Huge boost to Qatar's water security plans

The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday on a working visit to Malaysia. The Amir was welcomed upon arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia Saifuddin Abdullah, Qatar’s Ambassador to Malaysia HE Fahad Mohammed Kafood and members of the Qatari embassy. (QNA)

QNABEIRUT

LEBANESE National Library in Beirut, which has been revived with funding from Qatar, was in-augurated by the Lebanese Presi-dent Michel Aoun on Wednesday. Qatar provided $25 million for the library’s rehabilitation and devel-opment project.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al Hariri.

In his speech, the Lebanese president thanked the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, the Father Amir HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, and the Qatari Govern-ment, which have been keen to fund the rehabilitation of the

National Library.Qatar’s Ambassador to Leba-

non HE Mohammed bin Hassan al Jaber conveyed the greetings of

the Amir and his congratulations to the Lebanon President, govern-ment and the people on the inau-guration of this cultural edifice in the centre of the capital, Beirut, which has been centre of many cultures and civilizations.

Beirut has maintained its cul-ture and unique identity in the east, and has become a landmark, unlike any other, he added.

Jaber thanked the Lebanese president for the inauguration of this iconic cultural landmark.

He said the Amir had issued directions to follow up the efforts made by the Father Amir since 2006 to promote the National Li-brary in Lebanon with the opening of this historical cultural edifice, which resembles Lebanon, the homeland of crafts, civilization and cultural wealth.

Lebanese National Library revived with $25 mn Qatari funding opens to public

AMIR ARRIVES IN KUALA LUMPURWASHINGTON HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, the Personal Representative of HH the Amir, conveyed the condolences of the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani to the family of former US President George H W Bush, the 41st President of the US, dur-ing the funeral ceremony held in Washington DC on Wednesday. (QNA)

Sheikh Jassim conveys Amir’s condolences on Bush’s death

A Turkish court on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for two suspects close to Saudi Crown Prince Moham-med bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul filed an application on Tuesday to obtain the warrants for Ahmad al Assiri and Saud al Qahtani, described in court documents as being “among the planners” of Khashoggi’s grisly killing.. The prosecutor’s office concluded that there is “strong suspicion” that Saud al Qahtani and Ahmed Asiri were among the planners of the murder. PAGE 10

Turkey seeks arrest of MBS

aides over Khashoggi murder

QNADOHA

IN a major boost to Qatar’s efforts to achieve water security, Qatar Gen-eral Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has an-nounced to launch the Water Security Mega Reservoirs Project at the pumping stations in Umm Salal area on December 11.

The QR14.5 billion project is being imple-mented in five regions of the country includ-ing in Umm Salal, Al Thumama, Rawdat Rashed and Umm Bi-raka. The implementa-tion of the mega project started in May 2015.

Currently, the to-tal capacity of the pro-ject is 960 million gal-lons of water, which will reach 2300 million gallons at the end of its first phase. This capacity will increase with the completion of all phases.

There are a total of 15 tanks with a

capacity of 100 million gallons per tank. The Water Security Mega Reser-

voirs Project is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The mega reservoirs are being built along with integrated

pumping stations in-cluding more than 650 km of interconnecting water pipelines.

The Deputy Amir HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al Thani launched the first phase of water pump-ing of the strategic mega reservoirs pro-ject in Al Thamama last July.

The project is part of the state’s plans and efforts to increase the strategic water storage and meet water needs in all areas.

It is considered the backbone of the water security in the

state in line with Qatar National Vi-sion 2030 and Kahramaa mission of providing high quality and sustain-able electricity and water for better living in Qatar.

Huge boost to Qatar’s water security plansKahramaa to launch mega reservoirs project at Umm Salal on December 11

The QR14.5 billion pro-ject is being implemented in five regions of the country.

The total capacity of the project is currently 960 million gallons of water, and will reach 2300 million gallons at the end of its first phase

Committee to regulate non-Qatari ownership and use of real estateDOHA The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft deci-sion to form a committee to regulate non-Qatari ownership and use of real estate and determine the committee’s work system and remuneration. The Ministry of Justice prepared the draft decision as part of completing the necessary deci-sions to activate the provisions of Law 16 of 2018, regulat-ing non-Qatari ownership and use of real estate.

The draft included the formation of the committee headed by a representative of the Ministry of Justice with the membership of representatives of the authorities concerned. As per the law, the committee will be entrusted with propos-ing areas where non-Qataris are allowed to own and use real estate, proposing the terms and conditions of non-Qatari ownership and use of real estate. It will propose the benefits, incentives and facilities granted to property owners and non-Qatari users, proposing fees and services in the areas determined by the Cabinet and any other functions ordered by a decision of the Council of Ministers. (QNA)

2022 World Cup to boost performance of banks in Qatar: Moody’s (PG 12 )

Two mega cruise ships arrive at Doha Port

Two mega cruise ships — MSC Lirica and Mein Schiff 4 — arrived at the Doha Port simultaneously on

Wednesday. The two ships brought more than 6,000 visitors to Qatar.

QU improves global ranking in computer science (PG 5)

There has been a marked decline in the emotional attachment Qataris feel with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in the post-blockade period, a new survey has pointed out. The results of National Identity Survey revealed that while a large proportion of Qataris feel strongly connected to the Islamic and Arab world, their attachment with the GCC states has seen a dramatic decline. “In December 2010, 66 percent of citizens said they felt very connected to Gulf countries. In November 2017, this figure dropped to 21 percent,” Majid al Ansari, director of Policy Depart-ment at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, said. PAGE 2

In December 2010, 66% citizens felt connected to the GCC countries. However, this figure dropped to

21% in November 2017

Now, Qataris feel much less attached to GCC: Survey

Report on UAE violations next month: NHRC chief

QNAGENEVA

QATAR’S National Commit-tee for Human Rights (NHRC) Chairman Dr Ali bin Smaikh al Marri has announced that a comprehensive report docu-menting Emirati violations of the International Court of Justice’s decisions and the UAE’s continuation of putting obstacles for Qatar’s citizens and residents will be out next month.

During a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights Michelle Bachelet in Geneva, the NHRC chief called on the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights to take urgent steps to stop the UAE violations and ensure compliance of Abu Dhabi with the ICJ decisions.

Marri praised the effective role played by UNHCR in ad-dressing the serious violations caused by the blockade of Qatar through its numerous reports and correspondence with the blockading countries, demanding the cessation of

human rights violations, and issuing the first official UN re-port that explicitly condemns such violations.

He also called on the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights to take meas-ures to ensure that the siege countries comply with the find-ings of the technical mission of the UN following a visit to Doha in November 2017.

Marri also discussed the issue of four Qatari nation-als arbitrarily detained by the Saudi authorities.

He called on the High

Commissioner for Human Rights to hold the Saudi au-thorities accountable for their whereabouts and press for their immediate release.

Marri conveyed to the High Commissioner the suf-fering of the families of the Qatari detained citizens in the absence of any information about their whereabouts.

He said the NHRC provid-ed all the information request-ed by the relevant UN bodies on the identity of Qatari na-tionals who are arbitrarily de-tained in Saudi Arabia.

He stressed that the NHRC will not remain silent and will continue its actions and take all legal measures until the citizens are released.

Marri also handed over reports of violations during a year and a half of the siege to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The NHRC chief also hoped that the next Gulf sum-mit will establish a mecha-nism to find a solution to the suffering of the victims of the siege and will redress them.

Fajr: 4:43 am Dhuhr: 11:25 amAsr: 2:24 pm Maghrib: 4:44 pm Isha: 6:14 pm

FINE

HIGH : 28°CLOW : 22°C

Business 12Expo to boost Qatar-Omani trade ties

Sports 16Kohli makes light of the hype surrounding him

Dr Ali bin Smaikh al Marri

THURSDAYDECEMBER 6, 2018

RABI AL-AWWAL 28, 1440VOL.12 NO. 4475 QR 2

Amir congratulates Thai king THE Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani on Wednesday sent a cable of congratulations to King Maha Vajiralongkorn of the Kingdom of Thailand on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

Deputy Amir greets king of ThailandTHE Deputy Amir HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al Thani on Wednesday sent a cable of congratulations to King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

PM congratulates Thai counterpartPRIME Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani on Wednesday sent a cable of congratulations to the Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

Personal Representative of Amir arrives in WashingtonHH the Personal Representative of the Amir Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani arrived in the US capital, Washington, on Wednesday to attend the funeral of former US President George H W Bush, the 41st president of the US. (QNA)

FM sends message to Greek Parliament presidentGREEK Parliament President Nikos Voutsis has received a written message from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani pertaining to bilateral relations and means of boosting them. The message was handed over by Ambassador of Qatar to Greece HE Abdulaziz Ali al Naama during a meeting with the Director of the Diplomatic Office of the Greek Parliament President S Theokharopoulos. (QNA)

News in brief

‘Amir’s visit to Malaysia an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations with PM’

QNA KUALA LUMPUR

MINISTRY of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia has described the Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani’s working visit to Malaysia and his talks with Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mo-hamad as an excellent opportu-nity for both leaders to discuss bilateral matters and exchange views on a range of interna-tional issues of mutual concern and interests.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said that HH the Amir is scheduled to have a meeting with the prime min-

ister, followed by a session of official talks in the presence of HH the Amir’s accompanying delegation and a number of sen-ior Malaysian officials.

The visit will mark the first official meeting between HH the Amir and the prime minister since Dr Mahathir took office in May, the press release added.

During the visit, HH the Amir will honour the winners of ‘Sheikh Tamim Anti-Cor-ruption International Excel-lence Award’ during a cere-mony that will take place on Friday in the Malaysian city of Putrajaya in cooperation with the United Nations, according to the press release.

PM OPENS LUSAIL MARINA WALKWAY

PRIME Minister and Minister of interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani inaugurated the Lusail Marina walkway, at a ceremony held in Lusail City on Wednesday evening. The prime minister also toured the walkway to get acquainted with the latest walkway services and facilities, which have been developed according to world-class standards. The event also featured aquatic shows. The event was attended by a number of their excellencies, sheikhs and ministers. (QNA)

Cabinet amends decision to include minister in key panelTHE Cabinet, at its weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister HE Sheikh Abdul-lah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani at Amiri Diwan on Wednesday, amended some provisions of its decision No 30 of 2017 setting up the Committee for Policies of Fi-nancing the State’s projects, to include HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry in the membership of THE committee.

The Cabinet also approved the financial budget needed for the activities of the Qatar Information and Communi-cation Technology Exhibition and Conference (QITCOM), scheduled to be held in Doha on October 29-30, 2019.

The Council of Ministers also approved the second exec-utive programme in education, higher education and scientific research of the educational and scientific cooperation agree-ment between the governments of Qatar and Sudan for the aca-demic years (2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021).

Furthermore, the Cabi-net approved that necessary measures be taken to endorse agreement between the gov-ernments of Qatar and Para-guay on the cancellation of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, official and private passports, as well as a memo-randum of understanding for cooperation in tourism and business events. (QNA)

Shura Dy Speaker meetsdelegation from EuropeDEPUTY Speaker of the Ad-visory (Shura) Council HE Mohammed bin Abdulla al Sulaiti met with the visiting Chairman of the Eastwest European Institute Giuseppe Scognamiglio and the del-egation of Italian students ac-companying him.

During the meeting, Su-laiti briefed the delegation on Qatar’s positions, its internal and external policies, as well as the legislative and supervi-

sory roles of the Council.The delegation praised

Qatar’s efforts in supporting the Arab-European relations for peace and stability in the region and the world, and ac-knowledged the state’s devel-opment in various fields.

The meeting was attend-ed by Assistant Secretary-General of the Shura Council Nasser bin Ali al Khater and a number of officials of the Council. (QNA)

Qataris feel much less attached to GCC: Study

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

SINCE the blockade was im-posed on Qatar by the Saudi-led bloc in June 2017, there has been a marked decline in the emotional attachment Qa-taris have with the Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC) states, a new survey shows.

This comes as part of the findings of the National Iden-tity Survey carried out by QU Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI). The survey, which aimed at identifying the key compo-nents of “identity” in Qatar to help policymakers in fram-ing national policies, included 1,226 adult Qataris as the re-spondents.

The results reveal that while a large proportion of Qataris feel strongly connected to the Islamic and Arab worlds, their attachment with the GCC states has seen a drastic decline.

Also, more than 99 percent of the Qataris expressed very strong attachment with their country.

“Compared with the pre-vious studies, there has been a decline in the percentage of citizens who expressed their

interest in the Gulf countries,” said Majid al Ansari, director of Policy Department at SESRI.

“In December 2010, nearly 66 percent of citizens expressed feeling very con-nected to Gulf countries. This percentage dropped down sig-nificantly in a study carried out after the blockade, in Novem-ber 2017, to just 21 percent,” Ansari noted.

“There is a great debate about the concept of nation-al identity. In this project, we have identified four key characteristics of the nation-al identity, namely the lan-guage, meaning the operative and the written including the local dialects, the official lan-guage and the linguistic struc-tures; religion; the local cul-ture, which is identified from dress and customs in various forms and manifestations; and finally, history, by which we mean the national history and its extensions.”

On the similarities or dif-

ferences between national identity on the one hand, and the Gulf, Arab and Islamic identities on the other, 93% of the citizens cited national identity as similar to Islamic identity.

On the social side, the re-sults show that 75% of the citizens meet with their fami-lies at least once a week, while 55% said they wear only Qatari dress at public places unless they are taking part in sports.

As for the importance of tribe or family in decision making, 40 per cent of the re-spondents said it was an im-portant factor in marriages; 35 per cent said it was a key factor in choosing a place to live; and 25 per cent saw it as pivotal in choosing the nature of work.

The study also shows that 86% of citizens prefer to teach their children the English lan-guage, while 73% believe that avoiding Arabic in the work-place negatively affects nation-al identity.

In December 2010, 66% citizens expressed feeling connected to GCC countries but this figure dropped to 21% in November 2017

The results reveal that while a large proportion of Qataris feel strongly connected to the Islamic and Arab world, their attachment with the GCC states has seen a drastic decline

Qatar committed to promoting educationQATAR has confirmed its com-mitment towards its pledge to the world in the field of educa-tion, wherein its constitution endorses that education is the main pillar in the society and a basic right.

Qatar has accorded great importance to this sector by in-creasing its allocated budget to

education to more than 13 per-cent of the gross domestic prod-uct (GDP), in addition to its continuous development of the educational and research cen-tres and sources of soft power.

Qatar is also keen on edu-cating students with special needs through qualifying many schools to be integra-

tion centres for them and im-plementing a comprehensive system for their evaluation.

At the Global Education Meeting in Brussels, Minis-ter of Education and Higher Education HE Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed al Hammadi said that Qatar started to shift to a knowledge-based econo-

my in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 which sets goals for sustainable development in all sectors.

With regards to Qatar’s keenness to achieve further partnerships globally in sup-porting education, Ham-madi said that the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad

al Thani announced recently Qatar’s pledge to provide quality education to a mil-lion girls in areas of conflict by 2021, part of supporting the Charlevoix Declaration on Quality Education for Girls, Adolescent Girls and Women in Developing Coun-tries. (QNA/BRUSSELS)

‘Qatar keen on Afghan reconciliation’MINISTER of State for For-eign Affairs HE Sultan bin Saad al Muraikhi has affirmed Qatar’s role in achieving na-tional reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan, through its role as a mediator between the conflicting parties, in coordi-nation and consultation with its strategic allies.

The minister made the re-marks while participating in

the meeting of foreign ministers of the countries taking part in ‘The Resolute Support Mission (RSM)’ at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Or-ganization (NATO) in Brussels on Wednesday.

He stressed Qatar’s stance in support of maintaining security and achieving peace and stabil-ity in Afghanistan, praising the role of NATO. (QNA/BRUSSELS)

02 Thursday, December 6, 2018

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

Submissions open for 2019 WISE Prize


THE World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an ini-tiative of Qatar Foundation, has opened the submission period for the 2019 WISE Prize for Ed-ucation - the first distinction of its kind to recognise outstand-ing, world-class contributions to education.

Established in 2011 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, the WISE Prize for Education raises the status of education by giving it similar prestige enjoyed in other areas for which international recog-nition exists, such as literature, peace and economics.

The WISE Prize for Educa-tion Laureate(s) will receive a $500,000 cash prize to help them continue their work in ed-ucation, as well as a gold medal.

Besides celebrating out-standing education leaders, the WISE Prize also supports re-cipients to shape the future of education, providing Laureates with tailored support over two years to grow their initiative and scale its impact.

Nominations can be sub-mitted from until 1pm GMT on February 26, 2019. They will be judged according to strict

criteria, with individuals or teams of up to six people being expected to show their com-mitment to education, demon-strate their capacity to gener-ate positive systemic change through their leadership, and prove that their projects have had sustainable impact.

In 2019, a panel of inde-pendent judges will select 12 WISE Prize finalists, who will then be required to submit a proposal outlining how they aim to use the WISE Prize funds. The jury will review proposals during the final eval-uation period before selecting the 2019 WISE Prize for Edu-cation Laureate(s).

The winner will be an-nounced during the open-ing plenary of the 2019 WISE Summit, which will take place in Doha from October 28 to 30, 2019.

The Laureate(s) will gain global visibility and opportu-nities to collaborate through various platforms, including the global summit and WISE events across the world, as well as WISE communications and publications.

Nominations for the 2019 WISE Prize for Education can be submitted online at: www.wise-qatar.org/2019-wise-prize-education

CCQ promotes Arabic language richness


THE Community College of Qa-tar (CCQ) celebrated the World Arabic Language Day with a host of activities organised by CCQ faculty and students.

The event was attended by the Ambassador of China to Qatar HE Li Chen, CCQ Presi-dent Dr Mohamed al Naemi, and the College Dean Dr Ab-dallah Hazaimeh, alongside a number of VIP guests and Ara-bic language experts.

The World Arabic Language Day commemorates approval of Arabic by the United Nations as one of its six official languages in 1973.

The activities ranged from interactive competitions and calligraphy exhibits to poetry recitations by students and speeches by experts that col-lectively defined this year’s theme ‘Our Language ... Crea-tivity and Delight’, which aims at highlighting the aesthetic as-pects of the Arabic language, as well as its ability to incorporate new terminology related to arts and sciences.

As this year’s main speaker, Li Chen talked about his experi-ence in learning Arabic, his ef-forts of teaching Arabic in China

and finally the collaborative re-lations between Qatar and his country.

The event’s guest speakers also discussed Arabic calligra-phy and supporting creativity and intellectuals in Qatar. More-over, the ceremony featured staging of a play titled ‘The Devil in Danger’. Written by celebrat-ed Arabic Writer Tawfik al Ha-keem, the play was performed in collaboration with the Theatre Arts programme at CCQ.

Commenting on the occa-sion, CCQ President Dr Naemi said: “We convene today to celebrate the World Arabic Language Day, and it is out of both pride and duty that we carry the banner of our beauti-ful language, for its greatness is not limited to a single chap-ter in the history of languages,

but extends in esteem as it is the language of Islam, our civi-lisation and heritage. Arabic is the language through which we communicate and express our feelings of joy and sorrow, hopes and aspirations, as well as our past, present and aspira-tions for the future.”

He added: “On this occa-sion, I would like to tell our stu-dents to always remain proud of our Arabic language, renew the covenant to preserve it, and strive to learn it, so that every-day becomes one where we cel-ebrate our beloved language.”

One of the event’s highlights was a speaking session on the making of ‘Doha Historical Dic-tionary’, a momentous literary project that chronicles the ori-gin, meaning and evolution of Arabic’s rich vocabulary over 20

centuries. With the first phase set to be launched later this month, the project – which has generously received the direct support and sponsorship of the Amiri Diwan and the Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani – is considered an extraordinary accomplish-ment, after several attempts by different Arab nations to launch a historical dictionary of the Ar-abic language have failed.

Dr Mohammed al Obaidi, deputy executive director of Doha Historical Dictionary Foundation and one of the pro-ject founders, pointed out that such attempts date back to the early 20th century, noting that the first phase of the project will include launching of the elec-tronic version of the dictionary and the print version will be

available in the second phase.On her part, Tahani Abu

Musa, the Arabic track co-ordinator at the college, commented:“With a long his-tory that dates back to the 6th century, Arabic is one of the most fascinating languages that combines strength, resilience and the ability to embrace the various arts and sciences, and also carries the perfect blend of elegance and eloquence.”

She elaborated: “Today, Arabic is the 5th most widely spoken language in the world with an estimated 390 million speakers, in addition to being the liturgical language of 1.6 bil-lion Muslims.”

The college concluded the ceremony with the honouring of the event’s participants and contest winners.

Ambassador of China to Qatar HE Li Chen.

Dr Mohamed al Naemi, CCQ President

World Arabic Language Day commemorates approval of Arabic by the UN as one of its six official languages

HMC urges people to get HIV test to mark World AIDS DayTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

HAMAD Medical Corpora-tion’s (HMC) Communicable Disease Center (CDC) is mark-ing World AIDS Day 2018 by urging people to ‘know their status’ and get tested for the virus and other sexually trans-mitted infections (STIs).

World AIDS Day is marked annually on December 1.

This week, HMC is holding a range of educational events across the organisation, as well as in the community, to raise awareness about the HIV infec-

tion, its prevention and how to get tested.

Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodefi-ciency virus (HIV).

There are 37 million peo-ple globally living with HIV/AIDS, with around one-third of these people unaware that they are infected.

In 2017, around 1.8 million people worldwide were newly infected with HIV.

HMC’s Head of Infectious

Diseases and AIDS Program Manager Dr Abdullatif al Khal said the main method of HIV transmission is through sex-ual intercourse with an HIV-infected person.

“We have seen an increase in the number of new infections this year and this is mainly among young people. Each year in Qatar, between 15 and 25 new HIV cases are diagnosed. This means we need to enhance our efforts to educate the com-munity about risks, how the virus is transmitted and how they can be tested. The earlier HIV is diagnosed, the better

the outcome of the treatment. Through education and aware-ness, we can help end the epi-

demic,” said Dr Khal.He added, “HIV is spread

mainly through physical contact during intercourse or by sharing injection needles with some-one who has HIV. It can also be transmitted from a mother to her child during pregnancy and childbirth. Therefore, eve-ry pregnant woman should be tested for HIV during the early stages of her pregnancy because treatment of the mother will prevent transmission of the vi-rus to her baby.”

Dr Khal said Qatar has put in place a National AIDS Pro-gram through the Ministry of

Public Health that is focused on raising awareness of the virus as well as providing comprehen-sive care to affected individuals living in the country.

“Under the national pro-gramme, anyone living in Qatar who is diagnosed with HIV is given the appropriate counsel-ling and the most advanced treatment available. They are also assured of confidentiality and support.” said Dr Khal.

Dr Hussam al Soub, senior consultant at HMC’s Infectious Diseases Unit, said HIV/AIDS is a type of STI, urging people to take steps to protect themselves

against all forms of sexually transmitted infections.

“Gonorrhea and syphilis are among the most common types of STIs. These are infec-tions that are passed from one person to another through in-timate physical contact, includ-ing sexual intercourse. STIs are very common and the World Health Organization estimates that more than one million STIs are acquired every day across the world,” said Dr Soub.

Dr Soub said regular testing for STIs is important because it is possible to have an infection and not be aware of it.

Dr Abdullatif al Khal.

Partial opening of Al Manaseer IntersectionTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE Public Works Authority (Ashghal) will partially open Al Manaseer Intersection to traffic after the removal of the temporary roundabout on Friday, December 7, in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic.

Ashghal recently converted the intersection into a temporary signal-controlled roundabout to facilitate expansion works on Al Manaseer In-tersection to accommodate the cur-rent and future traffic by constructing additional lanes.

Once fully completed, the in-tersection will consist of four main lanes, three lanes to turn left, and one dedicated U-turn lane on Al Forousiya Street.

This is in addition to construct-ing a new surface water network

and other infrastructure utilities as part of Al Furousiya Street

Development Project.The Public Works Authority will

instal road signs to guide motorists of

the diversion. Ashghal has requested all road

users to abide by the speed limit and follow the road signs to ensure their safety.

MoTC promotes private sector’s participation in transport projects

QNADOHA

THE Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) organ-ised a workshop to promote private sector’s participation in the coun-try’s transport projects.

The workshop ‘Private Sector Participation Strategy for Qatar’s Transport Projects in Qatar’ saw the participation of the Ministry of Finance, Qatar Chamber, Qatar National Bank (QNB) and Qatar Businessmen Association.

Director of the MoTC Techni-cal Affairs Department Sheikh Mo-hammed bin Khalid al Thani said the strategy reflects the vision of the wise leadership in supporting the private sector in making it a fundamental asset for the national economy by involving it in nation-wide development process.

“This is within the State’s keen-ness to develop policies, standards, regulation and programmes that encourage the private sector’s par-ticipation in Qatar’s economic de-velopment projects,” he said.

He said the MoTC has given an ideal example of promoting a broader private sector participation in mobility projects.

