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin (fourth left), and Vice Premier of China Liu He (fifth right) during trade talks in Washington. (EPA-EFE)

Deal deadline Trump said on Friday he

might extend the March 1 deadline and move forward with a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping

Extending the deadline would put on hold a scheduled increase in tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports

Growth investors typically search for companies that have higher profit growth and margins, while value investors look for stocks that seem inexpensive

Economy & Business14 Monday, February 25, 2019

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QATAR and Nigeria were drawn together for the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland along-side Ukraine and the United States in Group D, following the group stage draw held in Gdynia on Sunday.

Qatar will open their ac-count of the tournament against Nigeria on May 24 and face Ukraine three days later before their final group match against the United States on May 30th.

The U-20 World Cup 2019 will take place from May 23 to June 15 in Poland.

Hosts Poland will play Co-lombia in the opening Group A match in Lodz on May 23. Ta-hiti and Senegal are the other

teams in the group.FIFA legends Bebeto, who

won the U-20 World Cup in 1983 and the FIFA World Cup in 1994; and Fernando Couto, who lifted the U-20 title in 1989, made the draw in front of numerous coaches and icons of Polish football.

Qatar will be making their fourth FIFA U-20 World Cup appearance at Poland 2019 after making their debut in 1981 when they finished second. They hosted the competition back in 1996 but bowed out in the first round and they had a simi-lar outcome twenty years later when they finished at the bottom of Group C in New Zealand in 2015.

For 2019’s qualification, despite losing their opening match in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship against UAE,

Qatar still managed to finish top of Group A along with hosts Indonesia thanks to the head-to-head re-sults. A 7-3 win after ex-tra time in the quarter-finals of the competition against Thailand meant the Qataris reached Po-land 2019 before losing in the semi-finals against Korea Republic.

The star player for Qatar going into this World Cup is Ab-dulrasheed Umar. The striker scored seven goals in the 2018 AFC

U-19 Championship, including a brace in the quarter-finals

clash against T h a i l a n d . Qatar hit seven past T h a i l a n d

in that game, which was the same number of goals, scored in their run to finish second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Qatar will be guided by Coach Bruno Miguel. The Por-tuguese had several coaching stints in his country including

giants Benfica. Miguel moved to Qatar in 2015, where he joined Aspire Academy, he was then appointed as the coach of the Qatar U-19 team in February 2017 before the start of the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers.

Qatar draw Nigeria in U-20 World CupHosts Poland to play Colombia in the opener in Lodz on May 23

No stopping Nasser in QCCR

POSITIONS ON SS3 (UNOFFICIAL @ 15.00HRS)

1. Nasser Saleh al Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 3hrs 27min 33sec2. Yazeed al Rajhi (SAU)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 3hrs 28min 44sec3. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) MINI John Cooper Works Rally 3hrs 30min 16sec4. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) BMW X3 CC 3hrs 46min 06sec5. Bernhard Ten Brinke (NLD)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 4hrs 03min 29sec6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F150 Evo 4hrs 09min 06sec2019 MANATEQ QATAR CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY – POSITIONS AFTER SS3 (UNOFFICIAL @ 15.20HRS)

1. Nasser Saleh al Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 7hrs 12min 42sec2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 7hrs 22min 34sec3. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) MINI John Cooper Works Rally 7hrs 23min 28sec4. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) BMW X3 CC 7hrs 47min 10sec5. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Laurent Lichtleuchter (FRA) MINI John Cooper Works Rally 8hrs 34min 47sec6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F150 Evo 9hrs 00min 34sec7. Bernhard Ten Brinke (NLD)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 10hrs 02min 17sec8. Reinaldo Varela (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Can-Am Maverick T3 10hrs 21min 56sec9. Fedor Vorobeyev (RUS)/Kirill Shubin (RUS) Can-Am Maverick X3 T3 12hrs 11min 11sec10. Khalid Al-Mohannadi (QAT)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Polaris RZR 1000 T3 12hrs 39min 22sec11. Camelia Liparoti (ITA)/Max Delfino (FRA) Yamaha YZX 1000 R T3 13hrs 01min 13sec12. Mohammed Al-Meer (QAT)/Alexey Kuzmich (RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser T2 13hrs 05min 56sec2019 QATAR MANATEQ BAJA – ROUND 2 (UNOFFICIAL @ 14.40HRS)

1. Ahmed al Kuwari (QAT)/Manuel Lucchese (ITA) Can-Am Maverick X3 1hr 54min 21sec2. Khalid Al-Mohannadi (QAT)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Polaris RZR 1000 T3 2hrs 04min 49sec3. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Ziad Al-Arbi (SAU) Can-Am Maverick X3 2hrs 05min 02sec4. Adel Abdulla (QAT)/Marc Serra (ESP) Can-Am Maverick T3 2hrs 19min 16sec5. Rashed Al-Mohannadi (QAT)/Ahmed Al-Fares (KWT) Polaris RZR 1000 T3 2hrs 22min 34sec

2019 MANATEQ QATAR CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY

Attiyah wins 3rd successive stage

Rajhi 2nd at the expense of Przygonski

Brazilian Varela takes commanding lead in T3

Every World Cup, no matter if it is at youth or senior level, gives a player a tremendous opportunity to face the best possible opponents.Germany’s football star Lukas Podolski

Quote Unquote

Poland will welcome all with open arms: Blaszczykowski

JAKUB Blaszczykowski, who, with 105 interna-tional appearances, is

Poland’s most capped player, on the eve of FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019 draw wel-comed players and fans from all around the world to his country for the event.Speaking to FIFA.com the Polish player said, “We have a lot to offer, but first and foremost, we are blessed with people who are incred-ibly open, friendly and eager to help others. I’m convinced that Poland will welcome our guests with open arms and that they will feel right at home here. “That famous Polish hos-pitality isn’t just all talk. However, I know from experi-ence that the players them-

selves won’t have a great deal of time to get to know our country as all their focus will be on training sessions and matches. We have lots of things to showcase,” he said.On his message to your mes-sage to the players who will be taking part in this tourna-ment, Blaszczykowski said, “Approach it with a smile on your face so that you can just go and enjoy the tournament. Be charged with positive en-ergy, so you approach every training session and every match in a positive way. When you look at life and a match with optimism, it makes things easier. Smile, go out onto the pitch and give your all. That’s my way of looking at it.” (TNN)

The Qatar U-20 football team soon after booking their ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019 during the AFC U-19 Championship against Thailand in Jakarta last October.

Qatar’s ace rallyist Nasser Saleh al Attiyah in action during the longest stage of Manateq-Qatar Cross-Country Rally (351.98km). He overcame the tricky navigation and a series of unfor-giving sand dunes to card the target time of 3hrs 27min 33secs on Sunday.

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKLUSAIL

A third successive stage victory for Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel enabled the Toyo-ta Hilux crew to extend their overall lead in the Manateq Qatar Cross-Country Rally to 9min 52sec on Sunday.

The five-time event winner opened the road on the longest stage of the en-tire event (351.98km) and overcame the tricky navigation and a series of unforgiv-ing sand dunes to card the target time of 3hrs 27min 33sec.

Team-mates Yazeed al Rajhi and Dirk von Zitzewitz pushed the Qatari hard from the outset and the second fastest time enabled the Toyota driver to edge in front of Polish rival Jakub Przygonski and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk in the overall standings. The two are now separated by just 54 seconds in the fight for second place.

Attiyah said, “Another good day, but it was not easy at all. We started from the sand dunes and the navigation was a little bit difficult. We didn’t make any mistakes. We try to push in some places where I felt good, but I also tried to save our car because that is important. We had a problem with one tyre (delaminat-ing), but we managed.”

