GULF TIMES

published in

QATAR

since 1978

BRITAIN | Page 13

WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXX No. 11296

September 4, 2019Muharram 5, 1441 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

21 Conservative MPs vote against Johnson

World Cup Qatar 2022 emblem unveiledQNADoha

The offi cial emblem of the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup was unveiled yesterday as FIFA

and host country Qatar reached anoth-er major milestone on the road to the world’s greatest football showpiece.

The offi cial unveiling took place in Doha, at 20:22 local time (the same as the year of the tournament), with thousands of spectators witnessing the synchronised projection of the emblem onto a number of the country’s most iconic buildings, including Burj Doha, Katara – the Cultural Village Amphi-theatre, Ministry of Interior, Souq Wa-qif and Msheireb and Al Zubarah Fort, a Unesco World Heritage site.

A number of Arab countries such as Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Pal-estine, Libya and Sudan participated in the unveiling event, where it was displayed on facades of buildings and landmarks of these countries such as the Kuwait Towers in Kuwait City, the Raouche Rock in Lebanon, the Fort of Hammamet in Tunisia and others.

A number of major cities around the world are also celebrating the mile-stone, with images of the emblem seen on renowned locations and outdoor billboards in prominent public spaces. Some of the world’s best-known foot-ballers and FIFA World Cup legends are also taking to social media to support the launch and share the emblem with their millions of fans online.

The emblem’s design embodies the vision of an event that connects and engages the entire world, while also featuring striking elements of local and regional Arab culture and allusions to the beautiful game.

The swooping curves of the emblem represent the undulations of desert dunes and the unbroken loop depicts both the number eight, a reminder of the eight astonishing stadiums that will host matches and the infi nity symbol, refl ecting the interconnected nature of the event.

Besides echoing the shape of the iconic FIFA World Cup Trophy, the emblem’s central form takes inspi-ration from a traditional woollen shawl. During winter months, shawls are worn around the world and in the Arab and Gulf region in particular by a variety of people and in various styles.

The intricate embroidered detail that often adorns shawls in the Arab world is featured and takes inspira-tion from various cultures across Asia, celebrating the continent’s second hosting of a FIFA World Cup tourna-ment and Qatar’s diverse population. The regionally-inspired winter gar-ment also alludes to the tournament’s start dates and the fact that it will be the fi rst FIFA World Cup to be played in November and December.

The new typeface created to ac-company the emblem reimagines tra-ditional Arabic calligraphy in a new, contemporary font, taking inspiration from the region and Asia, and fusing tradition with modernity.

The emblem is just one example of the bold, modern tournament designs that will be revealed in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. In May 2019, the striking Al Janoub Sta-dium modelled after the traditional dhow (boat) used in the region and the second venue to be ready hosted its fi rst match in May this year and dem-onstrates the host country’s grand vi-sion to create iconic designs.

The remaining six venues are sched-uled to be completed before the end of 2020, including the spectacular lantern inspired Lusail Stadium, which will host the opening match on November 21, as well as the fi nal on December 18, 2022. Page 24, Sport Page 1

Emblem displayed on facades of buildings and landmarks around the world

This handout document provided by FIFA (International Football Federation) on September 3, 2019, shows the off icial logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. A crowd of onlookers celebrate the unveiling of the emblem at Katara. PICTURE: Jayaram

The off icial logo for the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup is seen on a building at Souq Waqif in Doha, yesterday.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 logo is projected on the Kuwait Towers, in Kuwait City yesterday.

The off icial logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is unveiled on a giant screen in Madrid yesterday. The emblem being displayed in New York City, US.

Dignitaries hail launch of emblem

A number of dignitaries from Qatar and abroad hailed the launch of the 2022 FIFA World Cup emblem yesterday. HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, President of Qatar Olympic Committee; HE the Deputy Prime and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani; and HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, were among those who tweeted in Arabic, while eminent international sportspersons like Kaka, Marcelo

and Iker Casillas also marked the occasion with tweets in their native languages.

Following are some of the tweets in English:

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani:We are proud to unveil the FIFA World Cup #Qatar2022 official emblem across the globe. We are excited to reveal an emblem representing our Arab & Qatari identity. I thank everyone for their great efforts in making the World Cup in Doha a pride for all Arabs.

HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani: We are beyond excited for the digital unveiling of The Official Emblem of the FIFA World Cup #Qatar2022 at #timesquare in #NYC and all around the world today. Let’s celebrate, inspire & amaze. Page 24

Doha Tower. PICTURE: Ram Chand

QATAR

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 20192

Amnesty calls on Saudi to reveal Qatari citizens’ fate

Amnesty International yesterday launched an in-ternational campaign to

demand that the Saudi authori-ties reveal the fate of Qatari citi-zen Ali Nasser Jarallah 70, and his 17-year-old son Abdulhadi, who entered Saudi Arabia under a family permit on August 15.

On August 18, contact was lost with the Qatari citizen and his son while travelling through Saudi Arabia to visit relatives, the rights group said in a state-ment, adding, “We are con-cerned that they have been forcibly disappeared”.

In this regard, the organisa-tion sent a letter to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz asking to disclose their fate.

The letter said Jarallah and his son had been in contact with their family in Qatar until August 18, when they were ap-proaching the city of Hafof in the Eastern Province and ‘since then all communications were lost with them.

“Ali Jarallah has diabetes, and has heart and kidney problems, and high blood pressure, he is regularly on medication and must attend the doctor’s regular appointments in Doha. Accord-ing to a credible source, there are good reasons to believe that the father and son may be arbitrar-

ily detained and held by the State Security Presidency,” the letter added.

It called on King Salman to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Ali Jarallah and Abdulhadi. “We call on disclos-ing the reason for their arrest and to release them promptly unless they are charged with a recognisably criminal off ence in accordance with the princi-ples of due process recognised in international law, with the need to get Nasser Jarallah all the medical services required by his health.”

Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) “holds Saudi Arabia fully re-sponsible for the life and safety

of the Qatari citizens and calls upon Saudi authorities to dis-close their fate and release them immediately”, it said in a statement.

NHRC expressed concern about this enforced disappear-ance, especially as the Saudi authorities recently adopted a policy of forcibly disappearance of a number of Qatari citizens due to the political crisis.

NHRC called on the UN High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights, the UN Panel on Enforced Disappearances and the UN Human Rights Coun-cil to intervene immediately to stop these grave and sys-tematic violations against Qatari citizens.

QNALondon

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has received a written message from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The message was handed to HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi during his meeting yesterday with Singapore’s ambassador to Qatar Jai S Sohan.

Amir receives message from Singapore PM

HE the Chief of Staff of Qatar Armed Forces Lt-General (Pilot) Ghanem bin Shaheen al-Ghanem has taken part in the seminar of senior commanders of the countries participating in the Eager Lion Exercise 2019, which is currently taking place in Jordan. Lt-General (Pilot) al-Ghanem, accompanied by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Major General (Pilot) Yousef Ahmed al-Hunaiti, also visited the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC). During the visit, the Chief of Staff was briefed on the most important drills witnessed by the Eager Lion Exercise.

Chief of Staff attends Eager Lion ExerciseCultural diversity forum endsThe Regional Conference

on Cultural Diversity or-ganised by the Ministry of

Culture and Sports, in co-oper-ation with the Ministry of For-eign Aff airs and Asia Co-opera-tion Dialogue (ACD), concluded in Doha yesterday. Under the slogan ‘Culture: Bridges of Dia-logue and Understanding,’ the two-day conference was attend-ed by senior offi cials and repre-sentatives of the ACD states.

The fi nal day saw a cultural dialogue between representa-tives of Asian countries in two sessions moderated by Wijdan (Conscience) Center director Dr Jassim Sultan.

Dr Abdulnasser Saleh al-Ya-fei, assistant dean for Social and Human Sciences, Qatar Univer-sity’s College of Arts and Scienc-es, presented a paper on cultural diversity, human rights and the promotion of societal cohesion. “The human rights concepts reinforced the notion of univer-sality, which in its extreme form meant that rights are applied to every state and individual with-out exceptions, but diffi culties appeared in applying or inter-preting it in a particular culture,” he said, adding: “This creates a dilemma in determining the role that culture could play in pro-moting human rights.”

Dr al-Yafei said that there is a need to reconsider some hu-man rights that are not com-patible with diff erent cultures and sometimes threaten social cohesion.

In her paper, director of Center for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies at University of Ku-wait, Dr Maha Mishari al-Sajari stressed that culture with its

Speakers at a session of Regional Conference on Cultural Diversity.

various foundations of museums, theaters and cinema has become an important economic resource, for example, the income of the Eiff el Tower is an important eco-nomic source and represents 1/15 of the national income in France, and tourism revenues in Oman in 2016 amounted to more than $3bn, pointing out that the high-est global income from tourism is in the US at an average of $93bn annually.

In his presentation, associ-ate professor at the University of Foreign Studies in Beijing, Yeh Liang Ying, underlined the achievements of the dialogue between Chinese civilisation and Arab civilisation historically and realistically, noting that the translation between the two civi-lizations was one of the most im-portant of these achievements. Ying said the fi rst translation from Arabic into Chinese was in 1899, and then the movement of cultural exchange and knowledge was activated and culminated in the opening of more than 50 Ara-bic language sections in China.

Dr Kareem Darwish, researcher at Qatar Computing Research In-

stitute (QCRI), spoke about the role of technology in promoting cultural dialogue and understand-ing, reviewing some of the research conducted at QCRI on analysis of Twitter to understand users’ di-verse attitudes towards sensitive issues such as support for armed groups such as ISIS in the Arab world, and racist ideas against Muslims and refugees in the West.

Darwish explained that this kind of analysis is useful in the development of policies that ad-dress these negative phenom-ena and the formulation of me-dia messages targeting specifi c sectors in diff erent societies.

The second and fi nal session of the conference touched on com-munication and rapprochement be-tween the cultures of Asian coun-tries and its changes and eff ects.

During the session, Secretary-General of Qatar National Com-mission for Education, Culture and Science Dr Hamda al-Sulaiti touched on three axes with re-gards to strategy of cohesion, family and diversity.

She pointed to the importance of cultural diversity as an educa-tional tributary, and that culture

works to promote positive values and build bridges of communi-cation with the other by focusing on cultural activities, especially students, instilling the value of dialogue, renouncing violence, communicating and learning about diverse cultures.

She added that there is a close correlation between me-dia awareness and the culture of communication, especially under the control of the cur-rent social media. Therefore, the State of Qatar has been keen to develop and promote media awareness among its people, pointing out that the commis-sion has launched a number of projects aimed at exchanging cultures with other peoples to create communication bridges between them.

Head of the Turkish-Arab Me-dia Association (TAM) and head of TRT Arabia Turan Kislakci said history contains several evidence of the use of cultural diplomacy and in modern times countries began to use cultural diplomacy by maximising its cultural vo-cabulary and dissemination to the other. (QNA)

HE the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi met yesterday Asian Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) Secretary-General Pornchai Danvivathana, who is currently visiting Qatar. During the meeting, they reviewed relations between Qatar and the ACD, in addition to topics of common interest.

Secretary-general meets ACD officialQatari

envoy presents papers to Solomon offi cial

The Governor General of Solomon Islands David Vunagi received the cre-

dentials of Saad bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud as (non-resi-dent) ambassador of Qatar to Solomon Islands, in Honiara yesterday.

During the meeting, the am-bassador conveyed the greet-ings of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the Solomon Islands governor general and the Amir’s wishes of good health and hap-piness to him and to the govern-ment and people of the Solomon Islands further progress and prosperity.

For his part, Governor General Vunagi entrusted the ambas-sador with his greetings to His Highness the Amir and his wish-es for the Qatari people of more prosperity and progress.

The governor general also wished the ambassador suc-cess in his new duties and in strengthening the friendly re-lations and cooperation be-tween Qatar and the Solomon Islands. (QNA)

Ministry announces launch of 13th Scientifi cExcellence Award

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has announced the launch of

the 13th edition of the Scientifi c Excellence Award. The ministry said application to participate in its various categories starts on October 1 and ends on October 31.

At a press conference yester-day, Dr Hamda Hassan al-Su-laiti, CEO, Scientifi c Excellence Award, said the award is an oc-casion to honour distinguished Qataris in various fi elds in order to spread the culture of creativ-ity and excellence in the Qatari society.

Al-Sulaiti pointed out that three of the previous winners of the award will represent Qatar in an international scientifi c forum to be held later in Geneva to en-courage them for their continued excellence.

The CEO touched on the various activities of the award, including organising introductory meetings for school administrators and co-ordinators and concerned minis-

tries and institutions, holding a number of training workshops for the award categories and the or-ganisation of its own documenta-tion exhibition.

Mona al-Kuwari, executive vice-president, Scientifi c Ex-cellence Award, explained that the organising committee has developed the awareness plan and held some educational meetings in the summer centres about the awards, in addition to involving parents in aware-ness programmes to encourage them to nominate their children to participate in the various cat-egories of the awards, as well as the participation of teachers who have won the award before in a number of awareness events.

Hassan Abdullah al-Moham-madi, director, public relations and communication, the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education, talked about the progress, objectives and ways to participate in the award and its various categories. (QNA)

Off icials at a press conference yesterday.

Rwanda delegates attend Rule of Law course

HE the Attorney-General Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri met yesterday with a

delegation comprising members of the prosecution, judges and police offi cers from Rwanda.

The delegation attended a training course at the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Cent-er (Rolacc) on the subject of cy-bercrime its implications and impact on the work of judicial bodies.

During the meeting, he an-swered a number of questions from the delegation about the nature of the judicial system in Qatar and the achievements of Qatar in combating corruption and cybercrime.

This course was part of a se-ries of courses off ered by Rol-

HE the Attorney-General Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri with a delegation from Rwanda.

acc within the framework of the continuous training plan for the African countries, which began in Gambia in March.

The three-day course covered theoretical and practical train-ing that includes types of cyber-crimes and their multiple forms,

the latest forms of such crimes and how to control them and ways to prevent and avoid them and the institutions combating such crimes in the state, in ad-dition to practical exercises on how to avoid hacking electronic accounts.

The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center provides lo-cal, regional and international training courses for various in-stitutions and bodies in the fi eld of rule of law, anti-corruption and governance throughout the year. (QNA)

QFD, IsDB sign development loan pact with Tajikistan

Qatar Fund for Development (QFD), representing Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF), and

Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), have signed a development loan agreement with the Tajikistan government, aimed at improv-ing maternal, newborn and child health services in four districts of Khatlon region.

The project focuses on four key objectives which include enhanc-ing access to maternal, newborn and child health services, build-ing institutional and human ca-pacity in targeted health facili-ties, improving public awareness

of health-seeking behaviour and establishing functional referral system.

The vision of LFF, which is cur-rently chaired by Qatar Fund for Development, is to provide as-sistance to the 33 poorest member countries of IsDB. In its projects, the fund focuses on fi nancing healthcare, agriculture and infra-structure development.

QFD works in partnership with several other international donors to implement LLF’s mission of pro-viding fi nancial development tools for developing countries in the Islamic world.

4 Gulf TimesWednesday, September 4, 2019

QATAR

QSTP gears up for 3rd edition of Arab Innovation AcademyQatar Science & Technol-

ogy Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Re-

search, Development, and Inno-vation, is inviting university stu-dents from Qatar and the Mena region to apply for the third edi-tion of its Arab Innovation Acad-emy (AIA), the largest entrepre-neurship boot-camp of its kind in the region.

A collaboration between QSTP and the European Innovation Academy (EIA), the hands-on entrepreneurship programme will introduce participants to an

accelerated mode of experiential learning, including how to de-velop and launch a tech startup in a real marketplace with cus-tomer feedback. QSTP executive director Yosouf Abdulrahman Saleh said, “The fi rst two edi-tions of the programme proved to be outstanding successes as demonstrated by the high level of participation from 30 countries from across the region.

“The upcoming edition of the programme will provide a new batch of budding entrepreneurs with the opportunity to gain in-

valuable insights and guidance from leading Silicon Valley men-tors and experts from the world’s top corporations, who will help the aspiring participants launch their startups and market their tech products in Qatar and be-yond.”

The fi rst and second editions of the two-week startup boot-camp featured 127 and 196 en-trepreneurs, respectively, from Qatar and abroad, making up a total of 34 teams. The second edition of AIA also witnessed even greater participation in the

programme from young Arab women.

Several participants have gone on to launch successful startups after completing the programme, which aims to equip participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue technology development and make a positive impact in the world through in-novation.

EIA president Alar Kolk said, “European Innovation Academy is proud to partner with QTSP for the third edition of the Arab In-novation Academy, and to con-

tribute to Qatar’s thriving startup ecosystem.

“With the most innovative technology, including Artifi cial Intelligence and robotics, we are teaching entrepreneurship to students and young profession-als as we truly believe that a new star will rise from Arab countries to disrupt economies and busi-nesses in the future.

“We are providing the tools and cultivating a mindset of in-novation among young people to challenge the world’s biggest problems – problems that aff ect one billion lives every day. Here and now is the right moment and place to create our new future.”

The EIA is the world’s larg-est extreme entrepreneurship programme, off ering aspiring

‘techpreneurs’ from across the globe the necessary support and mentorship to launch a startup in just 15 days. The deadline to ap-ply closes on September 30, 2019. The AIA will kick off on January 7, 2020 and will run until January 20, 2020. For more information about the programme and to ap-ply, visit: http://inacademy.eu/qatar/

Future entrepreneurs during the Arab Innovation Academy 2019 closing ceremony.

Police Institute hosts training for offi cials

The Police Training Institute under the Ministry of Inte-rior (MoI) yesterday organised

a training programme for the sixth batch of offi cers. A total of 318 police offi cers attended various training ses-sions meant to help them maintain quality while discharging their duties.

Touted to be the fi rst of its kind, the training programme was organ-

ised within the framework of MoI’s keenness to help police offi cers get trained in various fi elds, and improve their effi ciency and working capabil-ity. It is also a part of the initiative to introduce training programmes at the Police Training Institute as per a sci-entifi c methodology.

Major Ali Saud al-Hanzab, direc-tor of the Police Training Institute,

stressed the importance of the pro-gramme and the impact of training courses on graduates once they start working in various departments of MoI.

Head of Military and Sports Train-ing Department Captain Faisal Saad al-Hajri reviewed the objectives of the programme. He explained about the new courses.

Major Ali Saud al-Hanzab and Captain Faisal Saad al-Hajri during the training programme.

Agricultural quarantine off ices inspected 6,282 imported shipments

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment’s agricultural quarantine off ices have inspected 6,282 imported shipments, weighing nearly 195,000 tonnes from diff erent types of imported agricultural consignments, plant products and production inputs in July across the diff erent customs points.The quarantine off ices destroyed 35 shipments weighing 138 tonnes for violating the agricultural quarantine law and for certain damages. The agricultural quarantine is a first line of defence for protection from agricultural infections. The preventive procedure aims to protect the country’s agricultural wealth from foreign-originated pests. It also requires that all plants, agricultural products and any other materials shall be subject to phytosanitary regulations for its procedures and to ensure that other agricultural production inputs are in conformity with the conditions and specifications.

Undergraduate students gain insights in biomedical research

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa Univer-

sity (HBKU), recently hosted the closing session of the fi fth edition of its annual Summer Research Programme, which provides par-ticipants with “valuable insights and hands-on laboratory research experience” in the areas of diabe-tes, neurological diseases and can-cer.

The annual research programme off ered exceptional undergraduate students intensive research train-ing opportunities “in a supportive, challenging and conducive envi-ronment”, HBKU said in a state-ment. The internships also aim to

enrich participants’ experience outside the laboratory through a series of seminars, workshops and informal interactions with mem-bers of the scientifi c community at QBRI and other biomedical re-search institutions in Qatar. At the end of the programme, each stu-dent prepared a poster and gave an oral presentation about their projects.

Dr Omar El-Agnaf, executive director of QBRI, said: “Investing in our talented students is of para-mount importance to develop-ing our local capacity in scientifi c research and development. Our annual Summer Research Pro-gramme aims to encourage stu-

dents to pursue excellence in the fi eld of biomedical research. This year, the participants worked on several interesting projects and I am highly impressed by the level of complexity and sophistication our young scientists demonstrated.”

The programme was divided into two batches this year, run-ning from May 5 until June 27 and from May 19 until July 11. Twenty students from universities across Qatar, including Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Qatar Uni-versity (QU) and the University of Calgary in Qatar spent the summer developing their scientifi c research and laboratory skills.

For the fi rst time, the institute

also hosted a student from Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q) as a part of the university’s Ad-vanced Biomedical Sciences Re-search course.

Aljazi M al-Khalifa, a student at WCM-Q whose project explored Cancer Lactate Metabolism and Anti-tumor Immune Evasion in Breast Cancer, said: “During my summer research programme at QBRI, I was fortunate to work alongside a team of experts who I learned a lot from.

The two-month internship gave me an opportunity to explore a ca-reer in research. More importantly, it enhanced my laboratory skills and techniques and expanded my

biomedical knowledge.” The Sum-mer Research Programme forms part of QBRI’s “commitment to providing extensive educational and research opportunities to as-piring young scientists”, the state-ment notes.

During the programme, Bana Alsahan, a QU student, worked on the Identifi cation of Alpha Synu-clein Antibodies to Identify Disease Relevant Protein Conformations. “This experience not only opened my eyes to the world of research, but also opened new doors in the biomedical fi eld. Through the pro-gramme, I was able to explore my potential and what I’m capable of achieving,” Bana said.

The Summer Research Programme is a flagship initiative that seeks to advance knowledge and experience in the biomedical sciences.

QATAR5Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Students complete internship at Chiyoda Almana Engineering

A number of students from sev-eral universities in Qatar have completed the Summer Intern-

ship Programme organised by Chiyoda Almana Engineering for this year, it was announced yesterday.

The leading project services com-pany, Chiyoda Almana, is continually providing various training opportuni-ties to universities’ students and fresh graduates to enable the knowledge transfer and enrich their technical skills as part of their qualifying process for the successful start of their career path, according to a statement.

Through 11 years of operation in Qatar, Chiyoda Almana has provided outstanding project services to its cli-ents in the hydrocarbon and non-hy-drocarbon fi elds. Chiyoda Almana has successfully executed more than 320

projects in co-operation with major plant operators and achieved a recog-nised reputation in the project services fi eld by operating to the highest quality and safety measures in the delivery of its services.

Chiyoda Almana represents this Summer Internship Programme annu-ally for the last eight years in collabo-ration with national and international universities in Qatar such as Qatar University and Texas A&M University.

Although the company’s services are mainly focused on engineering, the internship opportunities are also extended to students of Finance, Ac-counting, Information Technology and others.

Over the two-month extended Summer Programme, participants had the opportunity to practice in a pro-

fessional business environment and to carry out the daily work tasks assigned for them, hand in hand with compa-ny’s employees under the supervision of the highly experienced dedicated mentors.

The programme also off ered partici-pants the chance for practical exercise related to the topics studied through the academic programme. Such busi-ness practice is of great value to fresh graduates at the early stages of real business life.

The Summer Internship Programme comes as one of the many training op-portunities provided by Chiyoda Al-mana to support the human resources development in Qatar in order to achieve the targeted sustainable de-velopment of the country, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.

A group of students who completed the Summer Internship Programme organised by Chiyoda Almana Engineering.

Recall of Mazda 3 modelsThe Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in co-operation with National Car Company, has announced the recall of Mazda 3 models of 2016-2018 due to a potential defect in the front wiper. The ministry confirmed the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing eff orts to protect consumers and ensure that

vehicle dealers follow up on defects and repairs. The ministry has said that it will co-ordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will communicate with customers to ensure that the necessary repairs are carried out. The ministry urges all customers to report any violations to

its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department, which processes complaints, inquiries and suggestions through the following channels: Call Centre: 16001, e-mail: info@moci.gov.qa, Twitter: @ MOCIQATAR, Instagram: MOCIQATAR, mobile app for Android and IOS: MOCIQATAR.

QATAR

Gulf TimesWednesday, September 4, 20196

PHCC marks ‘World Breastfeeding Week’QNA Doha

Primary Health Care Cor-poration (PHCC) cel-ebrated the World Breast-

feeding Week to emphasise the

need to increase community awareness of the importance of breastfeeding for the health of children, mothers and society in general.

The PHCC is attaching great importance to breastfeeding as the fi rst step in preventing chil-

dren from many diseases, noting that the importance of breast milk lies in the fact that it con-tains the elements and vitamins necessary to strengthen natu-rally the immunity of the child.

The campaign covered all pri-mary healthcare centres in the

country, where an awareness section was organised, lectures were presented, and publica-tions were distributed, in ad-dition to publishing tips and educational guidance on so-cial media about breastfeeding and its importance, especially

breastfeeding in the fi rst six months.

In all its programmes, PHCC aims to improve the overall health of the individual and the community because of its im-portance to develop a disease-free society.

AAB Toyota launches new ‘Granvia’ luxury people moverRedefi ning what premium

stands for in the luxury people mover market,

AAB Toyota unveiled the new Granvia in Qatar yesterday.

Designed to provide an excep-tional transportation space that addresses the growing demand for high-end shuttles, the new vehicle’s elegant design, luxuri-ous interior, powerful engine, and advanced safety features en-able customers to travel in opti-mal comfort while enjoying total peace of mind.

The new Granvia takes the concept of a luxury shuttle to the next level with premium seat-ing for up to seven people, its expansive cabin delivers a level of comfort and refi nement pas-sengers would normally associ-ate with a high-end limousine, complete with independent rear

climate control, adjustable inte-rior illumination, and luxurious woodgrain and metallic fi nish-ing, among many other features. Takuo Ishikawa, chief engineer of the new Toyota Granvia, said: “The new Granvia off ers more than just effi cient transporta-tion. By pairing exceptional comfort with advanced technol-ogies, it provides greater value, excitement, and a satisfying ex-perience for drivers and passen-gers alike. The combination of a high-rigidity body frame with our new four-link coil suspen-sion delivers superior handling stability, quietness, and safety.”

Ishikawa added: “This is a people mover that is designed to move passengers not only physi-cally, but also emotionally. The new Granvia responds perfectly to changing customer values in

diff erent markets, particularly through its lavish interior and four independent rear captain’s chairs, which take the comfort of pas-sengers to the next level. We invite everyone to take a ride to experi-ence this groundbreaking luxury vehicle for themselves.”

Yugo Miyamoto, chief rep-resentative, Middle East and Central Asia Representative Office, Toyota Motor Corpora-tion, said: “We are very excited to unveil the new Granvia, a true premium transport solu-tion that meets the evolving needs of those desiring a spa-cious cabin, unrivalled com-fort, and superior refinement. By providing ample personal space, we have ensured that each passenger will enjoy a smooth, comfortable ride and arrive at their destination feel-

ing relaxed and refreshed.“At Toyota, we believe that

travel should always be an en-joyable experience, and it was our goal to develop an excep-tional vehicle that enhances people’s journeys by creating memorable moments to cher-ish. I’d like to extend my grati-tude to all of our customers for their continuous support, which is an endless source of inspiration in our drive to cre-ate ‘ever-better’ cars.”

While conventional luxury wagons tend to strive for an organic, emotional exterior design, Toyota’s engineers have created a more prestig-ious profile that sets the new Granvia apart.

The vehicle’s wide body and low centre of gravity are ac-centuated by cladding panels

and metallic ornamentation that runs along to the bottom of the rear bumper, empha-sising its low, firmly-planted stance.

The new Granvia is avail-able in a choice of four exte-rior colours that have been specially selected to create an impressive and luxuri-ous presence. Customers can choose from White Pearl CS, Black, Gray ME, and Silver ME. Meanwhile, interior col-our options include natural beige or black-colored seats, which can be combined with Woodgrain or Black Metallic ornamentation. The vehicle comes equipped with new-ly-developed 17-inch alloy wheels that further express its elegance and high-quality feel.

While conventional luxury wagons tend to strive for an organic, emotional exterior design, Toyota’s engineers have created a more prestigious profile that sets the new Granvia apart.

HMC shares tips about dealing with dementia

As part of the eff orts to raise awareness about dementia, Hamad Med-

ical Corporation (HMC) has shared tips about the disease and the ways to deal with it.

Dr Shafi Khan, geriatric fel-lowship programme director and deputy chairman of geriat-rics and long term care at HMC, said there is a need to make the public and other stakeholders aware of dementia and educate them about the proper ways to deal with the patients.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that impairs memory and other mental functions. It is the most common form of de-mentia that generalises memory loss and loss of other essential cognitive abilities that are seri-ous enough to interfere with an individual’s daily life.

“Dementia aff ects memory and orientation. It results in mood changes and confusion and eventually leads to prob-lems that aff ect the day to day activities of the person. Per-sons with dementia become dependent on caregivers,” the HMC physician said.

“Human brain is made up of nerve cells that communi-cate with each other by send-ing messages. Dementia causes damage to the nerve cells lead-ing to messages not being eff ec-tively sent. And this aff ects the proper function of the brain. If the area that’s linked to speech is aff ected it causes speech im-pairments while vision impair-ment is generated while the disease aff ects the area that’s linked with vision,” Dr Shafi Khan said. According to him, the disease most commonly af-fects people with age over 65 years and the global prevalence of dementia is 5-8%.