“This helps enrich Qatar’s pri-vate sector investment approach and thereby localise expertise and

applied technology,” he said.He added that the workshop

aims to clarify the great efforts that are being made by the ministry to involve the private sector in the implementation of projects and to present these efforts to the largest group of stakeholders, in addition to ensuring the adoption of projects that add real value to the develop-ment of Qatar.

“It is time to expand the private sector participation in all eligible government projects, particularly transport and communication pro-jects suitable for this partnership,” he said.

He stressed the importance of an environment, legal and regu-latory framework to ensure the success of such effort, as well as encouraging all relevant parties to develop an appropriate legal envi-ronment that supports the strategy of private sector participation in State projects.

The ministry had finalised a consultancy study on the project ‘Private Sector Participation Strat-egy for Qatar’s Transport Projects in Qatar’.

The new strategy includes an all-inclusive guide that explains the framework and mechanism of the private sector’s participation in rail, land, maritime and aviation trans-port projects.

Qatar attends Arab ministers’ meet in Egypt

QATAR participated in the 38th Ses-sion of the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers in Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh on Wednesday.

Qatar’s delegation was headed by Permanent Representative of Qatar to the Arab League HE Ambassador Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz al Sahlawi.

During the session, the council discussed a number of items on its agenda, including the preparation of the social files for the Arab summit in Tunis in 2019 and the fourth econom-ic and social development summit in Lebanon next year.

The council is also following up the implementation of the social el-ements of the sustainable develop-ment goals 2030 through the eradica-tion of multi-dimensional poverty in the Arab countries and the rights of persons with disabilities within the framework of sustainable develop-ment plan 2030.

Furthermore, the council reviews the participation of the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers in re-gional and international events rele-vant to its competence, the Arab strat-egy for older persons, the decision of Arab summit on supporting Somalia and the decision of the Arab Summit on supporting internally displaced persons in Arab countries. (QNA)

Nation 03Thursday, December 6, 2018

Vodafone implements Smart Bus solution in Shafallah Center buses


LEVERAGING their expertise as leaders in the Internet of Things (IoT), Vodafone Qatar has equipped all the 60 buses of Shafallah Center for Persons with Disability with Vodafone’s Smart Bus solution – which in-cludes Fleet Management and Video Surveillance -- to help make the children’s journeys safer and more efficient.

The Smart Bus Solution tracks the bus location and driver behaviour while provid-ing real-time traffic data and navigation for shorter jour-neys. The tracking portal is ac-cessed by the Shafallah Center through the internet, or on a mobile phone, and the telemat-ics tracking device sends event reports to the centre via e-mail and pop-up signals.

Via the Vodafone Video Sur-

veillance product, each bus is equipped with a smart IP cam-era that records all of the trips and enables the centre to access any camera in real-time via the web portal. The live streaming feed is transmitted via Voda-fone’s world class high speed network which is fully secure and encrypted.

Mohammed al Yafei, head of public sector at Vodafone Qa-tar, said, “We are honoured that the Shafallah Center has chosen Vodafone as its technology part-ner to keep more than 600 chil-dren safe. It gives us great pride

to use our expertise to enable organisations of all sizes in the country to optimise, automate and innovate using IoT technol-ogies relevant to their needs.”

Mohammed al Saadi, sup-port services department man-ager at Shafallah Center, said: “We would like to extend our gratitude to Vodafone Qatar for supporting the center by equipping our buses with the surveillance system. This step is in line with our efforts to provide better safety and pro-tection for the centre’s children at all times.”


QATAR Insurance Company (QIC), the leading insurer in the country, in collaboration with Syrian American Medical Cent-er marked the World Diabetes Day by organising an awareness workshop for its staff.

The workshop included a presentation on the risk factors of diabetes, its symptoms and early signs, strategies for pre-vention and treatment of the disease. The session also fea-tured free medical check-up for

the QIC staff. The attendees also benefited

from the talk given by diabetes educators and therapeutic nu-tritionists, who spoke at length about following a healthy diet and lifestyle.

The awareness campaign aligns with QIC Group’s ef-forts towards realising the Qatar National Diabetes Strat-egy launched by the Supreme Council of Health last year. It also puts a spotlight on the group’s mission as a responsi-ble employer in ensuring well-ness of its staff.

Abdulla al Mulla, group chief administrative officer of QIC, stated, “Besides being a core

part of our Corporate Social Re-sponsibility, this initiative re-iterates our commitment both as a corporate citizen and as a responsible employer. By rais-ing awareness of this disease and embarking upon initiatives such as this, we would like to ensure well-being of all our employees, who we consider our most im-portant asset.”

“Renewing our efforts under the theme ‘Preventing Diabetes Together’, we want to educate and raise awareness on aspects of the deadly disease, which many may not be aware of,” he added.

The workshop included a presentation on diabetes and a free medical check-up for the QIC staff.

QIC marks World Diabetes Day with awareness session for staff

Ooredoo unveils new safety devices for children and pets


PARENTS and pet owners in Qatar can now keep tabs on their children and their pets any time of the day and night, thanks to an exciting new launch from Ooredoo.

MyKi Touch and MyKi Pet – devices worn by a child or pet that connects with the MyKi mobile application – are fitted with GPS and GSM tracking, so parents and pet owners can identify the location of the de-vice any time.

They can also control, ob-serve and make adjustments to

the device using the MyKi ap-plication on any mobile device or tablet, or even through a web browser.

The MyKi Touch device of-fers enhanced safety features such as call blocking, which ensures the device can’t receive calls from unknown or blocked numbers, and special number speed dials whereby parents can set their own numbers as speed dials.

Parents can also input a set of authorised numbers to which the watch can make calls. And, in case of emergency, children can press an SOS button that automatically sends GPS co-

ordinates to their parents and initiates a call to the speed-dial number straight away.

Additionally, devices can be pre-set with zones so that if the device leaves or enters the zone, parents and pet owners will be notified straight away.

Manar Khalifa al Murai-khi, director PR and corporate

communications at Ooredoo, said, “Child safety is of para-mount importance. We un-derstand parents worry about their children, and equally pet owners worry about a beloved animal getting lost. With these simple yet highly effective de-vices, both parents and pet owners can relax a little more knowing they can track the lo-cation of the device their child or pet is wearing, and identify where that device is.

“With the MyKi device, they can also rest asured their child will be able to contact them easily in case of an emer-gency. At Ooredoo, the needs of parents – and indeed pet own-ers – are important to us and we’re pleased to be able to offer these devices and services to enhance their digital lives.”

In order to benefit from this revolutionary new safety concept, customers should purchase the tracker – avail-able for sale at a recommended retail price of QR325 for the MyKi Touch and QR275 for the MyKi Pet – and get hold of the micro SIM required to oper-ate it, available at any Ooredoo Shop. They then need to pay a monthly subscription fee of QR35 or, for the first year only, an advance yearly payment of QR 340. Thereafter, subscrip-tion will revert to monthly.

The MyKi Touch Pack subscription comes with 500 minutes of local calls per month and 0.5GB data, while the MyKi Pet Pack subscrip-tion includes 0.5GB data with calls and messages charged at standard out-of-bundle rates.

Ooredoo launches QR5 prepaid cardsTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

OOREDOO has announced the introduction of QR5 pre-paid cards, widening its cus-tomer base and making its services accessible to more people in Qatar.

The new prepaid card is intended to serve the needs of consumers who may not want long-term services or the more expensive cards.

It will be available in a number of options depending on customer requirements: A QR5 data card giving you 210MB data from purchase until midnight; a QR5 Hala Smart Card giving the cus-tomer 30 local minutes and 200MB promotional data, with the calls valid for 5 days from purchase and the data valid until midnight on the

day of purchase; a QR5 Dawli Card providing 30 interna-tional minutes to India, Nepal (NTC and Ncell), Philippines (Globe and SmartMobile) Pakistan, Bangladesh and In-donesia, with validity until midnight on date of purchase; and a QR5 Flexi card giving 30 Flexi points.

Manar Khalifa al Mu-raikhi, director PR and cor-porate communications at Ooredoo, said, “We are de-lighted to be expanding our prepaid card offering, ensur-ing our products and services are accessible to all sectors of our community. It’s im-portant to us that anyone who wants to use Ooredoo as their telecommunications provider can do so, and we look forward to welcoming many more customers to the Ooredoo family.”

MyKi Touch and MyKi Pet allow real-time tracking and controlling

By raising awareness of diabetes and embarking upon initiatives such as this, we would like to ensure well-being of all our employees, who we consider our most important asset’~ Abdulla al Mulla, group chief administrative officer of QIC

Chrysler 300 C models of 2015-2016 recalledTHE Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI), in collaboration with United Cars Almana, dealer of Chrysler vehicles in Qa-tar, has announced the recall of Chrysler 300 C models of 2015-2016 over a poten-tial defect in the AutoPark functionality system in the models.

The ministry has urged all customers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud De-partment. (TNN)

First of Rabia II 1440 Hon Saturday, says QCHTHE new crescent of the Hijric month ‘Rabia II 1440 H’ will be born on Friday, ‘Rabia I 29 1440 H’, (December 7, 2018) at 10.21am Doha time (7.21am Universal Time), according to the astronomical calculations by Qatar Calendar House (QCH).

Consequently, the first of Hijric month ‘Rabia II 1440 H’ will be on Saturday (De-cember 8), said Dr Beshir Marzouk, astronomer at QCH,

in a press statement.“The ‘age’ of the new cres-

cent of ‘Rabia II 1440 H’ will be 6 hours and 22 minutes at sunset time on Friday. The set time of the new crescent will be 5.01pm and the sunset at 4.44pm local time,” said Dr Marzouk. “The new crescent of ‘Rabia II 1440 H’ can be observed with the help of astronomical telescope from most Arabic and Islamic coun-tries,” added Dr Marzouk. (TNN)

Qatargas wins ‘Sword & Globe of Honour Award’ for fifth timeTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

IN recognition of its commit-ment to safety management and excellence in environ-mental management, Qatar-gas’ Commercial and Shipping Group was awarded, for the fifth consecutive year, the prestigious Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour by the British Safety Council.

In the presence of Qatargas Chief Executive Officer Khalid bin Khalifa al Thani, Qatargas Shipping Manager Abdur-rahman al Mulla received the awards at a ceremony in Lon-don recently.

Qatargas is one of the ten organisations worldwide that won the ‘double’ by being awarded both the Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour.

Commenting on the ac-colades, Khalid bin Khalifa al Thani, said, “Qatargas is very proud to receive the Sword of Honour and the Globe of Honour awards for the fifth

consecutive year. These pres-tigious awards are testament to the world-class standards we maintain at Qatargas, and most importantly, they recog-nise our commitment to op-erating safely, efficiently and reliably. On behalf of Qatar-gas, I would like to congratu-late the British Safety Council

for promoting excellence in workplace health, safety and environmental management.”

Mike Robinson, chief ex-ecutive of the British Safety Council, said: “The Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour awards recognise and reward the organisations that have reached the pinnacle of health

and safety, or environmental management. This is such a significant achievement be-cause it also requires an or-ganisation to demonstrate how they intend to continually improve in specific aspects of health, safety and environ-mental management.”

Lawrence Waterman, chairman of the British Safety Council, said: “The Sword and Globe award winners have set an example of excellence in the management of health, safety and environmental risk worldwide, further strength-ening the case for good health and safety at work. We should remember, however, that the management of health and safety is not only about acci-dent prevention. For a com-pany to be truly successful and for its employees to be engaged, committed and hap-py, it must create conditions where people are able to thrive at work. This is the true mean-ing of wellbeing and it’s our industry’s goal for the future.”

In the presence of Qatargas Chief Executive Officer Khalid bin Khalifa al Thani, Qatargas Shipping Manager Abdurrahman al Mulla received the awards at a ceremony in London recently.

MCI recalls GMC Savana modelsTHE Ministry of Commerce and Indus-try (MCI), in collaboration with Mannai Trading Company, dealer of GMC vehi-cles in Qatar, has announced the recall of GMC Savana models of 2014-2016 since liquid can leak into the driver’s power window switches. The ministry said the recall comes within the frame-work of its efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs. (TNN)

Woqod’s Open Day event attracts Qatari graduatesQATAR Fuel Company (Wo-qod) hosted an open induction day as part of its Qatarisation programme on Tuesday.

The event was scheduled in two phases to receive appli-cations for vocational training and development programme, as well as to offer an easy ac-cess for students to the induc-tion programme.

The event sought to attract

Qatari graduates to provide training and development op-portunities, and to engage in the work of a fuel company. It also aimed to support Qatar National vision 2030 for the development of human capital and enhancement of national competencies.

Eng Saad Rashid al Mu-hannadi, chief executive of-ficer of Woqod, said: “In

line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, Woqod is com-mitted to developing the Qa-tari human capital, with of-fering the best opportunities to join the Woqod workforce. This endeavour provided us an opportunity to meet with the graduate students and showcase them the tremen-dous opportunities that Wo-qod offers.” (TNN)

The event sought to attract Qatari graduates to provide training and de-velopment opportunities, and to engage in the work of a fuel company.

Nation04 Thursday, December 6, 2018

QF placing Qatar at epicentre of global biomedical research


FOR centuries, clinical research has paved the way for the colossal evolu-tion that medicine has undergone. For instance, the first time ether anaesthe-sia was used in 1846. It gave people the option of being sedated, effectively sparing them the agony of surgery without it. Further research ultimately led to the widespread use of the anaes-thetics that we are familiar with today.

Moving into the present day, Qatar Foundation (QF) is playing a key role in ensuring that this tradition of scientific discovery in the sphere of health is con-tinued through research that is focused on fields where the outcome and ben-efit will be directly felt within Qatar’s community, and beyond.

One such project by a research team at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), a QF partner university, has explored links between Type 2 diabe-tes and breast cancer. After a review of over 200 studies, the team found that women with diabetes not only ap-pear to have a higher risk of develop-ing breast cancer, but that diabetes also supports breast cancer progression and can negatively impact the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies. This break-through potentially paves the way for further research into better treatment avenues for women suffering from both diabetes and breast cancer.

While some QF research is direct-ed towards understanding the intrica-cies of disease and the corresponding therapy, it is also conducting exten-sive work to better understand the ge-netics of the Qatari and Arab popula-tions, helping to develop personalised treatments tailored to the characteris-tics of the region’s population, target-ing the most prevalent diseases with greater precision.

In this area of health science, one of QF’s initiatives is the development of the first Qatar gene chip, known as the ‘Q-Chip’. Qatar Genome Programme and Qatar Biobank – both members of QF – have partnered with the Depart-ment of Genetic Medicine at WCM-Q for the project. The partnership also

includes the Diagnostic Genomic Divi-sion at Hamad Medical Corporation, as well as the research team at QF mem-ber Sidra Medicine, a state-of-the-art healthcare facility that encompasses innovative biomedical and clinical re-search and discovery.

The chip will contain gene vari-ants specific to the Qatari population, identified through the sequencing and genetic screening of thousands of Qatari citizens.

In her speech at the recent grand opening of Sidra Medicine, Her High-ness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, an-

nounced the completion of the first phase of the Qatar Genome Project, which has completed the genome se-quencing of 10,000 Qataris, and the development of the ‘Q-Chip’.

Sidra Medicine’s own research pro-gramme is currently focusing on iden-tifying disease components specific to the people of Qatar, with, according to Professor Christ of von Kalle, chief re-search officer, Sidra Medicine, a strong commitment to producing research that can directly translate into better treatment outcomes for patients and their families.

He said, “Working with local and

international partners, we are com-mitted to a common goal to foster a unique environment of collaboration and learning that will help us pio-neer innovative scientific and clini-cal programmes for the benefit of the people of Qatar, the Middle East re-gion and beyond. This is what forms the foundation of our journey to personalised medicine.

“We are undertaking an extensive study to understand the biochemical and genetic causes of diabetes mellitus in every child in Qatar. Understanding this will help us to pioneer personal-ised treatments for all children with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, with the aim of improving the quality of life of these patients.”

“Another area of priority research for Sidra Medicine is genomic research. From a medical perspective, this will help both in terms of diagnostic accura-cy and by improving predictive clinical decision-making frameworks for rare and complex disorders in the country,” he said.

Research can also often lead to the discovery of more cost-effective – but still medically effective – testing meth-ods for existing diseases and disorders, providing the community with more accessible options. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at Carnegie Mel-lon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a QF partner university, has proven this by developing an inexpensive test to screen for sickle cell anaemia, utilising a tool used for genome editing to help screen for carriers of the disorder.

The technology developed by the team at CMU-Q uses a small robotic device to detect the presence of the sickle cell anaemia gene in the DNA in saliva samples, accompanied by a mo-bile app to help interpret the results.

Not only is the research conducted at QF’s entities – also including the work of Qatar Biomedical Research In-stitute, part of QF member Hamad Bin Khalifa University – at the forefront of medical science in the region, it is continually expanding the possibilities for healthcare and identifying new ave-nues of discovery which can ultimately improve people’s lives.

Research conducted at Qatar Foundation is continually expanding the possibilities for healthcare and identifying new avenues of discovery which can ultimately improve people’s lives.

Research conducted at Qatar Foundation is at the forefront of medical science in the region and beyond

QU improves ranking in THE 2019 report


QATAR University (QU) continues to be recognised in Times Higher Education (THE) 2019 rankings, plac-ing 201–250 in Computer Science for the second year and 176–200 in Engineering & Technology. QU has im-proved in its computer science ranking from 2018, where the university previously placed 251-300. The announcement was made by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings recently.

The Computer Science ranking evaluates world class universities across all of their core missions, teaching, re-search, knowledge transfers and international outlook, while the Engineering & Tech-nology ranking highlights universities that are leading across electrical, mechanical, civil, chemical and general en-gineering subjects.

Commenting on the an-nouncement, QU President Dr Hassan al Derham said, “This is a proud achievement for Qatar University. We are pleased to see the fruits of our commitment and dedica-tion to quality education and to steering the organisation in the direction of world-class standard in research, teaching, international outlook, and in our strong links with industry. This achievement will resonate not only throughout the QU community but also to par-ents, prospective students and faculty, industry partners, and our academic collaborations at home and abroad.”

THE World University Rankings Editor Phil Baty said, “Qatar University’s per-formance is particularly im-pressive this year, because

Times Higher Education has added many new additions to its rankings database. As more and more universities apply to be judged against THE’s rigorous, global perfor-mance indicators, the compe-tition gets more intense, and universities have to run just to stand still in the zero-sum rankings. So to move up in these circumstances is a great achievement and testament to the hard work of many people at Qatar University.”

QU is hosting The Times Higher Education Emerging Economies Summit 2019 on January 14-16, 2019, in col-laboration with Times Higher Education (THE), in which world-class experts, top lead-ers from university and indus-try sectors, policymakers and many more players from the world’s emerging economies will gather to share exper-tise with the aim of advanc-ing knowledge economies for high-value return to societies.

Phil Baty says of the sum-mit, “We are very excited to be hosting a major international summit with Qatar University in January, where global uni-versity leaders can share best practice and see at first hand the resilience shown by Qatar University and the great social impact it is having.”

Dr Hassan al Derham, Qatar University President

In the Times Higher Education 2019 rankings, QU Computer Science placed 201–250 for the second year and 176–200 in Engineering & Technology. QU has improved in its computer science ranking from 2018, where the university previously placed 251-300.

Nation 05Thursday, December 6, 2018



WITH more than 80,000 outpatient appointments re-corded since opening its first clinics in December 2016, Hamad Medical Corpora-tion’s (HMC) state-of-the-art Qatar Rehabilitation Institute (QRI) continues to provide high-quality care to patients with disabilities.

The QRI has expanded HMC’s capacity to care for pa-tients with impairments and activity limitations, including those recovering from illness and traumatic injury.

The facility, which is the region’s largest tertiary reha-bilitation hospital, includes seven hydrotherapy pools and 10 dedicated exercise rooms, providing patients with faster access to specialised rehabilitative care.

In recognition of the In-ternational Day of Disabled Persons, Dr Wafa al Yazeedi, chairperson of Rehabilitation for QRI, said HMC focuses on helping individuals with disabilities to access the care they need.

She said QRI provides world-class integrated reha-bilitation services and the most technologically-advanced pa-tient-centred care.

Dr Yazeedi said QRI of-fers five main rehabilitation programmes, including pro-grammes for patients who are recovering from a stroke, trau-matic brain injury and spinal cord injury, as well as for pa-tients with pain management and paediatric rehabilitation care needs.

She added that QRI also provides general rehabilitation services that include inpatient care and rehabilitation, day care rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and community-based rehabilitation.

“Our rehabilitation pro-grammes are adapted accord-

ing to each patient’s needs by our interdisciplinary team of clinicians and therapists. Our teams work together to develop a personalised programme of care for each of our patients ac-cording to their individual re-habilitation requirements. Our goal is the reintegration of the patient into the community. We work to help our patients resume activities meaningful to them,” Dr Yazeedi said.

According to her, glob-ally, the number of people liv-ing with disabilities has risen sharply in recent years and is continuing to increase.

She said this has led to an increase in demand for reha-bilitative services.

“The number of people with disabilities is growing due to the global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular dis-eases, stroke and mental health disorders,” she said.

“Arthritis and other mus-culoskeletal problems are among the most common causes of long-term disabil-ity. These ailments make up as much as a third of all disability cases with arthritis being one of the biggest single causes. Other muscle and joint prob-lems, including patients with a bad back, bones that do not mend and bad hips, are also common causes of disability,” Dr Yazeedi added.

She said many people in-correctly assume that accidents and traumatic injury are the most likely causes of disability.

According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Pre-vention, less than 10 percent of disability cases are caused by accidents.

Dr Yazeedi said most per-manent disabilities can be pre-vented, especially if the disa-bling illness is discovered early enough for medical interven-tion to be effective.

According to the Unit-ed Nations, worldwide, around one billion people live with a disability – which is roughly 15 percent of the global population.

QRI offers personalised care for people with disabilities

Sidra Medicine pathologistwins Marian Malone PrizeTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

DR William Mifsud of Sidra Medicine’s Department of Pa-thology was recently presented with the Marian Malone Prize at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Paediatric Pathology Soci-ety in Paris, France.

Dr Mifsud was awarded the prize for his paper about the evolution of Wilms tumours1, the most common type of kid-ney cancer in children. His paper defined the evolutionary patterns underlying Wilms tu-mour growth and showed that relapse in high-risk cases may be predicted by the burden of genetic changes across multi-ple samples from each tumour.

Dr Mifsud joined Sidra Medicine as a Junior Attend-ing Physician in Paediatric Pathology from Birmingham Children’s Hospital in April 2018 after training at Great Or-mond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London. His research was carried out in partnership with researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, in London.

Dr Mifsud’s paper high-lights that a subset of Wilms tumour patients whose relapse can be predicted by studying genomic events across multi-ple tumour samples.

Dr Mifsud said, “The chance of relapse in a high-risk Wilms tumour is 50 percent, with limited possibilities of be-ing able to better predict or rule out relapses in individual cases before our work. By multisam-pling Wilms’ and possibly oth-

er paediatric cancers, we can obtain a more sensitive over-view of the degree of genomic instability across an individual cancer. This can refine our pre-diction of aggressive behaviour in the cancer, and therefore help to tailor the treatment for each case.”

Dr Mifsud is considering to extend the second part of his study in Qatar, to focus on all paediatric solid tumours, es-pecially those involving cases seen at Sidra Medicine.

Dr Rusung Tan, chair of the Department of Pathol-ogy at Sidra Medicine, said, “Dr Mifsud’s recognition for this ground-breaking study is also reflective of the type of highly specialised teams we have at Sidra Medicine. Our combined efforts to develop the best possible paediatric diagnostic service, will have a key impact on the healthcare outcomes for not only Qatar’s but also the region’s children and young people.”

The Marian Malone Prize was established in 2016 for the best presentation of a surgical paediatric pathology abstract by a young pathologist at the annual meeting of the Paediat-ric Pathology Society.

The facility, which is the region’s largest tertiary rehabilitation hospital, includes seven hydrotherapy pools and 10 dedicated exercise rooms, providing patients with faster access to specialised rehabilitative care.

Dr William Mifsud.

QRI provides integrated rehabilitation services for patients with impairments and activity limitations

Our rehabilitation programmes are adapted according to each patient’s needs by our interdisciplinary team of clinicians and therapists. Our teams work together to develop a personalised programme of care for each of our patients according to their individual rehabilitation requirements. Our goal is the reintegration of the patient into the community

~ Dr Wafa al Yazeedi, Chairperson of

Rehabilitation for QRI

Sheikh Mohamed al Thani set to deliver lecture on Qatar’s founder at QNLTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

HE Sheikh Mohamed al Tha-ni, author of the book ‘Jassim the Leader: Founder of Qatar’, will deliver a lecture at Qatar National Library on Friday, December 7.

He will highlight the vision of Qatar’s founder Sheikh Jas-sim al Thani and his legacy in driving Qatar’s economic, so-cial and cultural development.

