In brief

THURSDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10660

December 7, 2017Rabia I 19, 1439 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals GULF TIMES

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QCB reserves morethan required forsupporting riyal

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Sailiya hope to halt losing run against Duhail

QATAR | Diplomacy

Emir to meet Frenchpresident todayHis Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron who arrives in Doha this morning on an off icial visit to Qatar. During the meeting at the Emiri Diwan His Highness the Emir will discuss with the French president ways to consolidate the distinguished relations of friendship and co-operation between the two countries. They will also discuss a number of regional and international issues of common concern.

QATAR | Phone call

Emir, British PMdiscuss bilateral tiesHis Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani received a phone call from British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday evening. Talks during the phone conversation dealt with the bilateral relations and means of enhancing co-operation, as well as the latest regional and international developments.

QATAR | Offi cial

Emir congratulatesFinland’s presidentHis Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and His Highness the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani sent yesterday cables of congratulations to Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto on the anniversary of his country’s Independence Day. HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani also sent a similar cable to Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

EUROPE | Politics

Putin announces runfor re-election in 2018Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that he will seek another term in off ice in next year’s presidential election. “Yes, I will run as a candidate for the Russian presidency.” Page 21

Protesters wave Palestinian and Turkish flags during a demonstration against the US and Israel in front of the US consulate in Istanbul yesterday. Hundreds of people protested outside the consulate denouncing the US president’s move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Qatar off ers Kuwait chance to host Gulf Cup

Emir warns US presidentof serious repercussions

MSCI to use local FX rates for Qatari riyal in its indices

Worldwideoutrage overTrump moveon Jerusalem

By Anil JohnSports Editor

In a grand gesture combining great sportsmanship with diplomatic maturity that has been the hallmark

of Qatar’s dealings with its neighbours throughout the ongoing blockade, the country has off ered Kuwait the oppor-tunity to host the prestigious regional Gulf Cup football tournament.

The off er was made by Qatar Foot-ball Association president Sheikh Ha-mad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani yesterday and comes in the wake of FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s an-nouncement that the ban imposed on

Kuwait over alleged government inter-ference has been lifted after the coun-try’s parliament passed a new sports law on Sunday in accordance with the world football governing body’s re-quirements.

The Gulf Cup was scheduled to begin in Doha later this month but was clouded in a bit of uncertainty because Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain refused to send their teams to Qatar and Kuwait was serving out the FIFA ban rendering its football team ineligible to take part in any interna-tional events.

The tournament’s rules require the presence of fi ve teams for it to go ahead, but Kuwait’s ban meant that only four

countries – hosts Qatar, Oman, Yem-en and Iraq – were left in contention, making the event a non-starter.

Kuwait had to miss the qualifi ers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup as well as the 2019 Asian Cup because of the FIFA ban thereby depriving the football fans of the country the chance to see their team in action in high-profi le tourna-ments.

But FIFA chief Infantino fl ew to Ku-wait yesterday to meet with offi cials before making the eagerly-awaited an-nouncement in the afternoon, bringing the country back into the international football fold.

“The suspension of the Kuwait foot-ball association is lifted,” Infantino said

on Twitter, much to the joy of Kuwaiti fans.

QFA chief Sheikh Hamad congratu-lated Kuwait saying it was a happy oc-casion for Kuwait as well as for the Gulf Cup football fans.

“We congratulate Kuwait on the oc-casion of the lifting of their ban and we wish the Kuwaiti football team the very best in the future,” he said.

Sheikh Hamad added that he had previously stated that the Gulf Cup would be incomplete without Ku-wait who have dominated the tour-nament with 10 titles, and now that they are back he wouldn’t mind if the event is hosted by them. To Page 13

AgenciesWashington/Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy yesterday and recognised

Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, gen-erating worldwide outrage, particularly from Palestinians and Muslim coun-tries.

Trump said in a speech in the White House that his administration would begin a process of moving the US em-bassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step expected to take years and one that his predecessors avoided so as not to in-fl ame tensions.

The status of Jerusalem – home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions – is one of the thorniest obstacles to reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestin-ians.

The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, believing its status should be resolved in negotiations.

“I have determined that it is time to offi cially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Trump said. “While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.”

Trump’s decision jeopardises the United States’ historical role as a medi-ator in the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict and frays relations with Arab allies.

Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Pal-estinian state to be in the city’s eastern sector, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and illegally occupied in a move never recognised internationally.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump’s announce-ment as a “historic landmark” and urged other countries also to move their embassies in Israel to Jerusalem.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Ab-bas called the city “the eternal capital of the state of Palestine”. Abbas said Trump’s decision was tantamount to the United States abdicating its peace mediator role.

Palestinians say Trump’s move will mean the “kiss of death” to the two-state solution.

No other country has its embassy in Jerusalem. Two small Latin American states, El Salvador and Costa Rica, pre-viously had embassies in Jerusalem be-fore shifting them to Tel Aviv in 2006,

saying they wanted to abide with inter-national norms.

Trump has tilted US policy toward Israel since taking offi ce in January, considering it a strong ally.

His decision on Jerusalem fulfi ls a campaign promise and will please Re-publican conservatives and evangeli-cals who make up a sizeable portion of his base of support.

Otherwise, the political benefi ts for him are unclear.

“He cannot expect to side entirely with Israel on the most sensitive and complex issues in the process, and yet expect the Palestinians to see the United States as an honest broker,” said former US ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer.

“His stated desire for doing the ‘ulti-mate deal’ is now a casualty of his own policy naivete,” Kurtzer said.

Pope Francis called for Jerusalem’s status quo to be respected, saying new tension would further infl ame world confl icts. China and Russia expressed concern the plans could aggravate Middle East hostilities.

Several hundred protesters gathered outside the US consulate in Istanbul over Trump’s decision.

French President Emmanuel Macron branded the decision from Trump as “regrettable” and called for eff orts to “avoid violence at all costs”. Macron affi rmed “the attachment of France and Europe to the two-state solution, Is-rael and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within internation-ally recognised borders, with Jerusalem as the capital of the two states.”

UN chief Antonio Guterres said there was no alternative to the two-state so-lution, “There is no Plan B.”

Trump said his move is not intended to tip the scale in favour of Israel and that any deal involving the future of Je-rusalem would have to be negotiated by the parties.

Seeking to soften the blow of his an-nouncement to the Palestinians, he in-sisted he was not taking a position on “any fi nal status issues, including the specifi c boundaries of the Israeli sover-eignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested borders.”

The president called on the region to take his message calmly.

“There will of course be disagree-ment and dissent regarding this an-nouncement but we are confi dent that ultimately, as we work through these disagreements, we will arrive at a place of greater understanding and co-oper-ation,” Trump said. To Page 13

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Global index provider MSCI has decided to use the local foreign exchange (FX) rates for the Qa-

tari currency in its indices, after Qatar Central Bank (QCB) guaranteed an ex-change rate equivalent to the offi cial onshore rates.

MSCI said it has decided to “con-tinue using the local FX rates and not switch to the off shore FX rates for the

Qatari riyal in the MSCI Indexes until further notice.”

Since the launch of MSCI’s consulta-tion on November 21, 2017 on the pro-posal to use the off shore FX rates for the Qatari riyal in the MSCI Indexes, the spread between the off shore and local FX rates for the local currency has “substantially” narrowed, and some market participants reported that the level of accessibility of the local FX market has improved.

Also, on November 28, 2017, the QSE publicly announced that the QCB con-

fi rmed willingness to guarantee to all investors in QSE trading their Qatari riyals at an exchange rate equivalent to the Qatari offi cial onshore FX rates.

The views of market participants have evolved accordingly over the pe-riod of the consultation. While 90% of the feedback received prior to the QSE’s announcement on November 28 was in favour of the proposal to switch to the off shore FX rates, more than 50% of participants revised their initial feed-back after the QSE announcement and suggested to continue monitoring the

situation and postpone the decision.“In order to refl ect these recent de-

velopments and the feedback from market participants, MSCI will not im-plement the switch at this time,” it said.

The continuing existence of a spread between the off shore and local FX rates (about 2% as of December 5, 2017) is still seen as an issue by investors that use the off shore FX market to trade the Qatari riyal.

The index provider cautioned that it would continue to “closely moni-tor” the accessibility of the Qatari FX

market and may potentially decide to switch to the off shore FX rates in the future, should the situation “materially deteriorate”.

Consequently, MSCI may decide to switch to using off shore FX rates for the Qatari riyal in the MSCI Indexes, with-out further public consultation, should there be any material and persistent increase in the spread between the off -shore and local FX rates, it cautioned.

“In the event of a potential decision to use off shore FX rates for the Qatari riyal in the MSCI Indexes, MSCI would

provide suffi cient lead time for imple-mentation,” it said.

BMI, a Fitch company, had viewed that Qatar has the ability to inject dollar liquid-ity in order to narrow the gap between the onshore and off shore currency rates.

“The QCB has much more than the required foreign reserves to cover all investors’ requirements,” QSE said, highlighting the QCB’s commitment to provide foreign currencies at the of-fi cial exchange rates for investors in-cluding local and foreign individuals and institutions.

Moving US embassy from Tel Aviv ‘to take years’America’s mediator role in Mideast jeopardisedTurkey slams announcement as irresponsible, illegalPresident Macron brands decision as ‘regrettable’ Pope Francis calls for city’s status quo to be respected

QNADoha

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani received a telephone call from

US President Donald Trump yesterday evening.

Talks during the phone call dealt with the bilateral relations and means of boosting them, the offi cial Qatar News Agency said.

Trump also informed the Emir of his intention to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Emir warned of the serious re-percussions of this step, which would further complicate the situation in the Middle East and negatively aff ect the security and stability in the region.

Sheikh Tamim reiterated Qatar’s po-sition on the Palestinian issue on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Ini-tiative based on a two-state solution,

which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Emir held a telephone con-versation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The conversation reviewed developments in Jerusalem, particularly in relation to the decision of the US president to recognise Jeru-salem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy from Tel Aviv.

Sheikh Tamim reiterated Qatar’s fi rm position towards the Palestinian issue based on international legitimacy de-cisions and the Arab Peace Initiative, which is based on the two-state solution that ensures the establishment of an in-dependent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Palestinian president thanked the Emir for his constant support for the Palestinian issue and the fraternal Palestinian people as well as for Qatar’s eff orts and fi rm stances towards the just Palestinian cause.

The Emir also held a telephone con-versation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The conversation reviewed the stra-tegic bilateral relations between the two countries, in addition to discussing the latest developments in the Mid-dle East, especially the US president’s decision on Jerusalem, and its serious consequences for security and stability in the region.

The Turkish president informed the Emir that he would call for an emer-gency summit in Istanbul for member-states of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in that regard.

The Emir also held a telephone con-versation with King Abdullah II of Jor-dan.

The conversation discussed the seri-ous repercussions of Trump’s Jerusa-lem move. The Emir stressed the se-riousness of this decision, which will further complicate the situation in the region and negatively aff ect its security and stability.

QATAR

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 20176

At the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Qatar’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Yousef bin Ali al-Khater participated in the annual reception held at Buckingham Palace on the occasion of New Year’s Day. The ceremony was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, members of the royal family, a large number of British and international dignitaries, and Arab and foreign ambassadors accredited to the United Kingdom.

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi held separate meetings with the French ambassador to Qatar Eric Chevallier, Charge d’aff aires of the United States embassy in Doha Ryan Gliha, and Charge d’aff aires of the United Kingdom embassy Peter Chamberlain yesterday. Bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern were discussed.

The trading volume of registered real estates between November 26 and 30 at the Ministry of Justice’s real estate registration department stood at QR406,850,682mn. Most of the trading took place in Rayyan, Doha, Umm Salal, Wakrah, Daayen, Shamal, Al Khor and Al Thakhira.

Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit met Qatar’s on-resident ambassador to the Commonwealth of Dominica Khamis Batti al-Sahouti. During the meeting in Rousseau, the ambassador provided financial aid, granted by Qatar Development Fund, for the victims of hurricanes Irma and Maria that struck Dominica in September. The Dominican prime minister thanked the government and people of Qatar for their contribution to alleviating the grave consequences of hurricanes Irma and Maria on the island. He also praised the humanitarian stand of Qatar in such circumstances. The meeting was attended by the Minister for Foreign Aff airs of Commonwealth of Dominica Francine Baron.

Qatar’s envoy to UK attendsBuckingham Palace reception

Foreign Ministry off icial meets envoys

Real estate transactions

Qatar gives financial aid to Dominica

Cabinet voices concern over US Jerusalem move

The regular Cabinet meet-ing, presided over by HE the Prime Minister and

Interior Minister Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, yesterday expressed concern over the US administra-tion’s plan to recognise Al Quds (Jerusalem) as a capital of Israel and move the country’s embassy there, warning of the dangerous repercussions this would have on security and stability in the Middle-East.

The cabinet said that such a move would contradict com-pletely international law and legitimacy, as well as all peace eff orts based on a two-state so-lution.

Giving details of yesterday

meeting, HE the Minister of Jus-tice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Aff airs Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr al-Mohannadi said the cabinet called on the US to carry out its impartial role in the peace process, and to support what is right and put pressure on the Israeli govern-ment to end its constant acts of aggression against the Pal-estinian people and withdraw from occupied land.

The Cabinet also reaffi rmed Qatar’s support for the national and legitimate rights of the Pal-estinian people, and their right of establishing an independent state with Al Quds as its capital.

Yesterday’s cabinet meeting also praised the commitment of the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah to the unity of the GCC and to holding the 38th summit of the

GCC at its scheduled time de-spite the critical developments.

The Cabinet stressed that the eff orts made by the emir of Ku-wait to enhance GCC’s work will always be appreciated. It sup-ported the proposition made by him to establish a mechanism to settle disputes within the GCC that boosts co-operation to help in facing the recent regional and international challenges.

The council also stressed the support of Qatar to the ef-forts of Kuwait led by the emir in resolving the current GCC crisis through dialogue to end any differences between

members of the GCC.The cabinet then reviewed

topics on the agenda.The Cabinet took the neces-

sary measures to issue a draft law endorsing the State budget for the fi scal year 2018, after review-ing recommendations of the Ad-visory Council on the draft law.

The Cabinet approved draft decision of the Minister of Econ-omy and Trade amending certain provisions of Decision No

242 of 2017 “regarding the terms, controls and procedures of granting temporary licences for some place and parts of plac-es where they engage in similar commercial, industrial or public works or to engage in domestic business”.

The Cabinet approved the va-lidity of the provisions of Law No 24 of 2002 regarding retirement and pensions on Qatari employ-

ees in some entities.The Cabinet reviewed and

took the required measures re-garding the Ministry of Economy and Trade’s report on the Cabi-net’s draft decision to amend the specialisation of some admin-istrative units comprising the ministry.

The Cabinet reviewed and took the necessary measures re-garding the Ministry of Economy and Trade’s report on amend-ing some provisions of Decision No 134 of 2017 concerning the establishment of sections in the administrative units which com-prise the ministry.

The Cabinet reviewed and took the necessary measures regarding the report of the Min-ister of Economy and Trade on Qatar’s participation in EXPO 2017 Astana which was held in Kazakhstan.

QNADoha

The cabinet reaffi rmed Qatar’s support for the national and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people

Qatari businessmen discuss trade relations with UK

Qatari businessmen met here yesterday with the Welsh Cabinet Secretary

for Economy and Transport Ken Skates to discuss means of en-hancing trade co-operation be-tween the two sides in the fi elds of investment and tourism, ahead of the launch of new direct Qatar Airways fl ights between Cardiff and Doha next year.

The visit was part of the Welsh

government’s ongoing work to help businesses in both Wales and Qatar capitalise on the trad-ing and export opportunities associated with the launch of new Qatar Airways daily, di-rect fl ights between Cardiff and Doha, which will begin in May 2018.

Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport Ken Skates said: “This is my fi rst visit to Qatar and I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to speak to the business commu-nity here about all Wales has to

off er. Wales is an outward facing and welcoming nation, and we are proud of our strong record of welcoming high profi le overseas investors and exporting quality goods all over the world”.

“The launch of daily direct fl ights between Doha and Cardiff next year, along with the direct fl ights already operated between Manchester and Doha which serve the North Wales economy, off ers us huge opportunities to strengthen the relationship be-tween our two countries. I am optimistic that this visit, along

with the trade missions that have already taken place, will help us to build new trade links, increase export levels and attract more inward investment opportuni-ties in Wales, and I look forward to businesses in both our coun-tries working closely and pro-ductively together in the months and years ahead,” he added.

For his part, British ambassador to Qatar Ajay Sharma, said that the UK-Qatar relationship is extremely strong, and the new fl ights between Doha and Cardiff will grow that re-lationship further.

“It is important that all areas of the UK benefi t from engage-ment with Qatar. I am sure that this visit will make a real diff er-ence to this agenda,” the ambas-sador underlined.

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Offi cer Ehab Amin said that Cardiff is a stra-tegically important destination for Qatar Airways, and the new route will most certainly benefi t both leisure and business travel-lers by connecting passengers to our expanding global network of more than 150 destinations.

“For Welsh businesses in par-ticular, this new route will be extremely benefi cial, as it will enhance investment and ex-port opportunities by provid-ing businesses with new links to markets around the world using our award-winning airline,” he added.

Roger Lewis, Chairman of Cardiff Airport, stated that the new daily Qatar Airways service represents a pivotal moment for Cardiff Airport.

The far reaching consequenc-es of these fl ights for passengers

and businesses across Wales and the South West of England are transformational.

“The service will bolster the critically important relation-ship between Qatar, Wales and the United Kingdom which is being substantially strength-ened. I am confident Qatari businesses will make the most of the fantastic opportunities to develop trade and invest-ment in the region, and look forward to welcoming more visitors through our airport from next May,” he noted.

QNADoha

QATAR

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 20178

‘Qatar committed to combat traffi cking in human beings’Qatar is sparing no eff orts

to combat traffi cking in human beings at diff er-

ent levels and the country would strive to put an end to the smug-gling of migrants, HE the Minis-ter of Administrative Develop-ment, Labour and Social Aff airs Dr Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi said yesterday.

He was addressing the open-ing of the 2-day Interpol Global Conference on Traffi cking in Human Beings and Smuggling of Migrants.

The 5th edition of the confer-ence is attended by more than 300 experts from police forces from across the world, besides representatives of civil societies and non-governmental organi-sations.

While recalling the country’s efforts of recent years, HE Dr al-Nuami said Qatar has estab-lished the National Committee for Combating Human Traf-ficking with the sole mission of uniting the efforts and ini-

tiatives of the national and civil society institutions in combat-ing trafficking and smuggling of migrants.

“At the regional level, Doha has sponsored a major initiative to build national capacities to combat human traffi cking. It is

being done in association with the United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime and the League of Arab States”.

The minister reminded the gathering Qatar has been one of the prime donors to the UN Vol-untary Trust Fund for Victims

of Human Traffi cking and the country would continue to co-operate with the UN bodies and other international and regional organisations to combating traf-fi cking in humans. He asserted that the country would whole-heartedly support its eff orts in

combating all types of traffi cking in human beings.

Interpol Executive Committee (Americas) vice-president Todd Shean and director (Combating organised and emerging crimes) Paul Stanfi eld stressed that the police bodies across the world

would accelerate their eff orts to combating human traffi cking and smuggling of migrants.

Shean said both the traffi ck-ing in human beings and smug-gling of migrants to diff erent destinations amount to modern day slavery and every country is

bound to act sternly against such criminal activities.

The UN offi ce on Drugs and Crime vice-president Haytem Fouad Ali, and Qatar’s National Committee for Combating Hu-man Traffi cking vice-president Fayssal al-Henzab also spoke.

By Ramesh MathewStaff Reporter

HE the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs Dr Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi addressing the Interpol conference’s opening session yesterday.

Interpol Executive Committee (Americas) vice-president Todd Shean speaking at the opening of the Inter-pol Global Conference yesterday in Doha. PICTURES: Jayan Orma

Security expertscall for enhanced cross-sector roleInternational policing

and security experts have called for enhanced

cross-sector involvement to protect people from some of the world’s most vulnerable organised crimes like traf-fi cking in human beings and smuggling of migrants.

The experts’ call came yesterday in Doha at the opening of the Interpol Glo-bal Conference on Traffi ck-ing in Human Beings and Smuggling of Migrants.

The meeting, they said, will focus on the essen-tial role of the public and private sectors in detect-ing and preventing crimes, reporting, disrupting and ultimately prosecuting those responsible for crimes which have no borders.

At the two-day meeting the participants will explore emerging trends such as traffi cking for forced crimi-nality including cultivation of drugs or even organised pickpocketing among oth-ers which are reported in large numbers at major cit-ies.

The meeting will also focus on how the private sector is developing tools to help law enforcement in preventing traffi cking and smuggling activities.

Yesterday Qatar’s Minis-ter of Administrative Devel-opment, Labour and Social Aff airs HE Dr Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi

highlighted the coun-try’s eff orts to act on local, regional and international levels.

“Our collective eff orts, however, will not be suc-cessful unless we addressed the root causes of the phe-nomenon, whether they are cultural, economic, politi-cal, ideological or social,” he said.

Vice-President for the Americas of Interpol’s Ex-ecutive Committee Todd Shean said: “While our fo-cus will remain on law en-forcement and prosecution, we must also strengthen our collective eff orts to ensure that victims are protected throughout law enforce-ment and judicial processes. Only by co-ordinated ef-forts can we hope to develop concrete, sustainable ac-tions.”

Interpol Director for Organised and Emerging Crimes Paul Stanfi eld un-derlined the world police body’s long-standing com-mitment to tackling traf-fi cking in human beings and the smuggling of migrants.

“Interpol is a neutral and vital global platform where the world’s police and key stakeholders can converge to sharing best practices, assessments, and intelli-gence. Tackling the horrors of modern slavery requires a massive global eff ort, which

Interpol is fi ercely dedicat-ed to,” said Stanfi eld.

The senior offi cial point-ed to the recent success of Interpol’s Operation Eperv-ier as an example of effi cient cross-sector collaboration. The operation, which saw the rescue of 500 victims from sexual exploitation and forced labour, as well as the arrest of 40 suspected traffi ckers, was held simul-taneously across fi ve Afri-can countries and involved prosecutors, international organisations, social serv-ices and NGOs.

Interpol also supports its global membership via its secure communications system known as I-24/7. This gives police real-time access to criminal data-bases containing millions of records on identity docu-ments, biometrics.

Its notices can also be used to alert member coun-tries to fugitives, criminals, modus operandi or missing persons.

Interpol Director for Organised and Emerging Crimes Paul Stanfield speaking at the meeting yesterday.

A view of the audience at the opening of the Interpol Global Conference yesterday. PICTURES: Jayan Orma

QATAR9Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

WISH conference tofocus on eye healthThe World Innovation Summit

for Health (WISH) has an-nounced ‘eye health’ as the fi rst

of nine research topics that will be the focus of next year’s global summit.

A report outlining the fi ndings of the research will be published and presented during a panel discussion at WISH 2018, on November 13 and 14, in Doha.

The announcement of ‘eye health’ as a research topic was made during a visit by the Countess of Wessex, So-phie, to Sidra Medicine recently.

As global ambassador of the Inter-national Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Countess of Wessex recently visited Bangladesh to view the work of Orbis, a non-profi t, non-governmental organisation that oper-ates the world’s only accredited Flying Eye Hospital.

The charity runs programmes that

focus on the prevention of blind-ness and the treatment of blinding eye diseases in developing countries, through hands-on training, public health education, advocacy, and part-nerships.

The British royal was given a tour of the eye health facilities at Hamad

Medical Corporation and Sidra Medi-cine by HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Ku-wari.

Sultana Afdhal, acting CEO of WISH, met with the Countess of Wessex as well as Dr al-Kuwari during their visit to Sidra Medicine.

Dr Robert Walters, Orbis trustee, who accompanied Sophie on her visit to Qatar, commented, “As an oph-thalmologist, I know the devastating impact a lack of access to eye care can have on people and their families. Or-bis is about partnership and innova-tion – establishing new and improved ways to train people across the world to tackle avoidable blindness, wheth-er through our Flying Eye Hospital, long-term programmes, or online mentoring platform Cybersight.”

WISH 2018 will gather the world’s healthcare leaders in Doha to highlight and address some of the world’s most pressing healthcare challenges. Groups of experts from around the world will work together to build evidence-based research on nine topics in the months leading up to the summit and will present their fi ndings in reports that will be published in time for the event.

Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, is pictured with HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, Dr Robert Walters, Orbis Trustee and Sultana Afdhal, acting CEO of WISH.

QIB grants 18,000 reward points to customers to mark National Day

In celebration of Qatar National Day (QND), Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) is rewarding its customers 18,000 QIB

reward points upon subscription to a wide range of fi nancial services.

The promotion will run from December 10 to 17 and will grant customers 18,000 QIB reward points upon seeking fi nance worth QR100,000 or above, opening a fi xed deposit or Certifi cate of Deposit of QR100,000 or above, or applying for a credit card.

Through this campaign, QIB is encour-aging everyone to partake in the QND fes-tivities “and come together to celebrate our beloved country, Qatar,” QIB said in a statement.

D Anand, general manager of QIB’s Personal Banking Group, said: “QIB is thrilled to grant its customers such excit-ing rewards on the most special day of the year, Qatar National Day. This is a pro-motion for everyone to participate in and benefi t from.

“On the occasion of QND, we extend our heartfelt congratulations and greet-ings to the people of Qatar, we hope for more returns of this memorable occasion and wish that Qatar always enjoys se-curity, welfare and prosperity under the wise leadership of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.”

For more information and details about the QND promotion, visit www.qib.com.qa.

QATAR

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201710

Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) yesterday announced that it hosted 411 vessels at Hamad Port, Doha Port and Ruwais Port in November 2017. Infographic courtesy of Mwani Qatar

Mwani hosted 411 vessels

Meeting of training centres on chemical weapons startsQNADoha

The third meeting of train-ing centres on assistance and protection under Ar-

ticle X of the Chemical Weap-ons Convention, organised by National Committee for the Prohibition of Chemical Weap-ons, in collaboration with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), through Doha Regional Center for the Training on Weapons of Mass Destruction, started yes-terday.

The two-day meeting is held under the patronage of HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Aff airs Dr Khalid bin Moham-med al-Attiyah.

The meeting will include a discussion on the training pro-grammes provided by the As-sistance and Protection Branch of the OPCW with the support of states parties, a review of fu-ture projects and the develop-ment of states’ capacities in the area of assistance and protec-tion against such weapons.

General Secretary of the Na-tional Committee for the Prohi-

bition of Weapons, Lt Abdulaziz al-Ahmad said the meeting, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the chemical Weapons Convention coming into force, is the core for the es-tablishment of an international network of training centres as-sociated with the OPCW under Article X of the chemical Weap-ons Convention. These will develop the capacity of states parties to respond to chemi-cal incidents, providing an op-portunity for fi eld training for participants in the advanced course.

Speaking at the meeting, al-Ahmad highlighted the role of the State of Qatar in the fi eld of maintaining international peace and security and com-bating terrorism, in addition to its policies that respect inter-national charters and conven-tions.

He added that the State of Qatar initiated the signing of the chemical Weapons Conven-tions and ratifying it the same year it came into force in 1997.

The State also is keen on join-ing the other treaties related to eradicating weapons and aim to achieve peace and stability in the world, al-Ahmad said.

He added that the State of Qatar is an important partner is implementing the conven-tion and is one of the dedica-tion members in cooperation with OPCW, referring to its embracement to Doha Region-al Center for the Training of Weapons of Mass Destruction, where the National Committee for the Prohibition of chemical Weapons expanded its activities to cover all the mass destruc-tion weapons.

Al-Ahmad added that the aim of the centre is training all those related in the private and public sectors as well as researchers to heighten their capabilities in the fi eld of eff ectively imple-menting weapons of mass de-struction conventions.

The centre also aims to estab-lish co-operation with regional and international organisations and states parties to the con-vention to develop training pro-grammes on a sustainable basis in the areas of chemical assist-ance, protection, safety and se-curity, he said.

Al-Ahmad said the centre has so far organised more than 50 national and international training and awareness pro-grammes for high school and

university students, workers in chemical industries, customs, chemical trade and civil defence companies.

He called on the interna-tional community to do more to strengthen national meas-ures and optimise the use of the chemical Weapons Convention and to support the organisa-tion’s eff orts to eliminate these weapons and to prevent them from reaching terrorists and proscribed groups.

On his part, Head of the OPCW’s Assistance and Pro-tection Branch, Shawn De-Caluwe, valued the fruitful co-operation of the State of Qatar with the organisation and its eff orts in the training fi eld to implement the conventions related to weapons of mass de-struction.

He said the meeting seeks to review all the training pro-grammes adopted with a view to enhancing them and maxim-ising their use to states parties of the convention and ensuring smooth training programmes in the future.

He hoped that the Doha meeting would constitute an important starting point in this regard.

German cruise ship docks at DohaCruise ship TUI Mein

Schiff 5 has visited Doha Port for the second time

this season, carrying around 3,500 passengers, Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) has announced.

The German vessel had pre-viously docked at Doha Port on November 22, making it the fi rst mega ship of Qatar’s 2017/2018 cruise season.

Mein Schiff 5 measures 293m in length and rises 15 decks high.

Other cruise ships that have arrived in Doha since the launch of the season on October 26 are Seabourn Encore, Azamara Journey and Crystal Symphony.

A total of 21 cruise ships are expected to arrive at Doha Port this season, which runs until April 2018, according to an ear-lier statement by Mwani Qatar.

The 2017/18 cruise schedule, which is available on Mwani Qatar’s Twitter page, shows that Mein Schiff 5 is expected to arrive in Doha six more times during the season, including once more towards the end of this month.

Mein Schiff 5 is not the only mega cruise ship to carry thou-sands of passengers to Doha. Italian mega ship MSC Splen-dida, which carries 3,900 pas-sengers, is also scheduled to make six calls to Doha Port this season, Gulf Times had report-ed earlier.

Doha Port is set to receive a “record number of tourists”, Mwani Qatar recently said.

From 4,000 passengers in 2015, the port is expected to receive 60,000 tourists this year, and the goal is to reach 500,000 passengers by 2022, it stressed.

Mein Schiff 5 anchored at Doha Port during its second visit of the season. Picture courtesy of Mwani Qatar

CRA holds outreach event for telecom consumersThe Communications Regulatory Au-

thority (CRA) has announced that it is organising an outreach event at As-

pire Park on December 9.According to a press statement from the

authority, the event is part of the CRA’s initiatives to educate consumers about their rights and responsibilities.

“This is an opportunity for the CRA to connect with telecom consumers and raise awareness. CRA’s team will be on hand to provide useful tips to help visitors better understand their rights and responsibilities and to educate consumers on other topics related to roaming, spam SMS messages and scam calls,” the statement noted.

Visitors will also be able to lodge telecom complaints against service providers onsite

and learn more about the CRA’s complaints resolution process.

The authority’s stand will also include a special section to connect with consumers who follow the CRA social media accounts to get their feedback about the e-awareness campaigns and identify the topics they want to know more about.

“CRA seeks to balance the rights of con-sumers with the obligations of telecom serv-ice providers. Consumers need to be aware of their rights and responsibilities in order to make informed decisions. I would like to invite all telecom consumers to join us at the event to know more about their rights and responsibilities,” said Amel Salem al-Hana-wi, the CRA’s Consumer Aff airs manager.

The outreach event takes place next to Sugar & Spice café, Aspire Park, from 2pm to 9pm on Saturday.

One of the CRA’s consumer protection in-itiatives is the ‘Arsel’ app. The app has a “us-er-friendly interface and an extensive range of useful features that gives users the ability to check if there are any network coverage is-sues reported in their area”. Additionally, the app has speed test functionality that allows users to check Internet speed (Mobile/Wi-Fi) and report this directly to the CRA.