“There are over 200 sub-types and causes of dementia but two most common causes are Alzheimer’s disease and vascular causes such HTN, OM, Hyperlipidemia,” he said. While referring to the com-mon symptoms he said per-sons with dementia struggle to remember recent events, forget names of friends or everyday objects, repeating things and struggle to follow conversations. “Besides, they face problems with thinking or reasoning and feel confused even when in a familiar envi-ronment,” he said adding that this condition further leads to frustration and agitation.

While sharing the tips about dementia diagnosis, the phy-sician said careful compre-hensive memory tests and as-

sessments that are carried out by an occupational therapist along with trained dementia expert physicians geriatricians and old age psychiatrists will help dementia to be detected.

“Diagnosing dementia can be diffi cult in the early stages. And the common challenge being faced by the doctors is the presentation of the pa-tient to the clinic in advanced stages. This occurs due to people’s misconception that these symptoms could be due to old age,” he said and added dementia treatment includes non-pharmacological strate-gies to increase memory in ad-dition to few medications.

“The treatment focuses on maintaining the function, im-proving cognition and ensuring adequate safety provision of ap-propriate support to the caregiv-er,” he said and added agitation, aggression and restlessness of patients can be challenging for caregivers to manage.

“These can be distressing to both people suff ering from de-mentia and those who take care of them. Patients may experi-ence problems communicating and may struggle to express there preferences and needs. If these are understood and responded appropriately, the quality of life and caring sig-nifi cantly improves. The best way to overcome this chal-lenge is to provide caregivers and staff with quality training in dementia,” he said. Dr Shafi Khan, while sharing preven-tion tips, said abstaining from smoking, keeping a healthy weight, getting engaged in plenty of exercises, eating healthy food, managing health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure and cho-lesterol, staying mentally alert by engaging in new hobbies, reading, solving crossword puzzles and social interaction can prevent dementia.

Awareness raised among public, staff

Taking part in the ongo-ing World Alzheimer’s Month events, Hamad

Medical Corporation (HMC) is active in carrying out pro-grammes to help the public and staff be aware of dementia and learn the best ways to care for people suff ering from the condition.

Dr Shafi Khan, geriatric fel-lowship programme director and deputy chairman of geri-

atrics and long term care at HMC, said as part of Qatar’s National Dementia Plan, a team from HMC is dedicated in this regard. To improve the quality of dementia care in Qatar, a two-week skill de-velopment workshop is on for caregivers in line with the Qa-tar National Dementia Plan.

The workshop is aimed at providing the caregivers and staff from various departments with training that will make them capable to spread the skills and knowledge to the caregivers in HMC and across the country.

Sidra Medicine to host global workshop on paediatric urology

Live surgery updates and interactive discussions by a panel of interna-tionally renowned urologists will

be the highlight of Sidra Medicine’s fi rst international workshop on reconstruc-tive paediatric urology from October 30-31.

While the two-day event is scheduled to take place at the Qatar National Con-vention Centre, separate sessions will also be organised at Sidra Medicine, it was announced yesterday.

The workshop will be held as a pre-cursor to the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Surgery (Wofaps 2019) con-ference from November 1-3.

“The urology live surgery workshop is an exciting feature as not only is it im-portant from an educational perspective but also a great opportunity to showcase the advancements in paediatric urology that we have achieved at Sidra Medi-cine,” said professor Pippi Salle, Divi-sion Chief of Urology at Sidra Medicine and chair of the workshop organising committee.

“Our paediatric sub-speciality is now exclusively at Sidra Medicine for all children and deals with all types of

genito-urinary abnormalities requiring surgery,” professor Salle added.

One of the workshop’s new features will allow attendees to view a live sur-gery from the Sidra Medicine operating room while seated at the Sidra Medicine auditorium.

Wofaps 2019 will include a compre-hensive discussion of the ‘classical’ challenges in general and urological paediatric surgery. Newsworthy re-search, surgical techniques and chal-lenges facing the care of children in high and low income countries will frame each interactive learning session.

The topic of sub-specialities of urol-ogy will continue throughout the dura-tion of Wofaps, with three full day urol-ogy sessions during the congress.

“We are also pleased that the work-shop is part of Wofaps 2019, which will be the country’s largest ever gather-ing of paediatric surgeons from around the world,” professor Salle said. “ This provides an extended platform for us to review and highlight the advancements as well as the challenges that need to be addressed in reconstructive urology in children.”

The Sidra Medicine Urology surgery team.

Dr Shafi Khan, geriatric fellowship programme director and deputy chairman of geriatrics and long term care at HMC.

QATAR7Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

2019 WISE Awardswinners announcedInitiative aims to recognise projects that strive to address global educational challenges

Six out of 481 project submissions won the 2019 World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)

Awards, it was announced.Each year, the Awards recognise

and promote innovative projects from across the world, which address global educational challenges.

This year’s winners include Family Business for Education, United World Schools: Teaching the Unreached, Mi-cro: bit Educational Foundation, Pro-grama Crianca Feliz, Arpan’s Personal Safety Education Programme, and Akilah Institute.

“We are very excited to announce the 2019 WISE Awards winners. Each project varies in terms of project focus, geographical distribution, and reach,” WISE CEO Stavros N Yiannouka said in a press statement.

“The WISE Awards demonstrate once again how global organisations and governments can tackle pressing education challenges with innovative solutions in sustainable and scalable ways,” added Yiannouka, who thanked the jury and pre-jury members “who did a thorough job in evaluating the projects.”

The winning projects innovatively tackle a number of pressing educa-tional issues, including fi nancing edu-cation, providing access to education in remote and underprivileged areas, promoting coding across diff erent ge-ographical locations, implementing personalised early childhood educa-tion interventions based on cognitive sciences, improving child safety to eliminate sexual assault and harass-ment, and providing women market relevant education to improve em-ployability.

Out of 481 project submissions, the WISE team and a panel of pre-jurors shortlisted 15 fi nalists. The six winners were selected by the WISE Awards jury after an independent assessment con-ducted by LEK Consulting.

“The WISE Awards winners repre-sent the best of the education sector globally, pushing the boundaries of in-novation in the sector. LEK was proud to once again support the assessment of the exceptional fi nalists for these awards,” Ashwin Assomull, partner, Global Education Practice, LEK Con-sulting, said.

Each winning project must be an established, innovative educational project that has already demon-strated a transformative impact on individuals, communities, and soci-ety of their context. They also need to be financially stable, have a clear development plan, and be scalable and replicable.

The projects will be celebrated dur-ing the WISE Summit, scheduled to take place in Doha from November 19 to 21, and is being held under the theme ‘UnLearn, ReLearn: What it means to be Human’.

The Akilah Institute is one of the six winners of the 2019 WISE Awards.

Qatar Airways hosts gala dinner in AmmanQatar Airways hosted a

glittering gala dinner in Amman, Jordan, on

Monday under the patronage of Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.

The gala dinner was attended by Prince Ali, Princess Rym Ali, Prince Asem bin Nayef, Prin-cess Sanaa Asem, Prince Mired bin Raad, Princess Dina Mired, Princess Najla bint Asem, Prin-cess Salha bint Asem, Jordan’s Minister of Transport Anmar Khasawneh, Jordan’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Majd Shweikeh, president of the Jor-danian House of Representatives Atef al-Tarawneh, Qatar Airways Group chief executive HE Akbar al-Baker, charge d’aff aires of Qa-tar in Jordan Abdulaziz al-Sada, and Jordan’s ambassador to Qa-tar Zaid al-Lozi.

The event marked the open-ing of the airline’s new offi ce in Amman.

Speaking at the gala, HE al-

Baker said: “For Qatar Airways, Jordan is a key market. We serve Amman with three daily fl ights on some of the world’s most modern wide-body aircraft, including the revolutionary Airbus A350.

“The opening of this new offi ce comes as a response to the increase in demand, which proves we have become a carrier of preference for the Jordanian market. We are now keen to en-hance our services and expand our off erings to the Jordanian people, and I am confi dent that the new offi ce will enable us to achieve this objective.

“Qatari visitors to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jor-dan registered the biggest rise among all tourists in 2018. Last year 23,700 Qataris visited this beautiful country compared to 11,800 in 2017, a giant leap of over 100%.”

During the gala dinner, Prince Ali and HE al-Baker had a pho-

tograph taken holding 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar-themed jer-seys alongside the guest of hon-our, Bayern Munich football leg-end Lothar Matthäus, the only outfi eld player in the world to compete in fi ve World Cup tour-naments.

Guests at the gala dinner were treated to a performance by the talented Qatari singer and record producer, Fahad al-Kubaisi, who dedicated a spe-cial song to the VIPs, guests and the people of Jordan, reflecting on the strong relationship be-

tween the two countries.Additionally, globally re-

nowned Jordanian singer Omar al-Abdallat also performed a line-up of his most popular songs.

Earlier in the day, the airline hosted a media roundtable and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to offi cially open its new offi ce in Amman.

In a press statement yester-day, the national carrier of Qa-tar stressed that it actively par-ticipates in numerous corporate social responsibility initiatives in Jordan, most notably its sup-port for the King Hussein Cancer Centre.

Representatives from Qatar Airways visit the centre regu-larly and the airline’s Kids Club mascots have made special ap-pearances and entertained the young patients.

Moreover, Qatar Airways has taken part in relief food distribu-

tion for underprivileged families in Jordan, in co-operation with Jordan Hashemite Charity Or-ganisation, Qatar Charity and Qatar Red Crescent Society.

Qatar Airways has also ex-pressed its desire to attract more Jordanian talent in many fi elds, including engineering, air crew and operations.

Last year, Qatar announced the creation of 10,000 jobs for Jordanian nationals in Qatar.

Currently, Qatar Airways op-erates 21 weekly fl ights between Doha and Amman.

In 2015, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian launched a codeshare agreement, allowing passengers of both airlines to benefi t from connectivity to the most popular routes.

Since then, the agreement has expanded to allow Royal Jorda-nian passengers to travel to the East through Qatar Airways’ hub, Hamad International Air-

port (HIA). Known for its unique blend of old and new, Amman is a bustling city fi lled with restau-rants, art galleries, traditional coff ee shops and historic land-marks, catering to both business and leisure travellers.

Amman also provides con-venient access to Jordan’s many magnifi cent historic and natu-ral sites, including Petra, Jerash, Wadi Rum, Aqaba and the Dead Sea.

Qatar Airways currently op-erates a fl eet of more than 250 aircraft via HIA to more than 160 destinations worldwide.

The airline has recently launched an array of new des-tinations, including Rabat, Mo-rocco; Izmir, Turkey; Malta; Davao, the Philippines; Lisbon, Portugal; and Mogadishu, So-malia, with Langkawi, Malaysia and Gaborone, Botswana, slated to be added to its extensive route network in October.

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, HE Akbar al-Baker and other dignitaries. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, HE Akbar al-Baker and Lothar Matthäus with 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar-themed jerseys.

Fahad al-Kubaisi performing at the event.

Generation Amazing yesterday concluded its workshop on football for development, which was organised by the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in co-operation with Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) and the physical education department and centre for educational training and development at the ministry.The commission’s secretary-general,

Dr Hamda al-Sulaiti, said Generation Amazing is one of Qatar’s outstanding projects in the field of sports and the commission seeks to achieve and support it in all public schools. She added that she looks forward to expanding it to all grades and schools in Qatar.Al-Sulaiti stressed the workshop is complementary to the programme – which kicked off last year in 12 schools – and the positive role and impact it

had on the teachers and students. She added that the workshop aimed to train teachers of physical education in public schools through football, which contributes to the development and refinement of students’ social and sporting skills, instils moral values in them and raises their competencies in areas of co-operation, participation, problem solving, decision-making and team spirit, in preparation for hosting Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. – QNA

Football for development workshop concludes

QATAR

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 20198

Falcons exhibition begins at KataraQNA Doha

The third edition of S’hail — the Katara International Hunting and Falcons Ex-

hibition — opened yesterday at the Cultural Village Foundation.

The exhibition, considered the largest of its kind and class in Middle East and the world, has attracted more than 140 exhibi-tors of specialised international companies and manufacturers in the fi eld of hunting and falcon accessories from more than 20 countries around the world.

Hunting enthusiasts and herit-age lovers went around the vast expanse of varied exhibition and sales began immediately at various sections displaying diff erent hunt-ing tools and guns, in addition to handicrafts and falcon accessories.

Katara general manager and S’hail organising committee chairman Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti expressed satisfaction on the progress of the exhibition on its fi rst day, saying that S’hail has emerged as an international hub for hunting and falcon en-thusiasts over the years since its opening in 2017.

“The international partici-pants refl ect the success of the

previous editions of the exhibi-tion which attracted more and more of hunting-specialised companies and manufacturers, including falcon breeders from 20 diff erent countries,” Dr al-Sulaiti said.

He thanked the sponsors, and in particular the Sports and So-cial Activities Support Fund, Ooredoo, QIC and Qatar Air-ways, for their support to S’hail.

He also welcomed visitors to a

great opportunity to see the cul-tural interest in falcon and the hunting wares and guns that are on display at S’hail.

The falcon auctions, which is one of the unique features of S’hail, this time has a distinct addition by way of digitised auc-tioning.

The fi ve-day event is expected to receive several thousands of visitors over the next four days.

This year, the exhibition also

has a specialised restaurant ca-tering to the visitors inside the grand pavilion premises, off ering fresh hunt food and barbecue.

The fi rst of its kind in terms of size, exclusivity and diverse range of products from falcons to hunting tools to guns to custom-ised vehicles to various hunt-ing and camping accessories is a delight for both the connoisseur and commoner alike.

The exhibition runs from

9am-10pm daily and will be open on Friday from 3pm till 11pm. It concludes on Saturday.

Various ministries, institu-tions and governmental and of-fi cial bodies such as the Minis-try of Interior, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, represented by the Department of Environmental Protection, Natural Reserves, and Wildlife, the General Authority of Cus-toms, the Qatari Society of Al

Gannas (Sniper Association) and the Al-Galayel Championship, in addition to the participation of the Qatar Shooting Federation and Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital are taking part in the exhibition this year.

The exhibition features lo-cal, regional and international participation of companies from Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, Kenya, Italy, Russia, Britain, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Romania, South Af-

rica, Spain, Lebanon, the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, Turkey, Iran and Portugal.

Qatar, Kuwait, Britain and Spain lead the participating countries with a large number of pavilions, providing options and exhibitions that contribute signifi cantly to meet the aspira-tions and needs of visitors and enable them to discover the latest equipment, weapons, products and services off ered in fi shing.

Snapshots from the first day of the Katara International Hunting and Falcon Exhibition. PICTURES: Shemeer Rashid

Foreign participants praise Qataris’ love for falconsBy Ayman Adly Staff Reporter

A number of European com-panies are taking part in the ongoing Katara In-

ternational Hunting and Falcons Exhibition — S’hail 2019.

Representatives of some of these companies stressed that the success of the previous two editions of the event prompted them to come to Doha and dis-play their products and services while looking for good business opportunities.

The exhibition, which got un-der way yesterday, is witnessing the participation of more than 140 local and international com-panies from 20 countries.

Sean Scott, international sporting manager at UK-based company E J Churchill, said he heard about the success of the previous editions of S’hail from other operators in the fi eld and, accordingly, the company made the necessary arrangements to take part in this year’s edition.

“The exhibition is in line with international standards in the fi eld and is a very well-organised and high-level event. The turn-out of visitors seems very good to me, right from the early hours of its opening,” he said, describing the local market as full of oppor-tunities due to the love of Qataris for falcons and hunting.

Martins Mechiel from Kieze-brink, a Netherlands-based company focusing on food and

nutrition, said this is their fi rst participation in the event.

He stressed it is a very good opportunity for his company to display and present its serv-ices and products in a promising market such as Qatar. The com-pany has a branch in the country and it is doing well, he added.

“The Qatari people are very friendly and willing to co-op-erate and get introduced to new things. From the time we started making arrangements to come here until this moment, every-thing has been more than excel-lent. The country is amazing and has a lot of good business oppor-tunities,” he said.

Simon Rood from British hunting rifl es and gun maker

Purdey said this is his company’s fi rst visit to Doha.

After receiving positive feed-back from compatriots in the industry who had taken part in previous editions of S’hail, the company was keen to bring its goods to Qatar with positive ex-pectations for good business.

“Our rifl es are completely hand-made and tailored based on the customer’s orders, which have to be placed as early as pos-sible because each rifl e takes time to produce. Some of these could cost around QR500,000,” he in-formed.

Rood noted that the exhibition would be an excellent opportunity to introduce his special products to the local and regional market.

Hans Kuspert from Falcon Center Germany said his com-pany has been a regular partici-pant at the event alongside a lo-cal partner.

He brought a good number of high-quality breeds as well training services for the event and is sure that sales would be high.

He added that the organisa-tion of the event and facilities provided are of great quality and provide comfort to all, including the falcons on display.

Syrian falcon trader Mohamed Ahmed stressed that falconry fans have been fl ocking to the event from the early hours, and the exhibition promises to be yet another success.

Dignitaries at S’hail 2019 yesterday. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed

The Ooredoo booth at S’hail 2019.

Ooredoo is telecom sponsor of S’hail 2019Ooredoo has announced that it is

the off icial ‘telecommunications

sponsor’ for the Katara Interna-

tional Hunting and Falcons Exhibi-

tion — S’hail 2019.

The exhibition dedicated to

falconry — one of Qatar’s most

culturally-important sports —

began yesterday at Katara – the

Cultural Village.

The event is the largest inter-

national exhibition dedicated

to falcons, and will be a real

taste of traditional Qatari sport

and culture. It also features a

falcon auction, demonstrations

and exhibitions, training, and

even cultural activities for kids,

including sniper training. There

will also be a pavilion dedicated

to fishing handicrafts and bird

supplies.

Ooredoo will host a booth at

the exhibition to showcase its

exciting devices, products, and

services with the latest technol-

ogy and developments.

Manar Khalifa al-Muraikhi,

director, PR and Corporate Com-

munications at Ooredoo Qatar,

said: “Promoting Qatari culture

and heritage is of vital importance

to Ooredoo. It is part of our com-

pany culture to ensure we support

events that preserve our identity

for future generations and we

actively seek every opportunity

to support community events and

initiatives in line with this. The fal-

con exhibition is a fantastic event

for all the family, and the perfect

way to share our rich heritage and

culture, and we’re delighted to be

involved.”

More info on the Katara Inter-

national Hunting and Falcons Ex-

hibition — S’hail 2019 is available

at www.s-hail.qa or katara.net.

Doha Women Forum to turn spotlight on gender balanceThe third edition of Doha

Women Forum is set to gather women leaders,

entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and life coaches who will discuss a number of issues focusing on the importance of gender party globally.

The event, scheduled on Sep-tember 29 at The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, has been modelled on the International Women’s Day themed ‘Balance for Better’, a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world.

“The success of the previous

years proved that the Forum is the voice of the modern wom-en, empowering them to bring about change within themselves and their society,” Doha Women Forum and Future 318 founder Conchita Ponce said in a press statement.

“This year, we will focus on the importance of gender parity, and encourage women who are con-cerned about gender bias in their workplace or society to be a part of the forum to understand how to approach the issue and man-age it,” she added.

The forum, organised by Fu-ture 318 (Faisal Al Suwaidi For Events) in partnership with Qa-tar Businesswomen Association and She’s Mercedes (strategic partner), will consist of inspir-ing talks, group discussions and workshops, as well as an interac-tive session to facilitate network-ing.

Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Legislation and Compliance at the Employment Standards Of-fi ce in charge Dr Francesca Re said: “We are very pleased to support the Doha Women Forum,

which has become an important platform for discussing some of the challenges that women face today.”

“We pride ourselves in creat-ing a healthy, fair and balanced environment for all staff at the QFC. Gender equality is impera-tive to building a sustainable fu-ture,” she noted.

“Almost 40% of our workforce are female and we are committed to designing additional policies to foster gender balance to attract and retain female talents.”

Nasser Bin Khaled Group COO

– Auto, Ihab El Feky said: “We, at Nasser Bin Khaled Automobiles, the authorised general distribu-tor of Mercedes-Benz in Qatar, are honoured to be associated with Doha Women Forum once again after a very successful edi-tion last year.”

“Acknowledging the role of women in our societies, Mer-cedes-Benz has created ‘She’s Mercedes’, a platform dedicated to inspiring, connecting and em-powering women to unleash their best,” El Feky noted.

“Through this programme, we

aim to support women and their inspiration, and appreciate their important role in building our communities and countries.”

Doha Women Forum 2018 fo-cused on the theme ‘Press for Progress’ and was attended by hundreds of women, including distinguished speakers from dif-ferent walks of life.

This year’s event is supported by Qatar Chamber, International Chamber of Commerce Qatar, QFC, and North Oil Company, as well as the embassy of Argentina in Doha.Dr Francesca Re

Zoo welcomes ‘new guests’

Doha Zoo has witnessed the birth of some rare and endangered species recently, including the night monkey and black-bearded mar-

moset, the Ministry of Municipality and Environ-ment (MME) has announced.

Welcoming the “new guests”, the MME said it has designed a special programme “for breed-ing, feeding and providing the right environ-ment for them”.

The programme focuses on comprehensive nu-trition in addition to the control of temperature and humidity to recreate the natural habitats of these species in South America.

Besides, the zoo has also seen the birth of species such as the Senegal bushbaby, Vervet monkey, a Sika deer and a Moroccan ram, according to the MME.

These developments are in line with the minis-try’s eff orts to preserve and multiply endangered and rare species of animals, it adds.

Bulgarian artist’s work on show at KataraQNADoha

‘The Beauty of Traditions’ exhibition by Bulgarian art-ist Dilly Bozadzhieva, in co-

operation with the embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria to the State of Qatar, began yesterday at Katara.

The exhibition, running till September 14, features nearly 15 paintings in which the artist used wool threads, which she

painted in colours extracted from nature.

Through her artwork, Boza-dzhieva presents the beauty of

tradition in her country.The artist expressed happi-

ness at presenting her art ex-hibition in Katara, relishing the opportunity to reach out to the audience in Qatar.

Bulgarian ambassador Metin Hussein Kazak thanked Katara for its great role in serving art and culture in general, adding that cooperation will continue to organise more events and activi-ties presenting Bulgarian culture and increasing rapprochement between the people.

The formal opening of the exhibition.

Iran rules out direct US talksAFP Tehran

President Hassan Rou-hani yesterday ruled out holding any bilateral

talks with the United States and threatened to further cut Iran’s commitments to a nuclear deal within days.

Iran and three European countries — Britain, France and Germany — have been trying to save the landmark agreement reached in 2015 and meant to limit Tehran’s nuclear pro-gramme after the US pulled out last year.

But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian cautioned that several issues were still hindering their eff orts.

“There is still lots to work out. It’s still very fragile,” Le Drian told journalists in Paris.

France has been leading ef-forts for dialogue, with Presi-dent Emmanuel Macron ex-pressing hope during G7 talks in late August of organising a meeting between Rouhani and US President Donald Trump.

However, in a speech to Iran’s parliament yesterday, Rouhani said any dialogue with the US would have to fall within the framework of the six major powers that agreed the nuclear deal.

“Maybe there has been a misunderstanding. We’ve said it several times and we repeat it — there has been no decision to hold bilateral talks with the US,” said the Iranian president.

“In principle, we don’t want bilateral talks with the United States,” he told lawmakers.

“If the United States lifts all sanctions... it would be possi-ble to talk (to them) during 5+1 meetings as in the past,” Rou-

hani said, referring to the pow-ers involved in negotiating the 2015 deal.

“We have received several proposals (to have talks with the United States) and our an-swer has always been negative.”

Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since May 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the nu-clear deal and began reimposing crippling sanctions.

The arch-foes were on the cusp of confrontation in June when Iran downed a US drone and Trump ordered retaliatory strikes before cancelling them at the last minute.

Iran has riposted by scaling back its nuclear commitments in response to the US with-

drawal from the deal, which gave it the promise of relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its atomic programme.

It has already increased its uranium enrichment and stockpiles, and Rouhani said yesterday a “third step will be enacted in the coming days” unless the remaining parties to the deal honour their own com-mitments.

“If by Thursday these ne-gotiations yield no results, we will announce the third step of the reduction of our commit-ments,” he said. On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said just over 10% of Iran’s uranium stockpile was enriched to 4.5%, above the 3.67% limit stipulated in the

2015 deal. The UN watchdog said Iran’s total stockpile of uranium, which under the ac-cord should be no more than the equivalent of 300 kilograms of uranium hexafl uoride, stood at roughly 360 kilograms.

But Rouhani stressed the Iranian countermeasures were reversible.

“Our steps have been taken in such a way that it doesn’t take much time to get back to the starting point,” he said.

Rouhani voiced regret over the failure of European gov-ernments to fulfi l pledges they made during negotiations.

“Unfortunately after the US betrayal...the Europeans haven’t acted on their com-mitments or couldn’t...in some cases they could have acted but did not,” he said.

“What we are asking of the other countries is that they continue to buy our oil. We can continue negotiations even af-ter the third step,” he added.

Rouhani has had a series of phone calls with Macron in re-cent weeks aimed at salvaging the nuclear deal.

The French president has been trying to convince the United States to off er Iran some sort of relief from sanctions it has imposed on the Islamic re-public since pulling out of the agreement.

A conservative Iranian law-maker said Macron had pro-posed off ering Iran a $15bn credit line on condition it re-turns to the fold.

“Macron has proposed Iran stop its third step for now in ex-change for this sum, and maybe retreat from its fi rst and second steps to the initial situation,” said Ali Motahari, quoted late Sunday by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

SA vows crackdown on attacks after fi ve dieAFP Johannesburg

Five people have been killed in xenophobic violence in South Africa, police said

yesterday, as President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to clamp down on the attacks and the Af-rican Union and Nigeria sounded their alarm.

Hordes of people — some armed with axes and machetes — gathered in Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD) for a third day of unrest directed against foreigners, hours after mobs burned and looted shops in the township of Alexandra, prompting police to fi re rubber bullets to disperse them.

Five deaths — most of them South Africans — have been re-ported, police said, adding that 189 people had been arrested.

In a video address diff used on Twitter, Ramaphosa said attacks on businesses run by “foreign nationals is something totally unacceptable, something that we cannot allow to happen in South Africa.”

“I want it to stop immediate-ly,” said Ramaphosa, adding that the violence had “no justifi ca-tion.” Sporadic violence against foreign-owned stores and enter-prises has a long history in South Africa, where many locals blame immigrants for high unemploy-ment, particularly in manual labour.

The country is a major des-tination for economic migrants from neighbouring Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Others come from much fur-ther afi eld, including South Asia and Nigeria, Africa’s most popu-lous country.

But this week’s assaults seem to have been on a greater scale than in the past, although the full details remain unknown.

“They burned everything,” Bangladeshi shop owner Kam-rul Hasan, 27, said in Alexandra, adding that his shop gets at-tacked every three to six months.

“All my money is gone. If the (South African) government pays for my plane ticket, I will go back to Bangladesh,” he said.

Alexandra, one of the poorest urban areas in South Africa, is situated just fi ve kilometres from Sandton, the city’s gleaming business and shopping district.

More than 90 people were ar-rested on Monday in connection with the violence and looting of shops in Johannesburg and sur-rounding areas, the government said.

Similar incidents occurred in the capital Pretoria on Mon-day, when local media reported shacks and shops burning in the Marabastad — a central business area largely populated by eco-nomic migrants.

Nigeria summoned its South African ambassador to express “displeasure over the treatment of her citizens” and dispatched a special envoy, who is expected to arrive later this week.Several Ni-gerians used social media to call for a boycott of South African companies, including telecoms provider MTN, satellite televi-sion service DSTV and retailer Shoprite.

Separately, African Union chairperson Moussa Faki Ma-hamat condemned the violence “in the strongest terms” but said he was encouraged “by ar-

rests already made by the South African authorities”. The at-tacks on foreign stores began a day after South African truck-ers started a nationwide strike to protest against the employ-ment of foreign drivers.

On Monday, they blocked roads and torched foreign-driven vehicles in parts of the country.

At least another 20 peo-ple were arrested in connec-tion with those attacks in the southeastern province of Kwa-Zulu-Natal.

Deputy President David Mabuza condemned all attacks on foreign nationals.

“We are a nation founded on the values of ubuntu (humani-ty) as espoused by our founding father, President Nelson Man-dela...we should always resist the temptation of being over-whelmed by hatred,” he said at a meeting with ministers in Cape Town yesterday.

The violence erupted ahead of a meeting of the World Eco-nomic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, where hundreds of po-litical and business leaders will gather for three days from to-day.

David Makhura, the premier of Johannesburg’s Gauteng province, said rioting was not a solution.

Zulu residents of the Jeppe Men Hostel scream waving batons in the Johannesburg CBD, yesterday.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani speaks at the parliament in the capital Tehran, yesterday.

REGION/ARAB WORLD/AFRICA

9Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 2019

South African Minister of Police Bheki Cele speaks with Zulu residents of the Jeppe Men Hostel in the Johannesburg CBD yesterday.

West may be complicit in Yemen war crimes: UN reportReuters Geneva

The United States, Brit-ain and France may be complicit in war crimes

in Yemen by arming and pro-viding intelligence and logis-tics support to a Saudi-led coalition that starves civilians as a war tactic, the United Na-tions said yesterday.