Entitled ‘The Vision of the Leader: Founder of Qatar’, the lecture will outline Qatar’s qualitative shift and discuss how the founder’s legacy is paving the way for the nation’s remarkable transition into a knowledge-based economy.

“It is important for the people of Qatar to reflect on the vision of their forefathers and how those efforts are now fuelling the country’s eco-nomic prosperity,” said Amani Saleh Alyafei, head of Science at Qatar National Library. “We are proud to host Sheikh Mo-hamed to help us understand our founder’s vision and lega-cy on the occasion of the Na-tional Day.”

“It has always been a pleas-ure for me to read and write about Sheikh Jassim’s vision and legacy. I thank Qatar Na-tional Library for taking such high interest in our founder’s history and achievements in this critical time of our na-tion,” said Sheikh Mohamed al Thani

The lecture is part of the Library’s month-long cel-ebration of Qatar National Day, and will take place from 5:30pm to 7pm.

Interested individuals can register at: www.qnl.qa/events.

HBKU to hold array of events at Darb Al Saai to mark National DayTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

HAMAD Bin Khalifa Univer-sity’s (HBKU) colleges and re-search institutes are set to host an array of activities to engage the wider community in cel-ebrations that mark Qatar Na-tional Day on December 18.

The activities taking place at the Qatar Foundation tent at Darb Al Saai from Decem-ber 12 to 20, will aim to edu-cate visitors about some of the university’s key focus ar-eas, including science; energy and environment; comput-ing and biomedical research; as well as the HBKU Press’ literary works.

Maryam Hammad al Mannai, vice-president for student affairs at HBKU, said: “As HBKU is establishing itself as a recognised name within the domain of interna-tionally-acclaimed graduate institutions, the current stu-dent body enjoys vast benefits of the latest state-of-the-art facilities and the expertise of remarkably motivated fac-ulty. These are integral fac-

tors that sustain our educa-tional experience, which is defined by a distinctive aca-demic infrastructure and rich extracurricular options.”

“Our activities at Darb Al Saai cater to all age groups and we invite families to join us in celebrating Qatar as a nation, along with all of its achieve-ments in the spheres of sci-ence and research,” she added.

The College of Science and Engineering will host various computing and gaming ac-tivities, as well as a vocabulary challenge for children aged 7 – 11. These activities are based on game design research and human-computer interaction (HCI) techniques developed by faculty experts within the college. Visitors aged 5 and above will also be able to play

a custom design digital piano and get first-hand exposure to technical aspects related to the design, including electrical circuits, coding and controls.

In addition, visitors can learn how to measure their pulse at the College of Health and Life Sciences’ platform. Visitors can also engage in organ-colouring activities to learn about body systems. Various activities will inform visitors about calorie counts and allow them to view cells under the microscope.

Qatar Computing Re-search Institute’s hands-on activities at Darb Al Saai will aim to nurture children’s in-terest in technology. Activities will include technology fun and robotics.

Meanwhile, Qatar Envi-ronment and Energy Research Institute will host interactive and educational activities, including a sustainability mi-cro-grid, identifying renew-able energy sources, and un-derstanding how to conserve energy at home. QEERI’s activities will also showcase weather forecasting activities.

A Start as a stem cell! game designed by Qatar Bio-medical Research Institute will introduce visitors to the idea that cells differentiate to produce mature cells and that differentiation pathways are controlled by signals within and outside the cell with stem cells initiating these path-ways. Visitors will also be able to understand disease con-cepts and risk factors, as well as visually spot the differences between a ‘healthy cell’ and a ‘sick cell’.

HBKU Press will be pro-moting a love for reading among young visitors through a story-telling corner, which will highlight some of the pub-lishing house’s most popular children’s books to be read by HBKU Press authors.

Activities will be show-cased at Darb Al Saai from 3 pm – 11 pm on December 12; 9 am - 1 pm and 3:30 pm – 11 pm on December 13; 2 pm – 11 pm on December 14; 9 am – 1 pm and 3:30 pm – 10 pm from December 15 - 19; and 9 am – 1 pm and 3:30 pm – 11 pm on December 20.

HE Sheikh Mohamed al Thani.

The activities taking place at the Qatar Foundation tent at Darb Al Saai from December 12 to 20, will aim to educate visitors about some of the university’s key focus areas.

QNL to cooperate with key Russian institutions on historical researchTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

AS Qatar and Russia celebrate their bilateral relations, the 2018 Year of Culture between the two nations has been sup-ported by Qatar National Li-brary (QNL) through a series of activities.

Dr Sohair Wastawy, execu-tive director of QNL, recently participated in the seventh Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum and delivered a talk on the importance of tradi-tional libraries in the changing technological landscape.

In a visit to the Boris Yelt-sin Presidential Library, one of the national libraries in Russia, Dr Wastawy met with its Act-ing Director-General Valentin Sidorin. They discussed joint cultural, scientific and technical projects and several digital doc-uments from QNL’s collections were handed over to the Presi-

dential Library to add to their Qatar collection. Both institu-tions recently signed an agree-ment to collaborate on areas of mutual interest in the future.

“We are delighted to mark the Year of Culture, a historic occasion between both nations, and an opportunity for us to expand our relationship with libraries in Russia. Our discus-sions with partner institutions in Russia will result in impor-

tant historical research and cul-tural exchange programmes,” said Dr Wastawy.

Dr Wastawy also met with Dr Efim Rezvan, deputy direc-tor, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Acad-emy of Sciences. During their meeting, she illustrated the progress in developing Qatar’s library culture and the library’s approach to digitisation and

preservation of history. IFLA Preservation and

Conservation (PAC) Center at Qatar National Library and IFLA PAC Center in Russia organised a learning exchange programme to provide voca-tional training for a member of the library’s preservation and conservation team. Chanaka Perera, conservation techni-cian at Qatar National Library, participated in a week-long training course and a confer-ence that took place in Russia.

In collaboration with the International Center for Music in Doha, the library organised an evening of Russian music last week. The event featured a recital by renowned Russian pianist Nina Ivanova, with her repertoire including pieces by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Ra-chmaninoff. The Kamerton choir - conducted by Olga Pro-topopova - performed Russian folk songs.

The Qatar Russian 2018 Year of Culture has been supported by Qatar National Library through a series of activities.

‘Urban Experience’ wowsMall of Qatar audiencesFOLLOWING the success of the Taste Tour, Mall of Qa-tar continues to entertain the nation with the brand new Urban Experience show at its iconic Ooredoo stage.

The high-energy show is live every day at 6.30pm and 8.30pm until December 8.

The Urban Experience is a Ukraine-based dance crew that has achieved extraordinary success across the globe, in collaboration with renowned artistes such as Rita Ora. They are performing in Qatar for the first time with a unique 360 degree show combining styles and genres, including a bike ex-treme act, modern street danc-es, break dance and circus arts.

“All the shows performed at Mall of Qatar are hand-picked to make sure our visitors enjoy a shopping experience like no other. Urban Experience is an amazing troupe of internation-al artistes that we know will

inject some fantastic energy into everyone’s visit to Mall of

Qatar,” said Stuart Elder, Mall of Qatar CEO. (TNN)

Health Beat

Nation

THE Romanian community in Qatar, led by Romanian Am-bassador HE Dr Cristian Tu-dor, celebrated with great en-thusiasm and patriotic fervor

the 100th year of ‘The Great Union’ of modern Romania. Patriotic songs by re-nowned Romanian singer Oana Tomoia-ga and dances by professional perform-ers in their colorful traditional dresses jazzed up the celebration.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tudor said, “Tonight we celebrate the National Day in the year that marks the Centenary of the Great Un-ion, one of the most impor-tant historical moments: the reunification of Romanians from the Old Kingdom-- Bessarabia, Bucovina, Tran-sylvania, Banat, Crişana and Maramureş--into one state. One hundred years ago, the peo-ple of Romania ac-complished “the Great Union”, which laid the foundation of the modern state of Romania. From that day on, we continue to cel-ebrate the unification of Romania as a symbol of the will of the Romanian people,” said the ambassa-dor at recently hosted re-ception by him at Shera-ton Grand Hotel Doha.

Present on the occasion were HE Abdul-lah bin Abdulaziz Turki al Subey, Minis-ter of Municipality and Environment, H E Ahmad al Hamadi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Am-bassador Ibrahim Fakhro, Director of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ali Ibrahim Ahmed, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Qatar, guests and a large number of community mem-bers of Romania.

He said, “I believe we ought to spare a moment to note the impor-tance of the European reconcilia-tion for the European unity that led to the creation of the Euro-pean Union. Also, we should re-flect on the nature of the threats of the past that remain potent even today, such as the disregard for the international law and

choosing violence over dialogue.”

Promoting in-c l u s i v e n e s s ,

upholding in-t e r n a t i o n a l law, deepen-ing political

dialogue, re-spect for human

rights, mediation and cooperation in

multilateral fora are just some of the key factors that states must continue to uphold in order to prevent

the further deterioration of the security environment.

Romanian envoy congratulated Qa-tar on ‘handling the crisis since the Gulf

rift began under the wise guidance of the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. The State of Qatar has emerged stronger. The latest reforms undertaken by Qatar, including the ones acknowl-

edged by the ILO are clearly showing the direction Qatar is taking for protection of the human rights. We also believe in and wish to see a strong and unified GCC and we hope that with the help of the Kuwaiti mediation, the GCC states will eventually reach a new understanding for regional cooperation based on mutual respect and shared trust, he added.

On Qatar-Romania relations, Dr Tu-dor said, ‘It has been an exceptional year for the bilateral relations between Roma-nia and the State of Qatar. “This year on March 7th, EU and Qatar signed a coop-eration agreement in Brussels, and next month both sides will hold a new meet-ing in Doha on various issues of mutual interest. He said that Prime Minister of Romania, Viorica Dăncilă together with a large ministerial delegation paid an of-ficial visit to Doha on 6-7 November, the second visit of a Romanian PM to Qatar in less than three years. This demonstrates how important Qatar is for Romania and the political will of this Government to elevate the cooperation with the State of Qatar. On this occasion three agreements were signed in the field of agriculture, tourism and diplomatic training.

Romanian envoy expressed his con-fidence that in the years to come strong bilateral relations between both the countries will continue to grow opening new avenues of cooperation. Romania has a stronger presence today in Qatar and this upward trend will be certainly maintained.

The Ambassador of Romania lauded contributions of his 3,000-strong com-munity towards the development of Qatar under the wise leadership of the Amir.’

Romanians mark centenary of national day with patriotic fervour

Oana Tomoiaga in traditional attire performs at the event.Glimpses of the professional performers dancing in their colorful traditional dresses.

(From left) HE Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki al Subey, Minister of Municipality and Environment, HE Christian Tudor, HE Ahmad al Hamadi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhro, Director of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Ali Ibrahim Ahmed, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

Slice of the West07Thursday, December 6, 2018

Reports by Ashraf Siddiqui For events and press releases email [email protected] or call (974) 4000 2222

The US Embassy in Doha has participated actively in many activities at the ongoing Doha Book Fair being held at the Doha Exhibition and Conference Center.

The Embassy organises various activities on a daily basis, most notably educational sessions on the study in the United States of America, workshops to teach children drawing skills and other session on how to read a story for your child.

The US pavilion at the Book Fair has been drawing a large number of inquisitive visitors.

US EMBASSY PAVILION A BIG HIT AT THE DOHA BOOK FAIR

Speaking on the occasion, Romanian Ambassador to Qatar HE Dr Cristian Tudor said, “Tonight, we celebrate the National Day in the year that marks the centenary of the Great Union, one of the most important historical moments for Romania.”

Visitors at the US pavilion at the Doha Book Fair being held at the Doha Exhibition and Conference Center.

Renowned Romanian singer Oana Tomoiaga

THE cover of a recent issue of The Econo-mist magazine highlighted a heartening story: ‘Staying alive: Why the global sui-

cide rate is falling’. Inside, we learn, “Glob-ally the rate has fallen by 38 percent from its peak in 1994. As a result, over 4 million lives have been saved.”

One country, however, is a stark ex-ception to this welcome improvement: the United States. The federal Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention reports that since 1999, the suicide rate has risen by 33 percent, and the trend has accelerated since 2006. Some 45,000 people kill themselves each year, more than the number who die in auto accidents. That is not the only grim news. More than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year – which is an aver-age of 191 per day. That was up from 63,632 the previous year.

These two developments have produced a three-year decline in Americans’ life ex-pectancy, the longest such reduction since a century ago, when World War I and a dev-astating worldwide flu epidemic cut short a vast number of lives.

The big difference this time is that peo-ple are dying of self-inflicted causes, not huge global events far beyond individual control. They suggest that many people find some conditions of modern American life, even during a period of economic prosper-ity, too painful to bear. “We are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield.

Why this is happening is hard to deci-pher. The highest suicide rates are among men over the age of 45. The most rural ar-

eas have been particularly affected, with the age-adjusted rate jumping 53 percent since 1999 – compared with 16 percent in the most urban places.

Overdose deaths occur disproportionate-ly in one part of the country, with the highest rates in West Virginia, Ohio, New Hamp-shire, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Unlike suicides, they are roughly as likely to occur among city dwellers as their country cousins.

What can be done? Locating the sources of misery that drive people to such options is important. Princeton economist Anne Case says the increase of “deaths of despair” is “consistent with the labour market col-lapsing for people with less than a college degree. In turn, those people are being less able to form stable marriages, and in turn that has effects on the kind of economic and social supports that people need in order to thrive.” Reversing those maladies won’t be easy or quick.

On the overdose side, steps have been taken that should help. A bill signed by Presi-dent Donald Trump in October makes some useful changes to expand access to drug treatment. Expanding treatment for men-tal health problems and substance abuse would also help to save people from suicide and drug overdose. The expansion of Med-icaid in most states under the Affordable Care Act has made mental health treatment easier to obtain. The Trump administration has offered waivers to states that want to provide more inpatient care for both sub-stance abuse and mental health.

Faced with an epidemic of deaths from despair, Americans need to join together in the task of restoring hope.

‘Deaths Of Despair’: The Grim

Decline In US Life ExpectancyAround the world, suicide rates are falling except for the US where suicides and drug overdoses produce a

three-year decline in Americans’ life expectancy

(Tribune News Service)

ONE of the clear messages of the midterm elections was the enthusiasm Americans have for the Affordable Care Act. Now

that more people have better access to indi-vidual health insurance, they want to keep it.

It’s time for Congress to move on from fighting Obamacare and work to improve it. The midterm elections, which resulted in a strong Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, should help. Ideas that had bipartisan support in the Senate, but were previously blocked in the House, should now have a clearer path to the president’s desk.

Open enrollment for 2019 insurance under the ACA began just before the elec-tion and will close on Dec 15. Washington residents continue to show enthusiasm for Obamacare, with enrollment at Washing-ton Healthplanfinder up 3 percent over last year’s numbers. Despite marketing cutbacks from Congress and the Trump administra-tion, results so far show this is going to be another good enrollment year. Obamacare is not a failed policy, and it is far from dead.

In polls and on the ballot, voters are saying yes to keeping Obamacare. People in four red states — Montana, Idaho, Nebraska and Utah — smartly voted in November to expand access to Medicaid. This key com-

ponent of the ACA was designed to expand access to health care by raising the eligibil-ity threshold to the working poor.

Now Congress needs to work to make health care affordable for everyone who doesn’t have insurance through employment.

Congress could shore up the individual insurance market by voting to continue cost-sharing subsidies. Lawmakers also should block the administration’s proposal to offer low-cost, low-benefit plans. And they should restore money to promote the state and federal health-insurance exchang-es and the benefits of having insurance.

The Washington state Legislature can do its part by enacting Insurance Commis-sioner Mike Kreidler’s proposal for a state reinsurance programme — or insurance for the insurance companies when they face big claims. Reinsurance would cost Washington an estimated $200 million, with a quarter of that coming from the federal government.

All of these changes would lead to more affordable insurance for the masses, a stronger insurance marketplace and health-ier Americans. The Affordable Care Act is a popular programme that is here to stay. Congress should focus its political energies on making Obamacare stronger.

Time To Shore Up Obamacare

(Tribune News Service)

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

PRINTED AT ALI BIN ALI PRINTING PRESS

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

Opinion

Development And Women Empowerment

TO think of a developed country, a per-son should consider a wider range of important aspects including the role of women in the development process and the rights given to them. With

development arises the idea of women’s empowerment, as they are given the rights to participate in programmes and projects that did not consider women’s engage-ment and role initially. In Qatar, there has been a paradigm shift, especially with the implementation of the Qatar National Vi-sion 2030, making sure women’s partici-pation in the economic activities increases speeding up the pace of development in the country.

Women employment around the region has been increasing, and, according to a re-cent study, Qatar leads with women mak-ing up 51 percent of the current workforce.

There are various reasons why women in the past faced barriers to becoming an active individual exercising their inalien-able right to education and work and lim-iting their role to household chores while

prioritising the role of male as the domi-nant caretaker of the family. However, this has changed, especially during the last two decades due to the establishment of top-notch educational systems that allow females equal opportunity to access the best education. This is evident from the fact that the percentage of female students in different universities in Qatar is more than that of males. This only shows the shift towards the empowerment of women and the vital part they are being allowed to play in the development of society and the country.

The lack of recognition and trust in women in the past as regards their abil-ity to perform in different spheres of hu-man activities as we see exceptional Qatari women taking lead in important jobs -- from health to engineering and businesses.

The important decision-making role undertaken by HE Lolwah Rashid al Khater, the Official Spokesperson of the Qatari Foreign Ministry provides a re-markable example of the trust reposed in today’s Qatari women being given great-er responsibilities. This is a crucial job

Lolwah is handling, especially in view of the siege imposed on Qatar by a quartet of Arab countries.

Another woman entrusted with a vi-tal role is HE Dr Hanan Mohammed al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health and Managing Director of Hamad Medical Corporation. These two females provide examples of the distinctive achievements and abilities women can attain when em-powered and given the opportunity to break the glass ceiling. These two impor-tant government functionaries represent the beginning of the change in the coun-try and a new perspective on what women can contribute to the development process when empowered.

The lack of acceptance of their own strength works as a notable barrier to a majority of women not feeling comfortable enough to challenge the norms and the ex-isting setup, to stand up and push for their rights. Nonetheless, due to the continuous efforts towards women empowerment by outstanding individuals like HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, institutions like Education

Above All, Silatech, and Social Work Foun-dation are continuously inspiring and mo-tivating women to pursue education and improve their chances of getting access to higher quality education setting an exam-ple for other women not only within Qatar but also around the world.

In her address to a recent international conference on family, HH Sheikha Moza stressed the need for family cohesion and empowerment for them to actively con-tribute in development. She also called for enactment of legislation to protect the youth, women, children and the elderly, and develop comprehensive educational, media and cultural programmes to pre-serve people’s cultural identity and char-acteristics. Fostering acceptance of wom-en’s potential to be equal partners in the nation-building within families and the traditions would have a positive impact on the women’s educational mobility leading to their further empowerment.

Deema Al-KuwariNorthwestern University in Qatar

Class of 2020

DEEMA AL-KUWARI

A recent study says Qatar leads in the GCC with the highest percentage of women in the workforce

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

DURING former President Mahi-nda Rajapaksa’s 10-year rule in Sri Lanka, democracy was cos-metic, a veneer intended to make authoritarianism more palatable.

Rajapaksa dismantled constitutional provisions that were meant to check his power. He allowed the military to commit rampant human rights violations with impunity. Freedom of speech was virtu-ally nonexistent. Those trends reversed in January 2015 when current President Maithripala Sirisena pulled of a shocking victory at the polls, defeating Rajapaksa amidst election violence and tampering.

Although Sirisena’s commitment to democratic reform has progressively waned since his election — as has his popularity — nobody expected him to suddenly and illegally restore Rajapaksa to power. But that’s exactly what Sirisena did last month, when he fired his prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and ap-pointed Rajapaksa as his replacement.

Though Sirisena’s decision seems to have been primarily motivated by his ani-mosity towards Wickremesinghe, his de-cision nevertheless threatened to return Sri Lanka to authoritarian rule. Within 24 hours of Rajapaksa’s purported appoint-ment, mobs of Rajapaksa supporters im-mediately seized control of government ministries and state media. Pictures of Rajapaksa meeting with military leaders and police flooded into the public sphere.

Despite Rajapaksa’s autocratic ten-dencies, a significant portion of the pop-ulation initially celebrated. Rajapaksa had always retained popularity among the majority Sinhala Buddhists, many of whom subscribe to his ethno-nationalist populism and regard him as a hero for ending Sri Lanka’s civil war.

It appeared, initially, that Rajapaksa and Sirisena had pulled off a masterfully orchestrated coup d’état. Yet a month lat-er, Rajapaksa’s grip on power is as tenu-ous as ever. His support base has dwindled and his claims to legitimacy have become farcical. He is no longer neither feared nor loved; instead he’s mostly laughed at.

Wickremesinghe and his political party, the United National Party (UNP), immediately objected to Rajapaksa’s purported appointment. Wickremesin-ghe maintained that he was still the legal holder of the Premiership and that he would remain in Temple Trees, the offi-cial prime minister residence, unless he was legally deposed via a no confidence motion in Parliament.

Rajapaksa’s political allies responded by publicly threatening to storm Temple Trees, while the police removed most of Wickremesinghe’s security detail. Despite their inability to access armed protec-tion, the UNP managed to retain control of Temple Trees by organising hundreds of party supporters, including Buddhist monks, to camp out in and around the residence to deter attacks.

With Rajapaksa taking over the prime

minister’s office and mainstream media, Temple Trees has become a critical visible symbol that the legitimate government had not yet been defeated.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands turned out on the streets to protest the coup, both in large political rallies organised by the UNP, and significantly, protests organ-ised by civil society daily in Colombo and also across the country.

At first, Rajapaksa was able to counter the signs of mass resistance. Thousands turned out for a pro-Rajapaksa rally in Colombo. But those dynamics began shifting on November 3rd when Member of Parliament Range Bangara released an audio recording of a call that substanti-ated rumours that Rajapaksa’s allies were offering bribes of up to $2.8 million in ex-change for political support.

When the call went viral on social media, the political tide began turning against Rajapaksa, according to Sanjana Hattotuwa, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a lo-cal think tank.

“The scrutiny of the bribes was a se-vere embarrassment. Nobody could have taken the money after that and survived politically,” he said.

Six days later, when it became clear that Rajapaksa would be unable to secure support from a majority of Parliamentar-ians, Sirisena illegally dissolved Parlia-ment. But that too failed when CPA, an election commissioner and several political parties simultaneously filed 10 Supreme Court petitions challenged the president’s action. The Supreme Court responded by suspending the dissolution of Parliament.

Upon reconvening for the first time since the beginning of the crisis, Parlia-ment immediately passed two No Con-fidence Motions against Rajapaksa on November 14th and 16th, despite unprec-edented violence on the Parliamentary floor. In two consecutive Parliamentary

sessions, MPs aligned with Rajapaksa attempted to attack Speaker Karu Jayas-uriya to prevent him from holding votes.

Images of MPs hurling chairs and chili powder at Jayasuriya and the 30 unarmed policemen protecting him went viral on social media. According to Nalini Ratnarajah, a human rights activist who is involved with organising protests in Colombo, “even people who previously supported Mahinda were disgusted by the violence in Parliament. Now they are turning out to protest every day.”

The shift in attitude towards Raja-paksa is apparent on social media, where Rajapaksa’s posts are responded to with barrages of taunts.

“Almost overnight people stopped buying what they were selling,” said Hat-totuwa, referencing his research on so-cial media engagement during the coup. “There is nothing that the Rajapaksas can put out that people aren’t laughing at.”

As critics of Rajapaksa’s family were frequently abducted in white vans during his presidency, such a response is both ex-traordinary and unprecedented.

Despite the backlash, Rajapaksa has re-fused to step aside. On December 3, Raja-paksa took another major hit when a court issued an interim order preventing him from functioning as prime minister. With the court scheduled to take the case up against on December 12, a final verdict and potentially an end to the crisis are in sight.

Rajapaksa initially erred in overes-timating his ability to procure political support. But much more damaging are increasingly drastic tactics that he has employed to compensate. Each step of the way, the resistance movement expanded, strengthened and grew more confident.

(Lisa Fuller is a Sri Lanka-based

freelance journalist. She previously worked as a senior staff member

for Nonviolent Peaceforce.)

Mass Resistance To Rajapaksa’s Soft Coup Bid

LISA FULLER TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

The premier’s grip on power is as tenuous as ever with his support base dwindling and his claims to legitimacy becoming more absurd

In Qatar, there has been a paradigm shift, especially with the implementa-tion of the Qatar National Vision 2030, making sure women’s partici-pation in the economic activities increases speeding up the pace of development in the country


DPAMANILA

PHILIPPINE President Rod-rigo Duterte on Wednesday again attacked Roman Catholic bishops in the country, saying they should all be killed be-cause they are useless.

Duterte, who has repeatedly criticized the Catholic church and its leaders in the Philip-pines, said that while he be-lieves in God, bishops are fools.