The app also allows users to lodge com-plaints against service providers using accurate location-based information, fol-low up on their complaints, send relevant documents and receive updates. The CRA follow a certain resolu-tion process for telecom complaints; consumers with a complaint are free to approach the CRA if a complaint lodged di-rectly to their service provider remains unre-solved for 30 calendar days, or if they are dis-satisfi ed with the reso-lution off ered, the state-ment adds.

Complaints are then assessed by the CRA against a set of criteria to determine if a com-plaint is valid or not. The authority receives and investigates complaints by working with both consumers and service providers to fi nd a fair and mutually acceptable resolution.

Consumers can con-tact the CRA in a va-riety of ways: the 24/7 hotline number is 103, e-mail CRA at consum-ervoice@cra.gov.qa, the ‘Arsel’ mobile applica-tion, by tweeting direct-ly to @CRAqatar, CRA’s online complaint form or by visiting the CRA headquarters at Al Nasr Tower B.

Amel Salem al-Hanawi, Consumer Aff airs Department manager, CRA.

Mercedes S-Class of 2015 recalled

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

Bin Khaled Automobiles, has announced the recall of Mer-cedes-Benz S-Class model of 2015 because the software for the engine control unit and fuel system control unit may not comply with specifi cation.

The MEC said the recall cam-

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

The MEC said that it will co-ordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will communicate with customers to ensure that the necessary

repairs are carried out. The MEC has urged all cus-

tomers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud De-partment through the following channels: Call centre: 16001, e-mail: info@mec.gov.qa, Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app for An-droid and IOS: MEC_Qatar

QATAR11Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Seven students competed in the finals of Ignite Doha, a competition that challenges students to give fast and fun five-minute presentations, while also testing their ability to be clear and concise.

Nama Centre takes part in Volunteer Day celebrationsNama Centre, one of Qa-

tar Foundation for So-cial Work (QFSW)’s af-

fi liated centres, has participated in the 2017 International Volun-teer Day celebrations.

The participation comes within the framework of its “ongoing encouragement of voluntary work and the pro-motion of community partici-pation, while reaffi rming the importance of volunteering as a noble humanitarian value and the need to support volunteers for their pivotal role in achieving comprehensive development in their communities”, Nama has said in a press statement.

The centre’s fi rst voluntary work forum was launched in 1998, organised by its volun-teers, to encourage individuals and institutions to contribute to volunteerism and instil the meaning and value of voluntary work in the hearts of citizens and residents.

In 1999, the Volunteer Award was launched and has been cel-ebrated annually ever since on International Volunteer Day, which falls on December 5 every year.

The Volunteer Award aims to promote a culture of giving and nurturing voluntary and hu-manitarian eff orts of individu-

als, groups and institutions, in recognition and honour of their work, in addition to raising awareness of the role of volun-teering in the development of society and motivating individ-uals and institutions to nurture it.

Other key initiatives include the National Campaign to Pro-mote Volunteerism and the Qa-tar Volunteers Network initia-tive.

The strategic directions of the centre, 2017-2022, include an integrated strategy to promote youth participation in com-munity service and allow them to develop and interact within

Nama’s project for the develop-ment of social entrepreneurs. The project is implemented through two channels: the ‘Moqbeleen’ and ‘Sama Nama’ projects.

Maryam bint Abdullatif al-Mannai, acting executive man-ager of Nama Centre, said: “The celebration of this day is a great opportunity to continue eff orts to expand the voluntary work framework through the launch of new voluntary social devel-opment projects and developing existing ones, as well as the dis-semination of volunteerism on a larger scale and the recruitment of more young people.”

Dignitaries at a Nama event.

Katara to celebrateanniversary of rights declarationThe Cultural Village

Foundation – Katara in co-operation with the

offi ce of the United Nations High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights and the National Human Rights Committee will organise ‘The Celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal declaration of Hu-man Rights’ through diversi-fi ed events and activities from tomorrow to Sunday.

The events cover a wide array of entertaining and informa-tive events suitable for all ages. The events include; workshops for children, a series of games, and a wall expressing human rights perspectives.

In addition, the Cultural Di-versity Festival will have tra-ditional performances from: China, Algeria, and Mac-

edonia. Also scheduled are a Katara fi ne Art Symposium, which is to feature 20 artists - Qatari nationals and expa-triates. A concert will be held by the Qatar Philharmonic Or-chestra on December 10.

Speaking on the occasion, Katara general manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti stressed that Katara through its diverse activities provides an array of opportunities for fruitful dialogue and use-ful cultural interaction, and provides a rich platform for communication, in an atmos-phere of freedom that is vital in cultural, artistic and crea-tive activity.

Maryam bint Abdullah al-Attiyah, the secretary-gener-al of the National Committee for Human Rights said the in-

stitution constantly seeks to conduct various activities to strengthen partnerships and co-operate to achieve mutual goals.

The director of the Unit-ed Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Center for South-West Asia and the Arab Region, George Abu al-Zulf expressed his happiness on holding the event in co-operation with Katara and the National Hu-man Rights committee.

He also called on citizens and residents to visit the events tent and the open ar-tistic event which is open to the public. It is taking place on the open stage at Katara’s Amphitheatre from tomorrow until Sunday between 4pm and 9pm.

Artists at work at Katara in preparation for the event.

Safi n Bayes wins Ignite Doha 2017

Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq) electrical and computer engineering student Safi n Bayes

won Ignite Doha 2017 with an insightful and informative presentation on the Big Bang theory recently at the Texas A&M Engineering Building in Education City.

Ignite Doha, like a TED talk, asks stu-dents to introduce a topic of their choice to a general audience in an engaging manner. The format challenged stu-dents to give fast and fun fi ve-minute presentations, while also testing their ability to be clear and concise.

Ignite Doha is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) initiative of Texas A&M at Qatar that develops communication, organisation, visual literacy and presentation skills.

‘Writing Across the Curriculum’ co-ordinator and instructional assist-ant professor in the Liberal Arts Pro-gramme, Dr Amy Hodges, said: “As we know from the companies that employ

our graduates, 21st century engineers have to be adaptable and creative com-municators in order to succeed in the workplace. An engineer can have an in-novative idea, but if he or she can’t com-municate it to others, nothing happens.”

Seven students competed in the fi -nals. Abdullah Yousef placed second and Sofi an Ghazali came third. The oth-er fi nalists included Qishu Zhang, Alaa Abdulla, and Shaheen al-Kuwari and Jassim al-Matwi, who presented jointly.

The presenters “all performed excep-tionally in front of a crowd packed with fellow students, staff , faculty and judg-es”, Tamuq said in a press statement. Presentations ranged from refl ections on black holes, inspiration to do what you love and to do it with others, the power of music, and why Americans call football soccer.

After his presentation on how the cold temperature in classrooms aff ects stu-dent performance, Yousef said: “Ignite

showed me that preparation translates into confi dence. I was able to deliver a good presentation because of the hard work I had done before the presentation. It helped me understand my nervous-ness and how I can overcome it.”

Ghazali added, “Ignite your speaking and thinking skills to explain a complex topic to people of all ages in fi ve minutes. Not as easy as it sounds, but worth it!”

The judges were last year’s winner and electrical and computer engineering senior Abdulaziz Saad al-Qahtani, ca-reer services co-ordinator Sarah Aboul-hosn, mechanical engineering professor Dr Eyad Masad, head of outreach at Qa-tar Foundation Research and Develop-ment Abtesam Yousuf, distinguished career professor of business commu-nication at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Patrick McGinnis, petroleum engineering former student Maryam al-Bishri and Oxy Qatar director of EOR and Development John Bolling.

Site showcases Medical City hospitals

Hamad Medical Corpo-ration (HMC) has an-nounced the launch of

a website dedicated exclusively to the new Medical City hospi-tals.

Ali Abdullah al-Khater, chief communications offi cer HMC and chair, Healthcare Communications Committee said the new website is part of an eff ort to help patients, and other members of the commu-nity to get to know the three facilities as well as their staff and services.

“The website is interac-tive. In addition to informa-tion about services off ered at each of the new hospitals, it includes photographs and 360-degree virtual tours of the facilities. This functional-ity will not only enable people to experience the state-of-

the-art environment in which care will be off ered, but we are confi dent it will also lead to the same sense of pride everyone at HMC feels in our new hos-pitals,” said al-Khater.

HMC’s new Medical City complex represents the biggest healthcare facility expansion in the region and will bring new services and care options to the people of Qatar. Once fully operational, the three new hospitals – Qatar Reha-

bilitation Institute, Women’s Wellness and Research Cent-er, and the Ambulatory Care Center – will house 500 new hospital beds and 3,000 staff .

“Our Medical City hospitals are delivering on a promise to expand world-class facilities for the people of Qatar. They have been designed with the experience of our patients and their families in mind. From enhanced privacy off ered throughout our 240 private inpatient rooms at Women’s Wellness and Research Center, to new and expanded treat-ment options like our daycare programme at Qatar Reha-bilitation Institute, these new hospitals are helping ensure we provide the best quality care and treatment to our pa-tients. The Ambulatory Care Center is also improving ac-

cess to specialised surgeries by minimising wait times and allowing patients to recover in the comfort of their own home,” said Dr Abdulla al-Ansari, acting chief medical offi cer, HMC,

Al-Khater added that the new website has been designed to bring the hospitals directly to patients, allowing them to explore the facilities from their own home, or from their phones.

The website provides an op-portunity to register interest in visiting the new hospitals in person, with a number of tours planned for next year. There is also an option to sign up for regular updates on new clinic and service openings. The new website can be accessed at http://www.newhmchospi-tals.qa.

Ali Abdullah al-Khater

QATAR

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201712

Finalists of Huawei ICT skill contest announcedHamad Bin Khalifa Uni-

versity (HBKU) and Huawei Technologies

announced the Qatar fi nalists of the international ICT Skill Competition at a ceremony held at HBKU yesterday.

The event was attended by offi cials from local ministries, delegates from the Chinese em-bassy, top executives represent-ing Huawei as well as competi-tors, staff and faculty members from each of the participating universities, including HBKU, Qatar University (QU), Com-munity College of Qatar ( CCQ) and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.

Dr Ahmad M Hasnah, presi-dent, HBKU, said, “Innovation is a central theme at HBKU, and technology is the vehicle through which innovative so-lutions materialise. As a re-search-focused university, we urge our students to go beyond the confi nes of the classroom,

Off icials and finalists at the ceremony.

to explore and experiment, and to take the lead when it comes to fi nding solutions for a better tomorrow.”

“We are proud to partner with an esteemed and prestig-ious organisation like HBKU. Such a dynamic partnership will put Qatar academia at the cutting-edge of technological advancement and innovation. Furthermore, we are excited to contribute to the development and empowerment of the na-

tion’s youth, particularly in an area which will contribute to a fi eld crucial to the success of Qatar’s national vision and pro-gramme,” said Zong Yan, chief executive offi cer, Huawei Qatar.

The stated goal of Huawei’s competition is to empower youth, nurture local talent, and bridge the gap between the classroom and the work-force. With participation from 10 countries across the Mid-dle East, the competition is a

globally co-ordinated initiative that specifi cally targets univer-sities and students in order to develop the ICT ecosystems of participating countries.

Notably, the three fi nalists in-cluded students from HBKU, QU and CCQ. The last stage of the competition will take place in China over a fi ve-day period at the end of this month. The fi nal will involve all the participating countries’ qualifying contestants competing in their respective

groups over an advanced practi-cal application and technology knowledge programme.

The fi nalists will be compet-ing for a prize of $30,000 during the last stage of the tournament. Two teams will claim second place, and three will claim third. The three fi nalists representing Qatar will also have the oppor-tunity to visit Huawei’s interna-tional headquarters and network with global industry leaders and experts.

Kerala housing group in DohaConfi dent Group, one

of the best housing brands of Kerala is now

in Qatar. “Customers can book their dream home at amazing prices and attractive off ers,” an offi cial said.

Confi dent Group represent-atives will be available from December 8 to 10 at MovenPick Hotel, Corniche Road, Doha, from 10am to 8pm. Customers can book villas and apartments situated at premium locations of Kerala.

The projects available at

Thiruvananthapuram, Ko-chi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kottayam are of inter-national quality. Customers can directly book luxury villa projects which are available from Rs7.8mn and apartment projects with a starting price of Rs3mn.

“Benefi ts of Central gov-ernment schemes are avail-able with Confi dent Group projects,” the offi cial added. More information may be obtained from 30647607 or 30463504.

Al Nokhba members can redeem Nojoom points at Salam Stores

Oo r e d o o has an-nounced

that its Al Nokh-ba members can now redeem Nojoom Points at two more Salam Stores branches at The Mall and Mall of Qatar.

On top of the new store branch options, Al Nokhba members can also redeem Nojoom Points with boutique brands owned by Salam Stores, Ooredoo has said in a press statement.

Eighteen new brand outlets are included in this update, including designer names such as Hugo Boss, Just Cavalli, Moschino, Paul Smith, Red Valentino and more.

Al Nokhba is Ooredoo’s exclusive customer rec-ognition programme for its premium customers and membership is based on invitation.

Previously, Salam Stores had been an exclu-sive partner for Al Nokhba only through their outlet at The Gate Mall. Now, with the update, members can enjoy a “luxurious shopping ex-perience at one of the programme’s premium partners”, the statement adds.

Strong winds and drop in temperatures forecastIt is getting cooler in the

country as the Qatar Met de-partment has forecast strong

winds from tomorrow along with a drop in temperatures over the weekend.

Already, the mercury level has dipped sharply in parts of the country – with Abu Samra in the south recording a low of 9C yesterday.

In a report yesterday, the Met department said weather maps indicate that the coun-try will be aff ected by fresh to strong winds in most areas, starting from dawn on Friday until Sunday.

The wind speed is ex-pected to range from 15-25 knots inshore, going up to 30 knots, and from 18-25 knots off shore, going up to 35 knots. The sea level during this period will vary between 7ft and 10ft, reaching a high of 12ft in some areas, the report says.

Due to northwesterly wind activity, horizontal visibility is expected to decrease to less than 2km as a result of dust. Also, a noticeable drop in tem-

perature is expected during the weekend.

The Met department has called on everyone to be careful and avoid sea ac-tivities during this period in view of the expected con-ditions. It has also issued a statement on the marine warning (from tomorrow until Sunday) separately on social media.

Meanwhile, today’s detailed forecast says hazy to misty conditions are expected in the early hours of the day, fol-lowed by mild daytime condi-tions and some clouds. It will be relatively cold by night.

Hazy and partly cloudy conditions are likely in off -shore areas at times.

The minimum temperature today is expected to be 9C in Abu Samra, 12C in Wakrah and Mesaieed, 13C in Al Khor, 14C in Dukhan, 17C in Ruwais and 18C in Doha.

Yesterday, the mercury level dipped to 9C in Abu Samra, 12C in Mesaieed, Turayna, Ka-rana and Jumayliyah, while in Doha it was 18C.

The winning team of CMU-Q.

CMU-Q team wins bronze achievement at MIT contestCarnegie Mellon Qatar (CMU-

Q) student team was awarded bronze achievement at the

International Genetically Engineered Machines (IGEM) competition host-ed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, US. This is the fi rst time CMU-Q has fi elded a team at the annual IGEM compe-tition, which included 310 teams from 44 countries.

The team developed an easy, quick way for the oil industry to test if there is biofi lm build-up in off shore pipe-

lines. A rapid and reliable test could lead to the oil industry reducing their use of biocides, which would in turn lessen the negative impact on the ma-rine ecosystem. The next step is to de-velop a strain of harmless bacteria that would replace the biocide altogether.

“This project is exciting because it has a practical application that can make a big impact on the health of the ecos3ystem in the waters around Qa-tar,” said Annette Vincent, assistant teaching professor of biological sci-ences and the team’s faculty adviser

at CMU-Q. After their experience in Boston, the team will present the project at the Qatar Foundation An-nual Research Conference in 2018.

The interdisciplinary student team includes Yasmin Abdelaal, Albandari al-Khater, Dina Nayel al-Tarawneh, Najlaa al-Thani, Aisha Fakhroo, al-Reem Johar, Saad Rasool, Kawthar Alsadat Jafarian and Fatema Abdul Salik. The team received additional coaching by Cheryl Telmer, a re-search biologist at Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus.

Temporary diversion on Mazrooah interchangeA temporary traff ic diversion will be in place on Al Mazrooah interchange on North Road to continue construction of a multi-level junction on New Orbital Highway and Truck Route. The diversion, designed in co-ordination with the General Directorate of Traff ic, starts tonight and will last until 4am on Sunday.During the minor detour, traff ic on the bridge will be shifted onto

a parallel route for a distance of 1.8km long, which incorporates one lane in each direction in place of two lanes.The northeast exit ramp and northwest entry ramp at Al Mazrooah interchange connecting traff ic from and to the Temporary Truck Route (TTR) and Al Shamal Road will be closed, providing direct exits from the two nearby eastern and western

roundabouts alike.The speed limit will be reduced to 50km/hour while the speed limit on Al Shamal Road main carriageway remains at 80km/hour.Ashghal will install road signs advising motorists of the closure. Ashghal requests all road users to abide by the new speed limit and follow the road signs to ensure their safety.

HEC Paris holds orientation session for new batchHEC Paris, a world leader in ex-

ecutive education, has wel-comed the fi rst cohort of the

Class of 2019 for its specialised mas-ter’s degree in Strategic Business Unit Management (SBUM) in Doha.

An orientation session was held re-cently on the Doha premises of HEC Paris at Tornado Tower in this regard. It was attended by alumni members, participants, faculty and staff .

The cohort gathers 34 participants, representing various industries such as healthcare, education, fi nance and banking, oil and gas, sports, public sectors and NGOs, among others.

HEC Paris said in a statement that the “diverse group of participants, with seven nationalities and 75% women, represents a wide range of professional backgrounds, skills and experiences, which will enhance shared learning, a key component of the programme”.

The programme was inaugurated by Dr Nils Plambeck, dean and CEO,

Group photo with the participants.

QF to mark National Day at Darb Al Saai

Qatar Foundation (QF) is set to celebrate National Day by hosting a tent at Darb Al Saai.

The QF tent at Darb Al Saai will run from December 9-20. It will be open from 8am-12noon and 4pm-10pm from Saturday - Thursday, while on Fridays it will open from 2pm.

The QF tent will be centred around the QF timeline, as well as the col-ours of the Qatari fl ag. Visitors will be given the opportunity to learn about QF through its immersive ‘globe’ ac-tivity, record wishes and memories on the dedicated ‘pledge wall’, and nomi-nate individuals who best embody the

four morals of its Akhlaquna initia-tive – mercy, tolerance, honesty, and generosity.

Additionally, QF will host fun activi-ties based on Siraj, its 3D educational TV series which aims to instil a love of the Arabic language, and its national read-ing campaign, which promotes a passion

for reading among young people. Mayan Zebeib, chief communica-

tions offi cer, QF, said: “Qatar National Day represents an important occasion for this country. It’s an opportunity for us, as a nation, to come together as one, to refl ect on our accomplish-ments, the challenges we have had to

overcome, and, most importantly, look ahead to the future. Indeed, this year, Qatar’s celebrations serve as a tangible demonstration of the values and the morals that defi ne us as a nation.

“Our various activities at Darb Al Saai, which are represented by QF’s four core mission areas – Pre-Uni-versity Education, Higher Education, Science and Research, and Commu-nity Development – demonstrate our ongoing dedication to supporting the development of Qatar, as well as our belief in this country’s great leaders and their vision for the future,” Zebeib added.

HEC Paris in Qatar, followed by a pres-entation about the programme by Prof Wolfgang Amann, academic director of the programme.

The new cohort was welcomed with keynote addresses provided by distin-guished HEC Paris alumni, including Dana al-Hajri – honour student, SBUM 2014; Lolwa al-Naemi - manager of Facilities, Qatar National Library; and

Abdulla al-Kharaz - leadership devel-opment specialist, Qatar Petroleum.

The specialised master’s degree in Strategic Business Unit Management underlines HEC Paris’ “commitment to contribute to the development of a knowledge-based economy in Qatar and to strengthen corporate competi-tiveness in the region”, the statement adds.

REGION/ARAB WORLD13

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 2017

Palestinians seethe over Trump’s moveReuters Jerusalem

Palestinians seethed with anger and a sense of be-trayal over US President

Donald Trump’s decision to rec-ognise the disputed city of Jeru-salem as the capital of Israel.

Many heard the death knell for the long-moribund US-sponsored talks aimed at end-ing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a Pal-estinian state alongside Israel.

They also said more violence could erupt.

“Trump wants to help Israel take over the entire city. Some people may do nothing, but others are ready to fight for Jerusalem,” said Hamad Abu Sbeih, 28, an unemployed resi-

dent of the walled Old City.“This decision will ignite

a fire in the region. Pressure leads to explosions,” he said.

Jerusalem — specifically its eastern Old City — is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinians want it to be the capital of a future independ-ent state and resolution of its status is fundamental to any peace-making.

“This is insane. You are speaking about something fateful. Jerusalem is the capi-tal of the state of Palestine and neither the world nor our peo-ple will accept it,” said Samir al-Asmar, 58, a merchant from the Old City.

“It will not change what Je-rusalem is. Jerusalem will re-main Arab. Such a decision will

sabotage things and people will not accept it.”

Palestinian newspapers also decried the move. “Trump De-fies the World,” thundered Al-Ayyam. Another, Al-Hayat, roared “Jerusalem is the Sym-bol of Palestinian Endurance” in a red-letter headline over an image of the city’s mosque compound flanked by Palestin-ian flags.

Palestinian leaders have also warned the move could have dangerous consequences.

Israeli security forces braced for possible unrest but police said the situation in Jerusalem was calm for now.

That could quickly change, given the religious passions that swirl around the Old City.

Palestinians mounted two uprisings, or intifadas, against

Israeli occupation from 1987 to 1993 then from 2000 to 2005, the latter ignited by a visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the shrine area.

Violent confrontations also took place in July when Israel installed metal detectors at an entrance to Al-Aqsa compound after gunmen holed up there killed two of its policemen.

Four Palestinians and three Israelis died in ensuing vio-lence.

In the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, demonstrators chanted “Death to America”, “Death to Israel” and “Down with Trump”. They also burned posters depicting the US, Brit-ish and Israeli flags.

Youssef Mohamed, a 70-year-old resident of a refu-gee camp, said Trump’s move

would be a test for Arab leader-ship at a time of regional chaos and shifting alliances.

The Jerusalem uproar could affect Egyptian-brokered ef-forts to bring Gaza, which has been under Hamas control for a decade, back under the author-ity of US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Trump’s move showed the United States was biased.

“The United States was nev-er a neutral mediator in any cause of our people. It has al-ways stood with the occupation (Israel),” he said.

He said Abbas’ adminis-tration should “rid itself of the illusion that rights can be achieved through an Ameri-can-backed deal”.

Palestinians react during a protest against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.

Saudi air strikes on Yemen intensify, residents in capital stay indoorsReuters Aden/Dubai

A Saudi-led coalition stepped up air strikes on Yemen’s Houthis yes-

terday as the armed movement tightened its grip on Sanaa a day after the son of slain former president Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed revenge for his father’s death.

Former president Saleh plunged the country deeper into turmoil last week by switching allegiances after years help-ing the Houthis win control of much of the country’s north in-cluding the capital.

He was killed in an attack on his convoy on Monday.

The pro-Houthi Al Masirah television station said yester-day Saudi Arabia and its allies had bombed Saleh’s residence and other houses of his fam-ily members now controlled by the Houthis. Air strikes also hit northern provinces including Taiz, Hajjah, Midi and Saada, it said.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The intervention by Saleh’s son Ahmed Ali, a former com-mander of the elite Republican Guard who lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates and was once seen as a successor to his father, has provided the anti-Houthi movement with a po-tential fi gurehead.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mo-hamed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the de facto leader of the UAE, visited Ahmed Ali at his resi-dence to off er his condolences, according to Sheikh Mohamed’s

Twitter account. He posted a picture of himself sitting near Ahmed Ali.

Ahmed Ali had been widely expected to leave the UAE, a key member of the Saudi-led coa-lition fi ghting the Houthis, for Yemen to help in the war amid media reports that some Saleh loyalists have been switching sides. Many Sanaa residents were staying indoors yesterday out of fear of a Houthi crack-down.

On Tuesday, Saleh supporters said his nephew Tareq, another top commander, and the head of his party, Aref Zouka, had both been killed.

“There’s a scary calm in the city,” said Ali, a 47-year-old businessman who declined to use his full name.

“People are reporting that there are many arrests and they

are trying to shoot military men and (Saleh party) members.”

Yemen’s confl ict, pitting the Houthis against the Saudi-led military alliance which backs a government based in the south, has unleashed what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The proxy war has killed more than 10,000 people, with more than two mn displaced.

Saleh’s decision to abandon the Houthis was the most dra-matic development in three years of stalemate.

Top Houthi offi cials called it high treason backed by their Saudi enemies. Tens of thou-sands of Houthi support-ers staged a rally in Sanaa on Tuesday to celebrate what the Houthis had said was the defeat of a major conspiracy by Saleh, chanting slogans against Saudi

Arabia and its allies. Political sources said the Houthis had arrested dozens of Saleh’s allies and army offi cers affi liated with his party in and around the city.

Several had been killed in the raids.

Yesterday, several dozen women gathered in a main Sanaa square holding Saleh’s portrait and demanding his body be handed over for burial, but they were forcibly dispersed by Houthi security forces, eye-witnesses said.

The Houthi-controlled in-terior ministry distributed a video of dozens of seated bare-foot men it said were pro-Saleh fi ghters detained in one of its party headquarters.

Media rights group Report-ers Without Borders appealed for the release of 41 journalists it said have been held “hostage” by the group since it overran the headquarters of the Saleh-owned Al-Yemen Al-Youm TV station on Saturday.

Nearly a million people in Yemen have been hit by a chol-era outbreak, and famine caused by warring parties blocking food supplies threatens much of the country. The UN secretary-gen-eral’s special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, called on all parties to show re-straint. “Increased hostilities will further threaten civilian lives and exacerbate their suff ering,” he said in a briefi ng to the Security Council on Tuesday.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday that the killing of Saleh would likely worsen an already dire humani-tarian situation in the country in the short term.

People load belongings on a van as they evacuate their house located on a street where Houthis have recently clashed with forces loyal to slain Yemeni former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, yesterday.

Russian attacks kill 24 civilians in east SyriaAFP Beirut

Russian air strikes killed 24 civilians yesterday in a village held by the Islamic

State group near the Euphrates River in eastern Syria, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing raids hit the village of Al-Jerzi on the eastern bank of the river, which cuts across Deir Ezzor province.

After reporting earlier yester-day that the strikes killed 21 ci-vilians, the Britain-based moni-tor said the toll had risen.

“More people died and more bodies were found,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

“Ten children and four women are among the dead in the Rus-sian air strikes targeting resi-dential buildings in Al-Jerzi,” he said.

The monitor relies on a net-work of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, fl ight patterns and mu-nitions used.

It says IS, which used to con-trol swathes of Deir Ezzor prov-ince, has been ousted from all but 8% of the oil-rich region.

The militants have lost vast swathes of it to separate off en-sives by Russian-backed Syrian troops and an alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The SDF has long been backed by US-led coalition bombing of IS in Iraq and Syria, but its Kurd-ish component recently said it

had also received support from Moscow.

Russian warplanes had given air cover to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as they fought against militants in Deir Ezzor, according to the YPG and Moscow’s defence ministry.

Russia fi rst launched bombing raids in 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s be-

leaguered forces. Those strikes have helped Assad regain control over much of war-ravaged Syria.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since the con-fl ict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assad, who launched a brutal crackdown.

IS has also lost most of the territory it held in neighbouring Iraq.

Call to ‘deliver’ Assad delegation to peace talks

The United States and France called on Russia yesterday to de-liver the delegation of President Bashar al-Assad to Syria peace talks in Geneva after discus-sions on ending the six-year war resumed with no sign of the government attending.The eighth round of negotia-tions began last week and after a few days with little apparent progress, UN mediator Staff an de Mistura said the govern-ment delegation, led by Bashar al-Ja’afari, was returning to Da-mascus to “consult and refresh”. De Mistura expected talks to resume “around Tuesday” Dec 5, but Ja’afari left Geneva on Saturday and said he might not come back because the opposi-tion had stated that Assad could not play a role in a future interim government. A source close to the Syrian government’s nego-tiating team told Reuters the delegation was still in Damascus on Wednesday. “We have said to the Russians it is important that the Syrian regime be at the table and be part of these negotia-

tions and part of the discus-sion,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a news conference in Brussels. “We have left it to the Russians to deliver them to table.” A diplomat in Geneva said it was likely, but not confirmed, that the delegation would return to Geneva tomorrow.Russia’s RIA news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying they would arrive on Sun-day or Monday. Syrian off icials have not said if Ja’afari will re-turn to the talks but opposition spokesman Yahya al-Aridi said on Monday a government boy-cott would be “an embarrass-ment to Russia”, which is keen to see a negotiated end to the war. The opposition negotiating team arrived at the UN off ices in Geneva yesterday morning to resume talks with de Mistura, who declined to comment late on Tuesday when asked about the absence of Ja’afari’s negotia-tors. “It takes two to Tango, but at the same time you need to talk to the other party,” Aridi told reporters yesterday.

Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

From Page 1Trump acted under a 1995 law

that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusa-lem. His predecessors, Bill Clin-ton, George W Bush and Barack Obama, had consistently put off that decision to avoid infl aming tensions in the Middle East.

Trump ordered a delay to any embassy move from Tel Aviv since the United States does not have an embassy in Jerusalem to move into. A senior adminis-tration offi cial said it could take three to four years to build one.

Trump’s decision has drawn sharp criticism, with the signifi -cant exception of Israel.

Here are key reactions from around the world:

The secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisa-tion said Trump had destroyed any hopes for a two-state solu-tion to the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict. “He destroyed the two-state solution,” Saeb Erekat, who long served as the Palestinians top negotiator, told journalists.

Hamas said Trump’s deci-sion would “open the gates of hell” on US interests in the re-gion. “This decision will open the gates of hell on US interests in the region,” Ismail Radwan, an offi cial with the Palestinian

Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, told journalists.

Jordan condemned Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as amounting to a violation of international law and the UN charter. “The decision of the American president to recog-nise Jerusalem as Israel’s capi-tal and the transfer of the US embassy to this city constitutes a violation of decisions of inter-national law and the United Na-tions charter,” said government spokesman Mohamed Momani.

Turkey slammed Trump’s Jerusalem announcement as irresponsible and illegal. “We condemn the irresponsible statement of the US adminis-tration... the decision is against international law and relevant UN resolutions,” Turkish For-eign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the British govern-ment disagreed with Trump’s decision, saying it was “un-helpful” for peace eff orts. “We disagree with the US decision to move its embassy to Jeru-salem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital,” she said in a statement. “We believe it is unhelpful in terms of pros-pects for peace in the region”.

Kuwait to host Gulf CupFrom Page 1He added that the Arabian

Gulf Cup Football Federation, of which he is the president, will hold a meeting next week to discuss the matter further and work out the modalities in case Kuwait decides to take up the offer.

If Kuwait indeed decides to host the event, it could also result

in the blockading nations send-ing their teams to the tournament which can then have its full quota of eight teams, thus making it a very competitive aff air

It may be added that the 23rd edition of the tournament was supposed to be hosted by Ku-wait originally but moved to Qatar after FIFA decided to ban Kuwait.

The Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah presenting FIFA president Gianni Infantino with a Kuwaiti national team kit, bearing his name in Kuwait City yesterday.

ARAB WORLD

Gulf TimesThursday, December 7, 201714

Women in rural Tunisia mix hot sauce with businessAFPMenzel Mhiri

These Tunisian women have some sauce, pooling their resources and a sea-

soned culinary expertise handed down the centuries from mother to daughter.

Their secret? Harissa — the spicy hot pepper paste used to add zing to dishes tradition-ally prepared in North Africa’s Maghreb region.

These days, when Najoua Dhi-fl aoui prepares harissa, it is no longer just for her family.

She and another 150 women are now making money by pro-ducing and even exporting their ancestral savoir faire.

Harissa, made from sun-dried chilli peppers, freshly prepared spices and olive oil to both pre-serve and soften its heat, is add-ed to most dishes in restaurants in Tunisia, and is also popular abroad.

In 2013, a group of women farmers in Menzel Mhiri near Kerouan in rural central Tunisia banded together to form a co-operative they dubbed “Tahadi” — Arabic for “challenge”.

Dhifl aoui and her co-workers certainly rose to it. They went “door-to-door to convince oth-ers to join them, to combine their knowledge and sell their prod-ucts together”, the dynamic for-tysomething said.

The women were able to take advantage of an offi cial project to support local produce and were given training in the tech-nical, hygienic and commercial aspects of their venture.

For the past two years, they have marketed their harissa un-der the “Errim” trade name.

That’s Arabic for small gazelle, also a symbol of feminine beauty.

“It’s a way of representing the Tunisian woman — hard-working, authentic and fiery,” said Dhiflaoui with a smile, her forehead beaded with sweat from both the heat and the peppers.

Tahadi now has 164 peo-ple working for it, and is one of the first firms in Tunisia to work exclusively with local ru-ral women under a rotational system — its members work ac-cording to a flexible schedule.

In a spotless white labora-tory lined with machinery that grinds, kneads and fills, the gloved women wash and pre-pare locally harvested ingredi-ents to make the red paste.

Women play a key role in the Tunisian economy, said Fa-rouk Ben Salah of Pampat, a UN, Swiss and Tunisian project aimed at getting rural products

such as harissa onto the mar-ket.

“The main thing is to create working conditions for them as soon as possible,” he said.

The harissa makers are paid “slightly more than the agri-cultural wage, around 15 di-nars” (five euros) per working day, said Ben Salah.

Others work from home, performing essential tasks for the project and generating some income by cleaning and drying peppers on the roofs of their houses.

Dhiflaoui is full of enthusiasm.”This work allows

women a certain financial au-tonomy,” she said, boosting their confidence and enabling them “to move forward”.

Since the launch of the co-operative, the farmers “have encouraged each other to make their mark. No longer do you have to be a teacher or doctor, now they too can work and feel they have a place in society.”

Women in rural Tunisia are particularly aff ected by gender discrimination and lack of job security.

While female unemployment is 22.5% at a national level, the rate exceeds 35% in rural prov-

inces, according to a 2015 report by the National Institute of Sta-tistics.

Dhifl aoui said that many of the women who now work at Tahadi used to labour in the fi elds in “terrible conditions” or “waited until their husbands brought money home”.

Their new role has “made them bloom” and given them “liberty”, she added.

“There’s a big diff erence be-tween a woman with her own monthly salary and a woman who relies on a husband,” said Chelbia Dhifl aoui, Najoua’s cousin who also works at Tahadi.

“She feels a sense of respon-sibility, she sets goals she can reach — and she’s working to improve her living conditions.”

Ben Salah said Pampat could help Tahadi diversify its pro-duction to give the co-operative more opportunities to employ women who live in rural areas.

Errim Harissa is already mak-ing a name for itself.

Sold in gourmet food stores nationally, it can also be found in Switzerland and Germany, and orders have been dispatched to France and Italy.

Talks are also underway to ex-port the delicacy to Canada.

Macron says time to move on from Algeria’s colonial pastReuters Algiers

President Emmanuel Ma-cron, visiting Algeria, said yesterday he would not

be held hostage by France’s co-lonial involvement there and he urged young Algerians to build for the future and not dwell on past “crimes” committed in the independence war.

The relationship is scarred by the trauma of the 1954-1962 war in which the North Africa country broke with France and in which hundreds of thousands of Algerians were killed and tor-ture was used on both sides.

The French leader was in the capital Algiers for talks with President Abdelaziz Boutefl ika and senior offi cials mainly to bolster economic ties.

But many in Algeria have seen the prospect of Macron off ering an offi cial apology for the past given his statement earlier this year when he described France’s colonial rule as a “crime against humanity”. But Macron seemed likely to disappoint Boutef-

lika, 80, an old war veteran who fought against French occupa-tion and has been in ill-health since suff ering a stroke in 2013.

The 39-year-old Macron seemed unlikely to go any fur-ther than his predecessor, Francois Hollande, who sought

a more conciliatory tone in dealing with Algeria but also stopped short of apologising.

Instead, Macron’s message to young Algerians was not to har-bour grudges from the past but look to the future.

“I’ve already said we need to

recognise what we did, but Al-geria’s youth can’t just look to its past.

It needs to look forward and see how it will create jobs,” Macron said answering ques-tions from people as he walked through downtown Algiers.

“I’m not here to judge those in the past. There have been crimes and there were people that also did good things. Your generation must not allow this. It’s not an excuse (to blame the past) for what is happening to-day,” he said.

An inter-governmental fo-rum presided by the countries’ prime ministers will take place in Paris today to discuss how to develop an economic roadmap.

Economic ties between the two countries have margin-ally progressed since 2012 and France is now behind China as the main partner.

Annual trade stands at about 8bn euros compared with 6.36bn five years ago.

More than 400,000 Algeri-ans are given visas for France annually, almost twice as many as in 2012.

While walking near the university, young Algerians came out in force, calling out: “Visas, Please!”

But highlighting just how divided opinion remains some others called out: “Go home! We don’t want you

here.” Franco-Algerian re-lations are also a sensitive subject in France. Macron angered many at home when he described France’s colo-nial rule as a “crime against humanity” during his presi-dential campaign.

“The new relationship that I want to build with Algeria and that I propose to Algeri-ans is to build an equal part-nership, built on frankness, reciprocity and ambition,” he earlier told El Watan newspa-per.

Some Algerians disagreed. ”Excuse me but France will have to apologise for the mar-tyrs we lost,” said a woman who gave her name as Nadia.

Facing high unemployment, low oil prices, austerity and political uncertainty, Algeria’s youth is likely to warm to Ma-cron’s call to look to the future more than the war veterans.

“There must be no taboos be-tween us. But there has to a be a project for the future and I think the Algerians must build their future from Algeria,” Macron said responding to questions.

Libya launches voter registration

Reuters Tripoli

Libyan electoral offi cials announced yesterday the opening of a two-month

voter registration period, though it is unclear when elections will next be held in the divided na-tion.

The United Nations is sup-porting the voter registration process as it seeks to reconcile rival factions and relaunch a po-litical transition that would lead to new polls.

The UN Libya mission has previously said it hopes elections can be held by the end of next year, but has also acknowledged complex security, political and legislative challenges to organis-ing a vote.

Libya last held elections in 2014 but the results were dis-puted, deepening divisions that emerged after the country’s 2011 uprising.

The poll led to an escalation of armed confl ict and to rival par-liaments and governments being set up in the capital and the east.

Some Libyan political fi gures have called for elections as a way to break the deadlock after the stalling of a UN-backed peace deal signed in late 2015, with a new UN push to amend that deal so far producing no break-through.

UN Libya envoy Ghassan Salame expressed sympathy with that view at a joint press conference with Libya’s High National Election Commission (HNEC) yesterday, calling elec-tions “the best way to separate competitors”.

“I heard a large number of those demanding elections, some of whom decided on the type of elections and some who left it vague,” Salame said.

But he said certain conditions had to be met first, includ-ing electoral legislation being passed and Libyans agreeing to accept the results in advance.

“You do not want these elec-tions to be another area of disa-greement between Libyans,” Salame said.

The voter registration period is aimed at updating the voter register and allowing citizens who have not registered in the past to do so, said HNEC head Emad Alsayah.

“The registration process will last for 60 days, and the ex-tension of process can be con-sidered as required,” he said.

Libyans living abroad will be able to register online from Feb 1. Turnout in national elections in 2014 was low, with 630,000 out of the 1.5mn registered casting a vote.

Tunisian women pick tomatoes in a field in Menzel Mheri, in the governorate of Kairouan. Women are now making money by producing and even exporting their ancestral savoir faire.

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the Librairie du Tiers Monde bookstore in Algiers, yesterday.

Algerians gather on the balconies of a building to watch as the French president meets people in the street below in Algiers.

AFRICA15Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Nigeria is replacing the military commander of the fight against Boko Haram after half a year following a string of insurgency attacks despite years of off icial claims the group has almost been defeated, military sources said yesterday. The shake-up underscores the fragility of the security situation in Nigeria’s northeast, where the conflict with the Islamist insurgent group is now in its ninth year. Ibrahim Attahiru, theatre commander of the operation against Boko Haram, is being replaced by Major General Rogers Nicholas in the wake of a series of “embarrassing” attacks, two military sources told Reuters.

Two Ugandan musicians were released on bail yesterday after being charged with disturbing the peace of veteran President Yoweri Museveni for a song suggesting he should retire, their lawyer said. Singer David Mugema and music producer John Muwanguzi were accused of having composed and disseminated via the Internet a tune titled “Wumula”, meaning “retire”, their lawyer Abdallah Kiwanuka told AFP. Prosecutors said the song “attacked and disturbed the peace” of Museveni, Kiwanuka said. A bill to remove presidential age limits was introduced in parliament in September, seen as paving the way for 73-year-old Museveni — who has been in power since 1986 — to run for a sixth term in off ice in 2021.

Thirty-eight members of Tanzania’s main opposition party, including two lawmakers, have been in custody for a week following local elections, their lawyer said yesterday. MPs Susan Kiwanga and Peter Lijualikali, as well as 36 other members of the Chadema party, were arrested on November 29 in Morogoro, 200km west of Dar es Salaam. They are charged with illegal assembly and damaging property, while the two MPs also face an extra charge of incitement to violence. All deny the charges. “This is a purely political case,” their lawyer Peter Kibatala said. “They plead not guilty.” The party said their members were arrested after they challenged election results won by the ruling party of President John Magufuli.

Over 1.7mn Congolese fled their homes due to violence in the first six months of this year, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said in a statement yesterday, more people than fled in Syria, Yemen or Iraq. “For the second year running, Congo is the country worst aff ected by conflict displacement in the world,” the Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director, Ulrika Blom, said. “It’s a mega-crisis. The scale of people fleeing violence is off the charts, outpacing Syria, Yemen and Iraq,” she said. The IDMC attributes the rise in displacement to new armed conflicts, existing conflicts and an upsurge in violence due to a delay in presidential elections.

Niger said yesterday it had begun work on a new national security and defence policy as part of its campaign to fight terrorism, in a country where attacks by Boko Haram and the Islamic State are frequent. During a forum of experts and military brass in the capital Niamey, the president’s chief of staff , Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, announced that the meeting marked the “first phase” in a strategy that would bring in pro-active and long-term measures. “We no longer want to remain on the back foot (with) short-term measures,” Mahamadou said. The four-pronged approach will combine “military strategy”, internal security, the fight against terrorism and cyber-crime, he said.

Nigeria replaces commander in fight against Boko Haram

Two charged for presidential protest pop song in Uganda

Tanzanian opposition members detained

Congo worst-hit in world by conflict displacement

Niger to develop security strategy to fight terror

CHANGE OUT OF TUNEIN CUSTODY REPORT PLAN

Panic and vengeful mobs as ‘vampire’ scare rattles MalawiBy Felix Mponda, AFPMulanje, Malawi

Jamiya Bauleni is one of the people claiming to have fallen victim to a wave of alleged

vampire attacks that have trig-gered deadly vigilante violence in Malawi.

She recounted her experience before barefoot children in Ngo-longoliwa village in the country’s south, which has been at the heart of recent panic over ru-mours of vampire activity.

Her story is part of a long line of similar testimonies in Malawi, where belief in witchcraft and vampire activity is widespread and rouses revenge mobs that kill those suspected of black magic.

Bauleni, a 40-year-old single mother with one child, said that an attacker sucked her blood on the night of October 2 at her home in Thyolo district.

“This is not hearsay,” she told a

fascinated crowd as people edged closer to listen. “I know my blood was sucked.”

“I saw light on the corner of my roof. I failed to stand up from my bed and felt something pierc-ing my left arm,” she said, point-ing near her breast.

Bauleni, who makes a living selling wild pea stew, said that before she fell unconscious she heard someone fl eeing the scene.

She was taken to a clinic and later discharged after being given vitamin supplements, but she chose not to report the attack.

The latest bout of vampire rumours allegedly originated in Mozambique and spread across the border to Malawi’s districts of Mulanje and Phalombe, ac-cording to the United Nations.

At least seven people have been killed in Mulanje district after being hunted down, police say.

As public anger over supposed vampires grew, UN workers and US Peace Corps volunteers were

pulled out of the region in Octo-ber but they have now returned.

One purported victim, Flor-ence Kalunga, 27, says she was sleeping alongside her husband in their home when she saw a light “like fi re”.

“I heard the door open. I felt something like a needle in my fi nger,” she said.

The people targeted by venge-ful mobs are often wealthier in-dividuals in rural parts of the southern African country, where grinding poverty and poor edu-cational standards are the norm.

Entrepreneur Orlendo Chaponda narrowly avoided an attack when 2,000 villag-ers, some carrying machetes and stones, stormed his home in Thy-olo on September 30.

“They said I was keeping blood suckers,” said Chaponda, who was out at the time. “They could have killed me if they found me.”

He called the police who fi red tear gas to disperse the crowd af-

ter a fi ve-hour standoff .“There is no truth about blood

suckers, but jealous people and thugs want to take advantage to attack rich people,” Chaponda said.

“If you have a nice car, you are a bloodsucker.”

Anthony Mtuta, assistant lecturer in anthropology at the Catholic University of Malawi, said the roots of the vampire scares were in “economic hard-ships and inequalities”.

“It’s the rich versus the poor. The poor believe the rich are greedy and are sucking the blood of poor people,” he said.

Malawi is largely reliant on foreign aid, but some locals view the assistance with suspicion.

“To villagers, the thinking is that no gift is for free...you pay back through blood,” said Mtuta.

He has researched the vampire phenomenon and has warned that violence would “resurface unless the government learns how to

handle contemporary issues”.McDonald Kolokombe, a clerk

at the state-run Likhubula forest reserve, noted that the number of tourists visiting the Mulanje area had collapsed since mid-September.

“The communities rely on vis-itors to feed their families work-ing as tour guides, porters and selling curios,” he said.

“We are starving because of a bad rumour about blood suck-ers,” added amateur tour guide

Eric Yohane. “It is a big lie.”Malawi’s national blood trans-

fusion service — the only institu-tion mandated by the government to collect blood for hospitals from volunteers — says that rumours of vampire activity have also begun to set back activity.

“This issue has aff ected us a lot. It has prevented us from go-ing to collect blood in the aff ect-ed areas,” said Bridon M’baya, medical director of the service.

At least 250 people have been arrested in Malawi over the mob violence, and 40 more arrested over similar crimes in neigh-bouring Mozambique.

Malawian President Peter Mutharika was even forced to step in and insist that the gov-ernment had the situation under control.

“There is no evidence of blood suckers. It’s a lie meant to desta-bilise the region,” he said recently.

“Those spreading rumours will face the law.”

Entrepreneur Orlendo Chaponda stands at his maize mill building on his farm in Mulanje district.

Nations to work ‘towards a pollution-free planet’By Mariette Le Roux, AFPNairobi

The world’s nations yesterday vowed to curb plastic and chemical contamination of

the air, soil, rivers and oceans, calling for a steep change in how goods are produced and consumed.

Government envoys issued a po-litical declaration outlining the path to “a pollution-free planet” at the third UN Environment Assembly (UNEA).

“Pollution is cutting short the lives of millions of people every year,” said the call to action adopted in Nairobi at the world’s highest-level decision-making forum on en-vironmental issues.

“Every day, nine out of 10 of us breathe air that exceeds WHO (World Health Organization) guide-lines for air quality and more than 17,000 people will die prematurely because of it,” the declaration added.

It committed governments to pro-moting “sustainable economic pro-ductivity”, and to encouraging more “sustainable lifestyles” by making it easier to reuse and recycle products, reducing waste.

“What we need to do next is to move concretely to a plan of action,” UN Environment Programme deputy head Ibrahim Thiaw told journalists on the fi nal day of the December 4-6 pollution-themed gathering. All 193 UN states are members of the UNEA.

“Some of the actions will have to do with the way we produce and the way we consume,” Thiaw said.

“Our models of production and consumption will have to change. We do not have to have models of pro-

duction and consumption that harm the environment and keep killing us.”

This would require “very clear policies” from governments at the

national and local level, said Thiaw, such as banning single-use plastic shopping bags.

“Every year we dump 4.8mn

tonnes to 12.7mn tonnes of plastic in our oceans and generate over 40mn tonnes of electronic waste,” the min-isters said.

The UN Environment Programme said it has received 2.5mn anti-pol-lution pledges, including from na-tional governments, municipalities, businesses and individuals. They in-clude commitments, which are non-binding, to ban plastic bags, curb air pollution, or green public transport.

Some 88,000 individuals made pledges too, undertaking to switch to less-polluting fuel, for example, or to use less plastic and recycle more.

Taken together, if all the commit-ments by governments, businesses and civil society are honoured, they would lead to 1.4bn people breathing clean air, said Jacqueline McGlade, who co-authored a pollution report for the assembly.

Furthermore, 480,000km — a third of the world’s coastlines — will be unpolluted, and $18.6bn will be invested in anti-pollution research and innovation.

The assembly heard this week that pollution has become the big-gest killer of humans, claiming 9mn human lives every year — one in six deaths worldwide.

Of the annual tally, nearly 7mn people succumb from inhaling toxins in the air — from car exhaust fumes, factory emissions and indoor cook-ing with wood and coal, according to a recent report by The Lancet medical journal. Lead in paint alone causes brain damage in more than half-a-million children every year.

The president of the UNEA meet-ing, Costa Rica’s environment minis-ter Edgar Gutierrez, yesterday lament-ed that humans “haven’t done a good job” managing Earth’s natural bounty.

“The room we have for making more mistakes is very narrow,” he warned.

Ellie Goulding, award-winning British artist and now UN Environment’ Global Goodwill Ambassador, attends a talk by young environmental entrepreneurs on the sidelines of the United Nations Environment Assembly at the UN headquarters in Nairobi.

Harare agrees post-Mugabe loan deal with BeijingReutersHarare

Zimbabwe’s new government yesterday signed a $153mn loan agreement with China, its fi rst

post-Mugabe deal with a foreign government, to expand and refurbish its international airport in Harare as it bids to attract investors and tour-ists.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sworn in as president on Novem-ber 24 after a de facto military coup ended Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule,

has vowed to rebuild the country’s ravaged economy and re-engage with the international community.

“This (airport) project) and the budget we are presenting tomorrow will show we are serious about re-shaping our economy,” Finance Min-ister Patrick Chinamasa said after signing the agreement, one of three, with Chinese ambassador Huang Ping.

The deal means “we are back in business to build the capacity to hon-our our obligations not only to China but also to our international credi-tors,” Chinamasa said.

The loan for refurbishing the Rob-ert Gabriel Mugabe airport is payable in 20 years with interest rates of 2% per year and a seven-year grace pe-riod.

The other two agreements are for grants worth 400mn yuan ($60.48mn) for a new parliament building and for expansion of a com-puting centre at the University of Zimbabwe.

Chinamasa, who was re-appoint-ed to the fi nance ministry post last week, admitted that the country had failed to repay China for previous loans.

But he said Beijing was still willing to deal with Zimbabwe.

“The Chinese government under-stands the economic situation we are going through,” he said.

“We’re under sanctions and had no lines of credit coming into the coun-try. This is why we call them ‘all-weather friends’.”

Chinamasa is scheduled to present the 2018 national budget today. He had been fi nance minister since 2013 until he was shifted to the new minis-try of cybersecurity in October.

During his time in charge, the economy stagnated. A lack of exports

caused acute dollar shortages that crippled the fi nancial system and led to long queues outside banks.

The issuance of billions of dollars of domestic debt to pay for a bloated civil service — a key component of the ZANU-PF patronage machine under Mugabe — also triggered a col-lapse in the value of Zimbabwe’s de facto currency and ignited infl ation.

One of Mnangagwa’s most press-ing tasks will be to patch up relations with donors and the outside world and work out a deal to clear Zimbabwe’s $1.8bn of arrears to the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Campaigners slam failings in Africa’s Aids warBy David Esnault, AFPAbidjan

Angry Aids activists are urging western and central Africa to step up the fi ght against HIV, saying millions of people,

especially children, are at risk from compla-cency and underfunding.

A six-day conference in Africa has thrown a stark light on the problems in a region whose two dozen nations extend from Mauritania in the north to Gabon in the south, and include some of the poorest countries in the world.

Coalition Plus, an alliance of Aids groups, said Aids-related deaths in western and central Africa are running at 5.1%, more than twice the 2.1% in the rest of the continent.

The region accounts for just 6% of the global population, but has at least 16% of the total of the world’s adults — categorised as people aged over 15 — who live with HIV.

The share rises even more dramatically, to 25%, in the category of infected children aged from birth up to 14 years.

Even though the HIV pandemic is more than four decades old, nearly 80% of the estimated 540,000 infected children in West and Central Africa are not getting life-saving antiretroviral therapy, the UN’s children’s agency Unicef and Aids programme UNAIDS said on Tuesday.

“HIV and Aids pose direct threats to the lives of 820,000 children and adolescents,” they said in a report issued at the ICASA conference which ends on Saturday. “Yet we know what works.”

In 2016, an estimated 60,000 children were newly infected with HIV in West and Central Africa, it said.

Among adolescents aged 15-19, Aids-related deaths are on the rise.

Among the 10-19 age group, 16,000 people died last year, a rise of 35% over 2010.

“The rise in youth mortality is a scandal,” Marie-Pierre Poirier, Unicef’s director for West and Central Africa, told AFP.

“Most of these teenagers are unaware of their HIV status,” she said.

“Everyone is responsible. Support from in-ternational donors is insuffi cient for the re-gion’s needs. And governments must give pri-ority to the fi ght against Aids, even if they have limited resources,” she said.

The situation is not entirely bleak — the re-gion slashed mother-to-child transmission of HIV by a third from 2010 and 2016 — nor is it the same everywhere.

Adult HIV prevalence ranges from less than 0.4% in Niger to 6.2% in Equatorial Guinea, the fi gures show.

Nearly half of all infected children in the re-gion are in Nigeria.

But the major problems are common, say ex-perts. One is the lack of so-called point-of-care HIV tests, so that a patient can be diagnosed and immediately treated — a major step in pre-vention. Another is availability of antiretrovi-ral drugs, which suppress the virus but do not eliminate it.

“We have to shift up gears, to that of ‘emer-gency response,’ we have to mobilise all of soci-ety — government, civil society, families,” said Poirier.

AMERICA

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201716

The Thomas Fire burns along a hillside near Santa Paula, California. More than a thousand firefighters were struggling to contain a wind-whipped brush fire in southern California that has left at least one person dead, sent thousands fleeing, and was choking the area with thick black smoke.

1,000 fi refi ghters battle Calif. blazeReutersVentura, California

More than 1,000 fi re-fi ghters battled an un-relenting wildfi re yes-

terday that threatened more than 12,000 homes in and around Ventura, the biggest of several uncontrolled Southern Califor-nia blazes fanned by intensifying dry Santa Ana winds.

The Thomas Fire raged in the foothills above and in the city of Ventura some 80km northwest of Los Angeles, fi re offi cials said late Tuesday.

The blaze, which began on Monday, had charred more than 50,000 acres, they said.

“We are still in the middle of an aggressive and active fi re-fi ght on the ground,” said Rob-ert Welsbie, spokesman for the Ventura Fire Department. “If the winds pick up, we will face quite a challenge.”

The fi re, which was entirely uncontained, was being whipped by unpredictable Santa Ana winds, which blow in from the California desert.

Wind gusts were forecast to top out at 115kph yesterday and remain strong through the week. There were no immediate reports of fatalities, Welsbie said.

Some 1,000 fi refi ghters bat-tled to save homes, with one suf-fering a minor injury, Welsbie said.

The Los Angeles Fire De-partment responded to a near-

by small but growing 50-acre brush fi re early Wednesday that forced the partial closure of heavily travelled Interstate 405, near scenic Mulholland Drive.

The nearby Getty Center mu-seum shut down for the day to protect its art collection from smoke damage, it said.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emer-gency on Tuesday, freeing state funds and resources to assist. More than 250,000 homes lost power, utilities said.

Classes were cancelled at all schools in the Ventura Unifi ed School District yesterday.

Thomas was the largest of a number of wildfi res that broke out across Southern California following the onset of the Santa Ana winds.

In the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, the Creek Fire had blackened more than 11,000 acres and forced the evacuation of 2,500 homes and a convalescent centre north of In-terstate 210.

Three fi refi ghters were injured and hospitalised in stable con-dition, the Los Angeles Fire De-partment said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti declared a state of emergency while 11 Los Angeles Unifi ed schools cancelled yester-day classes.

Some 30 structures were de-stroyed by the Creek Fire by Tuesday evening, the Los Ange-les Fire Department said.

Democrat turns up attacks on Roy MooreReutersBirmingham, Alabama

Name-calling is not unusual in US politics. But “child abuser” is not usually one of the names.

In the fi nal stretch of a bruising US Senate race in Alabama, Democrat Doug Jones has cranked up his attacks on Republican Roy Moore over allegations of sexual misconduct and made those charges central to his argu-ment that Moore is an unsuitable choice.

Jones, who avoided directly addressing the sexual allegations when they surfaced in early November, has begun to cite them to attack Moore’s character.

On Tuesday, one week before the Decem-ber 12 special election and a day after Re-publican President Donald Trump endorsed Moore, Jones said women who allege that Moore assaulted or pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s de-served to be believed.

“I believe these women and so should you. This is about rising above political party to do what’s right for Alabama, and for the country,” Jones told voters during a speech in Birmingham.

Moore, a 70-year-old Christian con-servative, has denied the misconduct al-

legations and said they were a result of “dirty politics.” He said last week he had never met any of the women involved.

Reuters has not independently verifi ed any of the accusations.

Moore, who was twice removed from the state Supreme Court for refusing to abide by federal law, was a “source of embarrass-ment” for the people of Alabama, Jones said.

The raw tone has become typical of a race transformed by the Moore allegations, opening the door for a possible Democratic upset in the conservative Southern state that would deal a blow to Trump’s agenda and dramatically improve Democratic chances of regaining Senate control in next year’s con-gressional elections.

Jones has cranked up his attacks as the ini-tial wave of voter outrage over the allegations has shown signs of fading, enabling Moore to regain a slight lead in several recent opinion polls in a state that went for Trump by 28 percentage points last year. Alabama has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1992.

Jones, who holds a fundraising advantage on Moore and has accumulated four times as much cash on hand for the stretch drive, has launched an advertising blitz focusing on the misconduct allegations.

“They were girls when Roy Moore im-morally pursued them. Now they are wom-en,” the narrator says in one ad as pictures of the accusers fl ash by. “Will we make their abuser a US senator?”

On the campaign trail, Jones, a former US attorney who prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan members convicted of a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four young girls, has cited his own background to draw a contrast with Moore.

“I damn sure believe and have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail — not the US Senate,” Jones said in Birmingham.

Moore’s rebound in the polls highlights the challenge for Jones as he tries to boost turnout among the state’s African-Amer-ican voters while peeling away support from moderate Republicans alienated by Moore in a state where many voters are re-sistant to the Democratic label.

“He is the Republican candidate and I am a Republican. I stand in support of what he supports,” Jenny Mann, 35, said of Moore.

Mann, a self-described stay-at-home mom in Ider, Alabama, said the allegations against Moore “would concern anybody, but I also believe you are innocent until proven guilty”.

Jones, making his fi rst run for public of-fi ce, has cast himself as a problem solver who would work across the aisle to help Alabamans on “kitchen-table” issues like healthcare and jobs, while Moore has por-trayed him as a liberal Democrat straight out of Washington.

Jones supports abortion rights and op-poses repealing former President Barack

Obama’s healthcare law, unpopular stances in Alabama. But he said he never considered moderating his views to improve his chances.

“The key to any campaign and any pub-lic offi cial is being true to what you believe, and that’s what we’re putting out there,” Jones said in an interview last month.

Trump’s endorsement freed the Repub-lican National Committee to open its wal-let for Moore, who had been cut off by the national party when the misconduct alle-gations became public.

Not every Republican is falling in line.Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has

frequently tangled with Trump, tweeted a photo of his $100 donation to Jones. “Country over Party,” Flake captioned it.

Some of Alabama’s black leaders worry about the risk of lacklustre turnout among African-Americans, who make up about a quarter of the state electorate and vote strongly Democratic.

“There is not a high level of energy in the black community about this race,” said Democratic state Senator Hank Sanders.

Sanders might have been talking about Freddy Haley, 55, a black retired military vet-eran from Fayette who said he was a Demo-crat but had not kept up with politics.

“With the holidays and everything, I haven’t had time to check it out,” Haley said while Christmas shopping in a Birmingham suburb with his family. “When is the elec-tion?”

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, appears in New York State Supreme Court during a hearing on a defamation case against US President Donald Trump in Manhattan, New York.

Suit against Trump

‘Silence breakers’ named as Time Person of the YearAFPNew York

Time magazine named as Person of the Year yesterday “the silence

breakers” who triggered a na-tional reckoning by revealing the pervasiveness of sexual harassment, assault and abuse in US life.

President Donald Trump was runner-up in the prestig-ious ranking, ahead of his Chi-nese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Time designated as “si-lence breakers” the individu-als, mostly women, who came forward this year to publicly expose patterns of sexual har-assment, assault and even rape by some of society’s most pow-erful public fi gures.

Those recognised by Time range from famous actresses who took on disgraced Holly-wood mogul Harvey Weinstein to ordinary women who shared their stories of abuse using the hashtag #MeToo and its for-eign language equivalents.

The accusations against Weinstein, who has denied wrongdoing, proved a tipping point for a fl ood of sordid rev-elations involving other titans of Hollywood, big business, politics and the news media.

Many once-admired leaders

in their fi elds have been fi red or suspended, their brilliant ca-reers in tatters.

One of the fi gures singled out by Time, Ashley Judd was the fi rst actress to come for-ward on the record to make ac-cusations against the 65-year-old Weinstein.

She was followed by more than a hundred others, and a watershed moment began.

“When a movie star says #MeToo, it becomes easier to believe the cook who’s been quietly enduring for years,” a Time article read.

“This reckoning appears to have sprung up overnight. But it has actually been simmering for years, decades, centuries.

“These silence breakers have started a revolution of refusal, gathering strength by the day, and in the past two months alone, their collective anger has spurred immediate and shocking results: nearly every day, CEOs have been fi red, mo-guls toppled, icons disgraced. In some cases, criminal charges have been brought.”

The Person of the Year an-nouncement came as The New York Times published a report detailing a widespread “com-plicity machine” of power-ful relationships that enabled Weinstein to silence or intimi-date his accusers for years.

Trump’s fi rst year in offi ce marked by protestsReutersWashington

Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump took offi ce, his presi-dency started generating con-

troversy.Photographs showing that the

crowd at Trump’s swearing-in was smaller than at Barack Obama’s fi rst presidential inauguration in 2009 caused the fi rst ruckus in his admin-istration — but not the last.

