World 5Protests in Tunisia over decree to create new judicial watchdog

Business 8 Commercial Bank opens new premium lounge

Sports 12Shapovalov looks to make the big switch at Qatar ExxonMobil Open

MONDAYFEBRUARY 14, 2022

RAJAB 13, 1443VOL.15 NO. 5496 QR 2

FINE

HIGH : 24°CLOW : 17°C

Fajr: 4:51 am Dhuhr: 11:48 amAsr: 3:02 pm Maghrib: 5:29 pm Isha: 6:59 pm

His Highness the Amir of State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with a delegation of members of Parliament in the friendly United Kingdom on the occasion of their visit to the country, at Sheikh Abdullah Bin Jassim Majlis at the Amiri Diwan on Sunday. (QNA)

AMIR MEETS BRITISH PARLIAMENT DELEGATION Katara to renovate iconic Pigeon Towers TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE iconic Pigeon Towers at the the Cultural Village Foundation — Katara will be demolished on Wednesday, February 16. It will be recon-structed as per higher engi-neering standards, a senior official has said.

“The Pigeon Towers will be demolished at dawn on Wednesday, February 16, to renovate it as per higher engi-neering standards,” Dr Khalid Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara Cultural Village, tweeted on Sunday.

In response to a question about the appearance of the towers after their reconstruc-tion on Twitter, Dr Al Sulaiti assured that the same shape will be maintained.

“Of course, the same shape 100 percent and with higher standards, as is the case with

the towers in the northern area of Katara, where they were demolished and rebuilt as in the picture,” he added.

There are three pigeon towers in the Katara com-

plex — one near the mosque and two towers on the eastern side, next to the sea.

The Pigeon Tower near the mosque is one of the most recognised and photographed

sites at the Katara Cultural Village. Its picture has also come to represent and sym-bolise Katara in most publica-tions inside and outside the country.

CATHERINE W GICHUKIDOHA

PRIME Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani on Sunday witnessed the ceremony of World Health Organization (WHO) accredit-ing the municipalities of Doha and Al Rayyan as healthy cities and the Education City of Qa-tar Foundation for Education, Science and Community De-velopment as a healthy educa-tional city.

The ceremony was organ-ised by the Ministry of Public Health in partnership with the Ministry of Municipal-ity and Qatar Foundation in Msheireb region. The Healthy Cities programme aims to improve human health by promoting equity and com-munity empowerment by in-tegrating health in all policies and strengthening cooperation and partnership between vari-ous sectors and society.

Doha and Al Rayyan mu-nicipalities have been accred-ited as “Healthy Cities” and Qatar Foundation’s Education

City as “Healthy Education City” by the WHO.

This is the first time that Qatar’s municipalities have been awarded the ‘Healthy City’ status and Qatar aims at getting all the eight municipal-ities awarded as “Healthy Cit-ies” to provide sustainable and healthier options for the whole

population.The “Healthy Educa-

tion City” award is part of the “Health-Promoting Univer-sities” programme and the “Healthy City” programme.

Speaking at a press con-ference on Sunday, WHO Re-gional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean of Division

of Healthier Populations Dr Maha El Adawy said there is a healthy city network in East-ern Mediterranean region, which was established in 2012.

“Since the network was launched, only 18 out of 103 have been accredited as Healthy Cities.”

El Adawy said that ‘Healthy Cities’ status comes under 9 different domains such as community participa-tion and engagement, capac-ity building, environment and health aspects, besides others. According to her, under these domains there are up to 80 in-dicators.

Doha, Al Rayyan get ‘healthy cities’ statusQF’s Education City accredited by WHO as healthy educational city

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani attends the ceremony of WHO accrediting the municipalities of Doha and Al Rayyan as healthly cities.

QNADOHA

MINISTER of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari has said that Qatar’s adoption of the ‘Healthy Cities’ project affirms the state’s commitment to achieve universal health.

On the sidelines of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Awarding Ceremony of Doha and Al Rayyan Mu-nicipalities as ‘Healthy Cit-ies’ and the Designation of Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Education City as a ‘Healthy Education City’, Dr Al Ku-wari stressed that the health strategy and Qatar National Vision 2030 aim to promote physical and mental health for the population.

She pointed out that the ministry has developed strong partnerships by bringing together policy-makers, researchers, aca-demics and leaders from different sectors and in-dustries through the devel-opment of a ‘Healthy City Network’, to facilitate joint

work and collaborations aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the population.

“Receiving the WHO Healthy City accreditation for Doha and Al Rayan mu-nicipalities, as well as the recognition of Education City as ‘Healthy Education City’, is a reflection of the ef-forts across government and key stakeholders towards prioritising the health and well-being of the population of Qatar,” she said, add-ing that it is also a commit-ment to continue to push the health agenda forward.

Minister of Municipality HE Abdulla bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie said the awarding of Doha and Al Rayyan as ‘Healthy Cities’ by the WHO affirms Qatar’s commitment to transform cities into healthy cities, through sustainable urban development and high-quality life to improve the health and wellbeing of all people across Qatar.

‘Qatar keen to promote universal health’

QNADOHA

HIS Highness the Amir of State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has sent a cable of con-gratulations to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the occasion of his re-elec-tion as President of Federal Republic of Germany for a second term.

Amir greets German prez on re-election

QNB Group, the largest financial insti-tution in the Middle East and Africa, held its Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assembly Meetings on Sun-day to discuss key achievements in 2021 and the business plan for 2022. The General Assembly approved the Group’s audited financial statements for 2021 and a recommendation by the Board of Directors to distribute a cash dividend of 55 percent of the nominal share value representing QR 0.55 per share. (TNN) PAGE 8

QNB gets nod to distribute 55% cash dividend

The Pigeon Towers will be demolished at dawn on Wednesday, February 16, to renovate it as per higher engineering standards

PM WITNESSES WHO ACCREDITATION CEREMONY OF DOHA, AL RAYYAN AS HEALTHY CITIES

Full-scale ops of 1st & 2nd phases of Hamad Port’s CT2 beginQTERMINALS has started full-scale opera-tions of the first and second phases of Hamad Port Container Terminal 2 (CT2), whose initial operation was launched in December 2020.

The opening of phases 1 and 2 of CT2 increased the port’s total TEU ca-pacity to three million per year, and it is equipped with the latest environmentally friendly, technologically advanced equip-ment to keep pace with the needs and requirements of the global shipping lines. In addition, CT2 is also focused towards

increasing the volume of the intra-regional trade of Qatar and with countries world-

wide, as well as improving the countrys competitiveness by turning it into regional business hub.

During the development of CT2, Qatar National Vision 2030 has been followed, which supports increasing the national manufacturing capacity and to deploy the latest technologies that are based on environmental sustainability and clean energy. Over 70% of the materials used in the development of the infrastructure of CT2 were ‘Made in Qatar to the very latest specifications. (TNN) PAGE 8

Continued on page 16 Continued on page 16

US President Joe Biden spoke at length with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s borders, with the pair agreeing on the need to pursue “diplo-macy and deterrence,” the White House said. “The two leaders agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence in response to Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders,” ac-cording to a readout of the roughly 50-minute call. (AGENCIES)

Biden, Zelenskyy pursue ‘diplomacy and deterrence’ in Ukraine crisis

Today, we celebrated the World Health Organization’s accreditation of Doha, Al Rayyan and Education City as healthy cities. This is an achievement we are proud of, and it is the fruit of the government’s commitment to health standards in all its policies and programmes for the welfare of the population

and a clean environment. The government will continue this approach until all our cities become healthy.

02 Monday, February 14, 2022

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

Deputy Amir greets German president on re-electionDEPUTY Amir HH Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Hamad Al Thani has sent a cable of congratula-tions to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on his re-election as the president of Germany for a second term. (QNA)

Paraguayan FM meets Qatari envoyMINISTER of Foreign Rela-tions of Paraguay Euclides Acevedo met with Acting Charge d’Affaires of the Em-bassy of Qatar in Paraguay HE Saeed bin Hamad Al Marri in Asuncion on Sunday. During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries. (QNA)

Quick read

The Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with Presi-dent of the International Union of Muslim Scholars Dr Ahmed Al Raissouni and his accompanying delegation at Sheikh Ab-dullah Bin Jassim Majlis at the Amiri Diwan on Sunday. During the meet-ing, they reviewed areas of cooperation between Qatar and the union and the ways to develop them. (QNA)

AMIR MEETS PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARS

German embassy’s new office relocated at Tornado Towers

ASHRAF SIDDIQUIDOHA

A German flag-raising cere-mony was held on the Torna-do Tower premises on Sunday to mark the official opening of German embassy’s new of-fices at the tower.

German Ambassador to Qatar HE Claudius Fisch-bach hoisted the German and European Union flags in the presence of Director of Proto-col at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Ibrahim Yousuf Fakhroo and German embas-sy officials.

In his remarks on the oc-

casion, Ambassador Fisch-bach said, “We are proud to have moved into one of the landmark towers in West Bay District. We are convinced that here, with a great view on everything happening in this centre of activity. We can do even more for the continuous expansion of German-Qatari relations in all dimensions.”

The Germany embassy re-

located to its new and modern premises at West Bay’s iconic Tornado Tower on the 33th and 34th floors with Consular section on the 33th floor.

After being closed for a week in order to move to the new location, the embassy reopened on Sunday. Consu-lar and all other services are fully operational and open to visitors.

The German embassy has advised all visitors to book an appointment through its web-site www.doha.diplo.de.

The embassy’s contact de-tails remain the same and are available on its website.

HE Claudius Fischbach (center) and HE Ibrahim Yousuf Fakhroo (4th from right) with German embassy of-ficials at flag hoisting ceremony.

German Ambassador HE Claudius Fischbach hoists German flag on the new embassy premises.

The German embassy has advised all visitors to book an appointment through its website www.doha.diplo.de

WCM-Q students shadow physicians to gain clinical experience at HMC & Sidra

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

PRE-MEDICAL and foundation stu-dents from Weill Cornell Medicine-Qa-tar (WCM-Q) gained a glimpse of life as a working doctor when they had the chance to shadow practising physicians for a week at Hamad Medical Corpora-tion (HMC) and Sidra Medicine.

Fifty WCM-Q pre-medical and foun-dation students took part in the Clinical Observership Experience, spending five days in a variety of clinics at either of the two hospitals to learn about the daily routine of qualified healthcare profes-sionals and explore the different special-ties available to those pursuing careers in medicine by studying at WCM-Q.

For many of the participants, the ex-perience reaffirmed their decision to train to become a physician. Student Hessa Al Thani said: “The clinical observership re-minded me again why I chose to pursue

medicine. It can sometimes be challeng-ing to stay motivated for a long time with a demanding curriculum. I would recom-mend all students to apply for the clinical observership as it made me look forward to seeing myself as a physician.”

The students joined the physicians at HMC and Sidra for clinical rounds each day, met with patients, and discussed cases with the physicians they were shad-owing.

One student said that being able to spend a full working week in the hospital to become familiarized with the routines and rhythms of a physician’s life had been helpful in several ways.

“Practice makes perfect is a cliche that works timelessly,” said Sara Al Kaabi. “As a pre-medical student, the experience was valuable not only because it gave me a glimpse of what may be my future, but also because it allowed me to reflect upon areas that I can improve in my studies.”

Both HMC and Sidra Medicine are

clinical affiliates of WCM-Q, with many hospital staff holding affiliate faculty po-sitions at the college. WCM-Q medical students gain invaluable guidance and mentorship from physicians at HMC and Sidra, as well as completing clinical rotations in the hospitals as part of their training in the final two years of their MD degree.

Dr Rachid Bendriss, Associate Dean for Foundation, Student Outreach and Educational Development Programs, said: “The Clinical Observership Experi-ence is always very inspiring and encour-aging for our pre-medical and foundation students.

“Getting a glimpse of what life as a physician will be like gives them renewed enthusiasm for their studies and helps them see themselves as doctors. All of us at WMC-Q are very grateful to our affili-ates at HMC and Sidra for providing such a great welcome and such a fantastic ex-perience to our students.”

WCM-Q pre-medical and foundation students took part in a clinical observership experience during a week-long practice recently.

Al Wakra Municipality removes 6,375 tons of construction wasteTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE Al Wakra Munici-pality, represented by the Municipal Control Depart-ment, in cooperation with the Mechanical Equip-ment Department, carried out a campaign to remove building materials waste in the Aba Al Saleel and Birkat Al Awamer areas.

One porta cabin and 125 tonnes of mud and gravel used in building work in the Aba Al Saleel area were removed in the operation. In collabora-tion with a Qatari private sector enterprise, 6,250 tonnes of diverse build-ing rubbish were also col-lected from the Birkat Al-Awamer area.

This step comes with-in the framework of Al Wakra Municipality’s en-deavours to intensify its monitoring activities on a regular basis, maintain the aesthetic appearance of all areas and prevent health and environmental risks resulting from construc-tion waste.

Al Rayyan Municipal-ity, for its part, performed maintenance work on a number of its gardens, which included cutting and trimming the grass in the green areas, pruning palm trees in preparation for the pollination season, and extending the irriga-tion network with all of its components in the Khalifa Sha’abiyah area, where flowers and trees were planted, with an area of 1,200 square metres.

Nation 03Monday, February 14, 2022

MURAIKHI RECEIVES CZECH AMBASSADOR’S CREDENTIALS: Minister of State for Foreign Affairs HE Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi received on Sunday a copy of the credentials of Czech Republic’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Qatar HE Jaroslav Ka-mas. The minister of state for foreign affairs wished the new ambassador success in performing his duties, assuring him of providing all support to advance bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields. (QNA)

Over 5,000 healthcare professionals attend Qatar Health 2022 and Qatar Public Health Conference

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

MORE than 5,000 healthcare professionals virtually attended the Qatar Health 2022 and sec-ond Qatar Public Health Con-ference, which was held in Doha over four days.

Held virtually from Febru-ary 9 to 12, the conference was the result of a partnership be-tween the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and aimed at preparing the healthcare sector for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The conference sessions focused on preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Qatar’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and hosted high profile speakers, in-cluding FIFA President Gianni Infantino, World Health Organ-

ization (WHO) Director-Gen-eral Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghe-breyesus and Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) Hassan Al Thawadi.

Dr AbdulWahab Al Mu-sleh, co-chair of Qatar Health 2022 and second Qatar Public Health Conference, said: “As we countdown to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, it was more important than ever for healthcare workers to have ac-cess to the latest information

and best practice.“This is an extremely im-

portant area of healthcare de-livery and I am delighted with the outcome of Qatar Health 2022 and the second Public Health Conference. We had more than 5,000 delegates, predominantly from across Qa-tar’s healthcare sector, attend this unique event. Delegates had the opportunity to learn about a range of topics asso-ciated with mass gatherings during the conference, includ-

ing public health surveillance, risk and crisis communica-tion, crowd and environmental management, prevention of in-fectious diseases, incident and outbreak response manage-ment, and health promotion and public information.”

Dr Sheikh Mohamed Al Thani, director of Public Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health and co-chair of Qatar Health 2022 and second Qatar Public Health Confer-ence, said the pandemic has demonstrated the importance of agility and flexibility in terms of planning as well as immediate responses to a situation.

“The conference sessions highlighted the extensive plan-ning and preparation underway to ensure their readiness for the tournament, plans which are taking into account measures related to the ongoing COV-

ID-19 pandemic,” he added.Dr Hassan Al Thani, head of

Vascular and Trauma Surgery at HMC and co-chair of Qatar Health 2022 and second Qatar Public Health Conference, said the conference theme was ‘Pre-paring for the 2022 World Cup and the Response to Pandemics in Qatar – a multidisciplinary team approach’.

The partners for Qatar Health 2022 and second Qatar Public Health Conference were the Ministry of Public Health, Primary Healthcare Corpora-tion, Qatar Red Crescent So-ciety, Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar, Qatar University, Qatar Biobank and the American Medical Association.

The organising committee also acknowledged Sanofi-Pas-teur, Khaled Scientific, Aamal Medical and Mazaya for their kind support.

Dr Hassan Al Thani Dr Sheikh Mohamed Al Thani Dr AbdulWahab Al Musleh

Aspetar to continueto provide medicare to top tennis players

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

ASPETAR Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital has announced it will continue to provide exclusive sports medi-cine services to top tennis play-ers at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Qatar.

As part of the collaboration, Aspetar’s National Sports Medi-cine Programme (NSMP) pro-vides a variety of comprehensive medical services to all partici-pating athletes, including physi-cal therapy and sports massag-es, as well as ambulances and fully equipped clinics on-site.

Committed to the well-being of athletes, Aspetar provides world-class expertise and ser-vices to tennis tournaments by providing a plethora of medical services. Its sponsorship of the tournament began in 2011 with an agreement with the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF), and Aspetar has been QTF’s medical partner since 2008.

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which will be held from the 19th to the 24th of February, is one of two ATP Tour events held in the Middle East and has

been named the ATP 250 Tour-nament of the Year on numer-ous occasions by players. The event will be followed by the Qa-tar Total Energies Open, which will take place from the 20th to the 26th of February and will feature an incredible field that includes the majority of the top ten players.

Aspetar and Qatar are home to some of the world’s finest sports stadiums and venues, providing a stimulating mix of sport, sports medicine and re-search, and sport education. Aspetar has provided medi-cal support to the world sport community through scientific research on tennis, which has been published by Aspetar ex-perts on a variety of topics such as musculoskeletal examination of elite junior tennis players, low back pain in tennis players, heat stress and tennis performance, and many other studies on ten-nis performance and injuries.

Aspetar has extensive ex-perience in managing major sporting events, having provid-ed medical support to over 100 sporting events per year, includ-ing the World Athletics Champi-onships IAAF 2019 and the AFC Champions League 2020.

Pakistan Engineers Forum ready to set off in its new strategic direction

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

A new team of passionate, commit-ted and seasoned professionals and social workers has been formed to take Pakistan Engineers Forum (PEF) to new heights and achieve its mission and vision in alignment with its goals and Qatar National Vi-sion 2030.

The team has representation from diverse disciplines, such as construction, oil and gas, chemical, IT, mechanical and education.

The new president-elect Riyaz Ahmed Bakali and the team have an extensive agenda to reorganise PEF

to fit the current needs of Pakistani professionals in Qatar. They have laid out an extensive programme to work on, including selection of

PEF New Cabinet 2022-2023; re-visit vision, mission and values; set strategic direction, organisational structure and goals; revisit PEF Constitution; and develop a two-year work plan.

The PEF new structure will be announced to all its member’s in a General Body meeting on March 23 2022.

PEF is one of the oldest and most prestigious forums of Pakistani pro-fessionals residing in Qatar.

PEF’s mission is to enhance the technical and soft skills of profes-sionals, employ more Pakistani pro-fessionals, and positively contribute to the growth of Qatar.

500 workers receive winteressentials from Qatar Charity

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AS part of its ‘Warmth and Peace’ drive, Qatar Charity (QC) contin-ued to distribute winter essentials to workers, in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), benefiting some 500 workers from the Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah mu-nicipalities and Al-Wakeel Group.

Besides, as many as 200 workers are expected to receive the winter essentials from Qatar Charity dur-ing the coming period.

“We aim, through this project, to bring joy to the workers by meeting their winter needs,” said Director of Qatar Charity’s Programmes and Community Development depart-ment Fatima Jumah Al Mohannadi, adding that the project comes in ap-preciation of the works they carry out outdoors in very cold weather.

“We are also keen to get the com-munity members involved in such important initiatives,” she added.

Hamad Al Janahi, a member of the ‘Ashghal Ambassadors’ initia-tive, expressed his happiness with participating in the ‘Warmth and Peace’ campaign to distribute the winter essentials to the workers of Al-Wakeel Group, appreciating Qa-tar Charity’s support to meet their

needs and protect them from the extreme cold.