“I couldn’t have made it in life... without god,” he said. “But your bishops, kill them. They have no use, they are fools. All they do is criticize.” The 73-year-old president added that his god “has a lot of common sense” compared to the god of the Catholic bishops. “I never said I was

an atheist,” he told an award ceremony for child-friendly municipalities and cities.

“The presidency is a god-given gift. I am sure god would not have given me the position if I was bullshit.” The Philippines is Asia’s largest predominantly Catholic country, with more

than 80 per cent of the popula-tion practising the religion.

Duterte has repeatedly lashed out at priests and bishops for allegations of corruption and sexual abuse, which he has alleged he was a victim of when he was a school pupil in Davao City.

Catholic bishops are fools, kill them all, says Duterte

NATIONALHERALDNEW DELHI

EVEN after 26 years, the memories of the Babri Mas-jid demolition continue to be vivid in the memories of the residents of Ayodhya.

Mohammed Azim, an auto-driver in Ayodhya, still recalls the frightening night of Decem-ber 6, 1992, when he along with a group of other Muslim resi-dents of the temple town had taken shelter in the farm fields fearing for their lives.

Azim, who was just 20 then, said, “An army of ‘karsewaks’, in a grip of frenzy, had brought down Babri Masjid, triggering unrest and panic. We were so terrified, we did not know what to do.” The 46-year-old, now a

father of four, feels upset that Ram Temple issue was again being raked up by some politi-cians and the Sangh Parivar, threatening the “fragile peace-ful atmosphere” of Ayodhya, whose residents are still trying to come to terms with the trag-edy 26 years later.

“Every year around this time, we fight those emotions. We have tried to put the past behind us, but the tragic memo-ries just refuse to go away. And, with all the noise around the temple issue in Ayodhya and elsewhere, it has opened our wounds again,” he rued.

Azim says the fateful night still flashes before his eyes. He says it was a Hindu family who gave him shelter when “the two communities were baying for

each others’ blood”. The dem-olition first demoralised our community and then the ensu-ing violence in Ayodhya and ri-ots in other parts of the country fractured our faith in the sys-

tem “We were panic-stricken, so a group of us in our neigh-bourhood ran outside the town and into the farm fields to hide ourselves from a frenzied mob running amok in the streets,”

he said. “We spent almost the entire night in the fields. It was a cold and painful night, I will never forget it. At the crack of dawn, we knocked the door of a Thakur family, who knew me, and he sheltered us for a few days,” he recalled as tears welled up in his eyes.

Mohammed Muslim, 78, who now drives an e-rick-shaw, gets perturbed talking about the incident, and says he wished politicians and Hindu-outfits would not whip up communal frenzy.

“We were unsafe then, and today also we feel insecure when outside crowd comes to our town (referring to the recent Dharma Sabha of the VHP),” he said. Muslim, Azim and many other members from their com-

munity describe the incident as a “blot on democracy” when “mobs were allowed to take over the city. The demolition first demoralised our community and then the ensuing violence in Ayodhya and riots in other parts of the country fractured our faith in the system. I had run away to Barabanki after the unrest in 1992, I was so terri-fied,” Muslim recalled.

But, it is not just minor-ity community, which feels the pain, as Vijay Singh, a doctor who lives near the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi, said, the recollection of the incident sends chills down the spine.

The 48-year-old medic says he was present in Ayod-hya on the day the 16th cen-tury mosque was demolished.

Horrors of Babri Masjid tragedy still haunt Ayodhya residents

Five-day remand for British middleman in Agusta case

AFPNEW DELHI

THE alleged British middle-man in a dicey helicopter deal between India and an Anglo-Italian firm was remanded in custody on Wednesday after being extradited by the UAE, authorities said.

Christian Michel James is accused of arranging kick-backs to Indian officials to secure a deal for Agus-taWestland to supply New Delhi with 12 helicopters for 556 million euros ($630 mil-lion) in 2010.

Brought in from the Unit-ed Arab Emirates late Tues-day, James appeared in a Del-hi court amid tight security.

He will remain in police custody initially for five days and be allowed to meet his lawyer for one hour twice a day during this period, law-yers said.

Italian prosecutors sus-pect illegal sweeteners worth about 10 percent of the con-tract, or some 55 million eu-ros, were paid out in bribes. India cancelled the deal in January 2014.

James, who in previous interviews with Indian news-papers denied any wrongdo-ing, was detained in Dubai in February 2017 following an Indian arrest warrant and an Interpol notice. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought to capitalise po-litically on the scandal as the contract was signed under the previous government of the Congress party.

Addressing a rally in the northwestern state of Ra-jasthan on Wednesday, Modi said: “We have brought back the middleman. He will spill the beans.” The BJP said on Tuesday that the case could spell “serious trouble” for the “first family” of Congress, referring to the party’s long-powerful Nehru-Gandhi dy-nasty, Indian media reported.

The Congress party had earlier alleged that the BJP government managed to force James to sign a false confession naming its former party chief Sonia Gandhi in exchange of exoneration

from any charges. In Italy, the former head

of AgustaWestland and of parent company Finmec-canica were given jail sen-tences in 2014 over the scandal but they were later acquitted.

Christian Michel, a key accused and alleged middleman in India’s abortive, scandal-tainted helicopter deal with Anglo-Italian firm Agusta Westland, is pictured inside a police vehicle outside a court in New Delhi, on Wednesday. (REUTERS)

Brought in from the United Arab Emirates late Tuesday, James appeared in a Delhi court amid tight security

KickbacksChristian Michel James is accused of arranging kickbacks to Indian of-ficials to secure a deal for AgustaWestland to supply New Delhi with 12 helicop-ters for 556 million euros ($630 million) in 2010.

PM protector, benefactor, promoter of AgustaWestland: Cong HYDERABAD: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being the “protector, benefactor and promoter” of AgustaWestland and its parent company Finmeccanica, the Congress on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into Modi’s role in “exonerating” the Italian defence and aerospace major which was blacklisted by the UPA.

A day after British national Christian Michel James, a middleman wanted in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, was extradited to India, the Congress attacked Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “using him to launch a smear campaign” against opposition leaders.

Citing Michel’s advocate Rosemary Patrizi Dos Anjos’ July 17 state-ment, Congress spokesperosn Randeep Singh Surjewala said the “Modi government and its agencies were forcing Michel to sign a false confes-sional statement naming UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in return for complete exoneration from any charge whatsoever in the AgustaWestland Case”.

“Even Michel’s sister had come out and reiterated the coercions of falsely naming opposition leaders as a ticket for exoneration of Christian Michel. Their interviews were recorded by many Indian TV channels also,” said Surjewala.

“Never before in the history of India has a Prime Minister been found complicit in gaining false evidence against opposition leaders to seek revenge. (IANS)

Indian PM Narendra Modi

Pakistan PM meets US special envoy, pledgeshelp to end Afghan war

REUTERSISLAMABAD

PAKISTANI Prime Minister Imran Khan met with a US peace envoy on Wednesday and pledged his help to find a political settlement to the long-running war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The visit to Islamabad by Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative to Afghanistan, followed President Donald Trump’s request for Pakistan’s help in finding an end to the 17-year-old war between Tali-ban insurgents and the western-backed Afghan government.

Khalilzad, an Afghan-born US diplomat who served as George W Bush’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations, was named by Trump three months ago as a special envoy to negotiate peace in Afghanistan.

“The prime minister reiter-ated Pakistan’s abiding interest in achieving peace and recon-ciliation in Afghanistan through political settlement,” Khan’s of-fice said in a statement.

Trump’s overture to Khan followed an exchange of barbed tweets between the leaders last month.

Officially allies in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and the United States have a compli-cated relationship, bound by Washington’s dependence on Pakistan to supply its troops in Afghanistan, where the United States still has 14,000 troops, but plagued by accu-sations Islamabad is playing a double game.

US officials have for years

been pushing Pakistan to lean on Taliban leaders, who Wash-ington says are based inside Pakistan, to bring them to the negotiating table.

The US and Afghanistan have long accused Pakistan of covertly sheltering Taliban, which Islamabad denies.

Islamabad has promised in the past to work to help bring the Afghan Taliban to the negotiation table, but this will be the first attempt for Khan’s new government, in power since August.

The Pakistani statement quoted Khalilzad as saying that the US leadership looked forward to working with Paki-stan in furthering the shared goal of peace.

US Special Envoy for Afghan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad meets Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan. (DAWN)

Imran Khan, Bajwa discuss Afghan peace, security

ISLAMABAD:PRIME Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa dis-cussed Afghanistan peace process and overall secu-rity situation of the country in a meeting at PM House on Wednesday.

According to an official statement, the top civil and military leaders also discussed professional matters related to armed forces, ongoing anti-terrorism operations and internal and external security of the country among other matters of mutual interest during the meeting. (TRIBUNE.COM.PK)

(File photo) Hindu zealots stand atop the domes of historical Babri Masjid before the shrine was razed to the ground on December 6, 1992, in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Yogi orders arrest of ‘cow killers’, mum on police officer’s killing

PATNA: UP CM Yogi Adity-anath held a security review on the illegal slaughter of cattle in Bulandshahr. He asked the officers to speed up the arrests for the cow slaughter but stays mum on the other deaths. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a security review two days af-ter two people were killed in mob violence over the alleged illegal slaughter of cattle in Bulandshahr. A statement, on the meeting, stated that he asked officers in charge to speed up arrests of those involved in cow slaughter but kept silent on killing of a po-lice officer. (NATIONALHERALD)

Aero India-2019will kick off onFeb 20: Indian mission in DohaDOHA: Aero India – 2019, the biennial air show-cum-defence exhibition organized by the Ministry of Defence, Govern-ment of India is scheduled to be held from 20-24th Feb 2019 at Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru.

Aero India is the largest air show in Asia and attracts a large number of exhibitors from the world’s leading industries in the field of Military and Civil Aviation, Aerospace, Airport Infrastructure and Defence Engineering.

The show includes both air displays and static exhibitions of a large array of military platforms from the Aerospace sector. Aero India has already carved a niche for itself globally as a premier Aerospace exhibition with 11 successful editions organized since 1996 at Bengaluru.

Philippine defence chief nixes Christmas truce with rebels Manila: The Philippines’ defence chief said Wednesday he does not support a Christmas truce with communist rebels, which the government had traditionally declared during the holidays. Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said leftist guerrillas often just use the cessation of military operations as a chance to launch more attacks. “I have objected to a SOMO (suspension of military and police operations),” he told reporters. “We shall not allow the Communist Party of the Philippines to use a SOMO to celebrate their 50th anniversary.” (DPA)

India’s heaviest GSAT-11satellite put into orbit

IANSCHENNAI

INDIA’S heaviest and next generation communication satellite with high throughput GSAT-11 was put into orbit by Ariane-5 rocket of Ariane-space from French Guiana on Wednesday, the Indian space agency and Arianespace said.

Weighing about 5,854 kg, GSAT-11 is the heaviest satel-lite built by ISRO.

GSAT-11 is the fore-run-ner in the series of advanced communication satellites with multi-spot beam an-tenna coverage over Indian mainland and Islands, Indi-an Space Research Organisa-tion (ISRO) said.

“GSAT-11 will boost the broadband connectivity to rural and inaccessible Gram

Panchayats in the country coming under the Bharat Net Project, which is part of Digi-tal India Programme,” ISRO Chairman K. Sivan was quoted as saying in a statement issued on Wednesday. The Bharat Net Project aims to enhance the public welfare schemes like e-banking, e-health, e-governance among others.

He said GSAT-11 will act as a forerunner to all future high throughput communication satellites. “Today’s successful mission has boosted the confi-dence of the entire team,” Si-van added.

According to ISRO, GSAT-11 will play a vital role in providing broadband ser-vices across the country. It will also provide a platform to demonstrate new genera-tion applications.

Indonesia searches suspects in Papua mass killings

AFPWAMENA, INDONESIA

INDONESIAN soldiers hunt-ed Wednesday for rebels sus-pected of killing as many as two dozen construction work-ers in restive Papua province, as an eyewitness account sup-plied by the military described a grisly mass execution.

The survivor’s account detailed the killing of at least 19 people, which if confirmed would mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit a region wracked by a low-level independence insurgency.

A Facebook account pur-portedly run by the National Liberation Army of West Pap-ua (TPNPB) said the armed group had killed 24 workers on the orders of regional com-mander Ekianus Kogoya.

India / Pakistan / Philippines / Asia 09Thursday, December 6, 2018

AFPJERUSALEM

ISRAELI opposition leader Tzipi Livni accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday of over-drama-tising the army’s discovery of Hezbollah tunnels infiltrating its territory from Lebanon for political gain.

Livni told public radio that while she and the rest of the op-position welcomed the army’s discovery of the tunnels and their eventual demolition, “the inci-dent must be kept in proportion.” “We are not now in a situation where our soldiers are behind enemy lines,” said Livni, who served as foreign minister during Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah.

“We are talking about engineering activity within the sov-ereign territory of the state of Israel,” she added, accusing Netanyahu of “blowing the incident out of proportion.” Israel announced on Tuesday that it had discovered Hezbollah tun-nels infiltrating its territory from Lebanon and launched an operation to destroy them.

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Con-ricus said the “attack tunnels” dug by the Shiite militant group backed by Iran, Israel’s main enemy, were not yet operational.

He declined to say how many had been detected or how they would be destroyed, but stressed all activities would take place within Israeli territory.

Netanyahu, whose electoral appeal rests to a large extent on his image as the Jewish state’s “Mr Security”, went on television on Tuesday evening to explain the tunnel threat, with armed forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot at his side.

Netanyahu is seeking to hold his governing coalition togeth-er after last month’s resignation of defence minister Avigdor Lieberman over a controversial Gaza ceasefire, which left him clinging to a one-seat majority in parliament.

Netanyahu overplayed Lebanon border action, says opposition chief

REUTERSCAIRO

AN Egyptian court on Wednes-day sentenced Muslim Brother-hood leader Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat al-Sh-ater to life in prison, judicial sources said, in a retrial over violence during the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.

The sentence is one among several trials and retrials against Badie, Shater and other leaders of the party that ruled Egypt before the military ousted Mursi following mass protests against his rule.

Badie and Shater were

sentenced to life in 2015 over violence between Brotherhood supporters and opponents near the group’s headquarters.

Four others were also handed life sentences on Wednesday. The court acquit-ted Saad al-Katatny, parlia-ment speaker under Mursi, along with a former minister, two prominent Brotherhood figures and two others.

The defendants can ap-peal the ruling for the last time before the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest civilian court.

The public prosecution may also appeal the acquittals or the life sentences that two defend-ants received instead of death sentences.

The defendants faced charg-es of inciting violence against the demonstrators in front of the Brotherhood headquarters, aggravated battery and the pos-session of firearms.

Authorities had referred 18 defendants to trial in the case. Five remain at large and one died before receiv-ing a sentence.

The latest retrial began when the Court of Cassation ac-cepted 13 defendants’ appeals in January 2016.

Separately on Wednesday, two security sources and a judicial source said authori-ties arrested a justice minister under Mursi and are investi-gating him for belonging to an illegal group.

The security sources said National Security Agency offic-ers arrested Ahmed Suleiman at his home in Minya governo-rate on Tuesday and later trans-ferred him to Cairo.

Suleiman had criticised the arrest and trial of Brotherhood leaders after Mursi was ousted.

Egyptian court hands Brotherhood leaders life sentence

AFPROME

A rights group called Wednes-day for an international crimi-nal investigation after 15 mi-grants died following 11 days drifting off the coast of Libya without help.

Their protest came as rights groups expressed grow-ing concern about the plight of migrants attempting the dan-gerous Mediterranean cross-ing -- and accused officials in several countries of blocking their efforts to help them.

In a tweet Claus-Peter Reisch, founder of the Ger-man group Mission Lifeline, accused the EU agencies Frontex and Eunavfor Med, which police the bloc’s bor-

der and coastguard activities, of “crimes against humanity” and called on “the Interna-tional Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate”.

Axel Steier, a spokesman for the group, said that both agencies “have military ves-sels, satellites, reconnaissance planes covering all of this zone. “They had the means to see that these refugees were in distress. But they did noth-ing, they left them to die,” he added. “That’s called a crime.” A group of 25 migrants left Sabratha, 70 kilometres (44 miles) west of Tripoli, in a bid to reach the Italian coast, said the Libyan Red Cross.

But the currents meant that they drifted for 11 days without food or water, capsiz-

ing off Misrata, 270 kilometres further east, and washing up on a beach Monday evening.

There were only 10 sur-vivors, two of them women, and all of them were suffering

severe dehydration when they were found.

Others aid agencies Wednesday also denounced the lack of help for migrants attempting the perilous Medi-

terranean crossing to Europe.Doctors Without Borders

(MSF) tweeted of “increas-ingly alarming” reports con-firming its own observations: “search & #rescue capacity is insufficient, and boats in dis-tress are being ignored or re-fused help”.

“During this time, civilian rescue vessels are prevented from carrying out their mis-sion by targeted political at-tacks,” said a statement from French migrant rights group SOS Mediterranee.

Their vessel the Aquarius, run jointly with MSF, is cur-rently stuck in the French Mediterranean port of Mar-seille after Manama revoked its flag rights, which means it cannot legally set sail.

Activists call for probe into migrant deaths off Libya

Yemen peace talks set to begin today in SwedenA UN source says the two sides were unlikely to hold direct negotiations

REUTERSADEN/STOCKHOLM

A team from Yemen’s Saudi-backed government arrived in Sweden to attend peace talks starting on Thursday with members of the Iran-aligned Houthi group, in a renewed UN push to end a war that has pushed the country to the brink of starvation.

A UN source said the two sides were unlikely to hold di-rect talks at a renovated castle outside Stockholm and that special envoy Martin Griffiths and his team would shuttle be-tween them for the consulta-tions, the first since 2016.

One representative of the internationally recognised gov-ernment, Abdullah al-Alimi, tweeted that the talks were “a true opportunity for peace,” before the delegation flew out of the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - lead-ers of a Western-backed coa-lition battling the Houthis to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government - want to exit a costly war that has dragged on for nearly four years.

Western allies, which pro-vide arms and intelligence to the coalition, have ramped up pressure on them to find a way to end a conflict that killed tens of thousands of people and left more than 8 million facing fam-ine. The Saudi-led alliance in-tervened in the civil war in 2015 after the Houthi movement ousted Hadi’s government from

the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014. But the conflict has seen military stalemate since the al-liance seized the southern port of Aden.

The conflict is seen across the region as a proxy war be-tween Sunni Muslim power Ri-yadh and Shi’ite Tehran.

Seeking to reinvigorate peace efforts, UN special envoy Martin Griffiths secured some confidence-building measures, including the evacuation of Houthi wounded, to help per-suade the movement to attend the talks in Sweden.

The Houthi delegation ar-rived there on Tuesday, having

failed to turn up for previous talks in Geneva in September.

Swedish authorities cor-doned off the venue and sev-eral emergency vehicles could

be seen stationed outside the castle ahead of the talks, which will focus on agreeing other confidence-building steps and the formation of a transitional governing body.

“If the consultations pro-ceed positively, we will see an immediate change for people in Yemen. We will see fewer peo-ple hit by and fleeing violence, fewer people pushed to the most desperate means of stay-ing alive,” said Mohamed Abdi, Yemen country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“Equally, if the consulta-tions fail, or stall, so too will hopes of halting Yemen’s steady

descent into hell,” he said in a statement. The UN envoy is seeking agreement on reopen-ing Sanaa airport, swapping prisoners and securing a truce in the Houthi-held port of Ho-deidah, now a focus of the war. This could lead to a wider cease-fire that would halt coalition air strikes and Houthi missile at-tacks on Saudi cities.

The United Nations is trying to avert a full-scale assault on Hodeidah, the entry point for most of Yemen’s commercial goods and aid. Both sides have reinforced positions in the Red Sea city in sporadic battles after a de-escalation last month.

Cars are parked in front of Johannesberg Castle in Rimbo, 50km north of Stockholm, Sweden, where peace talks on Yemen are expected to take place, on Wednesday. (AFP)

One representative of the internationally recognised government, Abdullah al-Alimi, tweeted that the talks were “a true opportunity for peace,” before the delegation flew out of the Saudi capital

Opportunity Israel gave no proof of border tunnels, says Lebanon’s Berri

BEIRUT: Israel provided no evidence of cross-border attack tunnels in a meeting with UN peacekeepers on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said.

The Israeli military launched an operation on Tuesday to “expose and thwart” tunnels into its territory which it said came from Lebanon.

Israel accused Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement of digging across the frontier. It said the tunnels did not function yet but posed “an imminent threat”. There was no comment from Iran-backed Hezbollah. “The Israelis did not present any informa-tion,” at the meeting with the Lebanese army and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, a statement from Berri’s office said.

Berri, a political ally of Hezbollah, said Lebanon had asked for geographic coordinates but received none. (REUTERS)

Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

AFPISTANBUL

A Turkish court issued ar-rest warrants Wednesday for two suspects close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashog-gi, increasing pressure on the kingdom’s de facto leader.

The chief prosecutor’s of-fice in Istanbul filed an appli-cation on Tuesday to obtain the warrants for Ahmad al-

Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, described in court documents as being “among the plan-ners” of Khashoggi’s grisly killing.

Then on Wednesday, an Istanbul court issued the ar-rest warrants for Assiri and Qahtani on the charge of “de-liberately killing (someone) with monstrous feeling or causing torment”, according to state news agency Anadolu.

Assiri, the former deputy head of general intelligence,

often sat in during Prince Mohammed’s closed-door

meetings with visiting for-eign dignitaries. Qahtani was

a key counsellor to the crown prince.

Both were sacked after Riyadh admitted Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi con-sulate.

Saudi Arabia has sought to distance Prince Moham-med from the murder and has received support from US President Donald Trump. His administration has down-played possible links be-tween the crown prince and what happened to Khashoggi.

But two key senators from Trump’s own Republican party said Tuesday that a briefing by the CIA’s director had strengthened their con-viction that Prince Moham-med directed the murder.

US Senate Foreign Rela-tions Committee Chairman Bob Corker said however he had “zero question in my mind” that Prince Moham-med directed the killing af-ter an hour-long briefing to a small group of senato rs by

CIA director Gina Haspel.Trump ally and fellow

Republican Senator Lind-sey Graham said the “crazy” crown prince was “com-plicit in the murder of Mr Khashoggi to the highest level possible”.

The Istanbul prosecu-tor in charge of the Turkish investigation said in late October that Khashoggi, a former Saudi insider turned critic, was strangled then his body was cut into pieces.

Turkey seeks arrest of Saudi crown prince aides over Khashoggi murderUN human rights chief calls

for international probe

GENEVA: UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Wednes-day that an international investigation was needed to determine who was responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October. Bachelet, asked at news conference in Geneva about the need for an international inquiry, replied: “I do believe it is really needed in terms of ensuring what really happened and who are responsible for that awful killing.” (REUTERS)

Nigeria chief wants armed civilians to fight gangs

AFPKANO, NIGERIA

A traditional ruler in north-ern Nigeria has called for ci-vilian militia members to be given assault rifles to defend themselves against armed gangs behind a spike in kid-nappings and attacks.

“The only power these bandits have over us is that they have AK-47 rifles while we have nothing apart from the cudgels we sometimes bear in self-defence,” said Anka Attahiru Ahmad.

“If the government can provide the vigilante force with AK-47 rifles, they should as well be give pump action guns and the official licence to possess and operate the weapons”, said the chairman of the Zamfara state tradi-tional council of chiefs.

Ahmad’s comments on Tuesday came as police and the security forces crack down on armed gangs involved in cattle rustling and kidnapping for ransom.

Last week, the police said they had killed 104 gang members who had been “ter-rorising and killing innocent people” in an operation on their forest hideouts.

Fifty camps were de-stroyed and officers recovered more than 500 cattle and 79 sheep. Sixteen police were also killed in the fighting.

Authorities had referred 18 defendants to trial in the case. Five remain at large and one died before receiving a sentence

Briton says psychologically tortured in UAE detentionLONDON: A British man convicted in the United Arab Emirates for spying said Wednesday he was psychologically tortured and that his captors asked him to turn double agent against the British government.

Matthew Hedges, a university researcher, was detained at Dubai airport on May 5, held in solitary confinement for months and sentenced to life in prison on November 21 before being pardoned by UAE authorities five days later.

In his first broadcast interview since returning last week, Hedg-es was asked on BBC radio’s Today programme whether he had been tortured and replied: “Psychologically, correct, yes.” Hedges described being put in ankle cuffs whenever he left his cell to go to the bathroom and said he was “blindfolded and handcuffed” when being moved to different premises.

One day when he repeated his denials that he was not spying for the British government, he said his interrogators forced him to stand up for an entire day wearing ankle cuffs.

“It’s mentally exhausting. Physically, the adrenaline takes over. It’s how it made you feel mentally,” he said. (AFP)

Migrant survivors are seen in Misrata, Libya, on Tuesday. (REUTERS)

Germany to pay for Palestinian energy and schoolsTEL Aviv: Germany is to support new development projects in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and in East Jerusalem with funds amounting to 54.4 million euros (62 million dollars).