Trump’s fi rst year in offi ce was coloured by an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with the Russian government to af-fect the election outcome, insults and threats of war with North Ko-rea, and an eff ort to pass business-friendly legislation.

From the start, the White House took a combative approach, accus-

ing the media of framing photo-graphs of the inauguration in a way that appeared to understate the crowd size.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer ar-gued that the images were not what they seemed and that crowds of his-toric size watched Trump take the oath of offi ce.

Protests would become a hall-mark of Trump’s fi rst year.

On January 21, the day after the inauguration, hundreds of thou-sands of women jammed the streets of Washington to demonstrate op-position to Trump.

A week after taking offi ce, the Republican president signed an ex-ecutive order to prevent citizens of seven predominately-Muslim countries from travelling to the United States.

Known by critics as the “Muslim ban” protesters quickly demon-

strated at airports in opposition.Trump would ignite protests

again in August, when he was asked to respond to white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, Virgin-ia, including one who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman.

The president argued there were bad people “on both sides”.

Following his remarks, busi-ness leaders resigned from Trump’s business councils and the panels were disbanded.

A defi ning feature of Trump’s fi rst year in offi ce was the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the election.

Trump ignited a political fi re-storm in May when he fi red Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who had been leading an investigation into possible collu-sion by the Trump 2016 presidential

campaign with Russia to infl uence the election outcome.

Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion.

Soon afterwards, the justice de-partment named former FBI chief Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation.

Paul Manafort, who had briefl y served as Trump’s campaign man-ager, and his business associate Rick Gates were indicted by Mueller’s team in October, accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign gov-ernments.

A month later, Michael Flynn, who briefl y served under Trump as US national security adviser, plead-ed guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations last December with Russia’s then-ambassador in Wash-ington just weeks before Trump took offi ce.

A loss for Moore would hit the president’s agenda

ASEAN17Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Cambodia seizes shipment of ivory hidden in logsAFPPhnom Penh

Cambodia has seized nearly a tonne of ivory hidden in hollowed-out logs and

discovered inside an abandoned shipping container, an offi cial said yesterday.

The country has become a key regional transit point for the il-licit wildlife trade.

Nearly 280 pieces of ivory – full and partial elephant tusks – were found in the container at the southwestern port of Siha-noukville after sitting there for a year.

The shipment, owned by a company based in Mozambique, left Ivory Coast and arrived in Cambodia in December 2016, an offi cial said.

“When the containers arrived at the port we found strange ob-jects in the scanners,” said Lim Bun Heng, deputy prosecutor for Preah Sihanouk province. “We requested the company owner to open the containers but no one showed up,” he said, adding that eventually authorities seized the shipment.

An inspection uncovered the ivory, some of it hidden in logs. Cambodia’s elephant population is small but demand for ivory in China and Vietnam – and in the smaller domestic market – has made it a hub in recent years for the banned trade in wildlife parts. Corruptible offi cials and weak law enforcement are an at-tractive mix for wildlife smug-glers, more so as neighbouring Thailand tries to improve its rep-utation as the regional centre for

the trade in endangered species.Ivory is prized for its beauty

while demand for traditional medicine has led to the smug-gling of rhino horn and pan-golin scales. Chinese demand has driven a decade-long rise in elephant poaching, especially in Africa. China has pledged to phase out ivory sales by the end of the year.

In December last year, Cam-bodian authorities found 1.5 tonnes of mostly ivory and pan-golin parts in containers on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh, also originating from Mo-zambique.

Local media reported earlier this year that the government had decided to keep ivory stock-piles instead of destroying them, sparking criticism from conser-vation groups.

Cambodian authorities holding pieces of ivory after a shipment was seized in Preah Sihanouk province. Cambodia has seized nearly a tonne of ivory hidden in hollowed-out logs and discovered inside an abandoned shipping container, an off icial said yesterday.

Cambodian leader Rainsy to be sued for treason: PMReutersPhnom Penh

Cambodia’s exiled opposi-tion leader Sam Rainsy has committed treason

by inciting soldiers to defy or-ders, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday, and he will face new legal action over the com-ments.

The threat of more legal ac-tion against Sam Rainsy, who has lived in France since 2015 to avoid a series of convictions, comes weeks after a court dis-solved his opposition party, removing any signifi cant chal-lenge to Hun Sen extending his decades-long rule in a general election next year.

The dissolution of the Cam-bodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has been condemned by the opposition, rights groups and some Western countries as the most serious blow to democ-racy since an international peace deal and UN-run elections in the early 1990s ended decades

of war and genocide. The United States has withdrawn an off er to help fund the election and the European Union has raised the possibility of withdrawing trade preferences.

Sam Rainsy, who stepped down as leader of the CNRP this year in what turned out to be a futile bid to forestall a ban on his party suggested in a video posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday that soldiers would not obey orders to shoot civilians.

“Around the world, at any time, armed forces don’t obey orders given by dictators to kill people and we say that Hun Sen is not immortal, we must not protect Hun Sen,” Sam Rainsy told supporters in Paris.

Hun Sen, who has held power for more than 32 years, a said the military would fi le a lawsuit in response. “This is a treasonous crime, an incitement of soldiers to disobey orders,” Hun Sen told garment workers in Phnom Penh.

The Supreme Court banned the CNRP after its leader, Kem

Sokha, who took over after Sam Rainsy stepped down, was ar-rested for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government with American help. Kem Sokha, who rejected the accusation, is in prison. In an interview with Reuters last month, Sam Rainsy said Cambodia was at a “tipping point” and that Hun Sen would be driven from power like Zim-

babwe’s Robert Mugabe.He urged Western states to

impose targeted sanctions.A government crackdown on

dissent has included the pros-ecution of several rights activ-ists, reporters and the closure of several media outlets.

Sam Rainsy served as fi nance minister in an ill-fated coalition set up when Hun Sen refused to

give up power after losing a UN-organised election in 1993. Hun Sen purged his coalition part-ners in a 1997 putsch.

Hun Sen has built close ties

to China and dismisses Western pressure to improve rights. He has warned of a return to civil war if he were to lose the elec-tion.

Sam Rainsy

Hun Sen

Two charged in Singapore for renting out on Airbnb

Two men have been charged in Singapore with illegally rent-ing out apartments on Airbnb, the first such prosecutions in the city-state under new rules, local media reported yesterday. Regulations introduced in May ban homeowners from leasing property for less than three months without approval from authorities, meaning many short-term rentals on Airbnb should be illegal. Housing policy is tightly controlled in space-starved Singapore, where 80% of the population lives in public hous-ing which is subsidised by the government. Singaporeans Terence Tan En Wei, 35, and Yao Song Liang, 34, appeared in court Tuesday charged with illegally leasing out four apart-ments in a luxury private con-dominium in central Singapore, according to court documents seen by AFP. The Straits Times newspaper reported that they had used Airbnb. They face a fine of up to S$200,000 ($148,000) if convicted. The Urban Redevelopment Authority, which regulates housing, said it would take action against anyone responsible for letting out property for short-term accommodation. Despite the new rules, California-headquar-tered Airbnb remains popular in Singapore with the company saying it has over 8,700 listings in the city-state. An Airbnb spokesman said current rules do not reflect how Singaporeans use their homes and travel, and the company hoped to work with local authorities to find a way forward. “The current frame-work also stands in contrast with Singapore’s commitment to innovation,” the spokesman said. Airbnb, which allows homeowners to share their homes for a fee by marketing them online, has become a popular and often cheaper alternative to hotels for many travellers. But the company has faced mounting criticism that it worsens housing short-ages and squeezes the long-term rental sector, with cities including New York, Miami and Berlin cracking down on it.

Over 40 killed in tropical cyclone on Indonesia’s Java island

The death toll from flooding and landslides triggered by a tropical cyclone on Indonesia’s Java island has risen to 41, the country’s disaster manage-ment agency said yesterday. Cyclone Cempaka wreaked havoc in central and eastern parts of Java island, displac-ing nearly 30,000 people and damaging thousands of houses, said national disaster management agency spokes-man Sutopo Nugroho. At least 25 people were killed in the worst-hit district of Pacitan in East Java province, he said. Floods and landslides are com-mon in Indonesia during the rainy season.

A Bengal cat sits on a cat tree in the Palace Feline Suite at The Wagington luxury pet hotel in Singapore. Bobo, a British Bulldog, receives a shower after a swim at The Wagington luxury pet hotel in Singapore.

Pets enjoy creature comforts

Bangkok street food eatery awarded Michelin starAFPBangkok

In a city famous for street food, a roadside restaurant in Bangkok with plastic ta-

bles and simple but sumptuous

fare has earned one of the din-ing scene’s highest honours: a Michelin star. Jay Fai, named after the 72-year-old proprietor who took over from her father, is located in old Bangkok and fea-tures an open-air kitchen known for churning out crab omelettes

and curries. Though classifi ed as street food, Jay Fai is more ex-pensive than your average road-side stall, with a typical special-ity costing upwards of $20.

It was the only streetside es-tablishment listed in Michelin’s fi rst-ever Bangkok guide re-

leased yesterday, which said the Thai capital’s culinary scene was as “diverse as it is surprising”.

A total of 17 restaurants in the city serving up a mix of Thai and international cuisine received either one or two stars, though none clinched the coveted three-

star rating. Jay Fai cooks the food herself while wearing large goggles to deal with the endless steam from the dishes. The ac-colade was a welcome one even if the owner was not so familiar with the company behind it.

“Before, I knew the Michelin

name but I did not know it had to do with cooking,” she told AFP after obtaining the star. “I am very proud,” she said, adding that she must be back in the kitchen tomorrow. “We do not have a lot of staff because I’m a bit diffi cult and crazy.”

18 Gulf TimesThursday, December 7, 2017

AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA

Moon to visit China for talks on N KoreaAFPSeoul

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Chi-na next week for talks on

North Korea and other issues, his offi ce said yesterday, amid tenta-tive signs of diplomatic move-ment after months of high ten-sions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threats.

The announcement came as a high-level United Nations repre-sentative held talks with a senior North Korean offi cial during a rare trip to Pyongyang.

Jeff rey Feltman, UN undersec-retary general for political aff airs, arrived Tuesday to discuss what the world body described as “is-sues of mutual interest and con-cern”.

He and vice foreign minister Pak Myong-Kuk discussed “co-operation between the DPRK and the UN Secretariat and as-sistance from UN agencies to the DPRK and other matters of mu-tual interest”, the North’s KCNA news agency reported, using the acronym for the country’s offi cial name.

Feltman’s trip — the fi rst by a UN diplomat of his rank since 2010 — comes less than a week after North Korea test-fi red a new ballistic missile said to be capable of reaching the United States.

Discussing ways to “peacefully resolve North Korea’s nuclear is-sue” will be on Moon’s agenda when he meets President Xi Jin-ping next week, Moon’s offi ce said. Chinese foreign ministry

spokesman Geng Shuang said the visit would discuss “internation-al and regional issues of common concern” including “increasing communication and co-ordina-tion on the Korean peninsula nu-clear issue”.

China has proposed that the North suspend missile and nu-clear tests in exchange for a sus-pension of US-South Korean military exercises, a suggestion Washington has repeatedly re-jected.

A US B-1B bomber fl ew over the Korean peninsula yesterday, Seoul’s defence ministry said, as part of a major joint air exer-cise slammed by the North as an “all-out provocation” that could

trigger a nuclear war. The fi ve-day Vigilant Ace drill — involving some 230 aircraft including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fi ghters — began Monday, fi ve days after the North’s ICBM test.

Moon will arrive in Beijing next Wednesday for a four-day state visit, his fi rst trip to China since taking offi ce in May. The two countries are trying to improve ties strained by Seoul’s deployment of a US missile defence system.

Seoul and Washington say the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is in-tended solely to counter missile threats from North Korea but Beijing sees it as a threat to its own military capabilities. It has

imposed a series of sanctions on South Korean fi rms and banned Chinese tour groups from going to the country in moves seen as economic retaliation. The tour group ban has since been par-tially lifted.

US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber (centre), two US F-35A and two US F-35B stealth jets (top) flying over South Korea with South Korea’s two F-16 and two F-15K fighter jets (bottom) during a joint military drill.

US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber (left), two US F-35A and two US F-35B stealth jets (far) flying over South Korea with South Korea’s two F-16 (right) and two F-15K (centre) jets during a joint military drill.

Moon Jae-in

Australian citizenship crisis widens, more MPs in doubtReutersSydney

Australia faces a series of by-elections that could topple the government,

which trails in opinion polls and has lost its slender majority, in a bizarre citizenship crisis that has engulfed both sides of par-liament.

Senator Katy Gallagher, from the opposition Labor party, was referred to the High Court yes-terday to determine whether she holds British, as well as Aus-tralian, citizenship. She is the eighth parliamentarian to be referred to Australia’s highest court to have their citizenship decided.

Dual citizens are ineligible for elected offi ce under Australia’s 116-year-old constitution. Par-liament was also due to debate yesterday a Labor proposal to send the cases of another nine lawmakers to the High Court,

including four members of Prime Minister Malcolm Turn-bull’s centre-right government.

Turnbull’s tenuous hold on power would come under threat if any of his four coalition col-leagues are found to be dual citizens, which would mean they must resign from parlia-ment and by-elections ordered for their seats. The Liberal-Na-tional coalition under Turnbull is clinging to a minority govern-ment after the citizenship crisis removed its one-seat majority in the lower house of parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister Barn-aby Joyce briefl y lost his posi-tion when it was found he also held New Zealand citizenship but won his seat back in a by-election last weekend.

The citizenship status of at least the latest nine lower house lawmakers was called into ques-tion after a deadline for politi-cians to disclose the birthplace of their parents and grandpar-ents passed on Tuesday.

“There are many inadequate disclosures that ask more ques-tions than provide answers,” Labor leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Canberra.

Labor later asked parliament to refer four of its own members, as well as four from the govern-ment and an independent law-maker, to the High Court for de-termination, the latest twist in a strange citizenship crisis in a

country where half of the popu-lation were either born overseas or have parents who were.

The government, behind in opinion polls and keen to avoid further by-elections, has so far resisted sending its own law-makers to court.

However, one government member, former tennis star John Alexander, has already resigned his lower house seat when it emerged he may also hold Brit-ish citizenship.

Turnbull’s government would have to rely on the support of a handful of independent MPs to retain power if Alexander loses a by-election for his theoretically safe Sydney seat on December 19, or if the High Court ousts another coalition lawmaker from the lower house.

“It’s uncertain territory, we still don’t know for sure who is eligible and who’s not,” Uni-versity of Queensland politics lecturer Chris Salisbury told Reuters.

Malcom Turnbull

From left: Cast members Mark Hamill, Adam Driver and producer Kathleen Kennedy attend a promotional event of the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Tokyo, Japan.

Director Rian Johnson (left) and Star Wars character C-3PO attend a promotional event of the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Tokyo.

Star parade

China slams Australia amid growing interference fearsAFPSydney

Beijing accused Australia yesterday of stirring “anti-China hysteria” after Can-

berra proposed a suite of foreign interference laws, labelling com-ments by some government offi -cials as irresponsible.

Prime Minister Malcom Turn-bull on Tuesday announced wide-ranging reforms to tackle rising concerns of foreign inter-ference, noting “disturbing re-ports” about Chinese infl uence.

That came after Turnbull or-dered an inquiry in June in the wake of media revelations that the nation’s spy agency had warned the country’s political elite two years ago about taking donations from two billionaires with links to the Chinese Com-munist Party. The Chinese em-bassy in Canberra issued a furi-ous response to the proposed laws yesterday, saying Australian media had “repeatedly fabri-cated” stories about “so-called”

Chinese infi ltration in Australia. “Those reports, which were

made up out of thin air and fi lled with cold war mentality and ideological bias, refl ected a typi-cal anti-China hysteria and (are) paranoid,” an embassy spokes-person said in a statement.

Rhetoric has escalated from inside Canberra over the past week, after a key Australian La-bor MP, Sam Dastyari, was forced to resign as deputy opposition whip after reports that he told a Chinese businessman his phone was likely being tapped by intel-ligence agencies. The June probe said intelligence agencies had major concerns that China was interfering in Australian insti-tutions and using the political donations system to gain access. Beijing denied the allegations as “totally groundless”.

There have also been mount-ing concerns within Australian universities about Beijing’s use of nationalist student groups to monitor Chinese students, and challenge academics whose views do not align with Commu-

nist Party doctrine. The embassy said these reports “unscrupu-lously vilifi ed” the Chinese com-munity in Australia with “racial prejudice”.

“Some Australian politicians and government offi cials also made irresponsible remarks to the detriment of political mutual trust between China and Aus-tralia,” the embassy statement reads. “We categorically reject these allegations.”

Turnbull announced a host of new initiatives Tuesday, in-cluding broadening espionage laws and a ban on foreign dona-tions to political parties, with legislation to be introduced to parliament this week. “We have recently seen disturbing reports about Chinese infl uence,” he told reporters.

“I take those reports, as do my colleagues, very seriously.”

Foreign interference is a “glo-bal issue”, he said, adding that Russian meddling in the Ameri-can political system had helped Australian foreign interference reforms gain momentum.

Taiwan president hails act dealing with authoritarian past

The passage of an act dealing with Taiwan’s authoritarian past is a milestone for the self-governing island’s democracy, President Tsai Ing-wen said late yesterday. Tsai’s remarks came one day after Taiwan’s legislature enacted a law to establish a so-called transitional justice system to review the legacy of injustices left by former administrations of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Under the act, authoritarian symbols – such as statues, buildings, and memorial halls honouring former dictator Chiang Kai-shek – will be removed or modified.It also aims to help open political archives and redress injustices in court cases, state-run Central News Agency said. At a weekly meeting of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai said she hopes that in the future any political party in Taiwan would no longer have to bear the burden of authoritarianism. “And the people of Taiwan would no longer hate each other because of painful historical memories,” Tsai said. The new law targets the period from August 15, 1945, when the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan ended, to November 6, 1992, when martial law on Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu ended. On the main Taiwan island, martial law was lifted in July 1987.

BRITAIN/IRELAND19Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Premier facesgrowing Torycivil war oversoft Brexit dealLondon Evening StandardLondon

Theresa May yesterday faced a deepening Tory civil war as MPs said her

latest Northern Ireland talks opened the way for the UK to stay inside the world’s biggest trade bloc.

Conservatives opposed to a cliff -edge Brexit said the prime minister’s policy of “continued regulatory alignment” was the basis for a Norway-style trade deal within the European single market of 500mn customers.

The rift opened as Brexit Sec-retary David Davis said leaving the EU would result in a “para-digm change” for the economy.

John Stevenson, the Conserv-ative MP for Carlisle, said there was growing cross-party support in parliament for being members of Efta, the European Free Trade Association, which includes Ice-land, Norway and Switzerland.

“There is a lot of support, in-cluding among Brexiteers who backed the idea of an Efta-style solution during the referendum debate,” he said.

“People talk about a Nor-wegian model, but I think they would soon be talking of the Brit-ish model. It would take an awful lot of heat away from the Irish border issue.”

Nicky Morgan, the former edu-cation secretary who now chairs the Treasury select committee, said: “There cannot be a separate deal for part of the UK, so many

of us accept that regulatory align-ment is the way forward.”

She hit back at former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who called on Britain to pull the plug on talks with the EU and stage a hard Brexit. “It would be crazy to walk away from the talks now,” she said. But Tory Right-winger Nigel Evans branded the idea a “Hotel California solution — where you can check out but never leave the EU”.

Evans said the idea was being off ered by Labour but he believed Britons would not tolerate having to obey the single market rules, which include free movement of workers and an annual payment for membership.

“If the single market and customs union are on the table, we would be unable to control immigration and would have to pay money for the privilege. That is the worst deal you could get and it seems to be Labour policy now,” he said.

Economists say single market

membership after Brexit would protect jobs and growth, while al-lowing free movement across the Irish border. It could be achieved by joining Efta or by applying to join the European Economic Area, which united the EU and Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

The shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, yesterday re-peated that Labour is prepared to keep membership of the single market and customs union on the table. “We certainly wouldn’t rule it out” he said on the BBC’s Today show. “We’d want to have a conversation.”

Although hard-Brexiteers be-lieve they have a whip-hand over May while she is at No 10, the campaign for a soft Brexit may have a majority in parliament.

A recent study by LSE said Brexit without a trade deal would cost London over £100bn over fi ve years, while staying in the single market would reduce the losses to some £58bn.

Labour drops probe intoclaims against SargeantGuardian News and MediaLondon

An investigation by the La-bour party into allegations of inappropriate behaviour

by the politician Carl Sargeant, who died four days after being sacked as a Welsh government minister, has been dropped.

The party said it was no longer possible to take forward the investi-gation into Sargeant. The fi rst min-ister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, also said he did not feel guilty that he had sacked Sargeant and insisted that he was confi dent he had acted properly.

Investigations have begun into how Jones handled the allegations against Sargeant, and whether news of his sacking was leaked.

A third inquiry is to focus on allegations of bullying within the Labour Welsh government.

The Labour general secre-tary, Iain McNicol, has written to Sargeant’s family solicitor to say the party’s investigation into him would not continue. In the letter, which has been seen by the Guard-

ian, McNicol said: “It is no longer possible to take forward any inves-tigation under our procedures and therefore the Labour party deems its investigation closed.”

McNicol said the Labour party had acted in accordance with its procedures. He wrote: “As you know our procedures require that after a complaint has been re-ceived the Labour party sends an agreed formal statement of the complainant to the respondent so that the respondent may revert.

“The Labour party received the initial complaint on November 3 and was waiting for the formal statement to send to Sargeant when the tragic news reached us of his passing.

“At no stage did the Labour party assume or confer any guilt on any individual… The Labour party rejects any liability for costs in this matter. We are confi dent we have acted in accordance with our procedures at all times.”

Sargeant was dismissed as Cabinet secretary for communi-ties and children on that same day, November 3.

He apparently took his own life at the family home in Connah’s Quay, north Wales, on November 7. A complaint by Sargeant’s family and friends is that he did not know what allegations he was facing and had been left in limbo.

Speaking to the BBC, the Welsh fi rst minister said he felt loss but not guilt over Sargeant’s death. “Carl was a good friend. I knew Carl for many, many, years. We never once argued. I’m confi dent that I did everything as I should have done. Could I have done something diff erent? No. The only way I could have done it diff erent would have been to have ignored the allegations.” There was no suggestion that Sargeant “was in a state that was vulnerable to do what he did”, he said.

Jones criticised the former lo-cal government minister Leighton Andrews, who said that the at-mosphere in the Welsh govern-ment was toxic during the last assembly term. The fi rst minister said Andrews was running “some kind of trial by Twitter” against the government.

Newspaper sorry for headline gaff eAgenciesLondon

A local newspaper in the uni-versity city of Cambridge has apologised after the headline

“100pt splash heading here” domi-nated its front page yesterday.

“The Cambridge News is issu-ing an apology to its readers after an error with the front page of to-day’s edition of the newspaper,” it said.

“Due to a technical problem, the main headline did not appear on the Cambridge edition, although the correct one was printed in the Cambourne edition of the paper,” it said, referring to a village near the city.

The newspaper’s editor-in-chief David Bartlett apologised and said “we are still looking into how this happened and want our readers to know we take this seriously.”

Bartlett said the headline should have read ‘£2mn for ‘sex lair’ school,’ referring to an allocation of £2mn by local authorities for repairs to a school whose former principal had “spent funds on holidays and mak-ing a sex lair on the premises.”

“100pt” refers to large, 100-point text size, and the print-ed text was a placeholder com-monly used by newspapers until they have fi nalised a headline.

Chris Rand, a Cambridge-based journalist, said on Twitter that he expected the front page to be “featured in newspaper sub-editing courses for years.”

“Oh dear, oh dear. This is what happens when you cut newspa-per staff and budgets to the bone,” Cambridge-based writer Stuart Roberts tweeted.

But Tom Evans, an editor for the Liverpool Echo, defended the newspaper.

“I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet the house on this being a sys-tem glitch (page reverting to a pre-vious version), rather than any-thing to do with human error or staff cuts,” Evans wrote.

Readers were quick to poke fun at the paper on social media, with some suggesting a headline com-petition.

One person suggested “austerity ate our headline” as a possible entry.

Another commented: “The 100PT Splash heading... doesn’t get as much coverage as it should.”Carl Sargeant: did not know what allegations he faced

Elections at risk from perfect storm of threats, says watchdogGuardian News and MediaLondon

The head of the elections watchdog has demanded urgent reform of the elec-

toral laws and warned that the country faces a “perfect storm” of threats that could put the in-tegrity of the system at risk.

Sir John Holmes, the chair of the Electoral Commission, also confi rmed to the Guardian that the body has launched an inquiry into possible Russian interfer-ence in the EU referendum and is

waiting for evidence from Face-book, Google and Twitter.

The regulator said that in or-der to police the electoral system properly, and hold politicians and campaigns to account, wholesale changes were necessary.

“We must avoid complacen-cy to stop a perfect storm from forming which would put out democratic processes in peril,” he said.

In an interview with the Guardian, Holmes outlined a set of reform proposals which in-clude:

New rules to require political

campaigners to identify them-selves on online advertising to combat Russian or other external interference in elections.

Increases in fi nes for political parties that fi nd ways around elec-tion spending laws or fail to declare the source of their funding.

A new system requiring all voters to show photographic ID in polling stations.

A move away from only con-ducting votes on Thursdays and in schools or community halls.

His proposals come amid heightened public concern over voting systems and the apparent

ease with which foreign trolls and fraudsters can swing close votes following allegations in the US, the UK and France.

The commission announced an inquiry last month into Rus-sian interference in the Brexit vote and has two continuing in-quiries into the two main leave campaign groups, Leave.EU and Vote Leave. It faced criticisms for taking 18 months to scrutinise whether rules were complied with during the run-up to the poll on June 23, 2016.

“Electoral legislation is old, complicated and needs changing.

There are proposals to do that. The government needs to give it legislative time,” Holmes said.

Holmes, a former diplomat who has been stationed in Mos-cow, said the commission is speaking to digital giants about any Russian involvement in the Brexit referendum, and is waiting for any evidence, if it exists.

“The new digital methods of in-terfering from the outside are very diff erent to the old ones,” he said.

“That is what we saw in the US election and the revelations there have been from Facebook and so on. We want to see what has been

happening here too. But we don’t have a clear picture yet on the ex-tent of that.

“We are talking to Google, Twitter and Facebook and others about what they know about in-terference there might have been from the outside.

“We only asked them relatively recently, but formally asked them within the last month. They have promised to (respond to the com-mission) by the middle of this month.”

He added that in future sys-tems needed to be put in place to ensure that Internet compa-

nies provided information to the commission in “real time” so they could “intervene”.

“We can’t regulate what Rus-sians are doing, we don’t have the power to do that, but we can try to work with others to make sure there is maximum transparency,” he said.

Following investigations into how the Conservative party moved campaigners and staff from its na-tional headquarters to boost local party eff orts in 2014 and 2015 – without properly declaring their hotel bills and expenses – the party was fi ned £70,000.

Queen Elizabeth II leaves after attending Scripture Union’s 150th anniversary service of celebration at St Mary’s church in Islington yesterday. Scripture Union (SU) is a Christian charity.

Charity initiative

Border talks could resume in new year: Varadkar

Brexit negotiations can move to phase two next week only on the basis of the tentative Irish border agreement which collapsed on Monday, otherwise talks to break through the impasse will resume in the new year, Irish Prime Minis-ter Leo Varadkar said yesterday. “As far as we’re concerned and as far as the European Commis-sion are concerned, we stand by the text that had been agreed on Monday,” Varadkar told parlia-

ment yesterday. “It is the desire and ambition and wish of this government that we should move onto the phase two talks but if it isn’t possible to move to phase two next week because of the problems that have arisen, well then we can pick it up in the new year.” Varadkar said he understood May had diff icult political problems to manage, but it was up to Britain to come back to negotiators in Brussels and Dublin.

Police snatchsquads tonail moped muggers

London Evening StandardLondon

Undercover police squads are dragging suspected moped thugs off their ve-

hicles in a radical tactic to com-bat thieves and smash-and-grab raiders.

Teams of plain-clothes of-fi cers are mounting ambushes on criminals as they ride into the West End. They are deploy-ing the snatch squads at traf-fi c “pinch points” and striking when the moped riders are forced to come to a halt.

It comes amid a surge in moped crime, with 24 pedestri-ans targeted in a rampage across north London on Monday. Four thieves on two mopeds robbed people of phones in Islington and Camden before police deployed a “stinger” device to trap one of the bikes in Islington.

Earlier that day, seven men on mopeds raided a watch store in Fleet Street while brandishing a samurai sword, metal bars and knives.

The “snatch and grab” tactic is being deployed by offi cers in Westminster as an alternative to the more risky approach of pur-suing moped robbers at speed through the streets.

So far, two moped riders have been dragged off their vehicles by police. One was jailed for three years for robbery and the other youth, aged 14, has been charged with a series of moped-enabled crimes. A third youth was later tracked down and ar-rested and charged. The tactic is one of several methods being pursued. Police are also using stingers to burst tyres and a fo-rensic spray to mark individuals committing offences and iden-tify them later.

Detectives have been forced to adapt because of the risks of pur-suing scooters through crowded streets. Fleeing suspects exploit strict police rules on pursuits by taking off helmets so that it be-comes too dangerous to chase them.

BRITAIN

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201720

Police investigatingmulti-academy trustGuardian News and MediaLondon

Police have confi rmed they are looking at the conduct of a multi-academy trust

accused of asset stripping its schools before collapsing.

Wakefi eld City Academies Trust announced days into the new term in September that it would divest itself of its 21 schools because WCAT could not under-take the “rapid improvement” they needed. The department for education is in the process of ar-ranging for new trusts to take over management of the schools.

In October, it was revealed that the trust had transferred millions of pounds of its schools’ reserves to centralised accounts before admitting that new sponsors would need to be found for them.

Last month, Wakefi eld city council backed a motion call-ing for police to investigate the trust’s fi nances and insisted that the education department en-sure “full restitution” of money

transferred from schools into the trust’s accounts.

A spokesperson for West York-shire police said: “Following fur-ther discussions with the local council, information has been now passed to us which we are looking at. No crimes have been recorded at this stage and con-sultations are ongoing with rel-evant authorities.”

WCAT declined to comment.Giving evidence to the educa-

tion select committee on Tues-day, Sir David Carter, the na-tional schools commissioner, blamed the DfE for giving WCAT an “impossible” task by allowing it to take on 14 schools in special measures in 32 months.

Before its collapse, WCAT had been dogged by scandal. In Oc-tober 2016, it emerged that the trust had paid almost £440,000 to IT and clerking companies owned by its then chief ex-ecutive, Mike Ramsay, and his daughter. The trust insisted the contracts had represented the best value.

A draft of a DfE report on the

trust’s fi nances, seen by TES, also raised concerns that Ramsay had been paid more than £82,000 for 15 weeks’ work, despite the fact that the trust faced a large budget defi cit.

The multi-academy trust model came under renewed scru-tiny this weekend when it was revealed that more than 40,000 children are being educated in “zombie schools” – academies waiting to be transferred to an-other chain. DfE fi gures, ob-tained through a freedom of in-formation request, showed 64 academy schools were waiting to fi nd a new sponsor after being given up by, or stripped from, the trust originally managing them.

Half of those schools were waiting to be transferred from two chains: WCAT and the Education Fellowship Trust. In March, the latter became the fi rst trust in England to give up con-trol of its 12 academies, including a school in the prime minister’s Maidenhead constituency, fol-lowing concerns about educa-tional standards.