He also praised the efforts made by Qatar Charity within and outside Qatar in providing aid and imple-menting various initiatives for the benefit of those with low-income.

Muhammed Tahir Yusufi, HR manager at Al Wakeel Group, thanked Qatar Charity for support-ing the workers and providing them with winter supplies.

He said the workers needed such support, especially in these cold days, praising the efforts of Qatar Charity for the benefit of low-in-come people, especially the workers.

He looked forward to Qatar

Charity’s continued support for them in the future.

Rashid Mubarak Al Mansouri, director of Services Affairs at Al Rayyan Municipality, thanked Qa-tar Charity for the kind gesture and its efforts to provide warmth for workers in such cold weather.

Qatar Charity has earlier distrib-uted winter essentials to 500 work-ers from the Daayen and Al Shamal municipalities and companies.

The winter essentials distributed by Qatar Charity to the workers in-cluded warm clothes, jackets and blankets, which will help keep them properly warm, especially in the ear-ly morning and late nights of winter.

Qatar Exxon Mobile and Qatar TotalEnergies Open have designated Aspetar as their official medical partner

SHURA SPEAKER MEETS UK PARLIAMENT TEAM: Speaker of the Shura Council HE Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim met Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary British-Qatar Group Alun Cairns and his accompanying delegation in Doha on Sunday. During the meeting, they reviewed the existing parliamentary relations between Qatar and the United Kingdom and the ways to enhance them, as well as the means to strengthen parliamentary friendship groups in the Shura Council and the United Kingdom. The meeting was attended by Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council HE Dr Hamda bint Hassan Al Sulaiti and a number of members of the Council. (QNA)

04 Monday, February 14, 2022 Nation

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) HE Dr Ahmad bin Hassan Al Hammadi met separately with Ambassador of China to Qatar HE Zhou Jian, Ambassador of Serbia to Qatar HE Jasminko Pozderac and Ambassador of Sweden to Qatar HE Anders Bengtsson on Sunday. During the meetings, they discussed relations between Qatar and each of the countries. (QNA)

MOFA SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS CHINA, SERBIA AND SWEDEN AMBASSADORS

Webinar on grace period procedures by MoI for Indian community todayTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

A webinar on the ‘Procedures of the Grace Period’ for the members of the Indian com-munity in Qatar will be or-ganised at 7pm today, Febru-ary 14, through Cisco WebEx virtual meeting app by the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The webinar is being or-ganised in association with the Search and Follow Up and Unified Services Departments in collaboration with India Cultural Centre (ICC) and the Indian Community Benevo-lent Forum (ICBF).

The webinar will explain the procedures of the ‘Grace Period’ announced by the Ministry of Interior from 10/10/2021 to 31/3/2022 for correcting the status of the expatriates who are staying in the country in violation of the provisions of the law No. 21/2015 that regulates the en-try, exit and residence of expa-triates.

During the webinar, an of-ficer from the Unified Services Department under the Gener-al Directorate of Passports will be explaining the details of the procedures for correcting the status of the violators of the

law no. 21/2015, under the employment of the companies through various service cen-tres of the Ministry of Interior such as Umm Salal, Al Rayyan, Mesaimeer, Al Wakra, Umm Senaim, Al Shamal, Al Khor, Al Daayen, Umm Salal, The Pearl, Onaiza, Souq Waqif, Al Rayyan, Umm Senaim, Al Sha-haniya, Mesaimeer, Al Wakra and Dukhan.

On the other hand, an-other officer from the Search and Follow Up Department lo-cated at Salwa Road will share the details of the services pro-vided for the violators during the grace period through the main reception of the Depart-ment.

All the services related with the grace period are of-fered by the Search and Follow Up Department and service centres of the Ministry of In-terior from 1.00 PM until 6.00 PM from Sunday to Thursday.

The Ministry of Interior has extended the grace period announced from 10th Octo-ber to 31st December 2021 to 31st March 2022, as part of its keenness to consider the inter-ests of company owners and expatriate workers, to benefit from the 50 percent reduction in the violation settlement amount.

The Ministry has provided

all facilities for the violators to correct their legal status while they are inside the country by transferring from one employ-er to another or by leaving the country on their own interest with exempting them from all consequences of legal respon-sibility.

Webex meeting link for the webinar is: https://moitelecoms.webex.com/moitelecoms/j.php?MTID=mce8a2fc99836f3ad7d25d51b0e0bb578 and the meet-ing number (Access code) is 2407 692 3873 with password: 1234.

The webinar will be held in Arabic with a translation to English, and is open to all. Any interested person can join the meeting using above link. The first time users of the Cisco WebEx meeting app are re-quested to download the app in advance in order to avoid any inconvenience in joining the webinar on time.

The Public Relations De-partment of the Ministry of Interior herewith urges the members of the Indian com-munity to attend this webinar in order to raise the aware-ness among the targeted au-dience of the grace period and get benefit of it before it ends in the end of March 2022.

QA serves as the official Airline Partner at FIFA Club World Cup

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QATAR Airways has extended its congratulations to Chelsea F.C. for winning the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 title in a highly competitive final against SE Palmeiras on Saturday.

Qatar Airways, the tourna-ment’s Official Airline Part-ner, was present at Moham-med Bin Zayed Stadium in the UAE for a special prize distribution ceremony. Qatar Airways Group Chief Execu-tive Akbar Al Baker said, “It was exciting for Qatar Air-ways to have once again been the Official Airline Partner of this star-studded competition. We witnessed an incredible performance that was deserv-ing of such a thrilling final. I would like to congratulate Chelsea on their victory and also praise Palmeiras for their valiant performance.

“Qatar Airways success-fully sponsored the previous FIFA Club World Cup tourna-ments from as early as 2017. We will proudly be the Official Airline Partner for the upcom-ing FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, where fans from around the world will be able to expe-rience a truly unique and hos-pitable service on board our

flights.”With only a few months un-

til the highly anticipated FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, foot-ball enthusiasts from around the world can now book travel packages with flexible booking options. Fans can book seats for their preferred matches and support their favourite team by selecting from seven-tiered

travel packages that include re-turn flights, match tickets and accommodation options at qa-tarairways.com/FIFA2022.

This was the fifth time that the airline was involved in sponsoring the tournament, having sponsored the 2017 and 2018 editions, which took place in the UAE.

Subsequently, Qatar hosted

the two consecutive FIFA Club World Cup tournaments in 2019 and 2020. Liverpool F.C won the title in 2019 against Flamengo during a memora-ble game that drew thousands of fans to Qatar’s shores. In the following season, FC Bay-ern München defeated Tigres UANL and took home the champions’ title.

In December 2021, the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 demon-strated yet again the country’s readiness for the grandest up-coming stage in world football, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Qatar Airways congratu-lated Algeria on lifting the pres-tigious trophy and fans were left with a poignant ‘au revoir’ with screens at the final displaying the airline’s key messages ‘The World’s Best Airline’ and ‘See You in Qatar 2022’.

Last year, Qatar Airways sponsored the 2021 CON-CACAF Gold Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020, and has a robust global sports partnership port-folio, including football-govern-ing bodies such as FIFA, CON-CACAF and CONMEBOL.

The airline also sponsors some of the world’s biggest foot-ball clubs, including Al Sadd SC, Boca Juniors, FC Bayern München and Paris Saint-Ger-main.

Chelsea of England and Palmeiras of Brazil players before the kickoff of the Club World Cup final in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Saturday.

Turkish Airlines launches ‘We are all Connected’ global campaign

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AFTER a successful year of increased demand and recovery for the airline industry, Turkish Airlines has launched a new global advertising campaign. Centered around the concept of Pangea -- which millions of years ago was a single and connected supercontinent -- the campaign stars Morgan Freeman narrating a captivating, inspiring mes-sage about reunification and reconnection of peo-ple and their worlds.

The commercial debuted online on February 10 and began airing during the second quarter of Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.

The campaign’s concept pays homage to Turk-ish Airlines’ extensive connectivity as the global carrier that flies to more countries than any other airline, offering a “We are all connected” message as the world prepares for a bright and promising future. While today Pangea no longer exists, Turk-ish Airlines “is proud of reconnecting people” with their loved ones and fostering this sense of recon-nection, as the global airline bringing more people and countries together. Through this new cam-paign, the leading carrier is powerfully commu-nicating its objective to “make far feel close” and “bring there to here” the airline said in a statement.

Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat said, “After months of creative ideation and pro-duction, we’re glad to share our Pangea campaign

that features Morgan Freeman with the world dur-ing the most watched sporting event on the global calendar. Travellers are increasingly hopeful and enthusiastic to safely explore new destinations or reunite with loved ones, and as a leading global airline, we hope to spark inspiration and instill confidence as we strive to reconnect the world.” To bring the story to life, Turkish Airlines com-missioned renowned actor and narrator Morgan Freeman, who was also featured in the airline’s 2017 campaign. With this project again, Freeman lends his talent to the production, captivating au-diences with his strong narrative presence and iconic voice.

The campaign, which began production in September 2021, was shot on location in Istanbul and New York. In addition to live action footage, the commercial also features computer generated animation scenes that depict continents and land-

masses reconnecting to illustrate Pangea in an ar-resting and visual way.

This is the brand’s sixth ad that will be fea-tured at the Super Bowl, one of the most watched sports events around the world, alongside a lineup of some of the world’s other most recognizable brands. ‘Pangea’ will air in 136 countries and fol-lows a number of high-profile commercials that Turkish Airlines has previously aired at the Super Bowl. In 2016, Turkish Airlines debuted the “Fly to Gotham and Metropolis City” ad which was a part of the carrier’s “Batman v Superman” cam-paign; in 2017, with “Widen Your World,” Morgan Freeman invited viewers to explore its wide route network; and in 2018, the “Five Senses” campaign starring Dr. Oz, who experienced the wonders of the world through five senses. Ridley Scott direct-ed the 2019 Super Bowl commercial ‘The Jour-ney,’ a cinematic and thrilling chase through the stunning sights of Istanbul and the new Istanbul Airport.

Lastly, “Step on Earth” aired in 2020.As a leading global carrier, Turkish Airlines

connects countries and cultures from 334 desti-nations across 128 countries spanning five con-tinents. In addition, with a centrally located hub between the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, Turkish Airlines provides excellent connectivity through the new Istanbul Airport.

To view Turkish Airlines’ new commercial, click https://we.tl/t-tikb9zla4U and for more in-formation, please visit www.turkishairlines.com.

Qatar Cancer Society hostsslew of events to mark Gulf Week for Cancer Awareness

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QATAR Cancer Society (QCS) participat-ed in a host of activities to mark 7th Gulf Week for Cancer Awareness, organised by the Gulf Federation for Cancer Con-trol and Gulf Centre for Cancer Control and Prevention.

Each year, the first week of Febru-ary is marked as Gulf Week for Cancer Awareness, which aims to fight the risk factors to reduce infection rates, encour-age early detection to increase recovery rates, and unify awareness messages in the GCC countries.

As part of the programmes, QCS launched an electronic brochure, titled ‘We Can’, in several languages. A work-shop was organised for cancer awareness promoters to enhance their capacities, in addition to publishing positive stories of people living with cancer and engag-ing them in virtual workshops. Several virtual workshops were held to raise the awareness of cancer and promote healthy lifestyle in the community, while launching a daily awareness competi-tion on social media. The programmes were launched on all platforms, includ-ing social media, QCS website and You-

Tube channel. Several landmarks in the country were lit up in purple to mark Gulf Week for Cancer Awareness.

Mona Ashkanani, director general of Qatar Cancer Society, emphasised the charity’s keenness to participate in all events and occasions that help achieve its goals in raising awareness about cancer, supporting people with cancer, and pro-moting professional development and scientific research.

“With this in mind, Qatar Cancer So-ciety participated in this event to raise awareness about cancer-causing risk factors and encourage a healthy life-style among all segments of society,” she added.

Morgan Freeman, a well-known actor and narrator, appears in the airline’s most recent commercial campaign.

BECON Group Qatar (BGQ) or-ganised a bowling competition to sup-port Qatar on the occasion of Qatar National Sport Day on February 8, 2022.

BECON GROUP CELEBRATES QATAR NATIONAL SPORT DAY

World

UNREST

Agencies

Libyan joint operations forc-es have rallied in the country’s capital to support abdul Ha-mid Dbeibah’s claim to legiti-macy as the head of the Libyan government as the country’s political schism deepens.

On Saturday, joint armed forces from Misrata, Khoms and Zlitan converged on Tripoli’s Martyrs Square with about 300 armed vehicles.

On Thursday, the Tobruk-based House of Representa-tives (HoR) parliament in eastern Libya had named

Fathi bashagha the country’s new prime minister.

incumbent PM Dbeibeh rejected the move, vowing to remain in his post until na-tional elections are held.

“Of course, the reason for our presence here in the first place is to preserve the democratic path in Libya. We joined the revolution in 2011 because of the rule of the military, we do not accept the rule of the military. We are here to defend international legitimacy, and our goal is to preserve legitimacy,” Colo-nel ibrahim Mohamed, Field

Commander of the Joint Op-erations Force, said.

Earlier on Saturday, the Joint Operations Force said in a statement that their move

came by order of Dbeibah call-ing them “to secure the gov-ernment headquarters and key sites in the capital”.

Dbeibah’s administra-

tion had a mandate to lead the country to elections on December 24, 2021, but polls were cancelled amid bitter di-visions over their legal basis and the candidacies of several controversial figures.

The construction tycoon was appointed a year ago as part of United nations-led peace efforts and has vowed he would “accept no new tran-sitional phase or parallel au-thority” and would only hand over power to an elected gov-ernment.

bashagha and Dbeibah, both from Misrata and both

candidates for the aborted presidential poll, have the support of rival armed groups in the west.

On Friday, main streets and squares in Tripoli and Misrata witnessed massive demonstrations rejecting the HoR decision to establish bashaga’s new transitional government.

The demonstrators de-manded the overthrow of the HoR and the High Council of State (HCS), and called for maintaining the national Unity Government, led by Dbeibah.

Pro-Dbeibah forces rally in Libya as political crisis deepens

Karzai calls on Biden to reverse decision on frozen Afghan assets

dpAIslamabad

FORMER afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday called on US President Joe biden to reconsider his deci-sion to split $7 billion of frozen afghan funds between victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and humanitarian aid.

Speaking at a press con-ference in Kabul, Karzai said the frozen funds should be used to ensure the stability of the afghan currency and the country’s financial system as a whole.

“The afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their loved ones,” he said. “Withholding money or seizing money from the people of afghanistan ... is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against the afghan people.” The prom-inent afghan leader called on the american people to ac-knowledge the suffering of the afghan people.

Karzai said the afghan people were paying the price even though Osama bin Laden,

who is credited as the master-mind of the 9/11 attacks, spent time in afghanistan but later returned to Pakistan, where he was eventually killed.

no afghan was among the terrorists involved in the attack on new york’s World Trade Center in 2001.

On Saturday, afghani-stan’s Central bank called for the reversal of the decision and the release of the funds, saying that they are not the property of governments, par-ties or groups.

afghanistan has approxi-mately $9 billion in assets, including the $7 billion in the US. The remaining funds are mostly held in Germany, the United arab Emirates and Switzerland.

Agencies

TUniSia’S president has is-sued a decree establishing a new provisional Supreme Ju-diciary Council, effectively re-placing the body he abolished and granting himself addition-al powers to control the coun-try’s top judicial organisation.

The decree, published on the official gazette on Sunday, says the president controls the selection, appointment, pro-motion, and transfer of judges and can act in certain circum-stances as a disciplinary body in charge of removals. Contra-ry to international law, none of the judges appointed in the new council will be elected.

it also forbids judges from going on strike, a form of dissent used to protest President Kais Saied’s February 6 announce-ment that the council would be-come “a thing of the past”.

Later on Sunday, pro-testers took to the streets of the capital Tunis as part of a march organised by the coun-try’s biggest political party En-nahda and a separate civil soci-ety organisation that had been scheduled prior to the decree being made public.

Waving Tunisian flags, some chanted “Shut down the coup… take your hands off the judiciary”.

nadia Salem, one of the protesters, told Reuters news agency that “what has hap-pened is the completion of the coup… Tunisia has become a nascent dictatorship after be-ing a nascent democracy”.

On Thursday, Saied had appeared to be backpedaling when Justice Minister Leila Jaffel told national television

the judicial body would be re-formed rather than abolished.

but anas Hamadi, presi-dent of the association of Tu-nisian Judges, told al Jazeera that Sunday’s presidential de-cree meant Saied abolished the “legitimate council” and “in-stalled a new council obedient to the executive power” despite the absence of legal grounds in doing so.

“The work of this coun-cil is subject to the will of the president, there are no elected members,” Hamadi said. “The

president has the right to veto over the work of this body and to overturn its decisions.

“This is a blatant and clear overtaking of the judiciary power that goes against demo-cratic principles.” Sunday’s protests follow a two-day strike launched on Wednesday by the association of Tunisian Judges that was widely observed na-tionwide.

Hamadi said a “crisis cell” has been created within the as-sociation to discuss the actions going forward, after the presi-

dent “prohibited the right to strike” enshrined in article 36 of the constitution.

The international Court of Justice (iCJ) said on Twitter the decree “consolidates power in the hands of the President,” effectively ending “any sem-blance of judicial independ-ence in the country.”

“it brings Tunisia back to its darkest days, when judges were transferred and dismissed on the basis of ex-ecutive whim,” the iCJ said, calling the decree “unconsti-

tutional and illegal.” Tunisia, often lauded as the only de-mocracy to emerge from the 2011 arab Spring revolts, has seen some of its gains reversed since Saied was elected presi-dent with almost 73 percent of the vote in a runoff election in October 2019.

Saied, who has put fighting corruption at the heart of his programme, said that remov-ing the judicial council was necessary as Tunisians wanted the country “cleansed”.

He has said his actions were temporary but has not specified a fixed term for the newly formed provisional council.

Tunis-based journalist Eli-zia Volkmann told al Jazeera that Saied’s decree “seems to be consolidating the three main powers of state” after provisions laid out in Septem-ber granted him executive and legislative powers.

The judiciary has firmly opposed Saied’s political ma-noeuvrings since July 25, when he sacked PM Hicham Mechi-chi and suspended parliament.

“This week everything has come to a head,” Volkmann said. The council filed a court case against the Ministry of interior to demand the keys to its headquarters, which was locked by police a day after Saied announced the body was “a thing of the past.” a hearing was held on Friday but no ver-dict has yet been issued.

Volkmann said that while Sunday’s protests were expect-ed to be peaceful, anger at the new decree might spark riots similar to the ones that broke out on January 14, the anniver-sary of the ousting of Tunisia’s President ben ali.

Protests in Tunisia over decree to create new judicial watchdog

Protesters wave Tunisian national flags during a demonstration called for by Tunisia’s Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party against President Kais Saied’s recent decrees, outside the Tunis Opera House in the centre of the capital Tunis on Saturday. (aFP)

Agencies

PaLESTinian prisoners in israeli detention have taken a series of actions against recent restrictions imposed on them by authorities, prisoner rights groups said, adding that israeli measures amounted to collective pun-ishment.

all prisoners are refus-ing to step out of their cells for their allocated yard time since israeli prison authori-ties on February 5 decreased the time and number of prisoners allowed outside at once, in violation of previous agreements between detain-ees and the jail administra-tion, the Palestinian Prison-ers Society (PPS) monitoring group said in a statement on Thursday.

Prisoners have access to an average of five to six hours in the yard, also called as fora, every day, divided into morning and evening shifts. but the duration has been cut down by more than half.

The prisoners movement announced late last week that Friday and Monday would be ‘days of rage’. On Friday, detainees refused to return to their rooms follow-ing prayers in the yard. The PPS said authorities sent in special forces as reinforce-ments for any escalations.