The money will help build up local administration, con-struct schools and help with vocational training, the German Representative Office in Ramal-lah said on Wednesday.

Ten million euros are to be set aside for energy projects in the Gaza Strip.

“With this new commit-ment of a substantial level, the government emphasizes that it is a reliable partner,” Klaus Kraemer from the German Development Ministry said. In 2017, Germany gave a sum of 53 million euros. (DPA)

Gulf / Middle East / World10 Thursday, December 6, 2018

Facebook accused of giving firms access to users’ data

AFPLONDON

A British parliamentary com-mittee accused Facebook on Wednesday of giving compa-nies such as Netflix preferen-tial access to users’ data even after it tightened its privacy rules in 2014-15.

The UK parliament’s select media committee published more than 200 pages of inter-nal Facebook emails it has ac-quired while probing how the giant was being used to ma-nipulate major election results.

The emails feature in a case being heard in a Califor-nia court filed against the giant by the now-defunct US app de-veloper Six4Three.

Committee chair Damian Collins said it was not clear from the private exchanges between Facebook and app developers whether users were aware that their friends list and other private information was being used.

“Facebook have clearly en-tered into whitelisting agree-ments with certain companies, which meant that after the platform changes in 2014/15 they maintained full access to friends data,” Collins wrote in an accompanying note.

“The idea of linking access to friends data to the financial value of the developers rela-tionship with Facebook is a recurring feature of the docu-ments.”

BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg voiced concern on Wednes-day about moves by Kosovo to convert its security force into an army, amid a deterio-ration in already fragile rela-tions with neighbouring Ser-bia. Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, is due next week to take controversial steps towards forming an army. Belgrade fiercely contests the move, arguing that it is a direct threat to security and violates the terms of NATO’s presence in Kosovo. (DPA)

NATO warns Kosovo over plan to develop army

THE Hague: Police arrested dozens of suspected mob-sters in Europe and South America on Wednesday in a huge international swoop targeting Italy’s notorious ‘Ndrangheta mafia clan, officials said.

Nearly 90 people includ-ing high-ranking members of the powerful organised crime syndicate accused of drug trafficking and money laundering were arrested in coordinated raids in six countries, EU justice agency Eurojust said. (AFP)

Dozens of mafia suspects held in international sting

PARIS: Thirteen people were charged on Wednesday over looting and destruction at the Arc de Triomphe monu-ment to France’s war dead during violent “yellow vest” protests which rocked Paris last weekend, prosecutors said. Three of the suspects, which include one minor, were placed in preventive custody ahead of their trial, while the others were released on bail. The land-mark arch at the top of the Champs-Elysees avenue was the epicentre of the clashes between anti-government protesters and police. (AFP)

13 charged over destruction of Arc de Triomphe

BRUSSELS The EU took steps Wednesday to protect upcoming elections against disinformation campaigns from suspects like Russia, launching a bloc-wide alert system and pressuring internet giants like Facebook for more help. Officials said their campaign will try to blunt the hatred and divisions fuel-ling the rise of right-wing and populist parties in a number of European countries. “We need to be united and join our forces to protect our democracies against disinfor-mation,” said Andrus Ansip, the EU’s vice president for the digital single market. (AFP)

EU steps up fake news fight ahead of elections

News in brief

REUTERSWASHINGTON/NEW YORK

US Special Counsel Robert Mu-eller’s office said on Tuesday President Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser Mi-chael Flynn provided “substan-tial” cooperation with its probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign team and Moscow.

Mueller’s office said in a court filing Flynn assisted with the investigation “concerning links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.”

Flynn also provided “first-hand information about the con-tent and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials,” the filing said.

Citing 19 interviews pro-vided by Flynn to it and other federal prosecutors, Mueller’s office asked a federal judge not to sentence him to prison.

Prosecutors said Flynn also provided help on other criminal investigations, although those details were blacked out to keep information about ongoing probes secret.

David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, said the re-

dacted portions likely pointed to impending charges against oth-ers in Trump’s orbit and raised doubts about speculation that Mueller was nearing the end

of his probe. “It must relate to other people who he believes are

involved in the overall conspira-cy or collusion that he is tasked with investigating,” Weinstein said. “If he was almost done there would have been virtually nothing blacked out.”

Flynn, who held the White House job for only 24 days, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his con-tacts with Russia. He will be sen-tenced in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on December 18.

He is so far the only mem-ber of Trump’s administration to plead guilty to a crime un-covered during Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into Rus-

sian attempts to influence the 2016 US election and potential collusion by Trump aides.

Mueller’s probe, which could threaten Trump’s presidency, has already ensnared 32 indi-viduals and three Russian firms. He is expected to issue a report on his findings possibly some time next year. Others charged by Mueller include Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and campaign deputy Rick Gates, as well as Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty last week to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump skyscraper in Moscow.

Flynn ‘substantially’ aided probe of Russia-Trump campaign links: Mueller

REUTERSLONDON

PRIME Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal came under fire from allies and opponents alike on Wednesday after the government was forced to publish legal advice showing the United Kingdom could be locked indefinitely in the Euro-pean Union’s orbit.

After a string of humiliating parliamentary defeats for May the day before cast new doubt over her ability to get a deal ap-proved, US investment bank JP Morgan said the chances of Britain calling off Brexit alto-gether had increased.

As investors and allies tried to work out the ultimate des-tination for the world’s fifth largest economy, the North-ern Irish party which props up May’s government said legal advice about the deal was “dev-astating”.

May was forced by parlia-ment to publish advice from

the government’s top lawyer about the fallback mechanism, or backstop, to prevent the return of border controls be-tween British-ruled Northern Ireland and the EU-member Irish Republic.

“Despite statements in the Protocol that it is not intended to be permanent and the clear intention of the parties that it should be replaced by alterna-tive, permanent arrangements, in international law the Proto-col would endure indefinitely

until a superseding agreement took its place,” the advice said.

“In the absence of a right of termination, there is a legal risk that the United Kingdom might become subject to pro-tracted and repeating rounds of negotiations.”

Brexit, the United King-dom’s biggest economic and political shift since World War Two, has repeatedly plunged British politics into crisis since the shock 2016 vote to leave the EU.

Now May is trying to get her deal approved by a parlia-ment which shows every sign of striking it down in a vote on Dec. 11. It is unclear what happens if the deal is rejected as Britain is due to leave on March 29.

Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, said the legal advice proved that Northern Ireland would be treated differently to the rest of the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday, just hours be-fore the start of a five-day de-bate in the British parliament on May’s Brexit deal, a top law official at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said Britain could pull back its formal di-vorce notice.

“The UK now appears to have the option of revoking unilaterally and taking a period of time of its own choosing to decide what happens next,” JP Morgan economist Malcolm Barr wrote in a note to clients.

The legal advice shows UK could be locked indefinitely in the EU’s orbit

British Prime Minister Theresa May (centre) speaks in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday. (AFP)

‘Devastating legal advice’ stiffens MPs’ opposition to PM May’s Brexit deal

AFPWASHINGTON

A divided Washington led by the nation’s five living presi-dents put on a show of unity Wednesday at the poignant state funeral of George HW Bush, as America bade fare-well to its 41st president.

Donald and Melania Trump shared a front row pew at Washington National Ca-thedral with past presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and their wives as an honor guard brought Bush’s flag-draped casket into the packed prayer hall.

George W. Bush delivered a rousing and deeply personal eulogy -- at times punctuated by laughter -- as he sang the praises of his father and pre-decessor as commander-in-chief, who died Friday at age 94.

“He was born with just two settings -- full throttle, then sleep,” Bush said. “To us, his was the brightest of a thou-sand points of light,” he added in reference to his father’s sig-nature call to volunteerism.

“When the history books are written, they will say that George H.W. Bush was a great president of the United States.”

Bush’s eulogy followed an uplifting performance by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan -- a friend of Bush who sang to the presi-

dent in his dying hours.Wednesday’s state funeral

caps a day-long homage that saw Bush lie in state for two

days in the US Capitol rotun-da. Since Bush’s death, Trump has traded his usual provoca-tive posture for one of respect and solemnity, tweeting be-fore heading to the cathedral about “a day of celebration for a great man.”

But while the service al-lowed Washington to hit pause on the toxic rhetoric that has engulfed the country’s politics, Trump and his Demo-cratic predecessors appeared locked in an uneasy truce as it got underway.

Trump arrived and promptly shook hands with Obama and former first lady

Michelle Obama. But his greetings stopped there, as he failed to acknowledge Hillary Clinton, his defeated Demo-cratic rival in 2016.

Clinton sat stone faced, looking straight ahead, and the pair did not make eye contact.

Other dignitaries in the cathedral included Britain’s Prince Charles, German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel, former Polish president Lech Walesa, former vice presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Joe Biden, and former secretaries of state James Baker, Colin Powell and Con-doleezza Rice.

Washington puts on show of unity for Bush funeral

France may amend wealth tax after protests over living costs

REUTERSPARIS

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Ma-cron could amend a wealth tax that critics say goes too easy on the rich, his government in-dicated on Wednesday, a day after suspending further fuel-tax hikes in the face of protests across France over living costs.

The Macron administration is struggling to defuse the anger driving the “yellow vest” pro-tests, as it reels from the worst riots seen in central Paris in five decades last Saturday.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said all tax-related policies needed to be periodically evaluated and, if deemed not to be working, should be changed. He said the wealth tax could be reassessed

in the autumn of 2019.“If a measure that we have

taken, which is costing the public money, turns out not to be working, if it’s not go-ing well, we’re not stupid - we would change it,” Griveaux told RTL radio. The unrest over the squeeze on household budgets comes as OECD data showed that France has become the most highly taxed country in the developed world, surpass-ing even high-tax Denmark.

Griveaux later told a weekly news conference that Macron had called on all political par-ties, trade unions and busi-ness leaders to press the need for calm. Student protests and planned trade union strikes in the energy and port sectors next week underscored the risk of contagion.

CDU veteran backs oldMerkel rival to lead party

REUTERSBERLIN

VETERAN German conserva-tive Wolfgang Schaeuble, a highly-respected figure in his party, has publicly backed Frie-drich Merz, a former rival of An-gela Merkel, to succeed her as head of the Christian Democrats (CDU) in a vote set for Friday.

The winner will be in pole position to be the CDU’s candi-date for chancellor of Europe’s biggest economy in a 2021 elec-tion and the outcome could even spell the end of Merkel’s coali-tion with her Bavarian allies and Social Democrats (SPD).

The two front runners are Merkel protege and CDU Gen-eral Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who leads polls of ordinary voters and party sup-porters, and Merz, who Bild am Sonntag weekly newspaper said

is ahead among CDU delegates.“A majority for Merz would

be the best thing for the coun-try,” Schaeuble, who was loyal to Merkel as her hardline finance minister but had previously been a rival, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Wednes-day.

Working with Merkel who wants to remain chancellor, the new CDU leader will be influen-tial in shaping German domes-tic, economic and foreign policy from relations with U.S. Presi-dent Donald Trump and Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin to helping shape the EU.

Schaeuble argued that Merz, who lost out to Merkel in a pow-er struggle in 2002 and quit pol-itics for business in 2009, would be able to boost the CDU by giving it a stronger profile and working better with its Bavarian sister party.

‘Denmark, UK top global league for climate actions’

REUTERSLONDON

DENMARK and Britain are the top countries when it comes to implementing measures to fight climate change, although Britain has lagged in phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, a report published by academics said on Wednes-day. The report was launched as delegates from more than 190 nations meet in Poland to flesh out how to reach commitments made under the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep the rise in global temperature below 2 de-grees Celsius this century.

Denmark, Britain and Cana-da have made the most progress in transforming their energy sec-tors toward meeting the targets, said the report by researchers from Britain’s Imperial College, commissioned by British power generator Drax. “We researched how the world is progressing on uptake of the five key technolo-gies and measures needed to limit climate change to 2 degrees Celsius. This reveals Denmark, UK and Canada to be world lead-ing,” said Imperial’s Iain Staffell.

The five technologies are clean power, fossil fuels, elec-tric vehicles, capacity for carbon storage, and energy efficiency of households, buildings and transport.

US President Donald Trump (left) with Melania Trump and ex-presi-dents at the National Cathedral in Washington on Wednesday. (AFP)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Firsthand infoMueller’s office said President Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser provided ‘firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials

Re-opening Brexit deal holds potential dangers: Spokesman LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May is clear on the potential dangers of reopening the deal to leave the European Union, her spokesman said on Wednesday, adding that the withdrawal agreement was complete. Some critics of the deal are pushing May to win more concessions from the EU to try to garner support for the agreement in parliament, which could reject it in a vote on Dec. 11. The EU has said the deal is the best on offer. May is also meeting lawmakers to try to win their support for the deal, the spokesman said. (REUTERS)

Europe / United States 11Thursday, December 6, 2018

Expo will open door for Qatari firms to enter Omani market: QDB CEO

QNA MUSCAT

A number of Omani business-men hailed the progress of Qa-tari industries and the “Made in Qatar” exhibition, which is being held in Muscat.

Several businessmen from the two countries also valued the wide participation of the Qatari industrial companies in the exhibition, which reflects the Qatari businessmen’s keen-ness to enter the Omani mar-ket.

Qatar Development Bank (QDB) CEO Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Khalifa said the expo in Oman strengthens coopera-tion between the two countries, pointing out that the impor-tance of holding the exhibition in Muscat was to closely intro-duce consumers and compa-nies in Oman to various Qatari products and sectors.

“It will also help Qatari companies to identify the needs

of the Omani market and ex-plore viable trading opportu-nities, which will open the way for them to enter the Omani market, especially small and medium enterprises which can establish partnerships and alli-ances with its Omani counter-parts,” he said.

“Qatari economy has over-come the repercussions of the unjust siege and emerged stronger than it was before, and Qatari companies have launched their products to vari-ous countries in the world,” he said.

Qatar Manufacturing Com-pany CEO Abdulrahman al An-sari said the company, which is taking part in the exhibition as Diamond Sponsor, aims to build relations and partner-ships with Omani investors in light of its plans towards the promising markets in the re-gion,.

He pointing out that Qatari and Omani sides will enhance

trade exchange and increase in-vestments in view of the facili-ties and incentives provided by the two countries to business-men.

Qatar Primary Materials Company (QPMC) CEO Essa Kaldari said the company, as the Gold Sponsor, supports the development efforts of the Qa-tari industry, referring to the great role that the expo plays in promoting local products and enhancing the role of Qatari in-dustry to the national economy.

He said the exhibition pre-sented a great opportunity to introduce the Omani business community to the country’s most prominent industries.

“QPMC received a large number of Omani businessmen who were introduced to the company’s business, strategic products and future expansion plans, which largely help in meeting the needs of the Qatari domestic market of raw materi-als,” he added.


THE Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has participated in the Qatar-France Business and In-vestment Forum in Doha.

The forum focused on mechanisms for investing in the French economy by high-lighting selected investment projects in France, QFC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The event was jointly organ-ised by the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA), Business France, the national trade and

investment agency of France, the French Embassy in Qatar and MEDEF International, the French Business Confederation.

Sheikha Alanoud bint Hamad al Thani, managing di-rector, business development at QFC, said, “As part of our mandate to attract foreign di-rect investment to Qatar, the QFC has always looked to fur-ther strengthen relations with our French partners. I am con-fident that the Forum has pro-vided an invaluable platform for fostering even more extensive partnerships.”

She added, “Our commit-ment to continually enhancing our relations with the French market is also evident through the roadshow we successfully hosted earlier this year in Par-is, during which, we met with more than 100 French com-panies who expressed great interest in expanding to Qatar through the QFC’s platform and we will continue to work closely to develop these con-nections.”

Prior to the event, the QFC hosted a delegation of French and Qatari businesses to ex-

plore potential bilateral invest-ment opportunities and the unique advantages that the QFC platform offers to compa-nies looking to expand to Qatar and the region.

Ambassador of France to Qatar HE Franck Gellet said, “We are delighted to welcome a delegation of more than 50 French corporations in Doha on the occasion of the Qatar-France Business and Invest-ment Forum – a precedent in Qatar.

“French investments in Qatar have been on the rise, re-

flecting the dynamism and the level of commitment of French companies operating in Qatar, some of them for decades.

“Around 200 French com-panies are working alongside public and private stakeholders such as the QFC on key projects in oil and gas, electricity and water, transport, urban devel-opment and other fields, assist-ing Qatar in achieving its goals, enshrined in the Qatar Vision 2030.”

Qatari investments in France reached $29 billion in 2016.

QNA MUSCAT

“MADE in Qatar” exhibition in Muscat has opened new horizons for joint cooperation with Oman’s business com-munity, Qatar Chamber (QC) Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani has said.

Sheikh Khalifa said in a press statement that holding the 7th session of the exhibi-tion in Oman was the culmi-nation of the distinguished relations between the private sector in the two countries, and reflects the true desire of business owners in both coun-tries to establish joint trade and investment alliances.

The exhibition offers the suitable platform to discuss these alliances and bring business owners closer to further trade and investment cooperation, he added.

Sheikh Khalifa said the huge turnout by the Omani businessmen and the positive

interaction at the joint busi-ness forum on the sidelines of the exhibition, reflected the strong desire of the business sectors of the two countries to enhance joint cooperation, trade and investment.

The QC chairman hailed

the efforts of the Oman Chamber of Commerce, which contributed to the suc-cess of the exhibition, point-ing out that the exhibition has gained great attention from the business sectors in Oman as it represents an

important platform for pre-senting the Qatari industries and discussing bilateral co-operation in various fields of industry.

About 240 companies representing five industrial sectors including furniture and furnishings, petrochemi-cal industries, small and me-dium industries, food and beverage industries and other industries, have participated in the exhibition.

Sheikh Khalifa said the exhibition aims at promoting the Qatari industries by ex-ploring the needs of the Qa-tari market in new industries to meet local demand.

The expo also supports the Qatari industrial exports by encouraging Qatari busi-nessmen and foreign inves-tors to establish industrial projects in Qatar by taking advantage of the incentives provided by the state to en-courage investment in indus-trial sectors.

Expo to boost Qatar-Omani trade ties

SATYENDRA PATHAK DOHA

INCREASED government spending supported by cur-rent oil prices and the upcom-ing 2022 Fifa World Cup will underpin banks’ stable finan-cial performance in Qatar, Moody’s Investors Service has said in a report released on Wednesday.

According to the report, a return to rising oil production after production cuts in 2017-2018 will drive real GDP growth in GCC countries including Qa-tar next year to an average of around 3.3 percent from 1 per-cent in 2017, easing fiscal pres-sures as well as keep govern-ment spending plans on track.

Moody’s report entitled ‘Banks – Gulf Cooperation Council 2019 Outlook’ express-es the rating agency’s expecta-tion of how banks’ creditwor-thiness will evolve over the next 12 to 18 months in the GCC.

“Banks in Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, and Saudi Arabia will remain resilient, while fiscal pressures will weigh on banks in Oman and Bahrain, where oil prices will remain below the fiscal breakeven level,” the report said.

Governments’ willingness to support GCC banks remains high and their capacity to sup-port is strong, the report said.

“Credit growth will recover as government spending un-derpins economic activity and spurs private-sector growth.

Lending growth in 2019 will range from 4 percent to 6 per-cent in different GCC coun-tries. Lending to construction and real-estate sectors will in-crease,” the report said.

The report, however, said that problems loans will con-tinue to rise due to the lagging effect of the economic slow-down in previous years.

Moody’s expects nonper-

forming loans (NPLs) in GCC banks to stand at a still good 3 percent of total loans at the end of 2019.

“GCC banks will continue to exhibit large loss absorption buffers against sudden asset quality deterioration and show resilience under our low prob-ability stress scenarios. Capi-tal will stay broadly stable, benefitting from modest credit

growth and stable bottom-line profitability,” the report said.

Profitability pressures are expected to ease, with net income to tangible assets re-maining strong at around 1.5 percent to 2.1 percent, the re-port said.

“Banks in GCC countries have adapted their cost base to the slowing economic environ-ment, maintaining strong effi-

ciency. Consolidation will ease competition and also alleviate some pressure on profitabil-ity,” the report said.

The US-based rating agency earlier this year had changed its outlook for Qatar’s banking system to stable from negative, reflecting the resil-ience of the country’s econo-my and banking system to the ongoing regional dispute, as

well as the stable outlook on the government of Qatar’s Aa3 long-term issuer rating.

“The Qatari government has been able to rebalance the country’s economy following the regional dispute which be-gan in June 2017, and the high level of government spending on infrastructure in prepara-tion for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 has been unaffected,” the report said.

Rising oil production will drive real GDP growth in GCC countries including Qatar next year to an average of around 3.3 percent

2022 FIFA WC to boost banks’ performance in Qatar: Moody’s

QFC engages with French businesses at Qatar-France investment forum

The forum focused on mechanisms for investing in the French econo-my by highlighting selected investment projects in France.

MADE IN QATAR EXHIBITION IN OMAN DAY 3

Qatar Chamber (QC) Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani

GCC banks’ lending to construction and real-estate sectors will increase, the report said.

Foreign funds favour Qatar over Saudi

DOHA: Overseas institutional investors were net buyers of about $2.3 billion of shares traded on Qatar’s bourse this year, more than triple the foreign flows into Riyadh, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Inflows have picked up in Qatar this year after several large-cap companies announced they were easing limits on foreign ownership, prompting an adjustment of their weighting in benchmarks used by emerging-market fund managers.

“In Saudi Arabia, overseas investors were net buyers of as much as $3 billion at a peak in June, but that figure fell to around $700 million after a sell-off following the murder of newspa-per columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October,” the report

“Investors see that Qatar is still a stable area for investment. Going into 2019, the trend could very well continue because Saudi Arabia has itself been involved in a number of conflicts around its border and this doesn’t represent stability at all,” the report has quoted Naeem Aslam, the chief market analyst at Think Mar-kets UK in London, as saying. (TNN)

Trump asks OPEC not to cut production

AFP WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged OPEC members not to slash produc-tion at their upcoming meeting, saying global oil prices should remain low.

Trump’s comment came as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries and other oil-producing nations prepared to meet Thursday and Friday in Vi-enna to discuss lowering their output.

“Hopefully OPEC will be keeping oil flows as is, not restricted. The World does not want to see, or need, higher oil prices!” Trump said on Twitter.

If the 20 or so OPEC mem-bers and other nations at the Vi-enna talks – which account for more than half of the world’s oil – continue to pump at current record levels, they risk seeing prices continue to tumble.

Prices have already plunged more than 30 percent over the past two months and a barrel of Brent crude, the European benchmark, currently stands at around $60.

But if oil producers close the taps, they risk choking off the global economy, which needs affordable oil to keep running.

Trump has repeatedly ac-cused the oil cartel of keeping prices artificially high.

That has put OPEC king-pin Saudi Arabia in a delicate position – Riyadh is keen not to incur Trump’s wrath as rela-tions between the two countries become increasingly compli-cated in the wake of the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018

Shale’s growing profits at mercy of OPEC cuts PAGE 13

China upbeat on trade dealas US sending mixed signals PAGE 14

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Shock slide in UK services PMI points to stalling economy

REUTERSLONDON

UNCERTAINTY about the terms of Brexit next March clobbered British services firms last month, leaving the economy at risk of con-tracting, a survey showed on Wednesday.

The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 50.4 from 52.2 in Octo-ber, the weakest reading since just after the 2016 Brexit vote and below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.

Watched closely by the Bank of England, the PMI suggested Britain’s econo-my is on track for quarterly growth of just 0.1 percent in the final three months of 2018, IHS Markit said, a sharp slowdown from 0.6 percent in the third quarter.

Slowing consumer spending and Brexit un-certainty hobbled services firms in November.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan has been agreed with the EU but faces deep opposition in parlia-ment ahead of a Dec. 11 vote, raising the risk of a no deal Brexit shock to the economy in less than four months’ time.

Optimism among ser-vices companies, which ac-count for the bulk of Brit-ain’s economic output, fell to its second-lowest level since the depths of the financial crisis, the PMI showed.

Overall the figures chimed with other surveys showing sliding confidence among both consumers and businesses. New car sales fell 6.9 percent in the first 11 months of the year due to stalling consumer confi-dence, industry data showed on Wednesday.

Samuel Tombs, an economist at consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the PMI provided “the clearest indication yet that Brexit uncertainty is drain-ing momentum from the economy”.

The pound fell only modestly on release of the PMI, with traders mostly focused on the progress of Brexit.

Still, BoE officials will note a recent deterioration in business and consumer confidence that suggests un-certainty over Brexit is ag-gravating the slowdown in the economy since the 2016 referendum.

Due to a slowdown in new business - which grew at one of the weak-est rates since the financial crisis - companies relied on working through backlogs of work at the fastest pace since 2009 in order to eke out growth.

“As such, unless demand revives, a slide into econom-ic decline at the turn of the year is a distinct possibil-

ity,” Chris Williamson, chief economist at IHS Markit, said.