Millions ‘unaware ofpersonal data thefts’London Evening StandardLondon

Millions of British victims of data breaches are una-ware their personal data

has been stolen, according to re-search published yesterday.

About 30 high-profi le hacks over the past two years were ana-lysed, including on TalkTalk, Yahoo, PlayStation, the AA and Three, with researchers calculat-ing up to 77% of Britons had fallen victim to cybercriminals.

However, of 2,000 customers of these fi rms quizzed for a survey by credit fi rm Noddle, 58% said they did not know that their details had been compromised.

Personal information taken by hackers, which often ends up for sale on the dark web, has included names, addresses, phone num-bers, bank account details and passwords. But almost half of sur-vey respondents who knew about the attacks admitted not chang-ing their passwords or being vigi-lant for phishing e-mails, despite knowing the fraud risks.

Sixty percent of customers sur-veyed said they had not been told

by the companies involved and found out only when they read the news.

Noddle said this meant more than 21mn customers of the com-panies analysed did not know they were aff ected. The survey was car-ried out before the data thefts at ridesharing fi rm Uber and credit agency Equifax, which suggests the fi gures could be higher. Noddle said people concerned that they were aff ected should check credit scores for unusual activity.

An overhaul of data protection laws proposed for next year will force companies to tell custom-ers if there has been a signifi cant breach of data. Firms in the UK that suff er a serious breach could be fi ned up to £17mn. The current maximum fi ne that companies can suff er for breaking data protection laws is £500,000.

The information commis-sioner’s offi ce will have its powers strengthened to help it police the regime. Jacqueline Dewey, man-aging director of Noddle, said: “If your personal details are stolen they could be sold on and used to take out fraudulent credit cards, loans, a mobile phone contract or even a mortgage.”

The UK competition watchdog has delayed by a month its provisional decision on 21st Century Fox’s £11.7bn proposed deal to take full control of Sky in order to allow suff icient time to consider the thousands of submissions it has received. The Competition and Markets Authority expects to publish its initial verdict in mid-January rather than December 18. A spokesperson for the CMA said: “It is not unusual for us to update our timetables. In this case, we have received a large body of evidence – including numerous face-to-face hearings and more than 12,000 submissions – so it is vital that we spend the time to reach an informed and considered provisional view.”

An on-duty police off icer who died along with a 91-year-old woman in a crash on the A4 in Berkshire was due to become a father. Constable James Dixon, whose wife Samantha is pregnant, died when his motorcycle was in collision with a car near Hare Hatch on Tuesday. The 39-year-old had appeared in the Sky TV programme Road Wars. The pensioner, who was a passenger in the car, was also killed while the female driver was taken to hospital. The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The IPCC said Dixon was on a training exercise and was not responding to an emergency or pursuing the vehicle he collided with.

Two members of a criminal gang who used a young woman to carry and sell drugs have been convicted for human traff icking in a landmark case in Britain, police said. The two men, Mahad Yusuf, 20, and Fesal Mahamud, 19, pleaded guilty on Tuesday at Swansea Crown Court in Wales to traff icking a young person for the purposes of exploitation under Britain’s Modern Slavery Act, and to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. The gang lured the victim into a car in London after making contact on social media and drove her to South Wales, where Yusuf held the 19-year-old in a property for five days and forced her to store drugs against her will, investigators said.

A former special adviser to ex-defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon has appeared in court charged with sexual assault. Richard Holden, 32, is accused of attacking a woman in her 20s at a party in London last December. It is alleged that while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol, he touched her inappropriately. Holden, from south-east London, denies the charge. He was employed as a media adviser until earlier this year and had previously worked in a number of roles for the Conservatives, He also spent several years in the Tory press off ice. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court and is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on January 3.

Five Metropolitan police off icers involved in the arrest, restraint and detention of the musician Sean Rigg will not face charges, prosecutors have announced almost 10 years after his death in police custody. Following a fresh review of evidence at the request of the Rigg family into what happened in south London and at Brixton police station in August 2008, the Crown Prosecution Service has decided not to prosecute. The family, who called the CPS decision “shameful”. Rigg, 40, had paranoid schizophrenia and was living in a hostel. Police were called after he allegedly smashed up a gazebo and made karate moves, which staff believed to be threatening.

Verdict on 21st CenturyFox’s Sky deal delayed

Reality TV police off icerkilled in car crash

Drug dealers convicted fortraff icking teenage girl

Former aide to Fallon accused of sexual assault

Decision to clear police inmusician’s death slammed

DECISION TRAGEDYVERDICT TRIAL ANGER

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, meet children as they arrive to attend the Children’s Global Media Summit at the Manchester Central Convention Complex in Manchester yesterday. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the Children’s Global Media Summit, where the Duke gave a keynote speech, and the Duchess joined a forum hosted by Sesame Street’s Workshop, the charitable foundation of the famous children’s TV show, on research commissioned into kindness.

Royal couple at children’s summitFormer modelat heart of the Profumo aff airdies aged 75Guardian News and MediaLondon

Christine Keeler, the former model at the centre of the Profumo aff air that shook

British politics in the 1960s, has died aged 75, her family and a close friend have said.

Keeler, then a teenage model and showgirl, became famous for her role in the 1963 scandal that rocked the establishment when she had an aff air with the Tory Cabinet minister John Pro-fumo and a Russian diplomat at the same time at the height of the Cold War. Profumo was eventually forced to resign after lying to par-liament about the aff air.

Keeler’s son, Seymour Platt, 46, told the Guardian she died at the Princess Royal university hospital in Farnborough.

She had been ill for several months, and suff ered from the lung disease COPD (chronic ob-structive pulmonary disease).

A major BBC series revisiting the scandal is due to start fi lming next year.

Keeler, who had been living un-der the name of Sloane for many years, was briefl y married twice, both marriages ending in divorce. She had two sons – James from her fi rst marriage, and Seymour from her second – and a granddaughter.

Platt, who lives in Ireland, said he, his wife and their daughter had last seen his mother a week ago. “There was a lot of good around Chris’s rather tragic life, because there was a family around her that loved her,” he said.

“I think what happened to her back in the day was quite damaging.”

Born in Uxbridge, Mid-dlesex, and raised by her mother and stepfather, Keeler was working as a cab-aret dancer in Soho in Lon-don when she met Stephen Ward, an osteopath, artist and “man about town”.

He introduced her to a party scene attended by aristocrats and VIPs, and through him, in 1961, she met both Profumo, then 46 and secretary of state for war, and the Russian military attache Yevg-eny Ivanov, having aff airs with both men.

When the relationships came to light in 1963, amid fears of a Cold War security leak, the scandal rocked the Harold Macmillan gov-ernment.

Profumo told the House of Commons there was no “impro-priety” in their relationship after being asked about it by opposition MPs who voiced concerns about national security implications.

Eventually, after more newspa-per stories emerged, he admitted lying to the house, and resigned from the Cabinet and the Com-mons. His fall from grace was deemed a contributory factor in the fall of the Macmillan govern-ment, with Labour winning under Harold Wilson in 1964.

Keeler met Mandy Rice-Davies when they worked as dancers in Soho and both women were in-volved with Ward’s social set. Ward would later be convicted of living off immoral earnings, with Keeler and Rice-Davies as the main witnesses, but he took a fatal overdose before the jury returned their guilty verdict in August 1963.

At the height of the Profumo af-fair, Keeler gave newspaper inter-views and also posed for the now famous photograph of her sitting naked on a chair.

The aff air only came to light after an incident with Aloysius “Lucky” Gordon, a man whom

Keeler’s family and friends said abused and stalked her. Gordon fi red shots into the home of Ward, where Keeler was temporarily seeking

refuge. When she was questioned during the subsequent police in-

vestigation and prosecu-tion of Gordon, details of the aff air became public.

Man charged with plotto kill prime ministerAgenciesLondon

A man has appeared in court charged with a terror plot to carry out an attack at 10

Downing Street and kill the prime minister.

Naaimur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, was accused of planning a bomb and knife attack in West-minster earlier this year.

Rahman was also charged with helping Mohamed Aqib Imran, 21, who in turn was accused of trying to leave the UK to join the Islamic State group.

Each man was charged with one count of planning acts of terror-ism, while Rahman was charged

with a further count of assisting Imran. They appeared in the dock at Westminster magistrates court yesterday and spoke only to con-fi rm their names, ages, addresses and nationalities.

Imran, a British-Pakistani, and Rahman, who said he was Bang-ladeshi-British, were arrested in raids by the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command in London and Birmingham on No-vember 28.

Prosecutor Mark Carroll told the court Rahman planned to detonate an improvised explosive device at the gates of Downing Street and gain access to May’s offi ce in the ensuing chaos and kill her.

“The secondary attack was to

be carried out with a suicide vest, pepper spray and a knife,” he told the court.

Rahman was carrying two inert explosive devices when he was ar-rested last week, the court heard.

“His purpose was to attack, kill and cause explosions,” Car-roll said. Neither man was granted bail. The case was sent to the Old Bailey, where the next hearing will be on December 20.

A Downing Street spokesman declined immediate comment on the case. Meanwhile, armed po-lice patrols have been stepped up at Westminster amid a rise in ter-ror plots.

Defence Minister Earl Howe told peers how security has been beefed up as more and more ex-

tremists are being caught trying to carry out atrocities.

“The Palace of Westminster

has seen a much tighter degree of security from armed police in re-cent months,” he told the Lords.

Artist Lubaina Himid (centre) poses with D J Goldie (left) and Tate director Maria Balshaw after being announced as the winner of the Turner Prize in Hull.

Turner Prize winner

Terror suspect ‘urged attack on Prince George’A man posted a picture of Prince George, 4, and the address of his London school as part of a series of possible targets for militants, a court heard yesterday. Husnain Rashid, 31, is accused of posting information on the Telegram messaging service to encourage militants to carry out attacks along with information to help them with possible targets such as stadia. Prosecutor Rebecca Mundy told London’s Westminster

Magistrates Court that this included posting a picture of Prince George, son of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William and Kate and destined to be the future king, next to a silhouette of a militant. The post included the address of his school in southwest London which he started attending in September and was accompanied with the caption “even the royal family will not be left alone”, the court heard.

EUROPE21Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, facing arrest in Spain for organising an illegal independence referendum in October, has said he would stay in Belgium for the time being. Spanish authorities dropped an international arrest warrant for him on Monday in order to bring his case solely under Spanish jurisdiction and avoid a lengthy extradition process through the Belgian courts. “For the moment we will stay here,” Puigdemont said at a press conference in Brussels. Puigdemont and four ex-cabinet members travelled to Brussels shortly after he was sacked by the central government. His former No 2, Oriol Junqueras, is in custody in a Madrid jail.

Authorities in southern Germany yesterday examined a suspicious package delivered to a pharmacy, but found that it contained nothing more than an advertising gift. Employees in a pharmacy in Ulm called the police when they found a package without a return address. A package sent to a pharmacy in Potsdam last week was found to contain nails, batteries and a metal cylinder assembled in a way that resembled a bomb. That package contained an online blackmail letter threatening to send more dangerous packages during the busy Christmas period unless DHL paid a sum of money in the millions of euros.

The Swiss parliament yesterday elected Interior Minister Alain Berset to serve in the largely symbolic position of president next year, making him the youngest to hold the post in a century. The choice of the 45-year-old member of the Socialist Party came as no surprise, since it was his turn among the seven members of the Swiss government to take on the rotating one-year presidency. Berset, who has been a member of the government since 2011, was voted through with the support from 190 voters out of a total 210 approved ballots, underlining strong support across the country’s political divides.

Romania will observe three days of national mourning next week to mark the death of its former king Michael, who was one of the last surviving World War II leaders. The national flag will be flown at half-staff from December 14-16, which will coincide with the return of his body from Switzerland to the castle north of Bucharest where he was born. Michael, who died Tuesday aged 96, had largely withdrawn from public life after announcing last March that he was seriously ill with leukaemia. But he remained a revered monarch for many Romanians, with candles and flowers being placed outside the Royal Palace as well as at his residence, Elisabeta Palace, in Bucharest.

Candles and flowers lies next to portrait of late King Michael of Romania at the former Royal Palace in Bucharest.

Former Catalan leader to stay in Belgium for now

Police clear suspect package amid blackmail plot jitters

Alain Berset voted president by Swiss parliament

Romania in mourning after former king passes away

FUGITIVE NOT BLACKMAIL CEREMONIAL POST REVERED

France mourns death of ‘French Elvis’ Johnny HallydayReutersParis

Johnny Hallyday, whose death at 74 was announced by his wife and the French president

yesterday, was a rock and roll gi-ant in his native France, surviving drug use, family strife and near-death episodes to strut the stage for more than 50 years.

Known for his cowboy swag-ger, gravelly voice, abundant tat-toos and leather biker jackets, the ‘French Elvis’ had tens of mil-lions of fans, above all in his na-tive France, where he sold more records than any other singer.

Hallyday died after a battle with lung cancer.

His wife Laeticia phoned French President Emmanuel Ma-cron at about 2am with news that triggered an outpouring of grief from fans, politicians and celeb-rities.

“For more than 50 years, he was a vibrant icon,” read a state-ment by Macron, who this sum-mer attended a concert Hallyday gave days after a dose of chemo-therapy.

Later, during a visit to Algeria,

Macron said: “Homage will be paid.”

Hallyday sold more than 100mn albums over the decades, mostly in the French-speaking world.

He never quite conquered the United States, where he lived in Los Angeles in later years.

“I write these words without believing them. But yet, it’s true. My man is no longer with us,” his wife said in a statement.

Police were posted outside his house west of Paris.

Broadcasters provided wall-to-wall coverage of the rocker’s life, with reams of black-and-white fi lm and song tapes tracing the history of a man regarded by many, non-fans included, as part of French national heritage.

Lawmakers in France’s lower house of parliament paid their respects with a standing ovation.

French-Canadian singer Ce-line Dion took to Twitter to mourn the loss of “a true icon”.

American singer Lenny Kravitz posted a tweet saying: “Repose en Paix (Rest in peace). Your soul is pure Rock and Roll.”

In Belgium, his father’s birth-place, the underground railway authority said it would pipe his

music into trains, while Brus-sels City Hall said his biggest hits would be aired over loudspeakers at the famous Grand Place square in an evening tribute.

American newspaper USA To-day once dubbed Hallyday “the greatest rock star you never heard of,” but in France he was a monu-ment known simply as ‘Johnny’.

He drew huge crowds and sang to more than 750,000 at a free concert he held near the Eiff el Tower on France’s Bastille Day national holiday in 2009.

Hallyday’s 2011 album ‘Jamais Seul’ went straight to number one despite his reputation among younger generations as passé.

A star who forged his career recycling rock gems such as The Animals’ version of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ or Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Hey Joe’, Hallyday also starred in movies and adverts.

He once claimed to have been born in Oklahoma and said his stage name Hallyday came from a doctor there who saved an ac-quaintance.

Born Jean-Philippe Leo Smet in Paris to Huguette Clerc and Belgian-born Leon Smet in 1943, Johnny was raised by his aunt

when his parents split up.He spent his early years on the

road with his cousins in an acro-batic dance troupe, taking to the

stage himself at 12 and singing country songs dressed as a child Davy Crockett.

He changed style after seeing

Elvis Presley in ‘Loving You’. His fi rst single, ‘T’aimer Folle-

ment’ (To Love You Madly), came at age 16.

Wild stage antics sparked riot-ing at concerts.

The Harley Davidson fan won a name for his hard-living streak as well as his chart-topping al-bums.

Drugs, alcohol and Gitanes cigarettes, the latter apparently adopted on the advice of rocker Keith Richards, helped carve out the husky voice and craggy face that were trademarks before age too took its toll.

In 1965 he married pop singer Sylvie Vartan, with whom he had a son, David Hallyday, now a singer.

Divorce in 1980 was followed by four other marriages, one that lasted 62 days and two to the same woman, Adeline Blondiau.

Hallyday’s fi fth marriage was to Laeticia Boudou in 1996, with whom he adopted two daughters, Joy and Jade.

After back surgery in 2008, he was put into an artifi cial coma to treat pain caused by an infection, which he had sought for weeks to keep at bay with ever-larger amounts of alcohol.

His daughter Laura Smet, by third wife Nathalie Baye, is an actress like her mother.

A policeman carries flowers brought by fans in memory of late French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday in Marnes-la-Coquette, near Paris.

Pulling no surprises, Putin says will seek re-electionReutersMoscow

President Vladimir Putin yesterday confi rmed Russia’s worst kept political secret, saying he would

run for re-election in March 2018 — a contest he seems sure to win comfort-ably and extend his grip on power into a third decade.

Putin, 65, has been in power, either as president or prime minister, since 2000, longer than veteran Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and outstripped only by dictator Josef Stalin.

If he wins what would be a fourth presidential term, he will be eligible to serve another six years until 2024, when he turns 72.

Backed by state TV, Putin regularly enjoys approval ratings of around 80%, and his decision to run for re-election — which he announced at a car-making factory in the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod — was widely expected.

“I will put forward my candidacy for the post of president of the Russian Federation,” Putin said, in answer to a question from a factory worker who told the Russian leader that “everyone without exception” in the hall sup-ported him.

“There’s no better place or opportu-nity to make this announcement,” said Putin. “I’m sure that everything will work out for us.”

The workers then broke into a chant of “Russia!”

Allies laud Putin as a father-of-the-nation fi gure who has restored national pride and expanded Moscow’s global clout with interventions in Syria and Ukraine.

Critics accuse him of overseeing a corrupt authoritarian system and of illegally annexing Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, a move that isolated Russia inter-nationally.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is unlikely to be allowed to run against Putin due to what he says is a trumped up criminal conviction, said Putin was overstaying his welcome.

“He wants to be in power for 21 years,” Navalny wrote on social media. “To my mind, that’s too long. I suggest we don’t agree.”

Despite the Central Election Com-mission ruling him ineligible to stand, Navalny has organised mass protests and set up campaign headquarters across the country, hoping he can pres-sure the authorities into allowing him to stand.

The challenge for Putin though is not other candidates — nobody, including Navalny, looks capable of unseating him.

Instead, his toughest task will be to mobilise an electorate showing signs of apathy to ensure a high turnout which in the tightly-controlled limits of the Russian political system is seen as con-ferring legitimacy.

Whilst next year’s election in March is devoid of real suspense about who will win, what follows is more unpre-dictable as attention will turn to what happens after Putin’s fi nal term — un-der the current constitution — ends.

There is no obvious successor.Many investors say the lack of a clear

succession plan, and likely jockeying for position among Russian elites for dominance in the post-Putin era, is be-coming the biggest political risk.

Putin, once re-elected, will have to choose whether to leave Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister, or to ap-point someone else.

That decision will trigger a round of intrigue over the succession, as who-ever holds the prime minister’s post is often viewed as the president’s heir ap-parent.

In the meantime, perhaps the Krem-lin’s biggest task will be to make it look as if Putin faces real electoral competition.

In a move critics suspect is a Kremlin

ploy to split the liberal opposition vote while injecting a patina of interest, TV celebrity Ksenia Sobchak, the daughter of Putin’s political mentor, is standing against him, off ering voters unhappy with his rule someone to back.

A political ingénue, Sobchak has scant chance of winning.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied her candidacy is a Kremlin ploy.

Sobchak said yesterday that Putin would probably win “as always,” but that she still planned to run to represent people who wanted change.

Otherwise, Communist leader Gen-nady Zyuganov, 73, and nationalist fi re-

brand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, 71, — both political retreads — are likely to run.

They are broadly supportive of the Kremlin’s policies and have repeatedly run for president, behaviour critics say is a ruse to create the illusion of genuine political choice.

Putin draws much of his support from outside the two biggest cities — Moscow and St Petersburg — where many credit him with raising their liv-ing standards despite an economic cri-sis Russia is only now recovering from.

State TV, where many Russians still get their news, aff ords Putin blanket and uncritical coverage while ignoring or denigrating his opponents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to give a speech at a forum of volunteers in Moscow yesterday.

$47mn bail for Russia billionaireAFPAix-en-Provence

An appeal court in southern France yesterday ordered billionaire Russian busi-

nessman and senator Suleyman Kerimov to post bail of 40mn eu-ros ($47mn) pending a tax fraud investigation.

Kerimov, 51, was arrested in late November in the city of Nice over suspected tax evasion related to the purchase of luxury properties on the French Riviera, provoking an angry reaction from Moscow.

He posted bail of 5mn euros and handed over his passport after he was charged with tax fraud on No-vember 23, but prosecutors lodged an appeal for a heftier bond.

The oligarch, who has denied any wrongdoing, left the appeal court in Aix-en-Provence fl anked by bodyguards without speaking to reporters.

The case has signalled French prosecutors’ willingness to pur-sue alleged money laundering and tax evasion in the top-end prop-erty market in the south of France which has long been a favourite destination for the rich and fa-mous.

Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said Monday that between 500mn and 750mn euros in “se-cret money” was involved.

Investigators suspect that a shell company used huge amounts of undeclared cash, drawn from accounts in Switzerland and Mo-naco, in the purchases of fi ve luxury villas on the exclusive Cap d’Antibes peninsula on Kerimov’s behalf.

Some of the transactions were thought to exceed 100mn euros.

One property has since been sold, while authorities have seized the other four.

The court also released estate agent Irina Sadikova, the only suspect detained in the aff air who was held for two weeks.

She was ordered to pay bail of 300,000euros.

She has admitted to earning a 2mn euro commission for the sale of a villa and stashing the money in Switzerland.

Listed by Forbes magazine as Russia’s 21st richest person with an estimated net worth of $6.3bn, Kerimov made his transition from rags to riches during the privati-sations that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union.

EUROPE

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201722

People attend an anniversary rally of the 2008 police shooting of 15-year-old student, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, in Athens yesterday.

A former Polish military counterintelligence chief was detained yesterday for allegedly collaborating with Russia, in a move the country’s opposition denounced as politically motivated. General Piotr Pytel was accused earlier this year, along with his predecessor Janusz Nosek, of overstepping his duties by signing a cooperation agreement with Russia’s FSB security service during the withdrawal of Polish troops from Nato operations in Afghanistan via Russia in 2010. “An investigation against General Pytel is ongoing. He is accused of illegally cooperating with the FSB,” Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz was quoted as saying by the Polish news agency PAP.

Greek police yesterday fired teargas at youths marching in Athens to mark the ninth anniversary of the killing of a teenager by police, an incident that sparked Greece’s worst riots for decades. A few hundred students, among them dozens of black-clad youths, marched through central Athens chanting “Resist!”, waving red and black flags in a tribute to 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos who was shot dead in 2008. Some of the protesters set garbage containers on fire and hurled stones at police outside parliament during the march. Police fired teargas to disperse them and formed protective cordons outside parliament and hotels in central Athens.

The Bosnian prosecutor’s off ice said yesterday it had charged a Bosnian Serb mayor with war crimes committed during the 1990s war. Miroslav Kraljevic, 49, who led a Bosnian Serb special police unit in the eastern town of Vlasenica during the 1992-1995 war, was indicted with three others, notably over the murder and disappearance of at least 22 Bosnian Muslims. They are also accused of imprisoning several dozen people who suff ered torture and persecution in 1992 and 1993, the prosecutor’s statement said. “In spring 1993, almost all the Muslim population from this region was expelled,” it said.

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose Democratic Party (PD) is shedding support in opinion polls, yesterday suff ered a further setback when two allies said they would not contest next year’s election. Giuliano Pisapia, a former mayor of Milan, yesterday announced that his small leftist party called the Progressive Camp (CP), which had been expected to join forces with the PD at the election, was disbanding. Hours later, Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, leader of the centrist Popular Alternative party (AP) which governs with the PD, said he would not be running at the election, throwing into doubt the future of the party he founded.

Polish ex-military spy held in ‘collaboration’ probe

Protesters teargassed on Greece riots’ anniversary

Bosnian town mayor charged with war crimes

Renzi loses more allies as Italian election nears

ESPIONAGE10 YEARS ON INDICTED NUMBER CRUNCH

Finland celebrates 100 years of independence from RussiaAFPHelsinki

Finland, a former Russian Grand Duchy, yesterday celebrated the centenary

of its independence with parades and street parties in a festive mood, despite fl aring tensions between Moscow and the West.

Buildings across the Nor-dic country were draped in the blue-and-white of the national fl ag, and the government sent a text message to all Finns wishing them ‘Onnea Suomi’ — or ‘Hap-py Birthday Finland’.

“Congratulations Finland, the best country in the world,” Prime Minister Juha Sipila wrote on Twitter, while President Sauli Niinisto urged his fellow citizens to brave the cold to celebrate the event in the streets.

On Tuesday evening, hundreds of people gathered under snowy skies at Helsinki’s Market Square near the presidential palace for the fi rst festivities.

The Finnish fl ag was raised on

offi cial buildings in the capital to mark the nation’s unilateral dec-laration of independence on De-cember 6, 1917, in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution.

After belonging to Sweden for six centuries — until 1809 — Fin-land only gained its independ-ence after the fall of the Tsarist Russian empire.

Yet the Nordic country still had to defend its territory against the Red Army during the winter of 1939-1940 and then again from June 1941 to September 1944.

The human and territorial losses of those confl icts remains very present in the collective memory of today’s 5.5mn Finns and their leaders, who exercised caution toward their powerful neighbour during the Cold War.

The collapse of the Soviet Un-ion in 1991 changed everything.

Remaining militarily non-aligned, Finland rapidly joined the European Union in 1995, and swapped its currency, the mark-ka, for the euro in 2002.

It has continued to forge closer ties with Nato, without joining

the alliance, in a bid to secure its tacit protection from Russian threats.

Illustrating the recurring ten-sions between Moscow and Bal-tic Sea states, Finland’s defence ministry on Tuesday claimed that “a Russian state owned Tu-polev TU-154” aircraft had vio-lated Finnish airspace the previ-ous day.

The foreign ministry imme-diately summoned the Russian ambassador.

“Russian ambassador sum-moned to MFA (ministry of for-eign aff airs) and informed of alleged violation of airspace. Russia requested to provide ex-planation,” Foreign Minister Timo Soini wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Almost 30 countries celebrat-ed the centenary by draping some of their monuments in Finland’s colours — including St Peters-burg’s Museum of Ethnogra-phy and the National Theatre in Petrozavodsk in eastern Karelia, a province occupied by Finnish troops during World War II.

The Students’ Independence Day Parade passes by the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland yesterday as Finland celebrated the centenary of independence.

41 injured after train derails in GermanyAFPBerlin

German investigators were working yesterday to de-termine what caused the

collision between a passenger train and a stationary freight train near the city of Duesseldorf that injured 41 people.

Early indications suggested the passenger train had been on the wrong track, but officials said it remained unclear how the mistake could have hap-pened.

Seven of the 41 hurt were badly injured in Tuesday’s accident, while one person was in a serious condition, the local Meerbusch

fi re department said in an up-dated toll.

A total of 173 people were on board the National Express re-gional train when it smashed into a DB Cargo train around 7.30pm on Tuesday near Meerbusch-Osterath station in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state.

Rescue workers and offi cials praised the driver for slamming on the emergency brake as soon as he noticed an obstacle on the tracks, likely preventing a much bigger collision.

“We were very lucky,” said spokesman Marcel Winter of Britain’s National Express. “It could have been much worse.”

The driver was unharmed but

in a state of shock, police said.Images from the Tuesday’s late

night scene showed moderate damage to the passenger train’s fi rst carriage, while the other blue-and-white carriages ap-peared largely unaff ected.

The train remained standing upright on the tracks.

Some of the cargo train car-riages however were thrown off the rails as a result of the impact.

“The regional train should not have been on that section of the track,” said Gerd Muen-nich, a spokesman for the Federal Railway Accident Investigation Board (BEU).

The cargo train had been standing still waiting for a signal to proceed, he added, while de-

clining to speculate on whether the crash was caused by human error or a technical problem. “We are only at the very beginning of our investigation,” he stressed.

Passengers recounted hearing a loud bang when the two trains collided but 19-year-old Lu-kas Kehler said people remained calm.

“There was no sense of panic,” he told local television station WDR.

The crash sparked a large res-cue operation involving some 400 emergency workers but ac-cess to the train was initially hin-dered by ruptured overhead lines which fi rst had to be made safe, according to the Meerbusch fi re department.

Rescuers were able to reach those injured by 9.15pm, with the last people evacuated from the train just after midnight.

The regional express train was travelling from the west-ern city Cologne to the town of Krefeld while the cargo train was bound for the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

National Express is the only private rail operator active in North Rhine-Westphalia, where it has been running two regional services since 2015.

Germany’s deadliest train ac-cident happened in 1998 when a high speed train operated by state-owned Deutsche Bahn de-railed in Eschede in Lower Saxo-ny, killing 101 people.

An overview from a drone yesterday shows the site of a train accident in Meerbusch-Osterath, western Germany.

Centre-left torn over new pact with MerkelBy Frank Zeller, AFP Berlin

Germany’s Social Democrats, the country’s second-largest party, plans to decide today whether or not to help Chan-cellor Angela Merkel end months of political paralysis in

Europe’s biggest economy.Party leader Martin Schulz has asked his deeply divided SPD to

give him the green light for exploratory talks on joining Merkel in another coalition government starting in early 2018.

“For us, nothing is pre-determined, nothing is automatic,” Schulz said this week, while also noting that another option would be to allow Merkel to run a minority government, an idea she has so far opposed as too unstable.

Schulz, a main loser of September’s elections who now may be kingmaker, has vowed to extract maximum concessions for his 150-year-old labour party, including social welfare gains and steps toward greater “solidarity” in Europe.

He also supports French President Emmanuel Macron’s sweep-ing vision for EU reform as well as a departure from Berlin’s insist-ence on austerity in crisis-hit economies.

If the tough coalition poker indeed kicks off next week, Schulz will have to prove he can drive a hard bargain with Merkel, having back-fl ipped on his repeated vows to take the SPD into the opposition.

For now, it is still a long and rocky road toward a new “grand coalition” government of Merkel’s conservative bloc and the SPD — and new elections loom if they fail to reach a deal.

For Schulz, a former European Parliament president, it is the next phase in a roller-coaster ride since he splashed onto the Ger-man political scene only a year ago, tasked with defeating veteran leader Merkel.

He was initially celebrated within his party as a messiah, win-ning 100% party support in January and seeing SPD poll ratings briefl y shoot up some 10 percentage points.

But over the following months Schulz met the fate of Merkel’s previous challengers, with his campaign, built on fi ghting social inequality, losing steam amid a string of regional poll defeats.

In the September 24 general election, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) protest party siphoned millions of votes from all mainstream parties, the SPD scored just under 21%, its worst showing since World War II.

Minutes after the dismal outcome was announced, Schulz pledged to rebuild the SPD on the opposition benches, a move widely cheered by the party’s rank and fi le.

Most members felt that the past four years — in which the SPD was Merkel’s junior partner in an unhappy “grand coalition”, or “GroKo” in German political shorthand — had badly wounded party support and morale.

Thousands of members had already defected from the histori-cal working-class champions when former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder slashed back the welfare state in the early 2000s.

Schulz was forced to take back his repeated snubs to Merkel in recent weeks after her talks aimed at forming a coalition with two smaller parties unexpectedly collapsed last month.

With the main parties wanting to avoid the risk of new elec-tions that might give an even bigger boost to the AfD, pressure has grown on the SPD, from within Germany and elsewhere in Europe, to avert a political crisis.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier — an SPD veteran who, as head of state, is supposed to operate above party politics — has since been brokering talks between party chiefs.

At the three-day SPD congress starting today in Berlin, Schulz will have to convince sceptical members, including a passionately anti-GroKo youth wing, to allow him to at least sound out another pact with Merkel.