Przygonski said, “The stage was good and we enjoyed it. It was hard navigation, but we didn’t have any issues. We are push-ing. The first part was good, for sure, but the last part we lose a bit of rhythm and we don’t know how or why. There were a lot of dunes at the start and the track was really nice to drive today.”

“Everything is okay,” said Al Rajhi. “We had one puncture about 10km from the finish, but it was okay. The dunes and the navigation were okay. We tried to push as much as we could in the middle of the stage.”

The Russian crew of Vladimir Vasilyev

and Konstantin Zhiltsov stopped short of the second passage control for a short time, but finished the stage with the fourth fastest time to hold a similar place in the overall standings. Zhiltsov said, “It was a hard day and we had a small mechanical problem before PC2 and a puncture. We are happy to be here and will try to do our best over the last two days.”

Italian Eugenio Amos felt unwell and was forced to stop his Ford 2WD Buggy be-fore the dunes, north of the Inland Sea, and his demise lifted Yasir Seaidan and French navigator Laurent Lichtleuchter to fifth overall in the second of the X–raid MINIs. Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal stayed out of serious trouble in his Ford F-150 Evo to hold sixth place, despite one puncture and four small navigational errors.

Seaidan said, “It was a long stage and rough in places and we got lost many times. We also had an electronic problem, but we got only one puncture.”

Bernhard Ten Brinke struggled to make headway on the third stage in the last of the Overdrive Toyotas. He lost time with navigational woes before the second pas-sage control, although he was able to climb from 11th to 7th in the overall rankings.

Monster Energy Can-Am driver Re-inaldo Varela was the main beneficiary of numerous stoppages and issues for ri-val T3 competitors. The Brazilian set the

second fastest time in the category behind Ahmed al Kuwari, holds eighth overall and now has a T3 advantage of 1hrs 49min 15sec over ninth-placed Fedor Yorobeyev. Qatari Khalid al Mohannadi and Italian female rider Camelia Liparoti rounded off a decimated top 11.

Mohammed al Attiyah ground to a halt north of the Inland Sea and fell out of contention for overall T3 honours with huge delays, while Omani driver Abdullah al Zubair also ruined his chance of winning T3 after turbo-related issues.

Al Zubair’s Qatari co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari explained: “It was around 70km in the stage and we were leading the T3. We felt there was no power in the car. We try to move again. Varela caught us, but there was white smoke. We knew it was the tur-bo. We called the team and we took the de-cision to come back to Lusail.”

Russian driver Fedor Vorobeyev lost considerable time digging his way out of a sandy hole in the dunes and Qatar’s Adel Abdulla suffered his own time-consuming delays and was running well behind the leading group.

Mohammed al Harqan’s goal of win-ning the T2 category for series production cross-country vehicles was dealt a bitter blow when he suffered technical issues on the eastern coast, north of the Inland Sea. But rival Qatari Mohammed al Meer was also delayed in the sand, as both T2 cars struggled to cross the demanding terrain. Meer eventually snatched the T2 advan-tage and 12th overall.

Qatar’s Ahmed al Kuwari and his Italian navigator Manuel Lucchese claimed victory in the second of the Qatar Manateq Bajas with a time of 1hr 54min 21sec at PC2. On Monday, there are two selective sections split by a road liaison section of 56.39km where service is not permitted. The first timed section of 227.99km starts 37.71km from the Lusail Sport Centre and the second of 121.41km finishes 95.75km from the bivouac.

Another good day, but it wasn’t easy at all. We start-ed from the sand dunes

and the navigation was a little bit dif-ficult. We didn’t make any mistakes. We try to push in some places where I felt good, but I also tried to save our car because that is important. We had a problem with one tyre (delaminat-ing), but we managed.Nasser Saleh al Attiyah

May 23 to June 15 The FIFA U-20 World Cup, a tournament that served as a

springboard for players like Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba and countless other superstars, will be held in Poland in 2019.The U-20 World Cup will be held across six

venues between 23 May and 15 June.

Manchester City win Carabao Cup on penaltiesPAGE 18

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2019

ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL

WEST INDIES VS ENGLAND

Al Rayyan spikers win Arab Club Volleyball Championship PAGE 19

AFPDEHRADUN, INDIA

RASHID Khan claimed a hat-trick to help Afghanistan to a 3-0 series sweep over Ireland after their convincing 32-run victory in the third Twenty20 international on Sunday.

Khan returned impres-sive figures of 5-27 to keep Ireland down to 178 for eight in their chase of 211 in the north Indian city of Dehra-dun.

Mohammad Nabi hit 81 off 36 deliveries in Afghani-stan’s 210 for seven after being put into bat first on a ground where they posted a T20 international record of 278-3 in the previous match.

Kevin O’Brien and Andy Balbirnie, who made 47, then put on a threatening 96-run second wicket stand to raise hopes of a successful chase but Khan hit back with his leg spin.

He got O’Brien caught behind for 74 but it was the

18th over when the world’s top T20 bowler became the first spinner in the format to take a hat-trick.

Khan got George Dock-rell, Shane Getkate and Simi Singh on consecutive deliv-eries to shut the door on Ire-land.

Earlier Nabi demolished the Irish bowling attack as he smashed 6 fours and 7 sixes, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground.

Ireland paceman Boyd Rankin took three wickets but gave away 53 runs in his four overs.

The two teams will now play five one-day interna-tionals starting Thursday followed by a one-off Test at the same venue, which is Afghanistan’s adopted home ground.

Brief scores: Afghanistan 210 for 7 (Nabi 81, Rankin 3-53) beat Ireland 178 for 8 (O’Brien 74, Rashid 5-27) by 32 runs

Afghanistan bowler Rashid Khan

Khan hat-trick seals Afghanistan T20

sweep against Ireland

AFPVISAKHAPATNAM, INDIA

GLENN Maxwell hit a crucial half-century as Australia edged out India by three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish at the first Twenty20 international on Sunday.

Pat Cummins hit a four and took two runs to complete a nervous 127-run chase after his fellow paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile restricted India to 126-7 in Visakhapatnam.

Maxwell, who made 56, put together 84 runs with D’Arcy Short for the third wicket to put Australia on course before Jas-prit Bumrah hit back with three wickets.

Bumrah got debutant Peter Handscomb caught behind for 13 and then bowled Coulter-Nile on the final ball of the 19th over to keep the game in balance. Jhye Richardson and Cummins -- both not out on seven each -- then kept their cool in the final six balls against Umesh Yadav to steer the Aussies home.

“It’s a really strong position to be in,” Australia skipper Aar-on Finch said after the win.

“Nathan is a wicket-taker. He has been very consistent in the IPL (Indian Premier League) as well,” he added.

“Maxi (Maxwell) played a hell of an innings on a pitch which was tough to bat.”

The day belonged to Coul-ter-Nile who returned figures of 3-26 in his four overs, receiving the man of the match award.

Indian batsman K.L. Rahul, who returned to the side after a

suspension for sexist comments during a controversial TV chat show appearance with Hardik Pandya, hit 50 off 36 balls.

His 55-run second wicket stand with skipper Virat Kohli, who made 24, gave India a brisk start but the hosts lost momen-tum after losing three quick wickets.

Adam Zampa got Kohli’s prized scalp with his leg spin and Coulter-Nile claimed the

wicket of Rahul to check India on a tricky pitch.

Veteran wicketkeeper-bats-man Mahendra Singh Dhoni made an unbeaten 29.

“A low scoring game is always on the cards in T20 cricket,” said Kohli. “With the bowling effort we were pleased. Bumrah can do wonders with the ball when it is reversing and did exceptionally well to get us in the game,” he added.