UN investigators recom-mended that all states im-pose a ban on arms trans-fers to the warring parties to prevent them from being used to commit serious vio-lations.

“It is clear that the con-tinued supply of weapons to parties to the conflict is per-petuating the conflict and prolonging the suffering of the Yememi people,” Melissa Parke, an expert on the in-dependent UN panel, told a news conference.

“That is why we are urging member states to no longer supply weapons to parties to the conflict,” she said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the main parties in the coalition fighting against the Houthi movement that controls Yemen’s capital, are two of the biggest buyers of US,

British and French weapons.The experts compiled a

secret list of suspected war criminals.

Investigators found po-tential crimes on both sides, while highlighting the role Western countries play as backers of the Arab states and Iran plays in support of the Houthis.

Panel chair Kamel Jen-doubi declined to reveal de-tails of the list of suspects, adding: “What is sure is that we have gathered sufficient facts and sufficient testi-monies that would allow to bring those individuals to justice at a later stage.”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that a so-called de-escalation zone in Syria’s Idlib region is slowly disappearing because of military attacks by government forces. Erdogan also said he would make all neces-sary contacts with parties in the region to find a solution to the Idlib situation, adding that a Syria safe zone which he has proposed to host Syrians fleeing the war is now nothing more than a name. “Idlib is slowly disappearing. Idlib is in a situation that it started to disappear and become torn down in a way Aleppo is. It is not possible to stay silent against this,” Erdogan told a news con-ference in Ankara. Idlib, in Syria’s northwest corner, is the only big chunk of the country still in rebel hands after over eight years of war. A truce in early August collapsed three days in, after which the Russian-backed Syrian army pressed an offen-sive and gained ground against rebel forces, some of whom are backed by Turkey.

Sudan’s prime minister has ap-proved 14 civilian members of his cabinet, the first to be appointed since the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir in April, a source said yesterday. The nomina-tions include Sudan’s first female foreign minister, and a former World Bank economist as finance minister who will face an economic crisis that triggered months of protests. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok approved them along with 12 other new ministers, a member of the main civilian group in the ruling Sovereign Council said. Asmaa Ab-dallah had been chosen as foreign minister, according to the member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) grouping, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ibrahim Elbadawi, a former World Bank economist who had been manag-ing director of the Cairo-based think tank Economic Research Forum since 2017, would serve as finance minister and Adel Ibrahim was tapped to lead the Energy and Min-ing Ministry, the source added.

Erdogan says Syria’s Idlib slowly disappearing

Sudan PM’s nod for first cabinet

CONFLICT

POLITICS

Coalition boosts troop levels in south Yemen as tensions riseReuters Aden

Saudi Arabia has deployed more troops in southern Yemen to try to contain

clashes between nominal al-lies in the Saudi-led military coalition fi ghting the Houthis that risk further fragmenting the country.

The fi ght for the south of the country has opened a new confl ict, focused around the port of Aden, in a multifac-eted war that has killed tens of thousands and pushed the na-tion to the brink of famine.

Saudi soldiers and armed vehicles arrived over the weekend in the capital of the oil-producing Shabwa prov-ince where the United Arab Emirates-backed separatists have been battling forces of Yemen’s Saudi-backed gov-ernment for control, two local offi cials said.

The two sides are part of

the coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, that in-tervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthi group which ousted the govern-ment of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in 2014.

But the separatists, who seek to restore the former

South Yemen republic, turned on the government in early August and seized control of Aden, interim seat of Hadi’s government.

They have since been trying to extend their reach to nearby Abyan and Shabwa, clashing repeatedly with government forces.

Saudi Arabia has reinforced its positions in Shabwa and Aden as Riyadh called for talks to resolve the crisis and refo-cus the Western-backed coa-lition on battling the Houthis, who have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities.

“Saudi forces arrived in Shabwa and started working with the local government for a de-escalation and a cease-fi re.

All parties responded posi-tively to the coalition’s calls,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said on Mon-day.

The kingdom has also called for a summit in Jeddah to de-fuse the standoff .

The leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous al-Zubaidi, arrived in the Saudi Red Sea city yesterday to meet Yemeni and Saudi of-fi cials, a spokesman of the movement said.

Palestinian student makes it to Harvard after initial US refusalAFPWashington

A Palestinian teenager has succeeded in entering the United States and starting

classes at Harvard University af-ter US authorities’ initial refusal to let him enter at the airport triggered wide condemnation.

Amideast, a Washington-based group that supports in-ternational education, said Is-mail Ajjawi arrived on Monday at Boston’s Logan International Airport, where he had earlier been questioned for eight hours and sent back to Lebanon.

“The last 10 days have been diffi cult and anxiety fi lled, but we are most grateful for the thousands of messages of sup-port and particularly the work of Amideast,” his family said in a statement, requesting privacy as the freshman starts his studies.

Harvard, one of the world’s most prestigious universities,

confi rmed that Ismail had ar-rived on campus to begin the academic term that opened yes-terday.

“We are pleased that Ismail’s Harvard dream will come true after all,” said Theodore Kattouf, the group’s president and CEO.

The 17-year-old said that an offi cer asked about his religion and searched his laptop and phone when he fl ew into Logan airport on August 23.

Ismail said that an offi cer “started screaming at me” about political postings on his social media pages even though they were written by his friends and not by him. As the case gathered wide media attention, Amideast said that Harvard pressed Is-mail’s case and that the US em-bassy in Beirut reissued a visa that allowed him to travel back to the United States.

US authorities said legal rea-sons prevented them from ex-plaining why they previously barred Ismail.

Yemeni children attend class on the first day of the new academic year in the country’s third-city of Taiz yesterday, at a school that was damaged last year in an air strike during fighting between the government forces and the Houthi rebels.

AMERICA

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 201910

A 14-year-old American boy shot and killed five family members at their home in Alabama, before throwing away the pistol and calling police, off icials said yesterday, in the latest high-profile gun crime. The shooting occurred on Monday night in the town of Elkmont, a spokesman for the Limestone County Sheriff ’s Off ice told media, including an ABC aff iliate. The sheriff ’s off ice said five people were shot, with three dying at the scene and two later in hospital. “The 14-year old caller was interviewed and confessed to shooting all five members of his family in the residence,” it said on Twitter. It was unclear where the teenager obtained the gun.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said yesterday that a Tesla Model S was in autopilot mode when it struck a fire truck in Culver City, California, one of a series of crashes the board is investigating involving Tesla’s driver assistance system. The 2014 Model S autopilot system was engaged continuously for the final 13 minutes 48 seconds of the trip before the vehicle struck a fire truck parked on Interstate-405 in January 2018, the NTSB safety board said in documents posted yesterday. The driver kept his hands off the wheel for all but 51 seconds of the final drive segment and received numerous alerts to place his hands back on the wheel. Tesla Inc did not immediately comment.

Facebook yesterday confirmed it is dabbling with no longer making a public display of how many “likes” are racked up by posts. Such a change could ease pressure to win approval with images, videos or comments and, instead, get people to simply focus on what is in posts. Facebook-owned Instagram earlier this year announced it was testing hiding like counts and video view tallies in more than a half-dozen countries, with account holders still able to see the numbers but masking amounts from others. “We are considering hiding like counts from Facebook,” a spokesman for the leading social network told AFP yesterday.

A man drew a gun in a Popeyes fast-food restaurant in Houston, Texas after learning it was out of a chicken sandwich that has been all the rage since being introduced last month, police said. A group of five adults and a baby pulled up in a car at a Popeyes drive-in window on Monday night to order the chain’s hit new sandwich. Told there were no more, they went into the restaurant and one of them drew a gun on employees, Houston police said on Twitter. By the time the police arrived, the group had fled without further trouble. But the incident underscored the sensation created by Popeye’s new sandwich, which was launched on August 12.

A US judge yesterday rejected eff orts by drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies to dismiss claims that they caused the nation’s opioid crisis, clearing the way for a scheduled landmark trial even as he pushes for a nationwide settlement. US District Judge Dan Polster said the plaintiff s could try to prove that drugmakers’ deceptive marketing of the painkillers caused a harmful, massive increase in supply that distributors and pharmacies did not do enough to stop. “A factfinder could reasonably infer that these failures were a substantial factor in producing the alleged harm suff ered by plaintiff s,” the Cleveland-based judge wrote.

Teen shoots dead five family members

NTSB says autopilot was engaged in Tesla crash

Facebook might start hiding ‘Like’ counts

Gun drawn in Texas over sandwich sensation

Opioid litigation can proceed, says judge

TRAGEDY INVESTIGATIONTECH TALK NO CASUALTIES JUSTICE

20 bodies recovered after California dive boat disasterBy Andrew Marszal, AFPLos Angeles

Search operations for survi-vors of a scuba diving boat disaster off the California

coast were suspended yesterday after divers recovered 20 bodies and spotted another four to six trapped in underwater wreckage.

The remains of 11 women and nine men have been transferred to coroner offi ces following the disaster on Monday, when the 23m Conception caught fi re and sank with passengers trapped below deck by the roaring blaze.

“Today we will begin the proc-ess of mapping DNA profi les of the 20 victims that we have re-covered so far, so that they can be compared with family samples,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a news conference.

The boat had been on a diving excursion around Santa Cruz Is-land, just west of Santa Barbara in southern California, when

disaster struck early on Monday.Five crew members were awake

and jumped into the water when fl ames burst out around 3.15am.

They were rescued by a nearby pleasure craft.

A total of 39 were on board, of-fi cials said, leaving 14 yet to be recovered and presumed dead.

Both a stairwell and an escape hatch leading down to the lower deck where passengers were sleeping appeared to have been blocked by the inferno, Brown said.

Emergency offi cials were yes-terday attempting to stabilise the boat so that divers can safely enter it and retrieve remaining victims.

A debris fi eld around half a mile in size will be mapped and searched for additional victims and evidence of what caused the fi re.

Mourners gathering at the Santa Barbara docks hung white, red and yellow fl owers and wrote messages of condolences on

items affi xed to a metal fence by the waterfront.

One, written on a pair of blue diving fi ns, said: “We love you Conception.”

The search operation saw three helicopter crews and boats scour a region covering almost 220km for just under 24 hours, but fi nd no signs of survivors, said Coast Guard Captain Monica Roches-ter.

“It is never an easy decision to suspend search eff orts,” she said.

“We know this is a very diffi -cult time for family and friends of the victims.”

The operation will now enter a recovery and investigation phase “to try and determine why this incident occurred,” she added.

Mark Hartwig, county fi re chief, said authorities were “ex-pending all necessary means to fi nd out the cause and origin of the fi re.”

Bob Hansen, a sailor on board the nearby pleasure boat that rescued the crew members, told

the Los Angeles Times he heard “explosions going off every cou-ple of minutes,” which may have been caused by dive tanks ex-ploding.

“It made me feel so helpless,” he said.

Rochester, the coast guard captain, said earlier that all the passengers were believed to have been sleeping when the fi re broke out.

US news outlets released audio of a distress call in which a crew member on the boat yells, “May-day! Mayday! Mayday!” and “I can’t breathe!”

The Truth Aquatics website said the Conception, listed as having bunks for up to 46 people, had been scheduled to return on Monday from a three-day trip after visiting several diving spots around Santa Cruz Island.

It was just 20m off the island’s northern shore when disaster struck.

The area is popular for a vari-ety of water and outdoor sports.

A Santa Barbara County Fire Department handout photo of a boat burning off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, California.

Five dead as Dorian bashes Bahamas, heads to FloridaReuters Miami

Hurricane Dorian grew in size and picked up speed yesterday and forecasters said it would come

“dangerously close” to Florida’s east coast in the next 36 hours after cutting a destructive path through the northern Bahamas that killed at least fi ve people.

Dorian, which over the weekend had been one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, inundated homes with fl oodwater in the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas ahead of its ex-pected advance on the US East Coast, where more than a million people had been ordered evacuated.

The hurricane weakened earlier yes-terday to a Category 2 on the fi ve-step Saffi r-Simpson Wind Scale, packing maximum sustained winds of 175kph and moving northwest at 8kph, the Mi-ami-based National Hurricane Center said.

Still, the NHC warned that Dorian remained dangerous as it churned about 170km east of Fort Pierce, Florida.

The exact toll of the devastation in the Bahamas will not be clear until the storm completely passes and rescue crews can get on the ground.

Dorian lashed the islands, includ-ing Grand Bahama Island, for almost 24 hours. “We have not been able to assess the damages on Grand Bahama Island just yet. We expect it to be very devas-tating and the damage to be extreme,” said Theo Neilly, the Bahamian consul general in Washington.

He added that the sea surge from the storm was high and people were still trapped in their homes and attics.

Speaking to CNN, Iram Lewis, a member of Parliament, said the death toll would likely climb.

“It is safe to say, unfortunately, that that number will go up,” Lewis said, noting many destroyed houses, felled trees and stunned residents on a survey of areas pounded by the storm. “It is just unbelievable.”

As many as 13,000 homes in the Ba-hamas may have been destroyed or se-verely damaged, the International Fed-eration of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Abaco may require food for 14,500 people and Grand Bahama for 45,700 people, the UN World Food Programme said in a statement.

The preliminary estimates were based on an assessment by representa-tives from Caribbean countries, the WFP and other organisations.

The US military has been authorised to provide logistics, health and engi-neering support to the Bahamas for up for 14 days if needed, General Terrence

O’Shaughnessy, the head of US North-ern Command, told reporters yesterday.

Eff orts to reach offi cials in the Baha-mas by phone yesterday were unsuc-cessful.

Dorian was expected to bring hur-ricane conditions to Florida overnight, before bringing its powerful winds and dangerous surf along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina by tomorrow evening.

Forecasters have told Floridians not to become complacent.

Dorian could drive seawater inland as it approaches, with parts of the north-ern Florida and Georgia coasts seeing as much as 2.1m, said NHC Director Ken Graham, urging residents of coastal ar-eas to obey any evacuation orders.

Hurricane-force winds extended 95km from the storm’s core, with still-dangerous tropical storm-force winds felt for 280km from its centre.

Nine counties in Florida have issued mandatory evacuation orders.

They included parts of Duval Coun-ty, which includes Jacksonville, one of Florida’s two biggest cities, and some areas in Palm Beach County, home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

After days of warnings to fl ee a storm that at its peak was rated at the top of the scale of hurricane strength, many residents of Florida’s coast remained unsure whether to wait it out or evacu-ate.

“I know it’s a mandatory evacuation, but everyone I talked to is staying, and

I don’t know what to do. But I’m going to be ready and packed up in case I need to get on the road if they close those bridges,” Linda Cassano, a 53-year-old beautician who lives on Jacksonville Beach said as she stocked up on water and food.

“What deterred me is everything was open, the garbage man came today, the post offi ce was delivering, so those things kind of make you indecisive.”

Further north, the streets of Sea Is-land, Georgia, were largely empty yes-terday after many visitors heeded evac-uation orders, said Kathryn Ross, owner of the Pelican Market grocery store.

“It’s like a ghost town. People really packed it up and left. I went running — I was running partly in the road because

there was no one there,” Ross said in a phone interview. “I think people know the drill and have places set up to stay.”

Orlando International Airport ceased commercial operations because of the storm, it said in a statement.

Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando will close early, it said in a statement.

The governors of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have or-dered evacuations of some coastal counties.

Dorian was tied with Gilbert (1988), Wilma (2005) and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record, based on maximum sustained winds. Allen in 1980 was the most powerful, with 306kph winds, the NHC said.

A woman takes a picture as the eff ects of Hurricane Dorian make an impact on Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Democrats fl ay Pence for staying at Trump hotel

ReutersWashington

Vice President Mike Pence yesterday drew fi re from Democrats when he met

with Irish leaders in the capi-tal Dublin but stayed at a ho-tel owned by President Donald Trump almost 300km away at his boss’s urging.

Pence fl ew to Dublin yesterday after spending the night at the Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg on the west coast of Ireland.

The hotel also hosted the Trump family during a brief trip to Ireland by the president in June.

Asked if Trump had suggested that Pence stay at the property, the vice president’s chief of staff , Marc Short, told journalists, “I think that it was a suggestion.”

“It’s like when we went through the trip it’s like, `Well, he’s going to Doonbeg because that is where his family is from, it’s like `oh, you should stay at my place’,” Short said. “It wasn’t like a `you must.’ It wasn’t like a `you have to.’”

California Democratic Con-gressman Ted Lieu accused Pence on Twitter of “funneling taxpayer money” to Trump by staying at the hotel.

“You took an oath to the Constitution, not to @realDon-aldTrump,” Lieu said.

The Democratic National Committee also chimed in, say-ing on its DNC War Room Twitter feed that Pence’s choice of hotel meant “your tax dollars: making the Trump family richer.”

Pence defended the decision, pointing to family ties and say-ing the hotel stay was vetted in advance. “I understand political attacks by Democrats but if you have the chance to get to Doon-beg you’ll fi nd that it is a fairly small place,” he told reporters of the one-street village that has a population of just 200 people.

“We checked it with the State Department, they approved us staying there and I was pleased to have the opportunity to return to that family hometown and be able to stay there...It was impor-tant to me, before our original trip plan, to at least spend one night in Doonbeg.”

Pence’s stay was paid for by US taxpayers, Short said, but the vice president personally paid for his sister and mother who came with him. Pence’s great-grandmother was from Doonbeg.

ASIA11Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

UN fears Myanmar torture suspects held in confi nement UN rights experts voiced

alarm yesterday at the Myanmar military’s

incommunicado detention of Rakhine men and boys, as well as allegations of torture and deaths in custody.

They voiced grave concern at reports that numerous ethnic Rakhine men and boys had re-cently been taken into custody and held incommunicado for weeks at a time over terrorism allegations, with many report-ing they were tortured while detained.

“The practice of incommu-nicado detention must be im-mediately brought to an end,” the three experts, who are in-dependent and do not speak for the world body, said in a statement.

“There must be a credible independent investigation into the allegations of torture and inhuman treatment, deaths in custody, and reliance on forced confessions in cases in-volving Arakan army-related allegations,” they said.

“All perpetrators of such violations must be held accountable.”

The confl ict-scarred Ra-khine state, the site of a dead-

ly crackdown that in 2017 drove some 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims into Bang-ladesh, has in recent months seen fi erce battles between the military and the Arakan army, a rebel group claiming to fi ght for more autonomy

for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. The UN experts pointed to

the case of Naing Aung Htun, who was rounded up with others in Kyaukyan village in Buthidaung on August 8, and who was held incommunicado until August 21.

He was allegedly given elec-tric shocks by soldiers until he confessed to having ties to the Arakan army.

His father, who was fi nally permitted to visit him on Au-gust 22, reported he had sus-tained injuries to his face and complained of pain in his back, chest and head.

“We are distressed by the use of incommunicado deten-

tion where individuals are sus-pected of being associates of the Arakan army,” said the ex-perts including Yanghee Lee, a specialist on human rights in Myanmar.

“It is essential for detained people to be able to commu-nicate with the outside world, especially with family members and their lawyer,” they said, stressing that the practice “may facilitate torture”.

They said they were particu-larly concerned about cases of incommunicado detention in light of reports “regarding at least 15 deaths in custody of men alleged to be associates of the Arakan army.”

The signatories also included Agnes Callamard, expert on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, and Nils Melzer, expert on torture and other cruel inhuman or degrad-ing treatment or punishment.

They called on the military to make the results of its on-going investigation into those deaths public, and to hold the perpetrators accountable.

They also urged a probe into an allegation that Naing Aung Htun was tortured, and said he should receive a fair trial, stressing that any confes-sion made as a result of tor-ture should be excluded from evidence against him.

AFPGeneva

“There must be a credible independent investigation into the allegations of torture and inhuman treatment, deaths in custody, and reliance on forced confessions in cases involving Arakan army-related allegations”

European brands agree new deal in Bangladesh

European fashion brands who buy readymade gar-ments from Bangladesh

agreed yesterday to hand over re-sponsibility for issues like work-er safety to a new body called the Readymade Sustainability Council (RSC).

RSC, governed by the Bang-ladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BG-MEA), and brands and work-ers’ representatives, will replace the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to ensure compliance with work-place monitoring in the industry.

The Accord was set up by Europe-an brands to improve factory safety in Bangladesh after a garment fac-tory complex collapsed in 2013, kill-ing more than 1,100 people.

The fi ve-year pact was origi-nally due to expire in May 2018 but a longer transition period was agreed. Attempts by the Accord’s members to extend its authority to operate were chal-lenged in court by factory own-ers and the government set up its own body to take over its work.

“We could reach an agreement after two days of detailed discus-sions among us where almost all the representatives of fashion brand attended,” said Rubana Huq, President of BGMEA.

“We have come together in good faith for a smooth transi-tion from ACCORD to RSC and from now our formal journey has started,” she said.

The RSC is an unprecedented na-tional initiative, uniting industry, brands and trade unions to ensure a sustainable solution to carry for-ward the signifi cant accomplish-ments made on workplace safety in Bangladesh, Huq said.

“The RSC will also encom-pass industrial relations, skill development and environmental standards,” she added.

Low wages have helped Bangla-desh build the world’s second-larg-est garment industry, behind China, with some 4,000 factories employ-ing about 4 million workers.

Readymade garments are a mainstay of the economy, con-tributing almost 16% of Gross Domestic Product and about $34 billion worth of exports in the last fi scal year ending in June 2019.

Bangladesh is among the world’s largest exporters of ap-parel sold by Western companies like H&M, Adidas and Walmart, but the industry has been plagued by fi res and explosions which have killed hundreds in recent years.

ReutersDhaka

Indonesia restricts foreigner travel to restive Papua

Indonesia is imposing re-strictions on foreigners visiting its restive Papua

region, the government said yesterday, after four Austral-ians were deported over claims they took part in independence protests.

Papua, where a low-level insurgency against Indonesian control has simmered for dec-ades, has seen two weeks of mass protests and deadly riots sparked by anger over racism and fresh calls for self-rule.

Yesterday, Indonesia’s chief security minister Wiranto said the country would limit foreigners entering its east-ernmost territory – which has popular beach destinations – over safety concerns and to weed out suspected agitators.

“We’ll temporarily limit (ac-cess to Papua),” the minister, who goes by one name, told reporters in Jakarta.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t allow anyone in. There will be fi lters based on security

and safety issues,” he added, without elaborating.

It was unclear whether the new restrictions would prevent foreign journalists from going to a region subject to a govern-ment-ordered Internet shut-down since the unrest broke out – a policy slammed by me-dia and free-speech advocates.

“This is to protect foreigners from becoming victims of the riots,” Wiranto said.

“It’s diffi cult to distinguish between foreigners who are there to provoke and inter-fere from those who went as tourists,” he added.

Wiranto also dismissed ac-cusations that the govern-ment was dragging its feet on probing claims security forces committed human rights vio-lations, amid unconfi rmed reports that the military shot dead six protesters last week.

He reiterated Jakarta’s po-sition that it was not open to talking about Papuan independence.

“The door is closed on dia-logue about a referendum,” Wiranto said.

Indonesia took control of

Papua, a former Dutch colony on the island of New Guinea, in the 1960s after an independ-ence vote that was widely seen as being rigged.

On Monday, Indonesia said it was deporting four Austral-ians who had entered Papua – which shares a border with in-dependent Papua New Guinea – on a yacht last month.

The group allegedly partici-pated in a demonstration and raised the banned “Morning Star” fl ag, a symbol of Papuan nationhood.

Indonesian authorities have arrested dozens for taking part in protests and banned dem-onstrations that could lead to what it described as “anarchist acts”.

The recent unrest appears to have been triggered by the mid-August arrest of dozens of Papuan students in Java, who were also racially abused.

Indonesia is deeply sensi-tive about Papua. In May, a Polish man was sentenced to fi ve years in prison for plotting with rebels to overthrow the government in the province.

AFPJakarta

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, centre, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen inspect a guard of honour during a welcoming ceremony at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh yesterday.

Mahathir calls for cementing Asean ties

Malaysian Prime Min-ister Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday

said that Asean has remained a relevant regional grouping in the world and should continue to strengthen its co-operation in facing challenges and infl u-ences by superpowers.

Mahathir, who is on a three-day offi cial visit to Cambodia, said this at a dialogue session on “Balancing Relations with the Superpowers in the Con-

text of Asean” at the Royal Uni-versity of Phnom Penh (RUPP).

He said many may claim that today’s Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is not as active as before, but they could not deny the fact that the 10-member economic bloc is among the few regional groupings which had survived so far.

“If one of us (Asean mem-bers) goes into international negotiation, it will not carry much weight and strength in the argument. Therefore, it is better we have discussions as Asean and go as a group repre-senting all 10-member group-

ing, Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.

“If you look at regions in the world, however, you may fi nd Asean is one of the few peaceful and stable regions in the world because we work together,” he said.

Prime Minister Mahathir is currently on an offi cial three-day visit to Cambodia, at the invitation of his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.

Cambodia and Malaysia signed two pacts yesterday to boost bilateral trade, invest-ment and tourism, said a joint statement.

AgenciesPhnom Penh

Vietnam ex-minister accused of taking $3mn in bribes

Police in Vietnam have accused a former infor-mation minister of tak-

ing $3mn in bribes in connec-tion with a controversial deal at state telecoms fi rm Mobi-Fone, state media reported yesterday.

Nguyen Bac Son received the money to facilitate a deal in which MobiFone overpaid for a 95% stake in a loss-mak-ing pay television provider, the offi cial Vietnam News Agency said, citing the results of a police investigation.

MobiFone, one of Vietnam’s three largest mobile carriers by subscription, bought the stake in Audio Visual Global JSC for nearly 8.9tn dong ($383.65mn) in late 2015.

The government suff ered fi -nancial losses as a result of the transaction, the report said.

Nguyen Bac Son “abused his position, for personal purposes, to direct his inferiors to vio-late regulations, causing seri-ous damages,” the news agency said, citing the police report.

The MobiFone case is the largest corruption investi-gation so far in Vietnam’s anti-graft campaign that has already engulfed hundreds of government offi cials.

Audio Visual Global JSC chairman Pham Nhat Vu was

arrested and accused of pay-ing the bribes to Son, the news agency said.

Son, Vietnam’s information minister from 2011 to 2016, was arrested in February on suspicion of mismanaging public investment.

Reuters was unable to con-tact lawyers for the two men.

Former MobiFone chairman Le Nam Tra, who was arrested in July last year and charged with violating regulations of state capital management, admitted receiving a $2.5mn bribe from Vu, the police run newspaper Cong An Nhan Dan reported.

Police have accused 12 oth-er people, including another former information minis-ter and former executives of MobiFone, of bribery and mis-management, the news agency said, adding that eight had been arrested.

The police report has been sent to government prosecu-tors, the news agency said.

Under Vietnam law, any-one found guilty of receiving bribes of 1bn dong ($43,107) or more could face the death penalty.

A plan to sell a stake in Mob-iFone has long been touted as one of the most anticipated in Vietnam’s privatisation drive, but it has never materialised.

The government said last month it would sell a stake of up to 50% in MobiFone by the end of 2020.

Reuters/DPAHanoi

Bangladeshi patients suff ering from dengue fever receives treatment at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka yesterday.

Net protectionAsylum seekers from Lanka rising: General

The number of Sri Lankans trying to enter Australia illegally by sea is rising, an

Australian general said yester-day, a day after Canberra said it had intercepted a 13th boat car-rying asylum seekers from the Indian Ocean island.

The increase could be linked to the Easter bombings on hotels and churches in Sri Lanka, said Craig Furini, the chief of Op-eration Sovereign Borders, that killed hundreds of people and sowed fear on the island.

“There has been a slight in-crease recently,” Furini told re-porters in the coastal town of Negombo from where many migrants are believed to have boarded boats.

“Obviously, the tragic Easter bombings here may have played an eff ect, but also a whole bunch of unknowns as to why peo-

ple would be seeking to come to Australia illegally by boat,” he added.

The boat carrying 13 people was intercepted off the Cocos Islands, a remote Australian ter-ritory in the Indian Ocean. It was the 13th boat from Sri Lanka at-tempting to travel to Australia to seek asylum in the past 18 months.

Under Canberra’s hardline immigration policy, would-be asylum-seekers intercepted at sea while trying to reach Aus-tralia are returned to the boat’s country of origin.

Asylum-seekers who reach Australia are sent to Australian-run detention camps in Papua New Guinea and the South Pa-cifi c island of Nauru, where they are held in conditions widely criticised by organisations such as the United Nations. (Reuters)

Bone found in Thai lake belongs to missing rights activist

A skull fragment found in a scorched oil drum dumped in a reservoir in

Thailand belongs to a prominent ethnic minority rights activist who went missing in 2014, Thai-land’s Department of Special In-vestigation (DSI) said yesterday.

Pholachi “Billy” Rakchong-charoen, an ethnic Karen land

rights activist, was last seen on April 17, 2014, when he was detained by national park au-thorities at the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Petchaburi province, south of the capital, Bangkok.

Two pieces of bone fragment with burn marks were found in a 200-litre oil drum, submerged near Kaeng Krachan dam in May as authorities searched for evi-dence after years of fruitless in-vestigation.

DNA taken from Pholachi’s mother showed the bone frag-ments came from her son, Ko-rawat Panpraphakorn, deputy director of the DSI told a news conference.