Schulz will seek to convince the party that the SPD, back in power, would be better positioned to improve the lives of ordinary Germans.

INDIA23Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Security tight in AyodhyaDPALucknow

Security was tight in the northern town of Ayodhya yesterday on the 25th anniversary of the demoli-

tion of a mosque that led to widespread riots in the country.

People and their belongings were frisked at multiple checkpoints across the temple town and sniff er dogs and bomb squads were deployed, addi-tional superintendent of police Sanjay Kumar said.

The 16th century Babri mosque was demolished by Hindu fanatics on De-cember 6, 1992.

The site has remained a fl ashpoint of religious tensions between Hindus and

Muslims for decades.Hindu rightwing groups like the

Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Ba-jrang Dal had given a call to observe the anniversary yesterday as victory day, India Today news channel reported.

They asked residents of the twin towns of Ayodhya and Faizabad to light up their homes with lamps.

Some Muslim organisations like the Indian Union Muslim League said they would observe it “as a black day.”

In New Delhi a talk on the subject by controversial Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy was cancelled at the Jawaharlal Ne-hru University amid security con-cerns, a member of the organising committee said.

The demolition of the mosque in

1992 was followed by sectarian riots across the country in which more than 2,000 people died.

The dispute dates back to the mid-1850s and has been the subject of a court case since 1949.

Both Hindu and Muslim groups fi led civil suits and the government pro-claimed the premises a disputed site and locked the gates.

There are two major cases currently being heard in the courts, one over rights to the disputed site, and the oth-er in which several politicians, includ-ing from the governing BJP, are accused of criminal conspiracy in the demoli-tion of the mosque.

The BJP has promised to build a tem-ple at the disputed site in every election manifesto.

Sibal remarks on Babri case sparkhuge political rowIANSDhandhuka, Gujarat/New Delhi

A demand by senior lawyer Kapil Sibal that the Supreme Court should hear the Ayodhya dis-

pute only after the 2019 general elec-tions triggered a major political storm yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at-tacked the Congress and congratulated the Sunni Waqf Board for distancing itself from Sibal’s plea.

However, Sibal clarifi ed he did not represent the Sunni Waqf Board, but one of the individuals in the case.

It all started with Modi repeatedly citing the statement made by Sibal in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the hearing in the Babri Masjid case be deferred till after 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions.

“Yesterday in the Supreme Court, a Congress MP, Kapil Sibal, was arguing which is his right for the Babri Masjid. He is entitled to do that, but is it right for him to say postpone the hearing till 2019?” Modi said.

“Why does he have to link a Ram mandir with elections? Is such think-ing proper?” Modi asked, accusing the Congress of linking the temple issue with the elections.

“Now the Congress links Ram Man-dir with elections. They are least both-ered about the nation.”

The Congress on Tuesday night dis-tanced itself from Sibal’s stand saying it did not represent the party’s view.

Throughout the day there were statements made by leading activists of the Muslim community.

Haji Mehboob, one of the litigants, said Muslims wanted resolution of the dispute at the earliest, diff ering from Sibal’s stand.

But some of the petitioners in the case said they supported Sibal’s plea.

They also emphasised that Mehboob is neither a member of the Sunni Waqf Board nor does he represent the Board in any capacity.

“Whatever Kapil Sibal said in the Supreme Court yesterday was said af-ter thorough consideration and after taking us into confi dence. We totally support his stand,” said Zafaryab Jilani, a member of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, who is actively involved in the case since the beginning.

He said it could be Mehboob’s per-sonal opinion but not the offi cial stand of any of the parties involved.

Shakil Ahmed, one of the lawyers representing the Sunni Waqf Board, said Mehboob has “no connection” with his client and was “just another plaintiff ”.

Iqbal Ansari, the son of late Hashim Ansari who was the fi rst litigant in the case, too said he had no objection to Sibal’s arguments.

“Our lawyers told us that some doc-uments have to be prepared and a lot of documents are to be scrutinised to prepare the arguments and hence they

need adjournment. I have no objection to it,” Ansari said.

However, Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board chairman Zufar Ahmed Farooqui distanced himself from Sibal’s state-ment. “The UP Sunni Waqf Board’s case is being handled by two advocates, Sha-hid Rizvi and Shakeel Ahmed Saeed, in the apex court,” Farooqui said.

According to him, Sibal isn’t the Board’s counsel but representing one of the private parties in the case.

Latching on to this, Modi con-gratulated the Board “for their brave stand on the matter and disassociat-ing themselves from the statement of Sibalji”. He was addressing an election rally in Gujarat.

“When Sibal asked that, the Con-gress says it is Sibal’s personal and individual issue. I ask you how does the 2019 general elections aff ect Kapil Sibal personally or the Waqf Board? Is Sunni Waqf Board contesting the elec-tions?”

Sibal also clarifi ed that he didn’t represent the Board in the Supreme Court and was only appearing on be-half of Ansari.

“Our PM comments without know-ing things sometimes. Amit Shah and the Prime Minister said I represented Sunni Waqf Board. I was never a Sunni Waqf Board lawyer. I can understand your president (Shah) saying such a thing because I don’t expect anything better from him.

“The PM did not check the fact that actually I never represented the Sunni Waqf Board in the Supreme Court and yet he thanked them. I request the PM to be a little more careful before mak-ing such public comments.”

School principal sacked in child abuse caseIANSKolkata

A school in Kolkata yesterday sacked its principal over the al-leged sexual assault of a four-

year-old girl. The decision by the G D Birla Centre for Education came after massive protests by parents of students. The school also announced that classes would resume today.

The announcement came after a long meeting between the school authorities, the parents, senior police offi cers, mem-bers of the state Child Rights Commission and other stakeholders yesterday evening. “The school authorities informed the

guardians that the present principal has been relieved of her duties and responsi-bilities with immediate eff ect. The exist-ing vice principals would run the schools from now on,” parent said.

“They (school authority) informed that the ‘removal’ is a legal term and re-quires due process. The school will reo-pen from December 7,” she said.

A section of the guardians were de-manding the ouster of the principal for allegedly trying to cover up the issue of sexual assault and indirectly support-ing the accused instead of taking action against them.

The guardians also said the school had agreed to form a body of guardians with representatives from all the classes.

They said they would hold regular meetings with the school authorities to discuss the betterment of the school.

“Several of our suggested measures, including no male teachers in the sen-ior and junior sections, installation of CCTV cameras, posting of female at-tendants in the school and its buses and separate toilets for boys and girls have been taken note of by the school man-agement,” they said.

Terming the outcome of the meeting as a “moral victory”, chairman of West Bengal State Commission for Protec-tion of Child Rights (WBSCPCR) Ananya Chakraborty said it could be achieved through sheer dedication of the guard-ians.

Modi takes dig at Congress claim on Gujarat poll victoryIANSAhmedabad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yes-terday took a jibe at the Congress Party on its claim of winning the

upcoming Gujarat elections, referring to the “big hullabaloo” about Cyclone Ockhi that was set to hit the state in a big way, but did not.

Disregarding the Ockhi alert and continuing his scheduled programme of three days’ campaigning, the prime minister was in Dhandhuka, a southern part of Ahmedabad district. Once again he began his speech mentioning the Congress, after reminiscing on his rela-tionship with the place.

Referring to the alerts about Cyclone Ockhi, he said, “Whatever that makes a big hullabaloo and is said that it is com-ing, never does.

He was hinting at the Congress, which has been campaigning in the state and claiming it is going to win the elections. The cyclone was on Tuesday headed to-wards Gujarat but yesterday it weakened while over the Arabian Sea, sparing the poll-bound state.

The Dhandhuka crowd, many of them comprising children who were made to sit in chairs in order to show a packed crowd, was totally unresponsive to any of Modi’s interactive questions. Some were even seen laughing. Modi’s style of questioning the audience and then get-ting affi rmative answers from them did not seem to be working on them.

Addressing the crowd, Modi said, “We think that the Congress meted out injustice to Sardar Patel, but let me tell you, he was not the only one. Their one-family which rules meted out injustice to the maker of the Constitution, Bhimrao Ambedkar and all those who were get-ting signifi cance in politics. Ambedkar had to go all the way to Bengal to fetch a membership in the constitutional body elections. The Congress could not even aff ord to honour him with the Bharat Ratna. Baba Saheb was never remem-bered during the entire Congress regime in the central government.”

He continued, “We bow to such great leaders. By continuing with the devel-opment works in Gujarat, the people of Gujarat should pay respect to the great leader.”

However, Congress spokesman Ran-deep Surjewala attacked the prime min-ister and said Modi was “baffl ed” on see-ing the Bharatiya Janata Party “losing” the Gujarat elections and that’s why he is forced to resort to making irrelevant statements and talking about everything else other than Gujarat.

“If he would have reacted to the state-ments made by his own party members like Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Shatrughan Sinha, rather than reacting to Congress, that would have been bet-ter. When he talks about internal democ-racy within the party, he should be talk-ing about what happened to Lal Krishna Advani, Keshubhai Patel, Anandiben Pa-tel, the murdered leader Haren Pandya, Kanshiram Rana, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sanjay Joshi,” Surjewala said.

“It is because he is baffl ed about the BJP’s huge loss in the state assem-bly elections. We can understand the prime minister’s confusion. We request the prime minister in a statement that though you may lose the decency of words and break political boundaries and precedents, we are Gandhi’s heirs, and as Mahatma Gandhi taught us, against all your violence, we will answer with non-violence, against all your ‘goondagardi’, we shall answer with decency, this is Rahul Gandhi’s simplicity and his way,” added Surjewala.

Muslims shout slogans during a demonstration to mark the 25th anniversary of the razing of the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, in Mumbai, yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar on his 61st death anniversary at Parliament House in New Delhi yesterday.

“The PM did not check the fact that actually I never represented the Sunni Waqf Board in the Supreme Court and yet he thanked them. I request the PM to be a little more careful before making such public comments”

There was no warning oncyclone, says Kerala CMIANSThiruvananthapuram

Kerala Chief Minister Pi-narayi Vijayan yesterday denied his state had got

advance warning about Cy-clone Ockhi, and announced a compensation of Rs2mn to the families of those who died and Rs500,000 to the permanently disabled.

Under fi re over the way res-cue operations were handled, Vijayan also announced fresh measures to tackle similar ca-lamities so that damages can be minimised.

Addressing reporters after a cabinet meeting, Vijayan said the fi rst information the state government got about the cy-clone was on November 30 noon.

“There was no advance infor-mation about Cyclone Ockhi at all. On November 30, at 8.30am the India Meteorological De-partment told us about a very

deep, deep depression about 170km off Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) coast.

“Even at that time, there was no mention of cyclone. And by that time, fi shermen had al-ready ventured into the sea.

“Even the union ministers who came here said there was no fault on the part of the state government and in an hour’s time the defence personnel be-gan rescue work.”

Vijayan said this was one of the biggest-ever rescue opera-tions done. It was ongoing and would continue till the last fi sh-erman was brought back.

Offi cials have put the death toll in the cyclone at 33. Many more were injured.

“About 2,600 fi shermen, in-cluding 1,130 Malayalees, were rescued and as per the records with us 92 are still missing,” the chief minister said.

He said Rs2mn had been an-nounced for the families of each person who died in the cyclone. Those who have been

permanently disabled will get Rs500,000 each.

In the next one week, all adults engaged in fi shing will get Rs60 per day while their children will be paid Rs45 a day as allowance.

Free ration will be given to coastal villages for a month, the chief minister said.

“All those who lost their fi sh-ing craft and gears will be com-pensated. The children of those killed and those missing will get free education and job training.”

The cabinet meeting also de-cided that from now on all those who go for fi shing will have to register with the Fisheries De-partment every day.

“All the boats that go into the sea should be fi tted with GPS fa-cility where two-way communi-cation regarding the weather will be available,” Vijayan said.

“Two hundred people will be recruited to the Coastal Police and preference will be given to the children of fi shermen who lost their lives or are missing.”

UK ‘must apologise’ forJallianwala massacreAgenciesAmritsar

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called on the Brit-ish government yester-

day to make a formal apology for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh mas-sacre in which nearly 400 Sikhs were shot dead by British Indian army soldiers.

During a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the most important pilgrimage site of Sikhism, Khan called the mas-sacre one of the most horrifi c events in Indian history.

On Sunday April 13, 1919, some 50 soldiers led by Brigadier Gen-eral Reginald Dyer began shoot-ing at unarmed civilians who were taking part in a peaceful protest against oppressive laws enforced in Punjab by British co-lonial authorities.

At least 379 Sikhs were killed, but the fi gure is still disputed.

“It is wrong that successive

British governments have fallen short of delivering a formal apol-ogy to the families of those who were killed,” Khan said.

“I’m clear that the government should now apologise, especially as we reach the centenary of the massacre. This is about properly acknowledging what happened here and giving the people of Amritsar and India the closure they need through a formal apol-ogy.”

Khan, who is from the opposi-tion Labour Party, does not speak for Britain’s Conservative gov-ernment.

Former Conservative prime minister David Cameron visited Amritsar at the end of a trade mission to India four years ago in a show of contrition over the massacre but stopped short of making a formal apology.

Khan, on his maiden visit to Amritsar, paid tributes to those who died at the sprawling ground.

“Some people use the word

‘massacre’,” Khan told reporters after visiting the Jallianwala Bagh complex.

“It was incredibly moving to visit Jallianwala Bagh. The trag-edy in 1919 on Baisakhi is one we must never forget. Our thoughts are with all those who died,” Khan wrote in the visitor’s book after paying fl oral tributes at the memorial.

Khan went around the Jalli-anwala Bagh complex and saw the Martyr’s Well and the bullet marks on the walls.

“Britain and the world owe a huge debt to the Sikh servicemen and women who fought along-side British troops during the First and Second World Wars,” Khan said.

“These brave individuals sac-rifi ced an enormous amount to defend the freedoms that we en-joy today and it is only right that there is a memorial in our capi-tal city to honour the Sikhs who fought to preserve our freedoms.”

The British Foreign Offi ce said

in a statement: “As the former prime minister said when he visited the Jallianwala Bagh in 2013, the massacre was a deeply shameful act in British history and one that we should never forget.

“It is right that we pay re-spect to those who lost their lives and remember what hap-pened. The British government rightly condemned the events at the time.”

Later yesterday Khan visited the Golden Temple complex, where the holiest of Sikh shrines, the Harmandir Sahib, is located, and off ered prayers.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Par-bandhak Committee gave Khan a ‘siropa’ (robe of honour) during the visit.

He also visited the Langar hall, the largest community kitchen in the world, in the shrine complex and partook ‘langar’ sitting on the fl oor.

“It has been a privilege for me to be in Amritsar for the last

24 hours. The Golden Temple is a spiritual home for tens of thousands of Londoners of the Sikh faith and millions of Sikhs around the world come to Amrit-sar to pay their respects to wor-ship,” he said .

Also, sharing the same sen-timents in the visitors’ book of the Golden Temple, he wrote: “The warmth, hospitality, spir-ituality are a lesson to us all. Thank you for providing me with memories that will stay with me forever”.

On Tuesday evening, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and others met Khan at a dinner hosted for him.

Khan, who was on a three-city tour of India, visiting Mumbai, New Delhi and Amritsar, later crossed over to Pakistan from the Attari-Wagah land border, about 30km from here.

The mayor, of Pakistani-ori-gin, will visit Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

INDIA

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201724

App-based taxi operator Ola yesterday said it had suspended one of its drivers after a woman in Bengaluru filed a complaint alleging he locked her up in the car and misbehaved with her. The incident took place on Sunday night at around 10.30 when the 23-year-old woman took an Ola cab to go home. “We regret the unfortunate experience the customer had during the ride. We have zero tolerance for such incidents,” an Ola spokesperson said. “The driver has been suspended from the platform.” The woman: “The cab driver misbehaved and tried to touch me. He locked up the car. So I couldn’t open the doors and he tried to come close to me. I immediately started banging the car’s windows with my fist in an attempt to make noise. That is when he finally released the lock and I ran out of the cab.”

A woman and her 11-year-old daughter were found dead in their flat near Noida and a blood-stained cricket bat was recovered from the room, police said yesterday. The woman’s 16-year-old son was missing and police are probing his possible involvement in the murder, an officer said. The bodies of Anjali Agarwal, 42, and her daughter Manikarnika were found in a bedroom of their flat on 11th Avenue of Gaur City 2 at Greater Noida around 11.30pm on Tuesday, the police said. The flat was locked from outside. The officer said the bat could have been used to bludgeon the two to death but they were waiting for the autopsy report to confirm the cause of death.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday termed the disqualification of rebel Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav as illegal and unconstitutional, and demanded it be revoked. “It is political vendetta. We strongly condemn it and demand that disqualification be revoked,” Kejriwal tweeted. The chief minister’s remarks come two days after Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Rajya Sabha chairman, disqualified Yadav and another rebel JD-U leader Ali Anwar as members of the upper house of parliament. Naidu, in a detailed order, ruled that Yadav had “voluntarily given up membership” of the party by attending and addressing a Rashtriya Janata Dal rally and hence indulged in anti-party activities.

One of four militants who killed a soldier while on leave in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district has been arrested, police announced yesterday. A statement from the police said Muzamil and the other three hatched a conspiracy to kill Irfan Dar who was with the Territorial Army. Muzamil was described as a co-conspirator. The bullet-riddled body of the soldier was recovered from Wuthmula village on November 25. “Investigation conducted so far has revealed that militants Saddam Padder, Touseef and a newly recruited unidentified militant along with the arrested Muzamil hatched a criminal conspiracy to kill Dar,” the statement said. Police said Muzamil went to Dar’s village and took him to Wuthmula where the other three militants were already present at an orchard. “They came out from the orchard and fired at Dar, resulting in his death on the spot.”

At least seven suspected Maoists, including five women, were killed in a gunbattle near Zinganur forests in Maharashtra yesterday, off icials said. Security forces overcame the firepower of the Maoists in the deep jungles and eliminated seven of the attackers. Details of the Maoists killed were awaited even as the security forces launched combing operations to find others who may be hiding in the forests in Sironcha sub-district. Maoist groups are currently observing their annual ‘Peoples Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA)’ week from December 2-8. Since the last week of November, Maoists have struck on several occasions and killed at least five civilians suspecting them to be police spies. They also gunned down two security personnel.

Ola driver locks up womanin cab, misbehaves

Woman, daughter found dead in Greater Noida flat

Sharad’s disqualificationfrom RS illegal: Kejriwal

Police crack soldier’s murder in Kashmir

Five women among 7 Maoists killed in gunbattle

CRIMEMYSTERYCONTROVERSY INVESTIGATION INSURGENCY

Infant dies weekafter wrongly declared dead by Delhi hospitalAgenciesNew Delhi

A newborn who was mis-takenly declared dead hours after birth a week

ago by doctors at a Delhi hospi-tal died yesterday, family mem-bers said.

The Kumar family was in-formed hours after the prema-ture birth of twins last week that the girl had died and the boy was critical.

Soon after they were told that the boy too had died.

But the baby boy started moving in the body bag as fam-ily members made their way to the funeral.

The infant was rushed to an-other hospital where he died yesterday after treatment for a week.

But the family refused to ac-cept the body till the doctors responsible were arrested for medical negligence.

Doctors at the Agarwal Nursing Home where the new-born was admitted after the earlier blunder by Max Super Speciality Hospital in Shalimar Bagh declared the child dead at 12pm, the baby’s father Ashish Kumar said.

“We will not accept the body as we want doctors of Max Hospital to be arrested fi rst for wrongly declaring the baby dead on November 30,” a bitter Kumar said.

He said the family will hold a protest till their demand was met.

Police have registered a case of medical negligence against Max Hospital based on the family’s complaint and an in-vestigation is ongoing.

The hospital has sacked two doctors involved in the case but has said its internal investiga-tion was not complete yet.

Max Healthcare, which runs a chain of hospitals includ-ing the one in Shalimarbag, expressed condolences to the parents.

“While we understand that

survival in extreme preterm births is rare, it is always pain-ful for the parents and family. We wish them the strength to cope with their loss,” the state-ment said.

A three-member panel set up by the Delhi government, in its preliminary inquiry report submitted to Health Minis-ter Satyendar Jain, has found the Max doctors guilty of not following medical norms in dealing with the premature newborn, due to which he was declared dead even though he was alive.

The panel had scrutinised hospital records and met the staff .

“No ECG was done to see whether the child was alive. The body was handed over without written instructions. Deceased and alive children were not kept separately,” said a Delhi government spokes-person, shedding light on the report.

Jain has said the fi nal report will be available in three days and “the strictest possible ac-tion” will follow.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the gov-ernment was preparing a legal framework against hospitals involved in criminal negligence and looting of patients.

Meanwhile in another case, a committee set up by the Hary-ana government to investigate the death of a seven-year-old child in a Gurugram hospital has found it guilty on various counts and a case would be registered against it, a minister said.

The high-level probe panel found Fortis Hospital in Gu-rugram guilty of “grave negli-gence, lapse, unethical and un-lawful acts in the death of Adya Singh in September,” Health Minister Anil Vij said.

He said the government would get a case registered against the leading private hos-pital, adding that legal opinion was being sought on how it could be done.

Military must stay away from politics: army chiefIANSNew Delhi

Army chief General Bipin Rawat yesterday said the military should keep away

from politics, adding that the armed forces will do well by re-maining above politics.

“Of late, we have seen politici-sation of military. We operate in a very secular manner. We have a very vibrant democracy, where the mili-tary should stay far away from the polity,” the general said at an event.

“In that aspect, whenever the issue of linking any military es-tablishment or military person-nel with political entity comes, I think that is best avoided.”

Rawat said: “The Indian de-fence forces would do well to remain above (politics)... where they are expected to remain, and do not meddle with politics....”

Asked later what exactly his statement meant, he said it was a clear statement and refused to elaborate.

“In the good old days, we always said we don’t discuss women and

politics in the army... gradually, we fi nd we are inching towards that but that is best avoided,” he said.

The army chief also stressed on a synergy with other organisations, and said contradictions should not come out in their statements.

“Military does not function alone. There are other organi-sations within the country... it is important for the military to understand the functioning of other organisations...”

“... because there are adver-saries who are looking at con-tradictions that emerge from various establishments within the country and then they take advantage of that and overplay the issues,” he added.

Rawat also said Defence Min-ister Nirmala Sitharaman has promised to resolve the issue of a cap of Rs10,000 on educational expenses paid to the children of defence forces martyrs.

He said Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, has informed her of the issue, and she has said the it will be ad-dressed on priority.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan looks at the bullet marks on a wall during his visit at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar yesterday.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat speaks at the 33rd USI National Security Lecture in New Delhi yesterday.

LATIN AMERICA25Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Honduras oppositionseeks full vote recountReutersTegucigalpa

The Honduran opposition battling President Juan Orlando Hernandez over

a disputed presidential election has proposed that a run-off be held if authorities would not re-count the entire vote.

TV star Salvador Nasralla, who claimed victory in the Novem-ber 26 election after early results put him ahead of Hernandez, has been locked in a bitter row over the vote count since the process broke down and suddenly swung in the president’s favour.

The dispute has sparked deadly protests and a night-time curfew in the poor, violent Central Ameri-can country.

Nasralla said the electoral tribu-nal should review virtually all the voting cards. “If you don’t agree with that, let’s go to a run-off be-tween (Hernandez) and Salvador Nasralla,” he said on Twitter.

Former president Manuel Ze-laya, who was ousted in a 2009

coup and now backs Nasralla, said that the opposition was seeking a total recount of the vote, or legis-lation to permit a run-off , which is not used in Honduras.

Hernandez, who has been praised by the US for his crack-down on violent street gangs, in-dicated his party might be willing to check all votes.

“We’re open to checking, that there’s a review of one, two, three, however many,” he said. “They talk about 5,000 (polling stations), of more, of less; there’s no problem, but it has to be under the proce-dures established by Honduran law.”

Hernandez has not claimed vic-tory in broadcast comments in re-cent days, but said “there will soon be time to celebrate,” and praised his centre-right National Party for containing itself during the tur-moil that has followed the vote.

“That doesn’t mean it’s not a vigorous party, and when they see it in the street, they’ll see some-thing extraordinary they haven’t seen yet,” he added, without elab-orating.

Authorities took a week to count votes in the nation of 9mn people, but the Organisation of Ameri-can States (OAS) said results were marked by irregularities and er-rors.

The tribunal has not declared an offi cial winner, but the results gave a 1.60 percentage point advantage to Hernandez over Nasralla, who says tally sheets from ballot boxes were altered and has declared himself the rightful winner.

On Tuesday, the top offi cial at the electoral tribunal, David Mata-moros, invited the opposition to compare their copies of voter tally sheets with the offi cial body’s ver-sions.

Matamoros also said the tribu-nal would extend a deadline for le-gal challenges to Friday from yes-terday. Street protests in favour of Nasralla that began last week have been continuing.

Nasralla’s centre-left Alli-ance bloc previously demanded a recount of nearly a third of tally sheets, a request that was backed by the OAS and European Union election observers.

China’s exportsto Cuba slumpReutersHavana

Chinese exports to Cuba have plunged this year in the latest sign of a

worsening in the Communist-run island’s fi nancial situa-tion, which began in 2015 with the economic crisis in its top trading partner Venezuela.

Chinese exports to Cuba slumped 29.8% to $1bn from January through October com-pared with the same period last year, according to Chinese cus-toms. Chinese exports peaked at a record $1.9bn in 2015, nearly 60% above the annual average of the previous decade. They slipped slightly last year to $1.8bn.

China sends a broad array of supplies to Cuba, from machin-ery and transportation equip-ment to raw materials, chemi-cals and food.

The Chinese commercial of-fi ce in Havana said the decline was due to Cuba’s payment problems.

China ranked as Cuba’s fi rst trading partner in terms of

goods in 2016, followed by Ven-ezuela. The economic crisis in Venezuela, lower revenue from commodity and related exports, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma and the Trump administration’s tightening of business and travel restrictions have left Cuba without cash to pay some suppliers and invest-ment partners.

Western diplomats and busi-nessmen estimate Cuban state-run banks, which must pay suppliers, have fallen behind by anywhere from $800mn to well over a billion dollars since 2015.

“China’s exports to Cuba are experiencing diffi cult times and the pressure continues for many businessmen due to the economic diffi culties this Car-ibbean nation is going through,” Hong Xiao, economic and commercial counsellor at the Chinese embassy, told Chi-nese business representatives attending a Havana trade fair last month, according to news agency Xinhua.

Cuba’s trade in goods last year was $12.6bn, compared with $15bn in 2015, more than 80% imports.

Brazilian armed forces members patrol during an operation against drug traff icking gangs in the Mangueira slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday.

Crackdown

Mexico armyexecuted twopeople, revealsrights bodyReutersMexico City

Mexican soldiers arbi-trarily executed two people after an illegal

raid last year, a national rights body said, releasing its fi ndings as protests disrupted a debate in the Senate over a contentious bill to give the military more powers.

The military, deployed in Mex-ico’s war on drug gangs for over a decade, has been embroiled in several rights scandals including the extrajudicial killings of gang members and the disappearance of 43 students near one of its bases in 2014.

The case reported by the Na-tional Human Rights Commis-sion on its website related to a raid on a home in the western state of Jalisco last year.

The commission, chosen by the senate and autonomous from Mexico’s federal government and its president, said the soldiers had tortured and sexually abused peo-ple they found there.

After arbitrary detention, sol-diers killed two of them by break-ing their necks, the commission said.

While its rulings are not bind-ing, the commission’s recommen-dations are infl uential and require a response from the institutions it reports on.

The timing is awkward for Pres-ident Enrique Pena Nieto’s gov-ernment, as it faces widespread criticism over legislation passed in the lower house and now in the senate that seeks to enshrine in law the use of the military in crime fi ghting.

The United Nations human rights chief called on Mexican lawmakers not to pass the bill, saying Mexico needed a stronger police force.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hus-sein said the law did not contain strong enough controls to protect civilians from abuses in Mexico,

where extrajudicial killings, tor-ture and disappearances are car-ried out by both security forces and criminal gangs.

“Adopting a new legal frame-work to regulate the operations of the armed forces in internal security is not the answer. The current draft law risks weaken-ing incentives for the civilian au-thorities to fully assume their law enforcement roles,” Zeid said in a statement.

Protesters successfully blocked discussion of the bill for much of Tuesday, barring access points to the senate, and laying out placards warning against the militarisation of the country while pointing to a massive rise in killings since presi-dent Felipe Calderon fi rst put the army on the streets in 2016.

In his presidential campaign, Pena Nieto promised to develop a large new national police force, but has ended up relying on mili-tary forces for high-profi le opera-tions.

Murders in Mexico in 2017 are on track to be the worst on record, with 20,878 nationwide in the fi rst 10 months.

Lawmakers are expected to push the bill through commit-tees and later put the measure to a full vote on the senate fl oor. Lower house lawmakers moved quickly on the bill last week after it had languished in committees for years.

The law has broad support from the ruling party and members of the opposition National Action Party who say it will give clear rules limiting the use of soldiers to fi ght crime.

“The law is aimed at avoiding the discretional use of the armed forces by the president,” PAN senator Roberto Gil Zuarth told reporters. “Right now there are no rules. He doesn’t have to tell any-body.”

However, rights campaigners worry the law opens the door to military intervention in protests, as well as expanding military powers to spy on citizens.

Maduro’s cryptocurrencyprospects bleak: expertsReutersCaracas

Venezuela’s plan to create an oil-backed crypto-currency faces the same

credibility problems that dog the ruling Socialist Party in fi -nancial markets and is unlikely to fare any better than the strug-gling Opec member itself, inves-tors and technical experts said.

President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday fl oated a plan to cre-ate the “petro” that would be backed by the world’s largest crude reserves, amid a crippling economic crisis worsened by US sanctions that limit Venezuela’s capacity to borrow money.

Cryptocurrencies rely on confi dence in clear rules and equal treatment of all involved, three experts said, adding that Venezuela was widely seen as fl outing basic property rights

and mismanaging its existing bolivar currency.

Without such confi dence, the “petro” would neither help Vene-zuela raise funds nor help it avoid sanctions levied by US President Donald Trump’s administration.

“If any government is willing to set up a fair set of rules for a cryptocurrency, it would be a great thing,” said Sean Walsh of Redwood City Ventures, a bit-coin and blockchain-focused investment fi rm.

“But if an administration has a history of unfair treatment of the population, then tacking on a buzzword like ‘cryptocur-rency’ isn’t going to change that behaviour.”

The information ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

In further comments on Tuesday, Maduro said Venezue-la’s new virtual currency would be backed by oil from the heavy-

crude Orinoco Belt, plus gold and diamonds.

Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, has soared in recent weeks to nearly $12,000 in what detractors call evidence of a bubble but sup-porters insist is the start of a new monetary system not de-pendent on central banks.

Venezuela’s infl ation is ex-pected to top 1,000% this year, driven by unchecked expansion of the money supply and a cur-rency control system that critics say provides favourable treat-ment to well-connected offi cials and business people at the ex-pense of everyday citizens.

Under the 15-year-old foreign exchange regime, state agen-cies receive dollars to import food and medicine at a rate of 10 bolivars, while private citizens now pay more than 108,000 per greenback on the black market.

The black market rate has de-

preciated more than 99% under Maduro.

Basic food and medical items are increasingly out of reach for most citizens, fuelling malnu-trition and preventable diseases.

Maduro says the country is the victim of an “economic war” led by political adversaries with the support of Washington.

Maduro has not outlined the rules that would govern the pro-posed currency, including what rights its holders would have over Venezuela’s oil reserves.

“The fact that the bolivar’s value has plummeted shows that people have very little faith in Venezuela,” said Yazan Barghuthi of Jibrel Network, a blockchain development fi rm. “A tokenized asset will still have the same problem: Do we trust the institution that is backing this to fulfi ll the promises that this token represents?”