Prisoners are also threat-ening to hold a one-day hun-ger strike on Monday.

Thaer Shreiteh, spokes-person for the PPS, said such “punitive policies impact the

lives and spirits of the pris-oners”.

“The prisoners live within a certain daily schedule – they have reading sessions and certain times for exercise for example. So when the ad-ministration decreases the fora [yard] time, the goal is to target daily life of the prison-ers,” Shreiteh told al Jazeera.

He said that “the prison administration knows any shift in the details of a pris-oner’s day leads to tension,” adding that it “increases the pressure on prisoners who are in rooms with six or sev-en other detainees”.

Solitary confinement Shreiteh said prison authori-ties on Sunday threatened detainees in Hadarim Prison in the country’s north with banning family visits and canteen access for a month, but that the measure was not final yet.

Last week, detainees in multiple prisons dissolved their representational sys-tem – where prisoners from different political parties are elected to represent the demands of other inmates in negotiations with israeli prison authorities.

On Wednesday, sections in Ofer Prison near occupied Ramallah were raided by israeli special forces and de-tainees physically assaulted, and several of them were put into solitary confinement, according to the PPS. an es-cape plan written on a piece of paper was allegedly found in the prison, israeli media reported.

Palestinian prisoners protest Israeli ‘collective punishment’

Iraqi court bars veteran Zebari from running for presidency

Agencies

iRaq’S Supreme Court has barred veteran politician Ho-shyar Zebari from running for presidency after a complaint filed against him over corrup-tion charges.

Zebari was previously “suspended” from the race on February 6, on the eve of the scheduled presidential vote in parliament, in which he was the favourite.

MPs submitted a com-plaint against Zebari before the court on the grounds that his participation would have been “unconstitutional” be-cause of the outstanding cor-ruption charges and on the basis of reputation.

The court cited his 2016 dismissal from the post of fi-nance minister by parliament “over charges linked to finan-cial and administrative cor-ruption”.

“The federal court decided in its verdict to invalidate the candidacy of Hoshyar Zebari to the post of president of the republic,” state news agency ina announced on Sunday.

The 68-year-old was ac-

cused of diverting $1.8m worth of public funds to pay for air-line tickets for his personal se-curity detail.

Zebari has denied all cor-ruption accusations.

“i have not been convicted in any court,” Zebari said in a television interview last week.

The presidency, with a four-year mandate, is by con-vention held by a member of iraq’s Kurdish minority.

Zebari was one of two main contenders out of 25 for the largely ceremonial post. The other frontrunner is incum-bent President barham Saleh.

The presidential vote was postponed following Zebari’s

suspension, and follows Oc-tober legislative elections that were marred by record-low turnout, post-election threats and violence.

The final results were con-firmed in late December.

Last Tuesday, the office of parliament speaker Mohamed al-Halbussi announced the “reopening of registration for candidates for the post of president of the republic from Wednesday, February 9 and for a period of three days”.

However, a new date for MPs to elect a president has yet to be announced, and no new candidate list has been released.

Iraqi politician Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad on Sunday. (aFP)

Vehicles of military brigades loyal to the Libyan unity government headed by Abdulhamid Dbeibah arrive from neighbouring towns to the capital Tripoli on February 12, 2022. (aFP)

05Monday, February 14, 2022

On Saturday, joint armed forces from Misrata, Khoms and Zlitan converged on Martyrs Square with about 300 armed vehicles

Taliban frees ‘disappeared’ women’s rights activists

dpAIslamabad

THE Taliban has released four ‘disappeared’ afghan women’s rights activists and their families after a long pe-riod of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the Un mission in afghanistan an-nounced on Sunday.

nearly a month ago, two women activists, Parwana ibrahimkhail and Tamana Paryani were arrested and for-cibly taken from their Kabul homes. Paryani’s sisters were also detained. Paryani posted a video in which she begged for help before she was detained.

a further two activists, Mursal ayar and Zahra Mo-hammadi, were detained in early February.

The arbitrary detention of the activists, who were peace-fully protesting against the Taliban’s policies, met with in-ternational outrage.

The Taliban’s officials did not confirm the arrests. How-ever, at the time, official repre-sentatives accused the activists of making fake videos in order to seek asylum in the West.

“UnaMa calls for the rights of every afghan to be re-

spected,” the Un agency added in Sunday’s statement.

On Saturday, a top US of-ficial claimed that the Tali-ban had detained a further 29 women and their families.

Rina amiri, the US special envoy for afghan women, girls and human rights, tweeted that the Taliban had raided a house and detained 40 people, including 29 women and their families on Friday. “These un-just detentions must stop,” she wrote on Twitter.

amiri deleted her tweet shortly afterwards, without providing any further clarifica-tion.

Meanwhile a female police officer, alia azizi, has been missing for several months. She disappeared after being was called to work in western afghanistan.

The country’s new rul-ers have regularly detained protesters, activists and jour-nalists since retaking power, with some reporting abuse and torture after their release.

Afghanistan has nearly $9 bn in assets, including the $7 bn in the US. The remaining funds are mostly held in Germany, UAE and Switzerland

The country’s new rulers have regularly detained protesters, activists

Tyler Cowen

It is conventional wisdom that misinfor-mation — particularly about COVID and vaccines, and often enabled by social and other media — is worse than it’s ever been. It’s hard to measure misinformation over

time. But the premise that there was ever a golden age of accurate information, especial-ly about public health, is suspect.

I just turned 60, so my youth is now fairly distant. Still, I can recall debates about smoking: not so much whether it was bad for you — that science was established, and the federal government had already initiated an anti-smoking campaign — but whether it was really all that bad. And I’m not talk-ing about the occasional cigarette, but one or two packs a day. the scientific knowledge wasn’t nearly as socially salient as it is today, and there were many millions more smok-ers. that meant social opinion was invariably somewhat split.

Or consider the debate, such as it is, over exercise. With each passing decade, the health benefits of exercise have become bet-ter known. In earlier decades this point sim-ply wasn’t stressed. Regardless of whether we in fact exercise, we now obsess over it and boast about it — to the point of becoming an-noying. Social media has definitely played a role here, as you can now tweet that you just ran a marathon or climbed some rocks. And if you don’t exercise, you are made to feel guilty about it.

Seat belts are another area where the state of public knowledge has changed for the better. the first few years I drove, I did so without a seat belt — and not because I was a risk-loving, rebellious teenager. It simply wasn’t that unusual at the time, and I don’t recall being scolded very much by my fellow passengers for not wearing a seat belt. Fortu-nately, I wised up. Mandatory seat belt laws have spread, but public understanding has also improved. this counts as a public health information triumph.

these few areas of huge improvement all have significant consequences for human health and longevity. they are not small ar-eas of concern. But other issues remain de-batable.

Diet is a more contentious area with less consensus, even today. And clearly obesity problems have worsened. But was the past dietary advice of the medical establishment

so great? My father, after having a heart at-tack and being diagnosed as a diabetic, was advised to eat lots of pasta and bread because they were considered vegetarian. He didn’t have access to many alternate sources of in-formation and so he complied, probably for the worse. More generally, the medical estab-lishment overrated carbohydrates and prob-ably worried too much about the health risks of meat.

there is also a lot more awareness about the health costs of various jobs, ranging from chemical exposure to repetitive motion prob-lems. Maybe there has been overreaction and overregulation on some of these issues — but in earlier decades there was definitely under-reaction. And today, while there are huge amounts of misinformation about air pollu-tion and especially climate change (on both sides to be fair; it is a very serious but not existential threat), overall I prefer the aware-ness level of the current world to that of the past. these too are public health issues that will only grow in importance.

One thing I do recall from my early school years: a very positive attitude toward all sorts of vaccinations. At least in my school district, and I believe more generally, they were seen as a kind of miracle. the measles epidemic

peaked in 1958, only a few years before my birth, and polio had also been a problem (Neil Young, only 16 years my senior, con-tracted it as a child).

I don’t know if “miracle cures” were worse then or now. Now there is hydroxy-chloroquine for COVID. In an earlier era there was laetrile for cancer, and there was a long and painful experience with false cures for HIV-AIDS.

Overall, I am genuinely unsure that mis-information about public health has become worse in my lifetime. My uncertainty is only strengthened when I do a reality check of how much general public misinformation there has been over the last six decades. A lot of experts and members of the public used to think the economy of the Soviet Union was just fine. they thought the Vietnam War was OK. they saw Nixon’s wage and price con-trols as justified.

Some of the worst misinformation of to-day is about the supposedly wonderful past.

(Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opin-ion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason Univer-sity and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution.)

Opinion

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

Misinformation About Misinformation

The idea that there was ever a golden age of accurate information, especially about public health, is suspect

EstablishEd sEptEmbEr 3, 2006

hamad bin suhaim al thani chairmanadel ali bin ali managing directordr hassan mohammed al ansari editor-in-chief

Work Life Will Never Be The Same. We Need Some In-Person Days & Some Remote

niCholas Bloom

BEFORE the pandemic, few people took remote work seriously. Re-searching the phenomenon for al-most 20 years, I frequently heard disparaging comments like “work-

ing from home, shirking from home” and “working remotely, remotely working.”

this all changed in March 2020, and we are never going back to the workplace of 2019. Even firms that aggressively pushed in spring 2021 for workers to return to the office, such as Goldman Sachs and JPMor-gan, postponed their mandates.

Working from home surged twelvefold between 2017-2018 and May 2020. the pandemic is the biggest shock to American working life since the shift to military pro-duction during World War II.

Employees are driving this revolution. Surveys of 50,000 workers across the coun-try find they want to work from home 2.5 days a week on average after the pandemic. Employees working from home frequently tell me how they enjoy the freedom of be-ing able to go to the gym or see the dentist during a weekday, making up the work time in the evenings or on weekends. I enjoy the ability to pick up my kids from school on work-from-home days. Employees with young children are the most likely to want to work from home.

As the pandemic has lingered, many

of us have become ever more comfortable with remote human interactions. the rapid spread of new coronavirus variants is fur-ther undercutting employers’ push for a full-time return.

Indeed, getting employees back to the office is now a major challenge. Companies that want more in-person work will have to overcome some serious hurdles.

First, there’s the labor market. A De-cember survey revealed that more than 40% of US employees would start looking for another job or quit immediately if or-dered to return to the office full time. Not surprisingly, then, after Goldman Sachs de-manded employees return full time to the office, the company announced it would raise its starting pay for first-year analysts by nearly 30%. In this new era, if you want employees in the office full time, you have to pay for it.

A subtler issue lurks in workforce di-versity. the survey data show that people of color and highly educated women with young children place especially high value on the ability to work from home at least part of the week. One explanation is that they face a less positive in-person workplace environment. Employers that ban working from home will risk driving these employees out the door. Many organizations are striv-ing to improve representation of women and minorities, especially in management. that may turn out to be incompatible with

requiring only in-person work.Environmental concerns should loom

large as well. Working remotely cuts pollu-tion from commuting and business travel, given that transportation generates about 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US.

Finally, time is a finite resource. Remote work saves millions of hours of commuting each week. traveling to and from work eats away at our collective productivity, in our jobs and in our personal lives. Some data from Europe and North America showed that when people shifted to remote work during the pandemic, they ended up put-ting in longer hours — not great news for work-life balance, to be sure, but a develop-ment that many employers would cheer.

And yet, a lot of bosses want people back in the office. So what should we do?

My advice is to recognize the reality of the new labor market and adapt. Hybrid schedules are the future, with employees averaging three days a week in the office. tuesdays, Wednesdays and thursdays, for instance, can be social and highly engaged days full of in-person meetings, events and connectivity. Mondays and Fridays would then be work-from-home days, for quiet work such as reading, writing and smaller remote meetings. Research suggests this hybrid approach increases productivity by 5% on average compared with the full-time in-person model, making this a win-win for companies and employees.

Not everyone will gain from a cultural shift toward working from home. We are now rapidly moving to a three-tier work-force. Research by Jose Barrero, Steve

Davis and myself found that about 35% of workers can work at least partly from home. these are usually college-educated profes-sionals and executives. A further 15% of a similar demographic can work remotely all the time. But about 50% of all employees have to work fully in-person.

these include people in front-line jobs in retail, manufacturing, health care and other service industries. their positions are fre-quently lower-paid and don’t require college degrees. Remote work seems to inevitably widen existing disparities in the workforce. Managers around the country have told me they have been raising salaries for front-line employees to compensate, and are trying to increase flexibility of their working hours. A hybrid schedule for those who can work remotely will also help to bridge this divide.

the hybrid model prevents all of us from getting carried away with the shift to remote work. Some executives are un-derstandably enthusiastic about cost sav-ings, but I worry that a cost-driven push for fully remote work could squeeze the joy out of work life, which includes socializing with colleagues and the chance to shore up shared workplace values. too much work-ing from home, I fear, could also exacerbate an already highly polarized society.

As employers and employees think about when and how to return to in-person work, we should be open to exploring dif-ferent approaches. CEOs will need to em-brace those three hardest words “I don’t know,” because so much still is uncertain. But if we take this opportunity to reexam-ine the future of work, we might still make something positive out of the pandemic.

THERE’S a timely focus on “off ramps” as COVID-19 cases decline and a wea-ry public yearns for pandemic exits

two years after the crisis began.But as the transition to a new normal

accelerates, it’s vitally important to rec-ognize and prepare for this reality: the path ahead is far from smooth for a sub-stantial number of people who survived this viral illness but still suffer serious aftereffects.

Solutions and political collaboration to enact them are critical at the state and federal levels. In Minnesota, legislative action is imperative to help those affect-ed and to understand potential impacts on the state’s workforce and economy. A strong start this session addressing this multifaceted challenge is essential.

Long COVID is the working name giv-en to the little-understood constellation of lingering symptoms after infection. It includes life-altering fatigue, breathing difficulties, cognitive impairment, heart problems, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression. Imagine working or try-ing to take care of a family — or both — while feeling this far out of sync. Now consider a Mayo Clinic physician’s recent testimony before a Minnesota legislative committee.

A “conservative estimate” is that about 10% of those infected will suffer from long COVID symptoms, according to Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn, a Mayo oc-cupational medicine specialist who is researching COVID’s long-term health impacts. Vanichkachorn testified earlier this month before the Minnesota House’s Health Finance and Policy Committee.

the doctor’s math shows the scale of the problem. When he spoke to legisla-tors, 74.3 million cases of COVID had been reported in the United States. that translates to 7.4 million long-haul cases nationally. Of that subgroup, Vanichka-chorn said about 2.2 million will be un-able to return to work.

that’s a lot of people who will need ongoing care. Right now, there’s a limit-ed number of medical centers in Minne-sota and elsewhere offering long COVID programs. Wait lists are common, and it may take patients several months to get in.

the number of those too ill to work is also sobering. It spotlights one poten-tial cause of current labor force shortages and suggests that this could be a persis-tent problem.

Long COVID “is not just a health care challenge but a challenge for our society and economy as well,” Vanichkachorn said.

Because long COVID is an emerg-ing condition, statistics remain elusive on how many people in Minnesota have been diagnosed with it. “tracking long COVID continues to be challenging as there is not yet an agreed-upon case definition,” said Kate Murray, MDH pro-gram manager for Long COVID. “there wasn’t an official diagnosis code for pro-viders until July 2021, and it still isn’t used consistently.”

One of the obvious early remedies is filling this surprising gap on incidence and prevalence. But much more is need-ed. Gov. tim Walz’s push for related fund-ing is a commendable early step. Walz’s supplemental budget recommends “an investment to understand the impact of long COVID in Minnesota” and calls for $2.7 million for the current biennium and $7.4 million in 2024-25.

Goals include raising awareness of long COVID and developing “tools and resources” for patients, their families and their medical providers. Measures would also include statewide guidance for di-agnosis, treatment and care. We would add one area to focus on: long COVID’s potential to have thousands of new Min-nesotans in need of services provided by public programs for the disabled.

the state investment is needed, es-pecially with Congress making little pro-gress on key legislation to strengthen the nation’s long COVID response.

“We currently have some CDC fund-ing through June 2023 to get started on tracking long-COVID, but nothing long-term. We need to follow COVID-19 long-term, and the budget proposal includes funds for doing so in partnership with stakeholders,” MDH’s Murray said in an e-mail.

She continued: “Minnesota is cur-rently the only state that is proactively and deliberatively trying to establish a long COVID public health program at this time.”

Vanichkachorn’s legislative testimo-ny caught Minnesota House members’ attention. A similar long COVID spot-light is needed in the state Senate. the Star tribune Editorial Board urges Sen. Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids, to have this Mayo doctor or other long COVID ex-perts testify before that chamber’s mem-bers. Utke is the new chair of the Health and Human Services Finance and Policy committee.

Compassionate, energetic collabo-ration on long COVID is necessary and would reflect well on Utke as he steps into this important health leadership role.

Long COVID Is A Health, Economic

Concern

Working from home surged twelve-fold between 2017-2018 and May 2020

06 Monday, February 14, 2022

dpa London

Britain’s Defence secretary has compared diplomatic ef-forts to prevent a russian in-vasion of Ukraine to appease-ment as he said it is “highly likely” Vladimir Putin will or-der an attack despite the con-certed talks to avert war.

Ben Wallace said there is a “whiff of Munich in the air”, in an apparent reference to the agreement that allowed Ger-man annexation of the sude-tenland in 1938 but failed to prevent the second World War.

the Cabinet minister, who this week flew to Moscow as part of the frantic spell of di-plomacy, shared his concerns as Us President Joe Biden warned his russian counter-part an attack would cause “widespread human suffering”.

During an hour-long phone call, Biden told the russian president an attack would “di-minish russia’s standing” as heightened fears of an attack caused western nations includ-ing Britain to urge citizens to flee Ukraine.

Wallace said in an inter-view with the sunday times that Moscow could “launch an offensive at any time”, with an estimated 130,000 russian troops and heavy firepower amassed along Ukraine’s bor-der.

“it may be that he (Putin) just switches off his tanks and we all go home but there is a whiff of Munich in the air from some in the West,” he added.

a source explained that Wallace’s concerns that if Putin strikes “come what may, then all the diplomacy would have been a straw man”.

Us officials have discussed receiving intelligence that rus-

sia is considering Wednesday as a target date to strike, but it was unclear how definitive the intelligence was.

But Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky sought to downplay the threat, say-ing: “the best friend of our en-emies is panic in our country. and all this information is just provoking panic and can’t help us.” russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharo-va accused the White House of stoking “hysteria”.

Diplomatic efforts on sat-urday also included French President Emmanuel Macron sharing a call with Putin, but it was understood that Boris Johnson, who spoke to the russian president earlier this month, did not have any calls with Moscow scheduled.

UK nationals in Ukraine are being urged by the Foreign Office to “leave now while com-mercial means are still avail-able”.

armed Forces minister James Heappey warned russia is in a position to be able to at-tack “very, very quickly”, with an estimated 130,000 troops on Ukraine’s border.

But unlike when the tali-ban seized Kabul, Heappey stressed that the raF would not be carrying out evacuations in the event of war in Ukraine.

Foreign secretary Liz truss said she discussed her “acute concerns” that russia “may launch further military aggres-sion against Ukraine in coming days” during a call on saturday with Us secretary of state an-tony Blinken.

“We agree russia will face massive consequences for any invasion, including severe sanctions,” she said.

after UK nationals in Ukraine, thought to number in the low thousands, were or-dered to leave on Friday night, passengers arrived on a flight to Gatwick airport from Kyiv on saturday afternoon.

among them was 21-year-old Haider ali from Birming-ham, who said the warning had “caused quite a panic” with his fellow students at the Dnipro Medical institute.

British ambassador to Ukraine Melinda simmons was remaining with a “core team” in Kyiv, but some embassy staff and their families were being withdrawn.