“Australia deserved to win as they played better than us.”

The build up to the match was dominated by talk of the domestic campaign calling on India to boycott its match against arch-rivals Pakistan in the upcoming 50-over World Cup. Dozens of Indian troops in Kashmir were killed earlier this month in a suicide bomb attack New Delhi has blamed on Paki-stan.

Kohli said ahead of the game that the team will stand by any decision taken by the government and the country’s cricket board in response to the attack.

His side wore black arm-bands and both teams stood in silence at the start of the game for the men who lost their lives in the February 14 attack.

Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell (right) plays a shot as India’s wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni looks on during the first Twenty20 international at the Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. (AFP)

Qatar lose to Japan in final FIBA qualifier

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

ASPIRE Academy recently concluded the second Tri-Series football tournament of the 2018 – 2019 season. The tournament featured under-13 and under-14 year-old players from Aspire Academy, Kuwait’s U-13/14 national team and FC Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine.

The tournament aims to de-velop the professionalism of the young student-athletes at As-pire Academy and helps build the characteristics required of future champions, encouraging players to follow in the foot-steps of the Aspire Academy graduates that triumphed in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup earlier this month.

The tournament saw the three teams take part in a num-ber of hotly contested games that featured a range of con-trasting footballing styles.

In the U-14 category, FC Dynamo Kyiv clinched victory after defeating the teams from Aspire Academy and Kuwait. Dmytro Kosach was crowned the best goalkeeper while mid-fielder Yevhenii Mykytivk se-lected the best player of the tournament.

In the U-13 category, the national team from Kuwait claimed the winner’s tro-phy. Abdullah al Ayoub was crowned the best goalkeeper and Faisal al Mukahal the best

overall player.Speaking after the tourna-

ment, Aspire U-14 coach, Oscar Garro said, “This tournament is a good challenge for us to evaluate our performance and know where we stand because we have a set target for players and the team in general that we wish to fulfil in a few years.”

Aqeel Muhanna, Kuwait’s national team coach expressed his gratitude on behalf of his players and staff for the invita-tion to take part in the Tri-Se-ries tournament.

“This is not the first time we take part in this tournament, playing in this competition is of tremendous benefit to our side and gives our players the

opportunity to compete against strong opponents and experi-ence a very high standard of play. This naturally helps our team improve and to step up our game,” Muhanna said.

FC Dynamo Kyiv U-13 player, Viacheslav Surkis was who visited Qatar for the first time said, “I enjoyed playing in the Tri-Series tournament and the teams from both Ku-wait and Aspire Academy were strong opponents and made us work hard. From the hotel to the playing fields, all the facili-ties are really impressive. And so too is the city of Doha. I will take great memories of our visit back to Ukraine and l’m very fortunate to have played in this

tournament.”Aspire Academy has in-

stalled “Football Skills De-velopment Centers” (FSDC) throughout Doha for boys be-tween 6 and 11 years of age. From the age of 8 years on-wards, the most promising boys are identified and invited to join “Aspire Feeder Groups” in which they are prepared to join the Academy.

The training philosophy of the Academy is tailored to the goals of Qatar as a footballing nation and follows a strategy that is geared towards the de-velopment of individual player, enabling them to fulfil their sporting potential and make the most of their talent.

Aspire Academy concludes latest tri-series tournament

Maxwell helps Australia edge out India in 1st T20

17Monday, February 25, 2019

INDIA

R. Sharma c Zampa b Behrendorff .......................5K.L. Rahul c Finch b Coulter-Nile ....................... 50V. kohli c Coulter-Nile b Zampa .......................... 24R. Pant run out (Behrendorff/Handscomb) ...........3M.S. Dhoni not out ............................................. 29D. Karthik b Coulter-Nile ........................................1K. Pandya c Maxwell b Coulter-Nile .......................1U. Yadav lbw b Cummins .......................................2Y. Chahal not out ...................................................0Extras (lb2, w9) ................................................. 11

Total (7 wickets, 20 overs) ...............................126

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Sharma), 2-69 (kohli), 3-80 (Pant), 4-92 (Rahul), 5-94 (Karthik), 6-100 (Pandya), 7-109 (Yadav) Did not bat: M. Markande, J. Bumrah Bowling: Behrendorff 3-0-16-1, Richardson 4-0-31-0 (w5), Coulter-Nile 4-0-26-3 (w1), Zampa 3-0-22-1 (w2), Cummins 4-0-19-1 (w1), Short 2-0-10-0AUSTRALIA (target 127)

D. Short run out (Pandya/Dhoni) ....................... 37M. Stoinis run out (Yadav/Chahal) ........................1A. Finch lbw b Bumrah ..........................................0G. Maxwell c Rahul b Chahal ............................. 56P. Handscomb c Dhoni b Bumrah ...................... 13A. Turner b Pandya .................................................0N. Coulter-Nile b Bumrah ......................................4P. Cummins not out ...............................................7J. Richardson not out ............................................7Extras (w2) ...........................................................2Total (7 wickets, 20 overs) ...............................127

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Stoinis), 2-5 (Finch), 3-89 (Maxwell), 4-101 (Short), 5-102 (Turner), 6-113 (Handscomb), 7-113 (Coulter-Nile) Did not bat: J. Behrendorff, A. Zampa Bowling: Bumrah 4-0-16-3, Chahal 4-0-28-1, Yadav 4-0-35-0 (w2), Pandya 4-0-17-1, Markande 4-0-31-0Toss: AustraliaResult: Australia won by 3 wickets

Series: Australia lead two-match series 1-0

SCOREBOARD

LOS ANGELES: Eric Gordon scored a team high 25 points and Chris Paul had 23 as the Houston Rockets, playing without leading scorer James Harden, used a balanced attack to beat the Golden State Warriors 118-112 on Saturday. The Rockets won without the reigning NBA most valuable player Harden, who has been bothered by a sore neck of late and then woke up Saturday morning with flu symptoms, the team said.

Harden, who was fined $25,000 earlier Saturday for criticizing the referees after a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, has missed just four games this season. Saturday’s win showed the team’s depth with-out Harden, who has scored 30 or more points in 32 straight games for the second longest streak in league history. The two-time defending NBA champion Warriors beat the Rockets in a seven-game series last May in the Western Conference finals, but this regular season the tables have turned. Houston has now won all three meetings with Golden State this season, including a 107-86 rout in November. (AFP)

Rockets beat Warriors 118-112 without MVP Harden

Quick read

Osaka will learn to deal with fame, says NishikoriAFPDUBAI

KEI Nishikori is confident his Japanese compatriot Naomi Osaka will learn to cope with pressure as she deals deal with her new elite status in tennis.

Nishikori, playing as top seed at the Dubai Champi-onships starting on Monday ahead of seven-time champi-on Roger Federer, has been-there, done that-in terms of national superstardom.

But he believes that the painfully shy 21-year-old ranks ahead of him as a na-tional sporting hero after winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles at New York and Melbourne and igniting fresh tennis hysteria across the Pa-cific.

“It’s much more than me,

maybe a year ago she wasn’t ranked top 10. Suddenly eve-rything changes: she’s No. 1, I’ve (only) been Top 3 before.

“There is more pressure, for sure. Being No.1, winning Grand Slams, that’s some-thing I never had before. It’s a bit different. It’s more than me, I think.”

The 28-year-old said Osa-ka will eventually find her way into a public comfort zone.

“I’m sure she’s going to adapt, she just needs the time. She has great mental, very strong, very calm. She doesn’t panic too much.

“I’m sure in time she will get used to it. It’s unfortunate she lost here (first round at the women’s event against Kristina Mladenovic) but I’m sure she’s okay.