“We found a piece of human bone which is part of a skull and based on a DNA test, it matches that of Billy’s mother,” Korawat said.

Twenty more bone fragments, which have not been tested, have since been discovered nearby, he said.

Korawat said that Pholachi

was likely killed after he was abducted but the cause of death was not known. He declined to comment on any suspects, citing the investigation.

At the time of his disappear-ance, Pholachi was working with Karen communities on le-gal complaints against national park offi cials for the destruction and burning of houses and farms of families living in the park in a series of forest evictions.

The Karen are an ethnic mi-

nority many of whom live in communities in forests of north-ern and western Thailand, and over the border in neighbouring Myanmar. Many Karen in Thai-land are stateless.

Pholachi was detained by na-tional park offi cials in 2014 for alleged illegal possession of a honey comb from wild bees.

Park offi cers say he was re-leased after questioning but Pholachi’s family said he has disappeared without trace.

ReutersBangkok

ReutersSeoul

South Korean workers fed up with bullying are being increasingly emboldened

by a new tougher labour law to secretly record alleged abuse or harassment by their bosses, boosting sales of high-tech au-dio and video devices.

Gadgets disguised as leather belts, eyeglasses, pens and USB sticks are all proving popular with employees in a country where abusive behaviour by people in power is so pervasive that there is a word for it — “gabjil”.

Several incidents have made international headlines, most notoriously the 2014 Korean Air “nut rage” case in which the airline’s vice president Heather Cho assaulted a crew member over the way she was served macadamia nuts in fi rst class.

Jang Sung-Churl, chief ex-ecutive of electronics fi rm Auto Jungbo Co Ltd, told Reuters that covert recording devices “have been selling like hot-cakes” since the government fl agged changes to the labour laws late last year.

Under the new legisla-tion, which came into force on July 16, company owners who “unfairly demote or dismiss” workers who allege harassment can be imprisoned for three years or fi ned up to 30mn won ($24,700).

Reuters spoke directly with a handful of employees using James Bond-like secret devices and observed around 100 oth-ers talking about their use in an online chat room created by lawyers, called Gabjil 119,

to give free advice on bullying cases. Auto Jungbo Co’s sales of voice recorders so far this year have doubled to 80 devices per day, Jang said as he forecast sales to also double this calen-dar year to 1.4bn won.

Jang, whose company is one of around 20 across the country selling the devices directly and supplying other retailers, said other popular devices included electronic car keys and ciga-rette lighters. “You can make any shapes, honestly,” he said as he showed Reuters his range of devices. “This glasses frame is a camcorder; it’s useful in places you cannot carry some of these devices. The pen is the most popular though.”

A 34-year-old aircraft en-gineer using the Gabjil 119 site shared an audio recording with Reuters of a man he said was his boss using expletives to berate him for taking leave to care for a sick family member.

The engineer, who requested anonymity, made the recording on his phone but the confronta-tion convinced him he needed

something more discreet so he snapped up a USB voice re-corder “to carry it with me at all times.”

The gabjil culture in South Korea has been enabled by tra-ditions of deference to status in all walks of life, from schools to family-owned conglomerates. A few years after Heather Cho ordered her Korean Air plane back to the gate over a bag of nuts, her sister Emily Cho, an executive with the airline’s par-ent company Hanjin Kal Corp , allegedly threw a drink at a business meeting attendee.

In another incident, a video showed Yang Jin-ho, the chief executive of tech fi rm WeDisk, assaulting an employee over performance issues.

Heather Cho resigned from Korean Air’s board and was jailed for several months for obstructing aviation safety. Her sister Emily publicly apologised and resigned, before returning Hanjin Kal’s board this June. Yang Jin-ho was arrested on charges of assault and coercion in December and is on trial.

Those high-profi le cases re-sulted in a public outcry that prompted a cultural rethink, leading local media to dub the new legislation the “Yang Jin-ho Prevention Law”.

The labour ministry told Reuters that 572 employees had used the new law to fi le com-plaints against their workplace by Aug. 29, averaging 17.9 cases registered each day. Gabjil 119 said around 58% of the 1,844 enquiries in the chat room since the new labour law related to workplace harassment, a much higher percentage than the 28% of the 11,938 inquiries over the previous six months.

AFPHong Kong

Hong Kong’s embattled leader insisted yesterday she had no intention of

stepping down after an audio re-cording emerged of her saying she wanted to quit over three months of unrest in the southern Chinese city.

Hong Kong has endured dozens of sometimes violent pro-de-mocracy protests triggered by op-position to Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s bid to push through a law allowing extraditions to mainland China.

The protests have evolved into a wider democracy campaign involving clashes between pro-testers and police, in the biggest challenge to China’s rule of Hong Kong since its 1997 handover from the British. “I told myself re-peatedly in the last three months that I and my team should stay on to help Hong Kong,” Lam told a press conference yesterday morn-ing.

Lam said she had “not even contemplated” discussing her resignation with the Chinese gov-ernment, which gives Hong Kong a restricted form of autonomy. “The confl ict that I myself want to quit, but cannot quit, does not exist,” she said. Lam was speak-ing after Reuters news agency re-leased an audio recording of her telling business leaders last week that she wanted to step down and

take responsibility for the unrest. “For a chief executive to have

caused this huge havoc to Hong Kong is unforgivable,” an emo-tional Lam said in the audio re-cording.

“If I have a choice,” she said,

speaking in English, “the fi rst thing is to quit, having made a deep apology.”

Lam told the business leaders she had “very limited” room to resolve the crisis because it had become a national security and

sovereignty issue for China. Yes-terday afternoon Beijing repeated its support for the chief executive, but warned it would “never al-low the situation in Hong Kong to continue unabated”.

“If the situation continues to

deteriorate and moves into the turmoil that endangers national sovereignty and security, that is beyond the control of the (Hong Kong) government, the central government will never sit idly by,” said Xu Luying, spokeswoman for

the Hong Kong and Macao Aff airs Offi ce of China’s central govern-ment.

However, in the leaked record-ing Lam said she believes Beijing has “absolutely no plan” to send in its People’s Liberation Army: “They know that the price would be too huge to pay.”

She also claimed that Beijing “does not have a deadline” for clamping down on the unrest and that celebrations on October 1 — the 70th anniversary of the Peo-ple’s Republic of China expected to trigger huge protests — would go ahead in a modest way. Lam has described the leak of the re-cording as “unacceptable”, and denied that she or her govern-ment had orchestrated it.

But protesters online have accused the leader of trying to drum up sympathy for her posi-tion. “Either Carrie Lam lied to the business leaders last week or to the public of Hong Kong this morning,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting. Yes-terday high-profi le activist Josh-ua Wong, who was arrested last week over the protests, travelled to neighbouring Taiwan to urge its political leaders to accept protest-ers who want to fl ee, and to help “safeguard” the city.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a part of China awaiting reunifi ca-

tion, but the island is a self-ruled democracy. Crowds fi lled a city park yesterday afternoon in the latest organised demonstration, but tensions fl ared in the evening when small groups of protesters played a cat-and-mouse chase around the city with riot police.

Earlier in the day Ivan Lam, the chairman of pro-democracy party Demosisto which helped organise the class boycott, was arrested at Hong Kong airport on suspicion of “inciting others to join an un-authorised assembly”, the party said.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested since June when the unrest began, including a swoop of key pro-democracy leaders and politicians.

Rallies over the weekend saw some of the worst violence of the crisis, with protesters throwing bricks and petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas, wa-ter cannon and baton charges.

China has responded by ramp-ing up threats and intimidation, including by warning its security forces could intervene. Chinese state media have released videos showing mainland security forces deployed just across the border. An editorial by China’s state news agency on Sunday warned the protesters that “the end is com-ing”.

12 Gulf TimesWednesday, September 4, 2019

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA

China backs North Korea amid deadlocked nuclear talksAFPSeoul

China reasserted its backing for North Korea yesterday as its foreign minister vis-

ited Pyongyang, vowing to main-tain “close communication” with its longstanding ally in the face of deadlocked nuclear talks with Washington.

Beijing has long been North Korea’s key diplomatic backer

and main provider of trade and aid, and while ties deteriorated over Pyongyang’s nuclear provo-cations and China’s subsequent backing of UN sanctions, the two have since worked to repair their relationship.

Since March 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have met fi ve times, with Xi seeking to weigh in on Pyongyang’s diplo-macy with Washington. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi arrived

in Pyongyang on a three-day trip on Monday, just two months after Xi became the fi rst Chinese leader to visit the North in 14 years.

Wang told his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho that Beijing was ready “to promote ... close communication and co-operation on the international stage”, China’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

Refl ecting on their 70 years of alliance, Wang noted that Bei-jing and Pyongyang have “always

been in the same boat and moving forward side by side”, it said in a statement. Ri said that North Ko-rea is willing to work with China to “promote greater development” of their relations in the “new era”, according to the document.

Pyongyang and Washington are engaged in a long-running dip-lomatic process over the North’s nuclear programmes although lit-tle progress has been made.

Those talks have been dead-locked after a second summit

between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi in February with the two unable to reach a deal on sanctions relief and what the North might give up in return.

They agree to restart talks at an impromptu meeting in the De-militarised Zone in June, but that working-level dialogue has yet to begin. China always prefers sta-bility in its neighbourhood and offi cially supports talks between the North and the US.

But Leif-Eric Easley, a profes-sor at Ewha University in Seoul, said Wang’s visit “will raise con-cerns about their coordinating economic co-operation despite UN sanctions”.

“Beijing and Pyongyang may also strategise how to exploit widening divisions between Seoul and Tokyo and how to play the US election cycle,” he added, but stressed that North Korea wanted to avoid over-reliance on China. “Despite signs of cama-

raderie, Kim isn’t choosing sides, he’s playing everyone off each other,” he said. Beijing sent mil-lions of troops known as “Chi-nese People’s Volunteers” to save the North from defeat during the Korean War, and Mao Zedong de-scribed their relations as “close as lips and teeth”.

Nowadays Beijing sees the North as a strategic buff er, pre-venting the possibility of US troops on its borders — 28,500 are stationed in South Korea.

Hong Kong leader Lam insists she will stay on

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam holds a news conference in Hong Kong.

Secondary school students form a human chain against extradition bill in Hong Kong.

A model parades a garment by the label Ginger & Smart during Melbourne Fashion Week in Melbourne yesterday.

In the spotlightS Koreans using spy gadgets

to fi ght workplace bullyingGadgets disguised as leather belts, eyeglasses, pens and USB sticks are all proving popular with employees in a country where abusive behaviour by people in power is so pervasive that there is a word for it — “gabjil”

ANZ, Citi, Deutsche cartel case inches ahead in AustraliaReutersSydney

An Australian magistrate shifted hearings to a larger room as a long-

awaited criminal cartel case against Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and the local units of Citigroup and Deutsche Bank inched ahead yesterday.

Lawyers for each of the banks and individual execu-tives packed out the Sydney courtroom for a short admin-istrative hearing ahead of legal argument scheduled for later this month, giving a sense of the size and complexity of one of the country’s biggest white collar crime prosecutions.

The case is being closely fol-lowed by brokers and banks globally because it could lead to increased regulator scru-tiny. Authorities last year charged the fi nancial giants and six bankers over the 2015 sale of A$3bn ($2bn) ANZ shares and subsequent trading

by underwriters, saying they colluded to keep from ordinary shareholders the fact that they had not found buyers for all the stock.

All the accused banks and executives have said they will fi ght the case, although they have not yet entered a formal plea. If they plead not guilty, the matter would proceed to trial, although no date has been set.

Magistrate Jennifer Atkin-son said it appeared the court would need to make room for 20 barristers, an unusually large number in Australia, even for large cases.

The room of Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court normally used for early hear-ings of commonwealth mat-ters was so crowded, lawyers had to stand behind the bar ta-ble that had room for just fi ve chairs. Atkinson also accepted commitments from lawyers on both sides to deliver briefs of evidence to each other a week before the next hearings scheduled for Sept 25 and 27.

Eight schoolchildren killed in ChinaEight schoolchildren have died and two others were injured in a “school-related criminal case” in central China, with a 40-year-old suspect arrested, local authorities said yesterday, the latest attack targeting an educational institution in the country. The man was detained by police on the spot following Monday’s incident in Chaoyangpo Village in Hubei province, according to a statement on the website of the government of Enshi city. The local government is making “every eff ort” to organise the rehabilitation and treatment for the wounded, including psychological counselling, the statement said. Off icials did not say how the students were killed, but schools have been hit by a number of knife attacks in China in recent years, forcing authorities to step up security.

BRITAIN/IRELAND13Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

School heads slambaseline testsGuardian News and MediaLondon

Headteachers and cam-paigners have urged the government to halt

plans to introduce a start-of-school assessment for four- and fi ve-year-olds, arguing it is a waste of money and will not benefi t schools or children.

About half of all primary schools in England will begin to trial the 20-minute test from this week as the new school year gets under way, before a planned full rollout across the country next year.

Campaigners are con-cerned that schools are not obliged to inform parents that their children will un-dergo the test.

The government says the assessment will be stress-free and provide data about a child’s language skills and ability to count at the start of their school career. It can then be compared with test results at the end of primary to reveal how much progress a child has made, so that

schools can be held to ac-count.

It is part of an overhaul of state school accountabil-ity aimed at better charting progress of pupils from entry until key stage two tests at the age of 10 and 11, with key stage one tests previously taken at age seven being scrapped as part of the changes.

A small-scale survey con-ducted by University College London (UCL) found that 86% of headteachers were negative about the reception baseline assessment, vari-ously dismissing it as “to-tally unnecessary”, “utter nonsense”, “a terrible idea” and “one of the most poorly conceived ideas I have expe-rienced in my 30-plus years of teaching”.

Only 8% of participants were positive. “I welcome it,” said one. “We can then at least prove progress if we have low attainment at the end of reception – especially in a school like ours who have nearly 70% non-English-speaking children on entry to school.”

McDonnell plans to targetlandlords face backlashDaily MailLondon

John McDonnell’s plans to clamp down on buy-to-let owners will ‘kill off ’ the pri-

vate rental market and leave thousands without a home, landlords warned.

The shadow chancellor faced a furious backlash after he said he wanted to off er private tenants the same right to buy their home for a bargain price as council tenants.

He also put Britain’s 2.7mn landlords on notice that they would face higher taxes.

Landlords said the propos-als would force desperate own-ers to sell up before the new law comes into place – depriving many renters of a home. Others said it was completely unfair to allow tenants to buy their homes at a knockdown price when their landlords had to pay the full market price.

McDonnell revealed his dra-matic plans in an interview with the Financial Times. He said he believed the idea would reverse

problems caused by Marga-ret Thatcher’s policy, whereby council tenants were able to buy their home from the state.

‘We’ve got a large number of landlords who are not main-taining these properties and are causing overcrowding and these problems,’ he said, adding that a third of the houses in his own street were buy-to-let and ‘bad-ly maintained and overcrowded’.

He received the backing of his leader. Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: “The Labour leadership is de-termined to shift power away from bosses and landlords, and to workers and tenants.”

The new right-to-buy scheme would see private tenants given the chance to forcibly buy the home they live in at a discounted price set by the government.

David Smith, policy director for the Residential Landlords Association, said: “Labour’s proposal would eff ectively kill off a large part of the private rented sector, denying a home to many thousands of people.

“If there was to be any chance of this becoming law, there

would be a mass sell-off of prop-erties in advance. The RLA is all in favour of landlords selling to sitting tenants but it must be entirely voluntary. Anything else amounts to a form of compul-sory purchase.”

Chris Norris, director of pol-icy and practice at the National Landlords Association, said: “To suggest that private landlords should be selling their properties to their tenants at a below mar-ket rate arbitrarily set by politi-cians is ludicrous.

“John McDonnell’s assertions that landlords are looking for a quick buck and don’t maintain their properties shows a serious lack of knowledge about how the vast majority of landlords run their businesses. These good landlords should not be pun-ished for the sins of the few.”

Paul Scully, Tory deputy chair-man, said: “Labour would wreck the economy, which would drive away investment and make it harder for people to get on the housing ladder.” In the FT inter-view, McDonnell called the right-to-buy plan ‘great and radical.”

PM ‘approved parliamentshutdown in mid-August’Guardian News and MediaLondon

Boris Johnson had secretly decided to suspend parlia-ment nearly two weeks be-

fore asking the Queen, according to memos from Downing Street read out in court.

The court in Edinburgh heard the fi rst memo was written by Nikki da Costa, the prime minis-ter’s senior legal adviser, on Au-gust 15 and spelled out the plan to suspend parliament in the week beginning September 9.

Her memo was circulated to a very small circle of key fi gures in Downing Street, including Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, Ed Lister, the prime minister’s chief of staff , and Dominic Cum-mings, Johnson’s controversial chief adviser.

In public Johnson was then refusing to confi rm he planned to do so but he ticked the secret memo and said “yes”, before sending Da Costa a handwritten note the following day, where he criticised the convention where MPs return for several weeks of Commons business after the summer holidays before break-ing again for conference season.

He told Da Costa the “whole September session (at Westmin-ster) is a rigmarole introduced to show the public that MPs are earning their crust. I don’t see anything especially shocking about this prorogation.”

This exchange of memos came 12 days before privy counsellors designated by Johnson met the Queen at Balmoral to ask her to prorogue parliament, on the grounds he wanted to present a signifi cant new legislative pro-gramme on October 14.

The documents, revealed in heavily redacted form for the

fi rst time at 10.55pm on Monday, were sent to the legal team act-ing for 75 MPs and peers who are challenging prorogation in the court of session in Edinburgh.

Aidan O’Neill QC, acting for the MPs and peers, said he only re-ceived an unredacted version of the documents on Tuesday morning.

He told Lord Doherty, the judge hearing the case, this proved Johnson was plotting to suspend parliament at the same time that his government’s lawyers had told the court in Edinburgh the ques-tion of prorogation was “hypo-thetical and academic” because no such decision had been taken.

The government had also refused to give the court any sworn affi davits setting out why prorogation was necessary and the prime minister had ignored O’Neill’s suggestion last week that he should provide one to the court.

Accusing Johnson of “incon-tinent mendacity”, O’Neill said the prime minister had shown an unwillingness to acknowledge and speak the truth. He said: “He has chosen not to be accountable to this court and seeks not to be accountable to parliament.”

David Johnston QC, acting for the government, apologised to the court for failing to produce the papers until the night before the hearing and admitted the government had breached the deadline for submitting them.

He said they were being pro-duced in the spirit of transpar-ency, to allow the court to un-derstand the process behind the decision to seek prorogation.

Reading from a brief prepared by the government, Johnston insisted the legal action was academic because MPs were still being given time to sit and vote before exit day on October 31, and set their own agenda.

Opponents of ‘no-deal’ Brexit defeat JohnsonReutersLondon

A cross-party alliance de-feated Boris Johnson in parliament yesterday in a

bid to prevent him taking Britain out of the EU without a divorce agreement — prompting the prime minister to announce that he would immediately push for a snap election.

Lawmakers voted by 328 to 301 for a motion put forward by opposition parties and rebel lawmakers in Johnson’s party — who had been warned they would be kicked out of the Con-servative Party if they defi ed the government.

More than three years after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the Euro-pean Union, the defeat leaves the course of Brexit unresolved, with possible outcomes still ranging from a turbulent ‘no-deal’ exit to abandoning the whole en-deavour.

Yesterday’s victory is the fi rst hurdle for lawmakers who, hav-ing succeeded in taking control of parliamentary business, will today seek to pass a law forcing Johnson to ask the EU to delay Brexit until Jan 31 unless he has a deal approved by parliament be-forehand on the terms and man-ner of the exit.

The Conservative rebels who now face expulsion from the party included Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Britain’s World War Two leader Winston Churchill, and two former fi -nance ministers — Philip Ham-mond and Kenneth Clarke.

“I don’t want an election, but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop ne-gotiations and compel another pointless delay to Brexit, poten-tially for years, then that would be the only way to resolve this,” Johnson told parliament after the vote.

“I can confi rm that we are to-night tabling a motion under the Fixed Term Parliament Act.”

In an historic showdown be-tween prime minister and par-liament, Johnson’s opponents said they wanted to prevent him playing Russian roulette with a country once touted as a confi -dent pillar of Western economic and political stability.

They argue that nothing can justify the risk of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit that would cut economic ties overnight with Britain’s big-gest export market and inevita-bly bring huge economic disrup-tion.

Johnson cast the challenge as an attempt to force Britain to surrender to the EU just as he hopes to secure concessions on the terms of the divorce, helped by the threat to walk out without one.

Ahead of the vote, he said

would never accept another de-lay to Brexit beyond Oct 31.

Johnson’s government will now seek to hold a vote yester-day to approve an early election, most likely to be held on Oct 14.

An election would pit the avowed Brexiteer against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist.

In the eye of the Brexit mael-strom, though, it was unclear whether opposition parties would support such a move — which requires the support of two-thirds of the 650-seat House of Commons.

Corbyn has long demanded an election as the best way out of the crisis, but many of those seeking to prevent a ‘no-deal’ Brexit say Johnson could time the poll to ensure that parlia-

ment cannot prevent an Oct 31 departure — with or without a deal.

After the vote, Corbyn told Johnson that he must get the Brexit delay bill that will be dis-cussed today passed before try-ing to call an election.

The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom di-vided about much more than the European Union, and has fuelled soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and mod-ern Britishness.

US Vice-President Mike Pence meets Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar at Farmleigh House in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday.

Official visit

Sturgeon to seek legal powers to hold new independence voteGuardian News and MediaEdinburgh

Nicola Sturgeon has said she will ask for the legal powers to stage a new

independence referendum next year as she unveiled a swathe of measures to combat climate heating.

The fi rst minister told MSPs yesterday she would ask the UK government for a Section 30 or-der enabling Holyrood to hold a second independence vote once

a new Scottish referendum bill is passed.

Over the next year, the Scot-tish government would also spend £500mn to improve the country’s buses, set a new tar-get to decarbonise the Scottish rail network by 2035, and fund a £3bn green new deal package co-ordinated by a new Scottish investment bank.

Coupled with measures on health inequalities and cutting waste, Sturgeon said her am-bitious legislative programme stood in stark contrast to the

political and constitutional emergency gripping Westmin-ster. The Brexit crisis meant it seemed inevitable there would be an early general election, she added.

She did not mention polls that indicate the Scottish National Party would win more than 50 of Scotland’s 59 Commons seats, but said she wanted to be pre-pared. “We intend to off er the people of Scotland the choice of a better and more positive future as an independent nation,” she said.

“We will seek agreement to the transfer of power that will put the referendum beyond le-gal challenge. We have a clear democratic mandate to off er the choice of independence within this term of parliament – and we intend to do so.”

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said earlier yesterday an election gave his party “a fantastic opportunity” to strengthen the mandate for independence. It would al-low Scotland’s voters “to send a very clear message to West-

minster that we should be able to determine our own future”, he said.

Speaking in Holyrood as she unveiled the next year’s pro-gramme for government, Stur-geon said the carbon emergency would be the centrepiece of its legislation and spending.

She said the programme in-cluded:

Making the Highlands and islands the fi rst “net zero” avia-tion zone in the world by 2040.

Producing regulations to make sure all new homes would

include renewable or low carbon heat from 2024.

Consulting on introducing zero-emissions city centres by 2030.

Helping the oil and gas in-dustry invest in carbon capture and storage.

Exploring the scope for a hydrogen refuelling network and explore using hydrogen to power trains in remote areas.

Among other measures, Stur-geon said another £20mn would be spent on tackling Scotland’s drugs deaths crisis; a fresh ini-

tiative to improve mental health for women; reform of Scotland’s defamation laws; new powers for local councils to introduce tour-ist levies such as bed taxes; and enable new charges for single-use disposable coff ee cups.

Sturgeon’s emphasis on tack-ling the climate crisis was wel-comed by environmental cam-paigners. Glasgow is expected to be the host city for next year’s COP26 global climate summit and Sturgeon wants to show her government is taking leadership on the climate.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at the House of Commons in London yesterday.

21 Conservative MPs voted against Johnson

Twenty-one Conservative MPs rebelled against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to vote against the government in yesterday’s Brexit vote and now face possible expulsion from the party.The 21 lawmakers are as follows: Guto Bebb, Alistair Burt, David GaukeSam Gyimah, Richard

Harrington, Anne Milton, Nicholas Soames, Richard Benyon, Greg Clark, Justine Greening, Philip Hammond, Margot James, Caroline Nokes, Rory Stewart, Steve Brine, Kenneth Clarke, Dominic Grieve, Stephen Hammond, Oliver Letwin, Antoinette Sandbach and Edward Vaizey.

HS2 to bedelayed by upto fi ve years:governmentGuardian News and MediaLondon

Full HS2 services between London and Birmingham will be delayed by up to fi ve

years to 2031, the government has announced.

The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, told parliament fi nal completion of the north-ern section of the high-speed rail network would very likely be pushed back by seven years until 2040.

He also confi rmed the budget had escalated from the offi cial £56bn at 2015 prices to up to £88bn at today’s prices.

Yesterday’s announcement, based on the fi ndings of the HS2 Ltd chair, Allan Cook, pre-empts the outcome of a review into the project commissioned by the government and due to report next month.

Cook said ground conditions along the route were the biggest single factor in the additional cost and delay. He said a staged opening of between 2028 and 2031, under which there would be an alternative London termi-nus of Old Oak Common rather than Euston until 2030, was most realistic.

Phase 2b, the full high-speed line to Manchester and Leeds, may open between 2035 and 2040, Cook said.

The report will place the fu-ture of the controversial project in further doubt. Although plans to build the line have received overwhelming cross-party sup-

port in parliamentary votes, polls suggest about half of Conserva-tive party voters want it to be scrapped, a policy adopted by the Brexit party and the Green party.

Shapps said work would con-tinue for now, including parlia-mentary consideration of a bill for phase 2a to continue work on the line from Birmingham to Crewe. Legislation to build this part of the route is nearing fi nal approval, but a bill to construct phase 2b has been delayed.

The transport secretary has promised a “go or no go” deci-sion by the end of 2019 after the government review reports back. It is being led by Douglas Oak-ervee, a former HS2 chair, and Lord Berkeley, a prominent critic who has long claimed the budget would need to double to cover the work.

Shapps said he was keen to give MPs the “full picture”, in-cluding cost estimates, although these may again be revised by the Oakervee review. He said the of-fi cial budget fi gure risked “being misconstrued and understating the relative cost of the project, and indeed its benefi ts”.

He added: “We all in this house know we must invest in modern infrastructure to ensure the fu-ture prosperity of our country and its people … (but we should) subject every project to the most rigorous scrutiny and, if we are to truly maximise every opportuni-ty, this must always be done with an open mind and a clean sheet of paper.”

A spokesperson for HS2 said Cook’s report, published in re-

dacted form by the government, found the project “remains a compelling strategic answer for Britain’s future transport needs”.

Preparatory work has started, including widespread demoli-tions in London and Birmingham, as well as purchases of proper-ties along the route, and a total of £7.5bn has been spent to date.

But the go-ahead for major civil engineering works has been delayed as HS2 and the preferred contractors have failed to come up with designs at an acceptable cost.

The contracts were awarded in 2017 by Chris Grayling, in-cluding a £1.4bn deal for tunnel building to a Carillion joint ven-ture, shortly before the company went bust. Ending construction of HS2 at Birmingham would very likely prompt outrage in the north of England, where city leaders believe it will provide economic benefi ts.

The line north of Birmingham was originally due to be com-pleted by 2033. The Prime Min-ister, Boris Johnson, has prom-ised high-speed links between Leeds and Manchester, although planned work was already in the pipeline.

Connecting Britain, a cam-paign group launched by busi-ness and political leaders in the north, said HS2 was “critical to the long-term success of the UK and all its parts”.

Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester city council, said: “For the north, it’s not either HS2 or NPR (Northern Powerhouse Rail) – it’s both.”

Atwood, Rushdie onBooker Prize shortlistGuardian News and MediaLondon

The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s much-antici-pated sequel to her femi-

nist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale, has landed her a place on the Booker prize shortlist – de-spite the fact that barely anyone has read it yet.

With little publicly known beyond that it is set more than 15 years after Atwood’s hero Of-fred attempted to escape a theo-cratic future US, the plot of The Testaments remains under lock and key for most readers until its global release date on Septem-ber 10, with midnight launches and bookshop parties planned around the world.

Chair of judges and Hay fes-tival director Peter Florence said it was an “extraordinarily com-plicated process” to get copies of the manuscript, which is pro-tected by a “ferocious” non-dis-

closure agreement. He could not say more than that it is a “savage and beautiful novel, and it speaks to us today, all around the world, with particular conviction and power”.

This is the sixth Booker nomi-nation for the Canadian author, who won the ’ prize in 2000 for The Blind Assassin. She is set to face off against another former winner, Salman Rushdie, who is nominated for Quichotte, a re-telling of Cervantes’ Don Quixote set in today’s US.

Rushdie’s 14th novel has not gone down well with critics; the Observer felt it was “rarely as funny as Rushdie thinks it is”, while the New York Times said his books were “increas-ingly wobbly, bloated and mannered”.

Judge and editor Liz Calder, who published Rushdie’s 1981 Booker winner, Midnight’s Chil-dren, denied there had been any bias at play and said they had not worked together for decades. “It

is barely even a friendship,” she said. “It was once.”