Wallace has said an inva-

sion could come “at any time’, while Us national security ad-viser Jake sullivan said an at-tack before the end of the Win-ter Olympics on February 20 is a “credible prospect”.

Western leaders have threatened Moscow with a damaging package of sanctions in the event of a further incur-sion into Ukrainian soil.

Ukraine is not a natO member and allies in the de-fence alliance have said they would not join fighting in Ukraine, but have bolstered forces in neighbouring nations and are threatening wide-spread sanctions.

though the Kremlin insists it is not planning an invasion, Us intelligence suggests rus-sia could fabricate a “false flag” pretext to attack.

Russian attack on Ukraine ‘highly likely’: UK’s Wallace

Servicemen of Ukrainian Military Forces examine the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) military trucks shipped from Lithuania to Boryspil airport in Kyiv on Sunday. (aFP)

Johnson’s new chief of staff pledges ‘smaller state’ amid scandaldpa

London

BOris Johnson’s new chief of staff has pledged it is now a “priority to restore a smaller state” as the British prime min-ister strives to keep Conserva-tives on side while facing police questions on alleged lockdown breaches.

steve Barclay, who was handed the role as part of the shake-up of no 10 in response to the partygate scandal, said the changes would include “tak-ing a step back from people’s lives” as the threat from the coronavirus pandemic lessens.

the prime minister will leave Westminster this week insisting he is “getting on with the job” while touting his staff-ing changes as helping to focus on his “levelling up” policy as he fights to stay in office.

no 10 said he is to start the week with a visit to a manufac-turing site in scotland before heading to an oncology centre

tackling coronavirus backlogs in the north west of England.

But the trip comes in the seven days Johnson has to avoid a fine by answering a legal questionnaire from scot-land Yard officers investigat-ing whether he broke his own Covid laws.

Barclay wrote in the sunday telegraph: “now, it is a priority to restore a smaller state - both financially and in taking a step back from people’s lives. it’s time to return to a more ena-bling approach.

to trust the people, return power to communities, and free up business to deliver.”

dpa Rio de JaneiRo

HUGO torres, a nicaraguan opposition politician and re-tired general, has died months after being put in prison ahead of the country’s disputed 2021 election.

the nicaraguan pros-ecutor general said in a state-ment on saturday that torres’ health had deteriorated and he was brought to a hospital. His children and his son-in-law had been with him.

the Unión Democrática renovadora (Unamos), a po-litical party of which torres had been vice-president, said he had died as a “political prisoner of the dictatorship.” torres was arrested in June, five months before the contro-versial re-election of President Daniel Ortega, together with other opposition politicians.

Ortega’s government was accused of suppressing the op-position in order to prevent a free and fair election.

the European Union and the Us government both con-

demned the election as illegiti-mate.

“i am 73 years old. i never thought that at this stage of my life i would be fighting against a new dictatorship,” torres had said in a video prior to his arrest.

He was one of the left-wing sandinistas who stormed a party at the private home of the minister of agriculture in 1974. they took hostages and forced the release of several prisoners - including Ortega, who had served seven years for bank robbery.

Nicaragua’s former rebel leader Torres dies after being jailed

World

Hugo Torres

Steinmeier appeals to Putin after re-electiondpa

BeRLin

GErMan President Frank-Walter steinmeier was re-elected for a second term in of-fice in the first round of voting on sunday.

He received 1,045 out of 1,437 votes cast at an extraor-dinary meeting of the Federal Convention, Bundestag Presi-dent Bärbel Bas confirmed.

steinmeier used the oc-casion to appeal to russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine.

the russian leader has been accused of planning an in-cursion into eastern Ukraine in the near future after weeks of warnings over a massive troop build-up along the countries’ shared border.

“i appeal to President Pu-tin to loosen the noose around Ukraine’s neck and join us in seeking a way to preserve peace in Europe,” steinmeier said in Berlin.

Putin should not make the mistake of underestimating the strength of democracy, stein-meier added in his address.

the politician also referred to the pandemic’s impact on

German democracy.“the pandemic has inflict-

ed deep wounds on our society. and i want to help heal these wounds,” he said. “But, ladies and gentlemen, i have yet to encounter an authoritarian system that would have come through this crisis better.” Veteran politician and social Democrat steinmeier, 66, re-ceived the backing of all three parties in the German coalition

government, weeks ahead of sunday’s sitting of the Federal Convention.

the conservative opposi-tion has also given its support to steinmeier, a former for-eign minister and former vice chancellor, meaning that his re-election in the first round of voting had been a foregone conclusion.

the post of federal presi-dent is a mainly ceremonial

one in Germany, but the holder signs bills into law, is frequent-ly on the public stage inside and outside the country, and speaks on current political is-sues.

During his first term in of-fice, steinmeier championed liberal democracy in Germany and during trips abroad. He called for dialogue between opponents on the most sensi-tive issues of the day, including

recently plans for compulsory vaccination against the coro-navirus.

a recent opinion poll indi-cated that 85% of the German population thought he was do-ing a good job.

the Federal Convention, this year numbering some 1,472 members, comes to-gether for the sole purpose of choosing a president.

Half of the body comprises members of parliament, and half comprise representatives sent by Germany’s 16 states. the national football coach, Hansi Flick, is among those in-vited this year.

three other candidates had been nominated for the presi-dency: left-winger Gerhard trabert; physicist stefanie Gebauer who was nominated by a political group called the Free Voters; and the arch-con-servative Max Otte.

the nomination of Otte, a member of the Christian Democrats (CDU), by the far-right alternative for Germany (afd) party caused a furore in the CDU, a mainstream centre-right party that has tried hard to distance itself from the na-tionalists.

French military kills 40 terrorists in Benin

dpa PaRis

FrEnCH forces killed 40 ter-rorists in the border area be-tween the West african states of Benin and Burkina Faso this week. according to the French General staff on saturday, they were killed on thursday, in sev-eral attacks with a drone and an air squadron.

the attacks were prompted after the terrorists attacked rangers and Beninese soldiers in a national park in Benin. France is active in West africa

against islamist militias, with a focus on Mali.

several armed groups are active in the states of the sahel, an area that stretches south of the sahara from the atlan-tic to the red sea. some have sworn allegiance to the terrorist groups is or al-Qaeda.

With a realignment of the French presence in the re-gion and the end of Operation Barkhane, France wants to re-duce its troop strength from about 5,100 to somewhere be-tween 2,500 and 3,000 in the long term.

dpa BeRLin

GErMan Chancellor Olaf scholz sees the conflict be-tween russia and Ukraine as a “very, very serious threat to peace in Europe.”

in the event of mili-tary aggression against Ukraine, which would en-danger its territorial in-tegrity and sovereignty, there would be “tough re-actions and sanctions,” he said in Berlin on sunday. these had been carefully prepared, scholz said, and they would take effect im-mediately, together with Germany’s allies in Europe and natO.

scholz plans to travel first to Ukraine on Monday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and then to russia on tuesday, where he is due to meet President Vladimir Putin.

“in both cases, it is a matter of sounding out how we can secure peace in Europe,” scholz said. in recent days, the crisis over the russian troop build-up on the border with Ukraine has dramatically escalated.

the various interna-tional formats for talks must be used to find a way out of the crisis, scholz said. “Ukraine can be sure that we will show the nec-essary solidarity, just as we have in the past.” Germany had supported Ukraine the most of all countries with economic aid, he said. “and we will continue to do so.”

the German govern-ment had earlier raised the possibility of further de-fence support for Ukraine

ahead of scholz’s visit to Kiev on Monday - but ship-ments of lethal weapons remain off the table.

On a wish list provided by Ukraine amid fears of a possible russian inva-sion, there are “one or two things ... that can be looked at more closely,” a German government source said on sunday.

While also taking the political situation into ac-count, Berlin would need to assess the availability of such items, which may also be needed by Germany’s own Bundeswehr, sources said.

scholz’s meeting with Zelensky is not expected to result in a commitment. However, Germany is ex-pected to agree to fresh financial aid for Ukraine during the visit, which Kiev has also requested.

since 2014, Germany has provided almost ?2 bil-lion ($2.3 billion dollars) in aid to Ukraine.

the German coalition government, which took of-fice in December, has stood firm in its opposition to de-livering lethal weapons to Ukraine, even as tensions with Moscow spiral.

However, Germany has approved of arms deliver-ies to Ukraine on a small scale since russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean pen-insula in 2014, sparking a conflict with russian-backed separatists in the country’s east that contin-ues to this day.

Most recently, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht pledged to send 5,000 protective helmets to the Ukrainian military.

Act quickly in case of military aggression against Ukraine: Scholz

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (right) in Berlin on Sunday. (AFP)

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson near Warsaw recently. (aFP)

Johnson has to avoid a fine by answering a legal questionnaire from Scotland Yard officers investigating whether he broke his own Covid laws

07Monday, February 14, 2022

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QTERMINALS has started full-scale operations of the first and second phases of Hamad Port Container Ter-minal 2 (CT2), whose ini-tial operation was launched in December 2020 by the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani.

The development of CT2, which was completed within budget and within the time-table set out, despite the dif-ficulties posed by the corona-virus (COVID-19) pandemic, is one of the major develop-ment stages of Phase 2 of Hamad Port.

The opening of phases 1 and 2 of CT2 increases the port’s total TEU capacity to three million per year, and it is equipped with the lat-est environmentally friendly, technologically advanced equipment to keep pace with the needs and requirements of global shipping lines.

In addition, CT2 is also focused on increasing the volume of the intra-regional trade of Qatar and with coun-tries worldwide, as well as improving the country’s com-petitiveness by turning it into

a regional business hub.Over 70 percent of the

materials used in the devel-opment of the infrastructure of CT2 were ‘Made in Qatar’ to the very latest specifica-tions. The electric yard trac-tors used in transporting containers within the termi-nal reinforces QTerminals’ commitment to reducing our vehicle fleet carbon footprint contributes to Qatar’s agenda for a greener future.

The CT2 development project consists of four phas-

es. The area of phases 1 and 2 of Hamad Port’s CT2 is 380,000 sqm and the quay-side is 624m long. Phases 3 and 4 will be developed later to raise the port’s operational capacity according to local market needs.

The equipment deployed in phases 1 and 2 of CT2 in-clude 7 super post-Panamax STS (Ship-to-Shore) quay cranes with advanced tech-nology, including semi-auto-mation and remote-control operations. STS cranes are

known for being extremely fast and highly efficient in handling containers and ca-pable of handling the latest class of vessels. Each crane can handle four 20’ contain-ers or two 40’ containers at the same time, known as twin-tandem lift capability.

CT2 is also equipped with 26 RTGs (Rubber Tyree Gan-try cranes) which can stack the containers 6 tiers high. CT2’s RTGs are battery hy-brid and are used to handle containers on the landside. This technology reduces the environmental impact of RTG operations by reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

Further, when a contain-er/load is lowered, there is a spike of generated power which is directed to recharge

the batteries.CT2 has 22 fully electric

Terminal Tractors (APM 75T HE) for container transpor-tation within the terminal and the port. This type of terminal tractor is capable of functioning very efficiently in high temperatures and is equipped with advanced bat-teries, entirely solid-state technology, insensitive to temperature variations from -20 to +160°C. The electric Terminal Tractors support operations at Hamad Port during the summer when temperatures are very high in Qatar. The Terminal Tractors are highly efficient with low maintenance costs. They are also easy to drive with supe-rior levels of safety.

They are also eco-friend-

ly and save energy. Being ful-ly electric makes them clean and sustainable with no pol-lution, carbon emissions or noise. Their CO2 emissions equal zero tonnes annually. They have also low opera-tional costs and each tractor will save nearly QR45k ap-proximately per year com-pared to diesel-powered tractors one kilowatt per hour costs are QR0.32 in electric tractors compared to QR2.32 per litre in diesel-powered ones. CT2 has also 4 empty container handlers (ECH) and 24 trailers.

CT2’s service buildings and infrastructure have been completed, including the Diesel Generator House (DGH), Main Intake Sub-station (MIS), Reefer Stack

Gantries (RSG), quayside amenities (QAS), 5G net-work, ELV and SSD systems and stormwater networks. The terminal gates for both CT1 and CT2 are automatic with seamless connections to the operations systems and electronic data exchange.

QTerminals, which man-ages and operates CT1 and CT2 of Hamad Port, has so far completed over 6 million man-hours without a Lost Time Incident during opera-tions and the development works of CT2.

QTerminals will now of-fer the shipping sector the most modern equipment, us-ing the latest and eco-friend-ly technologies to execute their business in an effective and efficient manner.

QTerminals is a leading international port and termi-nal operator which provides handling services for Con-tainers, Bulk, General Cargo, RORO, Livestock, as well as Off-Shore supply and cruise ships services.

Including QTerminals’ flagship Hamad Port in Qa-tar and QTerminals Antalya in Turkey, QTerminals Ol-via represents the third port asset in QTerminals Group’s portfolio since its establishment.

Full-scale operations of first, second phases of Hamad Port Container Terminal 2 begin

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QNB Group, the largest finan-cial institution in the Mid-dle East and Africa, held its Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assembly Meetings on Sunday to discuss key achievements in 2021 and the business plan for 2022.

The General Assembly ap-proved the Group’s audited financial statements for 2021 and a recommendation by the Board of Directors to dis-tribute a cash dividend of 55 percent of the nominal share value representing QR 0.55 per share.

The General Assembly also approved the appointment of KPMG as External Auditors for 2022. Addressing the meeting, QNB Group Chairman HE Ali Ahmed Al Kuwari presented an overview of the Group’s activities and financial results for 2021 and shared the action plan for 2022.

The chairman said, “Fol-lowing a year that had dis-rupted the globe in an unprec-edented manner, 2021 was a period of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with a shift to positive sentiment and momentum.

“The year started with the launch of mass vaccina-tion campaigns that allowed restrictions to be eased. This, along with strong policy sup-port, led to a macro-economic rebound and growth, with the recovery of global GDP by 5.9 percent.’’

Kuwari said, “I am proud

that QNB Group has been able to overcome the challenges the pandemic brought and we will need to adopt the new normal throughout our institution. Coupled with the breadth of our banking experience, this allows us to maintain and con-tinue the long-standing com-mitment to our stakeholders with the purpose of promot-ing prosperity and sustainable growth across the markets we serve.

“This new normal also led us to revisit and review our corporate strategy. We de-veloped a new five-year plan which again affirms our aspi-ration to be a leading Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia (MEASEA) bank while maintaining our number one ranking in the Middle East

and Africa (MEA).’’QNB Group delivered

record financial results for 2021 with net profit reaching QR13.2 billion, up by 10 per-cent compared to the same pe-riod last year. Total assets in-creased by 7 percent to reach QR1,093 billion.

Proud to be the Official Middle East and Africa Sup-porter of the FIFA World Cup 2022™, QNB Group extends through its subsidiaries and associate companies to more than 31 countries across three continents providing a com-prehensive range of advanced products and services.

The total number of em-ployees is 27,000 operating through 1,000 locations, with an ATM network of more than 4,500 machines.

QNB gets nod to distribute 55% cash dividend

CB opens new premium loungeTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

COMMERCIAL Bank once again leads the way in rede-fining the banking experience for premium customers, with the launch of their exclusive CB Premium Lounge, which recently opened on D-Ring Road. It offers an extremely personalised and luxurious level of service for Private Banking and Sadara clients, where they can access a full range of banking services and advisory solutions in the pri-vacy and comfort of a private suite.

It is co-located with a large share trading lounge from the bank’s brokerage service Com-mercial Bank Financial Ser-vices. It is a modern and spa-

cious zone where investors can access world-class facilities to trade in stocks and shares.

Commercial Bank Group CEO Joseph Abraham said, “Our commitment to invest-ing in exceptional client ex-perience is at the forefront of our strategy. Our innovative thinking goes beyond tech-

nology and this new exclusive branch for our premium cli-ents reinforces the client ex-perience for them at an even higher level.”

Commenting on this opening, Commercial Bank EGM and Retail Banking Head Amit Sah said, “We en-visage that these CB Premium

centres will provide our cli-ents with access to holistic solutions in an environment that is both discreet and com-fortable. Banking services on offer in these lounges include wealth and investments, mortgages and other lending products, access to safety de-posit boxes along with day-to-day banking needs, all deliv-ered professionally by a team of experts.”

The bank has retained the essence and spirit of Com-mercial Bank’s brand, and their Qatari heritage, whilst bringing a modern and luxuri-ous feel that is consistent with legacy of providing the very best service for the customers. Another CB Premium Lounge will be opened at the new Ven-dome Mall later this quarter.

Minister of Finance HE Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari met with European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn at the ministry’s headquarters. The meeting focused on bilateral relations between Qatar and the European Commission and the means to enhance them and reviewed aspects of cooperation.

KUWARI MEETS EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR BUDGET AND ADMINISTRATION

QNB Group Chairman HE Ali Ahmed Al Kuwari presents an overview of the Group’s activities during the meeting held on Sunday.

The opening of phases 1 and 2 of CT2 increases the port’s total TEU capacity to three million per year.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Ezdan Real Estate unveils plan to develop 17 villages in 2022 PAGE 9

‘ME leaders optimistic about global economic growth in 2022’ PAGE 11

DOW QE GOLD

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Agencies

Reliance industries, led by Mukesh ambani, asia’s rich-est man, aims to be among the largest producers of blue hy-drogen at “competitive cost” in its green energy transition plan.

The Mumbai-based com-pany will repurpose a $4 bil-lion plant that converts pe-troleum coke into synthesis gas to produce blue hydrogen for between $1.2 and $1.5 a kilogram, according to a pres-entation.

Blue hydrogen is made using fossil fuels but captures the carbon dioxide formed during production, and Reli-ance regards the conversion as a temporary measure until the cost of green hydrogen, produced from the electroly-sis of water using renewable energy, becomes competitive.

“in the interim, till cost of green hydrogen comes down, Ril can be the first mover to establish a hydrogen ecosys-tem, with minimal incremen-tal investment, in india,” the

company said.“Subsequently, as hydro-

gen from syngas is replaced by green hydrogen, the entire syngas will be converted to chemicals.” Mr ambani, who has built a fortune on fossil fuels, plans to replace sales of road fuels such as diesel and gasoline with cleaner alternatives as he seeks to hit a net-zero target for his conglomerate by 2035. The project would compete with international plants such as one proposed in Saudi ara-bia, which is also seeking to increase hydrogen produc-tion.

Mr ambani has vowed to produce green hydrogen at $1 a kilo, a more than 60 per cent reduction from today’s costs, by the turn of the dec-ade.

last month, he an-nounced plans to invest about $75bn in renewables infrastructure, which could transform india into a clean-hydrogen leader in line with Prime Minister narendra Modi’s mission.

Reliance aims to be world’s leading blue hydrogen producer

Tribune news neTworkDoha

in the course of its strategy to continuously improve and de-velop its services, ezdan Real estate company unveiled an integrated multi-tiered plan for the comprehensive devel-opment of about 17 villages and compounds to take place in 2022, including residential villages in al Wakra and al Wukair and residential build-ings in Doha, entailing con-struction works. The revamp works will include flooring replacement, wall paints, full-range maintenance operations for buildings, as well as replac-

ing most furniture, electrical appliances and air condition-ers.

commenting on such run-ning works, Mr. Hani Dabash, the Deputy Group ceO of ezdan Holding Group, said: “in fact, we have developed an integrated plan whose main objective is to enhance the satisfaction of our customers. The planned operations will cover structures, furniture, electrical appliances, air con-ditioners, etc., and therefore we have brough forth the plan, which is implemented in suc-cessive stages, and will be car-ried out in 17 residential vil-lages during the current year.

We expect to reap the first successful results of the devel-opment process as soon as we announce the completion of works in our properties.”