“She’s going to be winning more Grand Slams.”

The top Asian in the men’s game, based in the US like Osaka, is playing Dubai for the first time as he shakes up

his 21019 schedule a touch.Nishikori arrived in the

emirate after reaching the semi-finals this month in Rot-

terdam, losing to Stan Waw-rinka. He said that he is look-ing forward to a fresh ATP experience.

“It was always comfort-able to play this week Acapul-co. I used to play Memphis all the time, it was easier for me to play on the US side.

“But I always wanted to come here. Schedule-wise it wasn’t easy. Something new. It’s fun, so I chose to play here.”

Nishikori spent part of 2018 injured, starting his sea-son a month late with a Chal-lenger, He started 2019 with the Brisbane trophy, his 12th title.

The sixth-ranked Ni-shikori will begin his Dubai campaign in the first round against Benoit Paire; he has defeated the Frenchman in five of seven matches.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka

Tsitsipas claims second ATP title in Marseille

AFPMARSEILLE

RISING Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed his second ATP Tour title on Sunday by beating Mikhail Kukushkin in the final of the Marseille event.

The 20-year-old continued his excellent start to the year, which included a run to the Australian Open semi-finals on the back of a fourth round defeat of Roger Federer, by bat-tling to a 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) victory.

“Winning titles is the thing that I am working for... It is the biggest satisfaction and the biggest joy in tennis,” said Tsit-sipas. “There was a lot of stress this week because I knew I had to face some good opponents.

“When you care a lot, you tend to be more stressed

than usual. I am happy that I got through that stress and played the game that I was supposed to play.”

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas with the trophy after winning the ATP Open 13 Provence on Sunday. (AFP)

Sports

Qatar fell 48-96 in the last game of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers at the Al Gharafa Sports Club on Sunday. Qatar had earlier lost to the Philippines on Thursday and will hope to build on the experience gained in the campaign. New coach Panos Yiannaras has stated that the team will be better in a few years with more games and competitions under their belt.

Manchester City’s defender Vincent Kompany lifts the trophy as teammates celebrate their victory in the English League Cup final match against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday. Manchester City beat Chelsea on penalties 4-3 after the match had ended 0-0 after extra time. (AFP)

AFPMILAN

PAULO Dybala sent Juventus 16 points clear at the top of Serie A on Sunday with a second-half winner in a 1-0 victory at Bolo-gna.

After a spotty Juventus dis-play that saw hosts Bologna on top for long periods, Dybala came off the bench to snatch the three points.

Defender Danilo deflected Blaise Matuidi’s low 67th-minute cross straight to the Argentine international in front of a gaping goal, and he slotted past Lukasz Skorupski.

Juventus moved further ahead of Napoli who play Parma later on Sunday.

Bologna stay third-from-bot-tom on 18 points and three from safety, despite pushing Juve, much-changed from the side that lost 2-0 at Atletico Madrid midweek, all the way and almost equalising in the final minute when Mattia Perin pushed Nico-la Sansone’s long-range drive onto the post.

SPAL picked a point at Sas-suolo and moved five points ahead of Bologna thanks to Andrea Petagna’s 68th-minute equaliser from the spot.

Rock-bottom Chievo held Genoa to a goalless draw.

Sampdoria’s veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella struck the winner from the spot in the sec-ond half against Cagliari to bag his 17th goal of the season. Ninth-place Sampdoria remain in touch with the European places.

On Saturday, Edin Dzeko’s

95th-minute winner complet-ed Roma’s fightback at lowly Frosinone as they won 3-2 to keep pace with fourth-placed AC Milan, easy 3-0 winners at home to Bologna’s relegation rivals Empoli on Friday night.

Rejuvenated Dzeko has four goals in his last four league games after his brace at the Sta-

dio Benito Stirpe, following a fallow few months up front for Eusebio Di Francesco’s incon-sistent side.

Dzeko’s winner, which came after he had equalised Camillo Ciano’s comical fifth-minute opener for Frosinone, kept Roma one point behind Milan, who oc-cupy the final Champions League place, ahead of next week’s Rome derby against Lazio.

Lazio are six points behind Roma after their match with Udinese set for Monday night was postponed as it was con-sidered too close to the first leg of their Italian Cup semi-final against Milan.

Simone Inzaghi’s side are level on 38 points with Atalanta

and Torino, who beat Atalanta 2-0 on Saturday with goals either side of half-time from Armando Izzo and Iago Falque.

Fiorentina can join the trio with a win over third-placed In-ter Milan in Florence in Sunday’s late game.

The Argentinean came off the bench to snatch maximum points for the Serie A leaders

Dybala’s goal extends Juve’s lead at Bologna

Sports18 Monday, February 25, 2019

News in brief

DOHA: Captain Rodrigo Tabata and Mohammed Juma will return to the Al Rayyan fold after their suspensions when they play Al Shahania in Week 18 of the QNB Stars League on February 27. Midfielder Tabata had missed Al Rayyan’s games against Al Arabi and Al Sadd in Week 16 and 17 respectively as he was serving the suspension he was handed by the Qatar Football Association’s Disciplinary Committee for his behaviour against Al Kharaitiyat in the QSL Cup. Left-back Mohammed Juma had missed the Qatar Clasico against Al Sadd due to suspension for the fourth yellow card he received during the match against Al Arabi.

Tabata, Mohammed Juma return to Al Rayyan fold

DOHA: Al Sadd defender Boualem Khoukhi, who sat out suspended during their QNB Stars League Week 17 match against Al Rayyan last week as he had received a fourth yellow card against Al Khor in the previous round, will be back in action when they take on Qatar SC on February 28. At the same time, Al Sadd will be without defender Tarik Salman, who was shown a fourth yellow card against Al Rayyan last week. So is Spanish star Gabi Fernandez, who was sent off during the Al Rayyan game for fouling Khalfan Ibrahim. Al Sadd won the Qatar Clasico by a 4-0 margin to keep leading the QNB Stars League standings with 44 points, four ahead of champions Al Duhail who were held goalless by Al Gharafa.

Boualem back, but Al Sadd sans Tarik and Gabi

MANCHESTER CITY WIN CARABAO CUP

Winning goalAfter a spotty Juventus display that saw hosts Bologna on top for long periods, Dybala came off the bench to snatch the three points. Defender Danilo deflected Blaise Matuidi’s low 67th-minute cross straight to the Argentine international in front of a gaping goal, and he slotted past Lukasz Skorupski.

(From left) Liverpool’s James Milner, Man United’s Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba and Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson go up for a header during their EPL match in Manchester on Sunday. (AFP)

DPALONDON

LIVERPOOL moved one point clear at the top of the English Premier League after a hard-fought 0-0 draw at an injury-hit Manchester United on Sun-day.

Liverpool dominated pos-session but could not break down a United side that need-ed three substitutions in the first half but which battled well for a point.

The result moved Liverpool one point clear of Manchester City at the top, while United dropped to fifth behind Arse-nal, who beat Southampton 2-0 in the day’s other match.

“In the situation, for sure it was for United a point they won, and for us two points lost,” a frustrated Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said.

“It was a strange game (with all the injuries). We lost the rhythm and we couldn’t get it back. I think on days when United is beatable, you have to go and beat them.

“It doesn’t feel world-class in the moment but that’s OK, we have a point more.” Klopp might have taken a point be-fore the match against a United side who had won nine games out of 11 under caretaker man-ager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But when Solksjaer lost Nemanja Matic before the match and then Ander Herre-ra, Juan Mata and then Jesse Lingard, himself a substitute, in the opening 40 minutes, Klopp would have expected to go on to win the match.