The giant underdog of the shortlist is Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport, published by tiny, Norwich independent Galley Beggar Press. A 1,000-page monologue of an angst-ridden homemaker in Ohio, the British-American author’s book unfolds in a single sentence and spans love, climate change, gun violence and the condition of the US.

British novelist Bernardine Evaristo is nominated for Girl, Woman, Other.

Nigerian novelist Chigozie Obioma makes the shortlist for An Orchestra of Minorities. The novel follows Nonso, an ambi-tious Nigerian graduate who be-comes trapped in Cyprus after falling for an education scam.

Turkish novelist Elif Shafak is nominated for 10 Minutes 38 Sec-onds in This Strange World, de-scribed by Calder as “audacious and dazzlingly original”.

Rapist cabbie tries tododge life sentenceDaily MailLondon

Black cab rapist John Wor-boys forced one of his vic-tims to relive her ordeal in

court as he sought to avoid a life sentence.

He is already in jail for giving women passengers spiked cham-pagne before sexually assaulting them but faces a longer prison sentence after admitting a string of other attacks.

Worboys, 62, appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from HMP Wakefi eld in West York-shire, home to some of the coun-try’s most notorious inmates.

In 2009 he was jailed indefi nite-ly for the public protection, with a minimum of only eight years, for sex attacks on 12 women.

Last year the Parole Board ruled he should stay in prison af-ter initially approving his release, citing his ‘sense of sexual enti-tlement’ and a need to control women.

After the ensuing outrage, four more victims came forward and, at the Old Bailey in June, he

pleaded guilty to further crimes including administering a drug with intent to commit a sexual off ence.

The maximum possible sen-tence is life in prison with the possibility of a higher mini-mum term to refl ect the length and gravity of his off ending. But Worboys has now made a bid for a less severe sentence by disput-ing the date of one of his attacks.

His victim says she was at-tacked after she got into his cab when she left a bar in Mayfair, central London, in 2000 or 2001.

She remembers Worboys pull-ing over on a side road off the A40 and giving her an alcoholic drink in a plastic cup, which she drank. The prosecution said ear-lier: “That is her last memory that evening.”

But Worboys claims it hap-pened much later, after January 1, 2003, meaning High Court judge justice McGowan must make a ruling before sentencing him.

He could potentially get a less severe sentence if she decides he is right because the span of his off ending against women would have been shorter.

ReutersAmsterdam

Prince Harry, under fi re for using private jets while endorsing environmental

causes, yesterday said he only uses them rarely, for safety rea-sons, and takes steps to off set the carbon dioxide his trips release into the atmosphere.

Speaking at the Amsterdam launch of an initiative to make the travel industry more sustain-able, Harry said “I spend 99% of my life travelling the world by commercial (aircraft).”

Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, said he fl ew by pri-vate jet only occasionally or in “a unique circumstance, and to ensure that my family is safe — and it’s genuinely as simple as that...I always off set my CO2.”

Carbon off set programmes help travellers compensate for the carbon dioxide emissions they cause by paying a fee that goes to reducing CO2 by a simi-lar amount, usually by planting trees.

Harry said that carbon off sets are “the right thing to do and we need to make it cool”.

“But it can’t just be a ‘ticking the box’ exercise,” he added.

Harry has faced accusations of hypocrisy for taking private planes to attend recent engage-ments while at the same time voicing concerns about the en-vironment.

The criticism prompted singer Elton John, whom Harry vis-ited with his wife Meghan at his home in the south of France for a vacation last month, to launch a defence of the couple against the “distorted and malicious ac-count in the press”.

The sustainable travel scheme “Travalyst” announced by Har-ry yesterday in Amsterdam is backed by major tourism indus-try companies including Book-ing.com, TripAdvisor, Ctrip and Visa.

It plans initiatives that will help travellers to cut their carbon emissions, prevent over-tourism and develop local economies.

I rarelytake privatejets, saysHarry

14 Gulf TimesWednesday, September 4, 2019

BRITAIN

Teen loses sight and hearing due to junk food dietGuardian News and MediaLondon

The family of a teenager, from Bristol, who suff ered irre-versible eyesight loss after

surviving on a diet of chips, white bread and processed snacks and meat have spoken of their heart-ache.

The teenager, now 19, has been a fussy eater from an early age and cannot tolerate the texture of fruit and vegetables.

His poor diet caused him to suff er from nutritional optic neu-

ropathy, which is treatable if di-agnosed early. In his case, fi bres in his optic nerve have been so badly damaged that the harm to his sight has been judged to be permanent.

Speaking anonymously, the teenager’s mother said he could not fi nd work and had had to aban-don a college course in IT.

She said her son became a fussy eater when he was about seven and would only eat chips, crisps, sausages, processed meat and white bread. “The fi rst we knew about it was when he began com-ing home from primary school with his packed lunch untouched,”

she said. “I would make him nice sandwiches – and put an apple or other fruit in – and he wouldn’t eat any of it. His teachers became con-cerned, too.

“His brother and sister have never stopped eating. They love everything. He has always been skinny, so we had no weight con-cerns. You hear about junk food and obesity all the time – but he was as thin as a rake.”

The family only realised some-thing was seriously wrong when his hearing began going at the age of 14 – and his vision soon after.

The woman said: “His sight

went downhill very fast – to the point where he is now legally blind. He has no social life to speak of now. After leaving school he got into college to do a course in IT. But he had to give it up because he could not see or hear anything.

“He would love a job, but he has not been able to fi nd anything he can do. I had to quit my job in a pub. I now look after him full-time. He is taking vitamin supple-ments, but his diet is still pretty much the same.

“When he was having counsel-ling we managed to start him on fruit smoothies. But he’s gone off

those now.” The boy suff ers from an eat-

ing disorder called Arfi d (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder). Suff erers become sensitive to the taste, texture, smell and appear-ance of certain types of food.

His mother, in her 40s, said: “We couldn’t believe it when we were told what had happened. We are told the damage is irrevers-ible. It’s been a nightmare. My son would love a job where he can sit at a desk and be useful. His siblings are doing well. It’s heartbreaking.” The 19-year-old agreed for his case to be reported in the Annals of

Internal Medicine to raise aware-ness. At the age of 14, he was diag-nosed with vitamin B12 defi ciency and put on supplements, but he did not stick with the treatment or improve his poor diet.

Dr Denize Atan, who treated the teenager at Bristol Eye Hospital, said: “He had a daily portion of fries from the local fi sh and chip shop and snacked on Pringles, white bread, processed meat slices and sausage.

“He explained this as an aver-sion to certain textures of food that he really could not tolerate, and so chips and crisps were really the

only types of food that he wanted and felt that he could eat.”

Atan and her colleagues re-checked the young man’s vitamin levels and found he was low in B12 as well as some other important vitamins and minerals. He was not over or underweight, but was se-verely malnourished.

The paper said it was well-known junk food increased the risk of poor cardiovascular health, obesity and cancer. But it warned not everyone realised that poor nutrition could also permanently damage the nervous system, par-ticularly vision.

Prince Harry attends the Adam Tower project introduction and global partnership between Booking.com, SkyScanner, CTrip, TripAdvisor and Visa in Amsterdam yesterday.

Salman Rushdie: novel has not gone down well with critics

EUROPE15Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Bulgaria yesterday lambasted a World War II exhibition organised by the Russian embassy marking “the liberation of Eastern Europe from Nazism”, saying the region had instead being subjected to a half century of repression by “Soviet army bayonets”. The Foreign Ministry of Bulgaria — which for decades a Soviet satellite in Eastern Europe but now a Westernised democracy — urged Russia’s mission in Sofia “not to take a stand in support of a dubious historical claim” that treated Soviet forces’ arrival in 1944 as a liberation. The statement said this position amounted to meddling in the internal aff airs of Bulgaria, now a member of the European Union and the US-led Nato alliance.

A rare Palawan Hornbill chick has left its nest and is exploring its outdoor enclosure at Wroclaw Zoo in western Poland, delighting staff and members of the public. The bird, identifiable by its distinctive beak and black and white plumage, hatched in May 2019 and is the fourth chick to be born in the zoo. Palawan Hornbills are notoriously diff icult to breed, the chairman of the zoo’s board, Radoslaw Ratajczak, said, adding that they need to have the right food and the right conditions. Wroclaw Zoo’s six Palawan Hornbills now represent almost 90% of the world’s population living in captivity, according to information on its website.

The European Space Agency said yesterday it had altered the trajectory of one of its observation satellites to avoid a possible collision with a craft operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. “@ESA ‘s #Aeolus Earth observation satellite fired its thrusters, moving it off a collision course with a @SpaceX satellite in their #Starlink constellation,” the agency’s off icial Twitter account said. It said its scientists decided that the safest plan of action was to boost the altitude of the craft. “The vast majority of ESA avoidance manoeuvres are the result of dead satellites or fragments from previous collisions,” it said.

The European Union’s anti-fraud off ice, OLAF, has identified 371mn euros ($406mn) in misused funds last year, according to its annual report, proposing that the bloc should recuperate these funds. OLAF is tasked with investigating fraud committed with EU budget funds — ultimately funded by taxpayers in the 28 member states — in areas such as research, agricultural subsidies or support for poor regions. Some of the trends identified by the agency include the use of fake companies; fraud in the promotion of agricultural products, with money being laundered outside the EU; and international criminal schemes to evade customs duties.

A white tiger rests inside its enclosure at The Beauval Zoo in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, central France.

Bulgaria flays exhibition lauding WWII ‘liberation’

Rare hornbill chick delights visitors at zoo

ESA re-routes satellite to avoid collision risk

371mn euros misused in 2018, says watchdog

POLITICS CONSERVATIONALTITUDE BOOST REPORT CAT TALE

Italy’s M5S votes in favour of coalitionReuters Rome

Members of the anti-estab-lishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) yesterday overwhelm-

ingly backed a proposed coalition with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), opening the way for a new government to take offi ce in the coming days.

In an online ballot, 79.3% of 5-Star supporters voted in favour of joining forces with the PD, their long-time political foes, while 20.7% opposed the alliance, party leader Luigi Di Maio told reporters.

The vote means Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte can now complete work on the new administration and present President Sergio Mattarella with a list of suggested ministers.

“I am very proud of today’s vote and very proud of the government that is to come,” Di Maio told reporters after the roughly 80,000 ballots were counted.

Once Mattarella has agreed to Con-te’s cabinet, the prime minister will have to win confi dence votes in both houses of parliament before the gov-ernment can offi cially start work.

As voting got under way earlier in the day, 5-Star and PD unveiled a shared, 26-point policy programme for their mooted coalition, putting an expan-sionary 2020 budget at the top of their agenda.

5-Star, created a decade ago out of opposition to the PD, agreed to form a new administration with its former ri-val to head off a snap election after its previous coalition with the far-right League collapsed last month.

Italian benchmark 10-year bond yields hit record lows yesterday in a sign that investors believed the new administration would take office, heading off the risk of an early elec-tion and prolonged political instabil-ity.

“The results (of the 5-Star ballot) are quite strong,” said Chris Scicluna, head

of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets in London.

“This is the kind of result that is go-ing to give investors confi dence in the new coalition, at least for the next few months, and in its ability to deliver a budget that is likely to be challenging.”

The 5-Star and PD said they would use the coming budget to help the stalled economy grow, but also prom-ised that they would not endanger pub-lic fi nances.

Italy has the second-largest debt burden in the European Union as a pro-portion of economic output, and the pact called for greater fl exibility from Brussels to overcome the “excessive ri-gidity” of existing budget rules.

Emphasising social justice, the two parties pledged to introduce a mini-mum salary, avoid a VAT hike set for January and boost spending on educa-tion, research and welfare.

The programme also called for a web tax on multinationals and the creation of a public bank to help boost develop-

ment in the poorer south.5-Star and PD committed to re-

writing Italy’s confl ict of interest laws, a move that former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has always sought to head off , fearing it could impact nega-tively on his Mediaset media empire.

The two parties also promised a “re-vision” of Italy’s motorway conces-sions.

The vague wording left open the hope for Italy’s Atlantia that 5-Star would not press ahead with its demand that it lose its lucrative toll road con-cession in the wake of last year’s deadly bridge collapse in Genoa.

Having agreed on the outlines of a coalition pact, the two sides still have to decide on ministers, with uncertain-ty surrounding the role of 5-Star leader Di Maio.

He served as deputy prime minis-ter, industry minister and labour min-ister in the previous administration, but looks unlikely to keep any of those portfolios in the new cabinet.

M5S head and outgoing Italy Labor and Industry Minister and deputy PM Luigi Di Maio speaks during a news conference in Rome yesterday.

France cracks down on rampant domestic violenceAFPParis

The French government yesterday announced plans to create 1,000

new places in shelters for the victims of domestic violence as outrage grows over the number of women killed by a current or former partner.

France is one of the Euro-pean countries with the high-est number of such murders, according to EU fi gures from 2017 which put it second only to Germany.

Last year 121 women were killed in France in these cir-cumstances, equating to one death every three days.

So far this year at least 100 women have been killed by a

current or former partner.“For centuries, women have

been buried under our indif-ference, denial, carelessness, age-old machismo and in-capacity to look this horror in the face,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said yester-day, launching a major con-sultation on domestic violence grouping dozens of ministers, judges, police offi cers, victims’ relatives and representatives of feminist groups.

Philippe kicked off the con-sultations by announcing plans for legislation allowing for the wide-scale use of electronic bracelets to prevent domestic violence off enders approaching their victims.

Under the bill, judges could also order an electronic tag for a person who has yet to be

convicted of a crime but who is targeted by a restraining order, he said.

Philippe also called for fam-ily court judges to be allowed to suspend the visitation rights of separated fathers who attack or threaten their ex and for wom-en hospitalised for domestic violence to be allowed fi le a criminal complaint from their hospital bed.

But some feminist groups expressed disappointment at the government’s failure to commit large sums of money to the fi ght against gender-based violence.

“No resources have been announced so frankly the an-nouncements are disappoint-ing,” Caroline De Haas, founder of the group Osez Le Feminisme (Dare To Be Feminist), said. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe speaks at launch of a multiparty debate on domestic violence in Paris yesterday.

Dutch want to quiz Ukrainian on MH17 crashAFPThe Hague

Dutch investigators said yes-terday they want a Ukrainian man who is reportedly at the

centre of a stalled prisoner swap with Russia to stay in Kiev so he can be questioned over the downing of fl ight MH17.

Former pro-Russian separatist Volodymyr Tsemakh is wanted for questioning ahead of a trial over the 2014 tragedy that is due to start in the Netherlands next year.

Russian and Ukrainian media have reported that Tsemakh’s case has held up a large prisoner exchange that Kiev and Moscow, with the Kremlin de-manding that he be included.

“We would like to talk to Mr Tse-makh and ask him questions, so we’d rather have him available for the in-vestigation in Ukraine,” Brechtje van de Moosdijk, a spokeswoman for the Dutch-led MH17 investigation, told AFP.

“He’s now in Ukraine, in a Ukrain-ian prison cell and if he’s being ex-changed of course it’s hard to say that we can still question him,” van de Moosdijk added.

The Malaysia Airlines passenger plane travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile in 2014 over eastern Ukraine, with the loss of all 298 people on board.

International investigators said in June that they are going to put three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian on trial in the Netherlands on March for the downing of MH17, although they will likely be tried in absentia.

Van de Moosdijk would not con-fi rm reports in Ukrainian media that a Dutch prosecutor had written to Ukrainian authorities asking them not to transfer Tsemakh to Russia.

Fred Westerbeke of the Joint In-vestigation Team (JIT) reportedly wrote that it was “of paramount im-portance” that the suspect “remains available” for further questioning.

The Ukrainian secret service cap-tured Tsemakh at his home in separa-tist-held eastern Ukraine in June, and he was then secretly transferred while unconscious to Kiev.

Ukrainian offi cials accuse Tsemakh of being part of a “terrorist organisa-tion” — the phrase they use for sepa-ratists.

His Ukrainian lawyer said yester-day that Kiev had further prolonged his detention.

The Kremlin has reportedly de-manded that Tsemakh, a former miner who became a so-called “air defence specialist” in the Ukranian separatist forces, should be among those handed over.

Ukraine had on Friday denied re-ports that the swap — also said to involve Ukrainian fi lmmaker Oleg Sentsov and 24 Ukrainian sailors — was underway.

Slovak parliament expels lawmaker for hate speechAFPBratislava

Slovakia’s parliament said yes-terday it had expelled a far-right lawmaker found guilty of hate

speech by the Supreme Court, in the fi rst case of its kind in the EU country.

The Supreme Court yesterday up-held a lower court’s verdict that Mi-lan Mazurek, 25, was guilty of hate speech in public comments made three years ago in which he compared ethnic Roma to animals and accused them of bearing children to make money from begging and petty crime.

Around a fi fth of Slovakia’s esti-mated 400,000 Roma live in pov-erty in some 600 slums mostly in the south and east of the economi-cally successful eurozone country of 5.4mn people.

Under article 81 of Slovakia’s consti-tution, the criminal conviction means

that Mazurek automatically loses his seat in parliament. “Following today’s decision of the Supreme Court, Milan Mazurek is losing his seat,” parliament said on its offi cial Facebook page.

Supreme Court spokeswoman Al-exandra Vazanova told AFP yesterday that Mazurek was fi ned 10,000 euros ($11,000). The court would impose a “six-month prison sentence” should he decline to pay the fi ne, she added.

A member of the anti-migrant and anti-Roma LSNS party, Mazurek is also banned from running for offi ce in March 2020 parliamentary elections.

Mazurek’s party, known as Kotle-ba-People’s Party Our Slovakia, will retain his seat, one of 13 it currently controls in the 150-member parlia-ment. In April, the Supreme Court had ruled against banning the LSNS.

The LSNS is currently polling at 11.4% support and is expected to win more seats in the upcoming general election.

EUROPE

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 201916

A couple of Spanish hikers are facing a hefty bill after emergency services in the Italian Alps had to mobilise four times to come to their rescue. The pair — a 45-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman — ran into trouble climbing up the Tre Cime di Lavaredo peaks in the Dolomites mountain range. However, they twice refused help between August 31 and September 2 before finally accepting to be airlifted by helicopter and taken to a mountain lodge. To organise four separate rescue missions for the same group of people is “an absolute record,” Giovanni Cipollotti, provincial head of emergency services, told RAI public radio. He said the Spaniards would be asked to pay 8,000-10,000 euros.

Ukrainian MPs yesterday voted to lift their own immunity from prosecution, fulfilling a campaign pledge by new President Volodymyr Zelensky who came in on promises to beat corruption. Zelensky, who was a popular comedian before being elected head of state in the spring, commands a parliamentary majority, and the constitutional amendment is the first in a raft of promised reforms. “If a lawmaker hits a person (in a car) or...commits any other criminal off ence, then he must be held accountable,” the 41-year-old leader told MPs before the vote. Lawmakers could previously be arrested only with parliament’s approval.

More than 15,000 people evacuated from their homes in the German city of Hanover were free to return yesterday after city off icials said an unexploded World War II bomb had been defused. Residents of the capital of the northern state of Lower Saxony had been told to leave their homes on Monday evening as a precaution on the discovery of the 250kg device. Tweets less than an hour apart from the city hall reported the bomb defusal team starting work and then issuing the all-clear at 1.07am. The unearthing of World War II era bombs is a common occurrence in Hanover, home to some 500,000 people.

One of the leaders of Poland’s main opposition group yesterday made the surprise announcement to step aside as candidate for the premiership in next month’s general election. Grzegorz Schetyna, a leader of the Civic Coalition (KO) group, presented deputy parliament speaker Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska as their candidate for premier. Many had expected Schetyna himself to get the role. “People want calm and reason, for someone to show up who ‘will be able to unite you all’, as they say,” said Schetyna after announcing Kidawa-Blonska, who told reporters: “Poland deserves to be a country without hatred.”

A major show of artefacts found in the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun in Paris has smashed visitor records for a French exhibition, after being extended to cope with huge crowds. The La Villette hall in northeast Paris has sold more than 1.3mn tickets for ‘Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh’, organisers said yesterday. The largest number of Tutankhamun artefacts ever to have left Cairo are on display in the show, which has been described as a “once in a generation” event about the young Egyptian monarch. The exhibition, which opened on March 23, is set to close on September 22 after a one-week extension.

Hikers face hefty fine after being rescued in Italy

Ukraine lawmakers lift their own immunity

All-clear for Hanover after WWII bomb defused

Polish opposition picks surprise PM candidate

Blockbuster King Tut show breaks attendance record

EMERGENCY BILL CAMPAIGN PROMISEDEADLY RELIC POLITICS NUMBER CRUNCH

Russia jails protester, drops other charges over demosBy Anna Smolchenko, AFPMoscow

A Russian court yesterday sen-tenced a protester to three years in prison for attacking a police-

man during recent demonstrations, while investigators dropped “mass un-rest” charges against fi ve others.

The jailing of Ivan Podkopayev, con-victed of attacking policemen with pepper spray during a July rally, was the fi rst major prison sentence against a protester since anti-government dem-onstrations broke out this summer.

Tens of thousands have taken part in the protests demanding a fair vote after a slew of opposition candidates were barred from local elections taking place on Sunday.

Several thousand people were briefl y detained during the demonstrations,

and more than a dozen had been facing prison time on charges of mass unrest and attacking policemen.

Podkopayev’s conviction had been expected as he pleaded guilty to the charge, but it had not been clear wheth-er the court would go ahead with a jail sentence.

Critics have accused authorities of cracking down on the demonstrations with police violence, frequent arrests and threats of severe penalties.

Investigators did back down yester-day in other cases however, announcing that the mass unrest charges would be dropped against fi ve men detained over the July 27 protest.

Russia’s Investigate Committee said in a statement that the men, includ-ing student Daniil Konon and televi-sion director Dmitry Vasilyev, would instead face lesser, administrative charges.

The committee said it had requested that two more people, including stu-dent Yegor Zhukov, be transferred from jail to house arrest.

Other arrests meanwhile continued, with three protest leaders briefl y de-tained late on Monday, including prom-inent journalist Ilya Azar and two allies of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Azar, a municipal deputy who works for top opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, could face up to 30 days in jail, while Navalny ally Lybov Sobol risks a hefty fi ne.

Azar, Sobol and Nikolai Lyaskin, all accused of organising illegal protests, were released pending trial.

Azar and Sobol faced court hearings yesterday but Azar’s hearing was sud-denly postponed, apparently because of police “violations”.

His arrest sparked a backlash after police took the journalist away and left

his 20-month-old child unsupervised at home in an unlocked apartment.

Azar’s wife Ekaterina Kuznetsova said she was lost for words.

“I came home and found our apart-ment unlocked while the child was sleeping peacefully in her bed. Alone. This is pretty frightening,” she said on Facebook.

Moscow ombudsman Yevgeny Buni-movich called on prosecutors to inves-tigate police offi cers over the incident.

Opposition politician Konstantin Yankauskas denounced the detentions on Twitter, saying: “Night-time arrests are purely Stalinist tactics resurrected in the 21st century.”

Sobol, a 31-year-old lawyer for Nav-alny’s Anti-Corruption Fund, said the latest detentions were “revenge” for their activism and eff orts to get on the ballot. “People are ready to continue protesting,” she told AFP.

“I am not afraid,” said the lawyer, who refused food for more than a month to protest her exclusion from the Moscow parliament election.

She said that over the past two months she racked up more than 900,000 rubles ($13,500) in fi nes for her activism.

In a separate case yesterday, a court sentenced a blogger to five years in prison for a tweet that called for attacks on the children of law enforcement officials. The tweet was written in response to the police crackdown.

The protests and ensuing crackdown are the biggest since a wave of demon-strations in 2011-12 against Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin.

At the peak of the protests in August some 50,000 to 60,000 people attend-ed, while the latest demonstration at the weekend drew a few thousand.

Students release balloons during a memorial ceremony yesterday, marking the 15th anniversary of the deadly school siege in the town of Beslan, Russia.

Sombre anniversary

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis review a guard of honour during an off icial welcoming ceremony at the Turkish presidential complex in Ankara yesterday.

Guard of honour

Controversial minister in the running for Georgia PMBy Irakli Metreveli, AFPTbilisi

Georgia’s ruling party yes-terday put forward con-troversial Interior Min-

ister Giorgi Gakharia as prime minister, further fuelling an al-ready tense political atmosphere in the tiny Black Sea nation.

In a televised statement, the ruling Georgian Dream party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili — a billionaire oligarch widely be-lieved to be the man in charge in Georgia — said he “presented the candidacy of Giorgi Gakharia to the post of prime minister”.

The nomination is expected to easily win approval by par-liament where Georgian Dream holds a majority.

The move followed Monday’s surprise resignation of premier Mamuka Bakhtadze after just over a year in offi ce.

Gakharia thanked the ruling party for the nomination and an-nounced changes in the cabinet.

He said he would appoint the head of Georgia’s state secu-rity service Vaktang Gomelauri as interior minister and former prime minister Irakli Garibash-vili as defence minister.

In protest of Gakharia’s nomi-nation, opposition MPs disrupted a plenary session of Georgia’s par-liament chanting “shame!” and blowing vuvuzelas as hundreds of anti-government demonstrators rallied outside the legislature.

Independent analyst Nodar Kharshiladze said that by ap-pointing a loyalist, Ivanishvili was preparing for parliamentary elections scheduled for October next year.

He called Gakharia “Georgia’s most hated politician” and said his nomination was “likely to mount a fresh wave of protests in the country.”

“The move undermines Geor-gia’s declared pro-Western ori-entation,” he said.

Gakharia, 44, is perceived by many as pro-Kremlin, due to the years he spent in Russia.

Opposition MP Salome Sa-madashvili said that “Gakharia’s nomination is dragging Georgia deeper into a political crisis”, de-scribing him as “Moscow’s man in Georgia.”

In June and July, thousands rallied in Tbilisi demanding Ga-kharia’s departure after riot po-lice used rubber bullets and tear gas against a largely peaceful anti-Russian protest.

Dozens were injured in the violent police crackdown, with several people losing an eye.

The summer protests started after a Russian MP gave a speech in the Georgian parliament — seen as a provocative move in the Caucasus country whose ties with Moscow remain strained after a brief war in 2008.

Announcing his resignation Monday, Bakhtadze said he had “accomplished his mandate of creating the strategic framework of Georgia’s development.”

North Macedonia eyes October date for EU accession talksBy Marja Novak, Reuters Bled, Slovenia

North Macedonia expects to get a date for the start of EU ac-cession talks in October and is

worried the Balkans region would be discouraged about reform if discus-sions do not begin, its foreign minister said yesterday.

In remarks to Reuters, Foreign Min-ister Nikola Dimitrov added that a start to accession talks would help persuade young people not to emigrate and seek a “European style of life” elsewhere.

The former Yugoslav republic changed its name from Macedonia to North Mac-

edonia this year, ending a more than two-decade dispute with Greece over its name and removing an obstacle to its member-ship of the EU and Nato.

The European Commission formally recommended in May that North Macedo-nia should start negotiations to join the EU.

The country had hoped to get the date to start accession talks in June, but the Commission postponed the deci-sion for October.

“The big issues are resolved. If there is no proper realisation of this opportunity this essentially means that there is no per-spective for the region,” Dimitrov said.

“It would send a message to other leaders in the Balkans that it is not re-ally worth investing political capital in

making diffi cult decisions, reforming,” Dimitrov said on the sidelines of a re-gional political forum in Bled.

He also said Macedonia expected to be-come a member of Nato in December or early next year after Nato members signed an accord on its accession in February. The accord is currently going through a ratifi -cation process in member states.

Dimitrov said foreign direct invest-ment had increased strongly after the accord with Nato and is due to increase further once Macedonia starts EU ac-cession talks.

He said North Macedonia’s Nato membership would bring an element of stability and predictability that was needed in the Balkans.

He could not say when North Mac-edonia could join the EU but added: “The process (of getting ready for EU membership) is important. The biggest battle for us is keeping youngsters at home so we need to make our country European so that they can have Euro-pean style of life at home and not look for it elsewhere.”

Only 50% of working-age Macedo-nians are employed, and low birth rates and emigration are shrinking the work-force, a World Bank report said in 2018.

Dimitrov said preparations for EU membership should lead to a further drop in unemployment and an increase in GDP, with more jobs leading to high-er salaries.

INDIA17Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

4 dead in gas plant fi re near MumbaiAgenciesMumbai

At least four people were killed in a fi re at a state-run oil and gas process-

ing plant near Mumbai yester-day, police said.

The fi re started in a storm-water drain at the Oil and Nat-ural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plant in Uran, some 45km south of Mumbai, police spokesman Pallab Bhattacharya said.

The blaze was brought un-der control within about two hours.

“Four people have been killed in the accident,” an of-fi cer manning the regional po-lice control room said by phone.

The victims included an ONGC offi cial and three mem-bers of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the ANI news agency reported quot-ing senior police offi cer Ashok Dudhe. The CISF looks after the plant’s security.

Three more people were in-

jured but they were not in crit-ical condition, Dudhe added.

Oil processing at the plant was not aff ected, the ONGC said on Twitter.

“The CISF salutes the su-preme sacrifi ce of CISF Fire Wing bravehearts who sacri-fi ced their lives in the line of duty during the fi re-fi ghting operations at ONGC Uran, Navi Mumbai,” the CISF said in a tribute.