“The development plan has already been launched in a number of villages and residential compounds and in-cluded a set of external and in-ternal renovations; buildings, fences and gates, in addition to providing residential units with furniture and modern electrical appliances. Works will also include renovating floors and kitchens, develop-ing carports and sidewalks, as well as refurbishing the main entrances and external light-

ing, kids’ zones, swimming pools, main playgrounds, gyms, mosques, social clubs, and other facilities”, Dabash added.

“ezdan Real estate is con-ducting renovations for ezdan Holding Group-owned vil-lages and compounds in Doha, al Wakra and al Wukair ac-cording to a carefully defined framework to enhance the ser-vice it provides to customers and ensure the excellence of ezdan in the real estate sector; it operates according to a clear strategy that aims to provide a full-range modern residence at competitive prices in the property market for different

segments of the population of Qatar, and the middle class in particular”, Dabash noted.

it is noteworthy that ezdan Holding Group owns about 32,000 real estate units of various purposes in Doha, al Wakra and al Wukair, that have been offered for rent dur-ing the recent period. One of the milestones projects offered to the audience is “ezdan Oa-sis” real estate project, the largest of its kind in al Wukair area, aka “the land of a million square meter”, which com-prises thousands residential, administrative and commer-cial units, within al Wukair region.

Ezdan Real Estate unveils plan to develop 17 villages in 2022The revamp works will include flooring replacement, wall paints, full-range maintenance operations for buildings, as well as replacing most furniture, electrical appliances and air conditioners.

Agencies

KuWaiT’S Jazeera airways swung to an annual profit in 2021 as it carried more passengers and revenue in-creased, despite “turbulent” operating conditions in 2020.

net income for the year reached seven million Kuwaiti dinars ($23.1m), from a loss of 26.4m dinars in 2020, the air-line said in on Sunday. Oper-ating revenue nearly doubled year-on-year to 80.3m dinars as it flew more passengers and filled more seats.

“The challenges that the pandemic brought about in the travel industry in 2020 also opened new opportu-nities for our airline: cargo operations, charter flights and connecting routes were expanded to benefit our busi-ness,” said Rohit Ramachan-dran, Jazeera airways’ chief executive.

“We were resourceful in adapting our business opera-tions which enabled us to get through a very difficult period and come back strongly in 2021.”

The airline returned to the black in 2021 following a sec-ond year of pandemic-related travel restrictions and capac-ity limitations at Kuwait inter-

national airport, and globally, in response to the continued spread of the covid-19 virus, weighed heavily on its bottom line.

Operations at Kuwait in-ternational airport, the air-line’s home base, remained at limited capacity during the first nine months of the year, with restrictions imposed and direct flights suspended from 35 countries.

The swift introduction of vaccinations in Kuwait con-tributed to the ease of restric-

tion in the second half of the year, with PcR tests mandated on departure and arrival to limit the quarantine in Kuwait.

The low-cost airline car-ried 1 million passengers last year, 48.2 per cent more than in 2020, it said.

load factor, a measure of how well an airline is filling available seats, reached 66.8 per cent, an increase of 3.9 per cent on the previous year, it said.

“Financially, our air-line took the right steps to

control costs and limit cash burn, while operationally we focused on new destinations that satisfied an appetite to travel to destinations marked “covid-safe” as well as cater-ing to a high and latent de-mand for connecting flights between the Middle east, asia and europe,” said Marwan Boodai, the airline’s chair-man.

The company’s board rec-ommended a cash dividend of 32 fils per share for 2021, ac-cording to a statement.

last month, Jazeera air-ways’ board approved a $3.4 billion deal to buy 28 narrow-body aircraft from airbus to expand its fleet across mar-kets in the Middle east parts of europe.

The airline had signed the initial agreement for 20 a320neos and eight a321neos during the Dubai airshow in november 2021. The Jazeera airways board also approved an agreement to buy two cFM leaP1-a26 spare engines in a deal valued at $32.2m.

The airline was also up-graded in January to Boursa Kuwait’s Premier Market af-ter it exceeded the minimum liquidity and market capitali-sation requirements over the past two years.

Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways swings to profit

The headquarters of Jazeera Airways in Kuwait City, bearing the new logo on the facade.

Tata Sons reappoints Chandrasekaran as executive chairman

Agencies

naTaRaJan chan-drasekaran has been reap-pointed as the executive chairman of Tata Sons for five years. chandrasekaran, a Tata Group veteran, was the MD and ceO of Tata consultancy Services, be-fore he was appointed as the chairman of Tata Sons back in 2017, following the unceremonious sacking of cyrus Mistry.

Tata Sons is the hold-ing company of the salt-to-software conglomerate. The Tata Sons board, which met on Friday, “commend-ed the performance of the executive chairman and unanimously approved the reappointment of Mr n chandrasekaran as the executive chairman for the next five years,” it said in a statement.

More importantly, Ra-tan Tata, the chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, too has given his sign of ap-proval for his performance.

“Mr Ratan Tata who was a special invitee to this meeting expressed his satis-faction on the progress and performance of the Tata Group under the leadership of Mr n chandrasekaran. He recommended his term be renewed for a further five-year period,” the Tata group added.

chandrasekaran took charge as the executive chairman of Tata Sons in February 2017, in the backdrop of the sudden sacking of cyrus Mistry as the chairman and a bitter battle that had ensued be-tween the Tata and Mistry camps.

chandrasekaran, a long-distance marathoner, had joined the group’s flag-ship company Tata con-sultancy Services back in 1987 as an intern and rose through the ranks to be-come its MD and ceO in 2009.

later, in 2016, he was appointed on the board of the Tata Group and made the executive chairman a year later. in 2020-21, the Tata Group reported a rev-enue of $103 billion (close to Rs 7.7 lakh crore). as of December 31, 2021, there were 29 publicly-listed Tata companies, with a combined market capitali-sation of $314 billion (Rs 23.4 lakh crore).

Since taking charge, chandrasekaran has looked

to simplify the group struc-ture and consolidating its various businesses into various clusters. The group has also made several big-ticket acquisitions in the recent years.

Just recently, the gov-ernment handed over the control of the national air-line air india to the Tata Group, which had won the bid back in October 2021. under chandrasekaran’s watch Tata Sons also set up a wholly owned subsidi-ary Tata Digital, which will focus on building digital businesses. last year, it also acquired india’s larg-est grocery e-commerce company BigBasket, as part of the digital push.

“it has been a privilege to lead the Tata Group for the last five years and i am delighted at the opportu-nity to lead the Tata Group for another five years, in its next phase,” said chan-drasekaran.

as he begins his sec-ond term, his task will be cut out. He will have to steer the diversified group through the uncertainties of covid-19 and a new nor-mal that the pandemic has necessitated.

The acquisition of air india will give it a size-able market share in the aviation sector; air india, Vistara and air asia india will together hold around 25 per cent market share. However, all the three air-lines remain loss making. consolidating the avia-tion business and turning it around, especially the behemoth air india, and restoring it to its erstwhile glory, will also be high on chandrasekaran’s agenda.

an e-commerce super app, that will be a digital front for the various con-sumer-facing businesses of the Tata Group, has also been under development for some time and could be launched in the near fu-ture.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran

Recovery: Singapore Airlines to hire cabin crew

Agencies

SinGaPORe airlines has re-sumed recruitment of cabin crew, ending a two-year hir-ing freeze after the coronavi-rus pandemic took its toll on air travel around the world, channel news asia reported on Saturday.

The resumption of hiring for cabin crew came as travel to and from the city-state re-covers and countries ease travel restrictions following an increase in vaccinations.

“Most of our pilots and cabin crew have returned to active duty with Sia,” channel news asia reported, quoting a statement from the carrier. The airline plans to increase its capacity “in a calibrated manner” as travel demand picks up, it said.

Singapore’s government has initiated vaccinated trav-el corridors with dozens of countries, helping the car-rier’s group load factor to rise to 46.5 per cent in December from 13.7 per cent the previous year.

Economy & Business 09Monday, February 14, 2022

Agencies

Elon Musk said on Thurs-day he was “highly confident” his new SpaceX Starship, de-signed for voyages to the moon and Mars, will reach Earth or-bit for the first time this year, despite a host of technical and regulatory hurdles yet to be overcome.

The billionaire SpaceX founder and CEo addressed a throng of news media and sup-porters at his company’s “Star-base” facility in Boca Chica, Texas, for a presentation that

combined a high-tech pep rally with big-screen videos and a question-and-answer session.

It came nine months after the private California-based space venture achieved the first successful launch and touch-down of a Starship prototype rocket in a test-flight after four previous landing attempts end-ed in explosions.

Musk acknowledged diffi-culties SpaceX has faced in de-veloping the “Raptor 2” engines for its Super Heavy rocket, a re-usable next-generation launch booster designed to carry the

Starship spacecraft to orbit. He cited problems with melting inside the thruster chambers of the engines from intense heat.

But he said, “we’re very close to solving that,” and ex-pected to scale up production to about seven or eight of the engines a week by next month and produce a new Starship and a booster every month by year’s end.

“I feel at this point highly confident that we will get to orbit (with the Starship) this year,” said Musk, who also heads electric car maker Tesla.

Such a time frame would mark an ambitious feat, even for an uncrewed orbital test flight of the Super Heavy/Star-ship combo, the next step up from SpaceX’s current work-horse Falcon 9 rocket, which Musk said has flown 144 suc-cessful launches and 106 re-turn landings.

But the very future of the Boca Chica test-flight and pro-duction facility near the south-eastern Gulf Coast tip of Texas is now at stake in an environ-mental assessment of the site under way by the Federal Avia-

tion Administration.The FAA is expected to

decide in the coming weeks whether a planned build-out there poses a significant envi-ronmental impact to the area - including an adjacent wildlife reserve - and must therefore undergo a far more extensive study before expanded opera-tions at Boca Chica can be li-censed.

Such an environmental impact statements, or EIS re-views, can take years to com-plete and are often subject to litigation.

Asked what he knew about the status of the FAA review, Musk said, “We don’t have a ton of insight into where things stand with the FAA,” but add-ed: “We have gotten sort of a rough indication there may be an approval in March. But that’s all we know.”

Even in a “worst-case” sce-nario, in which a full EIS were required or legal wrangling over the issue threatened to drag on, Musk said SpaceX has a fall-back plan. The company would shift its entire Starship program to the Kennedy Space

Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where SpaceX already has received the environmen-tal approval it needs, Musk said.

Such a move would cause a setback of six to eight months, he added.

In any case, SpaceX is still shooting for a 2023 launch of what it calls the world’s first private lunar mission, flying Japanese entrepreneur Yu-saku Maezawa and a dozen art-ists aboard a Starship to loop around the moon and return to Earth.

Elon Musk ‘highly confident’ his Starship will reach orbit this year

Agencies

SAudI Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said 4 per cent of oil giant Saudi Aramco’s shares have been transferred to country’s sov-ereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, to support restructuring the economy.

The move is also part of PIF’s plan to raise its assets un-der management to 4 trillion Saudi riyals ($1.07tn) by 2025, according to the state-run Sau-di Press Agency (SPA).

The state remains the larg-est shareholder in Saudi Ara-mco after the transfer as it still owns more than 94 per cent of the company’s shares, SPA said, citing the crown prince who is also chairman of the

sovereign wealth fund.The 4 per cent stake would

be worth nearly $80 billion, based on Saudi Aramco’s mar-ket capitalisation.

The transfer of of Saudi Aramco’s shares into the fund, which currently has about $480bn in assets under man-agement, will help bolster the fund’s strong financial position and its high credit rating in the medium term, according to the statement.

last week, Moody’s In-vestors Service assigned its fifth-highest investment grade rating to the sovereign wealth fund in its first rating of the government-owned entity. The agency assigned the fund an A1 long-term issuer rating, an A1 baseline credit assessment (BCA) and a “stable” outlook

on all ratings.The deal is a “private trans-

fer between the state and PIF” and Saudi Aramco “is not a party to the transfer and did not enter into any agreements or pay or receive any proceeds from the transfer,” the com-pany said in a statement to the Tadawul stock exchange.

The transaction will not af-fect the company’s total num-ber of issued shares, Aramco said. The share transfer does not have an impact on the company’s operations, strate-gy, dividends distribution pol-icy or governance framework, it said.

Saudi Aramco, the big-gest oil company globally, completed the world’s largest initial public offering in 2019, raising $25.6bn, and later sold

more shares boosting the total to $29.4bn.

Yasir al-Rumayyan, gov-ernor of PIF and chairman of Aramco, said last year that the company may consider selling more shares if the market con-ditions are right.

The sovereign wealth fund is a central plank of Saudi Ara-bia’s Vision 2030 plan that seeks to diversify the Arab world’s largest economy and reduce its reliance on oil. un-der a five-year strategy that was announced in January of last year, the fund aims to more than double the value of its assets under management to $1.07tn, commit $40bn an-nually to develop the domestic economy until 2025 and help create 1.8 million jobs. It will contribute $320bn to the king-

dom’s non-oil economy.The fund created 10 new

sectors, launched more than 30 new companies, created 331,000 jobs in Saudi Arabia, and tripled assets under man-agement over the past four years. under its five-year strat-egy, the fund is focusing on 13 sectors as part of its core do-mestic strategy.

These include health care, renewables, telecoms, media and technology, food and ag-riculture, automotive, trans-portation and logistics, real estate, aerospace and defence, construction and building components and services. The kingdom will also continue to develop entertainment, leisure and sports, financial services, metals and mining, and the re-tail sector.

Saudi transfers 4% of Aramco shares to sovereign wealth fundThe move is part of the kingdom’s economic overhaul plans which include shoring up the assets of PIF

Fed’s Daly: Being too aggressive on rate hikes could be

destabilizingAgencies

BEInG too “abrupt and ag-gressive” with interest rate increases could be counter-productive to the Federal Reserve’s goals, San Fran-cisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary daly said on Sunday, signaling she is not yet prepared to come out of the gate with a half-percentage-point interest rate hike next month.

“So I look at the data, and I see that it is obvious that we need to pull some of the accommodation out of the economy, but his-tory tells us with Fed policy that abrupt and aggressive action can actually have a destabilizing effect on the very growth and price sta-bility that we’re trying to achieve,” daly told CBS’ “Face The nation” in an in-terview.

daly’s remarks followed a tumultuous week with re-gard to what the Fed may do at its meeting next month, when the central bank is expected to begin rais-ing interest rates from the near-zero levels they have been since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, a move daly said she sup-ports.

But after an unexpect-edly strong reading of in-flation on Thursday, one of daly’s colleagues - St. louis Fed President James Bul-lard - called for at least a full percentage point of rate hikes by the end of June.

That helped drive a rapid recalibrating of ex-pectations for the Fed’s first move, with interest rate futures now more or less fully priced for a half-point increase in March and up to 1.75 percentage points of tightening by year end, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. When Fed

officials last provided quar-terly forecasts in december, the median expectation for the Fed’s target rate at the end of 2022 was roughly half that level.

daly appears unready to shift immediately into high gear even though inflation is running well above the Fed’s flexible target of 2% annually.

She said the Fed should lift rates at the March 15-16 meeting, after which offi-cials should be “watching, measuring, being very care-ful about what we see ahead of us, and then taking the next interest rate increase when it seems the best place to do that. And that could be the next meeting or it could be a meeting away.”

Asked about how the crisis in ukraine plays into Fed officials’ thinking amid worry that Russia could in-vade “any day now,” daly said its primary economic effect is the degree to which it adds to consumer uncer-tainty.

“Any time ... that you have geo-political risk, it creates uncertainty, and Americans are already fac-ing quite a bit of uncertainty - uncertainty about when CoVId’s ever going to leave our shores, uncertainty about how the economy’s going, so this is just another factor,” daly said. “And un-certainty, we know, affects consumer sentiment and ultimately affects consumer demand.”

‘Bizarre misconduct’

Himalaya yogi ran India’s top bourse as puppet master, regulator saysAgencies

THE former head of India’s largest stock exchange shared confidential information with a yogi and sought his advice on crucial decisions, a probe by the market regulator has found, ahead of the bourse’s much-awaited public listing.

In a case of “bizarre miscon-duct” that was a “glaring breach” of regulations, Chitra Ramkrishna, the former chief executive of national Stock Exchange (nSE), shared in-formation including the bourse’s fi-nancial projections, business plans and board agenda with a purported spiritual guru in the Himalayas, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said.

“The sharing of financial and business plans of nSE ... is a glar-ing, if not unimaginable, act that could shake the very foundations of the stock exchange,” SEBI said in an order, imposing penalties on

Ramkrishna, the bourse and other top former executives for the lapses.

Ramkrishna, who quit nSE in 2016 citing “personal reasons”, was not immediately reachable for comment. nSE and SEBI did not respond to requests for comment.

Allegations of corporate govern-ance lapses have dogged nSE for several years. The exchange had planned to go public in 2017 but its listing was derailed by allegations officials had provided some high frequency traders unfair access through co-location servers, which could speed up algorithmic trading.

After a three-year investigation, SEBI fined the exchange over $90 million and barred it from raising money on securities markets for six months. nSE challenged the order in court and has sought SEBI’s ap-proval to file for a new IPo.

However, during that investiga-tion, SEBI found documents show-ing Ramkrishna’s emails to an un-

known person, who she said during questioning was a “spiritual force”

she had sought guidance from for 20 years.

Ramkrishna, in her defence, told SEBI that sharing of informa-tion with the person who was “spir-itual in nature” did not compromise confidentiality or integrity.

The SEBI order however stated that it was “absurd” for Ramkrishna to contend that sharing sensitive information such as dividend pay-out ratios, business plans and the performance appraisals of nSE em-ployees did not cause harm.

The SEBI probe also found the purported guru had substantial influence over the appointment of a mid-level executive, without any capital market experience, directly as an adviser to Ramkrishna with inadequate documentation and a salary higher than most senior nSE officials.

The guru was running the ex-change, and Ramkrishna was “merely a puppet in his hands”, SEBI said.

Questions emailed to an ad-

dress given in the SEBI order as belonging to the guru were not im-mediately responded to.

SEBI also said nSE and its board were aware of the exchange of confidential information but had chosen to “keep the matter under wraps”.

The regulator fined nSE 20 million rupees ($270,000) and has barred the exchange from launching any new products for six months.

SEBI imposed a penalty of 30 million rupees on Ramkrishna and barred her from any bourse and SEBI-registered intermediary for three years.

Ramkrishna was among a group of executives who in the early 1990s started nSE as a chal-lenger to the more established BSE ltd, then known as Bombay Stock Exchange. She was appointed joint managing director of nSE in 2009 and promoted to CEo in 2013.

Chitra Ramkrishna, Managing Director and CEO, National Stock Exchange (In-dia), participates in The Future of Finance panel discussion during the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

Daly’s remarks followed a tumultuous week with regard to what the Fed may do at its meeting next month, when the central bank is expect-ed to begin raising interest rates

Qatar’s minister of commerce meets with British Parliament delegationMinister of Commerce and industry His excellency sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al thani met with a delegation from the British Par-liament headed by Alun Cairns, Chair of the All-Party Parliamen-tary British-Qatar Group, who is currently visiting Qatar.

During the meeting, the officials touched on bilateral relations between the two countries in the commercial, in-dustrial, and investment fields, as well as ways to enhance and develop them. the officials also discussed aspects of joint cooperation between the two sides.