But though they bossed the game in terms of possession, they never really threatened the United goal, while at the other end, the hosts threat-ened on the counter-attack.

Lingard had the best chance of the match when he latched on to Romelu Lukaku’s fine pass and tried to take the ball around Alisson but the Liverpool goalkeeper stuck out a big left hand to block the threat.

United did have the ball in the net in the second half but

the goal was ruled out for off-side and the two sides eventu-ally settled for a point.

James Milner, who played at full back for Liverpool as Trent Alexander-Arnold was rested, said the draw could yet be crucial.

“We’re disappointed not to win the game because we go into every game to win but hopefully it’s a good point at the end of the season,” he said.

“I’d say a clean sheet is pleasing. We made all the run-ning, didn’t create as many chances we’d like, but the least we wanted was a clean sheet and see what happened.” Mil-ner said he hoped Liverpool would play better in the re-maining 10 games, as an at-tacking threat. “I just don’t think we were good enough with our movement,” he said.

“The final ball at times (wasn’t good enough) and around the box we weren’t able to open them up as much as we would like.

“(But) United are a confi-dent team and well-organised. There’s a long way to go. We have to look where we can im-prove when we have got the ball.” Solskjaer said he was proud of the attitude of his players after the problems of the first half.

“Losing three players first half with hamstring injuries (was very hard) and probably we should have taken off Mar-cus (Rashford) off as well be-cause he got injured in the first minute.

“You come out with so many positives. The crowd was fantastic. I don’t remember David (De Gea) making a save, so we kept them out of it and we created one or two massive moments where we might have scored.”

Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored inside the first 20 minutes as Arsenal moved back into a Champions League place with a comfortable victory over Southampton. The point was enough to put them above United in fourth, while South-ampton remain third-bottom.

Liverpool one point clear at top after draw at Man UnitedArsenal back into 4th place with a comfortable win over Southampton

AFPMADRID

ALVARO Morata poked fun at VAR after scoring his first goal for Atletico Madrid on Sunday as Barcelona’s closest challeng-ers kept up the chase with a 2-0 win over Villarreal.

Since joining Atletico on loan from Chelsea last month, Morata has twice had goals ruled out by VAR so when this one finally stood at the Wanda Metropolitano, he celebrated by imitating a referee putting a

finger to his ear.Saul Niguez added a late

second for Atletico, whose vic-tory means they reduce the gap behind Barca to seven points at the top of La Liga. Real Madrid, now five behind their city rivals, play Levante later on Sunday.

Morata’s first league goal in almost four months was a de-served reward for another lively performance, which followed up his excellent display off the bench in the midweek win over Juventus.

After having one headed

goal ruled out, Morata teed up Jose Gimenez’s opener against Juve and his contribution was enough to earn him a start ahead of Diego Costa, who re-placed his fellow Spaniard in the second half.

The pair’s jostle for the po-sition as partner-in-chief to Antoine Griezmann looks set to give Diego Simeone a headache in the coming weeks but Atleti’s coach will be relieved that mo-mentum has been sustained af-ter such a memorable night in the Champions League.

Atletico’s deficit behind Barcelona may yet prove im-possible to make up but they still have to play the Catalans at the Camp Nou in April and the

challenge in the meantime will be at least to stay in touch.

Most of Atletico’s victories this season have owed some debt to their goalkeeper Jan Oblak and so it proved again as he prevented Karl Toko Ekambi giving Villarreal an early lead, saving from close range with his legs.

Atletico controlled the game, with their opponents seemingly determined to sit back and frustrate. Morata had a spring in his step and did well to execute a difficult volley from Saul’s cross, only for Sergio Asenjo to push it wide.

His opener took a similar route, also down the left, as this time Filipe Luis dug out

the cross and after adjusting his feet, Morata caught his shot perfectly off the bounce. The ball crept inside the post.

Morata departed to a stand-ing ovation just before the hour, replaced by Costa, who could have made it two but took too long to finish after a dash in be-hind.

Villarreal found some mo-mentum in the last 15 minutes as Mario Gaspar and Gerard Moreno both had shots blocked but Saul dashed any hopes of a comeback.

It was Costa’s ball over the top that did the damage as Saul won the race with Asenjo, lift-ing the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net.

The former Chelsea striker celebrates his goal by mocking VAR

Morata off the mark as Atletico Madrid sail past Villarreal

Atletico Madrid’s Alvaro Morata celebrates with Koke (back) after scoring a goal during their Spanish league match at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on Sunday. (AFP)

RESULTS / TABLEAC Milan 3 Empoli 0Torino 2 Atalanta 0Frosinone 2 Roma 3Sampdoria 1 Cagliari 0Chievo 0 Genoa 0Bologna 0 juventus 1Sassuolo 1 SPAL Ferrara 1

P W D L F A Pts

1 juventus 25 22 3 0 53 15 692 Napoli 24 16 5 3 42 18 533 Inter Milan 24 14 4 6 34 17 464 AC Milan 25 12 9 4 38 22 455 Roma 25 12 8 5 49 33 446 Torino 25 9 11 5 30 22 387 Atalanta 25 11 5 9 51 36 388 Lazio 24 11 5 8 33 27 389 Sampdoria 25 10 6 9 41 32 3610 Fiorentina 24 8 11 5 37 26 3511 Sassuolo 25 7 10 8 35 40 3112 Parma 24 8 5 11 25 33 2913 Genoa 25 7 8 10 32 41 2914 Cagliari 25 5 9 11 21 36 2415 SPAL 25 5 8 12 22 37 2316 Udinese 24 5 7 12 19 31 2217 Empoli 25 5 6 14 30 48 2118 Bologna 25 3 9 13 19 38 1819 Frosinone 25 3 7 15 19 49 16 20 Chievo 25 1 10 14 19 48 10

Juventus’ Paulo Dybala celebrates after opening the scoring during their Italian Serie A match against Bologna at the Renato-Dall’Ara Stadium in Bologna on Sunday. (AFP)

19Monday, February 25, 2019

QGA steps up preps for CBQM 2019

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

ORGANISERS of the Commer-cial Bank Qatar Masters have confirmed that the 22nd edi-tion of the popular European Tour golf event will be held at Doha Golf Club (March 6 to 10).

The highly-anticipated event is organised by the Qa-tar Golf Association (QGA), the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), Doha Golf Club (DGC) and long-term title sponsor, Commercial Bank. The tour-nament is considered Qatar’s annual ‘must-attend’ sporting and social event, first held in 1998 and widely known for bringing together the world’s best golf talent; the likes of Branden Grace, Sergio Garcia, Rory Mcllroy, Justin Rose, Ra-fael Cabrera-Bello and Henrik Stenson have all competed in past years.

The Commercial Bank Qa-tar Masters was attended by over 20,000 spectators in 2018 and broadcast to a global TV au-dience of over 400 million view-ers. For the 22nd edition of the event all eyes will be on Doha as the biggest names in the sport vie for the Mother of Pearl Tro-phy on one of the most challeng-ing courses on The Tour.

QGA President Hassan bin Nasser al Naimi said, “The Commercial Bank Qatar Mas-ters is a leading fixture on Qa-tar’s sporting calendar. Since its inception, the event has complemented the growth of golf in the country. The tour-nament also continues to con-tribute to encouraging young Qataris to take up the sport and learn from The European Tour Stars,”

“Preparations for the next tournament are well under-way, together with our part-

ners who have played a vital role in enhancing the event experience for both play-ers and spectators each year. We look forward to welcom-ing the players, golf fans and our valued sponsors to Doha Golf Club for another edition of world-class golf in March 2019,” added Naimi.