It added that the CISF will be forever indebted for their bravery and commitment.

Earlier, clouds of dark smoke were seen billowing out of the plant after the fi re erupted at around 7am.

“The fi re is being contained. No impact on oil processing and gas diverted to Hazira plants. The situation is being assessed,” an ONGC spokesman said.

Besides the ONGC’s own fi re service and crisis management teams, fi refi ghters from Uran, JNPT, Navi Mumbai and sur-rounding areas rushed to bat-tle the blaze.

Charge against reportersparks protests in UPAgenciesLucknow

Authorities’ attempt to charge a journalist who exposed the poor qual-

ity of meals served at a govern-ment school in Uttar Pradesh triggered protests yesterday over fears of worsening press freedom in the country.

Pawan Jaiswal made national headlines after reporting that impoverished primary school students in Mirzapura district in the northern state were fed bread with salt instead of a mandated healthy meal.

The report led to widespread criticism of the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party government, which responded by launching a crimi-nal probe against Jaiswal.

“It is a cruel and classic case of shooting the messenger,” the Editors Guild of India said in a statement on Monday.

“It is shocking that instead

of taking action to fi x what is wrong on the ground, the gov-ernment has fi led criminal cases against the journalist.”

Dozens of journalists shouted slogans outside the district col-lector’s offi ce yesterday, de-manding that the investigation of Jaiswal be called off .

Uttar Pradesh Basic Educa-tion Minister Satish Dwivedi condemned the fi ling of the case against the journalist.

“We’ll initiate a probe after having complete information from our department and Mir-zapur’s police offi cer,” he said.

There should be no action for revealing corruption or any such fact, the minister said, adding “I would only be able to tell you anything after asking for a report from the police offi cer about the incident.”

“We took a departmental ac-tion in the incident. But, fi rst, we’ll see the grounds of police action. Whether the action was taken in the same matter or any

other matter, I would only be able to tell you after asking from them,” he said.

After a video of the incident went viral, the basic education offi cer was transferred, and the headmaster of the school and some teachers were suspended.

However, the district adminis-tration, refuting the charges, said that the salt-bread was served with the motive to record the video.

But Jaiswal said “I exposed the matter. Now, I have been made an accused.”

“I was shocked to see children eating ‘namak-roti’. When I in-formed the district magistrate he said the matter was being probed and asked me not to report.

Journalists in India have com-plained of deteriorating media freedoms and vicious online at-tacks over the past few years in the world’s largest democracy.

Laws have frequently been deployed by politicians from all parties seeking to stifl e social media criticism.

Srinagar mayor placed under house arrest for remarksIANSSrinagar

Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu was put under house arrest after returning from

Delhi yesterday after he criti-cised the abrogation of Article 370 and for saying a lot of fami-lies were not able to communi-cate with their loved ones due to a communication blockade.

Sources said that Mattu, who is also the spokesperson of the Jam-mu and Kashmir People’s Con-ference, was in Delhi for medi-cal treatment. The government had restricted his movements in the days following its decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s spe-cial status on August 5.

In an interview to a media or-ganisation, Mattu on Monday criticised the clampdown on Kashmir and the detention of po-litical leaders, and his party’s plan to challenge abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court.

He had said that while there may not be any dead bodies ly-ing on the streets, assuming that Kashmir has returned to normal would be highly unrealistic.

“While the communication blackout has created a situation where specifi cs are speculative, it is safe to assume the ground situation can’t possibly be any-where near normal. The media and administrative narrative seem content in defi ning ‘nor-malcy’ in a purely operational context,” Mattu had said.

“We have consulted constitu-tional experts and luminaries and will be contesting the move in the Supreme Court. Our party chair-man (Sajjad Gani Lone) has, be-fore he was arrested, appealed to the people to maintain calm and not resort to any violent means of expressing their anguish and sense of loss,” he had said.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir Press Club (KPC) yesterday asked the

authorities to end the commu-nication blockade, adding that some journalists have allegedly been asked to vacate their gov-ernment accommodation.

In a statement, the KPC said the communication blockade has aff ected mobile phones, In-ternet and phone landlines.

Currently, a makeshift media facilitation centre is operational where journalists have to wait in queues for long hours for their turn to fi le stories, it said.

“The centre is equipped with only fi ve computers and a low speed Internet connection,” the statement said.

Despite the blockade, com-munication channels are open among separatists as well as lo-cal militants via several offl ine chat apps and highly-encrypted anonymous chat platform Tor, which are giving a hard time to security agencies and authori-ties in Jammu and Kashmir.

Popular among militant net-works and anti-government protesters globally, Tor prevents people from tracing location or spying on users’ browsing habits.

The Indian government has completely shut down the tel-ephone and Internet network in the Kashmir Valley, but there are various ways the people are trying numerous circumvention tools to avoid the web shutdown.

The worrying part is “off -the-grid” chat apps which are likely being used to communicate with one another via smartphones within a range of up to 100-200m – by broadcasting encrypted data via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

In a major decision in the fi rst meeting with a delegation from Kashmir after removal of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state, Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday assured them of providing security as well as a Rs2 lakh life insurance cover to each village head in the newly-created Union Territory.

People gather to make calls at a makeshift phone booth setup by security forces outside a camp during a lockdown in Srinagar yesterday.

Govt version of my arrest untrue: Faesal tells courtIANSNew Delhi

Bureaucrat-turned-politi-cian Shah Faesal yesterday told the Delhi High Court

that a ‘Look-Out Circular’ is-sued against him was a “mala fi de exercise of power” and the government had given a false ac-count of the circumstances lead-ing to his arrest.

Faesal, who was stopped from fl ying abroad last month and sent to Srinagar where he was placed under confi nement, told the court that the LOC against him was a “highly suspect ex-ercise for which no reasonable ground is made out”.

Rebutting the claims of the Jammu and Kashmir government on the events of his arrest, he said its version was “patently untrue”.

The government had stated that Faesal, who was taken from New Delhi to Srinagar late on August 14, “upon his arrival in Srinagar, while he was still ac-companied with armed security offi cers, allegedly started to ad-dress a large gathering of people inside the arrival terminal and mobilising people, leading to the police allegedly making a report and an executive magistrate be-ing brought in person to the air-port itself”.

Responding to the account, Faesal stated: “Firstly, the ver-sion of the events is implausible because on August 14, which is one day before Independence Day, there was exceptionally heavy security in every part of Srinagar, especially the airport.”

“The number of fl ights land-ing in Srinagar in the evening on the 14th, and the number of pas-

sengers travelling to Srinagar in the midst of current communi-cation and transport blockades, is naturally very few, so there is no chance of any crowding in the airport... Therefore, it is truly inconceivable that there could have been any ‘large gathering’ of people.”

Faesal also noted that when the plane carrying him landed in Srinagar, all other passengers were made to wait on board till he was made to disembark, sur-rounded by special armed secu-rity forces, and handed over to security forces in Srinagar.

“Thereafter, the petitioner was surrounded by 10-15 secu-rity force personnel... the pe-titioner was whisked through the airport, put into the car, and taken directly to the detention centre in Srinagar.”

Faesal further stated that

there was clearly no factual rea-son to prompt the alleged police report on the subsequent order of detention and the said order has been passed with “mala fi de” intent in the absence of any production before a mag-istrate.

A division bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangeeta Dhin-gra Sehgal listed the matter for further hearing on September 12 as Solicitor General Tushar Me-hta was not available for advanc-ing arguments in the matter.

On Faesal’s claim that he was going to the US for studies when he was detained, the state gov-ernment said he had obtained a tourist visa and not a student visa.

In response, Faesal said that personal liberty and the right to travel abroad are guaranteed to the citizens of India under the

constitution and any visa-relat-ed issues are within the purview only of the government of the foreign country to which travel is sought.

A habeas corpus petition, fi led by Faesal’s friend, sought the former bureaucrat’s release and contended that he was “ille-gally picked up” from the airport while on way to Harvard Univer-sity where he was going to com-plete his fellowship.

“The circumstances of his il-legal custody from the Delhi air-port point to unlawful and ille-gal detention, which eff ectively amounts to abduction,” the plea said.

According to an immigration offi cial, Faesal was stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and sent back to Srina-gar on another fl ight and de-tained there.

A fire rages at the ONGC’s oil and gas processing plant in Uran yesterday.

Arora is new head of World Election Bodies AssociationIANSBengaluru

India’s Chief Election Commis-sioner (CEC) Sunil Arora has been elected as chairman of the

Association of World Election Bod-ies (AWEB) for two years, an offi cial statement said yesterday.

“Arora, who succeeded Roma-nia’s Lon Mincu Radulescu, as-sumed chairmanship for the next two years up to 2021 at the three-day fourth general assembly of the association here,” the poll panel said in the statement.

Outgoing chairman Radulescu

handed over the association’s fl ag to Arora in the presence of Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandran and participating delegates.

Radulescu is the adviser to the Romania’s permanent election au-thority.

The fl ag will remain with Arora for the two-year term till 2021.

“India was unanimously nomi-nated to the top post of the AWEB at its last general assembly in Ro-mania’s Bucharest in 2017,” said the statement.

Citing Mahatma Gandhi’s writ-ings, Arora said democracy was the art and science of mobilising the

physical, economic and spiritual re-sources of the people in the service of all.

“The preamble of the AWEB charter spells out its vision to foster co-operation between the electoral management bodies (EMBs) for a credible electoral process, promote free and fair elections, develop democratic culture and ensure gen-der equality and inclusion of people with disabilities,” Arora said.

Noting that two-thirds of the global population lives under dem-ocratic rule, the CEC said he would strive to strengthen the interaction and partnership with the AWEB secretariat, promote association

activities and empower the EMBs through its capacity building pro-grammes.

The general assembly also ratifi ed the appointment of South African Election Commission chairperson Glen Vuma Mashinini as the asso-ciation’s new vice-chairman and of South Korea’s Jonghyun Choe as the new secretary-general.

“As a number of nascent de-mocracies are working to stabilise their political system by improv-ing their electoral and legal sys-tems, the association will hand-hold them with support, expertise and skills from its member coun-tries to ensure they conduct free

and fair elections,” Arora added.About 110 delegates from 45

countries the world over are at-tending the three-day meeting that started on Monday.

Somalia, Congo, Dominican Re-public, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso and Mauritius were admitted to the association’s over-sight and audit committees.

Delegates from Ukraine, Cambo-dia and Afghanistan, the political parties’ registration commission of Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Mauri-tius joined the AWEB as members, and the Association of Asian Elec-tion Authorities (AAEA) as associ-ate members.

Outgoing chairman of Association of World Election Board (AWEB), Ion Mincu Radulescu (left) shakes hands with his successor Sunil Arora in Bengaluru yesterday.

18 Gulf TimesWednesday, September 4, 2019

INDIA

Mulayam backs Azam, to launch campaignIANSLucknow

Samajwadi Party (SP) pa-triarch Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday came

out strongly in support of his colleague Azam Khan and said the latter was being targeted by some offi cers and leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party govern-ment.

Addressing a press confer-ence after a gap of almost three years, Yadav announced that he would lead a campaign in support of Khan. The SP pa-triarch said that he would an-nounce the date of the cam-paign soon.

“I appeal to all Samajwadi Party leaders and workers to fi ght for Azam Khan and sup-port him in this hour of crisis. I have known him for decades and he can do no wrong. Azam Khan comes from a humble background and has struggled to reach where he is,” he said.

Yadav said that if the vic-timisation of Azam Khan did not stop, he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

Interestingly, Yadav’s son Akhilesh was not present at the press conference.

Yadav’s appeal assumes significance as so far not a single SP leader has spo-ken in support of Khan who is facing a slew of cases in Rampur.

Yadav defended Khan and said that he had ‘begged’ for donations from his friends in the country and abroad to build the Jauhar Univer-sity which is an institution of excellence. “He may have encroached a few feet of land but he is not an offender,” he said.

He further said that some leaders in the BJP also felt that the excesses against Azam Khan would damage the im-age of the government and the party.

ED arrests Shivakumar inmoney laundering caseIANSNew Delhi

The Enforcement Direc-torate yesterday arrested former Karnataka minis-

ter and senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar in a money laun-dering case, offi cials said.

“Shivakumar was arrested following his questioning for the fourth time by the agency,” a senior ED offi cial told IANS.

He said Shivakumar was ar-rested on charges of money laundering. The offi cial said that the Congress leader was evasive and non-co-operative during questioning.

Shivakumar deposed before the fi nancial probe agency on Friday for the fi rst time after the Karnataka High Court rejected his petition for interim protec-tion from arrest.

He has been on the radar of the Income Tax Department and the ED since demonetisation in 2016.

An income tax search at his New Delhi apartment on August 2, 2017 led to the seizure of unac-counted cash worth Rs8.59 crore.

Thereafter, the IT Department lodged cases against the Con-gress leader and four associates under Sections 277 and 278 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and Sections 120(B), 193 and 199 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Based on the IT Department charge sheet, the ED registered a money laundering case against Shivakumar.

The Congress has slammed the government saying it was con-tinuing to target opposition lead-ers with the sole aim of diverting attention from its failures.

In a statement, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Sur-jewala said, “The continuous and targeted harassment of opposition leaders by the government with the sole aim of diverting the atten-tion of the people from its massive failures continues unabated.”

He said, for the last fi ve years,

the government has been target-ing its political opponents by fabricating “false” cases with “political vendetta and venge-ance”.

Backing its Karnataka leader, Surjewala said, “It is a matter of public knowledge that Shivaku-mar has been fully co-operating with all agencies and has appeared as required, from time to time.”

Condemning the govern-ment’s action against his party colleague, the Congress leader said the “highhanded tactics and illegal processes” were being de-ployed against Shivakumar.

“It is reiterated that for all these acts of mindless vendetta on part of the government and its puppet agencies, the Con-gress will continue to point out, oppose and protest against the blunders being deliberately com-mitted by the government on various fronts, the gravest being that of annihilation of the Indian economy and pauperisation of its people,” Surjewala added.

Priyanka mayget key postahead of UPassembly pollsIANSNew Delhi

Congress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi is likely to be tasked with

reviving the party in Uttar Pradesh where it got only one out of 80 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, party sources said.

“Priyanka Gandhi can be made the in-charge of entire Uttar Pradesh, keeping an eye on the 2022 assembly elec-tions,” the sources told IANS.

A senior party leader said that the decision to appoint Gandhi will be announced in the coming days.

Earlier this year, party lead-ers had demanded that Gandhi be made the party’s chief min-isterial candidate in the state where it has been out of power since 1989.

The demands to make her the chief ministerial candidate were made during the visit of Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to Rae Bareli on June 13 to thank the voters.

Following the drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, where former party president Rahul Gandhi lost the family borough of Amethi to Textiles Minis-ter and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani, Pri-yanka Gandhi held a series of meetings with party leaders to get feedback on strengthening the organisation.

The Congress even dissolved all district and block commit-tees of the party in the state and also formed a three-member disciplinary committee.

Priyanka has been holding a series of meetings in the last three months getting feedback from the party workers and leaders at the residence of her brother Rahul.

She entered politics in Janu-ary this year. She was also made the in-charge of 41 parliamen-tary constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

However, despite campaign-ing extensively for the party candidates in over 36 parlia-mentary constituencies, she failed to ensure the victory of party candidates.

Meanwhile in Bihar, the par-ty continues to be in a state of disarray. With assembly polls scheduled next year, the party just doesn’t seem to be getting its act together.

The continued indecisive-ness on the part of the party leadership has led to confusion among the party workers on the future course of action on issues like the continuation of the alliance in the state.

Congress spokesperson Harkhu Singh admitted that the party is going through a very difficult phase. “Right from the central level to the state level, our party is right now going through a difficult phase. There is an urgent need for a change or a makeover. Our party interim president Sonia Gandhi is trying to do this,” he said.

The situation at the ground level is worsening day by the day for the party. A top Con-gress leader in the state admit-ted that every other big or small party is busy with outreach programmes, but Congress

leaders are not even attending party meetings.

Recently, the state Congress’ advisory committee meet-ing was held in Patna, the first after the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, but only eight of the 29 members turned up. The meeting was called to discuss the strategy to strengthen the party and the continuance of alliance with the Rashtriya Ja-nata Dal (RJD).

While some senior leaders like Sadanand Singh want the party to go solo in the assembly polls, others are in favour of continu-ing the alliance with the RJD.

“There is no dearth of leaders in our party. We should go solo in the polls. The alliance has not brought any benefits to us,” Sadanand Singh said.

The party won only 27 out of the 243 seats in the last assem-bly polls in 2015, clearly show-ing that the alliance with the RJD did not benefit them.

A Congress leader said: “Most of the leaders are only working in their constituencies in order to save their seats. No one is working on the organisa-tional level.”

Before the Lok Sabha polls, big leaders like Shatrughan Sinha, Uday Singh and Tariq Anwar joined the party, but none could achieve electoral success. Now the party has been left with a bigger problem of giving befitting responsibil-ities to each of them.

With no clear cut strategy on alliance, even the ordinary party worker is confused and disillusioned and this can very well spell more trouble for the Congress.

Shivakumar: arrested

A file photo of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra meeting people during her visit to Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, on August 27.

Scindia puts party on notice astussle for MP chief intensifi esIANSNew Delhi/Bhopal

The Congress high com-mand is on tenterhooks as the ongoing power strug-

gle between Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath and Digvi-jaya Singh over the selection of a new state party president threatens the very existence of the party in the state.

A rebellion has broken out in the state party ranks and sources told IANS that the chances of Scindia leaving the grand old party cannot be discounted if he doesn’t get the post for himself or for a leader of his choice.

When the Congress came to power in Madhya Pradesh after 15 years, Scindia was confi dent of being made the chief minister. But state Congress chief Kamal Nath prevailed over the party leadership, which gave him the top post.

A dejected Scindia was left licking his wounds. But now with the Congress looking for a

new state party president, Scin-dia sees a chance for himself. But Kamal Nath wants his man in that seat.

Scindia has met the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi twice. Following his last meet-ing, Kamal Nath was called to Delhi.

Meanwhile pro-Scindia fac-tions – including Datia district Congress president Ashok Dangi and Morena district chief Rakesh Mavai – are openly threatening a revolt if Scindia is overlooked in the state party chief’s selection.

“Some state Congress leaders are fi nding it hard to digest Scin-dia’s popularity and conspir-ing to keep him out of Madhya Pradesh,” said Dangi.

State Congress leaders are holding protests and posters have cropped up across Madhya Pradesh demanding Scindia as the state party chief. In all these posters, Scindia’s photo over-whelms miniature images of Sonia Gandhi and her son and former party chief Rahul Gan-dhi.

Though state Congress

spokesperson Deepak Vijayvar-giya has said the party is going through a phase of intense dis-satisfaction and imbalance, this unilateral rebellion by district party chiefs against the Con-gress high command is impossi-ble without the backing of Scin-dia, according to sources.

The infi ghting within the MP Congress is not new. What’s new though is the intensity of the re-bellion that Scindia has mounted on the top Congress leadership. Though he says he has left it to the ‘high-command’ to decide on the state party chief’s name, and will accept whatever its ‘de-cision’ is, the reality is diff erent.

“If he is ignored, Scindia might leave the Congress and nothing can be said about what will happen then,” a close Scin-dia aide told IANS on the condi-tion of anonymity.

The sources say that out of Congress’ 114 legislators in Madhya Pradesh, 25 are Scindia loyalists, and at least 15 of them will leave the party if he resigns. This will only destabilise the state’s Congress government,

which has a wafer-thin majority over the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Chances of Scindia’s switch to the BJP also cannot be ruled out because his family shares a long and close association with the saff ron party. From his grandmother Vijayaraje Scin-dia to aunts Vasundhara Raje and Yashodhara Raje Scindia – all have been BJP leaders.

Reports of Scindia having met BJP president and Home Minis-ter Amit Shah in Delhi recently are already doing the rounds.

Congress leader Vikas Yadav said the party has only “used and thrown” Scindia. “He is pushed forward when there are elec-tions, but ignored when it’s time to recognise his contribution,” he said.

Political analyst Shiv Anurag Pateria said: “The RSS and the BJP believe that the challenge posed by Congress between Gwalior-Chambal and Malwa will be over if Scindia joins the BJP.”

But the question remains, if snubbed by 10 Janpath, would Scindia make his way to 6 Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg?

The Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘I love Kejriwal’ campaign, launched on Sunday, has evoked great response, according to party leader Gopal Rai. The campaign was inspired by Delhi’s auto-rickshaw drivers, Rai said yesterday. The drivers had started writing ‘I love Kejriwal’ on their vehicles “to express their love for the chief minister”, Rai said. “We are taking ahead the campaign,” he added. The party holds public meetings every day in two constituencies and they were receiving good public response, Rai said. “People are openly rejecting the BJP,” Rai said. The public meetings campaign will end on October 3. At the meetings, Rai discusses 11 issues. “I ask them questions ranging from the work done in the city by the BJP under its one term, the Congress in its three terms and Kejriwal in five years,” Rai said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday targeted his predecessor Oommen Chandy as he referred a 13-year-old graft case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The case pertains to an alleged corrupt deal in the implementation of the Rs260 crore pollution control and expansion project in the state-owned Travancore Titanium Products Ltd. The irregularities came to light when Chandy was the chief minister during 2004-06. The corruption case was filed by an employee of the company at the Vigilance Court in Thiruvananthapuram. The project was cleared by Chandy following repeated requests from trade unions. Speaking to IANS, the former chief minister said he was ready to face any probe. When the case was first registered in 2006, Chandy and others were not named. However, in 2011, the Congress leader’s name surfaced.

The Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) in Lucknow has come up with a bio-formulant to save banana crops from fungal infection ‘fusarium oxysporum TR4’, or Panama Wilt, which is causing havoc for banana crop in several countries. A ‘banana emergency’ has been declared in Columbia and other Latin American countries, parts of Asia, Africa and Australia, where the crop has been struck with the deadly disease that leads to wilting of the plant. CISH director Shailendra Rajan said: “The bio-formulant – ICAR fusicont – is a mix of fungi and bacteria that has succeeded in fighting the deadly disease known as Panama Wilt 4. This could be of immense value in saving the largest crop in several countries.” Banana has been the most expanding crop of Uttar Pradesh and is threatening to overtake other states.

An 11-year-old class VI student was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the bathroom of private school in Bhabua area of Kaimur district of Bihar, off icials said yesterday. “Aditya had gone to school with his sister Chhaya on Monday morning. When he did not come out even after the classes ended, his sister started looking for him. She found his bag but not him,” the police said. When Chhaya entered the bathroom, she found her brother’s body lying there with a wire tied around his neck. The door was shut from outside. The boy was taken to the nearest hospital where doctors declared him dead. He was the son of a farmer. His elder brother had earlier died of a snake bite, the police said. Aditya’s mother taught in the same school, but she was not present on Monday due to the Teej festival.

A Delhi man has been fined Rs23,000 for riding a motorcycle without wearing a helmet and also for not carrying important documents including his driving licence, registration certificate of the motorcycle and the pollution certificate. The man fined Rs5,000 for riding without his licence, Rs5,000 for not producing his registration certificate, Rs2,000 for not having a third party insurance, Rs10,000 for violating air pollution standards and another Rs1,000 for not wearing a helmet. As he was not wearing his helmet, “he was stopped by traff ic police. He was unable to produce his documents. Hence, a challan (ticket) was issued,” a traff ic police off icer said. The man however said that did not violate traff ic rules. “They asked me to produce the documents in 10 minutes, which was impossible,” he added.

‘I love Kejriwal’ campaign a big hit: AAP leader

CM slams Chandy after referring old case to CBI

New ‘medicine’ to save banana crops developed

Bihar boy found dead in school bathroom

Man fined Rs23,000 for violating traff ic rules

POLITICS CORRUPTIONSCIENCE MYSTERY PENALTY

C Americafaces dengueoutbreak asclimate shiftsThomson Reuters FoundationBogota

Central America is grap-pling with its worst out-break of dengue fever in

decades — and scientists say the disease is likely to spread and be-come more frequent in the future due to climate change.

Worst hit is Honduras where about 109 deaths from the mos-quito-borne disease have been recorded, many among children, making this year’s dengue fever outbreak the deadliest on record in the Central America nation, the United Nations noted.

Also hard hit in Central Amer-ica are Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, with other Latin American nations such as Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia and Belize also aff ected, according to the Pan American Health Organisa-tion (PAHO). Across Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean, dengue cases are rising.

At least 2mn people have caught the disease so far this year and more than 720 have died, accord-ing to PAHO, the regional arm of the World Health Organisation.

“We have seen dengue cases in the Americas double each decade since the 1980s and this year is particularly severe,” said Rachel Lowe, a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor who researches the im-pact of environmental change on infectious diseases.

The dengue virus is spread by biting Aedes aegypti mosquitoes — the same species that carries other diseases such as chikun-gunya, Zika and yellow fever.

While no single dengue out-break can be linked directly to climate change, scientists say warming temperatures, chang-ing weather conditions and more extreme weather from torrential rains to drought can fuel out-breaks.

“Climate change is altering

the climate patterns we expect. These shifting rainfall patterns can change the timing and inten-sity of outbreaks,” Lowe said.

“One thing we have seen from my research is certainly that warmer temperatures and rainfall can increase the risk of dengue outbreaks,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

As climate change strength-ens, dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases are expected to expand into new communities living in highland regions.

“As the temperature warms, mosquitoes can survive at higher altitudes and then people who haven’t previously been exposed to diff erent infections, and don’t have immunity to the diseases, are more susceptible,” Lowe said.

People living in densely popu-lated slum areas with no running water or proper sewage and rub-bish collection systems are par-ticularly at risk of catching den-gue, she said.

During heavy rainfall, slums often fl ood because drains are non-existent or blocked, leaving puddles of stagnant water out-side people’s homes where mos-quitoes can breed.

During periods of rain and drought, slum dwellers often store water in buckets and collect rain water in roof-top tanks.

Water also collects in discard-ed tyres and among rubbish.

All are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, Lowe said.

“Drought conditions can also increase the probability of dengue outbreaks mainly due to the way that people store water in response to water shortages,” she said.

“If those water storage con-tainers are not well maintained and are not covered, they create additional breeding sites.”

Lowe said research she is car-rying out in Brazil’s Amazon, “shows that both extreme rain-fall and drought could increase the probability risks of dengue outbreaks”.

Norway talks must focus onpolls: Venezuela oppositionReutersCaracas

Norway-backed talks be-tween Venezuela’s op-position and the gov-

ernment of President Nicolas Maduro must focus on elections, an opposition negotiator said, as the dialogue proceedings remain stalled after the government walked out.

Maduro’s delegation sus-pended its participation last month to protest a new round of US sanctions, and has not yet established when it will return to the proceedings that are meant

to resolve the country’s political standoff .

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognised by more than 50 countries as the nation’s legitimate president, has said the country needs to hold a free and fair vote following Maduro’s 2018 re-election that was widely de-scribed as rigged.

“It was the regime that walked out abruptly because it did not want to discuss...what’s im-portant for the country, which is holding a free election,” said legislator Stalin Gonzalez, a lead opposition negotiator.

Asked when the talks will resume, Gonzalez responded

“that question should be asked of the regime, if they’re prepared or not to discuss the important issues.”

Neither Venezuela’s informa-tion ministry nor Norway’s for-eign ministry replied to requests for comment.

Guaido, who is head of the opposition-run National As-sembly, in January invoked the constitution to assume a rival interim presidency — though Maduro continues to control state institutions.

Four sources told Reuters last month that Maduro allies during the talks had discussed the pos-sibility of holding a presidential

vote in the coming months.The government delegation

had in theory agreed to vote on the condition that the US lift sanctions, that Maduro run as the Socialist Party candidate, and that it be held in a year, one of the sources said.

Many opposition sympathis-ers say Maduro uses dialogue proceedings as stalling mecha-nisms to burnish the interna-tional image of the ruling So-cialist Party while avoiding any signifi cant changes.

Washington has a similar view of dialogue proceedings under Maduro, according to a senior state department offi cial.

“We’ve seen this game before. And the game is: buy time, work on dividing the opposition...to undermine things by just kick-ing the can down the road,” said the offi cial.

“Our support for the National Assembly and interim President Juan Guaido has never wavered. What we’re dealing with here is not an issue of the political right or the political left, but an issue of what is right and what is wrong.”

Maduro accuses the opposi-tion and the US of seeking to overthrow him, and attributes the country’s economic collapse to sanctions. His critics say it is the result of failed economic policies.

Argentina’s black marketpeso veers from offi cial rateReutersBuenos Aires

Argentina’s black market peso is breaking away from the offi cial spot rate

by the largest margin since 2015, as political upheaval and curren-cy controls spook investors about the currency’s real value.

The peso, which has collapsed since a shock primary election in August hammered President Mauricio Macri, edged up in of-fi cial trading on Monday after the government rolled out capital controls on Sunday to bolster the currency. It rose more sharply yesterday.

But in unoffi cial trade, the cur-rency dropped on Monday and posted a slimmer rise yesterday, taking the gap between the two prices to near 10%, according to data compiled by Reuters.

That move evokes memories of wide gaps under capital controls during the administration of former president Cristina Fern-andez de Kirchner.