H.e. the Minister of Com-merce and industry highlighted the economic policies Qatar has put in place to support the private sector, and pointed to the incentives, legislations, and promising opportunities that encourage foreign invest-ment for companies wishing to participate in Qatar’s economy. (TNN)

economy & Business10 Monday, February 14, 2022

Economy & Business11Monday, February 14, 2022

Tribune news neTworkDoha

Revealed on Sunday, the 25th edition of PwC’s global CeO survey finds that 82% of Middle east business leaders expect global growth to improve in 2022 - the survey reports the current sense of optimism is tempered by an awareness of familiar and emerging threats and risks.

a year ago, as the first COvId-19 wave subsided, Middle east CeOs felt able to look ahead with cautious confidence. Over the course of 2021, their positive short-term outlook strengthened as a result of the strong health response, commodity prices, rising consumer demand and strengthen-ing fiscal positions. Consequently, 64% of the Middle east CeOs are now extremely or very confident about their company’s rev-enue growth prospects in 2022, markedly higher than the global figure of 56%. The survey also found that the top two markets for revenue growth are egypt at 37% and KSa at 27% as well as US and China outside of the region.

Hani ashkar, PwC Middle east Senior Partner, said: “Middle east CeOs are look-ing forward, not back. We are pleased to see that regional business leaders share our confidence that renewed growth lies ahead. CeOs who have built trust with their clients, people and wider stakeholders through the pandemic are in a very strong position. These business leaders are now looking be-yond COvId-19 with a focus on delivering sustained outcomes.”

Bassam Hajhamad, Country Senior Partner at PwC Qatar said, “Qatar has shown resilience and is today emerging from the COvId-19 crisis in a strong po-sition, showing signs of a robust recov-ery. While this has reflected positively on CeOs and industry leaders who have re-gained optimism and are starting to look out for strong opportunities for sustainable growth, CeOs are yet to face many pressing issues on the eSG front.” He added: “Focus-ing efforts on building the right skills to de-liver solutions that are human-led and tech powered is pivotal during this transforma-tive phase and we are confident that 2022 will witness economic growth which will be reflected across different markets in the Middle east. PwC Qatar will be invested in creating new jobs in the Middle east with a focus on digital, emerging technologies and eSG aligned with its commitment to the Qatar 2030 National vision.”

Investing in digital and talent: like their global peers, Middle east CeOs continue to digitalise business operations, from supply chains to sales channels, as governments across the Middle east carry on with ambi-tious modernisation agendas. In total, 52% of Middle east CeOs plan double-digit in-vestments in digital transformation over the next 3 years. This year’s survey indi-cates that a growing proportion of Middle east business leaders have grasped that success in the digital age requires skilled people as well as the latest technologies — 46% of regional respondents plan double-digit investments in leadership and talent development over the next three years.

Stephen anderson, Middle east Strategy and Markets leader, said: “armed with new optimism, CeOs are fashioning a growth agenda that channels energies towards new

business models, customer experiences and organisational efficiencies facilitated by the cloud and digital tools. Meanwhile, they are upskilling their workforces and developing tomorrow’s leaders. Indeed the CeO mind-set has evolved greatly since PwC’s first global survey back in 1998, when one in five CeOs believed e-commerce would reshape competition.”

Cyber risks viewed as a leading threat: 57% of Middle east respondents say that cyber risks will have a negative impact on their company in 2022, higher than the global average of 49%. Middle eastern companies appear to be more targeted than companies in other geographies due to rea-sons including a strong link with local gov-ernments and increasing regional geopoliti-cal tensions.

as a result, 65% of regional business leaders believe cyber risks will limit their or-ganisation’s ability to innovate in 2022 and 59% say these threats will undermine sales of products and services. The pandemic is also still a concern, with 48% of regional CeOs indicating that they are extremely or very concerned about health risks.

Climate change and equality: Middle east business leaders also trail their inter-

national peers in setting net-zero commit-ments, with 5% willing to commit to a target (22% globally). Meanwhile 29% of Middle east CeOs say gender representation rates are included in their long-term corporate strategies, compared to the global figure of 38%, and 14% include race and ethnic-ity representation rates. The overwhelm-

ing majority of Middle east CeOs have no personal financial motive to pursue climate change and equality goals. The bonus or incentive packages for 5% include green-house-gas reduction targets (vs. 13% glob-ally) and for 4% include gender representa-tion rates (compared with 11% globally).

Stephen anderson added: “Given how

essential eSG topics are to the region - for example the global strategic role that we will play in the energy transition, the imperative from a social perspective to drive employ-ment and inclusion, and the importance of strengthening governance as we attract FdI and privatise swathes of the economy, governments are making bold plans and commitments to reimagine our region. It is clear from our survey that CeOs and busi-nesses need to catch up and focus to both play their part and, perhaps as importantly, start to capture some of the enormous op-portunities.”

These issues are becoming more promi-nent, given the commitment by govern-ments across the region to ambitious car-bon reduction goals and to building modern societies. appointing a boardroom level executive with company-wide responsibil-ity for setting and meeting climate change and equality goals as well as linking CeO’s bonus and incentive packages to achieving net-zero target are some of the recommen-dations PwC has outlined in their report as actions to begin making companies fit for a fast-approaching future where demon-strable commitment to CO2 reduction and equality will be critical to business success.

Middle East leaders optimistic about global economic growth in 2022: PwC CEO survey

A year ago, as the first COVID-19 wave subsided, Middle East CEOs felt able to look ahead with cautious confidence.

Tribune news neTworkDoha

INTeReST around develop-ment of sports in Qatar has soared globally in the runup to FIFa World Cup Qatar 2022 and the sector has become the focus of global investors. With $6.5 billion budgeted for the event, what opportunities does the wealthiest Gulf state offer after the much-awaited football celebration?

The Investment Promo-tion agency Qatar (IPa Qatar) delves into the growth pros-pects of the sports industry and showcases the multi-sec-toral opportunities on offer.

Qatar’s booming sports industry

Over the last decade, the Middle east has hosted several key tournaments -- asian Football Confederation Cup, World Men’s Handball Championship and IaaF World athletics Champion-

ships among others. This has helped establish the region as a global sporting destination. a PwC survey shows that the sports industry in the Middle east is expected to grow 8.7% in three to five years, while the expected growth of global sports business is not expect-ed to exceed 3% in the same period. With Qatar hosting more than 50 international events in 2021, the survey points out that the sports industry in the Middle east is expected to fully recover from the pandemic in 2022.

The region’s sports indus-try has untapped potential. The first FIFa World Cup to be held in the arab region is a catalysing force for unlock-ing that potential and “pro-pelling the beautiful game”. Qatar has pursued a bold development strategy and is at the vanguard of coun-tries with advanced sports infrastructure. In the “Rank-ing of Sports Cities 2020” by

Burson Cohn & Wolfe, which evaluates the performance of cities in hosting sporting events based on digital land-scape analysis, sports media, and international federations surveys, doha has made it to the top 50 global cities and the first in the arab World. Similarly, the “Global Sports Impact (GSI) Nations Index” by the Sports Market Intel-ligence’s company Sportcal ranked Qatar first in GCC and among the top 20 worldwide.

Ripple effect With an average growth of

4.5% over 11 years, between 2010 to 2020, Qatar’s GdP has grown steadily since it was awarded the right to host the World Cup in 2010, ac-cording to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With economic diversification, the sports industry is poised for further growth. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has identified 83 commer-

cial and investment oppor-tunities for the private sector until 2023, spanning event management and promotion, sport development, venue construction, sporting goods and equipment, sports com-mercialisation, sports tour-ism, and venue operations.

Esports adds momentum

While the pandemic has challenged economies, it has spotlighted the indispensa-bility of technology integra-tion and digital transforma-tion. Sports is no exception. The global esports market is expected to grow with a CaGR (2019 to 2024) of +8.7% to reach $218.7 billion in 2024. In the Middle east, esports represents a natural fit for the region, where the majority of the population is young and internet-savvy. It also holds promising growth potential as governments continue to invest in sport

and digital transformation as a way to diversify their economies. a recent PwC survey shows that Saudi ara-bia ranks among the top 20 countries for games revenue at $716 million, with the Uae generating $313 million and egypt $287 million.

Qatar has a strong start-ing point with advanced ICT and adaptability, ranked 8th in the Global Competitive-ness Index’s “ICT adoption” pillar. With the world’s 1st commercially available 5G network and with 99% inter-net penetration, the country continues to support inves-tors to unfold opportunities through its licensing plat-forms such as Qatar Finan-cial Centre and Qatar Sports Tech.

Sports healthcare to drive more opportunities

The global sports medi-cine and physiotherapy mar-ket was estimated at $8.2 bil-

lion in 2020 and is projected to grow at a CaGR of 8.83% to reach $14.9 billion by 2027. Qatar boasts futuris-tic sports medicine facilities. It is home to aspetar - Qa-tar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital - which is the first such facility in the region and is accredited by FIFa as a sports medicine centre of excellence.

Boasting some of the world’s finest sports infra-structure Qatar has cement-ed its position as a global sports destination.

New sports legacy Hosting the FIFa World

Cup has helped Qatar draw investment. The country has introduced measures that will not only deliver an unparalleled World Cup ex-perience but create oppor-tunities. The mega projects — from a railway and airport expansion to construction projects worth $200 billion

will boost business and draw investment in 2022 and be-yond.

With over a million fans travelling to the country, tourism and hospitality will benefit immensely from preparation for sporting events. describing Qatar’s economy post-World Cup 2022, Nasser al Khater, CeO of FIFa World Cup Qatar 2022, said, “The country’s focus will shift from infra-structure development to tourism and will likely go in the direction of Russia post-World Cup 2018”. The tour-nament added $14 billion to the Russian economy, and the benefits are still being felt.

Qatar is poised to spur development. The country’s vision and futuristic infra-structure have not only ac-celerated the development of sports industry, but also bolstered growth potential of different sectors.

Qatar’s sports sector eyes post-2022 horizon

Highlights ● Growth: 82% of regional CEos expect worldwide growth to improve this year (vs 77% globally) and 64% are extremely or very confident about their revenue growth prospects (vs 56% globally).

● Investments: 52% of CEos plan double digit investments in digital transformation over the next 3 years. They also recognise that success requires skilled people — 46% of regional respondents plan double-digit investments in leadership and talent development.

● Risks: Cyber-risks have displaced health risks as the main perceived threat to the corporate outlook — 57% of Middle East respondents say that cyber risks will have a negative impact on their company.

● Climate change and equality: only 14% say greenhouse gas emission targets feature in their long-term corporate strategies, just 5% have made net-zero commitments and only 29% of CEos say gender representation rates are included in those plans.

VINAY NAYUDUDOHA

CONSISTENCY is something that makes for big success, and that’s what exactly Denis Shapovalov is aiming at.

Back in Doha for the 30th edition of the Qatar Exxon-Mobil Open 2022, after an aberration of an early exit at Rotterdam a week ago – the Ca-nadian ranked world number 12 is keen to being back at his best something he displayed at the year’s opening Grand Slam – the Australian Open.

The only 22-years-old Shapovalov brings in a lot of en-ergy to the court and is among those who could take over from the Big Three of tennis.

For now though, Shapoval-ov is excited to start afresh at the Khalifa International Ten-nis & Squash Courts.

Top-seeded, he should be in action only on Tuesday but his opponent will be spotted in the opening match of the ATP 250 tournament on Monday when Slovakia’s Alex Molcan meets Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connel on the

centre court.Shapovalov, however, will

be taking to court later in the afternoon in the doubles part-nering India’s Rohan Bopan-na’s against Alex Molcan and Czech Jiri Vesely.

Speaking ahead of the big action, Shapovalov said, “It’s always nice to be back in Doha. Such an amazing place, one of the best weeks of the year so I am super excited to start.”

Shapovalov had lost to American Taylor Fritz after claiming the first set in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open last year. He would surely aim to go all the way though this time in the $1,176,595 event.

Asked if it was tough to switch given the different con-ditions and courts - from being in Australia to Netherlands to Qatar, Shapovalov was quick to say that’s something top play-ers excel at. “That’s what best players in the world do so well, something I’ve really strug-gled a little with but something I’m looking to get better at. Becoming consistent on every surface and adapting quicker will improve my chances of go-

ing back into the top ten.“I can play great tennis at

time but the adapting thing has been a bit more tricky for me and it is something I defi-nitely want to improve that,” he added.

On being the top seed,

Shapovalov felt good about the pressure it brings. “It’s a different pressure being a seed than an underdog surely. It’s a privilege to be seeded and to have that pressure in general.”

On the field in Doha, he said, “It’s a difficult tourna-

ment for sure but I feel good and the conditions are pretty similar to Australia and I played well there. The courts are similar so I feel comfort-able with my game. Physically also I am feeling well, so hope-fully I will have a great week ahead. Looking forward to the first match.”

Reminiscing on his great matches against Novak Djoko-vic and Rafael Nadal, the Ca-nadian said he did get over-come by the occasion. “Against Novak I was overcome by the occasion. I was more into the moment than the match itself, couple of things I wish I could take back. But it was a great match, the level was really high and played some good tennis.”

Commenting on Nadal’s 21st Grand Slam and the debate of who’s the great-

est, Shapovalov said one shouldn’t judge. “It’s unbe-lievable what he’s (Nadal) been through. It is remarka-bale and just amazing the way he got to his 21st Grand Slam. Now, the other two (Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic) are sweating on it and Novak is trying to beat him. The ri-valry is great to see.

“Stop to judge who’s the greatest of all times. Maybe he’s (Nadal) in the league right now, but regardless these three guys are the greatest leg-ends. In my view it doesn’t re-ally matter who finishes with the most titles. All these three players have what tennis may never see again.”

On the football front, Shapovalov is happy to see Canada being closer to quali-fying for the FIFA World Cup

Qatar 2022. “I hope they make the World Cup and I come here check out some games,” he quipped.

In the other Qatar Exxon-Mobil Open singles action on Monday, sixth seeded Rus-sian Karen Khachanov will take on American Mackenzie McDonald, 5th seed Daniel Evans of Britain playing Be-lorusian Egor Gerasimov, Ital-ian qualifier Thomas Fabbi-ano meeting Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp, and qualifier Christopher Eubanks of the US up against South Korean Soonwoo Kwon.

Later, Kwon will team up with Lorenzo Musetti for doubles aginst defend-ing champion Nikoloz Basi-lashvili and his partner Ale-jandro Davidovich Fokina. Action begins 2.30pm today.

Shapovalov looks to make the big switch at Qatar ExxonMobil Open

Khachanov, Evans among the big singles opening day action at

Khalifa International Complex

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

OOREDOO has announced it has renewed its sponsorship agreement with Qatar Tennis Federation for a further two years. As part of the agree-ment, the telecommunica-tions operator will be spon-soring the Qatar ExxonMobil Open being held 14-19 Febru-ary and the Qatar TotalEner-gies Open, which is scheduled for 20-26 February 2022.

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open – part of the ATP 250 Tour – is an annual men’s tennis tournament first held in 1993. The Qatar TotalEnergies Open, part of the WTA 1000 Tour, is an annual women’s event founded in 2011. Both events regularly attract the top-ranking names in tennis.

The agreement was officially renewed at a press conference held on 10 February 2021 at Ooredoo Tower, with Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, Chief Commercial Officer at Ooredoo, and Tariq Zainal - General Secretary, Qa-tar Tennis, Squash and Badmin-ton Federation – attending the signing ceremony.

Senior representatives of both entities were also in attend-ance.

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, Chief Com-

mercial Officer at Ooredoo, said: “We’re delighted to have renewed our partnership with Qatar Tennis Federation. Sup-porting events that promote a healthy, active lifestyle is a key goal of our corporate social re-sponsibility strategy, and having the Ooredoo name associated with such respected Tour events is a high-profile example of our commitment to this goal. We are equally as committed to sup-porting our country in hosting

major sporting events such as the two exciting tennis tourna-ments coming up. We look for-ward to seeing some incredible tennis at the upcoming events, and wish all the players the very best of luck on the courts!”

Tariq Zainal - General Sec-retary, Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation - said: “I’m honoured that QTF and Ooredoo will be signing an agreement by which Ooredoo will be a sponsor of the ATP

and WTA events for 2 years. I take this opportunity to extend sincere thanks to Ooredoo for their support in uplifting tennis and major sport events in the country.

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar TotalEnergies Open are the two most impor-tant tennis tournaments in the region and through the coopera-tion with our partners, we hope both tournaments will reach a new level of success.”

Ooredoo renews sponsorship agreement with QTF

Chief Commercial Off icer at Ooredoo Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani and Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation General-Secretary Tariq Zainal pose with other officials after therenewal of sponsorship agreement for Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar TotalEnergies Open.

The Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex is all set to stage the 30th edition of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2022 which begins Monday (February 14-19).

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Al Rayyan appoint Nicolas Cordova as their new coach replacing BlancPAGE 13

Canadian Denis Shapovalov, world ranked number twelve, is the top seed for Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2022.

CENTRE COURT (Matches start at 2:30pm)Alex Molcan (SVK) vs [Q] Christopher O’connell (AUS)Followed by[Q] Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) vs Botic Van De Zandschulp (NED)Not before 6:00pmKaren Khachanov (RUS) [6] vs Mackenzie Mcdonald (USA)Followed byDaniel Evans (GBR) [5] vs Egor Gerasimov (BLR)GRANDSTAND 1(Matches start at 2:30pm)

[Q] Christopher Eubanks (USA) vs Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)Followed byAlexander Bublik (KAZ)/Marton Fucsovics (HUN) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)/Michael Venus (NZL) [2]

Not Before 5:00 pm - After suitable restAlex Molcan (SVK)/Jiri Vesely (CZE) vs Rohan Bopanna (IND)/Denis Shapovalov (CAN)GRANDSTAND 2Not before 5:00 pm - After suitable restNikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)/Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) vs Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)/Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)

MONDAY’S ORDER OF PLAY

beIN SPORTS to serve two weeks of live tennis starting with Qatar ExxonMobil Open

BEIN MEDIA GROUP (“beIN”), the global sports, media, and entertainment group, and its flagship sports channel beIN SPORTS, gets ready to present two weeks of live and exhilarat-ing back-to-back Qatar-based tennis, to its millions of viewers and subscribers across all 24 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Commencing this Monday 14 February, from the iconic Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar, beIN’s February of tennis begins with the ATP 250 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, one of two ATP Tour events held in the re-gion. This year’s championship, of which beIN holds the exclu-sive rights in the MENA region, will see tennis superstars battle it out for the coveted top spot, including defending champion Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili; French favourite and highest-ranked national player Gael Monfils, Canada’s rising su-perstar Denis Shapovalov, and Britain’s three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray.

Directly following, beIN’s audience across MENA can

tune in to all the action from the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEn-ergies Open, an official Wom-en’s Tennis Association event, from Sunday 20 February. With tennis superstars includ-ing highest-ranked Arab play-er Ons Jabeur from Tunisia; two-time Grand Slam winner Aryna Sabalenka hailing from Belarus; defending champion Petra Kvitová from the Czech Republic; and many more, all in contention for the title.

Commenting on beIN’s un-missable two weeks of tennis, Mohammed Al-Bader, Manag-ing Director of beIN Channels, MENA, noted: “We’re elated to present these unmissable few weeks of Qatar-based tennis, bringing some of the greatest names to audiences’ screens right here from the world-class courts in central Doha. These two star-studded events add to our exceptional roster of ten-nis sporting rights, with beIN already the exclusive home of all the Grand Slams, exclusively covering Wimbledon, Roland-Garros, US Open, and the re-cently completed and contro-versial Australian Open”.

“Qatar is increasingly be-coming the home and hub of sport in the MENA region - hosting an incredible line-up of local, regional, and internation-al must-sees. We look forward to continuing this legacy, as we actively gear up to present the historic FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM as the official broad-caster in MENA and France in just a few short months”.

Live February Tennis Programming The global broadcaster will ex-clusively open the first tourna-ment with a special one-hour preview show on Sunday 13 February from 18:00 MECCA on beIN SPORTS 5. Present-ed by Areej Sleem, beIN will host Malik Al Jaziri, a beloved Tunisian tennis player who reached the final of Istanbul (2018), the semifinals of Mos-cow (2012), Winston-Salem (2015), and Dubai (2018), and the quarterfinals of Dubai in 2014. Al Jaziri will be inter-viewed in beIN’s state-of-the-art studios to discuss predic-tions and expectations for the upcoming championships.