The Commercial Bank Qa-tar Masters is one of the most important international sport-ing events in Qatar and 2019 is the 14th consecutive year of sponsorship of the Commer-cial Bank of Qatar. This reflects the bank’s commitment to the development of sports in the country and the enhancement of Qatar’s sporting reputation at the international level.

In the run up to the tour-nament, Commercial Bank has organised a range of ac-tivities to promote the tourna-ment and encourage local par-ticipation in golf.

Together with the bank’s employees, Commercial Bank Group CEO Joseph Abraham attended the first pop-up golf event. During the event, he par-ticipated in golf activities to gen-erate a buzz around the interna-tionally-renowned tournament.

The other mini-golf events took place at Villaggio Mall, with fans being encouraged to put their golfing skills to the test. Volunteers were also present at the booth to pro-vide key tips and information about the sport. In addition to the mini-golf event, Com-mercial Bank has organised a series of educational tours across schools and universities in Qatar to help students learn more about golf.

Abraham, Group CEO, said: “Commercial Bank is de-lighted to once again sponsor this tournament in support of Qatar’s national vision of be-ing a world-class venue for sport, promoting healthy life-styles, and bringing members of the Qatari community to-gether. The tournament is set to be a wonderful day out for sports fans and families alike.”

Educational golf activities kick off ahead of the tournament

QGA President Hassan bin Nasser al Naimi

Commercial Bank Group CEO Joseph Abraham

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

WORLD champions Erminio Frasca and Silvana Maria Stanco took contrasting routes to win Trap titles at the Qatar Open in Shotgun 2019 at the Losail Ranges and stamp Ital-ian domination on Sunday.

With conditions being near perfect with bright and balmy sun and not much wind, Frasca, who won the World Cup Finals in Belgrade in 2007, held his nerves to edge com-patriot Valerio Grazini, also as 2009 world champion and 2013 World Cup winner, 45-44 in a thrilling gold medal match.

The 2018 Changwon world champion Stanco shot bril-liantly in the latter part of the finals, which included 21 hits without a miss, and claimed the Women’s title and $7,000 with a 44-40 over Slovakian star and double Olympic silver medallist Zuzana Rehak Ste-fecekova.

When the men’s gold med-al round started, the 2003 Nic-osia world champion Frasca was two shots behind Grazini (35-37). He struck all the 10 targets, while Grazini missed first two and failed to hit once

in the final five, leaving Frasca a thrilling winner.

“I’m very happy and satis-fied with my performance. We have all come here to train and get ready for the new season in the best way. The organisation is always very good. The range is also fine. The conditions were optimal.

“Usually, the competitions are as close and tight as this one, with one point separat-ing the winner from the silver medalist. I feel I scored well in the qualification. I did not have good first part in the finals but I came back strongly. I know I’ve to train hard and hope-fully, I will be in good shape with the time this season,” he added.

Grazini, who was 23rd

last year and collected $6,000 for his second-place finish, said, “It was a very difficult final. There was a lot of pres-sure. The other shooter is very strong. However, I am happy with my result. Tomorrow, we’ve a big competition in the Mixed Team. I hope to do well in that too.”

French Sebastien Geer-rero, fourth in the Tucson World Cup last year, took the third place and $5,000 with 35. Twice World Cup winner Mauri de Filippis, also from Italy, was fourth with 30, while Slovak Michal Slamka and Iranian Mohammad Hossein Parvaresh Nia were fifth and sixth, respectively.

Mohammed al Rumaihi and Masoud al Athba were

the best performers for Qatar, getting 22nd and 23rd places, with 116 each in the qualifying rounds.

The women’s final was dominated by Stanco, the 2018 Changwon World Champion-ship bronze medallist who won the 2013 and 2015 World Cups. After French Melanie Couzy, the reigning European champion, bowed out with the bronze medal, Stanco hit 21 targets in a row to lead the Slo-vakian star Rehak Stefecekova, the silver medallist in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, by three targets 35-32.

However, the multiple medal winners in the World Championship, World Cup and World Cup Finals Rehak Stefecekova could not narrow the gap in the last 10 shots. Stanco failed to hit one, but the Slovak could not hit twice and the Italian came home with a four-point difference.

“I’m thrilled to have won in

Losail. I felt comfortable and shot well in the second part of the final. The conditions were perfect. We’ve come from very cold weather in Italy and I made the best use of the condi-tions to emerge the winners,” commented Stanco.

“I’d come here in 2016 and got into the final but was not able to get to the podium. This time, I fought well right from the qualifying round and bagged the title and a cool prize money $7,000.

“This is the Olympic quali-fying season. Everybody has come to test their preparations and I’m glad to have this kind of strong performance,” Stan-co added.

Finnish 2008 Beijing Olympics winner and three-time world champion Satu Makela-Nummela was fourth, followed by French Adeline Couet and Italian Jessica Ros-si, the 2012 London Olympic champion.

Italians sweep titles at Qatar Open Shotgun

Frasca, Stanco pocket Trap gold medals

Al Rayyan win Arab Clubs V’ball C’ship again; Police third MotoGP: Rins on the top on second day

Qatar Open in Shotgun Men’s Trap gold medal winner Erminio Frasca with other podium finishers, ISSF official Yonia Kok and a QSAA official at the Losail Ranges on Sunday.

Katara Cultural Village General Manager Dr. Khalid al Sulaiti presents the Women’s Trap gold medal winner’s cheque to Silvana Mario Stanco at Losail on Sunday.

Men’s Trap

1 FRASCA, Erminio (ITA) 25 24 25 24 25 (123+3 45) 2 GRAZINI, Valerio (ITA) 23 25 24 25 24 (121+3 44) 3 GUERRERO, Sebastien (FRA) 25 25 24 24 25 (123+2 35) 4 DE FILIPPIS, Mauro (ITA) 25 24 24 25 24 (122+3 30) 5 SLAMKA, Michal (SVK) 25 24 24 24 25 (122+4 25) 6 PARVARESH NIA, Mohammad Hossein (IRI) 25 25 25 23 23 (121+2 20)

Women’s Trap

1 STANCO, Silvana Maria (ITA) 25 25 24 24 25 (123 44) 2 REHAK STEFECEKOVA, Zuzana (SVK) 22 23 24 24 25 (118+2 40)

3 COUZY, Melanie (FRA) 24 25 23 25 24 (121 30) 4 MAKELA-NUMMELA, Satu (FIN) 23 24 24 25 24 (120+6 25) 5 COUET, Adeline (FRA) 24 24 22 24 24 (118+1+1 20) 6 ROSSI, Jessica 1118 ITA 24 23 25 24 24 120+5 15

Junior Men’s Trap

1 KAPOOR, Vivaan (IND) 22 24 22 25 25 = 118 2 RATHORE, Manavaditaya (IND) 23 22 25 23 22 = 115 3 DOPIERALA, Kacper (POL) 22 23 22 21 21 = 109

Junior Women’s Trap

1 ALMOHANNADI, Noora (QAT) 21 20 20 20 18 = 99 2 VANDERTUIN, Mackenzie USA (did not start)

RESULTS

Qatar Open in Shotgun Tournament Director Abdullah Ali al Mutawa al Hamadi honours Qatar’s Noora al Mohannadi for winning the Junior Women’s Trap gold medal on Sunday.

Al Rayyan Club created history, becoming the first Qatari team to win back-to-back Arab Clubs Volleyball Championship in Tunis as The Lions came from behind to beat Esperance ST 3-2. Twice the Tunisian club took the lead but Al Rayyan negated it and went to post an exciting 19-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 15-9 in the final on Saturday. Last year also, Al Rayyan had beaten the same rivals to win the title for the first time. Police of Qatar crushed GC Petroilers from Algeria to secure the third place. Al Rayyan and Police clashed in the semi-finals and Al Rayyan required five sets to win and move into the final. Al Arabi were the first from Qatar to win the prestigious title in 2003.