“When restrictions are put in place, even minor ones, there will always be a fear that is refl ected by people resorting to the paral-lel market,” said Claudio Loser, Washington-based head of con-sultancy Centennial Group Latin America.

“It’s a matter of distrust,” added Loser, former director of the western hemisphere de-partment of the International Monetary Fund. “They help the central bank not to lose so many reserves, but the distrust is cer-tain to appear.”

The black market is an infor-mal, and illegal, network of cur-rency traders operating on the streets and in shadowy offi ces that has existed in Argentina for decades, waxing and waning, de-pending on demand for dollars outside regular channels.

In central Buenos Aires, hawk-ers known as “arbolitos” regu-larly shout out “cambio”, off ering currency exchange to passers-by, then taking them to backrooms or street stalls where they unveil stores of cash.

Currency controls are a po-tential spur for the black market, which in some periods of strict rule, including under the mili-tary in the 1980s, made up a large portion of total trades.

Under free-market champion Macri, it has been more on the fringes. “It’s an illegal market, it’s small,” central bank head Guido Sandleris said at a brief-ing on Monday in response to a question from Reuters.

He added that currency con-trols would only aff ect a small fraction of savers. “It existed be-fore these measures and will con-tinue to exist. The vast majority of currency exchange trades in Argentina will continue to occur in the spot market.”

Macri, who is fi ghting for po-litical survival ahead of the gen-eral election on October 27, has been forced to resort to controls he once strongly opposed.

A big loss in the August 11 pri-mary led to the peso tumbling around 26% last month and the government announcing plans to delay debt repayments.

Guatemala arrestspolitician for graftReutersGuatemala City

Guatemalan police have arrested former presi-dential candidate Sandra

Torres at her home on charges of violating campaign fi nance rules.

A former fi rst lady, the 63-year-old Torres fi nished sec-ond to President-elect Alejandro Giammattei last month in her third attempt to win the offi ce.

For more than a decade one of the Central American country’s most prominent politicians, she has long faced accusations of corruption, allegations she has denied.

The fi ght against corrup-tion has dominated Guatemala’s political scene since the Inter-national Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, CICIG, helped topple a president in 2015.

Torres’ arrest and a case against a sitting minister last week appear to be fi nal blows by the body.

Its mandate ended yesterday, after 12 years, after being termi-nated by former president Jimmy Morales.

Without the CICIG, widely viewed as one of the most suc-cessful anti-corruption bodies in Latin American history, judges have said they fear it would be diffi cult to proceed with cases.

Torres was detained by sev-eral police offi cers at her house a few miles outside Guatemala City, her face mostly covered by a headscarf and large dark glasses.

She was taken to a courthouse in the city to appear before judge Claudette Dominguez, who or-dered Torres placed in custody to await trial.

“She is charged with the crimes of failing to register elec-tion fi nancing, and unlawful as-sociation,” the attorney general’s offi ce said in a statement.

Torres has denied the accusa-tions.

“We reject this disproportion-ate and unnecessary measure against Sandra Torres,” said one of her closest aides, lawmaker Orlando Blanco, on Twitter.

Her centre-left National Unity of Hope (UNE) party called her arrest politically motivated, say-ing in a statement that she had recently off ered to cooperate in the case.

Promoting women’s rights

Ivanka Trump, adviser and daughter of US President Donald Trump, and Colombian Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez (left) pose with Colombian women, during her visit to Bogota yesterday to strengthen trade relations between the two nations. Ivanka is on a tour across Latin America to help promote women’s economic empowerment.

Trump’s new Mexico envoy stirs hornet’s nest with Frida Kahlo jabThe new US ambassador to Mexico has taken aim at Mexican icon Frida Kahlo for her support of Marxism, stirring up a fierce social media debate with a tweet asking if the painter had not been aware of atrocities committed in the name of that ideology.Few Mexicans have enjoyed greater global recognition than Kahlo, who spent long periods bedridden after a traff ic accident in her youth, attained international fame following her death in 1954 and became a feminist symbol in the 1970s.

She created some 200 paintings, sketches and drawings — mainly self-portraits — in which she transformed her misfortune into works of bold colour.US Ambassador Christopher Landau, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and sworn in last month, must navigate a volatile bilateral relationship.Trump frequently berates Mexico over trade and immigration.Not shying away from controversy himself, Landau took to Twitter on

Sunday during a visit to Kahlo’s house, now a museum in the colonial-era Mexico City neighbourhood of Coyoacan.“I admire her free and bohemian spirit, and she rightly became an icon of Mexico around the whole world. What I do not understand is her obvious passion for Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism. Didn’t she know about the horrors committed in the name of that ideology?” he wrote in Spanish.Kahlo and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, embraced Marxism

and supported Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, after initially backing his rival, revolutionary Leon Trotsky.Stalin is now widely held responsible for the deaths of millions of people, many in the Gulag network of labour camps.Landau’s tweet drew a mixture of responses.Some of the 1,600 comments were supportive, and accused the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of emerging from the same Marxist tradition.

Landau’s following on the online platform jumped to more than 76,000 on Monday from about 40,000 before the tweet. Others were clearly irked, and blasted the US for its long history of interfering in the internal aff airs of Latin America and other countries around the globe, often to counter socialist governments.“In the name of fighting that ideology, the US killed children in Vietnam by bombing entire villages and supporting dictatorships throughout Latin America,” said user @

Quetzalcoaltl1.The Mexican Communist Party weighed into the debate, saying: “Ambassador Landau, Comrade Frida was consistent with humanism, the search for democracy and freedom of Mexico’s workers and people, and therefore she was a Marxist-Leninist, and of course Stalin’s admirer. Don’t show your ignorance anymore, imitating Trump.” The US embassy in Mexico said it did not have further comment about the debate.

LATIN AMERICA

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 2019 19

Sandra Torres with her face covered is escorted by police to the Supreme Court in Guatemala City.

PAKISTAN

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 201920

Minister calls for reining in anti-graft watchdogAs a federal minister of

Pakistani government yesterday stressed the

need for reining in the anti-graft watchdog, a bill landed in the Senate seeking to amend the Na-tional Accountability Ordinance promulgated two decades ago by a military ruler.

Winding up a Senate discus-sion on denial of health facili-ties to former president Asif Ali Zardari amid allegations of op-position’s witch-hunt, Minister for Parliamentary Aff airs Azam Swati said the National Ac-countability Bureau (NAB) was not under government control and the Pakistan Peoples Par-ty (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) were facing the cases they had framed against each other.

He, however, said there was a need to rein in NAB. “What could you expect from NAB hav-ing 70-80% of former chair-man’s handpicked employees?” he asked. Swati said the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had not made these cases and the government could not med-dle in the aff airs of NAB.

He said parliament was su-preme and had the right to de-cide nobody would be investi-gated. “Let us clear the jails by releasing all the prisoners or have separate laws for the haves and have-nots,” he sarcastically said.

The issue had been raised in the house by PPP’s parliamen-tary leader in the Senate, Sherry Rehman, who demanded imme-diate shifting of Zardari from jail to hospital in view of his health condition.

Leader of the opposition in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq regret-

ted that all that was happening to the detained politicians was painful, adding that the treat-ment with them should be in ac-cordance with the law and as per normal practices.

He pointed out that jailed PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah was not allowed to attend the funeral of his father-in-law.

Former interior minister Re-hman Malik said a curfew ap-peared to have been clamped on politicians and the coming gen-erations would be averse to be-coming a lawmaker.

He said Zardari could have been kept under house arrest instead of being thrown into prison. He warned the PTI gov-ernment against setting the traditions which were bound to haunt it in future and predicted that the politicians belonging to the ruling party would also be acted against in the days ahead.

PPP Senator Maula Bux Chan-

dio said it would have put across a good message had all the po-litical leadership been with the prime minister during his address on Kashmir. “How can a former president who also heads a ma-jor political party be denied of his fundamental rights?” he asked.

Senator Javed Abbasi of the PML-N said that neither NRO [deal] had been sought nor the government had the guts to give one, adding that his party was not against accountability, but it should be across the board. He said anyone who joined the rul-ing coalition enjoyed immunity from accountability.

Former Senate chairman Fa-rooq H Naek of the PPP intro-duced a bill seeking to amend the NAB ordinance. The bill referred to the standing committee con-cerned proposes to set a mini-mum limit of Rs500mn for cases to be investigated by NAB, bar custodial investigations and take

away the powers of arrest from the NAB chairman.

It also proposes a plea bargain deal only through the court and barring NAB offi cers from mak-ing public statements about cas-es before the fi ling of a reference.

Azam Swati informed the house that the government was also in the process of bringing its own bill to amend the NAB or-dinance, but did not oppose the opposition’s bill.

Various other bills, includ-ing the one seeking to amend the Constitution to increase the number of seats for Balochistan in the national and provincial assemblies, were also introduced in the Senate.

On a point of public impor-tance, Raza Rabbani asked the chair to summon Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to ex-plain his interview with the BBC in which he said Pakistan was ready to hold talks with India.

InternewsIslamabad

Govt collects $30mn from expatriates under special certifi cate

After receiving a luke-warm response on two major initiatives for

raising funds, the total col-lected amount of Rs10.9bn through Prime Minister and Chief Justice of Pakistan Fund for Diamer-Bhasha and Moh-mand dams has been invested into the treasury bills (TBs) for earning around 14% mark-up.

With regard to second ini-tiative in the shape of Pakistan Banao Certifi cate (PBC) for luring investment from Paki-stani diaspora living abroad, the PTI-led government has so far collected roughly $30mn, so this scheme also failed to attract desired number of the potential investors.

Special Secretary Finance and offi cial Spokesman Umar Hameed said that PBC is script-less issue which does not require any extension. “The scheme is continuing,” said the Finance Ministry spokesman, and added that only advertisement campaign ended on June 30.

Top offi cials of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said about the dams fund that the total collected amount stood at Rs10.9bn and on the direc-tion of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, they were given instruction to invest this amount into the government’s TBs through the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

“Now the additional funds collected for dam funds were invested into TBs,” an offi cial, and added that there was no

usage of funds if it remained idle into account of the SBP.

The investment into TBs is totally guaranteed and risk-free so it was decided to use this avenue to earn mark-up at a time when the banks were earning good margins because of higher interest rates.

The government’s borrow-ing has shifted from the cen-tral bank to commercial bank-ing under the IMF conditions so the rate of T-bills are quite attractive because the bank-ers also knew that the govern-ment had become desperate borrower to fi nance its fi scal defi cit.

On PBC, the government had fi xed profi t rate of 6.25% and 6.75% on three and fi ve years respectively. “So far the government had attracted around $30mn,” said a top of-fi cial of the government.

The government could not launch PBC abroad at ma-jor destinations because the Finance Ministry could not manage required permission from regulatory regimes of the US, the UK and other impor-tant capitals where majority of Pakistanis were living.

However, the sources said that there has been no vigor-ous campaign to lure invest-ment into PBC and no one knows what the government was thinking to make this scheme attractive for overseas Pakistanis.

At a time when Pakistan is desperate to increase its for-eign currency reserves under the IMF condition, the PBC-like scheme could become a good source of jacking up dollar infl ows in months ahead.

InternewsIslamabad

Bill for newprovince tabled in Senate

On the private members day in the Senate, two consti-tutional amendment bills

were introduced yesterday, seek-ing the creation of a new province under the name of Bahawalpur-Janoobi Punjab, and increase in a number of seats for Balochistan in the National Assembly.

As many as eight private members bills were introduced in the House and all of them were referred to the relevant standing committees for further deliberations on them.

The House also considered the supplementary agenda and passed the Pakistan Insti-tute for Parliamentary Services (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The bill to create a new prov-ince by bifurcating Punjab was jointly sponsored by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmak-ers Bahramand Tangi, Rubina Khalid, Imamuddin Shouqeen, Sikandar Mandhro, Islamuddin Shaikh, Gianchand, Keshoo Bai, Sherry Rehman, and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mushtaq Ahmed.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 seeks amendments of Articles 1, 51, 59, 106, 175A, 198 and 218. The bill mainly determines the allocation of seats for the assembly of the proposed Bahawalpur-Ja-noobi Punjab province and setting up of High Court there.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Articles 51 and 106), was jointly sponsored by 18 Senators, hailing from Balo-chistan, to increase the number of National Assembly seats for Ba-lochistan from 20 to 37 and raise the strength of the Balochistan Assembly from 65 to 80.

The lawmakers also demand-ed an increase in the number of general seats for Balochistan in the National Assembly from 16 to 30 and reserved seats for women from four to seven. The bill also demanded an increase in the number of general seats in provincial assembly from 51 to 64 and reserved seats for women from 11 to 13.

InternewsIslamabad

Hiring in railways begins through ballotInternewsLahore

Pakistan Railways formally has launched the hiring process in its department through balloting amid criticism that it was against fundamental rights.The balloting process, happening for the first time in Pakistan Railways (PR), for posts of grades BPS 1-5, was following a notification by the Establishment Division issued on June 17, under the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) 1973 Rules, (Amended), on the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan.Moreover, railways off icials kept the process under

wraps especially from the media. “According to general instructions issued by our ministry, we were not supposed to call the media to cover this new recruitment process. The balloting process which was sort of a manual one having boxes inscribed with various posts was transparent, as many candidates witnessed it. We also made a video of the two-hour-long balloting held here in Lahore,” said divisional superintendent Aamir Nisar Chaudhry.When asked about their view on recruitment process through balloting, constitutional experts said it was contrary to basic fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and that

the interview process is mandatory in order to select the right person for a job. The balloting process will create doubts over its transparency, they said.In the first phase, the railways started balloting of several shortlisted candidates who had applied for vacancies for helpers, sweepers and cleaners.Paper slips with names of shortlisted candidates, who had earlier cleared skill and fitness tests, were dropped inside the boxes in the presence of the candidates, general manager and the divisional superintendent. After the boxes were shaken, the slips were taken out one by one.

“This way we completed the balloting process and displayed the lists of successful candidates,” Chaudhry said.According to the notification, after the word “basis” as mentioned in the rules the words “through balloting” has been inserted.“In rule-16, after the words “basis”, the words “through balloting” shall be inserted,” reads the Establishment Division’s notification issued in the light of the cabinet decision in this regard. Similarly, other amendments were also made in Rules 14 and 15.“Simply, you can say balloting has replaced the final interview process,” Chaudhry said.

Balochistan to benefi t from Ehsaas scheme

The Balochistan province cabinet has decided to eff ectively implement

the federal government’s fl ag-ship programme Ehsaas in the province after Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Allevia-tion Sania Nishtar briefed it on its salient features and plans.

Nishtar, who specially at-tended the cabinet meeting, talked about the basic objec-tive of the programme. She said Ehsaas had been designed to alleviate poverty and pro-vide fi nancial and techni-cal assistance to poor people which would boost economic activities at the lower level.

“Some 10mn people would be provided social protection under the programme across the coun-try,” she told the cabinet, adding that Balochistan would get spe-cial attention in the programme on special directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

She said loans without in-terest would be provided to poor people so that they could start their own businesses.

Initially, Nishtar said the

programme was being im-plemented in 11 districts of Balochistan. It would be expanded to other dis-tricts gradually with con-sultation with the provincial government, she added.

She said the process of pro-viding interest-free loans and fi nancial assistance to deserv-ing people had begun. People had already been identifi ed and for the purpose a survey was conducted, she added.

She said the federal govern-ment wanted to impart tech-nical training to people.

Members of the Balochistan cabinet promised their cooper-ation for success of the Ehsaas programme in the province. It also approved appointment of a focal person for implementa-tion on Ehsaas in the province.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani appreciated the launch of Ehsaas and said that the province would fully benefi t from the programme.

He termed it a positive de-velopment for socio-eco-nomic progress in the coun-try, saying that the provincial government would play its wholehearted role for success of the programme.

InternewsQuetta

Commuters make their way on a flooded street after heavy monsoon rains in the port city of Karachi

Clifton beach turns into hazardous garbage dump

Heavy rain in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi has turned the

Sea View Beach, Clifton, into a garbage dump, with several kilometres of garbage piled up on the waterfront over the past two days.

Hospital waste, especially several open-needle syringes, have washed up on the shore and pose a severe health haz-ard for the citizens visiting the beach in the rainy weather.

Shaniera Akram, the wife of former Pakistan cricket team captain Wasim Akram, recently took to Twitter to share the im-ages from the beach in a bid to force authorities to clean up the area.

“There is kilometres of medi-cal waste including hundreds of open needle syringes, among other things, that has come in from the ocean. Clifton beach, at this moment, is extremely dangerous,” she said.

In a series of messages posted on Tuesday, Shaniera stressed that the media should broad-cast the images of the garbage

piled up on the beach, as it has a duty of care to protect the lives of the people of Karachi.

“Clifton beach, as it stands, is totally unsafe, offi cially hazard-ous and is in state of an emergen-cy,” she warned, urging authori-ties to act to clean up the place.

“Medical waste, syringes, viles of blood that has come in from the ocean has spread across Clifton beach for kilo-metres,” she said, adding that she felt scared.

“I have walked on Clifton beach every day for the last four years and I have never been scared until today. This beach

needs to be shut down now,” Shaniera tweeted.

Right now on Clifton Beach! Please listen to me, this has crossed the line of dangerous! We need to #CloseTheBeachNow #StateOfEmergency #Clifton-BeachIsABioHazardZone

Light rain is expected to con-tinue in diff erent areas of Kara-chi today as the city reels from the impact of a heavy downpour it witnessed on Monday.

The MET offi ce has forecast light spells of rain in the provincial capi-tal throughout the day, however, the city is unlikely to see another heavy spell of rain till later in the week.

InternewsIslamabadActress pledges to clean up Karachi

Actress Mawra Hocane is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and clean her be-

loved city, Karachi.Since last month, the city has

seen an unrelenting spell of rain. During the showers, the spotlight was thrown back on the heaps of trash the city churns out daily, left exposed on roadsides in commer-cial and residential areas.

Further compounding the city’s troubles, the garbage also end up choking the drains and

water-logging the streets of the megacity.

Offi cial promises have been made to clean up the city, but none have so far been kept.

Hocane, a resident of Kara-chi, has heard enough. She is now taking matters into her own hands. “For the city I now call home,” she wrote on Twitter, “I’m back in Karachi this week and will do everything I can in my personal capacity or other-wise to clean up beautiful city.

Inshallah let’s make it greener and cleaner.”

Her tweet was met with an overwhelming response from Karachi’s residents who are just as fed up.

Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, the minister for maritime aff airs, even responded: “Thank u! A glimpse of what he have done so far. This is Mahmoodabad Nala! Sadly garbage is thrown back in it daily, in the dark hours of the night.” (Internews)

PHILIPPINES

21Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Agency offi cial admits error in convicts’ releaseBy Glee JaleaManila Times

An offi cial of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) admitted yesterday that

they erred in releasing thou-sands of prisoners without the approval of the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Regional Supt. Melencio Faustino made the admission af-ter being questioned for hours by members of the House of Repre-sentatives’ Committee on Jus-tice on the release of prisoners under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law.

“I cannot implicate another person here. Yes, we were remiss (in) our duty in transmitting it, but there is a reason behind it (as) we were saddled by several cases fi led before the court and we have very limited number of lawyers,” Faustino said, in es-sence admitting that BuCor of-fi cials defi ed an order issued by the Justice department in 2015 that inmates can only be released with the approval of the Justice secretary.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, co-author of the GCTA Law, said there was crimi-nal negligence in the release of more than 20,000 prisoners.

BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon

did not attend the House hear-ing because he was at the Senate, which was also investigating the same issue.

The House panel slammed the “massive jailbreak” of thousands of high-profi le and ordinary in-mates.

“There is a concurrence of opinion from all sectors that the GCTA Law does not apply to persons convicted of heinous off ences. In other words, there is a massive jailbreak with the con-spiracy and consent of prison of-fi cials to the tune of more than 2,000,” said Albay First District Rep. Edcel Lagman.

“It is virtually a jailbreak not on the part of the inmates, but the conspiracy of offi cials no less than the Director General of Bu-Cor, Nicanor Faeldon,” Lagman added.

Figures presented by Bu-Cor offi cials showed that 2,160 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes were released from 2014 to 2019.

Meanwhile, 18,885 prisoners were released under the GCTA Law from 2013 to 2019.

Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said the government should re-arrest the prisoners who were released illegally.

“As far as the heinous crime convicts who were released

before the full service of their terms, the DoJ has the obligation to correct the mistake and ar-rest the released and incarcerate them again,” he said.

Nograles had asked the Jus-tice panel to direct the BuCor to submit the list of all members of the Management Screening and Evaluation Committee over the past years and the names of convicts convicted of heinous crimes, who have been recom-mended for release.

“What is apparent so far is that there is a clash of purposes and interpretation of the law. Congress intended to reward good prisoners. DoJ and DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) wanted to implement the law, but dropped the ball. BuCor wanted to de-crease the number of prisoners,” Nograles said.

Malacanang yesterday said President Rodrigo Duterte had nothing to do with the release of the prisoners and pinned the blame on the administration of former president Benigno Aqui-no 3rd.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said Republic Act (RA) 10592, the law on expanded good conduct time allowance, was signed in 2013 under Aquino’s leadership.

Its implementing rules and

regulations (IRR) were formu-lated by former Justice secretary and now detained Sen. Leila de Lima, and former Interior secre-tary Manuel Roxas 2nd in 2014.

“Clearly, the law and its IRR were prepared not by the offi -cials of this administration, but by the previous one. The practice of granting GCTA to those con-victed of heinous crimes has also been existent years before PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) assumed his presidential seat,” Panelo said.

The Palace offi cial stressed that it was “unfair” to blame Du-terte for the vague implementa-tion of the GCTA Law.

“The actual computation of GCTA does not pass through the Department of Justice and, therefore, will not even reach the Offi ce of the President,” Panelo said.“We stress that the granting of GCTA is not a form of execu-tive clemency, the awarding of which belongs to the Offi ce of the President. The buck in this case stops with the Bureau of Corrections,” he added.

Panelo issued the statement in response to the appeal of Thelma Chiong, mother of two women who were raped and killed in the 1990s, to the President not to release the men who killed her daughters.

Faeldon confi rmed during

Monday’s Senate hearing that convicts Josman Aznar, Ariel Balansag and Alberto Caño were released from the New Bilibid Prison in August.

“We take note of the comment of Congressman Rufus Rodrigu-ez that the bill they passed in the lower house was only limited to deducting preventive imprison-ment from the sentence of the accused. The expanded law on GCTA was the Senate’s idea. Perhaps the insertion made by the Senate is one of the reasons the drafting of RA 10592 resulted in a legislative measure, which appeared ambiguous at fi rst glance to its enforcers,” Panelo said.

The Palace also urged the DoJ to study the possibility of rear-resting the convicts released under the GCTA Law, but were disqualifi ed from eligibility such as those convicted of heinous crimes.

Meanwhile, Panelo said Du-terte would retain BuCor offi -cials pending the investigation of the issue.

“The president will maintain the status quo until the congres-sional hearings are concluded. He will be monitoring the con-duct of the legislative inves-tigation and give appropriate consideration to the fi ndings of Congress,” he said.

Poverty worsens plastics crisis in the PhilippinesReuters Manila

Armed with gloves, rubber boots and a rake, “Man-grove Warrior” Willer

Gualva, 68, comes to Freedom Island in the Philippines almost every day to stop it being en-gulfed by trash.

No one lives on the island, yet each morning its shores are covered in garbage, much of it single-use sachets of shampoo, toothpaste, detergent and coff ee that are carried out to sea by the rivers of overcrowded Manila.

“We collect mostly plastics here and the number one type are sachets,” said Gualva, one of 17 people employed by the envi-ronment agency to help preserve the island and its forest.

The agency, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), calls them “Mangrove Warriors”, and pays them slightly above $8 per day.

Five days of coastal cleanup on the Manila Bay island last month yielded a total of 16,000 kg of trash, DENR data showed, the bulk of it plastics, including the sachets made of aluminium and blends of plastics.

These packets give some of the poorest people in Asia access to everyday household essentials.

For the multinationals that manufacture them, it’s a way to increase sales by targeting cus-tomers who cannot aff ord bigger quantities.

Such sachets are sold in most

developing countries but the number consumed in the Phil-ippines is staggering — 163mn pieces a day, according to a re-cent study by environment group The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). That’s almost 60bn sachets a year, or enough to cover 130,000 soccer fi elds.

In Manila’s slum areas which are inaccessible to gar-bage trucks, sachets and other waste are thrown in estuaries or dumped on the street, and end up clogging drains and water-ways. “Money is hard to come by, so I only buy sachets,” said Lisa Jorillo, 42, a mother of four who lives in a slum in Manila’s Tondo area, behind a beach blanketed by trash.

“It’s likely the garbage will still be there when my son grows up,”

Jorillo said, referring to her four-year-old. The Philippines’ law on solid waste is poorly enforced and the country doesn’t regulate packaging manufacturing.

The country is ranked third in the world for failing to deal with its plastics, according to a 2015 study by the University of Georgia, which said 81% of plastics waste in the country was mismanaged. About 14mn peo-ple live in Metro Manila, one of Asia’s teeming mega-cities.

Overall, the Philippines has a population of 107mn people, and one-fi fth of them live below the national poverty line, de-scribed by the statistics agency as monthly consumption of less than $241 per person.

Jorillo’s family earns about 2,500 pesos ($48) a week from the construction work that her

husband does, and she and her family buy about 80 sachets of coff ee, toothpaste and shampoo each month.

In sea-facing Manila, much of the trash ends up in the sea.

The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China account for 60% of the world’s marine plastic, or 8mn tonnes annually, according to the Ocean Conservancy non-profi t.

Environmentalists say the main culprits aren’t governments or consumers, but the multination-als that churn out plastic pack-aging. “They have money to do research that will remove the problematic packaging,” said So-nia Mendoza, head of the Mother Earth Foundation, which pro-motes waste reduction.

She said refi lling stations could be one way to reduce the use of single-use sachets.

The environmental group GAIA studied non-recyclable waste col-lected in Philippine cleanups and found that 60% of it came from just 10 companies, led by Nestle, Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

Nestle declined to disclose the volume of sachets it produced or sold in the Philippines.

Nestle said it was committed to fi nding ways to keep plastics out of oceans through plastic collec-tion and recycling programmes, but added that sachets prevented leakage of micro-nutrients essen-tial to addressing malnutrition, especially among children.

Unilever did not say how many sachets it produces in the Philip-pines, but said its global plastic

packaging production is 610,000 tonnes annually.

The fi gure, Unilever said, in-cludes “fl exible packaging for-mats” used by 1mn micro-busi-nesses in the Philippines.

Nestle and Unilever’s target is for 100% of their packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025 worldwide. Unilever said it has a community-based sachet recov-ery programme in the Philippines where collected sachets are con-verted to school chairs and ce-ment pavers.

It also pilot ran shampoo and conditioner refi lling stations this year, which it plans to scale up.

P&G referred questions to the industry group Philippine Alli-ance for Recycling and Materi-als Sustainability (PARMS) or the government’s National Solid

Waste Management Commis-sion (NSWMC).The Philippines government does not have a clear strategy to tackle its plastics crisis.

In an e-mail response to Reu-ters, the DENR said it was in dis-cussions with all manufacturers to identify ways to manage waste.

It provided no details.Elsewhere in the region, Indo-

nesia has a law requiring produc-ers to manage non-biodegradable packaging and the tourist island of Bali bans single-use plastics.

Thailand is between now and 2025 introducing bans on seven types of plastics most commonly found in the ocean, like bottle cap seals, disposable bags, cups and straws.

Vietnam hopes to raise taxes on plastic bags and its prime minis-ter has urged shops to stop using

non-recyclable plastics in cities by 2021, and countrywide by 2025.

The Philippines industry group PARMS, which includes Unilever, P&G and Nestle among its mem-bers, is building a 25mn pesos ($475,000) facility that aims to turn sachets into plastic blocks and eco-bricks.

But Von Hernandez, global co-ordinator for the Break Free From Plastic movement, calls that “greenwashing” — or only trying to appear more environmentally friendly.

“They are not really chang-ing the true nature of their busi-ness,” Hernandez said of the multinationals.”The plastics in-dustry is slated to grow exponen-tially, especially by 2030.

The bulk of that is going to packaging and you can bet this is going to end up in sachets.”

Crispian Lao, president of PARMS, said every eff ort, even those which “may be perceived as small and insignifi cant”, helps ad-dress the problem. Lao said sachets were a necessity for lower income groups, but added the industry is exploring other delivery formats and packaging alternatives.

Cynthia Villar, a senator, says she is pushing for a radical re-write of an existing waste law to force fi rms to collect, recycle and dispose of all single-use plastics they produce.

“They always say they’re will-ing to do it. But it’s a diff erent story altogether whether they’ll do it, so we have to embody it in a law so they’ll all follow,” Villar told Reuters.

‘Bakawan warrior’ Evangeline Acab, 49, picks up trash from a beach in Freedom Island, Paranaque City.

Sachets of Nestle’s Nescafe coff ee and Unilever’s Sunsilk shampoo are pictured amidst a garbage-filled shore on Freedom Island, Paranaque City, Metro Manila.

Workers paint life-size superhero statues at a shop in Manila, yesterday. The statues are usually exhibited in comic and toy conventions and range from $1,000 to $1,500.