The services PMI fell below the 50 mark in July 2016, just after the Brexit vote, spurring the BoE to cut interest rates to a new record low.

However, BoE Gover-nor Mark Carney and other officials at the central bank have warned investors not to count on a cut to borrow-ing costs if Britain’s econ-omy suffers the potentially inflationary shock of leaving the EU without a transition deal.

Slightly faster growth in employment an easing of cost pressures represented the only plus points.

Businesses will be watching a series of votes in parliament next Tues-day which, if lost by Prime Minister May, could cast her Brexit plans into further dis-array.


MEEZA, Qatar’s prominent end-to-end managed IT servic-es and solutions provider, has launched its ‘Business Cloud’ platform to enhance its exist-ing cloud service offerings as part of its business expansion strategy.

The Business Cloud plat-form will enable clients to subscribe and provision a wide range of products and services including Microsoft Office365, Azure Public cloud services, domain registrations and

managed services hosted with-in Meeza’s Qatar based tier-III certified LEED Platinum Data Centre.

The Meeza expansion team has also partnered with Cloud-Blue and Microsoft. The Meeza Business Cloud is being used by Gulf Bridge International (GBI) as part of its digital transformation programme.

Ghada Philip el Rassi, Chief Executive Officer Expan-sion/Executive Board Mem-ber, Meeza, said: “Building upon the local capability and experience of Meeza Qatar and our world class facilities, we

are proud to launch one of the most unique and comprehen-sive platforms that provides a central location for local, re-gional and international cus-tomers to subscribe to a wide range of products and services.

In today’s changing world, with cloud adoption increas-ing, our clients demand agile, scalable and flexible solutions.

“The Meeza Business Cloud intends to offer our clients just the same, thereby ensuring they stay ahead of the market when it comes to technology adoption and digital transfor-mation. We are also delighted

to announce that Gulf Bridge International (GBI) have cho-sen The Business Cloud to migrate from a traditional on premise solution.”

Lana Khalaf, Country Gen-eral Manager, Microsoft Qatar, said: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. This is the time for bold decisions that

will shape our futures for years to come. Organizations that take the plunge into digital transformation, soon discover the power to engage custom-ers, empower employees, op-timize operations and reinvent products, services and busi-ness models.”

Gulf Bridge International will benefit greatly from its migration to MEEZA’s Busi-ness Cloud, gaining access to Microsoft’s trusted, secure and agile Azure platform, and the industry-leading productivity of solutions such as Office 365, she said.

“Cost-savings, innovation, optimization and many other welcome milestones lie on the road ahead for GBI,” she add-ed.

On the availability of Busi-ness Cloud, Abdulla al Rwaili, Executive Director and Man-aging Director of GBI, said, “As part of our Digital Transforma-tion Program our decision to move our IT infrastructure to the cloud was an easy one to make, however finding the cor-rect approach to implement-ing and migrating to the cloud was complex and needed to be done with great precaution.”

Meeza launches ‘Business Cloud’ platform, extends services to GBI

CREATIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING ADS

‘Sharkena’ receives nomination for Hermes Creative AwardsTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE “Om Jassim & Om Saeed” Ad, a short animated film promot-ing Sharkena — an innovative real estate product — will compete for the global Hermes Creative Awards 2018, in the category of creative social networking ads, which are made with 3D anima-tion technology.

The film invites female-land-owners to embrace the concept of real estate investment, and to use their real estate product “Sharke-na” to become a member of a long series of real estate partners who have benefited from real estate partners with SAK Holding Group.

The brand-new promotional film for Sharkena designated “Om Jassim & Om Saeed” will compete for Hermes Creative Awards with many advertising and artworks selected from around the world

as part of an annual international competition for innovators in the world of optics. It will be organised and supervised by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. It is an international organisation founded in 1994 in the United States for holding a fair independ-ent, inexpensive and open inter-national competition that includes several thousand professionals recognised for their integrity and professionalism.

They will judge proposed con-tributions from 200 categories: Printed media, public relations/communications and electronics/social/interactive media, as well as individual creations and works such as ads, publications, websites and videos clips. In addition to strategy campaigns, multi-media sites, marketing & communica-tions programs, and emerging technologies

SAK Holding Group, under the guidance of Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah al Thani, continued to develop Sharkena until it rose to be a fully integrated real estate

service provider. Sharkena, presents multiple

solutions for a large segment of landowners allowing them to embark on the experience of real

estate investment. It is based on entering into a partnership with landowners, who stand to benefit from transforming their vacant land into a lucrative investment project serving the best interests of the real estate investor, and giv-ing him good investment returns in line with of the ongoing urban and real estate development in Qatar.

The film holds an open invi-tation to female-landowners in Qatar to contest the world of real estate investment. To join its long list of real estate partners, who benefited from Sharkena, which have produced numerous success-ful investment real estate projects. This invitation addressed to this important segment of the society, is a high-tech 3-dimensional ani-mated promotional ad. It features a dialogue between two female characters about all what female landowners need to know about

Sharkena and how owning a land suitable for building a real estate investment project will enable them to transform their land into a successful project that protects their future and the future of their families.

SAK Holding Company used “Om Jassim& Om Saeed” to start a new phase of its campaign promoting Sharkena, which have ignited all the group’s pages on social networking sites and platforms pushing up the rate of follow-ups and positive impres-sions, in a manner that signifi-cantly exceeded expectations. Our promotional campaign series is to introduce the real estate product “Sharkena” clearly and without the complexity which was created by SAK Holding Group specifi-cally for land-owners to encour-age them to engage in real estate investment and to hold quality real estate partnerships.

MoCI holds workshop on local subsidies


THE Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) is or-ganising a workshop on local subsidies and the World Trade Organization’s countervailing measures with the participation of experts from the Ministry, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, General Authority of Customs and Qatar Chamber.

The workshop comes within the framework of the Ministry’s efforts to build the technical capacities of the em-ployees specialised in WTO agreements, support and pro-tect national products, and to train employees on the mecha-nism of applying countervail-ing measures.

The workshop also aims at familiarising authorities concerned with the different forms of subsidies that could be offered by the public sector to the private sector and local producers under the WTO’s agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures as well as the procedures that could be taken to protect do-mestic producers from com-peting imported subsidised products and to bolster the competitiveness of national products.

The workshop, which features a lecture by Sharif Kushkin, an expert at the Ge-neva-based WTO, addresses a number of topics including an overview of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervail-ing Measures and their defini-tion, identifying permitted and prohibited subsidies under the WTO agreement, exceptions when it comes to developing countries and the role of sub-sidies within the WTO system. The workshop also tackles the impact and repercussions of subsidized imported prod-ucts on local products and the resulting damage to both production value and market competitiveness.

The workshop also sheds light on the measures that could be taken to mitigate this damage by resorting to the WTO Dispute Settle-ment Gateway or by impos-ing protective measures to protect national products as well as the legal mechanisms to implement such measures without violating the WTO rules.

Lowdown UK services PMI

worse than all forecasts in Reuters poll

PMI raises possibility of imminent GDP downturn

Companies report Brexit impact on consumer spending

PMI consistent with negligible GDP growth

QICCA seminar discusses construction project management

Shale’s growing profits at mercy of OPEC cuts REUTERS

HOUSTON

THE recent nosedive in crude oil prices came just as shale producers had started deliv-ering healthy returns after years of heavy spending to boost production and market share.

The shift has pleased in-vestors who had grown weary of waiting for a payoff while watching the frenetic west Texas shale boom make the United States the world’s top oil producer and a major ex-porter.

The 29 percent drop in U.S. crude oil prices since October now threatens those improved margins, and sus-tained prices below $50 per barrel could dent the value of shale reserves, which banks use to determine borrowing power.

Activity in the largest U.S. oil field could fall 10 to 20 percent next year if prices stay down, said Steven Pru-ett, chief executive of shale producer Elevation Resourc-es LLC. The price retreat sparked a sell-off of shale firms’ shares and another set-back could sour investors on the sector for years.

The dynamic leaves shale producers hoping for a rescue in the form of production cuts from The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries (OPEC) when it meets on Thursday - and at odds with U.S. President Don-ald Trump, who has pushed OPEC to keep the taps wide open.

Although Trump has generally been a boisterous booster of fossil fuel firms, he has ridiculed the prospect of OPEC production cuts as

“ripping off the rest of the world” by artificially inflating consumer fuel prices.

On Wednesday, the presi-dent again tweeted that he hopes “OPEC will be keeping oil flows as is, not restricted. The World does not want to see, or need, higher prices!”

U.S. crude futures rose this week and were trading at around $53.34 a barrel on Wednesday on expectations that OPEC would agree to cut output at its meeting.

In November, Trump

praised Saudi Arabia on Twit-ter for high production that helped push oil prices down about 30 percent to near $50, calling it “like a big Tax Cut.”

Such tweets are an “ir-ritant” to a U.S. oil industry trying to solidify its profitable position.

Trump’s “leaning on” Sau-di Arabia, the most influential OPEC nation, “has had a great effect,” Pruett said.

“To me, it’s a lot of med-dling,” he said.

Trump’s campaign against OPEC cuts comes after he stood by the kingdom and Saudi Crown Prince Moham-med bin Salman despite U.S. politicians calling for sanc-tions over the October killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh’s consulate in Is-tanbul. Prince Salman wants to avoid confrontation with Trump, Saudi watchers say, including over oil production cuts and prices.

While shale producers have made strides in recent years at turning profits with lower oil prices, they are near-ing a threshold where some would scale back investment, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chi-cago.

The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seen at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna.

Management of construction projects and their completion on time were discussed at a seminar organised by the Qatar International Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) in Doha on Tuesday. It was held in cooperation with ASTAD Consulting and Project Management Company in the presence of a number of legal and representatives of construction and contracting companies. Ibrahim Shahbeek, Assistant Secretary General of the Arbitration Centre, Tariq Jawid, Claims and Compliance Manager at ASTAD presented the seminar. QICCA board member Sheikh Dr Thani bin Ali al Thani attended the seminar among a host of entrepreneurs, officials and executives.

Economy & Business 13Thursday, December 6, 2018

AFPBEIJING

CHINA vowed Wednesday to move swiftly to strike a trade consensus with the United States, even as mixed signals on the detente from self-described “Tariff Man” Donald Trump’s administration upset global markets.

Trump sowed more confu-sion as he opened the door to lengthier negotiations with Chi-na, suggesting that they could extend beyond a 90-day dead-line to reach a deal to avoid a massive tariff increase.

But the Chinese commerce ministry said negotiators will “actively push forward negotia-tions within 90 days in accord-ance with a clear timetable and roadmap” -- marking Beijing’s first public acknowledgement of the deadline announced by the

US at the weekend.The ministry lauded

Trump’s talks with President Xi Jinping at the weekend as “suc-cessful” and said it was “confi-dent” their agreement would be implemented.

The ministry vowed to start implementing “specific matters” that were agreed -- saying “the sooner the better” -- but did not provide any details.

Trump and Xi agreed on a trade war truce on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina on Saturday, holding off on new tariffs and giving negotiators three months to reach an agree-

ment.China pledged to buy more

from the United States and the White House said the two sides would negotiate “structural changes” to thorny issues plagu-ing relations, but few details and no dollar amounts were dis-closed. But the verbal detente was broken Wednesday as Chi-na’s foreign ministry lashed out at criticism from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo’s remarks “go con-trary to the spirit of the consen-sus between our two leaders,”

foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.

Noting the applause at the end of Xi-Trump summit, Geng asked: “I don’t know why people clapping at that time now mean by saying this type of thing, what are their intentions?”

Pompeo said in Brussels on Tuesday the US could abandon some international agreements to thwart bad actors like China, which he accused of cynically exploiting World Trade Or-ganization rules. Adding to the confusion, Trump indicated

on Tuesday that the trade talks could go beyond the March 1 deadline.

“The negotiations with Chi-na have already started. Unless extended, they will end 90 days from the date of our wonder-ful and very warm dinner with President Xi in Argentina,” Trump tweeted.

But the US leader kept up the threats as he warned that he was ready to make China “pay for the privilege” of selling in the US market if the negotiations fail.

China has begun to flesh out details of tariff truce, it’s confident to reach a deal within 90 days

China upbeat on trade dealas US sending mixed signals

IANSMUMBAI

UPSIDE risks to inflation led the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday to keep its key lending rate for com-mercial banks unchanged at 6.5 percent for the second time in succession.

Consequently, the central bank’s reverse repo rate has been maintained at 6.25 per-cent, and the marginal stand-ing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 6.75 percent.

The RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) also made

no changes to its stance of “calibrated tightening” in its penultimate monetary policy review of the current fiscal.

The stance was adopted in the last policy review conducted in October.

The decision on keeping the policy rate unchanged was taken unanimously by the six-member MPC headed by RBI

Governor Urjit Patel. How-ever, government nominee in the MPC, Ravindra Dholakia, voted to change the stance back to neutral.

According to the RBI, even as inflation projections have been revised downwards sig-nificantly and some of the risks pointed out in the last resolution have been mitigat-ed, especially of crude oil pric-es, several uncertainties still cloud the inflation outlook.

“The MPC noted that the benign outlook for headline inflation is driven mainly by the unexpected softening of

food inflation and collapse in oil prices in a relatively short period of time,” Patel said at the post-meeting press con-ference.

“Excluding food items, inflation has remained sticky and elevated, and the output gap remains virtually closed.”

Although the central bank has lowered its CPI (consum-er price index), or retail in-flation, projection, it did not change the policy stance.

Accordingly, the central bank believes that there are challenges like a sudden spike in prices of perishable food

items, risks from revision in minimum support prices (MSPs) and rise in crude oil price to inflation and infla-tionary outlook.

However, the review state-ment indicated a scope for a change in policy stance, if the upside risks to inflation do not materialise. “RBI looks at the medium term target. Our projection for the inflation for the second quarter 2019-20 is 4.2 percent, that is, over a one-year time frame which is higher than the medium-term target,” RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said .

RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.5% in monetary policy review

TUNIS: Libyan state oil company NOC said on Wednesday all the country’s oil export terminals were closed due to bad weather.

Storage capacity at Zawiya terminal was criti-cally low and production may have to be curbed on Thursday as a result, the NOC said in a statement.

NOC expects to cut production from the Sharara oilfield by half, or 150,000 barrels, starting from 9 am local time (7 am GMT) on Thursday. (REUTERS)

Libyan oil export terminals closed over bad weather

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil pros-ecutors alleged on Wednes-day that trading giants Vitol, Trafigura and Glencore paid over $30 million in bribes to employees at state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA in return for business. The alleged graft was the latest finding of the country’s sweeping “Car Wash” inves-tigation, which has uncov-ered the largest corruption scheme in Brazil in decades and has revealed damaging information about activities at Petrobras, as the oil company is known. (REUTERS)

‘Vitol, Glencore & Trafigura bribed Petrobras staff’

News in brief

AFPTOKYO

SHAREHOLDERS at Japa-nese drug giant Takeda on Wednesday approved a plan to buy Irish pharmaceuticals firm Shire in a deal worth around $60 billion, the big-gest foreign takeover ever by a Japanese firm.

A group of rebel inves-tors, including members of the founding family, tried to thwart the deal but were outvoted at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held in the western city of Osaka where the company has its headquarters.

The scheme was “approved as originally proposed”, said a statement from Takeda, adding it should come into effect in ear-ly January -- pending approval from Shire shareholders, who are to vote on the merger plan later Wednesday in Dublin.

The deal, which will create one of the world’s top 10 drug companies, caps a lengthy court-ship by Takeda of its larger rival as it seeks to expand overseas.

“We are delighted that our shareholders have given their strong support to our acquisi-tion of Shire,” said Takeda CEO Christophe Weber.

Analysts have said the buy-out would be a smart move by Takeda as it looks to diversify, and could pay off in the long-term, but it has also raised con-cerns that the Japanese firm could be overextending itself financially.

Takeda plans to finance the 46-billion-pound ($58.4 billion) buyout through issu-ing new shares in exchange for Shire stock, bank loans and bond issuance. Shares in Takeda closed up 1.07 percent at 4,240 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as investors cheered the shareholders’ approval.

Shareholders of Takeda agree to $60 bn Shire acquisition

REUTERSFRANKFURT/BERLIN

A trade spat between the Unit-ed States and China is leav-ing its mark on Germany’s automotive sector with the number of new vehicles in the Chinese market expected to fall this year, the VDA industry association said on Wednes-day.

China is the most impor-tant and historically the fastest growing market for Germany’s carmakers but Chinese tariffs on German cars built in the United States have taken their toll.

“China is currently taking a breather”, said VDA presi-dent Bernhard Mattes in Ber-lin, adding the export of Ger-man cars from factories in the United States to China fell by a third in the first 10 months of the year.

The VDA said it expected the number of new vehicles in China to decline by 1 per-cent this year to 23.9 million. It forecast growth in 2019 of 2 percent to 24.4 million.

The association said it ex-pected the global car market to reach 85 million new vehicles this year. In Europe, it expect-ed the number of new vehicles to climb to 15.8 million in 2018

and remain at a similar level in 2019. Sales of new cars in Ger-many will decline by 1 percent this year, it added.

Separately, the German auto importers association VDIK also forecast slightly weaker sales in Germany this year and said sales would probably remain at 2018 levels next year.

Some 3.42 million cars will probably be registered in 2018, the VDIK said, adding that this showed the new car market was performing well. VDIK members expect sales to rise by 1 percent to 1.325 million vehicles this year.

US-China trade conflict hurting German car sector: VDA

Petrobras to raise $26.9 bn by asset sale, partnerships

REUTERSSAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO

BRAZILIAN state-run oil com-pany Petroleo Brasileiro SA plans to raise some $26.9 bil-lion via asset sales and partner-ships by 2023 while boosting investments on the front edge of an anticipated production boom in Brazil.

Petrobras intends to make $84.1 billion in investments from 2019 to 2023, above the $74.5 billion forecast in its 2018 to 2022 plan, it said in a five-year investment program un-veiled on Wednesday morning.

Petrobras is trying to stay the course on efforts to reduce one of the heftiest debt loads among oil companies world-wide - $88 billion in gross debt - through divestments and an investment focus on Brazil’s coveted offshore pre-salt area.

“The strategic plan came within the expectations of the market, a reasonable increase in oil prices, with important refining divestments and an ambitious leverage target,” said Adriano Pires, a consult-ant at Brazil’s Center for Infra-structure.

Hyundai, S Korea talks on low-cost cars JV hit snag

REUTERSSEOUL

HYUNDAI Motor’s talks to build a low-cost carmaking fac-tory with a local government suffered a setback on Wednes-day as the South Korean au-tomaker rejected proposed re-visions to certain terms related to wage negotiations.

Hyundai and the south-western city of Gwangju had reached a preliminary deal on Tuesday for the factory that included an annual wage of 35 million won ($31,492) for employees of the joint venture (JV), which is less than half of the average 92 million won that existing Hyundai workers earn.

The plan was given a green light by the city’s consultative body on Wednesday on condi-tion that Hyundai would revise certain terms that allow the JV to skip annual wage negotia-tions with its workers, a city of-ficial said.

Hyundai’s existing workers hold wage talks every year and often resort to strikes to get a better pay.

Hyundai rejected the city’s revised proposals.

“We hope Gwangju city will take actions to restore trust, so that we can proceed with in-vestment discussions smooth-ly,” the automaker said in a statement.

Global stocks fall as declines by US bond yields, trade concerns stoke fears

REUTERSLONDON

GLOBAL stocks tumbled to one-week lows on Wednesday, as declines by long-dated US bond yields and a renewal of trade concerns stoked fears of a down-turn in the United States, the world’s largest economy.

US markets are closed to mark former President George HW Bush’s death, but the ef-fect of Wall Street’s turmoil in the previous session, when New York-listed shares tumbled more than 3 percent, was felt in Asia and Europe.

That pushed MSCI’s all-country index down 0.4 percent.

Tuesday’s declines came just a day after an equity surge driven by optimism that China and the United States would sort out their trade dispute. Then Presi-dent Donald Trump threatened “major tariffs” on Chinese im-ports if his administration failed to reach an effective trade deal with Beijing.

“As I look into next year, most expectations for further gains have been pared back. In-vestors have gone from extend-ed bullishness at the start of the year on equities to an uncom-fortable neutrality,” said Paul O’Connor, head of multi-asset at Janus Henderson.

Trump’s comments, along-

side the drop in US stocks and bond yields, pushed Asian shares outside Japan 1.5 percent lower. Shanghai markets fell 0.6 percent, their losses limited by Chinese officials expressing con-fidence that a trade deal would be clinched on time.

But European losses were trimmed as the session contin-ued, with a pan-European index down 0.75 percent by 1145 GMT compared with falls of over one percent earlier.

Global equities have been shaken by fears of a recession, fanned by the flattening US Treasury yield curve -- a phe-nomenon in which longer-dated debt yields fall faster than their

shorter-dated counterparts.Such an inversion of two-

year and 10-year yields, when 10-year bonds yield less than their two-year debt, has preced-

ed every US recession in the past 50 years. “The market decline in the US overnight and the flatten-ing of the yield curve reflect that economic growth momentum is taking over as the primary con-cern for investors,” Tai Hui, a strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management told clients.

So far, 10-year yields are clinging to an 11-basis-point margin over the two-year, al-though it was the smallest one in over a decade.

The flattening of the curve gained momentum after last week’s signal by the Federal Reserve that it may be nearing an end to its three-year rate-in-crease cycle. It has spread to the euro zone, where the German 2-10 yield curve hit its flattest since mid-2017 at 85.70 basis points. German 10-year yields

slipped to six-month lows of 0.247 percent before rising back to 0.259 percent.

Italian bonds extended their rally, with two-year yields falling 10 bps to 4 1/2-month lows after a cabinet official raised hopes that the government could cut nearly four billion euros from its 2019 budget plans.

Markets are also bracing for more news on the Brexit front. British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered embarrassing de-feats on Tuesday, the start of five days of parliamentary debate over her plans to leave the Euro-pean Union.

The pound rose off 17-month lows of $1.2659 hit on Tuesday to around $1.2780, up 0.3 per-cent on the day, amid creeping optimism that Britain could opt to stay in the EU after all.

(File photo) US President Donald Trump (left) with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. (REUTERS)

China’s eagerness China vowed to start

implementing ‘specific matters’ that were agreed -saying ‘the sooner the better’

China pledged to buy more from the United States and the White House said the two sides would negotiate “structural changes” to thorny issues plaguing relations

MSCI all-country index down 0.3% Asian shares outside Japan 1.5% lower German 10-year yields at six-month low Shanghai markets slide 0.6%

New York Stock Exchange.

Food inflation Softening of food inflation

and collapse of oil prices have mitigated inflation risks but the end can reverse.

The central bank is open to revising policy rates if inflation doesn’t become a concern

German cars China has been the

fastest growing market for German cars. But the Chinese tariffs on cars manufactured in US since the beginning of trade war has taken a toll

As a result, export of German cars from US factories to China fell by a third in the first ten months of the year

The German auto importers association VDIK also forecast slightly weaker sales in Germany this year.

Economy & Business14 Thursday, December 6, 2018

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IANSADELAIDE

MAKING light of the obses-sion surrounding him ahead of the Australia Test series, India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday said every batsman in the side has the ability to win games single handedly and the hoopla around him is something he cannot do anything about.

“This (obsession) is some-thing that I don’t believe in, at all. Whatever batsmen we have, all of them have so much ability that every one of them can sin-gle-handedly turn any game,” Kohli told reporters on the eve of India’s first rubber here.

“This is something I believe in 120 per cent, and even they have faith in themselves. On the outside what people think, we cannot control. I cannot tell people to not to talk about it or write about it,” he added.

A lot of talk has been on how to stop Kohli from getting runs in this part of the world where the World’s No.1 bats-man has enjoyed enormous

success in his last visit.At Adelaide Oval, Kohli

has three hundreds from two Tests. “I love coming to this ground, the city in general. I really enjoy the city, I don’t know what the connection is, but I just feel really good here. Not to say that the perfor-mances are always guaranteed in a certain place but yes, com-ing to Adelaide I feel different from places that I have gone in the world and that’s been the case,” said Kohli.

Asked about the Australian team’s mindset post the ball tampering saga, Kohli said: “I don’t think, personally, any team should be totally negative after something like that hap-pens (ball-tampering scandal).

“But the competitiveness will be there because you eventually want to get the guys out. If the situation is going your way, and you understand against the important guy in the opposition, you will go hard at that person. Be it your body language or putting in a word or two.”