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AUSTRALIAN star-in-the-making Min Woo Lee will tee it up in this year’s Commer-cial Bank Qatar Masters as he continues to blaze a trail in the early stages of his burgeoning professional career.

Lee’s elder sister, Minjee Lee – currently ranked sev-enth in the Women’s Rolex Ranking – turned professional when she was aged 18, joining Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith as Austral-ian teenagers who turned pro.

Min Woo bucked the trend by waiting until he was aged 20 before signing professional terms, making his debut ear-lier this year on the European Tour in Abu Dhabi.

He went on to play in the inaugural European Tour event in Saudi Arabia, finish-ing fourth. He then finished in a share of fifth place in his home city of Perth at the ISPS Handa World Super 6.

His top five finish earned him a place in the field at this week’s Oman Open and he will follow that by making his debut in the Commercial

Bank Qatar Masters, aiming to follow in compatriot Scott’s footsteps, who won twice in Qatar.

“We’re delighted to wel-

come Min Woo Lee to this year’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters,” said Tournament Director Gary McGlinchey. “He has already proven he can compete at the highest level and we’re sure he will be a fac-tor at Doha Golf Club.”

As an amateur, Lee ex-celled, becoming the first Aus-tralian to win the US Boys’ Junior Championship in Ten-nessee in 2016. He was a key member of several Australian and international teams, in-cluding at the World Amateur Teams Championship last year in Ireland, where he was

sixth individually. He also played a vital role

in the 2018 Asia-Pacific team that ended their 14-year wait for victory in the Bonallack Trophy against Europe at Doha Golf Club last March, scoring three points from five matches.

Lee closed the book on his amateur career as the fifth-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

The Commercial Bank Qatar Masters takes place at Doha Golf Club from March 7-10. Entry for spectators is free of charge.

Aussie prodigy Min Woo Lee the one to watch in QatarMin Woo Lee’s top five finish earned him a place in the field at this week’s Oman Open and he will follow that by making his debut in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, aim-ing to follow in compatriot Scott’s footsteps, who won twice in Qatar.

Min Woo Lee of Australia in action at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in Perth recently.

Alex Rins of Team Suzuki Ecstar topped the time sheets on the second day of the pre-season MotoGP test at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday. He clocked 1:54.593 to edge Maverick Vinales of Monster En-ergy Yamaha to the second spot, according to the results till 9 pm. Vinales was timed at 1:54.640. In the third place was Fabio Quartararo and reigning world champion Marc Marquez was followed Danilo Petrucci in the fifth spot.

Sports

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

THE Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor will facilitate access to most of the FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums, includ-ing Ras Bu Abboud, Al Thumama, Al Wakra, Khalifa International and Qatar Foundation stadiums.

It will also serve 25 densely pop-ulated residential areas such as Al-Thumama, Al Nuaija, Bu Hamour, Al Waab, Al Rayyan, Al Luqta and Al Gharrafa among others.

Minister of Transport and Communications HE Jassim bin Saif al Sulaiti said the new corridor includes several multi-level inter-changes, which would significantly ease traffic on Doha Expressway, provide smooth traffic flow be-tween south and north of Doha, and also cut travel time by up to 70 percent.

It will also provide a direct con-nection to Hamad International Airport as well as a link to approxi-mately 15 major expressways and ring roads to serve many economic, commercial, health and education

facilities across Doha.The new corridor is a major link

facilitating connections to 15 main roads namely Al Wakra Road, Ras Bu Abboud Road, E Ring Road, F Ring Road, Industrial Road, Salwa Road, Al Rayyan Road, Al Waab Street, Al Luqta Street, Al Markhiya Street, Doha Highway and Khalifa Avenue.

The new corridor will also form a vital link between north

and south of Doha through Al Watiyyat Interchange on F Ring Road, constituting a key point to accommodate traffic on both Sa-bah Al Ahmad Corridor and Doha Expressway.

This interchange will also cre-ate a vital connection between Doha Expressway and Southern Part of Doha Express Highway (Al Wakra Bypass) as well as to Me-saieed Road further south.

The Last Word20 Monday, February 25, 2019

DOHA JEWELLERY & WATCHES EXHIBITION

Qatari sister duo showcasesexquisite jewellery inspired by Qatar’s heritage, nature

CATHERINE W GICHUKIDOHA

QATARI designer sisters Hissa and Jawaher al Mannai have displayed their sparkling jewellery at the Young Qatari Designer (YQD) pavilion at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE), which is scheduled to conclude on Monday.

With the brand name Ghand Jewellery, the sister duo has displayed glittery ear-rings, necklaces, bangles and bracelets made of diamonds and gold.

Their latest collection called ‘Suhail’ is inspired by the second brightest star in the sky.

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Jawaher said the ‘Lady Rose’ collection, which is also on dis-play, is inspired by garden and nature.

She said they have de-signed earrings inspired by their brand name Ghand as well, which is related to sugar crystals. “Diamonds are simi-lar to sugar crystals before they are dissolved. The earrings are simple and chic. We also have a collection of metallic lav-ender colour pearls and it’s a flower full of diamonds.”

She said they were grate-ful to the Qatar Government for the support given to them to realise their dream. “We are here because of the support from the government. We have been abroad to look for suppli-ers and factories through the government support. We went to Hongkong under Qatar De-velopment Bank’s sponsor-ship,” she said.

This is the second time the sisters are participating in the YQD initiative. “We have gained a lot of experience at the DJWE. People got to know about our brand and the sales were beyond our expectations.”

Many companies and sup-pliers have visited their booth

to learn about services they could offer to them.

Jawaher said the location of the YQD pavilion near the main entrance has been an added advantage. Jawaher said although they do not spe-cilise in any design, they do rely on their culture to come up with some designs. “We de-signed Al Krkosha inspired by Albisht. Our customers liked it very much.”

According to her, though their brand was launched one-and a half years ago, their journey as designers started in their childhood itself. “It all started as a pass time activity. We used to take our mother’s unwanted accessories and try to carve out new designs from

them. We pondered how to make fashionable necklaces and bracelets out of materials such as elastics, crystals, mar-bles, ropes and ribbons.”

She said they would share these accessories with family and friends. They also bought jewellery boxes where they put their handmade acces-sories and a collection of vin-tage pieces. “We grew up with this passion and always had a dream that we would one day design our own unique jew-ellery and become famous. We visited different jewel-lery stores and exhibitions that were organised around the world. Besides, we used to read stories about famous jewellers.”

Hissa and Jawaher al Mannai, under their band Ghand Jewellery, have displayed glittery earrings, necklaces, bangles and bracelets made of dia-monds and gold at the DJWE. (PHOTOGRAPHS BY JALAL PATHIYOOR)

PRIME MINISTER LAUNCHES ‘SABAH AL AHMAD CORRIDOR’ PROJECT

fter inaugurating the Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah Corridor road project, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani and Rep-resentative of HH the Amir of Kuwait HH Sheikh Nasser al Mohammad al Ahmad al Sabah view a model of the project at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha on Sunday.

‘Corridor to feature first cable-stayed bridge, longest bridge, deepest tunnel’

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

THE 25-km Sabah Al Ahmad Corri-dor features first cable-stayed bridge with a length of 1,200 metres, and longest bridge of 2.6 kilometres extending from Al Bustan Street to Bu Erayyen Street, crossing over Al Waab Street and Rasheeda Street, Ashghal President Saad bin Ahmad al Muhannadi has said.