Superhero obsession Court opposes Valdez, Napoles challenge in plunder caseBy Ma RL TolentinoManila Times

The Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division has de-nied the petitions of

former Association of Philip-pine Electric Co-operatives party-list Rep. Edgar Valdez and Janet Lim Napoles to fi le demurrers to evidence in the plunder case they are facing in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” scam citing “replete evidence.”

The Offi ce of the Ombuds-man fi led the case in 2015 before the Sandiganbayan, alleging that the former law-maker received “commis-sions and kickbacks” totaling P57.787 million from Napoles and/or her representative.

The anti-graft court, in dis-missing their petitions, said there was ample evidence against the two accused.

“A scrutiny of the records demonstrates that there is sufficient evidence show-ing that Valdez accumulated more than the amount of P50,000,000 from his PDAF-funded projects from 2004 to 2010,” the court said in its 34-page resolution promul-

gated on Aug 28, 2019. “The case before us is replete with evidence that would warrant a conviction if not rebutted by the defense,” it added.

“At this point, the bur-den of evidence shifts to the defence to disprove what the prosecution has shown by evidence, or to prove by evidence the circumstances showing that the accused did not commit the crime charged or cannot otherwise be held liable therefore,” the court said.

The Sandiganbayan set the defence’s presentation of evi-dence on Sept 12, 2019.

A demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss, challenging the suffi ciency of the evidence presented by the prosecution during trial.

“The above fi ndings of the CoA-SAO are strong indicators that there are indeed anoma-lous transactions involving the PDAF of Valdez. Moreover, there are numerous evidence pointing to the fact that there are bogus NGOs (non-govern-ment organisations), which were the purported benefi ciar-ies of the projects,” the court said, referring to the Commis-sion on Audit-Special Audits Offi ce.

Albayalde berates cop held in drug bustManila Times Manila

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albay-alde yesterday scolded

the policeman arrested in a drug buy-bust operation in Muntin-lupa.

“Look, look at yourself… If you are being shamed, you all get angry. Now, who is now be-ing shamed? You or us or other people or other police,” Albay-alde told Patrolman Leo Valdez. “Video is now viral… People will say all police are like you?” the PNP chief told the policeman who was bowing his head.

Albayalde ordered the imme-diate dismissal of Valdez from the service.

“Make sure he will be dis-

missed. The fastest,” Albayalde told police.

Valdez was arrested at 10:05 pm on Monday in a joint opera-tion of the Philippine National Police–Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) and the Intelligence Group in co-ordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). Valdez was caught on video sniffi ng shabu on two occasions, which was presented to the media.

Valdez became policeman in 2007. He was reinstated in 2017 after going Absent Without Of-fi cial Leave (AWOL) in 2014 for his alleged use of illegal drugs.

Valdez was part of the Re-gional Mobile Force Battalion of the National Capital Region Police Offi ce (NCRPO). Valdez is detained at the PNP-IMEG.

By Gary Younge Washington, DC

A few months after the 2016 election, 29-year-old Emily Marburger posted an update on a private Facebook group,

Pantsuit Nation, that had been set up to support Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid.

“Like the rest of us last November, I woke up to a situation I didn’t know existed,” she wrote. “I knew I had to get involved. I felt driven to help. But I never imagined I’d fi nd myself, at 29, running for Mayor in the heated Democratic primary in my tiny square mile borough of 8,000 (just outside Pittsburgh).”

The incumbent mayor of Marburger’s small Pennsylvania town of Bellevue was an open Trump supporter. His sole opponent – until Marburger entered the race – was a conservative pastor.

“I thought: No. This Can’t Happen,” Marburger wrote. “The main criticism (so far) is that I don’t have the experience. Here’s what I say to that: Yes, I do have the experience. Yes, I can do this job.”

Marburger’s post went viral. Donations fl ooded in from as far away as Hawaii. She raised $10,000 in 48 hours. The incumbent mayor was knocked out in the fi rst round. Marburger won the second round easily. From the debris of Clinton’s loss Marburger had built an unexpected triumph.

Her experience is by no means exceptional. Trump’s win was a devastating setback for American progressives. But it has also galvanised them in ways a Clinton victory would

not have, stoking them to campaign, advocate, donate or run for offi ce – to engage politically in ways and at levels they never previously imagined. Put bluntly, there’s a lot going on with the left in America, producing a realignment that is at one and the same time ideological and structural.

The pressure is both leftwards and downwards with the balance of power shifting towards the grassroots while demands for Medicare for All, free college tuition, less corporate donations and a Green New Deal are no longer routinely dismissed as fringe but embraced by many 2020 candidates.

There is a moment in Knock Down the House, a documentary that follows four candidates challenging established party operatives in the 2018 Democratic congressional primaries, when the future New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comforts Amy Vilela, who was running in Nevada.

As Vilela realises she is going to lose, Ocasio-Cortez, who has yet to be elected, reminds her that the odds were always stacked against them. “It’s not about any one of us, individually,” she tells Vilela. “It’s about the – the whole movement. It’s just the reality that in order for one of us to make it through, 100 of us have to try.”

During a 10-day journey across the US talking to activists, mayors, academics, trade unionists, city and state representatives, it is clear that thousands of Democrats, progressives, liberals and socialists have been “trying” in a range of ways. Many, like Marburger, have broken through.

“I was the only one running on the Democratic ticket who was actually a Democrat,” she explains. “I ran with a

message that I wanted to bring a new energy, a new perspective and a new direction to what the mayor was doing. The fact that I won I think shows that the town was ready for that kind of change. It was really only after I won the primary that I began to feel like there was someone bigger happening and that this might be part of it.”

Almost half the incumbent mayors in the area were voted out that day.

I met Marburger in Superior Motors restaurant in Braddock, a former mill town just outside Pittsburgh that has lost 90% of its population since the 1950s and is now down to just a couple thousand, a third of whom live in poverty.

Superior Motors, situated in what was once a car dealership, was the fi rst restaurant to open in the town, in 20 years. Set up with Kickstarter money and in premises owned and donated rent-free by the then mayor, John Fetterman, it off ers job training to local people and a discount to local people who eat there. It’s high-end and struggled at fi rst but took off after a positive review from the celebrated, late TV food critic Anthony Bourdain.

Fetterman lives upstairs. Only now he is the lieutenant governor, following a campaign supported by Bernie Sanders. His wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, joined us for dinner. Barreto Fetterman came to the US from Brazil as a child with her mother and was undocumented. For this she receives regular threats and daily hate mail. She pulls out her cellphone to show us a picture of a man who has threatened her recently. He has been violent before, she has been told by her security detail, so it is a credible threat and she needs to know what he looks like.

Like most evenings discussing politics with progressives in the US, the conversation swings a bit like this – between buoyed spirits at how much is changing, how many new possibilities are emerging and the breakthroughs that are taking place, but also what dark times these are, how scary things have become and how bad things might get. Everyone around the table thinks Trump could win again; half of those at the table think he will.

Such is the dialectical pivot between hope and fear, risk and opportunity, progress and reaction that has put the American left in a mood that is both feisty and fragile. Quite where this is all going in terms of a national agenda, the Democratic party, a presidential candidate or the presidential election is not yet clear.

The four largest demonstrations in American history have taken place in the last two-and-a-half years, and 40% of the country, including 55% of women aged between 18 and 54, say they prefer socialism to capitalism. Meanwhile the leading contender for the Democratic nomination is former vice-president Joe Biden – one of the most moderate with the strongest ties to the establishment.

Trump may have been a catalyst for much of it, but he does not entirely defi ne the response – many Democrats are seeking to do that on their own.

“I don’t think there’s any foregone conclusions here,” explains Daniel Biss, a former Illinois state senator, House representative and gubernatorial candidate. “The progressive heart of the Democratic electorate is getting bolder. It is less and less satisfi ed with getting told: ‘Shut up. Sit down.’” - Guardian News and Media

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 2019

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEFFaisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka

Deputy Managing EditorK T Chacko

Hard Brexit: UK economy braces for a no-deal break-up

The Brexit saga has got more dramatic and a lot more confusing.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “do-or-die” pledge to exit the European Union by October 31 has increased the likelihood for the hardest form of Brexit, one with no deal in place at all.

Without a formal withdrawal accord at the time of the divorce, the UK will lose frictionless, duty-free access to the EU, the world’s largest trading bloc. The UK-EU trade relationship would immediately revert to commercial rules negotiated in 1995 by members of the World Trade Organisation.

It would mean new tariff s on UK exports to the EU, traffi c-snarling customs controls at ferry terminals, in addition to a multitude of other free-trade restrictions.

Some UK lawmakers paint this as a disaster for the British economy, while others see an opportunity for an unshackled Britain to pursue better trade terms with other nations.

With a hard Brexit, as a matter of fact, trade in goods and services would no longer be frictionless and tariff -free between the UK and the 27 remaining countries of the EU.

British carmakers would face a 10% tariff on all car exports to the EU. Those levies could exceed €5.7bn

($6.3bn) per year.Service industries,

from fi nance, pensions and accounting to legal and medical advice, make up 79% of the British economy and 45% of UK exports. Without an exit deal, UK service providers would lose their preferential access to European

markets and could be subject to new and disruptive compliance requirements. Absent any transitional agreements, Brexit could disrupt supplies of medication, impact UK house prices, and make it more diffi cult to travel or study abroad. The severity of the disruption at the EU border could even spark a yearlong recession, according to Dan Hanson of Bloomberg Economics.

A hard Brexit will depress business investments by as much as 2% in 2019, according to the Bank of England, with a further drop expected in 2020. Britain’s central bank also said a no-deal Brexit could, in the worst case, shrink the UK’s gross domestic product by 8% within a year.

Some UK lawmakers dismiss the warning as part of anti-Brexit campaigns they’ve dubbed “project fear.”

London’s outsized role in the global insurance industry is also being whittled down by Brexit. As much as £61bn ($75bn) of business is shifting to rival fi nancial centres in the EU.

The Brexit imbroglio is undermining London’s coveted status as the global fi nancial hub.

The “City,” home to over 250 foreign banks and the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, has been facing a crisis ever since the vote on June 23, 2016. An Ernst & Young report in June 2017 predicted a loss of 232,000 fi nancial jobs in Britain as a result of Brexit.

All Brexit options would involve costs, but a no-deal goodbye would be costlier, infl icting “substantial costs for the UK economy, and to a lesser extent the EU economies,” according to the International Monetary Fund.

The impact has been compared to “downshifting a car at full speed from fi fth gear to fi rst.”

A no-deal Brexit could shrink the UK’s GDP by 8% within a year, according to the Bank of England

American left: fragile and feisty, hopeful and fearful

Demonstrators protest against then president-elect Donald Trump outside the Trump Tower building in midtown Manhattan in New York, on March 19, 2016.

COMMENT

Gulf Times Wednesday, September 4, 2019 23

The twilight of the global orderBy Ana Palacio Madrid

We live in an era of hyper-bole, in which gripping accounts of monumental triumphs and devastat-

ing disasters take precedence over realistic discussions of incremental progress and gradual erosion.

But in international relations, as in anything, crises and breakthroughs are only part of the story; if we fail also to notice less sensational trends, we may well find ourselves in serious trouble – potentially after it is too late to escape.

The recent G7 Summit in Biarritz, France, is a case in point.

Despite some positive developments – French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, was praised for keeping his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in check – little was achieved.

And, beyond the question of sub-stantive results, the summit’s structure portends a progressive erosion of international co-operation – a slow, steady chipping away at the global order.

It is somewhat ironic that the G7 presages the future, because it is in many ways a relic of the past.

Formed in the 1970s, at the height of the Cold War, it was supposed to serve as a forum for the major developed economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the G7 continued to shape global govern-ance on issues ranging from debt relief to peace operations and global health.

In 1997, the G7 became the G8, with the addition of Russia.

Still, the body epitomised an era of Western pre-eminence in an institu-tionalised liberal world order in full bloom.

That era is long gone.The 2008 fi nancial crisis hobbled

the body’s core members, which, together with the rise of the emerging economies, especially China, meant that the group no longer possessed the critical mass required to guide world aff airs.

The larger and more diverse G20, formed in 1999, thus gradually over-took the G8, formally replacing the lat-ter as the world’s permanent interna-tional economic forum a decade later.

In an increasingly complex and divided global environment, the G20’s fl exible policymaking style – including a preference for non-binding commit-ments – was regarded as more viable than the hard-law methods of older multilateral institutions.

The G8 drifted along as a mere caucus.

When Russia’s G8 membership was suspended in 2014 – a response to its invasion of Ukraine and annexa-tion of Crimea – it became even less weighty, though more cohesive, with its members sharing a more consistent worldview. (Some, including Trump, now call for Russia’s reintroduction to the group.)

But even that slight advantage was demolished with Trump’s election in 2016.

His administration began attack-ing allies and rejecting shared rules, norms, and values.

The situation reached a nadir at the 2018 G7 Summit in Quebec, where a petulant Trump criticised his host, Ca-nadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and publicly disavowed the summit’s fi nal communiqué as soon as it was issued.

Against that backdrop, this year’s summit in Biarritz elicited great trepi-dation.

With little hope for consensus on any consequential issue, the meet-ing’s French hosts focused on keeping

up appearances, choosing expediency over impact.

Goals were kept vague.In fact, Macron announced before

the event that there would be no fi nal statement, declaring that “nobody reads communiqués.”

But that decision represented a major loss.

Final communiqués are policy docu-ments, providing important signals about signifi cant compromises to the

international community.The 2018 declaration, which Trump

rejected, was 4,000 words long, identifying a set of shared priorities and common approaches to addressing them.

The Biarritz summit, by contrast, ended with a 250-word statement that was so vague and anodyne as to be all but meaningless.

On Iran, for example, G7 lead-ers could agree only that they “fully

share two objectives: to ensure that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons and to foster peace and stability in the region.” On Hong Kong, they reaf-fi rmed “the existence and importance of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 on Hong Kong” and called hol-lowly “for violence to be avoided.” On Ukraine, France and Germany prom-ised to organise a summit “to achieve tangible results.”

To be sure, some positive steps were

taken in Biarritz.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed

Javad Zarif’s surprise appearance created a potential opening for future US-Iran talks.

Pressure was placed on Brazil to respond to the fi res that are decimating the Amazon.

And the US and France broke an im-passe over a French tax on tech giants.

But any high-level international gathering produces these kinds of limited actions, merely by facilitating interaction among world leaders.

Many have recognised the short-comings of the latest G7 summit.

But, drawn to calamity as we so often are, assessments often centre on the body’s possible collapse next year, when the G7 summit will be hosted in the US by Trump, who will go nowhere near the lengths to which Macron went to hold the last one together. (On the contrary, Trump’s interest in the sum-mit seems to revolve around his desire to hold it at his struggling golf resort in Doral, Florida.)

But this perspective fails to recog-nise the full implications of the Biarritz summit: it signals a broader shift in international governance away from concrete policy co-operation towards vague statements and ad hoc solutions.

To some extent, the G20 pioneered this approach, but at least it had vision and a set direction.

That can no longer be expected.Unless leaders take stock of the

current trend, the conclusion of the Biarritz summit will be a marker of the world order’s future – ending not with a bang, but with a whimper.

– Project Syndicate

Ana Palacio is former Minister of Foreign Aff airs of Spain and former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group. She is a visiting lecturer at Georgetown University.

Cancer overtakes heart disease as biggest rich-world killer

Bolsonaro promoting sustainabledevelopment of Amazon region

Live issues

ReutersLondon

Cancer has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in wealthy coun-tries and could become the

world’s biggest killer within just a few decades if current trends persist, researchers said yesterday.

Publishing the fi ndings of two large studies in The Lancet medical journal, the scientists said they showed evidence of a new global “epidemiologic transi-tion” between diff erent types of chronic disease.

While cardiovascular disease re-mains, for now, the leading cause of

mortality worldwide among middle-aged adults – accounting for 40% of all deaths – that is no longer the case in high-income countries, where cancer now kills twice as many people as heart disease, the findings showed.

“Our report found cancer to be the second most common cause of death globally in 2017, accounting for 26% of all deaths. But as (heart disease) rates continue to fall, cancer could likely become the leading cause of death worldwide, within just a few decades,” said Gilles Dagenais, a professor at Quebec’s Laval University in Canada who co-led the work.

Of an estimated 55mn deaths in the world in 2017, the researchers said,

around 17·7mn were due to cardiovas-cular disease – a group of conditions that includes heart failure, angina, heart attack and stroke.

Around 70% of all cardiovascular cases and deaths are due to modifi able risks such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diet, smoking and other lifestyle factors.

In high-income countries, common treatment with cholesterol-lowering statins and blood-pressure medi-cines have helped bring rates of heart disease down dramatically in the past few decades.

Dagenais’ team said their fi nd-ings suggest that the higher rates of heart disease deaths in low-income countries may be mainly due to a lower

quality of healthcare.The research found fi rst hospitalisa-

tion rates and heart disease medication use were both substantially lower in poorer and middle-income countries than in wealthy ones.

The research was part of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epide-miologic (PURE) study, published in The Lancet and presented at the ESC Congress in Paris.

Countries analysed included Ar-gentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cana-da, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe.

By Roberto AbdallaAmbassador of Brazil to Qatar

I would like to make reference to the editorial “Amazon is burning and Brazilian President Bolsonaro doesn’t care”, published on

August 29, 2019. Allow me to clarify some of the information presented in that article in order to contribute to a more precise understanding of what is currently happening in the Amazon forest. It is also worth mentioning the decisions taken by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is actively engaged not only in controlling the fi res but also in promoting the sustainable de-velopment of the Amazon region.

Therefore, it is not accurate, as mentioned, that Brazil has returned to a policy of deforestation. On the contrary, there has been a signifi cant reduction in deforestation rates in the Amazon region: from 27,700 sq km in 2004 to 7,500sq km in 2018 (a 72% reduction). Last February, Brazil became the fi rst country to receive payments from the Green Climate Fund, amounting to $96mn, for environmental services of deforestation reduction.

Regarding the reasons that led to the fi res in the Amazon, it is important to take into account that forest fi res happen every year in Brazil, especially during the dry season, which com-prises July, August and September. Almost all the fi res registered in 2019 are level 1, the lowest in a scale that goes up to 3.

As of August 16, 2019, satellite data from renowned sources, such as Nasa’s Earth Observatory, show that total fi re activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average in

comparison to the past 18 years. It also points that the number of fi res does not represent a historical or unprec-edented record.

Regarding the statement that Brazil-ian forests are burnt to grow food, it is important to bear in mind that, in recent decades, Brazil has developed the capacity to balance agricultural production with environmental pres-ervation.

Over 60% of the Brazilian territory of 8,5mn sq km is covered by native vegetation, with farming limited to around 30% of the territory, 8% of which is devoted to the country’s ag-riculture and around 22% to livestock

(a much lower rate than many other countries). Brazil is one of the coun-tries with the largest extent of protect-ed areas, according to the “Protected Planet Report 20161’ by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC).

Out of the 30% of the Brazilian ter-ritory dedicated to farming activities, less than a third (9%) is dedicated to crops and planted forests, a fi gure lower than the total of indigenous lands (13,8% of the territory). The remainder of this area is devoted to extensive livestock activities.

The Brazilian Forest Code requires

all rural estates to preserve the native vegetation in 80% of their land, if the land is situated within the Amazon biome; 35%, if it is in the transitional area between the Cerrado and the Amazon biomes; and 20% in the other biomes. This makes Brazil the only country in the world with conserva-tion requirements whereby farmers are responsible for the conservation of a great deal of the territory, without receiving any fi nancial compensation in exchange.

President Bolsonaro is strongly committed to the Brazilian Constitu-tion, which guarantees the original rights of indigenous peoples to the lands they traditionally inhabit. There are currently 600 units of indigenous land in Brazil, covering over 1mn sq km (118mn hectares) - 13% of the national territory and 23% of the legal Amazon.

Regarding the concern raised about the release of the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, let me clarify that Brazil is the only country among the large developing ones to have adopted absolute emission reduction targets for its economy as a whole. Likewise, Brazil’s commitments are more ambi-tious than those of several developed G20 member states. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, only three G20 member states are on track to full compli-ance with their respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), namely Brazil, Japan and China.

Brazil, as a sovereign country, re-mains open to work with the interna-tional community as long as decisions involving its territory, its resources, and most important, its people, be taken in co-ordination with the Brazil-ian government.

French President Emmanuel Macron was praised for keeping his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in check at the summit.

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Bolsonaro: committed to the Brazilian Constitution

24 Gulf TimesWednesday, September 4, 2019

QATAR

Fanfare marks unveiling of World Cup 2022 emblem The unveiling of the logo

for the 2022 FIFA World Cup was marked by

fanfare in Doha that included a procession of soldiers on horseback watched by a large crowd.

“The logo is very elegant and showing local culture with the (burgundy) colour of the Qa-tari flag,” Algerian hospitality worker Mourad Bencheikh, 36, told AFP as visitors crowded

to photograph the new brand-ing. The emblem was also displayed in Madrid, Buenos Aires and Beirut along with several other major cities.

“This one is unique for Qa-tar,” said Sri Lankan quantity surveyor Mohamed Fairoos, 30, as he and a group of friends took a selfie in front of the Na-tional Archives projection.

“It’s wonderful.” The 2022 event will be held in November

and December. Of the eight stadiums Qatar is building or refurbishing for 2022, Khalifa International was already open and will host this year’s World Athletics Championships.

Tens of thousands of spec-tators are expected to descend on Qatar ahead of the tourna-ment which begins on Sep-tember 27.

A major road overhaul is also underway across Doha to ex-

pand capacity at key junctions and traffic hotspots. Parts of an ambitious metro rail project opened to the public in May. The rest of the three-line net-work expected to be launched in 2020 – well ahead of the tournament.

The network will connect nearly all of Qatar’s stadiums, transport hubs and tourist at-tractions, when it is complet-ed. — AFP

Congratulations pour in from foreign envoysThe Chinese, Italian, and

Indian ambassadors have off ered their congratula-

tions on the unveiling of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 emblem yesterday. Chinese ambassador Zhou Jian: “Congratulations to the stunning debut of the 2022 World Cup logo.

It is an extraordinary design which also coincides with Chi-nese culture. It resembles a knot in looking, which implies unity in Chinese. It is also in the shape of 8, which in China is a number for prosperity and development. We heartily wish that the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be a gathering of unity and success, one that will bring more peace and develop-

ment to the world.” Italian am-bassador Pasquale Salzano: “I would like to congratulate Qatar and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy for success-fully presenting the 2022 FIFA World Cup logo, which will be the emblem of the football tour-nament.

“I am very excited that also Italy took part in this worldwide celebration by projecting the logo on the iconic monument ‘Arco della Pace’ in Milan. This is indeed a successful achievement for Qatar on the way to Doha 2022, a very special moment that marks the great commitment of the country to deliver a memora-ble World Cup.”

Indian ambassador P Ku-maran said: “We are excited at the unveiling of the 2022 FIFA World Cup logo. I am happy that a prominent building in Mumbai was chosen as one of the 20 loca-tions for the launch.

“Qatar’s preparations for the World Cup and the development of the necessary infrastructure are moving ahead briskly. If past events are an indication, I have no doubt that the World Cup in Qatar will be an exemplary spec-tacle. “The Indian community in Qatar wishes Qatar the best and is happy to extend all possible support to the Qatari authorities for the successful hosting of the World Cup.”

AFC president praises Qatar’s preparednessQNAKuala Lumpur

President of the Asian Foot-ball Confederation (AFC) and First Vice-President of

FIFA Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifah congratulated Qatar on revealing the offi cial emblem of 2022 FIFA World Cup.

He stressed that this occasion represents an important sym-bolic step to accelerate the pace of preparations towards the or-ganisation of the fi rst World Cup football in the Middle East.

Sheikh al-Khalifah praised the outstanding arrangements made by the Supreme Committee for De-

livery & Legacy (SC) in completing the launch of the offi cial emblem of 2022 FIFA World Cup. He pointed out that the initiative to display the slogan in many countries of the world in conjunction with its launch in Doha translates the global foot-ball big event, and contributes to enhancing the state of passion and anticipation among members of the global football family three years before the start of the tournament.

The AFC president expressed his confi dence in Qatar’s abil-ity to host the 2022 World Cup by the highest standards of the international organisation, re-iterating the support of the AFC to the eff orts to organise the best World Cup in the history of world

football. Sheikh al-Khalifah ex-pressed his satisfaction with the increasing pace of work in infra-structure projects and the estab-lishment of stadiums for hosting the 2022 World Cup.

He pointed out that this re-fl ects the proper planning adopt-ed by Qatar since presenting the bid to host the tournament. The AFC president praised SC’s ef-forts and role in advancing the preparations for the organisation of the World Cup.

He pointed out that the pro-fessionalism that characterises SC’s work represents a fertile ground for completing the host-ing arrangements with all excel-lence and competence.

Dignitaries hail launch of emblem

Hassan al-Thawadi, Secretary-General, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy: This evening marks another important step in our journey toward hosting the first FIFA World Cup to be held in the Middle East and the Arab World. Our dream is becoming a reality.

Cafu, former Brazilian footballer and World Cup winner: A beautiful emblem which showcases the culture of Qatar and the region. I’m excited to be part of this project and can’t wait to see Brazil team take to the fi eld in 2022!

Qatar 2022 emblem unveiled digitally around the worldThe off icial emblem of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was unveiled digitally across all Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and FIFA platforms, and across jumbo screens and iconic buildings around the world yesterday at 20:22 Doha time. The emblem was projected onto a number of iconic buildings in Doha. Some of the locations included Katara, Souq Waqif, Sheraton Hotel and Torch Doha, according to information

provided by the SC.The emblem was projected onto a number of iconic buildings and touristic sites around the region at 20:22 Doha time. They were Kuwait – Kuwait Towers; Oman – Oman Opera House; Lebanon – Al Rawsha Rock; Jordan – Le Royal Amman Hotel; Iraq – Baghdad Tower; Tunisia – Hammamat City; Algeria – Algeria Opera House; Morocco – Al Rebat Cornish.Also, the logo was unveiled across jumbo screens around

the world. They included Argentina – General Paz y 15 de Agosto, Buenos Aires; Brazil – Metro Domination Se Station, Sao Paulo; Chile – Av Kennedy/Padre Hurtado, Santiago; England – Westfield Stratford City/Four Dials, Westfield Square @ Westfield London, Canary Wharf and Leicester Square; France – Gare du Nord, Paris; Germany – Berlin Railway Station; India – Babulnath Junction, Mumbai; Italy – Sempione, Arco della

pace, Milano; Mexico – Principal streets in Mexico City; Russia – Noviy Arbat 2, Moscow; South Africa – Alice Lane, Sandton, Johannesburg; South Korea – Coex Crown, Seoul; Spain – Callao, Madrid; Turkey – City Screens across 10 districts including Yildz, Zuharatbaba, Bahcesehir Kism, Tasdelen, Mimar sinan, Caferaga, Harbiye, Merkez, Barbarros and Levazim; US – Times Square, Broadway between 44th and 45th F/W, New York.

Katara — the Cultural Village Foundation. PICTURE: Jayaram

Ministry of Interior headquarters. (From MoI Twitter page)

Katara – the Cultural Village Foundation. PICTURE: Jayaram

Unveiling 2022 emblemconfirms Qatar’s brilliant success: sports ministerHE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanim bin Nasser al-Ali said that the unveiling of the 2022 FIFA World Cup emblem confirms the remarkable success achieved by State of Qatar in all fields and levels, including sports. In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), HE the minister expressed his pride in the symbolism of the emblem that linked the Qatari identity to the cultures of the world and highlighted the authenticity of the Arab culture through the elegance and vitality of the Arabic calligraphy.HE the minister expressed his thanks and appreciation for the sincere eff orts of the Qatari youth in reflecting the honourable image of Qatar through the Arab World Cup. The Ministry of Culture and Sports celebrated the unveiling of the emblem at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena amidst the atmosphere of great happiness, which was revealed by the disclosure of

the emblem on sports fans around the world, especially football fans.The Ministry of Culture and Sports participated in the celebration of the world event as the Qatar 2022 World Cup is an opportunity to demonstrate Qatari values in the belief in cultural diversity and to ensure rapprochement between peoples. Qatar is firmly moving towards achieving its set noble goals in all fields internally and externally, at the heart of which is the sport through inauguration of the World Cup, which will be held in Qatar in 2022.This participation is for a bright future for sport in Qatar and around the world, and a reflection of the significant shift that Qatar is making in sports. This is translated globally by following this unique sporting event, which attracts a wide audience in diff erent countries worldwide.Furthermore, the ministry’s participation reflects Qatar’s determination to move

forward in a steady manner towards achieving the stages of the international sporting merit, as planned. Aisha al-Mahmoud, Head of Public Relations and Communication at the Ministry of Culture and Sports, expressed her delight at the ministry’s participation in launching this emblem as one of edifices of the Ministry of Sports within the places and sites witnessed the inauguration of the emblem, which reflects the ministry’s keenness to participate in this important sporting event at the local and international levels, where all football fans are eager for this extraordinary moment in the history of the World Cup.She noted that the launch of this emblem reflects the ability of Qatar to achieve all sports challenges, and move steadily towards the organisation of a distinctive World Cup, befitting all Arab countries, the most famous sports tournament in the world. (QNA)