LONDON: MotoGP riders can be classified as race finish-ers in future even if they and their motorcycles cross the line separately, the sport’s governing body (FIM) said on Wednesday. Under previous rules, riders had to be still on their machines at the cheq-uered flag to finish and score points but the FIM’s Grand Prix Commission decided a change was needed. “There have been situations when, due to a crash, the rider and machine have crossed the line separately,” the International Motorcycling Federation said in a statement.” In future the finish time will be determined by the first part of the rider or his motorcycle, whichever crosses the finish line last.” Dutch Moto3 entrant Bo Bendsneyder fell metres from the finish at his home Grand Prix at Assen last year and was disqualified from 10th place because his riderless KTM had skidded across the line ahead of him. (REUTERS)

MotoGP changes finish rule for riders who fall off

KUALA LUMPUR: Badminton’s world governing body on Wednesday banned former council member Raj Gaya from the sport for life and hit him with a fine of $50,000 over alleged misuse of funds. Gaya, from Mauritius, had since 1999 held positions with the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the Badminton Confederation of Africa and the Mauritius Badminton Association (MBA). The BWF Ethics Hearing Panel began investigating the official in June last year after former MBA president Bassir Mungroo “raised several allegations” of corruption against him, it said in a report. The ethics panel said their probe revealed Gaya had diverted funds meant for the MBA to his personal bank account and used them “for his own benefit”. It also said he had exaggerated or falsified expense claims, forged official documents and refused to cooperate with the investigation. Gaya told officials he had used the funds for “badminton related expenses”, as well as “political reasons” including “to get African people on his side”, according the report. (AFP)

Mauritius badminton official banned for life over corruption claims

Quick read

TOKYO: The Tokyo 2020 Olympic marathon will start between 5:30am and 6am, organisers announced Wednesday, after experts raised concerns over the health of competitors and fans during the city’s sweltering summer heat. An expert medical committee had proposed a start time “between 5:30am and 6am”, top Olympic official John Coates said after a series of meetings in the Japanese capital. Organisers had already brought the marathon forward to 7am as Japanese medical groups have warned the event could “lead to deaths” from heatstroke. Tokyo 2020 organisers still need to agree with IAAF before fixing the exact time, said Coates. (AFP)

The heat is on: Tokyo 2020 marathon to start earlier

India captain Virat Kohli (left) and his Australian counterpart Tim Paine with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ahead of the first Test at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia, on Wednesday. (AFP)

Kohli makes light of the hype surrounding him

IAAFMONACO

THE IAAF Council on Wednesday approved the Qualifying standards for the IAAF World Athletics Cham-pionships Doha 2019.

While the performance standards themselves are sim-ilar to those used for the 2017 World Championships, Doha 2019 will witness two notable differences: Target numbers have been introduced for the road events and 10,000m races – 100 for marathons, 60 for the 20km race walks, 50 for the men’s 50km race walk and 30 for the women’s, and 27 for the 10,000m

There will also be an in-crease in the number of teams qualified from the IAAF World Relays from eight to 10 in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, for a total of 16 entries. For the 4x400m mixed relay, which will be contested for the first time, 12 teams will qualify from the IAAF World Relays in Yokohama.

The qualifying standards should be referenced with the Qualification System and Entry Standards updated this week.

The Council also voted to permit national teams, for the first time, to display the logo of a national sponsor on their kit for the IAAF World Athletics Championships (WCH) at the 2019 championships in Doha.

Budapest to hosts 2023 Worlds The Hungarian capital Bu-dapest has been awarded the IAAF World Athletics Cham-pionships in 2023.

Budapest is an experi-enced organiser of major ath-letics events, having hosted the IAAF World Indoor Cham-pionships in 1989 and 2004, one of just two cities to have staged the event twice. The city has also hosted the Euro-pean Athletics Championships on two occasions, in 1966 and 1998. More recently, Budapest hosted the FINA World Swim-ming Championships and the World Judo Championships in 2017 and has been awarded

the title of European Capital of Sport for 2019.

“In the past 30 years Hungary has organised every single world and European Championships, indoor and out – on the road, cross coun-try – available to us except for the World Athletics Champi-onships, and we are incredibly proud that this collection will be complete in just under five years’ time,” said Marton Gy-ulai, CEO of the Bid Commit-tee for Budapest 2023. A key component of the bid is the construction of a new stadium that will serve primarily as an athletics facility.

The new stadium will be built on the eastern bank of

the Danube River on the city’s south side, with a capacity of 40,000 for the champion-ships, which will be reduced to 15,000 for future events.

Following the bid delega-tion’s presentation to Coun-cil, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: “We are delighted to award the 2023 World Athlet-ics Championships to Buda-pest in Hungary, a country of extraordinary athletic tradi-tion and great experience in organising world-class sports events. It has been the scene of some of our greatest moments as a sport. We are excited about their plans for a new sta-dium that will become a great legacy for athletics.”

Qualifying standards for World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 approved

IAAF President Sebastian Coe (2nd right) at the signing ceremony for Budapest 2023 World Championships in Monaco.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018

CRICKET TEST

AUSTRALIA VS INDIA

Mahrez shows his worth as Manchester City edge Watford PAGE 19

Al Gharafa hope to bounce back against Al Ahli in QNB Stars League PAGE 19

Mahrez shows his worth asManchester City edge WatfordPAGE 19


PRESIDENT of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani on Wednesday at-tended the 34th General As-sembly meeting of the QOC.

Along with Sheikh Joaan the QOC’s First Vice-President HE Sheikh Saud bin Ali al Thani, Second Vice-President Dr Thani al Kuwari, Secre-tary-General Jassim Rashid al Buenain, Presidents of Na-tional Federations, and Chair-persons of committees affili-ated to the QOC were present at the meeting.

Sheikh Joaan thanked the National Federations for their efforts over the past year and encouraged them to continue supporting Team Qatar in achieving the best results and in their prepara-tions for 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

The meeting began with approving the minutes of the

previous General Assembly meeting held in October 2017.

The meeting also discussed a number of topics on the

agenda. The General Assembly reviewed the results of Qatari

teams at the 18th Asian Games held in Indonesia and 3rd

Youth Olympic Games held in Argentina as well as the Qatari

teams and athletes’ prepara-tions for the 2020 Olympics.

QATAR OLYMPIC COMMITTEE HOLDS 34TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING

Qatar Olympic Committee President HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani, Second Vice-President Dr Thani al Kuwari and Secretary-General Jassim Rashid al Buenain at the meeting on Wednesday.

QOC officials, Presidents of National Federations, and Chairpersons of committees affiliated to QOC at the meeting at the QOC Headquarters on Wednesday.

MotoGP riders can be classified as race finishers in future even if they and their motorcycles cross the line separately. (REUTERS)

This (obsession) is something that I don’t believe in, at all. Whatever batsmen we have, all of them have so much ability that every one of them can single-handedly turn any game.India captain Virat Kohli

Australia axe vice-captain Marsh, Khawaja returns Australia sprang a surprise by axing vice-captain Mitch Marsh on Wednesday for the first Test against India, as Usman Khawaja’s return was confirmed despite the shock of his brother’s arrest. Batsmen Travis Head and Peter Handscomb were preferred to the all-rounder, piling more pressure on the bowlers in what are forecast to be scorching conditions, while Marcus Harris will make his debut as opener.“Mitch Marsh has not been as consistent as he would like and we would like,” said captain Tim Paine. (AFP)

Squad: Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Tim Paine (captain), Josh Hazle-wood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc.

Rohit, Vihari expected to battle for No. 6 slot India selectors are expected to choose between specialist batsman Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hanuma Vihari. The pair, named in a 12-man roster released by the Indian board on Wednesday, will battle for the number six slot vacated by injured fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya.Rohit played the last of his 25 Tests against South Africa in January but has experience in Australian conditions, having toured with the side in 2014-15. Selectors have opted for Mohd Shami, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah in pace attack. (REUTERS)

Team: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, L Rahul, Cheteshwar Pu-jara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.

AFPABU DHABI

AZHAR Ali and Asad Shafiq hit centuries to leave Pakistan in command of the third and final Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi despite a batting collapse that curtailed their first-innings lead.

Azhar hit an attractive 134 for his 15th Test hundred while Shafiq scored 104, but debutant New Zealand off-spinner Will Somerville took four wickets to restrict Paki-stan to 348 all out.

Pakistan appeared set to build a huge lead before col-lapsing from 286-3 to lose their final seven wickets for the addition of just 62 runs.

The 34-year-old Somer-ville finished with 4-75 while left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel took 2-100 and pace spear-head Trent Boult chipped in with 2-66.

That gave Pakistan a 74-run lead -- the same advan-tage they held in the first Test at the same venue before los-ing by four runs.

New Zealand were then reduced to 26-2 at stumps with Kane Williamson un-beaten on 14 and night-watchman Somerville on one not out to leave them trailing by 48 runs with eight wickets intact.

Paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi trapped Jeet Raval for nought while leg-spinner Ya-sir Shah had Tom Latham caught for ten, his 199th wicket in Tests.

Yasir needs just one more wicket to become the fast-

est to 200 wickets, in his 33rd Test, a record currently held by Australian leg-spin-ner Clarrie Grimmett who reached the milestone in 36 Tests, 82 years ago.

Shafiq said Pakistan must limit New Zealand in their second innings after his side failed to chase down 176 in the first Test.

“It’s always nice to bat with Azhar,” said Shafiq. “But it was disappointing that we couldn’t get a big lead. It hap-pens in cricket and you have to give credit to the bowlers.

“We need to get them out quickly tomorrow so that we don’t need to chase a lot of runs.”

Azhar and Shafiq put on 201 for the fourth wicket, but once they were dismissed only Sarfraz Ahmed (25) and Babar Azam (14) offered some resistance.

Azhar edged medium pacer Colin de Grandhomme through the slips to complete his first century since May 2017 against the West Indies in Dominica - and his first

hundred against New Zea-land.

He took 210 balls to reach the three-figure mark, before being caught sweeping off Somerville, just before tea.

Shafiq brought up his 12th Test ton with a sharp single off Somerville before falling leg-before to Patel to a straight delivery.

Somerville then had Azam and Hasan Ali (nought) bowled and wrapped up the innings by getting Sarfraz caught at mid-wicket.

Earlier, Azhar and Shafiq frustrated New Zealand’s search for early wickets as they took Pakistan to 224-3 at lunch.

New Zealand skipper Wil-liamson took the second new ball in the 81st over with Pa-kistan comfortably placed at 213-3, but the bowlers struggled to extract much life from a flat pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Pakistan levelled the se-ries with an innings and 16-run win in the second Test in Dubai.

The two players muster 201 runs for the fourth wicket; Pakistan strike two blows after a slump

Pakistan’s century-makers Azhar Ali (left) and Asad Shafiq during the third day of the third and final Test cricket match against New Zealand at the Sheikh Zayed International Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. (AFP)

Azhar, Shafiq smash tons, put Pak on top

Bravo stages return for Bangladesh ODIs

AFPDHAKA

MIDDLE-ORDER batsman Darren Bravo was recalled on Wednesday after more than two years away from ODI cricket as the West In-dies named a 15-man squad for their three-match series against Bangladesh.

Left-handed Bravo won the last of his 96 one-day in-ternational caps against Pa-kistan in October 2016, but returns after featuring in the West Indies’ recent Twenty20 series in India.

Regular T20 skipper Car-los Brathwaite and Roston Chase were also brought back for the ODI series starting in Dhaka on Sunday.

In the absence of injured Jason Holder, batsman Rov-man Powell was named inter-im captain as the visitors seek to make amends for their 2-1 home series defeat to Bangla-desh in July.

“With two more ODI Se-ries before the 2019 World Cup, the Bangladesh series al-

lows us to narrow our search for our final 15-member World Cup squad,” chairman of se-lectors Courtney Browne said in a statement.

“Darren’s experience will add value to the batting, which in turn will place selec-tion pressure for spots in the squad.”

The second and third matches of the series will be held on December 11 and 14 in Dhaka and Sylhet.

Bangladesh swept West Indies 2-0 in the recent Test series, with the second Test wrapping up on Sunday inside three days as the Tigers re-corded their first-ever victory by an innings margin.

The Caribbean visitors made just 111 runs in their first innings -- the lowest Test score ever recorded against their hosts -- to become the first side Bangladesh has ever asked to follow-on.

SQUAD: Rovman Powell (Capt), Marlon Samuels, Devendra Bishoo, Roston Chase, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Carlos Brathwaite, Keemo Paul, Kieran Powell, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Sunil Ambris, Oshane Thomas.

THIRD PAKISTAN VS NEW ZEALAND TEST MATCH


PETER Kobelt exploited his hard court experience well and upset seventh seed Thomas Statzberger in straight sets in the Qatar F4 Futures Tennis Tournament at the Khalifa In-ternational Tennis and Squash Complex here on Wednesday.

The American fired eight aces to two by his Austrian rival before advancing to the quarter-finals with a fine 7-6(4), 6-4 triumph as their first meeting lasted one hour and 44 minutes.

The crucial break for Kob-elt, whose all the four Futures titles have come on the hard surface, came in the ninth game when he allowed Statz-berger just one point. He then held his serve to complete the third upset the event wit-nessed in two days.

Kobelt’s next rival is Greek qualifier Michail Pervolarakis, who ousted Russian Alexan-der Igoshin 6-2, 7-6(6).

Local player Mubarak Shannan Zayid resisted fifth seed Aslan Karatsev from Rus-sia bravely but faded in the third and decider, losing 3-6, 7-6(5), 3-6. The Qatari served

brilliantly and aced his oppo-nent by 9-1. However, he could not use the second serve to his advantage and surrendered in two hours and six minutes.

After splitting the first two sets, Zayid lost his first ser-vice game and trailed 1-4. He rallied back and twice came within two games to prolong his challenge (2-4 and 3-5). He twice faced the match point in the eighth game but foiled his opponent to force the ninth.

Karatsev was too strong at this stage and held his service at love to book his Portuguese Bernardo Saraiva, the top-seed vanquisher winning his second round against Bela-rusian Mikalai Haliak at 6-1, 6-3.

Second seed Goncalo Ol-iveira was embroiled in a bit-ter battle for survival against Russian Shalva Dzhanashiya. However, the Portuguese es-caped a freak decider to post a thrilling 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in two hours and 28 minutes.

In a roller-coaster third set, which began with both losing their seves. They went on to trade more breaks and it was in the 10th game when Ol-iveira pulled off the victory off his second match point.

Kobelt surprises seventh seed Statzberger in Qatar F4 tennisQatar’s Zayid impressive in three-set loss to fifth seed Karatsev

Local lad Mubarak Shannan Zayid, who went out of the Qatar F4 Futures tennis in Doha after a gritty display on Wednesday.

Save the Dream promotes sports volunteerismat International Volunteer Forum in Russia


A few days after the announcement of its International Volunteer Project from the United Nations Headquarters in New York, delegates from Save the Dream joined a host of global experts and game changers during the Interna-tional Volunteer Forum in Russia for a thought provoking panel discussion on “Volunteers and Wide-Scale Events: New Opportunities”

The four-day forum, which brought together over 15,000 world leaders, members and representatives of vol-unteer and charity organisations and civil activists marked on Wednesday the conclusion of the Year of the Vol-unteer.

On December 6, 2017, President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the year 2018 to be the Year of Volunteer in the Russian Federation. The session on “Volunteers and Wide-Scale Events: New Opportunities” included discus-sions of the successful implementa-tion of the 2018 World Cup volunteer programme. This is expected to be replicated during the championships scheduled in Qatar and Olympics in Tokyo.

Participating in the panel discus-sion were, Artem Metelev, Chairman of the Council of the Association of Vol-unteer Centers, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Bahruz Balayev, Leader of the Save the Dream volunteers programme, Nadezhda Anisovets, Head of the Volunteer Department, Cultural and Educational Programmes of the “Di-rectorate of the II European Games of

2019” Foundation, Ulyana Kolesniko-va, Head of the Volunteer Department of the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organisation “Executive Directorate of the XXIX World Winter Universiade 2019 in Krasnoyarsk”, Dmitry Kartash-ov, First Deputy Director, Roscongress Foundation and Tatyana Gomzyakova, Director of the Volunteer Department of the Organising Committee “Russia – 2018.”

Speaking of Save the Dream’s over-all mission promoting and protecting the values of sport in young people, and the role of volunteerism, Dr. Bah-ruz Balayev said: “Sport volunteerism has grown to become a form of global citizenship and has overcome the bor-ders of nations. We have to concentrate on mobility of volunteers now, while the momentum is growing”

During the event, Dr. Balayev met with Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Ad-ministration of Russia, and Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Year of Volunteer in Russia. Future co-operation on volunteer programmes, involvement of volunteers from Russia and support were discussed. During the meeting, Kiriyenko noted that 14 million Russians have volunteered in 2018, double the number last year. The World Cup in Russia saw a rise of the number of sport volunteers.

It was also discussed that a pro-gramme to increase the mobility of volunteers is planned to be imple-mented to further encourage volun-teer participation during the organi-sation of major sporting events that will be held in Russia and abroad from 2019 to 2024.

A picture of the panel discussion on Volunteers and Wide-Scale Events - New Opportunities during International Volunteer Forum in Russia.

Azhar hit an attractive 134 for his 15th Test hundred while Shafiq scored 104, but debutant New Zealand off-spinner Will Somerville took four wickets to restrict Pakistan to 348 all out

Sports 17Thursday, December 6, 2018

NEW ZEALAND (1ST INNINGS): 274

PAKISTAN (1ST INNINGS, OVERNIGHT 139-3):

Imam-ul-Haq c Southee b Boult 9Mohammad Hafeez c Southee b Boult 0Azhar Ali c Patel b Somerville 134Haris Sohail c Watling b Southee 34Asad Shafiq lbw b Patel 104Babar Azam b Somerville 14Sarfraz Ahmed c Raval b Somerville 25Bilal Asif c Taylor b Patel 11Yasir Shah run out 1Hasan Ali b Somerville 0Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 0Extras: (b 6, lb 9, nb 1) 16Total: (all out; 135 overs) 348

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Hafeez), 2-17 (Imam), 3-85 (Sohail), 4-286 (Azhar), 5-304 (Shafiq), 6-312 (Azam), 7-333 (Asif), 8-346 (Yasir), 9-347 (Hasan)

Bowling: Southee 25-5-56-1, Boult 26-7-66-2, Grandhomme 13-2-36-0 (1nb), Patel 35-5-100-2, Somerville 36-8-75-4.

NEW ZEALAND (2ND INNINGS):

J. Raval lbw b Shaheen 0T. Latham c Sohail b Yasir 10K. Williamson not out 14W. Somerville not out 1Extras: (lb 1) 1Total: (for two wkts; 14 overs) 26

Still to bat: R. Taylor, H. Nicholls, BJ Watling, C. de Grandhomme, Ajaz Patel, T. Southee, T. BoultFall of wickets: 1-1 (Raval), 2-24 (Latham)Bowling: Hasan 4-3-2-0, Shaheen 3-0-11-1, Yasir 4-1-5-1, Asif 3-0-7-0.

Toss: New Zealand

SCOREBOARD

Singles (second round)

Bernardo SARAIVA (POR) 6-1 6-3 Mikalai HALIAK (BLR)Aslan KARATSEV (RUS) [5] 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 Mubarak Shannan ZAYID (QAT)Evgenii TIURNEV (RUS) [4] 6-4 6-3 Jaimee Floyd ANGELE (FRA)Duje AJDUKOVIC (CRO) 6-2 6-2 Antoine BELLIER (SUI)Peter KOBELT (USA) 7-6(4) 6-4 Thomas STATZBERGER (AUT) [7]Michail PERVOLARAKIS (GRE) 6-2 7-6(6) Alexander IGOSHIN (RUS)Zizou BERGS (BEL) [6] 6-4 6-1 Alexandar LAZAROV (BULGoncalo OLIVEIRA (POR) [2] 6-3 5-7 6-4 Shalva DZHANASHIYA (RUS)

Doubles (first round)

G OLIVEIRA (POR)/ B SARAIVA (POR) [1] 7-5 6-1 P MAYER (GER) / N SCHELL (GER)A DONSKI (BUL)/ A LAZAROV (BUL) 7-5 6-7(2) [10-6] M CUTULI (ITA) / M Shanan ZAYED (QAT)V ORLOV (UKR) /M PERVOLARAKIS (GRE) [3] 6-2 6-3 S DZHANASHIYA (RUS) / O KHOTKOV (UKR)M HALIAK (BLR) /A LIAONENKA (BLR) 7-6(4) 3-6 [10-5] K LOZAN (RUS) / R MUZAEV (RUS)Guy DEN HEIJER (NED) /S PONTJODIKROMO (NED) 7-5 6-4 A ROGIC HADZALIC (CRO) / M SPEC (SLO)A IGOSHIN (RUS) / E TIURNEV (RUS) [4] 6-1 6-3 P HELLER (GER) / T STATZBERGER (AUT)A VIRGILI (ITA) / M Shannan ZAYID (QAT) 6-4 6-4 J al MUTAWA (QAT) / A ZHURBIN (RUS)M GINER (ESP) / J PLA MALFEITO (ESP) [2] 6-7(2) 6-3 [10-8] A BELLIER (SUI) / K FRIBERG (SWE))

RESULTS

Sports18 Thursday, December 6, 2018

beIN hosts Asian Cup trophy, unveils dedicated channels for 17th edition

AYENI OLUSEGUNDOHA

THE Asian Cup trophy con-tinued its tour of Qatar with a stopover at the 2019 Asian Cup Tournament’s host broad-caster beIN’s headquarters on Wednesday.

beIN Media Group is set to host the biggest-ever AFC Asian Cup Tournament live and ex-clusive on its channels. The 17th edition of Asia’s biggest football show is taking place in the United Arab Emirates across four cities and eight ven-ues from January 5 to February 1, 2019.

During a media tour of beIN facilities in Doha, the Group’s Director of Program Duncan Walkinshaw said, “This is the continent’s biggest football event and being the host broad-caster we are dedicated to deliv-ering the best to our subscrib-ers. For the tournament, beIN will have over 200 crew mem-bers in production, ground crew and reporting.”

The sprawling beIN head-quarters boasts of nine state-of-the-art studios for various events like the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Euro League Basketball and many other. The complex also hous-es various offices and studios for broadcasting live content across all its channels.

The magnificent trophy, which is replacing the 2015 edi-tion’s trophy, was unveiled to the media much to the delight of many who wanted to get a first-hand feel of the prestigious silverware. They wanted to get their pictures clicked with the trophy, while many chose to go for the ‘selfies’.

For the first time, the AFC Asian Cup will see 24 qualified teams, up from the traditional 16, with an unprecedented 11

Arab countries competing for the coveted trophy.

The tournament will be the richest-ever with the new $14.8 million prize purse. A new match ball sponsor in Molten and the use of the Video Assis-tance Referees system from the quarter-finals stage have also been introduced to enhance the stature of the competition.

The media group which has rights to most of the world’s biggest sporting events, will have two dedicated 24/7 chan-nels with over 270 hours of live coverage available exclusively for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, as well as 20 hours of ex-clusive programmes including documentaries on the 11 Arab teams participating in the tour-nament.

Presenters from all over the region including Moham-ed Saadon al Kuwari, Ayman Jadah, Lakhdar Berriche and Asia Abdallah will host special guests and conduct exclusive interviews with 21 dedicated beIN studios available for the tournament, in addition to 51 live matches with both Arabic and English commentary.

beIN’s unique statistical- based ‘Match Center’ format will help bring live statistical and historical data to sub-scribers in-game. Viewers will also have the opportu-nity to join in the discussions surrounding the live games through the use of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 hashtag #beINAFC as beIN takes its coverage across all digital and social platforms.

The live coverage will start at 12:00 midday Mecca Time (GMT +3) each day and run continuously until midnight. Along with the live studios sur-rounding the games, beIN will compliment its coverage with a daily morning show from 8:00am to 9:00am followed later in the day with its evening show ‘Allo beIN’.

The ‘beIN ASIA’ Arabic show, will be broadcast from January 3 onwards and it will offer beIN viewers key sum-maries of every match sup-plemented by exclusive inter-views with players, coaches and fans of the participating national teams.

Star beIN commentators and star guests with 2019 Asian Cup trophy and the official match ball for the 17th edition of the tournament at the beIN headquarters in Doha on Wednesday.

The beIN Production Control Room and one of the many state-of-the-art studios at the beIN headquarters in Doha.

beIN Media all set to host the biggest-ever AFC Asian Cup live and exclusive on its channels

Despite calls to desist, BeoutQ continues pirate broadcasts

FOOTBALL’S ruling body FIFA said at the World Cup it is taking legal action and now

the European Commission has also voiced grave concern over pirate network BeoutQ which is illegally broadcasting inter-national football matches and other sports.

The network went on air after last year’s start of a Saudi Arabia-led diplomatic and trade boycott of Qatar, and takes its feed from Qatar-based beIN Sports.

There are strong indica-tions it is located in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh and broadcasts via Riyadh-based and Saudi-owned Arabsat.

“We expect Saudi Arabia to react swiftly and to step up its measures against piracy,” a European Commission source told DPA.

Saudi Arabia for its part denies any involvement.

beIN Sport was originally founded by popular Qatar network Al Jazeera and has the regional rights for most major sports events, such as the World Cup, Champions League and major European domestic leagues, or tennis events such as Wimbledon.

Once the boycott started, Saudi Arabia prohibited Al Ja-zeera and beIN broadcasts in its territory.