Both tournaments will then be available with Arabic and English commentary on beIN SPORTS 5 and beIN SPORTS ENGLISH 3, respectively, with programming for the ATP 250 Qatar ExxonMobil Open on-air from 14:00 MECCA on Monday and kick-off sched-uled for 14:30 MECCA.

STATS PERFORM/DPALONDON

TOTTENHAM saw their hopes of a top-four finish dealt a blow as Wolves produced a fantastic away performance to leapfrog the hosts in the Pre-mier League with a 2-0 win.

Goals from Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker gave the visitors a deserved lead at the break, with Antonio Conte’s men producing a dire performance and failing to test Jose Sa adequately in the opening period.

Although they managed a better second-half perfor-mance, Spurs were unable to find a way past a Wolves back-line with a better defensive re-cord than all bar Manchester City in this Premier League season.

Out-of-form Spurs have now lost three consecutive league games, and the last time a Conte-managed team did likewise was Atalanta in November 2009. Wolves’ vic-tory, their third in their past four Premier League trips to Tottenham, took them a point above their hosts in the Pre-mier League table after play-ing a game more, damaging the Champions League hopes of Conte’s men and boosting their own chances of qualify-ing for European football.

Fabinho strike enough for Liverpool to see off Burnley Fabinho’s fifth goal in eight

matches helped Liverpool grind out a 1-0 victory over Burnley in testing conditions to maintain their pursuit of Manchester City.

With rain seemingly blow-ing around Turf Moor in three different directions at the same time, the conditions seemed ideal for an upset -

one Jürgen Klopp’s side could ill-afford starting the game 12 points off the Premier League leaders.

But even though the visi-tors reunited their famed orig-inal front three of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino for the first time since the end of October, it was their

new-found goalscoring mid-fielder who made the 40th minute breakthrough.

Since the turn of the year, no team-mate has scored more than the Brazil interna-tional, whose primary role of anchoring the midfield was also performed superbly in a scrappy contest which saw a

number of players struggle.

Premier League Sunday Results Burnley 0 Liverpool 1Newcastle United 1 Aston Villa 0Tottenham Hotspur 0 Wolverhampton 2Leicester City 2 West Ham United 2

Tottenham 0-2 Wolves: Jimenez strikes big blow in top-four battle

BERLIN STATS PERFORM/DPA

FELIX Auger-Aliassime finally won a first ATP Tour title after impressively dealing with Ste-fanos Tsitsipas in straight sets in Rotterdam on Sunday.

The Canadian had lost all of his previous eight finals on the tour, not even clinching a set in any of them, but he found the winning formula this time as he beat Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2.

Auger-Aliassime made an emphatic start, breaking Tsit-sipas in the very first game and from that point there was no looking back.

The 21-year-old’s aggres-sive style of play had Tsitsi-pas on the back foot almost throughout and, after claiming the first set, he saw things out with admirable confidence.

He raced into a 5-1 lead in the second set and there were never any signs of nerves on his part, as he avoided facing a single break point over course of the full match.

Auger-Aliassime, who was beaten by Gael Monfils in the

2020 Rotterdam final, said: “It has not been the smoothest road since my first final three years ago. It is an amazing day for me to get my first title and especially here. I played my first ATP main draw here a cou-ple of years ago [in 2018], so it is right I won my first title here.

“I have a lot of good memo-ries playing here in front of you, so thank you for making it a special week for me that I will remember for the rest of my life.

“It is the happiest day of my career, and hopefully it is the first of many to come.” Tsitsipas accepted he lost to the better player on the day, bemoaning his struggles when serving.

The world number four won 74 per cent of points on his first serve and 33 per cent on his second - both figures were dwarfed by Auger-Alias-sime’s 93 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively.

“He played a really good match, producing really good shots and serving well the whole match,” Tsitsipas said.

“I wasn’t able to serve well at all today. He played very well.”

Auger-Aliassime beats Tsitsipas, ends wait for

first ATP Tour title

PREMIER LEAGUE

Sports 13Monday, February 14, 2022

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AL Sadd rode on Yousuf Ab-durisag’s strike to secure their quarter-finals place in the 50th edition of the Amir Cup as they beat Muaither 1-0 at Grand Hamad Stadium on Sunday.

The defending champion seemed at ease and while the 1-0 score may not suggest much but the 18-time cham-pions played aggressively and credit to their second division opponents who did well to hold well against the Wolves, who were looking to score throughout.

The winning goal for Al Sadd came in the 13th minute following a series of attacks, with Abdurisag netting the ball after receiving a ball on a goalkeeper’s rebound follow-ing Akram Afif’s attempt.

Musab Khader had a role to play in the goal as he smart-ly lobbed the ball to Afif, who was stationed at a good posi-tion inside the box.

The Wolves continued to push for more goals and fired over a dozen of shots on target but Muaither did well to avoid further damage.

Captain Hassan Al Haydos was happy with Al Sadd’s pro-gress in the event but said the team must rectify mistakes.

“Our performance was not that good especially for our fans, but in such matches the most important thing is to win and qualify for the next stage of the tournament,” Al Haydos said after the win.

“We have enough time to correct our mistakes as we wasted many scoring chances, which is repeated for the sec-ond time in a row after the last match in the league,” Al Sadd captain added.

Al Sadd will now meet the winner of today’s last-16 clash between Al Ahli and Al Markh-iya to be played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Qatar SC edge Al Shamal 2-1Qatar SC too advanced to the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Al Sha-mal at the same venue.

Bashar Rasan fired the winner for Qatar SC in the 68th minute after Al Shamal’s Mohamed El Sayed (40th minute) cancelled Djamel Benlamri’s 25th minute goal.

Meanwhile, Al Ahli coach Nebojsa Jovovic was hopeful for a win against Al Markhiya.

“Our team’s level has been improving in the last few games. Our aim is to develop further and get a positive re-sult,” he told a pre-match press conference yesterday.

Al Markhiya coach Abdulla Al Eidan said: “We are focused on the game against Al Ahli by determining strengths and weaknesses.

“The Amir Cup has always been a tournament with an ideal atmosphere.”

Al Arabi will take on Al Sailiya in Monday’s other Round of 16 match.

“All the games in the Amir Cup are tough, they are com-pletely different from the league games. Al Sailiya will not be an easy opponent,” Al Arabi coach Younes Ali said ahead of the match.

Al Sailiya coach Sami Tra-belsi hoped for a better perfor-mance from his side, which is on the bottom of QNB Stars League standings.

“The Amir Cup doesn’t work in the same way as the league. We have a great group of players, who can get us the positive result against Al Ara-bi,” said Trabelsi.

Amir Cup: Round of 16Sunday ResultsAl Sadd beat Muaither 1-0; Qatar SC beat Al Shamal 2-1Monday’s Fixtures: 4:40pm: Al Ahli vs Al Markhiya at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium 7:30pm: Al Arabi vs Al Sailiya at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Al Sadd and Qatar SC move into quarter-finals of 50th Amir Cup

Al Sadd players celebrate their 1-0 win over Muaither in the Amir Cup Round of 16 at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha on Sunday.

Qatar Sports Club players rejoice after one of their two goals against Al Shamal in the Amir Cup Round of 16 at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha on Sunday.

Laurent Blanc. Nicolas Cordova.

Al Rayyan replace coach Blanc with Cordova

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AL Rayyan have replaced their former French coach Laurent Blanc with Nicolas Cordova, former Chilean international, the club said in a Tweet on Sunday.

Under Blanc, who started his Qatar stint in December 2020, Al Rayyan struggled this season and are currently 9th in the 12-team QNB Stars League.

The Frenchman guided Al Rayyan to the Amir Cup final, which they lost to Al Sadd on penalties last October but The Lions have been struggling in the ongoing season despite having Colombian James Rodriguez, Steven Nzonzi of France and Algerian Yacine Brahimi in their ranks.

The former champions have lost seven games while registering only four wins be-sides seven draws in a total of 17 matches they have played in the QSL so far.

Cordova, who is currently

coaching the Qatar U-23 team, will serve as Al Rayyan coach only until the end of the sea-son due to his commitment with the national side, accord-ing to a report.

He scored Chile’s equaliser when they drew 1-1 with the French side under coach Blanc in Montpellier in 2011.

New QSL season from August 1

THE Qatar Stars League have announced that the QNB Stars League’s (QSL) 2022-2023 season will start on August 1, 2022. THE Qatar Stars League said the decision was made after co-ordination with the authorities concerned.A total of 18 rounds have been completed in the QSL’s 2021-2022 season, with de-fending champions Al Sadd leading the standings.

Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime poses with the trophy as he celebrates after victory over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men’s singles final of ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Ahoy Rotterdam in Rotterdam on Sunday. (AFP)

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Mexican striker Raul Jimenez (R) celebrates with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ English defender Max Kilman after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday. (AFP)

LIVERPOOL manager Juergen Klopp has hinted at hope of a resolu-tion on Mohamed Salah’s contract situation, stating that players can reach their peak in their mid-30s. Salah, who turns 30 in June, has 18 months remaining on his current Liverpool contract but talks ongoing on a new deal. The Egypt international has reiterated he wants to remain at Liverpool although there has been reports that his representatives want a bumper deal worth around £300,000 ($406,870)-a-week. Liver-pool’s owners Fenway Sports Group have been reluctant in the past to offer lucrative deals to players well into their 30s in the past. (DPA)

Klopp hints at Salah contract resolution: ‘There is no age roof’

Telangana Welfare Assn marks NSD with badminton tournamentDOHA

THE Telangana Welfare As-sociation (TWA) held a highly successful badminton tourna-ment as part of the celebra-tions for the 2022 National Sport Day initiative to pro-mote sports and develop re-lationship between Indian Community in Qatar at the Old Ideal School Grounds in Al Mamoura.

TWA, as part of their vari-ous welfare activities, con-ducted the tournament with nominal entry fees and sub-sidized fees for a few teams while following all COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

Mohammed Shoieb, Sports and Youth Activities Secretary of TWA, said a total of 26 teams took part lead-ing to a grand final between Friends and Green ‘C’ teams.

The league matches were played of Fridays, with the fi-nal being held on February 11.

The team Friends with Suhail and Sinnu as players

emerged winners of the tour-nament.

Khaja Nizamuddin (Presi-dent, TWA) congratulated all the teams and said in his

view all participants are win-ners as they all have taken out time from their busy schedules and shown interest in playing badminton which is very im-

portant towards having have a healthy way of life.

TWA thanked Chief Guest Luthfi Kakar (Owner of Sheen Services) and guests Mudassir

(Owner of Konaseema Res-taurant), Shobhan Bandarapu (MC ICC Youth). Venkappa Bhagvatula (President Andhra Kala Vedika) and Vikram Sukhavasi (General Secre-

tary AKV), their Sports and Youth Activities Secretary Shoieb, Tournament Organiz-ers -- Shiva Krishna, Moham-med Taha, Krishna Prasad, Ramesh Pitla, Mohammed

Nadeem, Mohammed Bakar, Amer, Waseem, Mohammed Salauddin and Nagaraju Kala-vatri, and all other TWA mem-bers who worked hard to make the tournament possible.

DPA ZHANGJIAKOU (CHINA)

NORWAY’S Marte Olsbu Roiseland destroyed the oppo-sition on Sunday to claim her third biathlon gold and fourth medal in as many races at the Beijing Olympics.

World Cup leader Röise-land missed one target en route to victory in the 10-kilo-metre pursuit which comes af-ter sprint and mixed relay gold plus 15km bronze, clocking 34 minutes 46.9 seconds.

Röiseland held a 30-sec-ond lead at the start by virtue of the sprint win and steadily increased it, with Sweden’s El-vira Öberg getting silver as in the sprint, 1:36.9 minutes off the pace.

Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff rose from 11th to bronze, an-other 12.2 seconds back, her second medal after also being part of the successful mixed relay team.

Öberg and Eckhoff missed three targets each in steady snowfall.

Röiseland is enjoying an outstanding season and with the relay and mass start still to come next week she could medal in every race as she did at the 2020 world champion-ships with five gold and two bronze.

“I had really good prepara-tion and I was looking forward to these Olympics for a really long time,” she said.

“Every medal is special. I’m just trying to be right here and right now and be present. Right now I’m just enjoying

this moment.” “I knew I had a good starting position but I just tried to focus on what I could do and do the perfect race. The shooting was good and it was so much fun to race.” Öberg said: “It was, first of all, a really tough race. It’s probably one of the hardest pursuits I’ve ever raced.

“I had a great start but not that great middle part of the race but I’m just so, so satis-fied that I managed to turn it around and keep it together for the final shooting.”

Impressive Russia beat Norway for relay gold

Alexey Chervotkin broke the field early as the Russia team won Olympic gold in the men’s cross-country skiing re-lay for the first time in 42 years in impressive fashion.

Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov and Sergey Ustiugov completely dominated the 4x10km race held in driving snowfall.

Bolshunov now has skiath-lon and relay gold plus 10km silver at the Games, and Spit-

sov added relay gold to skiath-lon silver.

Russia had last won the prestigious race, then as the Soviet Union, 1980 in Lake Placid.

World champions and 2018 gold medallists Norway recovered from a slow start to get silver, fighting off France who took bronze as in 2014 and 2018 and at the last two world championships.

Russia got silver at the two previous Olympics and last three world champions before finally delivering gold.

“We were aiming for this. We tried to achieve it, and for several years we haven’t been able to. Today everything aligned. Everything was su-per,” Chervotkin said.

“The weather seemed to be hard and there was snow but it was in our favour so every-thing was great.” Chervotkin was on his own less than 5km into the race and Bolshunov further increased the lead to 59.5 seconds at the halfway mark after the two classic style legs, and there was no more danger for the team for victory in 1 hour 54 minutes 50.7 sec-onds.

“We did everything right. We positioned everyone right and I had no doubts in the men, that each one would come out and ski his leg of the race fantastically. And that’s what everybody proved to-day,” Bolshunov said.

Paal Golberg had moved Norway from fifth at the first exchange to second by mid-race. Sprint winner and 10km bronze medallist Johannes Hösflot Kläbo then secured silver in the anchor leg to com-plete a full set of Beijing Games medals, a massive 1:07.2 min-utes behind the winners.

He withstood two attacks from Maurice Manificat as the French were a familiar third, another 9.2 seconds back.

“We weren’t good enough to fight with the Russians to-day, but everyone gave their best. We should be happy with a silver today,” said Norway’s Hans Christer Holand who skied the third leg.

Biathlon queen Roiseland completes golden hat-trick

STATS PERFORM/DPABERLIN

LEBRON James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading points scorer in combined regular season and play-off history in the Los Angeles’ Lakers loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The four-time NBA MVP led the scoring for the Lakers in Saturday’s 117-115 defeat at Chase Center with 26 points, while also adding 15 rebounds and eight assists in another impressive display.

In doing so, James extend-ed his streak of 25 points or more to 22 games and took his career points tally to 44,157, overtaking former Milwau-kee Bucks and Lakers great Abdul-Jabbar’s previous high of 44,149.

However, the achieve-ment was bittersweet for the 37-year-old as it came in a narrow defeat for his side, with Klay Thompson grabbing the headlines thanks to his season-high 33 points.

“It’s hard for me to speak on it now because I hate do-ing anything when it comes in a loss,” James said. “And we had an opportunity to win a big game tonight.” Reflecting more widely on his career to date, James added: “I’ve been appreciative of the opportu-nity to play this game at the highest level.

“I love the game of basket-ball. I love being a part of the

NBA and being able to inspire so many different sets of gen-erations. I guess, it’s a pretty big deal.

“In all my career, any time I’ve been linked with some of the greats, I’ve always just been in awe.”

James still has work to do if he is to finish his career as the highest-scoring player in the regular season, as he trails Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928) with 36,526 points.

He has won four NBA Championships, four NBA MVP awards, four NBA Finals MVP awards and two Olympic gold medals with the United States in an illustrious career.

After hitting another mile-stone, Warriors pair Thomp-son and Steph Curry were among those to laud evergreen James.

“It’s wild to think about how many games he’s played, how long he’s been doing it. The longevity of it all is leg-endary,” Curry said.

“To be in that position where you’ve played that many games, you’ve been in so many different play-off runs, won championships and done it year after year, there is no real end in sight.

Thompson added: “I don’t know how much longer he has, maybe it’s two years, maybe it’s three. But NBA fans should appreciate it while they’re watching such an amazing player.”

A pretty big deal –LeBron reacts

to all-time scoring record

LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers makes a three point shot in the first half against Damion Lee #1 of the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Friday. (Getty Images/AFP)

Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roeiseland celebrates on the podium after her first place finish in the Biathlon Women’s 10km Pursuit event at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Sunday. (AFP)

Rafael Leao’s early goal sends Milan top of Serie ADPA

BERLIN

RAFAEL Leao’s early goal proved the difference as Milan beat Sampdoria 1-0 at San Siro on Sunday to climb to the top of Serie A.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw be-tween Inter and Napoli pro-vided Milan with the opportu-nity to leapfrog both sides and they did exactly that without ever being at their best against Samp.

Leao calmly converted in-side eight minutes after being assisted by keeper Mike Maig-nan and that was enough for the hosts, who have now won three in a row in all competi-tions.

Milan are two points clear of third-place Napoli and one point better off than reign-ing champions Inter, who still have a game in hand to play.

Milan had collected just one point from their past two

home matches but started brightly and took the lead ear-ly on through Leao’s 10th goal of the campaign.

The Portugal international controlled a long pass from Maignan, drove away from Bartosz Bereszynski into the opposition box and coolly fired away from Wladimiro Falcone.

Falcone produced a fine one-handed save to keep out a powerful Junior Messias drive and the Milan midfielder flashed another attempt nar-rowly wide the other side of half-time.

Sampdoria had a brief moment on top but the big chances continued to fall Mi-lan’s way, with Olivier Giroud twice being denied by the visit-ing keeper from a volley and a header.

The visitors never truly looked like finding a leveller, though, with Stefano Pioli’s side seeing out the job to climb to the summit.

AC Milan’s Portuguese forward Rafael Leao eyes the ball during the Italian Serie A match between AC Milan and Sampdoria at the Giuseppe-Meazza (San Siro) stadium in Milan on Sunday. (AFP)

Sports14 Monday, February 14, 2022

AGENCIESBENGALURU

JOFRA Archer is not expected to be available for IPL 2022 as he recovers from surgery on his right elbow, but that did not stop Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, as well as Sunrisers Hyderabad, briefly, from bidding frenetically for him on the second day of the mega auction in Bengaluru on Sunday, reports ESPNCricinfo.

Archer was finally sold to Mumbai for INR 8 crore (USD 1.06 million), not making him the most expensive buy of the day but certainly a surprise one.

The most expensive player on the day, and the day’s first millionaire, was Liam Living-stone, who at INR 11.5 crore (USD 1.53 million) also be-came the most expensive over-seas buy of the auction when Punjab Kings beat off bids from Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers to get their hands on the hard-hit-ting England batting allround-er. He was also, overall, the fourth-highest earner in the auction, behind Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer, in that order.

Mumbai, in fact, started the day slowly, barely getting involved in the first couple of hours, but when they did, they did so aggressively. After Arch-

er, they went toe-to-toe with a desperate-looking Knight Rid-ers to get hold of Tim David, and won the race at INR 8.25 crore (USD 1.1 million) from a base price of INR 40 lakh.

“It [Mumbai] has been a franchise that was really close to my heart and I always want-ed to play for them as long as I could have remembered watch-ing IPL cricket,” Archer said in a message. “I’m so glad that I’ve finally got the opportunity to represent such an amazing franchise. I’m also going to get the chance to play with some

of the biggest stars in the world so I’m really looking forward to starting a new chapter.”