US sanctions, in response to

accusations of human rights violations and the undermining of democracy, have eff ectively blocked the country from is-suing new debt and have made global banks increasingly wary of working with Venezuela.

But Venezuela is unlikely to fi nd foreign companies willing to accept payment for food or medicine in newly minted pet-ros and has little chance of con-vincing creditors to accept them in lieu of dollars when mak-ing payments on its distressed bonds, the experts said.

“Given that there is no stable judicial system in Venezuela, no one will trust anything that the government claims is backed by assets of any kind,” wrote Marshall Swatt, founder of bit-coin exchange Coinsetter, in an e-mail. “Even if the technology were proper and prevented gov-ernment meddling (impossible to imagine), it is dead on arrival.”

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro holds a gold bar during a meeting with representatives of the mining sector in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday demanded that Cuba halt mystery “targeted attacks” on US diplomats in Havana, dismissing complaints that Washington has provided little evidence about what happened. Over the past year dozens of US and Canadian staff working at their embassies in Cuba have fallen sick with symptoms including brain trauma, that off icials initially suggested may have been caused by an unidentified acoustic weapon. US off icials no longer use that term, and have not been drawn on what may have caused the injuries, leaving Cuba to allege it has been unfairly exposed to diplomatic sanctions and a travel warning that hurt tourism.

Five people have been killed in Guatemala as they decorated a Christmas tree, the local fire brigade said. The victims were busy decorating the tree on the central square of the town of Malacatan, near the border with Mexico, when they accidentally touched a power cable causing electricity to surge into the metal-framed tree and electrocute the five young people, local media reported. The dead, who included at least two teenagers, were killed instantly, El Periodico reported online. Prosecutors have opened an investigation. Residents said the Christmas tree had been erected in the same place for the past 20 years without any problems.

Mexican authorities said they will aim to identify some 3,000 bone fragments, apparently human, found at the weekend in the northern state of Coahuila, where organised crime has been blamed for the loss of thousands of lives. State prosecutors said they were sending the remains to a genetic laboratory to assess whether they could be linked to people who have disappeared. According to government data, nearly 18,600 people have disappeared since President Enrique Pena Nieto took off ice in December 2012. In November, he signed into law a national commission dedicated to finding people who have disappeared. It will add some $25mn to fund search eff orts in its first stage.

Paraguay’s Congress has passed a bill creating a state-sponsored system to import marijuana seeds and grow the plant for medical uses. The landlocked South American nation had authorised the importing of cannabis oil in May, under control of the health ministry, and Tuesday’s decision was celebrated by patients their and loved ones for making it more readily available. “We are very happy because this will also allow for the import of seeds for oil production,” said Roberto Cabanas, vice president Paraguay’s medicinal cannabis organisation. His daughter has Dravet syndrome and the family was paying $300 a month for imported cannabis oil.

Brazilian state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA will receive about 650mn reais ($201mn) in funds recovered from the country’s largest-ever corruption investigation, known as Car Wash, the federal prosecutors off ice for the state of Parana said. The amount, which is set to be formally delivered at an event in the city of Curitiba today, will be the largest remuneration payment resulting from a corruption investigation in Brazil’s history, prosecutors said. Since 2015, Petrobras, as the company is commonly known, has received 800mn reais in recovered funds, and payout today will bring that total to 1.45bn reais.

Cuba must end ‘targetedattacks’ on envoys: US

Five electrocutedin Guatemala

Bone fragments to betested for DNA links

Paraguay legalises plantingof medical marijuana

Petrobras to receive $200mn graft repayments

DEMAND TRAGEDYLAW AND ORDER POLICY CORPORATE

PAKISTAN

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201726

PPP puts rider on support for ruling party in SenateThe deadlock over the

electoral constituencies’ delimitation law per-

sists as main opposition Paki-stan People’s Party (PPP), of Bilawal Bhutto, which enjoys a dominant position in the Sen-ate, has refused to co-operate with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League - N (PML-N), of Nawaz Sharif, unless its demands on the modus operandi for a third-party audit of the census in 5% census blocks are accepted.

“We are not asking for the

moon. Our demands are very clear and are meant to ensure transparency in the process,” PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Taj Haider says.

He said the PPP would not al-low passage of the constitution amendment bill in the upcom-ing session of the Senate sched-uled for December 11 if it’s just demands were not met.

The bill, which paves the way for the allocation of seats in the National Assembly and delimi-tation on the basis of provision-al census results, has already been passed by the National As-sembly.

Article 51(5) of the constitu-

tion provides that seats in the National Assembly shall be allo-cated to each province, the Fed-erally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the federal capital on the basis of population in ac-cordance with the last preceding census offi cially published.

There is a consensus among political parties that for pur-poses of the next general elec-tions to be held in 2018 and by-elections, allocation of National Assembly seats should be made on the basis of provisional re-sults of the census 2017 with-out changing the existing total number of general seats (272) and women seats (60) and re-

taining the share of Fata (12).According to the proposed

reallocation, seats will increase for Balochistan (2 general seats + l woman seat), Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa (4+l) and federal capital (l+0), while seats for Punjab will decrease (-7 and -2). The seats for Sindh will remain the same.

The inter-provincial Council of Common Interests (CCI) had at a meeting on November 13 approved publication of provi-sional results of the census for purposes of Article 5l(5) as pro-vided in the bill.

The CCI had also decided that a third-party validation

would be carried out of 1pc census blocks. The proportion of census blocks where the re-verifi cation exercise is to be carried out was changed to 5pc when the bill was passed by the National Assembly.

Senator Haider said that if the faulty methodology used in the census 2017 was repeated in the Post Enumeration Survey (PES) of 5pc selected blocks by the same organisation that had carried out the census, the re-sults would once again become controversial.

He said the de jure method used in the census had regis-tered migrants in their provinc-

es of origin and not in the prov-inces of their present residence. It had also missed illegal resi-dents who were a great burden on the provinces in which they were residing.

The internationally accepted de facto method, which records residents at their present place of residence, was the only method to record popula-tion correctly and this method should be used in the PES of the 5pc selected blocks.

He called for the use of inter-nationally recognised templates for enumeration that record the data and transmit it online to controlling offi ces.

InternewsIslamabad

KP sets up food safety authority

In a bid to standardise the quality of food being pro-duced and sold in the market,

the government in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has fi nally set up the Food Safety and Halal Food Au-thority.

Set up under the Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa (KP) Food Safety and Halal Food Authority Act 2017, the body will formulate stand-ards, procedures, processes, and guidelines for food labelling, food additives and other food-related enforcement.

Offi cial sources said yester-day the authority will monitor and regulate the manufacture, storage and distribution of food around the province. It will also regulate the regional sales and imports.

The authority will have a cen-tral directorate in Peshawar apart from seven divisional headquar-ters across the province.

Food Safety and Halal Food Authority director general Riaz Mehsud stated they have divided food businesses into three cat-egories - A, B and C.

Category-A includes enter-prises dealing with margarine, vanaspati, fat spreads, halal animal fat, ghee, fi sh oil, edible oil, spices, cereal products, soft drinks, aerated water, fruits and vegetables, food additives and ingredients and cold storages.

Category-B covers creamer-ies, dairies, dairy farms, bakers, hotels, eateries and other small-scale food companies. Category-C contains food manufacturing units.

To test the quality of food products being manufactured or sold in the province, Mehsud said that they have three types of laboratories including scientifi c, appellate and medical.

He said, additionally, fi eld staff can also conduct an on-the-spot medical test of food handlers at production units, ea-teries and kitchens, adding that the authority has been mandated by law to issue licences to food operators in these categories.

InternewsPeshawar

Rights of minorities should be secured more: top court

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that minority faith groups

should feel that their rights are the most secure in Pakistan than other citizens.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Jus-tice Ejaz Afzal and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, said this while hearing a suo motu case pertaining to the preservation of minorities’ rights in Pakistan, according to court sources.

The case was initiated in 2014 on the request of Dr Ramesh Kumar. The bench di-rected the state to make special considerations for people be-

longing to minority faiths at the provincial and federal levels.

Justice Afzal remarked that the rights of minorities should be taken into as much consid-eration as the rights of special needs children are in policy circles.

“Those belonging to mi-nority faiths should feel as if they are given special consid-erations compared to ordinary citizens in Pakistan,” he added. He remarked that minorities should feel that their rights are the most secure in Pakistan.

During the course of pro-ceedings, Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mehmood as-sured the court that all places of worship belonging to mi-nority communities were being provided security.

He also assured the court that

the government was refurbish-ing Hindu places of worship and a temple in the Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the landmark Hindu Marriage Act had been passed earlier this year.

The deputy attorney general assured the judges that all of the court’s orders pertaining to minorities’ rights were being implemented in Balochistan and Sindh as well.

Justice Muhammad re-marked that even the major-ity seems to be in the minority now as a minority can hold us hostage anytime it wishes to.

He also directed that minori-ties be referred to as non-Mus-lims rather than minorities, as enshrined in the Constitution. Later, the court disposed of suo moto notice case.

InternewsIslamabad

Disabled men play cricket on their wheelchairs following the observance of International Day of Disabled Persons, in Peshawar yesterday. International Day of Disabled Persons is observed across the world on December 3 with the aim to promote and understand disability issues.

How’s that? Mother of missing activist pleads for his safe return

The elderly mother of a Pakistani rights activist who disappeared on the

weekend, yesterday pleaded for her son’s safe recovery in a video message.

Raza Khan, who works for an organisation promot-ing contacts between people in Pakistan and neighbour-ing India, went missing in the eastern city of Lahore on Sat-urday, his brother told police.

India is considered a rival by Pakistan’s powerful mili-tary and activists from simi-lar goodwill organisations are often victims of threats and intimidation.

“We all are people who want peace and harmony in Paki-stan. We want Pakistan free of terrorism,” Khan’s mother said in the message posted on-line.

“I am addressing to the prime minister and the presi-dent of Pakistan, consider it as an appeal by a mother. Please

wherever he is, please send him back,” she pleaded.

Khan worked in collabora-tion with an Indian initiative, Aaghazedosti, which means “the beginning of friendship,” aimed at connecting people from the two countries.

The disappearance coincid-ed with the arrest of a young man in a northern Pakistani town for writing pro-Indian slogans on the wall of his house.

He might face up to seven years in jail.

The Independent Human Rights Commission of Paki-stan said it was the sixth dis-appearance of a rights activist in the country this year.

“We are worried and con-cerned about it,” HRCP chair-man Mehdi Hasan told DPA from Lahore.

In January, fi ve bloggers whose writings were seen as critical of the army’s political role went missing from diff er-ent cities.

At least two of them later said they were picked up by Pa-kistani intelligence agencies.

DPAIslamabad

MPs’ pension proposal rejected

The federal cabinet has turned down a proposal from Bilawal Bhutto’s

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to grant pension to members of parliament after running into opposition from the fi nance di-vision.

A PPP lawmaker wanted par-liament to approve the proposed plan to grant pension to parlia-mentarians once they ceased to be parliamentarians on the com-pletion of their tenure.

A senior government offi cial revealed that the proposal was submitted in a cabinet meeting held last month.

During the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi, it was informed that the National Assembly Sec-

retariat had conveyed that member of National Assem-bly Shagufta Jumani wanted to give notice for introducing a private member’s bill ti-tle ‘The Members of Parlia-ment (salary and allowance) (Amendment) Bill 2017’ in National Assembly which falls under the defi nition of the Money Bill requiring prior consent of the federal govern-ment under the constitution.

It was also informed that the Finance Division was contacted to seek comments which had op-posed the legislation with some reservations.

The Finance Division was of the view that grant of pension to members of parliament (MPs) would lead to putting extra bur-den on the exchequer. “Moreo-ver, fi ve years tenure was not enough admission of pension for parliamentarians.”

Second, the Finance Divi-sion had further conveyed that suffi cient medical cover was available to members of parliament under the federal medical attendance rules, 1990 and therefore, they were not required to grant pension that would result in fi nancial com-plications for the country and put additional burden on the national kitty.

A senior government offi cial of the Parliamentary Aff airs Division said that the cabinet was also informed that Arti-cle 74 of the Constitution en-joined that a Money Bill should

be introduced or moved in parliament except or with the consent of the federal cabinet.

The Parliamentary Aff airs Di-vision informed that Rule 118 (3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Na-tional Assembly 2007 provided that on receiving the consent of the government or sanction of the president where necessary, the member shall be intimated accordingly for moving private member’s bill.

The cabinet was informed that the law and justice division had advised that the approval of the cabinet was necessary for conveying the consent or dissent of the federal government for in-troduction of the proposed bill.

The cabinet discussed the proposal in details and decided not to give consent for the intro-duction of the proposed bill in parliament.

InternewsIslamabad

The Finance Division was of the view that grant of pension to members of parliament (MPs) would lead to putting extra burden on the exchequer

Year 2017 proves stellar for music industry

The year 2017 is proving to be a spectacular year for Pakistani music industry with many sig-

nifi cant moments worth celebrating. Apart from consistent new music

releases from newer and edgier artists throughout the year, music afi cionados are looking forward to the announced welcomes of the country’s music heav-yweights getting back in the ring.

Pakistan’s longest standing music group, Strings, featuring Faisal Kapa-dia and Bilal Maqsood, is all set to take the stage in Karachi over the coming weekend. After taking a backseat as studio artists for four years in order to spearhead Coke Studio, Strings will be celebrating 30 years come 2018.

A glimpse of their immeasurable popularity can be gauged from the fact that tickets for their gig, presented by Salt Arts, have sold-out twice now as additional tickets too went on sale and were bought just as quickly. They are also active on Instagram where fans have been sharing stories of their fi rst memory of Strings which tells you about their pioneering role in pop mu-sic history.

Also back in the spotlight is Ali Az-mat, who is gearing up to unveil a brand new music video. A teaser of the video was released recently and it looks like Azmat is one artist whose work is im-proving with age.

It is also apparent that he is noticing the discontent outside and within and using it to fuel the narrative in this video just like he’s done it in the past with records like Social Circus and Klashinifolk.

With a voiceover from Randeep Hooda, the black and white toned music video is directed by Amaan Ahmed. The single, ‘Main to Yahin Hoon’ is also featured on the soundtrack of Main Aur Charles, a Bollywood fi lm, starring Hooda.

The video’s timing is also important given the simple but powerful belief that art is beyond borders and can bring people together in these divisive, diffi -cult and maddening times.

Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar, modern music’s two most revered names in Pa-kistan, have also released new material.

In the former’s case, the song ‘Dil Diyan Gallan’ is from the soundtrack of the upcoming high profi le Bolly-wood fi lm, Tiger Zinda Hai starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. And though most Atif Aslam-sung Bolly-wood tunes blend into each other, this one is quite pleasant and has potential

to grow on one with each listen. Ali Zafar, pop star and movie star in

equal parts, has been showcasing his humanitarian side a lot more these past few months.

He raised $1mn for Shaukat Kha-num Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre from a fi ve-city tour of the US and also released ‘Kuch Tou Ghalat Horaha’ video that encapsulates life as it stands (with poetry written and recited by Zafar).

Zafar’s latest, a collaboration with Patari, Pakistan’s largest audio stream-ing platform, and Lightingale Produc-tions is just as signifi cant.

As part of Patari Funkariyaan (whose earlier releases have featured the likes of Abid Brohi, Kashmir, Ali Hamza, Ali Sethi, Mahira Khan and Haroon Sha-hid), Zafar has performed a live and raw version of ‘Julie’, a song that appeared

on the scene earlier this year when Za-far sang it on Coke Studio.

Unlike the original, this version of ‘Ju-lie’ stripped down and has a brilliant per-formance-based music video as well which features Zafar alongside a number of mu-sicians including guitar god, Asad Ahmed.

Running over 5 minutes, the track is a complete departure from the Coke Studio style. Sitting on a sofa and belt-ing out the verses, this jazzy-bluesy version is just as eff ective as the origi-nal and more to the point does a great job of highlighting Zafar’s vocals and his ability to shift styles, something you don’t see every day.

At a time when Patari is backing some of the most innovative ideas and artists from the new generation, it is important for industry icons to show support and Zafar’s collaboration, will hopefully, inspire others to do the same.

InternewsLahore

Bomb blast kills nine near borderA bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded in a militant-plagued part of northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing nine people, off icials said yesterday, Reuters reports from Miranshah.The bomb was detonated by remote control late on Tuesday when an army vehicle passed in Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan region, said three off icials who declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.A spokesman for the Pakistani army, which is responsible for security in the volatile, ethnic Pashtun region, did not respond to calls seeking comment.“Waziristan is bleeding once again,” said police off icial Tahir Khan in Peshawar, the main city in the northwest, who said he had heard about the blast but had no details.No militant group claimed responsibility.

PHILIPPINES27

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 2017

Confi scation crusaders in eff ort to save paradiseAFP Mesecoy

Tata gives hand signals for his men to drop to the rainforest fl oor as

the searing whine of a chain-saw fades, their mission to save a critically endangered piece of paradise in the Philippines sud-denly on hold.

Former para-military leader Efren “Tata” Balladares has been leading the other fl ip fl op-wear-ing environmental crusaders up and down the steep mountains of Palawan island for the past 15 hours in the hunt for illegal log-gers.

One of them is nursing a swol-len left arm that was broken a few days earlier when he fell during a reconnaissance trip.

He has yet to see a doctor and it is just wrapped in a bandage.

Having slept overnight for just 30 minutes on a forest track, they should be exhausted from the hike.

They could also be forgiven for being frozen with fear: team members have been murdered to stop their operations and others bear scars from the razored teeth of the chainsaws they seek to confi scate.

But with their targets so close, just a short sprint through ferns and other scrappy lowland rain-forest foliage, the adrenaline of the hunt’s imminent climax is surging through them.

The chainsaw starts up again after a few minutes, providing the necessary noise to silence their approach.

Tata whispers fi nal instruc-tions.

The seven para-enforcers de-

scend like a pack of wolves on the two loggers, who are sawing into the cut-down trunk of an Api-tong tree, a critically endangered hardwood that is a favourite among developers in the nearby tourism boom town of El Nido.

As the para-enforcers ap-proach, Tata’s voice roars for the fi rst time all day: “Stop! Stop! Stop! Face down! Face down.”

The loggers, young men wearing ragged clothes similar to their new foes that indicate mirrored lives of poverty, are stunned and simply stand in be-wilderment or fear.

The para-enforcers do not brandish any weapons them-selves.

But within a few seconds Tata and his men disarm the loggers of their machetes, scan the site to ensure there are no hidden rifl es or pistols, and seize the

chainsaw. Tata starts asking the loggers questions, using a com-manding but non-threatening tone of a well-trained policeman or soldier.

“Do you have a permit for the lumber? Is the chainsaw regis-tered?”

The loggers, squatting on the fallen tree trunk with the para-enforcers holding their shoul-ders, meekly respond in the negative.

“Ok, this is how it goes. We are the Palawan NGO Network, or PNNI,” Tata says.

“We’re here in the mountains because according to reports, il-legal logging is rampant here.”

The para-enforcers give the loggers a receipt documenting the confi scation of the chainsaw and scurry back into the forest, in the remote district of Mese-coy, after an encounter lasting

just a few minutes. Tata appears unfl appable during the gruelling mission, showing no fear or hint of fatigue.

The 50-year-old has had a lifetime of confl ict to steel him, having led a private militia for a corrupt general before fl ipping sides two decades ago.

But during a short meal break of rice and dried fi sh after the confi scation, the stump of a once-giant Apitong behind him, Tata breaks down as he despairs at the corruption that led him to become a civilian para-enforcer.

“This should be the work of the government but they are not doing their job. Who else is go-ing to stop this if we’re not here,” he says.

Palawan is often called the Phil-ippines’ last ecological frontier, as it is home to most of the nation’s remaining forests and its waters are renowned as a global biologi-cal hotspot.

With its stunning limestone cliff s, lagoons with turquoise waters and long stretches of un-touched beaches, top tourist magazines rate Palawan one of the world’s most beautiful islands.

But it is also a magnet for cor-rupt businessmen, politicians and security forces seeking to plunder the island’s natural wealth.

With weak or corrupt authori-ties often unwilling to take on the fi ght, the Palawan NGO Network Inc, or PNNI, seeks to fi ll the void.

The group has a strangely cor-porate name for an anti-estab-lishment band of cash-strapped environmentalists who believe traditional campaigning to save the island’s resources can do little to stop the onslaught of corrup-tion.

Their answer is direct action.

They use a little-known citi-zen’s arrest law, plus the support of local communities, to confi scate chainsaws, mining drills, cyanide fi shing gear and any other equip-ment used to destroy Palawan’s en-vironment.

The para-enforcers have con-fi scated more than 700 chainsaws since PNNI was established nearly two decades ago, according to its founder and leader, environmental lawyer Bobby Chan.

In the small front yard of the group’s headquarters in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan, a Christmas tree made up of more than 100 chainsaws stands two storeys high.The property’s fences are made up of other chainsaws, and the back yard is scattered with more.

Also crammed in the front yard is a large boat that had been used to transport illegal logs to Malay-sia, and two heavy drills the size of

lounge room sofas that were confi s-cated for mining gold.

Home-made rifl es and pistols seized from illegal loggers and fi sh-ermen hang on the walls inside the small, four-room headquarters. Displaying the confi scated equip-ment in such an audacious manner sends a message to the powerful that the para-enforcers will not be intimidated, according to Chan. “We want to dispel that idea that nothing can be done for big envi-ronmental crimes,” Chan says.

But they are willing to pay a price that most other environmental campaigners won’t: their lives.

Chan recounts how he and his team found the body of para-en-forcer Roger Majim buried in a shal-low grave on a beach in 2004.

“The loggers put his fl ip fl ops on the mound where they buried him. When we unearthed him he had, I think, 16 stab wounds.

His eyes were gouged out. His

tongue was cut off . His testi-cles were cut off and placed in his mouth,” Chan says.

“So it was a message that this is where we buried your man and that if you keep on doing this kind of work this is what’s going to happen to you.”

Twelve PNNI para-enforcers have been murdered since 2001, most recently in September when 49-year-old Ruben Arzaga was shot in the head while approaching an illegal logging site.

Chan, who studied in Manila at the Philippines’ most prestigious private college, says the deaths make him question whether he should continue the programme.

“Every time we lose someone we get weaker. We get more afraid and we lose some of the idealism that we initially had when we came to-gether,” he says about a week after Arzaga’s death. “I can’t help but feel I am somehow responsible for pushing not just him, but the others who have died before him, into this.”

A perennial lack of funds com-pounds the problem, with potential donors often deeming their actions too confrontational. But Chan and his para-enforcers have always emerged from post-death depres-sions, while somehow fi nding a way to keep fi nancing their operations.

On the way to Arzaga’s funeral they stop in the forest near where he was murdered to try to confi scate another chainsaw.

They come across two sites where trees have been recently cut down.

It is raining heavily and the log-gers have not returned to take away their new planks, so the para-en-forcers walk out of the forest emp-ty-handed. But they have proved that, although weakened, they are not yet defeated.

File photo shows Efren “Tata” Balladares (third left), one of the leaders of the Palawan NGO Network Inc (PNNI), standing in front of other para-enforcers from the group on the outskirts of a forest near the tourist town of El Nido on Palawan island.

File photo shows environmental para-enforcer Gilbert Badul, from the Palawan NGO Network Inc (PNNI), inspecting illegally cut wood on Palawan island.

Duterte wants another year to end drug menaceBy Catherine S ValenteManila Times

President Rodrigo Du-terte yesterday asked for another year to end the

drug menace, virtually admit-ting that he needs more time to curb the “resurgence” of illegal drugs.

On the campaign trail, Du-terte had promised to eradicate the drug problem within three to six months after getting elected.

Speaking before newly ap-pointed government officials in Malacanang, Duterte said the government’s fight against ille-gal drugs will continue despite widespread criticisms over the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspected drug personalities.

“This drug problem, it will not stop. It’s a non-issue to me and I will not answer it anymore, except to say that my oath of office demands that I protect the Filipino people and that the Republic of the Philip-pines is safe. That is the long and short of it,” Duterte said in his speech.

“I hope to finish the prob-lem. Maybe give me just an-other year,” he added.

Duterte made the statement a day after he signed Memo-randum Order 17 directing the Philippine National Police (PNP) to provide “active sup-port” to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which remains the lead agen-cy tasked to address the drug menace.

Memorandum Order 17 over-

rules the October 10 memoran-dum signed by Duterte, which instructed the PNP to merely

maintain police visibility while the PDEA conducts its nation-wide operations against illicit

narcotics trade. The president said he ordered the participa-tion of the PNP anew because of the “notable resurgence in illegal drug activities and crimes committed” since he directed the PDEA to handle the drug problem.

The PNP, he said, was brought back to the drug war anew to curb the narcotics sale in the country.

“The police will return, they will return…My request is very simple. It is doable by anybody, with no effort at all,” Duterte said.

“When I was mayor and then I became president, I only had one message for everybody: ‘Do not destroy my country be-cause I will kill you. Do not de-stroy the young Filipinos, they are our only assets,’” he added.

Activists hold anti-government slogans during a protest at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Manila yesterday. They were denouncing the government’s war on drugs, the extension of martial law in Mindanao and the crackdown on activists.

‘Mass arrest’ of communist leaders planned

President Rodrigo Duterte yester-day said he will order the “mass arrest” of the communist leaders who were freed to participate in the peace negotiations. The president, speaking during the oath-taking of newly promoted military off icials in Malacanang, said he was fed up with the recent actions of the communist rebels and reiterated that he is no longer inclined to talk with them, Manila Times reported. “And for those who are out temporarily, any day, I will order for their mass arrest. I can’t do anything, that’s what you

wanted. You demanded. I gave too much too soon,” Duterte said.“I concede to your brilliance or whatever, your ideologues, but then the simple matter is really sovereignty is owned by the Filipino people and nobody else. And one day, I will just hope you’re arrested. You want to fight the country, create a revolution, fine. We’ve been fighting you for 50 years and we will fight again for another 50 years. That’s what you want. I just have to prepare the country for such eventuality,” he added.

Watchdog uncovers possible fatality of dengue vaccineBy Jeff erson AntipordaManila Times

Anti-corruption advo-cates yesterday said a 10-year-old girl who

died six months after being in-oculated with Dengvaxia may have been the fi rst fatality of the dengue vaccine.

Dante Jimenez, chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), said his group is gathering cases of children who died or fell ill after getting the anti-dengue vaccine developed by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur.

Jimenez cited the case of Christine Mae de Guzman, a grade four pupil from Bataan who died six months after re-ceiving the initial dose of the vaccine in 2016.

The girl’s parents said their child has not been infected with the dengue virus before her immunisation on April 4, 2016 as part of the Dengue School-Based Immunisation programme, of the Depart-ment of Health (DoH).

Six months after she re-ceived the dose, Christine fell ill. She died on October 15, 2016 at the Bataan Gen-eral Hospital (BGH) in Balanga City. Doctors said the cause of death was intravascular coag-ulation and severe dengue.

“The case of Christine is the result of massive irresponsible and indiscriminate vaccina-

tion done by former offi cials of the DOH led by then Sec-retary (Janette) Garin during the administration of former President (Benigno) Aquino,” Jimenez said.

The Food and Drugs Admin-istration (FDA) of the Philip-pines has ordered the recall of Dengvaxia.

The previous administra-tion spent P3.5bn to procure the newly registered Dengue vaccine.

Jimenez said his group is investigating two other cases similar to Christine’s – one in Bulacan province and another in Bataan.

He added that VACC cen-tral Luzon co-ordinator Pyra Lucas is looking at the case of a child in Tarlac who showed “symptoms” of the vaccine’s ill- eff ects.

“We will make sure that af-ter we have gathered all the evidence, a class suit against the supplier and those who implemented the vaccina-tion programme will be fi led,” Jimenez said.

The VACC will also deter-mine if there was corruption in the procurement of the vac-cines.

The vaccine was only regis-tered with the FDA on Decem-ber 22, 2015 and the govern-ment made the procurement on March 2016 and adminis-tered it to children in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and the National Capital Region (NCR) in April.

Miss Universe begins four-day tour of nation

Newly-crowned Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa began her four-day tour around the Philippines yesterday, with the historic Intramuros as her first stop. With her were Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere of France who was crowned in Manila by Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach back in January; Top 10 placer Binibin-ing Pilipinas-Universe Rachel Peters; and several other candidates from around the world who competed in Las Vegas in November, Manila Times reported. Accompanied by Miss Universe Organisation president Paula Shugart, the bevy of beauties were invited to the country by the Depart-ment of Tourism (DOT) as part

of its “Bring Home A Friend To The Philippines” campaign.The 2017 Miss Universe contestants – Miss USA, Miss Canada, Miss Great Britain, Miss China, Miss Russia, Miss Italy, Miss Netherlands, Miss In-dia, Miss Malaysia, Miss Spain, Miss Singapore and Miss Ko-rea – made a stop at Rizal Park and took photos beside the national hero’s monument.They also explored the nearby Intramuros and Fort Santiago, marvelling over Spanish archi-tecture from the 16th to 18th centuries, which survived the Japanese bombings during World War II.Later, the most beautiful wom-en of the universe proceeded to Resorts World Manila for a press conference.

SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 201728

ICT sector to create 2mn jobs by 2021, says HasinaBangladesh Prime Minis-

ter Sheikh Hasina yes-terday said the govern-

ment will set up one high-tech park in all 64 districts across the country to promote the information communication technology (ICT) sector.

“Necessary incentives will also be given if investors come up to invest in this sector in proposed 100 economic zones across the country,” she said at the inauguration of four-day Digital World, an ICT exposi-tion, at Bangabandhu Interna-tional Conference Centre with the theme ‘Ready for Tomorrow’.

The ICT division in collabo-ration with Bangladesh Associ-ation of Software and Informa-tion Services (BASIS) organised the exposition.

Hasina called upon all to work together to build Sonar Bangla as dreamt by Father of the Nation through turning the country into a welfare-orient-ed, peaceful, knowledge based digital one.

The PM said the dream she and her party had showed the country’s people before the 2008 general election to make ‘Digital Bangladesh’ is now a reality.

“In 2009 when our govern-ment assumed offi ce, only 1.3mn people of the coun-try used Internet and now it

crossed 80mn within eight years of time,” she said.

She said that the ICT sector is expected to create about 2mn jobs in the country by 2021.

The prime minister also said people are now availing 200 types of government services ‘through mobile apps sitting at home.

Hasina said the government has taken steps to take the gov-ernment services to the door-steps of people by reducing the prices of Internet bandwidth, development of infrastructure and reducing the price of digital equipment to remove the digital divide.

She said an opportunity of a new industrial revolution has been opened for the country

with the fl ourishing informa-tion technology and Bangladesh could play a leading role as it has huge number of young peo-ple which is the main element of industrial revolution.

Hasina said although the number of work force is de-creasing in the developed world for the use of information tech-nology but the age of 65% peo-ple of Bangladesh is under 35.

The government has already taken projects to turn the huge young force capable and suit-able for the challenge using the demographic dividend of the country.

The prime minister said the prices of mobile sets and call rates have been reduced re-markably when her government

in 1996 broke the monopoly of mobile phone sector by giv-ing licenses to a number of companies.

“At the same time, the serv-ices reached the remote areas of the country.”

She said her government set up union digital centres in 2010 which were extended to munic-ipal and city corporation levels in 2013 and 2014.

Information services were made easily accessible to all through introduction of the biggest web portal with 25,000 government websites, she added.