This is the first road in the coun-try to be called ‘Corridor’ because of its strategic importance and unique construction specifications. The pro-ject consists of the recently opened Al Rayyan Road, which is the longest and deepest bi-directional tunnel in Qatar. It sits 25 metres below ground level and extends for 2.1 kilometres connecting Bu Erayyen Street and Lebday Street.

The largest interchange in the corridor will feature nine bridges providing a free traffic flow in all di-rections.

The current road layout holds up to three lanes in each direction, which will be upgraded to between

four and five lanes in each direction. This expansion will accommodate approximately 20,000 vehicles per hour in both directions on the cor-ridor against Doha Expressway’s current capacity to accommodate 12,000 vehicles per hour.

The project will convert all roundabouts to more efficient and safer signalised junctions as well as build and upgrade 17 interchanges. These interchanges will deliver 32 bridges and 12 vehicular under-passes to enhance connectivity and provide smooth traffic movements in addition to 12 pedestrian bridges.

Besides, 65 kilometres of pedes-trian and cycle paths along with 1.5 million square metre of landscaping will also be delivered as part of the project.

Once completed, road users coming from Hamad International Airport and southern Doha and heading north will be able to use the new corridor via F-Ring Road then continue on the existing Mesaimeer flyover to use the new 900-metre bridge crossing over Al Shehaimiya Interchange (formerly known as Bu

Hamour Interchange). The new cable-stayed bridge will

allow road users to drive towards the north avoiding Halul Intersec-tion and Faleh Bin Nasser Intersec-tion on Salwa Road to smoothly reach Al Bustan Street. From there, road users will be able to continue their journey using the 2.6 kilometre bridge. This will allow them to avoid the Snay Bu Hasa Intersection and Al Waab Intersection as well as Le-khwiya Roundabout, which will be converted to a signalised junction. At this stage, road users would have reached Bu Erayyen Street where they will be able to drive through the recently opened tunnel at Lebday In-terchange in Al Rayyan, which con-nects to Lebday Street.

Two additional bridges will fa-cilitate free traffic flow at Mekkah and Al Luqta Intersections and con-nectivity to Thani Bin Jassim tun-nel to continue their journey to the north. Road users will be able to drive through Al Markhiya Street in Al Gharrafa and reach Umm Lekhba Interchange (known as Landmark Interchange).

Corridor to link WC stadiums and 25 densely populated residential areas

TAG Heuer flaunts complete range of iconic collections

SATYENDRA PATHAK DOHA

SWISS watchmaker TAG Heu-er, which opened its largest boutique in the Middle East at Doha Festival City in partner-ship with Al Majed Jewellery last year, has hogged the lime-light at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE) 2019.

With the presence of the brand getting stronger in the Qatari market, TAG Heuer oc-cupied a bigger area at the Al Majed Jewellery pavilion in this edition of DJWE compared to the previous years.

TAG Heuer, the Swiss Avant-Garde since 1860, pre-sented a new TAG Heuer Mo-naco Gulf Special Edition to commemorate 50 year of the brand’s iconic Monaco watch during the exhibition.

Talking to Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of the exhibi-tion, TAG Heuer Marketing Director and Sales Manager Anne-Claire Richomme Ber-goffen said the brand is display-ing its full range of products as Qatar is one of the prime mar-kets for the brand in the Middle East region.

“We have been participat-ing in this mega exhibition for the fifth consecutive year. This

time we are not only displaying the rich history of TAG Heuer at this huge platform, but also commemorating 50 years of our iconic Monaco watch,” Ber-goffen said.

“We are offering limited edition watches for the Qataris

as they are very popular in this market,” the official said.

“Being able to expand TAG Heuer’s presence in the Mid-dle East, particularly in Qatar, is certainly not something we take for granted. Over our al-most 160 years of watchmak-

ing, we have built a global reputation as a revolutionary watchmaker. Our ability to con-tinuously innovate and disrupt the market is helped massively by the strong relationships and strategic partnerships we have formed throughout our rich history,” Bergoffen said.

“Tag Heuer consistently evolves with times and offer the world’s best brands to the peo-ple of Qatar. When it comes to watchmaking, TAG Heuer fits that description perfectly,” the official said.

The top timepieces show-cased at TAG Heuer Monaco 50 years Anniversary Exhibition at Al Majed pavilion include 1969 Heuer Monaco Chronomatic Calibre 11, which was the first revolutionary square, water-re-sistant automatic chronograph watch in the history of Swiss watchmaking.

It also includes 1975 Heuer Monaco, a manual winding chronograph of the Monaco collection powered by a Valjoux 7740.

The 2004 Heuer Monaco V4 that carries the four barrels mounted on ball-bearings day and 1972 Heuer Carrera Pilot, the automatic chronograph in 18 karat yellow gold case and bracelet, are attracting a lot of visitors to the booth.

The TAG Heuer pavilion at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY JALAL PATHIYOOR)

Corridor features 15 main roads: Sulaiti

“Corridor is a vital artery of Qatar’s road network enhancing north-south connectivity and providing access to more than 25 residential areas,” he added.

Minister of Transport and Communications HE Jassim bin Saif al Sulaiti said, “The corridor is a gesture to celebrate Kuwait’s 58th National Day and 28th liberation anniversary on February 25 and share the festivities with our brothers in Kuwait. Like every year, we celebrate with our bothers in Kuwait these two great occasions, hoping to intensify affec-tion and brotherhood between the two countries.”

The new corridor will lead to an improved traf-fic flow between the north and south of Doha, given that it will be a perfect alternative to the February 22 Road. The new project will cut travel time between north and south of Qatar by 70 percent. He said one of the key features of the project is that it has 15 main roads and it will directly lead to Hamad International Airport as well as many other facilities.

Qatari marvels of jewellery with patriotic spirit(Continued from Page 1)

HAIRAAT Fine Jewellery presented ‘Forget Me Not’, a unique multi-colour necklace of Tahitian pearls and golden carved south sea pearls, which can be worn in three different ways. ‘Moza’s Set’, a 21-karat gold necklace, bracelet, ear-rings and ring set, encrusted with seashells and stones and woven with pearl patterns, was designed by Al Ghla Jew-ellery. From Sara and Co, came the extraordinary ‘The Geometric Cuff’, with an intri-

cate design inspired by the fi-nesse of a Mashrabiya element (Arab architectural element).

Designer Mariam al Khalaf presented an extraordinary piece, ‘Girnas’, which uses a falcon in the design to signify the qualities of the Qatari peo-ple -- courage, pride, patience and strength, as well as the relationship between the peo-ple of Qatar and its generous leaders. Also part of the auc-tion was an exquisite piece de-signed by Noora al Ansari.

Trifolglio’s ‘Heart of Doha Bracelet’, made of yellow gold,

with diamonds and decorated with 160 pieces of pearl, was designed to embody Qatar’s seafaring heritage. The ‘For-est Green Earring’ presented by Leila Issam evokes a par-ticular moment in time, when sunbeams pass through a dense forest.

Hessa Jewels took inspira-tion from the strongest of all Qatari symbols for the ‘Qa-tar Flag Ring’, a work of art embellished with round dia-monds and rubies and made in 18-karat gold. Thameen Jewellery presented the ‘De-

sert Rose Necklace’ inspired by Qatar’s nature. Nouf Jew-ellery’s ‘Blossom Ring’ uses a butterfly motif to depict the serene beauty of Qatar’s landscape. Ghand Jewel-lery presented ‘The Desert Rose Ring’ while Noudar’s ‘Shafiqa’s Ring’ was inspired by the designer’s mother and so-named after her. Richard Mille, renowned designer, has once again collaborated with the Educate a Child pro-gramme, which is overseen by the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation.

Continued from page 1