“Jofra is a player Ma-hela (Jayawardene, the head coach) gave his first profes-sional debut to. So happy to have gotten them together,” Akash Ambani, the Mumbai owner, said on the official broadcast. “Although it is go-ing to be in next year, but very happy to have a lethal combi-nation. Tymal (Mills, who was also bought by the franchise) has been a lethal death bowl-er; Mahela coaches him in the

Hundred and he has managed to stay injury-free.

“Tim David is going to partner (Kieron) Pollard at No. 6. We have been tracking Tim and he has got success at RCB last year. Looking for-ward to seeing him and Pol-lard finishing innings for us.”

Then, later, on to the final round, after the ten teams sub-mitted their wishlists, with not much money left but some key slots left to fill. At least a cou-ple of teams were still without a first-choice wicketkeeper.

Titans started with a rela-

tively big purse, and snapped up David Miller for INR 3 crore (USD 400,000), Wrid-dhiman Saha for INR 1.9 crore (USD 252,000) and Matthew Wade for INR 2.4 crore (USD 319,000) very quickly.

Knight Riders, meanwhile, added Sam Billings as possi-bly their primary wicketkeeper for INR 2 crore ($265,000), while Chris Jordan went to Super Kings for INR 3.6 crore ($478,000).

Some other prominent names also found teams late in the script, among them Lungi Ngidi and Tim Seifert (Capitals), Glenn Phillips and Fazalhaq Farooqi (Sunrisers), Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Ya-dav and Alex Hales (Knight Riders), Evin Lewis (Super Giants), Nathan Ellis (Kings) and Karun Nair and James Neesham (Royals).

Earlier, Aiden Markram, the first name to go under the hammer on the second day, invited a cautious bidding bat-tle between Kings and Sunris-ers, with Mumbai entering the fray too, before Sunrisers took him home for INR 2.6 crore (USD 346,000). Ajinkya Ra-hane, a well-travelled player in the IPL who has also led the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant/s and Royals in the past, went to Knight Rid-ers for his base price of INR 1 crore (USD 132,700).

IPL: Mumbai Indians splurge on David and ‘non-playing’ Archer

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

THIS year’s MotoGP Cham-pionship season open which be hosted by Lusail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC) will un-doubtedly be one of the most spectacular events on the Mo-toGP calendar, as fans will experience the raw and thrill-ing action at night, under the dazzling floodlights of Lusail International Circuit, which sits around 30km outside of the capital city of Qatar, Doha.

The event will be conveni-ently held on the first weekend of March 2022, from March 4th to March 6th, and it will be the only one-night race of the FIM MotoGP World Champi-onship 2022.

Commenting on the event, QMMF (Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation) and LCSC President Abulrahman Al Mannai stated: “We work tirelessly with competent gov-ernment authorities to ensure that each time the Lusail Cir-cuit Sports Club hosts an event of this magnitude, it exceeds the bars that were previously set in terms of safety, security and overall sustainability. The

Club also constantly improves and optimizes every aspect of

circuit zone allocation and ac-tivity scheduling to leave both

fans and race participants equally satisfied with the over-

all experience. It’s rather sim-ple, the world places its trust

in us, and we repay it by or-ganizing breathtakingly fun and exciting events.”

Qatar hosted the first event at the venue during the Octo-ber 2004 Grand Prix of Qatar won by Sete Gibernau, and in 2008, the country celebrated the first floodlit Grand Prix in the history of the MotoGP World Championship.

Having hosted 2 race rounds back-to-back in 2021, this year’s season open will mark the 20th race held at the Lusail International Circuit.

Qatar is one of the most highly vaccinated countries in the world, and it has suc-

cessfully held several sports events in the past 3 years in a very controlled environment, so fans worried for their safety can rest assured that there is nothing to worry about, they will be able to fully focus on the action.

The event will also align with Qatar National Vision 2030’s sustainability agenda, meaning that each phase will be opti-mized to be held in the most fea-sibly sustainable and environ-mentally-friendly way possible. Those interested in purchasing a ticket and reserving their spot for the event may do so through the following link: lcsc.qa

Stage set for the season-opening leg of 2020 MotoGP Championship at Lusail

The Qatar MotoGP opening leg will be held at the Lusail International Circuit from March 4-6 and it will be the only one-night race of the FIM MotoGP World Championship 2022.

SHOTOKAN KARATE RYU HOLDS GRADING TEST FOR BELTS

Sports 15Monday, February 14, 2022

Australia’s Steve Smith (C) gets medical attention as he hits his head against the ground in an attempt to catch the ball during the second T20 international match against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday. (AFP)

Inglis, Hazlewood star as Australia defeat SL in Super Over to gain 2-0 series lead

ANISYDNEY

JOSH Inglis’ 48-run knock, Pathum Nissanka’s 73-run knock and Josh Hazlewood’s three-wicket haul were the standout performances as Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the Super Over to win the second T20I of the five-match series here at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.

With this win, Australia has gained a 2-0 lead in the five-match series and the third T20I will now be played on Tuesday.

In the Super Over, Sri Lan-ka scored just five runs and Australia managed to chase it down. Chasing 165, Sri Lanka got off to a bad start as the side lost Danushka Gunathilaka (0) on the fifth ball of the in-nings to Josh Hazlewood.

In his next over, Hazle-wood struck again as he dis-missed Avishka Fernando (5). Charith Asalanka (0) was bowled for a duck by Pat Cum-mins and Sri Lanka was re-duced to 25/3 in the fifth over.

Pathum Nissanka kept Sri Lanka in the game with his 73-run knock and he was sup-ported by Dasun Shanaka who scored 34. In the final over, Maheesh Theekshana scored ten runs from three balls and in the end, the match pro-gressed to a Super Over.

Earlier, Inglis played a 48-run knock as Australia posted 164/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Skipper Aaron Finch scored 25 for Australia and there

was no other batter who stayed at the crease for a long haul.

Ben McDermott (18), Glenn Maxwell (15), Steve Smith (14), Marcus Stoinis (19) all got in but none of them managed to stay at the crease for a long time.

In the end, Matthew Wade (13) and Pat Cummins (6) remained unbeaten for the hosts. For Sri Lanka, Dusman-tha Chameera and Wanindu Hasaranga picked up two wickets each.Scores: Australia 164/6 (Josh Inglis 48, Aaron Finch 25; Dushmantha Chameera 2-30); Sri Lanka 164/8 (Pathum Nis-sanka 73, Dasun Shanaka 34; Josh Hazlewood 3-22).

Smith to miss remaining games due to concussionAUSTRALIA batter Steve Smith will miss the remaining three T20Is against Sri Lanka due to concussion, Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed on Sunday.

“Steve Smith has a concus-sion and will be subject to low-level protocols for the next few days and full recovery in 6-7 days. He will miss the remain-der of the T20 International Series against Sri Lanka,” the official handle of Cricket Aus-tralia tweeted.

Smith made an athletic leap to save a six in the fi-nal over of the second T20I against Sri Lanka on Sunday and it saw the Australia batter put his body on the line, with his head crashing into the turf on landing.

The Shotokan Karate Ryu recently held grading test for belts with all students being successful. “I am proud of each and every student who attempted the grading. They all trained extremely hard and gave their all. This determination meant that every student was successful in reaching their next colour Belt,” said Shihan Mirza Gazanfar.The test was conducted by Sensei Md. Ismail and Sanpai AbdulAziz, and coordi-nated by Awes Qarni. Among the participants were: Lamar Joumaa, Matteo Artin, Rajih Assaf, Jad Assaf, Lukas See-mon, Shabana Riaz, Mirza Yousef Mansoor Baig, Imran Ismail Dhondne, Etakkandy Rafi and Atif Ayub.

We work tirelessly with competent government authorities to ensure that each time the Lusail Circuit Sports Club hosts an event of this magnitude, it exceeds the bars that were previously set in terms of safety, security and overall sustainability.

QMMF and LCSC President Abulrahman Al Mannai

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians’ owner Nita Ambani (2nd R) along with Zaheer Khan during the second day of the IPL auction at a hotel in Bengaluru on Sunday.

The Last Word16 Monday, February 14, 2022

PM WITNESSES WHO ACCREDITATION CEREMONY OF DOHA, AL RAYYAN MUNICIPALITIES AS HEALTH CITIES

Sidra Medicine implements precision diagnosis, therapy for children with epilepsy

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

WITH February 14 marking International Epilepsy Day, pioneering efforts by Sidra Medicine are gearing towards bringing cure and better man-agement for paediatric patients with epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a chronic brain disorder affecting 50 million people worldwide, according to World Health Organization. It is characterised by seizures and often associated with multiple co-existing brain development disorders, resulting in signifi-cant cognitive, psychologic and social impacts.

It is estimated that 70 per-cent of patients with epilepsy could live seizure-free if diag-nosed and treated early.

In a recent epidemiologic study completed by paediatric neurologist and epileptologist, Dr Ruba Benini and her col-leagues at Sidra Medicine, up to 60 percent of children with epi-lepsy were found to have an un-known cause for their condition and these children were more likely to develop drug-resistant epilepsy and exhibit other neu-rodevelopmental disorders.

To improve health out-comes for such children, a team of researchers and clini-cians at Sidra Medicine have begun bridging the gap be-tween scientific research and clinical care to identify the underlying genetic causes and aid the diagnosis of the affect-ed patients.

By leveraging cutting-edge

research techniques, Sidra Medicine has implemented an integrated programme to identify a genetic diagnosis for unresolved patients, especially those with intractable epilepsy.

The programme, sup-ported by a multidisciplinary group of clinicians and re-search scientists, is being led by Dr Younes Mokrab, prin-cipal investigator and head of the medical and population genomics laboratory, and Dr Ruba Benini, paediatric neu-rologist and epileptologist.

Dr Mokrab, principal inves-tigator and head of the medical and population genomics labo-ratory at Sidra Medicine, said: “We use state-of-the-art tech-nologies to sequence the ge-nome of the patients and study their clinical data, together with their family members, to iden-tify genetic variants that cause disease and treatment-related phenotypes.

“We implemented a preci-

sion diagnosis platform sup-ported by Congenica, which is tailored specifically for pa-tients from the Middle East and North Africa region. This has allowed us to perform advanced genomic analysis in entire families as well as across cohorts in order to identify genetic variants asso-ciated with epilepsy.”

The same epilepsy study from Sidra Medicine showed that up to 47 percent of chil-dren with epilepsy have neu-rodevelopmental co-morbidi-ties, including but not limited to developmental delays, in-tellectual impairment, autism spectrum disorders and learn-ing difficulties.

Dr Benini said, “Because of our multidisciplinary approach to care, Sidra Medicine has become the national tertiary referral centre for neurodevel-opmental conditions, including epilepsy. Due to the pervasive nature of this chronic disorder

and its negative impact on chil-dren’s academic achievements and quality of life, we are work-ing on various fronts to address different aspects of epilepsy.

“These include address-ing patient-reported outcome measures through family en-gagement, improving aware-ness about the illness, commu-nity and school engagement, and establishing a national pae-diatric epilepsy registry. Eluci-dating further the pathophysi-ology of this chronic disorder will subsequently enable clini-cians to optimise personalised medical and surgical therapeu-tics for patients with epilepsy.”

Over the past few years, Sidra Medicine has implement-ed precision-based treatment and therapy through collabora-tion between scientific research and clinical diagnosis.

The approach has been successfully applied to epi-lepsy, whereby neurologists, paediatricians, radiologists and neuro-surgeons have been working closely alongside re-searchers locally within Qatar and internationally to deliver the best care - from bedside to bench and back again. This has contributed to the building of a personalised medicine pro-gramme by providing individu-alised treatment plans suitable for each patient.

Sidra Medicine is striving towards establishing a centre of excellence for epilepsy. Its multidisciplinary neuroscience programme has also attracted international patients from across the MENA region.

QRCS lays foundation stonefor Al-Nasr Village in Syria

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

THE foundation stone laying ceremony for a new project to establish the ‘Al-Nasr Charita-ble Village’ at Jarabulus in the Aleppo Governorate of Syria was held yesterday with the participation of Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi, Secretary-Gener-al of Qatar Red Crescent Soci-ety (QRCS).

To be executed in partner-ship with the Turkish Red Cres-cent, the project is funded by a generous donation from the Qatari philanthropist Mohamed bin Nasr Hassan Al-Nasr.

A delegation of QRCS is cur-rently visiting Turkey, compris-ing Dr. Fawzi Oussedik, Head of International Relations and In-ternational Humanitarian Law, Naglaa Al-Hajj, Head of Inter-national Development, and Mo-hamed Rashid Sunaid Al-Marri, relief volunteer.

The ceremony was attended by Al-Nasr, Ramazan Saygılı, member of the Turkish Red Crescent Administrative Board, and his accompanying delega-tion. During the inauguration ceremony at the project site, the delegation and attendees were briefed on the progress and mechanisms of work.

QRCS’s delegation took a tour of the “Turkish Red Cres-cent Sevgi Butiq Shop” in Ja-rabulus, to learn about the mechanism of work and attend the distribution of winter wear to displaced families.

The delegation then headed to the celebration site near the village of Al-Jamel village, Ja-rabulus. The project aims to secure a decent housing for the poorest displaced families in northern Syria, with a special focus on the families of widows, orphans, and persons with spe-cial needs. It consists of 80 55-sqm two-BHK apartments in 20 reinforced concrete two-story buildings.

Moreover, the project in-volves the construction of eight shops to create jobs for those in need. All other facilities includ-ing mosque, school, clinic, wa-ter tank, water supply system, water tower, roads, sidewalks, public parks, and administra-tion building will also be con-structed.

Upon the completion of the project, the apartments will be handed over to 80 destitute families, or 480 beneficiaries. The project will also create over 150 job opportunities for the residents, including 900 ben-eficiaries and their family mem-

bers.This year, QRCS is work-

ing on new housing projects to build a total of 1,116 housing units in three separate projects. Two years ago, it constructed 208 apartments in Al-Bab city, 116 in the “Hilal Village” project and 92 in the QRCS Town. Also, it constructed around 1,100 homes in five separate projects in the countryside of Idlib gov-ernorate over the past five years.

The delegation visited Al-Baydaa internally displaced person (IDP) camp in Jarabu-lus, where 150 food parcels are being distributed and 40 snow-damaged tents were replaced, as part of the emergency response project for the camps in north-ern Syria, which involves replac-ing 510 damaged tents; furnish-ing their floors with gravel; and providing 510 non-food kits, food parcels, and COVID-19 in-fection prevention.

In addition, comprehensive (preventive and treatment) pri-mary health care services at two health centers and a mobile clin-ic in Idlib. The centres and clinic were supplied with medications and medical consumables for free distribution to the patients. The number of beneficiaries of the project is estimated at more than 2,550.

‘All ministries contribute to achieving Healthy City recognition from WHO’

EL Adawy said, “We have ex-perts in this evaluation to make sure that they have achieved at least 80 percent of the indica-tors. They scored much higher than this,” she said.

The accreditation is for three years because they want to make sure that it was sustainable and it was not a one-time event. Howev-er, she said, adding that there are negotiations to make it five years.

The other countries which have been awarded the Healthy City recognition include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain (Manama was the first to be named), Oman and others.

According to her, the as-sessment to declare a place as a Healthy City depends on the po-tential on the ground.

“When the programme be-gins, it depends on the coordina-tion between the sectors. It can take one, two or three years,” she said.

For instance, in Qatar, they started in 2018 and despite the two years under COVID-19, they

have managed to achieve it by now.

According to her, Qatar Foun-dation’s Education City is the sec-ond education institution in the region to be named as ‘Healthy Education City’ after a university in Saudi Arabia.

The Healthy City programme in Qatar serves one of the strate-gic projects under the ‘Health in All Policies’ priority within the National Health Strategy (NHS) 2018-2022.

It is an inter-sectoral collabo-rative approach to improve the health and equity for all popula-tions by incorporating health con-siderations and implications into all decision-making processes and policies across government.

The programme focuses on four areas of work namely, estab-lishment of robust governance structure, community engage-ment and empowerment, behav-ioural change interventions, and strengthening monitoring and evaluation.

For her part, Director of Healthy City Network in Qatar Dr Sadriya Al Kohji said, “Already we

have a healthy city network which was launched at the beginning of 2020 where we have collabora-tions with all sectors which are contributing to health from dif-ferent ministries, NGOs and some private sectors. We did self-as-sessment for our projects on get-ting the accreditation and we sat with the health city network for our future plans in order to sus-tain a healthy environment and being accredited.”

According to her, all the min-istries are offering services that are contributing to health, for instance the Ministry of Interior provides security, the Ministry of Municipality do healthy urban planning, the Ministry of Envi-ronment monitors the air qual-ity, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education contributes through educational curriculum, the Ministry of Finance provides the budget for the projects, the Ministry of Development and oth-ers contribute in different ways.

“We cannot achieve this through the hospitals only. We share our plans with other sectors as well as the community.”

Achievement is culmination of efforts to develop all municipalities: Dr SubaieSUBAIE said, “This achievement is a cul-mination of efforts to develop all munici-palities in the country and to upgrade the level of projects and services provided to residents, to achieve the Ministry of Mu-nicipality’s strategic goals of maintaining eco-friendly cities with green, healthy, and scenic facilities; and enhancing the ‘ease of living’ and quality of life.”

Subaie expressed his appreciation to MoPH, QF and all relevant partners for their sincere efforts that led to the award-ing of two of Qatar’s largest and most im-portant municipalities as ‘Healthy Cities’ by the WHO, following the joining of three Qatari municipalities, namely Al Wakra, Al Shamal and Al Shahaniya, to the UNESCO Global Network of Learn-ing Cities.

For her part, Vice-Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Foun-dation HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani said that the physical and mental health of the community in Qatar is a basic pillar in promoting sustainability, adding that its dedication and preserva-tion is necessary to support Qatar’s en-deavours to achieve human and societal development.

She added that promoting the socie-

ty’s health and well-being requires a joint commitment and solidarity among vari-ous parties, including QF, which believes that opportunities to realize human po-tential increase in a cohesive and healthy society, as the institutions has always worked on making human development a priority for more than 25 years.

She noted that this commitment and joint cooperation between country’s various parties resulted in two munici-palities in Qatar obtaining the approval of the Health City from WHO.

She also stressed that QF is working on upgrading its system as a whole in order to support national programmes, empower society, and make more con-tributions within the framework of na-tional efforts to build healthier cities in the field of education, work, or daily lifestyles.

For his part, WHO Regional Direc-tor for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari said that the Health City approach is a comprehensive ap-proach that integrates multidisciplinary actions across different sectors, and encourages community engagement, partnership, empowerment and equality among city dwellers.

“Qatar has demonstrated significant commitment to improving health and

well-being and to strong cooperation among partners from government, aca-demia and civil society, ensuring that the health and well-being of its population remain a top priority,” he added.

It is noteworthy that a WHO del-egation paid a field visit to Doha and Al Rayyan municipalities earlier to evaluate their eligibility for Healthy City status.

The ‘Healthy City’ programme is global initiative launched by WHO, which aims at placing health on top of the social and political agenda of cities by promoting health, equity and sustain-able development through innovation and multisectoral change. The program is aligned with the Eastern Mediterra-nean Region vision 2023: health for all by all. ‘Healthy City’ status is awarded to cities around the world which meet the criteria set by the WHO.

The Healthy City program in Qatar serves one of the strategic projects under the ‘Health in All Policies’ priority within the National Health Strategy (NHS) 2018-2022.

The program focuses on four areas of work namely, establishment of robust governance structure, community en-gagement and empowerment, behavio-ral change interventions, and strength-ening monitoring and evaluation.

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