Mentioning that her gov-ernment is trying to make the young generation self-reliant by engaging them in freelanc-

ing, the Prime Minister said Bangladeshi freelancers attain the second position and will

retain the top position soon.The PM said the govern-

ment made the ICT education compulsory at the secondary level from 2011 and supplying computers and other necessary materials free of cost alongside setting digital classrooms.

Hasina said training pro-grammes on ICT have been ex-panded across the country as about 50,000 youths are being given skill development training.

She said about 10,000 ICT graduates are coming out every year from universities and they have been able to attract the eyes of the world community.

By Mizan RahmanDhaka

Lanka to hand port to Chinese fi rm, receive $300mn

Sri Lanka will hand over commercial activities in its main southern port to

a Chinese company on Saturday and receive around $300mn out of a $1.1bn deal soon after, Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

The deal, signed in July, will see China Merchants Port Hold-ings, handling the Chinese-built Hambantota port on a 99-year lease.

The Chinese fi rm last year agreed to pay $1.12bn for an 80% stake in Hambantota port, which is located near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe.

But the deal triggered protests by opposition groups and trade unions, saying they feared China would take control of the port.

Government and diplomatic sources said that the United States, India and Japan had also raised concerns that China might use the port as a naval base.

Both sides then agreed to re-draw the deal and the Chinese fi rm will now hold 70% stake in a joint venture with the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), part of a plan to convert $6bn of loans that Sri Lanka owes China into equity.

Sri Lanka has said the Chinese fi rm will invest an additional $600mn to make Hambantota port operational and $1.12bn from the deal will be used for debt repayment.

India is in advanced talks with Sri Lanka to operate an airport near Hambantota port.

ReutersColombo

When humanoid robot catches up with PM

Sophia, the new sensation of the world, yesterday caught Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina by surprise as the humanoid robot readily told her about various facts relating to the prime minister.

PM Hasina met Sophia, the robot that generated quite a buzz among the youth and the artifi cial intelligence industry around the world, at the inaugural ceremony of four-day long Digital World at Bangabandhu Interna-

tional Conference Centre in Dhaka.

A humanoid robot is a robot with its body shape built to re-semble the human body.

After the inaugural speech of the prime minister, the organis-ers announced to bring Sophia on stage to meet Hasina.

Then wearing yellow-white top and skirt Sophia came on the stage and the prime min-ister asked her: “Hello Sophia, how are you?”

“Hello honourable prime minister, I am feeling proud. This is very nice to meet you,” Sophia replied.

The prime minister then

asked how she knew her (prime minister). In reply, Sophia said that she had read much infor-mation about the prime minis-ter and Bangladesh.

“I know you are the daugh-ter of the great leader father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. You are also known as the Mother of Hu-manity in the world and you are implementing ‘Digital Bangla-desh’,” she said.

Sophia also said she knows it very well that the name of the prime minister’s granddaughter is Sophia too.

“Yes, the name of Joy’s (prime minister’s son and ICT adviser)

daughter is Sophia,” the smil-ing prime minister informed the audience who were clapping loudly.

Hasina then questioned her on what she knows about the vision of the prime minister and ‘Digital Bangladesh’.

Sophia fl awlessly told various facts about the vision and ‘Dig-ital Bangladesh’.

The world’s fi rst artifi cially intelligent robot and Saudi citi-zen Sophia came in Dhaka on Tuesday from Hong Kong to at-tend Digital World-2017.

Sophia interacted with visitors at the expo yesterday.

She took questions from visi-

By Mizan RahmanDhaka

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina interacting with human-oid robot Sophia in Dhaka yesterday.

tors at the Hall of Fame inside the Banganandhu International Conference Centre at a session titled ‘Techtalk with Sophia’

Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics made Sophia having the expressiveness, liveliness, and interactivity features in it.

Disabled rights activists take part in a protest in Colombo yesterday, to draw attention to the plight of disabled people in the country. Disabled rights activists in Sri Lanka are urging the introduction of building codes to allow disabled people better access to buildings and greater welfare measures.

Demand for welfare measuresBangladesh moves ahead with Rohingya relocation plan

Bangladesh is moving ahead with a controver-sial plan to move Ro-

hingya refugees to a low-lying, fl ood-prone island, with con-struction of facilities to begin “very soon”.

About 100,000 of the 1mn Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh will be moved to Thengar Char, a remote island in the Bay of Bengal by Novem-ber 2019, according to details of the $278mn plan released by the offi ce of Bangladesh’s Minister of Planning Mustafa Kamal, CNN reported.

The island is about 30,000

hectares in size, more than 37 miles from the mainland, of-fi cially uninhabited and mostly fl ooded during heavy rain or monsoon season.

The international commu-nity has praised Bangladesh for taking in the refugees but its plan to move some of them to Thengar Char has been met with strong criticism.

Some 626,000 mainly Ro-hingya Muslims have arrived in Bangladesh since August, joining an existing Rohingya refugee population of up to 300,000. They say they’ve fl ed widespread violence perpetrat-ed by the military in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

However, the Mynamar mili-tary denies any wrongdoing.

The relocation plan was ap-proved by Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on No-vember 28 and the same day Amnesty International called upon the Bangladeshi govern-ment to abandon the proposal, calling it a “terrible mistake”.

“Having opened its doors to more than 600,000 Rohingya over the past three months, the Bangladesh government now risks undermining the protec-tion of Rohingya and squander-ing the international goodwill it has earned,” said Amnesty In-ternational’s South Asia direc-tor Biraj Patnaik.

“In its desperation to see Rohingya leave the camps and ultimately return to Myanmar, it is putting their safety and

well-being at risk,” said Patnaik.In response to complaints,

the Bangladesh navy conducted a study which found that the island could be made habitable with land reclamation and work to protect the shoreline.

The government plans to build nearly 1,500 barrack houses and 120 shelter centres on 60 hec-tares of land on the island.

“Although the land is fl ooded due to tidal eff ect of sea, it is very much controllable by land de-velopment and shore protection work,” Kamal’s statement said.

Bangladesh is also building a 3,000-acre refugee camp at Kutapalong, near the border with Myanmar, where most Rohingya are currently living in makeshift camps.

IANSDhaka

Call for large-scale action to protect Himalayas from climate impact

Scientists, policymakers and experts have urged the countries in the Hindu Kush

Himalaya (HKH) region to take ac-tion without further delay to pro-tect the region from the increasing impact of climate change.

Stressing on the need for large-scale action, they said it is impor-tant for addressing the challenges and complexities of climate change in the HKH region.

“Failing to take resilient action immediately would only deepen poverty, joblessness, food inse-curity and malnutrition,” the ex-perts warned yesterday.

Mona Sherpa, deputy country director, Helvetas Swiss Interco-operation, Nepal, said during the deliberations at an international conference: “A number of steps such as strong coherence in poli-cies, plans and actions, blending of technical and social solutions and a strong political will.”

More than 400 experts from 26 countries are taking part in the conference “Resilient Hin-du Kush Himalaya: Developing Solutions towards a Sustain-able Future for Asia”.

She said large-scale action re-quires system-based thinking for bottom-up policymaking. The main mantra for sustainable large-scale action is building social capital and involving communities that address structural issues.

The HKH sources 10 major river systems in Asia that pro-vide water, ecosystem services and livelihoods to more than 210mn people. The region holds and distributes water for more than 1.3bn people living in the downstream river basins.

Carolina Adler of the Moun-tain Research Institute said that resilient action is urgently needed to halt poverty from getting worse.

“Policy-based resilient action must be taken without further ado to address these impacts of climate change on the people’s

lives and livelihoods,” she told a session”.

She also called for the need for wealth equalising insti-tutions and value-based ap-proach in HKH region. Besides, mountain specifi cities must be addressed to lower the moun-tain poverty, build resilience and close income gaps between the plains and mountains.

Sunil Roy, director, A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies (AN-SISS) based in Patna, said while framing policy-based resilience action plans, people must be engaged in the process.

“The communities must be at the centrestage of the discourse on climate resilience for local communities are best placed to recognise the problems and pro-pose appropriate decisions ac-cordingly,” Roy said.

He said that the formal and informal institutions in the HKH countries should be in-clusive and promote participa-tion of all stakeholders at local, regional and global levels.

Brij Rathore, chief policy ad-visory for natural resource man-agement at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), said that active partnership of people in social and political fora is must for redefi ning and elaborating public policy and governance.

“The whole idea of political will relies on people’s engagement, who actually suff er from the impact of climate change,” Rathore said.

Gholam Rasul, food security scientist at ICIMOD, said that the relationship and interchange between upstream and down-stream communities character-ises much of the work that takes place in the HKH region.

Nearly all researchers agree that this relationship is of para-mount importance to the HKH region and requires improved regional co-operation for a sustainable and productive future, he said, while address-ing the participants of the ses-sion “Regional Co-operation in HKH”.

IANSKathmandu

Police stand guard at a polling station on the eve of the second round of general election voting in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal is gearing up for the second phase of its first national elections under the new constitution, introduced as part of the peace deal that ended the country’s brutal Maoist insurgency, cementing its transformation from a monarchy to a secular federal state.

Guarding polling station

COMMENT

Putting Europe’s unemployed back to work

Eating almonds, chocolate may lower cholesterolBy Lisa RapaportReuters Health

Overweight and obese people who eat almonds and chocolate every day may have lower cholesterol than

their counterparts who don’t consume these foods, a recent experiment suggests.

Consumed separately, almonds and chocolate have each been linked to lower blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and hunger levels in previous studies. All of these things are risk factors for heart disease.

For the current study, researchers tested cholesterol levels in 31 overweight and obese people. For four weeks, all of them followed a typical American diet. Every day for another four weeks, they all added almost one-third of a cup of almonds to the typical diet. In another four-week period, participants added almost one-quarter cup of dark chocolate and about 2.5 tablespoons of cocoa powder

per day. Everyone also had a four-week period of adding both the nuts and the dark chocolate with cocoa to their diet.

Adding just the almonds reduced participants’ levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – the bad kind that can build up in blood vessels and lead to clots and heart attacks – by 7 percent, the study found.

Combining almonds with dark chocolate and cocoa also reduced small, dense LDL particles that are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, researchers report in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Almonds alone lowered LDL cholesterol levels and chocolate and cocoa did not, but they also did not increase LDL cholesterol levels, ”said senior study author Penny Kris-Etherton, a nutrition researcher at Penn State University.

The results don’t mean it’s wise for people to eat almonds and chocolate by the pound, however.

“We do have about 270 discretionary calories that we can include in our diet, and I tell people to use their discretionary calories wisely,” Kris-Etherton said by e-mail. That means having almonds and chocolate in moderation, and instead of other sweets and treats, not in addition to cookies, candy and desserts.

Participants in the experiment ranged in age from 30 to 70 years, and all of them were overweight or obese.

During the study, people got roughly half their calories from carbohydrates, about 16% from protein and about 33 to 36% from fat.

The exact amount of calories in meals and snacks was calibrated to each participant’s current weight and designed to help them maintain that weight during the study period.

The study was small, and it’s possible results would be diff erent with a larger group of people.

Kris-Etherton and other authors received funding from the Hershey Company and from the Almond Board of California.

Even so, the fi ndings add to existing evidence that nuts and cocoa have health benefi ts, said Samantha Heller, a registered dietician and author in New York City who wasn’t involved in the study. These foods can help fi ght infl ammation, provide fi bre and healthy fats, among other things.

But moderation is key, Heller said by e-mail.“Eating nuts and dark chocolate in place of other less healthy foods such as chips, fast food, commercial candy or cookies, in appropriate portions, along with an overall healthy lifestyle, may off er health benefi ts,” Heller said.

By Alois Stoger and Nicolas SchmitVienna

Although the European Union is in the midst of an economic recovery, long-term unemployment

– joblessness and job-seeking that lasts at least a year – remains stubbornly high in many of the countries that were hardest hit by the 2008 fi nancial crisis and its aftermath. Unfortunately, the European Commission’s proposals for addressing the problem are in many cases insuffi cient.

Europe needs far more innovative labour-market policies to spur job creation and reduce long-term unemployment, which can be particularly destabilising for society. As we have seen, unemployment has been an important factor in the rise of populist parties that are now threatening social cohesion, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe.

According to Eurostat, the statistical arm of the European Commission, 10mn people across the EU’s 28 member-states were suff ering from long-term unemployment in 2016. Of these, around 8mn are in the eurozone, and more than a quarter are 50 and over.

For young people, a university education or vocational training can insure against long-term

unemployment, at least when suffi cient jobs are available. But for people who are 50 or older, the termination of a work contract all too often leads to prolonged joblessness. For example, among unemployed Europeans 50 and over, 60.3% have been unemployed for more than a year; but for all unemployed Europeans of working age, that number falls signifi cantly, to 46.6%.

Behind these statistics are individual stories of personal tragedy, self-doubt, despair, and lost faith in society. Consider the case of a 53-year-old chief IT offi cer with a doctorate who was laid off from a medium-size Austrian company. While unemployed, he sent out hundreds of job applications. But on the few occasions when he was called in for an interview, employers fi rst told him he was “too expensive” or “overqualifi ed.”

Discrimination based on age, though illegal in the EU, is a routine occurrence. The fact is that the labour market does not work properly for prospective workers at the end of their prime years. But that needs to change if we are going to restore trust in our political system. Those who are willing and able to work deserve support so that they do not end up permanently excluded from opportunities to do so.

The governments of Austria, Luxembourg, and Greece are at the forefront of eff orts to transform

unemployed people who have lost all hope into workers with a renewed sense of dignity. In each country, workers are being given a new chance to contribute productively to society.

In Austria, a new programme called “Aktion 20,000” aims to halve the number of long-term unemployed by mid-2019, by creating 20,000 additional jobs exclusively for long-term unemployed workers who are 50 or above. The programme will subsidise up to 100% of labour costs, and its success will be assessed according to two criteria: newly created jobs must serve a genuine economic purpose, and they must be a net addition to existing jobs, not a replacement.

In the three months since the programme’s launch, the best-performing pilot region has already managed to reduce the rate of long-term unemployment among older people by an astonishing 43%. That amounts to almost a thousand people who have found jobs through the programme so far.

Similarly, Luxembourg launched a programme in September 2017 that will backstop newly created permanent employment contracts for long-term unemployed people of any age. Like Austria’s initiative, Luxembourg’s programme is focused primarily on creating new jobs that will reinforce and add to existing social or public-sector activities.

In both programmes, savings from

lower spending for unemployment insurance and other social benefi ts will off set a large part of the fi nancing costs. Given that older long-term unemployed workers are unlikely to fi nd another job in the private sector, we believe it is well worth the limited expense to upgrade them from unemployed to active workers.

As the ministers overseeing labour-market policies in Austria and Luxembourg, respectively, we hope that these programmes will provide a model for other European countries to follow as they look for ways to address the problem of long-term unemployment. And, at the European level, we believe that an ambitious but not impossible goal should be added to the EU’s agenda: To provide every long-term unemployed person who is able, ready, and willing to work with the opportunity to do so.

Under current fi scal rules, achieving this goal will require some fl exibility to allow countries with particularly high levels of unemployment to fi nance innovative labour-market policies and job-creation programmes. In the long run, the cost will be well worth it. Project Syndicate

Alois Stoger is Federal Minister for Labour, Social Aff airs, and Consumer Protection in Austria. Nicolas Schmit is Luxembourg’s Minister of Labour, Employment, and the Social and Solidarity Economy.

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 2017 29

QNADoha

As part of its commitment to Qatar National Vision 2030 and in line with the government’s diverse

initiatives to encourage the local private sector, Qatar Rail has solidifi ed its commitment to support the private sector in Qatar.

Since inception, Qatar Rail has been steadfast in the inclusion of various local private companies in the delivery of its projects. The company has long prioritised the provision of opportunities to the Qatari private sector through its projects related to build and design and accompanying works.

Since its establishment in 2011, Qatar Rail began procuring civil works design and build contracts for Doha Metro Phase 1, completing procurement of the last of these contracts in 2014. To ensure local participation, Qatar Rail stipulated that each civil works contractor must have at least one Qatari member at the joint venture level with the vision that this will fast-track the development of the local construction industry.

As a result, the Qatari construction sector now has greater experience of large complex projects and is better able to support development of key national infrastructure for 2030 and beyond.

In addition to participation at joint venture level, Qatar Rail requires its contractors to maximise the use of local Qatari companies at subcontract level. This obligation is written into every contract awarded by Qatar Rail. Consequently, 1,998 subcontracts, which amounts to 84% of all subcontracts, were awarded to Qatari companies.

Most recently, Qatar Rail has awarded the service provider contract

for Doha Metro Phase 1 and Lusail Tram systems. In line with the company’s commitment to generate more jobs locally, this contract is shaped in a way that it will create up to 1,500 jobs in the local private sector.

Furthermore, Qatar Rail is now looking to provide opportunities for private sector investment to partner with Qatar Rail on several future projects including Transit-oriented developments, Park-and-Ride facilities, future metro and tram projects, private use of state-owned transport infrastructure for advertising, communications and other uses, renewable energy schemes, provision of feeder systems for moving passengers in the fi rst and last portions of their journeys, and so forth.

Qatar Rail’s Managing Director and

CEO Engineer Abdullah al-Subaie said that Qatar Rail is a staunch advocate of greater participation of the Qatari private sector. Qatar Rail has awarded over 80% of the projects being implemented so far to the private sector.

Since the beginning, Qatar Rail has sought to encourage local companies to take part in joint ventures with international companies. The local businesses can provide their expertise on existing systems in the Qatari market, while international companies can share their knowledge on the establishment of a world-class rail network. Such partnerships add value to both the company itself and the project it is implementing, al-Subaie added.

He expressed sincerest thanks to all local partners. “Were it not for their

continuous support, our ambitious plans and achievements thus far wouldn’t have been possible. It is their support that keeps us both on track and on schedule”.

For his part, Chairman of Al Bidda Switchgear Sheikh Suhaim bin Abdulaziz al-Thani expressed his pride at the Qatar Rail project as it supports the Qatar National Vision 2030, and added that his company managed to deliver to this mega project products that are fully manufactured on Qatari soil.

He noted that Qatar Rail has continuously provided the company with the support needed, working with them like partners rather than suppliers.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Qatar National Aluminium Panel Company (Q-NAP) Sheikh Naif Ali al-Thani

expressed his commitment to continue to support Qatar Rail and the delivery of the railway system.

“At Qatar National Aluminium Panel Company we make every eff ort to ensure our products and services are delivered to the highest standards, worthy of this landmark project we are privileged to be a part of. The support that we received from Qatar Rail is unwavering, your patronage has played crucial role in promoting local companies and providing them with unparalleled opportunities for growth. Through your leadership and

guidance you have helped us shape our business to best comply with the highest standards set not only locally but internationally,” he said.

Mohamed al-Jufairi, managing partner of NFFCO Qatar pledged to continue being a part of the project, noting that it is a true refl ection of Qatar National vision 2030.

He said that the opportunities given to the company in some of the packages are remarkable, recognising the immeasurable support and commitment of Qatar Rail towards the country’s economic development.

Qatar Rail reaffi rms support for local fi rms

Live issues

An artist’s impression of a Doha Metro station.

The completed Red Line South elevated track works.

WARNINGInshore : NilOffshore : Nil

WEATHERInshore : Hazy to misty at places

at first becomes mild day time with some clouds, relatively cold by night.

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westerly - 5-15 KTOffshrore : Northwesterly -

Southwesterly 03-12 KT reaches 15 KT at north by night.

Visibility : 4-8/3 km

SEA STATEInshore : 1-2 FTOffshore : 1-3 FT, Rises to 4 FT at

places at times.

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A month ago, Saudi Arabia pressured Lebanese premier Saad Hariri to step down in an audacious endeavour to rein in regional rival Iran. But the aftermath brought just the opposite.

Not only did Hariri rescind his resignation on Tuesday, but Riyadh’s power play paradoxically led divided Lebanese factions to come together in order to avoid a political breakdown.

The Lebanese cabinet issued a joint statement on Tuesday to reaffi rm their commitment to staying out of regional confl icts and apparently put an end to the month-long Hariri saga.

His resignation caught Lebanon and outside countries by surprise, and was seen as a direct result of the escalating power struggle between Riyadh and Tehran that has seen them square off from Syria to Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has supported Hariri for years, hoping he would fi ght back against Shia armed movement Hezbollah.

But in 2016, a landmark compromise deal in Lebanon cut across those political lines, bringing Hariri in as the head of a government that included Hezbollah ministers.

By the time Hariri’s premiership turned a year old, the Saudis had grown exasperated with Hezbollah’s growing infl uence and threatened to push back fi nancially, a source close to the premier said.

“When Hariri travelled to Saudi Arabia (in early November), he got a huge shock,” the source said.

“He thought he was going to discuss economic projects. He found himself faced with a list of economic sanctions brandished by the Saudis against Lebanon.”

Riyadh threatened to expel 160,000 Lebanese nationals working in the Gulf and force regional businessmen to withdraw their investments from Lebanon.

“This would have been catastrophic for the country. Hariri had his back up against the wall,” the source said.

The 47-year-old premier wrote his own resignation announcement, crafting it in a way he thought would appease the Saudis.

“He was not a prisoner in the literal sense but the Saudis told him, ‘if you go back to Lebanon, we’ll think of you as Hezbollah, and your government as an enemy,’” the source said.

Karim Bitar of the Paris-based Institute

of International and Strategic Aff airs said Riyadh’s plan spectacularly backfi red.

“The Saudis wanted to send a powerful message demonstrating their determination to push back on Iran’s foray into the Levant,” said Bitar.

“But it produced a real boomerang eff ect.”After his resignation, Hariri spent two weeks in Riyadh

amid furious speculation he was being held “hostage” there by Saudi authorities.

Eventually, he returned to Beirut, put his resignation on hold, and dove into consultations with political rivals.

On Tuesday, he held his fi rst ministerial meeting since his return, declaring he had rescinded his resignation and that Lebanon remained committed to “disassociation,” or neutrality in regional confl icts.

“As fi ctitious, provisional and fragile as it is, this forced rapprochement between the two Lebanese camps is necessary and welcome, since security and economic risks are real,” Bitar said.

He expected Riyadh would continue demanding Hezbollah withdraw its forces from Yemen.

Back at the helm, Hariri will attend crisis talks in Paris tomorrow with top foreign offi cials, including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

But if the Saudis pursue their policy of “one-upmanship,” Bitar warned, “France and Europe may not be able to do much to protect Lebanon from the escalating dangers on the regional level.”

Gulf Times Thursday, December 7, 2017

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Saudi has supported Hariri for years, hoping he would fi ght back against Hezbollah

GCC Summit reaffi rmscommitment to unity

A month after Haririsaga, Saudi’s Lebanongambit backfi res

P.O.Box 2888Doha, Qatar

editor@gulf-times.comTelephone 44350478 (news),

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Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah

Editor-in-Chief: Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka

Deputy Managing Editor: K T Chacko

QNAKuwait

The 38th Gulf Co-operation Council Summit, which ended in Kuwait on Tuesday, expressed the bloc’s

commitment to unity and keenness to attain further co-ordination and integration across all domains.

In its final communique carried by Kuwait News Agency, the session said the six member-nations’ leaders were committed to the GCC’s goals and were convinced that the bloc serves their peoples’ hopes and aspirations.

They reiterated support of proposals, including late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud’s aim, to transform the bloc from a council to a union, build a joint defence mechanism and for economic integration.

Separately, the session expressed “extreme condemnation” of the Houthi attacks on the holy city of Makkah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, the former by Iranian-made ballistic missiles.

It described the Houthi group’s recent killing of Yemen’s former leader Ali Abdallah Saleh as a “tragic development,” saying GCC leaders are following up on the matter with “anxiety.”

Iran’s destabilising activities and intervention in the internal aff airs of neighbouring nations, its support of “terrorist groups” in Bahrain and occupation of the UAE’s three islands

of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa were also condemned.

The GCC underlined that Iran should cease its support of terrorist groups that have a destabilising impact on the region, particularly the Gulf.

The attending delegations also expressed support of the agreement signed between the six-nation GCC and the US, which aims to block the funding of terrorism through the launch of a centre with the goal.

The summit also condemned the deadly attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Al-Arish in northern Sinae.

On Palestinian aff airs, the document reiterated support of Palestinian statehood with a capital of Jerusalem, according to the 1967 borders, the Arab Peace Initiative and international laws.

It also rejected Israeli practices that breach international rules and regulations and aim to alter the legal, diplomatic or political status of Jerusalem.

The Supreme Council welcomed the generous initiative of Kuwait to host an international donor conference in 2018 to support the stability and reconstruction of liberated areas in Iraq from the so-called Daesh.

It called for a positive international co-operation in this conference and to assert the importance of refugees return to their homeland under the international organisations concerned in co-ordination with the Iraqi government.

The Supreme Council directed the Secretariat to begin preparations for

a comprehensive strategic dialogue to develop the GCC’s relations with Iraq in all political, security, economic, cultural and other fi elds.

On Syria, the Supreme Council affi rmed its fi rm positions and resolutions on the Syrian crisis and the Geneva resolution, and Security Council resolution 2254 which provides for the establishment of a Transitional Authority for the administration of the country, the drafting of a new constitution for Syria and the preparation of elections for a new future for the Syrian people.

The Supreme Council welcomed the results of the second expanded meeting of the Revolutionary Forces and the Syrian opposition held in Riyadh last November, which united positions of the opposition parties and the establishment of a negotiating team to the Geneva meeting to contribute to achieving the aspirations of the brotherly Syrian people.

The fi nal communique stressed its support for the mediation of the United Nations and its envoy to Syria, Stefan de Mistura.

The Supreme Council stressed the importance of working on the return of refugees and displaced Syrians to their cities and villages under international supervision and rejected any attempt to bring about demographic changes in Syria.

On Lebanon, the Supreme Council affi rmed the GCC’s positions on the importance of maintaining stability of Lebanon, reiterating its commitment to Lebanon’s security, stability and territorial integrity and supporting

its eff orts in confronting the so-called Daesh and other terrorist organisations.

The Supreme Council affi rmed its rejection of the role of Iran and Hezbollah’s terrorist organisation in destabilising Lebanon, weakening its political and security institutions, breaking up national unity and fuelling sectarian confl icts.

The Supreme Council reiterated its keenness on the security, stability and unity of the Libyan territories and supporting the eff orts exerted to confront the so-called Daesh and other terrorist organisations.

The Council stressed its support for the role of the United Nations in reaching a political solution to the Libyan crisis, praising the efforts of Dr Ghassan Salama, the UN Secretary-General’s envoy to achieve this.

On the issue of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the Supreme Council condemned the ethnic cleansing, massacres and brutal attacks against the Rohingya Muslims in the Republic of Myanmar, their expulsion from their homes and the systematic destruction of their villages, reiterating its call on the international community to condemn these policies and act urgently to stop these acts.

The Supreme Council expressed its deep appreciation and gratitude to the Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah for the warm welcome and hospitality, expressing satisfaction for the next convention of the summit in Oman next year.

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani holding talks with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah in Kuwait on Tuesday. His Highness the Emir was in Kuwait to attend the 38th Gulf Co-operation Council Summit.

QATAR31Gulf Times

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Qatar, S Korea to foster ties in medical fi eld: envoyBy Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

The success of the second Qatar-Korea Medical Forum, held in Doha, is expected to strengthen

bilateral co-operation in the medical fi eld between the two countries, South Korean ambassador Heung Kyeong-park has said.

Speaking to Gulf Times, the envoy expressed confi dence that this event will facilitate further collaboration in professional training and patient re-ferral, among others, in the near fu-ture.

“There are many areas to be ex-plored, the country has many Qatari (medical) professionals and South Korea is ready to provide training,” he said, as he expects more expert ex-changes to take place between South Korea and Qatar.

Park also cited the strong support of Qatar’s Minister of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari in the success of the forum, which featured a

three-hour seminar on hepatobiliary surgery with a panel from the Korean Asan Medical Centre (AMC) and an advanced laparoscopic liver surgery with the participation of 10 mem-bers of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) hepatobiliary team.

Senior consultants, doctors, and surgeons from the two medical insti-tutions exchanged views and experi-ence before doing the non-invasive liver operation.

After the fi rst medical forum in No-vember last year, which featured the fi rst living donor liver transplantation in Doha, Park said Qatari authorities have fully recognised Korean special-ist licence.

HMC and South Korean doctors also conducted one knee and one hip replacement, and three heart surger-ies while breakout sessions were held a day before the actual procedures. South Korea is a world leader in organ transplantation, carrying out more than 1,200 liver transplants each year. The country has one of the highest liv-er transplantation success rates in the

world. “The second medical forum is as much signifi cant as the fi rst one. On the occasion of the fi rst forum, 19 pro-fessionals along with Qatari partners conducted operations on fi ve patients in three diff erent departments under the wise leadership of Asan Health-care System president Dr Sung-Gyu Lee,” Park said.

AMC manager Dr Kwan Kim echoed the envoy’s statements saying that the two medical forums had been suc-cessful, which provided one-of-its-kind treatment and healthcare to pa-tients in Qatar using HMC’s advanced facilities.

The procedures used in the two medical forums are very diffi cult and complex techniques, according to Dr Kim.

“The surgery (advanced laparo-scopic liver surgery) went out perfect without any bleeding or complica-tions and the patients are doing well now and we hope they will recover very soon,” he added, as he lauded the facilities at HMC saying that “every-thing is state-of-the-art.”

South Korean ambassador Heung Kyeong-park (fourth left) and AMC professor and hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplantation chief Dr Ki Hun Kim (third right) join the Korean delegation who took part in the second Qatar-Korea Medical Forum in Doha recently. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam

HMC welcomes Korean delegates

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) welcomed the South Korean delegation to the second Qatar-Ko-rea Medical Forum at its Medical Education Cen-

tre for bilateral educational talks focusing on hepatobiliary surgery. Members of the Asan Medical Centre’s (AMC) Hepatobiliary team included a multi-disciplinary group of physicians and nurses led by its chief of hepatobiliary sur-gery and liver transplantation, professor Ki Hun Kim. They were joined by HMC clinicians from the respective surgical teams.

In a statement, Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, deputy chief med-ical offi cer and director of Medical Education at HMC, said the forum is a continuation of collaboration between both healthcare systems, which began during the fi rst successful Qatar-Korean Medical Forum in November 2016.

“We are delighted to have moved forward with this part-nership that has seen our two organisations explore areas of collaboration in medical care,” Dr al-Khal said.

“Staff from HMC and AMC have planned and performed complex surgical procedures together. We look forward to continuing to share ideas and developing more ways to im-prove the care we give to patients in Qatar,” said Dr al-Khal.

South Korean ambassador Heung Kyeong-park said the second medical forum took place with the strong support from the Qatari side, particularly Qatar’s Public Health Minister HE Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, also the man-aging director of HMC.

From left: HMC’s associate director for Undergraduate Medical Education and CPD Dr Maggie Allen, South Korean ambassador Heung Kyeong-park and AMC professor and hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplantation chief Dr Ki Hun Kim.

Al Khor and Al Thakhira Municipality director Juma bin Khamis al-Muraikhi has toured the Baladna Farm, as part of the regular visits to the various services and facilities within the municipality’s jurisdiction. Senior municipality off icials, including the Technical Aff airs Department manager Jassim bin Ali al-Muhannadi and the Health Control Section head Matar bin Mo-hamed al-Kuwari, accompanied him. Throughout the tour, they reviewed the various sections of the farm and met the off icers to discuss with them any issues that were facing and find immediate solutions. In the meantime, the local honeybee festival resumes its activities at Al Khor and Al Thakhira yard today and it would go on for three days. The same activities are set to held at Al Wakrah yard from December 14-16. The event was launched last week at Al Mazrouah yard, where 1,027kg of locally produced honey were sold, in addition to 39kg of honey combs.

Visit to Baladna Farm