Shortly before BeoutQ went on air, Saud al Qahtani, who is close to Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Sal-man, tweeted in June 2017 that there would soon be a new solution, free of charge or for a symbolic price.

BeoutQ’s website is only available in Saudi Arabia and selected other countries such as Egypt. It says that companies from Colombia and Cuba are behind it. Ar-absat’s majority shareholder

is Saudi Arabia.Receivers can only be paid

from Saudi Arabian bank ac-counts and a seller with a Saudi phone number says they cost around $100.

The issue heated up when BeoutQ distributed via sat-ellite games from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, using beIN’s signal and subsequent-ly that of other broadcasters.

It prompted FIFA to say towards the end of the tourna-ment it “has engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia ... to protect its inter-est” and called on authorities in Saudi Arabia “to support us in the fight against piracy.”

BeoutQ has made efforts to disguise where its feed comes from, such as constantly placing the BeoutQ logo over that from beIN. But beIN has now intro-duced a floating watermark – which BeoutQ can’t hide.

“This is theft,” says Tuni-sian Naoufel Bachi after his commentary on a German Bundesliga match between Leipzig and Leverkusen for beIN from Doha.

BeoutQ broadcast this game

with his commentary - and with a standard eight-second delay.

The German Football League has named the net-work “a Saudi Arabian pirate offer” and said it would “pro-tect its rights and that of its licensee beIN.”

Tennis bodies spoke of “industrial-size illegal piracy” as they called for an immediate closure of BeoutQ in July in a statement on the Wimbledon website which prompted a furi-ous response from Saudi Arabia.

At beIN they are naturally most unhappy.

“That is not a piracy channel from a garage or a bedroom. That’s an unprec-edented fairly sophisticated operation,” beIN sports pro-

gramme director Duncan Walkinshow insisted.

“It makes me incredibly angry. That’s our work. They (Arabsat) can just press a but-ton and turn it off.”

The issue also affects fu-ture sports rights sales which is a huge billion-dollar opera-tion, as beIN communications director David Sugden sug-gested the network may no longer be willing to pay similar prices as in the past.

“We will evaluate this in our rights purchasing deci-sion,” he said.

Qatar 2022 World Cup organising committee deputy Secretary-General Nasser al Khater also referred to the rights situation when he urged a joint effort against BeoutQ while visiting the Russia World Cup.

“Everybody should take a stand, all broadcasters, even if they have not been affected, should take a stand. All fed-erations should take a stand,” he said.

“We should not forget that, for all federations, TV is bread and butter.” (DPA)

Serena, Murray confirmed for 2019 Australian Open returnDPA/REUTERS

MELBOURNE

SERENA Williams and Andy Murray will return to the Australian Open next month, the tournament confirmed on Wednesday as it announced that the world’s top 102 wom-en and top 101 men are set to compete.

Britain’s Murray has been struggling to recover from a hip injury and skipped this year’s contest, but has entered using his protected ranking.

Williams also missed the 2018 tournament after giv-ing birth to her first child. The seven-time champion, who last won the Grand Slam while eight-weeks pregnant in 2017, has had a rocky return to the game this year.

World number ones Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep head up the men’s and wom-en’s fields respectively while Roger Federer and Caroline

Wozniacki will return to defend their titles.

Serena will resume her quest for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title at the tournament she won for a sev-enth time on her last appear-ance in 2017.

The 37-year-old American achieved her victory over sis-ter Venus in the final two years ago while eight weeks preg-nant with her daughter Alexis Olympia, who was born the following September.

Williams reached the Wimbledon and US Open fi-nals after her return last year but lost both, leaving her one

short of Australian Margaret Court’s tally of Grand Slam singles titles.

Her final match last sea-son was the final at Flushing Meadow, where her loss to Naomi Osaka was overshad-owed by her row with umpire Carlos Ramos.

Williams is scheduled to play an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi in the final week of the year before heading to Aus-tralia to warm-up for her assault on the Melbourne Park title at the Hopman Cup in Perth.

Reigning champion Rog-er Federer will be gunning for a record seventh men’s single crown from Jan. 14-27, while Caroline Wozniacki will embark on her maiden grand slam title defence at Melbourne Park.

beoutQ stealing opening games of Premier League and Ligue 1 was also condemned.

BeoutQ has made efforts to disguise where its feed comes from, such as con-stantly placing the BeoutQ logo over that from beIN. But beIN has now intro-duced a floating watermark – which BeoutQ can’t hide.

Serena Williams with her 2017 Australian Open trophy.

MUMBAI: Maintaining a trend, 1003 players, including 232 overseas cricketers, have signed up for the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction set to take place in Jaipur on December 18, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Wednesday. Aiming to fill up the available 70 spots are 200 capped players, 800 uncapped and three players from Associate Nations. Of the 800 uncapped, 746 are Indians. Franchises will now have time until 5 p.m. IST on December 10 to submit their short-listed players, who will make up the final auction list. (IANS)

Over 1,000 players register for IPL 2019 auction

Quick read


THE seventh edition of the Workers’ Cup, the annual football tournament organ-ised by the Qatar Stars League (QSL) and sponsored by the Supreme Committee for De-livery & Legacy (SC), will kick off on Friday at Al Sadd Sports Club.

The draw for the 2019 tournament was recently con-ducted at Al Aziziyah Bou-tique Hotel in Aspire Park, where SC and QSL repre-sentatives were joined by the captains and coaches of last year’s finalists – champions Nakheel Landscapes and run-ners-up Doha Pest Control &

Cleaning Company.The title will be contested

by a number of companies who have direct links to the SC and its flagship legacy programme, Generation Amazing. More than 600 players are expected to take to the field during the event, including current and former contractors engaged on 2022 FIFA World Cup projects.

Matches for the 2019 tournament will be played every Friday at Al Sadd Sports Club until the showpiece fi-nal on 25 January. General admission to the final is free and everyone is welcome to attend. More than 15,000 people attended last year’s matches, with the final being

watched by 8,000 fans.Speaking after the draw,

Hassan Rabiah al Kuwari, Executive Director of Mar-keting, Sales and Communi-cations at the QSL, said, “Yet another Workers’ Cup and yet another opportunity for us to engage with the soci-ety, aligning with our corpo-rate social responsibility. The tournament, into its seventh edition, has grown in stat-ure, making a positive impact on the members of Qatar’s community using the power of football. It’s a matter of pride for the QSL to organise a highly popular event that provides all sports fans with a platform to play the game, keep them healthy and test their footballing skills.”

Fatma al Nuaimi, the SC’s Communications Direc-tor, said: “The Workers’ Cup is now firmly established as

a key tournament in Qatar’s sporting calendar.

“Over the years we’ve seen the event contribute to im-proving the health and well-ness of people engaged on 2022 FIFA World Cup™ pro-jects and I’ve no doubt this year’s tournament will bring more success – both on and off the field.

“I’m looking forward to a stand-out edition of the tour-nament and I wish everyone the best of luck.”

Akram al Hamdawi, cap-tain of last year’s winners,

Nakheel Landscapes, said: “Taking part in the Workers’ Cup gives all of us a chance to enjoy the magical spirit of football. Nothing unites peo-ple like football and winning the competition last year brought the management and workers closer together.”

Speaking at the draw, Richard Donkor, captain of last year’s runners-up, Doha Pest Control, said: “The tournament gives a platform for our players to showcase their talents and enjoy them-selves. We enjoy a real sense of harmony and unity when we play together and we hope to go one step further this time around.”

The cup is gaining in popularity with workers and companies every year

QSL and SC officials during the draw of the Workers’ Cup in Aspire Park recently.

Over 600 players to compete for seventh edition of Workers’ Cup

AFPLONDON

MANCHESTER City opened up a five-point lead at the top of the table with a seventh straight Premier League vic-tory, but were made to work for a 2-1 win at Watford on Tuesday.

City’s goals came either side of half-time as Leroy Sane chested home to end Wat-ford’s resistance before Riyad Mahrez swept home early in the second period.

However, they had to with-stand a nervy finish after Ab-doulaye Doucoure bundled home five minutes from time.

“It was a good old Premier League game, as soon as they scored long balls start coming, they are extremely physical up front,” said City captain Vin-cent Kompany.

“We managed the game pretty well. You can’t win every game playing fantasy

football.” Pep Guardiola made six changes to his starting line-up despite also missing Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne through injury.

Yet, City were still too strong for the dogged hosts for the vast majority of the game with Watford thankful to goalkeeper Ben Foster for the visitors not racking up the 5-0 and 6-0 thrashings they did on their two previous visits to Vic-arage Road.

Guardiola changed his en-tire back four from Saturday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth and left the in-form Raheem Ster-ling on the bench for the full 90 minutes.

Mahrez came in for the England international and the luxury of options on offer to Guardiola was obvious as both his wide men found the net in Sterling’s absence.

However, Watford were left to rue their chances before the break against a City defence

that appeared to miss Aymeric Laporte as the Frenchman was rotated for the first time in the league this season.

Roberto Pereyra has al-ready produced some spec-tacular goals for the Hornets this season and the Argentine was inches away from another when he curled just wide in-side 10 minutes.

City soon took control, though, and Foster made a brilliant save to deny Sane af-ter the German had intercept-ed a wayward Pereyra pass.

The former England inter-national also spread himself well to claw away Mahrez’s at-tempted dink over the ‘keeper.

Yet, the best save of the opening half came down the other end when Ederson stretched out his left foot to block Troy Deeney’s effort from point-blank range.

Moments later, City were finally in front. Mahrez’s cross picked out Sane unmarked at

the back post and he cleverly used his chest to power the ball below Foster.

Six minutes into the second half, the visitors struck again when Gabriel Jesus -- who endured another lean night in front of goal in the absence of Aguero -- at least made a con-tribution as a provider by pull-ing the ball back for Mahrez to fire home.

City got uncharacteristi-cally slack in the final quarter, though, and were made to pay when Doucoure finally turned home after a goalmouth scram-ble. Guardiola was forced to throw on Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi in the closing stages to repel Watford’s aerial as-sault, but City held on.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth moved above Manchester United, who host Arsenal on Wednesday, up to sixth thanks to a 2-1 win over Huddersfield.

Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser continued their fine

personal seasons by giving the hosts a 2-0 lead inside 22 min-utes before Terence Kongolo pulled a goal back for the Ter-riers.

Brighton edged into the top half as despite playing for over an hour with 10 men, they beat Crystal Palace 3-1.

The hosts led 1-0 through Glenn Murray’s penalty before Shane Duffy saw a straight red, but further goals before half-time from Leon Balogun and Florin Andone sealed the three points despite Luka Milivoje-vic’s late consolation from the penalty spot.

West Ham’s upward tra-jectory also continued as three goals in 12 second-half min-utes beat Cardiff 3-1.

Lucas Perez replaced the injured Marko Arnautovic in the first half and went onto score his first two league goals since a summer move from Ar-senal before Michail Antonio added a third.

Manchester City’s Leroy Sane celebrates scoring his goal with Riyad Mahrez and teammates at Vicarage Road in Watford on Tuesday. (AFP)

City defy late Watford push to move five points clear


AL Gharafa coach Christian Gourcuff says their QNB Stars League Week 15 match against Al Ahli will be tough on Thurs-day, after last weekend’s em-barrassing 8-1 defeat at Al Sadd. The 8-1 maul is one of their biggest defeats in recent memory.

“It will not be easy for us

against Al Ahli, especially since we are coming off a heavy loss to Al Sadd (1-8) in the last round. Any match is worth only three points maximum, but the big-margin loss was a great shock for us. I hope to achieve a positive result which will help the team make a strong come-back,” Gourcuff said at the pre-match press conference.

Al Gharafa have lost six games this season and their last two, the Cheetahs tactician said he had cautioned his players that they were heading for three strong games.

“We played against Al Sail-iya and Al Sadd, and lost both matches. Now, we are into the third, against Al Ahli.

“Al Ahli are a tough side. They have achieved good re-sults in the recent rounds and

are unbeaten in seven matches. Therefore, the confrontation will be difficult and we have to correct our mistakes and be at our best in order to score a vic-tory. “I spoke to the players in the aftermath of our defeat to Al Sadd and tried to instill con-fidence in them. We also dis-cussed how to make up for that in the game against Al Ahli,” he added.

Al Gharafa will be without Wesley Sneijder, Fahd al Sham-mari, Almahdi Ali and Khalid Abdul Raouf, who are all nurs-ing injuries.

Al Ahli are unbeaten in seven consecutive games and would hope to extend the streak. Al Ahli coach Milan Ma-cala said ahead of the match, “Al Gharafa are strong and fierce competitors though they lost to Al Sadd by a 1-8 margin in the last round. Our perfor-mance has improved in the re-cent times. We are unbeaten in seven matches.”

Macala added that the team’s goal from the beginning of the season was to avoid rel-egation. “Now that we are in safe zone, we are trying to put pressure on the competitors and we are seeking a top-four position.” “I am happy that we will be able to field Ahmed Su-hail. I watched him in action in Qatar’s friendly with Syria. He is a good player. It is good that there are many young players in the squad,” said Macala.

Bottom club Al Kharaitiyat face draw-specialist Al Rayyan at Al Khor Stadium. Al Rayyan are fourth in the table and any result short of a win will push the Lions down to four position.

Al Kharaitiyat’s fitness coach Ahmed Badarudeen said: “We are ready and our players are determined to play a good game. Al Rayyan are a strong side and we respect them. We had found it tough against them in the first leg as well.”

Al Gharafa hope to bounce back against Al Ahli

WORKERS’ CUP 2019 KICK-OFF ON FRIDAY

Football for all“It’s a matter of pride for the QSL to organise a highly popular event that provides all sports fans with a platform to play the game, keep them healthy and test their footballing skills.”

REUTERSHONG KONG

MALAYSIA reached the Asean Football Federation Cham-pionship final on away goals after a 2-2 draw with holders Thailand in the semi-final, sec-ond leg on Wednesday as Adi-sak Kraisorn missed a late pen-alty for the hosts in Bangkok.

The teams shared a 0-0 first leg in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha’s 71st minute equaliser to make it 2-2 kept alive Malaysia hopes of a first title since 2010.

The agonising miss by striker Adisak, the tourna-ment’s top scorer, six minutes into added time denied the Thais a fourth final in a row as he skied the spot-kick over the bar.

Malaysia will meet Viet-nam or the Philippines in the two-legged final on Dec. 11 and 15, with the Vietnamese hold-ing a 2-1 lead from the first leg when they meet again on Thursday.

Thailand were looking to extend their champion-ship-winning streak to three this year and Milovan Raje-vac’s side went in front after 21 minutes when Thitipan Puangchan’s goalward header

was bundled over his own goal line by Irfan Zakaria.

Seven minutes later the Malaysians were level on the night and ahead by virtue of the away goals rule.

The move started when Malaysia keeper Farizal Marli-as rolled the ball out and end-ed seven quick-fire passes later with Syahmi Safari smashing a right-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner of Chatchai Budrom’s goal.

Thailand reclaimed the advantage three minutes after the hour when Pansa Hem-viboon scored at the second attempt with a header after the Malaysia defence failed to clear substitute Sumanya Purisai’s free kick.

But eight minutes later Norshahrul gave Malaysia the edge in the tie once again when he controlled Syamer Kutty Abba’s low cross before smashing his shot beyond Chatchai.

The Thais pushed for a winner, with Pansa’s header clipping the crossbar late on before Syahmi’s handball earned the home side a penal-ty - and the defender a second booking - only for Adisak to fire high over the bar as their title hopes ended.

Malaysia reach AFF final as Thailand miss late penalty

Malaysian players celebrate with coach Tan Cheng Hoe after a nailbit-ing draw with Thailand during the second leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 semi-final match in Bangkok on Wednesday. (AFP)

Southampton name Ralph Hasenhuettl as new boss

DPALONDON

STRUGGLING Premier League side Southampton on Wednes-day named Austrian Ralph Hasenhuettl as its new manager.

The 51-year-old agreed a two-and-a-half year deal until 2021 and will replace Mark Hughes, who was sacked on Monday, Southampton said in a statement on their website.

Hasenhuettl has been out of work since May after ending a two-year spell with Leipzig in Ger-many, whom he took to runners-up in Germany’s Bundesliga in his first season. He is now the first Austrian manager in the Premier League. “This manager change of-fers us a fresh start and, very quick-ly, Ralph emerged as our ideal can-didate,” Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger said.

“As a coach, he embodies the passion, structure, communica-tion skill set, work ethic and appe-tite for growth that we strive for in our Southampton Way. The quick, smooth and seamless negotiation process underlines the character of the person that he is.”

Krueger said Hasenhuettl fits the mould of manager that South-ampton have encouraged over the years. “Southampton Football Club’s past success was built on a clear identity,” he said. “The foundation of this identity was a focus on developing players, whether from within our acad-emy or after joining from other clubs.

“Ralph’s ability to teach the game and to develop talent is evident in his past and is a cen-trepiece of why he is the per-fect choice to be the new Saints manager.”

Hughes joined Southamp-ton in March and helped them avoid relegation but the south-coast club last week dropped into the bottom three.

Al Gharafa coach Christain Gourcuff

19Thursday, December 6, 2018Sports


HOSTELLING International (HI), a federation of more than 70 national youth hostel associations in more than 80 countries, has announced that the 54th HI conference will be held in Qatar in 2022.

The announcement was made after Qatar won the vote by a wide majority at the HI Conference held in Iceland re-cently.

The biennial conference, which will be held in October 2022 in Doha, is expected to draw more than 120 HI rep-resentatives, hostel operators and travel enthusiasts from around the world.

HI’s CEO Darren Barker expressed pleasure over Qa-tar’s offer to host the event, saying, “I am really happy to be going to Qatar and absorb-ing the culture this region has to offer. Very excited indeed, well done to Qatar.”

Qatar’s winning joint bid to host the conference dem-onstrates the success of Qa-tar Youth Hostel (QYH) and the National tourism Council (NTC) in promoting Qatar as a youth-friendly tourism des-tination.

NTC official Ahmed al Obaidli commented, “Winning majority of votes to bring the 54th HI conference to Doha shows the confidence of youth

hostels worldwide in Qatar’s ability to host an exceptional event.” He added, “We look forward to embracing the spirit of hospitality and explo-ration embodied by Hostelling International and welcoming hospitality professionals from all over the world at the HI conference.”

In the lead-up to the bid, QHY worked on building relations with a number of youth organisations such as YHA Australia, FUAJ France, DJH Germany, AIG Italy, HI Korea, HI-USA and joined several exciting programmes

offered by HI. Qatar is now a participant in HI-Connect, an employment scheme which allows youths to stay free at select HI locations around the world in exchange for work-ing at HI hostels. Addition-ally, QYH offers discounts on nightly rates to HI members through the organisation’s digital membership.

Ahmed Hassan al Obaidly, CEO of QYH, commented, “I would like to thank all those who supported our bid, par-ticularly the Ministry of Cul-ture and Sport, National Tour-ism Council (then referred to

as Qatar Tourism Authority), and Qatar Museums. I would like also to thank all HI mem-bers for their confidence in us.”

In total, Qatar hosted 99 exhibitions and 58 confer-ences in 2017 — a 30 percent increase compared to 2015. Qatar also recently won the rights to host the All Together Better Health conference in 2020 and both the AICR (The International Association for Deputy Managers and Front Office Managers of Luxury Hotels) congress and Les Clefs d’Or International Con-gress in 2021.

Qatar wins bid to host Hl Conference in 2022

HIA concludes ‘Oryx Foxtrot’ emergency exercise at DIA


HAMAD International Airport (HIA) successfully completed its full-scale emergency ex-ercise ‘Oryx Foxtrot’ 2018 at Doha International Airport (DIA), Doha’s old airport, on Wednesday.

The exercise was conducted in collaboration with over 25 government agencies, partners and stakeholders, including the Ministry of Interior, the Minis-try of Defence, the Ministry of Public Health, National Com-mand Centre, Qatar Civil Avia-tion Authority, Qatar Aeronau-tical College, Gulf Helicopters Company, Airport Customs, Airline Operators Committee and Qatar Airways Group.

Emergency Exercise ‘Oryx Foxtrot’ 2018 was arranged and executed by HIA in accordance with the requirements estab-lished by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The airport is responsible for ensuring that the Airport Management Systems and Emergency Preparedness meet the exact requirements of the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) Aerodrome Licensing Standards at both HIA and DIA.

The objective of the emer-gency exercise was to test the airport’s crisis readiness in ex-treme situations, as the highly realistic simulation ensured that any crisis management deficiency at DIA and in Qatar can be made apparent and ad-dressed immediately.

The simulation involved a Gulf Helicopter Bell 412 aircraft mock colliding with an Aero-nautical College Piper PA28 while approaching the runway for landing, resulting in mock fatalities, casualties and debris across the impact area.

The emergency exercise saw participation from the Air-port Fire and Rescue Service team, Qatar Emiri Air Force Fire Squadron, Civil Defence Firefighting Team and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), among others.

‘Oryx Foxtrot’ 2018 was an effective exercise in measuring the coordination of the airport’s various internal and external agencies, companies and stake-holders to ensure that the best crisis management procedures were executed effectively.

Commenting on the ex-ercise, HIA COO Eng Badr Mohammed al Meer said, “In accordance with international and national requirements of civil aviation, and in line with

international safety stand-ards, the successful execution of this emergency exercise re-inforces our high standards of safety and security for our pas-sengers and the airport com-munity at large.

“As a joint effort between HIA, QR Group and our part-ners, we are proud to once again demonstrate our safety and emergency preparedness as well as our swift coordination efforts among all those involved in the event of an emergency.”

‘Oryx Foxtrot’ 2018 is a continuation of previous emergency exercises imple-mented by the airport. Last year, HIA successfully organ-ised two full scale emergency exercises. The ‘Delta Oryx’ 2017 which focused on testing the airport’s preparedness for handling an aircraft accident outside of airport premises, simulating a crash landing into the sea; as well as the ‘Echo Oryx’ 2017 which tested DIA’s crisis readiness.

Qatar won the vote for the hosting right by a wide majority at the HI Conference recently held in Iceland.

Biennial meet set to draw hostel operators and travel enthusiasts from across the world

McCafe hosts season’s first book swap event

MCDONALD’S Qatar, in col-laboration with city blogger One Shot Latte and Doha Bookworms, organised the sea-son’s first Book Swap session at McCafe, City Centre.

Book enthusiasts from around Doha gathered at the event, organised parallel to the 29th Doha International Book Fair, to exchange books

and share knowledge.Participants were encour-

aged to bring along a mini-mum of 1 book with them, which they could exchange for another one. This was the first Book Swap event Mc-Donald’s has hosted in Qatar, as part of its efforts to pro-mote education and learning in the country.

On the occasion, Ghada Kamal, marketing manager at McDonald’s Qatar, said, “This is the first of its kind event to be held at McDonald’s Qatar and we are excited to witness a full house. We hope, this will mark the first in a series of literary events and continue our efforts to promote reading in the com-ing years.” (TNN)

FNAC displays array of French books at DIBFFNAC, a leading cultural desti-nation in Qatar, together with the French Embassy in Qatar and the French Institute, are participating in the 29th Doha International Book Fair (DIBF) with a display of a large variety of French books and a special section for Qatari authors.

FNAC also organised a range of activities such as workshops, book signings, meet and greets, story-telling sessions and other interactive activities.

The 29th Doha International Book Fair is being held until De-cember 8 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) under the theme ‘Doha, A City of Knowledge and Conscience’.

This year, FNAC is set to host notable authors espe-cially invited by FNAC Inter-national, France, including Sibylline Desmazières and Jé-rôme D’Aviau, authors and il-lustrators of the book ‘Rat et les animauxmoches’ who inter-acted with students during their

workshops. Alexis Nesme, the author

and illustrator of the book ‘Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant’, also led workshops for school students.

Over 10 days, FNAC booth is expected to attract more than 1,000 students from different schools in Doha.

During the book fair, re-nowned Qatari writers and art-ists will be visiting the booth throughout the exhibition to present their work. FNAC is supporting local talent through cultural and educational activa-tions and signing ceremonies.

All of the activities inspire and enlighten students on the importance of reading books, which helps further hone their talents.

The Doha International Book Fair is considered as the largest international book fair in the region with extensive partic-ipation from different countries worldwide. (TNN)

The Last Word20 Thursday, December 6, 2018

SWEDISH EMBASSY CELEBRATES NATIONAL DAY WITH MIDWINTER LUCIA CEREMONY

The Embassy of Sweden in Doha on Tuesday hosted the Midwinter Lucia celebration to mark the National Day of Sweden. Min-ister of Transport and Communications HE Jassim bin Saif al Sulaiti, Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs HE Yousef bin Mohammed al Othman Fakhro, Director of the Department of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Ambassador Ibrahim Yousif Abdullah Fakhro and Ambassador of Sweden HE Ewa Polano jointly cut a cake on the occasion. More than 800 dignitaries and guests took part in the event held at St Regis Doha. (PHOTOGRAPHS BY JALAL PATHIYOOR)

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Huge boost to Qatar's water security plans